On one side the Army, on the other side the People, the darkness over all.

The species of truce which always precedes decisive encounters drew to a close.  The preparations were completed on both sides.  The soldiers could be heard forming into order of battle, and the captains giving out their commands.  It was evident that the struggle was at hand.

“Let us begin,” said Charpentier; and he raised his gun.

Denis held his arm back.  “Wait,” he said.

Then an epic incident was seen.

Denis slowly mounted the paving-stones of the barricade, ascended to the top, and stood there erect, unarmed and bareheaded.

Thence he raised his voice, and, facing the soldiers, he shouted to them, “Citizens!”

At this word a sort of electric shudder ensued which was felt from one barricade to the other.  Every sound was hushed, every voice was silent, on both sides reigned a deep religious and solemn silence.  By the distant glimmer of a few lighted windows the soldiers could vaguely distinguish a man standing above a mass of shadows, like a phantom who was speaking to them in the night.

Denis continued,—­

“Citizens of the Army!  Listen to me!”

The silence grew still more profound.

He resumed,—­

“What have you come to do here?  You and ourselves, all of us who are in this street, at this hour, with the sword or gun in hand, what are we about to do?  To kill each other!  To kill each other, citizens!  Why?  Because they have raised a misunderstanding between us!  Because we obey—­you your discipline—­we our Right!  You believe that you are carrying out your instructions; as for us, we know that we are doing our duty.  Yes! it is Universal Suffrage, it is the Right of the Republic, it is our Right that we are defending, and our Right, soldiers, is your Right.  The Army is the People, as the People is the Army.  We are the same nation, the some country, the same men.  My God!  See, is there any Russian blood in my veins, in me who am speaking to you?  Is there any Prussian blood in your veins, in you who are listening to me?  No!  Why then should we fight?  It is always an unfortunate thing for a man to fire upon a man.  Nevertheless, a gun-shot between a Frenchman and an Englishman can be understood; but between a Frenchman and a Frenchman, ah! that wounds Reason, that wounds France, that wounds our mother!”

All anxiously listened to him.  At this moment from the opposite barricade a voice shouted to him,—­

“Go home, then!”

At this coarse interruption an angry murmur ran through Denis’s companions, and several guns could be heard being loaded.  Denis restrained them by a sign.

This sign possessed a strange authority.

“Who is this man?” the combatants behind the barricade asked each other.  Suddenly they cried out,—­

“He is a Representative of the People!”