'Mon Dieu! it came into my head. It seemed so probable. It entirely deceived the Intendant.' 'And you received money from M. Berthier!' 'If I had not done so, he would have mistrusted me. Now that I have taken his gold, he believes implicitly in me.' 'I do not like this,' said the colporteur; 'my dear sister, you have not acted rightly; you have told falsehoods, and----' 'My faith!' exclaimed madame, with a scream, as she backed her chair across the room; 'you have a conscience, and you my brother! Oh, mon Dieu! that I should have lived to discover it. Étienne, it will never do; catch it, kill it.' CHAPTER XXIX. The Court party had concerted a scheme of revenge upon the Commons for their act of the 23rd June. The queen sent for her favourite minister, the Baron de Breteuil. He had been minister of state in 1783, and had had charge of the king's house, an important post, for the _lettres de cachet_ fell to this department. The baron had quarrelled with Calonne, whom the queen detested. That was one reason why she confided in his judgment. Troops were massed about Versailles and Paris; fifteen regiments, for the most part composed of foreign mercenaries, were encamped around the capital. The Royal Cravate was at Charenton, Reinach and Diesbach at Sèvres, Nassau at Versailles, Salis-Samode at Issy, the hussars of Berchenay at the Military School; at other stations were the regiments of Esterhazy, Roemer, &c. There were as many as 30,000 men in and around Paris. Sentinels occupied every bridge, every avenue. The old Marshal de Broglie received the command in chief, the Baron de Besenval received that of the troops surrounding the capital. Mirabeau thought that the only sure means of intimidating the court was to discuss publicly the measures which it was adopting. He interrupted the business of the constitution by a proposal that the king should send away the troops. 'Sire,' said Mirabeau, 'in the midst of your subjects, be guarded only by their love.' He pointed out that every day fresh bodies of soldiers were arriving, that the bridges and promenades were changed into military posts, that the sight of adjutants dashing about with orders and counter-orders despatched from the palace or from the house of the Marshal de Broglie at all moments of the day, gave to the town the appearance of being the seat of war. 'More soldiers are shown us menacing the nation,' said he, 'than would be marched against an invading foe, and a thousand times more than would be assembled to succour friends martyred for their fidelity.' The address to the king, proposed by Mirabeau, was carried all but unanimously, four voices alone being found to oppose it. The answer of the king was equivocal.