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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Historical Mystery, by Honore de Balzac
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: An Historical Mystery
+
+Author: Honore de Balzac
+
+Translator: Katharine Prescott Wormeley
+
+Release Date: March, 1998  [Etext #1678]
+Posting Date: February 28, 2010
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers, Dagny, and Bonnie Sala
+
+
+
+
+
+AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY
+
+(The Gondreville Mystery)
+
+
+By Honore De Balzac
+
+
+
+Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley
+
+
+
+
+                              DEDICATION
+
+                       To Monsieur de Margone.
+
+   In grateful remembrance, from his guest at the Chateau de Sache.
+
+                              De Balzac.
+
+
+
+
+
+AN HISTORICAL MYSTERY
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I. JUDAS
+
+The autumn of the year 1803 was one of the finest in the early part of
+that period of the present century which we now call "Empire." Rain had
+refreshed the earth during the month of October, so that the trees were
+still green and leafy in November. The French people were beginning to
+put faith in a secret understanding between the skies and Bonaparte,
+then declared Consul for life,--a belief in which that man owes part of
+his prestige; strange to say, on the day the sun failed him, in 1812,
+his luck ceased!
+
+About four in the afternoon on the fifteenth of November, 1803, the sun
+was casting what looked like scarlet dust upon the venerable tops of
+four rows of elms in a long baronial avenue, and sparkling on the sand
+and grassy places of an immense _rond-point_, such as we often see in
+the country where land is cheap enough to be sacrificed to ornament. The
+air was so pure, the atmosphere so tempered that a family was sitting
+out of doors as if it were summer. A man dressed in a hunting-jacket of
+green drilling with green buttons, and breeches of the same stuff, and
+wearing shoes with thin soles and gaiters to the knee, was cleaning a
+gun with the minute care a skilful huntsman gives to the work in his
+leisure hours. This man had neither game nor game-bag, nor any of the
+accoutrements which denote either departure for a hunt or the return
+from it; and two women sitting near were looking at him as though beset
+by a terror they could ill-conceal. Any one observing the scene taking
+place in this leafy nook would have shuddered, as the old mother-in-law
+and the wife of the man we speak of were now shuddering. A huntsman does
+not take such minute precautions with his weapon to kill small game,
+neither does he use, in the department of the Aube, a heavy rifled
+carbine.
+
+"Shall you kill a roe-buck, Michu?" said his handsome young wife, trying
+to assume a laughing air.
+
+Before replying, Michu looked at his dog, which had been lying in the
+sun, its paws stretched out and its nose on its paws, in the charming
+attitude of a trained hunter. The animal had just raised its head and
+was snuffing the air, first down the avenue nearly a mile long which
+stretched before them, and then up the cross road where it entered the
+_rond-point_ to the left.
+
+"No," answered Michu, "but a brute I do not wish to miss, a lynx."
+
+The dog, a magnificent spaniel, white with brown spots, growled.
+
+"Hah!" said Michu, talking to himself, "spies! the country swarms with
+them."
+
+Madame Michu looked appealingly to heaven. A beautiful fair woman
+with blue eyes, composed and thoughtful in expression and made like an
+antique statue, she seemed to be a prey to some dark and bitter grief.
+The husband's appearance may explain to a certain extent the evident
+fear of the two women. The laws of physiognomy are precise, not only in
+their application to character, but also in relation to the destinies
+of life. There is such a thing as prophetic physiognomy. If it were
+possible (and such a vital statistic would be of value to society) to
+obtain exact likenesses of those who perish on the scaffold, the science
+of Lavatar and also that of Gall would prove unmistakably that the heads
+of all such persons, even those who are innocent, show prophetic signs.
+Yes, fate sets its mark on the faces of those who are doomed to die a
+violent death of any kind. Now, this sign, this seal, visible to the eye
+of an observer, was imprinted on the expressive face of the man with the
+rifled carbine. Short and stout, abrupt and active in his motions as a
+monkey, though calm in temperament, Michu had a white face injected
+with blood, and features set close together like those of a Tartar,--a
+likeness to which his crinkled red hair conveyed a sinister expression.
+His eyes, clear and yellow as those of a tiger, showed depths behind
+them in which the glance of whoever examined the man might lose itself
+and never find either warmth or motion. Fixed, luminous, and rigid,
+those eyes terrified whoever gazed into them. The singular contrast
+between the immobility of the eyes and the activity of the body
+increased the chilling impression conveyed by a first sight of Michu.
+Action, always prompt in this man, was the outcome of a single thought;
+just as the life of animals is, without reflection, the outcome of
+instinct. Since 1793 he had trimmed his red beard to the shape of a fan.
+Even if he had not been (as he was during the Terror) president of a
+club of Jacobins, this peculiarity of his head would in itself have
+made him terrible to behold. His Socratic face with its blunt nose was
+surmounted by a fine forehead, so projecting, however, that it overhung
+the rest of the features. The ears, well detached from the head, had the
+sort of mobility which we find in those of wild animals, which are ever
+on the qui-vive. The mouth, half-open, as the custom usually is among
+country-people, showed teeth that were strong and white as almonds, but
+irregular. Gleaming red whiskers framed this face, which was white and
+yet mottled in spots. The hair, cropped close in front and allowed to
+grow long at the sides and on the back of the head, brought into relief,
+by its savage redness, all the strange and fateful peculiarities of this
+singular face. The neck which was short and thick, seemed to tempt the
+axe.
+
+At this moment the sunbeams, falling in long lines athwart the group,
+lighted up the three heads at which the dog from time to time glanced
+up. The spot on which this scene took place was magnificently fine. The
+_rond-point_ is at the entrance of the park of Gondreville, one of the
+finest estates in France, and by far the finest in the departments of
+the Aube; it boasts of long avenues of elms, a castle built from designs
+by Mansart, a park of fifteen hundred acres enclosed by a stone wall,
+nine large farms, a forest, mills, and meadows. This almost regal
+property belonged before the Revolution to the family of Simeuse.
+Ximeuse was a feudal estate in Lorraine; the name was pronounced
+Simeuse, and in course of time it came to be written as pronounced.
+
+The great fortune of the Simeuse family, adherents of the House of
+Burgundy, dates from the time when the Guises were in conflict with
+the Valois. Richelieu first, and afterwards Louis XIV. remembered their
+devotion to the factious house of Lorraine, and rebuffed them. Then
+the Marquis de Simeuse, an old Burgundian, old Guiser, old leaguer, old
+_frondeur_ (he inherited the four great rancors of the nobility against
+royalty), came to live at Cinq-Cygne. The former courtier, rejected at
+the Louvre, married the widow of the Comte de Cinq-Cygne, younger branch
+of the famous family of Chargeboeuf, one of the most illustrious names
+in Champagne, and now as celebrated and opulent as the elder. The
+marquis, among the richest men of his day, instead of wasting his
+substance at court, built the chateau of Gondreville, enlarged the
+estate by the purchase of others, and united the several domains, solely
+for the purposes of a hunting-ground. He also built the Simeuse mansion
+at Troyes, not far from that of the Cinq-Cygnes. These two old houses
+and the bishop's palace were long the only stone mansions at Troyes. The
+marquis sold Simeuse to the Duc de Lorraine. His son wasted the father's
+savings and some part of his great fortune under the reign of Louis
+XV., but he subsequently entered the navy, became a vice-admiral, and
+redeemed the follies of his youth by brilliant services. The Marquis
+de Simeuse, son of this naval worthy, perished with his wife on the
+scaffold at Troyes, leaving twin sons, who emigrated and were, at the
+time our history opens, still in foreign parts following the fortunes of
+the house of Conde.
+
+The _rond-point_ was the scene of the meet in the time of the
+"Grand Marquis"--a name given in the family to the Simeuse who built
+Gondreville. Since 1789 Michu lived in the hunting lodge at the entrance
+to the park, built in the reign of Louis XIV., and called the pavilion
+of Cinq-Cygne. The village of Cinq-Cygne is at the end of the forest of
+Nodesme (a corruption of Notre-Dame) which was reached through the fine
+avenue of four rows of elms where Michu's dog was now suspecting spies.
+After the death of the Grand Marquis this pavilion fell into disuse. The
+vice-admiral preferred the court and the sea to Champagne, and his son
+gave the dilapidated building to Michu for a dwelling.
+
+This noble structure is of brick, with vermiculated stone-work at the
+angles and on the casings of the doors and windows. On either side is
+a gateway of finely wrought iron, eaten with rust and connected by a
+railing, beyond which is a wide and deep ha-ha, full of vigorous trees,
+its parapets bristling with iron arabesques, the innumerable sharp
+points of which are a warning to evil-doers.
+
+The park walls begin on each side of the circumference of the
+_rond-point_; on the one hand the fine semi-circle is defined by slopes
+planted with elms; on the other, within the park, a corresponding
+half-circle is formed by groups of rare trees. The pavilion, therefore,
+stands at the centre of this round open space, which extends before it
+and behind it in the shape of two horseshoes. Michu had turned the rooms
+on the lower floor into a stable, a kitchen, and a wood-shed. The only
+trace remaining of their ancient splendor was an antechamber paved with
+marble in squares of black and white, which was entered on the park side
+through a door with small leaded panes, such as might still be seen at
+Versailles before Louis-Philippe turned that Chateau into an asylum
+for the glories of France. The pavilion is divided inside by an old
+staircase of worm-eaten wood, full of character, which leads to the
+first story. Above that is an immense garret. This venerable edifice
+is covered by one of those vast roofs with four sides, a ridgepole
+decorated with leaden ornaments, and a round projecting window on each
+side, such as Mansart very justly delighted in; for in France, the
+Italian attics and flat roofs are a folly against which our climate
+protests. Michu kept his fodder in this garret. That portion of the park
+which surrounds the old pavilion is English in style. A hundred feet
+from the house a former lake, now a mere pond well stocked with fish,
+makes known its vicinity as much by a thin mist rising above the
+tree-tops as by the croaking of a thousand frogs, toads, and other
+amphibious gossips who discourse at sunset. The time-worn look of
+everything, the deep silence of the woods, the long perspective of the
+avenue, the forest in the distance, the rusty iron-work, the masses of
+stone draped with velvet mosses, all made poetry of this old structure,
+which still exists.
+
+At the moment when our history begins Michu was leaning against a
+mossy parapet on which he had laid his powder-horn, cap, handkerchief,
+screw-driver, and rags,--in fact, all the utensils needed for his
+suspicious occupation. His wife's chair was against the wall beside the
+outer door of the house, above which could still be seen the arms of the
+Simeuse family, richly carved, with their noble motto, "Cy meurs." The
+old mother, in peasant dress, had moved her chair in front of Madame
+Michu, so that the latter might put her feet upon the rungs and keep
+them from dampness.
+
+"Where's the boy?" said Michu to his wife.
+
+"Round the pond; he is crazy about the frogs and the insects," answered
+the mother.
+
+Michu whistled in a way that made his hearers tremble. The rapidity with
+which his son ran up to him proved plainly enough the despotic power of
+the bailiff of Gondreville. Since 1789, but more especially since 1793,
+Michu had been well-nigh master of the property. The terror he inspired
+in his wife, his mother-in-law, a servant-lad named Gaucher, and the
+cook named Marianne, was shared throughout a neighborhood of twenty
+miles in circumference. It may be well to give, without further delay,
+the reasons for this fear,--all the more because an account of them will
+complete the moral portrait of the man.
+
+The old Marquis de Simeuse transferred the greater part of his property
+in 1790; but, overtaken by circumstances, he had not been able to put
+the estate of Gondreville into sure hands. Accused of corresponding with
+the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince of Cobourg, the marquis and his
+wife were thrust into prison and condemned to death by the revolutionary
+tribunal of Troyes, of which Madame Michu's father was then president.
+The fine domain of Gondreville was sold as national property. The
+head-keeper, to the horror of many, was present at the execution of
+the marquis and his wife in his capacity as president of the club of
+Jacobins at Arcis. Michu, the orphan son of a peasant, showered with
+benefactions by the marquise, who brought him up in her own home and
+gave him his place as keeper, was regarded as a Brutus by excited
+demagogues; but the people of the neighborhood ceased to recognize him
+after this act of base ingratitude. The purchaser of the estate was a
+man from Arcis named Marion, grandson of a former bailiff in the Simeuse
+family. This man, a lawyer before and after the Revolution, was afraid
+of the keeper; he made him his bailiff with a salary of three thousand
+francs, and gave him an interest in the sales of timber; Michu, who was
+thought to have some ten thousand francs of his own laid by, married
+the daughter of a tanner at Troyes, an apostle of the Revolution in that
+town, where he was president of the revolutionary tribunal. This tanner,
+a man of profound convictions, who resembled Saint-Just as to character,
+was afterwards mixed up in Baboeuf's conspiracy and killed himself to
+escape execution. Marthe was the handsomest girl in Troyes. In spite of
+her shrinking modesty she had been forced by her formidable father to
+play the part of Goddess of Liberty in some republican ceremony.
+
+The new proprietor came only three times to Gondreville in the course
+of seven years. His grandfather had been bailiff of the estate under the
+Simeuse family, and all Arcis took for granted that the citizen Marion
+was the secret representative of the present Marquis and his twin
+brother. As long as the Terror lasted, Michu, still bailiff of
+Gondreville, a devoted patriot, son-in-law of the president of the
+revolutionary tribunal of Troyes and flattered by Malin, representative
+from the department of the Aube, was the object of a certain sort
+of respect. But when the Mountain was overthrown and after his
+father-in-law committed suicide, he found himself a scape-goat;
+everybody hastened to accuse him, in common with his father-in-law, of
+acts to which, so far as he was concerned, he was a total stranger. The
+bailiff resented the injustice of the community; he stiffened his back
+and took an attitude of hostility. He talked boldly. But after the
+18th Brumaire he maintained an unbroken silence, the philosophy of the
+strong; he struggled no longer against public opinion, and contented
+himself with attending to his own affairs,--wise conduct, which led his
+neighbors to pronounce him sly, for he owned, it was said, a fortune of
+not less than a hundred thousand francs in landed property. In the first
+place, he spent nothing; next, this property was legitimately acquired,
+partly from the inheritance of his father-in-law's estate, and partly
+from the savings of six-thousand francs a year, the salary he derived
+from his place with its profits and emoluments. He had been bailiff of
+Gondreville for the last twelve years and every one had estimated the
+probable amount of his savings, so that when, after the Consulate was
+proclaimed, he bought a farm for fifty thousand francs, the suspicions
+attaching to his former opinions lessened, and the community of Arcis
+gave him credit for intending to recover himself in public estimation.
+Unfortunately, at the very moment when public opinion was condoning
+his past a foolish affair, envenomed by the gossip of the country-side,
+revived the latent and very general belief in the ferocity of his
+character.
+
+One evening, coming away from Troyes in company with several peasants,
+among whom was the farmer at Cinq-Cygne, he let fall a paper on the main
+road; the farmer, who was walking behind him, stooped and picked it up.
+Michu turned round, saw the paper in the man's hands, pulled a pistol
+from his belt and threatened the farmer (who knew how to read) to blow
+his brains out if he opened the paper. Michu's action was so sudden and
+violent, the tone of his voice so alarming, his eyes blazed so savagely,
+that the men about him turned cold with fear. The farmer of Cinq-Cygne
+was already his enemy. Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, the man's employer,
+was a cousin of the Simeuse brothers; she had only one farm left for her
+maintenance and was now residing at her chateau of Cinq-Cygne. She lived
+for her cousins the twins, with whom she had played in childhood at
+Troyes and at Gondreville. Her only brother, Jules de Cinq-Cygne, who
+emigrated before the twins, died at Mayence, but by a privilege which
+was somewhat rare and will be mentioned later, the name of Cinq-Cygne
+was not to perish through lack of male heirs.
+
+This affair between Michu and the farmer made a great noise in the
+arrondissement and darkened the already mysterious shadows which seemed
+to veil him. Nor was it the only circumstance which made him feared.
+A few months after this scene the citizen Marion, present owner of the
+Gondreville estate, came to inspect it with the citizen Malin. Rumor
+said that Marion was about to sell the property to his companion, who
+had profited by political events and had just been appointed on the
+Council of State by the First Consul, in return for his services on
+the 18th Brumaire. The shrewd heads of the little town of Arcis now
+perceived that Marion had been the agent of Malin in the purchase of the
+property, and not of the brothers Simeuse, as was first supposed. The
+all-powerful Councillor of State was the most important personage in
+Arcis. He had obtained for one of his political friends the prefecture
+of Troyes, and for a farmer at Gondreville the exemption of his son from
+the draft; in fact, he had done services to many. Consequently, the sale
+met with no opposition in the neighborhood where Malin then reigned, and
+where he still reigns supreme.
+
+The Empire was just dawning. Those who in these days read the histories
+of the French Revolution can form no conception of the vast spaces which
+public thought traversed between events which now seem to have been so
+near together. The strong need of peace and tranquillity which every
+one felt after the violent tumults of the Revolution brought about a
+complete forgetfulness of important anterior facts. History matured
+rapidly under the advance of new and eager interests. No one, therefore,
+except Michu, looked into the past of this affair, which the community
+accepted as a simple matter. Marion, who had bought Gondreville for six
+hundred thousand francs in assignats, sold it for the value of a couple
+of million in coin; but the only payments actually made by Malin were
+for the costs of registration. Grevin, a seminary comrade of Malin,
+assisted the transaction, and the Councillor rewarded his help with
+the office of notary at Arcis. When the news of the sale reached the
+pavilion, brought there by a farmer whose farm, at Grouage, was situated
+between the forest and the park on the left of the noble avenue, Michu
+turned pale and left the house. He lay in wait for Marion, and finally
+met him alone in one of the shrubberies of the park.
+
+"Is monsieur about to sell Gondreville?" asked the bailiff.
+
+"Yes, Michu, yes. You will have a man of powerful influence for your
+master. He is the friend of the First Consul, and very intimate with all
+the ministers; he will protect you."
+
+"Then you were holding the estate for him?"
+
+"I don't say that," replied Marion. "At the time I bought it I was
+looking for a place to put my money, and I invested in national property
+as the best security. But it doesn't suit me to keep an estate once
+belonging to a family in which my father was--"
+
+"--a servant," said Michu, violently. "But you shall not sell it! I want
+it; and I can pay for it."
+
+"You?"
+
+"Yes, I; seriously, in good gold,--eight hundred thousand francs."
+
+"Eight hundred thousand francs!" exclaimed Marion. "Where did you get
+them?"
+
+"That's none of your business," replied Michu; then, softening his
+tone, he added in a low voice: "My father-in-law saved the lives of many
+persons."
+
+"You are too late, Michu; the sale is made."
+
+"You must put it off, monsieur!" cried the bailiff, seizing his master
+by the hand which he held as in a vice. "I am hated, but I choose to be
+rich and powerful, and I must have Gondreville. Listen to me; I don't
+cling to life; sell me that place or I'll blow your brains out!--"
+
+"But do give me time to get off my bargain with Malin; he's troublesome
+to deal with."
+
+"I'll give you twenty-four hours. If you say a word about this matter
+I'll chop your head off as I would chop a turnip."
+
+Marion and Malin left the chateau in the course of the night. Marion was
+frightened; he told Malin of the meeting and begged him to keep an eye
+on the bailiff. It was impossible for Marion to avoid delivering the
+property to the man who had been the real purchaser, and Michu did not
+seem likely to admit any such reason. Moreover, this service done by
+Marion to Malin was to be, and in fact ended by being, the origin of the
+former's political fortune, and also that of his brother. In 1806 Malin
+had him appointed chief justice of an imperial court, and after
+the creation of tax-collectors his brother obtained the post of
+receiver-general for the department of the Aube. The State Councillor
+told Marion to stay in Paris, and he warned the minister of police, who
+gave orders that Michu should be secretly watched. Not wishing to push
+the man to extremes, Malin kept him on as bailiff, under the iron rule
+of Grevin the notary of Arcis.
+
+From that moment Michu became more absorbed and taciturn than ever, and
+obtained the reputation of a man who was capable of committing a crime.
+Malin, the Councillor of State (a function which the First Consul raised
+to the level of a ministry), and a maker of the Code, played a great
+part in Paris, where he bought one of the finest mansions in the
+Faubuorg Saint-Germain after marrying the only daughter of a rich
+contractor named Sibuelle. He never came to Gondreville; leaving all
+matters concerning the property to the management of Grevin, the Arcis
+notary. After all, what had he to fear?--he, a former representative of
+the Aube, and president of a club of Jacobins. And yet, the unfavorable
+opinion of Michu held by the lower classes was shared by the
+bourgeoisie, and Marion, Grevin, and Malin, without giving any reason or
+compromising themselves on the subject, showed that they regarded him as
+an extremely dangerous man. The authorities, who were under instructions
+from the minister of police to watch the bailiff, did not of course
+lessen this belief. The neighborhood wondered that he kept his place,
+but supposed it was in consequence of the terror he inspired. It is easy
+now, after these explanations, to understand the anxiety and sadness
+expressed in the face of Michu's wife.
+
+In the first place, Marthe had been piously brought up by her mother.
+Both, being good Catholics, had suffered much from the opinions and
+behavior of the tanner. Marthe could never think without a blush of
+having marched through the street of Troyes in the garb of a goddess.
+Her father had forced her to marry Michu, whose bad reputation was
+then increasing, and she feared him too much to be able to judge him.
+Nevertheless, she knew that he loved her, and at the bottom of her heart
+lay the truest affection for this awe-inspiring man; she had never known
+him to do anything that was not just; never did he say a brutal word,
+to her at least; in fact, he endeavored to forestall her every wish. The
+poor pariah, believing himself disagreeable to his wife, spent most
+of his time out of doors. Marthe and Michu, distrustful of each other,
+lived in what is called in these days an "armed peace." Marthe, who
+saw no one, suffered keenly from the ostracism which for the last seven
+years had surrounded her as the daughter of a revolutionary butcher, and
+the wife of a so-called traitor. More than once she had overheard the
+laborers of the adjoining farm (held by a man named Beauvisage, greatly
+attached to the Simeuse family) say as they passed the pavilion, "That's
+where Judas lives!" The singular resemblance between the bailiff's head
+and that of the thirteenth apostle, which his conduct appeared to carry
+out, won him that odious nickname throughout the neighborhood. It was
+this distress of mind, added to vague but constant fears for the future,
+which gave Marthe her thoughtful and subdued air. Nothing saddens so
+deeply as unmerited degradation from which there seems no escape. A
+painter could have made a fine picture of this family of pariahs in
+the bosom of their pretty nook in Champagne, where the landscape is
+generally sad.
+
+"Francois!" called the bailiff, to hasten his son.
+
+Francois Michu, a child of ten, played in the park and forest, and
+levied his little tithes like a master; he ate the fruits; he chased
+the game; he at least had neither cares nor troubles. Of all the family,
+Francois alone was happy in a home thus isolated from the neighborhood
+by its position between the park and the forest, and by the still
+greater moral solitude of universal repulsion.
+
+"Pick up these things," said his father, pointing to the parapet, "and
+put them away. Look at me! You love your father and your mother, don't
+you?" The child flung himself on his father as if to kiss him, but Michu
+made a movement to shift the gun and pushed him back. "Very good. You
+have sometimes chattered about things that are done here," continued the
+father, fixing his eyes, dangerous as those of a wild-cat, on the boy.
+"Now remember this; if you tell the least little thing that happens here
+to Gaucher, or to the Grouage and Bellache people, or even to Marianne
+who loves us, you will kill your father. Never tattle again, and I will
+forgive what you said yesterday." The child began to cry. "Don't cry;
+but when any one questions you, say, as the peasants do, 'I don't know.'
+There are persons roaming about whom I distrust. Run along! As for you
+two," he added, turning to the women, "you have heard what I said. Keep
+a close mouth, both of you."
+
+"Husband, what are you going to do?"
+
+Michu, who was carefully measuring a charge of powder, poured it into
+the barrel of his gun, rested the weapon against the parapet and said to
+Marthe:--
+
+"No one knows I own that gun. Stand in front of it."
+
+Couraut, who had sprung to his feet, was barking furiously.
+
+"Good, intelligent fellow!" cried Michu. "I am certain there are spies
+about--"
+
+Man and beast feel a spy. Couraut and Michu, who seemed to have one and
+the same soul, lived together as the Arab and his horse in the desert.
+The bailiff knew the modulations of the dog's voice, just as the dog
+read his master's meaning in his eyes, or felt it exhaling in the air
+from his body.
+
+"What do you say to that?" said Michu, in a low voice, calling his
+wife's attention to two strangers who appeared in a by-path making for
+the _rond-point_.
+
+"What can it mean?" cried the old mother. "They are Parisians."
+
+"Here they come!" said Michu. "Hide my gun," he whispered to his wife.
+
+The two men who now crossed the wide open space of the _rond-point_ were
+typical enough for a painter. One, who appeared to be the subaltern,
+wore top-boots, turned down rather low, showing well-made calves, and
+colored silk stockings of doubtful cleanliness. The breeches, of ribbed
+cloth, apricot color with metal buttons, were too large; they were baggy
+about the body, and the lines of their creases seemed to indicate a
+sedentary man. A marseilles waistcoat, overloaded with embroidery, open,
+and held together by one button only just above the stomach, gave to the
+wearer a dissipated look,--all the more so, because his jet black hair,
+in corkscrew curls, hid his forehead and hung down his cheeks. Two steel
+watch-chains were festooned upon his breeches. The shirt was adorned
+with a cameo in white and blue. The coat, cinnamon-colored, was a
+treasure to caricaturists by reason of its long tails, which, when seen
+from behind, bore so perfect a resemblance to a cod that the name of
+that fish was given to them. The fashion of codfish tails lasted ten
+years; almost the whole period of the empire of Napoleon. The cravat,
+loosely fastened, and with numerous small folds, allowed the wearer
+to bury his face in it up to the nostrils. His pimpled skin, his long,
+thick, brick-dust colored nose, his high cheek-bones, his mouth, lacking
+half its teeth but greedy for all that and menacing, his ears adorned
+with huge gold rings, his low forehead,--all these personal details,
+which might have seemed grotesque in many men, were rendered terrible in
+him by two small eyes set in his head like those of a pig, expressive
+of insatiable covetousness, and of insolent, half-jovial cruelty. These
+ferreting and perspicacious blue eyes, glassy and glacial, might be
+taken for the model of that famous Eye, the formidable emblem of the
+police, invented during the Revolution. Black silk gloves were on his
+hands and he carried a switch. He was certainly some official personage,
+for he showed in his bearing, in his way of taking snuff and ramming it
+into his nose, the bureaucratic importance of an office subordinate,
+one who signs for his superiors and acquires a passing sovereignty by
+enforcing their orders.
+
+The other man, whose dress was in the same style, but elegant and
+elegantly put on and careful in its smallest detail, wore boots _a la_
+Suwaroff which came high upon the leg above a pair of tight trousers,
+and creaked as he walked. Above his coat he wore a spencer, an
+aristocratic garment adopted by the Clichiens and the young bloods of
+Paris, which survived both the Clichiens and the fashionable youths. In
+those days fashions sometimes lasted longer than parties,--a symptom of
+anarchy which the year of our Lord 1830 has again presented to us. This
+accomplished dandy seemed to be thirty years of age. His manners were
+those of good society; he wore jewels of value; the collar of his shirt
+came to the tops of his ears. His conceited and even impertinent air
+betrayed a consciousness of hidden superiority. His pallid face seemed
+bloodless, his thin flat nose had the sardonic expression which we see
+in a death's head, and his green eyes were inscrutable; their glance was
+discreet in meaning just as the thin closed mouth was discreet in words.
+The first man seemed on the whole a good fellow compared with this
+younger man, who was slashing the air with a cane, the top of which,
+made of gold, glittered in the sunshine. The first man might have cut
+off a head with his own hand, but the second was capable of entangling
+innocence, virtue, and beauty in the nets of calumny and intrigue, and
+then poisoning them or drowning them. The rubicund stranger would have
+comforted his victim with a jest; the other was incapable of a smile.
+The first was forty-five years old, and he loved, undoubtedly, both
+women and good cheer. Such men have passions which keep them slaves
+to their calling. But the young man was plainly without passions and
+without vices. If he was a spy he belonged to diplomacy, and did such
+work from a pure love of art. He conceived, the other executed; he was
+the idea, the other was the form.
+
+"This must be Gondreville, is it not, my good woman?" said the young
+man.
+
+"We don't say 'my good woman' here," said Michu. "We are still simple
+enough to say 'citizen' and 'citizeness' in these parts."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the young man, in a natural way, and without seeming at
+all annoyed.
+
+Players of ecarte often have a sense of inward disaster when some
+unknown person sits down at the same table with them, whose manners,
+look, voice, and method of shuffling the cards, all, to their fancy,
+foretell defeat. The instant Michu looked at the young man he felt an
+inward and prophetic collapse. He was struck by a fatal presentiment; he
+had a sudden confused foreboding of the scaffold. A voice told him that
+that dandy would destroy him, although there was nothing whatever in
+common between them. For this reason his answer was rude; he was and he
+wished to be forbidding.
+
+"Don't you belong to the Councillor of State, Malin?" said the younger
+man.
+
+"I am my own master," answered Malin.
+
+"Mesdames," said the young man, assuming a most polite air, "are we not
+at Gondreville? We are expected there by Monsieur Malin."
+
+"There's the park," said Michu, pointing to the open gate.
+
+"Why are you hiding that gun, my fine girl?" said the elder, catching
+sight of the carbine as he passed through the gate.
+
+"You never let a chance escape you, even in the country!" cried his
+companion.
+
+They both turned back with a sense of distrust which the bailiff
+understood at once in spite of their impassible faces. Marthe let them
+look at the gun, to the tune of Couraut's bark; she was so convinced
+that her husband was meditating some evil deed that she was thankful for
+the curiosity of the strangers.
+
+Michu flung a look at his wife which made her tremble; he took the
+gun and began to load it, accepting quietly the fatal ill-luck of this
+encounter and the discovery of the weapon. He seemed no longer to care
+for life, and his wife fathomed his inward feeling.
+
+"So you have wolves in these parts?" said the young man, watching him.
+
+"There are always wolves where there are sheep. You are in Champagne,
+and there's a forest; we have wild-boars, large and small game both, a
+little of everything," replied Michu, in a truculent manner.
+
+"I'll bet, Corentin," said the elder of the two men, after exchanging a
+glance with his companion, "that this is my friend Michu--"
+
+"We never kept pigs together that I know of," said the bailiff.
+
+"No, but we both presided over Jacobins, citizen," replied the old
+cynic,--"you at Arcis, I elsewhere. I see you've kept your Carmagnole
+civility, but it's no longer in fashion, my good fellow."
+
+"The park strikes me as rather large; we might lose our way. If you are
+really the bailiff show us the path to the chateau," said Corentin, in a
+peremptory tone.
+
+Michu whistled to his son and continued to load his gun. Corentin looked
+at Marthe with indifference, while his companion seemed charmed by
+her; but the young man noticed the signs of her inward distress, which
+escaped the old libertine, who had, however, noticed and feared the gun.
+The natures of the two men were disclosed in this trifling yet important
+circumstance.
+
+"I've an appointment the other side of the forest," said the bailiff. "I
+can't go with you, but my son here will take you to the chateau. How did
+you get to Gondreville? did you come by Cinq-Cygne?"
+
+"We had, like yourself, business in the forest," said Corentin, without
+apparent sarcasm.
+
+"Francois," cried Michu, "take these gentlemen to the chateau by the
+wood path, so that no one sees them; they don't follow the beaten
+tracks. Come here," he added, as the strangers turned to walk away,
+talking together as they did so in a low voice. Michu caught the boy
+in his arms, and kissed him almost solemnly with an expression which
+confirmed his wife's fears; cold chills ran down her back; she glanced
+at her mother with haggard eyes, for she could not weep.
+
+"Go," said Michu; and he watched the boy until he was entirely out
+of sight. Couraut was barking on the other side of the road in the
+direction of Grouage. "Oh, that's Violette," remarked Michu. "This is
+the third time that old fellow has passed here to-day. What's in the
+wind? Hush, Couraut!"
+
+A few moments later the trot of a pony was heard approaching.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II. A CRIME RELINQUISHED
+
+Violette, mounted on one of those little nags which the farmers in the
+neighborhood of Paris use so much, soon appeared, wearing a round hat
+with a broad brim, beneath which his wood-colored face, deeply wrinkled,
+appeared in shadow. His gray eyes, mischievous and lively, concealed
+in a measure the treachery of his nature. His skinny legs, covered with
+gaiters of white linen which came to the knee, hung rather than rested
+in the stirrups, seemingly held in place by the weight of his hob-nailed
+shoes. Above his jacket of blue cloth he wore a cloak of some coarse
+woollen stuff woven in black and white stripes. His gray hair fell in
+curls behind his ears. This dress, the gray horse with its short legs,
+the manner in which Violette sat him, stomach projecting and shoulders
+thrown back, the big chapped hands which held the shabby bridle, all
+depicted him plainly as the grasping, ambitious peasant who desires
+to own land and buys it at any price. His mouth, with its bluish lips
+parted as if a surgeon had pried them open with a scalpel, and the
+innumerable wrinkles of his face and forehead hindered the play of
+features which were expressive only in their outlines. Those hard, fixed
+lines seemed menacing, in spite of the humility which country-folks
+assume and beneath which they conceal their emotions and schemes, as
+savages and Easterns hide theirs behind an imperturbable gravity. First
+a mere laborer, then the farmer of Grouage through a long course of
+persistent ill-doing, he continued his evil practices after conquering a
+position which surpassed his early hopes. He wished harm to all men
+and wished it vehemently. When he could assist in doing harm he did it
+eagerly. He was openly envious; but, no matter how malignant he might
+be, he kept within the limits of the law,--neither beyond it nor behind
+it, like a parliamentary opposition. He believed his prosperity depended
+on the ruin of others, and that whoever was above him was an enemy
+against whom all weapons were good. A character like this is very common
+among the peasantry.
+
+Violette's present business was to obtain from Malin an extension of the
+lease of his farm, which had only six years longer to run. Jealous of
+the bailiff's means, he watched him narrowly. The neighbors reproached
+him for his intimacy with "Judas"; but the sly old farmer, wishing
+to obtain a twelve years' lease, was really lying in wait for an
+opportunity to serve either the government or Malin, who distrusted
+Michu. Violette, by the help of the game-keeper of Gondreville and
+others belonging to the estate, kept Malin informed of all Michu's
+actions. Malin had endeavored, fruitlessly, to win over Marianne, the
+Michus' servant-woman; but Violette and his satellites heard everything
+from Gaucher,--a lad on whose fidelity Michu relied, but who betrayed
+him for cast-off clothing, waistcoats, buckles, cotton socks and
+sugar-plums. The boy had no suspicion of the importance of his gossip.
+Violette in his reports blackened all Michu's actions and gave them
+a criminal aspect by absurd suggestions,--unknown, of course, to the
+bailiff, who was aware, however, of the base part played by the farmer,
+and took delight in mystifying him.
+
+"You must have a deal of business at Bellache to be here again," said
+Michu.
+
+"Again! is that meant as a reproach, Monsieur Michu?--Hey! I did not
+know you had that gun. You are not going to whistle for the sparrows on
+that pipe, I suppose--"
+
+"It grew in a field of mine which bears guns," replied Michu. "Look!
+this is how I sow them."
+
+The bailiff took aim at a viper thirty feet away and cut it in two.
+
+"Have you got that bandit's weapon to protect your master?" said
+Violette. "Perhaps he gave it to you."
+
+"He came from Paris expressly to bring it to me," replied Michu.
+
+"People are talking all round the neighborhood of this journey of his;
+some say he is in disgrace and has to retire from office; others that he
+wants to see things for himself down here. But anyway, why does he
+come, like the First Consul, without giving warning? Did you know he was
+coming?"
+
+"I am not on such terms with him as to be in his confidence."
+
+"Then you have not seen him?"
+
+"I did not know he was here till I got back from my rounds in the
+forest," said Michu, reloading his gun.
+
+"He has sent to Arcis for Monsieur Grevin," said Violette; "they are
+scheming something."
+
+"If you are going round by Cinq-Cygne, take me up behind you," said the
+bailiff. "I'm going there."
+
+Violette was too timid to have a man of Michu's strength on his crupper,
+and he spurred his beast. Judas slung his gun over his shoulder and
+walked rapidly up the avenue.
+
+"Who can it be that Michu is angry with?" said Marthe to her mother.
+
+"Ever since he heard of Monsieur Malin's arrival he has been gloomy,"
+replied the old woman. "But it is getting damp here, let us go in."
+
+After the two women had settled themselves in the chimney corner they
+heard Couraut's bark.
+
+"There's my husband returning!" cried Marthe.
+
+Michu passed up the stairs; his wife, uneasy, followed him to their
+bedroom.
+
+"See if any one is about," he said to her, in a voice of some emotion.
+
+"No one," she replied. "Marianne is in the field with the cow, and
+Gaucher--"
+
+"Where is Gaucher?" he asked.
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"I distrust that little scamp. Go up in the garret, look in the
+hay-loft, look everywhere for him."
+
+Marthe left the room to obey the order. When she returned she found
+Michu on his knees, praying.
+
+"What is the matter?" she said, frightened.
+
+The bailiff took his wife round the waist and drew her to him, saying in
+a voice of deep feeling: "If we never see each other again remember, my
+poor wife, that I loved you well. Follow minutely the instructions which
+you will find in a letter buried at the foot of the larch in that copse.
+It is enclosed in a tin tube. Do not touch it until after my death.
+And remember, Marthe, whatever happens to me, that in spite of man's
+injustice, my arm has been the instrument of the justice of God."
+
+Marthe, who turned pale by degrees, became white as her own linen; she
+looked at her husband with fixed eyes widened by fear; she tried to
+speak, but her throat was dry. Michu disappeared like a shadow, having
+tied Couraut to the foot of his bed where the dog, after the manner of
+all dogs, howled in despair.
+
+Michu's anger against Monsieur Marion had serious grounds, but it was
+now concentrated on another man, far more criminal in his eyes,--on
+Malin, whose secrets were known to the bailiff, he being in a better
+position than others to understand the conduct of the State Councillor.
+Michu's father-in-law had had, politically speaking, the confidence of
+the former representative to the Convention, through Grevin.
+
+Perhaps it would be well here to relate the circumstances which
+brought the Simeuse and the Cinq-Cygne families into connection with
+Malin,--circumstances which weighed heavily on the fate of Mademoiselle
+de Cinq-Cygne's twin cousins, but still more heavily on that of Marthe
+and Michu.
+
+The Cinq-Cygne mansion at Troyes stands opposite to that of Simeuse.
+When the populace, incited by minds that were as shrewd as they were
+cautious, pillaged the hotel Simeuse, discovered the marquis and
+marchioness, who were accused of corresponding with the nation's
+enemies, and delivered them to the national guards who took them to
+prison, the crowd shouted, "Now for the Cinq-Cygnes!" To their minds the
+Cinq-Cygnes were as guilty as other aristocrats. The brave and worthy
+Monsieur de Simeuse in the endeavor to save his two sons, then eighteen
+years of age, whose courage was likely to compromise them, had confided
+them, a few hours before the storm broke, to their aunt, the Comtesse de
+Cinq-Cygne. Two servants attached to the Simeuse family accompanied the
+young men to her house. The old marquis, who was anxious that his name
+should not die out, requested that what was happening might be concealed
+from his sons, even in the event of dire disaster. Laurence, the only
+daughter of the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne, was then twelve years of age;
+her cousins both loved her and she loved them equally. Like other twins
+the Simeuse brothers were so alike that for a long while their mother
+dressed them in different colors to know them apart. The first comer,
+the eldest, was named Paul-Marie, the other Marie-Paul. Laurence de
+Cinq-Cygne, to whom their danger was revealed, played her woman's part
+well though still a mere child. She coaxed and petted her cousins and
+kept them occupied until the very moment when the populace surrounded
+the Cinq-Cygne mansion. The two brothers then knew their danger for the
+first time, and looked at each other. Their resolution was instantly
+taken; they armed their own servants and those of the Comtesse de
+Cinq-Cygne, barricaded the doors, and stood guard at the windows, after
+closing the wooden blinds, with the five men-servants and the Abbe
+d'Hauteserre, a relative of the Cinq-Cygnes. These eight courageous
+champions poured a deadly fire into the crowd. Every shot killed or
+wounded an assailant. Laurence, instead of wringing her hands, loaded
+the guns with extraordinary coolness, and passed the balls and powder to
+those who needed them. The Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne was on her knees.
+
+"What are you doing, mother?" said Laurence.
+
+"I am praying," she answered, "for them and for you."
+
+Sublime words,--said also by the mother of Godoy, prince of the Peace,
+in Spain, under similar circumstances.
+
+In a moment eleven persons were killed and lying on the ground among a
+number of wounded. Such results either cool or excite a populace; either
+it grows savage at the work or discontinues it. On the present occasion
+those in advance recoiled; but the crowd behind them were there to kill
+and rob, and when they saw their own dead, they cried out: "Murder!
+Murder! Revenge!" The wiser heads went in search of the representative
+to the Convention, Malin. The twins, by this time aware of the
+disastrous events of the day, suspected Malin of desiring the ruin
+of their family, and of causing the arrest of their parents, and the
+suspicion soon became a certainty. They posted themselves beneath the
+porte-cochere, gun in hand, intending to kill Malin as soon as he made
+his appearance; but the countess lost her head; she imagined her house
+in ashes and her daughter assassinated, and she blamed the young men for
+their heroic defence and compelled them to desist. It was Laurence who
+opened the door slightly when Malin summoned the household to admit
+him. Seeing her, the representative relied upon the awe he expected to
+inspire in a mere child, and he entered the house. To his first words
+of inquiry as to why the family were making such a resistance, the girl
+replied: "If you really desire to give liberty to France how is it that
+you do not protect us in our homes? They are trying to tear down this
+house, monsieur, to murder us, and you say we have no right to oppose
+force to force!"
+
+Malin stood rooted to the ground.
+
+"You, the son of a mason employed by the Grand Marquis to build his
+castle!" exclaimed Marie-Paul, "you have let them drag our father to
+prison--you have believed calumnies!"
+
+"He shall be released at once," said Malin, who thought himself lost
+when he saw each youth clutch his weapon convulsively.
+
+"You owe your life to that promise," said Marie-Paul, solemnly. "If it
+is not fulfilled to-night we shall find you again."
+
+"As to that howling populace," said Laurence, "If you do not send them
+away, the next blood will be yours. Now, Monsieur Malin, leave this
+house!"
+
+The Conventionalist did leave it, and he harangued the crowd, dwelling
+on the sacred rights of the domestic hearth, the habeas corpus and
+the English "home." He told them that the law and the people were
+sovereigns, that the law _was_ the people, and that the people could
+only act through the law, and that power was vested in the law. The
+particular law of personal necessity made him eloquent, and he managed
+to disperse the crowd. But he never forgot the contemptuous expression
+of the two brothers, nor the "Leave this house!" of Mademoiselle de
+Cinq-Cygne. Therefore, when it was a question of selling the estates of
+the Comte de Cinq-Cygne, Laurence's brother, as national property, the
+sale was rigorously made. The agents left nothing for Laurence but the
+chateau, the park and gardens, and one farm called that of Cinq-Cygne.
+Malin instructed the appraisers that Laurence had no rights beyond her
+legal share,--the nation taking possession of all that belonged to her
+brother, who had emigrated and, above all, had borne arms against the
+Republic.
+
+The evening after this terrible tumult, Laurence so entreated her
+cousins to leave the country, fearing treachery on the part of Malin,
+or some trap into which they might fall, that they took horse that night
+and gained the Prussian outposts. They had scarcely reached the forest
+of Gondreville before the hotel Cinq-Cygne was surrounded; Malin came
+himself to arrest the heirs of the house of Simeuse. He dared not lay
+hands on the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne, who was in bed with a nervous
+fever, nor on Laurence, a child of twelve. The servants, fearing the
+severity of the Republic, had disappeared. The next day the news of the
+resistance of the brothers and their flight to Prussia was known to the
+neighborhood. A crowd of three thousand persons assembled before the
+hotel de Cinq-Cygne, which was demolished with incredible rapidity.
+Madame de Cinq-Cygne, carried to the hotel Simeuse, died there from the
+effects of the fever aggravated by terror.
+
+Michu did not appear in the political arena until after these events,
+for the marquis and his wife remained in prison over five months. During
+this time Malin was away on a mission. But when Monsieur Marion sold
+Gondreville to the Councillor of State, Michu understood the latter's
+game,--or rather, he thought he did; for Malin was, like Fouche, one of
+those personages who are of such depth in all their different aspects
+that they are impenetrable when they play a part, and are never
+understood until long after their drama is ended.
+
+In all the chief circumstances of Malin's life he had never failed to
+consult his faithful friend Grevin, the notary of Arcis, whose judgment
+on men and things was, at a distance, clear-cut and precise. This
+faculty is the wisdom and makes the strength of second-rate men. Now, in
+November, 1803, a combination of events (already related in the "Depute
+d'Arcis") made matters so serious for the Councillor of State that a
+letter might have compromised the two friends. Malin, who hoped to be
+appointed senator, was afraid to offer his explanations in Paris. He
+came to Gondreville, giving the First Consul only one of the reasons
+that made him wish to be there; that reason gave him an appearance of
+zeal in the eyes of Bonaparte; whereas his journey, far from concerning
+the interests of the State, related to his own interests only. On this
+particular day, as Michu was watching the park and expecting, after
+the manner of a red Indian, a propitious moment for his vengeance,
+the astute Malin, accustomed to turn all events to his own profit, was
+leading his friend Grevin to a little field in the English garden,
+a lonely spot in the park, favorable for a secret conference. There,
+standing in the centre of the grass plot and speaking low, the friends
+were at too great a distance to be overheard if any one were lurking
+near enough to listen to them; they were also sure of time to change the
+conversation if others unwarily approached.
+
+"Why couldn't we have stayed in a room in the chateau?" asked Grevin.
+
+"Didn't you take notice of those two men whom the prefect of police has
+sent here to me?"
+
+Though Fouche made himself in the matter of the Pichegru, Georges,
+Moreau, and Polignac conspiracy the soul of the Consular cabinet, he
+did not at this time control the ministry of police, but was merely a
+councillor of State like Malin.
+
+"Those men," continued Malin, "are Fouche's two arms. One, that dandy
+Corentin, whose face is like a glass of lemonade, vinegar on his lips
+and verjuice in his eyes, put an end to the insurrection at the West
+in the year VII. in less than fifteen days. The other is a disciple of
+Lenoir; he is the only one who preserves the great traditions of the
+police. I had asked for an agent of no great account, backed by some
+official personage, and they send me those past-masters of the business!
+Ah, Grevin, Fouche wants to pry into my game. That's why I left those
+fellows dining at the chateau; they may look into everything for all I
+care; they won't find Louis XVIII. nor any sign of him."
+
+"But see here, my dear fellow, what game are you playing?" cried Grevin.
+
+"Ha, my friend, a double game is a dangerous one, but this, taking
+Fouche into account, is a triple one. He may have nosed the fact that I
+am in the secrets of the house of Bourbon."
+
+"You?"
+
+"I," replied Malin.
+
+"Have you forgotten Favras?"
+
+The words made an impression on the councillor.
+
+"Since when?" asked Grevin, after a pause.
+
+"Since the Consulate for life."
+
+"I hope there's no proof of it?"
+
+"Not that!" said Malin, clicking his thumb-nail against his teeth.
