"i tell thee," said madame, extending her right hand, for emphasis, "that although it is a long time on the road, it is on the road and coming. i tell thee it never retreats, and never stops. i tell thee it is always advancing. look around and consider the lives of all the world that we know, consider the faces of all the world that we know, consider the rage and discontent to which the jacquerie addresses itself with more and more of certainty every hour. can such things last? bah! i mock you."