"Eh! my dear Guy, what a good idea!—Have you arrived already for the soirée? You received your invitation?"
"No," answered Lissac, "I have received nothing, or if the invitation arrived, the agents of Monsieur Jouvenet have taken it away with many other things."
"The agents! what agents?" asked the minister.
He had risen to receive Guy and remained standing in front of the fireplace looking at his friend, who questioned him with his glance to discover if Vaudrey could really be in ignorance as to such a matter.
"Ah, so! but," said Lissac with trembling voice and in a tone of angry bitterness, "do you not know then, what takes place in Paris?"
"What is happening?" asked Sulpice, who had turned slightly pale.
"They arrest men for nothing, and keep them in close confinement for two days in order to have time to search their correspondence for a document that compromises certain persons. It is very proper, no doubt; but that smacks too much of romanticism and the Bridge of Sighs. It is very old-fashioned and worn-out. I would not answer for your long employing such methods of government."
"Come, are you mad? What does it all signify?" asked the minister, in astonishment.
He appeared as if he really did not understand. It was clear that he did not know what Guy meant.
"Don't you read the papers, then?" Lissac asked him.