+
+In few words the Councillor of State gave a clear and succinct account
+of the critical position in which Bonaparte was about to hold England,
+by threatening her with invasion from the camp at Boulogne; he explained
+to Grevin the bearings of that project, which was unobserved by France
+and Europe but suspected by Pitt; also the critical position in which
+England was about to put Bonaparte. A powerful coalition, Prussia,
+Austria, and Russia, paid by English gold, was pledged to furnish
+seven hundred thousand men under arms. At the same time a formidable
+conspiracy was throwing a network over the whole of France, including
+among its members montagnards, chouans, royalists, and their princes.
+
+"Louis XVIII. held that as long as there were three Consuls anarchy was
+certain, and that he could at some opportune moment take his revenge
+for the 13th Vendemiaire and the 18th Fructidor," said Malin, "but the
+Consulate for life has unmasked Bonaparte's intentions--he will soon be
+emperor. The late sub-lieutenant means to create a dynasty! This time
+his life is in actual danger; and the plot is far better laid than that
+of the Rue Saint-Nicaise. Pichegru, Georges, Moreau, the Duc d'Enghien,
+Polignac and Riviere, the two friends of the Comte d'Artois are in it."
+
+"What an amalgamation!" cried Grevin.
+
+"France is being silently invaded; no stone is left unturned; the thing
+will be carried with a rush. A hundred picked men, commanded by Georges,
+are to attack the Consular guard and the Consul hand to hand."
+
+"Well then, denounce them."
+
+"For the last two months the Consul, his minister of police, the prefect
+and Fouche, hold some of the clues of this vast conspiracy; but they
+don't know its full extent, and at this particular moment they are
+leaving nearly all the conspirators free, so as to discover more about
+it."
+
+"As to rights," said the notary, "the Bourbons have much more right to
+conceive, plan, and execute a scheme against Bonaparte, than Bonaparte
+had on the 18th Brumaire against the Republic, whose product he was. He
+murdered his mother on that occasion, but these royalists only seek to
+recover what was theirs. I can understand that the princes and
+their adherents, seeing the lists of the _emigres_ closed, mortgages
+suppressed, the Catholic faith restored, anti-revolutionary decrees
+accumulating, should begin to see that their return is becoming
+difficult, not to say impossible. Bonaparte being the sole obstacle now
+in their way, they want to get rid of him--nothing simpler. Conspirators
+if defeated are brigands, if successful, heroes; and your perplexity
+seems to me very natural."
+
+"The matter now is," said Malin, "to make Bonaparte fling the head of
+the Duc d'Enghien at the Bourbons, just as the Convention flung the head
+of Louis XVI. at the kings, so as to commit him as fully as we are to
+the Revolution; _or else_, we must upset the idol of the French people
+and their future emperor, and seat the true throne upon his ruins. I am
+at the mercy of some event, some fortunate pistol-shot, some infernal
+machine which does its work. Even I don't know the whole conspiracy;
+they don't tell me all; but they have asked me to call the Council
+of State at the critical moment and direct its action towards the
+restoration of the Bourbons."
+
+"Wait," said the notary.
+
+"Impossible! I am compelled to make my decision at once."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, the Simeuse brothers are in the conspiracy; they are here in
+the neighborhood; I must either have them watched, let them compromise
+themselves, and so be rid of them, or else I must privately protect
+them. I asked the prefect for underlings and he has sent me lynxes, who
+came through Troyes and have got the gendarmerie to support them."
+
+"Gondreville is your real object," said Grevin, "and this conspiracy
+your best chance of keeping it. Fouche, Talleyrand, and those two
+fellows have nothing to do with that. Therefore play fair with
+them. What nonsense! those who cut Louis XVI.'s head off are in the
+government; France is full of men who have bought national property,
+and yet you talk of bringing back those who would require you to give up
+Gondreville! If the Bourbons were not imbeciles they would pass a sponge
+over all we have done. Warn Bonaparte, that's my advice."
+
+"A man of my rank can't denounce," said Malin, quickly.
+
+"Your rank!" exclaimed Grevin, smiling.
+
+"They have offered to make me Keeper of the Seals."
+
+"Ah! Now I understand your bewilderment, and it is for me to see clear
+in this political darkness and find a way out for you. Now, it is quite
+impossible to foresee what events may happen to bring back the Bourbons
+when a General Bonaparte is in possession of eighty line of battle
+ships and four hundred thousand men. The most difficult thing of all in
+expectant politics is to know when a power that totters will fall; but,
+my old man, Bonaparte's power is not tottering, it is in the ascendant.
+Don't you think that Fouche may be sounding you so as to get to the
+bottom of your mind, and then get rid of you?"
+
+"No; I am sure of my go-between. Besides, Fouche would never, under
+those circumstances, send me such fellows as these; he would know they
+would make me suspicious."
+
+"They alarm me," said Grevin. "If Fouche does not distrust you, and is
+not seeking to probe you, why does he send them? Fouche doesn't play
+such a trick as that without a motive; what is it?"
+
+"What decides me," said Malin, "is that I should never be easy with
+those two Simeuse brothers in France. Perhaps Fouche, who knows how I am
+placed towards them, wants to make sure they don't escape him, and hopes
+through them to reach the Condes."
+
+"That's right, old fellow; it is not under Bonaparte that the present
+possessor of Gondreville can be ousted."
+
+Just then Malin, happening to look up, saw the muzzle of a gun through
+the foliage of a tall linden.
+
+"I was not mistaken, I thought I heard the click of a trigger," he said
+to Grevin, after getting behind the trunk of a large tree, where the
+notary, uneasy at his friend's sudden movement, followed him.
+
+"It is Michu," said Grevin; "I see his red beard."
+
+"Don't let us seem afraid," said Malin, who walked slowly away, saying
+at intervals: "Why is that man so bitter against the owners of this
+property? It was not you he was covering. If he overheard us he had
+better ask the prayers of the congregation! Who the devil would have
+thought of looking up into the trees!"
+
+"There's always something to learn," said the notary. "But he was a good
+distance off, and we spoke low."
+
+"I shall tell Corentin about it," replied Malin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III. THE MASK THROWN OFF
+
+A few moments later Michu returned home, his face pale, his features
+contracted.
+
+"What is the matter?" said his wife, frightened.
+
+"Nothing," he replied, seeing Violette whose presence silenced him.
+
+Michu took a chair and sat down quietly before the fire, into which
+he threw a letter which he drew from a tin tube such as are given to
+soldiers to hold their papers. This act, which enabled Marthe to draw
+a long breath like one relieved of a great burden, greatly puzzled
+Violette. The bailiff laid his gun on the mantel-shelf with admirable
+composure. Marianne the servant, and Marthe's mother were spinning by
+the light of a lamp.
+
+"Come, Francois," said the father, presently, "it is time to go to bed."
+
+He lifted the boy roughly by the middle of his body and carried him off.
+
+"Run down to the cellar," he whispered, when they reached the stairs.
+"Empty one third out of two bottles of the Macon wine, and fill them up
+with the Cognac brandy which is on the shelf. Then mix a bottle of white
+wine with one half brandy. Do it neatly, and put the three bottles on
+the empty cask which stands by the cellar door. When you hear me open
+the window in the kitchen come out of the cellar, run to the
+stable, saddle my horse, mount it, and go and wait for me at
+Poteaudes-Gueux--That little scamp hates to go to bed," said Michu,
+returning; "he likes to do as grown people do, see all, hear all, and
+know all. You spoil my people, pere Violette."
+
+"Goodness!" cried Violette, "what has loosened your tongue? I never
+heard you say as much before."
+
+"Do you suppose I let myself be spied upon without taking notice of it?
+You are on the wrong side, pere Violette. If, instead of serving those
+who hate me, you were on my side I could do better for you than renew
+that lease of yours."
+
+"How?" said the peasant, opening wide his avaricious eyes.
+
+"I'll sell you my property cheap."
+
+"Nothing is cheap when we have to pay," said Violette, sententiously.
+
+"I want to leave the neighborhood, and I'll let you have my farm of
+Mousseau, the buildings, granary, and cattle for fifty thousand francs."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Does that suit you?"
+
+"Hang it! I must think--"
+
+"We'll talk about it--I shall want earnest money."
+
+"I have no money."
+
+"Well, a note."
+
+"Can't give it."
+
+"Tell me who sent you here to-day."
+
+"I am on my way back from where I spent this afternoon, and I only
+stopped in to say good-evening."
+
+"Back without your horse? What a fool you must take me for! You are
+lying, and you shall not have my farm."
+
+"Well, to tell you the truth, it was monsieur Grevin who sent me. He
+said 'Violette, we want Michu; do you go and get him; if he isn't at
+home, wait for him.' I saw I should have to stay here all this evening."
+
+"Are those sharks from Paris still at the chateau?"
+
+"Ah! that I don't know; but there were people in the salon."
+
+"You shall have my farm; we'll settle the terms now. Wife, go and get
+some wine to wash down the contract. Take the best Roussillon, the wine
+of the ex-marquis,--we are not babes. You'll find a couple of bottles on
+the empty cask near the door, and a bottle of white wine."
+
+"Very good," said Violette, who never got drunk. "Let us drink."
+
+"You have fifty thousand francs beneath the floor of your bedroom under
+your bed, pere Violette; you will give them to me two weeks after we
+sign the deed of sale before Grevin--" Violette stared at Michu and grew
+livid. "Ah! you came here to spy upon a Jacobin who had the honor to be
+president of the club at Arcis, and you imagine he will let you get the
+better of him! I have eyes, I saw where your tiles have been freshly
+cemented, and I concluded that you did not pry them up to plant wheat
+there. Come, drink."
+
+Violette, much troubled, drank a large glass of wine without noticing
+the quality; terror had put a hot iron in his stomach, the brandy was
+not hotter than his cupidity. He would have given many things to be
+safely home and able to change the hiding-place of his treasure. The
+three women smiled.
+
+"Do you like that wine?" said Michu, refilling his glass.
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+After a good half-hour's decision on the time when the buyer might take
+possession, and on the various punctilios which the peasantry bring
+forward when concluding a bargain,--in the midst of assertions and
+counter-assertions, the filling and emptying of glasses, the giving of
+promises and denials, Violette suddenly fell forward with his head on
+the table, not tipsy, but dead-drunk. The instant that Michu saw his
+eyes blur he opened the window.
+
+"Where's that scamp, Gaucher?" he said to his wife.
+
+"In bed."
+
+"You, Marianne," said the bailiff to his faithful servant, "stand in
+front of his door and watch him. You, mother, stay down here, and keep
+an eye on this spy; keep your eyes and ears open and don't unfasten the
+door to any one but Francois. It is a question of life or death," he
+added, in a deep voice. "Every creature beneath my roof must remember
+that I have not quitted it this night; all of you must assert that--even
+though your heads were on the block. Come," he said to Marthe,
+"come, wife, put on your shoes, take your coat, and let us be off! No
+questions--I go with you."
+
+For the last three quarters of an hour the man's demeanor and glance
+were of despotic authority, all-powerful, irresistible, drawn from the
+same mysterious source from which great generals on fields of battle who
+inflame an army, great orators inspiring vast audiences, and (it must be
+said) great criminals perpetrating bold crimes derive their inspiration.
+At such times invincible influence seems to exhale from the head and
+issue from the tongue; the gesture even can inject the will of the one
+man into others. The three women knew that some dreadful crisis was at
+hand; without warning of its nature they felt it in the rapid actions of
+the man, whose countenance shone, whose forehead spoke, whose brilliant
+eyes glittered like stars; they saw it in the sweat that covered his
+brow to the roots of his hair, while more than once his voice vibrated
+with impatience and fury. Marthe obeyed passively. Armed to the teeth
+and with his gun over his shoulder Michu dashed into the avenue,
+followed by his wife. They soon reached the cross-roads where Francois
+was in waiting hidden among the bushes.
+
+"The boy is intelligent," said Michu, when he caught sight of him.
+
+These were his first words. His wife had rushed after him, unable to
+speak.
+
+"Go back to the house, hide in a thick tree, and watch the country
+and the park," he said to his son. "We have all gone to bed, no one is
+stirring. Your grandmother will not open the door until you ask her to
+let you in. Remember every word I say to you. The life of your father
+and mother depends on it. No one must know we did not sleep at home."
+
+After whispering these words to the boy, who instantly disappeared in
+the forest like an eel in the mud, Michu turned to his wife.
+
+"Mount behind me," he said, "and pray that God be with us. Sit firm,
+the beast may die of it." So saying he kicked the horse with both heels,
+pressing him with his powerful knees, and the animal sprang forward with
+the rapidity of a hunter, seeming to understand what his master wanted
+of him, and crossed the forest in fifteen minutes. Then Michu, who had
+not swerved from the shortest way, pulled up, found a spot at the
+edge of the woods from which he could see the roofs of the chateau of
+Cinq-Cygne lighted by the moon, tied his horse to a tree, and followed
+by his wife, gained a little eminence which overlooked the valley.
+
+The chateau, which Marthe and Michu looked at together for a moment,
+makes a charming effect in the landscape. Though it has little extent
+and is of no importance whatever as architecture, yet archaeologically
+it is not without a certain interest. This old edifice of the fifteenth
+century, placed on an eminence, surrounded on all sides by a moat,
+or rather by deep, wide ditches always full of water, is built in
+cobble-stones buried in cement, the walls being seven feet thick.
+Its simplicity recalls the rough and warlike life of feudal days. The
+chateau, plain and unadorned, has two large reddish towers at either
+end, connected by a long main building with casement windows, the
+stone mullions of which, being roughly carved, bear some resemblance to
+vine-shoots. The stairway is outside the house, at the middle, in a sort
+of pentagonal tower entered through a small arched door. The interior
+of the ground-floor together with the rooms on the first storey
+were modernized in the time of Louis XIV., and the whole building is
+surmounted by an immense roof broken by casement windows with carved
+triangular pediments. Before the castle lies a vast green sward the
+trees of which had recently been cut down. On either side of the
+entrance bridge are two small dwellings where the gardeners live,
+connected across the road by a paltry iron railing without character,
+evidently modern. To right and left of the lawn, which is divided in
+two by a paved road-way, are the stables, cow-sheds, barns, wood-house,
+bakery, poultry-yard, and the offices, placed in what were doubtless
+the remains of two wings of the old building similar to those that were
+still standing. The two large towers, with their pepper-pot roofs which
+had not been rased, and the belfry of the middle tower, gave an air of
+distinction to the village. The church, also very old, showed near by
+its pointed steeple, which harmonized well with the solid masses of the
+castle. The moon brought out in full relief the various roofs and towers
+on which it played and sparkled.
+
+Michu gazed at this baronial structure in a manner that upset all his
+wife's ideas about him; his face, now calm, wore a look of hope and also
+a sort of pride. His eyes scanned the horizon with a glance of defiance;
+he listened for sounds in the air. It was now nine o'clock; the moon
+was beginning to cast its light upon the margin of the forest and to
+illumine the little bluff on which they stood. The position struck him
+as dangerous and he left it, fearful of being seen. But no suspicious
+noise troubled the peace of the beautiful valley encircled on this side
+by the forest of Nodesme. Marthe, exhausted and trembling, was awaiting
+some explanation of their hurried ride. What was she engaged in? Was she
+to aid in a good deed or an evil one? At that instant Michu bent to his
+wife's ear and whispered:--
+
+"Go the house and ask to speak to the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne; when you
+see her beg her to speak to you alone. If no one can overhear you, say
+to her: 'Mademoiselle, the lives of your two cousins are in danger, and
+he who can explain the how and why is waiting to speak to you.' If
+she seems afraid, if she distrusts you, add these words: 'They are
+conspiring against the First Consul and the conspiracy is discovered.'
+Don't give your name; they distrust us too much."
+
+Marthe raised her face towards her husband and said:--
+
+"Can it be that you serve them?"
+
+"What if I do?" he said, frowning, taking her words as a reproach.
+
+"You don't understand me," cried Marthe, seizing his large hand and
+falling on her knees beside him as she kissed it and covered it with her
+tears.
+
+"Go, go, you shall cry later," he said, kissing her vehemently.
+
+When he no longer heard her step his eyes filled with tears. He had
+distrusted Marthe on account of her father's opinions; he had hidden the
+secrets of his life from her; but the beauty of her simple nature had
+suddenly appeared to him, just as the grandeur of his had, as suddenly,
+revealed itself to her. Marthe had passed in a moment from the deep
+humiliation caused by the degradation of the man whose name she bore,
+to the exaltation given by a sense of his nobleness. The change was
+instantaneous, without transition; it was enough to make her tremble.
+She told him later that she went, as it were, through blood from the
+pavilion to the edge of the forest, and there was lifted to heaven, in
+a moment, among the angels. Michu, who had known he was not appreciated,
+and who mistook his wife's grieved and melancholy manner for lack of
+affection, and had left her to herself, living chiefly out of doors
+and reserving all his tenderness for his boy, instantly understood the
+meaning of her tears. She had cursed the part which her beauty and her
+father's will had forced her to take; but now happiness, in the midst of
+this great storm, played, with a beautiful flame like a vivid lightning
+about them. And it was lightning! Each thought of the last ten years of
+misconception, and they blamed themselves only. Michu stood motionless,
+his elbow on his gun, his chin on his hand, lost in deep reverie. Such
+a moment in a man's life makes him willing to accept the saddest moments
+of a painful past.
+
+Marthe, agitated by the same thoughts as those of her husband, was also
+troubled in heart by the danger of the Simeuse brothers; for she now
+understood all, even the faces of the two Parisians, though she still
+could not explain to herself her husband's gun. She darted forward like
+a doe, and soon reached the road to the chateau. There she was surprised
+by the steps of a man following behind her; she turned, with a cry, and
+her husband's large hand closed her mouth.
+
+"From the hill up there I saw the silver lace of the gendarmes' hats.
+Go in by the breach in the moat between Mademoiselle's tower and the
+stables. The dogs won't bark at you. Go through the garden and call the
+countess by the window; order them to saddle her horse, and ask her to
+come out through the breach. I'll be there, after discovering what the
+Parisians are planning, and how to escape them."
+
+Danger, which seemed to be rolling like an avalanche upon them, gave
+wings to Marthe's feet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV. LAURENCE DE CINQ-CYGNE
+
+The old Frank name of the Cinq-Cygnes and the Chargeboeufs was Duineff.
+Cinq-Cygne became that of the younger branch of the Chargeboeufs after
+the defence of a castle made, during their father's absence, by five
+daughters of that race, all remarkably fair, and of whom no one expected
+such heroism. One of the first Comtes de Champagne wished, by bestowing
+this pretty name, to perpetuate the memory of their deed as long as the
+family existed. Laurence, the last of her race, was, contrary to Salic
+law, heiress of the name, the arms, and the manor. She was therefore
+Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne in her own right; her husband would have to take
+both her name and her blazon, which bore for device the glorious answer
+made by the elder of the five sisters when summoned to surrender the
+castle, "We die singing." Worthy descendant of these noble heroines,
+Laurence was fair and lily-white as though nature had made her for a
+wager. The lines of her blue veins could be seen through the delicate
+close texture of her skin. Her beautiful golden hair harmonized
+delightfully with eyes of the deepest blue. Everything about her
+belonged to the type of delicacy. Within that fragile though active
+body, and in defiance as it were of its pearly whiteness, lived a
+soul like that of a man of noble nature; but no one, not even a close
+observer, would have suspected it from the gentle countenance and
+rounded features which, when seen in profile, bore some slight
+resemblance to those of a lamb. This extreme gentleness, though noble,
+had something of the stupidity of the little animal. "I look like a
+dreamy sheep," she would say, smiling. Laurence, who talked little,
+seemed not so much dreamy as dormant. But, did any important
+circumstance arise, the hidden Judith was revealed, sublime; and
+circumstances had, unfortunately, not been wanting.
+
+At thirteen years of age, Laurence, after the events already related,
+was an orphan living in a house opposite to the empty space where
+so recently had stood one of the most curious specimens in France
+of sixteenth-century architecture, the hotel Cinq-Cygne. Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre, her relation, now her guardian, took the young heiress to
+live in the country at her chateau of Cinq-Cygne. That brave provincial
+gentleman, alarmed at the death of his brother, the Abbe d'Hauteserre,
+who was shot in the open square as he was about to escape in the dress
+of a peasant, was not in a position to defend the interests of his
+ward. He had two sons in the army of the princes, and every day, at the
+slightest unusual sound, he believed that the municipals of Arcis were
+coming to arrest him. Laurence, proud of having sustained a siege and of
+possessing the historic whiteness of her swan-like ancestors, despised
+the prudent cowardice of the old man who bent to the storm, and dreamed
+only of distinguishing herself. So, she boldly hung the portrait of
+Charlotte Corday on the walls of her poor salon at Cinq-Cygne, and
+crowned it with oak-leaves. She corresponded by messenger with her
+twin cousins, in defiance of the law, which punished the act, when
+discovered, with death. The messenger, who risked his life, brought back
+the answers. Laurence lived only, after the catastrophes at Troyes,
+for the triumph of the royal cause. After soberly judging Monsieur and
+Madame d'Hauteserre (who lived with her at the chateau de Cinq-Cygne),
+and recognizing their honest, but stolid natures, she put them outside
+the lines of her own life. She had, moreover, too good a mind and too
+sound a judgment to complain of their natures; always kind, amiable,
+and affectionate towards them, she nevertheless told them none of her
+secrets. Nothing forms a character so much as the practice of constant
+concealment in the bosom of a family.
+
+After she attained her majority Laurence allowed Monsieur d'Hauteserre
+to manage her affairs as in the past. So long as her favorite mare was
+well-groomed, her maid Catherine dressed to please her, and Gothard
+the little page was suitably clothed, she cared for nothing else. Her
+thoughts were aimed too high to come down to occupations and interests
+which in other times than these would doubtless have pleased her. Dress
+was a small matter to her mind; moreover her cousins were not there to
+see her. She wore a dark-green habit when she rode, and a gown of some
+common woollen stuff with a cape trimmed with braid when she walked;
+in the house she was always seen in a silk wrapper. Gothard, the little
+groom, a brave and clever lad of fifteen, attended her wherever she
+went, and she was nearly always out of doors, riding or hunting over the
+farms of Gondreville, without objection being made by either Michu or
+the farmers. She rode admirably well, and her cleverness in hunting was
+thought miraculous. In the country she was never called anything but
+"Mademoiselle" even during the Revolution.
+
+Whoever has read the fine romance of "Rob Roy" will remember that
+rare woman for whose making Walter Scott's imagination abandoned its
+customary coldness,--Diana Vernon. The recollection will serve to make
+Laurence understood if, to the noble qualities of the Scottish huntress
+you add the restrained exaltation of Charlotte Corday, surpassing,
+however, the charming vivacity which rendered Diana so attractive. The
+young countess had seen her mother die, the Abbe d'Hauteserre shot down,
+the Marquis de Simeuse and his wife executed; her only brother had died
+of his wounds; her two cousins serving in Conde's army might be killed
+at any moment; and, finally, the fortunes of the Simeuse and the
+Cinq-Cygne families had been seized and wasted by the Republic without
+being of any benefit to the nation. Her grave demeanor, now lapsing into
+apparent stolidity, can be readily understood.
+
+Monsieur d'Hauteserre proved an upright and most careful guardian. Under
+his administration Cinq-Cygne became a sort of farm. The good man, who
+was far more of a close manager than a knight of the old nobility, had
+turned the park and gardens to profit, and used their two hundred acres
+of grass and woodland as pasturage for horses and fuel for the family.
+Thanks to his severe economy the countess, on coming of age, had
+recovered by his investments in the State funds a competent fortune.
+In 1798 she possessed about twenty thousand francs a year from those
+sources, on which, in fact, some dividends were still due, and twelve
+thousand francs a year from the rentals at Cinq-Cygne, which had lately
+been renewed at a notable increase. Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre
+had provided for their old age by the purchase of an annuity of three
+thousand francs in the Tontines Lafarge. That fragment of their former
+means did not enable them to live elsewhere than at Cinq-Cygne, and
+Laurence's first act on coming to her majority was to give them the use
+for life of the wing of the chateau which they occupied.
+
+The Hauteserres, as niggardly for their ward as they were for
+themselves, laid up every year nearly the whole of their annuity for the
+benefit of their sons, and kept the young heiress on miserable fare.
+The whole cost of the Cinq-Cygne household never exceeded five thousand
+francs a year. But Laurence, who condescended to no details, was
+satisfied. Her guardian and his wife, unconsciously ruled by the
+imperceptible influence of her strong character, which was felt even in
+little things, had ended by admiring her whom they had known and treated
+as a child,--a sufficiently rare feeling. But in her manner, her deep
+voice, her commanding eye, Laurence held that inexplicable power which
+rules all men,--even when its strength is mere appearance. To vulgar
+minds real depth is incomprehensible; it is perhaps for that reason that
+the populace is so prone to admire what it cannot understand. Monsieur
+and Madame d'Hauteserre, impressed by the habitual silence and erratic
+habits of the young girl, were constantly expecting some extraordinary
+thing of her.
+
+Laurence, who did good intelligently and never allowed herself to be
+deceived, was held in the utmost respect by the peasantry although
+she was an aristocrat. Her sex, name, and great misfortunes, also the
+originality of her present life, contributed to give her authority over
+the inhabitants of the valley of Cinq-Cygne. She was sometimes absent
+for two days, attended by Gothard, but neither Monsieur nor Madame
+d'Hauteserre questioned her, on her return, as to the reasons of
+her absence. Please observe, however, that there was nothing odd or
+eccentric about Laurence. What she was and what she did was masked, as
+it were, by a feminine and even fragile appearance. Her heart was full
+of extreme sensibility, though her head contained a stoical firmness
+and the virile gift of resolution. Her clear-seeing eyes knew not how to
+weep; but no one would have imagined that the delicate white wrist with
+its tracery of blue veins could defy that of the boldest horseman. Her
+hand, so noble, so flexible, could handle gun or pistol with the ease of
+a practised marksman. She always wore when out of doors the coquettish
+little cap with visor and green veil which women wear on horseback. Her
+delicate fair face, thus protected, and her white throat tied with a
+black cravat, were never injured by her long rides in all weathers.
+
+Under the Directory and at the beginning of the Consulate, Laurence had
+been able to escape the observation of others; but since the government
+had become a more settled thing, the new authorities, the prefect of the
+Aube, Malin's friends, and Malin himself had endeavored to undermine
+her in the community. Her preoccupying thought was the overthrow of
+Bonaparte, whose ambition and its triumphs excited the anger of her
+soul,--a cold, deliberate anger. The obscure and hidden enemy of a man
+at the pinnacle of glory, she kept her gaze upon him from the depths
+of her valley and her forests, with relentless fixity; there were
+times when she thought of killing him in the roads about Malmaison or
+Saint-Cloud. Plans for the execution of this idea may have been the
+cause of many of her past actions, but having been initiated, after the
+peace of Amiens, into the conspiracy of the men who expected to make
+the 18th Brumaire recoil upon the First Consul, she had thenceforth
+subordinated her faculties and her hatred to their vast and well
+laid scheme, which was to strike at Bonaparte externally by the vast
+coalition of Russia, Austria, and Prussia (vanquished at Austerlitz) and
+internally by the coalition of men politically opposed to each other,
+but united by their common hatred of a man whose death some of them
+were meditating, like Laurence herself, without shrinking from the word
+assassination. This young girl, so fragile to the eye, so powerful to
+those who knew her well, was at the present moment the faithful guide
+and assistant of the exiled gentlemen who came from England to take part
+in this deadly enterprise.
+
+Fouche relied on the co-operation of the _emigres_ everywhere beyond
+the Rhine to lure the Duc d'Enghien into the plot. The presence of that
+prince in the Baden territory, not far from Strasburg, gave much weight
+later to the accusation. The great question of whether the prince really
+knew of the enterprise, and was waiting on the frontier to enter France
+on its success, is one of those secrets about which, as about several
+others, the house of Bourbon has maintained an unbroken silence. As the
+history of that period recedes into the past, impartial historians
+will declare the imprudence, to say the least, of the Duc d'Enghien in
+placing himself close to the frontier at a time when a vast conspiracy
+was about to break forth, the secret of which was undoubtedly known to
+every member of the Bourbon family.
+
+The caution which Malin displayed in talking with Grevin in the open
+air, Laurence applied to her every action. She met the emissaries and
+conferred with them either at various points in the Nodesme forest, or
+beyond the valley of the Cinq-Cygne, between the villages of Sezanne
+and Brienne. Often she rode forty miles on a stretch with Gothard,
+and returned to Cinq-Cygne without the least sign of weariness or
+pre-occupation on her fair young face.
+
+Some years earlier, Laurence had seen in the eyes of a little cow-boy,
+then nine years old, the artless admiration which children feel for
+everything that is out of the common way. She made him her page, and
+taught him to groom a horse with the nicety and care of an Englishman.
+She saw in the lad a desire to do well, a bright intelligence, and a
+total absence of sly motives; she tested his devotion and found he had
+not only mind but nobility of character; he never dreamed of reward. The
+young girl trained this soul that was still so young; she was good to
+him, good with dignity; she attached him to her by attaching herself
+to him, and by herself polishing a nature that was half wild, without
+destroying its freshness or its simplicity. When she had sufficiently
+tested the almost canine fidelity she had nurtured, Gothard became her
+intelligent and ingenuous accomplice. The little peasant, whom no one
+could suspect, went from Cinq-Cygne to Nancy, and often returned before
+any one had missed him from the neighborhood. He knew how to practise
+all the tricks of a spy. The extreme distrust and caution his mistress
+had taught him did not change his natural self. Gothard, who possessed
+all the craft of a woman, the candor of a child, and the ceaseless
+observation of a conspirator, hid every one of these admirable qualities
+beneath the torpor and dull ignorance of a country lad. The little
+fellow had a silly, weak, and clumsy appearance; but once at work he was
+active as a fish; he escaped like an eel; he understood, as the dogs do,
+the merest glance; he nosed a thought. His good fat face, both round and
+red, his sleepy brown eyes, his hair, cut in the peasant fashion, his
+clothes, and his slow growth gave him the appearance of a child of ten.
+
+The two young d'Hauteserres and the twin brothers Simeuse, under the
+guidance of their cousin Laurence, who had been watching over their
+safety and that of the other _emigres_ who accompanied them from
+Strasburg to Bar-sur-Aube, had just passed through Alsace and Lorraine,
+and were now in Champagne while other conspirators, not less bold,
+were entering France by the cliffs of Normandy. Dressed as workmen the
+d'Hauteserres and the Simeuse twins had walked from forest to forest,
+guided on their way by relays of persons, chosen by Laurence during
+the last three months from among the least suspected of the Bourbon
+adherents living in each neighborhood. The _emigres_ slept by day and
+travelled by night. Each brought with him two faithful soldiers; one
+of whom went before to warn of danger, the other behind to protect a
+retreat. Thanks to these military precautions, this valuable detachment
+had at last reached, without accident, the forest of Nodesme, which
+was chosen as the rendezvous. Twenty-seven other gentlemen had entered
+France from Switzerland and crossed Burgundy, guided towards Paris with
+the same caution.
+
+Monsieur de Riviere counted on collecting five hundred men, one hundred
+of whom were young nobles, the officers of this sacred legion. Monsieur
+de Polignac and Monsieur de Riviere, whose conduct as chiefs of this
+advance was most remarkable, afterwards preserved an impenetrable
+secrecy as to the names of those of their accomplices who were not
+discovered. It may be said, therefore, now that the Restoration has made
+matters clearer, that Bonaparte never knew the extent of the danger he
+then ran, any more than England knew the peril she had escaped from
+the camp at Boulogne; and yet the police of France was never more
+intelligently or ably managed.
+
+At the period when this history begins, a coward--for cowards are always
+to be found in conspiracies which are not confined to a small number
+of equally strong men--a sworn confederate, brought face to face with
+death, gave certain information, happily insufficient to cover the
+extent of the conspiracy, but precise enough to show the object of the
+enterprise. The police had therefore, as Malin told Grevin, left the
+conspirators at liberty, though all the while watching them, hoping to
+discover the ramifications of the plot. Nevertheless, the government
+found its hand to a certain extent forced by Georges Cadoudal, a man
+of action who took counsel of himself only, and who was hiding in
+Paris with twenty-five _chouans_ for the purpose of attacking the First
+Consul.
+
+Laurence combined both hatred and love within her breast. To destroy
+Bonaparte and bring back the Bourbons was to recover Gondreville and
+make the fortune of her cousins. The two sentiments, one the counterpart
+of the other, were sufficient, more especially at twenty-three years of
+age, to excite all the faculties of her soul and all the powers of her
+being. So, for the last two months, she had seemed to the inhabitants
+of Cinq-Cygne more beautiful than at any other period of her life.
+Her cheeks became rosy; hope gave pride to her brow; but when old
+d'Hauteserre read the Gazette at night and discussed the conservative
+course of the First Consul she lowered her eyes to conceal her
+passionate hopes of the coming fall of that enemy of the Bourbons.
+
+No one at the chateau had the faintest idea that the young countess had
+met her cousins the night before. The two sons of Monsieur and Madame
+d'Hauteserre had passed the preceding night in Laurence's own room,
+under the same roof with their father and mother; and Laurence, after
+knowing them safely in bed had gone between one and two o'clock in the
+morning to a rendezvous with her cousins in the forest, where she hid
+them in the deserted hut of a wood-dealer's agent. The following day,
+certain of seeing them again, she showed no signs of her joy; nothing
+about her betrayed emotion; she was able to efface all traces of
+pleasure at having met them again; in fact, she was impassible.
+Catherine, her pretty maid, daughter of her former nurse, and Gothard,
+both in the secret, modelled their behavior upon hers. Catherine was
+nineteen years old. At that age a girl is a fanatic and would let
+her throat be cut before betraying a thought of one she loves. As for
+Gothard, merely to inhale the perfume which the countess used in her
+hair and among her clothes he would have born the rack without a word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V. ROYALIST HOMES AND PORTRAITS UNDER THE CONSULATE
+
+At the moment when Marthe, driven by the imminence of the peril, was
+gliding with the rapidity of a shadow towards the breach of which
+Michu had told her, the salon of the chateau of Cinq-Cygne presented a
+peaceful sight. Its occupants were so far from suspecting the storm that
+was about to burst upon them that their quiet aspect would have roused
+the compassion of any one who knew their situation. In the large
+fireplace, the mantel of which was adorned with a mirror with
+shepherdesses in paniers painted on its frame, burned a fire such as
+can be seen only in chateaus bordering on forests. At the corner of
+this fireplace, on a large square sofa of gilded wood with a magnificent
+brocaded cover, the young countess lay as it were extended, in an
+attitude of utter weariness. Returning at six o'clock from the confines
+of Brie, having played the part of scout to the four gentlemen whom she
+guided safely to their last halting-place before they entered Paris, she
+had found Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre just finishing their dinner.
+Pressed by hunger she sat down to table without changing either her
+muddy habit or her boots. Instead of doing so at once after dinner,
+she was suddenly overcome with fatigue and allowed her head with its
+beautiful fair curls to drop on the back of the sofa, her feet being
+supported in front of her by a stool. The warmth of the fire had dried
+the mud on her habit and on her boots. Her doeskin gloves and the little
+peaked cap with its green veil and a whip lay on the table where she had
+flung them. She looked sometimes at the old Boule clock which stood on
+the mantelshelf between the candelabra, perhaps to judge if her four
+conspirators were asleep, and sometimes at the card-table in front of
+the fire where Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, the cure of Cinq-Cygne,
+and his sister were playing a game of boston.
+
+Even if these personages were not embedded in this drama, their
+portraits would have the merit of representing one of the aspects of
+the aristocracy after its overthrow in 1793. From this point of view,
+a sketch of the salon at Cinq-Cygne has the raciness of history seen in
+dishabille.
+
+Monsieur d'Hauteserre, then fifty-two years of age, tall, spare,
+high-colored, and robust in health, would have seemed the embodiment of
+vigor if it were not for a pair of porcelain blue eyes, the glance of
+which denoted the most absolute simplicity. In his face, which ended
+in a long pointed chin, there was, judging by the rules of design,
+an unnatural distance between his nose and mouth which gave him a
+submissive air, wholly in keeping with his character, which harmonized,
+in fact, with other details of his appearance. His gray hair, flattened
+by his hat, which he wore nearly all day, looked much like a skull-cap
+on his head, and defined its pear-shaped outline. His forehead, much
+wrinkled by life in the open air and by constant anxieties, was flat and
+expressionless. His aquiline nose redeemed the face somewhat; but the
+sole indication of any strength of character lay in the bushy eyebrows
+which retained their blackness, and in the brilliant coloring of his
+skin. These signs were in some respects not misleading, for the worthy
+gentlemen, though simple and very gentle, was Catholic and monarchical
+in faith, and no consideration on earth could make him change his views.
+Nevertheless he would have let himself be arrested without an effort
+at defence, and would have gone to the scaffold quietly. His annuity of
+three thousand francs kept him from emigrating. He therefore obeyed the
+government _de facto_ without ceasing to love the royal family and to
+pray for their return, though he would firmly have refused to compromise
+himself by any effort in their favor. He belonged to that class of
+royalists who ceaselessly remembered that they were beaten and robbed;
+and who remained thenceforth dumb, economical, rancorous, without
+energy; incapable of abjuring the past, but equally incapable of
+sacrifice; waiting to greet triumphant royalty; true to religion and
+true to the priesthood, but firmly resolved to bear in silence
+the shocks of fate. Such an attitude cannot be considered that of
+maintaining opinions, it becomes sheer obstinacy. Action is the essence
+of party. Without intelligence, but loyal, miserly as a peasant yet
+noble in demeanor, bold in his wishes but discreet in word and
+action, turning all things to profit, willing even to be made mayor of
+Cinq-Cygne, Monsieur d'Hauteserre was an admirable representative of
+those honorable gentlemen on whose brow God Himself has written the
+word _mites_,--Frenchmen who burrowed in their country homes and let the
+storms of the Revolution pass above their heads; who came once more to
+the surface under the Restoration, rich with their hidden savings,
+proud of their discreet attachment to the monarchy, and who, after 1830,
+recovered their estates.
+
+Monsieur d'Hauteserre's costume, expressive envelope of his distinctive
+character, described to the eye both the man and his period. He always
+wore one of those nut-colored great-coats with small collars which the
+Duc d'Orleans made the fashion after his return from England, and which
+were, during the Revolution, a sort of compromise between the hideous
+popular garments and the elegant surtouts of the aristocracy. His velvet
+waistcoat with flowered stripes, the style of which recalled those of
+Robespierre and Saint-Just, showed the upper part of a shirt-frill in
+fine plaits. He still wore breeches; but his were of coarse blue cloth,
+with burnished steel buckles. His stockings of black spun-silk defined
+his deer-like legs, the feet of which were shod in thick shoes, held
+in place by gaiters of black cloth. He retained the former fashion of
+a muslin cravat in innumerable folds fastened by a gold buckle at the
+throat. The worthy man had not intended an act of political eclecticism
+in adopting this costume, which combined the styles of peasant,
+revolutionist, and aristocrat; he simply and innocently obeyed the
+dictates of circumstances.
+
+Madame d'Hauteserre, forty years of age and wasted by emotions, had a
+faded face which seemed to be always posing for its portrait. A lace
+cap, trimmed with bows of white satin, contributed singularly to give
+her a solemn air. She still wore powder, in spite of a white kerchief,
+and a gown of puce-colored silk with tight sleeves and full skirt, the
+sad last garments of Marie-Antoinette. Her nose was pinched, her chin
+sharp, the whole face nearly triangular, the eyes worn-out with weeping;
+but she now wore a touch of rouge which brightened their grayness. She
+took snuff, and each time that she did so she employed all the pretty
+precautions of the fashionable women of her early days; the details of
+this snuff-taking constituted a ceremony which could be explained by one
+fact--she had very pretty hands.
+
+For the last two years the former tutor of the Simeuse twins, a friend
+of the late Abbe d'Hauteserre, named Goujet, Abbe des Minimes, had
+taken charge of the parish of Cinq-Cygne out of friendship for the
+d'Hauteserres and the young countess. His sister, Mademoiselle Goujet,
+who possessed a little income of seven hundred francs, added that sum to
+the meagre salary of her brother and kept his house. Neither church nor
+parsonage had been sold during the Revolution on account of their small
+value. The abbe and his sister lived close to the chateau, for the wall
+of the parsonage garden and that of the park were the same in places.
+Twice a week the pair dined at the chateau, but they came every evening
+to play boston with the d'Hauteserres; for Laurence, unable to play a
+game, did not even know one card from another.
+
+The Abbe Goujet, an old man with white hair and a face as white as that
+of an old woman, endowed with a kindly smile and a gentle and persuasive
+voice, redeemed the insipidity of his rather mincing face by a fine
+intellectual brow and a pair of keen eyes. Of medium height, and
+very well made, he still wore the old-fashioned black coat, silver
+shoe-buckles, breeches, black silk stockings, and a black waistcoat
+on which lay his clerical bands, giving him a distinguished air which
+detracted nothing from his dignity. This abbe, who became bishop of
+Troyes after the Restoration, had long made a study of young people
+and fully understood the noble character of the young countess; he
+appreciated her at her full value, and had shown her, from the first,
+a respectful deference which contributed much to her independence at
+Cinq-Cygne, for it led the austere old lady and the kind old gentleman
+to yield to the young girl, who by rights should have yielded to them.
+For the last six months the abbe had watched Laurence with the intuition
+peculiar to priests, the most sagacious of men; and although he did
+not know that this girl of twenty-three was thinking of overturning
+Bonaparte as she lay there twisting with slender fingers the frogged
+lacing of her riding-habit, he was well aware that she was agitated by
+some great project.
+
+Mademoiselle Goujet was one of those unmarried women whose portrait can
+be drawn in one word which will enable the least imaginative mind to
+picture her; she was ungainly. She knew her own ugliness and was the
+first to laugh at it, showing her long teeth, yellow as her complexion
+and her bony hands. She was gay and hearty. She wore the famous short
+gown of former days, a very full skirt with pockets full of keys, a cap
+with ribbons and a false front. She was forty years of age very early,
+but had, so she said, caught up with herself by keeping at that age for
+twenty years. She revered the nobility; and knew well how to preserve
+her own dignity by giving to persons of noble birth the respect and
+deference that were due to them.
+
+This little company was a god-send to Madame d'Hauteserre, who had not,
+like her husband, rural occupations, nor, like Laurence, the tonic of
+hatred, to enable her to bear the dulness of a retired life. Many things
+had happened to ameliorate that life within the last six years. The
+restoration of Catholic worship allowed the faithful to fulfil their
+religious duties, which play more of a part in country life than
+elsewhere. Protected by the conservative edicts of the First Consul,
+Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre had been able to correspond with their
+sons, and no longer in dread of what might happen to them could even
+hope for the erasure of their names from the lists of the proscribed and
+their consequent return to France. The Treasury had lately made up
+the arrearages and now paid its dividends promptly; so that the
+d'Hauteserres received, over and above their annuity, about eight
+thousand francs a year. The old man congratulated himself on the
+sagacity of his foresight in having put all his savings, amounting to
+twenty thousand francs, together with those of his ward, in the public
+Funds before the 18th Brumaire, which, as we all know, sent those stocks
+up from twelve to eighteen francs.
+
+The chateau of Cinq-Cygne had long been empty and denuded of furniture.
+The prudent guardian was careful not to alter its aspect during the
+revolutionary troubles; but after the peace of Amiens he made a journey
+to Troyes and brought back various relics of the pillaged mansions which
+he obtained from the dealers in second-hand furniture. The salon was
+furnished for the first time since their occupation of the house.
+Handsome curtains of white brocade with green flowers, from the hotel de
+Simeuse, draped the six windows of the salon, in which the family were
+now assembled. The walls of this vast room were entirely of wood, with
+panels encased in beaded mouldings with masks at the angles; the whole
+painted in two shades of gray. The spaces over the four doors were
+filled with those designs, painted in cameo of two colors, which were
+so much in vogue under Louis XV. Monsieur d'Hauteserre had picked up
+at Troyes certain gilded pier-tables, a sofa in green damask, a crystal
+chandelier, a card-table of marquetry, among other things that served
+him to restore the chateau. In 1792 all the furniture of the house had
+been taken or destroyed, for the pillage of the mansions in town was
+imitated in the valley. Each time that the old man went to Troyes he
+returned with some relic of the former splendor, sometimes a fine carpet
+for the floor of the salon, at other times part of a dinner service, or
+a bit of rare old porcelain of either Sevres or Dresden. During the last
+six months he had ventured to dig up the family silver, which the cook
+had buried in the cellar of a little house belonging to him at the end
+of one of the long faubourgs in Troyes.
+
+That faithful servant, named Durieu, and his wife had followed the
+fortunes of their young mistress. Durieu was the factotum of the
+chateau, and his wife was the housekeeper. He was helped in the cooking
+by the sister of Catherine, Laurence's maid, to whom he was teaching his
+art and who gave promise of becoming an excellent cook. An old gardener,
+his wife, a son paid by the day, and a daughter who served as a
+dairy-woman, made up the household. Madame Durieu had lately and
+secretly had the Cinq-Cygne liveries made for the gardener's son and for
+Gothard. Though blamed for this imprudence by Monsieur d'Hauteserre,
+the housekeeper took great pleasure in seeing the dinner served on the
+festival of Saint-Laurence, the countess's fete-day, with almost as much
+style as in former times.
+
+This slow and difficult restoration of departed things was the delight
+of Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre and the Durieus. Laurence smiled
+at what she thought nonsense. But the worthy old d'Hauteserre did not
+forget the more solid matters; he repaired the buildings, put up the
+walls, planted trees wherever there was a chance to make them grow, and
+did not leave an inch of unproductive land. The whole valley regarded
+him as an oracle in the matter of agriculture. He had managed to recover
+a hundred acres of contested land, not sold as national property, being
+in some way confounded with that of the township. This land he had
+turned into fields which afforded good pasturage for his horses and
+cattle, and he planted them round with poplars, which now, at the end
+of six years, were making a fine growth. He intended to buy back some of
+the lost estate, and to utilize all the out-buildings of the chateau by
+making a second farm and managing it himself.
+
+Life at the chateau had thus become during the last two years prosperous
+and almost happy. Monsieur d'Hauteserre was off at daybreaks to overlook
+his laborers, for he employed them in all weathers. He came home to
+breakfast, mounted his farm pony as soon as the meal was over, and
+made his rounds of the estate like a bailiff,--getting home in time for
+dinner, and finishing the day with a game of boston. All the inhabitants
+of the chateau had their stated occupations; life was as closely
+regulated there as in a convent. Laurence alone disturbed its even
+tenor by her sudden journeys, her uncertain returns, and by what Madame
+d'Hauteserre called her pranks. But with all this peacefulness there
+existed at Cinq-Cygne conflicting interests and certain causes of
+dissension. In the first place Durieu and his wife were jealous of
+Catherine and Gothard, who lived in greater intimacy with their young
+mistress, the idol of the household, than they did. Then the two
+d'Hauteserres, encouraged by Mademoiselle Goujet and the abbe, wanted
+their sons as well as the Simeuse brothers to take the oath and return
+to this quiet life, instead of living miserably in foreign countries.
