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+Project Gutenberg's The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2, by Eugène Sue
+
+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: The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2
+       or The Foundation of the French Republic, A Tale of The
+       French Revolution
+
+Author: Eugène Sue
+
+Translator: Daniel De Leon
+
+Release Date: March 19, 2011 [EBook #35633]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SWORD OF HONOR, VOLUMES 1 & 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chuck Greif, Michigan Libraries and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SWORD OF HONOR
+
+
+
+
+THE FULL SERIES OF
+
+The Mysteries of the People
+
+  :: OR : :
+
+History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages
+
+By EUGENE SUE
+
+
+_Consisting of the Following Works_:
+
+  THE GOLD SICKLE; or, _Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen_.
+  THE BRASS BELL; or, _The Chariot of Death_.
+  THE IRON COLLAR; or, _Faustina and Syomara_.
+  THE SILVER CROSS; or, _The Carpenter of Nazareth_.
+  THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, _Victoria, the Mother of the Camps_.
+  THE PONIARD'S HILT; or, _Karadeucq and Ronan_.
+  THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, _The Monastery of Charolles_.
+  THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, _Bonaik and Septimine_.
+  THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, _The Daughters of Charlemagne_.
+  THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, _The Buckler Maiden_.
+  THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, _The End of the World_.
+  THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, _Fergan the Quarryman_.
+  THE IRON PINCERS; or, _Mylio and Karvel_.
+  THE IRON TREVET; or, _Jocelyn the Champion_.
+  THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, _Joan of Arc_.
+  THE POCKET BIBLE; or, _Christian the Printer_.
+  THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, _The Peasant Code_.
+  THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, _The Foundation of the French Republic_.
+  THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, _The Family Lebrenn_.
+
+Published Uniform With This Volume By
+
+THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.
+
+28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY
+
+
+
+
+  THE
+  SWORD OF HONOR
+
+  : : OR : :
+  THE FOUNDATION OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
+
+  A Tale of The French Revolution
+
+  By EUGENE SUE
+
+
+  IN TWO VOLUMES
+
+  TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH
+  By SOLON DE LEON
+  NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1910
+  Copyright, 1910, by the
+  NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.
+
+  [The two volumes have been included in one etext.
+          (Note of Transcriber)]
+
+
+
+
+TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
+
+
+Most persons know the French Revolution as a tremendous outburst in
+human affairs. Many know it as one of the race's great steps forward.
+That, however, it was the revolution which carried into power the then
+rising bourgeois, now capitalist, class; that this class, while
+appealing for and using the help of the working class, secretly hated
+and feared the demands of the latter, and blocked them at every
+opportunity; that finally the bourgeoisie, having obtained as
+revolutionists, by the aid of the workers, their end of the revolution,
+became as violently reactionary as had been the nobility they fought,
+and ruthlessly shot and guillotined to pieces the then definite
+proletarian movement for full political equality and collective
+ownership of the tools of production--that is an insight into the French
+Revolutionary period hitherto vouchsafed to few. To that insight Eugene
+Sue's genius has, with the present thrilling novel, made straight the
+way for all.
+
+This, _The Sword of Honor; or, The Foundation of the French Republic_,
+is the eighteenth and culminating unit in Sue's great historic-fiction
+series, _The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian
+Family Across the Ages_. Following close upon the previous volume, _The
+Blacksmith's Hammer; or, The Peasant Code_, in which the popular storm
+was seen gathering head under the atrocities of the gilded age of the
+Grand Monarch, the present story portrays that storm breaking in all
+the accumulated vigor of its centuries of postponement, and sweeping
+away the empty lay figures of an outgrown feudalism. True, one barrier
+to human liberty was thrown down only to disclose another. To the empire
+of birth and privilege was to succeed the empire of the shekel; to the
+rule of do-nothing kings, the rule of do-nothing plutocracy. But it is
+in the act of drilling itself for the overthrow of that final parasite
+class--for the final conquering, in other words, of freedom for the
+race--that Sue portrays the proletariat in the next and closing work of
+the series, _The Galley Slave's Ring; or, The Family of Lebrenn_. Though
+he minimizes none of the difficulties, his message for the future is of
+hope only.
+
+Nothing is more unanimous among historians of the period than
+expressions of commiseration for the condition of the French people
+before the Revolution. Yet nothing, on the other hand, is more unanimous
+either than the condemnation showered upon this people the moment it
+seizes the reins and enters upon the task of putting down its age-long
+tyrannizers. Into this absurd breach of consistency Sue's genius saved
+him from falling. In his pages Marat, Danton and Robespierre walk to
+their doom with head erect, clean from the smut slung at them by their
+bourgeois enemies, for whom _they were going too far_. Friends of the
+People once, so they remained to the end; and in that mantle Sue has
+preserved their memory for all time. For him who would rail at their
+summary deeds Sue has far from spread a bed of roses. The memory of the
+royalist massacres in the Vendee and of the triumphant bourgeois
+massacres during the White Terror, rescued by his pen from the oblivion
+in which they were sought to be buried, have thrown the Revolutionary
+Terror into its proper perspective. It is a bagatelle beside the acts
+committed by its denouncers.
+
+Sue's clear presentation of the maxim, "To the peasant the land, to the
+workman the tool"; his unflinching delineation of the debauchery of
+court and ecclesiastical circles of the time; his revelation of the role
+of the political machine under the guise of religion sending out its
+arms as willing regicides or _agents provocateurs_ by turn; and his
+clear depiction of the cowardly, grasping, double-dealing and
+fraud-perpetrating character of the bourgeois, all of which is presented
+in the easy reading of a story, make this thrilling work of fiction an
+unsurpassable epitome of the period in which its action elapses.
+
+Finally, it is the distinctive test of good literature upon any topic,
+that it does not sate, but incites to further thought and study. Not the
+least of the values of _The Sword of Honor; or, The Foundation of the
+French Republic_, is that it performs this reverent duty matchlessly for
+the momentous period of which it treats.
+
+SOLON DE LEON.
+
+New York, April, 1910.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX TO BOTH VOLUMES
+
+
+PART I. FALL OF THE BASTILLE.
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.   THE HOUSE IN ST. FRANCOIS STREET                                  7
+
+II.   REVOLUTIONARY EFFERVESCENCE                                     22
+
+III.  THE VOYANTS                                                     33
+
+IV.   LITTLE RODIN                                                    46
+
+V.    COUNT AND JESUIT                                                54
+
+VI.   ROYALISTS AT BANQUET                                            68
+
+VII.  NEWS FROM THE BARRICADES                                        83
+
+VIII. IN THE HALL OF THE PORTRAITS                                   101
+
+IX.   FILIAL CONFIDENCES                                             105
+
+X.    DEPUTY DESMARAIS                                               111
+
+XI.   LIONS AND JACKALS                                              122
+
+XII.  REUNITED FROM THE BASTILLE                                     132
+
+XIII. THE LEBRENN FAMILY                                             138
+
+XIV.  THE BOURGEOIS UNMASKED                                         150
+
+XV.   THE MYSTERIES OF THE PEOPLE                                    167
+
+
+PART II. THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION.
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.    THE NATION INSULTED--AND AVENGED                               179
+
+II.   MIRABEAU                                                       189
+
+III.  AT THE JACOBIN CLUB                                            195
+
+IV.   THE KING ARRESTED                                              211
+
+V.    THE DAY OF THE FIELD OF MARS                                   217
+
+VI.   WAR AND COUNTER-WAR                                            229
+
+VII.  TRIUMPHANT INSURRECTION                                        242
+
+VIII. REPRISALS                                                      258
+
+IX.   "TO THE FRONT!"                                                274
+
+X.     ROYALTY ABOLISHED                                             287
+
+XI.    BOURGEOIS TURNED SANS-CULOTTE                                 293
+
+XII.   HOWLING WITH THE WOLVES                                       303
+
+XIII.  THE HOWL RINGS FALSE                                          311
+
+
+PART II--THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION. (Continued)
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+XIV. JESUIT CAMPAIGNING                                                1
+
+XV. THE KING ON TRIAL                                                 23
+
+XVI. LEBRENN AND NEROWEG                                              33
+
+XVII. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE                                            45
+
+XVIII. THE KING SENTENCED                                             61
+
+XIX. EXECUTION                                                        66
+
+XX. MARRIAGE OF JOHN LEBRENN                                          69
+
+XXI. A LOVE FROM THE GRAVE                                            76
+
+XXII. MASTER AND FOREMAN                                              84
+
+XXIII. TO THE WORKMAN THE TOOL                                        95
+
+XXIV. LOST AGAIN                                                     101
+
+XXV. ROYALIST BARBARITIES                                            111
+
+XXVI. A REVOLUTIONARY OUTPOST                                        122
+
+XXVII. THE HEROINE IN ARMS                                           137
+
+XXVIII. SERVING AND MIS-SERVING                                      150
+
+XXIX. BATTLE OF THE LINES OF WEISSENBURG                             159
+
+XXX. DEATH OF VICTORIA                                               175
+
+XXXI. ONRUSH OF THE REVOLUTION                                       178
+
+XXXII. AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM!                                       188
+
+XXXIII. ARREST OF ROBESPIERRE                                        196
+
+XXXIV. THE NINTH THERMIDOR.                                          205
+
+XXXV. DEATH OF ROBESPIERRE.                                          213
+
+
+PART III--NAPOLEON.
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I. THE WHITE TERROR                                                  221
+
+II. COLONEL OLIVER                                                   227
+
+III. CROSS PURPOSES                                                  240
+
+IV. LAYING THE TRAIN                                                 245
+
+V. THE EIGHTEENTH BRUMAIRE                                           252
+
+VI. IN THE ORANGERY AT ST. CLOUD                                     258
+
+VII. GLORY; AND ELBA                                                 268
+
+VIII. RETURN OF NAPOLEON                                             277
+
+IX. WATERLOO                                                         288
+
+X. DEPOSITION                                                        295
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+I. "TO THE BARRICADES!"--1830                                        303
+
+II. ORLEANS ON THE THRONE                                            317
+
+CONCLUSION                                                           328
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+I, John Lebrenn, the son of Ronan, whose father was Alain, the last son
+of Salaun Lebrenn the mariner, now take up the thread of our family
+history, by writing the following narrative.
+
+Thanks to God, Oh, sons of Joel! my eyes have seen the beautiful day
+predicted to our ancestor Scanvoch the soldier by Victoria the Great,
+now more than fifteen centuries ago, and awaited from age to age by our
+family. I have witnessed the solemn judgment, the expiatory punishment
+of Louis Capet, called Louis XVI, the last of that line of Kings of
+Frankish origin. Rejoice, ye shades of my ancestors--ye martyrs of the
+Church, of the Nobility, and of Royalty! Rejoice, ye obscure soldiers
+who fought in the bloody conflicts that you engaged in from age to age,
+in resolute insurrections of the oppressed against the oppressors of
+centuries--of the sons of the conquered Gauls against the conqueror
+Franks! Rejoice! Old Gaul has recovered her ancient republican freedom!
+She has broken the abhorred yoke of the Kings, and the infamous yoke of
+the Church of Rome.
+
+I am writing this narrative in the year II of the French Republic, one
+and indivisible.
+
+My great-grandfather, Salaun Lebrenn, died at Amsterdam in his
+ninety-first year, on December 20, 1715. His son Alain, born in 1685,
+was then thirty years of age. He worked in Amsterdam as a printer, one
+of the most lucrative trades, in that the large number of books, then
+being written against the Church and royalty, could be published only at
+Geneva, or in Holland, free countries in which the right of intellectual
+free research was recognized and protected. My ancestor Alain sold in
+1715 the modest patrimony which he inherited from his father Salaun,
+left Holland, and settled down in France at the beginning of the Regency
+under Louis XV, the successor of Louis XIV. The freedom then enjoyed was
+great compared with conditions at the period of Louis XIV. Being
+exceptionally skilled at his trade, my grandfather secured the position
+of foreman in the printing house of one of the descendants of the famous
+Estienne, in whose establishment our ancestor Christian was long
+employed. Alain married the niece of his employer. Of that marriage was
+born, in 1727, my father Ronan. He followed my grandfather's trade. The
+latter died in 1751. My father had two children--my sister Victoria,
+born in 1760, and myself, John Lebrenn, born in 1766.
+
+My grandfather's life was spent in peace and obscurity. But great
+misfortunes fell upon our family. As you will read in the course of the
+following history, Oh, sons of Joel! it was not vouchsafed to my father
+to witness, as I did, the brilliant victory that crowned fifteen
+centuries of incessant, painful and bloody endeavor, thanks to which our
+ancestors--successively slaves, serfs and vassals--conquered, at the
+price of their lives and of innumerable rebellions, step by step, one by
+one, the franchises that the French Republic has now confirmed and
+consecrated in the face of the whole world, by proclaiming, in the name
+of the Rights of Man, the downfall of Kings and the sovereignty of the
+People.
+
+
+
+
+PART I.
+
+FALL OF THE BASTILLE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE HOUSE IN ST. FRANCOIS STREET.
+
+
+One night toward the middle of April, 1789, when the moon with its
+radiance clearly lighted the scene, a man, wrapped in a great-coat, and
+with his hat pulled far over his countenance, might have been seen
+carefully surveying the neighborhood of a building located in one of the
+most deserted streets of Paris, St. Francois Street, in the Swamp. A
+lofty wall, its black stones weathered with years of exposure, ran
+nearly the whole length of the thoroughfare, and served as facing to a
+terrace surmounted with trees that had laughed to scorn the storms of a
+century. Through their heavy foliage one caught glimpses of the stone
+front, the peaked roof, and the high brick chimneys of a mansion in the
+style of Louis XIV. A wall, pierced by several grated openings, formed a
+deep, semi-circular approach, leading up to a coach gate of massive oak,
+studded with enormous spikes of iron. To judge from the thick layers of
+dust and cobwebs which covered the gate, many had been the days since it
+was opened. A little bastard gate, closed with a wicket, and no less
+massively built than the principal entrance, gave on its other side onto
+a narrow and vaulted passage. To the left of this passage stood the door
+of a lodge the windows of which overlooked a spacious garden, laid out
+in the fashion of the previous century, and ornamented with vases and
+statues of stone, stained and broken by time. In the center of the
+garden rose another dwelling whose doors had been walled up, and whose
+windows were sealed with plates of lead, soldered into iron frames set
+in the masonry.
+
+One more little building, snuggled up against the entry-gate and
+evidently intended for the porter, was occupied only by a Jew and his
+wife. The couple this evening were chatting in a lower room whose
+half-open door communicated with the vaulted passage running to the
+street.
+
+David Samuel was in the neighborhood of thirty, his wife Bathsheba,
+twenty-five. The lineage of Israel was strongly stamped on their
+features. Bathsheba, seated before a little table lighted by a copper
+lamp, was preparing to write at her husband's dictation. The latter,
+sunk in an arm-chair, his forehead in his hands, was in grave mood, and
+said to his wife after a silence of several minutes:
+
+"The more I think over the present state of affairs, the more am I
+convinced that it is the part of prudence and necessity for us to
+prepare against unfortunate eventualities. In spite of our precautions
+within and without, what goes on here may one day be uncovered by the
+creatures of the Lieutenant of Police. We would then both be imprisoned,
+my dear Bathsheba! Then, if I should die in prison--"
+
+"Ah, my friend, what gloomy forebodings! Think not of such sad chances."
+
+"Everything must be reckoned with. So, then, in case I die, our cousin
+Levi, on whom I count as on myself--you know him--"
+
+"Your confidence is well placed."
+
+"I am sure of it. I wish to charge him, in that case, to take my place
+in the sacred mission which my grandfather and father have handed down
+to me. That is why I wish to hold ready, in advance, the memorandum
+which will place our relative in possession of the knowledge he will
+need in order to replace me. Come then, write as I dictate."
+
+At the moment that Samuel uttered these last words, he heard a knocking
+in a peculiar manner at the little bastard gate. First there were three
+blows, then two, separated from the others by a pause; and then two
+again; total, seven, the cabalistic number.
+
+Samuel manifested no surprise at the signal. He left the room, traversed
+the passage, drew close to the wicket, and asked in an undertone:
+
+"Who knocks?"
+
+"_A blind one._"
+
+"What does he seek?"
+
+"_The light._"
+
+"What time is it?"
+
+"_The hour of darkness, my brother!_"
+
+Immediately upon the last response, Samuel swung back the gate. Two
+persons wrapped in cloaks hurried through the passage and disappeared in
+the garden. The Jew secured again the gate, and returned to his wife,
+who, no more surprised than he by the mysterious entrance of the two
+newcomers, said:
+
+"Dictate, my friend; I shall write."
+
+"In the year 1660," began Samuel, "Monsieur Marius Rennepont, a rich
+Protestant shipowner and captain, lay in Lisbon. He had carried from
+France, on his ship, Monsieur the Duke of San Borromeo, one of
+Portugal's greatest lords. The very day of his arrival in Lisbon,
+Monsieur Rennepont saw from his hotel on the Plaza Mayor, the
+preparations for an auto-da-fé. On inquiry he learned that the next day
+a Jew named Samuel was to be burnt in the cause of religion. Monsieur
+Rennepont, being a humane and generous-minded man, and, moreover, having
+sympathy for the fate of heretics as his own Protestant co-religionists
+were beginning in France to be persecuted in spite of the Edict of
+Nantes, resolved to snatch this Jew from the torture, and counted on the
+support and protection of the Duke of San Borromeo.
+
+"The latter, more than once during the passage, had made tender of his
+services to the captain. Chance so willed it that he was the elder
+brother of the Inquisitor of Lisbon. Monsieur Rennepont's hopes were
+realized. The Duke of San Borromeo by his credit obtained from the
+tribunal of the Inquisition a commutation of the Jew's sentence from
+capital punishment to one of perpetual banishment. Monsieur Rennepont,
+having saved his protegé, made inquiries as to his character, and
+received the best accounts thereof. He proposed that the Jew accompany
+him to France, an offer which the latter accepted with gratitude. Later
+on Monsieur Rennepont entrusted him with the money matters of his trade;
+and Samuel devoted himself body and soul to his benefactor.
+
+"That Hebrew, my grandfather, was soon able to prove his gratitude to
+Monsieur Marius Rennepont. The Protestant persecutions increased in
+fury. Those who refused to be converted were exposed to violence and
+exactions of every sort. Monsieur Rennepont had a son whom he loved
+passionately. In order to ensure to this son the enjoyment of his goods
+by sheltering them from confiscation, he abjured the Protestant faith.
+Dearly he paid for that moment of weakness. The Jesuit Society, for some
+hidden reason which my grandfather never could fathom, pursued from age
+to age with their secret surveillance and hatred a certain Lebrenn
+family, with which one of Monsieur Rennepont's ancestors had been
+connected by marriage in the middle of the Sixteenth Century.[1] For
+reasons to be revealed later, that branch of the Renneponts had broken
+off its relations with the Lebrenns; it was even ignorant of whether its
+former allies had left any descendants.
+
+"The Society of Jesus, enveloping in its covert network of espionage all
+who, either closely or distantly, were connected with the Lebrenn
+family, learned through its agents that Monsieur Marius Rennepont, in
+spite of his apparent conversion to Catholicism, was in the habit of
+attending, along with several of his co-religionists, a certain
+Protestant church. Denounced by the Jesuits, Monsieur Rennepont incurred
+the terrible penalties visited upon the fallen from faith--the galleys
+for life, and the confiscation of his property. At the same time his
+only son fell a victim to a duel without witnesses. Some time
+thereafter, the father conceived the hazardous idea of escaping, at his
+age, from the rigors of the galleys. He fled to a house several hours
+distant from Paris, called my grandfather Samuel to his side, and
+entrusted to him his wishes and his last testament. The goods
+confiscated from him, had, by a royal order, been turned over to his
+betrayers, the Jesuits, who thus profited by his fortune. But Monsieur
+Rennepont, having long intended to leave to his son, should the latter
+survive him, a certain patrimony had laid away in a secret place fifty
+thousand crowns in gold. That sum he confided to my grandsire, charging
+him to re-purchase this estate where we now are, then estimated at
+between seven and eight thousand crowns. Samuel was instructed to carry
+out certain orders with regard to the main dwelling of the estate, and
+to live, with his descendants, in the lodge which we occupy.
+
+"The sum thus remaining in my grandfather's hands, amounting to some
+forty thousand crowns, he was to put out at interest as securely as
+possible; the sums accruing from this interest were to be capitalized
+and added to the principal for the space of about a century and a half,
+that is to say, till the year 1832. Samuel was authorized to draw every
+year two thousand livres from the profit of these investments, and to
+pass on this duty, and the salary attached to it, to his own son, or in
+case of the latter's death, to some relative, or co-religionist, known
+to him for probity.
+
+"Such is the solidarity which binds us Hebrews together, and which
+constitutes our strength, that my grandsire, even had he no son, would
+have found some faithful repository for his trust. But God willed that
+it should be my father Isaac himself who was to acquit himself of this
+debt of gratitude towards the protector of our ancestor, and that I, in
+turn, should fulfil the same duty.
+
+"The object of Monsieur Marius Rennepont in thus bequeathing to us the
+duty of investing the interests on the sum which he confided to our
+ancestor, was to leave to the third or fourth generation of his heirs an
+enormous fortune, the employment of which will only be disclosed upon
+the opening of his will, which his representatives will perform in
+forty-three years, on the 13th of February, 1832, in this house, the
+door of which is to remain sealed and the windows fastened until that
+date."
+
+At this point of his dictation Samuel was interrupted by a new series of
+raps, in the pre-arranged fashion, at the little gate. He disappeared
+for a moment, and almost as soon returned, saying to his wife:
+
+"We shall have to postpone our writing--we can take it up later. You may
+withdraw now about your household affairs. Prince Franz of Gerolstein
+has just arrived with a new comrade whom he wishes to entertain here in
+this chamber, before his initiation."
+
+"We shall continue the dictation again, then, my friend," responded
+Bathsheba, rising. And she added, with a deep sigh, "O, may you never
+regret having affiliated yourself with the 'Seeing Ones,' or 'Voyants,'
+as they call themselves."
+
+"No, my beloved wife, never shall I regret my affiliation with the
+Voyants. The ideas of which they have made themselves the propagandists
+must infallibly bring about the reign of fraternity and the emancipation
+of the human race. Then we, contemned Jews, shall enter into the
+communion of the great human family. In affiliating myself with the
+Voyants of Paris, in offering them the subterranean chambers which I
+place at their disposal for their meetings, I serve our own personal
+cause and also the cause of the disinherited, the downtrodden ones of
+the world. I am fulfilling thereby a sacred duty. Whatever may hap, I
+shall not regret having put my shoulder to the work of emancipation."
+
+"Oh, will that sacred cause, to which you have given yourself, soul and
+body, ever triumph? What dangers must be run, and for an uncertain end!"
+
+"Everything proclaims the early victory of our cause! Be of good cheer!"
+
+"Illusion, Samuel; the illusion of a generous heart. I fear you are but
+cruelly deceived."
+
+"It is no illusion, Bathsheba! Must it not be truth, which has so
+irresistible an attraction? Why else should the offspring of a prince be
+a Voyant?"
+
+"You mean Prince Franz of Gerolstein?"
+
+"He was initiated in Germany, the very cradle of our secret society. He
+has become one of our most ardent converts. Blessings on the day when it
+was given me to make acquaintance with the noble young man. Never did
+the cause of humanity have a more eloquent apostle, a more great-hearted
+defender. And still withal the society of which he is a member has
+declared an implacable war upon all privilege of birth or riches, upon
+all authority, royal or religious. 'Neither Kings nor priests!'--that is
+our motto. The Prince holds these ideas of equality, of
+emancipation--he, of a sovereign race! he, one destined to rule! Are not
+these thrilling signs? The doctrines of the enfranchisement of the
+working class are spread by the sovereign princes. The Emperor of
+Austria, Joseph II, brother of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France,
+without owning allegiance to the Voyants, without completely accepting
+their principles, nevertheless travels Europe incognito as a
+philosopher, nowhere permitting that they pay him the honors due to
+royal blood, visiting the bourgeois, the lower ranks, mingling with all
+classes of society, observing for himself the trend of their spirit,
+sympathizing with their new ideas, submitting himself, perhaps without
+his own knowledge, to the influence of that regenerating breeze which is
+sweeping over the old world. The reign of justice and equality is close
+at hand!"
+
+"In truth--these signs are thrilling," mused Bathsheba pensively.
+
+"Yes, dear wife, the end of persecution and iniquity draws nigh. In a
+few years, one will find difficulty in persuading himself that there was
+a time when we Israelites were under the ban of the world; when there
+was a price upon us; when we were tortured, hanged, burned, all because
+we were Jews; and when the Protestants, like us, were sent to the
+galleys or to death, solely because they were Lutherans or Calvinists.
+Ah, no fear, the descendants of Monsieur Marius Rennepont will be able
+to enjoy in security the huge fortune which they are to inherit, whether
+they are Catholics or Protestants--my hope is firm."
+
+Bathsheba reflected a moment and answered:
+
+"My friend, I do not understand you. Monsieur Marius Rennepont left at
+his death but fifty thousand crowns in gold as his whole heritage. Out
+of this your ancestor paid the price of this mansion. How, then, will
+his heirs inherit the colossal fortune of which you speak!"
+
+"In this way, Bathsheba. My grandfather, after the death of Monsieur
+Rennepont, by means of certain financial operations, succeeded, after
+some little time, in recouping the eight thousand crowns paid for the
+estate. In 1683 he had completely restored the fifty thousand crowns. He
+took the cash; invested it, together with the interest and emoluments,
+and fifteen years later, in 1696, the sum had already grown to three
+hundred thousand livres, which, doubled by investment in 1710, made six
+hundred thousand. Finally, in 1719, when my grandfather died, the sum
+had reached nearly a million. The doubling of the capital took place in
+ten, twelve, or fourteen years, depending on the rate of interest, it
+being in different years seven, six, or five per cent.
+
+"The million which my grandfather Samuel left at his death," continued
+Samuel, "had, by 1724, become 1,200,000; 1742, two years after my birth,
+nearly 5,000,000; in 1766, it was 9,600,000 livres; in 1780, 19,600,000
+livres; and at this moment the bequest of Marius Rennepont has attained
+the magnitude of 34,300,000 livres, 8 sous, 11 deniers. That is not all.
+Just think of what it will be forty years from now, progressing at the
+same rate: In 1794 it will climb to nearly 38,000,000; in 1808, to
+76,000,000; in 1822, to 150,000,000; and in 1832, the time set for the
+opening of the will of Monsieur Marius Rennepont and for the partition
+of his fortune among his descendants, the fortune will have capped the
+enormous figure of 220,000,000 livres!"
+
+"It is certainly prodigious," rejoined Bathsheba. "Even with your
+explanation, my surprise makes me dizzy. But that dizziness," she added,
+with great emotion, "shall not keep me from feeling a noble pride in the
+fact that it was your grandsire, your sire, and you yourself, who have
+been till now the worthy repositories of such a treasure. Oh, Samuel,
+you indeed acquit the debt of gratitude contracted by your grandfather
+toward Monsieur Marius Rennepont."
+
+"We but perform a sacred duty confided to our integrity and our
+prudence," returned the Jew. "My grandparent, my parent and I have ever
+been careful not to endanger the smallest part of this sum in risky
+ventures. Thanks to the financial relations of our co-religionists with
+all the banks of Europe, we have been able to confine ourselves
+rigorously to investments of the highest security. Should God give to us
+a son, my dear wife, he will have, I hope, the prudence and the probity
+of his fathers. If the joy of having a son is denied us, or if some
+unforeseen development should prevent me from carrying on this mission
+of honor, our cousin Levi, whose uprightness I well know, will take my
+place. Or better still, perhaps the Lord will grant me a green old age,
+thus enabling me in 1832, with ninety winters on my back, to return in
+person to the heirs of the house of Rennepont the sacred trust which
+their ancestor so long ago confided to mine. That will be a day too good
+to hope for, if I can be present at the opening of Monsieur Rennepont's
+testament. But God alone knows the future!"
+
+After a pause, Samuel continued:
+
+"To bring his heirs together at the distant time set for the opening of
+his will, Monsieur Rennepont, a short time before his death, hit upon
+an ingenious plan. He transmitted to each of his descendants a medal
+which bore on one side the legend:
+
+       VICTIM OF S. J.
+        PRAY FOR ME
+           1682.
+
+And on the reverse, the words:
+
+    AT PARIS, SAINT FRANCOIS STREET, NO. 3
+      IN A CENTURY AND A HALF YOU WILL BE
+           FEBRUARY THE 13TH, 1832.
+
+"It is by means of these medals, handed down from generation to
+generation, that the Rennepont heirs will one day be reunited here, in
+this, the house of their ancestor."
+
+"My friend," asked Bathsheba, "in the note you were dictating to me for
+our friend Levi, you made mention of a Lebrenn family, related to
+Monsieur Rennepont, which, in spite of its relationship, will probably
+not partake in the division of the fortune. Whence and why this
+exclusion?"
+
+"I learned from my father that the grandfather of Monsieur Rennepont,
+after his abjuration, conceived the greatest aversion for his relatives
+of the Lebrenn branch, severed all connection with them, and even
+concealed the fact of their existence from his son, out of dread to
+submit him some day to the influence of that family, the implacable
+enemy, as it was, of the Church."
+
+"And did the father of Monsieur Marius Rennepont remain true to the
+Roman faith?"
+
+"He did, my beloved Bathsheba; but his son, Monsieur Marius himself,
+reaching the age of reason shortly after his father's death, embraced
+Protestantism, which still later he feigned to renounce, in order to
+protect his fortune for his son--a regrettable act of weakness."
+
+"How, then, was the existence of this Lebrenn branch discovered? It all
+grows more and more mysterious to me, and whets my curiosity."
+
+"Shortly before his death, by suicide, Monsieur Marius Rennepont was
+looking over some family papers running back to the Sixteenth Century,
+to the period of the religious wars. There he found to a certainty proof
+of the connection between the Renneponts and the Lebrenns. But whether
+the latter had left any descendants he was unable to determine."
+
+"Does that mean, Samuel, that should there be living survivors of the
+Lebrenn family at the time the Rennepont fortune is partitioned, they
+will have no share in it?"
+
+"The formal wish of the testator," replied Samuel, "is that only those
+who in 1832 present themselves here armed with their hereditary
+medallion shall be admitted to benefice in the inheritance. I shall
+abide by the instructions which have been handed down to me. According
+to what my father said, who had his information direct from his father,
+the confidant of Monsieur Rennepont himself, that clause was dictated by
+motives which will be revealed in the will."
+
+"Everything in this affair is strange and singular. Probably no one even
+knows where to find the present descendants of Monsieur Rennepont."
+
+"As to me, Bathsheba, I have not the slightest clue. Still--my father
+did tell me that twice in his life, Rennepont heirs presented themselves
+here with their hereditary medals bearing the address of this house,
+drawn hither by curiosity or vague pecuniary expectations--curiosity and
+expectations which met only with disappointment."
+
+"What said your father to them?"
+
+"Just what I should say in like case: 'I have nothing to communicate to
+you. This house belongs to me; it was left me by my father. I know not
+for what purpose or with what plan in view your ancestor designated this
+building to his heirs as their rendezvous a century and a half from
+date.'"
+
+"That is, in fact, the answer commanded by prudence, Samuel. The world
+must remain in ignorance of the great value of the bequest you are
+charged with."
+
+"Reasons of the utmost gravity impose upon us an absolute secrecy on the
+subject. In the first place, according to what my father had from my
+grandfather, the Society of Jesus, always so well served by its
+innumerable host of spies, succeeded in finding out that Monsieur
+Rennepont had saved an important sum from the confiscation which proved
+so profitable to the reverend fathers; for the informers and the
+executioners parted the spoils."
+
+"Samuel! If these priests, so powerful, so masterful, and with so many
+avenues of underground working should ever suspect the truth! I tremble
+at the mere thought."
+
+"Take heart, my good wife. The danger would be great, but I should know
+how to escape it. It was even more necessary in my grandfather's and
+especially in my father's case that they kept in profound secrecy the
+treasures they possessed; for the governments of Louis XIV, the Regent,
+and Louis XV, always in want, always at their wits' end for cash, were
+none too scrupulous in the means they chose to replenish their coffers.
+We Jews have always been a little beyond the pale of common rights, so
+that my grandfather or my father, once suspected of being the possessors
+of a sum amounting to several millions, would have been haled off on
+_lettres de cachet_, thrown into the cell of some State prison, and kept
+there till they had bought off their liberty, or, perhaps, their very
+lives at the price of the treasure which they were suspected of
+guarding."
+
+"Ah, Samuel, I shudder to think that in those days every wickedness was
+possible. They might even have put your father to the torture."
+
+"Thanks be to God, all that is out of the question to-day. And still,
+anticipating ill chances and exactions, we have always stowed our
+treasure in safe places and safe hands. Should the mansion be ransacked
+from cellar to eaves, the wealth of which we are the keepers would
+escape the search--"
+
+Pricking his ear, Samuel checked his speech and listened intently a
+moment in the direction of the street gate. Then he said aloud to
+himself:
+
+"Who is knocking there? It is not one of our men."
+
+"The hour is unearthly," answered Bathsheba, uneasily. "It is past
+midnight. This lonely street has long since been deserted. May it not be
+our lookout come to warn us of the approach of some peril?"
+
+"No, our lookout would have given the established signal," answered the
+Jew. "I'll go see what it may be."
+
+And taking the lamp, he passed out of the chamber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+REVOLUTIONARY EFFERVESCENCE.
+
+
+Lamp in hand, Samuel approached the wicket gate. The light he carried
+revealed to him standing outside a lackey in a livery of orange and
+green, trimmed with silver lace. The fellow, swaying unsteadily on his
+feet, and with the air of one half-seas over with drink, knocked again,
+violently.
+
+"Ho, friend!" cried Samuel. "Don't knock so hard! Perhaps you mistake
+the house."
+
+"I--I knock how I please," returned the lackey in a thick voice. "Open
+the door--right off. I want to come in--gallows-bird!"
+
+"Whom do you wish?"
+
+"You do not want to open; dog of Jewry! Swine! My master will beat you
+to death with his stick. He said to me: 'Carry--this letter to Samuel
+the Jew--and above all--rascal--do not tarry at the inn!' So I want to
+get in to your dog-kennel, you devil of a Jew!"
+
+"May I ask your master's name?"
+
+"My master is Monseigneur the Count of Plouernel, colonel in the Guards.
+You know him well. You have before now lent him money--triple
+Arab!--according to what my lord's steward says--and at good interest,
+too."
+
+"Have you your master's letter?"
+
+"Yes--pig! And so, open. If not--I'll break in the gate."
+
+"Then pass me the letter through the wicket, and hurry about it. Else I
+shall go in and leave you as you are."
+
+"Mule! Isn't he stubborn, that animal!" grumbled the lackey as he shoved
+the letter through the grating. "I must have an answer, good and quick,
+I was told," he added.
+
+"When I have read the letter," replied Samuel.
+
+"To make me wait outside the door--like a dog!" muttered the tipsy
+servingman. "Me, the first lackey of my lord!"
+
+Samuel, without paying the least attention to the impertinences of the
+lackey, read the letter of the Count of Plouernel by the light of his
+lamp, and then answered:
+
+"Say to your master that I shall visit him to-morrow morning at his
+rooms. Your errand is done. You may leave."
+
+"You won't give me a written answer?"
+
+"No, the reply I have just given you will suffice."
+
+Leaving the valet outside to fume his wrath away, Samuel refastened the
+wicket and returned to the room where he had left his wife. Bathsheba
+said to him, with some uneasiness:
+
+"My friend, did I not hear a threatening voice?"
+
+"It was a drunken lackey who brought me a letter from the Count of
+Plouernel."
+
+"Another demand for a loan, I suppose?"
+
+"Exactly. He has ordered me to undertake to secure for him the sum of
+100,000 livres. He did not call on me direct for the loan, because he
+thought me too poor to be able to furnish it."
+
+"Will you lend him the money, my friend?"
+
+"Surely, on excellent securities of thirty deniers to one. The Count is
+good for it, and it will please me to squeeze him, along with other
+great seigneurs, to the profit of the strong-box of the Voyants."
+
+Hardly had Samuel uttered these words when Prince Franz of Gerolstein,
+accompanied by one single companion, entered the room. Samuel and his
+wife silently passed upstairs to the floor above, leaving the two alone.
+
+Franz of Gerolstein, then at the age of twenty-five, tall of stature and
+at once graceful and robust, presented an appearance both noble and
+impressive. In his face could be read frankness, resolution, and
+generosity. He was simply dressed. His companion, who was evidently a
+woman disguised in male habiliments, seemed as young as he, though she
+was really thirty. In spite of their rare beauty, her features bore the
+stamp of virility. Her figure was tall and lithe; a brownish down marked
+strongly her upper lip; everything harmonized with her masculine
+garments. Yet the beauty of this woman was of a sinister character. The
+marble-like pallor of her brow, the flashes of her black eyes, the
+contraction of her pupils, the bitterness of the smile, frequently
+cruel, which curled on her lips--all seemed to bear witness to the
+ravages of passion or to some incurable chagrin. She seemed either a
+superb courtesan, or a repentant Magdalen.
+
+Neither Franz nor his companion broke the silence of the lower room for
+an instant. The Prince spoke first, in a voice grave and almost solemn:
+
+"Victoria, it is now three months since my visit to the Prison of the
+Repentant Women. Your beauty, marked with a depth of sadness, seized
+possession of me at once. I learned why you had been condemned to
+confinement. Those reasons, once learned, moved me deeply. From that
+time dates the interest with which you have inspired me. By the
+intervention of a powerful friend, I am fortunate enough to have secured
+your release."
+
+"Yes, I owe you my liberty," responded she whom he called Victoria, in a
+virile voice. "And moreover, you have given me, in my misfortune, many
+proofs of affection."
+
+"But the interest I have shown you has other springs than in your
+misfortune--although that has much augmented it."
+
+"What may they be, Franz? Speak--I am listening."
+
+The Prince paused in silence for a second, and then asked:
+
+"Know you who I am?"
+
+"Have you not told me that you were a student in one of the universities
+of Germany, your native land?"
+
+"I deceived you as to my station, Victoria. I am no student."
+
+"You deceived me! You whom I thought so true?"
+
+"You will soon learn for what cause I hid from you the truth. But first
+I would make you aware of the nature of the sentiments you inspire in
+me. I can no longer hold back the confession. Hear me, then,
+Victoria--"
+
+The young woman shuddered, stopped the Prince, and said in tones of
+bitterness:
+
+"Unless I greatly mistake, I foresee the end of this speech, Franz. So
+before you proceed, and in the hope of sparing you a refusal which would
+be an insult to you, I must declare that I have not changed since I met
+you. I must repeat what I said to you in our first interview: My heart
+is dead to love--one single passion rules me, and that is, vengeance. I
+have hid from you nothing of the past."
+
+"Aye, I know that you have suffered. Victoria, if your heart is dead,
+mine is no longer mine. I left behind in Germany a young girl, an angel
+of candor, of virtue, of beauty. She is poor and obscure of birth, but I
+have sworn before God to make her my wife. I shall remain true to my
+love and to my oath."
+
+"Oh, thanks, Franz, thanks for your confidence. It has lifted from me a
+fearsome apprehension," said Victoria, with a sigh of joy. "I love you
+with the tenderness of a sister, or rather, of a friend. For I am no
+longer a woman, and it would have been cruelty on my part to inspire in
+you a sentiment I could not share. But what, then, is the nature of your
+feeling towards me?"
+
+"I feel for you the tender compassion due to the sorrows of your
+childhood and early youth--a profound esteem for the qualities which in
+you have survived, have overcome, all the causes of your
+degradation;--and finally, Victoria, I am united to you by an
+indissoluble bond which reaches into the most distant past--that of
+kinship."
+
+Victoria gazed at the Prince in a sort of stupor as he proceeded: "We
+are of one blood, Victoria. We are relatives. One cradle, one origin,
+embraced our two families. Have you ever read the records your fathers
+have handed down from age to age, for now over sixteen centuries?"
+
+"I learned of those writings during the two years I spent with my mother
+and brother, subsequent to the event I have related to you. The reading
+of our annals, added to all the ferments of hate, already planted in my
+soul, and to the disappearance of my father, now dead or languishing in
+some pit of the Bastille, all created and matured in me that craving for
+vengeance, or rather for reprisals, which now possesses me. I long to
+serve that vengeance, at the cost of my life, if need be. That is why I
+have consented to this initiation, the hour of which is now approached.
+Vengeance will be but justice, and I wish it to be implacable."
+
+"The hour is indeed arrived, Victoria, and also the moment to reveal to
+you what we are to each other. You have in your plebeian annals a
+princely name, that of Charles of Gerolstein. That prince was a
+descendant of Gaëlo the Pirate, who in the Tenth Century accompanied old
+Rolf, chief of the Northman pirates, to the siege of Paris.[2] One of
+the descendants of Gaëlo, taking his departure from Norway, went, some
+time in the Tenth Century, to establish himself with one of the
+independent tribes of Germany. His courage, his military prowess, caused
+his election as chief of the tribe. His son, equal to his father for
+wisdom and bravery, succeeded him to the command. The chieftainship from
+that time forward became hereditary in the family. Later, the tribe of
+Gerolstein became one of the foremost in the German confederation. Thus
+did the descendants of Gaëlo found the sovereign house of Gerolstein,
+to-day represented by my father, who now holds sway in his German
+principality. Our relationship is beyond doubt, Victoria, and the bonds
+thereof were again strengthened in the Sixteenth Century, when, in the
+religious wars, the ancestors of us both fought together under Admiral
+Coligny."
+
+"So, Franz, you are of the race of sovereigns," Victoria made answer.
+Then she continued: "It is now three months since you rescued me from
+prison. Shame, grief, self-contempt have deterred me from returning to
+my mother and brother. I am penniless. I wished to earn my living as a
+sempstress, a trade in which my mother instructed me during my stay with
+her. That would be the wisest thing to do. Why have you opposed my
+desires?"
+
+"Because I thought you could serve the cause of humanity more fruitfully
+than by occupying yourself with the needle."
+
+"You told me that I was to go through a novitiate of several months,
+during which time I might demand no assistance in my work. I accepted of
+you the money necessary for my modest needs. You were to me both brother
+and teacher. I saw you every day for hours. Little by little my eyes
+were opened to the light. Radiant horizons dazzled my vision. You filled
+me with your generous aspirations. You fired me with that fever of
+devotion and resignation, that thirst for sacrifices, from which spring
+saints and martyrs. You followed with interest my progress in the new
+path that you opened out to me. Day by day I wished that my initiation
+might end. I wished to take my part in action, in your projects. But now
+that you have revealed your birth, your station, I begin to doubt you.
+Is the object of your society really that which you have taught me it
+was, the recovery of the rights ravaged from the disinherited classes?"
+
+"The least doubt on your part on that score, Victoria, would be a cruel
+blow to me. We have taken arms for justice and right."
+
+"Pardon me, Franz. Then the _level_, that inflexible emblem--the social
+level--"
+
+"Is our emblem. Equality of rights for man and woman!"
+
+"It is your emblem, my lord? Yours, the son of a sovereign?"
+
+"The aim of my life is the triumph of liberty, the birth of the
+Republic! Hear me, Victoria. You have borne the hardships, the
+sufferings, the shame of a prison. Which, you or a person unknown to
+prison horrors, knows them better? Which would hate them more?"
+
+"I read your thought. Despotism itself has taught you its horror."
+
+"And you will no longer wonder at me--of a sovereign race, but yet as
+lowly of origin as you, as both our families originated in the same
+place--when I take the level as my emblem?"
+
+"I shall wonder no more, Franz; but to my wonder succeeds a glow of
+admiration." With her eyes full of tears, and bowing her knee before the
+Prince of Gerolstein, Victoria kissed his hand, saying, "May you be
+blessed and glorified for your generous sentiments."
+
+"Rise, Victoria," answered the Prince with emotion. "My conduct does not
+merit your admiration. It is but a puny sacrifice for us to make of our
+privileges, compared with the grandeur of our cause." Then after a
+pause, he resumed in mild and grave tones: "But now reflect on this
+solemn moment of your initiation. There is still time for you to retract
+your allegiance to us."
+
+"Franz, after three months of proof, I shall not weaken at the last
+moment. I am ready for the ceremony."
+
+"Think of the terrible vows you are about to take."
+
+"Be they what they may, I shall not be found wanting in faith, courage,
+or devotion."
+
+"I wished to reveal to you our family connection in order that you could
+accept from me without embarrassment, as should be between relatives,
+your means of livelihood for the future, should you not care to carry
+out your plan. Your liberty of action shall remain complete and
+absolute."
+
+"I shall always accept from you, Franz, a service without blushing. But
+more than ever before, am I resolved to pledge myself to your cause, to
+the cause of the expropriated--if you think me worthy to serve it."
+
+"I shall not speak to you of the perils confronting us. You are above
+all, valiant. But it is necessary to reconcile you to a complete
+renunciation of self. You will be an instrument; not a blind one, but at
+once intelligent and passive. The Voyants are obliged to employ, for the
+deliverance, regeneration and happiness of mankind, some of the very
+means which the Society of Jesus uses to enslave and brutalize it. The
+sword, according as it is used, may be the dagger of the assassin or the
+glaive of the citizen wielded in defense of his country. It was the
+glaive with which Brutus opposed the Roman aristocracy, and smote
+Caesar."
+
+"I know the end toward which I shall be guided, the triumph of right and
+of justice. I shall obey."
+
+"Perhaps you will also have to renounce your hopes of vengeance and
+reprisals. Will you be equal to that?"
+
+The young woman shook and her features darkened under the stress of the
+internal struggle which these words caused her. Finally she broke out in
+an altered voice:
+
+"What, Franz! Shall centuries of oppression not have their day of
+retribution? Shall the crimes of ages go unpunished? Shall the shades of
+our martyred fathers not be appeased by vengeance? Shall the example of
+inexorable justice not be given to the world, in the name of eternal
+good? What! They would deny us one day, one single day of legitimate
+reprisals after fifteen centuries of crime? Must the victims be
+constrained to pardon their executioners?"
+
+"Victoria, those who seek the birth of the reign of fraternity on earth
+hold blood in abhorrence. They hope to accomplish the freedom, the
+regeneration of mankind by mercy and pardon, and by educating the
+working class."
+
+"Then I renounce my vengeance!" said the young woman. "But if the
+eternal enemies of humanity oppose themselves, by trickery or by
+violence, to the emancipation of the oppressed; if on their part, the
+conflict is engaged without either mercy or pity, shall the victims have
+to kneel, and offer their throats to the knife?"
+
+"In that case, Victoria, may the blood fall on the heads of those who
+first shed it. Accursed be those who respond by treachery or violence to
+our words of love, of concord, of justice and of reparation! Then will
+be fulfilled once more, perhaps for the last time, that law of human
+progress, which, so many times across the ages, has encrimsoned the
+conquest of the most equitable reforms. Insurrection will have to impose
+upon the oppressors concessions the voluntary granting of which would
+have saved the world from all these woes. Accursed be those who shall
+then attempt to oppose force to the demands of the times. Then,
+Victoria, there shall be war, war tremendous, pitiless! It will be the
+unchaining of popular passions. No bridle can hold them. The justice of
+God will pass over a terror-stricken world. Then, in the midst of that
+tempest which shall overturn thrones and altars--then, Victoria, you
+shall appear, terrible as the Goddess of Vengeance, striking with her
+broad sword the old world, condemned in the name of the good of the
+peoples."
+
+"Oh, my life, my whole life for one hour of such vengeance!" cried the
+young woman, palpitating in wild exaltation. "Aye, let my life be a
+hundred times more miserable, more abject, more horrible than that which
+a King put upon me--I shall live it twice over in order to assist in the
+hour of this vengeance. A day, an hour of reprisals, for my life of
+misery!"
+
+"Come then, Victoria, you shall be ours as we shall be yours, in life,
+in death, in triumph, in vengeance!"
+
+So speaking, the Prince of Gerolstein led Victoria Lebrenn out of
+Samuel's chamber, across the garden, and into a deserted and
+half-subterranean green-house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE VOYANTS.
+
+
+The half-underground hot-house into which Franz of Gerolstein conducted
+his new convert was dimly lighted by a lamp placed at the foot of a
+stairway leading still further beneath the earth. On the first step of
+this staircase Franz found a package from which he produced two loose
+robes and two masks. Addressing his companion, he said:
+
+"Put this robe on over your garments, and hide your countenance behind
+this mask."
+
+They descended the stairs, and arrived in a corridor, lighted by the
+hanging lamp whose rays had guided them from above. At the extremity of
+the passage stood a man cloaked in red and with a black mask over his
+visage. He held a naked sword in his hand, and advanced two steps to
+meet the newcomers.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked.
+
+"We are of the _disinherited_," replied Franz. "For father we had
+_enslavement_, for mother _ignorance_; our condition is _misery_. We are
+of the poor, the oppressed, the damned here below."
+
+"What do you wish, my brother?"
+
+"_Liberty_, _knowledge_, _happiness_."
+
+"Knock at that door," commanded the masked figure in red, stepping aside
+to make way for Franz and his companion. "Knock and it shall be opened
+unto you; seek, and ye shall find."
+
+The door opened, and as soon closed behind the two initiates. For a
+moment they were blinded by the brilliance which flooded the
+subterraneous chamber to which they had now penetrated. It was lighted
+by seventy candelabra, each bearing seven candles--again the mystic
+number. The walls were covered with red drapery; at the further end a
+raised platform formed a dais with closed curtains; on the front of the
+dais was the picture of a carpenter's level. Several steps from the
+platform, on a draped table, were thrown in confusion a royal crown, a
+scepter, a pontifical tiara, a bishop's crosier, several collars of
+chivalric orders, and a few ducal or princely coronets; besides these
+there lay in the heap some pouches, half open, and full of gold and
+silver pieces.
+
+Directly behind the table on which thus lay cluttered the emblems of
+religion, royalty, aristocracy and wealth, stood seven masked men,
+garbed in long robes, silent and erect, their arms crossed on their
+chests, seven specters, seven fantastic apparitions. The one whose duty
+it was to officiate at the reception of initiates stood in the center.
+Three Voyants were ranged to his right, three to his left. He addressed
+Victoria, who keenly felt the impression produced on her by the strange
+spectacle:
+
+"Woman, your age?"
+
+"Fifteen centuries, and more. I was born the first day of the
+enslavement and misery of my brothers."
+
+"What would you?"
+
+"The end of oppression. I wish to beat down thrones and altars,
+privileges of birth and of fortune, all the hoary monuments of
+ignorance, of slavery, and of iniquity, all the monopolies, all the
+privileges which flourish upon the people."
+
+"What will happen when the level shall have passed over the old world,
+and when the exploiters of the people shall have disappeared?"
+
+"The darkness of ages shall be superseded by the revivifying warmth and
+the fruitful light of the sun; harvests of abundance will cover with
+their sheaves the soil tilled by a fecund revolution."
+
+"Is your severance from the old world complete?"
+
+"I have broken with the old world, and rallied to the new."
+
+"Behold this pontifical tiara, this kingly crown; gaze on these symbols
+of nobility, these sacks of gold and silver. You may demand of kings, of
+priests, of nobles, of the rich, the enjoyments of life, all by devoting
+yourself body and soul to these idols and to tyranny."
+
+"It is my wish to overthrow those idols. I vow an implacable hatred to
+the enemies of the people."
+
+"From this hour," responded the cloaked president, apparently satisfied
+with the interrogatory, "you shall be ours as we will be yours. Our
+device so has it--_All for each; each for all._ By this device,
+co-operation will replace in the future the selfishness of the masters
+of the old world. Who caused all the evils of which selfishness has been
+the source? He who first dug a ditch about a piece of common land and
+said 'This is mine.' The usurpation was consecrated by men simple-minded
+enough to respect these arbitrary boundaries; the spoliation of several
+by one gradually became a right; the deed became the law, the exception
+the rule. The tyranny growing out of this principle, initiated by
+violence and perpetuated by custom, became rooted in the peoples' mind,
+till at length they came to own an infant mewling in the cradle for
+their King, and to kiss the boot of the Pope. What consequences have not
+come out of these aberrations! Peoples have throttled each other. The
+earth has its damned ones, more to be pitied than those with whom
+superstition peoples hell. The damned on earth call themselves vassals,
+serfs, proletarians, artisans, laborers! It is of these damned ones that
+we seek the redemption. Think you the overturning of thrones and altars
+will suffice for the deliverance of these victims? No, alas, no. To the
+tyranny of King and Church will succeed an exploitation still more
+tyrannical, that of the tribe of Business. Then the dispenser of work
+and of wages will exert an empire absolute over his wage-earning
+workingmen. On the ruins of the thrones and altars will soon grow up the
+oligarchy of merchants and bourgeois.
+
+"That oligarchy must also in its end be overthrown," continued the
+initiator. "That is our final aim.[3] Our design is to unite by the bond
+of a common faith, thousands of initiates in every country of
+Europe--first in Germany, then in France, in England, and elsewhere; to
+bring them gradually, by initiation, into the knowledge of the object of
+our association; to have them swear obedience to its chiefs, visible and
+invisible, and chosen from all ranks of society, from the highest to the
+lowest; to recruit our partisans and co-workers in the very councils of
+the Kings themselves, in the heart of the palace of the Popes. Our
+enemies will find themselves, without their knowing it, perpetually
+under our eyes; their plots will be revealed to us; their own creatures,
+to all appearances the most devoted to them, will obey our orders, and
+undermine the foundations of their social edifice. Then in the hour of
+redemption the old world shall crumble and go down under its debris of
+priests, nobles, and Kings.
+
+"Woman," continued the master of ceremonies, outstretching his hand
+toward Victoria, "you now know our purposes. Here are our sinews of
+action. An annual assessment levied on all our brothers, who number
+themselves by millions, makes us masters of a mighty treasure. That is
+the source of the wealth in which revel those of our number whose duty
+it is to mix with the mighty ones of the day, sharing in their
+dalliances and dissipations--foxes to deceive, wolves to devour our
+enemies. Victoria Lebrenn, it is for you, thanks to your remarkable
+gifts of nature, to become one of our most active auxiliaries. But to
+serve well our cause, it will be necessary that you abdicate your own
+will, and that you stand ready, at any hour of the day or night, to
+follow our orders."
+
+"Command; I obey."
+
+"I must first acquaint our brothers with the particulars of your life,
+as you have set them down in your own hand, and confided them to your
+converter."
+
+Picking up a roll of manuscript, the presiding officer proceeded to read
+the story of Victoria Lebrenn, as follows:
+
+"In the year 1772, being then eleven years and a half old, I was one day
+crossing the garden of the Tuileries, carrying dinner to my father, a
+workman in a printing shop in Bac Street. I paused a moment to watch
+some little children at play. A woman well dressed and with decent
+features drew close to me, examined me attentively, and made me some
+compliments on my good looks. Then noting the porringer with my father's
+dinner, and learning from me that I was on my way to him, she proposed
+that I go with her in her carriage. Delighted to have a carriage-ride
+for the first time in my life, I readily agreed. Near the Draw Bridge a
+coach was waiting, into which I got with my conductress. She offered me
+some lozenges from a box, which I accepted. The lozenges contained some
+species of narcotic, for in a few minutes I had fallen into a deep
+sleep.
