“Who are you, citizen? You startled me. You walk as softly as a cat!”
Other dark silhouettes now approached from various quarters and mutely confronted the newcomers.
“Why don’t you answer? If you are a specter, please vanish without delay; the assembly has abolished specters.”
But the stranger wearily replied: “We watch the tyrant.”
“Did the commune appoint you?”
“No. We appointed ourselves. There are thirty-six of us. There had been thirty-seven, but one died; we watch the tyrant. We have lived near this wall for two months or longer. We are very weary.”
“The nation thanks you. Do you know what happened to-day?”
“Yes, we heard something. We watch the tyrant.”
“Have you heard that we are a republic now? That we have liberty?”
“Yes, but we watch the tyrant and we are weary.”