+Laurence scouted the odious compromise and stood firmly for the
+monarchy, militant and implacable. The four old people, anxious that
+their present peaceful existence should not be risked, nor their spot
+of refuge, saved from the furious waters of the revolutionary torrent,
+lost, did their best to convert Laurence to their cautious views,
+believing that her influence counted for much in the unwillingness of
+their sons and the Simeuse twins to return to France. The superb disdain
+with which she met the project frightened these poor people, who were
+not mistaken in their fears that she was meditating what they called
+knight-errantry. This jarring of opinion came to the surface after the
+explosion of the infernal machine in the rue Saint-Nicaise, the first
+royalist attempt against the conqueror of Marengo after his refusal
+to treat with the house of Bourbon. The d'Hauteserres considered
+it fortunate that Bonaparte escaped that danger, believing that the
+republicans had instigated it. But Laurence wept with rage when she
+heard he was safe. Her despair overcame her usual reticence, and she
+vehemently complained that God had deserted the sons of Saint-Louis.
+
+"I," she exclaimed, "I could have succeeded! Have we no right," she
+added, seeing the stupefaction her words produced on the faces about
+her, and addressing the abbe, "no right to attack the usurper by every
+means in our power?"
+
+"My child," replied the abbe, "the Church has been greatly blamed by
+philosophers for declaring in former times that the same weapons might
+be employed against usurpers which the usurpers themselves had employed
+to succeed; but in these days the Church owes far too much to the First
+Consul not to protect him against that maxim,--which, by the by, was due
+to the Jesuits."
+
+"So the Church abandons us!" she answered, gloomily.
+
+From that day forth whenever the four old people talked of submitting
+to the decrees of Providence, Laurence left the room. Of late, the abbe,
+shrewder than Monsieur d'Hauteserre, instead of discussing principles,
+drew pictures of the material advantages of the consular rule, less to
+convert the countess than to detect in her eyes some expression
+which might enlighten him as to her projects. Gothard's frequent
+disappearances, the long rides of his mistress, and her evident
+preoccupation, which, for the last few days, had appeared in her face,
+together with other little signs not to be hidden in the silence and
+tranquillity of such a life, had roused the fears of these submissive
+royalists. Still, as no event happened, and perfect quiet appeared to
+reign in the political atmosphere, the minds of the little household
+were soothed into peace, and the countess's long rides were one more
+attributed to her passion for hunting.
+
+It is easy to imagine the deep silence which reigned at nine o'clock in
+the evening in the park, courtyards, and gardens of Cinq-Cygne, where at
+that particular moment the persons we have described were harmoniously
+grouped, where perfect peace pervaded all things, where comfort and
+abundance were again enjoyed, and where the worthy and judicious old
+gentleman was still hoping to convert his late ward to his system of
+obedience to the ruling powers by the argument of what we may call the
+continuity of prosperous results.
+
+These royalists continued to play their boston, a game which spread
+ideas of independence under a frivolous form over the whole of France;
+for it was first invented in honor of the American insurgents, its very
+terms applying to the struggle which Louis XVI. encouraged. While making
+their "independences" and "poverties," the players kept an eye on the
+countess, who had fallen asleep, overcome by fatigue, with a singular
+smile on her lips, her last waking thought having been of the terror two
+words could inspire in the minds of the peaceful company by informing
+the d'Hauteserres that their sons had passed the preceding night under
+that roof. What young girl of twenty-three would not have been, as
+Laurence was, proud to play the part of Destiny? and who would not have
+felt, as she did, a sense of compassion for those whom she felt to be so
+far below her in loyalty?
+
+"She sleeps," said the abbe. "I have never seen her so wearied."
+
+"Durieu tells me her mare is almost foundered," remarked Madame
+d'Hauteserre. "Her gun has not been fired; the breech is clean; she has
+evidently not hunted."
+
+"Oh! that's neither here nor there," said the abbe.
+
+"Bah?" cried Mademoiselle Goujet; "when I was twenty-three and saw I
+should be an old maid all my life, I rushed about and fatigued myself
+in a dozen ways. I understand how the countess can scour the country for
+hours without thinking of the game. It is nearly twelve years now since
+she has seen her cousins, and you know she loves them. Well, if I
+were she, if I were as young and pretty, I'd make a straight line for
+Germany! Poor darling, perhaps she is thinking of the frontier, and that
+may be the reason why she rides so far towards it."
+
+"You are rather giddy, Mademoiselle Goujet," said the abbe, smiling.
+
+"Not at all," she replied. "I see you all uneasy about the goings on of
+a young girl, and I am explaining them to you."
+
+"Her cousins will submit and return soon; they will all be rich, and she
+will end by calming down," said old d'Hauteserre.
+
+"God grant it!" said his wife, taking out a gold snuff-box which had
+again seen the light under the Consulate.
+
+"There is something stirring in the neighborhood," remarked Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre to the abbe. "Malin has been two days at Gondreville."
+
+"Malin!" cried Laurence, roused by the name, though her sleep was sound.
+
+"Yes," replied the abbe, "but he leaves to-night; everybody is
+conjecturing the motive of this hasty visit."
+
+"That man," said Laurence, "is the evil genius of our two houses."
+
+The countess had been dreaming of her cousins and the young Hauteserres;
+she saw them in peril. Her beautiful eyes grew fixed and glassy as her
+mind thus warned dwelled on the dangers they were about to incur in
+Paris. She rose suddenly and went to her bedroom without speaking. Her
+bedroom was the best in the house; next came a dressing-room and an
+oratory, in the tower which faced towards the forest. Soon after she
+had left the salon the dogs barked, the bell of the small gate rang,
+and Durieu rushed into the salon with a frightened face. "Here is the
+mayor!" he said. "Something is the matter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI. A DOMICILIARY VISIT
+
+The mayor, a former huntsman of the house of Simeuse, came occasionally
+to the chateau, where the d'Hauteserres showed him out of policy, a
+deference to which he attached great value. His name was Goulard; he had
+married a rich woman of Troyes, whose property, which was in the commune
+of Cinq-Cygne, he had further increased by the purchase of a fine abbey
+and its lands, in which he invested all his savings. The vast abbey of
+Val-des-Preux, standing about a mile from the chateau, he had turned
+into a dwelling that was almost as splendid as Gondreville; in it his
+wife and he were now living like rats in a cathedral. "Ah! Goulard, you
+have been greedy," Mademoiselle had said to him with a laugh the first
+time she received him at Cinq-Cygne. Though greatly attached to the
+Revolution and coldly received by the countess, the mayor always felt
+himself bound by ties of respect to the Cinq-Cygne and Simeuse families.
+He therefore shut his eyes to what went on at the chateau. He called
+shutting his eyes not seeing the portraits of Louis XVI., Marie
+Antoinette, and the royal children, and those of Monsieur, the Comte
+d'Artois, Cazales and Charlotte Corday, which filled the various panels
+of the salon; not resenting either the wishes freely expressed in his
+presence for the ruin of the Republic, or the ridicule flung at the five
+directors and all the other governmental combinations of that time.
+The position of this man, who, like many parvenus, having once made his
+fortune, reverted to his early faith in the old families, and sought to
+attach himself to them, was now being made use of by the two members of
+the Paris police whose profession had been so quickly guessed by Michu,
+and who, before going to Gondreville had reconnoitred the neighborhood.
+
+The worthy described as the depositary of the best traditions of the old
+police, and Corentin phoenix of spies, were in fact employed on a secret
+mission. Malin was not mistaken in attributing a double purpose to those
+stars of tragic farces. But, before seeing them at work, it is advisable
+to show the head of which they were the arms. When Bonaparte became
+First Consul he found Fouche at the head of the police. The Revolution
+had frankly and with good reason made the management of the police into
+a special ministry. But after his return from Marengo, Bonaparte created
+the prefecture of police, placed Dubois in charge of it, and called
+Fouche to the Council of State, naming as his successor in the ministry
+a conventional named Cochon, since known as Comte de Lapparent. Fouche,
+who considered the ministry of police as by far the most important in a
+government of broad ideas and fixed policy, saw disgrace or at any
+rate distrust in the change. After Napoleon became aware of the immense
+superiority of this great statesman, as evidenced in the affair of the
+infernal machine and in the conspiracy with which we are now concerned,
+he returned him to the ministry of police. Later still, becoming alarmed
+at the powers Fouche displayed during his absence at the time of the
+affair at Walcheren, the Emperor gave that ministry to the Duc de
+Rovigo, and sent Fouche (Duc d'Otrante) as governor to the Illyrian
+provinces,--an appointment which was in fact an exile.
+
+The singular genius of this man, Fouche, which had the power of
+inspiring Napoleon with a sort of fear, did not reveal itself all at
+once. This obscure conventional, one of the most extraordinary men
+of our time, and the most misjudged, was moulded, as it were, by the
+whirlwind of events. He raised himself under the Directory to the height
+from which men of genius could see the future and judge the past, and
+then, like certain commonplace actors who suddenly become admirable
+through the light of some vivid perception, he gave proofs of his
+dexterity during the rapid revolution of the 18th Brumaire. This man
+with the pallid face, educated to monastic dissimulation, possessing
+the secrets of the _montagnards_ to whom he belonged, and those of the
+royalists to whom he ended by belonging, had slowly and silently studied
+the men, the events, and the interests on the political stage; he
+penetrated Napoleon's secrets, he gave him useful counsel and precious
+information. Satisfied with having proven his capacity and his
+usefulness, Fouche was careful not to disclose himself completely. He
+wished to remain at the head of affairs, but the Emperor's restless
+uneasiness about him cost him his place.
+
+The ingratitude or rather the distrust shown by Napoleon after the
+affair at Walcheren, gives the key-note to the character of a man who,
+unfortunately for himself, was not a great _seigneur_, and whose conduct
+was modelled on that of Talleyrand. At that time neither his former
+colleagues nor his present ones had suspected the amplitude of his
+genius, which was purely ministerial, essentially governmental, just
+in its forecasts and incredibly sagacious. To-day, every impartial
+historian perceives that Napoleon's inordinate self-love was among
+the chief causes of his fall, a punishment which cruelly expiated his
+wrong-doing. In the mind of that distrustful sovereign lurked a constant
+jealousy for his own rising power, which influenced all his actions, and
+caused his secret hatred for men of talent, the precious legacy of the
+Revolution, with whom he might have made himself a cabinet capable of
+being a true repository for his thoughts. Talleyrand and Fouche were not
+the only ones who gave him umbrage. The misfortune of usurpers is that
+those who have given them a crown are as much their enemies as those
+from whom they snatch it. Napoleon's sovereignty was never convincingly
+felt by those who were once his superiors or his equals, nor by those
+who still held to the doctrine of rights; none of them regarded their
+oath of allegiance to him as binding.
+
+Malin, an inferior man, incapable of comprehending Fouche's hidden
+genius, or of distrusting his own perceptions, burned himself, like
+a moth in a candle, by asking him confidentially to send agents to
+Gondreville, where, he said, he hoped to obtain certain clues to the
+conspiracy. Fouche, without alarming his friend by any questions,
+asked himself why Malin was going to Gondreville, and why he did not
+immediately and without loss of time, give the information he already
+possessed. The ex-Oratorian, fed from his youth up on trickery, and well
+aware of the double part played by a good many of the conventionals,
+said to himself: "From whom is Malin likely to obtain information when
+we ourselves know little or nothing?" Fouche concluded therefore that
+there was some either latent or prospective collusion, and took care to
+say nothing about it to the First Consul. He preferred to make Malin
+his instrument rather than destroy him. It was Fouche's habit to keep to
+himself a good part of the secrets he detected, and he thus obtained
+for his own purposes a power over those concerned which was even greater
+than that of Bonaparte. This duplicity was one of the Emperor's charges
+against his minister.
+
+Fouche knew of the swindling transaction by which Malin became possessed
+of Gondreville and which led him to keep his eyes so anxiously on the
+Simeuse brothers. These gentlemen were now serving in the army of Conde;
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne was their cousin; possibly they were in
+her neighborhood, and were sharers in the conspiracy; if so, it would
+implicate the house of Conde to which they were devoted. Talleyrand
+and Fouche were bent on casting light into this dark corner of the
+conspiracy of 1803. All these considerations Fouche saw at a glance,
+rapidly and with great clearness. But between Malin, Talleyrand,
+and himself there were strong ties which forced him to the utmost
+circumspection, and made him anxious to know the exact state of things
+within the walls of Gondreville. Corentin was unreservedly attached to
+Fouche, just as Monsieur de la Besnardiere was to Talleyrand, Gentz to
+Monsieur de Metternich, Dundas to Pitt, Duroc to Napoleon, Chavigny to
+Cardinal Richelieu. Corentin was not the counsellor of his master, but
+his instrument, the Tristan to this Louis XI. of low estate. Fouche had
+kept him in the ministry of the police when he himself left it, so as to
+still keep an eye and a finger in it. It was said that Corentin belonged
+to Fouche by some unavowed relationship, for he rewarded him lavishly
+after every service. Corentin had a friend in Peyrade, the old pupil of
+the last lieutenant of police; but he kept a good many of his secrets
+from him. Fouche gave Corentin an order to explore the chateau of
+Gondreville, to get the plan of it into his memory, and to know every
+hiding-place within its walls.
+
+"We may be obliged to return there," said the ex-minister, precisely
+as Napoleon told his lieutenants to explore the field of Austerlitz on
+which he intended to fall back.
+
+Corentin was also to study Malin's conduct, discover what influence
+he had in the neighborhood, and observe the men he employed. Fouche
+regarded it as certain that the Simeuse brothers were in that part of
+the country. By cautiously watching the two officers, who were closely
+allied with the Prince de Conde, Peyrade and Corentin could obtain
+precious light on the ramifications of the conspiracy beyond the Rhine.
+In any case, however, Corentin received the means, the orders, and
+the agents, to surround the chateau of Cinq-Cygne and watch the whole
+region, from the forest of Nodesme into Paris. Fouche insisted on the
+utmost caution, and would only allow a domiciliary visit to Cinq-Cygne
+in case Malin gave them positive information which made it necessary. By
+way of instructions he explained to Corentin the otherwise inexplicable
+personality of Michu, who had been watched by the police for the last
+three years. Corentin's idea was that of his master: "Malin knows all
+about the conspiracy--But," he added to himself, "perhaps Fouche does,
+too; who knows?"
+
+Corentin, having started for Troyes before Malin, had made arrangements
+with the commandant of the gendarmerie in that town, who picked out a
+number of his most intelligent men and placed them under orders of an
+able captain. Corentin chose Gondreville as the place of rendezvous,
+and directed the captain to send some of his men at night in four
+detachments to different points of the valley of Cinq-Cygne at
+sufficient distance from each other to cause no alarm. These four
+pickets were to form a square and close in around the chateau of
+Cinq-Cygne. By leaving Corentin alone at Gondreville during his
+consultation in the fields with Grevin, Malin had enabled him to fulfil
+part of Fouche's orders and explore the house. When the Councillor of
+State returned home he told Corentin so positively that the d'Hauteserre
+and Simeuse brothers were in the neighborhood and probably at Cinq-Cygne
+that the two agents despatched the captain with the rest of his company,
+who, fortunately for the four gentlemen, crossed the forest on their
+way to the chateau during the time when Michu was making Violette drunk.
+Malin had told Corentin and Peyrade of the escape he had from lying in
+wait for him. The two agents related the incident of the gun they
+had seen the bailiff load, and Grevin had sent Violette to obtain
+information as to what was going on at Michu's house. Corentin advised
+the notary to take Malin to his own house in the little town of Arcis,
+and let him sleep there as a measure of precaution. At the moment when
+Michu and his wife were rushing through the forest on their way to
+Cinq-Cygne, Peyrade and Corentin were starting from Gondreville for
+Cinq-Cygne in a shabby wicker carriage, drawn by one post-horse driven
+by the corporal of Arcis, one of the shrewdest men in the Legion, whom
+the commandant at Troyes advised them to employ.
+
+"The surest way to seize them all is to warn them," said Peyrade to
+Corentin. "At the moment when they are well frightened and are trying to
+save their papers or to escape we'll fall upon them like a thunderbolt.
+The gendarmes surround the chateau now and are as good as a net. We
+sha'n't lose one of them!"
+
+"You had better send the mayor to warn them," said the corporal. "He
+is friendly to them and wouldn't like to see them harmed; they won't
+distrust him."
+
+Just as Goulard was preparing to go to bed, Corentin, who stopped
+the vehicle in a little wood, went to his house and told him,
+confidentially, that in a few moments an emissary from the government
+would require him to enter the chateau of Cinq-Cygne and arrest
+the brothers d'Hauteserre and Simeuse; and in case they had already
+disappeared he would have to ascertain if they had slept there the
+night before, search Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne's papers, and, possibly,
+arrest both the masters and servants of the household.
+
+"Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne," said Corentin, "is undoubtedly protected
+by some great personages, for I have received private orders to warn
+her of this visit, and to do all I can to save her without compromising
+myself. Once on the ground, I shall no longer be able to do so, for I am
+not alone; go to the chateau yourself and warn them."
+
+The mayor's visit at that time of night was all the more bewildering to
+the card-players when they saw the agitation of his face.
+
+"Where is the countess?" were his first words.
+
+"She has gone to bed," said Madame d'Hauteserre.
+
+The mayor, incredulous, listened to noises that were heard on the upper
+floor.
+
+"What is the matter with you, Goulard?" said Monsieur d'Hauteserre.
+
+Goulard was dumb with surprise as he noted the tranquil ease of the
+faces about him. Observing the peaceful and innocent game of cards which
+he had thus interrupted, he was unable to imagine what the Parisian
+police meant by their suspicions.
+
+At that moment Laurence, kneeling in her oratory, was praying fervently
+for the success of the conspiracy. She prayed to God to send help and
+succor to the murderers of Bonaparte. She implored Him ardently to
+destroy that fatal being. The fanaticism of Harmodius, Judith, Jacques
+Clement, Ankarstroem, of Charlotte Corday and Limoelan, inspired this
+pure and virgin spirit. Catherine was preparing the bed, Gothard was
+closing the blinds, when Marthe Michu coming under the windows flung a
+pebble on the glass and was seen at once.
+
+"Mademoiselle, here's some one," said Gothard, seeing a woman.
+
+"Hush!" said Marthe, in a low voice. "Come down and speak to me."
+
+Gothard was in the garden in less time than a bird would have taken to
+fly down from a tree.
+
+"In a minute the chateau will be surrounded by the gendarmerie. Saddle
+mademoiselle's horse without making any noise and take it down through
+the breach in the moat between the stables and this tower."
+
+Marthe quivered when she saw Laurence, who had followed Gothard,
+standing beside her.
+
+"What is it?" asked Laurence, quietly.
+
+"The conspiracy against the First Consul is discovered," replied Marthe,
+in a whisper. "My husband, who seeks to save your two cousins, sends me
+to ask you to come and speak to him."
+
+Laurence drew back and looked at Marthe. "Who are you?" she said.
+
+"Marthe Michu."
+
+"I do not know what you want of me," replied the countess, coldly.
+
+"Take care, you will kill them. Come with me, I implore you in the
+Simeuse name," said Marthe, clasping her hands and stretching them
+towards Laurence. "Have you papers here which may compromise you? If so,
+destroy them. From the heights over there my husband has just seen the
+silver-laced hats and the muskets of the gendarmerie."
+
+Gothard had already clambered to the hay-loft and seen the same sight;
+he heard in the stillness of the evening the sound of their horses'
+hoofs. Down he slipped into the stable and saddled his mistress's mare,
+whose feet Catherine, at a word from the lad, muffled in linen.
+
+"Where am I to go?" said Laurence to Marthe, whose look and language
+bore the unmistakable signs of sincerity.
+
+"Through the breach," she replied; "my noble husband is there. You shall
+learn the value of a 'Judas'!"
+
+Catherine went quickly into the salon, picked up the hat, veil, whip,
+and gloves of her mistress, and disappeared. This sudden apparition and
+action were so striking a commentary on the mayor's inquiry that
+Madame d'Hauteserre and the abbe exchanged glances which contained the
+melancholy thought: "Farewell to all our peace! Laurence is conspiring;
+she will be the death of her cousins."
+
+"But what do you really mean?" said Monsieur d'Hauteserre to the mayor.
+
+"The chateau is surrounded. You are about to receive a domiciliary
+visit. If your sons are here tell them to escape, and the Simeuse
+brothers too, if they are with them."
+
+"My sons!" exclaimed Madame d'Hauteserre, stupefied.
+
+"We have seen no one," said Monsieur d'Hauteserre.
+
+"So much the better," said Goulard; "but I care too much for the
+Cinq-Cygne and Simeuse families to let any harm come to them. Listen to
+me. If you have any compromising papers--"
+
+"Papers!" repeated the old gentleman.
+
+"Yes, if you have any, burn them at once," said the mayor. "I'll go and
+amuse the police agents."
+
+Goulard, whose object was to run with the royalist hare and hold with
+the republican hounds, left the room; at that moment the dogs barked
+violently.
+
+"There is no longer time," said the abbe, "here they come! But who is to
+warn the countess? Where is she?"
+
+"Catherine didn't come for her hat and whip to make relics of them,"
+remarked Mademoiselle Goujet.
+
+Goulard tried to detain the two agents for a few moments, assuring them
+of the perfect ignorance of the family at Cinq-Cygne.
+
+"You don't know these people!" said Peyrade, laughing at him.
+
+The two agents, insinuatingly dangerous, entered the house at once,
+followed by the corporal from Arcis and one gendarme. The sight of them
+paralyzed the peaceful card-players, who kept their seats at the table,
+terrified by such a display of force. The noise produced by a dozen
+gendarmes whose horses were stamping on the terrace, was heard without.
+
+"I do not see Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne," said Corentin.
+
+"She is probably asleep in her bedroom," said Monsieur d'Hauteserre.
+
+"Come with me, ladies," said Corentin, turning to pass through the
+ante-chamber and up the staircase, followed by Mademoiselle Goujet and
+Madame d'Hauteserre. "Rely upon me," he whispered to the old lady. "I am
+in your interests. I sent the mayor to warn you. Distrust my colleague
+and look to me. I can save every one of you."
+
+"But what is it all about?" said Mademoiselle Goujet.
+
+"A matter of life and death; you must know that," replied Corentin.
+
+Madame d'Hauteserre fainted. To Mademoiselle Goujet's great astonishment
+and Corentin's disappointment, Laurence's room was empty. Certain that
+no one could have escaped from the park or the chateau, for all the
+issues were guarded, Corentin stationed a gendarme in every room and
+ordered others to search the farm buildings, stables, and sheds. Then he
+returned to the salon, where Durieu and his wife and the other servants
+had rushed in the wildest excitement. Peyrade was studying their faces
+with his little blue eye, cold and calm in the midst of the uproar. Just
+as Corentin reappeared alone (Mademoiselle Goujet remaining behind to
+take care of Madame d'Hauteserre) the tramp of horses was heard, and
+presently the sound of a child's weeping. The horses entered by the
+small gate; and the general suspense was put an end to by a corporal
+appearing at the door of the salon pushing Gothard, whose hands were
+tied, and Catherine whom he led to the agents.
+
+"Here are some prisoners," he said; "that little scamp was escaping on
+horseback."
+
+"Fool!" said Corentin, in his ear, "why didn't you let him alone? You
+could have found out something by following him."
+
+Gothard had chosen to burst into tears and behave like an idiot.
+Catherine took an attitude of artless innocence which made the old agent
+reflective. The pupil of Lenoir, after considering the two prisoners
+carefully, and noting the vacant air of the old gentleman whom he took
+to be sly, the intelligent eye of the abbe who was still fingering the
+cards, and the utter stupefaction of the servants and Durieu, approached
+Corentin and whispered in his ear, "We are not dealing with ninnies."
+
+Corentin answered with a look at the card-table; then he added, "They
+were playing at boston! Mademoiselle's bed was just being made for the
+night; she escaped in a hurry; it is a regular surprise; we shall catch
+them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII. A FOREST NOOK
+
+A breach has always a cause and a purpose. Here is the explanation of
+how the one which led from the tower called that of Mademoiselle and the
+stables came to be made. After his installation as Laurence's guardian
+at Cinq-Cygne old d'Hauteserre converted a long ravine, through which
+the water of the forest flowed into the moat, into a roadway between two
+tracts of uncultivated land belonging to the chateau, by merely planting
+out in it about a hundred walnut trees which he found ready in the
+nursery. In eleven years these trees had grown and branched so as to
+nearly cover the road, hidden already by steep banks, which ran into a
+little wood of thirty acres recently purchased. When the chateau had its
+full complement of inhabitants they all preferred to take this covered
+way through the breach to the main road which skirted the park walls and
+led to the farm, rather than go round by the entrance. By dint of thus
+using it the breach in the sides of the moat had gradually been widened
+on both sides, with all the less scruple because in this nineteenth
+century of ours moats are no longer of the slightest use, and Laurence's
+guardian had often talked of putting this one to some other purpose. The
+constant crumbling away of the earth and stones and gravel had ended by
+filling up the ditch, so that only after heavy rains was the causeway
+thus constructed covered. But the bank was still so steep that it was
+difficult to make a horse descend it, and even more difficult to get him
+up upon the main road. Horses, however, seem in times of peril to share
+their masters' thought.
+
+While the young countess was hesitating to follow Marthe, and asking
+explanations, Michu, from his vantage-ground watched the closing in of
+the gendarmes and understood their plan. He grew desperate as time
+went by and the countess did not come to him. A squad of gendarmes were
+marching along the park wall and stationing themselves as sentinels,
+each man being near enough to communicate with those on either side of
+them, by voice and eye. Michu, lying flat on his stomach, his ear to
+earth, gauged, like a red Indian, by the strength of the sounds the time
+that remained to him.
+
+"I came too late!" he said to himself. "Violette shall pay dear for
+this! what a time it took to make him drunk! What can be done?"
+
+He heard the detachment that was coming through the forest reach the
+iron gates and turn into the main road, where before long it would meet
+the squad coming up from the other direction.
+
+"Still five or six minutes!" he said.
+
+At that instant the countess appeared. Michu took her with a firm hand
+and pushed her into the covered way.
+
+"Keep straight before you! Lead her to where my horse is," he said to
+his wife, "and remember that gendarmes have ears."
+
+Seeing Catherine, who carried the hat and whip, and Gothard leading the
+mare, the man, keen-witted in presence of danger, bethought himself of
+playing the gendarmes a trick as useful as the one he had just played
+Violette. Gothard had forced the mare to mount the bank.
+
+"Her feet muffled! I thank thee, boy," exclaimed the bailiff.
+
+Michu let the mare follow her mistress and took the hat, gloves, and
+whip from Catherine.
+
+"You have sense, boy, you'll understand me," he said. "Force your own
+horse up here, jump on him, and draw the gendarmes after you across the
+fields towards the farm; get the whole squad to follow you--And you,"
+he added to Catherine, "there are other gendarmes coming up on the road
+from Cinq-Cygne to Gondreville; run in the opposite direction to the one
+Gothard takes, and draw them towards the forest. Manage so that we shall
+not be interfered with in the covered way."
+
+Catherine and the boy, who were destined to give in this affair such
+remarkable proofs of intelligence, executed the manoeuvre in a way to
+make both detachments of gendarmes believe that they held the game. The
+dim light of the moon prevented the pursuers from distinguishing the
+figure, clothing, sex, or number of those they followed. The pursuit was
+based on the maxim, "Always arrest those who are escaping,"--the folly
+of which saying was, as we have seen, energetically declared by Corentin
+to the corporal in command. Michu, counting on this instinct of
+the gendarmes, was able to reach the forest a few moments after the
+countess, whom Marthe had guided to the appointed place.
+
+"Go home now," he said to Marthe. "The forest is watched and it is
+dangerous to remain here. We need all our freedom."
+
+Michu unfastened his horse and asked the countess to follow him.
+
+"I shall not go a step further," said Laurence, "unless you give me some
+proof of the interest you seem to have in us--for, after all, you are
+Michu."
+
+"Mademoiselle," he answered, in a gentle voice; "the part I am playing
+can be explained to you in two words. I am, unknown to the Marquis de
+Simeuse and his brother, the guardian of their property. On this subject
+I received the last instructions of their late father and their dear
+mother, my protectress. I have played the part of a virulent Jacobin to
+serve my dear young masters. Unhappily, I began this course too late;
+I could not save their parents." Here, Michu's voice broke down. "Since
+the young men emigrated I have sent them regularly the sums they needed
+to live upon."
+
+"Through the house of Breintmayer of Strasburg?" asked the countess.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle; the correspondents of Monsieur Girel of Troyes, a
+royalist who, like me, made himself for good reasons, a Jacobin. The
+paper which your farmer picked up one evening and which I forced him
+to surrender, related to the affair and would have compromised your
+cousins. My life no longer belongs to me, but to them, you understand. I
+could not buy in Gondreville. In my position, I should have lost my head
+had the authorities known I had the money. I preferred to wait and
+buy it later. But that scoundrel of a Marion was the slave of another
+scoundrel, Malin. All the same, Gondreville shall once more belong
+to its rightful masters. That's my affair. Four hours ago I had Malin
+sighted by my gun; ha! he was almost gone then! Were he dead, the
+property would be sold and you could have bought it. In case of my death
+my wife would have brought you a letter which would have given you the
+means of buying it. But I overheard that villain telling his accomplice
+Grevin--another scoundrel like himself--that the Marquis and his brother
+were conspiring against the First Consul, that they were here in the
+neighborhood, and that he meant to give them up and get rid of them so
+as to keep Gondreville in peace. I myself saw the police spies; I laid
+aside my gun, and I have lost no time in coming here, thinking that you
+must be the one to know best how to warn the young men. That's the whole
+of it."
+
+"You are worthy to be a noble," said Laurence, offering her hand to
+Michu, who tried to kneel and kiss it. She saw his motion and prevented
+it, saying: "Stand up!" in a tone of voice and with a look which made
+him amends for all the scorn of the last twelve years.
+
+"You reward me as though I had done all that remains for me to do," he
+said. "But don't you hear them, those huzzars of the guillotine? Let us
+go elsewhere."
+
+He took the mare's bridle, and led her a little distance.
+
+"Think only of sitting firm," he said, "and of saving your head from the
+branches of the trees which might strike you in the face."
+
+Then he mounted his own horse and guided the young girl for half an
+hour at full gallop; making turns and half turns, and striking into
+wood-paths, so as to confuse their traces, until they reached a spot
+where he pulled up.
+
+"I don't know where I am," said the countess looking about her,--"I, who
+know the forest as well as you do."
+
+"We are in the heart of it," he replied. "Two gendarmes are after us,
+but we are quite safe."
+
+The picturesque spot to which the bailiff had guided Laurence was
+destined to be so fatal to the principal personages of this drama, and
+to Michu himself, that it becomes our duty, as an historian, to describe
+it. The scene became, as we shall see hereafter, one of noted interest
+in the judiciary annals of the Empire.
+
+The forest of Nodesme belonged to the monastery of Notre-Dame. That
+monastery, seized, sacked, and demolished, had disappeared entirely,
+monks and property. The forest, an object of much cupidity, was taken
+into the domain of the Comtes de Champagne, who mortgaged it later and
+allowed it to be sold. In the course of six centuries nature covered
+its ruins with her rich and vigorous green mantle, and effaced them
+so thoroughly that the existence of one of the finest convents was no
+longer even indicated except by a slight eminence shaded by noble trees
+and circled by thick, impenetrable shrubbery, which, since 1794, Michu
+had taken great pains to make still more impenetrable by planting the
+thorny acacia in all the slight openings between the bushes. A pond was
+at the foot of the eminence and showed the existence of a hidden stream
+which no doubt determined in former days the site of the monastery.
+The late owner of the title to the forest of Nodesme was the first
+to recognize the etymology of the name, which dated back for eight
+centuries, and to discover that at one time a monastery had existed in
+the heart of the forest. When the first rumblings of the thunder of the
+Revolution were heard, the Marquis de Simeuse, who had been forced to
+look into his title by a lawsuit and so learned the above facts as
+it were by chance, began, with a secret intention not difficult to
+conceive, to search for some remains of the former monastery. The
+keeper, Michu, to whom the forest was well known, helped his master
+in the search, and it was his sagacity as a forester which led to the
+discovery of the site. Observing the trend of the five chief roads of
+the forest, some of which were now effaced, he saw that they all ended
+either at the little eminence or by the pond at the foot of it, to which
+points travellers from Troyes, from the valley of Arcis and that of
+Cinq-Cygne, and from Bar-sur-Aube doubtless came. The marquis wished
+to excavate the hillock but he dared not employ the people of the
+neighborhood. Pressed by circumstances, he abandoned the intention,
+leaving in Michu's mind a strong conviction that the eminence had either
+the treasure or the foundations of the former abbey. He continued,
+all alone, this archaeological enterprise; he sounded the earth and
+discovered a hollowness on the level of the pond between two trees, at
+the foot of the only craggy part of the hillock.
+
+One fine night he came to the place armed with a pickaxe, and by the
+sweat of his brow uncovered a succession of cellars, which were entered
+by a flight of stone steps. The pond, which was three feet deep in the
+middle, formed a sort of dipper, the handle of which seemed to come from
+the little eminence, and went far to prove that a spring had once issued
+from the crags, and was now lost by infiltration through the forest. The
+marshy shores of the pond, covered with aquatic trees, alders, willow,
+and ash, were the terminus of all the wood-paths, the remains of former
+roads and forest by-ways, now abandoned. The water, flowing from a
+spring, though apparently stagnant, was covered with large-leaved
+plants and cresses, which gave it a perfectly green surface almost
+indistinguishable from the shores, which were covered with fine close
+herbage. The place is too far from human habitations for any animal,
+unless a wild one, to come there. Convinced that no game was in the
+marsh and repelled by the craggy sides of the hills, keepers and hunters
+had never explored or visited this nook, which belonged to a part of the
+forest where the timber had not been cut for many years and which Michu
+meant to keep in its full growth when the time came round to fell it.
+
+At the further end of the first cellar was a vaulted chamber, clean
+and dry, built with hewn stone, a sort of convent dungeon, such as they
+called in monastic days the _in pace_. The salubrity of the chamber and
+the preservation of this part of the staircase and of the vaults were
+explained by the presence of the spring, which had been enclosed at some
+time by a wall of extraordinary thickness built in brick and cement
+like those of the Romans, and received all the waters. Michu closed the
+entrance to this retreat with large stones; then, to keep the secret of
+it to himself and make it impenetrable to others, he made a rule never
+to enter it except from the wooded height above, by clambering down the
+crag instead of approaching it from the pond.
+
+Just as the fugitives arrived, the moon was casting her beautiful
+silvery light on the aged tree-tops above the crag, and flickering on
+the splendid foliage at the corners of the several paths, all of which
+ended here, some with one tree, some with a group of trees. On all
+sides the eye was irresistibly led along their vanishing perspectives,
+following the curve of a wood-path or the solemn stretch of a forest
+glade flanked by a wall of verdure that was nearly black. The moonlight,
+filtering through the branches of the crossways, made the lonely,
+tranquil waters, where they peeped between the crosses and the
+lily-pads, sparkle like diamonds. The croaking of the frogs broke the
+deep silence of this beautiful forest-nook, the wild odors of which
+incited the soul to thoughts of liberty.
+
+"Are we safe?" said the countess to Michu.
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle. But we have each some work to do. Do you go and
+fasten our horses to the trees at the top of the little hill; tie a
+handkerchief round the mouth of each of them," he said, giving her his
+cravat; "your beast and mine are both intelligent, they will understand
+they are not to neigh. When you have done that, come down the crag
+directly above the pond; but don't let your habit catch anywhere. You
+will find me below."
+
+While the countess hid the horses and tied and gagged them, Michu
+removed the stones and opened the entrance to the caverns. The countess,
+who thought she knew the forest by heart, was amazed when she descended
+into the vaulted chambers. Michu replaced the stones above them with the
+dexterity of a mason. As he finished, the sound of horses' feet and the
+voices of the gendarmes echoed in the darkness; but he quietly struck
+a match, lighted a resinous bit of wood and led the countess to the _in
+pace_, where there was still a piece of the candle with which he had
+first explored the caves. An iron door of some thickness, eaten in
+several places by rust, had been put in good order by the bailiff, and
+could be fastened securely by bars slipping into holes in the wall on
+either side of it. The countess, half dead with fatigue, sat down on a
+stone bench, above which there still remained an iron ring, the staple
+of which was embedded in the masonry.
+
+"We have a salon to converse in," said Michu. "The gendarmes may prowl
+as much as they like; the worst they could do would be to take our
+horses."
+
+"If they do that," said Laurence, "it would be the death of my cousins
+and the Messieurs d'Hauteserre. Tell me now, what do you know?"
+
+Michu related what he had overheard Malin say to Grevin.
+
+"They are already on the road to Paris; they were to enter it to-morrow
+morning," said the countess when he had finished.
+
+"Lost!" exclaimed Michu. "All persons entering or leaving the barriers
+are examined. Malin has strong reasons to let my masters compromise
+themselves; he is seeking to get them killed out of his way."
+
+"And I, who don't know anything of the general plan of the affair,"
+cried Laurence, "how can I warn Georges, Riviere, and Moreau? Where are
+they?--However, let us think only of my cousins and the d'Hauteserres;
+you must catch up with them, no matter what it costs."
+
+"The telegraph goes faster than the best horse," said Michu; "and of
+all the nobles concerned in this conspiracy your cousins are the closest
+watched. If I can find them, they must be hidden here and kept here till
+the affair is over. Their poor father may have had a foreboding when he
+set me to search for this hiding-place; perhaps he felt that his sons
+would be saved here."
+
+"My mare is from the stables of the Comte d'Artois,--she is the daughter
+of his finest English horse," said Laurence; "but she has already gone
+sixty miles, she would drop dead before you reached them."
+
+"Mine is in good condition," replied Michu; "and if you did sixty miles
+I shall have only thirty to do."
+
+"Nearer forty," she said, "they have been walking since dark. You will
+overtake them beyond Lagny, at Coupvrai, where they expected to be at
+daybreak. They are disguised as sailors, and will enter Paris by the
+river on some vessel. This," she added, taking half of her mother's
+wedding-ring from her finger, "is the only thing which will make them
+trust you; they have the other half. The keeper of Couvrai is the father
+of one of their soldiers; he has hidden them tonight in a hut in the
+forest deserted by charcoal-burners. They are eight in all, Messieurs
+d'Hauteserre and four others are with my cousins."
+
+"Mademoiselle, no one is looking for the others! let them save
+themselves as they can; we must think only of the Messieurs de Simeuse.
+It is enough just to warn the rest."
+
+"What! abandon the Hauteserres? never!" she said. "They must all perish
+or be saved together!"
+
+"Only petty noblemen!" remarked Michu.
+
+"They are only chevaliers, I know that," she replied, "but they are
+related to the Cinq-Cygne and Simeuse blood. Save them all, and advise
+them how best to regain this forest."
+
+"The gendarmes are here,--don't you hear them? they are holding a
+council of war."
+
+"Well, you have twice had luck to-night; go! bring my cousins here and
+hide them in these vaults; they'll be safe from all pursuit--Alas! I am
+good for nothing!" she cried, with rage; "I should be only a beacon to
+light the enemy--but the police will never imagine that my cousins are
+in the forest if they see me at my ease. So the question resolves itself
+into this: how can we get five good horses to bring them in six hours
+from Lagny to the forest,--five horses to be killed and hidden in some
+thicket."
+
+"And the money?" said Michu, who was thinking deeply as he listened to
+the young countess.
+
+"I gave my cousins a hundred louis this evening," she replied.
+
+"I'll answer for them!" cried Michu. "But once hidden here you must not
+attempt to see them. My wife, or the little one, shall bring them
+food twice a week. But, as I can't be sure of what may happen to me,
+remember, mademoiselle, in case of trouble, that the main beam in my
+hay-loft has been bored with an auger. In the hole, which is plugged
+with a bit of wood, you will find a plan showing how to reach this spot.
+The trees which you will find marked with a red dot on the plan have a
+black mark at their foot close to the earth. Each of these trees is a
+sign-post. At the foot of the third old oak which stands to the left
+of each sign-post, two feet in front of it and buried seven feet in the
+ground, you will find a large metal tube; in each tube are one
+hundred thousand francs in gold. These eleven trees--there are only
+eleven--contain the whole fortune of the Simeuse brothers, now that
+Gondreville has been taken from them."
+
+"It will take a hundred years for the nobility to recover from such
+blows," said Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, slowly.
+
+"Is there a pass-word?" asked Michu.
+
+"'France and Charles' for the soldiers, 'Laurence and Louis' for the
+Messieurs d'Hauteserre and Simeuse. Good God! to think that I saw them
+yesterday for the first time in eleven years, and that now they are in
+danger of death--and what a death! Michu," she said, with a melancholy
+look, "be as prudent during the next fifteen hours as you have been
+grand and devoted during the last twelve years. If disaster were to
+overtake my cousins now I should die of it--No," she added, quickly, "I
+would live long enough to kill Bonaparte."
+
+"There will be two of us to do that when all is lost," said Michu.
+
+Laurence took his rough hand and wrung it warmly, as the English do.
+Michu looked at his watch; it was midnight.
+
+"We must leave here at any cost," he said. "Death to the gendarme who
+attempts to stop me! And you, madame la comtesse, without presuming
+to dictate, ride back to Cinq-Cygne as fast as you can. The police are
+there by this time; fool them! delay them!"
+
+The hole once opened, Michu flung himself down with his ear to the
+earth; then he rose precipitately. "The gendarmes are at the edge of the
+forest towards Troyes!" he said. "Ha, I'll get the better of them yet!"
+
+He helped the countess to come out, and replaced the stones. When this
+was done he heard her soft voice telling him she must see him mounted
+before mounting herself. Tears came to the eyes of the stern man as
+he exchanged a last look with his young mistress, whose own eyes were
+tearless.
+
+"Fool them! yes, he is right!" she said when she heard him no longer.
+Then she darted towards Cinq-Cygne at full gallop.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII. TRIALS OF THE POLICE
+
+Madame d'Hauteserre, roused by the danger of her sons, and not believing
+that the Revolution was over, but still fearing its summary justice,
+recovered her senses by the violence of the same distress which made
+her lose them. Led by an agonizing curiosity she returned to the salon,
+which presented a picture worthy of the brush of a genre painter. The
+abbe, still seated at the card-table and mechanically playing with the
+counters, was covertly observing Corentin and Peyrade, who were standing
+together at a corner of the fireplace and speaking in a low voice.
+Several times Corentin's keen eye met the not less keen glance of the
+priest; but, like two adversaries who knew themselves equally strong,
+and who return to their guard after crossing their weapons, each averted
+his eyes the instant they met. The worthy old d'Hauteserre, poised on
+his long thin legs like a heron, was standing beside the stout form of
+the mayor, in an attitude expressive of utter stupefaction. The mayor,
+though dressed as a bourgeois, always looked like a servant. Each gazed
+with a bewildered eye at the gendarmes, in whose clutches Gothard was
+still sobbing, his hands purple and swollen from the tightness of the
+cord that bound them. Catherine maintained her attitude of artless
+simplicity, which was quite impenetrable. The corporal, who, according
+to Corentin, had committed a great blunder in arresting these smaller
+fry, did not know whether to stay where he was or to depart. He stood
+pensively in the middle of the salon, his hand on the hilt of his sabre,
+his eye on the two Parisians. The Durieus, also stupefied, and the
+other servants of the chateau made an admirable group of expressive
+uneasiness. If it had not been for Gothard's convulsive snifflings those
+present could have heard the flies fly.
+
+When Madame d'Hauteserre, pale and terrified, opened the door and
+entered the room, almost carried by Mademoiselle Goujet, whose red eyes
+had evidently been weeping, all faces turned to her at once. The two
+agents hoped as much as the household feared to see Laurence enter. This
+spontaneous movement of both masters and servants seemed produced by
+the sort of mechanism which makes a number of wooden figures perform the
+same gesture or wink the same eye.
+
+Madame d'Hauteserre advanced by three rapid strides towards Corentin and
+said, in a broken voice but violently: "For pity's sake, monsieur,
+tell me what my sons are accused of. Do you really think they have been
+here?"
+
+The abbe, who seemed to be saying to himself when he saw the old lady,
+"She will certainly commit some folly," lowered his eyes.
+
+"My duty and the mission I am engaged in forbid me to tell you,"
+answered Corentin, with a gracious but rather mocking air.
+
+This refusal, which the detestable politeness of the vulgar fop seemed
+to make all the more emphatic, petrified the poor mother, who fell into
+a chair beside the Abbe Goujet, clasped her hands and began to pray.
+
+"Where did you arrest that blubber?" asked Corentin, addressing the
+corporal and pointing to Laurence's little henchman.
+
+"On the road that leads to the farm along the park walls; the little
+scamp had nearly reached the Closeaux woods," replied the corporal.
+
+"And that girl?"
+
+"She? oh, it was Oliver who caught her."
+
+"Where was she going?"
+
+"Towards Gondreville."
+
+"They were going in opposite directions?" said Corentin.
+
+"Yes," replied the gendarme.
+
+"Is that boy the groom, and the girl the maid of the citizeness
+Cinq-Cygne?" said Corentin to the mayor.
+
+"Yes," replied Goulard.
+
+After Corentin had exchanged a few words with Peyrade in a whisper, the
+latter left the room, taking the corporal of gendarmes with him.
+
+Just then the corporal of Arcis made his appearance. He went up to
+Corentin and spoke to him in a low voice: "I know these premises well,"
+he said; "I have searched everywhere; unless those young fellows are
+buried, they are not here. We have sounded all the floors and walls with
+the butt end of our muskets."
+
+Peyrade, who presently returned, signed to Corentin to come out, and
+then took him to the breach in the moat and showed him the sunken way.
+
+"We have guessed the trick," said Peyrade.
+
+"And I'll tell you how it was done," added Corentin. "That little scamp
+and the girl decoyed those idiots of gendarmes and thus made time for
+the game to escape."
+
+"We can't know the truth till daylight," said Peyrade. "The road is
+damp; I have ordered two gendarmes to barricade it top and bottom. We'll
+examine it after daylight, and find out by the footsteps who went that
+way."
+
+"I see a hoof-mark," said Corentin; "let us go to the stables."
+
+"How many horses do you keep?" said Peyrade, returning to the salon with
+Corentin, and addressing Monsieur d'Hauteserre and Goulard.
+
+"Come, monsieur le maire, you know, answer," cried Corentin, seeing that
+that functionary hesitated.
+
+"Why, there's the countess's mare, Gothard's horse, and Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre's."
+
+"There is only one in the stable," said Peyrade.
+
+"Mademoiselle is out riding," said Durieu.
+
+"Does she often ride about at this time of night?" said the libertine
+Peyrade, addressing Monsieur d'Hauteserre.
+
+"Often," said the good man, simply. "Monsieur le maire can tell you
+that."
+
+"Everybody knows she has her freaks," remarked Catherine; "she looked at
+the sky before she went to bed, and I think the glitter of your bayonets
+in the moonlight puzzled her. She told me she wanted to know if there
+was going to be another revolution."
+
+"When did she go?" asked Peyrade.
+
+"When she saw your guns."
+
+"Which road did she take?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"There's another horse missing," said Corentin.
+
+"The gendarmes--took it--away from me," said Gothard.
+
+"Where were you going?" said one of them.
+
+"I was--following--my mistress to the farm," sobbed the boy.
+
+The gendarme looked towards Corentin as if expecting an order. But
+Gothard's speech was evidently so true and yet so false, so perfectly
+innocent and so artful that the two Parisians again looked at each other
+as if to echo Peyrade's former words: "They are not ninnies."
