[_There crosses the stage a float upon which is fixed a miniature guillotine._ THE CROWD Ha! ha! _Vive la Guillotine!_ A MAN _Vive les noyades!_ DE VARDES Cold Are thy baths, O Apollo! [_Enter red-bonneted men and women dragging a tumbril in which are heaped spoils of the church,—broken images, crucifixes, candelabra, chalices, patens, etc._ THE CROWD Ha—h—h! DE VARDES Jesu! [_He crosses himself._ [_Music. The great tricolour flag of the Republic is borne across the stage._ THE CROWD _La patrie! Vive la patrie!_ DE VARDES France! France! [_Stately music. Enter young men in Greek dress, bearing a gilded framework upon which is fixed a tall flambeau, wreathed with flowers. They advance and place the structure before the church steps._ A PEASANT Brave! But what is it? ANOTHER The torch of Reason! The Goddess lights it,—then we worship her! A THIRD No, we worship Reason! THE SECOND ‘Tis the same thing! [_Enter young girls clad in white, linked together with tricolour ribbons and carrying osier baskets from which they scatter flowers. They are followed by children swinging censers, then by a shouting throng drawing a triumphal car upon which sits the Goddess of Reason. She is clothed in a white tunic and a blue mantle; upon her loosened hair is a wreath of oak leaves and she has in her hand a light spear._ THE CROWD Reason! Reason!—Yvette! Yvette! DE VARDES Mon Dieu! [_The car stops._ YVETTE _rises_. THE CROWD _Vive la déesse! Vive Yvette!_ (LALAIN _comes forward_.) _Vive Lalain!_ LALAIN