Among a closely packed throng bent on amusement the sombrely-clad figure of a young man, with the appearance of a student or of a journalist, would easily pass unperceived.
But somehow, after the first ten minutes spent in de Batz' company within the gloomy shelter of the small avant-scene box, Armand already repented of the impulse which had prompted him to come to the theatre to-night, and to renew acquaintanceship with the ex-officer of the late King's Guard.

Though he knew de Batz to be an ardent Royalist, and even an active adherent of the monarchy, he was soon conscious of a vague sense of mistrust of this pompous, self-complacent individual, whose every utterance breathed selfish aims rather than devotion to a forlorn cause.
Therefore, when the curtain rose at last on the first act of Moliere's witty comedy, St.Just turned deliberately towards the stage and tried to interest himself in the wordy quarrel between Philinte and Alceste.
But this attitude on the part of the younger man did not seem to suit his newly-found friend.

It was clear that de Batz did not consider the topic of conversation by any means exhausted, and that it had been more with a view to a discussion like the present interrupted one that he had invited St.Just to come to the theatre with him to-night, rather than for the purpose of witnessing Mlle.

Lange's debut in the part of Celimene.
The presence of St.Just in Paris had as a matter of fact astonished de Batz not a little, and had set his intriguing brain busy on conjectures.
It was in order to turn these conjectures into certainties that he had desired private talk with the young man.
He waited silently now for a moment or two, his keen, small eyes resting with evident anxiety on Armand's averted head, his fingers still beating the impatient tattoo upon the velvet-covered cushion of the box.

Then at the first movement of St.Just towards him he was ready in an instant to re-open the subject under discussion.
With a quick nod of his head he called his young friend's attention back to the men in the auditorium.
"Your good cousin Antoine St.Just is hand and glove with Robespierre now," he said.