This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 edition. Excerpt: ... BOOK THE SECOND. THE PUBLIC-HOUSE OF THE RUE DU PAON. CHAPTER I. MINOS, DEGREESEACUS, AND RHADAMANTHUS. There was a public-house in the Rue du Paon which was called a cafe. This cafe had a back room, which is to-day historical. It was there that often, almost secretly, met certain men, so powerful and so constantly watched that-they hesitated to speak with one another in public. It was there that on the 23d of October, 1792, the Mountain and the Gironde exchanged their famous kiss. It was there that Garat, although he does not admit it in his Memoirs, came for information on that lugubrious night when, after having put Claviere in safety in the Rue de Beaune, he stopped his carriage on the Pont Royal to listen to the tocsin. On the 28th of June, 1793, three men were seated about a table in this back chamber. Their chairs did not touch; they were placed one on either of the three sides of the table, leaving the fourth vacant. It was about eight o'clock in the evening; it was still light in the street, but dark in the back room, and a lamp, hung from a hook in the ceiling--a luxury there--lighted the table. .-. The first of these three men was pale, young, grave, with thin lips and a cold glance. He had a nervous, movement in his cheek, which must have made it difficult for him to smile. He wore his hair powdered; he was gloved; his light-blue coat, well brushed, was without a wrinkle, carefully buttoned. He wore nankeen breeches, white stockings, a high cravat, a plaited shirt-frill, and shoes with silver buckles. Of the other two men, one was a species of giant, the other a sort of dwarf. The tall one was untidily dressed in a coat of scarlet cloth, his neck bare, his unknotted cravat falling down over his shirt-frill, his vest gaping f