Granoux was swelling with importance.
He was the only one who had seen the insurgent pull the trigger and smash the mirror; this sufficed to exalt him, and almost made him burst his skin.

On leaving the drawing-room, he took Roudier's arm with the air of a great general who is broken down with fatigue.

"I've been up for thirty-six hours," he murmured, "and heaven alone knows when I shall get to bed!" Rougon, as he withdrew, took Vuillet aside and told him that the party of order relied more than ever on him and the "Gazette." He would have to publish an effective article to reassure the inhabitants and treat the band of villains who had passed through Plassans as it deserved.
"Be easy!" replied Vuillet.

"In the ordinary course the 'Gazette' ought not to appear till to-morrow morning, but I'll issue it this very evening." When the leaders had left, the rest of the visitors remained in the yellow drawing-room for another moment, chattering like so many old women, whom the escape of a canary has gathered together on the pavement.

These retired tradesmen, oil dealers, and wholesale hatters, felt as if they were in a sort of fairyland.