'Who but the people?'
'And is he so very bad?'
'He is one of the famine-mongers,' answered Pierre; 'he has made a vast fortune out of speculations in corn. He is a man who has fattened on our misery. He was one who sought to drive the king to massacre his people. He supplied the troops with an incredible number of cartridges, with which he designed that the canaille of Paris should be swept away.'
'And if they catch him, Pierre, what will they do with him?'
The other shrugged his shoulders.
'For my part,' said the innkeeper, 'I don't like popular judgments. Let us have criminals tried by the proper courts.'
'But how so, when the judges are the culprits?'
'I don't like it,' repeated the host.
'Suppose the innkeepers all sold bad wine, and the wine-drinkers rose in a body and produced a notorious adulterator of grape-juice, would they be satisfied with the judgment upon him pronounced by a committee of peculating taverners, eh?'