Each person was taking that step in advance which he was bound to take.The Royalists were becoming liberals，liberals were turning democrats.It was a flood tide complicated with a thousand ebb movements；the peculiarity of ebbs is to create intermixtures；hence the combination of very singular ideas；people adored both Napoleon and liberty.We are making history here.
These were the mirages of that period.Opinions traverse phases.
Voltairian royalism，a quaint variety，had a no less singular sequel，Bonapartist liberalism.
Other groups of minds were more serious.
In that direction，they sounded principles，they attached themselves to the right.They grew enthusiastic for the absolute，they caught glimpses of infinite realizations；the absolute，by its very rigidity，urges spirits towards the sky and causes them to float in illimitable space.There is nothing like dogma for bringing forth dreams.
And there is nothing like dreams for engendering the future.
Utopia to-day，flesh and blood to-morrow.
These advanced opinions had a double foundation.
A beginning of mystery menaced'the established order of things，'which was suspicious and underhand.
A sign which was revolutionary to the highest degree.
The second thoughts of power meet the second thoughts of the populace in the mine.
The incubation of insurrections gives the retort to the premeditation of coups d'etat.
There did not，as yet，exist in France any of those vast underlying organizations，like the German tugendbund and Italian Carbonarism；but here and there there were dark underminings，which were in process of throwing off shoots.
The Cougourde was being outlined at Aix；there existed at Paris，among other affiliations of that nature，the society of the Friends of the A B C.
What were these Friends of the A B C？
A society which had for its object apparently the education of children，in reality the elevation of man.
They declared themselves the Friends of the A B C，——the Abaisse，——the debased，——that is to say，the people.
They wished to elevate the people.
It was a pun which we should do wrong to smile at.Puns are sometimes serious factors in politics；witness the Castratus ad castra，which made a general of the army of Narses；witness：Barbari et Barberini；witness：
Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram，etc.，etc.
The Friends of the A B C were not numerous，it was a secret society in the state of embryo，we might almost say a coterie，if coteries ended in heroes.
They assembled in Paris in two localities，near the fish-market，in a wine-shop called Corinthe，of which more will be heard later on，and near the Pantheon in a little cafe in the Rue Saint-Michel called the Cafe Musain，now torn down；the first of these meeting-places was close to the workingman，the second to the students.
The assemblies of the Friends of the A B C were usually held in a back room of the Cafe Musain.
This hall，which was tolerably remote from the cafe，with which it was connected by an extremely long corridor，had two windows and an exit with a private stairway on the little Rue des Gres.
There they smoked and drank，and gambled and laughed.
There they conversed in very loud tones about everything，and in whispers of other things.An old map of France under the Republic was nailed to the wall，——a sign quite sufficient to excite the suspicion of a police agent.
The greater part of the Friends of the A B C were students，who were on cordial terms with the working classes.
Here are the names of the principal ones.
They belong，in a certain measure，to history：
Enjolras，Combeferre，Jean Prouvaire，Feuilly，Courfeyrac，Bahorel，Lesgle or Laigle，Joly，Grantaire.
These young men formed a sort of family，through the bond of friendship.
All，with the exception of Laigle，were from the South.
This was a remarkable group.
It vanished in the invisible depths which lie behind us.
At the point of this drama which we have now reached，it will not perhaps be superfluous to throw a ray of light upon these youthful heads，before the reader beholds them plunging into the shadow of a tragic adventure.
Enjolras，whose name we have mentioned first of all，——the reader shall see why later on，——was an only son and wealthy.
Enjolras was a charming young man，who was capable of being terrible.He was angelically handsome.
He was a savage Antinous.
One would have said，to see the pensive thoughtfulness of his glance，that he had already，in some previous state of existence，traversed the revolutionary apocalypse.
He possessed the tradition of it as though he had been a witness.
He was acquainted with all the minute details of the great affair.
A pontifical and warlike nature，a singular thing in a youth.
He was an officiating priest and a man of war；from the immediate point of view，a soldier of the democracy；above the contemporary movement，the priest of the ideal.
His eyes were deep，his lids a little red，his lower lip was thick and easily became disdainful，his brow was lofty.
A great deal of brow in a face is like a great deal of horizon in a view.
Like certain young men at the beginning of this century and the end of the last，who became illustrious at an early age，he was endowed with excessive youth，and was as rosy as a young girl，although subject to hours of pallor.Already a man，he still seemed a child.
His two and twenty years appeared to be but seventeen；he was serious，it did not seem as though he were aware there was on earth a thing called woman.He had but one passion——the right；but one thought——to overthrow the obstacle.
On Mount Aventine，he would have been Gracchus；in the Convention，he would have been Saint-Just.He hardly saw the roses，he ignored spring，he did not hear the carolling of the birds；the bare throat of Evadne would have moved him no more than it would have moved Aristogeiton；he，like Harmodius，thought flowers good for nothing except to conceal the sword.He was severe in his enjoyments.
He chastely dropped his eyes before everything which was not the Republic.
