"So help us God! Out with the foreigners!" was shouted from all sides.
"Good! Now listen to what our noble friend, the Count of Monte-Cristo, has to tell us!"
The marquis took his seat, and the count, unrolling a paper, said in an earnest voice:
"I can bring you a piece of news which Marshal Radetzky has just received; a revolution has broken out in Vienna, and at this very hour the viceroy is leaving Milan."
A murmur of astonishment ran through the assembly.
"My couriers," continued the count, "were quicker than the emperor's, and in consequence of that I am better informed than the officials. The emperor has bowed to the necessity of the situation, and made important concessions—"
"No concessions!" said a voice; "we want freedom!"
"Patience," said Monte-Cristo. "The emperor has repealed the censorship; the new press law is very liberal, and the representatives of the German and Lombard-Venetian provinces have been convoked."
The astonishment was now general. Loud cries of "Impossible! impossible!" were heard.