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Show -32- "Ladies and gentlemen - " He paused? and the crowd quieted. "ladies and gentlemen - if there are any present " The jeers of the crswd now redoubled. The Professor found himself joining in, indignant and disgusted? From then on the governor's attempt to address the crowd dissolved into a caca-phony of booes and catcalls. Once; when he could be heard, the governor announced that he had been elected by the people? and that he was only exercising the will of the people? with which the crowd began to chant: "We are the people! We are the people," over and over, "we are the people! We are the peopleF" The Professor, although still angry, did not join in? He observed the governor as closely as he could at the distance and believed he saw a similar anger and disgust on his face. It was the kind of c&nfrontatiifcn the Professor had read about? but had never before experienced in person. He thought: Corio-lanus! He thought of certain renaissance tyrants beseiged in their castles? He did not think: Oedipus! The governor stood a few moments? the frozen smile still on his face as the chanting continued; then he turned abruptly; gestured at the senator as if to say: "These are your people! I hope you take pleasure in them!" Then he ran? almost dancing up the stairs? where he was again dwarfed by the tall doors? now held open for him by two police guards? The governor's departure was the climax of the afternoon? The senator finished his speech, others followed? the letter |
