"True," he said; "I found their names and ordered that they should be admitted if they returned." "General, I cannot say whether the others will do so, but I doubt if Charras will." "Why not?" "Because I hear he was killed over in the direction of la Grève." "Killed?" he exclaimed. "Ah! poor young fellow!" "It is not surprising, General; ... there was warm work there!" "Were you there?" "Yes, indeed! but only for a short time." "What are you intending to do to-morrow?" "I confess, General, that was the very question I was going to put to you." The general leant on my arm and took a few steps forward, as though to get out of sight of his two companions. "I mean to leave the députies," he said; "there is nothing to be done with them." "Then why not move without them?" "Let people drive me to it and I am ready to act." "Shall I repeat that to my friends?" "You may." "Adieu, General!" He kept hold of my arm. "Don't get yourself killed...." "I will try not." "In any case, no matter how things turn out, manage to let me see you again." "I can't promise you that, General, unless...." "Come, come," the general said; "_au revoir!_" And he went into his house. I ran off to Étienne Arago, No. 10 rue de Grammont. All the Revolutionary leaders were gathered at his house. The day had been a hard one, but, thanks to Joubert's library, to Charles Teste's _Petite-Jacobinière_ and to Coste, who had spent between three and four thousand francs in buying bread and wine to distribute among the fighters, the insurrection had spread to all parts of the town. I told Étienne I had seen the general and reported what he had said, word for word. "Come, let us go to the _National_!" he said. And to the _National_ we went. Taschereau was busy preparing to make a sublime forgery: he and Charles Teste and Béranger concocted a Provisional Government composed of La Fayette, Gérard and the Duc de Choiseul. He did still more: he issued a proclamation which he signed with their three names. He had first chosen Laffey de Pompières as the third member of their Government, but Béranger had had this name erased in order to substitute that of the Duc de Choiseul in its stead. Thus, besides preparing the Revolution by his chansons, Béranger took an active part in it personally. We shall soon see that he was the principal agent in its denouement. Next day, the list of the Provisional Government was to be stuck up on all the walls of Paris, and the first proclamation of this Government was to appear in the _Constitutionnel._ I need hardly say that the honest _Constitutionnel_ was sincere, and that it thought Taschereau's three calligraphic attempts were authentic and legal signatures. Thereupon, I entered my lodgings with an easier mind: as I was quite knocked up with my day's work, I slept as sound as a top through the tolling of Notre-Dame and the intermittent popping of belated stray shots. CHAPTER VIII