On 11 March the young people had organised a masquerade which represented the Budget and the two supplementary Trusts, New regulations forbade this masquerade; but ancient custom had prevailed over new rules, and the masquerade procession had--left Grenoble by the gate of France and was making straight for the Esplanade, where General Saint-Clair was to hold a review of the garrison exactly at that hour. The general was aware of the interdiction against the masquerade; but, like a sensible man, he pretended not to see it. Unluckily, M. Maurice Duval, préfet of Isère, was less tolerant. It was the same M. Maurice Duval whom we shall meet again three or four months later, talking to Madame la duchesse de Berry with his hat on his head. M. Maurice Duval, furious that the young folk of the town had transgressed the order, requested M. de Saint-Clair to make the soldiers take up arms. The result of this order was that when our masqueraders wanted to re-enter the town they found not only that the gate was shut, but also that behind each closed gate were a hundred or so of grenadiers waiting for them, armed to the teeth. The masqueraders, who were not above ten or twelve, could not believe in such an exhibition of force; consequently they marched resolutely upon the grenadiers, who fixed their bayonets. Unfortunately the crowd which followed them thought it was a joke, as they did, and determined to enter also; there were horsemen and carriages among them, but the grenadiers thought of nothing but their orders, and stood firm. The crowd, pushed upon the bayonets, began to complain that these were entering their bodies. The complaints were succeeded by cries of "Down with the grenadiers!" and showers of stones followed this cry. A collision seemed imminent. Colonel Bosonier l'Espinasse took upon himself to command that the gates be opened. The grenadiers withdrew; the crowd was swallowed up in the town, and, in the midst of this commotion, the masqueraders, the first cause of all the uproar, disappeared. Instead of being satisfied with this ending, which conciliated everybody, M. Maurice Duval protested against the weak giving in, and made out that the Government would fall into contempt if he did not take his revenge. A masked ball was announced for the night; M. Maurice Duval forbade it. The mayor, a sensible man, rushed to the préfecture and pointed out to M. Maurice Duval that if they were deprived of a pleasure upon which they were counting, this interdict would produce the very worst effect on people whose heads were already excited. "What of that?" returned M. Duval, so one was told. "What of that? Why, there will be a riot!" "Good! the rioters will fling stones at the soldiers; but, if they fling stones, the soldiers will put bullets into them, that is all." This retort, the truth of which there is nothing to establish, spread throughout the town.