“And how are things here?” I question in turn. “But first of all are you still a Minister?”
“I? Oh! I am nobody! Odilon Barrot is President of the Council and Minister of the Interior.”
“And Marshal Bugeaud?”
“He has also been replaced by Marshal Gerard. But that is nothing. The Chamber has been dissolved, the King has abdicated and is on his way to Saint Cloud, and the Duchess d’Orleans is Regent. Ah! the tide is rising, rising, rising!”
M. Thiers advises us, M. Ernest Moreau and me, to come to an understanding with M. Odilon Barrot. Action by us in our quarter, which is such an important one, can be of very great utility. We therefore set out for the Ministry of the Interior.
The people have invaded the Ministry and crowded it to the very office of the Minister, where a not over respectful crowd comes and goes. At a large table in the middle of the vast room secretaries are writing. M. Odilon Barrot his face red, his lips compressed and his hands behind his back, is leaning against the mantelpiece.
“You know what is going on, do you not?” he says when he sees us; “the King has abdicated and the Duchess d’Orleans is Regent.”
“If the people so wills,” says a man in a blouse who is passing.
The Minister leads us to the recess of a window, looking uneasily about him as he does so.
“What are you going to do? What are you doing?” I query.