+
+Monsieur d'Hauteserre seemed incapable of a word; the mayor was
+bewildered; the mother, imbecile from maternal fears, was putting
+questions to the police agents that were idiotically innocent; the
+servants had been roused from their sleep. Judging by these trifling
+signs, and these diverse characters, Corentin came to the conclusion
+that his only real adversary was Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne. Shrewd
+and dexterous as the police may be, they are always under certain
+disadvantages. Not only are they forced to discover all that is known
+to a conspirator, but they must also suppose and test a great number
+of things before they hit upon the right one. The conspirator is always
+thinking of his own safety, whereas the police is only on duty at
+certain hours. Were it not for treachery and betrayals, nothing would
+be easier than to conspire successfully. The conspirator has more mind
+concentrated upon himself than the police can bring to bear with all its
+vast facilities of action. Finding themselves stopped short morally,
+as they might be physically by a door which they expected to find open
+being shut in their faces, Corentin and Peyrade saw they were tricked
+and misled, without knowing by whom.
+
+"I assert," said the corporal of Arcis, in their ear, "that if the four
+young men slept here last night it must have been in the beds of their
+father and mother, and Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, or those of the
+servants; or they must have spent the night in the park. There is not a
+trace of their presence."
+
+"Who could have warned them?" said Corentin, to Peyrade. "No one but the
+First Consul, Fouche, the ministers, the prefect of police, and Malin
+knew anything about it."
+
+"We must set spies in the neighborhood," whispered Peyrade.
+
+"And watch the spies," said the abbe, who smiled as he overheard the
+word and guessed all.
+
+"Good God!" thought Corentin, replying to the abbe's smile with one of
+his own; "there is but one intelligent being here,--he's the one to come
+to an understanding with; I'll try him."
+
+"Gentlemen--" said the mayor, anxious to give some proof of devotion to
+the First Consul and addressing the two agents.
+
+"Say 'citizens'; the Republic still exists," interrupted Corentin,
+looking at the priest with a quizzical air.
+
+"Citizens," resumed the mayor, "just as I entered this salon and before
+I had opened my mouth Catherine rushed in and took her mistress's hat,
+gloves, and whip."
+
+A low murmur of horror came from the breasts of all the household except
+Gothard. All eyes but those of the agent and the gendarmes were turned
+threateningly on Goulard, the informer, seeming to dart flames at him.
+
+"Very good, citizen mayor," said Peyrade. "We see it all plainly. Some
+one" (this with a glance of evident distrust at Corentin) "warned the
+citizeness Cinq-Cygne in time."
+
+"Corporal, handcuff that boy," said Corentin, to the gendarme, "and take
+him away by himself. And shut up that girl, too," pointing to Catherine.
+"As for you, Peyrade, search for papers," adding in his ear, "Ransack
+everything, spare nothing.--Monsieur l'abbe," he said, confidentially,
+"I have an important communication to make to you"; and he took him into
+the garden.
+
+"Listen to me attentively, monsieur," he went on; "you seem to have the
+mind of a bishop, and (no one can hear us) you will understand me. I
+have no longer any hope except through you of saving these families,
+who, with the greatest folly, are letting themselves roll down a
+precipice where no one can save them. The Messieurs Simeuse and
+d'Hauteserre have been betrayed by one of those infamous spies whom
+governments introduce into all conspiracies to learn their objects,
+means, and members. Don't confound me, I beg of you, with the wretch who
+is with me. He belongs to the police; but I am honorably attached to
+the Consular cabinet, I am therefore behind the scenes. The ruin of the
+Simeuse brothers is not desired. Though Malin would like to see them
+shot, the First Consul, if they are here and have come without evil
+intentions, wishes them to be warned out of danger, for he likes
+good soldiers. The agent who accompanies me has all the powers, I,
+apparently, am nothing. But I see plainly what is hatching. The agent
+is pledged to Malin, who has doubtless promised him his influence, an
+office, and perhaps money if he finds the Simeuse brothers and delivers
+them up. The First Consul, who is a really great man, never favors
+selfish schemes--I don't want to know if those young men are here," he
+added, quickly, observing the abbe's gesture, "but I wish to tell you
+that there is only one way to save them. You know the law of the 6th
+Floreal, year X., which amnestied all the _emigres_ who were still in
+foreign countries on condition that they returned home before the 1st
+Vendemiaire of the year XI., that is to say, in September of last year.
+But the Messieurs Simeuse having, like the Messieurs d'Hauteserre,
+served in the army of Conde, they come into the category of exceptions
+to this law. Their presence in France is therefore criminal, and
+suffices, under the circumstances in which we are, to make them
+suspected of collusion in a horrible plot. The First Consul saw the
+error of this exception which has made enemies for his government, and
+he wishes the Messieurs Simeuse to know that no steps will be taken
+against them, if they will send him a petition saying that they have
+re-entered France intending to submit to the laws, and agreeing to take
+oath to the Constitution. You can understand that the document ought to
+be in my hands before they are arrested, and be dated some days earlier.
+I would then be the bearer of it--I do not ask you where those young men
+are," he said again, seeing another gesture of denial from the priest.
+"We are, unfortunately, sure of finding them; the forest is guarded, the
+entrances to Paris and the frontiers are all watched. Pray listen to me;
+if these gentlemen are between the forest and Paris they must be taken;
+if they are in Paris they will be found; if they retreat to the frontier
+they will still be arrested. The First Consul likes the _ci-devants_,
+and cannot endure the republicans--simple enough; if he wants a throne
+he must needs strangle Liberty. Keep the matter a secret between us.
+This is what I will do; I will stay here till to-morrow and _be blind_;
+but beware of the agent; that cursed Provencal is the devil's own valet;
+he has the ear of Fouche just as I have that of the First Consul."
+
+"If the Messieurs Simeuse are here," said the abbe, "I would give ten
+pints of my blood and my right arm to save them; but if Mademoiselle de
+Cinq-Cygne is in the secret she has not--and this I swear on my eternal
+salvation--betrayed it in any way, neither has she done me the honor to
+consult me. I am now very glad of her discretion, if discretion there
+be. We played cards last night as usual, at boston, in almost complete
+silence, until half-past ten o'clock, and we neither saw nor heard
+anything. Not a child can pass through this solitary valley without the
+whole community knowing it, and for the last two weeks no one has come
+from other places. Now the d'Hauteserre and the Simeuse brothers would
+make a party of four. Old d'Hauteserre and his wife have submitted to
+the present government, and they have made all imaginable efforts
+to persuade their sons to return to France; they wrote to them again
+yesterday. I can only say, upon my soul and conscience, that your visit
+has alone shaken my firm belief that these young men are living in
+Germany. Between ourselves, there is no one here, except the young
+countess, who does not do justice to the eminent qualities of the First
+Consul."
+
+"Fox!" thought Corentin. "Well, if those young men are shot," he said,
+aloud; "it is because their friends have willed it--I wash my hands of
+the affair."
+
+He had led the abbe to a part of the garden which lay in the moonlight,
+and as he said the last words he looked at him suddenly. The priest
+was greatly distressed, but his manner was that of a man surprised and
+wholly ignorant.
+
+"Understand this, monsieur l'abbe," resumed Corentin; "the right of
+these young men to the estate of Gondreville will render them doubly
+criminal in the eyes of the middle class. I'd like to see them put faith
+in God and not in his saints--"
+
+"Is there really a plot?" asked the abbe, simply.
+
+"Base, odious, cowardly, and so contrary to the generous spirit of
+the nation," replied Corentin, "that it will meet with universal
+opprobrium."
+
+"Well! Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne is incapable of baseness," cried the
+abbe.
+
+"Monsieur l'abbe," replied Corentin, "let me tell you this; there is for
+us (meaning you and me) proof positive of her guilt; but there is not
+enough for the law. You see she took flight when we came; I sent the
+mayor to warn her."
+
+"Yes, but for one who is so anxious to save them, you followed rather
+closely on his heels," said the abbe.
+
+At those words the two men looked at each other, and all was said.
+Each belonged to those profound anatomists of thought to whom a mere
+inflexion of the voice, a look, a word suffices to reveal a soul, just
+as the Indians track their enemies by signs invisible to European eyes.
+
+"I expected to draw something out of him, and I have only betrayed
+myself," thought Corentin.
+
+"Ha! the sly rogue!" thought the priest.
+
+Midnight rang from the old church clock just as Corentin and the abbe
+re-entered the salon. The opening and shutting of doors and closets
+could be heard from the bedrooms above. The gendarmes pulled open the
+beds; Peyrade, with the quick perception of a spy, handled and sounded
+everything. Such desecration excited both fear and indignation among
+the faithful servants of the house, who still stood motionless about the
+salon. Monsieur d'Hauteserre exchanged looks of commiseration with his
+wife and Mademoiselle Goujet. A species of horrible curiosity kept every
+one on the qui vive. Peyrade at length came down, holding in his hand a
+sandal-wood box which had probably been brought from China by Admiral
+de Simeuse. This pretty casket was flat and about the size of a quarto
+volume.
+
+Peyrade made a sign to Corentin and took him into the embrasure of a
+window.
+
+"I've an idea!" he said, "that Michu, who was ready to pay Marion eight
+hundred thousand francs in gold for Gondreville, and who evidently
+meant to shoot Malin yesterday, is the man who is helping the Simeuse
+brothers. His motive in threatening Marion and aiming at Malin must
+be the same. I thought when I saw him that he was capable of ideas;
+evidently he has but one; he discovered what was going on and he must
+have come here to warn them."
+
+"Probably Malin talked about the conspiracy to his friend the notary,
+and Michu from his ambush overheard what was said," remarked Corentin,
+continuing the inductions of his colleague. "No doubt he has only
+postponed his shot to prevent an evil he thinks worse than the loss of
+Gondreville."
+
+"He knew what we were the moment he laid eyes on us," said Peyrade. "I
+thought then that he was amazingly intelligent for a peasant."
+
+"That proves that he is always on his guard," replied Corentin. "But,
+mind you, my old man, don't let us make a mistake. Treachery stinks in
+the nostrils, and primitive folks do scent it from afar."
+
+"But that's our strength," said the Provencal.
+
+"Call the corporal of Arcis," cried Corentin to one of the gendarmes. "I
+shall send him at once to Michu's house," he added to Peyrade.
+
+"Our ear, Violette, is there," said Peyrade.
+
+"We started without getting news from him. Two of us are not enough;
+we ought to have had Sabatier with us--Corporal," he said, when the
+gendarme appeared, taking him aside with Peyrade, "don't let them fool
+you as they did the Troyes corporal just now. We think Michu is in this
+business. Go to his house, put your eye on everything, and bring word of
+the result."
+
+"One of my men heard horses in the forest just as they arrested the
+little groom; I've four fine fellows now on the track of whoever is
+hiding there," replied the gendarme.
+
+He left the room, and the gallop of his horse which echoed on the paved
+courtyard died rapidly away.
+
+"One thing is certain," said Corentin to himself, "either they have gone
+to Paris or they are retreating to Germany."
+
+He sat down, pulled a note-book from the pocket of his spencer, wrote
+two orders in pencil, sealed them, and made a sign to one of the
+gendarmes to come to him.
+
+"Be off at full gallop to Troyes, wake up the prefect, and tell him to
+start the telegraph as soon as there's light enough."
+
+The gendarme departed. The meaning of this movement and Corentin's
+intentions were so evident that the hearts of the household sank within
+them; but this new anxiety was additional to another that was now
+martyrizing them; their eyes were fixed on the sandal-wood box! All the
+while the two agents were talking together they were each taking note of
+those eager looks. A sort of cold anger stirred the unfeeling hearts of
+these men who relished the power of inspiring terror. The police man has
+the instincts and emotions of a hunter: but where the one employs his
+powers of mind and body in killing a hare, a partridge, or a deer, the
+other is thinking of saving the State, or a king, and of winning a large
+reward. So the hunt for men is superior to the other class of hunting
+by all the distance that there is between animals and human beings.
+Moreover, a spy is forced to lift the part he plays to the level and
+the importance of the interests to which he is bound. Without looking
+further into this calling, it is easy to see that the man who follows
+it puts as much passionate ardor into his chase as another man does into
+the pursuit of game. Therefore the further these men advanced in their
+investigations the more eager they became; but the expression of their
+faces and their eyes continued calm and cold, just as their ideas,
+their suspicions, and their plans remained impenetrable. To any one who
+watched the effects of the moral scent, if we may so call it, of these
+bloodhounds on the track of hidden facts, and who noted and understood
+the movements of canine agility which led them to strike the truth in
+their rapid examination of probabilities, there was in it all something
+actually horrifying. How and why should men of genius fall so low when
+it was in their power to be so high? What imperfection, what vice, what
+passion debases them? Does a man become a police-agent as he becomes
+a thinker, writer, statesmen, painter, general, on the condition of
+knowing nothing but how to spy, as the others speak, write, govern,
+paint, and fight? The inhabitants of the chateau had but one wish,--that
+the thunderbolts of heaven might fall upon these miscreants; they were
+athirst for vengeance; and had it not been for the presence, up to this
+time, of the gendarmes there would undoubtedly have been an outbreak.
+
+"No one, I suppose, has the key of this box?" said the cynical Peyrade,
+questioning the family as much by the movement of his huge red nose as
+by his words.
+
+The Provencal noticed, not without fear, that the guards were no longer
+present; he and Corentin were alone with the family. The younger man
+drew a small dagger from his pocket, and began to force the lock of the
+box. Just then the desperate galloping of a horse was heard upon the
+road and then upon the pavement by the lawn; but most horrible of all
+was the fall and sighing of the animal, which seemed to drop all at
+once at the door of the middle tower. A convulsion like that which
+a thunderbolt might produce shook the spectators when Laurence, the
+trailing of whose riding-habit announced her coming, entered the room.
+The servants hastily formed into two lines to let her pass.
+
+In spite of her rapid ride, the girl had felt the full anguish the
+discovery of the conspiracy must needs cause her. All her hopes were
+overthrown! she had galloped through ruins as her thoughts turned to the
+necessity of submission to the Consular government. Were it not for the
+danger which threatened the four gentlemen, and which served as a tonic
+to conquer her weariness and her despair, she would have dropped
+asleep on the way. The mare was almost killed in her haste to reach the
+chateau, and stand between her cousins and death. As all present looked
+at the heroic girl, pale, her features drawn, her veil aside, her whip
+in her hand, standing on the threshold of the door, whence her burning
+glance grasped the whole scene and comprehended it, each knew from the
+almost imperceptible motion which crossed the soured and bittered face
+of Corentin, that the real adversaries had met. A terrible duel was
+about to begin.
+
+Noticing the box, now in the hands of Corentin, the countess raised her
+whip and sprang rapidly towards him. Striking his hands with so violent
+a blow that the casket fell to the ground, she seized it, flung it into
+the middle of the fire, and stood with her back to the chimney in a
+threatening attitude before either of the agents recovered from their
+surprise. The scorn which flamed from her eyes, her pale brow, her
+disdainful lips, were even more insulting than the haughty action which
+treated Corentin as though he were a venomous reptile. Old d'Hauteserre
+felt himself once more a cavalier; all his blood rushed to his face, and
+he grieved that he had no sword. The servants trembled for an instant
+with joy. The vengeance they had called down upon these men had come.
+But their joy was driven back within their souls by a terrible fear; the
+gendarmes were still heard coming and going in the garrets.
+
+The _spy_--noun of strength, under which all shades of the police are
+confounded, for the public has never chosen to specify in language the
+varieties of those who compose this dispensary of social remedies so
+essential to all governments--the spy has this curious and magnificent
+quality: he never becomes angry; he possesses the Christian humility of
+a priest; his eyes are stolid with an indifference which he holds as
+a barrier against the world of fools who do not understand him; his
+forehead is adamant under insult; he pursues his ends like a reptile
+whose carapace is fractured only by a cannonball; but (like that
+reptile) he is all the more furious when the blow does reach him,
+because he believed his armor invulnerable. The lash of the whip upon
+his fingers was to Corentin, pain apart, the cannonball that cracked
+the shell. Coming from that magnificent and noble girl, this action,
+emblematic of her disgust, humiliated him, not only in the eyes of the
+people about him, but in his own.
+
+Peyrade sprang to the hearth, caught Laurence's foot, raised it, and
+compelled her, out of modesty, to throw herself on the sofa, where she
+had lately lain asleep. The scene, like other contrasts in human things,
+was burlesque in the midst of terror. Peyrade scorched his hand as he
+dashed it into the fire to seize the box; but he got it, threw it on the
+floor and sat down upon it. These little actions were done with great
+rapidity and without a word being uttered. Corentin, recovering from the
+pain of the blow, caught Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne by both hands, and
+held her.
+
+"Do not compel me to use force against you," he said, with withering
+politeness.
+
+Peyrade's action had extinguished the fire by the natural process of
+suppressing the air.
+
+"Gendarmes! here!" he cried, still occupying his ridiculous position.
+
+"Will you promise to behave yourself?" said Corentin, insolently,
+addressing Laurence, and picking up his dagger, but not committing the
+great fault of threatening her with it.
+
+"The secrets of that box do not concern the government," she answered,
+with a tinge of melancholy in her tone and manner. "When you have read
+the letters it contains you will, in spite of your infamy, feel ashamed
+of having read them--that is, if you can still feel shame at anything,"
+she added, after a pause.
+
+The abbe looked at her as if to say, "For God's sake, be calm!"
+
+Peyrade rose. The bottom of the box, which had been nearly burned
+through, left a mark upon the floor; the lid was scorched and the sides
+gave way. The grotesque Scaevola, who had offered to the god of the
+Police and Terror the seat of his apricot breeches, opened the two sides
+of the box as if it had been a book, and slid three letters and two
+locks of hair upon the card-table. He was about to smile at Corentin
+when he perceived that the locks were of two shades of gray. Corentin
+released Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne's hands and went up to the table to
+read the letter from which the hair had fallen.
+
+Laurence rose, moved to the table beside the spies, and said:--"Read it
+aloud; that shall be your punishment."
+
+As the two men continued to read to themselves, she herself read out the
+following words:--
+
+  Dear Laurence,--My husband and I have heard of your noble conduct
+  on the day of our arrest. We know that you love our dear twins as
+  much, almost, as we love them ourselves. Therefore it is with you
+  that we leave a token which will be both precious and sad to them.
+  The executioner has come to cut our hair, for we are to die in a
+  few moments; he has promised to put into your hands the only
+  remembrance we are able to leave to our beloved orphans. Keep
+  these last remains of us and give them to our sons in happier
+  days. We have kissed these locks of hair and have laid our
+  blessing upon them. Our last thought will be of our sons, of you,
+  and of God. Love them, Laurence.
+
+Berthe de Cinq-Cygne. Jean de Simeuse.
+
+
+Tears came to the eyes of all the household as they listened to the
+letter.
+
+Laurence looked at the agents with a petrifying glance and said, in a
+firm voice:--
+
+"You have less pity than the executioner."
+
+Corentin quietly folded the hair in the letter, laid the letter aside on
+the table, and put a box of counters on the top of it as if to prevent
+its blowing away. His coolness in the midst of the general emotion was
+horrible.
+
+Peyrade unfolded the other letters.
+
+"Oh, as for those," said Laurence, "they are very much alike. You hear
+the will; you can now hear of its fulfilment. In future I shall have no
+secrets from any one."
+
+
+  1794, Andernach. Before the battle.
+
+  My dear Laurence,--I love you for life, and I wish you to know it.
+  But you ought also to know, in case I die, that my brother,
+  Paul-Marie, loves you as much as I love you. My only consolation in
+  dying would be the thought that you might some day make my brother
+  your husband without being forced to see me die of jealousy--which
+  must surely happen if, both of us being alive, you preferred him
+  to me. After all, that preference seems natural, for he is,
+  perhaps, more worthy of your love than I--
+
+  Marie-Paul.
+
+
+"Here is the other letter," she said, with the color in her cheeks.
+
+
+  Andernach. Before the battle.
+
+  My kind Laurence,--My heart is sad; but Marie-Paul has a gayer
+  nature, and will please you more than I am able to do. Some day
+  you will have to choose between us--well, though I love you
+  passionately--
+
+
+"You are corresponding with _emigres_," said Peyrade, interrupting
+Laurence, and holding the letters between himself and the light to
+see if they contained between the lines any treasonable writing with
+invisible ink.
+
+"Yes," replied Laurence, folding the precious letters, the paper of
+which was already yellow with time. "But by virtue of what right do you
+presume to violate my dwelling and my personal liberty?"
+
+"Ah, that's the point!" cried Peyrade. "By what right, indeed!--it
+is time to let you know it, beautiful aristocrat," he added, taking a
+warrant from his pocket, which came from the minister of justice and
+was countersigned by the minister of the interior. "See, the authorities
+have their eye upon you."
+
+"We might also ask you," said Corentin, in her ear, "by what right you
+harbor in this house the assassins of the First Consul. You have applied
+your whip to my hands in a manner that authorizes me to take my revenge
+upon your cousins, whom I came here to save."
+
+At the mere movement of her lips and the glance which Laurence cast upon
+Corentin, the abbe guessed what that great artist was saying, and he
+made her a sign to be distrustful, which no one intercepted but Goulard.
+Peyrade struck the cover of the box to see if there were a double top.
+
+"Don't break it!" she exclaimed, taking the cover from him.
+
+She took a pin, pushed the head of one of the carved figures, and the
+two halves of the top, joined by a spring, opened. In the hollow half
+lay miniatures of the Messieurs de Simeuse, in the uniform of the army
+of Conde, two portraits on ivory done in Germany. Corentin, who felt
+himself in presence of an adversary worthy of his efforts, called
+Peyrade aside into a corner of the room and conferred with him.
+
+"How could you throw _that_ into the fire?" said the abbe, speaking to
+Laurence and pointing to the letter of the marquise which enclosed the
+locks of hair.
+
+For all answer the young girl shrugged her shoulders significantly. The
+abbe comprehended then that she had made the sacrifice to mislead the
+agents and gain time; he raised his eyes to heaven with a gesture of
+admiration.
+
+"Where did they arrest Gothard, whom I hear crying?" she asked him, loud
+enough to be overheard.
+
+"I don't know," said the abbe.
+
+"Did he reach the farm?"
+
+"The farm!" whispered Peyrade to Corentin. "Let us send there."
+
+"No," said Corentin; "that girl never trusted her cousins' safety to a
+farmer. She is playing with us. Do as I tell you, so that we mayn't have
+to leave here without detecting something, after committing the great
+blunder of coming here at all."
+
+Corentin stationed himself before the fire, lifting the long pointed
+skirts of his coat to warm himself and assuming the air, manner, and
+tone of a gentleman who was paying a visit.
+
+"Mesdames, you can go to bed, and the servants also. Monsieur le maire,
+your services are no longer needed. The sternness of our orders does
+not permit us to act otherwise than as we have done; but as soon as the
+walls, which seem to me rather thick, have been thoroughly examined, we
+shall take our departure."
+
+The mayor bowed to the company and retired; but neither the abbe nor
+Mademoiselle Goujet stirred. The servants were too uneasy not to watch
+the fate of their young mistress. Madame d'Hauteserre, who, from the
+moment of Laurence's entrance, had studied her with the anxiety of a
+mother, rose, took her by the arm, led her aside, and said in a low
+voice, "Have you seen them?"
+
+"Do you think I could have let your sons be under this roof without
+your knowing it?" replied Laurence. "Durieu," she added, "see if it is
+possible to save my poor Stella; she is still breathing."
+
+"She must have gone a great distance," said Corentin.
+
+"Forty miles in three hours," she answered, addressing the abbe, who
+watched her with amazement. "I started at half-past nine, and it was
+well past one when I returned."
+
+She looked at the clock which said half-past two.
+
+"So you don't deny that you have ridden forty miles?" said Corentin.
+
+"No," she said. "I admit that my cousins, in their perfect innocence,
+expected not to be excluded from the amnesty, and were on their way to
+Cinq-Cygne. When I found that the Sieur Malin was plotting to injure
+them, I went to warn them to return to Germany, where they will be
+before the telegraph can have guarded the frontier. If I have done wrong
+I shall be punished for it."
+
+This answer, which Laurence had carefully considered, was so probable in
+all its parts that Corentin's convictions were shaken. In that decisive
+moment, when every soul present hung suspended, as it were, on the faces
+of the two adversaries, and all eyes turned from Corentin to Laurence
+and from Laurence to Corentin, again the gallop of a horse, coming from
+the forest, resounded on the road and from there through the gates to
+the paved courtyard. Frightful anxiety was stamped on every face.
+
+Peyrade entered, his eyes gleaming with joy. He went hastily to Corentin
+and said, loud enough for the countess to hear him: "We have caught
+Michu."
+
+Laurence, to whom the agony, fatigue, and tension of all her
+intellectual faculties had given an unusual color, turned white and fell
+back almost fainting on a chair. Madame Durieu, Mademoiselle Goujet,
+and Madame d'Hauteserre sprang to help her, for she was suffocating. She
+signed to cut the frogging of her habit.
+
+"Duped!" said Corentin to Peyrade. "I am certain now they are on their
+way to Paris. Change the orders."
+
+They left the room and the house, placing one gendarme on guard at the
+door of the salon. The infernal cleverness of the two men had gained
+a terrible advantage by taking Laurence in the trap of a not uncommon
+trick.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX. FOILED
+
+At six o'clock in the morning, as day was dawning, Corentin and Peyrade
+returned. Having explored the covered way they were satisfied that
+horses had passed through it to reach the forest. They were now awaiting
+the report of the captain of gendarmerie sent to reconnoitre the
+neighborhood. Leaving the chateau in charge of a corporal, they went
+to the tavern at Cinq-Cygne to get their breakfast, giving orders that
+Gothard, who never ceased to reply to all questions with a burst of
+tears, should be set at liberty, also Catherine, who still continued
+silent and immovable. Catherine and Gothard went to the salon to kiss
+the hands of their mistress, who lay exhausted on the sofa; Durieu also
+went in to tell her that Stella would recover, but needed great care.
+
+The mayor, uneasy and inquisitive, met Peyrade and Corentin in the
+village. He declared that he could not allow such important officials to
+breakfast in a miserable tavern, and he took them to his own house. The
+abbey was only three quarters of a mile distant. On the way, Peyrade
+remarked that the corporal of Arcis had sent no news of Michu or of
+Violette.
+
+"We are dealing with very able people," said Corentin; "they are
+stronger than we. The priest no doubt has a finger in all this."
+
+Just as the mayor's wife was ushering her guests into a vast dining-room
+(without any fire) the lieutenant of gendarmes arrived with an anxious
+air.
+
+"We met the horse of the corporal of Arcis in the forest without his
+master," he said to Peyrade.
+
+"Lieutenant," cried Corentin, "go instantly to Michu's house and find
+out what is going on there. They must have murdered the corporal."
+
+This news interfered with the mayor's breakfast. Corentin and Peyrade
+swallowed their food with the rapidity of hunters halting for a meal,
+and drove back to the chateau in their wicker carriage, so as to be
+ready to start at the first call for any point where their presence
+might be necessary. When the two men reappeared in the salon into which
+they had brought such trouble, terror, grief, and anxiety, they found
+Laurence, in a dressing-gown, Monsieur d'Hauteserre and his wife, the
+abbe and his sister, sitting round the fire, to all appearance tranquil.
+
+"If they had caught Michu," Laurence told herself, "they would have
+brought him with them. I have the mortification of knowing that I was
+not the mistress of myself, and that I threw some light upon the matter
+for those wretches; but the harm can be undone--How long are we to be
+your prisoners?" she asked sarcastically, with an easy manner.
+
+"How can she know anything about Michu? No one from the outside has got
+near the chateau; she is laughing at us," said the two agents to each
+other by a look.
+
+"We shall not inconvenience you long," replied Corentin. "In three hours
+from now we shall offer our regrets for having troubled your solitude."
+
+No one replied. This contemptuous silence redoubled Corentin's inward
+rage. Laurence and the abbe (the two minds of their little world) had
+talked the man over and drawn their conclusions. Gothard and Catherine
+had set the breakfast-table near the fire and the abbe and his sister
+were sharing the meal. Neither masters nor servants paid the slightest
+attention to the two spies, who walked up and down the garden, the
+courtyard or the lawn, returning every now and then to the salon.
+
+At half-past two the lieutenant reappeared.
+
+"I found the corporal," he said to Corentin, "lying in the road which
+leads from the pavilion of Cinq-Cygne to the farm at Bellache. He has
+no wound, only a bad contusion of the head, caused, apparently, by his
+fall. He told me he had been lifted suddenly off his horse and flung
+so violently to the ground that he could not discover how the thing was
+done. His feet left the stirrups, which was lucky, for he might have
+been killed by the horse dragging him. We put him in charge of Michu and
+Violette--"
+
+"Michu! is Michu in his own house?" said Corentin, glancing at Laurence.
+
+The countess smiled ironically, like a woman obtaining her revenge.
+
+"He is bargaining with Violette about the sale of some land," said the
+lieutenant. "They seemed to me drunk; and it's no wonder, for they have
+been drinking all night and discussing the matter, and they haven't come
+to terms yet."
+
+"Did Violette tell you so?" cried Corentin.
+
+"Yes," said the lieutenant.
+
+"Nothing is right if we don't attend to it ourselves!" cried Peyrade,
+looking at Corentin, who doubted the lieutenant's news as much as the
+other did.
+
+"At what hour did you get to Michu's house?" asked Corentin, noticing
+that the countess had glanced at the clock.
+
+"About two," replied the lieutenant.
+
+Laurence covered Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre and the abbe and his
+sister in one comprehensive glance, which made them fancy they were
+wrapped in an azure mantle; triumph sparkled in her eyes, she blushed,
+and the tears welled up beneath her lids. Strong under all misfortunes,
+the girl knew not how to weep except from joy. At this moment she was
+all glorious, especially to the priest, who was sometimes distressed
+by the virility of her character, and who now caught a glimpse of the
+infinite tenderness of her woman's nature. But such feelings lay in her
+soul like a treasure hidden at a great depth beneath a block of granite.
+
+Just then a gendarme entered the salon to ask if he might bring in
+Michu's son, sent by his father to speak to the gentlemen from Paris.
+Corentin gave an affirmative nod. Francois Michu, a sly little chip of
+the old block, was in the courtyard, where Gothard, now at liberty, got
+a chance to speak to him for an instant under the eyes of a gendarme.
+The little fellow managed to slip something into Gothard's hand without
+being detected, and the latter glided into the salon after him till he
+reached his mistress, to whom he stealthily conveyed both halves of
+the wedding-ring, a sure sign, she knew, that Michu had met the four
+gentlemen and put them in safety.
+
+"My papa wants to know what he's to do with the corporal, who ain't
+doing well," said Francois.
+
+"What's the matter with him?" asked Peyrade.
+
+"It's his head--he pitched down hard on the ground," replied the boy.
+"For a gindarme who knows how to ride it was bad luck--I suppose the
+horse stumbled. He's got a hole--my! as big as your fist--in the back of
+his head. Seems as if he must have hit some big stone, poor man! He may
+be a gindarme, but he suffers all the same--you'd pity him."
+
+The captain of the gendarmerie now arrived and dismounted in the
+courtyard. Corentin threw up the window, not to lose time.
+
+"What has been done?"
+
+"We are back like the Dutchmen! We found nothing but five dead horses,
+their coats stiff with sweat, in the middle of the forest. I have kept
+them to find out where they came from and who owns them. The forest is
+surrounded; whoever is in it can't get out."
+
+"At what hour do you suppose those horsemen entered the forest?"
+
+"About half-past twelve."
+
+"Don't let a hare leave that forest without your seeing it," whispered
+Corentin. "I'll station Peyrade at the village to help you; I am going
+to see the corporal myself--Go to the mayor's house," he added, still
+whispering, to Peyrade. "I'll send some able man to relieve you. We
+shall have to make use of the country-people; examine all faces." He
+turned towards the family and said in a threatening tone, "Au revoir!"
+
+No one replied, and the two agents left the room.
+
+"What would Fouche say if he knew we had made a domiciliary visit
+without getting any results?" remarked Peyrade as he helped Corentin
+into the osier vehicle.
+
+"It isn't over yet," replied the other, "those four young men are in the
+forest. Look there!" and he pointed to Laurence who was watching them
+from a window. "I once revenged myself on a woman who was worth a dozen
+of that one and had stirred my bile a good deal less. If this girl comes
+in the way of my hatchet I'll pay her for the lash of that whip."
+
+"The other was a strumpet," said Peyrade; "this one has rank."
+
+"What difference is that to me? All's fish that swims in the sea,"
+replied Corentin, signing to the gendarme who drove him to whip up.
+
+Ten minutes later the chateau de Cinq-Cygne was completely evacuated.
+
+"How did they get rid of the corporal?" said Laurence to Francois Michu,
+whom she had ordered to sit down and eat some breakfast.
+
+"My father told me it was a matter of life and death and I mustn't let
+anybody get into our house," replied the boy. "I knew when I heard the
+horses in the forest that I'd got to do with them hounds of gindarmes,
+and I meant to keep 'em from getting in. So I took some big ropes that
+were in my garret and fastened one of 'em to a tree at the corner of
+the road. Then I drew the rope high enough to hit the breast of a man
+on horseback, and tied it to the tree on the opposite side of the way in
+the direction where I heard the horses. That barred the road. It didn't
+miss fire, I can tell you! There was no moon, and the corporal just
+pitched!--but he wasn't killed; they're tough, them gindarmes! I did
+what I could."
+
+"You have saved us!" said Laurence, kissing him as she took him to
+the gate. When there, she looked about her and seeing no one she said
+cautiously, "Have they provisions?"
+
+"I have just taken them twelve pounds of bread and four bottles of
+wine," said the boy. "They'll be snug for a week."
+
+Returning to the salon, the girl was beset with mute questions in the
+eyes of all, each of whom looked at her with as much admiration as
+eagerness.
+
+"But have you really seen them?" cried Madame d'Hauteserre.
+
+The countess put a finger on her lips and smiled; then she left the room
+and went to bed; her triumph sure, utter weariness had overtaken her.
+
+The shortest road from Cinq-Cygne to Michu's lodge was that which led
+from the village past the farm at Bellache to the _rond-point_ where
+the Parisian spies had first seen Michu on the preceding evening. The
+gendarme who was driving Corentin took this way, which was the one the
+corporal of Arcis had taken. As they drove along, the agent was on the
+look-out for signs to show why the corporal had been unhorsed. He blamed
+himself for having sent but one man on so important an errand, and he
+drew from this mistake an axiom for the police Code, which he afterwards
+applied.
+
+"If they have got rid of the corporal," he said to himself, "they have
+done as much by Violette. Those five horses have evidently brought
+the four conspirators and Michu from the neighborhood of Paris to the
+forest. Has Michu a horse?" he inquired of the gendarme who was driving
+him and who belonged to the squad from Arcis.
+
+"Yes, and a famous little horse it is," answered the man, "a hunter
+from the stables of the ci-devant Marquis de Simeuse. There's no better
+beast, though it is nearly fifteen years old. Michu can ride him fifty
+miles and he won't turn a hair. He takes mighty good care of him and
+wouldn't sell him at any price."
+
+"What does the horse look like?"
+
+"He's brown, turning rather to black; white stockings above the hoofs,
+thin, all nerves like an Arab."
+
+"Did you ever see an Arab?"
+
+"In Egypt--last year. I've ridden the horses of the mamelukes. We have
+to serve twelve years in the cavalry, and I was on the Rhine under
+General Steingel, after that in Italy, and then I followed the First
+Consul to Egypt. I'll be a corporal soon."
+
+"When I get to Michu's house go to the stable; if you have served twelve
+years in the cavalry you know when a horse is blown. Let me know the
+condition of Michu's beast."
+
+"See! that's where our corporal was thrown," said the man, pointing to a
+spot where the road they were following entered the _rond-point_.
+
+"Tell the captain to come and pick me up at Michu's, and I'll go with
+him to Troyes."
+
+So saying Corentin got down, and stood about for a few minutes examining
+the ground. He looked at the two elms which faced each other,--one
+against the park wall, the other on the bank of the _rond-point_; then
+he saw (what no one had yet noticed) the button of a uniform lying in
+the dust, and he picked it up. Entering the lodge he saw Violette and
+Michu sitting at the table in the kitchen and talking eagerly. Violette
+rose, bowed to Corentin, and offered him some wine.
+
+"Thank you, no; I came to see the corporal," said the young man, who saw
+with half a glance that Violette had been drunk all night.
+
+"My wife is nursing him upstairs," said Michu.
+
+"Well, corporal, how are you?" said Corentin who had run up the stairs
+and found the gendarme with his head bandaged, and lying on Madame
+Michu's bed; his hat, sabre, and shoulder-belt on a chair.
+
+Marthe, faithful in her womanly instincts, and knowing nothing of her
+son's prowess, was giving all her care to the corporal, assisted by her
+mother.
+
+"We expect Monsieur Varlet the doctor from Arcis," she said to Corentin;
+"our servant-lad has gone to fetch him."
+
+"Leave us alone for a moment," said Corentin, a good deal surprised at
+the scene, which amply proved the innocence of the two women. "Where
+were you struck?" he asked the man, examining his uniform.
+
+"On the breast," replied the corporal.
+
+"Let's see your belt," said Corentin.
+
+On the yellow band with a white edge, which a recent regulation had
+made part of the equipment of the guard now called National, was a metal
+plate a good deal like that of the foresters, on which the law required
+the inscription of these remarkable words: "Respect to persons and
+to properties." Francois's rope had struck the belt and defaced it.
+Corentin took up the coat and found the place where the button he had
+picked up upon the road belonged.
+
+"What time did they find you?" asked Corentin.
+
+"About daybreak."
+
+"Did they bring you up here at once?" said Corentin, noticing that the
+bed had not been slept in.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Who brought you up?"
+
+"The women and little Michu, who found me unconscious."
+
+"So!" thought Corentin: "evidently they didn't go to bed. The corporal
+was not shot at, nor struck by any weapon, for an assailant must have
+been at his own height to strike a blow. Something, some obstacle, was
+in his way and that unhorsed him. A piece of wood? not possible! an iron
+chain? that would have left marks. What did you feel?" he said aloud.
+
+"I was knocked over so suddenly--"
+
+"The skin is rubbed off under your chin," said Corentin quickly.
+
+"I think," said the corporal, "that a rope did go over my face."
+
+"I have it!" cried Corentin; "somebody tied a rope from tree to tree to
+bar the way."
+
+"Like enough," replied the corporal.
+
+Corentin went downstairs to the kitchen.
+
+"Come, you old rascal," Michu was saying to Violette, "let's make an end
+of this. One hundred thousand francs for the place, and you are master
+of my whole property. I shall retire on my income."
+
+"I tell you, as there's a God in heaven, I haven't more than sixty
+thousand."
+
+"But don't I offer you time to pay the rest? You've kept me here since
+yesterday, arguing it. The land is in prime order."
+
+"Yes, the soil is good," said Violette.
+
+"Wife, some more wine," cried Michu.
+
+"Haven't you drunk enough?" called down Marthe's mother. "This is the
+fourteenth bottle since nine o'clock yesterday."
+
+"You have been here since nine o'clock this morning, haven't you?" said
+Corentin to Violette.
+
+"No, beg your pardon, since last night I haven't left the place, and
+I've gained nothing after all; the more he makes me drink the more he
+puts up the price."
+
+"In all markets he who raises his elbow raises a price," said Corentin.
+
+A dozen empty bottles ranged along the table proved the truth of the old
+woman's words. Just then the gendarme who had driven him made a sign to
+Corentin, who went to the door to speak to him.
+
+"There is no horse in the stable," said the man.
+
+"You sent your boy on horseback to the chateau, didn't you?" said
+Corentin, returning to the kitchen. "Will he be back soon?"
+
+"No, monsieur," said Michu, "he went on foot."
+
+"What have you done with your horse, then?"
+
+"I have lent him," said Michu, curtly.
+
+"Come out here, my good fellow," said Corentin; "I've a word for your
+ear."
+
+Corentin and Michu left the house.
+
+"The gun which you were loading yesterday at four o'clock you meant to
+use in murdering the Councillor of State; but we can't take you up for
+that--plenty of intention, but no witnesses. You managed, I don't know
+how, to stupefy Violette, and you and your wife and that young rascal
+of yours spent the night out of doors to warn Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne
+and save her cousins, whom you are hiding here,--though I don't as
+yet know where. Your son or your wife threw the corporal off his horse
+cleverly enough. Well, you've got the better of us just now; you're a
+devil of a fellow. But the end is not yet, and you won't have the last
+word. Hadn't you better compromise? your masters would be the better for
+it."
+
+"Come this way, where we can talk without being overheard," said Michu,
+leading the way through the park to the pond.
+
+When Corentin saw the water he looked fixedly at Michu, who was no doubt
+reckoning on his physical strength to fling the spy into seven feet of
+mud below three feet of water. Michu replied with a look that was
+not less fixed. The scene was absolutely as if a cold and flabby boa
+constrictor had defied one of those tawny, fierce leopards of Brazil.
+
+"I am not thirsty," said Corentin, stopping short at the edge of the
+field and putting his hand into his pocket to feel for his dagger.
+
+"We shall never come to terms," said Michu, coldly.
+
+"Mind what you're about, my good fellow; the law has its eye upon you."
+
+"If the law can't see any clearer than you, there's danger to every
+one," said the bailiff.
+
+"Do you refuse?" said Corentin, in a significant tone.
+
+"I'd rather have my head cut off a thousand times, if that could be
+done, than come to an agreement with such a villain as you."
+
+Corentin got into his vehicle hastily, after one more comprehensive look
+at Michu, the lodge, and Couraut, who barked at him. He gave certain
+orders in passing through Troyes, and then returned to Paris. All the
+brigades of gendarmerie in the neighborhood received secret instructions
+and special orders.
+
+During the months of December, January, and February the search was
+active and incessant, even in remote villages. Spies were in all the
+taverns. Corentin learned some important facts: a horse like that of
+Michu had been found dead in the neighborhood of Lagny; the five horses
+burned in the forest of Nodesme had been sold, for five hundred francs
+each, by farmers and millers to a man who answered to the description of
+Michu. When the decree against the accomplices and harborers of Georges
+was put in force Corentin confined his search to the forest of Nodesme.
+After Moreau, the royalists, and Pichegru were arrested no strangers
+were ever seen about the place.
+
+Michu lost his situation at that time; the notary of Arcis brought him a
+letter in which Malin, now made senator, requested Grevin to settle all
+accounts with the bailiff and dismiss him. Michu asked and obtained a
+formal discharge and became a free man. To the great astonishment of the
+neighborhood he went to live at Cinq-Cygne, where Laurence made him
+the farmer of all the reserved land about the chateau. The day of his
+installation as farmer coincided with the fatal day of the death of the
+Duc d'Enghien, when nearly the whole of France heard at the same time
+of the arrest, trial, condemnation, and death of the prince,--terrible
+reprisals, which preceded the trial of Polignac, Riviere, and Moreau.
+
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+CHAPTER X. ONE AND THE SAME, YET A TWO-FOLD LOVE
+
+While the new farm-house was being built Michu the Judas, so-called, and
+his family occupied the rooms over the stables at Cinq-Cygne on the side
+of the chateau next to the famous breach. He bought two horses, one
+for himself and one for Francois, and they both joined Gothard in
+accompanying Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne in her many rides, which had for
+their object, as may well be imagined, the feeding of the four gentlemen
+and perpetual watching that they were still in safety. Francois and
+Gothard, assisted by Couraut and the countess's dogs, went in front and
+beat the woods all around the hiding-place to make sure that there was
+no one within sight. Laurence and Michu carried the provisions which
+Marthe, her mother, and Catherine prepared, unknown to the other
+servants of the household so as to restrict the secret to themselves,
+for all were sure that there were spies in the village. These
+expeditions were never made oftener than twice a week and on different
+days and at different hours, sometimes by day, sometimes by night.
+
+These precautions lasted until the trial of Riviere, Polignac, and
+Moreau ended. When the senatus-consultum, which called the dynasty of
+Bonaparte to the throne and nominated Napoleon as Emperor of the French,
+was submitted to the French people for acceptance Monsieur d'Hauteserre
+signed the paper Goulard brought him. When it was made known that
+the Pope would come to France to crown the Emperor, Mademoiselle de
+Cinq-Cygne no longer opposed the general desire that her cousins and the
+young d'Hauteserres should petition to have their names struck off
+the list of _emigres_, and be themselves reinstated in their rights
+as citizens. On this, old d'Hauteserre went to Paris and consulted the
+ci-devant Marquis de Chargeboeuf who knew Talleyrand. That minister,
+then in favor, conveyed the petition to Josephine, and Josephine gave it
+to her husband, who was addressed as Emperor, Majesty, Sire, before the
+result of the popular vote was known. Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre, and the Abbe Goujet, who also went to Paris, obtained an
+interview with Talleyrand, who promised them his support. Napoleon had
+already pardoned several of the principal actors in the great royalist
+conspiracy; and yet, though the four gentlemen were merely suspected of
+complicity, the Emperor, after a meeting of the Council of State, called
+the senator Malin, Fouche, Talleyrand, Cambaceres, Lebrun, and Dubois,
+prefect of police, into his cabinet.
+
+"Gentlemen," said the future Emperor, who still wore the dress of
+the First Consul, "we have received from the Sieurs de Simeuse and
+d'Hauteserre, officers in the army of the Prince de Conde, a request to
+be allowed to re-enter France."
+
+"They are here now," said Fouche.
+
+"Like many others whom I meet in Paris," remarked Talleyrand.
+
+"I think you have not met these gentlemen," said Malin, "for they are
+hidden in the forest of Nodesme, where they consider themselves at
+home."
+
+He was careful not to tell the First Consul and Fouche how he himself
+had given them warning, by talking with Grevin within hearing of Michu,
+but he made the most of Corentin's reports and convinced Napoleon that
+the four gentlemen were sharers in the plot of Riviere and Polignac,
+with Michu for an accomplice. The prefect of police confirmed these
+assertions.
+
+"But how could that bailiff know that the conspiracy was discovered?"
+said the prefect, "for the Emperor and the council and I were the only
+persons in the secret."
+
+No one paid attention to this remark.
+
+"If they have been hidden in that forest for the last seven months and
+you have not been able to find them," said the Emperor to Fouche, "they
+have expiated their misdeeds."
+
+"Since they are my enemies as well," said Malin, frightened by the
+Emperor's clear-sightedness, "I desire to follow the magnanimous example
+of your Majesty; I therefore make myself their advocate and ask that
+their names be stricken from the list of _emigres_."
+
+"They will be less dangerous to you here than if they are exiled; for
+they will now have to swear allegiance to the Empire and the laws," said
+Fouche, looking at Malin fixedly.
+
+"In what way are they dangerous to the senator?" asked Napoleon.
+
+Talleyrand spoke to the Emperor for some minutes in a low voice. The
+reinstatement of the Messieurs de Simeuse and d'Hauteserre appeared to
+be granted.
+
+"Sire," said Fouche, "rely upon it, you will hear of those men again."
+
+Talleyrand, who had been urged by the Duc de Grandlieu, gave the Emperor
+pledges in the name of the young men on their honor as gentlemen (a term
+which had great fascination for Napoleon), to abstain from all attacks
+upon his Majesty and to submit themselves to his government in good
+faith.
+
+"Messieurs d'Hauteserre and de Simeuse are not willing to bear arms
+against France, now that events have taken their present course," he
+said, aloud; "they have little sympathy, it is true, with the Imperial
+government, but they are just the men that your Majesty ought to
+conciliate. They will be satisfied to live on French soil and obey the
+laws."
+
+Then he laid before the Emperor a letter he had received from the
+brothers in which these sentiments were expressed.
+
+"Anything so frank is likely to be sincere," said the Emperor, returning
+the letter and looking at Lebrun and Cambaceres. "Have you any further
+suggestions?" he asked of Fouche.
