Then seeing that the young man remained silent:  “Do you hear?” she added, in a lower and more eager tone; “it is necessary for our sake, and for your own, too, that it should be done.  Don’t let us have any more nonsense and folly.  You’ve already compromised yourself enough in that way.”

The young man made a gesture—­the gesture of a Caesar crossing the Rubicon—­and by doing so escaped entering into any verbal engagement.  As he was about to withdraw, his mother, looking for the knot in his sling, remarked:  “First of all, you must let me take off this rag.  It’s getting a little ridiculous, you know!”

Aristide let her remove it.  When the silk handkerchief was untied, he folded it neatly and placed it in his pocket.  And as he kissed his mother he exclaimed:  “Till to-morrow then!”

In the meanwhile, Rougon was taking official possession of the mayor’s offices.  There were only eight municipal councillors left; the others were in the hands of the insurgents, as well as the mayor and his two assessors.  The eight remaining gentlemen, who were all on a par with Granoux, perspired with fright when the latter explained to them the critical situation of the town.  It requires an intimate knowledge of the kind of men who compose the municipal councils of some of the smaller towns, in order to form an idea of the terror with which these timid folk threw themselves into Rougon’s arms.  At Plassans, the mayor had the most incredible blockheads under him, men without any ideas of their own, and accustomed to passive obedience.  Consequently, as Monsieur Garconnet was no longer there, the municipal machine was bound to get out of order, and fall completely under the control of the man who might know how to set it working.  Moreover, as the sub-prefect had left the district, Rougon naturally became sole and absolute master of the town; and thus, strange to relate, the chief administrative authority fell into the hands of a man of indifferent repute, to whom, on the previous evening, not one of his fellow-citizens would have lent a hundred francs.

Pierre’s first act was to declare the Provisional Commission “en permanence.”  Then he gave his attention to the organisation of the national guard, and succeeded in raising three hundred men.  The hundred and nine muskets left in the cart-shed were also distributed to volunteers, thereby bringing up the number of men armed by the reactionary party to one hundred and fifty; the remaining one hundred and fifty guards consisted of well-affected citizens and some of Sicardot’s soldiers.  When Commander Roudier reviewed the little army in front of the town-hall, he was annoyed to see the market-people smiling in their sleeves.  The fact is that several of his men had no uniforms, and some of them looked very droll with their black hats, frock-coats, and muskets.  But, at any rate, they meant well.  A guard was left at the town-hall and the rest of the forces were sent in detachments to the various town gates.  Roudier reserved to himself the command of the guard stationed at the Grand’-Porte, which seemed to be more liable to attack than the others.