LOUIS DUVAL.




 CHAPTER II.

 SCENES IN THE STREETS.

 EARLIER on that same April day, in a different quarter
 of Paris, were to be seen crowds of working men,
 haggard, unshaven, ragged, and for the most part
 dirty. Many were barefoot, others wore sabots.
 There were women, too, with shrunken cheeks, and
 tattered garments. And there were children, clinging
 to their mothers, crying for food.
 Some of the men were talking loudly and fiercely,
 and their gestures were very fierce also. Others
 looked downcast and sullen. The women, too, were
 adding their shrill voices to the uproar, and throwing
 up their bare arms. It was painful to see them thus
 excited, and shocking it was to hear the dreadful
 words they uttered.
 There was a cause for all this. It was in a quarter
of Paris where there were several manufactories, and
the houses around were crowded with workpeople.
Now they had nothing to do, for some of the factories
were entirely, and others were partly closed. Worse
than this, the people had nothing to eat, and hunger
had driven or was driving them to desperation. They
cursed the government, which, they said, had brought
ruin upon the country, and they were angry with their
employers, who had dismissed them from work.
 This was not the first day that the poor starving
people had met in large numbers in this part of Paris;
but day after day, as more workmen were thrown out
of employ, and as the sufferings of others increased,