(In which Stephen is idealistic and Camille thinks you can win debates with sex)
Stephen Maturin is a medical student in Paris when the revolution comes, but he is young and idealistic and not yet tired enough of corpses for his blood not to be fired by cries for more. He is in the crowd when Camille Desmoulins stands on a table and speaks against the Bastille - and then the Bastille is torn down. It is amazing how quickly things can happen when the people are angry and wronged.
Camille Desmoulins has been trained as a lawyer to drag out cases as long as possible in order to extract the maximum fee from his clients, so he, too, is amazed at the speed with which his words set the crowd in motion. The faces there are not only the poor and downtrodden, either; some are of students (they are involved in damn near everything) with nothing to complain of but a lack of amusement.
M. Desmoulins is not much older than Stephen; he could do something like this in Ireland, perhaps, but he will be a doctor, not a lawyer, and Ireland's ills are not so great as France's.
The republic cannot run on youthful idealism alone; they will have to win over the old politicians, Mirabeau and the others. Camille fears he is already becoming too cynical.
---
Stephen came for the university education, but stays for the republic. I will not deny that I was attracted not a little to Citizen Desmoulins's person, but it is his rhetoric that moves me more, he writes in his diary.
Camille keeps his old habits, despite becoming famous overnight. He sees no reason to be virtuous, even in a republic of virtue; the pantheon of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity would get a bit crowded if you added Sobriety and Chastity.
They meet a few times at the Cordeliers Club, in passing, but one debate runs into the small hours of the night, and everyone else is gone.
Camille sighs. "It's no use. To be honest, I couldn't care less. But call her Mother of Liberty or something, at least try to reconcile it with Max's thing, it'll be better for you in the long run."
Stephen is very tense. "But why should it matter what a man believes in private, his personal devotions, as long as he acts in a way befitting a citizen of France?"
"You are not a citizen of France."
"Can I not speak for men other than myself, as you do?"
They are at an impasse. With the sudden energy of frustration, Camille leans over, takes Stephen's chin in his hand and kisses him on the mouth; this has worked surprisingly well in the past.
Stephen is not sure what to think. He realizes that he is still attracted to Camille, but does not want him this way, when they barely know each other and are both tired and frustrated. Everything he knows is starting to subtly shift; a completely new dimension has been added to his relationship with a man he considered a fellow revolutionary and personal inspiration, whose private self is very different from his public one. He does not know where he stands. And he does not want it, but it surprises him how much he needs Camille. All this passes through his mind in an instant, and he shifts violently to kiss Camille and run his fingers in his hair.
Camille twists a little (everyone does that, it is starting to get annoying, he has to do something about his hair) and slides his other hand up the back of Stephen's neck. He is not in the mood for sex, but he has the experience to know that that is where this is going. It will be very awkward in future, and if he wanted to do this he would feel like he was taking advantage of Stephen, but he can be comfortable with the way it is now. He is rather a slut, but he has his principles (cousins aside, nothing could induce him to go to bed with Saint-Just).
They kiss for a while, silently, feeling their way blind, until Camille is half-standing, half-kneeling in Stephen's lap and Stephen has a fist made in his hair to pull him down. Camille puts his cheek to Stephen's and says in his ear "Do you want to continue this elsewhere?" - back to his chambers across the river, the usual location for such rendez-vous.
Stephen looks at him acutely. "The debate, Citizen Desmoulins." - not quite a question.
Camille stands, throws up his hands. True, it was underhanded of him to avoid the question that way, but he had hoped Stephen would let it go. "No, forget it, good night Etienne." He does not feel like going home now, and heads towards his empty chambers, shown out by the very discreet porter of the Cordeliers Club.
Stephen lets himself out a little later by another door. It is curious how he misses the physical contact now that is is gone. After that, he knows Camille much better than before, and does love him a little for it.
Camille thinks that Stephen has not yet realized that people are not their ideals. Perhaps this will have shown him something.
