She wanted him to learn how fickle was the multitude.
"It's all a piece with their mirror," continued the lawyer.

"What a fuss they made about that broken glass! You know that Rougon is quite capable of having fired his gun at it just to make believe there had been a battle." Pierre restrained a cry of pain.

What! they did not even believe in his mirror now! They would soon assert that he had not heard a bullet whiz past his ear.

The legend of the Rougons would be blotted out; nothing would remain of their glory.

But his torture was not at an end yet.
The groups manifested their hostility as heartily as they had displayed their approval on the previous evening.