But even if he were a murderer, he was certainly not a vulgar one.
Then, too, came another personage of the drama which was about to be performed--deputy Vignon, whose arrival agitated the various groups.

The two ministers looked at him, whilst he, at once surrounded by his friends, smiled at them from a distance.

He was not yet thirty-six.

Slim, and of average height, very fair, with a fine blond beard of which he took great care, a Parisian by birth, having rapidly made his way in the government service, at one time Prefect at Bordeaux, he now represented youth and the future in the Chamber.

He had realised that new men were needed in the direction of affairs in order to accomplish the more urgent, indispensable reforms; and very ambitious and intelligent as he was, knowing many things, he already had a programme, the application of which he was quite capable of attempting, in part at any rate.