MADAME DUPLAY [outside]. Maximilien, here is Saint-Just. [ELÉONORE runs out. SAINT-JUST enters. ROBESPIERRE greets him. They shake hands as if they had been separated only a very short time.]
SAINT-JUST. How are you?
ROBESPIERRE. How are you, Saint-Just? [They sit down.]
SAINT-JUST [gazing calmly at ROBESPIERRE]. I am very glad to see you again.
ROBESPIERRE. Le Bas writes us that it was only by the barest chance that we see you again.
SAINT-JUST. Yes. [A pause.] We need arms there; the army lacks muskets.
ROBESPIERRE. We are manufacturing them. All of Paris is at work. They have set up blacksmith shops in the churches. All other work is at a standstill. You must have seen Duplay's carpenters making the stocks when you came by. Jewelers are making the locks; there are forges in all the public places.
SAINT-JUST [after a pause]. Food is very scarce. Whole divisions are out of provender. We have very little time; the campaign begins in three weeks at the latest. All the blood of France must flow to the North.
ROBESPIERRE. The orders have been given. France is starving in order that the soldiers may have enough to eat.
SAINT-JUST. When you no longer need my advice, send me back. The first engagements will be decisive. Every effort must be made.