DESMOULINS [looking at the house and the workers]. My Lucile is there. I've just been to see her. The house was empty. They told me the family went out to dinner with relatives in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. They've been blockaded!—Well, I should think so! A splendid fortification! Scarp and counter-scarp, everything perfect. They are besieging the house. But, my friends, we have to demolish the Bastille, and not construct another like it. I don't know what your enemies will think, but it is in any case dangerous to your friends: I've just gotten my feet tangled up in your strings, and I almost stayed where I was.—This cask won't stand. You must put back the paving-blocks.
THE CARPENTER. Do you work as well as you talk?
DESMOULINS [gaily, as he takes up a block]. I can work, too. [From the top of the barricade, where he now stands, he can touch the window of the house. A light is seen moving inside. DESMOULINS looks at it.] She is there!
THE OLD BOURGEOIS. Provost Flesselles is a traitor. He pretends to be one of us, but he's in communication with Versailles.
THE MASON. He's the one who organized the Bourgeois Militia; it pretends to defend us, but it tries to tie our hands. They're all Judases, ready to sell us.
THE CARPENTER. That only teaches us not to depend on any one but ourselves. But I've known that for a long while. [During the above, CAMILLE lightly taps the window, and calls "Lucile!" The light disappears, and the window opens. LUCILE'S pretty face, with her lovely teeth and winning smile, appear at the window. Each puts his fingers to his mouth, a warning to be careful. They converse by means of lovers' signs. Each time the workers false their heads from the barricade and look in her direction, Lucile quickly shuts the window. But two workingmen catch sight of her.]
A WORKINGMAN [pointing to DESMOULINS]. What's he doing anyway?
SECOND WORKINGMAN. The little fellow's in love. Don't bother him!
FIRST WORKINGMAN. He'll fight all the better for it. The rooster will defend his hen. [They continue working, from time to time glancing up good-naturedly at the lovers. But they always observe caution, in order not to interrupt them.]
LUCILE [in an undertone]. What are you doing there?