"I say no step backward!" A lull gave him the attention of the room. "We must advance or perish. If we lack in daring, we deserve to perish. The Revolution, comrades, as I see it, is not against an unworthy king or any king: it is to reconstruct society. Citoyens, there is but one true end: the Nation must be one family. No more classes, no more titles, no more king, no more first estate, no more third estate. We are brothers, brothers all in one family--France!" "There's the word!" Javogues cried, amid the salvo of glasses and bravos that acclaimed the speaker. "And out with all lying, plotting priests!" A chorus approved. "Right!" "That's it!" "Now you're talking!" "Curse the blackcoats!" "What has kept us down all these centuries? What? Tell me that! The Church! What has been the ally of the aristocrats? The Church! What taught us to be content with our lot, with fetters, with a crust, with the yoke of taxation? The Church!" "Aye, the Church!" "Down with it!" "Down with the lie!" "Bah, the Church! the Church! I too was fool enough to believe in it." Javogues swept his huge fist over their heads, and crashing it upon the table, shouted, "There is no God!" A few mumbled approval, more laughed, while one voice cried: "There he is again, with his God!" "I tell you, it is with such superstitions that they enslave us!" Javogues drew back, defiant and aroused, and assembling his anger, he thundered again, as though to bear down all opposition, "There is no God!" The laughter increased, while another scoffer cried: "Well, if there is, he does us little good." To this all agreed. Barabant, smiling, added: "Citoyen, one thing at a time. Let us depose Capet first." They arose amid laughter, Javogues's protests lost in the confusion. Barabant, impelled to enthusiasm by the ardor of these laborers, opened his arms and exclaimed: "Comrades, when Frenchmen are united, we fear no foreigner. What nation has ever fraternized as we? We all are brothers, all working for the great end. When we grumble at delays, let us not forget what the Revolution has made us!" Then the voice of Javogues arose: "Brothers, before we separate, let us embrace!" With one impulse, such as countless times animated the populace in these days of exaltation, the group fell into one another's arms. Javogues, extending his hands covered with soot, exclaimed: "Glorious emblems!" Barabant echoed the cry, but as they moved off he surreptitiously brushed away the stains, asking, to distract his companion's attention: "And Dossonville, did you get him?" "He escaped--for the time." "Are you sure it was he? Did you see him again?" "What difference does it make whether I saw him or not?" Javogues answered impatiently. "I know he was there." "How?" Barabant asked, in astonishment. "By the look in his eyes the day I met him. That is all I need to tell an aristocrat!"