THE MAN. I've got to kill him! VINTIMILLE. What's this! THE MAN [_held back by_ HULIN, _says to_ VINTIMILLE]. Get out! Why did you come here, anyway? I was happy, I didn't realize how poor I was. I was free, master of everything. You remind me that I'm hungry, that I haven't a thing, that I don't belong to myself, that a filthy scoundrel can be my master by means of a little money that makes a slave of me because I need it. You've spoiled all my happiness. Get out! VINTIMILLE. What a to-do for so little! Who gives a damn about your scruples? I'm not asking anything of you. Take it! THE MAN. I'd rather starve.--You give it to me, Hulin. [VINTIMILLE _gives the money to_ HULIN, _who drops his hand. The money falls to the ground, and_ THE MAN _picks it up._] HULIN. Where are you going? THE MAN. Get drunk--and forget. VINTIMILLE. Forget what? THE MAN. That I'm not free. Dirty scoundrel! [_He goes out_.] VINTIMILLE. The pest! There's nothing quite so bad as a rascal like that who develops his self-respect, and is without means to preserve it. Good evening, my boy, and thank you. HULIN. Thank you. I didn't mention your name, because you'd never have escaped alive. It would have been disloyal of me, and I am an honest man. Anyway, I dislike violence, and I don't believe in revolution. But I am not one of you, and I don't care to bring harm to my comrades. What are you doing here? VINTIMILLE. You are inquisitive! HULIN. I beg your pardon, but you are playing with death. Do you realize how people hate you? VINTIMILLE. I have just been to see my mistress. Shall I change my habits for the sake of two or three madmen? HULIN. There are more than you imagine. VINTIMILLE. So much the better. The more numerous and insolent they are, the better, say I. HULIN. Better for whom? VINTIMILLE. For us. Our age is rotten with sentimentality. You don't dare do a thing. One dare not give an order for fear of offending this damned liberty of the populace--and shedding a few drops of blood. This effeminacy is the cause of all the disorders of the kingdom. The only cure for so much evil is more evil. A good uprising is what we need. That will be a splendid reason and pretext for putting them in their place. We are ready. We can do it in a day, and we won't be troubled again for a good fifty years with these insane ravings of philosophers and cheap lawyers. HULIN. So then, a revolution would do that for you? You don't object to the people having a grand butchery? A few crimes, eh? VINTIMILLE. Why not? Something that will create quite a disturbance. HULIN. What if they began with you? VINTIMILLE. The idea! HULIN. Do you know what I'd like to do this instant? VINTIMILLE. No. HULIN. Don't provoke me! VINTIMILLE. But you wouldn't do anything, my friend. You are an honest man! HULIN. What do you know about that? I said I was; I was boasting. VINTIMILLE. No, no, but you are now. Even if you had said nothing, I could have seen it in your face.