+
+"In your Majesty's interests," replied the future minister of police, "I
+ask to be allowed to inform these gentlemen of their reinstatement--when
+it is _really granted_," he added, in a louder tone.
+
+"Very well," said Napoleon, noticing an anxious look on Fouche's face.
+
+The matter did not seem positively decided when the Council rose; but it
+had the effect of putting into Napoleon's mind a vague distrust of the
+four young men. Monsieur d'Hauteserre, believing that all was gained,
+wrote a letter announcing the good news. The family at Cinq-Cygne were
+therefore not surprised when, a few days later, Goulard came to inform
+the countess and Madame d'Hauteserre that they were to send the four
+gentlemen to Troyes, where the prefect would show them the decree
+reinstating them in their rights and administer to them the oath of
+allegiance to the Empire and the laws. Laurence replied that she would
+send the notification to her cousins and the Messieurs d'Hauteserre.
+
+"Then they are not here?" said Goulard.
+
+Madame d'Hauteserre looked anxiously after Laurence, who left the room
+to consult Michu. Michu saw no reason why the young men should not be
+released at once from their hiding-place. Laurence, Michu, his son, and
+Gothard therefore started as soon as possible for the forest, taking
+an extra horse, for the countess resolved to accompany her cousins to
+Troyes and return with them. The whole household, made aware of the
+good news, gathered on the lawn to witness the departure of the happy
+cavalcade. The four young men issued from their long confinement,
+mounted their horses, and took the road to Troyes, accompanied by
+Mademoiselle Cinq-Cygne. Michu, with the help of his son and Gothard,
+closed the entrance to the cellar, and started to return home on foot.
+On the way he recollected that he had left the forks and spoons and a
+silver cup, which the young men had been using, in the cave, and he
+went back for them alone. When he reached the edge of the pond he
+heard voices, and went straight to the entrance of the cave through the
+brushwood.
+
+"Have you come for your silver?" said Peyrade, showing his big red nose
+through the branches.
+
+Without knowing why, for at any rate his young masters were safe, Michu
+felt a sharp agony in all his joints, so keen was the sense of vague,
+indefinable coming evil which took possession of him; but he went
+forward at once, and found Corentin on the stairs with a taper in his
+hand.
+
+"We are not very harsh," he said to Michu; "we might have seized
+your ci-devants any day for the last week; but we knew they were
+reinstated--You're a tough fellow to deal with, and you gave us too
+much trouble not to make us anxious to satisfy our curiosity about this
+hiding-place of yours."
+
+"I'd give something," cried Michu, "to know how and by whom we have been
+sold."
+
+"If that puzzles you, old fellow," said Peyrade, laughing, "look at your
+horses' shoes, and you'll see that you betrayed yourselves."
+
+"Well, there need be no rancor!" said Corentin, whistling for the
+captain of gendarmerie and their horses.
+
+"So that rascally Parisian blacksmith who shoed the horses in the
+English fashion and left Cinq-Cygne only the other day was their spy!"
+thought Michu. "They must have followed our tracks when the ground was
+damp. Well, we're quits now!"
+
+Michu consoled himself by thinking that the discovery was of no
+consequence, as the young men were now safe, Frenchmen once more, and at
+liberty. Yet his first presentiment was a true one. The police, like the
+Jesuits, have the one virtue of never abandoning their friends or their
+enemies.
+
+Old d'Hauteserre returned from Paris and was more than surprised not to
+be the first to bring the news. Durieu prepared a succulent dinner,
+the servants donned their best clothes, and the household impatiently
+awaited the exiles, who arrived about four o'clock, happy,--and yet
+humiliated, for they found they were to be under police surveillance for
+two years, obliged to present themselves at the prefecture every month
+and ordered to remain in the commune of Cinq-Cygne during the said two
+years. "I'll send you the papers for signature," the prefect said to
+them. "Then, in the course of a few months, you can ask to be relieved
+of these conditions, which are imposed on all of Pichegru's accomplices.
+I will back your request."
+
+These restrictions, fairly deserved, rather dispirited the young men,
+but Laurence laughed at them.
+
+"The Emperor of the French," she said, "was badly brought up; he has not
+yet acquired the habit of bestowing favors graciously."
+
+The party found all the inhabitants of the chateau at the gates, and a
+goodly proportion of the people of the village waiting on the road to
+see the young men, whose adventures had made them famous throughout the
+department. Madame d'Hauteserre held her sons to her breast for a long
+time, her face covered with tears; she was unable to speak and remained
+silent, though happy, through a part of the evening. No sooner had the
+Simeuse twins dismounted than a cry of surprise arose on all sides,
+caused by their amazing resemblance,--the same look, the same voice,
+the same actions. They both had the same movement in rising from their
+saddles, in throwing their leg over the crupper of their horses when
+dismounting, in flinging the reins upon the animal's neck. Their dress,
+precisely the same, contributed to this likeness. They wore boots _a la_
+Suwaroff, made to fit the instep, tight trousers of white leather, green
+hunting-jackets with metal buttons, black cravats, and buckskin gloves.
+The two young men, just thirty-one years of age, were--to use a term in
+vogue in those days--charming cavaliers, of medium height but well set
+up, brilliant eyes with long lashes, floating in liquid like those of
+children, black hair, noble brows, and olive skin. Their speech, gentle
+as that of a woman, fell graciously from their fresh red lips; their
+manners, more elegant and polished than those of the provincial
+gentlemen, showed that knowledge of men and things had given them that
+supplementary education which makes its possessor a man of the world.
+
+Not lacking money, thanks to Michu, during their emigration, they had
+been able to travel and be received at foreign courts. Old d'Hauteserre
+and the abbe thought them rather haughty; but in their present position
+this may have been the sign of nobility of character. They possessed all
+the eminent little marks of a careful education, to which they added a
+wonderful dexterity in bodily exercises. Their only dissimilarity was
+in the region of ideas. The youngest charmed others by his gaiety, the
+eldest by his melancholy; but the contrast, which was purely spiritual,
+was not at first observable.
+
+"Ah, wife," whispered Michu in Marthe's ear, "how could one help
+devoting one's self to those young fellows?"
+
+Marthe, who admired them as a wife and mother, nodded her head prettily
+and pressed her husband's hand. The servants were allowed to kiss their
+new masters.
+
+During their seven months' seclusion in the forest (which the young
+men had brought upon themselves) they had several times committed the
+imprudence of taking walks about their hiding-place, carefully guarded
+by Michu, his son, and Gothard. During these walks, taken usually on
+starlit nights, Laurence, reuniting the thread of their past and present
+lives, felt the utter impossibility of choosing between the brothers. A
+pure and equal love for each divided her heart. She fancied indeed
+that she had two hearts. On their side, the brothers dared not speak to
+themselves of their impending rivalry. Perhaps all three were trusting
+to time and accident. The condition of her mind on this subject acted
+no doubt upon Laurence as they entered the house, for she hesitated a
+moment, and then took an arm of each as she entered the salon followed
+by Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, who were occupied with their sons.
+Just then a cheer burst from the servants, "Long live the Cinq-Cygne
+and the Simeuse families!" Laurence turned round, still between the
+brothers, and made a charming gesture of acknowledgement.
+
+When these nine persons came to actually observe each other,--for in
+all meetings, even in the bosom of families, there comes a moment when
+friends observe those from whom they have been long parted,--the first
+glance which Adrien d'Hauteserre cast upon Laurence seemed to his
+mother and to the abbe to betray love. Adrien, the youngest of the
+d'Hauteserres, had a sweet and tender soul; his heart had remained
+adolescent in spite of the catastrophes which had nerved the man. Like
+many young heroes, kept virgin in spirit by perpetual peril, he was
+daunted by the timidities of youth. In this he was very different
+from his brother, a man of rough manners, a great hunter, an intrepid
+soldier, full of resolution, but coarse in fibre and without activity
+of mind or delicacy in matters of the heart. One was all soul, the other
+all action; and yet they both possessed in the same degree that sense of
+honor which is the vital essence of a gentleman. Dark, short, slim
+and wiry, Adrien d'Hauteserre gave an impression of strength; whereas
+Robert, who was tall, pale and fair, seemed weakly. Adrien, nervous in
+temperament, was stronger in soul; while his brother though
+lymphatic, was fonder of bodily exercise. Families often present these
+singularities of contrast, the causes of which it might be interesting
+to examine; but they are mentioned here merely to explain how it was
+that Adrien was not likely to find a rival in his brother. Robert's
+affection for Laurence was that of a relation, the respect of a
+noble for a girl of his own caste. In matters of sentiment the elder
+d'Hauteserre belonged to the class of men who consider woman as
+an appendage to man, limiting her sphere to the physical duties of
+maternity; demanding perfection in that respect, but regarding her
+mentally as of no account. To such men the admittance of woman as an
+actual sharer in society, in the body politic, in the family, meant the
+subversion of the social system. In these days we are so far removed
+from this theory of primitive people that almost all women, even those
+who do not desire the fatal emancipation offered by the new sects, will
+be shocked in merely hearing of it; but it must be owned that Robert
+d'Hauteserre had the misfortune to think in that way. Robert was a man
+of the middle-ages, Adrien a man of to-day. These differences instead of
+hindering their affection had drawn its bonds the closer. On the first
+evening after the return of the young men these shades of character
+were caught and understood by the abbe, Mademoiselle Goujet, and Madame
+d'Hauteserre, who, while playing their boston, were secretly foreseeing
+the difficulties of the future.
+
+At twenty-three years of age, having passed through the many reflections
+of a long solitude and the anguish of a defeated enterprise, Laurence
+had become a woman, and felt within her an absorbing desire for
+affection. She now put forth all her graces of her mind and was
+charming; she revealed the hidden beauties of her tender heart with the
+simple candor of a child. For the last thirteen years she had been a
+woman only through suffering; she longed to obtain amends for it, and
+she showed herself as loving and winning as she had been, up to this
+time, strong and great.
+
+The four elders, who were the last to leave the salon that night,
+admitted to each other that they felt uneasy at the new position of this
+charming girl. What power might not passion have on a young woman of
+her character and with her nobility of soul? The twin brothers loved her
+with one and the same love and a blind devotion; which of the two would
+Laurence choose? To choose one was to kill the other. Countess in her
+own right, she could bring her husband a title and certain prerogatives,
+together with a long lineage. Perhaps in thinking of these advantages
+the elder of the twins, the Marquis de Simeuse, would sacrifice himself
+to give Laurence to his brother, who, according to the old laws, was
+poor and without a title. But would the younger brother deprive the
+elder of the happiness of having Laurence for a wife? At a distance,
+this strife of love and generosity might do no harm,--in fact, so long
+as the brothers were facing danger the chances of war might end
+the difficulty; but what would be the result of this reunion? When
+Marie-Paul and Paul-Marie reached the age when passions rise to their
+greatest height could they share, as now, the looks and words and
+attentions of their cousin? must there not inevitably arise a jealousy
+between them the consequences of which might be horrible? What would
+then become of the unity of those beautiful lives, one in heart though
+twain in body? To these questionings, passed from one to another as they
+finished their game, Madame d'Hauteserre replied that in her opinion
+Laurence would not marry either of her cousins. The poor lady had
+experienced that evening one of those inexplicable presentiments which
+are secrets between the mother's heart and God.
+
+Laurence, in her inward consciousness, was not less alarmed at finding
+herself tete-a-tete with her cousins. To the active drama of conspiracy,
+to the dangers which the brothers had incurred, to the pain and
+penalties of their exile, was now succeeding another sort of drama, of
+which she had never thought. This noble girl could not resort to the
+violent means of refusing to marry either of the twins; and she was too
+honest a woman to marry one and keep an irresistible passion for the
+other in her heart. To remain unmarried, to weary her cousins' love by
+no decision, and then to take the one who was faithful to her in spite
+of her caprices, was a solution of the difficulty not so much sought
+for by her as vaguely admitted. As she fell asleep that night she told
+herself the wisest course to follow was to let things take their chance.
+Chance is, in love, the providence of women.
+
+The next morning Michu went to Paris, whence he returned a few days
+later with four fine horses for his new masters. In six weeks' time the
+hunting would begin, and the young countess sagely reflected that
+the violent excitements of that exercise would be a help against the
+tete-a-tetes of the chateau. At first, however, an unexpected result
+surprised the spectators of these strange loves and roused their
+admiration. Without any premeditated agreement the brothers rivalled
+each other in attentions to Laurence, with a sense of pleasure in so
+doing which appeared to suffice them. The relation between themselves
+and Laurence was just as fraternal as that between themselves. What
+could be more natural? After so long an absence they felt the necessity
+of studying her, of knowing her well and letting her know them, leaving
+to her the right of choice. They were sustained in this first trial by
+the mutual affection which made their double life one and the same life.
+
+Love, like their own mother, was unable to distinguish between the
+brothers. Laurence was obliged (in order to know them apart and make no
+mistakes) to give them different cravats--to the elder a white one, to
+the younger black. Without this perfect resemblance, this identity of
+life, which misled all about them, such a situation would be justly
+thought impossible. It can, indeed, be explained only by the fact
+itself, which is one of those which men do not believe in unless they
+see them; and then the mind is more bewildered by having to explain them
+than by the actual sight which caused belief. If Laurence spoke, her
+voice echoed in two hearts equally faithful and loving with one tone.
+Did she give utterance to an intelligent, or witty, or noble thought,
+her glance encountered the delight expressed in two glances which
+followed her every movement, interpreted her slightest wish, and
+beamed upon her ever with a new expression, gaiety in the one, tender
+melancholy in the other. In any matter that concerned their mistress
+the brothers showed an admirable quick-wittedness of heart coupled with
+instant action which (to use the abbe's own expression) approached the
+sublime. Often, if something had to be fetched, if it was a question of
+some little attention which men delight to pay to a beloved woman, the
+elder would leave that pleasure to the younger with a look at Laurence
+that was proud and tender. The younger, on the other hand, put all his
+own pride into paying such debts. This rivalry of noble natures in a
+feeling which leads men often to the jealous ferocity of the beasts
+amazed the old people who were watching it, and bewildered their ideas.
+
+Such little details often drew tears to the eyes of the countess.
+A single sensation, which is perhaps all-powerful in some rare
+organizations, will give an idea of Laurence's emotions; it may be
+perceived by recalling the perfect unison of two fine voices (like those
+of Malibran and Sontag) in some harmonious _duo_, or the blending of
+two instruments touched by the hand of genius, their melodious tones
+entering the soul like the passionate sighing of one heart. Sometimes,
+seeing the Marquis de Simeuse buried in an arm-chair and glancing from
+time to time with deepest melancholy at his brother and Laurence who
+were talking and laughing, the abbe believed him capable of making the
+great sacrifice; presently, however, the priest would see in the young
+man's eyes the flash of an unconquerable passion. Whenever either of the
+brothers found himself alone with Laurence he might reasonably suppose
+himself the one preferred.
+
+"I fancy then that there is but one of them," explained the countess to
+the abbe when he questioned her. That answer showed the priest her total
+want of coquetry. Laurence did not conceive that she was loved by two
+men.
+
+"But, my dear child," said Madame d'Hauteserre one evening (her own son
+silently dying of love for Laurence), "you must choose!"
+
+"Oh, let us be happy," she replied; "God will save us from ourselves."
+
+Adrien d'Hauteserre buried within his breast the jealousy that was
+consuming him; he kept the secret of his torture, aware of how little
+he could hope. He tried to be content with the happiness of seeing the
+charming woman who during the few months this struggle lasted shone in
+all her brilliancy. In one sense Laurence had become coquettish, taking
+that dainty care of her person which women who are loved delight in.
+She followed the fashions, and went more than once to Paris to deck her
+beauty with _chiffons_ or some choice novelty. Desirous of giving her
+cousins a sense of home and its every enjoyment, from which they had so
+long been severed, she made her chateau, in spite of the remonstrances
+of her late guardian, the most completely comfortable house in
+Champagne.
+
+Robert d'Hauteserre saw nothing of this hidden drama; he never noticed
+his brother's love for Laurence. As to the girl herself, he liked to
+tease her about her coquetry,--for he confounded that odious defect
+with the natural desire to please; he was always mistaken in matters
+of feeling, taste, and the higher ethics. So, whenever this man of
+the middle-ages appeared on the scene, Laurence immediately made him,
+unknown to himself, the clown of the play; she amused her cousins by
+arguing with Robert, and leading him, step by step, into some bog of
+ignorance and stupidity. She excelled in such clever mischief, which,
+to be really successful, must leave the victim content with himself.
+And yet, though his nature was a coarse one, Robert never, during those
+delightful months (the only happy period in the lives of the three
+young people) said one virile word which might have brought matters to
+a crisis between Laurence and her cousins. He was struck with the
+sincerity of the brothers; he saw how the one could be glad at the
+happiness of the other and yet suffer anguish in the depths of his
+heart, and he did perceive how a woman might shrink from showing
+tenderness to one which would grieve the other. This perception on
+Robert's part was a just one; it explains a situation which, in times
+of faith, when the sovereign pontiff had power to intervene and cut
+the Gordian knot of such phenomena (allied to the deepest and most
+impenetrable mysteries), would have found its solution. The Revolution
+had deepened the Catholic faith in these young hearts, and religion now
+rendered this crisis in their lives the more severe, because nobility of
+character is ever heightened by the grandeur of circumstances. A sense
+of this truth kept Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre and the abbe from
+the slightest fear of any unworthy result on the part of the brothers or
+of Laurence.
+
+This private drama, secretly developing within the limits of the family
+life where each member watched it silently, ran its course so rapidly
+and withal so slowly, it carried with it so many unhoped-for pleasures,
+trifling jars, frustrated fancies, hopes reversed, anxious waitings,
+delayed explanations and mute avowals that the dwellers at Cinq-Cygne
+paid no attention to the public drama of the Emperor's coronation. At
+times these passions made a truce and sought distraction in the violent
+enjoyment of hunting, when weariness of body took from the soul all
+occasions to wander in the dangerous meadows of reverie. Neither
+Laurence nor her cousins had a thought now for public affairs; each day
+brought its palpitating and absorbing interests for their hearts.
+
+"Really," said Mademoiselle Goujet one evening, "I don't know which of
+all the lovers loves the most."
+
+Adrien, who happened to be alone in the salon with the four
+card-players, raised his eyes and turned pale. For the last few days
+his only hold on life had been the pleasure of seeing Laurence and of
+listening to her.
+
+"I think," said the abbe, "that the countess, being a woman, loves with
+the greater abandonment to love."
+
+Laurence, the twins, and Robert entered the room soon after. The
+newspapers had just arrived. England, seeing the failure of all
+conspiracies attempted within the borders of France, was now arming
+all Europe against their common enemy. The disaster at Trafalgar
+had overthrown one of the most amazing plans which human genius ever
+conceived; by which, if it had succeeded, the Emperor would have paid
+the nation for his election by the ruin of the British power. The camp
+at Boulogne had just been raised. Napoleon, whose solders were, as
+always, inferior in numbers to the enemy, was about to carry the war
+into parts of Europe where he had not before waged it. The whole world
+was breathless, awaiting the results of the campaign.
+
+"He'll surely be defeated this time," said Robert, laying down the
+paper.
+
+"The armies of Austria and of Russia are before him," said Marie-Paul.
+
+"He has never fought in Germany," added Paul-Marie.
+
+"Of whom are you speaking?" asked Laurence.
+
+"The Emperor," answered the three gentlemen.
+
+The jealous girl threw a disdainful look at her twin lovers, which
+humiliated them while it rejoiced the heart of Adrien, who made a
+gesture of admiration and gave her one proud look, which said plainly
+that _he_ thought only of her,--of Laurence.
+
+"I told you," said the abbe in a low voice, "that love would some day
+cause her to forget her animosity."
+
+It was the first, last, and only reproach the brothers ever received
+from her; but certainly at that moment their love, which could still be
+distracted by national events, was inferior to that of Laurence, which,
+absorbed her mind so completely that she only knew of the amazing
+triumph at Austerlitz by overhearing a discussion between Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre and his sons.
+
+Faithful to his ideas of submission, the old man wished both Robert and
+Adrien to re-enter the French army and apply for service; they could,
+he thought, be reinstated in their rank and soon find an opening
+to military honors. But royalist opinions were now all-powerful at
+Cinq-Cygne. The four young men and Laurence laughed at their prudent
+elder, who seemed to foresee a coming evil. Possibly, prudence is less
+virtue than the exercise of some instinct, or _sense_ of the mind (if it
+is allowable to couple those two words). A day will come, no doubt, when
+physiologists and philosophers will both admit that the senses are, in
+some way, the sheath or vehicle of a keen and penetrative active power
+which issues from the mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI. WISE COUNSEL
+
+After peace was concluded between France and Austria, towards the end
+of the month of February, 1806, a relative, whose influence had been
+employed for the reinstatement of the Simeuse brothers, and who was
+destined later to give them signal proofs of family attachment, the
+ci-devant Marquis de Chargeboeuf, whose estates extended from the
+department of the Seine-et-Marne to that of the Aube, arrived one
+morning at Cinq-Cygne in a species of caleche which was then named in
+derision a _berlingot_. When this shabby carriage was driven past the
+windows the inhabitants of the chateau, who were at breakfast, were
+convulsed with laughter; but when the bald head of the old man was
+seen issuing from behind the leather curtain of the vehicle Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre told his name, and all present rose instantly to receive
+and do honor to the head of the house of Chargeboeuf.
+
+"We have done wrong to let him come to us," said the Marquis de Simeuse
+to his brother and the d'Hauteserres; "we ought to have gone to him and
+made our acknowledgements."
+
+A servant, dressed as a peasant, who drove the horses from a seat on a
+level with the body of the carriage, slipped his cartman's whip into a
+coarse leather socket, and got down from the box to assist the marquis
+from the carriage; but Adrien and the younger de Simeuse prevented him,
+unbuttoned the leather apron, and helped the old man out in spite of his
+protestations. This gentleman of the old school chose to consider his
+yellow _berlingot_ with its leather curtains a most convenient and
+excellent equipage. The servant, assisted by Gothard, unharnessed the
+stout horses with shining flanks, accustomed no doubt to do as much duty
+at the plough as in a carriage.
+
+"In spite of this cold weather! Why, you are a knight of the olden
+time," said Laurence, to her visitor, taking his arm and leading him
+into the salon.
+
+"What has he come for?" thought old d'Hauteserre.
+
+Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, a handsome old gentleman of sixty-six,
+in light-colored breeches, his small weak legs encased in colored
+stockings, wore powder, pigeon-wings and a queue. His green cloth
+hunting-coat with gold buttons was braided and frogged with gold. His
+white waistcoat glittered with gold embroidery. This apparel, still in
+vogue among old people, became his face, which was not unlike that of
+Frederick the Great. He never put on his three-cornered hat lest he
+should destroy the effect of the half-moon traced upon his cranium by
+a layer of powder. His right hand, resting on a hooked cane, held both
+cane and hat in a manner worthy of Louis XIV. The fine old gentleman
+took off his wadded silk pelisse and seated himself in an armchair,
+holding the three-cornered hat and the cane between his knees in an
+attitude the secret of which has never been grasped by any but the roues
+of Louis XV.'s court, an attitude which left the hands free to play with
+a snuff-box, always a precious trinket. Accordingly the marquis drew
+from the pocket of his waistcoat, which was closed by a flap embroidered
+in gold arabesques, a sumptuous snuff-box. While fingering his own
+pinch and offering the box around him with another charming gesture
+accompanied with kindly smiles, he noticed the pleasure which his visit
+gave. He seemed then to comprehend why these young _emigres_ had been
+remiss in their duty towards him, and to be saying to himself, "When we
+are making love we can't make visits."
+
+"You will stay with us some days?" said Laurence.
+
+"Impossible," he replied. "If we were not so separated by events (for as
+to distance, you go farther than that which lies between us) you would
+know, my dear child, that I have daughters, daughters-in-law, and
+grand-children. All these dear creatures would be very uneasy if I did
+not return to them to-night, and I have forty-five miles to go."
+
+"Your horses are in good condition," said the Marquis de Simeuse.
+
+"Oh! I am just from Troyes, where I had business yesterday."
+
+After the customary polite inquiries for the Marquise de Chargeboeuf and
+other matters really uninteresting but about which politeness assumes
+that we are keenly interested, it dawned on Monsieur d'Hauteserre
+that the old gentleman had come to warn his young relatives against
+imprudence. He remarked that times were changed and no one could tell
+what the Emperor might now become.
+
+"Oh!" said Laurence, "he'll make himself God."
+
+The Marquis spoke of the wisdom of concession. When he stated, with more
+emphasis and authority than he put into his other remarks, the necessity
+of submission, Monsieur d'Hauteserre looked at his sons with an almost
+supplicating air.
+
+"Would you serve that man?" asked the Marquis de Simeuse.
+
+"Yes, I would, if the interests of my family required it," replied
+Monsieur de Chargeboeuf.
+
+Gradually the old man made them aware, though vaguely, of some
+threatened danger. When Laurence begged him to explain the nature of
+it, he advised the four young men to refrain from hunting and to keep
+themselves as much in retirement as possible.
+
+"You treat the domain of Gondreville as if it were your own," he said to
+the Messieurs de Simeuse, "and you are keeping alive a deadly hatred. I
+see, by the surprise upon your faces, that you are quite unaware of
+the ill-will against you at Troyes, where your late brave conduct is
+remembered. They tell of how you foiled the police of the Empire; some
+praise you for it, but others regard you as enemies of the Emperor;
+partisans declare that Napoleon's clemency is inexplicable. That,
+however, is nothing. The real danger lies here; you foiled men who
+thought themselves cleverer than you; and low-bred men never forgive.
+Sooner or later justice, which in your department emanates from your
+enemy, Senator Malin (who has his henchmen everywhere, even in the
+ministerial offices),--_his_ justice will rejoice to see you involved in
+some annoying scrape. A peasant, for instance, will quarrel with you
+for riding over his field; your guns are in your hands, you are
+hot-tempered, and something happens. In your position it is absolutely
+essential that you should not put yourselves in the wrong. I do
+not speak to you thus without good reason. The police keep this
+arrondissement under strict surveillance; they have an agent in that
+little hole of Arcis expressly to protect the Imperial senator Malin
+against your attacks. He is afraid of you, and says so openly."
+
+"It is a calumny!" cried the younger Simeuse.
+
+"A calumny,--I am sure of it myself, but will the public believe it?
+Michu certainly did aim at the senator, who does not forget the danger
+he was in; and since your return the countess has taken Michu into her
+service. To many persons, in fact to the majority, Malin will seem to
+be in the right. You do not understand how delicate the position of an
+_emigre_ is towards those who are now in possession of his property. The
+prefect, a very intelligent man, dropped a word to me yesterday about
+you which has made me uneasy. In short, I sincerely wish you would not
+remain here."
+
+This speech was received in dumb amazement. Marie-Paul rang the bell.
+
+"Gothard," he said, to the little page, "send Michu here."
+
+"Michu, my friend," said the Marquis de Simeuse when the man appeared,
+"is it true that you intended to kill Malin?"
+
+"Yes, Monsieur le marquis; and when he comes here again I shall lie in
+wait for him."
+
+"Do you know that we are suspected of instigating it, and that our
+cousin, by taking you as her farmer is supposed to be furthering your
+scheme?"
+
+"Good God!" cried Michu, "am I accursed? Shall I never be able to rid
+you of that villain?"
+
+"No, my man, no!" said Paul-Marie. "But we will always take care of you,
+though you will have to leave our service and the country too. Sell your
+property here; we will send you to Trieste to a friend of ours who has
+immense business connections, and he'll employ you until things are
+better in this country for all of us."
+
+Tears came into Michu's eyes; he stood rooted to the floor.
+
+"Were there any witnesses when you aimed at Malin?" asked the Marquis de
+Chargeboeuf.
+
+"Grevin the notary was talking with him, and that prevented my killing
+him--very fortunately, as Madame la Comtesse knows," said Michu, looking
+at his mistress.
+
+"Grevin is not the only one who knows it?" said Monsieur de Chargeboeuf,
+who seemed annoyed at what was said, though none but the family were
+present.
+
+"That police spy who came here to trap my masters, he knew it too," said
+Michu.
+
+Monsieur de Chargeboeuf rose as if to look at the gardens, and said,
+"You have made the most of Cinq-Cygne." Then he left the house, followed
+by the two brothers and Laurence, who now saw the meaning of his visit.
+
+"You are frank and generous, but most imprudent," said the old man. "It
+was natural enough that I should warn you of a rumor which was certain
+to be a slander; but what have you done now? you have let such weak
+persons as Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre and their sons see that
+there was truth in it. Oh, young men! young men! You ought to keep Michu
+here and go away yourselves. But if you persist in remaining, at least
+write a letter to the senator and tell him that having heard the rumors
+about Michu you have dismissed him from your employ."
+
+"We!" exclaimed the brothers; "what, write to Malin,--to the murderer of
+our father and our mother, to the insolent plunderer of our property!"
+
+"All true; but he is one of the chief personages at the Imperial court,
+and the king of your department."
+
+"He, who voted for the death of Louis XVI. in case the army of Conde
+entered France!" cried Laurence.
+
+"He, who probably advised the murder of the Duc d'Enghien!" exclaimed
+Paul-Marie.
+
+"Well, well, if you want to recapitulate his titles of nobility," cried
+Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, "say he who pulled Robespierre by the skirts
+of his coat to make him fall when he saw that his enemies were stronger
+than he; he who would have shot Bonaparte if the 18th Brumaire had
+missed fire; he who manoeuvres now to bring back the Bourbons if
+Napoleon totters; he whom the strong will ever find on their side to
+handle either sword or pistol and put an end to an adversary whom they
+fear! But--all that is only reason the more for what I urge upon you."
+
+"We have fallen very low," said Laurence.
+
+"Children," said the old marquis, taking them by the hand and going to
+the lawn, then covered by a slight fall of snow; "you will be angry at
+the prudent advice of an old man, but I am bound to give it, and here
+it is: If I were you I would employ as go-between some trustworthy old
+fellow--like myself, for instance; I would commission him to ask Malin
+for a million of francs for the title-deeds of Gondreville; he would
+gladly consent if the matter were kept secret. You will then have
+capital in hand, an income of a hundred thousand francs, and you can
+buy a fine estate in another part of France. As for Cinq-Cygne, it can
+safely be left to the management of Monsieur d'Hauteserre, and you
+can draw lots as to which of you shall win the hand of this dear
+heiress--But ah! I know the words of an old man in the ears of the young
+are like the words of the young in the ears of the old, a sound without
+meaning."
+
+The old marquis signed to his three relatives that he wished no answer,
+and returned to the salon, where, during their absence, the abbe and his
+sister had arrived.
+
+The proposal to draw lots for their cousin's hand had offended the
+brothers, while Laurence revolted in her soul at the bitterness of the
+remedy the old marquis counselled. All three were now less gracious to
+him, though they did not cease to be polite. The warmth of their feeling
+was chilled. Monsieur de Chargeboeuf, who felt the change, cast
+frequent looks of kindly compassion on these charming young people.
+The conversation became general, but the old marquis still dwelt on
+the necessity of submitting to events, and he applauded Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre for his persistence in urging his sons to take service
+under the Empire.
+
+"Bonaparte," he said, "makes dukes. He has created Imperial fiefs,
+he will therefore make counts. Malin is determined to be Comte de
+Gondreville. That is a fancy," he added, looking at the Simeuse
+brothers, "which might be profitable to you--"
+
+"Or fatal," said Laurence.
+
+As soon as the horses were put-to the marquis took leave, accompanied to
+the door by the whole party. When fairly in the carriage he made a sign
+to Laurence to come and speak to him, and she sprang upon the foot-board
+with the lightness of a swallow.
+
+"You are not an ordinary woman, and you ought to understand me," he said
+in her ear. "Malin's conscience will never allow him to leave you in
+peace; he will set some trap to injure you. I implore you to be careful
+of all your actions, even the most unimportant. Compromise, negotiate;
+those are my last words."
+
+The brothers stood motionless behind their cousin and watched the
+_berlingot_ as it turned through the iron gates and took the road to
+Troyes. Laurence repeated the old man's last words. But sage experience
+should not present itself to the eyes of youth in a _berlingot_, colored
+stockings, and a queue. These ardent young hearts had no conception
+of the change that had passed over France; indignation crisped their
+nerves, honor boiled with their noble blood through every vein.
+
+"He, the head of the house of Chargeboeuf!" said the Marquis de Simeuse.
+"A man who bears the motto _Adsit fortior_, the noblest of warcries!"
+
+"We are no longer in the days of Saint-Louis," said the younger Simeuse.
+
+"But 'We die singing,'" said the countess. "The cry of the five young
+girls of my house is mine!"
+
+"And ours, 'Cy meurs,'" said the elder Simeuse. "Therefore, no quarter,
+I say; for, on reflection, we shall find that our relative had pondered
+well what he told us--Gondreville to be the title of a Malin!"
+
+"And his seat!" said the younger.
+
+"Mansart designed it for noble stock, and the populace will get their
+children in it!" exclaimed the elder.
+
+"If that were to come to pass, I'd rather see Gondreville in ashes!"
+cried Mademoiselle Cinq-Cygne.
+
+One of the villagers, who had entered the grounds to examine a calf
+Monsieur d'Hauteserre was trying to sell him, overheard these words as
+he came from the cow-sheds.
+
+"Let us go in," said Laurence, laughing; "this is very imprudent; we are
+giving the old marquis a right to blame us. My poor Michu," she added,
+as she entered the salon, "I had forgotten your adventure; as we are
+not in the odor of sanctity in these parts you must be careful not
+to compromise us in future. Have you any other peccadilloes on your
+conscience?"
+
+"I blame myself for not having killed the murderer of my old masters
+before I came to the rescue of my present ones--"
+
+"Michu!" said the abbe in a warning tone.
+
+"But I'll not leave the country," Michu continued, paying no heed to
+the abbe's exclamation, "till I am certain you are safe. I see fellows
+roaming about here whom I distrust. The last time we hunted in the
+forest, that keeper who took my place at Gondreville came to me and
+asked if we supposed we were on our own property. 'Ho! my lad,' I said,
+'we can't get rid in two weeks of ideas we've had for centuries.'"
+
+"You did wrong, Michu," said the Marquis de Simeuse, smiling with
+satisfaction.
+
+"What answer did he make?" asked Monsieur d'Hauteserre.
+
+"He said he would inform the senator of our claims," replied Michu.
+
+"Comte de Gondreville!" repeated the elder Simeuse; "what a masquerade!
+But after all, they say 'your Majesty' to Bonaparte!"
+
+"And to the Grand Duc de Berg, 'your Highness!'" said the abbe.
+
+"Who is he?" asked the Marquis de Simeuse.
+
+"Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law," replied old d'Hauteserre.
+
+"Delightful!" remarked Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne. "Do they also say
+'your Majesty' to the widow of Beauharnais?"
+
+"Yes, mademoiselle," said the abbe.
+
+"We ought to go to Paris and see it all," cried Laurence.
+
+"Alas, mademoiselle," said Michu, "I was there to put Francois at
+school, and I swear to you there's no joking with what they call the
+Imperial Guard. If the rest of the army are like them, the thing may
+last longer than we."
+
+"They say many of the noble families are taking service," said Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre.
+
+"According to the present law," added the abbe, "you will be compelled
+to serve. The conscription makes no distinction of ranks or names."
+
+"That man is doing us more harm with his court than the Revolution did
+with its axe!" cried Laurence.
+
+"The Church prays for him," said the abbe.
+
+These remarks, made rapidly one after another, were so many commentaries
+on the wise counsel of the old Marquis de Chargeboeuf; but the young
+people had too much faith, too much honor, to dream of resorting to a
+compromise. They told themselves, as all vanquished parties in all times
+have declared, that the luck of the conquerors would soon be at an end,
+that the Emperor had no support but that of the army, that the power _de
+facto_ must sooner or later give way to the Divine Right, etc. So, in
+spite of the wise counsel given to them, they fell into the pitfall,
+which others, like old d'Hauteserre, more prudent and more amenable
+to reason, would have been able to avoid. If men were frank they might
+perhaps admit that misfortunes never overtake them until after they have
+received either an actual or an occult warning. Many do not perceive the
+deep meaning of such visible or invisible signs until after the disaster
+is upon them.
+
+"In any case, Madame la comtesse knows that I cannot leave the country
+until I have given up a certain trust," said Michu in a low voice to
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne.
+
+For all answer she made him a sign of acquiescence, and he left the
+room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII. THE FACTS OF A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR
+
+Michu sold his farm at once to Beauvisage, a farmer at Bellache, but he
+was not to receive the money for twenty days. A month after the Marquis
+de Chargeboeuf's visit, Laurence, who had told her cousins of their
+buried fortune, proposed to them to take the day of the Mi-careme to
+disinter it. The unusual quantity of snow which fell that winter had
+hitherto prevented Michu from obtaining the treasure, and it now
+gave him pleasure to undertake the operation with his masters. He was
+determined to leave the neighborhood as soon as it was over, for he
+feared himself.
+
+"Malin has suddenly arrived at Gondreville, and no one knows why,"
+he said to his mistress. "I shall never be able to resist putting the
+property into the market by the death of its owner. I feel I am guilty
+in not following my inspirations."
+
+"Why should he leave Paris at this season?" said the countess.
+
+"All Arcis is talking about it," replied Michu; "he has left his family
+in Paris, and no one is with him but his valet. Monsieur Grevin, the
+notary of Arcis, Madame Marion, the wife of the receiver-general, and
+her sister-in-law are staying at Gondreville."
+
+Laurence had chosen the mid-lent day for their purpose because it
+enabled her to give her servants a holiday and so get them out of the
+way. The usual masquerade drew the peasantry to the town and no one
+was at work in the fields. Chance made its calculations with as much
+cleverness as Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne made hers. The uneasiness of
+Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre at the idea of keeping eleven hundred
+thousand francs in gold in a lonely chateau on the borders of a forest
+was likely to be so great that their sons advised they should know
+nothing about it. The secret of the expedition was therefore confined to
+Gothard, Michu, Laurence, and the four gentlemen.
+
+After much consultation it seemed possible to put forty-eight thousand
+francs in a long sack on the crupper of each of their horses. Three
+trips would therefore bring the whole. It was agreed to send all the
+servants, whose curiosity might be troublesome, to Troyes to see the
+shows. Catherine, Marthe, and Durieu, who could be relied on, stayed
+at home in charge of the house. The other servants were glad of their
+holiday and started by daybreak. Gothard, assisted by Michu, saddled the
+horses as soon as they were gone, and the party started by way of the
+gardens to reach the forest. Just as they were mounting--for the park
+gate was so low on the garden side that they led their horses until they
+were through it--old Beauvisage, the farmer at Bellache, happened to
+pass.
+
+"There!" cried Gothard, "I hear some one."
+
+"Oh, it is only I," said the worthy man, coming toward them. "Your
+servant, gentleman; are you off hunting, in spite of the new decrees?
+_I_ don't complain of you; but do take care! though you have friends you
+have also enemies."
+
+"Oh, as for that," said the elder Hauteserre, smiling, "God grant that
+our hunt may be lucky to-day,--if so, you will get your masters back
+again."
+
+These words, to which events were destined to give a totally different
+meaning, earned a severe look from Laurence. The elder Simeuse was
+confident that Malin would restore Gondreville for an indemnity. These
+rash youths were determined to do exactly the contrary of what the
+Marquis de Chargeboeuf had advised. Robert, who shared these hopes, was
+thinking of them when he gave utterance to the fatal words.
+
+"Not a word of this, old friend," said Michu to Beauvisage, waiting
+behind the others to lock the gate.
+
+It was one of those fine mornings in March when the air is dry, the
+earth pure, the sky clear, and the atmosphere a contradiction to the
+leafless trees; the season was so mild that the eye caught glimpses here
+and there of verdure.
+
+"We are seeking treasure when all the while you are the real treasure of
+our house, cousin," said the elder Simeuse, gaily.
+
+Laurence was in front, with a cousin on each side of her. The
+d'Hauteserres were behind, followed by Michu. Gothard had gone forward
+to clear the way.
+
+"Now that our fortune is restored, you must marry my brother," said the
+younger in a low voice. "He adores you; together you will be as rich as
+nobles ought to be in these days."
+
+"No, give the whole fortune to him and I will marry you," said Laurence;
+"I am rich enough for two."
+
+"So be it," cried the Marquis; "I will leave you, and find a wife worthy
+to be your sister."
+
+"So you really love me less than I thought you did?" said Laurence
+looking at him with a sort of jealousy.
+
+"No; I love you better than either of you love me," replied the marquis.
+
+"And therefore you would sacrifice yourself?" asked Laurence with a
+glance full of momentary preference.
+
+The marquis was silent.
+
+"Well, then, I shall think only of you, and that will be intolerable to
+my husband," exclaimed Laurence, impatient at his silence.
+
+"How could I live without you?" said the younger twin to his brother.
+
+"But, after all, you can't marry us both," said the marquis, replying to
+Laurence; "and the time has come," he continued, in the brusque tone of
+a man who is struck to the heart, "to make your decision."
+
+He urged his horse in advance so that the d'Hauteserres might not
+overhear them. His brother's horse and Laurence's followed him. When
+they had put some distance between themselves and the rest of the party
+Laurence attempted to speak, but tears were at first her only language.
+
+"I will enter a cloister," she said at last.
+
+"And let the race of Cinq-Cygne end?" said the younger brother. "Instead
+of one unhappy man, would you make two? No, whichever of us must be your
+brother only, will resign himself to that fate. It is the knowledge
+that we are no longer poor that has brought us to explain ourselves,"
+he added, glancing at the marquis. "If I am the one preferred, all this
+money is my brother's. If I am rejected, he will give it to me with
+the title of de Simeuse, for he must then take the name and title of
+Cinq-Cygne. Whichever way it ends, the loser will have a chance of
+recovery--but if he feels he must die of grief, he can enter the army
+and die in battle, not to sadden the happy household."
+
+"We are true knights of the olden time, worthy of our fathers," cried
+the elder. "Speak, Laurence; decide between us."
+
+"We cannot continue as we are," said the younger.
+
+"Do not think, Laurence, that self-denial is without its joys," said the
+elder.
+
+"My dear loved ones," said the girl, "I am unable to decide. I love you
+both as though you were one being--as your mother loved you. God will
+help us. I cannot choose. Let us put it to chance--but I make one
+condition."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Whichever one of you becomes my brother must stay with me until I
+suffer him to leave me. I wish to be sole judge of when to part."
+
+"Yes, yes," said the brothers, without explaining to themselves her
+meaning.
+
+"The first of you to whom Madame d'Hauteserre speaks to-night at table
+after the Benedicite, shall be my husband. But neither of you must
+practise fraud or induce her to answer a question."
+
+"We will play fair," said the younger, smiling.
+
+Each kissed her hand. The certainty of some decision which both could
+fancy favorable made them gay.
+
+"Either way, dear Laurence, you create a Comte de Cinq-Cygne--"
+
+"I believe," thought Michu, riding behind them, "that mademoiselle will
+not long be unmarried. How gay my masters are! If my mistress makes her
+choice I shall not leave; I must stay and see that wedding."
+
+Just then a magpie flew suddenly before his face. Michu, superstitious
+like all primitive beings, fancied he heard the muffled tones of a
+death-knell. The day, however, began brightly enough for lovers, who
+rarely see magpies when together in the woods. Michu, armed with his
+plan, verified the spots; each gentleman had brought a pickaxe, and the
+money was soon found. The part of the forest where it was buried was
+quite wild, far from all paths or habitations, so that the cavalcade
+bearing the gold returned unseen. This proved to be a great misfortune.
+On their way from Cinq-Cygne to fetch the last two hundred thousand
+francs, the party, emboldened by success, took a more direct way than
+on their other trips. The path passed an opening from which the park of
+Gondreville could be seen.
+
+"What is that?" cried Laurence, pointing to a column of blue flame.
+
+"A bonfire, I think," replied Michu.
+
+Laurence, who knew all the by-ways of the forest, left the rest of the
+party and galloped towards the pavilion, Michu's old home. Though the
+building was closed and deserted, the iron gates were open, and traces
+of the recent passage of several horses struck Laurence instantly. The
+column of blue smoke was rising from a field in what was called the
+English park, where, as she supposed, they were burning brush.
+
+"Ah! so you are concerned in it, too, are you, mademoiselle?" cried
+Violette, who came out of the park at top speed on his pony, and pulled
+up to meet Laurence. "But, of course, it is only a carnival joke? They
+surely won't kill him?"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Your cousins wouldn't put him to death?"
+
+"Death! whose death?"
+
+"The senator's."
+
+"You are crazy, Violette!"
+
+"Well, what are you doing here, then?" he demanded.
+
+At the idea of a danger which was threatening her cousins, Laurence
+turned her horse and galloped back to them, reaching the ground as the
+last sacks were filled.
+
+"Quick, quick!" she cried. "I don't know what is going on, but let us
+get back to Cinq-Cygne."
+
+While the happy party were employed in recovering the fortune saved
+by the old marquis, and guarded for so many years by Michu, an
+extraordinary scene was taking place in the chateau of Gondreville.
+
+About two o'clock in the afternoon Malin and his friend Grevin were
+playing chess before the fire in the great salon on the ground-floor.
+Madame Grevin and Madame Marion were sitting on a sofa and talking
+together at a corner of the fireplace. All the servants had gone to see
+the masquerade, which had long been announced in the arrondissement. The
+family of the bailiff who had replaced Michu had gone too. The senator's
+valet and Violette were the only persons beside the family at the
+chateau. The porter, two gardeners, and their wives were on the place,
+but their lodge was at the entrance of the courtyards at the farther end
+of the avenue to Arcis, and the distance from there to the chateau
+is beyond the sound of a pistol-shot. Violette was waiting in the
+antechamber until the senator and Grevin could see him on business, to
+arrange a matter relating to his lease. At that moment five men, masked
+and gloved, who in height, manner, and bearing strongly resembled
+the Simeuse and d'Hauteserre brothers and Michu, rushed into the
+antechamber, seized and gagged the valet and Violette, and fastened them
+to their chairs in a side room. In spite of the rapidity with which this
+was done, Violette and the servant had time to utter one cry. It was
+heard in the salon. The two ladies thought it a cry of fear.
+
+"Listen!" said Madame Grevin, "can there be robbers?"
+
+"No, nonsense!" said Grevin, "only carnival cries; the masqueraders must
+be coming to pay us a visit."
+
+This discussion gave time for the four strangers to close the doors
+towards the courtyards and to lock up Violette and the valet. Madame
+Grevin, who was rather obstinate, insisted on knowing what the noise
+meant. She rose, left the room, and came face to face with the five
+masked men, who treated her as they had treated the farmer and the
+valet. Then they rushed into the salon, where the two strongest seized
+and gagged Malin, and carried him off into the park, while the three
+others remained behind to gag Madame Marion and Grevin and lash them to
+their armchairs. The whole affair did not take more than half an hour.
+The three unknown men, who were quickly rejoined by the two who had
+carried off the senator, then proceeded to ransack the chateau from
+cellar to garret. They opened all closets and doors, and sounded the
+walls; until five o'clock they were absolute masters of the place. By
+that time the valet had managed to loosen with his teeth the rope that
+bound Violette. Violette, able then to get the gag from his mouth,
+began to shout for help. Hearing the shouts the five men withdrew to
+the gardens, where they mounted horses closely resembling those at
+Cinq-Cygne and rode away, but not so rapidly that Violette was unable to
+catch sight of them. After releasing the valet, the two ladies, and the
+notary, Violette mounted his pony and rode after help. When he reached
+the pavilion he was amazed to see the gates open and Mademoiselle de
+Cinq-Cygne apparently on the watch.