+
+"When I awoke, it was night. I was lying in a great bed with damask
+curtains. The ceiling of my chamber was of gold, and the room itself was
+richly furnished. Beside my pillow was seated the woman by whose agency
+I had been taken to the place. I asked her where I was. I wept at the
+anxiety of my parents; she calmed me, promising that they should soon be
+with me. She added that I was in the house of a person of great quality,
+who was interested in my youth, wished me much good, and would enrich my
+family. I knew I was not dreaming, but thought myself the heroine of a
+fairy tale. Two women entered. They made me rise, and put me in a
+perfumed bath. Then they dressed my hair, one of them winding a string
+of pearls through it. They dressed me in silk and lace, and served me
+with supper on plates of vermilion and gold. I experienced a sort of
+vertigo; I obeyed mechanically. Still, I kept asking for my father and
+mother. The woman of the carriage assured me that they would soon
+arrive, and be overjoyed to see me so beautiful. A hard-visaged man
+entered the chamber. I heard the old woman call him Monsieur Lebel, and
+speak to him with great respect. The man scrutinized me carefully.
+'Little one,' he said to me, 'you must go to bed now.' Then he went out.
+
+"Doubtless, in the course of the repast, they had served me with several
+glasses of heady wine, for I felt my reason clouding. I allowed myself
+to be put to bed, though not without again inquiring for my parents.
+They promised to take me back to them the next day. The woman and her
+two companions bade me good night, snuffed the candles in the
+candelabrum, and left me for light a single alabaster lamp, which threw
+a pale illumination over the spacious room. I was about to succumb less
+to sleep than to the leaden lethargy into which I had been plunged, when
+a start of fright restored to me, for a few moments, all my senses. My
+bed was set in an alcove. Two of the gilded panels which formed the
+alcove slid back in their grooves, and I beheld an old man in a dressing
+gown. I uttered a cry of astonishment--it was the King, Louis XV. I had
+seen him but a short time before at a public ceremony in Paris. I was
+stupefied into immobility. Close behind the King, in the secret
+passageway leading into the alcove, stood a beautiful young woman
+half-clad in a night robe, and holding a candle-stick. She laughed
+aloud, and said to the King, pushing him by the shoulder--'Go on,
+France, it is the loving hour!'
+
+"That woman, I afterwards learned, was Countess Du Barry. I fainted with
+fear. I was the victim of an odious assault. Five days afterward,
+another poor child, aged like me, hardly twelve, the daughter of a
+miller of Trianon, was delivered after the same manner to the lust of
+Louis XV, and gave him the small-pox of which he died. Two days before
+his death, the woman of whom I have spoken, one of the royal
+procuresses, made me leave by night the little apartment in the palace
+of Versailles, and get with her into a carriage, assuring me she was
+about to restore me to my father, whom I continually called for, in
+tears. I still was not fully aware of my dishonor. Instead of returning
+me to my home, the procuress left me in an isolated dwelling not far
+from Versailles. High walls surrounded the garden; the only entry was by
+a gate which was kept under careful guard. Flight was impossible.
+
+"In that house I found several young girls, of whom the youngest was
+barely my age, and the oldest, twenty. The place was the habitual haunt
+of great lords, prelates, and financiers. They came to sup with
+us--suppers that ended in shameful orgies. My companions, the immature
+victims, like myself, of kingly debauchery, gradually made known to me
+the extent of my disgrace. At first I was overcome by shame; then
+familiarity with vice, the contagion of example, the influence of the
+corrupt atmosphere in which I dwelt, stifled my better sentiments and my
+early training. I would never have dared at this time to return to my
+family. I reached my sixteenth year without having left that house of
+ill fame. By that time reflection and chagrin had matured my reason;
+then there began to grow up beside the sense of my degradation, the
+implacable hatred of the King and of those who, after him, had plunged
+me still deeper into the mire of infamy. I assisted daily in the orgies
+of the seigneurs of the Court, of the Church and of the Bourse. They
+never supposed creatures of our sort capable of attaching any
+importance to what they said in our presence; they expressed without
+hesitation their disdain and aversion for the people. Just about that
+time, several disturbances brought on by the dearness of provisions had
+been quelled at the musket's mouth; our guests regretted that the acts
+of repression had not been still more pitiless, saying, 'These flames
+can never be quenched save by rivers of blood.'
+
+"Thus there was created in me, a daughter of the people, a blind thirst
+for vengeance. Louis XV was dead, but I followed with my hatred both
+royalty and nobility, clergy and financiers. Our relations with the men
+of this class taught me to see in them our merciless enemies. Still my
+material comfort and my early degradation engendered in me a cowardly
+inertia. I felt neither the courage nor the desire to flee the domicile
+where I was held. I was seized with mortal terror at the bare thought of
+encountering my father, my mother, my young brother; of soiling our
+hearth with my presence. And, finally, knowing that their life was poor
+and laborious, it seemed impossible to me to summon the will to work and
+to share their privations. Ease and luxury were enervating, were
+depraving me. Thus passed several years. I reached the age of twenty.
+The woman who kept the place died, and my companions and I were turned
+adrift. I was without resources and unable to earn my daily bread, my
+apprenticeship as a sempstress having been cut short by my kidnapping.
+The fear of misery, my determination not to continue in that abject
+life, the uncertainty of the future, and lastly my attachment to my
+family, overcame my shame and gave me the courage to return home. My
+parents believed me dead; my appearance overwhelmed them with joy and
+rendered them merciful. I confessed to them my past. They both covered
+me with tears and caresses, and withheld every reproach. My father gave
+me to read the plebeian legends of our family. Then my poor father,
+exasperated by the deed that marred my childhood, printed and
+distributed to the public with his own hand an account which he wrote
+and entitled _A Night of Louis XV_. A few days after the publication of
+this article, my father failed to come home at night. Since then we have
+had no trace of him. Doubtless he now is dead, or languishes in the cell
+of some State prison.
+
+"For a year I remained with my mother and brother. I forced myself to
+live down my past. I took up again my sempstress's apprenticeship, and
+soon ceased to be a care to my mother. While my body had been stained,
+my heart remained pure. I had never felt the pangs of love. I now
+conceived a violent affection for a young sergeant in the French Guards
+named Maurice, the son of one of our neighbors. The young fellow did not
+know through what a slough my youth had been dragged, and thought me
+entirely worthy of him; so much did I dread his scorn that I had not the
+heart to disabuse him. He asked my hand of my mother. I begged her to
+hide from him my past shame; moved by my tears she consented to silence.
+We were affianced, Maurice and I. I had attained the summit of my
+prayers. I felt a secret remorse in deceiving the man who loyally
+offered me his hand, but I consoled myself with the thought of
+fulfilling scrupulously my marriage vows and making my husband as happy
+as possible. Cruelly was my dissimulation punished. One day, while
+walking between my mother and my betrothed, we met one of my old
+companions in misery. She knew me and addressed me in terms of a
+terrible meaning. Terrified at the expression of Maurice's face at this
+revelation, my heart broke--I collapsed. When I came to myself my mother
+stood at my side in tears. Commanded by my beloved to tell him all, for
+he still could not believe in my past indignity, my mother dared no
+longer hide the truth. Maurice was stricken dumb with grief, for he
+loved me with all his heart. He returned to the barracks in
+bewilderment, and chancing to come into the presence of his colonel, the
+Count of Plouernel, did not think to salute him. The Count, angered at
+this want of respect, knocked off Maurice's hat with a blow of his cane.
+He, half crazed with despair, raised his hand against his colonel. The
+crime was punishable by death under the scourge. The next day the young
+sergeant expired under that inhuman torture. The death of the man I
+loved threw me into a sort of frenzy. Often before, as the record of our
+family tells, had our fathers, as serfs or vassals, found themselves in
+arms face to face with the race of Plouernel. This memory redoubled my
+hatred for the colonel. Disgusted with life by the death of my only
+love, I resolved to avenge on the Count of Plouernel the decease of
+Maurice. I repaired to the quarters of the Guards at the hour when I
+knew I could find the colonel in his rooms. My hope was dashed. My
+paleness and agitation aroused the suspicions of the two under-officers
+to whom I addressed myself. They demanded the reason of my desire to see
+their chief. The brusqueness of my replies, my sinister and wild
+appearance strengthened their mistrust. They fell upon me, searched me,
+and found in my pocket--a dagger. Then I told them why I came. They
+arrested me; they haled me to the Repentant Women. I was subjected in
+that prison to the most barbarous treatment. One day a stranger visited
+the place. He questioned me. My answers impressed him. A few days later
+I was set at liberty, thanks to the efforts of this stranger, Franz, who
+came in person to fetch me from the Repentant Women."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The chief initiator concluded the reading of the melancholy recital, and
+replaced the pages of manuscript on the table before him. "The account
+of our sister is authenticated throughout," he said.
+
+"To this story of my sad life," declared Victoria, "there is nothing to
+add. Only to-day did I learn the name of the generous stranger to whom I
+owe my release from prison; and again I declare myself ready to pledge
+my devotion and service to the cause of humanity. Let the war upon the
+oppressors be implacable!"
+
+"From the most obscure to the most illustrious, all devotion is equal in
+the eyes of our great cause, and in the eyes of its most noble martyr,
+the immortal crucified master of Nazareth," added the initiator, drawing
+aside the curtains of the dais and disclosing a Christ on a crucifix,
+surmounted with the level of equality. Then he continued, speaking to
+Victoria, "Woman, in the name of the poor carpenter of Nazareth, the
+friend of the sorrowing and the disinherited, the enemy of the priests
+and the rulers of his day--woman, do you swear faith, love, and
+obedience to our cause?"
+
+"I swear!" answered Victoria in a ringing voice, raising her hands
+toward the crucifix. "I swear faith and obedience to our cause!"
+
+"You are now ours as we are yours," replied the officiant, dropping the
+curtains. "From to-morrow on you will receive our instructions from our
+brother Franz. To work! The opening of the States General shall be the
+signal for the enfranchisement of the people. The thrones shall
+disappear beneath the scourge of the revolution!"[4]
+
+At that moment the watch posted in the corridor of the Voyant temple of
+liberty struck thrice precipitately on the door, giving the alarm. The
+lights which had cast their radiance over the meeting went out as if by
+magic, and a profound darkness took possession of the underground
+chamber.
+
+From the obscurity was heard the voice of Anacharsis Clootz, the masked
+officiant, saying to the other Voyants who had been present at the
+initiation of Victoria Lebrenn:
+
+"Baboeuf, go with Buonarotti, Danton and Condorcet by the right exit. I
+shall take the left, together with Franz, Loustalot, and our neophyte."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+LITTLE RODIN.
+
+
+While Anacharsis Clootz, the rich Dutch banker, later to be known as the
+"Orator of the Human Race," was thus presiding at the initiation of
+Victoria Lebrenn into the sect of the Voyants, Samuel, left alone with
+his wife by the departure of Franz of Gerolstein and his companion, had
+been just preparing to continue his dictation to Bathsheba, when he
+heard the street-outlook rapping discreetly at the gate. Samuel,
+hastening at the call, found the watcher holding by the hand a young boy
+who cried bitterly.
+
+"The poor little fellow has lost his way," said the lookout, passing the
+boy in to Samuel. "I found him sitting down there by the buttress of the
+gate, sobbing. You would better keep him with you for the night, and
+to-morrow, in the daylight, he can be taken back to his folks--if you
+can find out from him where he lives."
+
+Touched by the child's grief, Samuel took him into the lower room and
+both he and Bathsheba bent all their energies toward quieting him. The
+boy seemed to be about nine or ten years old. He was poorly clad, and of
+a wan and ailing appearance. His face presented none of the smiling
+prettiness usual with children of his age. His peaked features, his
+sickly and cadaverous pallor, his thin, pale lips, his sly and shifty,
+yet keen and observing glance--revealing a precocious cleverness--in
+fine, something low, mean and crafty in the look of the boy would, no
+doubt, have inspired aversion rather than sympathy in the breasts of the
+couple were it not for the cruel desertion of which he seemed the
+victim. Hardly had he entered the room when he dropped to his knees,
+crossed himself, and clasping his hands exclaimed through his tears:
+
+"Blessed be You, Lord God, for having pitied Your little servant and led
+him to this good sir and this good lady. Save them a place in Your
+paradise!"
+
+Dragging himself on his knees toward the Jew and his wife, the urchin
+kissed their hands effusively and with far too great a flood of
+gratitude for sincerity. Bathsheba took him on her knees, and said to
+him as she wiped his tear-stained face, "Don't cry, poor little one.
+We'll take care of you to-night, and to-morrow we'll take you home. But
+where do you live, and what is your name?"
+
+"My name is Claude Rodin," answered the child; and he added, with a
+monstrous sigh, "The good God has been merciful to my parents, and took
+them to His holy paradise."
+
+"Poor dear creature," answered Samuel, "you are, then, an orphan?"
+
+"Alas, yes, good sir! My dear dead father used to be holy water
+dispenser at the Church of St. Medard. My dear dead mother used to rent
+out chairs in the same parish. They are now both with the angels; they
+are walking with the blessed saints."
+
+"And where do you live, my poor child?"
+
+"With Monsieur the Abbot Morlet, my good lady; a holy man of God, and my
+kind god-father."
+
+"But how did it happen, my child, that you went astray at this late hour
+of the night?" asked Samuel. "You must have left home all alone?"
+
+"Just after benediction," answered little Rodin, crossing himself
+devoutly, "Monsieur the Abbot, my good god-father, took me to walk with
+him in the Place Royale. There were a lot of people gathered around some
+mountebanks. I sinned!" cried the boy, beating his chest in contrition,
+"the Lord God punished me. It is my fault--my fault--my very great
+fault! Will God ever forgive me my sin?"
+
+"But what great sin did you commit?" questioned Bathsheba.
+
+"Mountebanks are heretics, fallen, and destined for hell," answered
+little Rodin, pressing his lips together with a wicked air, and striking
+his breast again. "I sinned, hideously sinned, in watching the games of
+those reprobates. The Lord God punished me by separating me from my good
+god-father. The swaying of the crowd carried him away from me. No use to
+look for him! No use to call him! It was impossible to find him. It was
+my very great fault!"
+
+"And how did you get here from the Place Royale? The two points are far
+apart."
+
+"Having said my prayers, both mental and oral, several times, in order
+to call to my aid the divine pity," replied Rodin emphatically and with
+an air of beatitude, "I started out to find my way home, away down at
+the end of the Roule suburb, near the Folie-Beaujon."
+
+"Poor child," interrupted Bathsheba. "More than a league to travel! How
+I pity the dear child. Go on with your story," she said to him.
+
+"It is a long way, true enough," added Samuel, "but all he had to do was
+to follow the boulevards. How did you come to lose the road?"
+
+"A worthy gentleman, of whom I inquired the way, told me I would reach
+home quicker by taking another street. I walked all evening, but all I
+did was to get lost. The wrath of the Lord pursued me!" After sighing
+and beating his breast again, little Rodin continued: "Then, at last,
+passing your house, I felt so tired, so tired, that I fell on your
+door-step from weariness, and prayed the good God to come to my help. He
+deigned to hear the prayer of His little servant, and so you came to
+pity me, my good sir and lady. May God receive you in heaven!"
+
+"You shall spend the night here, dear child, and to-morrow we will take
+you back to your god-father--so don't weep any more."
+
+"Alas, good sir, the holy man will be so anxious! He will think me
+lost!"
+
+"It is impossible now to calm his anxiety. But are you hungry or
+thirsty? Will you have something to eat or drink?"
+
+"No, good mistress; only I'm terribly sleepy, and wish I could lie
+down."
+
+"I can well believe it," said Bathsheba, addressing her spouse; "after
+such fatigue and worry, the little fellow must be worn out. It is only
+natural that he should be dying to go to sleep."
+
+"But where shall we put him? We are in a tight fix. We have but one
+bed."
+
+"Oh, good sir," eagerly broke in little Rodin, "don't put yourself out
+for me. I shall sleep very well right there, if you will let me;" and
+the boy indicated a re-enforced and brass-bound chest which his keen eye
+had spied, and which formed a seat at the further end of the room. "That
+will do me, very well."
+
+"I never thought of the chest," remarked Samuel. "The boy is right. At
+his age one sleeps anywhere. With plenty of warm covering he will pass
+the night there almost as comfortably as in his own bed. It all comes
+out for the best."
+
+"I'll go fetch a cushion and a cloak, and fix him up as well as
+possible," added Bathsheba, leaving the room.
+
+The boy sat down and huddled himself together as if unable to resist the
+lassitude and sleep which weighed upon him. His head sank upon his
+chest, and his eyes closed. But immediately peeping under his lids he
+saw on the table close beside him pens, ink, and several sheets of
+freshly written paper. It was Samuel's unfinished letter to Levi.
+
+"I surely was inspired in asking to sleep here," murmured the boy,
+aside; "let me recall without forgetting anything the orders of my good
+god-father," he thought, as the Jew's wife returned with the makeshift
+bedding she had gone in search of.
+
+"Here, dear boy," she said, "I'll put you to bed and tuck you in well
+from the cold."
+
+Simulating a heavy sleep, the urchin did not stir.
+
+"Poor creature--asleep already," said Bathsheba. "I'll have to carry
+him." Lifting little Rodin in her arms she placed him on the chest,
+while Samuel arranged the cushion under his head and covered him up
+with the cloak. These cares completed, Samuel and his wife turned again
+to the completion of the note to their cousin Levi; but his thoughts
+having been disarranged by the frequent interruptions, Samuel asked his
+wife to re-read the letter from the beginning, after which he finished
+it, while the young boy was seemingly sound asleep.
+
+Bathsheba had just taken down the last of her husband's dictation when
+suddenly another rap resounded at the gate.
+
+"Samuel," cried the Jewess, pale and trembling, "that time the watcher
+gave the alarm signal."
+
+Samuel went to the gate, opened the wicket and asked the lookout:
+
+"What is up?"
+
+"For nearly quarter of an hour I have remarked two men, closely wrapped
+in their cloaks, who came in from St. Gervais Street, and halted at the
+corner of the garden wall. They examined the house minutely. Immediately
+I fell on one of the stone benches in the dark passageway and pretended
+to be asleep. Two or three times they passed by without noticing me;
+they kept walking up and down, now examining the exterior of the
+building, now conversing in low tones. Finally they saw me, and said
+aloud--'There is a wine-bibber sleeping himself sober.' They walked once
+more to some distance; then returning towards me, I heard them utter
+these words: 'And now, let us report to the sergeant.' They quickened
+their steps and vanished around the corner of St. Francois Street. Now
+you are warned, Master Samuel."
+
+"When you first observed them, was anyone within?" asked Samuel. "Are
+you sure of that, lookout?"
+
+"No one--except the child I brought to you, and whom you took in
+yourself."
+
+"These two men must be attached to the police, since they intended to go
+straight to the sergeant; could their suspicions as to what went on here
+have been awakened by their observations to-night?"
+
+"There was no one in the street while our brothers were arriving. I am
+sure of it; I kept good and sure guard."
+
+"The suspicions of these fellows must, then, date from further back than
+this evening. But, in that case, at the first suspicion of one of his
+agents, the Lieutenant of Police would have had the house turned
+topsy-turvy by his searchers. There is something inexplicable in the
+conduct of these men. However, if they guessed that you were not really
+asleep, but could hear, I believe they would have enjoyed giving you a
+false scare. But then, to what purpose? No matter, forewarned is
+forearmed. Maintain your watch, and the instant you get sight or sound
+of the police sergeant, notify me with the usual signal."
+
+Samuel thereupon ran to the green-house and gave the alarm, which,
+repeated by the Voyant on guard at the door of the temple, was the
+signal for the dispersal of the meeting. Then the Jew returned to the
+room where his wife awaited him.
+
+"Well, my friend," asked Bathsheba hurriedly in an undertone, and unable
+to control her anxiety, "what is going on?"
+
+"The danger is not imminent. Nevertheless, I have just warned our
+brothers to leave the temple by the two secret issues. The flag-stone
+which masks the descent under the hot-house will be replaced, for the
+police spies were watching the house. They will cause it to be searched,
+they must be able to discover nothing, and our friends must have time to
+escape. Reassure yourself, my dear wife; we run not the slightest
+danger."
+
+"Lower, my friend, lower, lest you wake the child," cautioned Bathsheba,
+indicating little Rodin, who seemed to be still sound asleep, although
+his eyelids were imperceptibly winking. "Oh, may the alarms of this
+night be vain, and may all danger escape you!"
+
+"Dear wife, let us trust to Providence. It inspired me to write that
+letter to our cousin Levi, and now, whatever may come, I am prepared.
+The sacred mission bequeathed to us by my grandfather will be fulfilled,
+and I shall have saved the heritage of Monsieur Marius Rennepont."
+
+"First--a movable flag conceals the descent under the green-house.
+Second--this renegade of a Jew is going to safeguard the fortune of a
+certain Marius Rennepont," recited little Rodin to himself, not having
+lost a word of the conversation between Samuel and his wife. "Oh, now, I
+mustn't forget that name, nor the two secret exits of the _temple_, nor
+the movable flag-stone of the green-house--nor a lot of other things!"
+
+The alarm given by the lookout proved premature, for neither the
+sergeant of police nor his men appeared on the scene that night to
+ransack the house in St. Francois Street.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+COUNT AND JESUIT.
+
+
+More than four months had elapsed since the night on which Victoria
+Lebrenn was received into the society of the Illuminati, and on which
+little Rodin, with froward slyness, had penetrated the secrets of the
+Jew Samuel, the guardian of the Rennepont fortune. In short, it was the
+night of July 13, 1789.
+
+The Plouernel mansion, in the suburb of St. Germain, had been built, in
+the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, by the order of Raoul of
+Plouernel, peer and Marshal of France, and ambassador to Spain. This
+seigneur, residing habitually at Versailles or at Paris, left to his
+stewards and bailiffs the administration of his domains in Auvergne,
+Beauvoisis, and Brittany. He never visited his country seat of
+Plouernel, devastated at the time of the Breton uprising.[5] Marshal
+Plouernel had had transported to his establishment in Paris all his
+family portraits, the oldest of which represented Neroweg, the leude of
+Clovis and count of the country of Auvergne. These portraits now adorned
+one of the halls of the Plouernel mansion; among them was one draped in
+black crepe, in token of mourning. The effigy hidden beneath the veil of
+black was that of Colonel Plouernel, traitor, according to the
+traditions of the monarchy, to his faith and to his King.
+
+The first lackey of the Count of Plouernel, named Lorrain, the same who
+some months previously had carried the missive to Samuel the Jew, was
+showing into the Hall of the Portraits Abbot Morlet, of the Society of
+Jesus, a holy man of God and god-father to little Rodin, who, in fact,
+resembled him so closely as to be taken with reason for his son rather
+than his god-son. The Abbot was about forty years of age, clad in black,
+of middle height, weazened and nervous, with a fleshless, almost bald
+forehead over which fell a few straggling hairs of tawny yellow. His
+physiognomy, evil, insidious or beaming in turn, was above all
+remarkable for its caustic smile and its half-veiled glance, resembling
+that of a serpent. The Abbot was agitated, uneasy; he said to the lackey
+who introduced him:
+
+"Announce me to your master without delay."
+
+"Monsieur Abbot," respectfully answered Lorrain, "my lord will not keep
+you waiting an instant. His valets are just completing his toilet."
+
+"His toilet!" exploded the Abbot. "To be thinking of such trifles--he
+must be out of his head!"
+
+Then pausing a moment and recalling the air of preparation and the
+brilliant lighting of the parlors he had passed through on the ground
+floor, he added:
+
+"The Count seems to be expecting a large company?"
+
+"My lord is giving a grand supper."
+
+"How is it that the agitation prevailing in Paris since day before
+yesterday and up to this very night does not compel the Count to be at
+the head of his regiment of the Guards?"
+
+"Monsieur the Abbot is unaware that my lord journeyed this morning to
+Versailles to hand in his resignation, and to surrender the command of
+his regiment."
+
+"To surrender the command of his regiment!" echoed the Jesuit,
+stupefied, and as if he could not believe what he heard. "What--"
+
+At that moment Lorrain left the hall, walking backward as his master
+entered.
+
+Count Gaston of Plouernel had reached at this time his thirtieth year.
+The facial traits of his Germanic ancestry were reproduced in him. The
+whole effect of his person was one of audacity, haughtiness and
+arrogance. He presented the accepted type of the great seigneur of his
+time, and wore with grace his costume of plain blue cloth of Tours,
+spangled with silver and embroidered in gold. His taffeta vest was half
+lost to view under the billows of Alençon point lace which formed his
+shirt frill and rivalled for costly workmanship the flowing ruffles of
+his cuffs. His red-heeled shoes were fastened with diamond buckles.
+Diamonds also glittered in the hilt of his small-sword, which he wore
+ostentatiously slung under one of the tails of his coat.
+
+At the sight of Abbot Morlet the Count seemed greatly surprised. He
+cordially extended to him his hand, however, saying:
+
+"Well! good day, holy Father. What good wind blows you to us? I thought
+you at this time still a hundred leagues from Paris!"
+
+"I just got in, and after attending to some indispensable duties,
+hurried over to you, to communicate to you, my dear Count--to you, one
+of the leaders of the court party--important information I had picked up
+during my trip through several of our provinces. Judge of my surprise!
+When I arrived here, I learned from your first lackey--that you had this
+very day given up the command of your regiment. That's the way of it.
+The monarchy, the nobility, the clergy, are attacked as they never have
+been through the worst days of our history. And it is at such an hour
+that you, one of the greatest lords of France, you, a man of spirit and
+of courage, sheath your sword--at this hour when the battle is engaged
+with the Third Estate! Ah, Count, if you did not belong to the house of
+Plouernel, I would say that you were a coward and a traitor. But, as you
+are neither coward nor traitor, I shall make bold to say that you are a
+madman."
+
+"On the contrary, my dear Abbot, never have I acted more wisely. Never
+have I more studiously served our cause, or proven better my signal
+devotion, not to the King--his weakness revolts me--but to the Queen, to
+royalty!"
+
+"So, you have judged it wise and politic to abandon the command of your
+regiment in our present circumstances? Is it for me, only to-day
+arrived, to have to inform you that Paris is laboring under the greatest
+excitement, and perhaps on the verge of a formidable insurrection?
+Didn't I see them, on the other side of the Seine, beginning to throw up
+their barricades? Didn't I meet on every street corner groups of
+malcontents, harangued by caballers of the Third Estate?"
+
+"That is all true, Abbot. We are drawing near the moment of a decisive
+crisis. The fever of revolution has lasted since day before yesterday,
+since Saturday, the 11th of July. The first act took place in the Palais
+Royal,[6] when the recall of Necker became known to the public. A young
+man named Camille Desmoulins stirred up the gullible clowns in the
+gardens by crying out that the King was centering his troops on Paris,
+with the purpose of dissolving the National Assembly, arresting the
+leaders, and massacring the people of Paris. The most resolute of his
+hearers cried _To arms! To the barricades!_ and suited the action to the
+word. Bezenval, the military commander of Paris, informed of the tumult,
+ordered the dragoons of the Marquis of Crussol to horse. The dragoons
+sabered the rabble. But that only angered the populace, and the
+agitation spread to the suburbs. A soldier of my command told the people
+that several French Guards had been sent to the Abbey Prison; for you
+must know, good Father, that insubordination had crept into my regiment.
+I had sent the mutineers in irons to the Abbey to await the time to
+administer to them the scourging they deserved, when the populace hurled
+themselves against the prison, put to rout the sentries, and liberated
+the mutinous Guards. The latter received as great an ovation as if they
+had had the honor of being Monsieur Necker, or Monsieur Mirabeau!"
+
+"This detestable spirit of rebellion is only too like that which infests
+many of our provinces. But these saturnalia were, I hope, put down with
+the greatest severity?"
+
+"Not a whit, my dear Father. A King who pretends to the title of 'Father
+of the people' does not punish them--or very little. What was the
+result? The mildness of the reproof redoubled the rabble's audacity. The
+success of the expedition against the Abbey whetted their appetite, and
+they turned their attention to the prison of La Force, where they
+delivered all the debtors. The insurrection growing more and more
+serious, the Prince of Lambesc at length received orders from Marshal
+Broglie, the new Minister of War, to mount his regiment, the Royal
+Germans, and charge upon this impious populace, then excitedly huddled
+in the garden of the Tuileries. At the same time I was ordered to bring
+up my regiment, to support, if necessary, the cavalry of Lambesc."
+
+"The French Guards commanded by a colonel like you, Count, should easily
+mow down these rebels. And yet you abandon your command. Your conduct is
+an enigma."
+
+"On the contrary, nothing is more clear. Do you know the difference
+between a German and a Frenchman?"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Picture to yourself a tribune of the cross-roads, an insolent droll
+named Gonchon,[7] who never spoke of himself but in the third person,
+come to harangue the German soldiers in the name of the brotherhood of
+man. The German soldier, understanding nothing of that demagogic trash,
+draws at the command of his colonel, and sabers both Gonchon and the
+mob! That is what the dragoons of Lambesc did; that is what the cavalry
+of Berchiny would have done gladly, and the cavalry of Esterhazy and of
+Roëmer, or the regiments of Desbach, of Salis, or the Royal Swiss."
+
+"Good! That is the medicine for this canaille."
+
+"But hardly had Lambesc and his horse sabered the rabble in the garden
+of the Tuileries, when that very mob poured back into Louis XV Place,
+where I had stationed myself at the head of my regiment in battle array.
+I gave the order to fire on the ructious rabble. Murmurs broke out
+among the soldiers in the ranks; some made answer, _We will not fire on
+the people!_ I ordered the mutinous men to be seized and shot on the
+spot. The murmurs grew louder. I repeated the order. Bang! Several
+soldiers struck me in the face! Whole companies broke ranks, waving the
+butts of their muskets in the air."
+
+"Everything is lost if we cannot count on the army!" cried the Abbot in
+dismay.
+
+"You have said it, Abbot--unless the court party is resolved to serve
+royalty to the exclusion of the King. In the face of the stand taken by
+my men, there was nothing to do but march them back to their quarters.
+This morning I repaired to Versailles, and on gaining an audience with
+the King I pleaded with his Majesty to authorize me to call a
+court-martial to judge and condemn to death within the hour about a
+hundred soldiers and under-officers of my regiment, the ringleaders of
+the revolt. After long consideration, his Majesty answered with a sour
+air that 'if it was a matter of shooting a half dozen or so
+insubordinates, he saw no great obstacle in the way, but that he would
+not listen at all to any mass slaughters.' Thereupon the King crabbedly
+turned his back on me, shrugged his shoulders, and took himself off to
+his private apartments. That is why, my good Father, I have renounced my
+command in the French Guards. But reassure yourself," he added, in
+response to the dumbfounded look the Abbot wore. "I shall remain neither
+passive nor idle. I hope to serve our cause more actively, and, without
+contradiction, more usefully, now, than if I still were at the head of
+my regiment."
+
+"That assurance overwhelms me with joy, dear Count," cried the Abbot
+"What are your plans?"
+
+"First, I give to-night a supper, a convivial repast in which I bring
+together the influential heads of the court party, for the purpose of
+deciding on our final measures--presided over by the most remarkable and
+adorable woman I have ever met."
+
+The Jesuit gazed at Monsieur Plouernel in amaze, and answered: "Are you
+speaking seriously? Are you really dreaming of having a political
+meeting of such importance presided over by--a woman?"
+
+"Your astonishment will cease, my dear Abbot, when you make the
+acquaintance of Madam the Marchioness Aldini, a Venetian by birth, the
+widow of Marquis Aldini, a great Florentine lord who left his wife an
+immense fortune. The Marchioness has resided in Paris for now nearly a
+month."
+
+"You know the lady for only a month, and you dare initiate her into the
+secrets of our party!"
+
+"Oh, Abbot, the Marchioness is more of our party than we ourselves! A
+patrician and a Catholic, she nurses an invincible horror for the
+populace and for revolutions. We shall never have a more ardent
+auxiliary than she. And then, she is
+beautiful--seductive--irresistible!"
+
+"And where did you meet this beautiful personage?"
+
+"One day last month I received a note stamped with outraged pride. The
+writer, Marchioness Aldini, addressed to me, as colonel of the Guards, a
+complaint against the insolence of several of my soldiers, who had
+beaten her lackeys. Struck with the lofty tone of the missive, I called
+on the Marchioness, who was occupying the establishment of the Countess
+of St. Megrin, now in England, and maintained there a house on the
+grandest scale. One of the Marchioness's private valets introduced me to
+her in her parlor. Ah, Abbot! at the sight of her I stood spellbound,
+enchanted! The extreme beauty of the foreign dame, the fire of her
+glance, the expression of her face, the perfection of her stature, the
+complete admirableness of her person--all threw me into transports of
+admiration." Abbot Morlet puckered his brow dubiously, and the colonel
+continued: "In short, the Marchioness realized, she surpassed, an ideal
+a hundred times dreamt of by me, wearied as I am of the flirtatious
+beauties of the city and the court. What a difference, or rather what a
+distance, separates them from the Marchioness! Pride of patrician blood,
+resoluteness of character, ardor, impetuosity of passion, all were
+legible in her countenance of a masculine paleness, in her look of
+flame. Something imperious in her posture, something virile in the
+accents of her tongue, gave to this extraordinary woman--none other like
+her!--an irresistible charm;--for, before she had spoken a word, I felt
+myself captured, enchained, bewitched."
+
+"And the fascination grew and grew, if that is possible," put in the
+Jesuit sardonically, "when this beautiful lady opened her mouth? The
+siren took you by the eyes and by the ears. She greeted you, I presume,
+in the most charming and gallant manner?"
+
+"Not a bit of it! On the contrary, she greeted me with an air of
+arrogance and irritation. She taxed me severely for the insolence of my
+soldiers."
+
+"But the tigress finished by turning sweet?"
+
+"Yes, after the greatest protestations on my part, and my assurance that
+I would chastise the guilty soldiers."
+
+"The anger of the Marchioness being calmed, the interview, no doubt,
+took a most tender turn?"
+
+"We spoke of the affairs of the day."
+
+"Strange, out of all whooping! A colonel of thirty, a man of the court,
+besides, to speak decorously of the events of the day--with a beautiful
+lady--and he so lusty elsewhere!"
+
+"So it was, nevertheless, reverend Father. I never even thought, at that
+first interview, of venturing upon the slightest word of gallantry, so
+struck was I with the spirit of the Marchioness. Blue death! I was pale
+with rage at hearing the Marchioness's bitter sarcasms. I should have
+been glad--may God blast me!--to put myself at the head of my regiment
+and shoot down all the bourgeois in the States General."
+
+"This retrospective zeal flows from an excellent sentiment; and I know
+not how sufficiently to applaud the beautiful Venetian for having
+aroused that sentiment in you. Strongly do I approve the belle's
+sarcasms, her scorn for the ranters of the Third Estate, and the
+populace which supports them. Still, methinks it is very surprising that
+a stranger should interest herself so warmly in our affairs," added the
+Jesuit thoughtfully.
+
+Without a pause, the priest continued: "Tell me, Count--Have you dealt
+out the punishment to the insolent soldiers who beat the lackeys of
+Madam the Marchioness?"
+
+"It was impossible to discover them."
+
+"And she hasn't asked you for an account of their punishment? Strange!
+Do you know what I think, Count? The outrage was an imaginary one. It
+was the Marchioness's pretext to secure a first interview with you."
+
+"Come, Abbot, you are insane! For what reason should she have sought to
+inveigle me into an interview?"
+
+"I'll tell you, Count, for I foresee the end of this adventure. You
+returned often to visit the Marchioness? You became enamored of her? And
+soon the beautiful Venetian, answering your passion, granted you the
+boon of love for thanks--after having wheedled out of you all our
+party's closest secrets."
+
+"You are mistaken, holy Father. On the faith of a gentleman, the
+Marchioness loves me as passionately as I love her; but she has placed
+certain conditions on her favors."
+
+"And what may the conditions be with which she has hedged about her
+bounty?"
+
+"A struggle to the death against the revolution; the exaltation of
+royalty, of the privileges of the nobility and the Church; the
+extermination of our enemies. Only on these conditions, Abbot, shall my
+love receive its sweetest recompense."
+
+"Count," cried the Jesuit after a moment's silence, "you are only twenty
+years old! What am I saying? You are barely sixteen--you are still at
+the age of innocence and childlike credulity. You have been blindfolded,
+duped, made game of, tossed in a blanket, like the most artless of young
+fellows! Oh, the women! And you think yourself a Lovelace, a
+lady-killer, my poor Count! And you presume to play a role in the
+politics of the court!"
+
+"Monsieur Abbot Morlet, familiarity has its limits--do not oblige me to
+recall the fact to you any more forcibly!" exclaimed Monsieur Plouernel,
+flaring into a rage. Then, calming himself with an effort, he
+continued, sarcastically: "It suits you ill indeed, my reverend sir, to
+twit me on the empire exercised over me by women. Has no woman ever
+reigned over you? Could not the record of the vestry tell of a fertile
+gossip, the hirer-out of chairs at the Church of St. Medard, and widow
+of Goodman Rodin, the dispenser of holy water in the same parish? Your
+mistress is the mother of that little Rodin whom you brought here one
+day last year!"
+
+Unmoved by the raillery of Monsieur Plouernel, the Jesuit replied:
+
+"Your sarcasm is in the last degree pleasant, and moreover, well to the
+point, in that it furnishes me the occasion, Count, to give you an
+excellent lesson. You need the bit, the bridle, and also the whip, my
+fine gentleman."
+
+"I am listening, reverend sir."
+
+"Your love for fine ladies of irresistible beauty is capable of leading
+you into the most mournful follies; while I, by reason of my love for my
+gossip Rodin, shall be, I hope, able to prevent, and what is more, to
+repair your insanities."
+
+"This is getting curious, Abbot. Continue."
+
+"About four months ago, about the beginning of April, at a late hour of
+the night, a child, overcome with fatigue, fell on the doorstep of a
+house in St. Francois Street, in the Swamp."
+
+"St. Francois Street, in the Swamp! A rascal of a Jew, a skin-flint of a
+usurer, lives there. You know him, Abbot? He does business with the
+clergy too?"
+
+"It was at the door of that very house that the child sank down with
+weariness, crying and shivering. The Jew, out of the pity of his heart,
+took in the little fellow, who, he supposed, had lost his way. Then,
+succumbing to fatigue and drowsiness, the lad fell asleep on a bench in
+the room in which the Jew and his wife were conversing."
+
+"Bless my heart, holy Father! Your voice is trembling, your nose is
+growing red, your look is softening, and your eye grows moist! That
+infant gifted with so precocious an intelligence, that prodigy, surely
+can be no other than little Rodin, your god-son! Honor to you, Abbot,
+and to your gossip! You have performed a prodigy, like the Virgin Mary
+with the Holy Ghost!"
+
+"Throughout, the little fellow lost not a word of the conversation
+between the Jew and his wife; and thanks to a false alarm, adroitly
+given without by one of our brothers and myself, my god-son, in the
+course of his feigned sleep, surprised two secrets of inestimable import
+for the welfare of religion and the nobility. You shall judge--"
+
+"You are deceiving yourself, Abbot, in trying to make me believe that
+from the chatter of a miserable Jew and his wife, a chatter surprised by
+an urchin, secrets of such importance can be won."
+
+"Count--what do you think of a fortune of nearly 220 millions of francs?
+Isn't it a magnificent sum? If these 220 millions should pass into the
+possession of a party religious, able, tireless, blessed with cleverness
+and boldness, would they not become a lever of immense power? Again,
+suppose there were a mysterious sect, the object of which was the
+annihilation of the Catholic Church, the overthrow of thrones, the
+abolition of the privileges of birth and of fortune; suppose that sect
+extended its ramifications throughout all Europe, that it counted in its
+ranks classes the most diversified in society, from the lowest to the
+highest, and that some of them were even of kingly rank; suppose that
+association had at its disposal a considerable treasure; suppose its
+masters, men and women, to be capable of assuming, at need, any mask,
+any role; that, thanks to their specious masquerade, they introduced
+themselves among the royalists, and fathomed the secrets of our
+party;--then, Count, what would you think of the discovery of that sect?
+Would it not be of the primest importance? What say you?"
+
+"Surely; but only if the pretended sect existed. Come, holy Father, it
+is with surprise and regret that I see a man of your good sense fall
+into the net of these absurd fables about the Voyants of France, the
+Illuminati of Germany, and other fish-yarns, veritable Mother Goose
+tales!"
+
+"If I prove to you the existence of this society--if I show you the
+place where their leaders meet, will you admit that the revealer of the
+secret has rendered a signal service to the throne and the altar? Well,
+Count, compare now the results of your mad-cap passion for the beautiful
+foreign Marchioness, with the consequences of what you term my love for
+my gossip Rodin. According to you, my god-son is one of the visible and
+carnal outcomes of that love; if so I owe to the wily youngster
+first--the discovery of a treasure which should some day reach more than
+200 millions, on the trail of which our Society of Jesus has been for
+over a century; and, second--the unearthing of a den of Voyants."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ROYALISTS AT BANQUET.
+
+
+The answer which the Count of Plouernel was about to make to his friend
+the Jesuit was interrupted by the arrival of several of his convivial
+friends of the court party--dukes, marquises, canons, and archbishops.
+Among them was the Viscount of Mirabeau, nicknamed, by reason of his
+portly front and the quantity of liquor he could contain, "Barrel
+Mirabeau." He was an infantry colonel, and younger brother to the famous
+orator of the Third Estate. He seemed to be in great heat, and cried in
+a loud voice to Monsieur Plouernel:
+
+"Good evening, my dear Count. Devil take this infamous town of Paris and
+its Parisians! Long live Versailles, the true capital of France."
+
+"Whence all this anger, Viscount?"
+
+"Anger! Allow me to inform you that just now this vile populace, which
+to-night overflows in all the streets, had the impudence to stop my
+carriage on the Louis XV Bridge. By God's death, I shall punish these
+people!"
+
+"What did you say to the insolent creatures?"
+
+"I was treating this fraction of the 'sovereign people' like the abject
+rabble that they are, when my lackey, trembling like a hare, and hoping
+to secure our release, conceived the infernal idea of calling out to the
+beggars 'Make way, there, if you please, for the carriage of Monsieur
+Mirabeau!' Immediately the tempest turned to a zephyr, and the stupid
+people made way for me, to cries of 'Long live Mirabeau!'"
+
+"They must have taken you for your brother!"
+
+"Death and fury! It is but too true! I shall never forgive my brother
+that insult!"
+
+"Calm yourself, Viscount; but yet a few days and that filthy populace
+will be clouted back into the mire where it belongs."
+
+"Her Excellency, Marchioness Aldini," loudly announced one of
+Plouernel's valets at that moment, swinging back both sides of the great
+door of the parlor, into which he introduced--Victoria Lebrenn under her
+borrowed name and title.
+
+The friends of Monsieur Plouernel thus beheld Marchioness Aldini for the
+first time. All were struck with astonishment at her beauty, heightened
+as it was by the splendor of her toilet. For Victoria now wore a
+trailing robe of poppy-colored cloth of Tours, trimmed with black lace.
+The cut of her corsage left bare her arms, shoulders and the rise of her
+breast, which seemed sculptured in the purest marble. Her black hair was
+not buried, as was the custom of the time, under a layer of white
+powder, but, glowing with the luster of ebony, and rolled in thick and
+numerous ringlets around her head, majestically crowned her brow. A
+triple string of Venetian sequins served both as diadem and collar.
+Nothing can give an adequate idea of the effect of this original mode,
+at once elegant and severe, which was still more remarkable in that it
+differed completely from the pomponned attires of the period, and
+harmonized marvellously with Victoria's own cast of beauty.
+
+Plouernel's friends, seized with admiration, were for a moment
+speechless. Every look was fastened on the foreign dame;--even Abbot
+Morlet experienced the fascination, and said to himself as he gazed at
+her:
+
+"I can understand how the Count is mad over her. The danger is greater
+than I suspected. She is a very siren."
+
+Of all Plouernel's assembled friends, the Abbot was the only one to
+penetrate the true nature of Victoria's beauty. Her pallor, her flashing
+black eyes, her bitter and sardonic smile, gave to her face an
+indefinable somberness, which was in accord with the severity of her
+costume of red, black and gold.
+
+Soon the voice of Monsieur Plouernel's chief butler was heard,
+announcing that supper was served. The Count offered his arm to
+Victoria, to lead her into the capacious dining room. Walls of white
+plaster were relieved by gilded moldings which framed large panels
+frescoed with birds, fruits and flowers. A splendid silver service was
+laid out on the table, along with a brilliantly colored set of Sevres
+china. On the burnished surface of the silver glittered the glow of
+rose-colored candles, held in candelabra of vermilion. The banqueters
+took their seats about the table. The Count, who had escorted Victoria
+to a place beside himself, opened the feast.
+
+"Permit me, my friends," he said, "to follow a custom recently
+introduced from England into France, and to propose a first toast to
+Madam the Marchioness Aldini, who has deigned to accept my invitation to
+supper." The Count rose, glass in hand--"To Madam the Marchioness
+Aldini!"
+
+The whole company, following the Count's example, rose in their places;
+holding their glasses in their out-stretched hands, they repeated:
+
+"To Madam the Marchioness Aldini!"
+
+Draining their glasses, they resumed their seats.
+
+Victoria in her turn rose. After a moment's pause she replied:
+
+"In response to the courtesy of Monsieur the Count of Plouernel, and of
+yourselves, my lords prelates, and gentlemen, I propose with my heart
+and with my lips a toast to the Church, to the monarchy, and to the
+nobility,--and to the extermination of revolutionists, of whatever
+rank."
+
+With these words Victoria moistened her lips in the wine which filled
+her glass, while Plouernel's friends, transported by the words of the
+young woman, repeated in ecstasy, to the music of their clinking
+glasses--
+
+"To the Church! To the King! To the nobility! To the extermination of
+the revolutionists!"
+
+The roisterers sat down; even Abbot Morlet muttered to himself, "Ah, if
+the Marchioness is sincere, what an ally we should have in her! What a
+magic effect the energy of her words produced on these foppish
+gentlemen, and on these brainless and imprudent prelates, imbeciles who
+don't even know how to cloak their vices under their sacred robes!"
+
+Victoria, who had been cautiously watching the Jesuit, replied to his
+thought in her own mind: "That priest with the cadaverous mask keeps his
+snaky looks ever fastened on me. He alone, of all this company, seems to
+mistrust me. We must redouble our care and boldness--the game is on."
+
+Meanwhile a Cardinal was puzzling over something, and thinking to
+himself: "Where did I meet that beautiful Marchioness, or at least a
+girl who much resembled her? Ah! I remember! It was in the little house
+where the Dubois woman kept her nymphs, in the King's 'Doe Park,' as he
+called it, near Versailles. Come, come, that must be an
+illusion--although, that Italian lord, Aldini, not knowing the
+antecedents of the old inmate of the Dubois house, might well have left
+her his name, his title, and all. But let us look into things a bit
+before we pass a rash judgment."
+
+The Viscount of Mirabeau was the first to speak aloud. "Madam the
+Marchioness," he said, "has pledged us a toast to the death of the
+revolutionists of all ranks and conditions. I understand how a
+bourgeois, or a peasant, can be a revolutionary; but I can not admit
+that princes, nobles, or clericals would train with that breed."
+
+"All revolutionists are fit for the noose," retorted a Duke. "But the
+opinions of the groundlings may be explained by their desire to shake
+off the yoke. The people is at the end of its patience; it is kicking
+the traces; it rebels."
+
+"You speak words of gold, my dear Duke," answered young Mirabeau. "We
+shall hang them all, and we shall show ourselves without pity for those
+pretended revolutionists, Orleans, Talleyrand, Lafayette, and my
+unworthy brother Mirabeau, who has brought dishonor upon our house."
+
+"No, no pity for traitors, to whatever class they belong--nobles,
+clergy, or bourgeoisie," cried the Count of Plouernel.
+
+"On the day of reckoning," echoed the Cardinal, "these felons shall all
+be hanged, high and low alike."
+
+"They shall all be hanged at the same height--on their own principle of
+equality!" added a young Marquis, laughing.
+
+Victoria cut short his laugh. "By the blood of Christ," she cried, "is
+there not in France a revolutionist a hundred times more damnable than
+the gentlemen, the bishops, and even than the princes of the blood who
+league themselves with the revolution--I would say, the most guilty?"
+
+Surprise fell upon the company. Finally the Count of Plouernel stammered
+out: "What! Who is that revolutionist--more highly situated, according
+to you, than gentlemen or bishops--or even princes of the blood?"
+
+"The King, Louis XVI!"
+
+Again silence and stupefaction fell upon the thunder-struck banqueters.
+Some exchanged frightened glances. Others, deep in thought, sought for
+the key to the enigma. The rest stared at Victoria with anxious
+curiosity. Abbot Morlet alone said to himself: "Aha! I catch the woman's
+trend."
+
+"How, Marchioness," fumbled Plouernel, "according to you--the
+King--would be--a revolutionist--and so cut out for the gibbet?"
+
+"What was your motive, Count, for giving up your commission as colonel
+in the French Guards?" returned Victoria, unmoved.
+
+"As I wrote you, Marchioness, I surrendered the command of my regiment
+because the King refused to authorize the severity which alone, to me,
+seems capable of re-establishing discipline among my soldiers and
+preventing them from becoming the allies of the revolution."
+
+"And yet you are astonished when I pronounce the name of the accomplice
+of the revolutionists! I denounce the King, Louis XVI."
+
+"You are a woman of genius, madam," acclaimed the Viscount of Mirabeau
+warmly. "You justly signalize one of the causes of the revolution. Honor
+to you, madam."
+
+"I have no right to these praises, Viscount. I am a woman whom God has
+dowered with some little good sense, that is all. I am a patrician and a
+Catholic."
+
+"Nevertheless, Madam Marchioness," interposed the Duke who had spoken
+before, "it seems to me hazardous to pretend that the King, our Sire, is
+a revolutionist. In truth, it is pursuing the metaphor to its extreme
+limits. I should hesitate to follow you upon that ground."
+
+Here the Marquis broke in again with his irrepressible laugh, saying:
+"On one side the revolutionary King--on the other the 'sovereign
+people.' What a comicality! What a mess!"
+
+Victoria continued: "King Louis XVI is the first, the most damnable of
+revolutionists. Neither grace nor pity for the guilty! What I say, I
+maintain; I shall prove it. I shall essay to rouse in you all
+remorse--for you represent here the nobility, the clergy, and the world
+of money, and you are nearly as responsible as the King. I shall soon
+make it clear to you."
+
+"By the life of God, Marchioness, I am of your opinion," echoed the
+Viscount of Mirabeau. "Six months ago the nobility should have saddled
+its horses, and, whether the King consented or no, ridden against the
+revolution and put every peasant to the saber."
+
+"Six months ago the curates should have stirred themselves, roused their
+parishes to the sound of the tocsin, and put arms into their hands.
+They also will have to enter the fight," quoth Abbot Morlet, speaking
+aloud for the first time since the beginning of the banquet.
+
+"We understand each other, Monsieur Abbot," answered Victoria; and then
+to Mirabeau: "We judge the situation alike, Monsieur Viscount--the
+moment calls for a general and armed uprising."
+
+"But we who are less keen-sighted," objected the Duke, "we confess the
+weakness of our prevision; we reject your conclusions."
+
+"We are the three ninnies--the Duke, the Cardinal and I," put in the
+Marquis, cracking another joke.
+
+"Decidedly," observed the Cardinal aside to himself. "I was the dupe of
+an accidental resemblance. This patrician Marchioness has nothing in
+common with the lovely nymph of the Dubois woman's lupanar."
+
+Victoria began her proof: "Is not Louis XVI the worst of the
+revolutionists? Judge! On May 5th of this year, 1789, did he not convene
+the States General, instead of summoning to Versailles 25,000 men whom
+he had under his hand, led by resolute heads? At that time the
+revolution, hardly hatched, could have been stamped into oblivion. I am
+willing to excuse him for that mistake, but here is one more serious:
+The States General convened the 5th of May. The majority of the nobility
+and the clergy attempted to hold their deliberations by Order, and
+refused to mingle with the bourgeois for the examination of credentials.
+The Third Estate insisted, and upon a new refusal of the nobles and
+clergy, left the hall. At length the deputies of the communes had the
+insolence to declare themselves, on the 17th of June, the National
+Assembly, in the name of the pretended sovereignty of the people. They
+arrogated to themselves the right to vote the taxes, and declared that
+if the royal authority should order them to dissolve, they would not be
+responsible for the outcome. Did not the King tolerate all these
+audacities?"
+
+"'Tis true," acquiesced the Viscount of Mirabeau. "It all passed before
+our eyes, at Versailles."
+
+"That is the second crime I impute to the King," Victoria continued.
+"Louis XVI could still have crushed out in its cradle this rising
+rebellion, scattered by force this handful of malcontents--"
+
+"That has been tried, madam, by us of the court party," interposed the
+Duke. "We induced his Majesty to allow the seats of the Assembly to be
+occupied by troops. On the morning of the 19th of June these so-called
+Representatives of the people found the corridors of their chamber
+occupied by two companies of grenadiers, with loaded muskets."
+
+"Yes," put in the Marquis bitterly, "the King had the cleverness on that
+occasion to commit what was, from the point of view of the
+revolutionists, an assault upon the National Assembly, by allowing their
+meeting place to be invaded by the troops; and at the same time to
+perpetrate a new assault against royalty by not preventing the rebels
+from reuniting in the Tennis Court at Versailles; mistakes, mistakes,
+ever more mistakes."
+
+"All this is conclusive evidence," chimed in Barrel Mirabeau. "This
+unfortunate King seems to be infatuated with folly."
+
+"Either brace up foolish Kings or suppress them--else look out for the
+safety of the monarchy, Monsieur Viscount," replied Victoria.
+
+"Thanks to God," went on a cavalry officer at the other end of the
+table, "thanks to God the King's brother, Monseigneur the Count of
+Provence, rose to the emergency. At this vexatious juncture the prince
+took an energetic step. Without even asking the King, he hired the
+Tennis Court for a whole month!"
+
+Victoria broke out into a peal of grim and mocking laughter. "There is a
+party leader," she said, "of great bravery and great wisdom! One need go
+into no ecstasies over his courage!"
+
+"Madam the Marchioness is right," chimed in the Viscount of Mirabeau
+again. "This measure had no other effect upon the rebels than to cause
+them, the next day, to instal themselves in the Church of St. Louis."
+
+"And then the clergy, or at least a part of the clergy, committed
+another imbecility--they rallied to the Third Estate. The shaven-heads
+have their share of responsibility in all this," said the Count of
+Plouernel.
+
+"The high clergy protested, against this treason, the blame of which
+should be thrown on the curates of the country districts," declared the
+Cardinal in self-defense.
+
+"Monsieur the Cardinal is in error!" it was the harsh voice of Abbot
+Morlet that broke in. "That fraction of the clergy which went over to
+the Third Estate displayed great political sense. The low clergy did
+just what they should have done."
+
+"Peace, Abbot, peace there!" cried the Cardinal in accents of sovereign
+scorn. "You are talking nonsense, my dear sir!"
+
+"I maintain what I stated--'tis but little I care for the approbation of
+Monsieur the Cardinal," snapped Morlet.
+
+"What's that you say, Abbot?" flashed back the Cardinal in great
+irritation. "Measure your words!"
+
+"I wish to talk with reasonable men," returned Morlet, impassibly. "This
+is addressed to you, gentlemen. The royal power having tolerated the
+existence of this Assembly of malcontents, the clergy, both high and
+low, should have seized upon the fact, and turned it to its own
+advantage. By the simple means of choosing its best men, and joining
+them to the Third Estate, it would then have been able at need to stand
+in with revolutionary motions, in order to drive the dissatisfied
+element to the last extremes in the paroxysms of their rage."
+
+"Monsieur the Abbot is a profound politician; he is in the right of the
+matter," assented Victoria.
