some three hours, he had plenty of shouting and weeping and sen-
timental company, and throughout Defarge held him by the col-
lar, as if to restrain him from flying at the objects of his brief de-
votion and tearing them to pieces.

'Bravo!' said Defarge, clapping him on the back when it was
over, like a patron; 'you are a good boy!'

The mender of roads was now coming to himself, and was mis-
trustful of having made a mistake in his late demonstrations; but
no.

'You are the fellow we want,' said Defarge, in his ear; 'you make
these fools believe that it will last for ever. Then, they are the
more insolent, and it is the nearer ended.'

'Hey!' cried the mender of roads, reflectively; 'that's true.'

'These fools know nothing. While they despise your breath, and
would stop it for ever and ever, in you or in a hundred like you
rather than in one of their own horses or dogs, they only know
what your breath tells them. Let it deceive them, then, a little
longer; it cannot deceive them too much.'

Madame Defarge looked superciliously at the client, and nodded
in confirmation.

'As to you,' said she, 'you would shout and shed tears for any-
thing, if it made a show and a noise. Say! Would you not?'

'Truly, madame, I think so. For the moment.'

'If you were shown a great heap of dolls, and were set upon them
to pluck them to pieces and despoil them for your own advantage,
you would pick out the richest and gayest. Say! Would you not?'

'Truly yes, madame.'

'Yes. And if you were shown a flock of birds, unable to fly, and
were set upon them to strip them of their feathers for your own
advantage, you would set upon the birds of the finest feathers:
would you not?'

'It is true, madame.'

'You have seen both dolls and birds to-day,' said Madame De-
farge, with a wave of her hand towards the place where they had
last been apparent; 'now, go home!'

-171-