Harry had difficulty in making them talk, and at first could obtain only sullen monosyllables.

His dress and appearance showed him to belong to the hated classes, and set them against him at once; but when he said that he was English, and that in England people were watching with great interest what was passing in France, they had no hesitation in speaking.
Harry's motives in endeavouring to find out what were the feelings of the people at large, were not those of mere curiosity.

He was now much attached to the marquis and his family; and the reports which came from all parts of France, as well as from Paris, together with the talk among the visitors at the chateau, convinced him that the state of affairs was more serious than the marquis was inclined to admit.

The capture of the Bastille and the slaughter of its defenders--the massacres of persons obnoxious to the mob, not only in the streets of Paris but in those of other great towns, proved that the lower class, if they once obtained the upper hand, were ready to go all lengths; while the number of the nobility who were flocking across the frontier showed that among this body there existed grievous apprehensions as to the future.
Harry had read in a book in the library of the chateau an account of the frightful excesses perpetrated by the Jacquerie.

That dreadful insurrection had been crushed out by the armour-clad knights of France; but who was to undertake the task should such a flame again burst out?
The nobles no longer wore armour, they had no armed retainers; they would be a mere handful among a multitude.