+
+"At the risk of contradicting you, Madam the Marchioness," objected the
+Cardinal passionately, "I must declare that the Abbot has only once more
+exhibited the evil spirit of the Society of Jesus, which has always been
+a veritable pest to the Church. Our holy mother were well rid of that
+abominable, execrable society!"
+
+"So the priest is a Jesuit!" thought Victoria to herself, a light
+dawning upon her.
+
+"The true pest of the Church," retorted Abbot Morlet, "has always been
+clad in the purple--cardinals and prelates, nearly all sots, imbeciles
+and peacocks!"
+
+"The impudence of this priestlet, this scoundrel, this hypocrite!" the
+Cardinal cried in a fury. "Out of here with the insolent fellow!"
+
+"By the blood of Christ," interjected Victoria quickly, addressing the
+two churchmen, "is this the hour for discord and recrimination? Do you
+forget, your Eminence, and you, Monsieur Abbot, that at this moment the
+safety of the Church depends upon the unity of her defenders?"
+
+All the company, with the sole exceptions of the Cardinal and the Abbot,
+took up the word: "'Tis true--'tis evident! Let us not forget. Let us
+remain united for the conflict!"
+
+When the tumult had subsided, Victoria took up again her interrupted
+discourse: "In casting a rapid glance over the past, I did not intend to
+arouse suspicion among you or raise dissension. In pointing out the
+faults committed, I wished only to forewarn you against similar errors,
+and to show you how to escape new mistakes. Please, then, to give me
+your attention a few minutes longer: The session in the Tennis Court was
+a brutal challenge hurled in the teeth of royalty. The Queen, who is a
+woman of valor, understood it; she pressed the King to take energetic
+measures, and pledged him to have the National Assembly dissolved by
+force. Louis XVI submitted to the influence of the Queen; on the 28th of
+June he went into the heart of the Assembly, surrounded by his guards,
+and through his chancellor ordered the deputies to disperse, abolished
+their decrees, and annulled their deliberations. He acted the part of a
+sovereign."
+
+"His Majesty indeed displayed great courage that day, and many of the
+deputies of the nobility and the clergy applauded the act of dissolution
+and immediately left the chamber," declared the Duke.
+
+"The King," assented Victoria sardonically, "his faithful nobles and his
+faithful clergy left the hall. But they left the rebels behind them.
+Then Abbot Sieyès sprang to the tribunal and cried 'Continue in session,
+Representatives of the people! We are to-day what we were yesterday!'"
+
+"But the King did not falter, thank God!" continued the Duke. "His
+Majesty commanded the Marquis of Brezé to convey to the malcontents his
+orders to disperse."
+
+"Shame and misfortune!" exclaimed the Viscount of Mirabeau. "It was my
+own brother who then answered Brezé, 'Go and say to your master who sent
+you, that we are here by the will of the people, and that we shall never
+quit this hall save by force of bayonets!'"
+
+"Very well, Monsieur Viscount! Your brother pointed out to the royal
+power its means of safety--_force of bayonets_," answered Victoria. "By
+the blood of Christ, what did Louis XVI do to restore the rebels to
+their senses? Absolutely nothing. Then the latter, encouraged by their
+immunity from punishment, declared, in their next session, the
+inviolability of the National Assembly."
+
+"Alas, it was upon the motion of my abominable brother that that
+declaration was carried! God's blood, I think I could have turned
+fratricide at the moment," declared Barrel Mirabeau.
+
+"Your house was not the only one to tremble at such felony," Victoria
+replied. "Did not nearly all the deputies of the nobility, even the most
+hostile to the revolution, rally around the Third Estate, dragging with
+them all the clericals?"
+
+"Should the members of the nobility, then, Madam Marchioness," objected
+the Duke, "because the monarchy showed weakness, have abandoned it
+without attempting to defend it from within the Assembly? No, certainly
+not."
+
+"Sir Duke," replied Victoria, "the members of the nobility and of the
+clergy who remained faithful to the throne were in the minority. What
+could they do for the monarchy? Nothing. Their presence among the ranks
+of the rebels served only to excuse the slips of the King, for then he
+could respond with a show of reason, 'I can not dissolve an Assembly
+which contains so great a number of my servants.'"
+
+"Such was, in fact, the response made by his Majesty to the Queen when
+she secured the recall of Necker and the appointment of a new minister
+chosen by Monsieur Broglie. Nevertheless, with the assistance of the
+Marshal, the monarchy will still prove able to overcome the revolution.
+At least, that is my opinion," vouchsafed the Count of Plouernel.
+
+"May God so will it," rejoined Victoria again. "But up till now the new
+minister has done nothing but make mistakes--"
+
+Victoria was interrupted by the entrance of one of the lackeys, whom
+Plouernel had dismissed from the banquet hall in order that his guests
+might discuss political affairs confidentially and in safety, who said:
+
+"The steward, my lord, asks to see you immediately."
+
+"Let him enter," said the Count; and as the lackey went to fetch him,
+the host explained to his guests: "I charged my steward to send out
+several of my men in disguise, in order to learn through them what was
+going on in the several quarters of Paris."
+
+"It is indeed very useful, in these days of effervescence," nodded
+Victoria, "to keep closely informed on the state of affairs."
+
+The steward entered, bowed humbly to the company, and took up his post
+close by the door, like a servant awaiting orders.
+
+"Well, Master Robert, what news?" demanded the Count. The company turned
+around in their chairs and fixed their attention upon the new arrival.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+NEWS FROM THE BARRICADES.
+
+
+Pursuant to the Count's order, the steward, bowing again, proceeded with
+his account of what he had learned.
+
+"The news, alas, is very bad, my lord," he began. "One of our men has
+just arrived from the suburb of St. Antoine. The streets are blocked
+with barricades; they are forging pikes in the iron-mongers' and
+blacksmiths' shops; the houses are all illuminated. People are carrying
+up to the roofs of their dwellings beams and paving stones, to hurl down
+upon the troops of his Majesty Louis XVI, whom may God protect! Women
+and children are pouring musket balls and making cartridges. They have
+pillaged the armorers' shops in the district. In short, the whole of
+that impious plebs is swarming in the streets, screeching like the
+damned, especially against her Majesty our good Queen, his Royal
+Highness the Count of Artois, and their Holinesses our lords the Princes
+of Conti and Condé."
+
+"And what are the pretexts for these insolent cries and rebellious
+preparations?" asked the Count.
+
+"My lord, it is the word among this blasphemous people that the court is
+plotting evil against the deputies of the Third Estate, and that his
+Majesty our Sire--may God protect him--is preparing to march on Paris at
+the head of fifty thousand troops, to deliver the suburbs to the
+flames, blood, sack and pillage, and the girls and women to infamy!"
+
+"The rabblement is at least aware of the punishment it deserves--and
+will receive!" cried the younger Mirabeau.
+
+"What is the feeling in the other quarters," queried the Count of
+Plouernel. "Are they also, perchance, boiling over?"
+
+"In the neighborhood of the St. Honoré Gate the mob has invaded the
+Garde-Meuble, or King's Storage-House, and seized the old arms they
+found collected there. It is a pity, my lord; you can see tattered
+brigands, in their bare feet, yet casqued and cuirassed, and with lances
+in their fists. Such magnificent arms in such hands! What a
+desecration!"
+
+"Oh, the gallant cavaliers--armed cap-a-pie for the tourney!" cried the
+Marquis, affecting laughter.
+
+"Those among this awful horde who have bonnets on," continued the
+steward, "have fastened in them cockades of green cloth or paper, as a
+sign of hope. My lord, it is like a frenzy. Out in the open street the
+scoundrels hug without knowing each other, and with tears in their eyes,
+cry, like henhawks 'To arms, citizens! Down with tyranny! Long live
+liberty! Long live the nation!'"
+
+"But the other suburbs," pursued the Count. "Are they also wrought up
+like this cursed suburb of St. Antoine?"
+
+"Aye, my lord--unless it be the suburb of St. Marcel, which is almost
+deserted. The evil creatures of that district, to the number of twenty
+thousand, flocked to the City Hall during the day to demand arms. The
+Provost of the merchants, Monsieur Flesselles, sent them to the
+Lazarist monks. When the great band of beggars arrived at the holy
+convent, the good and religious men made answer to them that Monsieur
+Flesselles was making game of them, for never had a grain of powder or a
+firearm found its way into the Convent of St. Lazare. Then these bandits
+from St. Marcel broke out into threats of death against Monsieur
+Flesselles, and being presently joined by another mob of rascals from
+the suburb of St. Victor, they went off all together to the Hospital of
+the Invalids in search of weapons."
+
+"And were received, no doubt, with the gun-fire of the brave veterans
+sheltered there?" said the Count.
+
+"Alas, no! my lord. The pensioners made not the slightest resistance,
+and the scoundrelly people fell into possession of more than thirty
+thousand guns and several cannon."
+
+"The veterans!" gasped the Viscount of Mirabeau. "They, old soldiers, to
+give up their arms! Do we then face defection and treason on every side!
+Very well! we shall hang and shoot the invalids, men and officers, to
+the last one."
+
+"Oh, the idea!" shouted the Marquis, with another burst of forced
+laughter, "So now our bare-feet have thirty thousand guns--and some
+cannon--which they don't know how to use!"
+
+"You have nothing else to tell us?" said Plouernel to the steward.
+
+"No, my lord."
+
+"Then send our men out again for information. The instant they return,
+come to me with what they have learned."
+
+The steward bowed for the third time and withdrew. Upon the faces of the
+convivial friends blank consternation reigned at the news he had
+brought. They gazed at one another speechless.
+
+"Do you know, gentlemen," at last spoke up the Cardinal, "that all this
+is getting frightful? The very marrow in my bones is chilled."
+
+"It is my opinion," the Duke answered, "that France will soon be no
+longer habitable. We shall have to flee abroad."
+
+"Come, come, my dear Duke," said the Count of Plouernel, "a few
+regiments of infantry, supported by a piece of artillery or two, will
+suffice to exterminate these upstarts. The French nobility will whip
+them down. We shall unsheath our swords."
+
+"I think the rabble will whip better troops than those, once they have
+got the smell of gunpowder," said Abbot Morlet.
+
+"You are talking nonsense, Abbot," replied Mirabeau. "It is impossible
+that bare-footed ragamuffins, poorly armed, and without discipline,
+should be victorious over seasoned troops. If it ever came to that pass,
+I should snap my sword."
+
+For the first time since the arrival of the momentous news, Victoria
+spoke: "A traitorous King would prevent you from breaking it; he would
+order you to return it to its scabbard."
+
+"It is for us to have the courage to sacrifice the King to the safety of
+the monarchy. We shall have all the brave ones--" Mirabeau began.
+
+"By heaven!" interrupted the Duke, "this is serious, and requires
+thought. Sacrifice the King!"
+
+"What shall we do with the King?" questioned the Cardinal.
+
+"In other times," replied Victoria, "they shut up do-nothing Kings in,
+the depths of a cloister. Force Louis XVI to abdicate. The Dauphin is an
+infant, you will constitute a council of regents, composed of men of
+inflexibility. The shameless plebeians have too much blood; it will rise
+to their heads and give them a false energy. Bleed them, bleed them
+white, by repression and defeat. You have cannons and muskets; bombard
+them--blow them back into the depths they sprung from!"
+
+"Ah, Marchioness," answered Plouernel, "you are the terrible archangel
+who with her flaming sword will defend the monarchy and nobility. You
+are right. Safety lies in the abdication of the King and the formation
+of an inflexible council of regents. The monarch must be eliminated."
+
+"Your most dangerous enemy, Count of Plouernel," replied she, "is the
+Third Estate! Has this bourgeoisie not told you, through Sieyès's organ,
+that up till now it has been nothing, it _which ought to be everything_!
+There is the enemy. The people, its intoxication once passed, will fall
+back into its misery and abject submissiveness. Having cried its cry in
+the public place, hunger will again seize it by the throat. 'The people,
+always ridden by want, has never the time to carry out the revolutions
+which it essays.' It is against the bourgeoisie that war to the knife
+must be carried on."
+
+"For one proof out of a thousand of the truth of that statement,"
+assented the Count, "is not Desmarais the lawyer one of the firiest
+tribunes in the National Assembly?"
+
+"My dear Count," said the cavalry officer to Plouernel, "did you not
+once treat a fellow of that name to a good cudgeling?"
+
+"This Desmarais is himself the hero of that episode you refer to--the
+very same whippersnapper," answered the Count.
+
+Aside Victoria said to herself: "And my brother John is the sweetheart
+of Mademoiselle Desmarais. A singular coincidence!"
+
+"How did you come to give him his cudgel sauce, Count?" inquired the
+Cardinal.
+
+"My counsel were arguing before the court a case involving an estate
+left to my brother, Abbot Plouernel, at present in Rome. Desmarais,
+forgetting the respect due to a man of my station, had the insolence to
+speak of me in terms hardly reverent. Informed of the fact by my
+attorneys, I had Desmarais seized by three of my servants one night as
+he was leaving his lodgings. They administered to him a sound drubbing
+with green sticks, after which my first lackey said to him: 'Sir, the
+thrashing which we have just had the honor of presenting to you, is from
+Monseigneur Plouernel, our master. Let the lesson be a profitable one.'"
+
+"That," said the Viscount of Mirabeau, "was as good as the exquisite
+bastinado given to Arouet 'Voltaire' by the orders of the Prince of
+Rohan. That's the way to treat the bourgeoisie."
+
+"Voltaire perhaps owes his fame to that little chastisement," suggested
+the Duke.
+
+Coming back to the subject which was on everyone's mind, Abbot Morlet
+was the next to speak. "Madam the Marchioness has just uttered a great
+truth," said he. "The Church, the nobility and royalty have no more
+terrible enemy than the bourgeoisie. In a state, three elements are
+necessary for a good organization--a God, a King, and a people. In order
+to carry on production and nourish the representatives of God and the
+King, the bourgeoisie should be suppressed."
+
+"You are stingy in your allotments, Abbot," put in the Duke. "Would you,
+then, suppress the nobility?"
+
+"Who says _King_ says _nobility_, and who says God says clergy," replied
+the Abbot. "In other words, if we wish to enjoy our privileges in peace,
+we must either extirpate or annul the bourgeoisie. Now, if we know how
+to use the people skilfully, they will come to our aid in this task of
+extirpation, for the plebeian hates a bourgeois more than he does a
+noble."
+
+"Still, we see the populace gone mad over the deputies of the Third
+Estate. Several of them have already grown to the bulk of idols," said
+the Count.
+
+"The bourgeoisie is, and will for still a long time remain, as hostile
+toward the people as it is toward the nobles. The people know this, and
+that is what renders them hostile to the bourgeoisie," Victoria
+declared.
+
+"It is marvellous how the thoughts of Madam the Marchioness accord with
+mine," exclaimed Abbot Morlet. "This antagonism which she has just
+mentioned will some day, perhaps, be our salvation; for I have no faith
+in the party of the court, composed in part, as it is, of young
+mad-caps."
+
+"By heaven, Abbot," the whole company cried with one voice, "but you are
+impertinent!"
+
+The Abbot shrugged his shoulders and continued impassively. "The
+revolution will plunge on in its course. First the royalty and the
+nobility will fall beneath the blows of the tribunes of the Third
+Estate. Then will fall the Church--but only to rerise more powerful than
+before, to rear again the scaffolds and relight the pyres of the
+Inquisition."
+
+"You are talking nonsense, Abbot," again put in Barrel Mirabeau. "Your
+prophecies partake of desperation."
+
+"Nobility and royalty will disappear in the tempest," pursued the Abbot,
+"but it remains with us to make that disappearance one of the phases of
+a rebirth that will establish theocracy more powerful than ever. The
+instant will be decisive, momentous. It may one day come about that the
+bourgeoisie will merge its cause with that of the populace; that it will
+establish education free, unified, common, and uncontrolled by the
+Church; that it will abolish private property, making common to each and
+all the tools of production. Should the bourgeoisie decide thus to
+emancipate the proletariat, Throne and Altar are done for forever. It is
+for us, then, to nurse the antagonism already existent between the two,
+to envenom their mutual mistrust and reproaches. We must inflame the
+fear of the bourgeoisie for the populace; we must kindle the mistrust of
+the laborers toward the bourgeois; we must prick the people on to
+excess; above all we must invoke to pillage and massacre that furious
+beast which is not the people, but which in times of revolution is
+confounded with it--it is the _red specter_ which we must make use of to
+terrify the bourgeoisie and drive it to sunder its cause from that of
+the people. That is how we can countermine the revolution, and force the
+sovereigns of Europe to unite, to invade France, and to exterminate our
+enemies. Let us mingle, in disguise, with the people; let us provoke and
+irritate their appetite for blood. Let us and our agents strike the
+first blows--pillage--burn--mow off heads--those of our friends, too,
+for we must above all avert suspicion; make the blood pour, to rouse the
+beast and put it in appetite for sack and massacre!"
+
+Even Barrel Mirabeau was taken aback at this diatribe. "God's death, Sir
+Abbot," he cried with horror, "do you take us for gallows-tenders?"
+
+"To make of us mowers of heads!" cried the Count of Plouernel. "'Tis
+insanity!"
+
+"What exquisite fastidiousness!" retorted Morlet.
+
+"You must have clean lost your senses, Abbot," returned Plouernel. "To
+dare to propose such a role to us--to make hyenas out of us!"
+
+"We sons of the Church," answered the Abbot, "shall then assume the role
+ourselves, if it is so repugnant to you, gentlemen of the nobility.[8]
+You fear to soil your lace cuffs and silk stockings with mire and blood;
+we of the clergy, less dainty, and arrayed in coarser garb, are free
+from any such false delicacy. We shall roll up our cuffs to the elbow,
+and perform our duty. We shall save you, then, my worthy gentlemen, with
+or without your aid; that will be an account to be settled afterwards
+between us."
+
+"The priest has been vomited forth from hell," thought Victoria, to
+herself. "He is a demon incarnate."
+
+"We shall know how to save the monarchy, Sir Abbot," replied the Count
+of Plouernel to his friend Morlet, "even without the need of you folks
+of the Church; have no worry on that score. You forget that it was our
+sword which established the monarchy in Gaul and revived the Catholic
+Church, fourteen centuries ago, without the aid of the cassocks of that
+time."
+
+"Fine words--but empty," answered the Abbot. "If you are indeed so
+determined to draw the sword, Monsieur Count, will you then please tell
+me why, this very day, you resigned into the hands of the King the
+command of your regiment? Your boast comes at a poor season."
+
+"You well know why, Monsieur Abbot," the Count retorted. "My regiment
+grew uncontrollable. The evil, however, dates far back. The first
+symptoms of insubordination in the French Guards showed themselves two
+years ago. A sergeant named Maurice"--Victoria shuddered--"had the
+insolence to pass me without saluting; and after I took off his cap with
+a stroke of my cane, he had the audacity to raise his hand against his
+colonel. I handed the mutineer over to the scourges till he dropped
+dead. That is how I avenge my honor."
+
+As Monsieur Plouernel thus told the story of Sergeant Maurice, Victoria
+was unable to control herself. Her features contracted, and she fixed on
+Plouernel a look of menace. Then a sudden flush overspread her
+features. None of this was lost upon the Abbot. "What is this mystery?"
+he pondered. "The Marchioness casts an implacable look at the Count,
+then she blushes--she who till now has been as pale as marble. What can
+there have been between this Italian Marchioness and this sergeant in
+the French Guards, now two years dead?"
+
+At that moment the steward again entered the banquet hall and approached
+the Count of Plouernel.
+
+"What news, Robert?" asked the latter.
+
+"Terrible, my lord!"
+
+"My Robert is not an optimist," explained Plouernel to the company. "In
+what does this terrible news consist?"
+
+"The barriers of the Throne and St. Marcel are on fire. Everywhere the
+tocsin is clanging. The people of the districts are gathering in the
+churches."
+
+"Behold the sway of our holy religion over the populace--they pray
+before the altars," cried the Cardinal briskly.
+
+"Alas, my lord, it is not to pray, at all, that the rebels are swarming
+into the churches, but to listen to haranguers, and among others a
+comedian by the name of Collot D'Herbois, who preaches insurrection.
+They trample the sacred vessels under foot, spit on the host, and tear
+down the priestly ornaments."
+
+"Profanation! Sacrilege!" exclaimed the Cardinal, suddenly modifying his
+ideas on the sway of his faith over the people.
+
+"One of our men," continued the steward, "saw them putting up bills
+which the rabble read by the light of their torches. One of the placards
+read: 'For sale, because of death, the business of Grand Master of
+Ceremonies. Inquire of the widow Brezé.'"
+
+"Ah, poor Baked one," sang out the Marquis, making a hideous pun on the
+unfortunate officer's name, "you are cooked! All they have to do now is
+to eat you!"
+
+"On other placards were written in large letters, 'Names of the Traitors
+to the Nation: Louis Capet--Marie
+Antoinette--Provence--Artois--Conti--Bourbon--Polignac--Breteuil--Foulon'--and
+others."
+
+"That is intended to point out these names to the fury of the populace!"
+gasped the Viscount of Mirabeau.
+
+"The rumor runs through Paris that to-morrow the people will rise in
+arms and march on Versailles."
+
+"So much the better," exclaimed the Viscount. "They will be cut to
+pieces, this rabble. Cannoniers--to your pieces--fire!"
+
+"Go on, tell us what you know," said Plouernel to his steward Robert.
+"Is that all?"
+
+"Alas no, my lord. This miserable populace in arms surrounds and
+threatens the City Hall. The old Board of Aldermen is dissolved, and is
+replaced by a new revolutionary committee, which has taken the power
+into its own hands."
+
+"Are the names of this committee known?" asked the Count.
+
+"Yes, my lord. From the City Hall windows they threw to the rioting
+people lists with the names. Here is one which our emissary got hold
+of:--'President of the permanent committee, Monsieur Flesselles,
+ex-Provost of the merchants'--"
+
+"Oh, well," laughed the Duke, "if the other members of the committee
+are revolutionists of that stamp, we can sleep in peace. Flesselles is
+in our employ."
+
+"Finish reading your paper," ordered the Count.
+
+"'The said committee, in session assembled, decrees: Article I--A city
+militia shall immediately be organized in each district, composed of
+licensed business men. Article II--The cockade of this militia shall be
+blue and red, the city colors.'"
+
+"Is that all? Finish reporting," said Plouernel, seeing the steward
+pause.
+
+"One of our spies, on entering the neighborhood of the Palais Royal,
+heard threats hurled against his Majesty Louis XVI, and especially
+against her Majesty, the Queen. Everyone looks for terrible events
+to-morrow, my lord."
+
+Seeing he had nothing more to report, Plouernel allowed the steward to
+depart, first ordering him to come back with any fresher information.
+
+"Now gentlemen," Victoria began when the steward had withdrawn from the
+room, "the gravity of the situation takes foremost place. There is no
+longer room for deliberation--there must be action. Time is pressing.
+Count, has the court foreseen that the agitation in Paris would drive
+the malcontents to open revolt? Is it prepared to combat the uprising?"
+
+"Everything has been anticipated, madam," answered Plouernel. "Measures
+are on foot to repulse the rebels. This very morning I received word as
+to the plans of the court."
+
+"Why then do you allow us to wander into objectless suppositions and
+discussions?" asked the Cardinal.
+
+"I was commanded to exercise the utmost discretion in the matter of the
+court's projects. But in view of the information which my steward has
+just brought in on the popular frenzy in Paris, and on the assaults
+which the discontented element is meditating, I hold it my duty to
+inform you of the plans laid down."
+
+Drawing a note from his pocket, the Count continued, reading:
+
+     "Monsieur the Marshal Broglie is appointed commander-in-chief. He
+     said this morning to the Queen: 'Madam, with the fifty thousand men
+     at my command I pledge myself to bring to their senses both the
+     luminaries of the National Assembly and the mob of imbeciles which
+     hearkens to them. The gun and the cannon will drive back under
+     earth these insolent tribunes, and absolute power will again assume
+     the place which the spirit of republicanism now disputes with it.'
+
+     "Monsieur the Marshal Broglie is invested with full military
+     powers. Bezenval is placed in command of Paris, De Launay holds the
+     Bastille and threatens with his artillery the suburb of St.
+     Antoine; the garrison of that fortress has for several days been
+     secretly increased, and ammunition worked in. The Bastille is the
+     key to Paris, inasmuch as it commands the respect of the most
+     dangerous suburbs, and can annihilate them with its guns.
+
+     "The last regiments recalled from the provinces by the Marshal will
+     arrive to-night on the outskirts of Versailles and will powerfully
+     re-enforce the Swiss and the foreign regiments. An imposing array
+     of artillery and a large troop of cavalry will complete this corps
+     of the army. Thus united, the troops will move, day after
+     to-morrow, July the 15th, to the invasion of the National Assembly,
+     which will have been allowed to convene. The Assembly will be
+     surrounded by the German regiments, and the ring-leaders of the
+     Third Estate forthwith arrested."
+
+In a lowered and confidential tone the Count continued:
+
+     "The most dangerous of the rebels will be shot at once. A goodly
+     number of them will be thrown into the deepest dungeons of the
+     different State prisons of the kingdom. Finally, the small fry of
+     the Third Estate will be exiled to at least a hundred leagues from
+     Paris. A royal warrant will dissolve the National Assembly and
+     annul its enactments. After which Monsieur Broglie, at the head of
+     his army, will march on Paris, take military possession of it,
+     establish courts-martial which will at once judge and put to death
+     all the chiefs of the sedition, banish the less culpable, and
+     confiscate their goods to the benefit of the royal fisc. Should it
+     resist, Paris will be besieged and treated like a conquered
+     city--three days and three nights of pillage will be granted to the
+     troops. After which, the royal authority will be re-established in
+     full glory."
+
+"There, gentlemen, that is the plan of campaign of the court."
+
+Loud acclamations from the company--excepting only the Abbot--greeted
+the reading of the communication by Monsieur Plouernel.
+
+"This plan seems to me to be at all points excellently expeditious and
+practical," said Victoria. "It has every chance of success. Still, has
+the court foreseen the event of Paris, protected by barricades and
+defended by determined men, resisting with the force of despair? Has the
+court foreseen the event of Monsieur Broglie being defeated in his
+conflict with the people?"
+
+"Madam, that case also is provided for," answered Plouernel. "The King
+and the royal family, protected by a powerful force, will leave
+Versailles and retire to a fortified place on the frontier. The Emperor
+of Austria, the Kings of Prussia and Sweden, and the majority of the
+princes of the Germanic Confederation, will be prepared to assist the
+royal power. Their armies will cross the frontier, and his Majesty, at
+the head of the arms of the coalition, will return to force an entry
+into his capital, which will be subjected to terrible chastisement."
+
+"One and all, we are prepared to shed our blood for the success of this
+plan," cried the Viscount of Mirabeau, swelling with enthusiasm. "To
+battle!"
+
+"Has this plan the approval of the King?" asked Victoria. "Can one count
+on his resolution?"
+
+"The Queen but awaits the hour of putting it into practice to inform his
+Majesty of it," answered the Count. "Nevertheless, the King has already
+consented to the assembling of a corps of the army at Versailles. That
+is a first step gained."
+
+"But if the King should refuse to follow the plan? What course do you
+then expect to take?" persisted Victoria.
+
+"It will go through without the consent of Louis XVI. If necessary, we
+shall proceed to depose him. Then Monseigneur the Count of Provence will
+be declared Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, and the Queen, Regent,
+with a council of unbending royalists. Then we shall see courts-martial
+and firing squads in permanence! Volleys unceasing!"
+
+"It is done for royalty if the court dare put its plan, into execution,"
+muttered Victoria to herself. "To-morrow the Bastille will be taken."
+Then, rising, her face glowing with animation, and holding her glass
+aloft, she called, in her brilliant voice:
+
+"To the death of the Revolution! To the re-establishment of Royalty! To
+the triumph of the Church! To the Queen!"
+
+And catching her fire, the whole company, with one voice, cried:
+
+"Death to the Revolution!"
+
+"Meet me to-morrow morning at Versailles, gentlemen, in battle," cried
+Plouernel.
+
+And all except the Abbot shouted back the reply:
+
+"In battle! We shall all be at Versailles to deal the people its
+death-blow!"
+
+The sarcastic coolness of the priest sat the Count ill. "Are you
+stricken dumb, Abbot," he inquired, "or do you lack confidence in our
+plan?"
+
+"No, I have not the slightest confidence in your plans," answered the
+prelate calmly. "Your party is marching from blusterings to retreats,
+and on to its final overthrow, which will be that of the monarchy. But
+we shall be there, we the 'shaven-heads,' the 'priestlets,' as you dub
+us; the 'creatures of the Church,' 'hypocrites and Pharisees,' to repair
+your blunders, you block-heads, you lily-livers! We of the frock and
+cassock contemn you!"
+
+This deliverance of the Abbot was followed by a storm of indignant cries
+from the assembled guests. Threats and menaces rose high.
+
+"By heaven!" shouted Barrel Mirabeau, "if you were not a man of the
+cloth, Abbot, you would pay dear for your insults!"
+
+"Let him rave," said the Cardinal, shrugging his shoulders, "let him
+rave, this hypocrite of the vestry-room, this rat of the Church, this
+Jesuit!"
+
+"Mademoiselle Guimard awaits his Eminence in her carriage!" called out a
+lackey, stepping into the room.
+
+"The devil! The devil!" muttered his Eminence the Cardinal as he rose
+to go. "I clean forgot my Guimard in the midst of my political cares.
+Well, I must go to face the anger of my tigress!"
+
+The banquet broke up. The guests left the table, and gathered in little
+groups before parting, still carrying on the discussion of the evening.
+Only Abbot Morlet stood apart, and as he let his sardonic glance travel
+from group to group, he muttered to himself grimly:
+
+"Simpleton courtiers! Imbecile cavaliers! Stupid prelates! Go to your
+Oeil-de-Boeuf! Go to Versailles--go! To-morrow the dregs of the populace
+will have felled their first head. The appetite for killing comes by
+killing. As to that foreign Marchioness, of whom it is well to have
+one's doubts, if it becomes advisable to get rid of her, her handsome
+head with its black hair will look well on the end of a pike some of
+these days. So let's be off. I must prepare that bully of a Lehiron, the
+old usher of the parish of St. Medard, to call together to-night his
+band of rascals, ready for anything. And then to get ready my disguise
+and that of my god-son, little Rodin!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+IN THE HALL OF THE PORTRAITS.
+
+
+Half an hour later none of that brilliant company remained in the home
+of the Count of Plouernel save the Count himself, and Victoria Lebrenn.
+The two were in the Hall of the Portraits, in contemplation of which the
+beautiful Marchioness seemed lost. Struck with her long silence, and
+seeing her gaze riveted upon the pictures, the Count approached her,
+saying in a surprised and passionate voice:
+
+"Do you know, Madam Marchioness, that I shall end by becoming jealous of
+my ancestors? For several minutes they alone have been happy enough to
+draw your attention."
+
+"True, Count. I was reflecting on the glory of your race. Proud was I,
+for your sake, of your illustrious origin."
+
+"Ah, Victoria, such words! But allow me to tell you, my radiant
+Marchioness, how I love you. Every day I feel my mad passion grow. By my
+honor as a gentleman, you could have led me on to treason as easily as
+you have confirmed me in the path of loyalty which I now tread. You have
+so mastered me that to possess your love I would have betrayed my King,
+and forever stained my escutcheon." Then, casting himself on his knees
+before the Marchioness, the Count continued in a trembling voice, "Is
+that not yet sufficient, Victoria?"
+
+At the moment that the Count of Plouernel had seized and was covering
+with kisses the hand of Victoria, a loud knock was heard at the door of
+the salon.
+
+"Rise, Count," said Victoria, quickly. "It is one of your men."
+
+Robert the steward entered precipitately, bearing in one hand a tray on
+which lay a despatch. He said to his master:
+
+"A courier from Versailles brought this despatch for my lord. The
+courier reached the house only with the greatest difficulty. To escape
+arrest by the people in the streets he was forced to leave his horse
+some distance from the barrier, and to throw off his royal livery."
+
+"You may go," replied Monsieur Plouernel, as he took the message.
+
+He tore open the envelope and made haste to read the contents of the
+missive, while Victoria followed him with curiosity burning in her eyes,
+and said in her most winning voice as she drew close to him, "News of
+importance, no doubt, my dear Gaston? You seem much moved by it."
+
+"Read, Marchioness, for I have no secrets from you," answered Plouernel,
+handing the despatch to Victoria. "Judge of the extreme urgency of my
+information!"
+
+The young woman eagerly grasped the letter, cast her eyes over it, and
+then said, with a silvery laugh: "But it is in cipher. Give me the key.
+I cannot read it--without your help."
+
+"True--pardon my distraction," replied the Count, and he read as
+follows, translating the cipher as he went:
+
+     "To-day's events in Paris, and the news from the country, are of
+     such nature that our measures must be pushed forward to execution.
+     Repair to Versailles at once. Let not one of our friends be
+     missing. It will probably be done to-morrow.
+
+     "Versailles, seven o'clock in the evening."
+
+"And it is now past midnight!" exclaimed Victoria, "You should have
+received the message at least two or three hours ago. Whence the delay?
+Must it be laid to negligence, or treachery? Both suppositions are
+possible."
+
+"You forget, Marchioness, that the messenger was compelled to use great
+precautions to enter Paris, and that his precautions in themselves, were
+quite capable of causing the delay. So that it is neither false play nor
+carelessness--no one is guilty."
+
+"So it may be. But there is not a moment to lose. You must be off to
+Versailles at once. Order your carriage immediately. Let your
+coach-wheels scorch the pavement."
+
+"It would be imprudent to take a carriage into the streets to-night. I
+shall go on horseback accompanied by one of my men; I shall go towards
+Great Rock and Queen's Court, till I pick up the road that runs from
+Courbevoie to Versailles. Then, like the wind for Versailles."
+
+Monsieur Plouernel grasped the young woman's hand and added in a voice
+of emotion--"God save the throne!"
+
+Victoria turned towards the door, paused a moment on the sill to make a
+final gesture of farewell, and left the room, musing to herself:
+
+"_In order to strike terror to the court, to make their plant miscarry,
+the people must take the Bastille to-morrow! No hesitation--it must be
+done!_"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+FILIAL CONFIDENCES.
+
+
+The home of Monsieur Desmarais, attorney at the court of Paris, deputy
+of the Third Estate to the National Assembly, the same who had been
+beaten by the orders of the Count of Plouernel, was situated near the
+St. Honoré Gate. There he occupied a beautiful dwelling of recent
+construction and decorated with taste. The day after the banquet
+participated in at the Plouernel mansion by the heads of the court
+party, Madam Desmarais and her daughter Charlotte, a charming girl of
+seventeen, were engaged in a sad interchange of thoughts.
+
+"Ah, my child," said Madam Desmarais, "how troubled I feel at what is
+going on in Paris!" As her child did not answer, the mother stopped and
+looked at her. The girl was plunged in deep revery.
+
+For a moment longer the girl maintained her silence. Then, her face
+suffused and her eyes filled with tears, she fell upon her mother's
+neck, buried her face in the maternal breast, and murmured in a
+smothered voice:
+
+"Mother, dear, for the first time in my life I have lacked confidence in
+you. Pardon your child!"
+
+Surprised and disturbed, Madam Desmarais pressed her daughter to her
+bosom, dried her tears, urged her to calm herself, and said, embracing
+her tenderly: "You, to lack confidence in me, Charlotte? You have a
+secret from me? Am I not, then, your _bestest_ friend?"
+
+"Alas, I fear I had almost forgotten it. Be indulgent toward your
+daughter!"
+
+"My heaven! What anguish you are putting me to! I can not believe my
+ears. You--to have committed a fault?"
+
+"I doubted your heart and your justice. I formed a bad judgment of my
+father and you, who have surrounded me with tenderness since my birth."
+
+"Finish your confidence, painful as it may be. Put an end to my
+uncertainty," pleaded the mother.
+
+Charlotte drew back a moment; then she proceeded in broken accents:
+
+"About six months ago, we came to live on the second story of this
+house, then still unfinished. Father was much taken with one of the
+workmen--"
+
+"You speak of John Lebrenn, the foreman of our ironsmith, Master
+Gervais?"
+
+"Struck with the excellent education of Monsieur John Lebrenn, father
+offered him the freedom of our library, and made him promise to come and
+visit us on his holidays. Father therefore considered Monsieur John
+Lebrenn worthy of admission to our friendship. That is how I must
+interpret father's actions."
+
+"Your father evinced, perhaps, too much good will towards the young
+fellow, and my brother has taken my husband to task for authorizing too
+intimate relations between us and a simple workman. Each should keep
+his place."
+
+"Uncle Hubert," answered Charlotte, "always showed himself hostile
+towards Monsieur Lebrenn, and even jealous of him."
+
+"Your uncle Hubert is a banker of wealth, and could have entertained for
+the protegé of my husband neither jealousy nor animosity."
+
+"Nevertheless, father's 'protegé' has been able to be of value to him,
+for I have often heard father say to Monsieur John that it was to him
+and his efforts that he owed his election as deputy for Paris."
+
+"It is a matter of common kindness for my husband to thank this young
+workman for some services he was able to perform in the interest of his
+election."
+
+"Allow me, dear mother, to tell you that father does not look at things
+as you do; for last Sunday he invited Monsieur John to dinner with us,
+calling him _my friend_. Father repeated to him several times that,
+thanks to the progress of the revolution, privileges of birth would be
+soon wiped out, and that equality and fraternity would reign among men."
+
+"Well, Charlotte! And suppose equality were to reign among men--what
+conclusion do you draw from that?"
+
+"Monsieur John Lebrenn being the equal of my father, bonds of friendship
+could exist between them."
+
+"I shall admit, for the moment, that an ironsmith's apprentice might
+think himself the equal of an attorney at the bar of Paris. What do you
+conclude therefrom?"
+
+"I hoped you would have understood," stammered the young girl in
+confusion, and more embarrassed than ever at seeing her mother so far
+from suspecting the nature of the confidence she was about to make.
+
+Suddenly a dull and heavy roar, prolonged and repeated from echo to
+echo, shook and rattled the windows of the room.
+
+"What noise is that!" cried Madam Desmarais with a start, and raising
+her head.
+
+Crash upon crash, more distinct than the first, rattled again the
+windows and even the doors of the dwelling. At that instant in rushed
+one of Madam Desmarais's maids, screaming out with affright:
+
+"Madam, Oh, madam! It is the cannon! It is the roar of artillery!"
+
+"Great God!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais, turning pale. "And my husband!
+To what dangers will he be exposed!"
+
+"Do not worry, dear mother. Father is at Versailles," spoke out
+Charlotte, now the comforter.
+
+"They are attacking Paris. The counter-attack will lead on to
+Versailles. There will be uprisings, insurrections, massacres!"
+
+"The suburbs are attacking the Bastille," answered Gertrude, the maid,
+all of a tremble. "At daybreak our neighbor, Monsieur Lebrenn the
+ironsmith, armed with sword and gun, placed himself at the head of a
+troop, and marched upon the fortress."
+
+"Alas, he rushes into the arms of death--I shall never see him more!"
+cried Charlotte, starting to her feet. And overcome with emotion and
+fear, she paled, her eyes closed, and she fainted in the arms of her
+mother and the servant, who bent over her plying their simple
+restorative cares.
+
+For a long time the detonation of the artillery and the rattle of
+musketry continued unabated. At length the firing slackened, became
+desultory, and finally ceased altogether. The tumult gave way to a
+profound silence. Charlotte regained consciousness. Her face hidden in
+her hands, she was now seated beside her mother, who regarded her
+daughter with a severe and saddened look. The older woman seemed to
+hesitate to speak to the girl; finally she addressed her in a voice that
+was hard and dry:
+
+"Thank heaven, Charlotte, you have recovered from your faint. Let us
+continue our interview, that was so unfortunately interrupted. Meseems
+it is of extreme importance for us all. I can guess its conclusion."
+
+The hard lines in the face of Madam Desmarais and the iciness in her
+tone took the young girl aback; but overcoming the passing emotion, she
+raised her head, revealing her countenance wet with tears, and answered:
+
+"I have never practised dissimulation towards you. So, just now, I could
+not conceal the fears which assailed me for John Lebrenn--for I love him
+passionately. I have pledged him my faith, I have received his in
+return. We have sworn our troth, one to the other. There, my dear
+mother, that is the confidence, I wished to make to you."
+
+"Oh, woe is us! The predictions of my brother are realized. How right he
+was to reproach my husband for his relations with that workingman!
+Unworthy daughter!" continued Madam Desmarais addressing Charlotte, "How
+could you so far forget your duties as to think of uniting your lot with
+that of a miserable artisan? Shame and ignominy! Dishonor to your
+family--"
+
+"Mother," replied Charlotte, raising her head proudly, "my love is as
+noble and pure as the man who calls it forth."
+
+Gertrude, the serving maid, here again broke precipitately into the
+room, joyfully crying as she crossed the threshold:
+
+"Madam, good news! Your husband has just entered the courtyard."
+
+"My husband in Paris!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais. "What can have taken
+place at Versailles? Perhaps the Assembly is dissolved! Perhaps he is
+proscribed, a fugitive! My God, have pity on us!"
+
+She rushed to the door to meet her husband, but checked herself long
+enough to say to Charlotte:
+
+"Swear to me to forget at once this shameful love. On that condition I
+consent to withhold from your father all knowledge of the wretched
+affair."
+
+"My father shall know all!" replied Charlotte resolutely, as Monsieur
+Desmarais entered the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+DEPUTY DESMARAIS.
+
+
+The deputy of the Third Estate was a man in the prime of life; his
+intellectual face betrayed more of diplomacy than of frankness. The
+disorder of his apparel and the perspiration that covered his brow
+bespoke the precipitancy of his return. His pallor, the contortion of
+his features, the fear portrayed upon them, disclosed the anxiety of his
+mind. But his whole expression relaxed at sight of Charlotte and her
+mother. He pressed them several times in turn to his bosom, and cried
+joyously:
+
+"Dear wife--dear daughter--embrace me again! I never before thought what
+a consolation in these cursed times the sweet joys of the domestic
+hearth would prove."
+
+And again embracing his wife and daughter, the advocate added,
+"Blessings on you both for your presence. You have made me forget for a
+moment the atrocities committed by a cannibal people!"
+
+As Monsieur Desmarais uttered these last words, a storm of triumphal
+outcries, first distant, then gradually drawing nearer, smote upon his
+ear: "Victory! The Bastille is taken by the people! Down with the court!
+Down with the traitors! Down with the King! Death to the King! Long live
+the Nation!"
+
+Then as gradually the cries moved away and died out in the distance.
+
+"The Bastille is taken--but how much blood had to be shed in the heroic
+attack!" thought Charlotte, endeavoring to curb her apprehensions for
+John Lebrenn. Then, carrying her handkerchief to her lips to smother a
+sob, she added to herself, "He is dead, perhaps. O, God, have pity on my
+grief."
+
+"What mean these cries, my friend?" asked Madam Desmarais of her
+husband. "Is it possible that the Bastille has fallen into the hands of
+the people? Can the working classes have overcome the army? In what sort
+of times do we live?"
+
+"The Bastille is taken! Cursed day--the people are on top!"
+
+Charlotte heard with astonishment the execrations of her father on the
+victory just won by the people. But before she was able to explain to
+herself this revulsion in her father's beliefs, Gertrude re-entered the
+room, calling out through the open door--
+
+"Good news again! Mother Lebrenn, our neighbor, has sent one of her
+apprentices to inform you that she has just received a note from
+Monsieur John, saying that he received a slight gunshot wound in the
+shoulder during the battle--and announcing that the people is everywhere
+victorious!"
+
+"John Lebrenn!" exclaimed Monsieur Desmarais, enraged. "He took part in
+that insurrection! Send answer to Mother Lebrenn that I take no interest
+in parties to massacre!" Then recollecting himself, he added, "No--say
+to the apprentice that you have delivered the message."
+
+"Not a word of interest, and John wounded," thought Charlotte. "Ah, at
+least, thanks to You, my God, John's wound is slight. I need not tremble
+for his life."
+
+"If the revolution one of these days miscarries, it will be the fools of
+the stamp of this Lebrenn who will be to blame," continued Desmarais
+bitterly. "They will not comprehend that the ideal government is a
+bourgeois, constitutional monarchy, amenable to the courts, disarmed,
+and subordinated to an assembly of representatives of the Third Estate.
+These miserable workingmen dishonor the revolution by assassination."
+
+"Father," responded Charlotte firmly, her forehead flushed with a
+generous resolve, "Monsieur John Lebrenn can not be called an assassin."
+
+"I, too, believed in the honesty of that workman whom I showered with
+favors, in spite of the warnings of your uncle Hubert," replied
+Desmarais. "But when John Lebrenn takes part in this insurrection, I
+withdraw my esteem. I look upon him as a brigand!"
+
+"John Lebrenn a brigand!" exclaimed Charlotte, unable to restrain her
+indignation. "Is it you, father, who thus insult a man whom you but now
+called your friend! What a contradiction in your language!"
+
+"My dear husband," interposed Madam Desmarais, interrupting her daughter
+to retard an explanation of which she dreaded the issue: "You have not
+yet told us what compelled your departure from Versailles, and why you
+are in Paris instead of in session with the National Assembly."
+
+"Last evening and night the most sinister rumors were in circulation
+about Versailles. According to some, the court party had secured from
+the King the dissolution of the Assembly. The members of the Left were
+to be arrested as seditious characters, and imprisoned or banished from
+the kingdom."
+
+"Great heaven--that is where you sit, my friend! To what danger have you
+not been exposed!"
+
+"They would not have taken me from my curule chair alive," responded the
+attorney grandly. "But the court party, frightened by the peals of the
+cannon at the Bastille, the roar of which carried to Versailles, drew
+back before the fearsome consequences of such an attempt."
+
+"I breathe again," exclaimed Madam Desmarais with a sigh of relief. "You
+are neither a fugitive nor proscribed. God be praised!"
+
+"Still, other reports agitated Versailles and the Assembly on the score
+of the uneasiness in Paris. During the night they saw, from the
+housetops, the gleam of burning barriers. In the morning a courier
+despatched by Baron Bezenval, commandant of Paris, brought news to the
+government that the people of the suburb of St. Antoine, assisted by
+those from the other suburbs, were besieging the Bastille. This sort of
+aggression was considered by the majority of the representatives an
+enterprise as blameworthy as it was senseless. No one could conjecture
+that a mob of people, in rags, almost without arms, could take a
+fortress defended by a garrison and a battery of artillery. The attempt
+was in the highest degree extravagant."
+
+"The victory of the people was truly heroic," answered Madam Desmarais.
+"It really savors of the miraculous."
+
+"Alas, a few more miracles of that stamp and the royal power is
+overthrown, and we fall into anarchy," moodily replied the advocate.
+"The people, drunk with its triumph, will not content itself with wise
+reforms. Having overthrown the royalty, the nobility, and the clergy, it
+will turn on the bourgeoisie, and we, its allies during the combat,
+shall become its victims after the victory. It will push to the end the
+logic of its principles."
+
+"Good heavens, my friend, you express to-day the same opinions you till
+lately fought in my brother!"
+
+"Your brother Hubert is a violent man who knows nothing of politics,"
+answered the attorney, much embarrassed by his wife's observation; and
+he added, "This morning the National Assembly, wishing to ascertain the
+truth as to the conflicting rumors of events in Paris, commissioned
+several of its members, myself among the number, to learn by actual
+witness the march of affairs, and, if possible, to check the shedding of
+blood. In spite of our haste to the city, when we arrived the people
+were already masters of the Bastille and had already disgraced their
+victory by slaughtering the Marquis De Launay, governor of the fortress,
+and several officers. These murders were then followed by ghoulish
+scenes, which I beheld with my own eyes. But everything in its time. My
+colleagues and I went to the City Hall. We succeeded, with much effort,
+in working our way through the swarms of people in arms. We saw the
+unhappy Flesselles, President of the Committee of Notables, livid,
+whelmed with blows and insults, his clothing torn to ribbons, dragged
+into the square and massacred: after the noble, the bourgeois! Among the
+assassins I remarked a brawny giant, with the face of a gallows-bird,
+and a little short man whose visage half vanished under a shock of red
+beard, evidently false, who dragged at his side a young boy of eight or
+nine years. At one instant I thought that the unhappy Fleselles might
+be saved, but the declamations of the red-bearded man and the giant
+raised to a paroxysm the fury of a band of savages whom they seemed to
+direct, and I knew then that the Provost of the merchants was lost. The
+fellow with the red beard drew up to him and cracked his head at one
+blow, with the butt of his pistol. The savage band hurled itself upon
+the unfortunate man as he fell to earth, and riddled him with wounds.
+The giant put the climax to the horrible deed: he cut off the head and
+impaled it on the end of a pike. Then the whole band of scoundrels, the
+little boy along with the rest, began to dance around the hideous
+trophy, singing and shouting."
+
+"My blood freezes in my veins, my friend, when I think of the danger you
+ran in the midst of that frantic populace," said Madam Desmarais. "Those
+madmen are worse than cannibals--and Paris seems to be in their power."
+
+"That is what I saw; but unfortunately that is not the only crime there
+is to deplore. Other murders followed this first one. The blood thus
+shed threw the populace into a species of frenzy. Finally I was able to
+escape, to get out of the crowd, and I hastened to you, dear wife, and
+to our daughter. These are the crimes that the takers of the Bastille
+either perpetrated, or are accomplices in. By giving the signal for
+insurrection, they have thrown the people into all the dangers of a
+revolt. That is why John Lebrenn is no better in my eyes than a common
+bandit."
+
+"You are unjust, father, toward him whom you called your friend,"
+ventured Charlotte, in a voice firm with resolution. "On reflection you
+will return to sentiments that are more just to Monsieur Lebrenn."
+
+Struck with astonishment at his daughter's words and tone, the advocate
+questioned his wife with a look, as if to seek the cause of this strange
+appeal on the part of Charlotte for Monsieur John.
+
+"It is I, father, who can give you the explanation you seek of my
+mother. I shall not falter in doing so," said Charlotte; and after a
+momentary pause she continued:
+
+"I shall not recall to you how many times you have uttered yourself in
+terms of friendship and esteem for Monsieur Lebrenn. The good opinion
+you held of him was merited, and I dare vouch that he will continue to
+show himself worthy of it. I shall not recall to you the proofs of
+devotion Monsieur Lebrenn has given you, notably at the time of your
+election. It is not willingly that I bring back to your memory the
+incident of the outrage of which you were the victim at the instigation
+of Monsieur the Count of Plouernel, and which you communicated to
+Monsieur Lebrenn in confidence one evening about two months ago. It
+costs me much to reopen in your heart that rankling wound. But do you
+remember the generous choler with which Monsieur Lebrenn was seized at
+your revelation? 'I am but a mechanic, and without doubt this great lord
+will consider me unworthy to raise a sword against him,' said Monsieur
+John to you, 'but I swear to God, I shall punish the wretch with these
+stout arms that heaven has bestowed upon me.' Already he was bounding
+towards the door to be off to avenge your insult, when you and my mother
+stopped him with great difficulty, plying your supplications to make him
+promise not to attack your enemy. And then, clasping him in your arms,
+you said to him, your voice quivering with emotion, and your eyes filled
+with tears, 'Ah, my friend, you shall be my son; for no otherwise than
+as a son did you feel the insult I received. This mark of attachment,
+joined to all the other proofs of your affection, renders you so dear to
+my heart that from this moment I shall look upon you as one of the
+members of our family. You have won all our hearts--'"
+
+"And what has all this to do with the excesses which Monsieur Lebrenn
+has been one of the instigators of, and with the assassinations which I
+have witnessed? Come, speak clearly, explain yourself. I understand
+nothing of all this pathos."
+
+"By what right, father, do you render Monsieur Lebrenn responsible for a
+murder to which he was an entire stranger?"
+
+"But whence this great interest, my daughter, in taking the part of
+Monsieur Lebrenn against your father?"
+
+"In spite of my ignorance of politics, dear father, I know that in
+attacking the Bastille the people wished to destroy the house of durance
+where shuddered so many innocent victims. And perhaps Monsieur Lebrenn,
+in joining himself with the insurgents, hoped to find his father in one
+of the dungeons of the fortress."
+
+"And if by chance he should discover him!" exclaimed advocate Desmarais,
+more and more surprised and irritated at his daughter's persistence in
+defending Lebrenn. "Does that chance absolve him from the excesses for
+which the taking of the Bastille was the signal? Ought not the
+responsibility for these acts fall upon those who took part in the
+attack, among others on Monsieur Lebrenn, who, it seems, is one of the
+leaders of the insurrection?"
+
+"Does the memory of services rendered, father, weigh so heavily upon
+you that you seek to evade all recollection of them, under the pretext
+of a responsibility which you endeavor to load on a generous man for the
+crimes committed by others?"
+
+"Do you know, Charlotte," answered the advocate severely, after a few
+moments' reflection, "that your persistence in defending that man would
+justly give me strange suspicions regarding your conduct?"
+
+"My friend," interrupted Madam Desmarais, "do not attach any importance
+to a few words which have escaped our daughter in a moment of
+excitement."
+
+"You are mistaken, dear mother. I am perfectly calm. But I can not
+submit to hearing a man of heart and honor calumniated without
+protesting against what I regard as a great wrong to him. Why should I
+not say to father what I have just said to you, mother--that for two
+months my faith has been pledged to Monsieur John Lebrenn, that I have
+sworn to him to have no other husband than he? And I shall add, before
+you, my father, and you, my mother, that I shall be true to my promise."
+
+"Great God!" cried the advocate, stunned with amazement, "that miserable
+workman has dared to raise his eyes to my daughter! He has stolen my
+child from me! Death and damnation, I shall have vengeance!"
+
+"You are in error, father; your daughter has not been stolen away,"
+proudly returned Charlotte. "That _miserable_ workingman in whose
+presence you have so many times argued against the privileges of birth,
+against the artificial distinctions which separate the classes in
+society--that _miserable_ workingman whom you treated as a friend, an
+equal, when you judged his support necessary to your ambition--that
+_miserable_ workingman placed his faith in the sincerity of your
+professions, father, he saw in me his equal--and his love has been as
+pure, as respectful as it has been deep--and devoted--and my heart--is
+given to him--"
+
+"You are a brazen hussy!" yelled the lawyer, pale with rage. "Leave my
+presence! You disgrace my name!"
+
+"On the contrary, father, I hope I do honor to your name, in putting
+into practise those principles of equality and fraternity whose generous
+promoter you have made yourself."
+
+At that moment the noise of many voices was heard under the windows of
+the Desmarais apartment, crying enthusiastically: "Long live Citizen
+Desmarais! Long live the friend of the people! Long live our
+representative!" These eloquent testimonies of the popular affection for
+Monsieur Desmarais offered so strange a contradiction to the reproaches
+which he had just addressed to Charlotte, that under the impression of
+the contrast the lawyer, his wife and his daughter fell silent.
+
+"Do you hear them, father?" Charlotte at last ventured. "These brave
+people believe, the same as I, in the sincerity of your principles of
+equality. They acclaim you as the friend of the people."
+
+At the same instant Gertrude ran into the room breathless with
+excitement, exclaiming: "A troop of the vanquishers of the Bastille,
+with Monsieur John Lebrenn at their head, has halted before the house.
+They want monsieur to appear on the balcony and address them."
+
+"Death of my life! This is too much," snarled the advocate, at the
+moment that new cries resounded from without:
+
+"Long live Citizen Desmarais. Long live the friend of the people! Come
+out! Come out! Long live the Nation! Down with the King! Death to the
+aristocrats!"
