Granoux arrived at about nine o’clock, quite out of breath.  He had just left a sitting of the Municipal Council which had been hastily summoned together.  Choking with emotion, he announced that the mayor, Monsieur Garconnet, had declared, while making due reserves, that he was determined to preserve order by the most stringent measures.  However, the intelligence which caused the noisiest chattering in the yellow drawing-room was that of the resignation of the sub-prefect.  This functionary had absolutely refused to communicate the despatches of the Minister of the Interior to the inhabitants of Plassans; he had just left the town, so Granoux asserted, and it was thanks to the mayor that the messages had been posted.  This was perhaps the only sub-prefect in France who ever had the courage of his democratic opinions.

Although Monsieur Garconnet’s firm demeanour caused the Rougons some secret anxiety, they rubbed their hands at the flight of the sub-prefect, which left the post vacant for them.  It was decided on this memorable evening that the yellow drawing-room party should accept the Coup d’Etat and openly declare that it was in favour of accomplished facts.  Vuillet was commissioned to write an article to that effect, and publish it on the morrow in the “Gazette.”  Neither he nor the marquis raised any objection.  They had, no doubt, received instructions from the mysterious individuals to whom they sometimes made pious allusions.  The clergy and the nobility were already resigned to the course of lending a strong hand to the victors, in order to crush their common enemy, the Republic.

While the yellow drawing-room was deliberating on the evening in question, Aristide was perspiring with anxiety.  Never had gambler, staking his last louis on a card, felt such anguish.  During the day the resignation of his chief, the sub-prefect, had given him much matter for reflection.  He had heard him repeat several times that the Coup d’Etat must prove a failure.  This functionary, endowed with a limited amount of honesty, believed in the final triumph of the democracy, though he had not the courage to work for that triumph by offering resistance.  Aristide was in the habit of listening at the doors of the Sub-Prefecture, in order to get precise information, for he felt that he was groping in the dark, and clung to the intelligence which he gleaned from the officials.  The sub-prefect’s opinion struck him forcibly; but he remained perplexed.  He thought to himself:  “Why does the fellow go away if he is so certain that the prince-president will meet with a check?” However, as he was compelled to espouse one side or the other, he resolved to continue his opposition.  He wrote a very hostile article on the Coup d’Etat, and took it to the “Independant” the same evening for the following morning’s issue.  He had corrected the proofs of this article, and was returning home somewhat calmed, when, as he passed along the Rue de la Banne, he instinctively raised his head and glanced at the Rougons’ windows.  Their windows were brightly lighted up.