with his blood,--his only son went to war; he did more, he signed them
with the prosperity of his life,--last sacrifice of self. Nephew and
sole heir of the curate of Blangy, the then all-powerful tribune might
have enforced his rights and recovered the property left by the priest
to his pretty servant-girl, Arsene; but he respected his uncle's
wishes and accepted poverty, which came upon him as rapidly as the
fall of his cherished republic came upon France.

Never a farthing's worth, never so much as the branch of a tree
belonging to another passed into the hands of this notable republican,
who would have made the republic acceptable to the world if he and
such as he could have guided it. He refused to buy the national
domains; he denied the right of the Republic to confiscate property.
In reply to all demands of the committee of public safety he asserted
that the virtue of citizens would do for their sacred country what low
political intriguers did for money. This patriot of antiquity publicly
reproved Gaubertin's father for his secret treachery, his underhand
bargaining, his malversations. He reprimanded the virtuous Mouchon,
that representative of the people whose virtue was nothing more nor
less than incapacity,--as it is with so many other legislators who,
gorged with the greatest political resources that any nation ever
gave, armed with the whole force of a people, are still unable to
bring forth from them the grandeur which Richelieu wrung for France
out of the weakness of a king. Consequently, citizen Niseron became a
living reproach to the people about him. They endeavored to put him
out of sight and mind with the reproachful remark, "Nothing satisfies
that man."

The patriot peasant returned to his cot at Blangy and watched the
destruction, one by one, of his illusions; he saw his republic come to