It was not until the news arrived of the rising of the rural districts that he recovered hope.

For his own part he would not have left Plassans for all the world; accordingly he invented some pretext for not following those workmen who, on the Sunday morning, set off to join the insurrectionary band of La Palud and Saint-Martin-de-Vaulx.
On the evening of the same day he was sitting in some disreputable tavern of the old quarter with a few friends, when a comrade came to inform him that the insurgents were only a few miles from Plassans.

This news had just been brought by an express, who had succeeded in making his way into the town, and had been charged to get the gates opened for the column.

There was an outburst of triumph.

Macquart, especially, appeared to be delirious with enthusiasm.