ABSTRACT
Departures leave vacancies, and peripheral figures began to rise higher in the city of Paris. Marat, still pretending to be pursued by the forces of Lafayette, had completed a remarkable transformation, one that amounted to an almost theatrical change accomplished in full public view. Once a well-known physician on the fringes of society, acceptable enough to meet some of the leading scientists of the day, he had operated, says Madame Roland, out of "a very nice drawing room upholstered in blue and white damask . . . decorated with elegantly draped silk curtains, a brilliant chandelier, and superb porcelain vases filled with rare and expensive flowers. . . ."
