“And why not?”
“Why not?”
“Ay! Didn’t you tell me the other day, there was no one so mean, if we succeed, he may not rise to the top? nor any one so great he may not fall to the bottom?”
“Well?”
“That’s what I like about it.”
“Well, it’s true, anyway; Henriot”—he was on a favourite topic and thought to reinstate himself by long words—“Henriot, who was but a poor pike-keeper, came to be general of the National Guard and Master of Paris. Tallien, the son of a footman, ruled a province. Ney—you’ve heard of Ney?—who began as a cooper, was shot as a Marshal with a score of orders on his breast and as much thought of as a king! That’s what happens if we succeed.”
“And some came down?” she said, smacking her lips.
“Plenty.”
“And women too?”
“Yes.”