The Pensioners. He's touching the pike. He has the paper.
Béquart [standing upright]. There! [Looking at the People.] Pigs! [He raises his arms and shouts.] Long live the Nation! [He falls back, struck by a bullet.]
The Pensioners. Pigs! They've killed him! [Two of them go to Béquart's body, and bring it down to the center of the stage, laying it at Vintimille's feet.]
Vintimille [looking at the body with a mixture of irony and sympathy]. Honor? To what end?
The Pensioners. Listen! [Outside is heard the shout of the People accepting the conditions, and the Pensioners repeat:] Accepted!
Vintimille [with indifference]. Inform Monsieur le Gouverneur.
The Pensioners. Monseigneur, he's gone crazy: he's broken all the furniture in his room. He cries like a baby.
Vintimille [with a shrug]. Well, I shall take his place to the end. [To himself, with a touch of ironic bitterness.] I never thought I should one day have the honor of giving up the royalty of France with these four-century-old walls into the hands of the lawyers. A beautiful duty! To think I should come to this! Well, nothing matters; everything passes, and everything ends. Death settles all accounts. Now we'll give them a little comedy—with the grand manner at the last. [Aloud.] Fall in! Form in line! [The garrison falls into rank; the Pensioners on the right,