+
+"My friend, you can not hesitate. You will run the greatest danger by
+not appearing and saying a few good words to these maniacs. In bad
+fortune we must show a good heart," said Madam Desmarais, alarmed; then
+addressing Gertrude: "Quick, quick, open the window to the balcony."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+LIONS AND JACKALS.
+
+
+Gertrude hastened to execute her mistress's order, and revealed to the
+deputy's family St. Honoré Street, packed, as far as the eye could
+reach, with a dense crowd. The windows of the houses bordering on it
+were filled by their inhabitants, drawn thither by the commotion. The
+column of the vanquishers of the Bastille was stationed in front and to
+both sides of the Desmarais domicile; it was composed for the most part
+of men of the people, clad in their working clothes. Some carried guns,
+pikes, or swords; several among them were armed with the implements of
+their trade. All, bourgeois, mechanics, soldiers, acclaimed the victory
+of the people with the cry, a thousand times repeated:
+
+"Long live the Nation!"
+
+In the center of the column glowered two pieces of light artillery
+captured in the courtyard of the redoubtable prison. On the caisson of
+one of these cannon, erect, majestically leaning on a pike-staff from
+which floated the tricolor, stood a woman of massive stature, a red
+kerchief half concealing the heavy tresses which fell down upon her
+shoulders. Her dark robe disclosed her robust arms. She held her pike in
+one hand--in the other a shattered chain. Woman of the people as she
+was, she seemed the genius of Liberty incarnate.
+
+To the rear of the cannon rested a cart trimmed with green branches and
+surrounded by men who bore at the end of long poles or of pikes chains,
+garrottes, gags, iron boots, iron corsets, pincers, and other strange
+and horrible instruments of torture gathered up in the subterranean
+chambers of the Bastille. In the car were three of the prisoners
+delivered by the people. One of these was the Provost of Beaumont,
+imprisoned fifteen years before for having denounced the famine
+agreement. Another, who seemed to have lost his reason in the sufferings
+of a long and drear captivity, was the Count of Solange, imprisoned by
+_lettre de cachet_ during the reign of Louis XV. The last of the three
+prisoners was broken, bent to the ground, tottering. He lifted to heaven
+his colorless eyes--alas, the unfortunate man had become blind in his
+dungeon. It was the father of John Lebrenn. Poor victim of tyranny! He
+feebly supported himself by the arm of his son, wounded though the
+latter was.
+
+Such was the picture that met the gaze of advocate Desmarais as he
+stepped out upon the balcony of his dwelling, his wife and daughter on
+either side of him. Charlotte's first glances went in search of, and as
+soon found, John Lebrenn. With a woman's intuition she divined that the
+aged figure beside him, snatched from the cells of the Bastille was
+indeed his father.
+
+The appearance of advocate Desmarais and his family was greeted with a
+new outburst of acclaim:
+
+"Long live the friend of the people!"
+
+In stepping forth upon the balcony, Desmarais had yielded merely to
+policy. He made a virtue of necessity. Condescending, gracious,
+complaisant, he began by greeting with smile, look, and gesture the
+populace assembled beneath his windows. Then he bowed, and placed his
+hand on his heart as if to express by that pantomime the emotion, the
+gratitude, which he experienced at the demonstration of which he was the
+object.
+
+Silence was re-established among the crowd. John Lebrenn, still standing
+in the cart beside his father, addressed the attorney in a voice clear
+and sonorous:
+
+"Citizen Desmarais, defender of the rights of the people, thanks to you,
+our representative in the National Assembly! Your acts, your speeches,
+have responded to all that we expected of you. Honor to the friend of
+the people!"
+
+The advocate signified that he wished to reply. The tumult was hushed,
+and the deputy of the Third Estate delivered himself as follows:
+
+"Citizens! my friends, my brothers! I can not find words in which to
+express the admiration your victory inspires me with. Thanks to your
+generous efforts, the most formidable rampart of despotism is
+overthrown! Be assured, citizens, that your representatives know the
+significance of the taking of the Bastille. The Assembly has declared
+that the ministers and the councillors of his Majesty, whatever their
+rank in the state, are responsible for the present evils and those which
+may follow. Responsibility shall be demanded of the ministers and all
+functionaries!"
+
+"Bravo! Long live Desmarais! Long live the Assembly! Long live the
+Nation! Death to the King! Death to the Queen! Down with the
+aristocrats!"
+
+"Nothing could be more pleasing to me, citizens," continued Desmarais,
+"than the choice you have made of Citizen Lebrenn as the spokesman of
+the sentiments that animate you. Honor to this young and valiant
+artisan, the son of one of the victims rescued from the Bastille!"
+
+This allocution, pronounced by advocate Desmarais with every appearance
+of great tenderness, moved the people. Tears dimmed the eyes of all. The
+father of John Lebrenn seized his son in his arms, and Charlotte, unable
+to restrain her tears, murmured as she cast a look of gratitude toward
+heaven, "Thanks to you, my God! My father is his true old noble self
+again. He sees the injustice of his opposition to John!"
+
+When the emotion produced by his last words had somewhat subsided,
+advocate Desmarais resumed: "Adieu till we meet again, citizens, my
+friends--my brothers! I return to Versailles. The Assembly has
+despatched three of my colleagues and myself to learn at first hand how
+it fares with the good people of Paris. When our report is called for,
+we shall be ready. Long live the Nation!"
+
+With a final farewell gesture to the throng, Desmarais quitted the
+balcony and re-entered his apartment. In a few moments the column took
+up its interrupted march, and disappeared. Almost immediately there
+disgorged itself tumultuously into St. Honoré Street a band of men of an
+aspect strangely contrasting with that of the populace just addressed by
+Monsieur Desmarais. Some were dressed in rags, others wore a garb less
+sordid, but nearly all bore on their faces the stamp of vice and crime.
+The band was composed of men without occupation; do-nothing workmen;
+debauched laborers; petty business men ruined by misconduct, become
+pickpockets, sharpers, infesters of houses of ill fame and other evil
+resorts; robbers and convicts, assassins--a hideous crowd, capable of
+every crime; an execrable crowd, whom our eternal enemies keep in fee
+and easily egg on to these saturnalia, for which the people is but too
+often held culpable; wretches in the hire of the priests, the nobles and
+the police.
+
+At the head of these bandits marched a man with the face of a brigand,
+of gigantic stature and herculean frame, and conspicuously well clad.
+Once a "cadet," then a gaming-house proprietor, then usher of the Church
+of St. Medard, Lehiron, for such was the name of the leader of the band,
+had been expelled from his last employment for the theft of the
+poor-box. Around his waist a sash of red wool held two horse-pistols and
+a cutlass that had parted company with its sheath. His coat and the
+cuffs of his shirt rolled back to the elbow, he gesticulated wildly with
+his bare hands, which were clotted with blood. At the end of a pike he
+still bore the head of Monsieur Flesselles, and from time to time, while
+brandishing the hideous trophy, he would cry out in a stentorian voice:
+
+"Long live the Nation! To the lamp-post with the aristocrats! Death to
+all the nobles!"
+
+"Death to the enemies of the people! The aristocrats to the lamp-post!"
+repeated all the bandits, brandishing their pikes, their sabers, or
+their guns blackened with powder.
+
+"To the lamp-post with the aristocrats!" also cried the shrill and
+piercing voice of an urchin who gave his hand to a miserably clad
+character, the man of the false beard of whom Desmarais had spoken. It
+was the Jesuit Morlet, and the boy his god-son, little Rodin. At the
+moment that the band hove in sight of the lawyer's dwelling, the Jesuit
+drew close to Lehiron, and spoke a few words to him in a low voice. The
+latter stopped, signed to his followers for silence and cried at the top
+of his leathern lungs:
+
+"Death to the bourgeois! Death to the traitors! To the lamp-post with
+Desmarais!"
+
+Then the band resumed its way; and Abbot Morlet, posted at the head of
+the troop, made haste to bring it up to the last straggling files of the
+vanquishers of the Bastille. Then, upon the carriage of the cannon
+whence she dominated the throng, he beheld the woman with the red
+handkerchief and the dark robe. In spite of the change which her costume
+imparted to her features, the Jesuit was stupefied to
+recognize--Marchioness Aldini!
+
+Barely had he recovered from his surprise when the Marchioness descended
+from the piece of artillery. As hastily, the Jesuit quitted his
+companions in order to trace her, and, if possible, clear up the
+suspicions which in his mind surrounded this one-time Marchioness, now
+heroine of the people. Little Rodin followed his dear god-father, and
+the two, elbowing their way through the people of the quarter, who were
+seized with surprise and affright at the murderous cries uttered by the
+sinister band which approached, inquired, as they went, for the
+beautiful dark woman coiffed in a red handkerchief who had just leaped
+down from the cannon--having, so the Abbot pretended, a message for her.
+Finally a woman haberdasher, drawn to the threshold of her booth,
+replied to Abbot Morlet's interrogations:
+
+"Yes, the beautiful young woman you seek has entered house No. 17, along
+with our neighbor John Lebrenn. That is all I can tell you."
+
+"Then the Lebrenn family lives in this street, my dear woman?"
+
+"Certainly. Mother Lebrenn and her family occupy two rooms on the fourth
+floor of No. 17."
+
+"Thank you for your information, my dear woman," replied the Jesuit,
+with difficulty concealing the joy that the unexpected discovery caused
+him. "Many thanks!"
+
+"And so," continued the Abbot, "I recover the traces of that family whom
+we have lost from sight for over a century. What a lucky chance! Two
+woodcocks in one springe--Marchioness Aldini and the family of Lebrenn.
+An enemy spotted, is one-half throttled. Let us train our batteries to
+suit."
+
+"Dear god-father," put in little Rodin at that moment, with a determined
+air, "I am not afraid to look at heads mowed off."
+
+"My child," replied the Jesuit with fatherly pride and happiness, "it is
+not enough to have no fear; one must actually feel his heart grow
+lightened when he sees the enemies of our holy mother, the Church of
+Rome, put to death."
+
+"Dear god-father, was Monsieur Flesselles, then, an enemy of our holy
+mother, the Church?"
+
+"My child, the death of Monsieur Flesselles, innocent or guilty, was
+useful to the good cause."
+
+Meanwhile, Lehiron's band, just then passing under the windows of
+Desmarais's home, continued to shriek, "Death to the enemies of the
+people! Death to the bourgeois! To the lamp-post with Desmarais!"
+
+The cries had not yet reached the ears of the attorney, who had no
+sooner withdrawn from the balcony than his daughter, throwing herself
+into his arms, said to him in a voice broken with sobs of joy:
+
+"Thanks, Oh, thanks, father, for what you have just said!"
+
+"What are you thanking me for now?"
+
+"For the noble utterances you have just addressed to Monsieur John
+Lebrenn," replied Charlotte delighted, not noticing the brusque
+transformation which came over the face of the advocate at her words.
+
+"How! You have the presumption to abuse the necessity I found myself
+reduced to, in speaking a few words of good will to that laborer in
+order to save my house from pillage, and perhaps to protect my own life
+and that of my wife and daughter--you presume to abuse that necessity to
+oblige me to give my consent to your union with an ironsmith's
+apprentice? You are an unworthy daughter!"
+
+"Then--your cordial words, your touching protestations, were but lies!"
+murmured the young girl, crushed by her father's rough speech. "It was
+all comedy and imposture!"
+
+"Charlotte," continued Desmarais in a tone of harsh resolve, "cut short
+this passion which is a disgrace to all of us! I swear you shall never
+see that man again. To-morrow you leave Paris. It is my will."
+
+"Father, my father--I implore you--revoke that sentence--"
+
+"My dear friend," pursued Desmarais, addressing his wife and not heeding
+his daughter, "I shall delay for twenty-four hours my return to
+Versailles. Hasten all your preparations for the trip. We shall leave
+to-morrow morning. I shall take you along, as well as our daughter."
+
+"Pity, father! Do not drive me to despair--"
+
+"You know my will. Nothing can bend it."
+
+"Cursed be this day," cried the young girl with indignation; "cursed be
+this day when you force me to forget the respect I owe a father. Helas!
+it is you, you yourself, father, who just now, this very hour, protested
+your love for the people, your disdain for the privileges of birth and
+wealth. And now you declare before me that your protestations were
+false, that you despise the people, fear them, hate them. The imposture
+and the lie drive me to rebel."
+
+"Hold your tongue, unworthy minx! Do you not see the window is open, and
+that your imprudent words can be heard without? Have you resolved to get
+us all killed?" cried Desmarais, running to the window to close it.
+
+It was just the minute that Lehiron's band was passing the house. At the
+instant that the lawyer took hold of the casement fastening to draw shut
+the window, over the rail of the balcony, at the height of his own
+countenance, there appeared the livid head of Flesselles, impaled on its
+pike. A cry of fear broke from Desmarais, and he recoiled from the sill,
+clapping his hands before his eyes to shut out the grisly spectacle. The
+band halted before the attorney's door. Anew the cries burst loose
+without:
+
+"Long live the Nation!"
+
+"Death to the enemies of the people!"
+
+"To the lamp-post with the aristocrats!--to the lamp-post with
+Desmarais!"
+
+The clamors seemed to come so pat upon the words of Charlotte, that
+Madam Desmarais, stricken with affright, threw herself on her knees in
+an attitude of prayer, clasped her hands, and stammered out an appeal to
+God.
+
+"To the lamp-post with Desmarais! Death to the traitor!" shrieked
+Lehiron's band once more, and passed on its way. The cries of "Death!"
+faded away in the distance as Lehiron's troop followed in the wake of
+the conquerors of the Bastille. It was the pack of jackals following the
+lions.
+
+Desmarais gradually recovered from the state of rigid fright in which he
+was plunged, and cried out to Charlotte in a voice trembling with
+repressed rage:
+
+"Unnatural daughter! Parricide! Did you hear the cries of death hurled
+at your father by those cannibals of Paris, who carry in triumph the
+head of Flesselles? These men, who perhaps quite soon will have made
+your father undergo the same torture, are the friends, the brothers of
+John Lebrenn. Your lover is, like them, an assassin. Horror upon all
+this revolted plebs!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+REUNITED FROM THE BASTILLE.
+
+
+While advocate Desmarais was whelming his daughter with reproaches on
+the score of her love for John Lebrenn, the latter was at his mother's
+knee in their modest lodgings on the fourth floor of the old house in
+St. Honoré Street. In the larger of the two rooms composing the family's
+apartments, were to be seen two beds. One had never been occupied for
+years, since the day Ronan Lebrenn disappeared without a soul knowing
+what had become of him. The room also contained a sort of little
+bookshelf garnished with books printed with his own hand, a portable
+workbench at which John in the evenings finished up pieces belonging to
+his ironsmith's trade, tools, some little furniture, and a buffet of
+walnut-wood in which reposed the relics and legends of the family.
+
+Madam, or Mother, Lebrenn, as she was called in the neighborhood, was
+nearly sixty years of age. Domestic griefs, rather than years, had
+enfeebled and ruined her health. Her venerable countenance was of an
+extreme pallor, and sadly sunken. The poor woman held in her hands the
+head of her son, kneeling before her. The aged mother stroked it several
+times, saying in a voice thrilled with emotion:
+
+"Dear boy, you have come back to me at last. I can now reassure myself
+on the state of your wound. Helas! how great was my anguish during all
+the time of that frightful combat. The little note you sent me after the
+taking of the Bastille indeed calmed a little my terrors for you, but
+without stilling them completely. I feared lest, out of tenderness, you
+sought to deceive me as to the gravity of your hurt. Now I am coming to
+myself from my fears, and yet I still must hold you in my arms. Dear and
+only child whom God has left to a poor widow--how sweet it is for a
+mother to embrace her son!"
+
+"Come, good mother, I see your spirit is still troubled by the pangs of
+this morning. But are you quite sure you are a widow? Am I truly your
+only child?"
+
+"Helas! have not your father and sister both disappeared? Are they not
+lost forever to your poor mother?"
+
+"But why should they not return to us some day?"
+
+"Dear boy, if they lived, your father and sister whom you love so much,
+would we not have heard some news of them, even if it were impossible
+for them to come to us?"
+
+"You are right, good mother. But you presume that it would have been
+possible for them to have sent us some intelligence of their fate. May
+we not suppose, though, that father was thrown into some state prison,
+and that he was deprived of all communication with the outside? So sad a
+supposition has nothing strange in it."
+
+"In that case, my child, the prison would have proven your father's
+tomb, so frail was his health. We could not dare to hope that he would
+be able to surmount the rigors of his captivity."
+
+"But it might also be, good mother, that the hope of seeing us some day
+may have helped him to endure his sufferings."
+
+"Do not essay, dear boy, to raise in my heart hopes, which, deceived too
+soon, will but plunge me back again into despair. My dear husband is
+indeed lost to me, helas! As to your sister, we may well believe we
+shall never see her more. She also is lost to us. Without doubt she has
+sought in death a refuge from her anguish, since the fatal revelation of
+her earlier life to her fiance, Sergeant Maurice."
+
+"Nothing has come to light so far to confirm your apprehensions on the
+subject of these afflictions--dear, good mother--"
+
+"If my poor girl is not dead--what can have been her lot? I shudder even
+to think of it--misery, or dishonor!"
+
+"I do not wish, good mother, to hold out to you hopes, which, when
+deceived, will revive your sorrow and seriously compromise your health,
+perhaps your life. But I believe I can without danger accustom you to
+the idea that my sister still lives, and has not ceased to be worthy of
+your affection; and also that father, after having languished long years
+in a prison pit, may still recover his liberty, and that we may see
+him.--That is a hope in my heart which I would cause you to share.
+Follow well my reasoning--"
+
+"'Twould be too much happiness for me--I cannot believe it. And if I
+could believe it, I ask myself whether I have the strength to bear so
+much joy. Rapture can kill, as well as grief, my dear son."
+
+"And so, dear mother, if such events are to be told, I shall have
+recourse to roundabout methods to make you acquainted with such
+unhoped-for news. If it were about father--for example--I would say,
+that the victorious people penetrated into the Bastille to deliver the
+persons thrown into the dungeons, and that, among them, we found one who
+resembled father; that we seized the prison registrars and made them
+search in their registers for the records of a prisoner who was very
+dear to me, as it might have chanced that my father was among the
+number; that, in one of these registers, I read the date, 'April 22,
+1783,' and right after it, 'No. 1297--incarcerated--upper tier--cell No.
+18.'"
+
+"April 22, 1783," repeated Madam Lebrenn pensively. "That is the day
+after your father disappeared."
+
+"I would tell you that beside the date there was no name given for the
+prisoner, it being the usage to replace the name with a number. I would
+add, that, struck by the singular coincidence between the date and the
+time of father's disappearance, I went down to visit cell No. 18, as was
+indicated in the register--"
+
+"And then?" exclaimed Madam Lebrenn feverishly, and with growing
+anxiety.
+
+"The cell was empty. But they told me that the prisoner who occupied it
+was an old man grown blind, alas, during his confinement. I asked where
+they had taken the unfortunate man, and dashed off to seek him. Isn't
+this all interesting, mother?"
+
+"Why do you break off your story? For I feel that your supposings are
+but preparations for some revelation that you are about to make. You
+look away from me--John, my boy, my dear boy!" cried Madam Lebrenn,
+reaching towards her son and making him turn his face up to her--"You
+weep! No more doubt of it--Lord God! the old man--was--he was--"
+
+She could not finish. The word died on her lips, and she nearly swooned
+away. John, still kneeling before her, sustained her in his arms,
+saying: "Courage, good mother. Hear the end of my tale."
+
+"Courage, say you? But you are deceiving me, then? It was not then--your
+father?"
+
+"It was he! 'Twas indeed he whom I held in my arms. He lived--you shall
+see him soon. But, poor dear mother, have courage. We are not yet at the
+end of our trials."
+
+"Since your father lives, courage is easy to me! Let them bring him to
+us quick!"
+
+"Alas, you forget that in his dungeon father lost his sight. Besides,
+the weight of his irons, the humidity of his cell, have palsied, have
+paralyzed his limbs. He can hardly drag himself along."
+
+"But he lives! Ah, well! His infirmities will render him more dear to
+us," cried Madam Lebrenn in lofty exaltation, and suddenly rising. "Let
+us go to meet him."
+
+"One moment, good mother. They are bringing him to us. But I have still
+to prepare you for another piece of good fortune. You know the proverb,
+good mother, 'Good fortune never comes singly.' But, first, I want to
+acquaint you with the person who broke open father's cell, who freed him
+from his irons, and who bestowed upon him the simple cares that he long
+needed."
+
+"Tell me, dear son, who was your father's liberator?"
+
+"His liberator was a woman--an intrepid, heroic woman, who during the
+assault of the Bastille braved the fire of musketry and cannon and led
+the attackers, red flag in hand. Under a perfect hail of bullets she
+let down the drawbridge across one of the moats of the fortress, and was
+the first to run to the dungeons to free the prisoners. It was she who
+rescued father from his living grave."
+
+"Blessed be that woman! I shall cherish her as a daughter!"
+
+"That heroic woman, who is truly worthy of your love--is Victoria! Is
+that enough happiness for us? Father and sister, both have come home to
+your caresses. They are there, close to us, at our neighbor Jerome's,
+and await but the pre-arranged signal to come in."
+
+And John Lebrenn, joining the action to the words, struck three blows on
+the wall.
+
+The door flew open, and on the sill appeared father Lebrenn, leaning on
+one side on the arm of Victoria, on the other on that of neighbor
+Jerome. Madam Lebrenn, intoxicated with joy, flung herself into the arms
+of her husband and daughter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE LEBRENN FAMILY.
+
+
+Thus reunited, the Lebrenn family gave themselves up to those sweetest
+of reminiscences, the recollections of sorrows now no more. The father
+recounted to his wife and children the tortures of his long captivity.
+Victoria retold the events in which she had been an actor since she had
+left them, not neglecting her affiliation with the sect of the Voyants,
+or "Seeing Ones." Due tribute having been paid by the family to the
+civil cares of the day, the conversation turned upon their private
+interests.
+
+John informed his father of his love for Charlotte Desmarais, and of the
+hope he cherished of soon uniting his destiny with hers. After listening
+attentively to his son, the old man said, in a voice marked with
+sadness:
+
+"Alas, my dear John, I augur no good of your love. Advocate Desmarais is
+rich; he belongs to the bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisie, like the
+nobility, has its arrogance, its haughtiness. I much doubt whether he
+will give his consent to the marriage."
+
+"That would have been true before, good father," replied John. "But
+ideas have changed of late years; great progress has been made during
+your sad imprisonment. People and bourgeoisie are now but one party,
+united by the same interests, by the same hopes, and both resolved on
+ending the privileges of our enemies, royalty, the Church, and the
+nobility. The bourgeoisie has learned that in the struggle it has joined
+with the monarchy, it has but one support, the people. If it is the
+head, we are the arms. The Third Estate possesses the shining lights,
+the wealth; but we, of the seed of the people, we have the numbers, the
+force, the courage. And then, to accomplish the revolution, our
+co-operation is absolutely necessary to the bourgeoisie. They must count
+on the workingmen, the proletariat. We have the power and the right."
+
+"Perhaps, my son. Yet, social prejudices are not effaced in a day. And
+for a long time to come, I fear, the bourgeois will see between himself
+and the artisan the same distance which separates him, the bourgeois,
+from the nobility."
+
+"Nevertheless, my friend," interposed Madam Lebrenn, "Monsieur Desmarais
+has always received our son on a footing of equality, calling him
+friend, and inviting him to pass his evenings with him. He has heaped
+upon our son many marks of his gratitude."
+
+"Marks of gratitude, Marianne? For what?" asked the blind man. "What
+service has our son done Monsieur Desmarais? Or is his friendship
+disinterested?"
+
+"I did my best to insure his election to the States General," replied
+the young artisan.
+
+"So," said the old man, thoughtfully, "advocate Desmarais owes his
+election to your efforts, to your exertions?"
+
+"He owes it to his merit, to his value. I only suggested Monsieur
+Desmarais to those of our fellow citizens who had confidence in me, and
+all acclaimed him."
+
+"In short, you powerfully aided in his election. I am no longer
+astonished that he treats you as a friend, an equal. But it is a far
+cry, my son, from words to acts. I doubt the sincerity of this lawyer's
+affection."
+
+"That doubt would never enter your thoughts, good father, if you knew
+the excellent man. If you had heard him inveigh, as I have, against the
+distinctions of birth and fortune--"
+
+"Perhaps he had in mind only the privileges of the nobility," observed
+Victoria, who until then had remained grave and silent. "The prejudices
+of the Third Estate are tenacious."
+
+"I should add, dearest sister, that he idolizes his daughter so, that to
+see her happy, he would sacrifice all the prejudices of his class--even
+if he were still under their influence, which I can not believe. I am
+well assured of that."
+
+"And his daughter is an angel," added Madam Lebrenn. "I have seen and
+can appreciate her."
+
+"The excellence of our son's choice is not doubted," replied the old
+man, half convinced. "And, after all, it may be that Monsieur Desmarais
+does belong to that portion of the bourgeoisie which sees in the
+proletariat, disinherited for so many centuries, a brother to be guided
+and helped along the path of emancipation. If such is the case, my son,
+your marriage with Mademoiselle Desmarais may be consummated, and become
+the joy of my old age."
+
+"Brother," asked Victoria, "has Mademoiselle Desmarais informed her
+family of this projected union?"
+
+"At our last meeting, she assured me that she would soon broach the
+subject to her mother, and inform her that she had pledged me her
+faith, as I have mine to her. But I can not yet tell you whether the
+confidence has been made."
+
+"Does Mademoiselle Desmarais seem to have any doubts as to the consent
+of her relatives?"
+
+"Among those relatives there is an uncle, Hubert, a rich banker, who
+without doubt will oppose the project. This moneyed bourgeois entertains
+for the working class the most supreme contempt. But the violence of his
+opinions has brought about a rupture between him and Monsieur Desmarais.
+As to the latter and his wife, Mademoiselle Charlotte has no doubt of
+their consent, by reason of the affection and esteem they have always
+evinced for me."
+
+"Brother," continued Victoria after a moment's reflection, "I counsel
+you, make your demand for the hand of Mademoiselle Charlotte this very
+day. I base my advice on urgent grounds. If Monsieur Desmarais really
+sees in you a friend, an equal, if his devotion to the people and the
+revolution is sincere, the glory you have won at the taking of the
+Bastille can not but plead in your favor; his consent will be given
+immediately. On the contrary, if his protestations of love for the
+people have been but a mask of hypocrisy, it is better to know at once
+how to regard him; in that case, he will repulse you, or will evade
+giving you a direct answer. It is not merely a question of your love,
+brother, but of our cause--of a grave responsibility that weighs upon
+you. Your friends placed their faith in you when you asked their votes
+for Monsieur Desmarais; you owe it to them, now that the occasion
+presents itself, to make a decisive test, and assure yourself whether
+the convictions expressed by Monsieur Desmarais are sincere. If he
+refuses you the hand of his daughter, it shows that he is with us from
+the lips only, not from the heart. In that case, it will be proven that
+advocate Desmarais is a hypocrite and a traitor! Would not then your
+duty, your honor, brother, demand that you unmask the double-dealer?"
+
+"Nothing more just than what Victoria has said," declared the old man.
+"You should, my son, go this very day and lay your suit before Monsieur
+Desmarais."
+
+John thought for an instant, and answered: "You are right, father. My
+line of conduct is mapped out for me. I go at once to Monsieur
+Desmarais's, and formally present my request for the hand of Charlotte."
+
+"Brother," interposed Victoria, suppressing a sigh, "have you informed
+Monsieur Desmarais fully on our father's disappearance? He should know
+all that relates to that mournful event."
+
+"Monsieur Desmarais knows that immediately upon the publication of a
+hand-bill by father, he disappeared, and that we believed him dead or
+shut up in some state prison. He even knows the contents of the pamphlet
+which father wrote, and often has he shed tears in my presence when
+speaking of the disgrace of which you were a victim at the hands of
+Louis XV."
+
+A bitter smile contracted Victoria's lips, and she replied, "My father
+hid the truth in what he wrote, in order to stigmatize the first crime,
+and he threw a veil over the consequences of my dishonor. Have you
+raised the veil which covered my life? Did you speak of the series of
+assaults of which I was the victim?"
+
+"Sister," answered John Lebrenn, "out of respect for our family, I did
+not inform Monsieur Desmarais of the consequences of that first royal
+dishonor. I merely told him that you had been snatched from us, the same
+as my father, and that we knew not what had become of you. My
+confidences did not extend beyond that."
+
+"Your reserve was wise and prudent, dear brother. Continue to guard my
+secret from Monsieur Desmarais and his daughter. For them, as for all
+who know you, I must remain as dead."
+
+"Let it be as you desire, sister. But the dissimulation weighs on my
+heart like an act of cowardice."
+
+"The dissimulation is necessary to-day, brother, but it will not last
+forever. When you shall have a deeper knowledge of the character of your
+wife; after some years of marriage and motherhood shall have ripened her
+judgment, then, and only then, you may make to her a complete confidence
+of my past. Until then, I must remain dead to her, as to all--except you
+three and one other of our relatives, the Prince of Gerolstein, my
+initiator into the Voyants. Dead I shall be to the world, but living to
+you and to Franz of Gerolstein."
+
+"This Franz of Gerolstein," asked Victoria's father, "is he not one of
+the princes of that sovereign house of Germany founded of old by the
+descendants of our ancestor Gaëlo the Pirate?"
+
+"Yes, father; the heir to a reigning prince was to-day one of the most
+fearless attackers of the Bastille."
+
+At this moment a knock was heard at the door.
+
+"Enter," cried John, and to the astonished eyes of the Lebrenn family
+appeared Franz of Gerolstein. In the Prince, whom Victoria had just
+named, John recognized one of his fellow-combatants of the day.
+
+"Franz, here is my brother, of whom I have often spoken to you," said
+Victoria, taking John's hand and pressing it into that of the Prince.
+"You are relatives--now be friends. You are both worthy, one of the
+other. Both march in the same path."
+
+"My dear John--for so it is that friends and relatives of the same age
+should greet," answered Franz with cordial familiarity, affectionately
+closing in his own hand that of the young artisan, "I know through your
+sister all the good that can be thought of you. That will tell you how
+glad I am to meet you."
+
+"I also, my dear Franz, am happy to find in you a relative and a
+friend," John made answer, no less affectionately than the Prince.
+"Chance has made you of the sovereign race, yet you fight for the
+freedom of the people."
+
+"My dear John, I am, like you, a son of Joel, the brenn of the tribe of
+Karnak. More than once, across the ages, the republican ardor of the old
+Gallic blood has roused itself in my plebeian race--although, by an
+uncouth stroke of destiny, it has been muffled under a sovereignship and
+a grand-ducal crown."
+
+"Aye, we are indeed of the same blood--your words, your acts prove it,"
+said the blind father. "Your hand--let me also press your hand, my brave
+young man."
+
+Franz stepped toward Monsieur Lebrenn. "I am deeply sensible of these
+marks of fatherly good-will," he said. "They console me for the rigors
+of my own father, who has banished me from his presence and forbade me
+from his states."
+
+"What can have been the cause of such severity!" rejoined the old man in
+surprise. "What is your crime?"
+
+"My crime?" replied Franz, with a slight smile. "My crime consists in
+attaching scant weight to our sovereignty. I tried more than once to
+bring my father to more just, more modest appreciation of our origin.
+'Did not our family,' I said to him, 'come into its power through the
+audacity of an adventurer? May the earth lie light on our ancestor
+Gaëlo! But he was the companion and pupil of old Rolf, a frightful
+bandit, who, each spring, came to ravage the banks of the Loire and the
+Seine.' My father's answer was that all the crowned heads of the world,
+big or little, were sprung from no less savage a beginning. To which I
+retorted that there would come the day when the people, enlightened as
+to the origin of their pretended masters, would tire of being the
+exploitable property, the forced laborers, the chattels of a few royal
+families whose founders were fit for the galleys or the gibbet; and that
+I feared for kings, princes, emperors and Popes lest, by some terrible
+reversal of things here below, the people, driven to the limit of
+endurance, should treat them as their august founders deserved, and the
+most of them to this very day deserve to be treated."
+
+"In good sooth," said John Lebrenn, laughing, "that language was surely
+severe for a Prince to hold--and to monarchs!"
+
+"So, my dear John, my father grew furious at my language. In fine, I
+concluded by urging him to set a great example to the other princes of
+the Germanic Confederation, by laying aside his grand-duchy. 'Lay
+aside,' I said to him, 'a power stained with crime in its very origin,
+and lead the people of your states and the other German principalities
+to unite in a republic like the cantons of the Swiss, or the provinces
+of the Netherlands. The Poles, the Hungarians, the Moldavians, the
+Wallachians, enslaved by Prussia, by Russia and by Austria, but trained
+to republicanism by their old elective customs, will soon be attracted
+by the example and the cry of liberty! Then the three last powerful
+despotisms of Europe--Prussia, Austria, and Russia--will find themselves
+hemmed in, threatened by free peoples, and we shall soon have an end of
+these last lairs of royalty!'"
+
+"That was preparing for the future!" the old man exclaimed. "The United
+States of Europe! The Universal Republic!"
+
+"But my father preferred to hang to his throne," continued Franz. "Then
+convinced of the futility of my appeals, and holding the duty of a
+citizen in precedence over that of a son, I passed from word to action.
+With all my power and by every means at my disposal I propagated in
+Germany, its cradle, the society of the Illuminati; my father banished
+me."
+
+"Your account of yourself, Monsieur Gerolstein, deepens still more the
+esteem in which I needs must hold you," nodded the old man.
+
+"These words of regard are doubly precious, Monsieur Lebrenn. They shall
+add their bonds to those of the relationship already existent between
+us. It is in the name of those very bonds that I am about to reveal to
+you one of the motives of my visit--a cordial offer of my services. It
+is a blood-relation, it is a friend who speaks, Monsieur Lebrenn; do not
+then, I beg of you, yield to a susceptibility in itself honorable, but
+perhaps exaggerated. You were a printer. For long your labor provided
+for the wants of your family. But now you have lost your sight in
+prison; you are feeble. Madam Lebrenn is old. What are to be your
+resources against the material needs of existence?"
+
+"My health, thanks to God, is not so weakened that I can no longer
+work," replied Madam Lebrenn brightly. "The presence of my husband will
+double my strength."
+
+"And I, mother," added John, "am I not here by you? Reassure yourself,
+Franz, my father and mother shall want for nothing. We are,
+nevertheless, deeply sensible of your offer. We thank you, but we
+decline, firmly."
+
+"John, allow me to interrupt you," began the Prince. "I know from your
+sister what an industrious and skilful workman you are. But, please you,
+let us look at the situation together. Have you been able to go to your
+shop for the last four days? Considering the great events close at hand,
+of which the taking of the Bastille is but the precursor and sign, can
+you count on the full disposition of your time? The struggle once
+engaged between the nation and the royal power, will it not continue
+impetuous, implacable? Is it at a season when the liberty of the people
+trembles in the balance that you ought to abandon the field of battle?
+And still your family must live, and it can only live by your daily
+labor."
+
+"Often have I said," exclaimed Victoria, "that the people has never had
+the time to complete the revolutions it began! or else, if they were
+accomplished promptly, decisively and overwhelmingly, the time has
+always been lacking to defend the conquest, to maintain it, consolidate
+it, and fructify it. The people's enemies, on the other hand, gentlemen
+of leisure, free from care, kings, priests, nobles or tax-farmers, have
+awaited, under cover, the certain hour to ravish from the people the
+benefits of its short-lived conquest."
+
+"Alas, it is but too true," assented her father. "The time has always
+been lacking--the time and the money."
+
+"Such is the fatal verity!" continued Gerolstein. "Would that verity
+could convince the people that if they can, which is rarely the case,
+make some little savings from their meager pay, it is not at the tavern
+they should spend them. For those savings of the worker should, when the
+day arrives, insure to him a portion of the necessary leisure to
+emancipate himself. And if he has been able to put aside nothing, he is
+in error to yield to an exaggerated scruple of delicacy and repulse the
+aid fraternally offered to him by his friends in order that he may be
+assured one of the means to clinch his victory."
+
+"A singular occurrence which I witnessed this morning," responded the
+young artisan, "strikingly reinforces your argument. One of my friends,
+a journeyman carpenter, and several others of our comrades, were
+gathered at break of day in the neighborhood of the Bastille, awaiting
+the signal for the attack. A man simply clad, and with an open
+countenance, accosted them: 'Brothers,' said he, 'you go to-day to fight
+for your liberty. It is your duty. But to-day you will not go to your
+shops, and will earn nothing. If you have families, how will they live
+to-morrow? If you are bachelors, what will you live on yourselves? Allow
+then, one of your unknown friends to come to your aid as a brother. It
+is not an alms that I offer; I only assure you your leisure for this
+great day, by delivering you from your cares for the morrow.'"
+
+"That 'unknown friend' was the banker Anacharsis Clootz, the treasurer
+of the Voyants, and rich enough in his own name to aid our brothers for
+a long time to come," explained Franz in an undertone to Victoria,
+without interrupting John, who continued:
+
+"My comrades accepted the offer so delicately made, without much
+hesitation."
+
+"Now, Monsieur Lebrenn, can you still shrink from accepting, as John
+does, my tenders of service?"
+
+"No, Monsieur Gerolstein, neither I nor my son will hesitate any further
+in accepting your generous offer, should there arise any necessity of
+falling back upon it," replied the father of the house.
+
+"John," said Victoria, suddenly, "it is growing late. Go at once to
+Monsieur Desmarais, who is liable at any moment to leave for Versailles.
+Your plan must not be altered."
+
+"True," answered the young man with a shudder. "The project is now
+doubly important. I must to it without delay."
+
+"My friends, you know advocate Desmarais, deputy of the Third Estate in
+the States General?" asked Franz of Gerolstein. "He is reputed a good
+citizen and a friend of the revolution."
+
+"We all believe that Monsieur Desmarais is not one of those suspicious
+and craven bourgeois who tremble at the revolution," John answered, as
+he made toward the door. Then he returned--"Till we meet again, Franz, I
+hope; meseems we are already old friends."
+
+"Franz will await here the result of your visit, brother," said
+Victoria.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE BOURGEOIS UNMASKED.
+
+
+Monsieur Desmarais, still affected by the cries uttered by Lehiron's mob
+and unable to account for the apparently sudden revulsion of the
+sentiments entertained for him by the people, was earnestly conversing
+with his wife and her brother, Monsieur Hubert. The latter he had
+summoned to his side to consult on the weighty resolves he felt forced
+to take, both on the score of his daughter, and on the line of policy
+which he should adopt to ride the gathering political storm.
+
+Monsieur Hubert, Desmarais's brother-in-law and a rich banker of Paris,
+was a very honest man, in the accepted sense of honesty in the
+commercial jargon; that is to say, he scrupulously fulfilled his
+engagements, and never loaned his money at higher rates than the law
+allowed. At heart he was dry; his spirit was jealous and sinister. A man
+of inflexible opinions, he nursed an equal aversion for the clergy, the
+nobility, and the proletariat. He regarded the Third Estate as called to
+reign under the nominal authority of a constitutional head, an emperor
+or king, whom he called a "pig in clover," in imitation of the English;
+the intervention of the people in public affairs he considered the
+height of absurdity. Monsieur Hubert lived in the St. Thomas of the
+Louvre quarter, a quarter hostile to the revolution, where he had
+recently been promoted to the grade of commander of the battalion. This
+battalion, called the "Daughters of St. Thomas of the Louvre," was
+almost entirely composed of royalists. The banker was about fifty years
+of age; of slight build, one could see in his physiognomy, in his
+glance, that in him nervous force supplied the place of physical energy.
+At this moment he was plunged in a deep silence. His sister and Monsieur
+Desmarais seemed to hang with an uneasy curiosity on the result of the
+financier's reflections. The latter at length seemed to have reached the
+end of his cogitation, for he raised his head and said sardonically:
+
+"In the light of your confidences, dear brother-in-law, I can only
+remind you that four months ago I told you you were wrong to let
+yourself be dragged into what you called the 'cause of the people.' My
+sincerity caused a sort of break between us, but at your first call, you
+see me back again. My previsions have been fulfilled. To-day the
+populace has been unchained, and I see you all struck with fright at the
+cries of death that have rung in your ears."
+
+"My dear Hubert," replied Desmarais, restraining his impatience, but
+interrupting the financier, "please, do not let us concern ourselves
+with politics now. We begged you to come to our aid with your advice;
+you put to one side our disagreement; we thank you. So please you then,
+help us to recall to her senses our unworthy daughter, who is madly
+smitten with an ironsmith's apprentice, our neighbor, whom you have
+several times met in our house."
+
+"Very well then, my dear Desmarais; let us put aside politics for the
+moment. Nevertheless, since we are concerned with the unworthy love of
+my niece for that artisan, I must, indeed, recall to your mind that I
+have often reproached you for your intimacy with the young fellow.
+To-day, a grave peril menaces you. Your regrets are tardy."
+
+"My dear Hubert, we waste precious time in vain recriminations of the
+past. Unfortunately, what is done, is done. Let us speak, I pray you, of
+the present. My wife and I, in order to cut short this attachment of
+Charlotte for John Lebrenn, have decided to take our daughter with us to
+Versailles. What do you think of that resolution?"
+
+"That it will not accomplish the object you seek. Versailles is too near
+to Paris. If your man is as persevering as enamored--not of Charlotte,
+but of her fortune, for, do not mistake, the fellow is after nothing but
+her dower--he will find a way to meet her. My advice would be to send
+Mademoiselle Charlotte, instantly, a hundred leagues from Paris, to
+throw this lover off the track. Send her, say, to Lyons, to our cousin
+Dusommier; my sister will accompany her and remain beside her until this
+puppy-love is forgotten. A month or two will do for that."
+
+"Your advice, brother, seems wise. But I fear that Charlotte will not
+consent to the trip."
+
+"Heavens, sister! Is paternal authority an empty word! A flightabout of
+seventeen years to dare disobey the orders of her parents? That is not
+probable, surely. Have some strength."
+
+"But it is well to be prepared for everything. Let us suppose this
+case--she refuses to obey--"
+
+"In that case, brother-in-law, willy-nilly, bundle Mademoiselle
+Charlotte into the stage for Lyons--then, whip up, coachman!"
+
+Just then Gertrude the servant entered and said: "Monsieur John Lebrenn
+desires to speak with monsieur on a very pressing matter. He is in the
+vestibule."
+
+"What! The wretch still has the audacity to present himself here!" cried
+Hubert, purple with rage.
+
+"He does not know that my daughter has revealed their engagement; and
+besides--a while ago--" stammered Desmarais, turning red with confusion,
+"I had to give him a cordial greeting."
+
+"Yes, brother," said Madam Desmarais, coming to the aid of her husband,
+"a while ago, a column returning from the Bastille, commanded by John
+Lebrenn, halted before our house, shouting 'Long live Citizen Desmarais!
+Long live the friend of the people!'"
+
+"And so, I had to bow to necessity," acknowledged the lawyer. "I was
+forced to harangue the insurgents."
+
+"Wonderful, brother-in-law, wonderful!" retorted Hubert, with a burst of
+cutting laughter. "The lesson and the punishment are complete!"
+
+"My friend--if you receive this young man, be calm, I conjure you," said
+Madam Desmarais uneasily to the lawyer. "Refuse him politely."
+
+"Death of my life! my poor sister, have you not a drop of blood in your
+veins?"
+
+"Brother, I beg of you, do not speak so loud. John Lebrenn is even now,
+perhaps, in the dining room."
+
+"Ah, heaven, if he is there--so much the better! And since no one here
+dares speak outright to one of the famous conquerors of the Bastille, I
+take it upon myself," cried Hubert still louder, his eyes glaring with
+anger, and starting for the door of the room.
+
+But Madam Desmarais, alarmed and suppliant, seized the financier by the
+arm, exclaiming in a trembling voice, "Brother, I beg you! Oh, God, have
+pity on us!"
+
+Hubert yielded to the prayers of his sister and stopped just as
+Desmarais, emerging from his revery, said to his wife with a sigh of
+relief, "Dear friend, I have hit upon quite a plausible way, in case
+Monsieur Lebrenn has the impudence to ask for our daughter's hand, to
+reject his demand without giving him anything to be offended at. I shall
+refuse him without irritating him."
+
+"Another cowardice that you are meditating," cried Hubert, exasperated.
+"Let me receive your workingman!"
+
+"I thank you, brother-in-law, for your offer. Please leave me alone. I
+shall know how to guard my dignity." Then, addressing Gertrude.
+
+"Show Monsieur Lebrenn in."
+
+"We shall leave you, my friend," said Madam Lebrenn to her husband.
+"Come, brother, let us find Charlotte. I count on your influence to
+dissuade her from this match, and to bring her back to herself."
+
+Hubert took the arm of his sister, and left the room; but not without
+saying to himself as he did so, "By heaven, I shall not lose the
+opportunity of speaking my mind to that workingman, if only for the
+honor of the family. I shall have my chance to talk."
+
+As the wife and brother-in-law of lawyer Desmarais disappeared through
+one of the side-doors of the room, John Lebrenn was shown in by Gertrude
+through the principal entrance. Desmarais, at the sight of John,
+controlled and hid his anger under a mask of cordial hospitality. He
+took two steps to meet the young man, and clasped him affectionately by
+the hand:
+
+"With what pleasure do I see you again, my dear friend! Your hurt, I
+hope, is not serious? We were quite alarmed about you."
+
+"Thanks to God, my wound is slight; and I am truly touched by the
+interest you show in me."
+
+"Nothing surprising, my dear John. Do you not know that I am your
+friend?"
+
+"It is just to throw myself upon your friendship that I have come to see
+you."
+
+"Well, well! And what is it?"
+
+"It is my duty at this solemn moment to answer you without
+circumlocution, monsieur," said John Lebrenn in a voice filled with
+emotion. "I love your daughter. She has returned my love, and I am come
+to ask of you her hand."
+
+"What do I hear!" exclaimed advocate Desmarais, feigning extreme
+surprise.
+
+"Mademoiselle Charlotte, I am certain, will approve the request that I
+now prefer to you, and which accords with the sentiments she has shown
+me."
+
+"So, my dear John," continued the attorney with a paternal air that
+seemed to augur the best for the young workman, "my daughter and
+you--you love, and you have sworn to belong to each other? So stands the
+situation?"
+
+"Six months ago, Monsieur Desmarais, we pledged ourselves to each
+other."
+
+"After all, there is nothing in this love that should surprise me,"
+continued Desmarais, as if talking to himself. "Charlotte has a hundred
+times heard me appreciate, as they deserve to be, the character, the
+intelligence, the excellent conduct of our dear John. She knows that I
+recognize no social distinction between man and man, except only that of
+worth. All are equal in my eyes, whatever the accidents of their birth
+or fortune. Nothing more natural--I should rather say, nothing more
+inevitable--than this love of my daughter for my young and worthy
+friend."
+
+"Ah, monsieur," cried the young mechanic, his eyes filling with tears
+and his voice shaken with inexpressible gratitude, "you consent, then,
+to our union?"
+
+"Well!" replied Monsieur Desmarais, continuing to affect imperturbable
+good-fellowship, "if the marriage pleases my daughter, it shall be
+according to her desire. I would not go against her wishes."
+
+"Oh, please, monsieur, ask mademoiselle at once!"
+
+"It is needless, my dear John, perfectly needless; for, between
+ourselves, a thousand circumstances until now insignificant now flock to
+my memory. There is no necessity for my questioning my daughter
+Charlotte to know that she loves you as much as you love her, my young
+friend. I am already convinced of it!"
+
+"Hold, monsieur--pardon me, I can hardly believe what I hear. Words fail
+me to express my joy, my gratitude, my surprise!"
+
+"And what, my dear John, have you to be surprised at?"
+
+"At seeing this marriage meet with not a single objection on your part,
+monsieur. I am astonished, in the midst of my joy. The language so
+touching, so flattering, in which you frame your consent, doubles its
+value to me."
+
+"Good heaven! And nothing is more simple than my conduct. Neither I nor
+my wife--I answer to you for her consent--can raise any objection to
+your marriage. Is it the question of fortune? I am rich, you are
+poor--what does that matter? Is the value of men measured by the franc
+mark? Is not, in short, your family as honorable, in other words, as
+virtuous as mine, my dear John? Are not both our families equally
+without reproach and without stain? Are not--"
+
+And Desmarais stopped as if smitten with a sudden and terrible
+recollection. His features darkened, and expressed a crushing sorrow. He
+hid his face in his hands and murmured:
+
+"Great God! What a frightful memory! Ah, unhappy young man! Unhappy
+father that I am!"
+
+Apparently overcome, Desmarais threw himself into an arm-chair, still
+holding his hands before his eyes as if to conceal his emotion. Stunned
+and alarmed, John Lebrenn gazed at the lawyer with inexpressible
+anguish. A secret presentiment flashed through his mind, and he said to
+Charlotte's father as he drew closer to him, "Monsieur, explain the
+cause of the sudden emotion under which I see you suffering."
+
+"Leave me, my poor friend, leave me! I am annihilated, crushed!"
+
+John Lebrenn, more and more uneasy, contemplated Charlotte's father in
+silent anguish, and failed to notice that one of the side doors of the
+room was half-opened by Monsieur Hubert, who warily put his head through
+the crack, muttering to himself, "While my sister and her daughter are
+in their apartment, let me see what is going on here, where my
+intervention may come in handy."
+
+After a long silence which John feared to break, advocate Desmarais
+rose. He pretended to wipe away a tear, then, stretching out his arms to
+John, he said in a smothered voice:
+
+"My friend, we are very unfortunate."
+
+The young artisan, already much moved by the anxieties the scene had
+aroused, responded to Desmarais's appeal. He threw himself into the
+latter's arms, saying solicitously:
+
+"Monsieur, what ails you? I know not the cause of the chagrin, which,
+all so sudden, seems to have struck you; but, whatever it be, I shall
+fight it with all my spirit."
+
+"Your tender compassion, my friend, gives me consolation and comfort,"
+said Desmarais in a broken voice, pressing John several times to his
+heart; and seeming to make a violent effort to master himself, he
+resumed in firmer tones, "Come, my friend, courage. We shall need it,
+you and I, to touch upon so sad a matter."
+
+"Monsieur, I know not what you are about to say, and yet I tremble."
+
+"Ah, at least, my dear John, our friendship will still be left to us. It
+will remain our refuge in our common sorrow."
+
+"But to what purpose?"
+
+Perceiving out of the corner of his eye the nonplussed countenance of
+John Lebrenn, who stood pale and speechless, advocate Desmarais heaved
+another lamentable sigh, pulled out his handkerchief and again buried
+his face in his hands.
+
+"What the devil is my brother-in-law getting at?" exclaimed Hubert to
+himself, cautiously introducing his head again through the half-open
+door, and observing the young artisan. The latter, dejected, his head
+bowed, his gaze fixed, was in a sort of daze, and searched in vain in
+his troubled brain for the true significance of Desmarais's
+lamentations. Finally, desirous at any price to escape from the
+labyrinth of anxiety that tortured his soul and filled his heart with
+anguish, he said falteringly to the lawyer:
+
+"Monsieur, it is impossible for me to picture the apprehension with
+which I am tortured. I adjure you, in the name of the friendship you
+have up to this moment shown me, to explain yourself clearly. What is
+this cause for our common sorrow? You have just appealed to my courage;
+I have courage. But, I pray you, let me at least know the blow with
+which I, with which we, are threatened!"
+
+"You are right, my dear John. Excuse my weakness. Let us face the truth
+like men of heart, howsoever hard it may be." Desmarais took the hands
+of the young artisan in his own and contemplated him with an expression
+of fatherly tenderness. "You would have rendered certain the happiness
+of my only child, of that I am sure. But this marriage is impossible!"
+
+Seeing the young artisan, at these words, grow mortally pale, and
+stagger, the lawyer supported him, and continued in his mock-paternal
+voice: "John, I counted on you to help us bear the blow that was to fall
+on us. Now you weaken--"
+
+Young Lebrenn pulled himself together, summoned back his spirits, and in
+a voice which he strove hard to render firm, said: "Now I am calmer. Be
+pleased to inform me how these projects of marriage, first hailed by you
+with such kindness, are now suddenly become impossible?"
+
+"Helas!--because of all the joy--which your proposal heaped upon me, I
+forgot, as you did--a sad circumstance. And then, all of a sudden the
+memory--came back to me. Your family--is it, like mine, stainless? Alas,
+no! Your father wrote--printed--published a pamphlet in which he
+recorded that his daughter--your sister--had been the mistress of King
+Louis XV. You know my susceptibility where honor is concerned! My
+daughter may never enter the family which bears that indelible blot."
+
+"Ah, by my faith! The trick is great!" muttered Hubert, the financier,
+stepping out of the neighboring room and slowly entering the parlor
+without at first being perceived by either John Lebrenn or Desmarais.
+
+Hearing only the words of the father of his beloved one, John at first
+reeled with dismay. But his good sense quickly coming to his aid, and
+remembering the doubts of his father and Victoria as to Desmarais's
+consent to his daughter's union with an ironsmith's apprentice, he
+detected the refusal hypocritically veiled under the excuse employed by
+the advocate. Cruel was the young man's disillusionment. It dashed at
+once his dearest hopes, and his confidence, until then implicit, in the
+sincerity of the principles professed by the deputy of the Third Estate.
+The double shock was so severe that John, refusing, like all generous
+characters, to believe evil, began to cast about for excuses for the
+advocate's conduct. The following thought sprang up in his head: Perhaps
+Desmarais had learned of the consequences of the debauchery of Louis XV;
+perhaps he knew that Victoria had been held in the lupanar in King
+Louis's "Doe Park," and had later been imprisoned in the Repentant
+Women. If he knew all this, John thought, Desmarais could not help, as
+Victoria had told him, but refuse, upon a very pardonable scruple, to
+grant him his daughter.
+
+Preserving, then, his hope, not indeed of overcoming the objections of
+Charlotte's father, but of being saved from having to regard him as a
+double-dealer and a traitor, John controlled his emotions, raised his
+head, and turned his eyes square upon Desmarais. Only then did he
+perceive the presence of banker Hubert, the sight of whom always
+inspired him with the profoundest antipathy. Surprised and pained, above
+all, at the presence of this personage at so delicate a juncture, John
+remarked that the financier conversed in a low and sardonic voice with
+his brother-in-law.
+
+"Monsieur," said John to Desmarais, "you will recognize, I hope, that
+our interview is of such a nature that it can not continue except
+between you and me?"
+
+"From which it seems that Citizen John Lebrenn politely shows me the
+door!" retorted Hubert, with a mocking leer.
+
+"Sir," impatiently answered the young mechanic, "I desire to remain
+alone with Monsieur Desmarais, to discuss family matters."
+
+"I would beg to remark to--Citizen John Lebrenn, that my brother-in-law
+has no secrets from me, in what touches the honor of our family. I
+shall, therefore, assist at this conference."
+
+Desmarais, at first highly opposed to the unforeseen presence of the
+banker, soon resigned himself gracefully to the intrusion, hoping to
+find in it a pretext for hastening to an end an interview which was
+becoming quite embarrassing to him. Accordingly, he made haste to say
+very affectionately to the young artisan:
+
+"My dear friend, I have acquainted you with the cause which bars a
+marriage that would otherwise have been the embodiment of my views. Let
+us never again refer to a subject justly so painful to us both."
+
+"Pardon me, monsieur," returned the young workman firmly; "but before
+taking my leave of you, I have just one more question to ask, and which
+you will please to answer."
+
+"Speak, my dear John, what is it?"
