“I have never seen any thing like this. How fickle public opinion is,
after all! Day before yesterday M. de Boiscoran could not have passed
through the town without being mobbed. If he should show himself to-day,
they would carry him in triumph. He has been condemned, and now he is
a martyr. It is known already that the sentence is void, and they are
delighted. My sisters have just told me that the ladies in good society
propose to give to the Marchioness de Boiscoran and to Miss Chandore
some public evidence of their sympathy. The members of the bar will give
M. Folgat a public dinner.”
“Why that is monstrous!” cried M. Galpin.
“Well,” said M. Daubigeon, “‘the opinions of men are more fickle and
changeable than the waves of the sea.’”