Summertime Sadness

ll kill him. The revolution has come to an end!"

Outside the window, a few cruel-faced delegates on horseback passed by. The women heard these ruffians proclaim Andre and his companions as outlaws, to be executed without trial.

With great effort, they supported each other and made their way to a building across from the H?tel de Ville, where they gazed through the window and witnessed the people inside, seated around a long table, engaged in intense debates by the flickering candlelight.

The command for the uprising from the H?tel de Ville was delayed. Approaching the early hours of the morning, raindrops started to fall again, and the troops began to disperse.

Philippe followed Andre to the floor-to-ceiling window, standing tall with their heads held high, gazing at the rain outside. Gunshots and clamour resounded once more as the H?tel de Ville was breached, and the troops of the National Convention stormed up the stairs.

She saw the two figures by the window engaged in an agitated argument. Andre reached out to grasp his friend''s hand, and then she saw Philippe, with a resolute gaze, raise the pistol to his own temple. With a single gunshot, his body fell heavily at the feet of the young man he had been loyal to. A trickle of crimson-black blood slowly flowed from his forehead to the ground.

Aunt Adele immediately fainted.

Andre was not surprised, only looked down at his friend sorrowfully, then lifted his head to meet her gaze through the curtain of rain. Tears blurred her vision as his handsome figure trembled hazily in her eyes.

Inside the H?tel de Ville, the chaotic struggle had come to an end, leaving behind a graveyard-like silence. Several soldiers carrying long rifles swaggered forward.

One of the guards, sporting a small, upturned mustache, smirked in Andre''s direction, puckering his lips. "Quenet chose himself a fine spot, I suppose he finds it rather comfortable there."

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