+
+Directly after the young countess had ridden off, Violette was overtaken
+by Grevin and the forester of the township of Gondreville, who had taken
+horses from the stables at the chateau. The porter's wife was on her way
+to summon the gendarmerie from Arcis. Violette at once informed Grevin
+of his meeting with Laurence and the sudden flight of the daring girl,
+whose strong and decided character was known to all of them.
+
+"She was keeping watch," said Violette.
+
+"Is it possible that those Cinq-Cygne people have done this thing?"
+cried Grevin.
+
+"Do you mean to say you didn't recognize that stout Michu?" exclaimed
+Violette. "It was he who attacked me; I knew his fist. Besides, they
+rode the Cinq-Cygne horses."
+
+Noticing the hoof-marks on the sand of the _rond-point_ and along the
+park road the notary stationed the forester at the gateway to see to
+the preservation of these precious traces until the justice of peace
+of Arcis (for whom he now sent Violette) could take note of them.
+He himself returned hastily to the chateau, where the lieutenant
+and sub-lieutenant of the Imperial gendarmerie at Arcis had arrived,
+accompanied by four men and a corporal. The lieutenant was the same
+man whose head Francois Michu had broken two years earlier, and who had
+heard from Corentin the name of his mischievous assailant. This man,
+whose name was Giguet (his brother was in the army, and became one of
+the finest colonels of artillery), was an extremely able officer
+of gendarmerie. Later he commanded the squadron of the Aube. The
+sub-lieutenant, named Welff, had formerly driven Corentin from
+Cinq-Cygne to the pavilion, and from the pavilion to Troyes. On the
+way, the spy had fully informed him as to what he called the trickery
+of Laurence and Michu. The two officers were therefore well inclined to
+show, and did show, great eagerness against the family at Cinq-Cygne.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII. THE CODE OF BRUMAIRE, YEAR IV.
+
+Malin and Grevin had both, the latter working for the former, taken part
+in the construction of the Code called that of Brumaire, year IV., the
+judicial work of the National Convention, so-called, and promulgated by
+the Directory. Grevin knew its provisions thoroughly, and was able to
+apply them in this affair with terrible celerity, under a theory, now
+converted into a certainty, of the guilt of Michu and the Messieurs
+de Simeuse and d'Hauteserre. No one in these days, unless it be some
+antiquated magistrates, will remember this system of justice, which
+Napoleon was even then overthrowing by the promulgation of his own
+Codes, and by the institution of his magistracy under the form in which
+it now rules France.
+
+The Code of Brumaire, year IV., gave to the director of the jury of
+the department the duty of discovering, indicting, and prosecuting the
+persons guilty of the delinquency committed at Gondreville. Remark, by
+the way, that the Convention had eliminated from its judicial vocabulary
+the word "crime"; _delinquencies_ and _misdemeanors_ were alone
+admitted; and these were punished with fines, imprisonment, and
+penalties "afflictive or infamous." Death was an afflictive punishment.
+But the penalty of death was to be done away with after the restoration
+of peace, and twenty-four years of hard labor were to take its place.
+Thus the Convention estimated twenty-four years of hard labor as
+the equivalent of death. What therefore can be said for a code which
+inflicts the punishment of hard labor for life? The system then in
+process of preparation by the Napoleonic Council of State suppressed the
+function of the directors of juries, which united many enormous powers.
+In relation to the discovery of delinquencies and their prosecution the
+director of the jury was, in fact, agent of police, public prosecutor,
+municipal judge, and the court itself. His proceedings and his
+indictments were, however, submitted for signature to a commissioner of
+the executive power and to the verdict of eight jurymen, before whom
+he laid the facts of the case, and who examined the witnesses and the
+accused and rendered the preliminary verdict, called the indictment. The
+director was, however, in a position to exercise such influence over the
+jurymen, who met in his private office, that they could not well avoid
+agreeing with him. These jurymen were called the jury of indictment.
+There were others who formed the juries of the criminal tribunals
+whose duty it was to judge the accused; these were called, in
+contradistinction to the jury of indictment, the judgment jury. The
+criminal tribunal, to which Napoleon afterwards gave the name of
+criminal court, was composed of one President or chief justice, four
+judges, the public prosecutor, and a government commissioner.
+
+Nevertheless, from 1799 to 1806 there were special courts (so-called)
+which judged without juries certain misdemeanors in certain departments;
+these were composed of judges taken from the civil courts and formed
+into a special court. This conflict of special justice and criminal
+justice gave rise to questions of competence which came before the
+courts of appeal. If the department of the Aube had had a special court,
+the verdict on the outrage committed on a senator of the Empire would no
+doubt have been referred to it; but this tranquil department had
+never needed unusual jurisdiction. Grevin therefore despatched the
+sub-lieutenant to Troyes to bring the director of the jury of that town.
+The emissary went at full gallop, and soon returned in a post-carriage
+with the all-powerful magistrate.
+
+The director of the Troyes jury was formerly secretary of one of the
+committees of the Convention, a friend of Malin, to whom he owed his
+present place. This magistrate, named Lechesneau, had helped Malin, as
+Grevin had done, in his work on the Code during the Convention. Malin in
+return recommended him to Cambaceres, who appointed him attorney-general
+for Italy. Unfortunately for him, Lechesneau had a liaison with a
+great lady in Turin, and Napoleon removed him to avoid a criminal trial
+threatened by the husband. Lechesneau, bound in gratitude to Malin, felt
+the importance of this attack upon his patron, and brought with him a
+captain of gendarmerie and twelve men.
+
+Before starting he laid his plans with the prefect, who was unable
+at that late hour, it being after dark, to use the telegraph. They
+therefore sent a mounted messenger to Paris to notify the minister of
+police, the chief justice and the Emperor of this extraordinary crime.
+In the salon of Gondreville, Lechesneau found Mesdames Marion and
+Grevin, Violette, the senator's valet, and the justice of peace with his
+clerk. The chateau had already been examined; the justice, assisted by
+Grevin, had carefully collected the first testimony. The first thing
+that struck him was the obvious intention shown in the choice of the
+day and hour for the attack. The hour prevented an immediate search for
+proofs and traces. At this season it was nearly dark by half-past five,
+the hour at which Violette gave the alarm, and darkness often means
+impunity to evil-doers. The choice of a holiday, when most persons had
+gone to the masquerade at Arcis, and the senator was comparatively alone
+in the house, showed an obvious intention to get rid of witnesses.
+
+"Let us do justice to the intelligence of the prefecture of police,"
+said Lechesneau; "they have never ceased to warn us to be on our guard
+against the nobles at Cinq-Cygne; they have always declared that sooner
+or later those people would play us some dangerous trick."
+
+Sure of the active co-operation of the prefect of the Aube, who sent
+messengers to all the surrounding prefectures asking them to search
+for the five abductors and the senator, Lechesneau began his work by
+verifying the first facts. This was soon done by the help of two such
+legal heads as those of Grevin and the justice of peace. The latter,
+named Pigoult, formerly head-clerk in the office where Malin and Grevin
+had first studied law in Paris, was soon after appointed judge of the
+municipal court at Arcis. In relation to Michu, Lechesneau knew of the
+threats the man had made about the sale of Gondreville to Marion, and
+the danger Malin had escaped in his own park from Michu's gun. These
+two facts, one being the consequence of the other, were no doubt
+the precursors of the present successful attack, and they pointed so
+obviously to the late bailiff as the instigator of the outrage that
+Grevin, his wife, Violette, and Madame Marion declared that they had
+recognized among the five masked men one who exactly resembled Michu.
+The color of the hair and whiskers and the thick-set figure of the man
+made the mask he wore useless. Besides, who but Michu could have opened
+the iron gates of the park with a key? The present bailiff and his wife,
+now returned from the masquerade, deposed to have locked both gates
+before leaving the pavilion. The gates when examined showed no sign of
+being forced.
+
+"When we turned him off he must have taken some duplicate keys with
+him," remarked Grevin. "No doubt he has been meditating a desperate
+step, for he has lately sold his whole property, and he received the
+money for it in my office day before yesterday."
+
+"The others have followed his lead!" exclaimed Lechesneau, struck with
+the circumstances. "He has been their evil genius."
+
+Moreover, who could know as well as the Messieurs de Simeuse the ins and
+outs of the chateau. None of the assailants seemed to have blundered in
+their search; they had gone through the house in a confident way which
+showed that they knew what they wanted to find and where to find it.
+The locks of none of the opened closets had been forced; therefore the
+delinquents had keys. Strange to say, however, nothing had been taken;
+the motive, therefore, was not robbery. More than all, when Violette
+had followed the tracks of the horses as far as the _rond-point_, he
+had found the countess, evidently on guard, at the pavilion. From such a
+combination of facts and depositions arose a presumption as to the guilt
+of the Messieurs de Simeuse, d'Hauteserre, and Michu, which would have
+been strong to unprejudiced minds, and to the director of the jury had
+the force of certainty. What were they likely to do to the future Comte
+de Gondreville? Did they mean to force him to make over the estate for
+which Michu declared in 1799 he had the money to pay?
+
+But there was another aspect of the cast to the knowing criminal lawyer.
+He asked himself what could be the object of the careful search made of
+the chateau. If revenge were at the bottom of the matter, the assailants
+would have killed the senator. Perhaps he had been killed and buried.
+The abduction, however, seemed to point to imprisonment. But why keep
+their victim imprisoned after searching the castle? It was folly to
+suppose that the abduction of a dignitary of the Empire could long
+remain secret. The publicity of the matter would prevent any benefit
+from it.
+
+To these suggestions Pigoult replied that justice was never able to make
+out all the motives of scoundrels. In every criminal case there
+were obscurities, he said, between the judge and the guilty person;
+conscience had depths into which no human mind could enter unless by the
+confession of the criminal.
+
+Grevin and Lechesneau nodded their assent, without, however, relaxing
+their determination to see to the bottom of the present mystery.
+
+"The Emperor pardoned those young men," said Pigoult to Grevin. "He
+removed their names from the list of _emigres_, though they certainly
+took part in that last conspiracy against him."
+
+Lechesneau make no delay in sending his whole force of gendarmerie to
+the forest and to the valley of Cinq-Cygne; telling Giguet to take with
+him the justice of peace, who, according to the terms of the Code, would
+then become an auxiliary police-officer. He ordered them to make
+all preliminary inquiries in the township of Cinq-Cygne, and to take
+testimony if necessary; and to save time, he dictated and signed a
+warrant for the arrest of Michu, against whom the charge was evident on
+the positive testimony of Violette. After the departure of the gendarmes
+Lechesneau returned to the important question of issuing warrants for
+the arrest of the Simeuse and d'Hauteserre brothers. According to
+the Code these warrants would have to contain the charges against the
+delinquents.
+
+Giguet and the justice of peace rode so rapidly to Cinq-Cygne that
+they met Laurence's servants returning from the festivities at Troyes.
+Stopped, and taken before the mayor where they were interrogated, they
+all stated, being ignorant of the importance of the answer, that their
+mistress had given them permission to spend the whole day at Troyes.
+To a question put by the justice of the peace, each replied that
+Mademoiselle had offered them the amusement which they had not thought
+of asking for. This testimony seemed so important to the justice of the
+peace that he sent back a messenger to Gondreville to advise Lechesneau
+to proceed himself to Cinq-Cygne and arrest the four gentlemen, while
+he went to Michu's farm, so that the five arrests might be made
+simultaneously.
+
+This new element was so convincing that Lechesneau started at once for
+Cinq-Cygne. He knew well what pleasure would be felt in Troyes at such
+proceedings against the old nobles, the enemies of the people, now
+become the enemies of the Emperor. In such circumstances a magistrate
+is very apt to take mere presumptive evidence for actual proof.
+Nevertheless, on his way from Gondreville to Cinq-Cygne, in the
+senator's own carriage, it did occur to Lechesneau (who would certainly
+have made a fine magistrate had it not been for his love-affair, and the
+Emperor's sudden morality to which he owed his disgrace) to think the
+audacity of the young men and Michu a piece of folly which was not in
+keeping with what he knew of the judgment and character of Mademoiselle
+de Cinq-Cygne. He imagined in his own mind some other motives for the
+deed than the restitution of Gondreville. In all things, even in the
+magistracy, there is what may be called the conscience of a calling.
+Lechesneau's perplexities came from this conscience, which all men put
+into the proper performance of the duties they like--scientific men into
+science, artists into art, judges into the rendering of justice. Perhaps
+for this reason judges are really greater safeguards for persons accused
+of wrong-doing than are juries. A magistrate relies only on reason and
+its laws; juries are floated to and fro by the waves of sentiment. The
+director of the jury accordingly set several questions before his mind,
+resolving to find in their solution satisfactory reasons for making the
+arrests.
+
+Though the news of the abduction was already agitating the town of
+Troyes, it was still unknown at Arcis, where the inhabitants were
+supping when the messenger arrived to summon the gendarmes. No one, of
+course, knew it in the village of Cinq-Cygne, the valley and the chateau
+of which were now, for the second time, encircled by gendarmes.
+
+Laurence had only to tell Marthe, Catherine, and the Durieus not to
+leave the chateau, to be strictly obeyed. After each trip to fetch the
+gold, the horses were fastened in the covered way opposite to the breach
+in the moat, and from there Robert and Michu, the strongest of the
+party, carried the sacks through the breach to a cellar under the
+staircase in the tower called Mademoiselle's. Reaching the chateau with
+the last load about half-past five o'clock, the four gentlemen and Michu
+proceeded to bury the treasure in the floor of the cellar and then to
+wall up the entrance. Michu took charge of the matter with Gothard to
+help him; the lad was sent to the farm for some sacks of plaster left
+over when the new buildings were put up, and Marthe went with him to
+show him where they were. Michu, very hungry, made such haste that by
+half-past seven o'clock the work was done; and he started for home at
+a quick pace to stop Gothard, who had been sent for another sack of
+plaster which he thought he might want. The farm was already watched
+by the forester of Cinq-Cygne, the justice of peace, his clerk and four
+gendarmes who, however, kept out of sight and allowed him to enter the
+house without seeing them.
+
+Michu saw Gothard with the sack on his shoulder and called to him from a
+distance: "It is all finished, my lad; take that back and stay and dine
+with us."
+
+Michu, his face perspiring, his clothes soiled with plaster and covered
+with fragments of muddy stone from the breach, reached home joyfully and
+entered the kitchen where Marthe and her mother were serving the soup in
+expectation of his coming.
+
+Just as Michu was turning the faucet of the water-pipe intending to wash
+his hands, the justice of peace entered the house accompanied by his
+clerk and the forester.
+
+"What have you come for, Monsieur Pigoult?" asked Michu.
+
+"In the name of the Emperor and the laws, I arrest you," replied the
+justice.
+
+The three gendarmes entered the kitchen leading Gothard. Seeing the
+silver lace on their hats Marthe and her mother looked at each other in
+terror.
+
+"Pooh! why?" asked Michu, who sat down at the table and called to his
+wife, "Give me something to eat; I'm famished."
+
+"You know why as well as we do," said the justice, making a sign to his
+clerk to begin the _proces-verbal_ and exhibiting the warrant of arrest.
+
+"Well, well, Gothard, you needn't stare so," said Michu. "Do you want
+some dinner, yes or no? Let them write down their nonsense."
+
+"You admit, of course, the condition of your clothes?" said the justice
+of peace; "and you can't deny the words you said just now to Gothard?"
+
+Michu, supplied with food by his wife, who was amazed at his coolness,
+was eating with the avidity of a hungry man. He made no answer to
+the justice, for his mouth was full and his heart innocent. Gothard's
+appetite was destroyed by fear.
+
+"Look here," said the forester, going up to Michu and whispering in his
+ear: "What have you done with the senator? You had better make a clean
+breast of it, for if we are to believe these people it is a matter of
+life or death to you."
+
+"Good God!" cried Marthe, who overheard the last words and fell into a
+chair as if annihilated.
+
+"Violette must have played us some infamous trick," cried Michu,
+recollecting what Laurence had said in the forest.
+
+"Ha! so you do know that Violette saw you?" said the justice of peace.
+
+Michu bit his lips and resolved to say no more. Gothard imitated him.
+Seeing the uselessness of all attempts to make them talk, and knowing
+what the neighborhood chose to call Michu's perversity, the justice
+ordered the gendarmes to bind his hands and those of Gothard, and take
+them both to the chateau, whither he now went himself to rejoin the
+director of the jury.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV. THE ARRESTS
+
+The four young men and Laurence were so hungry and the dinner so
+acceptable that they would not delay it by changing their dress. They
+entered the salon, she in her riding-habit, they in their white leather
+breeches, high-top boots and green-cloth jackets, where they found
+Monsieur d'Hauteserre and his wife, not a little uneasy at their long
+absence. The goodman had noticed their goings and comings, and, above
+all, their evident distrust of him, for Laurence had been unable to get
+rid of him as she had of her servants. Once when his own sons evidently
+avoided making any reply to his questions, he went to his wife and said,
+"I am afraid that Laurence may still get us into trouble!"
+
+"What sort of game did you hunt to-day?" said Madame d'Hauteserre to
+Laurence.
+
+"Ah!" replied the young girl, laughing, "you'll hear some day what a
+strange hunt your sons have joined in to-day."
+
+Though said in jest the words made the old lady tremble. Catherine
+entered to announce dinner. Laurence took Monsieur d'Hauteserre's arm,
+smiling for a moment at the necessity she thus forced upon her cousins
+to offer an arm to Madame d'Hauteserre, who, according to agreement, was
+now to be the arbiter of their fate.
+
+The Marquis de Simeuse took in Madame d'Hauteserre. The situation was so
+momentous that after the Benedicite was said Laurence and the young
+men trembled from the violent palpitation of their hearts. Madame
+d'Hauteserre, who carved, was struck by the anxiety on the faces of
+the Simeuse brothers and the great alteration that was noticeable in
+Laurence's lamb-like features.
+
+"Something extraordinary is going on, I am sure of it!" she exclaimed,
+looking at all of them.
+
+"To whom are you speaking?" asked Laurence.
+
+"To all of you," said the old lady.
+
+"As for me, mother," said Robert, "I am frightfully hungry, and that is
+not extraordinary."
+
+Madame d'Hauteserre, still troubled, offered the Marquis de Simeuse a
+plate intended for his brother.
+
+"I am like your mother," she said. "I don't know you apart even by your
+cravats. I thought I was helping your brother."
+
+"You have helped me better than you thought for," said the youngest,
+turning pale; "you have made him Comte de Cinq-Cygne."
+
+"What! do you mean to tell me the countess has made her choice?" cried
+Madame d'Hauteserre.
+
+"No," said Laurence; "we left the decision to fate and you are its
+instrument."
+
+She told of the agreement made that morning. The elder Simeuse, watching
+the increasing pallor of his brother's face, was momentarily on the
+point of crying out, "Marry her; I will go away and die!" Just then, as
+the dessert was being served, all present heard raps upon the window of
+the dining-room on the garden side. The eldest d'Hauteserre opened it
+and gave entrance to the abbe, whose breeches were torn in climbing over
+the walls of the park.
+
+"Fly! they are coming to arrest you," he cried.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"I don't know yet; but there's a warrant against you."
+
+The words were greeted with general laughter.
+
+"We are innocent," said the young men.
+
+"Innocent or guilty," said the abbe, "mount your horses and make for
+the frontier. There you can prove your innocence. You could overcome
+a sentence by default; you will never overcome a sentence rendered
+by popular passion and instigated by prejudice. Remember the words of
+President de Harlay, 'If I were accused of carrying off the towers of
+Notre-Dame the first thing I should do would be to run away.'"
+
+"To run away would be to admit we were guilty," said the Marquis de
+Simeuse.
+
+"Don't do it!" cried Laurence.
+
+"Always the same sublime folly!" exclaimed the abbe, in despair. "If I
+had the power of God I would carry you away. But if I am found here
+in this state they will turn my visit against you, and against me too;
+therefore I leave you by the way I came. Consider my advice; you have
+still time. The gendarmes have not yet thought of the wall which adjoins
+the parsonage; but you are hemmed in on the other sides."
+
+The sound of many feet and the jangle of the sabres of the gendarmerie
+echoed through the courtyard and reached the dining-room a few moments
+after the departure of the poor abbe, whose advice had met the same fate
+as that of the Marquis de Chargeboeuf.
+
+"Our twin existence," said the younger Simeuse, speaking to Laurence,
+"is an anomaly--our love for you is anomalous; it is that very quality
+which was won your heart. Possibly, the reason why all twins known to
+us in history have been unfortunate is that the laws of nature are
+subverted in them. In our case, see how persistently an evil fate
+follows us! your decision is now postponed."
+
+Laurence was stupefied; the fatal words of the director of the jury
+hummed in her ears:--"In the name of the Emperor and the laws, I
+arrest the Sieurs Paul-Marie and Marie-Paul Simeuse, Adrien and Robert
+d'Hauteserre--These gentlemen," he added, addressing the men who
+accompanied him and pointing to the mud on the clothing of the
+prisoners, "cannot deny that they have spent the greater part of this
+day on horseback."
+
+"Of what are they accused?" asked Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, haughtily.
+
+"Don't you mean to arrest Mademoiselle?" said Giguet.
+
+"I shall leave her at liberty under bail, until I can carefully examine
+the charges against her," replied the director.
+
+The mayor offered bail, asking the countess to merely give her word of
+honor that she would not escape. Laurence blasted him with a look which
+made him a mortal enemy; a tear started from her eyes, one of those
+tears of rage which reveal a hell of suffering. The four gentlemen
+exchanged a terrible look, but remained motionless. Monsieur and Madame
+d'Hauteserre, dreading lest the young people had practised some deceit,
+were in a state of indescribable stupefaction. Clinging to their chairs
+these unfortunate parents, finding their sons torn from them after
+so many fears and their late hopes of safety, sat gazing before them
+without seeing, listening without hearing.
+
+"Must I ask you to bail me, Monsieur d'Hauteserre?" cried Laurence to
+her former guardian, who was roused by the cry, clear and agonizing to
+his ear as the sound of the last trumpet.
+
+He tried to wipe the tears which sprang to his eyes; he now understood
+what was passing, and said to his young relation in a quivering voice,
+"Forgive me, countess; you know that I am yours, body and soul."
+
+Lechesneau, who at first was much struck by the evident tranquillity in
+which the whole party were dining, now returned to his former opinion
+of their guilt as he noticed the stupefaction of the old people and the
+evident anxiety of Laurence, who was seeking to discover the nature of
+the trap which was set for them.
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, politely, "you are too well-bred to make a useless
+resistance; follow me to the stables, where I must, in your presence,
+have the shoes of your horses taken off; they afford important proof of
+either guilt or innocence. Come, too, mademoiselle."
+
+The blacksmith of Cinq-Cygne and his assistant had been summoned by
+Lechesneau as experts. While the operation at the stable was going on
+the justice of peace brought in Gothard and Michu. The work of detaching
+the shoes of each horse, putting them together and ticketing them, so as
+to compare them with the hoof-prints in the park, took time. Lechesneau,
+notified of the arrival of Pigoult, left the prisoners with the
+gendarmes and returned to the dining-room to dictate the indictment.
+The justice of peace called his attention to the condition of Michu's
+clothes and related the circumstances of his arrest.
+
+"They must have killed the senator and plastered the body up in some
+wall," said Pigoult.
+
+"I begin to fear it," answered Lechesneau. "Where did you carry that
+plaster?" he said to Gothard.
+
+The boy began to cry.
+
+"The law frightens him," said Michu, whose eyes were darting flames like
+those of a lion in the toils.
+
+The servants, who had been detained at the village by order of the
+mayor, now arrived and filled the antechamber where Catherine and
+Gothard were weeping. To all the questions of the director of the jury
+and the justice of peace Gothard replied by sobs; and by dint of weeping
+he brought on a species of convulsion which alarmed them so much that
+they let him alone. The little scamp, perceiving that he was no longer
+watched, looked at Michu with a grin, and Michu signified his approval
+by a glance. Lechesneau left the justice of peace and returned to the
+stables.
+
+"Monsieur," said Madame d'Hauteserre, at last, addressing Pigoult; "can
+you explain these arrests?"
+
+"The gentlemen are accused of abducting the senator by armed force and
+keeping him a prisoner; for we do not think they have murdered him--in
+spite of appearances," replied Pigoult.
+
+"What penalties are attached to the crime?" asked Monsieur d'Hauteserre.
+
+"Well, as the old law continues in force, and they are not amenable
+under the Code, the penalty is death," replied the justice.
+
+"Death!" cried Madame d'Hauteserre, fainting away.
+
+The abbe now came in with his sister, who stopped to speak to Catherine
+and Madame Durieu.
+
+"We haven't even seen your cursed senator!" said Michu.
+
+"Madame Marion, Madame Grevin, Monsieur Grevin, the senator's valet, and
+Violette all tell another tale," replied Pigoult, with the sour smile of
+magisterial conviction.
+
+"I don't understand a thing about it," said Michu, dumbfounded by his
+reply, and beginning now to believe that his masters and himself were
+entangled in some plot which had been laid against them.
+
+Just then the party from the stables returned. Laurence went up to
+Madame d'Hauteserre, who recovered her senses enough to say: "The
+penalty is death!"
+
+"Death!" repeated Laurence, looking at the four gentlemen.
+
+The word excited a general terror, of which Giguet, formerly instructed
+by Corentin, took immediate advantage.
+
+"Everything can be arranged," he said, drawing the Marquis de Simeuse
+into a corner of the dining-room. "Perhaps after all it is nothing but a
+joke; you've been a soldier and soldiers understand each other. Tell me,
+what have you really done with the senator? If you have killed him--why,
+that's the end of it! But if you have only locked him up, release him,
+for you see for yourself your game is balked. Do this and I am certain
+the director of the jury and the senator himself will drop the matter."
+
+"We know absolutely nothing about it," said the marquis.
+
+"If you take that tone the matter is likely to go far," replied the
+lieutenant.
+
+"Dear cousin," said the Marquis de Simeuse, "we are forced to go to
+prison; but do not be uneasy; we shall return in a few hours, for there
+is some misunderstanding in all this which can be explained."
+
+"I hope so, for your sakes, gentlemen," said the magistrate, signing to
+the gendarmes to remove the four gentlemen, Michu, and Gothard. "Don't
+take them to Troyes; keep them in your guardhouse at Arcis," he said to
+the lieutenant; "they must be present to-morrow, at daybreak, when we
+compare the shoes of their horses with the hoof-prints in the park."
+
+Lechesneau and Pigoult did not follow until they had closely questioned
+Catherine, Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, and Laurence. The Durieus,
+Catherine, and Marthe declared they had only seen their masters at
+breakfast-time; Monsieur d'Hauteserre said he had seen them at three
+o'clock.
+
+When, at midnight, Laurence found herself alone with Monsieur and Madame
+d'Hauteserre, the abbe and his sister, and without the four young men
+who for the last eighteen months had been the life of the chateau and
+the love and joy of her own life, she fell into a gloomy silence which
+no one present dared to break. No affliction was ever deeper or more
+complete than hers. At last a deep sigh broke the stillness, and all
+eyes turned towards the sound.
+
+Marthe, forgotten in a corner, rose, exclaiming, "Death! They will kill
+them in spite of their innocence!"
+
+"Mademoiselle, what is the matter with you?" said the abbe.
+
+Laurence left the room without replying. She needed solitude to recover
+strength in presence of this terrible unforeseen disaster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV. DOUBTS AND FEARS OF COUNSEL
+
+At a distance of thirty-four years, during which three great revolutions
+have taken place, none but elderly persons can recall the immense
+excitement produced in Europe by the abduction of a senator of the
+French Empire. No trial, if we except that of Trumeaux, the grocer of
+the Place Saint-Michel, and that of the widow Morin, under the Empire;
+those of Fualdes and de Castaing, under the Restoration; those of Madame
+Lafarge and Fieschi, under the present government, ever roused so much
+curiosity or so deep an interest as that of the four young men accused
+of abducting Malin. Such an attack against a member of his Senate
+excited the wrath of the Emperor, who was told of the arrest of the
+delinquents almost at the moment when he first heard of the crime and
+the negative results of the inquiries. The forest, searched throughout,
+the department of the Aube, ransacked from end to end, gave not the
+slightest indication of the passage of the Comte de Gondreville nor
+of his imprisonment. Napoleon sent for the chief justice, who, after
+obtaining certain information from the ministry of police, explained to
+his Majesty the position of Malin in regard to the Simeuse brothers
+and the Gondreville estate. The Emperor, at that time pre-occupied
+with serious matters, considered the affair explained by these anterior
+facts.
+
+"Those young men are fools," he said. "A lawyer like Malin will escape
+any deed they may force him to sign under violence. Watch those nobles,
+and discover the means they take to set the Comte de Gondreville at
+liberty."
+
+He ordered the affair to be conducted with the utmost celerity,
+regarding it as an attack on his own institutions, a fatal example of
+resistance to the results of the Revolution, an effort to open the great
+question of the sales of "national property," and a hindrance to that
+fusion of parties which was the constant object of his home policy.
+Besides all this, he thought himself tricked by these young nobles, who
+had given him their promise to live peaceably.
+
+"Fouche's prediction has come true," he cried, remembering the words
+uttered two years earlier by his present minister of police, who said
+them under the impressions conveyed to him by Corentin's report as to
+the character and designs of Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne.
+
+It is impossible for persons living under a constitutional government,
+where no one really cares for that cold and thankless, blind, deaf Thing
+called public interest, to imagine the zeal which a mere word of the
+Emperor was able to inspire in his political or administrative machine.
+That powerful will seemed to impress itself as much upon things as upon
+men. His decision once uttered, the Emperor, overtaken by the coalition
+of 1806, forgot the whole matter. He thought only of new battles to
+fight, and his mind was occupied in massing his regiments to strike the
+great blow at the heart of the Prussian monarchy. His desire for prompt
+justice in the present case found powerful assistance in the great
+uncertainty which affected the position of all magistrates of the
+Empire. Just at this time Cambaceres, as arch-chancellor, and Regnier,
+chief justice, were preparing to organize _tribunaux de premiere
+instance_ (lower civil courts), imperial courts, and a court of appeal
+or supreme court. They were agitating the question of a legal garb or
+costume; to which Napoleon attached, and very justly, so much importance
+in all official stations; and they were also inquiring into the
+character of the persons composing the magistracy. Naturally, therefore,
+the officials of the department of the Aube considered they could have
+no better recommendation than to give proofs of their zeal in the matter
+of the abduction of the Comte de Gondreville. Napoleon's suppositions
+became certainties to these courtiers and also to the populace.
+
+Peace still reigned on the continent; admiration for the Emperor was
+unanimous in France; he cajoled all interests, persons, vanities, and
+things, in short, everything, even memories. This attack, therefore,
+directed against his senator, seemed in the eyes of all an assault upon
+the public welfare. The luckless and innocent gentlemen were the objects
+of general opprobrium. A few nobles living quietly on their estates
+deplored the affair among themselves but dared not open their lips;
+in fact, how was it possible for them to oppose the current of public
+opinion. Throughout the department the deaths of the eleven persons
+killed by the Simeuse brothers in 1792 from the windows of the hotel
+Cinq-Cygne were brought up against them. It was feared that other
+returned and now emboldened _emigres_ might follow this example of
+violence against those who had bought their estates from the "national
+domain," as a method of protesting against what they might call an
+unjust spoliation.
+
+The unfortunate young nobles were therefore considered as robbers,
+brigands, murderers; and their connection with Michu was particularly
+fatal to them. Michu, who was declared, either he or his father-in-law,
+to have cut off all the heads that fell under the Terror in that
+department, was made the subject of ridiculous tales. The exasperation
+of the public mind was all the more intense because nearly all the
+functionaries of the department owed their offices to Malin. No generous
+voice uplifted itself against the verdict of the public. Besides all
+this, the accused had no legal means with which to combat prejudice; for
+the Code of Brumaire, year IV., giving as it did both the prosecution of
+a charge and the verdict upon it into the hands of a jury, deprived the
+accused of the vast protection of an appeal against legal suspicion.
+
+The day after the arrest all the inhabitants of the chateau of
+Cinq-Cygne, both masters and servants, were summoned to appear before
+the prosecuting jury. Cinq-Cygne was left in charge of a farmer,
+under the supervision of the abbe and his sister who moved into it.
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, with Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, went
+to Troyes and occupied a small house belonging to Durieu in one of the
+long and wide faubourgs which lead from the little town. Laurence's
+heart was wrung when she at last comprehended the temper of the
+populace, the malignity of the bourgeoisie, and the hostility of the
+administration, from the many little events which happened to them as
+relatives of prisoners accused of criminal wrong-doing and about to
+be judged in a provincial town. Instead of hearing encouraging or
+compassionate words they heard only speeches which called for vengeance;
+proofs of hatred surrounded them in place of the strict politeness or
+the reserve required by mere decency; but above all they were conscious
+of an isolation which every mind must feel, but more particularly those
+which are made distrustful by misfortune.
+
+Laurence, who had recovered her vigor of mind, relied upon the innocence
+of the accused, and despised the community too much to be frightened by
+the stern and silent disapproval they met with everywhere. She sustained
+the courage of Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre, all the while thinking
+of the judicial struggle which was now being hurried on. She was,
+however, to receive a blow she little expected, which, undoubtedly,
+diminished her courage.
+
+In the midst of this great disaster, at the moment when this afflicted
+family were made to feel themselves, as it were, in a desert, a man
+suddenly became exalted in Laurence's eyes and showed the full beauty of
+his character. The day after the indictment was found by the jury,
+and the prisoners were finally committed for trial, the Marquis de
+Chargeboeuf courageously appeared, still in the same old caleche, to
+support and protect his young cousin. Foreseeing the haste with which
+the law would be administered, this chief of a great family had already
+gone to Paris and secured the services of the most able as well as the
+most honest lawyer of the old school, named Bordin, who was for ten
+years counsel of the nobility in Paris, and was ultimately succeeded by
+the celebrated Derville. This excellent lawyer chose for his assistant
+the grandson of a former president of the parliament of Normandy, whose
+studies had been made under his tuition. This young lawyer, who was
+destined to be appointed deputy-attorney-general in Paris after the
+conclusion of the present trial, became eventually one of the most
+celebrated of French magistrates. Monsieur de Grandville, for that was
+his name, accepted the defence of the four young men, being glad of
+an opportunity to make his first appearance as an advocate with
+distinction.
+
+The old marquis, alarmed at the ravages which troubles had wrought in
+Laurence's appearance, was charmingly kind and considerate. He made no
+allusion to his neglected advice; he presented Bordin as an oracle whose
+counsel must be followed to the letter, and young de Grandville as a
+defender in whom the utmost confidence might be placed.
+
+Laurence held out her hand to the kind old man, and pressed his with an
+eagerness which delighted him.
+
+"You were right," she said.
+
+"Will you now take my advice?" he asked.
+
+The young countess bowed her head in assent, as did Monsieur and Madame
+d'Hauteserre.
+
+"Well, then, come to my house; it is in the middle of town, close to
+the courthouse. You and your lawyers will be better off there than here,
+where you are crowded and too far from the field of battle. Here, you
+would have to cross the town twice a day."
+
+Laurence, accepted, and the old man took her with Madame d'Hauteserre
+to his house, which became the home of the Cinq-Cygne household and the
+lawyers of the defence during the whole time the trial lasted. After
+dinner, when the doors were closed, Bordin made Laurence relate every
+circumstance of the affair, entreating her to omit nothing, not the most
+trifling detail. Though many of the facts had already been told to him
+and his young assistant by the marquis on their journey from Paris
+to Troyes, Bordin listened, his feet on the fender, without obtruding
+himself into the recital. The young lawyer, however, could not help
+being divided between his admiration for Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, and
+the attention he was bound to give to the facts of his case.
+
+"Is that really all?" asked Bordin when Laurence had related the events
+of the drama just as the present narrative has given them up to the
+present time.
+
+"Yes," she answered.
+
+Profound silence reigned for several minutes in the salon of the
+Chargeboeuf mansion where this scene took place,--one of the most
+important which occur in life. All cases are judged by the counsellors
+engaged in them, just as the death or life or a patient is foreseen by
+a physician, before the final struggle which the one sustains
+against nature, the other against law. Laurence, Monsieur and Madame
+d'Hauteserre, and the marquis sat with their eyes fixed on the swarthy
+and deeply pitted face of the old lawyer, who was now to pronounce the
+words of life or death. Monsieur d'Hauteserre wiped the sweat from his
+brow. Laurence looked at the younger man and noted his saddened face.
+
+"Well, my dear Bordin?" said the marquis at last, holding out his
+snuffbox, from which the old lawyer took a pinch in an absent-minded
+way.
+
+Bordin rubbed the calf of his leg, covered with thick stockings of
+black raw silk, for he always wore black cloth breeches and a coat made
+somewhat in the shape of those which are now termed _a la Francaise_.
+He cast his shrewd eyes upon his clients with an anxious expression, the
+effect of which was icy.
+
+"Must I analyze all that?" he said; "am I to speak frankly?"
+
+"Yes; go on, monsieur," said Laurence.
+
+"All that you have innocently done can be converted into proof against
+you," said the old lawyer. "We cannot save your friends; we can only
+reduce the penalty. The sale which you induced Michu to make of his
+property will be taken as evident proof of your criminal intentions
+against the senator. You sent your servants to Troyes so that you might
+be alone; that is all the more plausible because it is actually true.
+The elder d'Hauteserre made an unfortunate speech to Beauvisage, which
+will be your ruin. You yourself, mademoiselle, made another in your
+own courtyard, which proves that you have long shown ill-will to
+the possessor of Gondreville. Besides, you were at the gate of the
+_rond-point_, apparently on the watch, about the time when the abduction
+took place; if they have not arrested you, it is solely because they
+fear to bring a sentimental element into the affair."
+
+"The case cannot be successfully defended," said Monsieur de Grandville.
+
+"The less so," continued Bordin, "because we cannot tell the whole
+truth. Michu and the Messieurs de Simeuse and d'Hauteserre must hold to
+the assertion that you merely went for an excursion into the forest and
+returned to Cinq-Cygne for luncheon. Allowing that we can show you were
+in the house at three o'clock (the exact hour at which the attack was
+made), who are our witnesses? Marthe, the wife of one of the accused,
+the Durieus, and Catherine, your own servants, and Monsieur and Madame
+d'Hauteserre, father and mother of two of the accused. Such testimony
+is valueless; the law does not admit it against you, and commonsense
+rejects it when given in your favor. If, on the other hand, you were to
+say you went to the forest to recover eleven hundred thousand francs in
+gold, you would send the accused to the galleys as robbers. Judge, jury,
+audience, and the whole of France would believe that you took that gold
+from Gondreville, and abducted the senator that you might ransack his
+house. The accusation as it now stands is not wholly clear, but tell
+the truth about the matter and it would become as plain as day; the jury
+would declare that the robbery explained the mysterious features,--for
+in these days, you must remember, a royalist means a thief. This very
+case is welcomed as a legitimate political vengeance. The prisoners are
+now in danger of the death penalty; but that is not dishonoring under
+some circumstances. Whereas, if they can be proved to have stolen money,
+which can never be made to seem excusable, you lose all benefit of
+whatever interest may attach to persons condemned to death for other
+crimes. If, at the first, you had shown the hiding-places of the
+treasure, the plan of the forest, the tubes in which the gold was
+buried, and the gold itself, as an explanation of your day's work, it is
+possible you might have been believed by an impartial magistrate, but as
+it is we must be silent. God grant that none of the prisoners may reveal
+the truth and compromise the defence; if they do, we must rely on our
+cross-examinations."
+
+Laurence wrung her hands in despair and raised her eyes to heaven with
+a despondent look, for she saw at last in all its depths the gulf into
+which her cousins had fallen. The marquis and the young lawyer agreed
+with the dreadful view of Bordin. Old d'Hauteserre wept.
+
+"Ah! why did they not listen to the Abbe Goujet and fly!" cried Madame
+d'Hauteserre, exasperated.
+
+"If they could have escaped, and you prevented them," said Bordin,
+"you have killed them yourselves. Judgment by default gains time; time
+enables the innocent to clear themselves. This is the most mysterious
+case I have ever known in my life, in the course of which I have
+certainly seen and known many strange things."
+
+"It is inexplicable to every one, even to us," said Monsieur de
+Grandville. "If the prisoners are innocent some one else has committed
+the crime. Five persons do not come to a place as if by enchantment,
+obtain five horses shod precisely like those of the accused, imitate the
+appearance of some of them, and put Malin apparently underground for the
+sole purpose of casting suspicion on Michu and the four gentlemen. The
+unknown guilty parties must have had some strong reason for wearing the
+skin, as it were, of five innocent men. To discover them, even to get
+upon their traces, we need as much power as the government itself, as
+many agents and as many eyes as there are townships in a radius of fifty
+miles."
+
+"The thing is impossible," said Bordin. "There's no use thinking of it.
+Since society invented law it has never found a way to give an innocent
+prisoner an equal chance against a magistrate who is pre-disposed
+against him. Law is not bilateral. The defence, without spies or
+police, cannot call social power to the rescue of its innocent clients.
+Innocence has nothing on her side but reason, and reasoning which may
+strike a judge is often powerless on the narrow minds of jurymen. The
+whole department is against you. The eight jurors who have signed the
+indictment are each and all purchasers of national domain. Among the
+trial jurors we are certain to have some who have either sold or bought
+the same property. In short, we can get nothing but a Malin jury. You
+must therefore set up a consistent defence, hold fast to it, and perish
+in your innocence. You will certainly be condemned. But there's a court
+of appeal; we will go there and try to remain there as long as possible.
+If in the mean time we can collect proofs in your favor you must apply
+for pardon. That's the anatomy of the business, and my advice. If we
+triumph (for everything is possible in law) it will be a miracle; but
+your advocate Monsieur de Grandville is the most likely man among all I
+know to produce that miracle, and I'll do my best to help him."
+
+"The senator has the key to the mystery," said Monsieur de Grandville;
+"for a man knows his enemies and why they are so. Here we find him
+leaving Paris at the close of the winter, coming to Gondreville alone,
+shutting himself up with his notary, and delivering himself over, as one
+might say, to five men who seize him."
+
+"Certainly," said Bordin, "his conduct seems inexplicable. But how
+could we, in the face of a hostile community, become accusers when we
+ourselves are the accused? We should need the help and good-will of the
+government and a thousand times more proof than is wanted in ordinary
+circumstances. I am convinced there was premeditation, and subtle
+premeditation, on the part of our mysterious adversaries, who must have
+known the situation of Michu and the Messieurs de Simeuse towards Malin.
+Not to utter one word; not to steal one thing!--remarkable prudence!
+I see something very different from ordinary evil-doers behind those
+masks. But what would be the use of saying so to the sort of jurors we
+shall have to face?"
+
+This insight into hidden matters which gives such power to certain
+lawyers and certain magistrates astonished and confounded Laurence; her
+heart was wrung by that inexorable logic.
+
+"Out of every hundred criminal cases," continued Bordin, "there are not
+ten where the law really lays bare the truth to its full extent; and
+there is perhaps a good third in which the truth is never brought to
+light at all. Yours is one of those cases which are inexplicable to all
+parties, to accused and accusers, to the law and to the public. As for
+the Emperor, he has other fish to fry than to consider the case of these
+gentlemen, supposing even that they had not conspired against him. But
+who the devil _is_ Malin's enemy? and what has really been done with
+him?"
+
+Bordin and Monsieur de Grandville looked at each other; they seemed in
+doubt as to Laurence's veracity. This evident suspicion was the most
+cutting of all the many pangs the girl had suffered in the affair; and
+she turned upon the lawyers a look which effectually put an end to their
+distrust.
+
+The next day the indictment was handed over to the defence, and the
+lawyers were then enabled to communicate with the prisoners.
+Bordin informed the family that the six accused men were "well
+supported,"--using a professional term.
+
+"Monsieur de Grandville will defend Michu," said Bordin.
+
+"Michu!" exclaimed the Marquis de Chargeboeuf, amazed at the change.
+
+"He is the pivot of the affair--the danger lies there," replied the old
+lawyer.
+
+"If he is more in danger than the others, I think that is just," cried
+Laurence.
+
+"We see certain chances," said Monsieur de Grandville, "and we shall
+study them carefully. If we are able to save these gentlemen it will be
+because Monsieur d'Hauteserre ordered Michu to repair one of the stone
+posts in the covered way, and also because a wolf has been seen in
+the forest; in a criminal court everything depends on discussions, and
+discussions often turn on trivial matters which then become of immense
+importance."
+
+Laurence sank into that inward dejection which humiliates the soul of
+all thoughtful and energetic persons when the uselessness of thought
+and action is made manifest to them. It was no longer a matter
+of overthrowing a usurper, or of coming to the help of devoted
+friends,--fanatical sympathies wrapped in a shroud of mystery. She now
+saw all social forces full-armed against her cousins and herself. There
+was no taking a prison by assault with her own hands, no deliverance of
+prisoners from the midst of a hostile population and beneath the eyes of
+a watchful police. So, when the young lawyer, alarmed at the stupor of
+the generous and noble girl, which the natural expression of her face
+made still more noticeable, endeavored to revive her courage, she turned
+to him and said: "I must be silent; I suffer,--I wait."
+
+The accent, gesture, and look with which the words were said made this
+answer one of those sublime things which only need a wider stage to make
+them famous.
+
+A few moments later old d'Hauteserre was saying to the Marquis de
+Chargeboeuf: "What efforts I have made for my two unfortunate sons! I
+have already laid by in the Funds enough to give them eight thousand
+francs a year. If they had only been willing to serve in the army they
+would have reached the higher grades by this time, and could now have
+married to advantage. Instead of that, all my plans are scattered to the
+winds!"
+
+"How can you," said his wife, "think of their interests when it is a
+question of their honor and their lives?"
+
+"Monsieur d'Hauteserre thinks of everything," said the marquis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI. MARTHE INVEIGLED
+
+While the masters of Cinq-Cygne were waiting at Troyes for the opening
+of the trial before the Criminal court and vainly soliciting permission
+to see the prisoners, an event of the utmost importance had taken place
+at the chateau.
+
+Marthe returned to Cinq-Cygne as soon as she had given her testimony
+before the indicting jury. This testimony was so insignificant that it
+was not thought necessary to summon her before the Criminal court. Like
+all persons of extreme sensibility, the poor woman sat silent in the
+salon, where she kept company with Mademoiselle Goujet, in a pitiable
+state of stupefaction. To her, as to the abbe, and indeed to all others
+who did not know how the accused had been employed on that day, their
+innocence seemed doubtful. There were moments when Marthe believed
+that Michu and his masters and Laurence had executed vengeance on the
+senator. The unhappy woman now knew Michu's devotion well enough to
+be certain that he was the one who would be most in danger, not only
+because of his antecedents, but because of the part he was sure to have
+taken in the execution of the scheme.
+
+The Abbe Goujet and his sister and Marthe were bewildered among the
+possibilities to which this opinion gave rise; and yet, in the process
+of thinking them over, their minds insensibly took hold of them in a
+certain way. The absolute doubt which Descartes demands can no more
+exist in the brain of a man than a vacuum can exist in nature, and the
+mental operation required to produce it would, like the effect of a
+pneumatic machine, be exceptional and anomalous. Whatever a case may
+be, the mind believes in something. Now Marthe was so afraid that the
+accused were guilty that her fear became equivalent to belief; and this
+condition of her mind proved fatal to her.
