De Flue [to the Swiss Guards]. Arrest him!
Béquart and the Pensioners [to the Swiss Guards]. No, comrades, not that! Don't arrest him!
A Swiss Guard [trying to pass]. That was the command.
Béquart and the Pensioners. Don't you dare go, or you'll have us to deal with!
Vintimille [watching them, aside]. Ah, ha! [Aloud.] Good! [To de Launey.] Don't insist.
A Swiss Guard [entering from the exterior court, to de Launey]. Monseigneur, there is an immense crowd coming out of the Rue Saint-Antoine. They have taken the Invalides, and are dragging along twenty cannon.
De Flue. The devil! But we must decide now, or everything will be spoiled. Let us rout the band, or they will defeat us. [Great clouds of smoke roll up above the outer walls.]
De Launey. What is that smoke?
A Swiss Guard. They've fired the outlying buildings.
De Launey. Scoundrels! So they want a pitiless warfare? They shall have it.
De Flue. Shall we fire?
De Launey. Wait—
De Flue. For what, in the name of God?
De Launey [with a questioning look at Vintimille]. Monsieur de Vintimille.
Vintimille [rather scornfully]. I told you what I thought. Do as you like. One word of advice: whatever you decide on, don't change it.
