THE SWINDLERS [_mysteriously shaking their bags of silver under the noses of the passers-by_]. Fine Sunday morning! Ten o'clock and the garden is full! What will it be soon?--Fine show and a small crop! They're here to get the latest news.--Oh, if you only know how to go about it--! GONCHON [_to the shopkeepers_]. Now, you fellows, stir yourselves, stir yourselves! Business isn't everything. Of course, business must be carried on, but we must be good patriots, too. Keep your eyes open. I warn you, things are beginning to happen! A SHOPKEEPER. Do you know something, Monsieur Gonchon? GONCHON. Careful. Grain is coming. Every one at his post. When the moment comes, give it to those idiots, and howl all together. A SHOPKEEPER. Long live the Nation! GONCHON [_hitting him_]. Shut up, you fool. "Long live the Due d'Orléans!" Then, if you like, both. CAMILLE DESMOULINS [_who has just come from a gambling-den--excited, laughing and stammering_]. Plucked! They've cleaned me!--I knew it: I said to myself, "Camille, you're going to get plucked." Now you're satisfied! It's done. Well, I don't have it to do over again. I always foresee the stupid things I am going to do. Thank God, I don't lack a single--anyway, I've killed two hours. What news from Versailles?--Oh, the rascal! They are thick as thieves at a fair. The gambling-dens advertise, "You come in to pass the time." You've got to occupy your hands and the rest! That is why cards and women were invented. They can relieve you of useless money. Now my pockets weigh nothing at all! Who wants to see a brand-new purse? Oh, there's not a piece left. WOMEN [_mocking him_]. "They stir you up, up, up, they'll stir you up." CAMILLE DESMOULINS. You bats of Venus, you're very proud, indeed, to have swindled a poor devil like me! But, Good God, he's not angry with you. "I'd lose it again if I had it to lose." AN OLD BOURGEOIS. The gambler's purse has no strings. GONCHON. Young man, I see you are in trouble. To oblige you, I will lend you three écus on that chain. DESMOULINS. Generous Gonchon, do you want to strip me naked like St. John? Leave that to the ladies: they will do very well without your assistance. GONCHON. You little guttersnipe, do you know whom you are addressing? DESMOULINS. Gonchon--merely Gonchon! You are a jeweler, usurer, vendor of lemonade, and keeper of a brothel. You are everything: Gonchon, king of the gambling-den keepers. GONCHON. What do you mean by your "gambling-dens"? I have merely founded clubs where, under the pretext of enjoying themselves by honest and natural means, men may gather and discuss methods of reforming the State. They are assemblies of free citizens, patriots-- DESMOULINS. Where does the _Patrie_ come in? GONCHON. The Society of the Men of Nature-- DESMOULINS. Women of Nature! GONCHON. A very bad joke. If you haven't enough shame to respect a respectable man, you might at least respect the sign beneath the egis of which stands my house.