ROBESPIERRE [_pretending to be convinced, and speaking with a mixture of sincerity and hypocrisy_]. It is true he never spoke for The Mountain when it was attacked. SAINT-JUST. No, but he did for Dumouriez, and the generals who were his accomplices. The Jacobins defended him; you, too, Robespierre. But when you were accused, did he say a word? ROBESPIERRE. No, and when he saw me deserted, a victim of the slanders of the Gironde, he said to his friends: "Since he wishes to ruin himself, let him! Let us not share his lot!" But do not drag me into the discussion. BILLAUD-VARENNE. You yourself told me, Robespierre, that he did all he could to save the Girondins, and to strike Hanriot, who arrested the traitors. ROBESPIERRE. That is true. SAINT-JUST. And you told me, Robespierre, that he was base enough to confess his embezzlements, and Fabre's--his secretary--during his brief administration as Minister of Justice. ROBESPIERRE. I don't deny that. SAINT-JUST. He was Lafayette's friend. Mirabeau bought him. He corresponded with Dumouriez and Wimpfen. He flattered Orléans. Every enemy of the Revolution was on familiar terms with him. ROBESPIERRE. You must not exaggerate! SAINT-JUST. You yourself told me. I should never have known otherwise. ROBESPIERRE. Of course, but-- BILLAUD-VARENNE [_violently_]. Do you deny it? ROBESPIERRE. I cannot. Danton was an assiduous member of those Royalists gatherings, where Orléans himself mixed the punch. Fabre and Wimpfen, too, were present. They tried to bring the Deputies of the Mountain, to seduce and compromise them. But that was of no importance. BILLAUD-VARENNE. On the contrary! It was high treason. Out and out conspiracy! ROBESPIERRE. I have just thought of a small detail. It seems that lately he boasted that if he were accused he would throw the blame on us for the Dauphin affair. BILLAUD-VARENNE. The blackguard! Did he say that? And you defend him? ROBESPIERRE. Westermann just left this room. He threatened me with Danton, and an uprising. BILLAUD-VARENNE. And we sit here talking! The marauders are still at large! ROBESPIERRE. Do you want him? SAINT-JUST. The nation wants him. VADIER [_aside_]. The hypocrite! He wants him, too! But we must persuade him! ROBESPIERRE. He was a great man. At least, he had the air of a great man, and at times he even seemed a good and virtuous man. SAINT-JUST. Nothing so resembles virtue as a great crime. VADIER [_sarcastically_]. You will deliver his funeral oration later on, Maximilien. But now let us bring down the beast. SAINT-JUST. Vadier, you must respect death. VADIER. But the little fellow is still alive. SAINT-JUST. Danton is already doomed. BILLAUD-VARENNE. Who will take it upon himself to accuse him? VADIER. Saint-Just. The young man does it so well. Every sentence of his is as good as a stroke of the guillotine. SAINT-JUST. It would give me great pleasure to attack the monster.