"And then Saint-Just decided to say something which wasn't terribly nice about how touchy Billaud-Varenne seemed to be - almost as if he felt he was doing something wrong - and Collot d'Herbois started shrieking 'Tyrant! Dictators!' - and, that historian from a hundred years later would like to eagerly add, he may have been foaming at the mouth, because that's what these people do, you know - and Maxime was just wondering how their nice dinner had turned into this, though he was not really very surprised. And lo! Barere looked up and disclaimed any responsibility for it, and no one was surprised..."