+
+Five days after the arrests, just as she was in the act of going to bed
+about ten o'clock at night, she was called from the courtyard by her
+mother, who had come from the farm on foot.
+
+"A laboring man from Troyes wants to speak to you; he is sent by Michu,
+and is waiting in the covered way," she said to Marthe.
+
+They passed through the breach so as to take the shortest path. In the
+darkness it was impossible for Marthe to distinguish anything more than
+the form of a person which loomed through the shadows.
+
+"Speak, madame; so that I may be certain you are really Madame Michu,"
+said the person, in a rather anxious voice.
+
+"I am Madame Michu," said Marthe; "what do you want of me?"
+
+"Very good," said the unknown, "give me your hand; do not fear me. I
+come," he added, leaning towards her and speaking low, "from Michu
+with a note for you. I am employed at the prison, and if my superiors
+discover my absence we shall all be lost. Trust me; your good father
+placed me where I am. For that reason Michu counted on my helping him."
+
+He put the letter into Marthe's hand and disappeared toward the forest
+without waiting for an answer. Marthe trembled at the thought that she
+was now to hear the secret of the mystery. She ran to the farm with her
+mother and shut herself up to read the following letter:--
+
+  My dear Marthe,--You can rely on the discretion of the man who
+  will give you this letter; he does not know how to read or to
+  write. He is a stanch Republican, and shared in Baboeuf's
+  conspiracy; your father often made use of him, and he regards the
+  senator as a traitor. Now, my dear wife, attend to my directions.
+  The senator has been shut up by us in the cave where our masters
+  were hidden. The poor creature had provisions for only five days,
+  and as it is our interest that he should live, I wish you, as soon
+  as you receive this letter, to take him food for at least five
+  days more. The forest is of course watched; therefore take as many
+  precautions as we formerly did for our young masters. Don't say a
+  word to Malin; don't speak to him; and put on one of our masks
+  which you will find on the steps which lead down to the cave.
+  Unless you wish to compromise our heads you must be absolutely
+  silent about this letter and the secret I have now confided to
+  you. Don't say a word to Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, who might
+  tell of it. Don't fear for me. We are certain that the matter will
+  turn out well; when the time comes Malin himself will save us. I
+  don't need to tell you to burn this letter as soon as you have
+  read it, for it would cost me my head if a line of it were seen. I
+  kiss you for now and always,
+
+
+  Michu.
+
+
+The existence of the cave was known only to Marthe, her son, Michu, the
+four gentlemen, and Laurence; or rather, Marthe, to whom her husband
+had not related the incident of his meeting with Peyrade and Corentin,
+believed it was known only to them. Had she consulted her mistress and
+the two lawyers, who knew the innocence of the prisoners, the shrewd
+Bordin would have gained some light upon the perfidious trap which was
+evidently laid for his clients. But Marthe, acting like most women under
+a first impulse, was convinced by this proof which came to her own eyes,
+and flung the letter into the fire as directed. Nevertheless, moved by
+a singular gleam of caution, she caught a portion of it from the flames,
+tore off the five first lines, which compromised no one, and sewed them
+into the hem of her dress. Terrified at the thought that the prisoner
+had been without food for twenty-four hours, she resolved to carry
+bread, meat, and wine to him at once; curiosity was well as humanity
+permitting no delay. Accordingly, she heated her oven and made, with
+her mother's help, a _pate_ of hare and ducks, a rice cake, roasted two
+fowls, selected three bottles of wine, and baked two loaves of bread.
+About two in the morning she started for the forest, carrying the load
+on her back, accompanied by Couraut, who in all such expeditions
+showed wonderful sagacity as a guide. He scented strangers at immense
+distances, and as soon as he was certain of their presence he returned
+to his mistress with a low growl, looking at her fixedly and turning his
+muzzle in the direction of the danger.
+
+Marthe reached the pond about three in the morning, and left the dog
+as sentinel on the bank. After half an hour's labor in clearing the
+entrance she came with a dark lantern to the door of the cave, her face
+covered with a mask, which she had found, as directed, on the steps.
+The imprisonment of the senator seemed to have been long premeditated.
+A hole about a foot square, which Marthe had never seen before, was
+roughly cut in the upper part of the iron door which closed the cave;
+but in order to prevent Malin from using the time and patience all
+prisoners have at their command in loosening the iron bar which held the
+door, it was securely fastened with a padlock.
+
+The senator, who had risen from his bed of moss, sighed when he saw the
+masked face and felt that there was no chance then of his deliverance.
+He examined Marthe, as much as he could by the unsteady light of her
+dark lantern, and he recognized her by her clothes, her stoutness, and
+her motions. When she passed the _pate_ through the door he dropped it
+to seize her hand and then, with great swiftness, he tried to pull the
+rings from her fingers,--one her wedding-ring, the other a gift from
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne.
+
+"You cannot deny that it is you, my dear Madame Michu," he said.
+
+Marthe closed her fist the moment she felt his fingers, and gave him a
+vigorous blow in the chest. Then, without a word, she turned away and
+cut a stick, at the end of which she held out to the senator the rest of
+the provisions.
+
+"What do they want of me?" he asked.
+
+Marthe departed giving him no answer. By five o'clock she had reached
+the edge of the forest and was warned by Couraut of the presence of
+strangers. She retraced her steps and made for the pavilion where she
+had lived so long; but just as she entered the avenue she was seen from
+afar by the forester of Gondreville, and she quickly reflected that her
+best plan was to go straight up to him.
+
+"You are out early, Madame Michu," he said, accosting her.
+
+"We are so unfortunate," she replied, "that I am obliged to do a
+servant's work myself. I am going to Bellache for some grain."
+
+"Haven't you any at Cinq-Cygne?" said the forester.
+
+Marthe made no answer. She continued on her way and reached the farm at
+Bellache, where she asked Beauvisage to give her some seed-grain, saying
+that Monsieur d'Hauteserre advised her to get it from him to renew her
+crop. As soon as Marthe had left the farm, the forester went there to
+find out what she asked for.
+
+Six days later, Marthe, determined to be prudent, went at midnight with
+her provisions so as to avoid the keepers who were evidently patrolling
+the forest. After carrying a third supply to the senator she suddenly
+became terrified on hearing the abbe read aloud the public examination
+of the prisoners,--for the trial was by that time begun. She took the
+abbe aside, and after obliging him to swear that he would keep the
+secret she was about to reveal as though it was said to him in the
+confessional, she showed him the fragments of Michu's letter, told him
+the contents of it, and also the secret of the hiding-place where the
+senator then was.
+
+The abbe at once inquired if she had other letters from her husband that
+he might compare the writing. Marthe went to her home to fetch them and
+there found a summons to appear in court. By the time she returned to
+the chateau the abbe and his sister had received a similar summons on
+behalf of the defence. They were obliged therefore to start for Troyes
+immediately. Thus all the personages of our drama, even those who were
+only, as it were, supernumeraries, were collected on the spot where the
+fate of the two families was about to be decided.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII. THE TRIAL
+
+There are but few localities in France where Law derives from outward
+appearance the dignity which ought always to accompany it. Yet it
+surely is, after religion and royalty, the greatest engine of society.
+Everywhere, even in Paris, the meanness of its surroundings, the
+wretched arrangement of the courtrooms, their barrenness and want of
+decoration in the most ornate and showy nation upon earth in the matter
+of its public monuments, lessens the action of the law's mighty power.
+At the farther end of some oblong room may be seen a desk with a green
+baize covering raised on a platform; behind it sit the judges on
+the commonest of arm-chairs. To the left, is the seat of the public
+prosecutor, and beside him, close to the wall, is a long pen filled with
+chairs for the jury. Opposite to the jury is another pen with a bench
+for the prisoners and the gendarmes who guard them. The clerk of the
+court sits below the platform at a table covered with the papers of the
+case. Before the imperial changes in the administration of justice were
+instituted, a commissary of the government and the director of the jury
+each had a seat and a table, one to the right, the other to the left of
+the baize-covered desk. Two sheriffs hovered about in the space left in
+front of the desk for the station of witnesses. Facing the judges and
+against the wall above the entrance, there is always a shabby gallery
+reserved for officials and for women, to which admittance is granted
+only by the president of the court, to whom the proper management of the
+courtroom belongs. The non-privileged public are compelled to stand in
+the empty space between the door of the hall and the bar. This normal
+appearance of all French law courts and assize-rooms was that of the
+Criminal court of Troyes.
+
+In April, 1806, neither the four judges nor the president (or
+chief-justice) who made up the court, nor the public prosecutor, the
+director of the jury, the commissary of the government, nor the sheriffs
+or lawyers, in fact no one except the gendarmes, wore any robes or
+other distinctive sign which might have relieved the nakedness of the
+surroundings and the somewhat meagre aspect of the figures. The crucifix
+was suppressed; its example was no longer held up before the eyes of
+justice and of guilt. All was dull and vulgar. The paraphernalia
+so necessary to excite social interest is perhaps a consolation to
+criminals. On this occasion the eagerness of the public was what it has
+ever been and ever will be in trials of this kind, so long as France
+refuses to recognize that the admission of the public to the courts
+involves publicity, and that the publicity given to trials is a terrible
+penalty which would never have been inflicted had legislators reflected
+on it. Customs are often more cruel than laws. Customs are the deeds of
+men, but laws are the judgment of a nation. Customs in which there is
+often no judgment are stronger than laws.
+
+Crowds surrounded the courtroom; the president was obliged to station
+squads of soldiers to guard the doors. The audience, standing below the
+bar, was so crowded that persons suffocated. Monsieur de Grandville,
+defending Michu, Bordin, defending the Simeuse brothers, and a lawyer
+of Troyes who appeared for the d'Hauteserres, were in their seats before
+the opening of the court; their faces wore a look of confidence. When
+the prisoners were brought in, sympathetic murmurs were heard at the
+appearance of the young men, whose faces, in twenty days' imprisonment
+and anxiety, had somewhat paled. The perfect likeness of the twins
+excited the deepest interest. Perhaps the spectators thought that Nature
+would exercise some special protection in the case of her own anomalies,
+and felt ready to join in repairing the harm done to them by destiny.
+Their noble, simple faces, showing no signs of shame, still less of
+bravado, touched the women's hearts. The four gentlemen and Gothard wore
+the clothes in which they had been arrested; but Michu, whose coat and
+trousers were among the "articles of testimony," so-called, had put
+on his best clothes,--a blue surtout, a brown velvet waistcoat _a la_
+Robespierre, and a white cravat. The poor man paid the penalty of his
+dangerous-looking face. When he cast a glance of his yellow eye, so
+clear and so profound upon the audience, a murmur of repulsion answered
+it. The assembly chose to see the finger of God bringing him to the dock
+where his father-in-law had sacrificed so many victims. This man, truly
+great, looked at his masters, repressing a smile of scorn. He seemed to
+say to them, "I am injuring your cause." Five of the prisoners exchanged
+greetings with their counsel. Gothard still played the part of an idiot.
+
+After several challenges, made with much sagacity by the defence under
+advice of the Marquis de Chargeboeuf, who boldly took a seat beside
+Bordin and de Grandville, the jury were empanelled, the indictment was
+read, and the prisoners were brought up separately to be examined. They
+answered every question with remarkable unanimity. After riding about
+the forest all the morning they had returned to Cinq-Cygne for breakfast
+at one o'clock. After that meal, from three to half-past five in the
+afternoon, they had returned to the forest. That was the basis of each
+testimony; any variations were merely individual circumstances. When
+the president asked the Messieurs de Simeuse why they had ridden out so
+early, they both declared that wishing, since their return, to buy back
+Gondreville and intending to make an offer to Malin who had arrived the
+night before, they had gone out early with their cousin and Michu to
+make certain examinations of the property on which to base their offer.
+During that time the Messieurs d'Hauteserre, their cousin, and Gothard
+had chased a wolf which was reported in the forest by the peasantry. If
+the director of the jury had sought for the prints of their horses' feet
+in the forest as carefully as in the park of Gondreville, he would have
+found proof of their presence at long distances from the house.
+
+The examination of the Messieurs d'Hauteserre corroborated this
+testimony, and was in harmony with their preliminary dispositions. The
+necessity of some reason for their ride suggested to each of them the
+excuse of hunting. The peasants had given warning, a few days earlier,
+of a wolf in the forest, and on that they had fastened as a pretext.
+
+The public prosecutor, however, pointed out a discrepancy between the
+first statements of the Messieurs d'Hauteserre, in which they mentioned
+that the whole party hunted together, and the defence now made by the
+Messieurs de Simeuse that their purpose on that day was the valuation of
+the forest.
+
+Monsieur de Grandville here called attention to the fact that as the
+crime was not committed until after two o'clock in the afternoon, the
+prosecution had no ground to question their word when they stated the
+manner in which they had employed their morning.
+
+The prosecutor replied that the prisoners had an interest in concealing
+their preparations for the abduction of the senator.
+
+The remarkable ability of the defence was now felt. Judges, jurors, and
+audience became aware that victory would be hotly contested. Bordin and
+Monsieur de Grandville had studied their ground and foreseen everything.
+Innocence is required to render a clear and plausible account of its
+actions. The duty of the defence is to present a consistent and probable
+tale in opposition to an insufficient and improbable accusation. To
+counsel who regard their client as innocent, an accusation is false.
+The public examination of the four gentlemen sufficiently explained the
+matter in their favor. So far all was well. But the examination of Michu
+was more serious; there the real struggle began. It was now clear to
+every one why Monsieur de Grandville had preferred to take charge of the
+servant's defence rather than that of his masters.
+
+Michu admitted his threats against Marion; but denied that he had made
+them violently. As for the ambush in which he was supposed to have
+watched for his enemy, he said he was merely making his rounds in his
+park; the senator and Monsieur Grevin might perhaps have been alarmed at
+the sight of his gun and have thought his intentions hostile when they
+were really inoffensive. He called attention to the fact that in the
+dusk a man who was not in the habit of hunting might easily fancy a gun
+was pointed at him, whereas, in point of fact, it was held in his hand
+at half-cock. To explain the condition of his clothes when arrested, he
+said he had slipped and fallen in the breach on his way home. "I could
+scarcely see my way," he said, "and the loose stones slipped from under
+me as I climbed the bank." As for the plaster which Gothard was bringing
+him, he replied as he had done in all previous examinations, that he
+wanted it to secure one of the stone posts of the covered way.
+
+The public prosecutor and the president asked him to explain how he
+could have been at the top of the covered way engaged in mending a
+stone post and at the same time in the breach of the moat leading to the
+chateau; more especially as the justice of peace, the gendarmes and the
+forester all declared they had heard him approach them from the lower
+road. To this Michu replied that Monsieur d'Hauteserre had blamed him
+for not having mended the post,--which he was anxious to have finished
+because there were difficulties about that road with the township,--and
+he had therefore gone up to the chateau to report that the work was
+done.
+
+Monsieur d'Hauteserre had, in fact, put up a fence above the covered way
+to prevent the township from taking possession of it. Michu seeing
+the important part which the state of his clothes was likely to play,
+invented this subterfuge. If, in law, truth is often like falsehood,
+falsehood on the other hand has a very great resemblance to truth.
+The defence and the prosecution both attached much importance to this
+testimony, which became one of the leading points of the trial
+on account of the vigor of the defence and the suspicions of the
+prosecution.
+
+Gothard, instructed no doubt by Monsieur de Grandville, for up to that
+time he had only wept when they questioned him, admitted that Michu had
+told him to carry the plaster.
+
+"Why did neither you nor Gothard take the justice of peace and the
+forester to the stone post and show them your work?" said the public
+prosecutor, addressing Michu.
+
+"Because," replied the man, "I didn't believe there was any serious
+accusation against us."
+
+All the prisoners except Gothard were now removed from the courtroom.
+When Gothard was left alone the president adjured him to speak the truth
+for his own sake, pointing out that his pretended idiocy had come to an
+end; none of the jurors believed him imbecile; if he refused to answer
+the court he ran the risk of serious penalty; whereas by telling the
+truth at once he would probably be released. Gothard wept, hesitated,
+and finally ended by saying that Michu had told him to carry several
+sacks of plaster; but that each time he had met him near the farm. He
+was asked how many sacks he had carried.
+
+"Three," he replied.
+
+An argument hereupon ensued as to whether the three sacks included the
+one which Gothard was carrying at the time of the arrest (which reduced
+the number of the other sacks to two) or whether there were three
+without the last. The debate ended in favor of the first proposition,
+the jury considering that only two sacks had been used. They appeared
+to have a foregone conviction on that point, but Bordin and Monsieur de
+Grandville judged it best to surfeit them with plaster, and weary them
+so thoroughly with the argument that they would no longer comprehend the
+question. Monsieur de Grandville made it appear that experts ought to
+have been sent to examine the stone posts.
+
+"The director of the jury," he said, "has contented himself with merely
+visiting the place, less for the purpose of making a careful examination
+than to trap Michu in a lie; this, in our opinion, was a failure of
+duty, but the blunder is to our advantage."
+
+On this the Court appointed experts to examine the posts and see if one
+of them had been really mended and reset. The public prosecutor, on his
+side, endeavored to make capital of the affair before the experts could
+testify.
+
+"You seem to have chosen," he said to Michu, who was now brought
+back into the courtroom, "an hour when the daylight was waning, from
+half-past five to half-past six o'clock, to mend this post and to cement
+it all alone."
+
+"Monsieur d'Hauteserre had blamed me for not doing it," replied Michu.
+
+"But," said the prosecutor, "if you used that plaster on the post you
+must have had a trough and a trowel. Now, if you went to the chateau
+to tell Monsieur d'Hauteserre that you had done the work, how do you
+explain the fact that Gothard was bringing you more plaster. You
+must have passed your farm on your way to the chateau, and you would
+naturally have left your tools at home and stopped Gothard."
+
+This overwhelming argument produced a painful silence in the courtroom.
+
+"Come," said the prosecutor, "you had better admit at once that what you
+buried was _not a stone post_."
+
+"Do you think it was the senator?" said Michu, sarcastically.
+
+Monsieur de Grandville hereupon demanded that the public prosecutor
+should explain his meaning. Michu was accused of abduction and the
+concealment of a person, but not of murder. Such an insinuation was
+a serious matter. The code of Brumaire, year IV., forbade the public
+prosecutor from presenting any fresh count at the trial; he must keep
+within the indictment or the proceedings would be annulled.
+
+The public prosecutor replied that Michu, the person chiefly concerned
+in the abduction and who, in the interests of his masters, had taken the
+responsibility on his own shoulders, might have thought it necessary to
+plaster up the entrance of the hiding-place, still undiscovered, where
+the senator was now immured.
+
+Pressed with questions, hampered by the presence of Gothard, and brought
+into contradiction with himself, Michu struck his fist upon the edge of
+the dock with a resounding blow and said: "I have had nothing whatever
+to do with the abduction of the senator. I hope and believe his enemies
+have merely imprisoned him; when he reappears you'll find out that the
+plaster was put to no such use."
+
+"Good!" said de Grandville, addressing the public prosecutor; "you have
+done more for my client's cause than anything I could have said."
+
+The first day's session ended with this bold declaration, which
+surprised the judges and gave an advantage to the defence. The lawyers
+of the town and Bordin himself congratulated the young advocate. The
+prosecutor, uneasy at the assertion, feared that he had fallen into some
+trap; in fact he was really caught in a snare that was cleverly set for
+him by the defence and admirably played off by Gothard. The wits of the
+town declared that he had white-washed the affair and splashed his own
+cause, and had made the accused as white as the plaster itself. France
+is the domain of satire, which reigns supreme in our land; Frenchmen
+jest on a scaffold, at the Beresina, at the barricades, and some will
+doubtless appear with a quirk upon their lips at the grand assizes of
+the Last Judgment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII. TRIAL CONTINUED: CRUEL VICISSITUDES
+
+On the morrow the witnesses for the prosecution were examined,--Madame
+Marion, Madame Grevin, Grevin himself, the senator's valet, and
+Violette, whose testimony can readily be imagined from the facts
+already told. They all identified the five prisoners, with more or less
+hesitation as to the four gentlemen, but with absolute certainty as to
+Michu. Beauvisage repeated Robert d'Hauteserre's speech when he met
+them at daybreak in the park. The peasant who had bought Monsieur
+d'Hauteserre's calf testified to overhearing that of Mademoiselle de
+Cinq-Cygne. The experts, who had compared the hoof-prints with the shoes
+on the horses ridden by the five prisoners and found them absolutely
+alike, confirmed their previous depositions. This point was naturally
+one of vehement contention between Monsieur de Grandville and the
+prosecuting officer. The defence called the blacksmith at Cinq-Cygne
+and succeeded in proving that he had sold several horseshoes of the same
+pattern to strangers who were not known in the place. The blacksmith
+declared, moreover, that he was in the habit of shoeing in this
+particular manner not only the horses of the chateau de Cinq-Cygne, but
+those from other places in the canton. It was also proved that the horse
+which Michu habitually rode was always shod at Troyes, and the mark of
+that shoe was not among the hoof-prints found in the park.
+
+"Michu's double was not aware of this circumstance, or he would have
+provided for it," said Monsieur de Grandville, looking at the jury.
+"Neither has the prosecution shown what horses our clients rode."
+
+He ridiculed the testimony of Violette so far as it concerned a
+recognition of the horses, seen from a long distance, from behind, and
+after dusk. Still, in spite of all his efforts, the body of the evidence
+was against Michu; and the prosecutor, judge, jury, and audience were
+impressed with a feeling (as the lawyers for the defence had foreseen)
+that the guilt of the servant carried with it that of the masters. So
+the vital interest centred on all that concerned Michu. His bearing
+was noble. He showed in his answers the sagacity with which nature had
+endowed him; and the public, seeing him on his mettle, recognized his
+superiority. And yet, strange to say, the more they understood him the
+more certainty they felt that he was the instigator of the outrage.
+
+The witnesses for the defence, always less important in the eyes of a
+jury and of the law than the witnesses for the prosecution, seemed to
+testify as in duty bound, and were listened to with that allowance. In
+the first place neither Marthe, nor Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre
+took the oath. Catherine and the Durieus, in their capacity as servants,
+did not take it. Monsieur d'Hauteserre stated that he had ordered Michu
+to replace and mend the stone post which had been thrown down. The
+deposition of the experts sent to examine the fence, which was now read,
+confirmed his testimony; but they helped the prosecution by declaring
+they could not fix the exact time at which the repairs had been made; it
+might have been several weeks or no more than twenty days.
+
+The appearance of Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne excited the liveliest
+curiosity; but the sight of her cousins in the prisoners' dock after
+three weeks' separation affected her so much that her emotions gave
+the audience an impression of guilt. She felt an overwhelming desire to
+stand beside the twins, and was obliged, as she afterwards admitted, to
+use all her strength to repress the longing that came into her mind
+to kill the prosecutor so as to stand in the eyes of the world as a
+criminal beside them. She testified, with simplicity, that riding from
+Cinq-Cygne and seeing smoke in the park of Gondreville, she had supposed
+there was a fire; at first she thought they were burning weeds or brush;
+"but later," she added, "I observed a circumstance which I offer to the
+attention of the Court. I found in the frogging of my habit and in the
+folds of my collar small fragments of what appeared to be burned paper
+which were floating in the air."
+
+"Was there much smoke?" asked Bordin.
+
+"Yes," replied Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, "I feared a conflagration."
+
+"This is enough to change the whole inquiry," remarked Bordin. "I
+request the Court to order an immediate examination of that region of
+the park where the fire occurred."
+
+The president ordered the inquiry.
+
+Grevin, recalled by the defence and questioned on this circumstance,
+declared he knew nothing about it. But Bordin and he exchanged looks
+which mutually enlightened them.
+
+"The gist of the case is there," thought the old notary.
+
+"They've laid their finger on it," thought the notary.
+
+But each shrewd head considered the following up of this point useless.
+Bordin reflected that Grevin would be silent as the grave; and Grevin
+congratulated himself that every sign of the fire had been effaced.
+
+To settle this point, which seemed a mere accessory to the trial and
+somewhat puerile (but which is really essential in the justification
+which history owes to these young men), the experts and Pigoult, who
+were despatched by the president to examine the park, reported that they
+could find no traces of a bonfire.
+
+Bordin summoned two laborers, who testified to having dug over, under
+the direction of the forester, a tract of ground in the park where
+the grass had been burned; but they declared they had not observed the
+nature of the ashes they had buried.
+
+The forester, recalled by the defence, said he had received from the
+senator himself, as he was passing the chateau of Gondreville on his way
+to the masquerade at Arcis, an order to dig over that particular piece
+of ground which the senator had remarked as needing it.
+
+"Had papers, or herbage been burned there?"
+
+"I could not say. I saw nothing that made me think that papers had been
+burned there," replied the forester.
+
+"At any rate," said Bordin, "if, as it appears, a fire was kindled on
+that piece of ground some one brought to the spot whatever was burned
+there."
+
+The testimony of the abbe and that of Mademoiselle Goujet made a
+favorable impression. They said that as they left the church after
+vespers and were walking towards home, they met the four gentlemen
+and Michu leaving the chateau on horseback and making their way to
+the forest. The character, position, and known uprightness of the Abbe
+Goujet gave weight to his words.
+
+The summing up of the public prosecutor, who felt sure of obtaining a
+verdict, was in the nature of all such speeches. The prisoners were the
+incorrigible enemies of France, her institutions and laws. They thirsted
+for tumult and conspiracy. Though they had belonged to the army of Conde
+and had shared in the late attempts against the life of the Emperor,
+that magnanimous sovereign had erased their names from the list of
+_emigres_. This was the return they made for his clemency! In short, all
+the oratorical declamations of the Bourbons against the Bonapartists,
+which in our day are repeated against the republicans and the
+legitimists by the Younger Branch, flourished in the speech. These trite
+commonplaces, which might have some meaning under a fixed government,
+seem farcical in the mouth of administrators of all epochs and opinions.
+A saying of the troublous times of yore is still applicable: "The label
+is changed, but the wine is the same as ever." The public prosecutor,
+one of the most distinguished legal men under the Empire, attributed
+the crime to a fixed determination on the part of returned _emigres_ to
+protest against the sale of their estates. He made the audience shudder
+at the probable condition of the senator; then he massed together
+proofs, half-proofs, and probabilities with a cleverness stimulated by
+a sense that his zeal was certain of its reward, and sat down tranquilly
+to await the fire of his opponents.
+
+Monsieur de Grandville never argued but this one criminal case; and it
+made his reputation. In the first place, he spoke with the same glowing
+eloquence which to-day we admire in Berryer. He was profoundly convinced
+of the innocence of his clients, and that in itself is a most powerful
+auxiliary of speech. The following are the chief points of his defence,
+which was reported in full by all the leading newspapers of the period.
+In the first place he exhibited the character and life of Michu in its
+true light. He made it a noble tale, ringing with lofty sentiments, and
+it awakened the sympathies of many. When Michu heard himself vindicated
+by that eloquent voice, tears sprang from his yellow eyes and rolled
+down his terrible face. He appeared then for what he really was,--a man
+as simple and as wily as a child; a being whose whole existence had
+but one thought, one aim. He was suddenly explained to the minds of all
+present, more especially by his tears, which produced a great effect
+upon the jury. His able defender seized that moment of strong interest
+to enter upon a discussion of the charges:--
+
+"Where is the body of the person abducted? Where is the senator?" he
+asked. "You accuse us of walling him up with stones and plaster. If so,
+we alone know where he is; you have kept us twenty-three days in prison,
+and the senator must be dead by this time for want of food. We are
+therefore murderers, but you have not accused us of murder. On the other
+hand, if he still lives, we must have accomplices. If we have them, and
+if the senator is living, we should assuredly have set him at liberty.
+The scheme in relation to Gondreville which you attribute to us is a
+failure, and only aggravates our position uselessly. We might perhaps
+obtain a pardon for an abortive attempt by releasing our victim; instead
+of that we persist in detaining a man from whom we can obtain no
+benefit whatever. It is absurd! Take away your plaster; the effect is
+a failure," he said, addressing the public prosecutor. "We are either
+idiotic criminals (which you do not believe) or the innocent victims of
+circumstances as inexplicable to us as they are to you. You ought rather
+to search for the mass of papers which were burned at Gondreville, which
+will reveal motives stronger far than yours or ours and put you on the
+track of the causes of this abduction."
+
+The speaker discussed these hypotheses with marvellous ability. He dwelt
+on the moral character of the witnesses for the defence, whose religious
+faith was a living one, who believed in a future life and in eternal
+punishment. He rose to grandeur in this part of his speech and moved his
+hearers deeply:--
+
+"Remember!" he said; "these criminals were tranquilly dining when told
+of the abduction of the senator. When the officer of gendarmes intimated
+to them the best means of ending the whole affair by giving up the
+senator, they refused, for they did not understand what was asked of
+them!"
+
+Then, reverting to the mystery of the matter, he declared that its
+solution was in the hands of time, which would eventually reveal the
+injustice of the charge. Once on this ground, he boldly and ingeniously
+supposed himself a juror; related his deliberations with his colleagues;
+imagined his distress lest, having condemned the innocent, the error
+should be known too late, and drew such a picture of his remorse,
+dwelling on the grave doubts which the case presented, that he brought
+the jury to a condition of intense anxiety.
+
+Juries were not in those days so blase to this sort of allocution as
+they are now; Monsieur de Grandville's appeal had the power of things
+new, and the jurors were evidently shaken. After this passionate
+outburst they had to listen to the wily and specious prosecutor, who
+went over the whole case, brought out the darkest points against the
+prisoners and made the rest inexplicable. His aim was to reach the
+minds and the reasoning faculties of his hearers just as Monsieur de
+Grandville had aimed at the heart and the imagination. The latter,
+however, had seriously entangled the convictions of the jury, and the
+public prosecutor found his well-laid arguments ineffectual. This was
+so plain that the counsel for the Messieurs d'Hauteserre and Gothard
+appealed to the judgment of the jury, asking that the case against their
+clients be abandoned. The prosecutor demanded a postponement till the
+next day in order that he might prepare an answer. Bordin, who saw
+acquittal in the eyes of the jury if they deliberated on the case at
+once, opposed the delay of even one night by arguments of legal right
+and justice to his innocent clients; but in vain,--the court allowed it.
+
+"The interests of society are as great as those of the accused," said
+the president. "The court would be lacking in equity if it denied a like
+request when made by the defence; it ought therefore to grant that of
+the prosecution."
+
+"All is luck or ill-luck!" said Bordin to his clients when the session
+was over. "Almost acquitted tonight you may be condemned to-morrow."
+
+"In either case," said the elder de Simeuse, "we can only admire your
+skill."
+
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne's eyes were full of tears. After the doubts
+and fears of the counsel for the defence, she had not expected this
+success. Those around her congratulated her and predicted the acquittal
+of her cousins. But alas! the matter was destined to end in a startling
+and almost theatrical event, the most unexpected and disastrous
+circumstance which ever changed the face of a criminal trial.
+
+At five in the morning of the day after Monsieur de Grandville's
+speech, the senator was found on the high road to Troyes, delivered from
+captivity during his sleep, unaware of the trial that was going on or
+of the excitement attaching to his name in Europe, and simply happy in
+being once more able to breathe the fresh air. The man who was the pivot
+of the drama was quite as amazed at what was now told to him as
+the persons who met him on his way to Troyes were astounded at his
+reappearance. A farmer lent him a carriage and he soon reached the house
+of the prefect at Troyes. The prefect notified the director of the jury,
+the commissary of the government, and the public prosecutor, who, after
+a statement made to them by Malin, arrested Marthe, while she was still
+in bed at the Durieu's house in the suburbs. Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne,
+who was only at liberty under bail, was also snatched from one of the
+few hours of slumber she had been able to obtain at rare intervals in
+the course of her ceaseless anxiety, and taken to the prefecture to
+undergo an examination. An order to keep the accused from holding any
+communication with each other or with their counsel was sent to the
+prison. At ten o'clock the crowd which assembled around the courtroom
+were informed that the trial was postponed until one o'clock in the
+afternoon of the same day.
+
+This change of hour, following on the news of the senator's deliverance,
+Marthe's arrest, and that of Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, together with
+the denial of the right to communicate with the prisoners carried terror
+to the hotel de Chargeboeuf. The whole town and the spectators who had
+come to Troyes to be present at the trial, the short-hand writers
+for the daily journals, even the populace were in a ferment which can
+readily be imagined. The Abbe Goujet came at ten o'clock to see Monsieur
+and Madame d'Hauteserre and the counsel for the defence, who were
+breakfasting--as well as they could under the circumstances. The abbe
+took Bordin and Monsieur Grandville apart, told them what Marthe had
+confided to him the day before, and gave them the fragment of the letter
+she had received. The two lawyers exchanged a look, after which Bordin
+said to the abbe: "Not a word of all this! The case is lost; but at any
+rate let us show a firm front."
+
+Marthe was not strong enough to evade the cross-questioning of the
+director of the jury and the public prosecutor. Moreover the proof
+against her was too overwhelming. Lechesneau had sent for the under
+crust of the last loaf of bread she had carried to the cavern, also for
+the empty bottles and various other articles. During the senator's long
+hours of captivity he had formed conjectures in his own mind and had
+looked for indications which might put him on the track of his enemies.
+These he now communicated to the authorities. Michu's farmhouse, lately
+built, had, he supposed, a new oven; the tiles or bricks on which the
+bread was baked would show their jointed lines on the bottom of the
+loaves, and thus afford a proof that the bread supplied to him was baked
+on that particular oven. So with the wine brought in bottles sealed with
+green wax, which would probably be found identical with other bottles in
+Michu's cellar. These shrewd observations, which Malin imparted to the
+justice of peace, who made the first examination (taking Marthe with
+him), led to the results foreseen by the senator.
+
+Marthe, deceived by the apparent friendliness of Lechesneau and the
+public prosecutor, who assured her that complete confession could alone
+save her husband's life, admitted that the cavern where the senator had
+been hidden was known only to her husband and the Messieurs de Simeuse
+and d'Hauteserre, and that she herself had taken provisions to the
+senator on three separate occasions at midnight.
+
+Laurence, questioned about the cavern, was forced to acknowledge that
+Michu had discovered it and had shown it to her at the time when the
+four young men evaded the police and were hidden in it.
+
+As soon as these preliminary examinations were ended, the jury, lawyers,
+and audience were notified that the trial would be resumed. At three
+o'clock the president opened the session by announcing that the case
+would be continued under a new aspect. He exhibited to Michu three
+bottles of wine and asked him if he recognized them as bottles from his
+own cellar, showing him at the same time the identity between the green
+wax on two empty bottles with the green wax on a full bottle taken from
+his cellar that morning by the justice of peace in presence of his wife.
+Michu refused to recognize anything as his own. But these proofs for
+the prosecution were understood by the jurors, to whom the president
+explained that the empty bottles were found in the place where the
+senator was imprisoned.
+
+Each prisoner was questioned as to the cavern or cellar beneath the
+ruins of the old monastery. It was proved by all witnesses for the
+prosecution, and also for the defence, that the existence of this
+hiding-place discovered by Michu was known only to him and his wife, and
+to Laurence and the four gentlemen. We may judge of the effect in the
+courtroom when the public prosecutor made known the fact that this
+cavern, known only to the accused and to their two witnesses, was the
+place where the senator had been imprisoned.
+
+Marthe was summoned. Her appearance caused much excitement among the
+spectators and keen anxiety to the prisoners. Monsieur de Grandville
+rose to protest against the testimony of a wife against her husband.
+The public prosecutor replied that Marthe by her own confession was an
+accomplice in the outrage; that she had neither sworn nor testified, and
+was to be heard solely in the interests of truth.
+
+"We need only submit her preliminary examination to the jury," remarked
+the president, who now ordered the clerk of the court to read the said
+testimony aloud.
+
+"Do you now confirm your own statement?" said the president, addressing
+Marthe.
+
+Michu looked at his wife, and Marthe, who saw her fatal error, fainted
+away and fell to the floor. It may be truly said that a thunderbolt had
+fallen upon the prisoners and their counsel.
+
+"I never wrote to my wife from prison, and I know none of the persons
+employed there," said Michu.
+
+Bordin passed to him the fragments of the letter Marthe had received.
+Michu gave but one glance at it. "My writing has been imitated," he
+said.
+
+"Denial is your last resource," said the public prosecutor.
+
+The senator was introduced into the courtroom with all the ceremonies
+due to his position. His entrance was like a stage scene. Malin (now
+called Comte de Gondreville, without regard to the feelings of the late
+owners of the property) was requested by the president to look at the
+prisoners, and did so with great attention and for a long time. He
+stated that the clothing of his abductors was exactly like that worn
+by the four gentlemen; but he declared that the trouble of his mind had
+been such that he could not be positive that the accused were really the
+guilty parties.
+
+"More than that," he said, "it is my conviction that these four
+gentlemen had nothing to do with it. The hands that blindfolded me in
+the forest were coarse and rough. I should rather suppose," he added,
+looking at Michu, "that my old enemy took charge of that duty; but I beg
+the gentlemen of the jury not to give too much weight to this remark. My
+suspicions are very slight, and I feel no certainty whatever--for this
+reason. The two men who seized me put me on horseback behind the man who
+blindfolded me, and whose hair was red like Michu's. However singular
+you may consider the observation I am about to make, it is necessary
+to make it because it is the ground of an opinion favorable to the
+accused--who, I hope, will not feel offended by it. Fastened to the
+man's back I would naturally have been affected by his odor--yet I
+did not perceive that which is peculiar to Michu. As to the person who
+brought me provisions on three several occasions, I am certain it was
+Marthe, the wife of Michu. I recognized her the first time she came by
+a ring she always wore, which she had forgotten to remove. The Court and
+jury will please allow for the contradictions which appear in the facts
+I have stated, which I myself am wholly unable to reconcile."
+
+A murmur of approval followed this testimony. Bordin asked permission of
+the Court to address a few questions to the witness.
+
+"Does the senator think that his abduction was due to other causes than
+the interests respecting property which the prosecution attributes to
+the prisoners?"
+
+"I do," replied the senator, "but I am wholly ignorant of what the real
+motives were; for during a captivity of twenty days I saw and heard no
+one."
+
+"Do you think," said the public prosecutor, "that your chateau at
+Gondreville contains information, title-deeds, or other papers of value
+which would induce a search on the part of the Messieurs de Simeuse?"
+
+"I do not think so," replied Malin; "I believe those gentlemen to be
+incapable of attempting to get possession of such papers by violence.
+They had only to ask me for them to obtain them."
+
+"You burned certain papers in the park, did you not?" said Monsieur de
+Gondreville, abruptly.
+
+Malin looked at Grevin. After exchanging a rapid glance with the notary,
+which Bordin intercepted, he replied that he had not burned any papers.
+The public prosecutor having asked him to describe the ambush to which
+he had so nearly fallen a victim two years earlier, the senator replied
+that he had seen Michu watching him from the fork of a tree. This
+answer, which agreed with Grevin's testimony, produced a great
+impression.
+
+The four gentlemen remained impassible during the examination of their
+enemy, who seemed determined to overwhelm them with generosity. Laurence
+suffered horrible agony. From time to time the Marquis de Chargeboeuf
+held her by the arm, fearing she might dart forward to the rescue. The
+Comte de Gondreville retired from the courtroom and as he did so he
+bowed to the four gentlemen, who did not return the salutation. This
+trifling matter made the jury indignant.
+
+"They are lost now," whispered Bordin to the Marquis de Chargeboeuf.
+
+"Alas, yes! and always through the nobility of their sentiments,"
+replied the marquis.
+
+"My task is now only too easy, gentlemen," said the prosecutor, rising
+to address the jury.
+
+He explained the use of the cement by the necessity of securing an iron
+frame on which to fasten a padlock which held the iron bar with which
+the gate of the cavern was closed; a description of which was given in
+the _proces-verbal_ made that morning by Pigoult. He put the falsehoods
+of the accused into the strongest light, and pulverized the arguments
+of the defence with the new evidence so miraculously obtained. In 1806
+France was still too near the Supreme Being of 1793 to talk about divine
+justice; he therefore spared the jury all reference to the intervention
+of heaven; but he said that earthly justice would be on the watch for
+the mysterious accomplices who had set the senator at liberty, and he
+sat down, confidently awaiting the verdict.
+
+The jury believed there was a mystery, but they were all persuaded that
+it came from the prisoners, who were probably concealing some matter of
+a private interest of great importance to them.
+
+Monsieur de Grandville, to whom a plot or machination of some kind was
+quite evident, rose; but he seemed discouraged,--less, however, by the
+new evidence than by the manifest opinion of the jury. He surpassed,
+if anything, his speech of the previous evening; his argument was more
+compact and logical; but he felt his fervor repelled by the coldness of
+the jury; he spoke ineffectually, and he knew it,--a chilling situation
+for an advocate. He called attention to the fact that the release of
+the senator, as if by magic and clearly without the aid of any of the
+accused or of Marthe, corroborated his previous argument. Yesterday the
+prisoners could most surely rely on acquittal, and if they had, as the
+prosecution claimed, the power to hold or to release the senator, they
+certainly would not have released him until after their acquittal. He
+endeavored to bring before the minds of the Court and jury the fact that
+mysterious enemies, undiscovered as yet, could alone have struck the
+accused this final blow.
+
+Strange to say, the only minds Monsieur de Grandville reached with this
+argument were those of the public prosecutor and the judges. The jury
+listened perfunctorily; the audience, usually so favorable to prisoners,
+were convinced of their guilt. In a court of justice the sentiments
+of the crowd do unquestionably weigh upon the judges and the jury, and
+_vice versa_. Seeing this condition of the minds about him, which could
+be felt if not defined, the counsel uttered his last words in a tone of
+passionate excitement caused by his conviction:--
+
+"In the name of the accused," he cried, "I forgive you for the fatal
+error you are about to commit, and which nothing can repair! We are the
+victims of some mysterious and Machiavellian power. Marthe Michu was
+inveigled by vile perfidy. You will discover this too late, when the
+evil you now do will be irreparable."
+
+Bordin simply claimed the acquittal of the prisoners on the testimony of
+the senator himself.
+
+The president summed up the case with all the more impartiality because
+it was evident that the minds of the jurors were already made up. He
+even turned the scales in favor of the prisoners by dwelling on the
+senator's evidence. This clemency, however, did not in the least
+endanger the success of the prosecution. At eleven o'clock that night,
+after the jury had replied through their foreman to the usual questions,
+the Court condemned Michu to death, the Messieurs de Simeuse to
+twenty-four years' and the Messieurs d'Hauteserre to ten years, penal
+servitude at hard labor. Gothard was acquitted.
+
+The whole audience was eager to observe the bearing of the five guilty
+men in this supreme moment of their lives. The four gentlemen looked
+at Laurence, who returned them, with dry eyes, the ardent look of the
+martyrs.
+
+"She would have wept had we been acquitted," said the younger de Simeuse
+to his brother.
+
+Never did convicted men meet an unjust fate with serener brows or
+countenances more worthy of their manhood than these five victims of a
+cruel plot.
+
+"Our counsel has forgiven you," said the eldest de Simeuse to the Court.
+
+              *     *     *     *     *
+
+Madame d'Hauteserre fell ill, and was three months in her bed at the
+hotel de Chargeboeuf. Monsieur d'Hauteserre returned patiently to
+Cinq-Cygne, inwardly gnawed by one of those sorrows of old age which
+have none of youth's distractions; often he was so absent-minded that
+the abbe, who watched him, knew the poor father was living over again
+the scene of the fatal verdict. Marthe passed away from all blame; she
+died three weeks after the condemnation of her husband, confiding her
+son to Laurence, in whose arms she died.
+
+The trial once over, political events of the utmost importance effaced
+even the memory of it, and nothing further was discovered. Society is
+like the ocean; it returns to its level and its specious calmness
+after a disaster, effacing all traces of it in the tide of its eager
+interests.
+
+Without her natural firmness of mind and her knowledge of her cousins'
+innocence, Laurence would have succumbed; but she gave fresh proof of
+the grandeur of her character; she astonished Monsieur de Grandville and
+Bordin by the apparent serenity which these terrible misfortunes called
+forth in her noble soul. She nursed Madame d'Hauteserre and went daily
+to the prison, saying openly that she would marry one of the cousins
+when they were taken to the galleys.
+
+"To the galleys!" cried Bordin, "Mademoiselle! our first endeavor must
+be to wring their pardon from the Emperor."
+
+"Their pardon!--_from a Bonaparte_?" cried Laurence in horror.
+
+The spectacles of the old lawyer jumped from his nose; he caught them
+as they fell and looked at the young girl who was now indeed a woman; he
+understood her character at last in all its bearings; then he took the
+arm of the Marquis de Chargeboeuf, saying:--
+
+"Monsieur le Marquis, let us go to Paris instantly and save them without
+her!"
+
+The appeal of the Messieurs de Simeuse and d'Hauteserre and that
+of Michu was the first case to be brought before the new court. Its
+decision was fortunately delayed by the ceremonies attending its
+installation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX. THE EMPEROR'S BIVOUAC
+
+Towards the end of September, after three sessions of the Court
+of Appeals in which the lawyers for the defence pleaded, and the
+attorney-general Merlin himself spoke for the prosecution, the appeal
+was rejected. The Imperial Court of Paris was by this time instituted.
+Monsieur de Grandville was appointed assistant attorney-general, and the
+department of the Aube coming under the jurisdiction of this court, it
+became possible for him to take certain steps in favor of the convicted
+prisoners, among them that of importuning Cambaceres, his protector.
+Bordin and Monsieur de Chargeboeuf came to his house in the Marais the
+day after the appeal was rejected, where they found him in the midst of
+his honeymoon, for he had married in the interval. In spite of all these
+changes in his condition, Monsieur de Chargeboeuf saw very plainly that
+the young lawyer was faithful to his late clients. Certain lawyers, the
+artists of their profession, treat their causes like mistresses. This is
+rare, however, and must not be depended on.
+
+As soon as they were alone in his study, Monsieur de Grandville said to
+the marquis: "I have not waited for your visit; I have already employed
+all my influence. Don't attempt to save Michu; if you do, you cannot
+obtain the pardon of the Messieurs de Simeuse. The law will insist on
+one victim."
+
+"Good God!" cried Bordin, showing the young magistrate the three
+petitions for mercy; "how can I take upon myself to withdraw the
+application for that man. If I suppress the paper I cut off his head."
+
+He held out the petition; de Grandville took it, looked it over, and
+said:--
+
+"We can't suppress it; but be sure of one thing, if you ask all you will
+obtain nothing."
+
+"Have we time to consult Michu?" asked Bordin.
+
+"Yes. The order for execution comes from the office of the
+attorney-general; I will see that you have some days. We kill men," he
+said with some bitterness, "but at least we do it formally, especially
+in Paris."
+
+Monsieur de Chargeboeuf had already received from the chief justice
+certain information which added weight to these sad words of Monsieur de
+Grandville.
+
+"Michu is innocent, I know," continued the young lawyer, "but what can
+we do against so many? Remember, too, that my present influence depends
+on my keeping silent. I must order the scaffold to be prepared, or my
+late client is certain to be beheaded."
+
+Monsieur de Chargeboeuf knew Laurence well enough to be certain she
+would never consent to save her cousins at the expense of Michu; he
+therefore resolved on making one more effort. He asked an audience of
+the minister of foreign affairs to learn if salvation could be looked
+for through the influence of the great diplomat. He took Bordin with
+him, for the latter knew the minister and had done him some service.
+The two old men found Talleyrand sitting with his feet stretched out,
+absorbed in contemplation of his fire, his head resting on his hand, his
+elbow on the table, a newspaper lying at his feet. The minister had just
+read the decision of the Court of Appeals.