+
+"You refuse me the hand of Mademoiselle Charlotte because my sister was
+the mistress of Louis XV?"
+
+"Alack, yes. Your father himself, without naming, it is true, his
+daughter, stigmatized, denounced to the public indignation that horrible
+fact. He told how your unfortunate sister, having been kidnapped at the
+age of eleven and a half, left the Doe Park only to disappear forever.
+Since that sad day, no one has ever heard of the poor creature, who
+embarked in all probability for America, there to await the end of her
+unhappy life. That is my opinion."
+
+"So, monsieur, you share our belief on the subject of my sister's
+disappearance? The victim has been sacrificed?"
+
+"Eh, surely! But whence your insistence on the subject, my dear John?"
+
+The voice, the features of the lawyer proved his sincerity. He was
+manifestly ignorant of Victoria's prolonged sojourn in the royal
+pleasure-house at Versailles, and her subsequent imprisonment in the
+Repentant Women--fatal circumstances, which in John's mind, might have
+explained Desmarais's refusal. The last illusion that John Lebrenn
+still hugged to heart now vanished. But containing his indignation, he
+addressed the advocate: "And so, monsieur, my marriage with Mademoiselle
+Charlotte is impossible, solely because my sister, snatched from the
+bosom of her family by a procuress at the age of eleven, was violated by
+Louis XV?"
+
+"Is not that good and sufficient cause?"
+
+"And is not Citizen Lebrenn satisfied?" put in Hubert, who for several
+minutes had been with difficulty bottling up his rage. "The dismissal is
+given in good form, by heaven! You have nothing to do but retire."
+
+"Please, my dear John, attach no importance to the temper of my
+brother-in-law," interposed advocate Desmarais, extending his hand to
+the young man. "Excuse, I beseech you, his thrusts; I should be very
+sorry to have you depart from my house under a false impression."
+
+"Citizen Desmarais, I long trusted in your friendship," replied John,
+without taking the hand that the lawyer held out to him. "I am not the
+dupe of the vain pretext with which you color your refusal. It is not
+the brother of the unhappy child dishonored by Louis XV that you
+repulse; it is the artisan, the ironsmith."
+
+"Ah, my dear John, I protest, in the name of our common principles,
+against such a supposition. You are in error!"
+
+"Blue death! brother-in-law, have the courage of your opinion!" shouted
+Hubert, unable to contain himself. "Dare to tell the truth! Such
+hypocrisy and cowardice revolt me."
+
+"Once more, brother-in-law, mix in your own affairs!" cried the
+advocate, exasperated. "I know what I am saying! I find intolerable your
+pretension to dictate my answers to me."
+
+John Lebrenn turned to the financier, as if to address his words through
+him to the lawyer. "You, Citizen Hubert, are sincere in your aversion,
+in your disdain for us. You are an enemy of the working class, but an
+open one. We can esteem you while we join battle with you. You are a man
+of courage, in spite of your prejudices. Alas, the people and the
+bourgeoisie, united and pursuing the same object, would be invincible
+and would change the face of this old world. But the bourgeois mistrust
+the workers and turn against them, when they should sustain them, guide
+them, direct them in the uprisings whose object is the reconquest of
+their common rights. The people have so far borne witness by their
+conduct to their affection, their trust in the bourgeoisie. They have
+had, they will have faith in it to the end. But sad and irreparable will
+be the evil for you and for us, if one day the bourgeoisie, having
+utilized the people to overcome the nobility, should seek to reign in
+the shadow of a fictitious royalty; to substitute its own privileges for
+those we will have helped it to overthrow; to perjure itself by merely
+changing the style of our yoke; and refuse to satisfy our legitimate
+demands. That day, we shall fight the bastard royalty of the shekel, the
+bourgeois oligarchy, even as we now fight the royalty of divine right
+and the aristocracy!"
+
+"And hunger will defeat you, vile mechanics! For the moment always comes
+when you must resume the yoke of forced labor!"
+
+Hardly had Hubert hurled this threat of savage exultation at John
+Lebrenn, when the door flew open, and Charlotte, her eyes red and filled
+with tears, rushed in, followed by her mother.
+
+The change in Charlotte's features, her grief-stricken appearance,
+gripped John Lebrenn's heart as if in a vise. Lawyer Desmarais and his
+brother-in-law seemed as much irritated as astonished at the presence of
+the young girl. She, after a momentary struggle, spoke straight to
+Desmarais in a firm and even voice:
+
+"I have just learned from mother that Monsieur John Lebrenn came to ask
+of you my hand, and that your intention was to answer the request with a
+refusal--"
+
+"Yes, niece," interjected Hubert, "your father has just now refused your
+hand to Monsieur Lebrenn. We all oppose the union, which would be a
+disgrace to our family."
+
+"Father, have you so made up your mind?"
+
+"Daughter, reasons which it is useless to inform you of, oppose, indeed,
+this marriage. I can not give my consent to it."
+
+"Do these reasons attaint, in any way, the honor, probity, or conduct of
+Monsieur John Lebrenn?" asked the young girl unfalteringly.
+
+"Monsieur Lebrenn is an upright man; but the lawyer Desmarais can not
+give, will not give, his daughter in marriage to an ironsmith's
+apprentice. It is out of all reason."
+
+"So, then, father, you refuse for no other reason than prejudice against
+the inequality of condition between Monsieur Lebrenn and me?"
+
+"No other reason; but that suffices to make this union impossible."
+
+"Monsieur John Lebrenn," then said Charlotte, advancing toward the
+young artisan and tendering him her hand with a gesture full of grace
+and dignity, "in the presence of God, who sees me and hears me,--you
+have my pledge! I shall wed none other but you. I shall be your
+wife,--or die a maid."
+
+"Adieu, Charlotte, thou love of my life. I, too, shall be till death
+true to my promise. Let us have faith in the future to break down all
+barriers."
+
+The betrothed exchanged a tender hand-clasp, and Charlotte, followed by
+her mother, left the room; while John Lebrenn, bowing to Monsieur
+Desmarais and his brother-in-law, withdrew without a word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE MYSTERIES OF THE PEOPLE.
+
+
+While the Lebrenn family patiently awaited the outcome of John's visit
+to advocate Desmarais, the blind old father, restored once more to his
+humble hearth, was eager, if not to see--that faculty had long been
+snatched from him--at least to touch again his beloved family relics,
+carefully locked, along with their accompanying legends, in the walnut
+cabinet. The Prince of Gerolstein was smitten with lively emotion as
+Victoria deposited on the table, together with the parchments, or the
+papers yellowed with age, those objects so precious to the family by
+reason of the memories interwoven with them.
+
+"Oh! Franz," said Victoria to the Prince with emotion, after having
+contemplated at length the sacred relics transmitted in her family from
+generation to generation for eighteen hundred years and more, "what
+touching souvenirs! What woes, what miseries, what iniquities, what acts
+of oppression, what tortures, are recalled to our memory by these
+inanimate objects, witnesses of the age-long martyrdom of our plebeian
+family. Malediction on our oppressors--Kings, men of the Church, men of
+the sword!"
+
+"Alas, our sad history is that of all enslaved people, oppressed from
+age to age since the Frankish conquest," replied Franz of Gerolstein.
+"If one should dare to doubt the right of this decisive and holy
+Revolution which the taking of the Bastille this day ushers into being,
+would not that right be proven by these legends inscribed in the tears
+and blood of our fathers? What a heritage past generations hand down to
+the present!"
+
+"Perhaps the moment has come to act on the view expressed by our
+ancestor Christian the printer," observed Monsieur Lebrenn. "He was of
+the opinion that sooner or later it would be of value to publish our
+legends, as a work of historic instruction for our brothers of the
+people, kept till now in the densest ignorance concerning their own true
+history."
+
+"Nothing, in truth, could be more opportune. Aye, these tales, published
+now under the title of the MYSTERIES OF THE PEOPLE, would have a
+powerful influence on the spirit of the masses."
+
+"The Society of Jesus is in our days still as active as of old," added
+Victoria, thinking of her encounter with Abbot Morlet the previous
+evening. "Facile in all disguises, the adepts of that body will without
+doubt, as in the days of the League, take on the popular mask, in order
+to drive the people to excesses and smother their cause under the
+results of their own misguided exasperation. The recommendation of
+Loyola, relative to our legends, has most certainly been preserved in
+the archives of the Society, where the name of our family and those of
+so many others are inscribed on their Index. We must expect, sooner or
+later, some attempt on the part of these Jesuits to seize our records."
+
+"Good father," assented Franz, "I share Victoria's uneasiness. Here is
+what I would suggest: I know a retreat almost inaccessible to the
+Jesuits. Let us thither transport the manuscripts; there they will be in
+perfect safety. An energetic, intelligent, and discreet editor, for whom
+I will vouch as for myself, shall to-morrow morning begin the copying of
+the legends; and soon we shall be on the way to publish our Mysteries of
+the People."
+
+Further discussion of Franz's plan was interrupted by the return of John
+Lebrenn. As soon as he entered the room, Victoria divined, by the
+expression he wore, the ill success of his mission.
+
+"Alas! Monsieur Desmarais has refused you the hand of his daughter?"
+
+"It is true," replied John. "Charlotte made a solemn declaration, before
+her assembled family, that she would never have another husband but me.
+That is the sole favorable result of my errand."
+
+"Son, listen, what noise is that!" suddenly exclaimed Madam Lebrenn,
+turning her head toward the stairway. "There seems to be a gathering in
+our yard."
+
+With a crash the chamber door was flung open, and their neighbor Jerome,
+who lodged on the same story, entered, pale, fearsome, and crying in a
+voice of alarm:
+
+"You are lost--they're coming up--there they are--they want to kill
+you!"
+
+Then arose from the staircase the noise of tumultuous steps, mingled
+with cries of,
+
+"Long live the Nation!"
+
+"Death to the traitors!"
+
+"To the lamp-post with the aristocrats!"
+
+"Death to the nobles and those who support them!"
+
+John Lebrenn, after sharing for a moment the surprise of his family,
+cried out as he ran towards the door, "What do these men want?"
+
+"It is a band of mad-men," answered Jerome, gasping. "They pretend that
+there is a noblewoman here--some Marchioness or other whom they want to
+hang to the lamp-post. Flee! Do not attempt resistance!"
+
+At Jerome's words a light dawned upon Victoria. The Jesuit at Neroweg's
+banquet had recognized her in the column of the victors of the Bastille!
+It was he who had pointed her out to the swords of the assassins as a
+Marchioness!
+
+"As to me," quoth the Prince of Gerolstein, drawing two double-barrelled
+pistols from his pockets, "I shall singe the heads of four of these
+brigands!"
+
+"Franz, let us see, first of all, to the defense of mother and father,"
+cried Victoria; and drawing from its sheath the hunting knife which the
+Prince carried at his side, she gripped the weapon with a virile hand,
+and prepared to protect the aged man and his wife, who instinctively
+retreated into a corner of the room.
+
+All this occurred with the rapidity of thought. John, who, in spite of
+the prayers and efforts of neighbor Jerome, had stepped out upon the
+landing to see what manner of men were invading the house and mounting
+the stairway, was immediately hurled back across the sill by Lehiron. A
+dozen scoundrels armed with pikes and sabers were ranged on the landing
+and the topmost stairs. Seizing his musket and clapping on the bayonet,
+John then drew near to Franz and Victoria in order to cover with his
+body his mother and father, who, mute and terrified, trembled at every
+limb. Thus ranged, the two men and Victoria prepared to meet their
+assailants.
+
+Lehiron, who strode alone into the chamber, was taken aback by the
+resolute attitude of the three. Franz, with his double-barrelled
+pistols, covered the intruders; Victoria, fearless, her eyes flashing,
+held aloft her hunting-knife; and John Lebrenn stood ready to plunge his
+bayonet into the bandits' breasts. Suddenly little Rodin appeared. He
+slipped through Lehiron's followers, entered the room, approached the
+giant, made him a sign to stoop over, and then, stretching on tiptoes,
+whispered in his ear:
+
+"Don't forget the papers!"
+
+"Hush, vermin, I know what's to be done here," retorted the Hercules;
+and taking two steps toward John, whom he threatened with his cutlass,
+he roared:
+
+"Citizen Lebrenn, you play the people false! You are hiding here an
+aristocrat, Marchioness Aldini--there she stands--" and Lehiron
+designated Victoria with his weapon. "She is one of the harpies of the
+Austrian party. She sat last night at the board of a royalist
+council-feast. You are conspiring with her against the Nation. You will
+deliver the jade to us, and also all the papers in your house, which are
+claimed by justice. Quick! Or your lives shall pay the penalty."
+
+"To the lamp-post with the noblewoman! Live the Nation! Death to the
+traitors!" cried Lehiron's band of jackals, and brandishing their pikes
+and swords they poured into the room. But the giant, held in awe by the
+pistols trained upon him and not anxious to have recourse to force
+except in the last extremity, waved back his brigands with a gesture and
+addressed himself again to John:
+
+"Deliver up the noblewoman and the papers, and your life will be spared.
+But be quick about it."
+
+"Helas! My God! Have pity on us!" murmured Madam Lebrenn, overcome with
+terror and throwing her arms about her blind old husband.
+
+"Out of here, you scoundrels!" was the answer of John Lebrenn. Lehiron
+waved his hand to his gang of bandits and cried:
+
+"Forward! To the lamp-post with the traitors!"
+
+As the valiant leader of the cut-throats gave the command, he himself
+leaped to one side and ducked his head to escape the pistol-fire of
+Franz of Gerolstein. But the latter no less quickly changed the aim of
+his weapon, and pulled the trigger. The giant flew back almost his full
+length, flung out his arms, dropped his cutlass, tumbled to his knees,
+and rolled over, face down, on the floor, almost mortally wounded.
+
+All of a sudden, above the tumult was heard a cry of pain from Madam
+Lebrenn:
+
+"Oh, the wicked child! He is biting me!"
+
+John turned, and while his two companions fell upon their adversaries,
+ran to his mother and found her in a desperate struggle with little
+Rodin. The latter, faithful to the tuition of his dear god-father, and
+hoping to profit by the turmoil, was about to make off with the bundle
+of manuscripts. Madam Lebrenn seized hold of him to take them away, and
+the little rat had bitten her savagely on the hand. To snatch from the
+Jesuit's god-son the treasured legends, seize him by the slack of his
+pantaloons, and send him rolling ten paces away, was the work of an
+instant for young Lebrenn. The terrible child, wriggling and sliding
+like a snake between the legs of John's companions, gained the stairway
+and escaped with his discomfited accomplices.
+
+The attempted arrest of Victoria and theft of the legends added fuel to
+the fears of the family on the machinations of the Jesuits. That very
+day the Prince deposited in safe keeping the records and relics of the
+family of Lebrenn.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two days after our interview, Charlotte Desmarais wrote to me, John
+Lebrenn, a letter that was touching, and in all points worthy of her.
+She informed me of her departure for Lyons, whither her mother was to
+accompany her.
+
+From the month of July, 1789, up till December, 1792, nothing of
+importance occurred in our family save the death of our beloved parents.
+My father died on the 11th of August, 1789; my mother, ill for years,
+survived him but briefly; she expired in our arms on October 29th of the
+same year.
+
+Monsieur Desmarais continues to hold his seat at the extreme Left of the
+National Assembly, near Robespierre. He defended Marat from the
+tribunal, and makes one of the republican group headed by Brissot,
+Camille Desmoulins, Condorcet and Bonneville. Formerly a member of the
+Jacobin club, Desmarais later transferred his allegiance to the
+Cordeliers. He seemed to fear losing his popularity, which he regards as
+the safeguard of his property and perhaps of his life. Monsieur Hubert,
+differently from his brother-in-law, has the courage of his convictions;
+he declares frankly for the Moderates. The financier still commands the
+battalion of the Daughters of St. Thomas, one of the most hostile to
+the Revolution. Franz of Gerolstein was suddenly called to the side of
+his father, who had been stricken gravely ill. Our relics and legends
+are still in the place of security where he deposited them.
+
+My sister Victoria shares my dwelling and lives on the proceeds of her
+sempstress's trade. We have promised Franz to fall back on his aid in
+case of necessity. I notice with disquietude the character of Victoria
+growing somber apace; at times her revolutionary fervor becomes wild in
+its exaltation. In vain I attempt to calm her, in vain I appeal to her
+heart, to her good sense, in order to convince her that, apart from
+cases of insurrection or legitimate defense, we must strike our enemies
+only with the sword of the law, unorganized popular justice being always
+blind in its execution.
+
+"And when the sword of the law, confided to the hands of our enemies,
+rusts in its sheath? When treason enwraps the great criminals from
+justice, and insures them impunity, what shall the sovereign people do
+then?" Victoria asks me.
+
+To which I reply: "The sovereign people, the source and dispenser of all
+power, by election, should depose its faithless officers at the
+expiration of their term, and, if they be traitors, send them before
+their natural judges. That is the rational course to pursue."
+
+"No," my sister makes answer. "All these formalities are too slow. On
+certain occasions the people should exterminate its enemies in the name
+of public safety."
+
+Alas, it was in the name of public safety that men, the most pure and
+heroic of the Revolution, were one day to smite each other down, to the
+profit of our eternal enemies.
+
+Victoria did not soon again see the Count of Plouernel. Seized, in spite
+of his braggadocio, with panic and alarm at the taking of the Bastille,
+he was among the first to emigrate at the heels of the Count of Artois
+and the Princes of Conti and Condé. We did not set eyes on him again
+till 1793.
+
+Lehiron survived his wound. Doubtless at the instigation of Abbot
+Morlet, he later made a similar descent, I know not for what purpose,
+upon an old and isolated house in St. Francois Street, in the Swamp,
+occupied by an aged Jew and his wife. The Voyants had for a long time
+held their meetings in this building. Lehiron's attempt upon it was
+without result, according to what the Jew later told my sister, without,
+however, going at all into the causes that led to it.
+
+The interval between the months of July, 1789, and December, 1792, a
+period so uneventful in our private life, was nevertheless fertile in
+great occurrences in the life of the Nation, occurrences the importance
+of which was immense. I have preserved these to our family legends by
+means of extracts from a journal kept by me, in which, of an evening, I
+would inscribe the striking events observed by Victoria and myself
+during the day. To these notes I have often added salient passages from
+the Revolutionary journals of the time--a heroic epoch which will leave
+its mark on the annals of the people!
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE NATION INSULTED--AND AVENGED.
+
+
+The taking of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, dealt a mortal blow to the
+power of the monarchy, the same as its influence and that of the
+nobility and the clergy were wiped out when, upon the closing of the
+Tennis Court at Versailles, and braving the orders of dissolution
+pronounced by Louis XVI, the deputies of the Third Estate constituted
+themselves a sovereign, constituent, and inviolable assembly. The
+results of that immortal day of the Fourteenth of July were in the
+highest degree advantageous to the cause of the people. The King was
+forced to return to Paris to render homage to the popular victory, and
+threw off the white cockade for the new national tricolor, blue, white,
+and red.
+
+The fall of the Bastille re-echoed throughout France. Everywhere the
+people and the bourgeoisie of the towns rose against the representatives
+of the royal power, and replaced them with municipal governors elected
+by the citizens.
+
+This general insurrection against royalty, and against the privileges of
+nobility and clergy, threw into affright the Right side of the National
+Assembly, where sat the most violent antagonists of the Revolution.
+
+The Center of the Assembly, called by turns the Plain and the Swamp, had
+no settled convictions whatsoever. The Left was almost entirely composed
+of the deputies of the Third Estate, among whom, famous for their
+eloquence, were Sieyès, Duport, and Barnave. On this side also were some
+few scattering representatives of the nobility, such as the Duke of
+Orleans, the Marquis of Lafayette, the Lameths, and, most illustrious of
+all, the elder Mirabeau, a magnificent orator, but corrupt in his
+private life. At the extreme Left sat a deputy, then obscure and next to
+unknown, but destined soon to become the incarnation of the French
+Revolution. 'Twas Maximilien Robespierre, attorney at the bar of Arras.
+
+In one single night, the night of the 4th of August, 1789, the old
+feudal edifice crumbled before the determined attitude of the nation. O,
+sons of Joel, let us glorify the memory of our obscure ancestors, who
+prepared the triumph of the Revolution.
+
+The imperishable work of the National Assembly was the Declaration of
+the Rights of Man. This monumental document embraced territorial and
+administrative unity; social, civil, political and religious equality;
+and above all, the formal recognition of the sovereignty of the people
+as the source of all power and of all functions, which it delegated to
+its representatives by election. Nevertheless we must admit that the
+Constitution of 1789-1791 lacked much that it should have contained, and
+contained much which it would have been better without. Such, for
+instance, were its several breaches of the sovereignty of the people,
+like the distinction drawn between "active" and "passive" citizens, the
+two-degree election, and the requirement of a certain amount of direct
+taxation to qualify one for election as a representative. The Convention
+later corrected these injustices; but it must be noted that the
+Constitution of 1789-91 made no provision for the rights of women. Our
+Gallic fathers admitted women into their city councils, even when the
+deliberations turned on matters of war. Equality of civil and political
+rights for men and women should have figured at the very head of the
+Constitution. The question of marriage should there have been taken up
+and established as a matter of free unions, ruled by mutual tastes and
+agreements. Property should also have been reorganized, and declared
+collective in the state, the department, the district, or the commune,
+according to its nature, and no individual should have possessed more
+than a temporary title to the instrument of labor or the plot of ground
+which he needed for his support, and which should have been assigned to
+him gratuitously by the commune. The abolition of inheritance would have
+logically followed, and the suppression of interest on capital. A system
+of free, compulsory, and nonsectarian education should have been
+proclaimed, and also the right to assistance during youth, old age,
+illness or unemployment.
+
+However that may be, and in spite of the regrettable omissions in the
+Constitution, honor to the labors of the legislators of '79. The clergy,
+the nobility, the monarchy, smitten in their prestige, in their
+property, in their privileges, and in their temporal authority, received
+their death blow. The National Assembly inaugurated the era of
+enfranchisement. It could, with good right, date its work the Year I of
+Liberty. But we must not forget that it was the revolutionary attitude
+of the populace of Paris at the attack on the Bastille, that ushered in
+our freedom.
+
+But a fact often before made manifest, almost one century after another,
+was now once more to come into play. The royal power, forced to grant
+concessions, sought only how best to elude or annul them, employing to
+this end, each in its turn, perfidy, perjury, and violence!
+
+Soon the hostility of the court showed itself in the open. Louis XVI
+refused to sanction the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the
+corner-stone and basis of the Constitution, and opposed his veto to the
+law attaching for sale the goods of the clergy. Thereupon, projects
+fatal to liberty began to rear their heads with unheard-of insolence. On
+October 1, 1789, the foreign troops were summoned to Versailles. The
+Body Guard bespoke to a banquet the newly arrived officers, together
+with those of the Montmorency Dragoons, the Swiss regiments, the
+Hundred-Swiss, the mounted Police, and the Mayor's Guard. Several
+monarchical captains, picked out from among the National Guard of
+Versailles, were also invited. The officers of the army, instead of
+wearing the national tricolored cockade, affectatiously displayed
+enormous cockades of white. The Court was tendering to the Army a
+sumptuous banquet, the expenses of which were paid by the King. The
+tables were spread in the Opera Hall of the palace, which was
+brilliantly lighted. The bands of the Flanders regiment and the Body
+Guard played during the repast royalist or topical airs, such as "Long
+Live Henry IV," or "O Richard, O My King, the World Is All Forsaking
+Thee." The wine, liberally distributed, rose to all heads. They drained
+their bumpers to the health of the royal family; one captain of the
+National Guard proposed the health of the Nation; he was drowned with
+hoots.
+
+Soon the officers called in their soldiers, who were massed in all the
+alcoves. Then the King entered the hall in a hunting habit, accompanied
+by the Queen, who held the Dauphin by the hand. At the sight of Louis
+XVI, the officers were transported with enthusiasm. The German
+regimental band struck up the "March of the Uhlans," a foreign war song.
+The drunkenness rose to frenzy. Insults and bloody threats were hurled
+against the Revolution, against the Assembly. The cavalry trumpets
+sounded the charge. The officers whipped out their sabers to cries of
+"Long live the King!" The tricolored cockade was trampled under foot.
+Then these rebels, dragging after them their soldiers, as drunk as
+themselves, poured out into the courtyard of the palace, crying savage
+imprecations against the Representatives of the people. The National
+Assembly, intimidated, defenseless, surrounded by these saturnalia of
+military force and placing little reliance in the National Guard of
+Versailles, hardly dared show its fears. Unpardonable weakness!
+
+But the people of Paris were watching in their clubs. The press sounded
+the alarm.
+
+"That Saturday night," wrote Camille Desmoulins in his journal,
+_Revolutions of France and Brabant_, "Paris rises. It is a woman, who,
+seeing that her husband is not listened to in his district meeting, is
+first to run to Foy's Cafe, at the Palais Royal, and denounce the
+royalist orgy. Marat flies to Versailles, returns like the lightning,
+and cries to us, 'O ye dead,--awake!' Danton, on his part, thunders in
+the club of the Cordeliers; and the next day this patriotic district
+posts its manifesto demanding a march on Versailles. Everywhere the
+people arm; they seek out the white cockades and the black ones, the
+latter the Catholic rallying sign, and--just reprisals--trample them
+under foot. Everywhere the people gather, discussing the imminence of
+the danger. They hold councils in the gardens of the Palais Royal, in
+the St. Antoine suburb, at the ends of the bridges, on the quays. They
+say the hardihood of the nobility is growing visibly, that the boat
+laden with flour, which arrives morning and night from Corbeil, has not
+come at all for two days. Is the court, then, going to take Paris by
+famine? They say that despite the orders of the Assembly, the local
+councils are still functioning; that that of Toulouse is burning
+patriotic leaflets; that the council of Rouen has ordered the seizure of
+citizens acquitted by the Assembly; that the one of Paris has recorded
+itself, and is obstinately determined to make use of its Gothic formulas
+'Louis, by the grace of God, King' and 'Such is our good pleasure.' And
+finally they say that conclaves are being held in the aristocrats'
+mansions, and that they are secretly enrolling gangs of ruffians for the
+court."
+
+Loustalot, a fearless young man, a generous and noble character, and one
+of the most brilliant spirits of his time, wrote in his journal, _The
+Revolutions of Paris_ (No. XIII):
+
+"There must be a _second burst of revolution_, we have maintained for
+several days. Everything is ready for it. The soul of the aristocratic
+party has not yet left the court! A crowd of Knights of St. Louis, of
+old officers, of gentlemen, and of employes already included in the
+reforms or desiring to be, have signed agreements to enlist in the Body
+Guards or other troops. This roll includes already more than thirty
+thousand names. The project of the court is to carry the King to Metz,
+there to await foreign aid, in order to undertake a civil war and
+exterminate the Revolution!"
+
+And finally Marat, in _The Friend of the People_, of the 4th of October,
+1789, gave the following advice, with that promptitude of decision, that
+deep sagacity, and that admirable and practical good sense which were
+his characteristics:
+
+"The orgy has taken place! The alarm is general. There is not an instant
+to lose. All good citizens should assemble in arms, and send strong
+detachments to take possession of the powder at Essonne; let each
+district supply itself with cannon from the City Hall. The National
+Guard is not so senseless as not to join with us, and to take care of
+its officers if they give orders hostile to the people. Finally, the
+peril is so imminent that we are done for if the people does not
+establish a tribunal and arm it with public powers!"
+
+Admonished, enlightened, aroused by these ardent appeals to its
+revolutionary spirit, Paris was soon assembled in insurrection. But,
+strange and touching at once as it was, the signal for this new
+revolution was given by the women. Flour and grain, by reason of the
+court's complot, began to run low. A young girl of the market quarter
+entered the barracks of the St. Eustace body guard, seized a drum, and
+marched through the streets beating the charge, and crying "Bread!
+Bread!" A great throng of women fell in behind her, and together they
+invaded the City Hall, where the monarchical directorate was in session.
+These virile Gallic women demanded arms and powder, exclaiming, "If the
+men are too cowardly to go with us to Versailles, we shall go alone, and
+demand bread of the King and avenge the insult to the national cockade!"
+Stanislas Maillard, an usher and a Bastille-hero, addressed the
+courageous women. They hailed him as their chief, and marched on
+Versailles.
+
+Close upon their heels a deputation of grenadiers of the National Guard
+presented itself at the City Hall, and addressing Lafayette, their
+General, held to him the following language:
+
+"General, we are commissioned by six companies of grenadiers. We do not
+yet wish to believe you a traitor, but we believe the government has
+betrayed us. That must end! The people want bread, and cry for it. We
+shall not turn our bayonets against women. The source of the evil is at
+Versailles--let us go after the King and fetch him to Paris.
+Chastisement is demanded for the Body Guards and the Flanders regiment,
+who, at the royal orgy, trampled on the national cockade. If the King is
+too weak to bear the crown, let him be deposed."
+
+In the face of the exasperation of the people, Lafayette decided to take
+horse, and himself gave the signal for departure. The National Guard
+took the road for Versailles, preceded by an advance guard of about ten
+thousand women. My sister Victoria joined the Amazons. From her I have
+the following account of their expedition:
+
+Along the way, they recruited their ranks steadily from among their own
+sex. The Old Iron Quay was thronged with women recruiting agents and the
+troops they had marshalled. The robust kitchen maid, the trim modiste,
+and the humble sempstress, all swelled the phalanx of warriors. The old
+devotee, who was on her way to mass, found herself carried off for the
+first time in her life, and protested vehemently against the abduction!
+The women elected a president and a council board. All who were
+"borrowed" from their husbands or parents were first presented before
+the president and her aides-de-camp, who pledged themselves to watch
+over the morals and honor of all who joined the troop. And the promise
+was religiously kept; not the slightest disorder marred the journey.
+
+The vanguard of women arrived at Versailles. Usher Maillard counseled
+his companions to send a committee of twelve to the National Assembly,
+to request that several Representatives of the people be added to their
+number to accompany them before the King. The Assembly granted their
+request, and commissioned several of its members to conduct to the
+palace the delegates of the women of Paris. The deputation was brought
+before Louis XVI. He greeted the women with apparent good will, and
+promised them to watch over the provisioning of Paris.
+
+But during this very talk of the King with the delegation of women, a
+plot was being hatched out for Louis's flight. The plot was discovered
+in time, and the palace placed under the surveillance of the National
+Guard. During the night, the multitude of men and women from Paris,
+augmented by Lafayette's army, sought shelter in the churches, or
+bivouacked on the palace grounds. At early dawn, several citizens,
+seeing a trooper at one of the windows, addressed some insults to him.
+The latter loaded his gun, took deliberate aim at a citizen, and killed
+him. The pretorians of Louis XVI opened the fight. The Parisian women
+and the National Guards, yielding to their legitimate indignation,
+invaded the palace. Blood was shed. The victorious people demanded and
+secured the return of the King and the royal family to Paris.
+
+Such were the results of the days of the 5th and 6th of October, 1789.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MIRABEAU.
+
+
+At the end of that same year of 1789, the National Assembly decreed the
+abolition of tithes, without redemption, and the immediate sale of the
+properties of the clergy. The value of these properties amounted to more
+than four thousand million francs. At the beginning of the year 1790,
+the Assembly decreed itself the Convention. In that memorable session,
+Mirabeau took the floor, concluding a magnificent speech with this
+peroration:
+
+"They ask since when the Deputies of the people have become a National
+Convention? I reply, The day when, finding the entrance to their seats
+blocked with soldiers, they adjourned to the Tennis Court, where they
+swore to die rather than abandon the rights of the people! That day our
+powers changed their nature, and those that we have exercised have been
+legitimatized, sanctified, by the adherence of the people! I would
+recall to you the words of that grand man of antiquity, who disregarded
+the formal laws to save his country. Summoned before a factious tribunal
+to answer, Whether he had observed the laws, he said, 'I swear that I
+have saved the country!'" And turning toward the deputies, Mirabeau
+concluded, "I swear that you have saved France!"
+
+The entire Assembly rose to its feet with enthusiasm, and vowed that it
+would disband only after the completion of its work.
+
+In spite of this energetic attitude of the Assembly, the court continued
+its intrigues against the Revolution. Louis XVI planned a new flight,
+for the purpose of seeking aid from the foreign rulers. It was at this
+moment that the great scandal occasioned by the discovery of the Red
+Book electrified the city.
+
+Deputy Camus had found among the papers whose surrender had been
+demanded by the Committee on Finance, a certain ledger bound in red
+morocco, containing the account of the secret expenses of Louis XV and
+Louis XVI. In the items on this ledger figured princes, grand seigneurs,
+and all the royal coterie. The Count of Artois, brother to the King, was
+recorded as having, under the ministry of Calonne, put his fingers on
+14,050,050 livres, merely for "extra expenses." Monsieur the Count of
+Provence, another brother of the King, had gone through, for his part,
+13,880,000 livres. Among the courtiers, the Polignac family was down for
+700,000 livres pension: a Marquis of Autichamp for four several
+pensions: the first for services of his late father; the second, for the
+same object; the third, same reason; and the fourth--for the same cause.
+A German prince was also the beneficiary of four pensions: first, for
+his services as a colonel; the second, the same; the third, the same;
+and the fourth, as a _non-colonel_. A certain Desgalois of La Tour was
+drawing 22,720 livres as the total of his four pensions: the first, as
+first president and intendant; the second as intendant and first
+president; the third for the same considerations as above, etc., etc..
+
+"At last we have it, the Red Book," wrote Camille Desmoulins with his
+brilliant imagery and pitiless incisiveness. "The Committee on Finance
+has broken all the seven seals which locked its fatal pages. Here is
+fulfilled the terrible threat of the prophet, here it is accomplished
+before the last judgment: _Revelabo pudentia tua_--I shall uncover your
+shame!"
+
+All the while inflaming the inhabitants in whatever provinces it could,
+the clergy but awaited the opportune instant to blow into a blaze the
+carefully sown sparks of civil war. The court and Louis XVI thought
+themselves at the moment of triumph in having gained Mirabeau over to
+their cause by the power of gold--Mirabeau, the mettlesome tribune, the
+mighty orator, who had so far served the cause of liberty. Alas, it was
+but too true. Consumed with a thirst for luxury and pleasures, that
+great spirit had sold himself to the court for a million down and a
+pension of a hundred thousand livres monthly.
+
+But death did not permit him to enjoy the fruits of his treason. On the
+2nd of April, 1791, he died. Some hours before his death he heard the
+boom of cannon, and said, in his gigantic self-conceit, "Do they already
+sound the knell of Achilles?" His last words, in which his treason
+stands revealed, were: "I am in mourning for the monarchy; its remains
+will be the prey of the malcontents."
+
+The people, trusting and credulous, and ignorant as yet of the
+renegading of their tribune, learned of his death with profound
+consternation. I traveled over Paris that day. Everywhere the mourning
+was deep. One would have thought a public calamity had fallen upon
+France; people accosted one another with the words, impressed with
+mournful despair: "Mirabeau is dead!" Tears flowed from all eyes. The
+weeping multitude religiously followed the ashes of the great orator,
+which were deposited in the Pantheon. Nevertheless two voices, two
+prophetic voices, rose alone above this concert of civic commiseration,
+protesting against the pious homage rendered to the memory of a traitor.
+
+"As for me," wrote Camille Desmoulins in his journal, "when they raised
+the mortuary cloth that covered the body of Mirabeau, and I saw the man
+I had idolized, I vow I felt not a tear--I looked at him with an eye as
+dry as Cicero's regarding the body of Caesar pierced with twenty-three
+dagger-thrusts. It was the remains of a traitor."
+
+And Marat, guided by a sort of intuition, wrote in _The Friend of the
+People_ the day after Mirabeau's funeral: "Give thanks to the gods,
+people! Your most redoubtable enemy is no more! He died the victim of
+his many treasons, by the farsighted barbarism of his accomplices.[9]
+The life of Mirabeau was stained with crimes. May a veil forever hide
+that hideous picture. Mirabeau in the Pantheon! What man of integrity
+would desire to repose beside him? The ashes of Rousseau, of
+Montesquieu, would shudder to find themselves in company with the
+traitor! Ah, if ever liberty is established in France, if ever some
+legislator, according to what I may have done for the country, should
+attempt to decree me the honors of the Pantheon, I here vigorously
+protest against the black affront! Rather would I never die! Curses on
+the name of Mirabeau."
+
+Strange prophecy! Mirabeau's secret papers, discovered on August 10,
+1792, in the King's secret Iron Cupboard in the Tuileries, laid bare
+irrefutable proofs of his treason, and the National Convention on
+November 27 of the following year, issued the following memorable
+order:[10]
+
+     "The National Convention, considering that there is no greatness in
+     man without honor, decrees that the body of Honoré Gabriel Riquetti
+     Mirabeau be withdrawn from the Pantheon. The body of Marat shall be
+     transferred thither."
+
+Ah, sons of Joel! Never forget those sacred words, _There is no
+greatness in man without honor_. For none was ever more exalted in
+genius than Mirabeau! And nevertheless, the National Assembly,
+responsive to a sentiment of justice and impartiality that reflects
+honor on it, expelled from the Pantheon the body of the man of genius,
+of the grand orator, of the fiery tribune who sold himself to the court,
+and replaced it by that of Marat, the humble journalist, the man of
+probity and disinterestedness, the friend of the people, the
+incorruptible citizen.
+
+The death of Mirabeau disconcerted the court of Louis XVI, and shattered
+its hope of dominating, disarming, and vanquishing the Revolution by
+means of the National Assembly; the court then resolved to execute a
+project it had long been revolving, and had already vainly attempted at
+Versailles, on the days of the 5th and 6th of October. That project was:
+
+"The King shall fly to some fortified place on the frontiers. There,
+surrounded by devoted troops under the command of a royalist general
+(the Marquis of Bouillé), Louis XVI shall protest solemnly to all Europe
+against the usurpatory acts of the National Assembly, shall strongly
+invoke against the French Revolution the spirit of solidarity which
+ought to bind all sovereigns, and stamp out the revolt under the heel of
+the foreign armies."
+
+This criminal project Louis XVI was on the point of carrying out. But
+Marat, always watchful, always prophetic, had, several days before the
+flight of the King, denounced the fact in these terms in _The Friend of
+the People_ (June 16, 1791):
+
+"They are working might and main to get the King into the Netherlands,
+on the pretext that his cause is that of all the Kings of Europe! You
+will be brainless enough not to prevent the flight of the royal family.
+Parisians--senseless people of Paris! I am tired of repeating it to you:
+Hold fast the King and the Dauphin within our walls; watch them with
+care; shut up the Queen, her brother-in-law, and her family. The loss of
+one day may prove fatal to the nation and dig the graves of three
+million Frenchmen."
+
+Here I, John Lebrenn, begin the extracts from my journal.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+AT THE JACOBIN CLUB.
+
+
+JUNE 21, 1791.--The expected has happened. To-day, early in the morning,
+the rumor of the flight of Louis XVI and his family spread over Paris.
+
+Victoria and I went out to observe what impression the desertion of the
+King and Queen would make upon the people. An innumerable multitude
+covered the garden of the Palais Royal, the place before the City Hall,
+and the grounds of the Tuileries and the National Assembly. At ten
+o'clock in the morning the municipal officers fired three cannon as an
+alarm. The tocsin sounded, the drums of the National Guard rang out the
+"assembly." The confusion was indescribable.
+
+In the course of our travels we met Monsieur Hubert. It was the first
+time I had come face to face with him since the day I asked his niece in
+marriage. In full uniform, the banker was repairing to his Section,
+where his royalist district battalion, the Daughters of St. Thomas, was
+assembling. He approached me and cried brusquely:
+
+"Well? The King has gone. But we don't want the Republic, and shall
+defend the Constitution to the death."
+
+"What Constitution do you pretend to defend?" replied Victoria. "The
+Constitution recognizes a hereditary King, the King absconds.
+Circumstances themselves demand the Republic."
+
+Hubert was dumb for a moment. Then he said, "Citizeness! The Assembly
+will name Lafayette provisionally Protector of the kingdom. For the
+rest, the Assembly has sent commissioners after the King, and we hope
+that they will succeed in reaching him before he gains the frontier. The
+question will be simplified."
+
+At that moment a flux of the crowd tore Victoria and me away, and
+carried us on towards the palace of the Tuileries. The sentinels at the
+foot of the great stairway allowed everyone up into the apartments. The
+thronging visitors were, like ourselves, all under the influence of a
+mocking curiosity, remembering, as they did, that the monarch who
+inhabited these sumptuous apartments complained of the insufficiency of
+his 40,000,000 francs on the civil list, and pretended that he could not
+procure the necessaries of life. Leaving the palace again, we followed
+the boulevards back to the St. Antoine suburb. Everywhere were
+manifested aversion for royalty, contempt for the person of Louis XVI,
+and hatred for the Austrian, Marie Antoinette.
+
+Several organs of the patriotic press lent their encouragement to the
+republican tendencies in the air, either by openly demanding the
+Republic, or by insisting that Louis had forfeited his title. Marat, in
+_The Friend of the People_, voiced in these words the indignation of the
+people against the King, the court, and the ministers:
+
+"Citizens, Louis XVI has this night taken flight.... This King,
+perjured, faithless, without shame, without remorse, has gone to join
+the foreign Kings, his accomplices. The thirst for absolute power which
+devours his soul will soon turn him into a ferocious assassin. He will
+return to steep himself in the blood of _his subjects_, who refuse to
+submit to his tyrannical yoke.... And, as he waits, he laughs at the
+dullness of the Parisians, who took him at his word.... Citizens, you
+are lost, if you give ear to the National Assembly, which will not cease
+to cajole you, to lull you to sleep, until the enemy has arrived under
+our walls! Despatch this instant couriers to the Departments. Call the
+federated Bretons to your aid! Make yourselves masters of the arsenal.
+Disarm the mounted constables, the guards at the gates, the patrols of
+the fortifications, the hired troops--all counter-revolutionists!
+Citizens, name within the hour a pitiless dictator, who, with the same
+blow, will sever the heads of the ministers, of their subalterns, of
+Lafayette, of all the scoundrels of his staff, of all the
+counter-revolutionists, of all the traitors in the National Assembly."
+
+In his _Revolutions of France_, Camille Desmoulins, with his brilliant
+mockery, characterized the situation thus:
+
+"The King has fired point blank on the Nation; the shot has hung fire.
+Now it is the Nation's turn to shoot. Doubtless it will disdain to
+measure itself against a disarmed man, even if he be a King! And I would
+be the first to fire in the air--but the aggressor must beg of me his
+life."
+
+Placards, inscriptions of all nature, posted on the walls of Paris,
+powerfully stirred the opinions of the people. Towards the close of the
+day, the journal called _The Mouth of Iron_ published in a supplement a
+proclamation addressed to the French by Louis XVI, which had been seized
+at the domicile of Laporte, one of the onhangers at court, who had been
+commissioned to print it and flood Paris with it.
+
+"The King," so declared the manifesto, "has for a long time hoped to see
+order and happiness restored by the Assembly; he renounces that hope.
+The safety of persons and of property is compromised. Anarchy is
+everywhere. The King, considering himself a prisoner during his forced
+stay in Paris, protests against all the acts of the Assembly, and
+against the Constitution, which outrages the Church, and degrades
+royalty, subordinating it to the Assembly, reducing it to an
+insufficient civil list, etc., etc. In the face of such motives, in the
+disability under which I labor of stopping the evil, I had to seek my
+own safety. Frenchmen, you whom I call the inhabitants of my good city
+of Paris, beware of these insurgents! Return to your King! He will be
+always your friend, when our holy religion is respected, when the
+government is stable, and when liberty is established on unshakable
+foundations!
+
+"_Signed_,
+
+LOUIS."
+
+Hard by the site of the Bastille, on a pile of the ruins of the
+fortress, a young citizen, who by the elegance of his dress and the
+careful powdering of his hair seemed to be of the upper bourgeoisie,
+made the following motion:
+
+"Gentlemen, in the present state of affairs, it would be very
+unfortunate for our disgraceful and perfidious King to be brought back
+to us! What can we do with him? This fugitive will come like Thersite,
+shedding those fat tears of which Homer speaks. So, then, if they commit
+the enormous mistake of bringing Louis XVI back to us, I propose this
+motion: That the Executive be exposed three days to public ridicule.
+That he be conducted by stages to the frontier, and that there the
+commissioners of the Republic who shall have so far escorted him shall
+solemnly present to this last of the Kings--their boots in his rear, and
+send him to the devil."
+
+This novel motion was received on the part of all who heard it with
+shouts of laughter and applause. "Yes, yes! Let them plant their boots
+in the royal rear!" they echoed.
+
+Such, in short, was the spirit of Paris on the 21st of June, 1791. The
+bulk of the bourgeoisie, thunder-struck at the absconding of its King,
+was resolved, in case the commissioners despatched by the Assembly were
+unable to overtake Louis XVI and bring him back, to shelter itself
+behind the protectorate offered to Lafayette, if they should fail to
+induce the Duke of Orleans to accept the constitutional royalty. The
+people on the contrary, were rejoiced to be rid of the King, and looked
+forward to a Republic.
+
+That evening we attended the Jacobin Club, where a great audience was
+packed.
+
+O, sons of Joel! I know not how to depict for you the emotions of
+patriotism, mingled with respect, with which we, the contemporaries of
+the great days of the Revolution, entered this ancient hall of the
+Convent of the Jacobins in St. Honoré Street, an immense hall, with
+walls of stone blackened and crumbled with age, lighted only by a few
+tapers placed on a heavy table, behind which sat the president and
+secretaries of the club.
+
+The Jacobin Club was the revolutionary church most frequented by the
+people. In that plebeian forum were debated the great questions that
+agitated Paris, France, Europe! It was from that hearth glowing with
+patriotism that radiated the civic virtues which from one end of the
+country to the other fired all hearts. The Club of the Jacobins was the
+political school of the proletariat; it was there that the workingmen
+took direct hold of public affairs; it was in the midst of its
+tempestuous debates that the opinion of the people cleared itself and
+took form, whence it often went to weigh, with no negligible force, upon
+the deliberations of the National Assembly. It was from the heights of
+the ringing tribunal of the Jacobins that the vigilant citizens watched
+and heralded the manoeuvres of our enemies, and kept their eyes on the
+public functionaries; it was from this popular tribunal that issued the
+cries of mistrust or alarm. It was, in brief, from this tribunal that
+the patriots, at the approach of grave perils, reawoke the slumbering,
+misled or wearied public opinion, infused into it new activity, and
+rekindled in it the fever of revolution--a sublime mission!
+
+Alas, by an unexplainable error of judgment, or of political tact, the
+Jacobins on the 21st of June, the day of the flight of Louis XVI, did
+not respond to the prayers of the people. The Jacobins did not profit by
+the circumstance, as favorable as unexpected, of the desertion of the
+King, to demand of the National Assembly, in the name of the
+Constitution, that the title of Louis XVI be declared forfeit. In this
+meeting, otherwise so moving, the conduct of the Jacobins was
+indecisive, equivocal, and blameworthy; for, in a revolution, not to
+profit by every favorable event is an unpardonable fault. A single error
+brings defeat.
+
+When, about eight in the evening, Victoria and I entered the hall of the
+Jacobins, the chamber and the galleries were packed with spectators
+drawn thither by the importance of the debates which the events of the
+day were expected to call forth. Men, women, young girls, waited with
+feverish impatience for the meeting to be thrown open. One of the
+striking features of our revolution was the passionate interest taken by
+women in the affairs of the community; already, sons of Joel, you have
+seen them, these valiant Gallic women, taking as virile a part in action
+as in discussion, like their mothers of Gaul in the centuries agone.
+
+The members of the bureau of the club took their places, and the tumult
+hushed. Citizen Prieur, of La Marne, presided; at his sides were the
+secretaries, Goncourt, Chéry, Jr., Lampidor, and Danjou. The president
+rang his bell, and announced the reading of an address sent to all the
+societies in the departments, which were in correspondence with the
+central club. Thus was explained the marvelous unanimity between the
+parent society of the Jacobins and the affiliated societies in the
+provinces. A profound silence now reigned in the chamber, while Citizen
+Danjou read the address:
+
+     "Brothers and friends:
+
+     "The King, led astray by criminal suggestions, has separated
+     himself from the National Assembly. Far from being downcast over
+     this development, our courage and that of our fellow citizens is
+     risen to the emergency. Not a shadow of trouble, not a disordered
+     movement, has accompanied the impression made upon us by this fact.
+
+     "A calm and determined firmness leaves us the disposition of all
+     our forces; consecrated to the defense of a great cause, they will
+     be victorious!
+
+     "All divisions are forgotten, all patriots are united. The National
+     Assembly--that is our guide; the Constitution--that is our rallying
+     cry."
+
+It would be difficult to express the surprise, the disfavor, I had
+almost said the sorrow, which were produced in the audience by the
+reading of this opiate-laden manifesto, accepted by the majority of the
+members of the club.
+
+But unexpectedly Camille Desmoulins appeared on the scene. He strode
+toward the tribunal and demanded of the president the floor for a
+communication he had to make to the Jacobins. Though still a young man,
+Desmoulins was an influential member of the Club of the Cordeliers. His
+physiognomy was expressive, ironical, and finely cut. He leaped to the
+platform, and in his incisive voice, while sober in gesture and bearing,
+he let loose his biting sarcasm:
+
+"Citizens, while the National Assembly decrees--and decrees and decrees
+and never lets up decreeing--as much good as bad, and more bad than
+good--the people is acting admirably as police; and, showing itself no
+less a friend of provisional rule than the Assembly, it has decreed that
+all pillagers shall be provisionally--hanged to the lamp-post. Crossing
+Voltaire Quay just now, I saw Lafayette preparing to review the
+batallions of the blue-bonnets, drawn up on the quay. Convinced of the
+need of uniting on one leader, I yielded to an attraction which drew me
+over to the famous white horse. 'Monsieur Lafayette,' I called to him,
+'I have indeed said some evil of you during the year, and thought no
+less. Now is the time to convict me of false testimony in safeguarding
+public affairs!' 'I have always known you for a good citizen,' gallantly
+replied the General, holding out his hand to me; 'the common danger has
+united all parties. There is no longer in the Assembly but one single
+spirit!'--'One single spirit! That is very few for so numerous and
+illustrious an assembly,' quoth I to the General. 'But why does this
+single soul of the Assembly affect to speak in its decrees of the
+_carrying off_ of the King, when the Executive writes to the Assembly
+that no one is carrying him off at all, that he is going himself? I can
+pardon the lie of a servant who lies in the fear of losing his place if
+he tells the truth,' continued I, 'but the Assembly is not, to my
+knowledge, the servant of the Executive, whether present or in flight.
+The Assembly has three million pikes and bayonets at its service.
+Whence, then, comes the baseness, or the treason, which dictated to it
+such a vile falsehood!' '_The carrying off of the King!_ The Assembly
+will correct that mistake in wording,' the General answered me. And he
+added several times, 'The conduct of the King is indeed infamous.'"
+
+Camille Desmoulins stopped. He had seen Robespierre enter the hall, and
+prepared to descend from the tribunal, saying with cordial deference:
+
+"Here is my friend and master. I yield him the floor."
+
+Had it not been for the certainty of hearing Robespierre, the audience
+would undoubtedly have insisted on the completion of the lively oration
+just begun. But Robespierre was one of the most esteemed orators of the
+Jacobin Club, a high appreciation which he merited by his great talent,
+his tireless energy, the loftiness of his character, his integrity, the
+austerity of his morals, and his devotion to the revolutionary cause.
+Unhappily, that medal had a reverse: Robespierre carried his mistrust of
+men to an extreme; he showed himself always cold, harsh, and suspicious,
+to the point of committing acts of injustice towards citizens as
+devoted as himself to the public cause, but who had the pretension to
+serve it by means different from his.
+
+The deep silence in the hall was re-established. The scattering
+conversation ceased. Robespierre was on the platform. His features,
+ordinarily impassible as a mask of marble, were now marked with a bitter
+irony, and he uttered his words in a voice that was at once curt,
+sonorous and metallic:
+
+"It is not to me, citizens, that the flight of the first functionary of
+the State comes as a disastrous event. This day could be the finest day
+of the Revolution. It can still become so! The recovery of the forty
+millions which the entertainment of this royal individual costs would be
+the least of its blessings. But for that, citizens, other measures must
+be taken than those adopted by the National Assembly. And I seized the
+moment when the session was suspended to come here to speak to you of
+these measures, which there they do not allow me to propose. In
+deserting now his post, the King has chosen the very moment when the
+priests are trying to raise up against the Constitution all the idiots
+and blind-men who have survived the light of philosophy in the whole
+eighty-three departments of France; the moment when the Emperor of
+Austria and the King of Sweden are at Brussells to receive this perjured
+and deserting King. That does not alarm me a bit. Oh, no! Let Europe
+league herself against us--the Revolution will conquer Europe!
+
+"No, I fear not the coalition of Kings," continued Robespierre, in a
+tone of proud disdain. "But do you know, fellow citizens, what frightens
+me? It is to hear our enemies hold the same language as we, it is to
+hear them exclaim like us, that we must rally to the defense of the
+Constitution. Louis XVI does not count alone on the assistance of
+foreign forces to re-enter his kingdom in triumph; he counts as well on
+the support of a party within, which to-day wears the mask of
+patriotism; of that party the National Assembly is the accomplice."
+
+This new affirmation, so clear, so precise, of the culpable conduct of
+the Assembly excited afresh the murmurs of the Jacobins and the applause
+of the people. Every ear was strained to catch, with anxious impatience,
+the measures which Robespierre was about to announce as necessary to
+make this the most splendid day of the Revolution.
+
+"What I have just said to you is the exact truth," proceeded Robespierre
+solemnly. "But could I make the National Assembly listen to the truth?
+No! I was not heard. Ah, I know, this denunciation is dangerous for me.
+What does that matter--it is useful for the public good. This
+denunciation will sharpen for me a thousand poniards! I shall become an
+object of hatred to my colleagues of the Assembly, who are nearly all
+counter-revolutionists--some through ignorance, others through fear,
+some through private reasons, others through blind confidence, others
+through corruption. I devote myself to hate--to death. I know it!" added
+Robespierre, with stoical tranquility.
+
+"Ah! when, still unknown, I sat in the Assembly, I had already made the
+sacrifice of my life to truth, to the country. But to-day, when I owe so
+much to the recognition, to the love of my friends, I accept death as a
+blessing. It will prevent me from witnessing inevitable evils."
+
+Then, overcoming his passing emotion and returning to his natural
+inflexibility of bearing, he added in a voice short and firm:
+
+"I have just held trial over the Assembly; now let it hold trial over
+me!"
+
+The conclusion of this discourse produced an extraordinary effect upon
+the audience, and when Robespierre left the platform, the Jacobins rose
+with one spontaneous motion. Camille Desmoulins ran to the orator, and,
+his face moist with tears, said to Robespierre as he clasped him in a
+fraternal embrace:
+
+"We shall die with you!"
+
+One of the striking characteristics of Robespierre's policy was never to
+venture a motion when its success was problematical. Hence the apparent
+contradiction between the beginning and the end of the address he had
+just delivered. He had evidently intended to advise prompt and decisive
+measures against the royal power and against the Assembly; but, feeling
+the ground, and becoming assured that the measures he had to propose
+would meet with opposition among the Jacobins, Robespierre considered it
+wiser, more politic, to temporize, and to confine himself to casting
+suspicion upon the National Assembly.
+
+Almost as soon as Robespierre left the tribunal, there were seen to
+enter the hall first Danton, a man of energy and action, and then
+Lafayette.
+
+The presence of these two men, personifying respectively action and
+reaction, revolution and counter-revolution, drew forth from the meeting
+an obstreperous manifestation, part acclamation, part hisses. The
+exteriors of these two men offered a contrast in keeping with that of
+their opinions.
