DESMOULINS [_without looking_]. What sign? "The Forty Thieves"? GONCHON [_furiously_]. "The Great Necker"! DESMOULINS. That is rather hard on him, Gonchon. [_He looks at the sign._] What is on the other side? GONCHON. Nothing. DESMOULINS. I see another picture. GONCHON. The Duc d'Orléans--two sides of the same head. DESMOULINS. The front and the back! [_The bystanders laugh._ GONCHON, _with his associates, advances upon_ DESMOULINS.] Very well! I advise you not to drive me to crush you with my Pretorian Guard! Do you want a certificate of citizenship? Oh, Janus Gonchon, I make you a present of it. You give bread to every sneak in Paris, and take it from the honest people, so that they have only one desire: to go and fight. _Audax et edax._ Long live the Revolution! GONCHON. I forgive you, because it wouldn't do to duel with the enemy at our gates, but I'll meet you soon before the men of Versailles. DESMOULINS. Are they really coming? GONCHON. Ah, you turn pale?--Yes, the struggle is at hand. The mercenaries from Lorraine and Flanders are in the Plain of Grenelle, the artillery at Saint-Denis; the German cavalry at the Ecole militaire. The Marshal, with all his aides-de-camp, is giving orders for war at Versailles. They are going to attack tonight. A WOMAN. Good God, what will becomes of us? A BOURGEOIS. The bandits! They treat us like enemies! A WORKINGMAN [_to_ GONCHON]. How do you know that? The road to Versailles is cut off. They've stationed cannon at the Pont de Sèvres. No one can pass. GONCHON. Suspicious, eh? I'll make the first man who doubts my patriotism swallow my fist. Don't you know Gonchon? THE WORKINGMAN. We don't suspect you.--Don't get excited.--We've too much to do to get into a quarrel with you. We only asked you where you got your information? GONCHON. You haven't the right to ask me. I know what I know. I have a way of knowing. ANOTHER WORKINGMAN [_to the First_]. Let him alone; he's all right. A BOURGEOIS. Lord, what shall we do? A STUDENT. TO the gates! Everybody to the gates! Don't let them in! A BOURGEOIS. As if they could stop them! Poor people like ourselves, without arms! What do they know of war! Can they keep out the best troops of the kingdom? ANOTHER. They're in already! And there's the Bastille; it's like a cancer--incurable! A WORKINGMAN. The vile monster! Who will free us? A STUDENT. They've already made a company of Swiss Guards retreat today. ANOTHER. Their cannon are in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. A WORKINGMAN. Can't do a thing while we have this bit in our mouths. We've got to take it out first. A BOURGEOIS. How? A WORKINGMAN. I don't know how, but it's got to be done. ALL [_seriously and incredulously_]. Take the Bastille? [_They turn to one another_.] NEWS-CRIERS [_in the distance_]. Latest news! Desperate struggle! A MAN [_shabby and pale, with the air of a maniac_]. We haven't anything to fear from the soldiers. They won't attack. A STUDENT. What!