+
+"Pray sit down, Monsieur le marquis," said Talleyrand, "and you,
+Bordin," he added, pointing to a place at the table, "write as
+follows:--"
+
+  Sire,--Four innocent gentlemen, declared guilty by a jury have
+  just had their condemnation confirmed by your Court of Appeals.
+
+  Your Imperial Majesty can now only pardon them. These gentlemen
+  ask this pardon of your august clemency, in the hope that they may
+  enter your army and meet their death in battle before your eyes;
+  and thus praying, they are, of your Imperial and Royal Majesty,
+  with reverence, etc.
+
+"None but princes can do such prompt and graceful kindness," said the
+Marquis de Chargeboeuf, taking the precious draft of the petition from
+the hands of Bordin that he might have it signed by the four gentlemen;
+resolving in his own mind that he would also obtain the signatures of
+several august names.
+
+"The life of your young relatives, Monsieur le marquis," said the
+minister, "now depends on the turn of a battle. Endeavor to reach the
+Emperor on the morning after a victory and they are saved."
+
+He took a pen and himself wrote a private and confidential letter to the
+Emperor, and another of ten lines to Marechal Duroc. Then he rang the
+bell, asked his secretary for a diplomatic passport, and said tranquilly
+to the old lawyer, "What is your honest opinion of that trial?"
+
+"Do you know, monseigneur, who was at the bottom of this cruel wrong?"
+
+"I presume I do; but I have reasons to wish for certainty," replied
+Talleyrand. "Return to Troyes; bring me the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne,
+here, to-morrow at the same hour, but secretly; ask to be ushered
+into Madame de Talleyrand's salon; I will tell her you are coming. If
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, who shall be placed where she can see a man
+who will be standing before me, recognizes that man as an individual who
+came to her house during the conspiracy of de Polignac and Riviere, tell
+her to remember that, no matter what I say or what he answers me, she
+must not utter a word nor make a gesture. One thing more, think only
+of saving the de Simeuse brothers; don't embarrass yourself with that
+scoundrel of a bailiff--"
+
+"A sublime man, monseigneur!" exclaimed Bordin.
+
+"Enthusiasm! in you, Bordin! The man must be remarkable. Our sovereign
+has an immense self-love, Monsieur le marquis," he said, changing the
+conversation. "He is about to dismiss me that he may commit follies
+without warning. The Emperor is a great soldier who can change the
+laws of time and distance, but he cannot change men; yet he persists in
+trying to run them in his own mould! Now, remember this; the young men's
+pardon can be obtained by one person only--Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne."
+
+The marquis went alone to Troyes and told the whole matter to Laurence.
+She obtained permission from the authorities to see Michu, and the
+marquis accompanied her to the gates of the prison, where he waited for
+her. When she came out her face was bathed in tears.
+
+"Poor man!" she said; "he tried to kneel to me, praying that I would
+not think of him, and forgetting the shackles that were on his feet!
+Ah, marquis, I _will_ plead his cause. Yes, I'll kiss the boot of their
+Emperor. If I fail--well, the memory of that man shall live eternally
+honored in our family. Present his petition for mercy so as to gain
+time; meantime I am resolved to have his portrait. Come, let us go."
+
+The next day, when Talleyrand was informed by a sign agreed upon that
+Laurence was at her post, he rang the bell; his orderly came to him, and
+received orders to admit Monsieur Corentin.
+
+"My friend, you are a very clever fellow," said Talleyrand, "and I wish
+to employ you."
+
+"Monsiegneur--"
+
+"Listen. In serving Fouche you will get money, but never honor nor any
+position you can acknowledge. But in serving me, as you have lately done
+at Berlin, you can win credit and repute."
+
+"Monseigneur is very good."
+
+"You displayed genius in that late affair at Gondreville."
+
+"To what does Monseigneur allude?" said Corentin, with a manner that was
+neither too reserved nor too surprised.
+
+"Ah, Monsieur!" observed the minister, dryly, "you will never make a
+successful man; you fear--"
+
+"What, monseigneur?"
+
+"Death!" replied Talleyrand, in his fine, deep voice. "Adieu, my good
+friend."
+
+"That is the man," said the Marquis de Chargeboeuf entering the room
+after Corentin was dismissed; "but we have nearly killed the countess."
+
+"He is the only man I know capable of playing such a trick," replied the
+minister. "Monsieur le marquis, you are in danger of not succeeding
+in your mission. Start ostensibly for Strasburg; I'll send you double
+passports in blank to be filled out. Provide yourself with substitutes;
+change your route and above all your carriage; let your substitutes
+go on to Strasburg, and do you reach Prussia through Switzerland and
+Bavaria. Not a word--prudence! The police are against you; and you do
+not know what the police are--"
+
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne offered the then celebrated Robert Lefebvre a
+sufficient sum to induce him to go to Troyes and take Michu's portrait.
+Monsieur de Grandville promised to afford the painter every possible
+facility. Monsieur de Chargeboeuf then started in the old _berlingot_,
+with Laurence and a servant who spoke German. Not far from Nancy they
+overtook Mademoiselle Goujet and Gothard, who had preceded them in an
+excellent carriage, which the marquis took, giving them in exchange the
+_berlingot_.
+
+Talleyrand was right. At Strasburg the commissary-general of police
+refused to countersign the passport of the travellers, and gave them
+positive orders to return. By that time the marquis and Laurence were
+leaving France by way of Besancon with the diplomatic passport.
+
+Laurence crossed Switzerland in the first days of October, without
+paying the slightest attention to that glorious land. She lay back in
+the carriage in the torpor which overtakes a criminal on the eve of his
+execution. To her eyes all nature was shrouded in a seething vapor; even
+common things assumed fantastic shapes. The one thought, "If I do not
+succeed they will kill themselves," fell upon her soul with reiterated
+blows, as the bar of the executioner fell upon the victim's members when
+tortured on the wheel. She felt herself breaking; she lost her energy in
+this terrible waiting for the cruel moment, short and decisive, when she
+should find herself face to face with that man on whom the fate of the
+condemned depended. She chose to yield to her depression rather
+than waste her strength uselessly. The marquis, who was incapable of
+understanding this resolve of firm minds, which often assumes quite
+diverse aspects (for in such moments of tension certain superior minds
+give way to surprising gaiety), began to fear that he might never bring
+Laurence alive to the momentous interview, solemn to them only, and yet
+beyond the ordinary limits of private life. To Laurence, the necessity
+of humiliating herself before that man, the object of her hatred and
+contempt, meant the sacrifice of all her noblest feelings.
+
+"After this," she said, "the Laurence who survives will bear no likeness
+to her who is now to perish."
+
+The travellers could not fail to be aware of the vast movement of men
+and material which surrounded them the moment they entered Prussia. The
+campaign of Jena had just begun. Laurence and the marquis beheld the
+magnificent divisions of the French army deploying and parading as if
+at the Tuileries. In this display of military power, which can be
+adequately described only with the words and images of the Bible, the
+proportions of the Man whose spirit moved these masses grew gigantic to
+Laurence's imagination. Soon, the cry of victory resounded in her ears.
+The Imperial arms had just obtained two signal advantages. The Prince
+of Prussia had been killed the evening before the day on which the
+travellers arrived at Saalfeld on their endeavor to overtake Napoleon,
+who was marching with the rapidity of lightning.
+
+At last, on the 13th of October (date of ill-omen) Mademoiselle de
+Cinq-Cygne was skirting a river in the midst of the Grand Army, seeing
+nought but confusion, sent hither and thither from one village to
+another, from division to division, frightened at finding herself
+alone with one old man tossed about in an ocean of a hundred and fifty
+thousand armed men facing a hundred and fifty thousand more. Weary of
+watching the river through the hedges of the muddy road which she was
+following along a hillside, she asked its name of a passing soldier.
+
+"That's the Saale," he said, showing her the Prussian army, grouped in
+great masses on the other side of the stream.
+
+Night came on. Laurence beheld the camp-fires lighted and the glitter
+of stacked arms. The old marquis, whose courage was chivalric, drove
+the horses himself (two strong beasts bought the evening before), his
+servant sitting beside him. He knew very well he should find neither
+horses nor postilions within the lines of the army. Suddenly the bold
+equipage, an object of great astonishment to the soldiers, was stopped
+by a gendarme of the military gendarmerie, who galloped up to the
+carriage, calling out to the marquis: "Who are you? where are you going?
+what do you want?"
+
+"The Emperor," replied the Marquis de Chargeboeuf; "I have an important
+dispatch for the Grand-marechal Duroc."
+
+"Well, you can't stay here," said the gendarme.
+
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne and the marquis were, however, compelled to
+remain where they were on account of the darkness.
+
+"Where are we?" she asked, stopping two officers whom she saw passing,
+whose uniforms were concealed by cloth overcoats.
+
+"You are among the advanced guard of the French army," answered one of
+the officers. "You cannot stay here, for if the enemy makes a movement
+and the artillery opens you will be between two fires."
+
+"Ah!" she said, with an indifferent air.
+
+Hearing that "Ah!" the other officer turned and said: "How did that
+woman come here?"
+
+"We are waiting," said Laurence, "for a gendarme who has gone to find
+General Duroc, a protector who will enable us to speak to the Emperor."
+
+"Speak to the Emperor!" exclaimed the first officer; "how can you think
+of such a thing--on the eve of a decisive battle?"
+
+"True," she said; "I ought to speak to him on the morrow--victory would
+make him kind."
+
+The two officers stationed themselves at a little distance and sat
+motionless on their horses. The carriage was now surrounded by a mass
+of generals, marshals, and other officers, all extremely brilliant in
+appearance, who appeared to pay deference to the carriage merely because
+it was there.
+
+"Good God!" said the marquis to Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne; "I am afraid
+you spoke to the Emperor."
+
+"The Emperor?" said a colonel, beside them, "why there he is!" pointing
+to the officer who had said, "How did that woman get here?" He was
+mounted on a white horse, richly caparisoned, and wore the celebrated
+gray top-coat over his green uniform. He was scanning with a field-glass
+the Prussian army massed beyond the Saale. Laurence understood then why
+the carriage remained there, and why the Emperor's escort respected it.
+She was seized with a convulsive tremor--the hour had come! She heard
+the heavy sound of the tramp of men and the clang of their arms as they
+arrived at a quick step on the plateau. The batteries had a language,
+the caissons thundered, the brass glittered.
+
+"Marechal Lannes will take position with his whole corps in the advance;
+Marechal Lefebvre and the Guard will occupy this hill," said the other
+officer, who was Major-general Berthier.
+
+The Emperor dismounted. At his first motion Roustan, his famous
+mameluke, hastened to hold his horse. Laurence was stupefied with
+amazement; she had never dreamed of such simplicity.
+
+"I shall pass the night on the plateau," said the Emperor.
+
+Just then the Grand-marechal Duroc, whom the gendarme had finally
+found, came up to the Marquis de Chargeboeuf and asked the reason of his
+coming. The marquis replied that a letter from the Prince de Talleyrand,
+of which he was the bearer, would explain to the marshal how urgent
+it was that Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne and himself should obtain an
+audience of the Emperor.
+
+"His Majesty will no doubt dine at his bivouac," said Duroc, taking the
+letter, "and when I find out what your object is, I will let you know
+if you can see him. Corporal," he said to the gendarme, "accompany this
+carriage, and take it close to that hut at the rear."
+
+Monsieur de Chargeboeuf followed the gendarme and stopped his horses
+behind a miserable cabin, built of mud and branches, surrounded by a few
+fruit-trees, and guarded by pickets of infantry and cavalry.
+
+It may be said that the majesty of war appeared here in all its
+grandeur. From this height the lines of the two armies were visible in
+the moonlight. After an hour's waiting, the time being occupied by the
+incessant coming and going of the aides-de-camp, Duroc himself came for
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne and the marquis, and made them enter the hut,
+the floor of which was of battened earth like that of a stable.
+
+Before a table with the remains of dinner, and before a fire made of
+green wood which smoked, Napoleon was seated in a clumsy chair. His
+muddy boots gave evidence of a long tramp across country. He had taken
+off the famous top-coat; and his equally famous green uniform, crossed
+by the red cordon of the Legion of honor and heightened by the white of
+his kerseymere breeches and of his waistcoat, brought out vividly
+his pale and terrible Caesarian face. One hand was on a map which lay
+unfolded on his knees. Berthier stood near him in the brilliant uniform
+of the vice-constable of the Empire. Constant, the valet, was offering
+the Emperor his coffee from a tray.
+
+"What do you want?" said Napoleon, with a show of roughness, darting his
+eye like a flash through Laurence's head. "You are no longer afraid to
+speak to me before the battle? What is it about?"
+
+"Sire," she said, looking at him with as firm an eye, "I am Mademoiselle
+de Cinq-Cygne."
+
+"Well?" he replied, in an angry voice, thinking her look braved him.
+
+"Do you not understand? I am the Comtesse de Cinq-Cygne, come to ask
+mercy," she said, falling on her knees and holding out to him the
+petition drawn up by Talleyrand, endorsed by the Empress, by Cambaceres
+and by Malin.
+
+The Emperor raised her graciously, and said with a keen look: "Have you
+come to your senses? Do you now understand what the French Empire is and
+must be?"
+
+"Ah! at this moment I understand only the Emperor," she said, vanquished
+by the kindly manner with which the man of destiny had said the words
+that foretold to her ears success.
+
+"Are they innocent?" asked the Emperor.
+
+"Yes, all of them," she said with enthusiasm.
+
+"All? No, that bailiff is a dangerous man, who would have killed my
+senator without taking your advice."
+
+"Ah, Sire," she said, "if you had a friend devoted to you, would you
+abandon him? Would you not rather--"
+
+"You are a woman," he said, interrupting her in a faint tone of
+ridicule.
+
+"And you, a man of iron!" she replied with a passionate sternness which
+pleased him.
+
+"That man has been condemned to death by the laws of his country," he
+continued.
+
+"But he is innocent!"
+
+"Child!" he said.
+
+He took Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne by the hand and led her from the hut
+to the plateau.
+
+"See," he continued, with that eloquence of his which changed even
+cowards to brave men, "see those three hundred thousand men--all
+innocent. And yet to-morrow thirty thousand of them will be lying dead,
+dead for their country! Among those Prussians there is, perhaps, some
+great mathematician, a man of genius, an idealist, who will be mown
+down. On our side we shall assuredly lose many a great man never known
+to fame. Perhaps even I shall see my best friend die. Shall I blame God?
+No. I shall bear it silently. Learn from this, mademoiselle, that a
+man must die for the laws of his country just as men die here for her
+glory." So saying, he led her back into the hut. "Return to France," he
+said, looking at the marquis; "my orders shall follow you."
+
+Laurence believed in a commutation of Michu's punishment, and in her
+gratitude she knelt again before the Emperor and kissed his hand.
+
+"You are the Marquis de Chargeboeuf?" said Napoleon, addressing the
+marquis.
+
+"Yes, Sire."
+
+"You have children?"
+
+"Many children."
+
+"Why not give me one of your grandsons? he shall be my page."
+
+"Ah!" thought Laurence, "there's the sub-lieutenant after all; he wants
+to be paid for his mercy."
+
+The marquis bowed without replying. Happily at this moment General Rapp
+rushed into the hut.
+
+"Sire, the cavalry of the Guard, and that of the Grand-duc de Berg
+cannot be set up before midday to-morrow."
+
+"Never mind," said Napoleon, turning to Berthier, "we, too, get our
+reprieves; let us profit by them."
+
+At a sign of his hand the marquis and Laurence retired and again entered
+their carriage; the corporal showed them their road and accompanied them
+to a village where they passed the night. The next day they left
+the field of battle behind them, followed by the thunder of the
+cannon,--eight hundred pieces,--which pursued them for ten hours. While
+still on their way they learned of the amazing victory of Jena.
+
+Eight days later, they were driving through the faubourg of Troyes,
+where they learned that an order of the chief justice, transmitted
+through the _procureur imperial_ of Troyes, commanded the release of
+the four gentlemen on bail during the Emperor's pleasure. But Michu's
+sentence was confirmed, and the warrant for his execution had been
+forwarded from the ministry of police. These orders had reached Troyes
+that very morning. Laurence went at once to the prison, though it was
+two in the morning, and obtained permission to stay with Michu, who was
+about to undergo the melancholy ceremony called "the toilet." The good
+abbe, who had asked permission to accompany him to the scaffold, had
+just given absolution to the man, whose only distress in dying was his
+uncertainty as to the fate of his young masters. When Laurence entered
+his cell he uttered a cry of joy.
+
+"I can die now," he said.
+
+"They are pardoned," she said; "I do not know on what conditions, but
+they are pardoned. I did all I could for you, dear friend--against the
+advice of others. I thought I had saved you; but the Emperor deceived me
+with his graciousness."
+
+"It was written above," said Michu, "that the watch-dog should be killed
+on the spot where his old masters died."
+
+The last hour passed rapidly. Michu, at the moment of parting, asked
+to kiss her hand, but Laurence held her cheek to the lips of the noble
+victim that he might sacredly kiss it. Michu refused to mount the cart.
+
+"Innocent men should go afoot," he said.
+
+He would not let the abbe give him his arm; resolutely and with dignity
+he walked alone to the scaffold. As he laid his head on the plank he
+said to the executioner, after asking him to turn down the collar of his
+coat, "My clothes belong to you; try not to spot them."
+
+              *     *     *     *     *
+
+The four gentlemen had hardly time to even see Mademoiselle de
+Cinq-Cygne. An orderly of the general commanding the division to which
+they were assigned, brought them their commissions as sub-lieutenants in
+the same regiment of cavalry, with orders to proceed at once to Bayonne,
+the base of supplies for its particular army-corps. After a scene of
+heart-rending farewells, for they all foreboded what the future should
+bring forth, Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne returned to her desolate home.
+
+The two brothers were killed together under the eyes of the Emperor at
+Sommo-Sierra, the one defending the other, both being already in command
+of their troop. The last words of each were, "Laurence, _cy meurs_!"
+
+The elder d'Hauteserre died a colonel at the attack on the redoubt at
+Moscow, where his brother took his place.
+
+Adrien d'Hauteserre, appointed brigadier-general at the battle of
+Dresden, was dangerously wounded there and was sent to Cinq-Cygne
+for proper nursing. While endeavoring to save this relic of the four
+gentlemen who for a few brief months had been so happy around her,
+Laurence, then thirty-two years of age, married him. She offered him a
+withered heart, but he accepted it; those who truly love doubt nothing
+or doubt all.
+
+The Restoration found Laurence without enthusiasm. The Bourbons returned
+too late for her. Nevertheless, she had no cause for complaint. Her
+husband, made peer of France with the title of Marquis de Cinq-Cygne,
+became lieutenant-general in 1816, and was rewarded with the blue ribbon
+for the eminent services which he then performed.
+
+Michu's son, of whom Laurence took care as though he were her own child,
+was admitted to the bar in 1817. After practising two years he was
+made assistant-judge at the court of Alencon, and from there he became
+_procureur-du-roi_ at Arcis in 1827. Laurence, who had also taken
+charge of Michu's property, made over to the young man on the day of his
+majority an investment in the public Funds which yielded him an income
+of twelve thousand francs a year. Later, she arranged a marriage for him
+with Mademoiselle Girel, an heiress at Troyes.
+
+The Marquis de Cinq-Cygne died in 1829, in the arms of his wife,
+surrounded by his father and mother, and his children who adored him.
+At the time of his death no one had ever fathomed the mystery of the
+senator's abduction. Louis XVIII. did not neglect to repair, as far as
+possible, the wrongs done by that affair; but he was silent as to the
+causes of the disaster. From that time forth the Marquise de Cinq-Cygne
+believed him to have been an accomplice in the catastrophe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. THE MYSTERY SOLVED
+
+The late Marquis de Cinq-Cygne had used his savings, as well as those
+of his father and mother, in the purchase of a fine house in the rue
+de Faubourg-du-Roule, entailing it on heirs male for the support of
+the title. The sordid economy of the marquis and his parents, which had
+often troubled Laurence, was then explained. After this purchase the
+marquise, who lived at Cinq-Cygne and economized on her own account
+for her children, spent her winters in Paris,--all the more willingly
+because her daughter Berthe and her son Paul were now of an age when
+their education required the resources of Paris.
+
+Madame de Cinq-Cygne went but little into society. Her husband could not
+be ignorant of the regrets which lay in her tender heart; but he showed
+her always the most exquisite delicacy, and died having loved no other
+woman. This noble soul, not fully understood for a period of time but
+to which the generous daughter of the Cinq-Cygnes returned in his last
+years as true a love as that he gave to her, was completely happy in
+his married life. Laurence lived for the joys of home. No woman has ever
+been more cherished by her friends or more respected. To be received in
+her house is an honor. Gentle, indulgent, intellectual, above all things
+simple and natural, she pleases choice souls and draws them to her in
+spite of her saddened aspect; each longs to protect this woman, inwardly
+so strong, and that sentiment of secret protection counts for much in
+the wondrous charm of her friendship. Her life, so painful during her
+youth, is beautiful and serene towards evening. Her sufferings are
+known, and no one asks who was the original of that portrait by Lefebvre
+which is the chief and sacred ornament of her salon. Her face has the
+maturity of fruits that have ripened slowly; a hallowed pride dignifies
+that long-tried brow.
+
+At the period when the marquise came to Paris to open the new house, her
+fortune, increased by the law of indemnities, gave her some two hundred
+thousand francs a year, not counting her husband's salary; besides this,
+Laurence had inherited the money guarded by Michu for his young masters.
+From that time forth she made a practice of spending half her income and
+of laying by the rest for her daughter Berthe.
+
+Berthe is the living image of her mother, but without her warrior nerve;
+she is her mother in delicacy, in intellect,--"more a woman," Laurence
+says, sadly. The marquise was not willing to marry her daughter until
+she was twenty years of age. Her savings, judiciously invested in the
+Funds by old Monsieur d'Hauteserre at the moment when consols fell in
+1830, gave Berthe a dowry of eighty thousand francs a year in 1833, when
+she was twenty.
+
+About that time the Princesse de Cadignan, who was seeking to marry her
+son, the Duc de Maufrigneuse, brought him into intimate relations with
+Madame de Cinq-Cygne. Georges de Maufrigneuse dined with the marquise
+three times a week, accompanied the mother and daughter to the Opera,
+and curvetted in the Bois around their carriage when they drove out. It
+was evident to all the world of the Faubourg Saint-Germain that Georges
+loved Berthe. But no one could discover to a certainty whether Madame
+de Cinq-Cygne was desirous of making her daughter a duchess, to become a
+princess later, or whether it was only the princess who coveted for
+her son the splendid dowry. Did the celebrated Diane court the noble
+provincial house? and was the daughter of the Cinq-Cygnes frightened
+by the celebrity of Madame de Cadignan, her tastes and her ruinous
+extravagance? In her strong desire not to injure her son's prospects the
+princess grew devout, shut the door on her former life, and spent the
+summer season at Geneva in a villa on the lake.
+
+One evening there were present in the salon of the Princesse de
+Cadignan, the Marquise d'Espard, and de Marsay, then president of the
+Council (on this occasion the princess saw her former lover for the
+last time, for he died the following year), Eugene de Rastignac,
+under-secretary of State attached to de Marsay's ministry, two
+ambassadors, two celebrated orators from the Chamber of Peers, the old
+dukes of Lenoncourt and de Navarreins, the Comte de Vandenesse and his
+young wife, and d'Arthez,--who formed a rather singular circle, the
+composition of which can be thus explained. The princess was anxious to
+obtain from the prime minister of the crown a permit for the return
+of the Prince de Cadignan. De Marsay, who did not choose to take upon
+himself the responsibility of granting it came to tell the princess the
+matter had been entrusted to safe hands, and that a certain political
+manager had promised to bring her the result in the course of that
+evening.
+
+Madame and Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne were announced. Laurence, whose
+principles were unyielding, was not only surprised but shocked to see
+the most illustrious representatives of Legitimacy talking and laughing
+in a friendly manner with the prime minister of the man whom she never
+called anything but Monsieur le Duc d'Orleans. De Marsay, like an
+expiring lamp, shone with a last brilliancy. He laid aside for the
+moment his political anxieties, and Madame de Cinq-Cygne endured him, as
+they say the Court of Austria endured de Saint-Aulaire; the man of the
+world effaced the minister of the citizen-king. But she rose to her feet
+as though her chair were of red-hot iron when the name was announced of
+"Monsieur le Comte de Gondreville."
+
+"Adieu, madame," she said to the princess in a curt tone.
+
+She left the room with Berthe, measuring her steps to avoid encountering
+that fatal being.
+
+"You may have caused the loss of Georges' marriage," said the princess
+to de Marsay, in a low voice. "Why did you not tell me your agent's
+name?"
+
+The former clerk of Arcis, former Conventional, former Thermidorien,
+tribune, Councillor of State, count of the Empire and senator, peer of
+the Restoration, and now peer of the monarchy of July, made a servile
+bow to the princess.
+
+"Fear nothing, madame," he said; "we have ceased to make war on princes.
+I bring you an assurance of the permit," he added, seating himself
+beside her.
+
+Malin was long in the confidence of Louis XVIII., to whom his varied
+experience was useful. He had greatly aided in overthrowing Decazes, and
+had given much good advice to the ministry of Villele. Coldly received
+by Charles X., he had adopted all the rancors of Talleyrand. He was now
+in high favor under the twelfth government he had served since 1789, and
+which in turn he would doubtless betray. For the last fifteen months he
+had broken the long friendship which had bound him for thirty-six years
+to our greatest diplomat, the Prince de Talleyrand. It was in the course
+of this very evening that he made answer to some one who asked why the
+Prince showed such hostility to the Duc de Bordeaux, "The Pretender is
+too young!"
+
+"Singular advice to give young men," remarked Rastignac.
+
+De Marsay, who grew thoughtful after Madame de Cadignan's reproachful
+speech, took no notice of these jests. He looked askance at Gondreville
+and was evidently biding his time until that now old man, who went to
+bed early, had taken leave. All present, who had witnessed the abrupt
+departure of Madame de Cinq-Cygne (whose reasons were well-known to
+them), imitated de Marsay's conduct and kept silence. Gondreville,
+who had not recognized the marquise, was ignorant of the cause of the
+general reticence, but the habit of dealing with public matters had
+given him a certain tact; he was moreover a clever man; he saw that his
+presence was embarrassing to the company and he took leave. De Marsay,
+standing with his back to the fire, watched the slow departure of the
+old man in a manner which revealed the gravity of his thoughts.
+
+"I did wrong, madame, not to tell you the name of my negotiator," said
+the prime minister, listening for the sound of Malin's wheels as they
+rolled away. "But I will redeem my fault and give you the means of
+making your peace with the Cinq-Cygnes. It is now thirty years since the
+affair I am about to speak of took place; it is as old to the present
+day as the death of Henri IV. (which between ourselves and in spite
+of the proverb is still a mystery, like so many other historical
+catastrophes). I can, however, assure you that even if this affair did
+not concern Madame de Cinq-Cygne it would be none the less curious and
+interesting. Moreover, it throws light on a celebrated exploit in our
+modern annals,--I mean that of the Mont Saint-Bernard. Messieurs les
+Ambassadeurs," he added, bowing to the two diplomats, "will see that in
+the element of profound intrigue the political men of the present day
+are far behind the Machiavellis whom the waves of the popular will
+lifted, in 1793, above the storm,--some of whom have 'found,' as the old
+song says, 'a haven.' To be anything in France in these days a man must
+have been tossed in those tempests."
+
+"It seems to me," said the princess, smiling, "that from that point of
+view the present state of things under your regime leaves nothing to be
+desired."
+
+A well-bred laugh went round the room, and even the prime minister
+himself could not help smiling. The ambassadors seemed impatient for the
+tale; de Marsay coughed dryly and silence was obtained.
+
+"On a June night in 1800," began the minister, "about three in the
+morning, just as daylight was beginning to pale the brilliancy of the
+wax candles, two men tired of playing at _bouillotte_ (or who were
+playing merely to keep others employed) left the salon of the ministry
+of foreign affairs, then situated in the rue du Bac, and went apart into
+a boudoir. These two men, of whom one is dead and the other has _one_
+foot in the grave, were, each in his own way, equally extraordinary.
+Both had been priests; both had abjured religion; both were married. One
+had been merely an Oratorian, the other had worn the mitre of a bishop.
+The first was named Fouche; I shall not tell you the name of the
+second;[*] both were then mere simple citizens--with very little
+simplicity. When they were seen to leave the salon and enter the
+boudoir, the rest of the company present showed a certain curiosity. A
+third person followed them,--a man who thought himself far stronger than
+the other two. His name was Sieyes, and you all know that he too
+had been a priest before the Revolution. The one who _walked with
+difficulty_ was then the minister of foreign affairs; Fouche was
+minister of police; Sieyes had resigned the consulate.
+
+  [*] Talleyrand was still living when de Marsay related these
+      circumstances.
+
+
+"A small man, cold and stern in appearance, left his seat and followed
+the three others, saying aloud in the hearing of the person from whom I
+have the information, 'I mistrust the gambling of priests.' This man was
+Carnot, minister of war. His remark did not trouble the two consuls who
+were playing cards in the salon. Cambaceres and Lebrun were then at the
+mercy of their ministers, men who were infinitely stronger than they.
+
+"Nearly all these statesmen are dead, and no secrecy is due to
+them. They belong to history; and the history of that night and its
+consequences has been terrible. I tell it to you now because I alone
+know it; because Louis XVIII. never revealed the truth to that poor
+Madame de Cinq-Cygne; and because the present government which I serve
+is wholly indifferent as to whether the truth be known to the world or
+not.
+
+"All four of these personages sat down in the boudoir. The lame man
+undoubtedly closed the door before a word was said; it is even thought
+that he ran the bolt. It is only persons of high rank who pay attention
+to such trifles. The three priests had the livid, impassible faces which
+you all remember. Carnot alone was ruddy. He was the first to speak.
+'What is the point to be discussed?' he asked. 'France,' must have been
+the answer of the Prince (whom I admire as one of the most extraordinary
+men of our time). 'The Republic,' undoubtedly said Fouche. 'Power,'
+probably said Sieyes."
+
+All present looked at each other. With voice, look, and gesture de
+Marsay had wonderfully represented the three men.
+
+"The three priests fully understood one another," he continued, resuming
+his narrative. "Carnot no doubt looked at his colleagues and the
+ex-consul in a dignified manner. He must, however, have felt bewildered
+in his own mind.
+
+"'Do you believe in the success of the army?' Sieyes said to him.
+
+"'We may expect everything from Bonaparte,' replied the minister of war;
+'he has crossed the Alps.'
+
+"'At this moment,' said the minister of foreign affairs, with deliberate
+slowness, 'he is playing his last stake.'
+
+"'Come, let's speak out,' said Fouche; 'what shall we do if the First
+Consul is defeated? Is it possible to collect another army? Must we
+continue his humble servants?'
+
+"'There is no republic now,' remarked Sieyes; 'Bonaparte is consul for
+ten years.'
+
+"'He has more power than ever Cromwell had,' said the former bishop,
+'and he did not vote for the death of the king.'
+
+"'We have a master,' said Fouche; 'the question is, shall we continue to
+keep him if he loses the battle or shall we return to a pure republic?'
+
+"'France,' replied Carnot, sententiously, 'cannot resist except she
+reverts to the old Conventional _energy_.'
+
+"'I agree with Carnot,' said Sieyes; 'if Bonaparte returns defeated we
+must put an end to him; he has let us know him too well during the last
+seven months.'
+
+"'The army is for him,' remarked Carnot, thoughtfully.
+
+"'And the people for us!' cried Fouche.
+
+"'You go fast, monsieur,' said the Prince, in that deep bass voice which
+he still preserves and which now drove Fouche back into himself.
+
+"'Be frank,' said a voice, as a former Conventional rose from a corner
+of the boudoir and showed himself; 'if Bonaparte returns a victor, we
+shall adore him; if vanquished, we'll bury him!'
+
+"'So you were there, Malin, were you?' said the Prince, without
+betraying the least feeling. 'Then you must be one of us; sit down'; and
+he made him a sign to be seated.
+
+"It is to this one circumstance that Malin, a Conventional of small
+repute, owes the position he afterwards obtained and, ultimately, that
+in which we see him at the present moment. He proved discreet, and
+the ministers were faithful to him; but they made him the pivot of the
+machine and the cat's-paw of the machination. To return to my tale.
+
+"'Bonaparte has never yet been vanquished,' cried Carnot, in a tone of
+conviction, 'and he has just surpassed Hannibal.'
+
+"'If the worst happens, here is the Directory,' said Sieyes, artfully,
+indicating with a wave of his hand the five persons present.
+
+"'And,' added the Prince, 'we are all committed to the maintenance
+of the French republic; we three priests have literally unfrocked
+ourselves; the general, here, voted for the death of the king; and
+you,' he said, turning to Malin, 'have got possession of the property of
+_emigres_.'
+
+"'Yes, we have all the same interests,' said Sieyes, dictatorially, 'and
+our interests are one with those of the nation.'
+
+"'A rare thing,' said the Prince, smiling.
+
+"'We must act,' interrupted Fouche. 'In all probability the battle is
+now going on; the Austrians outnumber us; Genoa has surrendered; Massena
+has committed the great mistake of embarking for Antibes; it is very
+doubtful if he can rejoin Bonaparte, who will then be reduced to his own
+resources.'
+
+"'Who gave you that news?' asked Carnot.
+
+"'It is sure,' replied Fouche. 'You will have the courier when the
+Bourse opens.'
+
+"Those men didn't mince their words," said de Marsay, smiling, and
+stopping short for a moment.
+
+"'Remember,' continued Fouche, 'it is not when the news of a disaster
+comes that we can organize clubs, rouse the patriotism of the people,
+and change the constitution. Our 18th Brumaire ought to be prepared
+beforehand.'
+
+"'Let us leave the care of that to the minister of police,' said the
+Prince, bowing to Fouche, 'and beware ourselves of Lucien.' (Lucien
+Bonaparte was then minister of the interior.)
+
+"'I'll arrest him,' said Fouche.
+
+"'Messieurs!' cried Sieyes, 'our Directory ought not to be subject to
+anarchical changes. We must organize a government of the few, a Senate
+for life, and an elective chamber the control of which shall be in our
+hands; for we ought to profit by the blunders of the past.'
+
+"'With such a system, there would be peace for me,' remarked the
+ex-bishop.
+
+"'Find me a sure man to negotiate with Moreau; for the Army of the
+Rhine will be our sole resource,' cried Carnot, who had been plunged in
+meditation.
+
+"Ah!" said de Marsay, pausing, "those men were right. They were grand
+in this crisis. I should have done as they did"; then he resumed his
+narrative.
+
+"'Messieurs!' cried Sieyes, in a grave and solemn tone.
+
+"That word 'Messieurs!' was perfectly understood by all present; all
+eyes expressed the same faith, the same promise, that of absolute
+silence, and unswerving loyalty to each other in case the First Consul
+returned triumphant.
+
+"'We all know what we have to do,' added Fouche.
+
+"Sieyes softly unbolted the door; his priestly ear had warned him.
+Lucien entered the room.
+
+"'Good news!' he said. 'A courier has just brought Madame Bonaparte a
+line from the First Consul. The campaign has opened with a victory at
+Montebello.'
+
+"The three ministers exchanged looks.
+
+"'Was it a general engagement?' asked Carnot.
+
+"'No, a fight, in which Lannes has covered himself with glory. The
+affair was bloody. Attacked with ten thousand men by eighteen thousand,
+he was only saved by a division sent to his support. Ott is in full
+retreat. The Austrian line is broken.'
+
+"'When did the fight take place?' asked Carnot.
+
+"'On the 8th,' replied Lucien.
+
+"'And this is the 13th,' said the sagacious minister. 'Well, if that is
+so, the destinies of France are in the scale at the very moment we are
+speaking.'"
+
+(In fact, the battle of Marengo did begin at dawn of the 14th.)
+
+"'Four days of fatal uncertainty!' said Lucien.
+
+"'Fatal?' said the minister of foreign affairs, coldly and
+interrogatively.
+
+"'Four days,' echoed Fouche.
+
+"An eye-witness told me," said de Marsay, continuing the narrative in
+his own person, "that the consuls, Cambaceres and Lebrun, knew nothing
+of this momentous news until after the six personages returned to the
+salon. It was then four in the morning. Fouche left first. That man
+of dark and mysterious genius, extraordinary, profound, and little
+understood, but who undoubtedly had the gifts of a Philip the Second, a
+Tiberius and a Borgia, went at once to work with an infernal and secret
+activity. His conduct at the time of the affair at Walcheren was that of
+a consummate soldier, a great politician, a far-seeing administrator. He
+was the only real minister that Napoleon ever had. And you all know how
+he then alarmed him.
+
+"Fouche, Massena and the Prince," continued de Marsay, reflectively,
+"are the three greatest men, the wisest heads in diplomacy, war, and
+government, that I have ever known. If Napoleon had frankly allied them
+with his work there would no longer be a Europe, only a vast French
+Empire. Fouche did not finally detach himself from Napoleon until he saw
+Sieyes and the Prince de Talleyrand shoved aside.
+
+"He now went to work, and in three days (all the while hiding the hand
+that stirred the ashes of the Montagne) he had organized that general
+agitation which then arose all over France and revived the republicanism
+of 1793. As it is necessary that I should explain this obscure corner of
+our history, I must tell you that this agitation, starting from Fouche's
+own hand (which held the wires of the former Montagne), produced
+republican plots against the life of the First Consul, which was in
+peril from this cause long after the victory of Marengo. It was Fouche's
+sense of the evil he had thus brought about which led him to warn
+Napoleon, who held a contrary opinion, that republicans were more
+concerned than royalists in the various conspiracies.
+
+"Fouche was an admirable judge of men; he relied on Sieyes because of
+his thwarted ambition, on Talleyrand because he was a great _seigneur_,
+on Carnot for his perfect honesty; but the man he dreaded was the one
+whom you have seen here this evening. I will now tell how he entangled
+that man in his meshes.
+
+"Malin was only Malin in those days,--a secret agent and correspondent
+of Louis XVIII. Fouche now compelled him to reduce to writing all the
+proclamations of the proposed revolutionary government, its warrants and
+edicts against the factions of the 18th Brumaire. An accomplice against
+his own will, Malin was required to have these documents secretly
+printed, and the copies held ready in his own house for distribution
+if Bonaparte were defeated. The printer was subsequently imprisoned and
+detained two months; he died in 1816, and always believed he had been
+employed by a Montagnard conspiracy.
+
+"One of the most singular scenes ever played by Fouche's police was
+caused by the blunder of an agent, who despatched a courier to a famous
+banker of that day with the news of a defeat at Marengo. Victory, you
+will remember, did not declare itself for Napoleon until seven o'clock
+in the evening of the battle. At midday the banker's agent, considering
+the day lost and the French army about to be annihilated, hastened to
+despatch the courier. On receipt of that news Fouche was about to put
+into motion a whole army of bill-posters and cries, with a truck full
+of proclamations, when the second courier arrived with the news of the
+triumph which put all France beside itself with joy. There were heavy
+losses at the Bourse, of course. But the criers and posters who were
+gathered to announce the political death of Bonaparte and to post up
+the new proclamations were only kept waiting awhile till the news of the
+victory could be struck off!
+
+"Malin, on whom the whole responsibility of the plot of which he had
+been the working agent was likely to fall if it ever became known, was
+so terrified that he packed the proclamations and other papers in carts
+and took them down to Gondreville in the night-time, where no doubt they
+were hidden in the cellars of that chateau, which he had bought in
+the name of another man--who was it, by the bye? he had him made
+chief-justice of an Imperial court--Ah! Marion. Having thus disposed
+of these damning proofs he returned to Paris to congratulate the First
+Consul on his victory. Napoleon, as you know, rushed from Italy to Paris
+after the battle of Marengo with alarming celerity. Those who know the
+secret history of that time are well aware that a message from Lucien
+brought him back. The minister of the interior had foreseen the attitude
+of the Montagnard party, and though he had no idea of the quarter from
+which the wind really blew, he feared a storm. Incapable of suspecting
+the three ministers and Carnot, he attributed the movement which stirred
+all France to the hatred his brother had excited by the 18th Brumaire,
+and to the confident belief of the men of 1793 that defeat was certain
+in Italy.
+
+"The battle of Marengo detained Napoleon on the plains of Lombardy until
+the 25th of June, but he reached Paris on the 2nd of July. Imagine
+the faces of the five conspirators as they met the First Consul at the
+Tuileries, and congratulated him on the victory. Fouche on that very
+occasion at the palace told Malin to have patience, for _all was not
+over yet_. The truth was, Talleyrand and Fouche both held that Bonaparte
+was not as much bound to the principles of the Revolution as they were,
+and as he ought to be; and for this reason, as well as for their own
+safety, they subsequently, in 1804, buckled him irrevocably, as they
+believed, to its cause by the affair of the Duc d'Enghien. The execution
+of that prince is connected by a series of discoverable ramifications
+with the plot which was laid on that June evening in the boudoir of the
+ministry of foreign affairs, the night before the battle of Marengo.
+Those who have the means of judging, and who have known persons who were
+well-informed, are fully aware that Bonaparte was handled like a
+child by Talleyrand and Fouche, who were determined to alienate him
+irrevocably from the House of Bourbon, whose agents were even then, at
+the last moment, endeavoring to negotiate with the First Consul."
+
+"Talleyrand was playing whist in the salon of Madame de Luynes," said a
+personage who had been listening attentively to de Marsay's narrative.
+"It was about three o'clock in the morning, when he pulled out his
+watch, looked at it, stopped the game, and asked his three companions
+abruptly and without any preface whether the Prince de Conde had any
+other children than the Duc d'Enghien. Such an absurd inquiry from the
+lips of Talleyrand caused the utmost surprise. 'Why do you ask us what
+you know perfectly well yourself?' they said to him. 'Only to let
+you know that the House of Conde comes to an end at this moment.'
+Now Monsieur de Talleyrand had been at the hotel de Luynes the entire
+evening, and he must have known that Bonaparte was absolutely unable to
+grant the pardon."
+
+"But," said Eugene de Rastignac, "I don't see in all this any connection
+with Madame de Cinq-Cygnes and her troubles."
+
+"Ah, you were so young at that time, my dear fellow; I forgot to explain
+the conclusion. You all know the affair of the abduction of the Comte de
+Gondreville, then senator of the Empire, for which the Simeuse brothers
+and the two d'Hauteserres were condemned to the galleys,--an affair
+which did, in fact, lead to their death."
+
+De Marsay, entreated by several persons present to whom the
+circumstances were unknown, related the whole trial, stating that the
+mysterious abductors were five sharks of the secret service of the
+ministry of the police, who were ordered to obtain the proclamations of
+the would-be Directory which Malin had surreptitiously taken from his
+house in Paris, and which he had himself come to Gondreville for the
+express purpose of destroying, being convinced at last that the Empire
+was on a sure foundation and could not be overthrown. "I have no doubt,"
+added de Marsay, "that Fouche took the opportunity to have the house
+searched for the correspondence between Malin and Louis XVIII., which
+was always kept up, even during the Terror. But in this cruel affair
+there was a private element, a passion of revenge in the mind of the
+leader of the party, a man named Corentin, who is still living, and who
+is one of those subaltern agents whom nothing can replace and who
+makes himself felt by his amazing ability. It appears that Madame, then
+Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne, had ill-treated him on a former occasion
+when he attempted to arrest the Simeuse brothers. What happened
+afterwards in connection with the senator's abduction was the result of
+his private vengeance.
+
+"These facts were known, of course, to Malin, and through him to Louis
+XVIII. You may therefore," added de Marsay, turning to the Princesse de
+Cadignan, "explain the whole matter to the Marquise de Cinq-Cygne, and
+show her why Louis XVIII. thought fit to keep silence." ADDENDUM
+
+The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
+
+Beauvisage       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Berthier, Alexandre
+       The Chouans
+
+     Bonaparte, Lucien
+       The Vendetta
+
+     Bordin
+       The Seamy Side of History
+       The Commission in Lunacy
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+
+     Cinq-Cygne, Laurence, Comtesse (afterwards Marquise de)
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       The Seamy Side of History
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Corentin
+       The Chouans
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       The Middle Classes
+
+     Derville
+       Gobseck
+       A Start in Life
+       Father Goriot
+       Colonel Chabert
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+
+     Duroc, Gerard-Christophe-Michel
+       A Woman of Thirty
+
+     Espard, Jeanne-Clementine-Athenais de Blamont-Chauvry, Marquise d'
+       The Commission in Lunacy
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       Beatrix
+
+     Fouche, Joseph
+       The Chouans
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+
+     Giguet, Colonel
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Gondreville, Malin, Comte de
+       A Start in Life
+       Domestic Peace
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Gothard
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Goujet, Abbe
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Grandlieu, Duc Ferdinand de
+       The Thirteen
+       A Bachelor's Establishment
+       Modeste Mignon
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+
+     Granville, Vicomte de
+       A Second Home
+       Farewell (Adieu)
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       Cousin Pons
+
+     Grevin
+       A Start in Life
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Hauteserre, D'
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Lefebvre, Robert
+       Cousin Betty
+
+     Lenoncourt, Duc de
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       Beatrix
+
+     Louis XVIII., Louis-Stanislas-Xavier
+       The Chouans
+       The Seamy Side of History
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       The Ball at Sceaux
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Colonel Chabert
+       The Government Clerks
+
+     Marion (of Arcis)
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Marion (brother)
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Marsay, Henri de
+       The Thirteen
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Father Goriot
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       Ursule Mirouet
+       A Marriage Settlement
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       The Ball at Sceaux
+       Modeste Mignon
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+     Maufrigneuse, Duchesse de
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       Modeste Mignon
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       The Muse of the Department
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Maufrigneuse, Georges de
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       Beatrix
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Maufrigneuse, Berthe de
+       Beatrix
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Michu, Francois
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Michu, Madame Francois
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+     Murat, Joachim, Prince
+       The Vendetta
+       Colonel Chabert
+       Domestic Peace
+       The Country Doctor
+
+     Navarreins, Duc de
+       A Bachelor's Establishment
+       Colonel Chabert
+       The Muse of the Department
+       The Thirteen
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+       The Peasantry
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       The Country Parson
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       Cousin Betty
+
+     Peyrade
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+
+     Rapp
+       The Vendetta
+
+     Rastignac, Eugene de
+       Father Goriot
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Scenes from a Courtesan's Life
+       The Ball at Sceaux
+       The Commission in Lunacy
+       A Study of Woman
+       Another Study of Woman
+       The Magic Skin
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       A Daughter of Eve
+       The Firm of Nucingen
+       Cousin Betty
+       The Member for Arcis
+       The Unconscious Humorists
+
+     Regnier, Claude-Antoine
+       A Second Home
+
+     Simeuse, Admiral de
+       Beatrix
+       Jealousies of a Country Town
+
+     Steingel
+       The Peasantry
+
+     Talleyrand-Perigord, Charles-Maurice de
+       The Chouans
+       The Thirteen
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       Gaudissart II.
+
+     Vandenesse, Comte Felix de
+       The Lily of the Valley
+       Lost Illusions
+       A Distinguished Provincial at Paris
+       Cesar Birotteau
+       Letters of Two Brides
+       A Start in Life
+       The Marriage Settlement
+       The Secrets of a Princess
+       Another Study of Woman
+       A Daughter of Eve
+
+     Varlet
+       The Gondreville Mystery
+       The Member for Arcis
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's An Historical Mystery, by Honore de Balzac
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