Chapter 1
Volume 3: 3: Marius · Book 4: 4: The Friends of the Abc
1: A Group Which Almost Became Historic
Chapter 1Visible text2 paragraphs
AT that period, apparently indifferent, something of a revolutionary thrill was vaguely felt, Whispers coming from the depths of '89 and of '92 were in the air. Young Paris was, excuse the expression, in the process of moulting. People were transformed almost without suspecting it, by the very movement of the time. The hand which moves over the dial moves also among souls. Each one took the step forward which was before him, Royalists became liberals, liberals became democrats.
It was like a rising tide, complicated by a thousand ebbs; the peculiarity of the ebb is to make mixtures; thence very singular combinations of ideas; men worshipped at the same time Napoleon and liberty. We are now writing history. These were the mirages of that day. Opinions pass through phases.