+
+The young Marquis of Lafayette, tall of stature, slim, urbane, presented
+the accepted type of the grand seigneur. He wore with grace his uniform
+of commander-in-chief of the National Guard. Booted and spurred, his
+sword at his side, his hat under his arm, he entered that darksome hall
+where on every face he could read the sentiments of hostility which he
+called forth; and yet he advanced with the same aristocratic ease with
+which he would have presented himself in the Oeil-de-Boeuf, or court
+circle, at Versailles. His intrepid front bespoke the man insensible to
+danger; his piercing yet ever indecisive and fugitive glance, revealed a
+habit of conduct stamped with capability and cunning, yet always veering
+with his ambitions, and as changeable and diverse as the events which
+gave them birth; finally, his smile, which was almost invariably
+affable, courteous and insinuating, seemed to be ever courting
+popularity.
+
+Danton, though also young and of athletic build, was careless of dress.
+The ill-restrained mettle of his carriage, his flashing eye, his
+countenance at once sensual and bold, idealistic and tender; his robust,
+sanguine and exuberant make-up, all bore testimony to the most
+contradictory qualities within him,--vices and virtues; energy and
+weakness; appalling cruelty and inexpressible, deep-seated tenderness;
+pettiness and heroism.
+
+The presence of Danton in the hall of the Jacobins reawoke, re-excited
+the people. "There is Danton! There is Danton!" were the words which ran
+through the assembly with a thrill of curiosity, sympathy and
+confidence.
+
+Danton mounted the tribunal, and in his thundering voice cried out:
+
+"Citizens, on the result of this session hangs perhaps the safety of the
+country! The first functionary of the State has disappeared! Here, in
+this meeting, are assembled the men charged with the regeneration of
+France--some powerful in their genius, others in their influence! France
+will be saved if all internal dissension is hushed. That has not yet
+been done. Experience reveals to us the extent of our woes. I ought to
+speak, I shall speak, as if I were engraving history for posterity!
+
+"And first," pursued Danton, indicating Lafayette with a gesture of
+contempt, "and first I interpellate Monsieur Lafayette, here present. I
+ask him what he has come to do here--he, at the Jacobins? He the signer
+of so many projected laws directed against liberty! He who demanded the
+dissolution of the Jacobin Club, composed almost entirely, according to
+him, of men without law, subsidized to perpetuate anarchy! He, who
+triumphantly led the inhabitants of the suburb of St. Antoine to the
+destruction of the dungeon of Vincennes, that last den of tyranny, and
+who, the same evening, accorded protection to the assassins who were
+armed with poniards to assist the King in his flight! Let us not deceive
+ourselves! That flight is the result of a conspiracy in which the public
+officials were confederates. And you, Lafayette, who answered with your
+head for the person of Louis XVI, have you paid your debt?"
+
+In spite of this vehement apostrophe, which drew the applause of the
+people, Lafayette maintained his imperturbable coolness. He smiled, and
+indicated with a nod of his head that he wished to reply to the speaker.
+
+"Citizens," continued Danton, "in order to save France, the people must
+take great satisfaction, and establish radical reforms. The people is
+tired of being braved by its enemies. It is anxious to send them back to
+oblivion. It is not a matter of altering the principle of the
+irrevocability of the Representatives of the people, but of expelling
+from the National Assembly and delivering to justice those of the
+deputies who call down civil war upon France by the audacity of an
+infamous rebellion. But if the voice of the defenders of the people is
+smothered, if our guilty officers put the country in danger, I shall
+appeal from them to posterity. It is for it to judge between them and
+me!"--
+
+And Danton left the tribunal.
+
+Great was the consternation of the populace, thus a second time deceived
+in its hopes; for the legitimate accusations hurled by the orator at
+Lafayette, and the vague proposition to drive the traitors from the
+Assembly, led to no positive measure, indicated no means of providing
+for the safety of the nation.
+
+Lafayette stepped upon the platform just vacated by Danton. He
+comfortably established himself there. Then, bowing with a grand air to
+the assembly, he laid down his hat, and said in a calm voice and with
+accents of perfect courtesy:
+
+"Gentlemen, one of messieurs my predecessors did me the honor to ask why
+I had come to the Jacobins. I come to them because it is to them that
+all citizens should come in these times of crises and alarms. More than
+ever, gentlemen, must we now fight for liberty. I said among the first:
+'A people that wishes to become free, holds its destiny in its own
+hands.' I was never more sure of liberty than after enjoying the
+spectacle presented to us by the capital during this day."
+
+After a second obeisance to the audience, no less courteous than the
+first, the Marquis of Lafayette descended from the tribunal and quickly
+gained the door of the hall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE KING ARRESTED.
+
+
+JUNE 26, 1791.--Last night Victoria and I were present at the return of
+Louis XVI to Paris. The King was arrested at Varennes, on the night of
+the 22nd of June. Citizen Drouet, an old dragoon and now
+master-of-the-post at St. Menehould, recognized Louis XVI under his
+disguise of valet-de-chambre while the coaches of the fugitive King were
+changing horses in his hostlery. The Queen, armed with a false passport,
+was traveling under the name of the Baroness of Korff and suite. Citizen
+Drouet did not dare arrest the fugitives at St. Menehould, the carriages
+being escorted by one of the detachments of dragoons and hussars which
+the Marquis of Bouillé, commander-in-chief at Metz, and accomplice in
+the flight of the King, had stationed along the road from Paris to the
+frontier. But after the departure of the royal coach Drouet took horse
+with one of his postillions, and following a short cut, arrived at
+Varennes ahead of the mysterious travelers. It was midnight. He at once
+gave the alarm and announced the speedy arrival of Louis XVI. The
+National Guard assembled under arms, and proceeded to arrest the King
+immediately upon his entering the town. Louis and his family were
+conveyed back to Paris by Barnave and Petion, the committee-men whom
+the Assembly had despatched on that errand.
+
+During the days that elapsed between the King's flight and his forced
+return to Paris, diverse shades of opinion made themselves manifest in
+the capital. Brissot, in his journal, _The French Patriot_, summed up in
+clear and concise terms the consequences of the events which for five
+days had been agitating the city.
+
+"What is to be done in the present circumstances?" said he. "Six plans
+are proposed: To abolish royalty and substitute for it a Republican
+government. To let the question of the King and royalty go before the
+nation for judgment. To judge the King by a national court. To demand
+his abdication. To remove Louis Capet and name a Regent--and, finally,
+to leave the King on the throne, and give him an elective cabinet. The
+first proposition is comprehensive: An end of Kings; let us be
+Republicans."
+
+The sentiment for a Republic was growing greatly, as also was the public
+indignation against Louis XVI, and against the constitutionalist
+majority of the Assembly. Several causes worked toward these results,
+chief among them being the manifesto of the Marquis of Bouillé, the
+monarchist commander, addressed to the people, and winding up with the
+threat:
+
+     I know my forces. Soon your chastisement will serve as a memorable
+     example to posterity! That is how a man must speak to you in whom
+     you at first inspired pity. Accuse no one of conspiracy against
+     your infernal Constitution. The King did not give the orders that
+     have been given: I alone have ordered everything. Against me, then,
+     whet your daggers and prepare your poisons. You shall answer for
+     the days of the King to all the Kings of the world. Touch a hair
+     of his head, and there will not remain one stone upon another in
+     Paris. I know the roads. I shall conduct the foreign armies.
+     Farewell, messieurs; I end without comment. You know my sentiments.
+
+     MARQUIS OF BOUILLÉ.
+
+These insults, these menaces, addressed to the Revolution, to France in
+the name of all the Kings of the world by a royalist confidant and
+accomplice of Louis XVI, by a general who, "knowing the roads, would
+lead the foreign armies upon Paris, of which he would not leave one
+stone upon another," unveiled, with brutal frankness, the plan of the
+federated sovereigns. Nevertheless, such was the blindness of the
+National Assembly that instead of declaring the deposition of Louis XVI
+and bringing him before their bar, they contented themselves with
+decreeing: "That a guard be given to the King to be responsible for his
+person, and that the accomplices of his flight be examined by the
+committee-men of the Assembly, who will also hear the statements of
+Louis XVI and the Queen."
+
+We went, Victoria and I, to the Elysian Fields, about six in the evening
+of the 25th of June, to be present at the entry of Louis into his good
+city of Paris.
+
+A vast concourse of people covered the Elysian Fields and Louis XV
+Place. After great effort we succeeded in drawing near to the double
+cordon formed by the National Guard to allow a free passage to the royal
+cortege. A murmur beginning in the distance and drawing nearer and
+nearer announced the arrival of the King. General Lafayette passed by at
+a gallop, escorted by a brilliant staff of blue-bonnets, on his way to
+meet the carriages.
+
+The brave Santerre, so highly esteemed by the inhabitants of the St.
+Antoine suburb, also passed by on horseback to join the royal escort. He
+was accompanied by two patriots, Fournier the American, and the Marquis
+of St. Huruque, one of those aristocrats who embraced the revolutionary
+cause. Santerre advanced at the head of his battalion, recruited among
+the districts of St. Antoine. Nearly every citizen in that corps, too
+needy to purchase a uniform, was dressed in his workman's habiliments.
+The greater part of them bore pike-staffs in lieu of guns. The aspect of
+these men--their half-bared breasts, their honest, energetic and bluff
+faces, their resolute attitude, their every-day working clothes, and
+their proletarian woolen caps--offered a striking contrast to that of
+the "Bearskins," as were called, from their head-gear, the grenadiers of
+the National Guard from the districts in the center of Paris, nearly all
+constitutional monarchists.
+
+Soon, repeated nearer and nearer, were heard the words: "Here comes the
+King! Here comes Capet! Here are Monsieur and Madam Veto!" All eyes were
+turned toward the royal equipages. As they drove by, a storm began to
+gather, the lightning flickered and the thunder growled; the heavens
+grew dark and lent a doleful illumination to the spectacle of which we
+were the witnesses. A battalion of the National Guard, preceded by
+Lafayette's staff-officers, led the way; then came the two royal
+coaches. Ah, this was no longer the time of monarchic splendors, paid
+for out of the sweat of an enslaved people! This was no longer the time
+of gilded coaches, surrounded by pages and lackeys, and fleetly drawn by
+eight horses richly caparisoned, preceded by outriders in dashing
+liveries, escorted by equerries, guards, and gentlemen loaded with gold
+and silver broideries, and flashing like a dazzling whirlwind along the
+avenues of the royal parks!
+
+The first of the two carriages in which the royal family and its suite
+were riding under escort, was an enormous yellow berlin, which had
+served Louis in his flight. Covered with dust and mire, it was dragged
+by six post-horses harnessed on with ropes, and mounted by postillions
+whose hats bore long tricolored ribbons and cockades.
+
+The carriage went by at a walk, giving all a good view of the royal
+family. Louis XVI was dressed in a maroon suit with a straight
+collar--his disguise as valet-de-chambre to the pretended Baroness of
+Korff. He occupied a seat at the right, in the bottom of the berlin, at
+the side of which General Lafayette strutted on horseback. The bloated
+face of Louis XVI, imprinted with the spineless inertia of his
+character, expressed neither fear, nor anger, nor surprise. With his
+elbow he nudged the Queen, who was seated beside him, and pointed out to
+her with his finger one of the placards, which bore in large letters the
+words: "Silence, and remain covered, citizens. The King is to pass
+before his judges."
+
+In the front part of the carriage we saw the King's sister, Madam
+Elizabeth, her face sad and sweet. She seemed greatly afraid, and held
+her eyes cast down. Close beside her was Petion, one of the
+commissioners of the Assembly, grave and severe. The other commissioner,
+Barnave, one of the chiefs of the Girondin party, a fine-looking young
+man, attached at times a furtive but passionate gaze upon Marie
+Antoinette, with whom, according to report, he was already seriously
+smitten. Between his knees he held the Dauphin, Marie Antoinette's son,
+a pretty child with golden curly hair, who laughed and smiled with
+boyish carefreeness.
+
+The second coach contained the personages of the court who had
+participated in the King's escape. Next came a little open carriage
+trimmed with green twigs from which floated the tricolored flag. In this
+vehicle, standing erect, in an attitude of triumph, rode Drouet the
+post-keeper and his postillion William, both of whom had helped bring
+about the arrest of the King at Varennes.
+
+The procession was closed by the St. Antoine battalion, commanded by
+Santerre. As it came in sight the people cried with one voice, "Long
+live the law! Long live the Nation!" Then the storm broke over Paris,
+and amidst such exclamations, mingled with the crashing of thunder,
+Louis XVI entered as a prisoner the palace of his fathers.
+
+Such was the blindness of the Assembly in its bourgeois egotism, in its
+mistrust of the people, in its absurd hatred of republican government,
+that it still thought to impose upon France the authority of this King,
+disgraced, despised even by his own partisans, and convicted of perjury,
+treason, and conspiracy with the foreigner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE DAY OF THE FIELD OF MARS.
+
+
+JULY 17, 1791 (Midnight).--I have just returned to our lodging, my
+spirits still in the grip of horror and affright. I have been at the
+massacre of the Field of Mars. Curses upon Lafayette!
+
+The recital of this mournful event, which must be charged to the
+bourgeoisie, will be of service to the sons of Joel.
+
+From early morning, the weather was magnificent. Not a cloud flecked the
+azure of the sky. A great mass of people, myself among them, directed
+their steps toward the Field of Mars, men, women and children in holiday
+apparel. Every face breathed joy, and on all countenances shone
+satisfaction. At least as many women as citizens were in the throng.
+They, also, felt a legitimate pride in being able to prove their
+devotion to civic duty by affixing their names to a petition destined
+for the National Assembly.
+
+About half after eight in the morning, as I reached Great Rock, near one
+of the gates of the esplanade of the Field of Mars, I heard shouts, and
+almost immediately the crowd before me turned and fell away on either
+side, as if a prey to some unspeakable horror. Then I saw approaching
+the giant Lehiron, marching at the head of a band of his
+brigands--Lehiron, whom I had thought killed by Franz of Gerolstein, but
+who, recovered from his wound, reappeared before my eyes. On the end of
+a pike the villain carried a freshly severed head; one of his disciples
+carried a second head likewise transfixed on a pike-staff, and shouted:
+"Death to the aristocrats! To the lamp-post with the enemies of the
+people!" Several vixens, drunk and in tatters, had joined the assassins
+and echoed their cries of death. In the group I recognized, through
+their feminine masquerade, Abbot Morlet and his god-son, little Rodin.
+
+The band of murderers with their frightful trophies passed before me
+like a horrid vision.
+
+At last, about two o'clock in the afternoon, a deputation of Jacobins
+arrived. The spokesman informed the eager and attentive crowd that an
+address proposed the evening before had been withdrawn by the club, as
+it might be construed as a rebellion against the Assembly. The people
+were for an instant rendered dumb by disappointment. A number of voices
+cried out:
+
+"Then draw us up another petition. We will sign it!"
+
+The Jacobin spokesman and four chosen from among his fellow delegates,
+Citizens Peyre, Vachart, Robert, and Demoy, drew up on the instant an
+address, which Citizen Demoy read, as follows:
+
+     "ON THE ALTAR OF THE COUNTRY,
+
+     "FIELD OF MARS, JULY 17 OF THE YEAR III OF LIBERTY.
+
+     "Representatives of the Nation:
+
+     "You are approaching the end of your labors. A great crime has been
+     committed. Louis XVI flees, unworthily abandons his post. The
+     citizens arrest him at Varennes. He is brought back to Paris. The
+     people of the capital immediately demand that the fate of the
+     guilty one be left undecided until an expression of opinion be
+     obtained from the eighty-three departments of France. A multitude
+     of addresses demanded of you that you pass judgment on Louis XVI.
+     You, gentlemen, have prejudged him innocent and inviolable!
+
+     "Legislators, such was not the opinion of the people. Justice must
+     be done.
+
+     "Everything compels us to demand of you, in the name of all France,
+     that you reconsider your decision, that you hold that the offense
+     of Louis XVI is proven; that the King, by the very fact of his
+     flight, has abdicated.
+
+     "Receive, then, his abdication.
+
+     "Legislators, convoke a new constituent power, which will proceed
+     in a truly national manner to deal with this guilty King, and above
+     all to the organization of a new executive power.
+
+     "Signed:
+
+     "PEYRE,
+
+     "VACHART,
+
+     "ROBERT,
+
+     "DEMOY."
+
+The reading of the petition, concise, measured in terms, but marked with
+energy, was received with unanimous applause. Its summary tenor,
+repeated from mouth to mouth down the whole length of the Field of Mars,
+received the assent of everyone. Then began an admirable scene. The
+petitioners, men, women and children, forming in long files, in perfect
+order, to the left of the staging, stopped one by one at the foot of the
+Altar of the Country, placing their signatures upon the thick book,
+whose many pages were bound together with lacings, and then descended on
+the other side of the stage; and all without confusion, without outcry,
+as if each were deeply conscious of the importance of the civic act.
+
+Toward three o'clock I saw three municipal officers, girt in their
+sashes, mount the stage. They were Leroux, Hardy, and Renaud. The
+Jacobin delegation having given them notice of the petition, one of the
+three, after reading it to his colleagues, addressed the multitude as
+follows:
+
+"Citizens, your petition is perfectly legal. We are charmed at the sight
+presented to us. Everything here is being carried on in admirable order.
+Some have told us there was a riot on the Field of Mars; we are now
+convinced that the report is baseless. Far from interfering with the
+signing of your petition, we shall aid you with the public powers if
+anyone attempts to trouble you in the exercise of your rights."
+
+The words of the committee of the Commune of Paris were applauded by the
+crowd. The committee left, and the people continued to pour towards the
+Altar of the Country to sign the lists.
+
+The day drew to its close. The sun disappeared behind the hill of
+Meudon. The hour of eight sounded from the clock of the Military School.
+A part of the vast throng which surrounded me, setting out to regain
+their homes, turned their steps toward that entrance to the Field of
+Mars which gives upon Great Rock. Each one rejoiced that he had assisted
+at the great demonstration.
+
+Suddenly, from the neighborhood of the Great Rock gate, towards which we
+were proceeding, we heard the sound of a large corps of drums, beaten at
+the double-quick; then, in the pauses of the march, the heavy rumbling
+of several pieces of artillery; almost at the same instant, but further
+off, in the direction of the gate near the Military School, sounded the
+trumpet calls of cavalry; and finally, more distant still, the snarl of
+other drums from the quarter of the bridge leading across the Seine from
+the end of the field. The vast parade-ground, surrounded by walls whose
+perpendicular sides overhung great moats, was thus being invaded by an
+armed force advancing at once toward the three outlets through which the
+people intended to return to Paris. The immense deploy of troops,
+infantry, cavalry and artillery, converging in unison upon the Field of
+Mars, filled with an inoffensive multitude at the point of leaving it,
+caused great and general surprise, but at first aroused neither fear nor
+suspicion. The groups around me, yielding to innocent curiosity and to
+the love of sight-seeing native in the Parisian, quickened their steps
+"to see the soldiers go by," all the while asking themselves what could
+be the object of this massing of military forces. The advance guard of
+the column which entered by the Great Rock gate, was composed of the
+battalion of the National Guard called, from their district, the
+Daughters of St. Thomas. Then followed General Lafayette, surrounded by
+his brilliant staff, and finally Bailly, the Mayor of Paris, accompanied
+by several municipal officers. One of these carried a staff around which
+was furled a piece of red cloth, hardly visible, for I had not noticed
+it except for the exclamation of an old man in front of me:
+
+"Meseems they hoist the red flag! I believe that is not done except in
+the presence of public danger, in case of insurrection, or when martial
+law has been proclaimed from the City Hall!"
+
+"In that case," anxiously queried the spectators, "can they have
+proclaimed martial law in the interior of Paris?" "Is there, then,
+trouble, or a tumult of the people, or an insurrection in the city? What
+about?"
+
+While these words were being anxiously exchanged around me, the
+apparition of the almost invisible bit of red bunting, the expression of
+sinister glee I had just remarked on the faces of several inebriated
+National Guardsmen who, marching past the crowd, tapped their guns,
+crying "We shall send a few pills into the Jacobins;"--all these
+circumstances connected themselves in my mind and forced upon me all too
+clear a premonition of what was about to occur. The batteries of
+artillery had commenced to disgorge through the Great Rock gate when the
+bourgeois guard which was in line halted, and, deploying before its
+banner, advanced, with leveled guns and quickened pace, upon the
+multitude, which recoiled before it. At the same instant the cavalry
+entered at a rapid trot by the gate near the Military School, while the
+other column poured in by the bridge over the Seine. By this
+simultaneous manoeuvre the forty thousand persons or thereabouts who
+still remained in the Field of Mars, surrounded by embankments and
+walls, saw themselves hemmed in on every side by the troops who occupied
+the gates.
+
+Vain would be any attempt on my part to give an idea of the stupor, then
+the fright, and soon the panic, which seized the helpless multitude.
+Great God, what a picture! What heartrending cries! What shrieks of
+children, of women, mingling with the imprecations of men whose energy
+became paralyzed, either by the physical impossibility of doing anything
+in the crush, or by their preoccupation to safeguard a wife, a mother,
+a daughter, or children of tender age, exposed to smothering, or to
+being trampled under foot!
+
+Suddenly I saw appear, on top of one of the embankments, Lehiron and
+about a score of his cut-throat band, accompanied by some tattered,
+bare-headed urchins who cried:
+
+"Down with the National Guard! Down with the blue-bonnets! Down with
+Lafayette!"
+
+While his followers rained a hail of rocks at the city guard, Lehiron
+drew a pistol from his pocket, and, without even taking aim, discharged
+his weapon in the direction of the General's staff, shouting:
+
+"Death to Lafayette!"
+
+At the same moment, without unfurling the red flag, without Mayor Bailly
+having issued a single order, a company of the city guard opened fire,
+but shot in the air in the direction of the bank occupied by Lehiron and
+his pack. This first fusillade, although harmless, nevertheless threw
+the populace into inexpressible terror. Almost immediately, we were
+pierced by volleys from the whole platoon, this time deadly. I saw the
+face of the fine old man who had stood in front of me blanch under the
+blood which poured from his riddled forehead. A young woman who held her
+four or five-year-old son above her head lest he be smothered in the
+press, felt her child grow rigid and heavy; he had been shot through the
+body. Piercing cries or suppressed moans uttered on all sides of me told
+that other shots also had taken effect. The fusillade continued. A
+frenzy of flight, of everyone for himself, fell upon the huddled mass;
+the people elbowed and trod upon one another. In the midst of this
+frightful pell-mell, I lost my balance and fell over the body of the old
+man, which had until then been supported erect by the crowding of my
+neighbors. The aged body saved my life; it prevented me from being
+crushed under the feet of the throng. Nevertheless, I received several
+deep wounds on the head. I felt the blood flow copiously from them. My
+senses swam, and I completely lost consciousness.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When I came to myself, the clock of the Military School was striking
+ten. The moon, from the midst of a cloudless and star-strewn sky,
+lighted up the Field of Mars. The coolness of the night revived me. My
+first thought was for my sister--what anguish must have been hers! I
+saw, here and there, the wandering lights of several lanterns, by aid of
+which men and women had come to seek out among the dead and dying those
+whom they had left behind them.
+
+Soon, some distance from me, I perceived a woman, tall and slender, in a
+white robe. This woman bore no lantern; she came and went hurriedly;
+halting and bending over, she contemplated the victims, she seemed to
+interrogate their features. My heart bounded; I divined that it was
+Victoria.
+
+"Sister!" I cried, weakly.
+
+I was not deceived. Learning by the popular rumor of the massacre which
+had taken place, Victoria had run to the Field of Mars to find me. Her
+tender cares summoned back my strength. She stanched the blood from my
+wounds, dressed them, and, supporting me on her arm, assisted me to the
+gate opening on Great Rock. We passed by the scaffolding on which had
+been erected the Altar of the Country. The steps were buried under
+corpses.
+
+Arrived home with Victoria, I wished, after an hour's rest, to inscribe
+in my journal this very night the record of this fatal day of the 17th
+of July, 1791.
+
+I have added to my record the following fragment of an article from the
+paper of Camille Desmoulins, explaining the causes of the massacre of
+the Field of Mars. Desmoulins's account, save in one point noted by me,
+is scrupulously exact. I copy it literally:
+
+"Camille Desmoulins, sending to Lafayette his resignation as journalist:
+
+    "'Tis wrong we were, the thing is far too clear,
+    And our good guns have settled this affair.
+
+"Lafayette, liberator of two worlds! Flower of janissary chieftains!
+Phoenix of constable-majors! Don Quixote of the Capets and the two
+chambers! Constellation of the White Horse! I improve the first moment
+that I touch a land of liberty to send you the resignation as journalist
+and as national censor which you have for so long been demanding of me.
+I place it also at the feet of Monsieur Bailly and his red flag. I feel
+that my voice is too feeble to raise itself above that of thirty
+thousand cowards and also of your satellites, above the din of your four
+hundred drums and your hundreds of cannon....
+
+"You and your accomplices in the City Hall and the Assembly feared the
+expression of the views of the people of Paris, which will soon become
+those of all France. You feared to hear your sentence pronounced by the
+nation in person, seated on its bed of justice, in the Field of Mars.
+'What shall we do?' you asked yourselves.
+
+"'Eh, call to our aid martial law!' Against peaceful and unarmed
+petitioners, who were quietly practising their right of assemblage!
+
+"Or, that is what the Constitutionals imagined, to the end of gratifying
+us a second time with martial law; and, instead of hanging one man (as
+the baker Francis), they massacred two."
+
+At this point Camille Desmoulins recounts the arrest of two individuals
+found during the morning hiding under the Altar of the Country, and
+continues:
+
+"The cowards, the back-sliding bandits, counterfeiting the appearance of
+exaggerated patriots, threw themselves upon the two unfortunates, tore
+them to pieces, cut off their heads, and went to promenade them about
+Paris.
+
+"Thus sought they to prepare the citizens, by the horror of the
+spectacle, to support the declaration of martial law. Immediately the
+news spread in the city, with the rapidity of lightning--'Two heads have
+been struck off in the Field of Mars.' Then, 'Out upon the petitioners,
+the Jacobins and the Cordeliers!' Thus were the municipal officers
+bewitched."
+
+Here Desmoulins forgets or passes over in silence the honorable conduct
+of a minority of the council of the Commune of Paris. The three
+councilmen, learning on their return from the Field of Mars of the
+proclamation of martial law, were astounded, and affirmed and testified
+on their honor that the most admirable order reigned on the concourse,
+that they had looked into the address to the Representatives of the
+people; that it was perfectly in place and legitimate; that they had
+assured the petitioners that, far from troubling them in the exercise of
+their duty, the municipal authority would protect them with all care. In
+fine, the three officers, deeply moved and indignant, exclaimed with
+tears in their eyes that it would disgrace them, ruin them, to march
+against petitioners to whom they had pledged and guaranteed complete
+security. But in spite of the generous words of the three officers,
+Lafayette excited his pretorians; they cried, goes on Camille
+Desmoulins:
+
+"'There is the red flag already flung out. The most difficult thing is
+done. Now, if all the clubs, all the fraternal societies would meet at
+the Field of Mars to sign the petition for the abdication of Louis XVI,
+what a bowl of nectar that Jacobin blood would be to our palates!'
+
+"And so the pretorians pushed their measures. They assembled ten
+thousand troops: infantry, cavalry, artillery. The night, the time set
+for marching, having come, Lafayette's three aides-de-camp spread
+themselves in the public places, declaring that their General had been
+assassinated by a Jacobin. But properly to judge of the fury of these
+idolaters, these blue-bonnets of the Nero of two worlds, one should have
+seen them in one moment pour furiously from their pens, or, rather, from
+their dens. They loaded with ball in plain view of the people; on all
+sides the drums beat the assembly; the twenty-seven battalions most
+heavily composed of aristocrats received the order to march upon the
+Field of Mars. They inflamed themselves to the massacre. As they loaded
+their muskets they were heard to say: _We shall send some pills into the
+Jacobins_. The cavalry flourished their sabers. It was half after eight
+in the evening when the red flag was unrolled as the signal for the
+massacre of inoffensive petitioners. The battalions arrived at the Field
+of Mars, not by one sole entrance, in order that the citizens might
+disperse, but by all the three issues at once, that the petitioners
+might be enclosed from all sides. And here is the final perfidy, that
+which caps the climax of the horrors of the day. These volleys--all
+delivered without orders--were fired upon petitioners, who seeing death
+advancing from all sides, and unable to flee, received them as they
+embraced the Altar of the Country, which in an instant was heaped with
+the corpses of the slain."
+
+Such was the melancholy day of the Field of Mars. And yet the will of
+the petitioners--the forfeiture of Louis XVI's right to the crown and
+consequently the establishment of the Republic--was so sane, so logical,
+so inevitable by the march of events and the force of affairs, that the
+following year saw Louis suspended from the throne upon accusation of
+high treason, and saw the National Convention proclaim the Republic. But
+alas! how many victims!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+WAR AND COUNTER-WAR.
+
+
+After the massacre of the Field of Mars, the reaction thought itself
+all-powerful, and entered pitilessly upon its career of repression. The
+presses of the patriot journals were destroyed, their writers forced to
+flee or go into hiding. The clubs, under the weight of intimidation,
+remained almost silent.
+
+Re-established in full power, Louis XVI immediately renewed his
+intrigues, within France with the enemies of the Revolution, the
+nobility and priesthood, and without, with the Emigrant nobles, and
+foreign sovereigns.
+
+The Constituent Assembly, having finished its labors, submitted the
+Constitution to the royal sanction, and declared itself dissolved on
+September 29, 1791. Although covertly resolved to tear the Constitution
+to shreds, the King solemnly swore to uphold it. The Constituent
+Assembly gave place to the Legislative Assembly. According to its own
+enactment, none of the old members could be re-elected. Robespierre and
+the other minority leaders no longer held their seats, therefore, among
+the Representatives of the people; but the principles which inspired the
+minority in the Constituent, became, through the majority of the
+Legislative Assembly, the expressed general opinion of France. The
+spirit of the Revolution was resuscitated by the elections. The Right of
+the new Assembly was not composed, as that of the Constituent, of grand
+seigneurs, cardinals, bishops, bourgeois aristocrats, men of the court
+or the sword, defenders of the old régime; the Right of the Legislative
+Assembly was occupied by the Constitutional party, represented outside
+the Assembly by the Club of the Feuillants. The heads of this party,
+Lafayette, Mathieu, Dumas, Ramond, Vaublanc, Beugnot, and others, sought
+the continuance in power of Louis XVI and the Constitution. The leaders
+of the Left were, to a great extent, from the department of the Gironde,
+whence the name of Girondins, applied to Vergniaud, Guadet, Gensonné,
+Ducos and their companions. Their leanings were either purely
+republican, or were on the way to become so. Finally Bazire, Chabot and
+Merlin sat at the extreme Left; but this faction, as well as that of the
+Girondins, was devoted to the Revolution, and determined to defend it by
+all means. The Center of the Assembly, undecided and watery, voted as
+the spirit moved them, sometimes with the Left, sometimes with the
+Right. In short, the majority of the body, no longer able to doubt the
+treason of Louis XVI or his secret understanding with the foreign
+coalition, was undisguisedly hostile to royalty. It even decided, at its
+first session, to suppress, in the reports of the representatives of the
+sovereign people and its executive committee, those ridiculous
+appellations of _Sire_ and _Majesty_, the superannuated relics of
+monarchical fetichism.
+
+Louis XVI, on his part, believing himself sure of the assistance of the
+foreign sovereigns, and counting, within, on the activity of the clergy
+and the complicity of the generals and officers of the National Guard,
+obstinately defied the Assembly. The King chose his ministry from the
+Feuillant Club, notoriously counter-revolutionary. In vain did the
+Assembly render its decrees against the priests, who were fanning the
+fires of civil war; against the aristocrats, who were flocking to join
+the body of Emigrants gathered in arms on the frontier. Louis XVI
+opposed his veto to the execution of these decrees. Soon there came to
+light the odious plot of the foreign war, organized between the King,
+the ministers, the court party, and the despots of Europe. The Emigrants
+made open preparations on the frontiers for an armed invasion under the
+protection of the German princes bordering on France, and were to serve
+as advance guard to the troops of the coalition. These threatening
+preparations aroused the Representatives. Isnard mounted the tribunal
+and exclaimed:
+
+"Representatives of the people, let us rise to the height of our office.
+Let us speak to the King, to his ministers, to Europe, with the firmness
+that befits us. Let us say to the King: You reign but by the people and
+for the people. The people alone is sovereign! Let us say to the
+ministers: Choose between public gratitude and the vengeance of the
+laws. Let us say to Europe: France draws her sword; the scabbard she
+will fling away. Then she will wage to the death the war of the peoples
+against the Kings, and soon the people will embrace before the spectacle
+of their dethroned tyrants; the earth will be consoled, the heavens
+satisfied!"
+
+Meanwhile Louis cloaked himself in a well-feigned submission to the
+orders of the Assembly. He promised to hold off the German princes
+firmly and with dignity. 'Twas the promise of a King! Under the pretext
+of possible eventualities of war, he chose as Minister of War the Count
+of Narbonne, a young courtier crammed with ambition and audacity. The
+latter organized three army corps, placing the first under the command
+of the Marquis of Lafayette, and giving the other two to the Marquis of
+Rochambeau and Marshal Lukner, two enemies of the Revolution.
+
+Robespierre, Danton, and Billaud-Varenne were farsighted enough to
+detect the conspiracy hidden beneath these ostensible preparations for
+war. In the memorable meeting of the Jacobins, of the 12th of December,
+1791, several orators of the republican party gave utterance to their
+sentiments.
+
+"Far be it from me to raise my voice against the cruel necessity of an
+inevitable war," declared Billaud-Varenne. "No! For when in 1789 people
+were congratulating themselves, saying that never had a revolution cost
+so little blood, I always answered: A people which breaks the yoke of
+tyranny can never seal its liberty irrevocably save by tracing the
+decree which consecrates it with the points of their bayonets! These
+must be plunged at least into the breasts of our enemies! Only by
+combating them can we be freed of them forever!"
+
+"If it were a question of deciding whether, actually, we were to have
+war, I would answer, Yes," declared Danton in turn. "Yes, the clarions
+of war resound; yes, the exterminating angel of liberty will smite the
+satellites of despotism. But when are we to have the war? Is it not
+after having well judged our situation, after having weighed everything,
+after having deeply scrutinized the intentions of the King who is going
+to propose war to us? Let us be on our guard against the Executive."
+
+Thus did Billaud-Varenne denounce at the Jacobins the plan of the
+counter-revolution, of which war was the mask. Thus did Danton, while
+sharing the same suspicion, nevertheless incline toward war, asking only
+that before the declaration of hostilities, the Assembly should scan
+closely the intentions of Louis XVI. Brissot took the floor and spoke
+for war, but a revolutionary war.
+
+Robespierre finally arose to the tribunal:
+
+"It seems to me that those who desire to provoke war have only adopted
+that opinion through insufficient scrutiny of the nature of the war we
+are about to embark upon, and of the circumstances with which we find
+ourselves surrounded. What sort of a war is it proposed that we declare?
+Is it a war of one nation against other nations? Is it a war of one king
+against other kings? Is it a war of revolution by a free people against
+the tyrants who override other peoples? No! What they propose to us,
+citizens, is the war of all the enemies of the French Revolution against
+the Revolution itself! This I shall prove by examining what has occurred
+up to this day, from the administration of the Duke of Broglie who in
+1789 proposed to annihilate the National Assembly, up to that of the
+last successors of this minister....
+
+"Behold what tissues of prevarication and perfidy, of violence and of
+ruse! Behold the subsidized sedition! Behold the conduct of the court
+and of the ministry! And is it to that ministry, is it to those agents
+of the executive power, that you would entrust the conduct of the war?
+Is it thus you would abandon the safety of the country to those who
+wish to destroy you?
+
+"The thing which you have most cause to fear, is war. War is the
+greatest scourge which can, in our present circumstances, menace
+liberty! For it is in no wise a war kindled by the enmity of peoples. It
+is a war concerted by the enemies of our Revolution. What are their
+probable designs? What use would they make of these military forces,
+this augmentation of power which they ask of you under the pretext of
+war? They seek, in strengthening the powers of the crown, to force us to
+a deal! If we refuse, these royalists will then attempt to fasten it
+upon us by the force of the arms which you will have put into their
+hands.
+
+"What, there are rebels to punish? The Representatives of the people
+aimed at them with a decree, and the King opposed his veto to the
+decree! Instead of allowing the punishment, imposed by the Assembly upon
+the Emigrants, to take its course, the King proposes a declaration of
+war, a sham war, whose only aim is to place a formidable military force
+at the disposal of the enemies of the Revolution, or to open to them our
+frontiers, thanks to the treason of the aristocratic generals still at
+the head of our armies! There you have the secret workings of this
+cabinet intrigue! There is the heart of this complot in which we shall
+be lost if we allow ourselves to be taken by the snare so craftily
+colored with patriotism and martial ardor, sentiments so strong in the
+French spirit."
+
+The sagacity of Robespierre thus tore the veil off the double project of
+Louis and the Austrian Committee, that perennial hotbed of conspiracy.
+The soul of this Committee was the Queen, and its numerous emissaries
+maintained relations with the Emigrant nobles and the foreign Kings; but
+Louis XVI and his court, by the sublimation of duplicity, carried
+treason within treason. They deceived even their accomplices.
+
+Louis XVI wanted war because he reckoned on a victory by the allied
+Kings, and upon their early entry into Paris. Lafayette and his party
+never mingled in this machination against the country; hence, in order
+to obtain their support for the declaration of hostilities, Louis had to
+feign to conspire with them for the triumph of the constitutional
+kingdom and monarchic institutions.
+
+The Girondins, scenting peril and treachery, sought to conjure away the
+dangers of the situation by imposing on Louis XVI three ministers whom
+they thought worthy of their confidence: General Dumouriez was charged
+with Foreign Affairs; Servan with the Department of War; and Roland with
+the ministry of the Interior. Dumouriez was a man of war, resourceful,
+bold and fiery, cunning and subtle of policy, but already grown old in
+underground intrigue and occult diplomacy; ambitious, cynical,
+intemperate of habit, covetous to the point of exaction, unreasonable in
+pride, without virtues, without principles, capable of serving valiantly
+the Republic and the Revolution, or of shamefully betraying both,
+according to the exigencies of his interest or ambition. Servan, an
+officer of genius, was a soldier of integrity, industry and modesty. He
+was capable and upright, and devoted to the Revolution. Roland was one
+of the purest and most beautiful characters of the time--simple,
+stoical, austere, disinterested, of scrupulous honesty, and with a
+firmness of will equal to the rigidity of his republican convictions,
+which were shared by his young and charming wife, the soul of the
+Girondin party, where she reigned as much by the loftiness of her spirit
+as by her qualities of heart and the attraction of her person.
+
+On April 19, 1792, the Assembly declared war on Austria. Some days after
+the opening of the campaign the army corps under Count Theobald of
+Dillon, was, at the first engagement, stampeded before the armies of the
+coalition. The royalist officers gave the cry "Each for himself!" and
+provoked a panic among the troops. The army fled in full rout. The enemy
+crossed our frontiers and the heart of France fell under the menace of
+the foreign cohorts.
+
+The Girondins recognized the trap into which their patriotism had led
+them, and spurred by the realization took three active revolutionary
+measures. They pronounced a sentence of exile upon the fractious
+priests, the promoters of civil war, who refused to stand by the
+Constitution; they had the Assembly decree the dissolution of the paid
+guard of Louis XVI; and they ordered the establishment of a camp of
+twenty thousand men around Paris, to form a reserve army and to cover
+the threatened capital. But Louis entered upon an open war with the
+Assembly, maintained his veto in the matter of the refractory priests,
+and refused to sanction the organization of the camp at Paris. Roland
+and Servan, the two patriot ministers, were unseated the 13th of June,
+and Louis formed a new cabinet, choosing its members from among the
+enemies of the people.
+
+Still in the dark as to the designs of Louis XVI, and believing that the
+moment for a coup-d'-etat had arrived, Lafayette wrote from his camp a
+threatening letter to the Assembly, under date of June 16. The Assembly
+summoned Lafayette before its bar. He refused to appear. His trial was
+carried on without him, and he was acquitted by an immense majority. The
+clubs were thrown into a ferment. Danton at the Cordeliers, Robespierre
+at the Jacobins, organized for the 20th of June a peaceful demonstration
+to celebrate the anniversary of the oath of the Tennis Court, and to
+give Louis XVI a solemn warning. A huge multitude, swelled by women and
+children, gathered and marched down from the suburbs. The men were in
+arms; each district dragged its cannon with it. The delegates of the
+demonstration appeared at the bar of the Assembly. The spokesman
+delivered himself of his message:
+
+"Legislators, the people comes this day to make you share its fears and
+its disquietudes. This day recalls to us the memorable date of the
+twentieth of June, 1789, at the Tennis Court, when the Representatives
+of the nation met and vowed before heaven not to abandon our cause, to
+die in its defense. The people is up and alive to what is occurring; it
+is ready to take decisive measures to avenge its outraged majesty. These
+rigorous measures are justified by Article II of the Declaration of the
+Rights of Man, Resistance to Oppression."
+
+While part of the manifestants stationed themselves in the vicinity of
+the meeting hall of the Assembly, a large body of them planted a tree,
+symbolic of Liberty, in the garden of the Tuileries. The invasion of the
+palace gardens was accomplished with perfect order. Louis stood upon a
+chair in the recess of a window, surrounded by a detachment of National
+Guards.
+
+One citizen, bearing a red cap on the end of a pole, passing in turn
+before the King, stopped for an instant and cried "Long live the
+Nation!" Then Louis XVI, leaning over and making a sign to the citizen
+to approach his pole nearer, voluntarily took the red cap and placed it
+on his head. A burst of fervid applause, from everyone who witnessed it,
+greeted the King's act.
+
+It was a day of suffocating heat; and Louis, seeing a National Guardsman
+with a water-gourd, indicated by signs that he wished to drink. The
+guard with alacrity offered his gourd to the King, who slowly quaffed
+its contents.
+
+But the demonstration of the 20th of June changed in nothing the
+disposition of the court. Louis XVI continued his shady machinations,
+and, on the 25th of July, the Duke of Brunswick, generalissimo of the
+armies of the coalition, issued, in the name of the King of Prussia, the
+Emperor of Austria, and the Germanic Confederation, a manifesto against
+France.
+
+The plans of the court were that the Duke of Brunswick, at the head of
+the Prussians, should cross the Rhine at Coblenz, ascend the left bank
+of the Moselle, attack that point, and march upon Paris by way of
+Longwy, Verdun and Chalons. The Prince of Hohenlohe, commanding the
+troops of the duchy of Hesse and a body of Emigrants, was to march on
+Thionville and Metz. General Clairfayt, at the head of the troops of the
+Emperor of Austria and another corps of Emigrants, was to cross the
+Meuse and make his way to Paris by Rheims and Soissons. Other bodies of
+the hostile army, placed on the northern frontier and along the Rhine,
+were to attack the French troops and assist the convergent march of the
+coalition upon the capital, which they were to seize.
+
+The publication of the manifesto of the tyrants, so far from crushing
+the energy of the Revolution, exalted it to the pitch of heroism. The
+journal _The Revolutions of Paris_ renders in glowing terms its account
+of the spirit in Paris and the departments:
+
+"The National Assembly has at last pronounced the terrible formula, the
+signal of peril, the appeal to the courage of the people: _The nation is
+in danger!_ The danger is, in fact, immense. The Directorate of the
+department of Paris is the most potent instrument the court has served
+itself with to beat down liberty. The majority of the other Directorates
+of departments, all the administrators, all the tribunals of justice,
+all the constituted authorities, are also either openly or covertly the
+accomplices of Louis XVI, of Marie Antoinette the Austrian, and of the
+courts of Berlin and Vienna. Louis XVI affords striking protection to
+all the fanatics, the artificers of civil war. This enemy, disguised
+under the name of the Constitutional King of France, does more harm of
+himself than all the other despots of Europe ever could. France is
+fallen into a state of convulsion, which will precipitate her into
+either slavery or anarchy. The country is in danger; the people is in
+insurrection! Frenchmen, you have at last become free!
+
+"France has but two dangerous enemies: Lafayette and Louis XVI; and if
+the latter were stricken down, Lafayette would no longer exist.
+
+"Then let Louis XVI be driven forever from the throne, and the nation is
+saved! People, to arms!"
+
+Indeed, an insurrection alone could save public affairs. On August 4
+Danton said at the Cordeliers: "The people must be appealed to, they
+must be shown that the Assembly can not save them. There is no safety
+save in a general rebellion."
+
+"There is but one question to solve," said Robespierre on the 9th of the
+same month, at the Jacobins; "That question is the deposition of Louis
+XVI."
+
+From the beginning of the month of August, the ferment in Paris was on
+the increase. Every patriot instinctively felt the approach of grave
+public danger, and vied with his comrades in the effort to overcome it.
+
+The Sections of Paris met nightly to deliberate on public matters. The
+Section of the Blind Asylum, or "Quinze-Vingts," in the suburb of St.
+Antoine which was the most influential of all, took the initiative in
+the measures for insurrection, with this manifesto:
+
+     MINUTES OF THE SECTION OF THE BLIND ASYLUM, AUGUST, 9, 1792.
+
+     The Section received the commissioners of the following Sections:
+     Fish-Wife, Good-News, Carpet-Shop, Montreuil, Gravillieurs,
+     Beaubourg, Red-Cross, Culvert, Lombards, Ill-Counsel, Popincourt,
+     the Arsenal, the Tuileries, etc., etc. All have adopted the
+     decisions of the Section of the Blind Asylum, recognizing that they
+     were armed solely for the safety of public affairs and the
+     regeneration of France.
+
+     An address was read from the federates of the eighty-two
+     departments, asking the Sections of Paris to assemble in arms.
+
+     On the motion of its members, the Section decided that each of the
+     Sections of Paris shall name three committee-men, the same to meet
+     at the City Hall of Paris, replace the present Municipal Council,
+     and consider the means necessary for the public weal.
+
+     The Sections shall receive no orders other than those coming from a
+     majority of their committee-men, forming the _Commune of Paris_.
+
+     The committee-men named to represent at the Commune the Section of
+     the Blind Asylum are Huguenin, Rossignol, and Balin.
+
+Each Section formulated the powers given by it to its committee-men in
+the new council of the Commune of Paris. Thus, the formula of the Blind
+Asylum Section read: "The Section gives to its committee-men unlimited
+power to do everything to save the country." Prominent among the
+committee-men elected by the Sections to the new council were
+Robespierre, Billaud-Varenne, Fabre D'Eglantine, Chaumette, and
+Fouquier-Tinville.
+
+The first act of the members of this revolutionary Commune was to march
+to the City Hall on the night of the 9th of August, and in the name of
+the sovereign people, whose representatives they were, to depose the old
+Municipal Council from its functions, with the following decree:
+
+     The Assembly of the Committee-men of the Sections, assembled with
+     full power to save the common weal, considering that the first
+     measure of safety is to seize all the powers that have been
+     delegated to the Commune of Paris, and to remove from the staff of
+     the National Guard the evil influence that it has upon the public
+     liberty, decree:
+
+     1.º The staff is suspended from its functions.
+
+     2.º The Municipal Council is suspended. Citizen Petion, Mayor, and
+     Citizen Roederer, attorney for the Commune, shall continue their
+     duties.
+
+These measures taken in the name of the majority of the citizens of
+Paris, according to the powers conferred upon it, the new Commune of
+Paris organized and established itself in permanence in the City Hall,
+ready to conduct itself in line with the Revolution; while the people
+loaded their muskets and cannon and prepared to march on the palace of
+the Tuileries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+TRIUMPHANT INSURRECTION.
+
+
+Called to my place in the battalion of my Section, the Section of the
+Pikes, I found myself on guard at the National Assembly on this night of
+the 9th of August. About half after eleven, just as I finished my watch,
+I heard the assembly beat, and the bells ringing. Soon there arrived in
+haste, some alone, some in groups, a large number of the popular
+Representatives. Awakened by the tocsin and the drum, they were
+repairing to their meeting place, laboring under the presentiment of
+some untoward event. Otherwise the greatest quiet reigned about the
+quarter of the Tuileries. Being now off duty, I hastened to one of the
+public galleries of the Assembly, which, despite the lateness of the
+hour, were not long in filling with an eager, restless crowd, composed,
+for the most part, of women, young girls, and old men. The male
+constituency which usually attended the sessions was this time occupied
+elsewhere; that is to say, they had scattered to the ends of Paris where
+they were preparing the revolt. All the working men were under arms.
+
+In the center of the semicircle formed by the great hall of the Riding
+Academy, in which the Assembly was sitting, rose the rostrum, with the
+arm-chair of the president. Behind the chair opened a sort of recess,
+enclosed by a grating. It was the place assigned to the short-hand
+writers, or _logotachygraphes_ as they were called, persons skilled in
+the art of writing with the speed of speech, who were charged with
+transcribing the discourses of the speakers.
+
+It was the common word in the galleries that all the Sections of Paris
+were assembling in arms in their respective quarters, and that their
+committee-men had gone to the City Hall to exercise the powers of the
+Commune of Paris. It was also said that the federates of Marseilles,
+gathered at the Cordeliers, had sent a patrol into the neighborhood of
+the Tuileries, and arrested, near the Carousel, a counter-patrol of
+royalists, among whom were the journalist Suleau, Abbot Bourgon, and an
+ex-bodyguard named Beau-Viguier. Further it was declared that two
+thousand former nobles had been called together at the Tuileries, as
+well as a large number of veteran officers or body-guardsmen, to defend
+the palace. Some said that the Swiss regiments, re-enforced by those
+from the barracks of Courbevoie, were at the palace, supported by a
+formidable battery of artillery, and that Mandat, commander of the
+National Guard, had announced that he would crush the insurrection. The
+approaches to the palace were guarded by gendarmes afoot and on horse.
+Everything pointed to a desperate resistance should a struggle be
+engaged between the people and the defenders of the Tuileries.
+
+About two o'clock in the morning the Representatives, to the number of
+about two hundred, decided to convene the session. The tocsin,
+accompanied by the distant din of the drums beating the assembly or the
+forward march, was still to be heard. In the absence of the president
+of the Assembly, Citizen Pastoret took the chair, and the secretaries
+assumed their places at the table.
+
+Hardly had the session been opened when the delegates of the Lombards
+Section appeared. The leader of the deputation, wearing a red cap and
+carrying his gun, strode forward and cried:
+
+"Citizen Representatives, the court is betraying the people! The
+Lombards Section has joined the insurrection, and at break of day will
+do its duty in the attack on the Tuileries. We go to meet our brothers."
+
+"The people should respect the law and the Constitution," was the answer
+of Pastoret.
+
+At these words of Citizen Pastoret, loud murmurs arose from the extreme
+Left. Pastoret yielded the chair to Morlot, the president, who had come
+in; and at the same time there appeared at the bar of the Assembly three
+officers of the old Municipal Council.
+
+"You have the floor," said the president to them.
+
+Pale and quavering one of the officers spoke: "The alarm bell sounds in
+Paris! The ferment is at its height! Everywhere the Sections are
+gathering in arms. Several of our colleagues, sent to the City Hall to
+learn how matters stood, have been arrested. The insurgents are
+preparing to march at daybreak upon the Tuileries."
+
+"An act of high justice!" cried one of the members of the Left. "Within
+the Tuileries' walls resides the bitterest enemy of the public good! He
+must be annihilated by the sovereign people!"
+
+The words were greeted with enthusiastic applause from the galleries; in
+the midst of which a hussar hurriedly approached the chair and delivered
+a letter to the president. The latter read it, and touched his bell as
+a signal for silence. When the cries of the gallery had partially
+subsided, he said:
+
+"Gentlemen, I am advised by the police officials that every minute
+messengers come from the Sections asking for Monsieur Petion at the City
+Hall, assuring them that the rumor has spread that he went to-night to
+the palace, and that he runs great danger of death; it is feared the
+royalists may assassinate him."
+
+At these words the uneasiness and agitation of the galleries was
+extreme. The patriotism, the courage of Petion, his boundless devotion
+to the Revolution, had made him dear to the people.
+
+At this moment Petion himself entered the hall and advanced to the bar.
+Thus reassured on the score of the dangers run at the Tuileries by the
+Mayor of Paris, the galleries broke into loud acclamations.
+
+"Monsieur Petion," the president said, "the Assembly has been keenly
+anxious for your safety. It would be pleased to receive your account of
+the dangers to which it is said you were exposed."
+
+Petion answered, calm and grave: "Occupied solely with public affairs, I
+quickly forget what affects my own person. It is true that to-night, on
+my arrival at the palace, I was quite illy greeted. Swords leaped from
+their scabbards, and I heard threats uttered against me. These did not
+disconcert me--"
+
+The first rays of the sun were beginning to dim the lamps which lighted
+the hall; nearly all the Representatives of the people were assembled in
+their accustomed places. The Right seemed thrown into consternation by
+Petion's calmness.
+
+Of a sudden a deputy came tumbling into the hall, rushed to his seat on
+the Right, and, his features distorted, his clothes in disorder, he
+cried in a voice trembling with emotion:
+
+"The Tuileries will be attacked! The Sections, in arms, hold all the
+approaches to the palace! Whole companies of the National Guard, notably
+the cannoniers, are fraternizing with the Sections. The cannon are
+trained upon the palace. The troops who defend it are decided on a
+desperate struggle. Blood will flow, the lives of the King and his
+family are in danger!"
+
+The Assembly maintained a solemn silence. One deputy on the Right arose,
+and with a trembling voice said: "I ask that a committee be appointed
+this instant to go and invite the King and his family to come and place
+themselves in the heart of the Assembly, to be under our protection."
+
+"There is no necessity for your motion," answered the president; "the
+Constitution leaves the King the power of placing himself in the heart
+of the Assembly whenever he finds it convenient."
+
+A justice of the peace, in a condition of extreme agitation, presented
+himself at the bar. "Monsieur President," he exclaimed, "a quarter of an
+hour ago I was in the courtyard of the Tuileries. I witnessed grave
+things, which may enlighten the Assembly on the situation at the palace,
+at this moment when a terrible struggle is about to break out, which may
+mark the foundering of the monarchy."
+
+"Speak, sir," replied the president.
+
+"This morning at six o'clock, the King descended into the courtyard of
+the Tuileries to review the troops. The Queen accompanied him; behind
+them went a group of gentlemen in civilian dress, armed some with
+swords, some with hunting-knives, others with carbines, or
+blunderbusses. This unaccustomed escort first of all produced a very bad
+impression upon the National Guard; then, as firm and decisive as was
+the Queen's countenance, that of the King was undecided, embarrassed, I
+would even say sour. He seemed to be still half asleep. Some cries,
+nevertheless, of 'Long live the King!' were heard from some of the
+companies, but the battalions from Red-Cross and all the cannoniers
+cried 'Long live the Nation!' I even heard some cries of 'Down with
+Veto!' 'Down with the traitor!' The King turned pale, made a gesture of
+wrath, and returned brusquely into the palace. The Queen, left in the
+courtyard, approached the staffs of the battalions of Ill-Counsel and
+Arcis which had just arrived, and said to them, indicating the group of
+gentlemen who attended her, 'These gentlemen are our best friends. They
+follow us at the moment of danger. They will show the National Guard how
+one dies for his King--'"
+
+The justice was interrupted, his voice was drowned in the great tumult
+which arose outside, in the courtyard of the Riding Academy. Nearer and
+nearer drew the clamors. Many of the deputies rose to their feet; some
+climbed down precipitately from their benches, crying in affright, "The
+people are invading the Assembly!" "Keep your places!" called out
+several of their colleagues to those who had quitted their seats, "Let
+us know how to die, if die we must, at our posts." The agitation waxed
+its greatest in the hall and the galleries. In vain the president rang
+his bell, begging his colleagues to return to their benches and be
+seated. His exhortations falling unheeded, he rose and put on his hat,
+as a sign that the session was closed. The cries without came closer and
+closer. Several ushers burst in. One of them, leaping up the steps to
+the chair, spoke a few words to the president. The latter clasped his
+hands with a gesture of extreme surprise. Then he uncovered again, and
+began again to ring his bell vigorously, while the other ushers, going
+from group to group, or mounting on the benches, spread among the
+Representatives the news which seemed to produce so extraordinary a
+sensation. Little by little calm was established. The president was able
+to make himself heard, and said in a voice of emotion:
+
+"Gentlemen, the King and his family have left the palace. They throw
+themselves upon the National Assembly!"
