He is good at talking, no one
will deny that; but for myself I would rather that we kept among ourselves
and had nothing to do with such cattle, who have no interest in the
privileges of the guilds, and who take part with us no one knows why. But
I am sleepy; that bundle of fresh rushes in the corner is yours, I got
them in the hay-market to-day when I heard that you were coming. You can
keep beside me to-morrow morning and I will get you a good place in the
ranks. From whence shall I say that you come, as many will ask the
question, seeing that your face is strange?"
"You can say I am from Nancy."
"Yes, that will be good enough; that is the right quarter of France for a
man to have come from just at present."
Guy was thoroughly fatigued with the long excitement of the day. At eleven
in the morning everything had been going on as usual, now Dame Margaret
and the two children were in hiding, her four men-at-arms fugitives, and
Paris was virtually in a state of insurrection against the royal
authority, stirred up thereto by the Duke of Burgundy, who had thus openly
leagued himself with the scum of Paris. That what he had seen that evening
was but the beginning of a series of crimes, Guy could not doubt; and
although this man had expressed his confidence in the power of the market-
men to sweep the craftsmen out of Paris, he felt sure from what he had
heard, that this could not be done until a fierce and doubtful battle had
been fought in the streets.
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