The sitting of the 1st of December, which was exceedingly peaceable, and had been devoted to a discussion on the municipal law, had finished late, and was terminated by a Tribunal vote.  At the moment when M. Baze, one of the Questors, ascended the Tribune to deposit his vote, a Representative, belonging to what was called “Les Bancs Elyseens” approached him, and said in a low tone, “To-night you will be carried off.”  Such warnings as these were received every day, and, as we have already explained, people had ended by paying no heed to them.  Nevertheless, immediately after the sitting the Questors sent for the Special Commissary of Police of the Assembly, President Dupin being present.  When interrogated, the Commissary declared that the reports of his agents indicated “dead calm”—­such was his expression—­and that assuredly there was no danger to be apprehended for that night.  When the Questors pressed him further, President Dupin, exclaiming “Bah!” left the room.

On that same day, the 1st December, about three o’clock in the afternoon, as General Leflo’s father-in-law crossed the boulevard in front of Tortoni’s, some one rapidly passed by him and whispered in his ear these significant words, “Eleven o’clock—­midnight.”  This incident excited but little attention at the Questure, and several even laughed at it.  It had become customary with them.  Nevertheless General Leflo would not go to bed until the hour mentioned had passed by, and remained in the Offices of the Questure until nearly one o’clock in the morning.

The shorthand department of the Assembly was done out of doors by four messengers attached to the Moniteur, who were employed to carry the copy of the shorthand writers to the printing-office, and to bring back the proof-sheets to the Palace of the Assembly, where M. Hippolyte Prevost corrected them.  M. Hippolyte Prevost was chief of the stenographic staff, and in that capacity had apartments in the Legislative Palace.  He was at the same time editor of the musical feuilleton of the Moniteur.  On the 1st December he had gone to the Opera Comique for the first representation of a new piece, and did not return till after midnight.  The fourth messenger from the Moniteur was waiting for him with a proof of the last slip of the sitting; M. Prevost corrected the proof, and the messenger was sent off.  It was then a little after one o’clock, profound quiet reigned around, and, with the exception of the guard, all in the Palace slept.  Towards this hour of the night, a singular incident occurred.  The Captain-Adjutant-Major of the Guard of the Assembly came to the Major and said, “The Colonel has sent for me,” and he added according to military etiquette, “Will you permit me to go?” The Commandant was astonished.  “Go,” he said with some sharpness, “but the Colonel is wrong to disturb an officer on duty.”  One of the soldiers on guard, without understanding the meaning of the words, heard the Commandant pacing up and down, and muttering several times, “What the deuce can he want?”