+
+Another member of the old Municipal Council presented himself at the
+bar, saying:
+
+"Monsieur President, the King asks leave to come to you accompanied by
+his guard, which will watch over him, and over the National Assembly."
+
+At this proposition a part of the Center, the Left, the extreme Left and
+the galleries, all gave vent to their indignation. On all sides people
+cried "No! No! The Assembly is under the safekeeping of the people! No
+bayonets here! Down with the pretorians! Long live the Nation! Down with
+the King!"
+
+Ringing his bell the president called out loudly: "I propose the
+following resolution: The National Assembly, considering that it needs
+no other guard than the love of the people, charges its committee-men to
+watch over the tranquility within its precincts, and proceeds to the
+order of business."
+
+A thunder of applause overwhelmed the closing words of this motion,
+which was adopted with an immense majority. The municipal officer took
+his leave to report to the King the decision of the National Assembly,
+when almost immediately another usher rushed in, crying:
+
+"The King and Queen ask to be introduced to the care of the Assembly."
+
+So, indeed, it was. The King was garbed in a suit of violet silk, which
+disclosed his blue sash worn crosswise; he wore a hat of the National
+Guard, for which he had exchanged his bonnet with the white plume. His
+puffy features, empurpled with heat and emotion, and dripping
+perspiration, expressed a mixture of fear and crafty irritation. His
+obesity made his gait heavy and ungainly. Behind him advanced Marie
+Antoinette, giving her arm to Count Dubouchage, Minister of Marine, and
+leading the Dauphin by the hand. Trembling and terrified, the child
+pressed close to his mother, who, pale and haughty, and more enraged
+than frightened, trod with a firm step, casting about her looks of
+disdain. She preceded the King's sister, Madam Elizabeth, who leaned on
+the arm of Bigot of St. Croix, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The lady
+sustained herself with difficulty, and hid her face, bathed with tears,
+in her handkerchief. Then in order followed the Marchioness of Tourzel,
+the governess of the King's children, on the arm of Major Hervilly, one
+of the King's officers; and finally, behind her, the beautiful Princess
+Lamballe, the intimate friend of the Queen, accompanied by another
+seigneur of the court.
+
+Profound was the silence that fell over the Assembly. Louis, who so far
+had alone kept his hat on, now removed his National Guardsman's
+head-gear and said in a snappish voice that revealed at once fear and
+surly anger:
+
+"I have come here to escape a great crime. I think I am safe among you,
+gentlemen?"
+
+"You may count, Sire, on the firmness of the National Assembly. Its
+members have sworn to die in the defense of the rights of the people and
+the authorities recognized by the Constitution."
+
+Representative Bazire rose to speak: "I propose that Louis XVI and his
+family be invited to occupy the logotachygraphes' room, which is within
+the Assembly, but without the precincts of its deliberations."
+
+The proposal was adopted. The royal family and its suite left the hall
+in order to reach the reporters' booth, the entry to which was in one of
+the corridors. Soon the King and his followers reappeared in the room
+assigned to them, which was separated from the chamber of the Assembly
+by an iron grating, Louis XVI being placed at the right, the Queen at
+the left, the Dauphin between them; and behind these three the other
+persons of the royal suite. No sooner had the King seated himself than
+he received from the hands of Major Hervilly some bread, a plate holding
+a fowl, a knife and a fork. Placing the plate on his knees, Louis
+commenced to dissect the pullet and devour it with avidity, obedient to
+the mandates of that formidable appetite peculiar to the house of
+Bourbon.
+
+Outside, in the deputies' chamber, Roederer, the legal attorney of the
+Commune, had appeared at the bar, and, at the invitation of the
+president, was speaking:
+
+"I am come, gentlemen, to inform you of what is going on in Paris. I was
+with the King this morning, up till the time when Carousel Place and the
+surrounding streets were invaded by the Sections in arms and dragging
+their cannon. Seeing a large number of the National Guard fraternizing
+with the people, I counselled the King and the royal family to abandon
+the palace and place themselves under the protection of the National
+Assembly. The people know that the King is here. The attack on the
+Tuileries being now objectless, it is to be hoped that it will not be
+entered upon, and that there will be no shedding of blood to be
+deplored."
+
+Hardly had Roederer pronounced the words when the detonation of an
+artillery discharge shook the windowpanes of the chamber. The fight at
+the Tuileries was on! The first discharge was answered by a rapid fire
+of musketry, broken every now and again by the thunder of a new
+cannonade. Stupor seized the Assembly and the galleries. It was a fresh
+royalist act of treason.
+
+The almost incessant boom of artillery and rattle of musketry bore
+evidence to the warmth of the engagement. It is impossible to picture
+the anxiety, the heaving agitation of the chamber and the people in the
+hall. Among the latter, exasperation reached the last pitch. They broke
+into threats, into curses against Veto, against the Austrian woman.
+"Down with the King!" "Down with the Queen!" rang the cry.
+
+Of a sudden the cannonade burst into still wilder fury. The
+reverberations of the artillery fire were so violent that several
+windows in the hall were shivered to bits. But soon the volleys
+slackened; they became less and less lively and frequent; then one
+heard only gunshots, rare, desultory, far between; and then one
+heard--nothing.
+
+Victory, evidently, not a suspension of hostilities, had terminated the
+battle. Clearly, also, the victory had been a decisive one. But who were
+the conquerors, the inhabitants of the Sections, or the Swiss regiments?
+Terrible alternative! Under the spell of this incertitude the tumult, at
+its height some minutes before, fell of itself. A poignant load weighed
+upon every heart, choked every voice, paralyzed every movement; a
+mournful silence held sway over the house. If the insurrection were
+victorious, it was done for Louis XVI and the monarchy! Marie Antoinette
+by her attitude and facial expression revealed her belief--she was
+confident the royal troops had won the day.
+
+The uncertainty was not long in being dispelled. A deputation of members
+of the new Commune of Paris presented itself at the bar of the Assembly.
+It was attended by citizens bearing a banner with the device "LIBERTY,
+EQUALITY, FRATERNITY."
+
+The head of the deputation spoke:
+
+"Citizens, we are the victors! After prodigies of heroism, the people
+have taken the Tuileries! Long live the Nation!"
+
+The majority of the Representatives rose in their seats, and all
+repeated with enthusiasm:
+
+"Long live the Nation!"
+
+The joy, the patriotic exaltation of the galleries bordered on delirium.
+The session previously so agitated was now resumed amid relative calm.
+All doubt as to the triumph of the people being laid, the deputies went
+back to their places; the president tapped his bell, and said:
+
+"I beg the members of the Assembly, as well as the public in the
+galleries, to refrain from further interruption. The graver the
+circumstances, all the more should we preserve calmness and dignity in
+our deliberations. The delegate of the Commune has the floor."
+
+"Citizen legislators," resumed the latter, "in the name of the
+victorious people, we have come to demand of you the deposition of Louis
+Capet." All eyes were turned towards the booth where Louis XVI sat with
+his face in his hands. "To-morrow we shall bring to the Assembly the
+records of this memorable day of the tenth of August, 1792. This record
+should be sent to the forty-four thousand municipalities of France, that
+it may arouse their national pride!" (Applause.) "We announce to you
+that Petion, Manuel and Danton are still our colleagues in the Commune.
+We have named Citizen Santerre commander of the armed force of Paris."
+
+Seeing the delegate was through, President Morlot announced to the
+Assembly: "During the invasion of the Tuileries by the people, a box of
+jewels was found in the Queen's apartment. A citizen, wounded in the
+attack, has just thrown it on the table."
+
+This lofty act, so free from all thought of pillage or petty personal
+gain, stirred the admiration of the Assembly, and prepared the way for
+others of similar stamp. "I propose," said Bazire, rising, "that the
+Assembly decree that the Swiss citizens and all other foreigners
+residing in Paris are placed in the safekeeping of the law and in the
+hospitality of the French people!"
+
+The motion was carried unanimously, amidst the echoing applause of the
+galleries.
+
+Several of the combatants from the Tuileries, covered with dust, now
+appeared at the bar. One of these, in the uniform of the National Guard,
+his forehead bound in a bloody bandage, held in one hand his gun, and
+with the other dragged after him a Swiss soldier, pale and overcome with
+terror. The unhappy fellow's red uniform was in ribbons; he seemed ready
+to swoon. The wounded citizen, leaning on his weapon, drew close to the
+bar and said with emotion:
+
+"Legislators, we come to express to you our indignation! Long has a
+perfidious court trifled with the French people. To-day it has drawn our
+blood. We penetrated the palace only over the corpses of our massacred
+brothers. We have taken prisoner several Swiss soldiers, wretched
+instruments of tyranny! Some of them have thrown down their arms. As to
+us, we shall use toward them only the arms of generosity; we shall treat
+them as brothers."
+
+At ten o'clock that evening, when the illumination of the lamps had long
+replaced the light of day, the National Assembly, having been in
+continuous session since the night of August 9, took a recess of an
+hour.
+
+At eleven o'clock, when the Assembly reconvened, the reporters' lodge
+was still occupied by the royal family. Louis XVI was crushed. His
+flaccid lips, his fixed and sunken eyes, announced his complete mental
+prostration. Marie Antoinette, on the contrary, seemed to have preserved
+all the energy of her character. Her eyes were red and dry; but her
+glance, when she occasionally allowed it to travel about, bore still its
+look of hateful disdain and defiance.
+
+The Dauphin slept on the knees of Madam Elizabeth, who bent her pale
+brow toward the child. Dames Tourzel and Lamballe were silent and dazed.
+
+Almost as soon as the session was reopened, a citizen presented himself
+at the bar:
+
+"Legislators, the Swiss soldiers arrested during the day have been
+placed, according to the orders of the Assembly, in the building of the
+Feuillants. They have been, like us, the victims of royalist treason; we
+must save them."
+
+From the gallery Mailhe called out: "I have just come from addressing
+the people. They are disposed to listen to the language of justice and
+humanity. I ask that the Swiss be admitted within these precincts, and
+that they be kept here till all danger to them has passed, and till they
+can be taken to a place of safety."
+
+The large space reserved behind the bar for visiting deputations was
+suddenly filled with patriots, who brought with them Swiss soldiers,
+pale and trembling, and several of them wounded. What touching and
+admirable episodes took place in this pell-mell of gratitude and
+generosity, which embraced the combatants on both sides! Vanquished and
+vanquishers fraternized! The Assembly as one man rose spontaneously at
+the spectacle, and gave utterance to its enthusiasm by cheers.
+
+When the first transports of emotion were past and silence had again
+settled down upon the Assembly, one of the patriots who brought in the
+Swiss advanced towards the bar, saying:
+
+"Citizen President, one of these brave soldiers, who speaks French, asks
+the floor, in the name of his comrades, to explain their conduct."
+
+A young Swiss sergeant stepped forward and addressed the vast audience
+as follows:
+
+"Had the King and the royal family remained at the palace, we would have
+allowed ourselves to be killed to the last man in their defense. That
+was our duty as soldiers. But having learned of the departure of the
+King, we refused to fire on the people, in spite of the orders, in spite
+of the threats, even, of our officers. They alone are responsible for
+the blood that has flowed. It was one of them, and one of the gentlemen
+of the palace who were the first to fire from the steps of the grand
+staircase at the moment that we fraternized with the people from the
+Sections. The latter cried out 'Treason!' fired back in return, and the
+fight was on. Victory rested with the people."
+
+A new announcement was now made by the president. "They have just
+brought in," he said, "eleven cases of silver plate rescued from the
+flames at the Tuileries by the brave citizens who hastened to check the
+fire. They have also brought several bundles of papers discovered in an
+iron cupboard, a secret cupboard fashioned in the wall of the King's
+apartment." (Profound sensation.) "These papers, no doubt of the highest
+importance, shall be turned over to the proper committees."
+
+When the president announced the discovery of the papers in the Iron
+Cupboard, Louis XVI seemed unmanned by the shock. His face grew ashen;
+his first look was shot at the Queen; even she, in spite of her iron
+will, shuddered and became paler than her royal spouse. What secrets
+that cupboard contained!
+
+And now was to come the climax of that moving drama, whose precipitate
+progress, whose impassioned and unexpected catastrophe surpassed
+anything the imagination could invent or dream of. Time seemed to march
+with a dizzying haste during that session of two nights and a day--the
+night of the 9th of August and the day and night of the 10th.
+
+The second night was near its close. A committee in extraordinary had
+gone to entreat of the Commune of Paris, on that day of August 10,
+whether the palace of the Luxembourg could not be appropriated as a
+residence for the King and his family. At the time it was adopted, this
+measure was in full accord with the hesitant disposition of the majority
+of the Assembly, who wished only to decree the suspension of the King's
+powers. But the attitude of the people, victorious and fully armed,
+happily made its weight felt within the Assembly. The choice of Danton
+as Minister of Justice testified to the sudden change of mind on the
+part of the majority of the popular Representatives. They admitted the
+necessity for the deposition of the royal person. Louis XVI was held
+prisoner, under accusation of high treason.
+
+But what part of Paris could serve as his prison?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+REPRISALS.
+
+
+Sublime was the picture thus presented by the 10th of August, 1792, a
+picture in which the heroism of the combatants blended with their
+disinterestedness, and with their generosity to their enemies.
+
+Alas, why was it fated that, so shortly after, the wretched days of the
+2nd and 3rd of September should present so sad a contrast! Inexorable
+was the law of reprisal!
+
+Pitiless became the anger of the people when it saw its trust violated,
+its hopes blasted; when it saw its generosity towards its enemies only
+confirm their high-handedness, and encourage them to new transgressions.
+Such were the experiences that brought about the occurrences of the 2nd
+and 3rd of September, known as the Prison Massacres--a pitiless popular
+retribution.
+
+Petion, Mayor of the Commune of Paris, speaking at the bar of the
+Assembly, once said:
+
+"The people demands justice on its enemies; legislators, it looks to
+you!"
+
+In those words of Petion's is contained almost entirely the secret of
+the days of September. The expectations of the people were deceived. The
+courts proved themselves unworthy of their trust by absolving proven
+criminals. Then the people, as highly angered as it had before shown
+itself magnanimous, took justice into its own hands.
+
+The circumstances which produced the formidable explosion were many.
+After the victory of the 10th of August--a victory the consequences of
+which were the deposition of Louis XVI, his imprisonment in the Temple,
+and the convocation of a National Convention to proclaim the Republic
+and institute proceedings against the former King--Paris calmly awaited
+the accomplishment of these great events. Everyone confidently expected
+the conviction of the accomplices of Louis XVI by the national High
+Court at Orleans. The High Court acquitted the prisoners, despite their
+guilt, and among them the Count of Montmorin, the old Minister of
+Foreign Affairs, who had aided the flight of Louis. The High Court also
+acquitted the Prince of Poix, a high counter-revolutionist, and Bakman,
+a colonel of the Swiss, who was one of the instigators of the resistance
+by the soldiers, and hence, a part author of the carnage at the
+Tuileries.
+
+The prisons, meanwhile, were filled with suspects, declared royalists,
+and refractory priests, taken red-handed in the incitation of civil
+war--all guilty on the first count. It was also learned that in the
+interior of the prisons themselves existed establishments for turning
+out false notes, which were put in circulation through channels of
+communication between the prisoners and their friends outside. The
+collusion between the imprisoned nobles and priests on the one hand, and
+the counterfeiters, their companions in captivity, on the other, was
+indisputable.
+
+Emboldened by the acquittal of the conspirators, the counter-revolution
+reared its head again in Paris and in the provinces. Each day brought
+from without news more and more alarming. Part of the west and south,
+lied to by the nobility, goaded to fanaticism by the clergy, was on the
+verge of rebellion. Rumors were rife that the Assembly had sent the
+King's trial minutes to a Convention, not daring itself to pass upon the
+fate of Louis XVI; that the allied army would be upon Paris before the
+20th of September, the date set for the opening of the new Assembly.
+These predictions were, in fact, on the point of fulfilment. On
+September 1st, Paris learned that the Prussian army had crossed the
+frontier; Longwy was taken; the enemy had invested Verdun; the fortified
+place, left designedly by Louis XVI almost without defense, was unable
+to resist; from this city the allied army could in three days arrive in
+Paris!
+
+Judge of the excitement among the people of Paris!
+
+The royalists only awaited the favorable moment to unchain their
+vengeance on the capital. All these causes combined could do no less
+than let loose a whirlwind. And that is what happened on the terrible
+days of September 2nd and 3rd. The following are extracts from my
+journal, which I wrote almost hour by hour, as these sad events unrolled
+themselves.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+September 2, about eleven in the morning, I heard the sound of a signal
+gun, to which were quickly added the rapid clanging of the tocsin and
+the roll of drums. The news of the taking of Longwy by the Prussians had
+spread through Paris the previous night, and had thrown the people into
+consternation.
+
+I left my ironsmithy and hastily donned my uniform of the National
+Guard, in order to assemble with my Section of the Pikes. I was about to
+go to Victoria's room, where I supposed she was, as usual, busy sewing,
+when I saw her come in from out-of-doors.
+
+"I was about to go in and tell you that I was bound for my Section," I
+said to her. "What is forward in Paris?"
+
+"The great day of reprisals has dawned at last," replied my sister
+shrilly; "O, age-long martyrs of the Kings, the nobles, and the clergy!
+O, shades of our fathers, of our mothers! Daughters and sons of Joel,
+rejoice. The hour of vengeance has sounded! Ah, for centuries your
+sweat, your tears, your blood have flowed! Martyrs of the Kings, priests
+and nobles, the tyrant issue of a conquering race, at last upon your
+torturers has descended the day of expiation, the day of retribution!"
+
+"Sister," I cried, shuddering for very fear, "what mean you?"
+
+But Victoria, the victim of a sort of ecstatic hallucination, continued
+without seeming to hear me: "Does not the blood of slaves, of serfs, of
+vassals, despoiled, exploited, tortured, immolated by thousands, by
+seigniory and nobility since the Frankish conquest, cry 'Vengeance!'?
+Does not the blood of the Arians, massacred by thousands by Clovis's
+hordes at the word of the priests of Rome, cry 'Vengeance!'? Does not
+the blood of the Vaudois, of the Albigensians, massacred by thousands by
+Simon of Montfort's bandits, at the voice of the priests of Rome, cry
+'Vengeance!'? Does not the blood of the Reformers, massacred by
+thousands by the Valois and the Guises, cry 'Vengeance!'? And the
+Protestants hanged, broken on the wheel, drawn and quartered by the
+soldiers of Louis XIV, the Grand Monarch? Just God! if all that blood
+had flowed in a single day, the land of the Gauls would have become one
+crimson sea! If they should heap together the bones of our fathers, our
+mothers, the victims of royalty, nobility and clergy, the charnel-pile
+would graze the heavens!"
+
+Victoria's savage eloquence, the light in her glowing eyes, her darksome
+beauty, which at the moment gave her the aspect of the goddess of
+Vengeance, wove over me a sort of fascination. The frightful enumeration
+of the victims of the Kings, the nobles, and the Romish Church, the
+memory of the martyrs whom we wept in our own family for so many
+centuries, the general exasperation, which in that moment I shared,
+against the murderous plots of our eternal enemies, carried away my
+reason, and while the spell lasted, I, too, believed in the justice of
+reprisal, and answered:
+
+"You speak true, sister, you speak true. Too long has the vengeance of
+heaven spared these scoundrels. Let now the sword of the people fall
+upon them!"
+
+"Aye, brother, justice shall not be less terrible for having been
+delayed! Retribution will recall to life none of the dead we mourn; but
+our enemies, annihilated or struck with terror, will hesitate to create
+new victims! In avenging the past, we safeguard the future. The instinct
+of the people can be trusted--its history is ours! It does not know the
+details of its age-long martyrdom, but it feels itself the
+representative of martyrs; it is conscious of being the living legend of
+the miseries and tortures of generations past. It is in their name that
+it will judge and execute."
+
+Before I could reply, one of my companions in arms, a workman like
+myself, the son of our neighbor Jerome, and like myself belonging to the
+Section of the Pikes, called to me, without: "John, hear you not the
+drum? They have just posted placards in the street that the nation is in
+danger. Longwy is taken! The Prussians are marching upon Paris. They are
+sounding the assembly everywhere--come, come, let us to our place in the
+fray."
+
+Fearing I should be lacking in duty should I further delay joining my
+Section, I bade my sister farewell and left our dwelling. My comrade and
+I directed our steps towards Vendome Place, the Section's
+assembly-ground.
+
+It were useless to attempt to portray the thousand aspects presented by
+the multitude that packed the street corners and the crossings; for it
+was in these places that were posted by preference the placards issued
+by the patriot press or the clubs, as well as the decrees, issued almost
+hourly by the National Assembly, or by the Commune of Paris, elected by
+the insurgent Sections on the night of the 9th of August.
+
+How could one hope to describe the aspects, so diverse, presented by
+those surging masses, or convey an idea of the tumultuous sentiments of
+the population?--now dumbfounded and seemingly crushed by the approach
+of grave public danger; now shrieking maledictions and cries of death
+against the royalists and the foreign despots; and again, carried away
+by a burst of patriotism, shouting: "To the frontiers!" All Paris
+oscillated in turn between terror, hatred and blind vengeance.
+
+A reading of the placards and decrees alone can explain the
+downheartedness, the fury, and the recurring ferocious appetites of the
+delirious crowd. The following placard is from the _Courier of the
+Departments_, published by the Girondin Gorsas:
+
+     PLAN OF THE ALLIES AGAINST PARIS.
+
+     More than two hundred Royalist chiefs, scattered about in the
+     different centers of France, have their rendezvous.--They hold the
+     signatures of numerous persons who are ready to join the armies of
+     the allied Kings when they shall have cleared the frontier.--The
+     combined armies will march on the fortified towns as if to lay
+     siege to them; but will take only such as will open their
+     gates.--The Duke of Brunswick will combine with his army those
+     corps of the French forces which are scattered along the frontier,
+     while the King of Prussia will advance at the head of his troops,
+     swelled by the counter-revolutionists of the interior.--They will
+     march first upon Paris.--They will reduce the city by starvation.
+     No consideration, not even the danger of the royal family, will
+     change the following dispositions:--The inhabitants, of Paris will
+     be led into the open country. They will be sorted out. THE
+     REVOLUTIONISTS WILL BE PUT TO DEATH.--As to the others they will be
+     disposed of later.--Perhaps they will follow the system of the
+     Emperor of Austria, not to spare any but the women and children. In
+     case of unequal forces, they will set the cities on fire; for,
+     according to the expression of the allied Kings, DESERTS ARE
+     PREFERABLE TO PLACES INHABITED BY A REVOLTED PEOPLE.
+
+     To arms, citizens! The enemy is at our gates!
+
+Another poster stuck on the walls of the city read:
+
+                    TO ARMS, CITIZENS!!!
+
+   Citizens:
+
+     The enemy will soon be under the walls of Paris!
+
+     Longwy is taken!
+
+     Verdun can hold out but a few days. Its defenders appeal to the
+     people.
+
+     The citizens who defend the citadel have sworn to die sooner than
+     surrender it. They make for you a rampart with their bodies. It is
+     your duty to succor them.
+
+   Citizens!
+
+     This very day, immediately, let all friends of liberty gather under
+     its flag!
+
+     Let us assemble in the Field of Mars, and let an army of sixty
+     thousand men be formed without delay.
+
+   Citizens!
+
+     Let us march on the enemy, either to fall under their blows or to
+     exterminate them under ours!
+
+     The Commune of Paris decrees:
+
+     ARTICLE 1. The Sections shall give to the State the men ready to
+     set out.
+
+     ARTICLE 2. The Military Committee shall sit in permanence, to
+     receive enrolments.
+
+     ARTICLE 3. The alarm gun shall be fired, the tocsin shall ring,
+     night and day.
+
+     CITIZENS, THE NATION IS IN DANGER!
+
+              TO ARMS!
+
+"Save Paris! save France! Else, woe is us!" repeated the imploring
+voices of women, whose cries and moans mingled with the clamor of the
+alarm bell.
+
+At that moment there advanced, through the crowd which made way for him,
+a municipal officer bearing a banner, and followed by several drummers
+beating the charge. They preceded a troop of volunteers of all ages and
+conditions, singing the Marseillaise, that sacred hymn of the
+Revolution. At the end of each stanza they waved their pikes, their
+guns, their sabers, their caps, their hats, crying:
+
+"To arms, brothers! To the Field of Mars! And to-night, off for the
+frontier!"
+
+The majority of the citizens, who, after reading the decree of the
+Commune, also cried "To arms!" fell in line with the volunteers. Among
+them I beheld a man in the prime of life, his face radiant with civic
+ardor, embrace his wife and little daughters who accompanied him, and,
+his eyes filled with tears, exclaim--"Adieu! I go to defend you!"
+
+I was still thrilling under the impression produced by this patriotic
+act, when I heard someone read, in a loud voice, this fragment of a
+placard, posted, they said, by order of the ministry:
+
+"--Citizens of Paris, you have traitors in your midst. Ah, but for them,
+the strife would soon be over!"
+
+"Who are the traitors?" the word went 'round. "Who are they, if not the
+royalists, hidden in the two hundred dens mentioned by Gorsas--if not
+the priests and the monks?"
+
+"And our fathers, our husbands, our sons, our brothers, are enrolling in
+mass to run to the frontiers!" cried a woman, in terror. "Who will
+defend us against the fury of the enemies within?"
+
+"The royalists will let slip upon Paris the counterfeiters and the
+brigands shut up with them in the prisons!"
+
+"Mercy of God! While we are at the front, these wretches will pillage
+our shops, assault our daughters, slaughter our wives. No, no, it shall
+never be!"
+
+"Can we go away and leave behind us our women, our children, the old
+men, exposed to the rage of our enemies? What shall we do?"
+
+"The _Friend of the People_ tells us what to do!" cried a voice in the
+crowd. "Long live Marat. To the lamp-post with the aristocrats! Here is
+what it says:
+
+"'_The Friend of the People_ to the Parisians:
+
+"'Folly! Folly! It is useless to proceed with law against the
+counter-revolutionaries!
+
+"'People, march in arms to the Abbey!
+
+"'Drag out the traitors, the Swiss officers, and their accomplices, the
+priests, the Jesuits, the monks--let them feel the edge of the sword!
+
+"'People, strike your enemies with terror; otherwise you are lost!'"
+
+"We approve the advice!" shouted several voices in response. "Legal
+justice absolves the guilty. Let us replace the judges, and strike the
+culprits. To the Abbey!--to the Abbey!"
+
+Frightened at the turn things were taking, and dreading the consequences
+of the assent given to Marat's appeal, I attempted to fend off the
+massacre of the prisoners. Raising my voice above the tumult, I
+addressed myself to the speaker:
+
+"Citizen, it is true there are great criminals in the Abbey; but all the
+prisoners are not guilty in the same degree. Are there not some
+imprisoned merely as suspects? Are you sure that among them there are
+none innocent? And, with such doubt on your mind, would you kill all?
+No, citizen, such a crime would defile the Revolution!"
+
+My intervention seemed for a moment to have recalled the throng to less
+barbarous sentiments. But just at that instant there arrived a panting
+workman, who jumped on a curbstone, exclaiming:
+
+"Citizens--I come from the Assembly--I bring you serious news!"
+
+"Silence!--Let us listen!"
+
+"When the committee-men of the commune read their decrees to the
+Assembly, Vergniaud cried out: 'I thank Paris for its courage and
+energy; now one may say the country is saved!' He called Longwy, which
+had surrendered to the Prussians, a city of cowards. Hearing the refrain
+of the Marseillaise he said 'There is enough singing of Liberty--we must
+defend it. It is no longer Kings of bronze that must be torn down--it is
+the despots of Europe! Down with the Kings!' And he, Vergniaud, closed
+his address to the Assembly with these words: 'I demand that the
+Assembly, at this moment more a military body than a legislative, send
+at once, and every day hereafter, twelve delegates to the entrenched
+camp in the Field of Mars, not with empty discourses to exhort the
+citizens to work, but to ply the pick-ax with their own hands. The time
+is past for orating. We must dig the graves of our enemies. Our enemies
+are both in front of and behind us, citizens; in front of us the
+Prussians, behind us the royalists, the priests, their lay communicants,
+and the brigands in the prisons!'"
+
+And the workman proceeded with his report of the occurrences in the
+Assembly:
+
+"When Vergniaud left the platform, Roland, the Minister of the Interior,
+asked the floor to inform the Assembly of some very important matters.
+'The Vendée,' he said, 'spurred on by the dissident clergy, has risen in
+several places, and patriots have been massacred. One portion of the
+south, under the instigation of the priests and the former nobles, is
+the breeding-ground of a vast conspiracy, with the Count of Saillant at
+its head. He has declared himself "the lieutenant-general of the army of
+the Princes."'"
+
+Before the crowd had recovered from the stupefaction into which it was
+thrown by these words the speaker continued:
+
+"After Roland, Lebrun, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that
+twenty thousand Russians were advancing on us through Poland and
+Germany, at the same time that a Russian fleet, proceeding from the
+Black Sea, was to pass through the Dardanelles and land at Marseilles.
+At this Danton became sublime! 'Everything stirs, drives on, burns, to a
+combat,' he exclaimed. 'Verdun is not yet in the hands of the enemy. The
+garrison has sworn to slay those who mention surrender. Part of the
+people is rushing to the frontiers; another part is digging
+entrenchments; another army will defend the city at the point of their
+pikes. Citizen Representatives,' continued Danton, 'we ask of you to
+concur with us in directing this heroic movement of the people.
+Whosoever refuses to serve in person or to give up his arms, let him be
+punished with death. All who are not with us are against us.' At these
+last words pronounced by Danton, the Assembly rose with enthusiasm--"
+added the orator on the curb. "'That bell which now clangs is not a
+signal of alarm!' Danton cried. 'No! It is the signal for the charge
+against the enemies of the country. To whip them we must dare, and dare,
+and dare again--and France is saved!'"
+
+An electric thrill ran over the tossing multitude as these words of
+Danton's were told it--heroic words accompanied by the tintinnabulations
+of the tocsin, the prolonged echoes of the five-minute alarm gun, the
+distant roll of the drums, and the strains of the Marseillaise, chanted
+in chorus by the column of volunteers. The massive energy of Danton
+seemed to seize upon every spirit; it roused to its highest pitch their
+sacred love of country, and reawakened the ardor of vengeance. In that
+supreme moment, the prison massacres were considered by the population,
+bourgeois and artisans alike, as a measure of public safety, a Spartan
+measure which many of the citizens deplored, but which they regarded as
+a fatal necessity, as a question of life and death for their families,
+for France, for the Revolution.
+
+Bill-posters were now attaching to the walls the new decrees rendered by
+the Commune of Paris, which had now declared itself a permanent body.
+The first of these was conceived as follows:
+
+            THE COMMUNE OF PARIS DECIDES AND DECREES:
+
+     ARTICLE 1. All horses fit for service are required at once to be
+     turned over to the citizens who depart for the front.
+
+     ARTICLE 2. All citizens shall hold themselves in readiness to march
+     at the first call.
+
+     ARTICLE 3. Those, who by reason of age or infirmity are unable to
+     join the march, shall deposit their arms with their Sections, to
+     equip those more fortunate citizens ready to go to the front.
+
+     ARTICLE 4. The ramparts shall be closed.
+
+     Paris, September 2, 1792,
+
+     COULOMBEAU.
+
+The last paragraph, ordering the closing of the ramparts, caused a
+shudder not unmingled with savage joy to shoot through the crowd.
+Through all minds flashed the thought: "The Commune orders the ramparts
+to be closed in order to prevent our enemies within from escaping. The
+work of justice will be the easier!"
+
+Another decree which was posted, read:
+
+     THE COMMUNE OF PARIS
+
+     Decrees:
+
+     1.º Enlistment shall go on in the Sections, in the theaters, in the
+     churches and in the public places.
+
+     2.º Foreign citizens shall enrol at the City Hall.
+
+     3.º The Department of Paris shall furnish at once sixty thousand
+     men.
+
+     4.º The armorers, iron-workers and blacksmiths shall report to the
+     Military Committee how fast they can turn out guns, pikes, swords,
+     etc.
+
+     5.º All leaden coffins shall be melted up for bullets. The retired
+     soldiers will take charge of this work.
+
+     Paris, September 2, 1792,
+
+     COULOMBEAU.
+
+On this terrible day, everything converged to throw the population into
+a somber vertigo. There was not an event which did not drive fatally
+onward to the massacres in the prisons.
+
+"Long live the Nation! Death to the traitors!" rose the cry.
+
+The delegates of the Luxembourg Section declared to the Commune that
+they had adopted and recorded in their minutes the resolution "That it
+was urgent to purge the prisons before marching to the front." Three
+committee-men were sent to notify the Commune of this decision. The
+Sections of the Julian Hot-Baths, the Blind Asylum, and Ill-Counsel took
+the same action. The crowd about me echoed the cry:
+
+"To the prisons! To the prisons!"
+
+"Exterminate the rogues!"
+
+"Purge the prisons!"
+
+"Down with the black caps!"
+
+"Death to the aristocrats!"
+
+I sank into a stupor of despair. There was room for doubt no longer;
+public opinion was pronouncing itself for the mass extermination of the
+prisoners. The Sections were despatching their delegates to the Commune
+to notify it of the urgency of the move. The Commune, through Tallien's
+organ, approved the massacre; finally, Danton also approved it, Danton,
+the Minister of Justice, elected by the Assembly. How could I stem such
+a tide? Still I tried, not without the knowledge that I thereby risked
+my life; for in moments of popular impulse and enthusiasm, to pronounce
+oneself in opposition to the general opinion is to court being taken for
+a traitor. Nevertheless, I leaped upon a bench hard by, and cried in a
+voice vibrating with all the anguish of my heart:
+
+"Citizens, in the name of the country, in the name of the Revolution,
+hear me!"
+
+My paleness, my tears, my supplicating accents impressed the crowd;
+silence was given me, and I continued:
+
+"Citizens, suppose that we all, patriots here present, were incarcerated
+by our triumphant enemies. Our enemies rush into our prison, surprise us
+without defense, without means of escape, and massacre us all! Would
+that not be a cowardly, a horrible deed? Would you commit a like
+atrocity?"
+
+Outcries, hisses and curses drowned my voice.
+
+"He is a wheedler!"
+
+"A traitor!"
+
+"A royalist in disguise!"
+
+"Death to the traitors!"
+
+I believed my last hour was come. Thrown down from my bench, I was
+surrounded, seized, mauled back and forth by the crowd in its fury. My
+uniform was torn to shreds. A sword was already raised over my head when
+some patriots, interposing between my adversaries and me, tore me from
+the hands that grasped me, protected me with their own bodies, and
+pushed me under the arch of a carriage-gate, which they slammed upon me.
+I fell battered and almost fainting; and soon I heard the throng
+disperse, crying:
+
+"Long live the Nation!"
+
+"To the prisons, to the prisons!"
+
+"Death to the royalists!"
+
+So, indeed, it occurred. The massacre was carried out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+"TO THE FRONT!"
+
+
+The porter of the house in which I had thus compulsorily found asylum, a
+house neighboring on my own, gave me, together with his wife, his
+solicitous care. Both knew me by sight as a child of the quarter. I
+recovered little by little from my commotion. The porter offered me a
+jacket to replace the ruined tunic of my uniform. Never shall I forget
+the words the worthy people uttered as I bade them good-bye, thanking
+them for their attentions.
+
+"What the devil, my dear neighbor! Between you and me, you were on the
+wrong side, this time!" said the brave fellow, who from his door-sill
+had taken in the whole scene. "Eh! Without a doubt, you were in the
+wrong, although you did it out of your good heart! My God! I also have a
+good heart, and, such as you see me, I couldn't cut the head off a
+chicken. Nevertheless, I say to myself: Those who, at this moment, have
+the courage to purge the prisons, are saving the country and our
+Revolution, by preventing our enemies from letting loose a civil war
+upon France, and joining themselves to the out-landers to combat us.
+Alas, it is indeed hard to be driven to it, but 'Necessity knows no
+law.' It is either kill or be killed. In such a case, each for his own
+skin!"
+
+"Goodness me, yes!" put in the portress, a debonair matron, taking up
+her knitting again. "And then, whose fault is it? The nobles and the
+priests haven't stopped for three years conspiring with Veto and the
+Austrian woman. They loose the Prussians and Huns upon our poor country.
+God! Listen, you, neighbor--we are getting tired, and it is high time
+that, one way or another, this all be put an end to."
+
+"My wife is right. And then, do you see, neighbor, when the Sections,
+and even the Commune and Monsieur Danton, everyone, in fact, says it is
+necessary to purge the prisons, one must believe that so many persons
+would not agree on one and the same course, were it not at bottom just,
+or at least necessary."
+
+I have cited these good people's words because they are a faithful
+expression of the general sentiment on the subject of the massacres.
+
+On leaving the house where I had found a refuge, I set out, not for my
+Section, to join my comrades of the Guard as I had at first intended;
+but, acting on the subsequent call of the Commune to all the armorer,
+blacksmith and iron-worker artisans, who were to take in hand the
+manufacture in haste of the greatest possible number of arms, I turned
+my steps toward the National Assembly, where the Military Committee sat
+in permanent session. I hoped that the number of workmen in these trades
+who reported would be over-sufficient for the turning out of the arms;
+in that case I was resolved to leave the next day for the army. Two
+motives impelled me to that resolution. First, my duty to my country;
+second the profound chagrin into which the aberration of my sister
+Victoria had thrown me. At that very moment, doubtless, she
+was--frightful thought--assisting at the massacre in the prisons, calm
+and terrible as the goddess of Retribution. Moreover, I had received,
+two days earlier, a letter from Charlotte Desmarais. She was living
+still at Lyons, with her mother; she assured me of her affection, of her
+unshakable constancy, and added that, in view of the perils with which
+the allied arms threatened the country, my duty as a citizen was marked
+out for me; she would support with firmness the new trials that would
+await her should I go to the front. Unhappily, I could not enrol. The
+number of mechanics skilled in iron working would hardly suffice for
+getting out the arms; by a decree of the Assembly, rendered on September
+4, it was forbidden to them to leave Paris.
+
+Behold the spectacle that I was to witness on my way to the Assembly--a
+spectacle moving in its very simplicity:
+
+In the middle of Vendome Place was raised a tent, supported at each
+corner by a pike surmounted with a red bonnet. Under this tent,
+municipal officers, girt with the tricolor scarf, were receiving the
+enlistments of citizens. Two drums, piled one on the other, served as
+table. On the upper drum lay an ink-well, a pen, and the register in
+which were inscribed the names of the volunteers. Each of these received
+a fraternal embrace from one of the councilmen, and departed amid the
+cheers of "Long live the Nation!" uttered by the crowd which filled the
+place. Day without equal in history! Strange day! in which love of
+country, heroism, civic devotion, and the exaltation of the holiest
+virtues of the family, were intermingled with the thirst for vengeance
+and extermination. I heard uttered here and there about me, here with
+savage satisfaction, there with the accent of indifference or the
+resignation born of painful necessity: "They are going to execute the
+conspirators and purge the prisons." "Death to the priests and nobles!"
+
+Into the tent of the municipal officers I saw a distinguished-looking
+old man enter. His five sons accompanied him. The youngest seemed about
+eighteen; the eldest, aged perhaps forty, held by the hand his own son,
+hardly out of his boyhood. These seven persons, completely armed and
+equipped out of their own purse, carried on their backs their soldiers'
+knapsacks. The old man acted as spokesman, and addressed one of the
+officers:
+
+"Citizen, I am named Matthew Bernard, master tanner, No. 71 St. Victor
+Street, where I live with my five sons and my grandson. We come, they
+and I, to enlist; we leave for the frontier."
+
+The wife of the brave citizen, his daughter, a young girl of seventeen,
+and his son's wife, awaited them outside. On the countenances of the
+three women was legible neither fear nor regret; the tears that shone in
+their eyes were tears of enthusiasm.
+
+"Farewell, wife! Farewell, daughter and daughter-in-law! We depart
+assured of your safety. The prisons are purged," said the old man in a
+voice calm and strong. "We have none now to fight but the Prussians on
+the frontier. Adieu till we meet again. Long live the Nation! Long live
+the Republic! Death to the priests and the aristocrats!"
+
+In the midst of the procession of recruits, I heard the snapping of a
+whip, and these words, shouted out in deep and joyous tones:
+
+"Make way, citizens, make way, please! Oh, hey! Alright, Double-grey!
+Alright, Reddy!" And soon I saw drawing near, through the crowd which
+fell back to give him passage, a man in the hey-day of his strength,
+with an open and martial countenance, clad in a great-coat and an
+oilskin hat. He rode a grey horse, and led by the bridle a bay, both
+harnessed for the carriage. Across the crupper of one of the animals
+were slung a saddle-bag of oats and a bale of grass tied with a cord;
+the other horse carried a valise. The great-coat of the rider was
+drawn-tight at the waist by the belt of a cavalry saber that hung beside
+him. I remarked with surprise that the white leather of his sword-tassel
+was red, as if wet with blood.
+
+"Citizen officers," called the rider without descending from the horse
+he rode, and which he reined in on the threshold of the tent, "Write as
+a voluntary recruit James Duchemin, stage driver by occupation and
+formerly an artilleryman; I have sold my coach to pay my expenses on the
+way. I am off to the frontier with my horses Double-grey and Reddy, of
+whom I make an offering to the country, asking only the favor not to be
+separated from them and to be enrolled with them in a regiment of field
+artillery. You'll see them do famously in the harness when they're
+hitched up to a four-pounder. So, then, citizen officers, write us down,
+my horses and me. I have just lent a hand to the patriots who are
+working down there, at the Abbey," added the stage driver, carrying his
+hand to the blood-reddened saber. "The business is done. The prisons are
+purged;--now, to the front!"
+
+The day was nearly over when I arrived at the Assembly to put myself at
+the disposal of the Military Committee. While awaiting my turn for
+enrolment, I wandered into the Assembly galleries. I was anxious to know
+whether the massacre in the prisons was known to the popular
+Representatives. I then learned that the Assembly, informed as to the
+occurrences at the Abbey, at La Force, and at the Chatelet, had sent to
+these places, with instructions to oppose the carnage, a commission
+composed of Citizens Bazire, Dussaulx, Francis of Neufchateau, Isnard
+and Lequino.
+
+Soon several of the commissioners entered the chamber, accompanied by
+Tallien, a member of the Commune, who took the floor and said:
+
+"Citizens, the commissioners of the Assembly are powerless to turn aside
+the vengeance of the people, a vengeance in some sort just, for, we must
+say it, these blows have fallen upon the issuers of false notes, whom
+the law condemns to death. What excited the vengeance of the people was
+that they found in the prisons none but recognized criminals!"
+
+I left the Assembly chamber and returned to take my place in the line
+and pass before the Committee. The Committee was presided over, that
+day, by Carnot the elder, an officer of genius, and one of the greatest
+captains of the time. I had myself inscribed as an iron-worker, and
+received the order to appear next morning at daybreak, at the
+green-house of the Louvre, where they were setting up the forges and
+work-benches for the fashioning of the munitions of war.
+
+While awaiting Victoria, at our lodging, I busied myself with recording
+in my journal the various events of the day. One in the morning sounded;
+my sister had not returned. Up till now, I had felt no anxiety for her;
+only those who would attempt to disarm the popular anger, only those, on
+that day, ran any danger; and Victoria partook of the general sentiment
+of Paris on the subject of a mass extermination. But suddenly there
+flashed back to my mind Jesuit Morlet and his tool Lehiron. I knew the
+hatred entertained by the reverend Father for my sister. These thoughts
+threw me into deep anxiety. The Jesuit Morlet and Lehiron were capable
+of any crime; and on this unlucky day, when blood flowed in torrents,
+nothing would have been easier than for the wretches to make away with
+Victoria. Faithful to his hope of seeing the Revolution besmirch itself
+or lose itself in excesses, Abbot Morlet would not fail to be on hand to
+urge on the carnage of the prisoners; he could easily, under a new
+disguise, repair to the prisons with Lehiron and his cut-throats, and,
+on encountering my sister, point her out to their weapons.
+
+The gloomiest of apprehensions were raised in me by these reflections.
+My alarm increased from minute to minute. There was, alas, no way to
+still it. My anguish had almost reached the breaking point when I heard
+hurried steps on the stair-landing. I ran to the door. It flew open.
+Victoria uttered a cry of joy, threw herself into my arms, pressed me
+convulsively to her breast, and broke into tears. Then, between her
+sobs, she murmured in a voice choked with joy:
+
+"Brother, my poor brother, I find you again! God be praised!"
+
+As her emotion subsided, Victoria acquainted me in the following words
+with the source of her alarm:
+
+"Just now, on my way here, I met, ten steps from the house, our
+neighbor Dubreuil. On seeing me he stopped, looked at me an instant with
+an expression of surprise and grief, and said, 'Are you coming to see
+John?' 'Surely,' answered I. 'Alas, poor John harangued the crowd this
+morning at this very place; he spoke against the massacre in the
+prisons; they took him for a traitor, and the crowd, in its temper--'
+and our neighbor buried his face in his hands and did not finish. I
+understood everything. Yielding to the goodness of your heart, desiring
+to oppose popular justice in its course, you had paid for the attempt
+with your life!--such was my first thought. For an instant I stood
+motionless with stupor, my soul in a whirl. I felt I should go mad. Then
+I ran to our door. 'Brother, brother!' I cried. 'Whence your alarm,
+mademoiselle?' the porter asked me; 'Monsieur John is upstairs since ten
+o'clock.' My heart bounded with joy;--but I was not completely reassured
+till I saw you."
+
+I recounted to my sister the cause of our neighbor's mistake in thinking
+I had lost my life in the attempt to intervene in favor of the
+prisoners. And I followed by confiding to Victoria the fears which her
+own prolonged absence had caused me.
+
+"True," Victoria answered, "the Jesuit did appear once at the Abbey
+Prison with Lehiron and some of his brigands. But they soon saw that
+that was not the place for them, for at the Abbey there was no
+pillaging, there was no assassination. We judged and condemned the
+guilty; we freed the innocent."
+
+"Alas, and in the name of what law did you condemn the ones, and acquit
+the others?"
+
+"In the name of Eternal Justice, which smites the wicked and spares the
+good."
+
+I heard Victoria in a sort of daze. "And even if," exclaimed I, "a
+semblance of justice did preside over the carnage, by what right did
+these men constitute themselves the accusers, judges and executioners of
+the prisoners?"
+
+"Brother, by what right did the jurors who assisted at the sessions of
+the revolutionary tribunal instituted on August the 17th of this year,
+declare the accused innocent or guilty?"
+
+"They exercised a right conferred on them by the law."
+
+"Then the law confers in certain cases, and on citizens elected by the
+people, the right to judge or to absolve?"
+
+"In certain cases, yes; and the present case is not of their number."
+
+"John, those are the subtleties of a lawyer. Listen to what passed
+before my eyes: The people elected by acclamation and installed in the
+prison a revolutionary tribunal of eleven jurors. The prisoners were
+brought before them. Then--I saw everything, I heard everything, and I
+swear before God, aye, on my soul and conscience, that all those who
+were sentenced deserved the death. My mind is clear, my thoughts calm.
+Hear what I have to tell you, then you shall pronounce between those who
+glorify the events of September and those who condemn them:
+
+"Three carriages bearing priests accused of having fomented civil war,
+were driving towards the Abbey. As the vehicles approached the prison,
+one of the priests, who was braving the crowd with the violence of his
+discourse, was cursed by it. In a passion he raised his cane and struck
+one of those who insulted him over the head. The crowd, exasperated,
+followed the vehicles into the Abbey and massacred all the priests in
+them."
+
+Victoria gasped for breath and continued:
+
+"It was at this moment that I entered the prison. Almost at the same
+time as I, Manuel, the attorney-at-law for the Commune, arrived. The
+people called on the guards to deliver the prisoners to them. Manuel
+asked to be heard. He began by reading a decision of the Commune, which
+declared:
+
+"'In the name of the people, citizens, you are enjoined to pass judgment
+on all the prisoners in the Abbey Prison without distinction; with the
+exception of Abbot Lenfant, whom you shall bestow in a safe place.
+
+"'At the City Hall, September 2, 1792.
+
+"'Signed, Panis, Sergent, administrators.'
+
+"Having read the decree, Manuel continued:
+
+"'Citizens, your resentment is just. Wage, if you will, war without let
+upon the enemies of the public weal! Fight them to the death; they must
+perish. But you love justice, and you would shudder at the thought of
+imbruing your hands with innocent blood. Cease, then, from throwing
+yourselves like tigers upon men, your brothers.'"
+
+Victoria, after accentuating this fact, went on:
+
+"A court elected by those present and presided over by Maillard,
+convened in the registrar's office; one enters the place by a grating
+communicating with the interior of the prison, and leaves it by a door
+opening on the prison courtyard. It was in the latter place that the
+justiciaries awaited the condemned, to execute them. Maillard laid
+before him the prison register; this gave the charge against each
+inmate, and the cause of his arrest. A warder, as each prisoner's name
+was called, went to fetch him. He was led before the tribunal, which
+proceeded in this wise:
+
+"For instance, they brought in a Knight of St. Louis, an ex-captain of
+the King's Huntsmen. The accused, formerly the seigneur of several
+parishes, enjoyed still a large fortune. His name was Journiac of St.
+Meard. Here he comes before the tribunal. He gives his name and surname.
+'Are you a royalist?' asks Maillard. And as, at that question, St. Meard
+seemed troubled, Maillard adds: 'Answer truthfully and without fear. We
+are here to judge not opinions but their consequences.' The Chevalier of
+St. Meard, a firm and loyal man, replies: 'I am a royalist, I mourn the
+old regime. I believe that France is essentially monarchist. I have
+never concealed my regrets. I have a naturally satirical spirit, and I
+have published in several miscellanies, adhering to my opinion, several
+mocking verses against the Revolution. Those are the principal facts
+charged against me. As to the rest, I have here papers which will,
+happily, make clear to you my innocence.' And St. Meard drew from a
+portfolio several sheets. They were carefully examined. Some witnesses,
+brought there by the merest chance, were heard for and against the
+accused. His defense, worked out in much detail, occupied over half an
+hour, and ended with these words: 'I mourn the old regime; but I have
+never conspired against the new. I did not flee the country; I regard as
+a crime the appeal to foreign arms. I hope I have proved to you,
+citizens, my innocence, and I believe that you will set me at liberty,
+to which I am much inclined both by principle and by nature.' The jurors
+conferred in a low voice, and in a few seconds Maillard rose, removed
+his hat, and said aloud, 'Prisoner at the bar, you are free.' Then,
+addressing three patriots armed with pikes and bloody swords, Maillard
+added, 'Watch over the safety of this citizen; conduct him to his
+home.'--"
+
+"Ah," I broke in, experiencing a mingled sensation of compassion and
+horror, "the heart of man is an abyss--an abyss--one's reason is lost in
+trying to fathom it!"
+
+"That is how things were conducted at the Abbey," proceeded Victoria.
+"After examination and free defense I saw set at liberty Bertrand La
+Molleville, brother of the minister; Maton La Varenne, a lawyer; Abbot
+Solomon Duveyrier; and the Count of Afry, a colonel in the Swiss
+regiments, after he had proven an alibi from Paris during the events of
+the 10th of August."
+
+And Victoria completed the account of the things she witnessed while the
+prisoners were being judged:
+
+"I told you, brother, how they acquitted the innocent; now I shall show
+you how they performed sentence on the guilty. Let me take the case of
+Montmorin, the double traitor absolved by the Orleans High Court. That
+scandalous acquittal was one of the causes of to-day's events. The
+people, tired and irritated at seeing the criminals pass scatheless
+under the sword of the law, has done justice to itself, by striking
+them! Montmorin, brought before the court, showed himself haughty and
+arrogant; a contemptuous smile contracted his lips. 'You are Citizen
+Montmorin? The crimes of which you are accused are notorious. What have
+you to say in your defense?' Maillard asked the former minister. 'I
+refuse to reply; I do not recognize your right to sit upon me,' retorted
+Montmorin. In vain Maillard urged him to speak; the prisoner maintained
+an obstinate silence. 'Take the accused to La Force,' ordered Maillard,
+after with a look consulting the jurors, all of whom gave, by an
+affirmative nod of the head, their approval of the sentence of the Count
+of Montmorin."
+
+"But Maillard had just ordered the prisoner to be taken to La Force?"
+
+"A conventional phrase, to spare the condemned up to the last moment the
+agonies of death. 'Take the accused to La Force,' or 'Release the
+accused,' were the formulas for the supreme penalty. They opened before
+them the door that gave on the courtyard; the door closed on them, and
+the justiciaries performed their office."
+
+"Strange contradiction--pity and ferocity!"
+
+"Misled by the words pronounced by Maillard, Montmorin quoth in a
+supercilious voice, 'I do not go on foot; let them call a coach.' 'It
+awaits you at the door,' responded Maillard. Montmorin was pushed into
+the courtyard, where they ended him. Bakman, the Swiss regimental
+colonel, also acquitted by the High Court of Orleans, underwent the same
+fate as Montmorin; also Protot and Valvins, both counterfeiters; Abbot
+Bardy, a monster who had cut his own brother to pieces, and--but we can
+content ourselves with these examples."
+
+Victoria sank into somber silence; I pressed her hand compassionately,
+and passed to my own room to seek in repose forgetfulness from this
+wretched day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ROYALTY ABOLISHED.
+
+
+Tallien, in his account of the times, traces the events leading up to
+these September days; he marks among the causes of the public
+indignation the scandalous acquittals of the Orleans High Court, and the
+approach of the foreign armies, after the capture of Longwy and Verdun.
+Then he proceeds:
+
+"At the same time, a criminal exposed in the public place had the
+temerity to cry on the scaffold, 'Long live the King! Long live the
+Queen! Long live Lafayette! Long live the Prussians! To the devil with
+the Nation!' These utterances provoked the anger of the people, and the
+wretch would have perished on the instant had not the attorney of the
+Commune shielded him with his own body, and had him taken back to prison
+to be turned over to the judges. In the course of his examination he
+declared that for several days money had been scattered profusely in the
+prisons, and that, at the first opportunity, the brigands there held in
+durance were to be armed in the service of the counter-revolutionists!
+
+"Moreover, no one is ignorant that it was in the prisons that the false
+notes put in circulation were forged; and, in fact, during the
+expedition of the 2nd of September, there were found in the prisons
+plates, paper, and all the necessary apparatus for issuing the notes.
+These articles are in existence now, and are deposited in the archives
+of the courts....
