“It was rather silly of you to hesitate,” replied Pierre, who was shaving.  “Every one would do the same in our place.”

That morning—­it was a Wednesday—­he was particularly careful about his toilet.  His wife combed his hair and tied his cravat, turning him about like a child going to a distribution of prizes.  And when he was ready, she examined him, declared that he looked very nice, and that he would make a very good figure in the midst of the serious events that were preparing.  His big pale face wore an expression of grave dignity and heroic determination.  She accompanied him to the first landing, giving him her last advice:  he was not to depart in any way from his courageous demeanour, however great the panic might be; he was to have the gates closed more hermetically than ever, and leave the town in agonies of terror within its ramparts; it would be all the better if he were to appear the only one willing to die for the cause of order.

What a day it was!  The Rougons still speak of it as of a glorious and decisive battle.  Pierre went straight to the town-hall, heedless of the looks or words that greeted him on his way.  He installed himself there in magisterial fashion, like a man who did not intend to quit the place, whatever might happen.  And he simply sent a note to Roudier, to advise him that he was resuming authority.

“Keep watch at the gates,” he added, knowing that these lines might become public:  “I myself will watch over the town and ensure the security of life and property.  It is at the moment when evil passions reappear and threaten to prevail that good citizens should endeavour to stifle them, even at the peril of their lives.”  The style, and the very errors in spelling, made this note—­the brevity of which suggested the laconic style of the ancients—­appear all the more heroic.  Not one of the gentlemen of the Provisional Commission put in an appearance.  The last two who had hitherto remained faithful, and Granoux himself, even, prudently stopped at home.  Thus Rougon was the only member of the Commission who remained at his post, in his presidential arm-chair, all the others having vanished as the panic increased.  He did not even deign to issue an order summoning them to attend.  He was there, and that sufficed, a sublime spectacle, which a local journal depicted later on in a sentence:  “Courage giving the hand to duty.”

During the whole morning Pierre was seen animating the town-hall with his goings and comings.  He was absolutely alone in the large, empty building, whose lofty halls reechoed with the noise of his heels.  All the doors were left open.  He made an ostentatious show of his presidency over a non-existent council in the midst of this desert, and appeared so deeply impressed with the responsibility of his mission that the doorkeeper, meeting him two or three times in the passages, bowed to him with an air of mingled surprise and respect.  He was seen, too, at every window, and, in spite of the bitter cold, he appeared several times on the balcony with bundles of papers in his hand, like a busy man attending to important despatches.