“We must make a clean sweep of everything,” Charvet would curtly say, as though he were delivering a blow with a cleaver.  “The trunk is rotten, and it must come down.”

“Yes! yes!” cried Logre, standing up that he might look taller, and making the partition shake with the excited motion of his hump.  “Everything will be levelled to the ground; take my word for it.  After that we shall see what to do.”

Robine signified approval by wagging his beard.  His silence seemed instinct with delight whenever violent revolutionary propositions were made.  His eyes assumed a soft ecstatic expression at the mention of the guillotine.  He half closed them, as though he could see the machine, and was filled with pleasant emotion at the sight; and next he would gently rub his chin against the knob of his stick, with a subdued purr of satisfaction.

“All the same,” said Florent, in whose voice a vague touch of sadness lingered, “if you cut down the tree it will be necessary to preserve some seed.  For my part, I think that the tree ought to be preserved, so that we may graft new life on it.  The political revolution, you know, has already taken place; to-day we have got to think of the labourer, the working man.  Our movement must be altogether a social one.  I defy you to reject the claims of the people.  They are weary of waiting, and are determined to have their share of happiness.”

These words aroused Alexandre’s enthusiasm.  With a beaming, radiant face he declared that this was true, that the people were weary of waiting.

“And we will have our share,” added Lacaille, with a more menacing expression.  “All the revolutions that have taken place have been for the good of the middle classes.  We’ve had quite enough of that sort of thing, and the next one shall be for our benefit.”

From this moment disagreement set in.  Gavard offered to make a division of his property, but Logre declined, asserting that he cared nothing for money.  Then Charvet gradually overcame the tumult, till at last he alone was heard speaking.

“The selfishness of the different classes does more than anything else to uphold tyranny,” said he.  “It is wrong of the people to display egotism.  If they assist us they shall have their share.  But why should I fight for the working man if the working man won’t fight for me?  Moreover, that is not the question at present.  Ten years of revolutionary dictatorship will be necessary to accustom a nation like France to the fitting enjoyment of liberty.”

“All the more so as the working man is not ripe for it, and requires to be directed,” said Clemence bluntly.