+
+"Soon thousands of citizens were assembled under the banners of liberty,
+ready to march. But before their departure, a simple and natural
+reflection occurred to them:
+
+"'At the very moment that we march against the enemy,' they said, 'when
+we go to shed our blood in defense of the country, we do not wish to
+leave our fathers, our wives, our children, our old folks, exposed to
+the onslaughts of the reprobates shut up in the prisons. Before setting
+out against the foreign enemies, we must first wipe out those in our
+midst.'
+
+"Such was the language of these citizens, when two refractory priests
+whom they were taking to the Abbey Prison, hearing some seditious cries,
+offered insults to the Revolution. The rage of the people was at white
+heat....
+
+"The Swiss, the assassins of the people on the 10th of August,
+imprisoned to the number of some three hundred, were set free and
+incorporated in the national battalions....
+
+"Such were the circumstances which preceded and provoked the events of
+September, events unquestionably terrible, and which, in time of peace
+would demand legal vengeance, but which, in a period of agitation, it is
+better to draw the veil over, leaving to the historian the task of
+appreciating this period of the Revolution, which, however, had many
+more uses than one thinks."
+
+To wind up the portrayal of this redoubtable evolution, I take this
+extract from a speech of Robespierre's:
+
+"They have spoken to you often of the events of September 2. That is the
+subject at which I am impatient to arrive. I shall treat it in an
+absolutely disinterested manner....
+
+"The general council of the Commune, far from exciting the events of
+September, did its levellest to prevent them. In order to form a just
+idea of these occurrences, one must seek for truth not alone in
+calumnious orations in which they are distorted, but in the history of
+the Revolution. If you have the idea that the mental impulse given by
+the insurrection of August 10 had not entirely subsided by the beginning
+of September, you are mistaken. There is not a single likeness between
+the two periods....
+
+"The greatest conspirators of August 10 were withdrawn from the wrath of
+the victorious people, who had consented to place them in the hands of a
+new tribunal. Nevertheless, after judging three or four minor criminals,
+the tribunal rested. Montmorin was acquitted, the Prince of Poix and
+other conspirators of like importance were fraudulently set free. Vast
+impositions of this character were coming to light, new proofs of the
+conspiracy of the court were developing daily. Nearly all the patriots
+wounded at the Tuileries died in the arms of their brother Parisians.
+Indignation was smouldering in all hearts. A new cause burst it into
+flame. Many citizens had believed that the 10th of August would break
+the thread of the royalist conspiracies, they considered the war closed.
+Suddenly the news of the taking of Longwy hurtled through Paris; Verdun
+had been given up, Brunswick with his army was headed for Paris. No
+fortified place interposed between us and our enemies. Our army,
+divided, almost ruined by the treasons of Lafayette, was lacking in
+everything. Arms had to be found, camp equipments, provisions, men. The
+Executive Council dissimulated neither its fears nor embarrassment.
+Danton appeared before the Assembly, graphically pictured to it its
+perils and resources, and besought it to take vigorous measures. He went
+to the City Hall, rang the alarm bell, fired the guns, and declared the
+country in danger. In an instant forty thousand men, armed and equipped,
+were on the march to Chalons. In the midst of this universal enthusiasm
+the approach of the out-land armies reawakened in every breast
+sentiments of indignation and vengeance against the traitors who had
+beckoned in the enemy. Before leaving their wives and children, the
+citizens, the vanquishers of the Tuileries, desired the punishment of
+the conspirators, which had been promised them. They ran to the prisons.
+Could the magistrates halt the people! for it was a movement of the
+people; not, as some have ridiculously supposed, a fragmentary sedition
+of a few rascals paid to assassinate their fellows. The Commune, they
+say, should have proclaimed martial law. Martial law against the people,
+with the enemy drawing nigh! Martial law after the 10th of August!
+Martial law in favor of the accomplices of a tyranny dethroned by the
+people! What could the magistrates do against the determined will of an
+indignant population, which opposed to the magistrates' talk the memory
+of its own heroism on August 10, its present devotion in rushing to the
+front, and the long-drawn-out immunity from punishment enjoyed by the
+traitors?...
+
+"They protest that innocent persons perished in these executions; they
+have been pleased to exaggerate the number of these. Even one, no
+doubt, is too many, citizens! Mourn that cruel mistake, as we have for
+long mourned it! Mourn even the guilty ones reserved for the law's
+retribution, who fell under the sword of popular justice!"
+
+The volunteers, who in those September days enrolled in multitudes, were
+sent first to the intermediary camps, where they received the rudiments
+of military training. Thence they were sent to the army. Their courage
+saved France and inaugurated the victories of the Republic.
+
+Thanks, O, God! To-day I have seen the triumph which crowns fifteen
+centuries of struggle maintained by our oppressed fathers against their
+oppressors; by slaves, serfs, and vassals against Kings, nobles and
+clergy; by the descendants of the conquered Gauls against the
+descendants of the Frankish conquerors.
+
+Gaul was a slave--I see her sovereign! Her casqued and mitred tyrants
+are cut off.
+
+The new National Convention assembled at the palace of the Tuileries,
+and went into session on Friday, September 21, 1792, at quarter past
+twelve.
+
+Petion presided; the secretaries were Condorcet, Rabaud St. Etienne,
+Vergniaud, Camus, and Lassource.
+
+Couthon took the floor, and exhorted his colleagues: "Citizens, our
+mission is sublime! The people has reposed its confidence in us--let us
+approve ourselves worthy of it!"
+
+"There is one act which you can not put off till to-morrow, without
+betraying the will of the nation," declared Collot D'Herbois. "That is
+the abolition of royalty."
+
+"Certes," assented Abbot Gregory, "no one intends to preserve the race
+of Kings in France. We know that all dynasties are but broods of
+vampires; we must reassure the friends of liberty; we must destroy this
+talisman, whose magic power is still capable of stupefying so many. I
+ask, then, that by a solemn law, you consecrate the abolition of
+royalty."
+
+The whole Assembly rose with a spontaneous movement, and with cheers
+acclaimed the motion of Gregory, who continued:
+
+"Kings are to the moral order what monsters are to the physical. Courts
+are the smithy of crimes and the fastness of tyrants. The history of
+Kings is the martyrdom of nations. We are all penetrated with this
+truth--why further discuss it? I ask that my motion be put to a vote,
+after it shall have been drafted with a preamble comportable to the
+solemnity of the decision."
+
+"The preamble of your motion, citizen, is the history of the crimes of
+Louis XVI," said Ducot.
+
+The president rose and read:
+
+"THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DECREES:
+
+"ROYALTY IS ABOLISHED IN FRANCE."
+
+Shouts of joy, cries of "Long live the Nation! Long live the Republic!"
+rang from every throat, members of the Convention and spectators in the
+galleries alike. The tumultuous rejoicing lasted for several minutes.
+
+The session adjourned.
+
+The members of the Convention passed out to cries of:
+
+"Long live the Nation!"
+
+"Long live the Republic!"
+
+"Down with Kings and nobles!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+BOURGEOIS TURNED SANS-CULOTTE.
+
+
+It was the evening of December 10, 1792. Monsieur Desmarais sat talking
+with his wife in the parlor of their dwelling. The attorney, elected to
+the Convention in September, no longer was content to affect patriotism
+in his acts and words; his very appearance now breathed a sans-culottism
+of the deepest dye. Thus he, once so precise about his person, shaved
+but once a week; his hair, now powderless, was clipped close like a
+Roundhead's; he wore a carmagnole jacket, hob-nailed shoes, wide
+pantaloons, a distinctive sign of the sans-culottes, and a red-checkered
+handkerchief rolled around his neck, after the style of Marat. In one of
+the corners of the parlor, now without mirrors or curtains and almost
+stripped of furniture, reposed a large square deal box, whose cover bore
+the words in large penciled characters: "Breakable. Handle with care."
+The chest seemed to be built with more care and solidity than is usual
+with packing-cases. Its cover, instead of being merely nailed, was
+fastened with hinges; a strong lock held it shut. Madam Desmarais,
+arrived from Lyons a brief half hour before, had not yet removed her
+traveling garments. Her face breathed anxiety. Her husband's features
+were pale and glowering; he seemed worked up, agitated. His wife
+continued the conversation:
+
+"You understand, my friend, that, frightened at the rumors which were
+rife in Lyons on the subject of the triumph of a royalist
+conspiracy--that Paris was given up to fire and blood, the Convention
+dissolved, its members exposed to the greatest dangers--"
+
+"It is incomprehensible to me what object anyone could have in
+propagating such sinister rumors," replied Desmarais. "We are on the
+tracks of a royalist plot, built, for a pretext, upon the trial of this
+unfortunate King; but the plot can not but miscarry. Paris seems seized
+with vertigo since August 10!"
+
+"However that may be, my friend, frightened by these rumors, I set out
+for Paris. Besides, it costs me too much to live far from you in these
+terrible times. The reasons for our separation were the hope of allaying
+the passion of our daughter for that young Lebrenn, and your lively
+desire to shield me from the spectacle of the insurrections, the popular
+passions which were about to sweep over Paris. But our principal aim has
+not been attained. Charlotte persists in her determination to remain
+unmarried or to wed that ironsmith. She writes to him and receives his
+letters. So, then, whether she be at Paris or at Lyons, she will be
+neither nearer nor further from the scene of her love-affair. And
+finally, by the very fact that you are exposed to dangers of all sorts,
+my place is beside you, my friend. I have, then, resolved to leave you
+no longer. I also am much alarmed on my brother's score. Here it is more
+than a month that I haven't heard from him. Can you tell me what has
+become of him?"
+
+"I know that he was denounced as a suspect; he probably has remained in
+Paris, where he is in hiding, and conspiring in favor of the monarchy.
+I do not in the least doubt it."
+
+"What do you tell me! My brother denounced! My God! In these times such
+an accusation is a thing of terror--it may lead to the scaffold!"
+
+"No doubt. But why doesn't he consent to resign himself, as I have, to
+howl with the wolves, and roar with the tigers?"
+
+"Poor Hubert," replied Madam Desmarais in tears. "In the midst of the
+mortal dangers which he runs, he thinks of my birthday; he sends me a
+token of his brotherly affection." And the attorney's wife, casting her
+eyes towards the box in the corner, added, "Dear, good brother! How
+sensible I am of this new proof of his affection!"
+
+"If he truly loved you, he would not risk causing you the greatest
+chagrin, and compromising me into the bargain!"
+
+"My friend, I can not listen to reproaches against my brother, when he
+is exposed to such grave perils--"
+
+"And whose fault is it, if not his own, due to his own violent and
+obstinate character? He abhors, says he, the excesses of the Revolution!
+Alas, I also execrate them--yet I feign to applaud them. That will at
+least do to insure our repose and steer clear of the guillotine. Thus,
+to-morrow, the members of the Convention will hale before the bar the
+unfortunate Louis XVI, he will be examined in due form, they will give
+him his trial, and he will be condemned to death. And well, I shall vote
+for death."
+
+"O, my God!" murmured Madam Desmarais in cold fear. "My husband a
+regicide!"
+
+"But how can I escape the fatal necessity?"
+
+"Let the fatality fall, then!" answered Madam Desmarais mournfully, her
+voice broken with sobs.
+
+"Let us go on," said advocate Desmarais after a long silence, during
+which his agitation slowly got the better of itself, "let us go on. Our
+daughter is then still infatuated with this Lebrenn?"
+
+"She loves Lebrenn as much as, if not more than, before. He informed her
+in one of his last letters that he had been promoted to certain duties
+in the Commune of Paris, and she glories in his advancement."
+
+"In truth, the workingman has been elected a municipal officer. They
+even proposed to him, such is his influence in the quarter and in the
+Jacobin Club, to run as candidate for the Convention, but he declined
+the offer. For the rest, his position with the Jacobins has put him in
+touch with several leading spirits of the Revolution--Tallien,
+Robespierre, Legendre, Billaud-Varenne, Danton, and other rabid
+democrats."
+
+"Have you renewed your relations with the young man since the day you
+refused him our daughter's hand?"
+
+"No; we have met several times at the Jacobins, but I have avoided
+speaking with him. He has imitated my reserve. For the rest, I must do
+him this justice--he has always expressed himself in favorable terms
+concerning me, true to his promise, that, however little reliance he
+placed in my uprightness and the sincerity of my convictions, he would
+hold his opinion secret until my acts themselves denounced me. Well, my
+acts and speeches have been, and will be, in conformity with the
+necessities of my position. But, too much of this Lebrenn;--I have told
+you that your unlooked-for return surprised me, but that it chimed in
+with my recent projects. I have in view for our daughter a marriage to
+which I attach great importance, for I would become, by the alliance,
+the father-in-law of a man destined to count among the most influential
+personages of the Revolution. This future son-in-law is very young, and
+remarkably good looking; he belongs to the upper bourgeois, even
+bordering on the nobility. He is, in fine, the intimate friend, the
+pupil, the devoted supporter, the right arm of Robespierre. This young
+man, who has already made his mark in the Assembly in two speeches of
+immense influence,--is Monsieur St. Just."
+
+"Alas, my friend, in Lyons I heard tell of this young man. His name
+excites the same execration as that of Robespierre and Marat among the
+royalists, and even among the moderate republicans of the complexion of
+the Girondins. Have you considered that?"
+
+"It is precisely because of the aversion which he inspires in the
+royalists, the Girondins, and the moderates, that I have fixed my eyes
+upon St. Just. One of our common friends, Billaud-Varenne, is to make,
+this very day, overtures to my young colleague on the subject of this
+marriage, which will be so much to my advantage."
+
+"My friend, all that you say causes me a surprise and bewilderment that
+puts my mind in a whirl. You own to experiencing great regret at
+entering on the path of the Revolution; and, by a strange contradiction,
+you speak of marrying your daughter to one of the men whom honest folks
+hold most in horror."
+
+"No contradiction there, at all. Facts are facts. I am unhappy enough to
+have for brother-in-law a mad-cap counter-revolutionist. Hubert is a
+denounced man, and at this very hour, no doubt, is intriguing against
+the Revolution. All this may compromise me most perilously. Marat has
+his eye on me. Now, if Marat penetrates my innermost thoughts, I am in
+great danger. The influence of St. Just, once my son-in-law, would save
+my head."
+
+Gertrude the serving-maid interrupted her master by entering the room
+with an air at once of mystery and affright, and saying to him in a
+startled voice:
+
+"Monsieur, madam's brother is here."
+
+"Hubert here!" cried Desmarais with a start. "I don't want to see him!
+Tell him I'm out!"
+
+"Alas, sir, your brother-in-law said to me that he was pursued by the
+police, and that they were hard on his tracks."
+
+"Great God!" murmured Madam Desmarais faintly. "My brother!"
+
+"Let him get out of here!" cried the attorney, pale with terror. "Let
+him get out this instant!"
+
+"You repulse my brother, when he is in danger of his life, perhaps!"
+exclaimed Madam Desmarais indignantly. And running to Gertrude she
+demanded, "Where is my brother?"
+
+"In the dining room, taking off his cloak--" But interrupting herself
+she exclaimed, "Here is Monsieur Hubert, now!"
+
+In fact, it was none other than Hubert himself who appeared in the
+parlor door. He was laboring under strong emotion; he received his
+sister in his arms and embraced her effusively.
+
+Advocate Desmarais, a prey to the keenest anxiety, was as yet uncertain
+as to how his troublesome brother-in-law was to be received. In a
+whisper he interrogated Gertrude:
+
+"Do you think the porter recognized Monsieur Hubert?"
+
+"With his slouch hat pulled over his eyes, blue glasses on, and his chin
+hidden in the collar of his great-coat, Monsieur Hubert was
+unrecognizable."
+
+The attorney pondered a few seconds, and continued his conversation with
+Gertrude: "You have a key to the little garden gate? Go open it, and
+leave it ajar. In ten minutes run to the janitor with a great air of
+alarm and tell him that the person who just asked for me was a robber,
+that you just surprised him with his hand in the drawer of the
+dining-room buffet; that he took flight as soon as discovered, that he
+ran down stairs in a hurry, and that he probably made good his escape by
+scaling the garden wall. You understand all I've told you? Execute my
+orders precisely, and not a word on my brother-in-law's presence."
+
+"It shall all be done as you wish."
+
+"Not a word of all this to Jeanette or Germain. Let no one into the
+parlor for any reason whatsoever, and do not come in yourself until I
+ring for you." Then Desmarais added, as one who had a brilliant idea,
+"For greater safety, I'll bolt the door, Go!"
+
+Gertrude went out, and Desmarais cautiously bolted the door of the
+parlor.
+
+"To see you again brother, perhaps at the moment of losing you forever!"
+sobbed Madam Desmarais addressing Hubert; "the thought is misery to me."
+
+"Reassure yourself, sister. I know how to baffle the pursuits of which I
+am the object. I have thrown off the scent the spies who dogged my
+steps. And certes, they will never come to seek me in the house of a
+member of the Convention. I ask asylum of your husband till midnight
+only. At that hour I shall quit his house."
+
+"Ah, I swear, that do I, that you will have quit it in ten minutes!"
+retorted the attorney, going over slowly to his wife's side, at the same
+moment that Hubert, perceiving the wooden packing-case, said to his
+sister:
+
+"Ah, there is my box!"
+
+"Poor brother," began Madam Desmarais, interrupting the financier. "In
+the midst of your anxieties, you still remembered my birthday. How can I
+tell you how touched I am at this proof of your affection!"
+
+"I deserve no thanks, my dear sister. The case is not intended for you;
+it contains some precious objects which I wish to save from the
+domiciliary visits they make upon suspects."
+
+"Compromising papers, no doubt!" gasped Desmarais, aside. "Such an
+object to drop upon me!"
+
+"I thought these things would be safer here than anywhere else, that is
+why I sent them in the case," continued Hubert; "but for reasons useless
+to tell you, your servant and the porter must transport it at once to a
+house at an address I shall give you."
+
+"I shall go at once to tell our men," said Madam Desmarais, moving
+toward the door. But the lawyer stopped her with his hand, and said
+coldly:
+
+"Madam, you shall not go out!"
+
+"Pardon, my dear brother-in-law, my not yet having pressed your hand,
+you whose hospitality I shall share for a few hours," spoke up Hubert,
+stepping to meet the lawyer; "but it was so long since I saw my sister,
+that my first movement was to run to her, and--"
+
+"Citizen Hubert," broke in the attorney, pale and trembling between rage
+and fear, "the house of a Mountainist of the Convention shall not serve
+as the refuge of traitors."
+
+"Good God!" Madam Desmarais murmured, clasping her hands in fright.
+
+"What, brother-in-law, I ask you for shelter for a few hours, you, my
+relative, you, erstwhile my friend, and you dare drive me from your
+door?"
+
+"Citizen Hubert, the enemies of the Republic are my enemies; I shall
+treat them as political enemies when they fall into my hands. Out you
+go!"
+
+"Such greetings from you!" stammered Hubert, dazed.
+
+"Brother," cried Madam Desmarais, "do not believe what my husband says!
+He is incapable of committing such an act of infamy. It was only a few
+moments ago that he was cursing the excesses of the Revolution."
+
+"Wretch!" shrieked Desmarais, seizing his wife by the wrist. "Will you
+hold your peace!" Then, turning to his brother-in-law, "Citizen Hubert,
+if you do not leave this building on the instant, I shall send for the
+patrol of the Section, and have you arrested."
+
+"Ah!" cried Hubert with indignation. "I come to ask a relative for a few
+hours' refuge, and the coward, for fear of being compromised, wishes to
+send me to the scaffold!"
+
+As Hubert pronounced these last words, Gertrude rapped at the door and
+called in a quaking voice:
+
+"Open, open! The commissioner of the Section, in his scarf of office, is
+here with the mounted police. He is coming upstairs."
+
+Hubert drew from his coat pockets a brace of double-barreled pistols,
+cocked them, and said in a low voice:
+
+"I shall sell my life dear; but, by the thousand gods! my first bullet
+will be for you, my coward and traitor brother-in-law!"
+
+Advocate Desmarais leaped to the door and drew back the bolt. His wife,
+struck with a sudden inspiration, and displaying, in the terror which
+seized her, an unwonted strength, dragged her brother into her
+bed-chamber, which opened on the parlor, slammed the door after her, and
+shot the bolt into its socket.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+HOWLING WITH THE WOLVES.
+
+
+While Hubert was thus perforce following his sister to safety, Desmarais
+did not notice his brother-in-law's disappearance; for the lawyer, at
+the moment, was leaving the parlor to meet the commissioner. Contrary to
+his expectations, he did not find the officer in the ante-room, and was
+compelled to go as far as the stair-landing, where he encountered him
+and accompanied him back to the parlor.
+
+The commissioner was a man of cold and rigid physiognomy; in his suite
+were some gendarmes of the Republic, and several police agents. Bowing
+to the commissioner, the advocate said:
+
+"Citizen, if I had a son a traitor to the nation, I would myself give
+him up to the public powers. I would follow the example of Brutus the
+Roman." Then stopping short and casting about him looks of stupefaction,
+he added: "But where has my brother-in-law gone to?"
+
+"That is for me to ask you, Citizen Representative of the people,"
+rejoined the commissioner. "This disappearance is strange!"
+
+"I commence to see! My wife has let out her brother by her bed-chamber;
+the rear staircase descends to the court, and from the court the rascal
+will gain the garden!"
+
+The advocate flung himself against the bedroom door, and beating upon it
+with both fists, cried breathlessly, "God be praised, the traitor will
+not escape us!"
+
+"Go tell our people to redouble their watchfulness," the commissioner
+ordered two of his men, who went out quickly. Just then the sleeping
+room door fell beneath the blows of the lawyer. The chamber was empty.
+
+Suddenly one of the two agents burst in out of breath, crying, "Treason!
+Our man has escaped! Just now two women, one of whom was enveloped in a
+long furred pelisse, wearing a hat with a heavy veil, appeared at the
+carriage gate, where two gendarmes were posted. One of the women said:
+'I am Madam Desmarais; I am going out with my daughter.'"
+
+"A lie! for my daughter is here and could not have left her room!"
+
+"Pursue the fugitives," said the commissioner to some of the men around
+him; then, turning back toward Desmarais, he continued, in a tone of
+suspicion: "Citizen Representative, this escape seems to me cleverly
+planned; but there is still something else to your charge," indicating
+the deal chest. "In the name of the law, I summon you to tell me the
+contents of that case."
+
+Remembering that Hubert had told his sister he had used the pretext of a
+birthday present to her to remove some precious articles from
+domiciliary visitation, the attorney was staggered by the question. But
+driven by the logic of his hypocrisy further and further along the path
+in which he thought lay his safety, the miserable man recovered himself
+with an effort, and said firmly to the commissioner: "Citizen, before
+replying to your question about the chest, I ask the arrest of my wife,
+as an accomplice in the escape of a conspirator."
+
+"I have no warrant for the arrest of Citizeness Desmarais. I shall refer
+the matter to the attorney for the Commune."
+
+"As to the chest, the object of your interrogation, I answer that it
+belongs not to me. It was sent here by my brother-in-law several days
+ago. It should contain, according to what has been told us, a birthday
+present for my wife; but I hasten to add that I have every ground for
+believing that Citizen Hubert, taking advantage of my confidence, has
+sought to conceal from investigation certain compromising papers, by
+sending them to me in that box. I learned of this circumstance only by
+certain words let fall by my brother-in-law just now, when I threatened
+to cause his arrest. I have nothing else to add."
+
+"Lift the cover off the box," ordered the commissioner.
+
+Several gendarmes thrust their bayonets between the cover of the chest
+and the lock, which yielded to their pressure. The case flew open.
+Advocate Desmarais threw an unquiet look into its interior, which was
+filled to the brim with daggers, pistols, and boxes of cartridges. Among
+these were several packages of proclamations issued by the royalist
+insurrectionary committee.
+
+Despite his profound dissimulation and the extraordinary command he
+exercised over himself, Desmarais could not conceal the fright into
+which he was thrown by the exposure of the contents of the chest. But
+curbing his anxiety by a powerful effort, he feigned indifference, and
+tossed back into the box a copy of the proclamation, which he had
+hastily read.
+
+The commissioner seated himself by a table, drew out an inkhorn, and
+began to write.
+
+All at once Madam Desmarais appeared at the door of the parlor, pale,
+fainting, hardly able to keep her feet. Nevertheless in her face could
+be read the joy she felt over her brother's escape, and as she entered
+she said, raising her eyes to heaven:
+
+"Blessed be Thou, my God! He is saved!"
+
+At the sight of his wife Desmarais leaped with rage, ran to her, seized
+her roughly by the arm and cried in a voice that betrayed the extent of
+his terror:
+
+"Citizeness Desmarais, you are guilty of a crime against the nation. I
+call for your imprisonment."
+
+Madam Desmarais looked at her husband in amazement, unable, at first, to
+grasp the import of his words. Just at this moment Charlotte, informed
+by Gertrude of what was taking place, entered the room. She was in time
+to hear the last words of the advocate; she ran to Madam Desmarais,
+clasped her in her arms, and exclaimed:
+
+"Great heaven! Imprison mother! Is it you, father, who thus threaten
+her!"
+
+"Leave the room," retorted the lawyer, accompanying the words with an
+imperious gesture. "Leave the room, my girl. Your presence is not
+needed."
+
+"I, leave the room, when you threaten mother? Never! Where she remains,
+I remain."
+
+"My child, be reassured," replied Madam Desmarais in an undertone,
+giving her daughter a look of intelligence which included the
+commissioner. "Your father is not speaking seriously. Everything will
+come out to our satisfaction."
+
+These words, which might have been heard by the commissioner, still
+further exasperated the lawyer, who, under the double goad of his
+hypocrisy and trepidation, cried: "Citizeness Desmarais, in making
+yourself the confederate in the escape of a criminal, you have exposed
+yourself to carrying your head to the scaffold!"
+
+At these words Charlotte uttered a piercing cry, and fell upon the neck
+of her mother, whom she still held in a tight embrace. But the latter,
+firmly persuaded that her husband was playing a role to conjure away the
+dangers which surrounded him, again said to her daughter, in order to
+calm her anguish:
+
+"But, poor child, know that your father is forced to talk this way in
+the presence of a commissioner of police."
+
+Overwhelmed by so many emotions, Madam Desmarais forgot this time to
+lower her voice sufficiently as she spoke to her daughter. Her words
+fell with distinctness on the ears of her husband, standing near the
+commissioner of the Section, who was still occupied in writing his
+report. False and cowardly men, when in the grip of fear, are capable of
+any act of brutality to protect their own lives. So it now was with
+Desmarais; for, leaden pale with fright, he said to himself:
+
+"I am lost! The commissioner heard my wife's words." Then, addressing
+the magistrate: "Citizen, I have called upon you for the arrest of
+Citizeness Desmarais, my wife."
+
+"And I have already told you, citizen," rejoined the commissioner, "that
+I have no warrant for her arrest."
+
+"My dear girl," whispered Madam Desmarais to her daughter, "your father
+insists on my arrest, knowing that he will not obtain it; be at ease."
+
+"Since, then, you refuse to arrest my wife, citizen commissioner, I call
+upon you to leave here two of your men to keep watch on Citizeness
+Desmarais until her case is settled."
+
+"I consent to leave two agents at your disposal for the surveillance of
+Citizeness Desmarais, since you insist upon it," agreed the magistrate.
+Then, rising and passing the pen to the advocate, he continued: "Please
+sign the record of this seizure of arms, ammunition, and proclamations
+which has just taken place in your dwelling."
+
+"I wish to read the record carefully before I sign it, citizen
+commissioner; we may not agree on the wording of the document."
+
+"I shall wait while you read it," the magistrate replied. And while the
+attorney made himself acquainted with the contents of the record, the
+commissioner approached Madam Desmarais, and said with a good-natured
+and meaning smile: "You are not frightened, citizeness, at the rigor of
+your husband?"
+
+"Sir," replied Madam Desmarais hesitantly, not knowing whether to
+distrust the officer or not, "my husband's conduct does in truth seem to
+me a little strange."
+
+"Eh! by heaven! that's very simple. Alas, in these unhappy times, honest
+men are often obliged to wear certain masks."
+
+"It was thanks to your generous intervention that my brother owes his
+safety."
+
+"Have a care, madam, that my men do not hear you; they are not all
+_sure_. But I have a last word of advice to give you: Try to warn
+monsieur, your brother, to leave Paris as soon as possible, and by the
+St. Victor barrier."
+
+"Ah, monsieur, what goodness!"
+
+"I know that Monsieur Desmarais affects of necessity opinions far
+removed from his heart. Have no fear, then, madam; I caught his meaning
+when he asked for your arrest. So I am going to give you two jailers,
+the best men in the world. Adieu, madam, keep the secret for me, and
+count on my devotion;" and the magistrate added, half aloud: "One must
+howl with the wolves."
+
+As the commissioner moved away, Madam Desmarais said to her daughter
+joyfully, "What an excellent man! Thanks to him my brother will perhaps
+be able to leave Paris to-night without danger. What gratitude we all
+owe him!"
+
+"By the St. Victor barrier, mother; doubtless, that barrier is less
+closely watched than the others. But how can we convey to uncle this
+precious information? There is the difficulty."
+
+"He gave me the number of a place, the home of one of his friends, where
+I might address a letter. I shall go write it at once, and Gertrude
+shall carry it."
+
+These various undertone conversations, and especially the conversation
+of his wife with the commissioner, put Desmarais on the griddle. But,
+obliged to pay all his attention to the police record, he could do no
+more than throw, from time to time, a hurried glance upon the speakers.
+He finally concluded the reading of the report, and having no fault to
+find with its contents, he signed it, saying once more, as he handed it
+back to the commissioner:
+
+"I would remind you, citizen, that I request the arrest of Citizeness
+Desmarais, and in the meanwhile, I insist that two of your agents remain
+here at my disposition."
+
+"I have just issued orders to that effect. I leave you two men who will
+know how to perform their duty in every respect. Adieu, citizen; I shall
+not forget your request, nor the _good example_ you present to the
+patriots in asking the arrest of Citizeness Desmarais. This very day
+Citizen Marat shall be enlightened by me on your patriotism."
+
+With these words, which bore a double significance, the commissioner
+bowed low to Madam Desmarais and her daughter, marched out with his men,
+who carried with them the chest of arms, and said to two of the agents
+who accompanied him:
+
+"You are to remain outside the parlor at the orders of Citizen
+Desmarais;" and added in a lower tone: "Keep watch around the house;
+follow the young woman who will go out."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE HOWL RINGS FALSE.
+
+
+At the same instant Madam Desmarais was saying to herself:
+
+"Let me hasten to write to my brother that he may even to-night quit
+Paris, by the St. Victor barrier." And, rushing to her husband as the
+double doors of the parlor swung to, she exclaimed joyfully:
+
+"Ah, my friend, what a fine fellow that commissioner is! He does like
+you--he _roars with the tigers and howls with the wolves_!"
+
+"What!" exploded the lawyer, taken aback. "Do you mean to say--?"
+
+"I mean this worthy man understood that in demanding my arrest, poor
+friend, you were only playing a role. Not so, Charlotte?"
+
+"Oh, yes! For he said to mother, 'In these times of revolution, honest
+men are obliged to wear a mask.'"
+
+"And I made answer," continued Madam Desmarais, "that, in fact, you were
+obliged to _howl with the wolves_, as you have so often repeated to me
+to-day."
+
+"Wretched woman!" screamed the lawyer, as he sprang at his wife, his
+fist raised in a paroxysm of rage.
+
+"Father, recollect yourself, for pity!"
+
+A moment later Desmarais's fury gave way to prostration. His features
+were overspread with an ashen pallor, he reeled, and had barely time to
+throw himself into an arm-chair, mumbling as if his senses had forsaken
+him--"I am lost!--The guillotine!"
+
+Madam Desmarais and her daughter flew to the advocate's side, raised his
+inert head, and made him breathe their salts. Hardly had he come to
+himself when Gertrude entered and announced:
+
+"Monsieur Billaud-Varenne asks to speak with monsieur, on a very urgent
+matter."
+
+The announcement of the visit of his colleague seemed to reanimate the
+lawyer. A glow of hope shone in his almost deathly countenance. He rose
+abruptly, saying:
+
+"Billaud must have seen St. Just. If he accepts my proposition, I am
+saved!" Then, in a curt, hard voice he addressed his wife: "Retire to
+your apartment, madam; I have to talk business, grave political
+business, with Citizen Billaud-Varenne."
+
+Followed by her daughter, Madam Desmarais went out, and her husband
+ordered Gertrude to show Citizen Billaud-Varenne into the parlor. As the
+maid left, the two police agents placed on watch were seated near the
+parlor door.
+
+"Come now, let's compose ourselves," muttered the advocate, mopping the
+perspiration which beaded his brow. "Billaud-Varenne is another sort of
+monster, and perhaps more dangerous than Marat. What answer will he
+bring me? If St. Just consents to be my son-in-law, I have nothing more
+to fear! If not--ah! What a hell!"
+
+Billaud-Varenne entered. The Representative of the people was not a
+monster, as the advocate had christened him; but a man of inflexible
+convictions and rigid probity, besides being the possessor of some
+fortune. He did not touch, any more than Lepelletier St. Fargeau,
+Herault of Sechelles, and other wealthy citizens, the compensation
+allowed to a Representative. Gifted with natural eloquence, always
+sanguine, there was no patriot more devoted to the Revolution than
+Billaud-Varenne. He wore a short-haired black wig, and a maroon suit
+with steel buttons; like Robespierre, St. Just, Camille Desmoulins and
+other Jacobins, he carried dignity even into the care of his person and
+his clothes.
+
+"Eh, well, colleague," quoth Billaud-Varenne on entering, "what am I to
+surmise by this visit of the Section commissioner, whom I just met
+leaving your rooms?"
+
+"Confess that it is a spicy incident to find, in the house one of us
+Mountainists a deposit of royalist poniards!"
+
+"That is very easily explained: You receive a case from the depot, you
+don't know what is in it--nothing simpler."
+
+"Do you think, my dear colleague, that it seemed so simple to the
+commissioner?"
+
+"He could know nothing to the contrary. But, between ourselves, you
+exhibited extreme rigor towards your wife."
+
+"You know that also--?"
+
+"I know that you applied for her arrest, and that you demanded two
+watchmen, whom I found out there, in the ante-room. The precaution seems
+to me excessive."
+
+"You disapprove of this measure, you, Billaud-Varenne, you, man of
+iron?"
+
+"I disapprove of your whole procedure. My dear colleague, there are
+painful duties to which one resigns himself; but there are useless
+harshnesses which one does not call down upon his dear ones. That is my
+way of looking at it." Without noticing, or without seeming to notice,
+the uneasiness which his last words produced in Desmarais,
+Billaud-Varenne proceeded:
+
+"But, let us speak of the object of my visit. I am just from the
+Jacobins, where I saw St. Just. He was highly sensible of the honor of
+the advances I made him on your part, on the subject of his marrying
+your daughter; but he refused to contract any union whatsoever."
+
+"He refuses!" gasped Desmarais, pale with consternation. "Is not the
+refusal perhaps revokable?"
+
+"St. Just never turns back on a determination once taken."
+
+"But, at least, I may know the cause of his declination? Answer my
+question, my dear colleague."
+
+"St. Just would have been happy to enter your family, he told me, if
+Mademoiselle Desmarais had looked favorably upon his court; but he
+thinks that under the grave circumstances in which we now find
+ourselves, a man of politics should remain free from all bonds, even
+those of the family, in order to consecrate himself wholly to public
+affairs. He wishes to hold himself ready for all sacrifices, even that
+of his life."
+
+"Perhaps St. Just deems my daughter has not been brought up in
+principles of civic duty sufficiently pure. Had he regarded me as a
+better patriot, his answer would have no doubt been different?"
+
+"Of a truth, my dear colleague, you are a singular fellow. In the
+Constituent Assembly, you voted with the extreme Left; at the Jacobins,
+I have heard you propose and support the most revolutionary motions; you
+vote with us of the Mountain; and yet you seem to fear lest we suspect
+the sincerity of your convictions!"
+
+"And why, then, should I fear that anyone doubted my sincerity?"
+
+"My faith, you must answer that question yourself!"
+
+"Oh, then the answer is easy, my dear Billaud: The Revolution is, and
+should be, a jealous, distrustful, exacting mistress to those devoted to
+her; and I continually fear not having done enough, and being accused of
+lukewarmness." Then, anxious to escape from a subject that embarrassed
+him, and to hide the cruel disappointment occasioned by St. Just's
+refusal, Desmarais added, "What is new to-night at the Jacobins?"
+
+"A speech of hardly a quarter of an hour in length, but which created an
+incalculable impression upon its hearers."
+
+"On what subject?"
+
+"Louis XVI's penalty."
+
+"And the speaker was--?"
+
+"A young man whom I am proud to number among my friends, for his modesty
+equals his patriotism and merit. He is a simple iron-worker. We wished
+to nominate him for the Convention; he refused our offer, but consented
+to accept municipal office."
+
+"John Lebrenn!"
+
+"Precisely. He was the orator in question."
+
+"He is my pupil, my dear pupil!" returned Desmarais. "It is I who put
+him through his revolutionary education."
+
+"This young man, ardent, generous, yet tender and delicate as he is by
+nature, has but one rule of conduct--eternal justice and morality. He is
+a lofty soul. Marat and Robespierre both congratulated him upon his
+speech, which concluded with these words:
+
+"'Louis XVI was born kind, humane, and graced with parts, and behold
+what corrupting, subversive, detestable influences lurk in the very
+essence of kingship. It has turned this man, so happily made up, into a
+traitor, a perjurer, a murderer, a parricide who has unchained against
+his mother country the arms of foreigners and emigrants. Ah, citizens,
+in judging, in condemning this guilty one of high rank, it is less the
+man than the King and still less the King than royalty itself that you
+smite. The ax that will strike off the head of Louis XVI will decapitate
+the monarchy, that dynasty of a foreign race imposed on Gaul for so many
+centuries by violence and conquest.'"
+
+"That's superb!" exclaimed the lawyer. "That's fine! Lo, the fruit of my
+lessons!"
+
+"Your pupil closed by ably contrasting with the days of September the
+judicial condemnation of Louis Capet: 'Before August 10 the crimes of
+Louis XVI were notorious; they merited death,' quoth Lebrenn. 'Suppose
+the people in its fury had taken summary justice on the guilty one.
+Suppose he had been stricken down during the insurrection. Compare that
+death, almost furtive, half veiled by the murk of battle, with the
+august spectacle which the Convention is now about to offer to the
+world, before God and man! A people calm in its sovereignty, judging and
+condemning, in the name of the law, the criminal who was its King. To
+the dagger of Brutus we shall oppose the sword of Justice! The tyrant
+shall be smitten in the name of all, in the public place. He shall pass
+from the throne to the scaffold. May in like manner the heads of all
+tyrants fall!'"
+
+"That is immense!" again exclaimed Desmarais. "I am proud of my pupil."
+
+"And what enhances your pupil's worth, my dear colleague, is that his
+modesty is equal to his patriotism. Robespierre, mounting the tribunal
+after Lebrenn, commended his discourse with the words: 'This young man
+has just spoken to us in the language of the philosopher, the historian,
+the statesman. He is a simple workman, who toils ten hours a day at his
+rough trade of iron-worker to supply his wants.' These words of
+Robespierre's signalized the ovation received by Lebrenn at the
+Jacobins. And now I take my leave of you, my dear Desmarais, reiterating
+my regret at having failed in the mission you entrusted me with to St.
+Just. Moreover, he will probably tell you himself to-morrow at the
+Convention how sensible he was of your tenders, and for what reasons he
+feels constrained to decline them."
+
+"I should have been happy to have for son-in-law a man as eminent in
+talent as for patriotism. I have firmly made up my mind not to give my
+daughter to anyone but a republican of our stripe, dear colleague."
+
+"But now I think of it," interjected Billaud-Varenne, stopping and
+coming back a few steps, "you desire for son-in-law a republican eminent
+alike for his love of country and his talent? Is that your desire?"
+
+"It is my most ardent wish!"
+
+"Well, then, my dear Desmarais, you have that son-in-law under your
+hand--your pupil, Citizen John Lebrenn! The young man has lived close
+beside you, you must be acquainted with his manners and his private
+character. Mademoiselle Desmarais, reared by you in austere principles,
+ought, allowing for her personal inclinations, which should always be
+respected, to welcome such an aspirant to her hand. John Lebrenn is
+young, and of attractive appearance. So that, if such a marriage were
+pleasing to your daughter, would it not be an act calculated to draw
+toward you everyone's affection, for having begun the merging of the
+classes? Everybody would applaud the marriage of the daughter of the
+rich bourgeois, of the advocate of renown, with the simple artisan. What
+think you of the idea, my dear colleague?"
+
+"You shall soon know," replied advocate Desmarais after a moment's
+reflection, during which he vainly racked his brains for an avenue of
+escape from the meshes of his own duplicity, now closed in upon him.
+Then he ran to the table, seated himself, seized paper and pen, and
+dashed off a few lines, while he said silently to himself:
+
+"The danger admits of no hesitation. The sacrifice is consummated. After
+Billaud-Varenne's utterances on the 'merging of the classes,' I can no
+longer hang back. He is interested in Lebrenn; he will inform the boy of
+the proposal he just made to me; he will learn that John and my daughter
+have loved each other for four years and more. It will then be clear to
+Billaud-Varenne that my only reason for opposition to the union is my
+repugnance to giving my daughter to a workingman. I shudder for the
+consequences! Such a revelation, coming on the heels of Hubert's escape
+and the discovery of the depot of royalist arms and proclamations in my
+house, is capable of leading me straight to the guillotine!"
+
+While indulging in these reflections, Desmarais indicted the following
+letter to John Lebrenn:
+
+     My dear John:
+
+     I await you at once, at my home. My daughter is yours, on one only
+     condition, which I expect from your loyalty in which I have
+     absolute confidence.
+
+     That condition is:
+
+     _Never to mention to anyone, and particularly not to
+     Billaud-Varenne, that you loved my daughter four years ago._
+
+     I await you.
+
+     Fraternal greetings,
+
+     DESMARAIS.
+
+The letter written, Desmarais rang. Gertrude appeared and the lawyer
+said to her:
+
+"Carry this letter immediately to Citizen John Lebrenn, and wait for an
+answer."
+
+"Yes, monsieur," answered the maid, and went on her errand.
+
+"My dear colleague, excuse me for an instant, and I shall see whether my
+wife and daughter can receive us."
+
+Thus left alone, Billaud-Varenne gave himself up to reflection. "There
+is a rat here somewhere," he mused. "Why does Desmarais wish to present
+me to his wife and daughter? Truly there are strange shifts in this
+man's conduct. He continually forces upon me a vague mistrust, and yet
+his vote, his speech, and his deed have always been in accord with the
+most advanced revolutionary principles. Whence comes this constant fear,
+which everything awakens in him, of being taken for a traitor? Just now
+he seemed shocked and startled at the idea which came to me to propose
+Lebrenn as his son-in-law. Does the bourgeois _sans-culotte_ want to be
+a bourgeois _gentleman_? Does the rich lawyer fear he will debase
+himself in giving his daughter to a workman? And finally, what an absurd
+affectation of stoicism for him to call for the arrest of his wife
+because she yielded to the respectable sentiment of sisterly tenderness!
+Has he not constituted himself her jailer? Do these exaggerations mask
+treason or only extreme cowardice? Is Desmarais a traitor or
+lily-livered? or traitor and coward combined? After all, what matters
+it? He is an instrument, he is popular, eloquent, subtle, well-listened
+to in the Assembly. But, in times of reaction, traitors and cowards who
+by their exaggerations on one side have attained a certain popularity,
+become no less exaggerated the other way, and, in the desire to save
+their heads or 'give pledges,' send in preference their old friends to
+the scaffold. Desmarais may someday, if my distrust be well grounded,
+blossom forth into one of these furious reactionists. Lest that be the
+case, the proof of treason once at hand the evil must be cut out at the
+root." Punctuating his last words with a gesture of terrible
+significance, Billaud-Varenne added: "At any rate, let us await facts
+before forming a final judgment. Marat's penetration never fails, and he
+has his eye on our dear colleague."
+
+Billaud-Varenne's soliloquy was cut short by the return of Desmarais,
+flanked by his wife and daughter. The latter seemed sweetly moved by the
+confidence her father had just made her, touching his determination in
+the matter of her marriage with John Lebrenn. Madam Desmarais, on the
+contrary, was under the influence of mournful thoughts, by reason of the
+events in which she found her brother involved, the fate of whom caused
+her no slight anxiety; she was at much pains to restrain her tears.
+
+The member of the Assembly, bowing with kind and respectful courtesy to
+the wife of his colleague, spoke first:
+
+"I regret, madam, that it is at a moment so sad to you that I have the
+honor of being presented; but I hope, indeed I am certain, that my dear
+colleague will not prolong much more your captivity, but will deliver
+you from your guardians."
+
+"Citizen Billaud-Varenne, it shall be as you desire. I shall send away
+the agents charged with keeping guard over Citizeness Desmarais. Jailers
+in our hall go ill with a day of betrothal."
+
+"What say you, citizen," ejaculated Billaud-Varenne. "A day of
+betrothal?"
+
+"The letter I wrote just this instant, was destined to my pupil Lebrenn.
+I announced to him, very simply, that I offered him the hand of my
+daughter."
+
+"Your procedure is indeed worthy of praise."
+
+"And now, my daughter," continued Desmarais solemnly, "answer me
+truthfully. Before your departure from Paris for Lyons, you often saw
+here our young neighbor Lebrenn. What is your opinion of the young
+citizen?"
+
+"I think that there is no soul more lofty, no character more generous,
+no heart better than his. He is a young man of worth."
+
+"You consent to wed him?"
+
+"I consent with all the greater willingness, father, because, unknown to
+you and mother, I have for a long time loved Monsieur John Lebrenn, the
+valiant iron-worker. I even believe that my affection is returned."
+
+"The young girl is charming in her grace and candor," thought
+Billaud-Varenne. "What a strange falling out! These two young people
+love each other in secret! In very truth, it is a romance, an idyll!"
+
+"What, my daughter, you love our young friend, and he loves you!" cried
+the lawyer, putting on an air of great surprise. "And you hid your love
+from me? How comes it that you and our friend John made a mystery of the
+love you felt for each other?"
+
+The return of Gertrude interrupted the colloquy.
+
+"Well! What answer did our young neighbor make to my letter?"
+
+"Citizen John Lebrenn is absent. The porter told me that on leaving the
+club of the Jacobins, he came to change his clothes, putting on his
+uniform of municipal officer, in order to go to the Temple Prison, where
+he is to mount guard to-night over Louis Capet. I brought the letter
+back. Here it is."
+
+"Ah, I regret this mischance, dear colleague," said the lawyer;
+"especially now that I am aware of the love of these two children for
+each other. I would have been overjoyed to have you witness the
+happiness for which you are in part responsible."
+
+"I share your regrets, dear colleague," replied Billaud-Varenne; then,
+smiling, after a moment's thought: "It remains with you to grant me a
+compensation for which I shall be very grateful. Entrust to me this
+letter, which I will have delivered, this very evening at the Temple, to
+our young friend."
+
+"Ah, sir, how good you are," said Charlotte quickly, blushing with
+emotion. "Thank you for your gracious offer."
+
+"Here is the letter, dear colleague. As much as my daughter, I thank you
+for your cordial interest," added the lawyer, handing over the missive;
+while he said to himself: "Billaud-Varenne is incapable of opening a
+letter confided to him and addressed to John Lebrenn. He will not see
+him to-night; I need, then, fear no indiscretion on the boy's part, and
+it is for me now to inform John, as soon as possible, of my projects and
+the conditions I impose upon him for his marriage."
+
+"Adieu, madam, adieu, mademoiselle," Billaud-Varenne was saying to the
+two women, as he bowed to each; "I shall carry with me at least the
+certainty that this evening, begun under such sad auspices, will end in
+domestic joy."
+
+Madam Desmarais, overwhelmed with apprehensions of her brother's fate,
+could only reply sadly as she returned the bow, "I thank you, monsieur,
+for your good wishes."
+
+"Till to-morrow, dear colleague," said the lawyer, going with
+Billaud-Varenne as far as the door of the parlor; and then he added in
+an undertone, "If, as I have no doubt, John Lebrenn marries my daughter,
+would it not be timely to mention the marriage in the journal of our
+friend Marat?"
+
+"I promise you, colleague, to speak of it to Marat; he will consider the
+matter," responded Billaud-Varenne with a touch of irony; and he
+muttered to himself: "Affectation again. This bidding for popularity
+once more arouses my suspicions."
+
+"Citizens," said the lawyer to the two agents of the Section
+commissioner posted outside the door, "you may withdraw. Fraternal
+greetings." And addressing Billaud-Varenne, he repeated: "Till
+to-morrow, dear colleague."
+
+"Till to-morrow!" returned the latter. "I shall go at once to the
+Temple, and within the hour, John Lebrenn shall have your letter." After
+which the member of the National Convention once more added, to himself:
+
+"Positively, I think Marat must keep his eye on Desmarais; he seems to
+me a hypocrite who will well bear watching."
+
+
+END OF VOLUME I.
+
+
+
+
+THE SWORD OF HONOR THE FULL SERIES OF
+
+The Mysteries of the People
+
+:: OR::
+
+History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages
+
+By EUGENE SUE
+
+_Consisting of the Following Works_:
+
+
+THE GOLD SICKLE; or, _Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen_.
+THE BRASS BELL; or, _The Chariot of Death_.
+THE IRON COLLAR; or, _Faustina and Syomara_.
+THE SILVER CROSS; or, _The Carpenter of Nazareth_.
+THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, _Victoria, the Mother of the Camps_.
+THE PONIARD'S HILT; or, _Karadeuoq and Ronan_.
+THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, _The Monastery of Charolles_.
+THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, _Bonaik and Septimine_.
+THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, _The Daughters of Charlemagne_.
+THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, _The Buckler Maiden_.
+THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, _The End of the World_.
+THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, _Fergan the Quarryman_.
+THE IRON PINCERS; or, _Mylio and Karvel_.
+THE IRON TREVET; or, _Jocelyn the Champion_.
+THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, _Joan of Arc_.
+THE POCKET BIBLE; or, _Christian the Printer_.
+THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, _The Peasant Code_.
+THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, _The Foundation of the French Republic_.
+THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, _The Family Lebrenn_.
+
+
+Published Uniform With This Volume By
+
+THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.
+
+28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY
+
+
+
+
+THE
+SWORD OF HONOR
+
+: : OR : :
+
+THE FOUNDATION OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
+
+
+A Tale of The French Revolution
+
+By EUGENE SUE
+
+In Two Volumes
+
+VOL. II
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH
+By SOLON DE LEON
+NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1910
+Copyright, 1911, by the
+NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX TO VOLUME 2
+
+PART II--THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION. (Continued)
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+XIV. JESUIT CAMPAIGNING                                                1
+
+XV. THE KING ON TRIAL                                                 23
+
+XVI. LEBRENN AND NEROWEG                                              33
+
+XVII. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE                                            45
+
+XVIII. THE KING SENTENCED                                             61
+
+XIX. EXECUTION                                                        66
+
+XX. MARRIAGE OF JOHN LEBRENN                                          69
+
+XXI. A LOVE FROM THE GRAVE                                            76
+
+XXII. MASTER AND FOREMAN                                              84
+
+XXIII. TO THE WORKMAN THE TOOL                                        95
+
+XXIV. LOST AGAIN                                                     101
+
+XXV. ROYALIST BARBARITIES                                            111
+
+XXVI. A REVOLUTIONARY OUTPOST                                        122
+
+XXVII. THE HEROINE IN ARMS                                           137
+
+XXVIII. SERVING AND MIS-SERVING                                      150
+
+XXIX. BATTLE OF THE LINES OF WEISSENBURG                             159
+
+XXX. DEATH OF VICTORIA                                               175
+
+XXXI. ONRUSH OF THE REVOLUTION                                       178
+
+XXXII. AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM!                                       188
+
+XXXIII. ARREST OF ROBESPIERRE                                        196
+
+XXXIV. THE NINTH THERMIDOR.                                          205
+
+XXXV. DEATH OF ROBESPIERRE.                                          213
+
+
+PART III--NAPOLEON.
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I. THE WHITE TERROR                                                  221
+
+II. COLONEL OLIVER                                                   227
+
+III. CROSS PURPOSES                                                  240
+
+IV. LAYING THE TRAIN                                                 245
+
+V. THE EIGHTEENTH BRUMAIRE                                           252
+
+VI. IN THE ORANGERY AT ST. CLOUD                                     258
+
+VII. GLORY; AND ELBA                                                 268
+
+VIII. RETURN OF NAPOLEON                                             277
+
+IX. WATERLOO                                                         288
+
+X. DEPOSITION                                                        295
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+I. "TO THE BARRICADES!"--1830                                        303
+
+II. ORLEANS ON THE THRONE                                            317
+
+CONCLUSION                                                           328
+
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION
+
+(Continued.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+JESUIT CAMPAIGNING.
+
+
+While these events were taking place at the abode of advocate Desmarais,
+a royalist cabal was in full swing in St. Roche Street, on the fourth
+floor of an old house built at the rear of a courtyard. An ex-beadle of
+the parish, devoted to Abbot Morlet, and generously feed from the
+strong-box of the clerical and aristocratic party, received the
+conspirators in his lodge, consisting of two mansard buildings huddled
+together. A secret issue, contrived in the bottom of a pantry,
+communicated from the rear-most of these two buildings with the garret
+of the neighboring house, which was also kept by royalists. In a corner
+of the garret opened a trap which gave access to a _cachette_, as they
+were called in those times, a hiding-place large enough to hold four
+beds, and sufficiently supplied with air and light through a section of
+drain-pipe running up along the chimney which formed one of the sides of
+the perfectly contrived refuge. In case of a sudden descent upon the
+home of the ex-beadle, the latter, warned by the porter, who was in his
+confidence, would give the alarm to the refugees sheltered with him;
+these then decamped by the secret issue and gained the cachette, where
+they were doubly secure; for even if the trap in the pantry were
+discovered, one would suppose the fugitives to have escaped by the
+staircase of the neighboring house. There were in Paris a number of
+these places, designed for refractory priests, ex-nobles, and suspects,
+who conspired against the Republic.
+
+So on this night in question, the royalist cabal was met at the home of
+the ex-beadle. The Count of Plouernel was there, and his younger
+brother, the Bishop in partibus of Gallipoli; also the Marquis of St.
+Esteve, that insufferable laugher, who four years before had attended
+the supper given by the Count to Marchioness Aldini; and Abbot Morlet.
+The members of the cabal were seated in camp chairs about a clay stove;
+all were dressed like bourgeois, and wore their hair without powder. The
+Marquis alone was frizzled like hoar-frost; he had on an elegant coat of
+purple cloth with gold buttons, and purple trousers to match; his
+stockings of white silk were half hidden by the legs of his
+jockey-boots. Good humor and joviality were written all over his
+countenance, as expansive as if that very moment he were not staking his
+head. The Bishop of Gallipoli, the junior of the Count of Plouernel by
+several years, was dressed as a layman; both he and the Marquis, for a
+long time emigrated, had recently succeeded in crossing the frontier and
+regaining Paris, where they lay in concealment, like a great many other
+aristocrats returned from abroad. The face of Jesuit Morlet was still,
+as always, calm and sardonic; he wore a carmagnole jacket and red
+bonnet.
+
+Eleven o'clock sounded from the Church of St. Roche.
+
+"Eleven o'clock," quoth the Count of Plouernel. "We were to have been
+all met at ten; and here we are only four at the rendezvous. There are
+twenty members on the committee. Such negligence is unpardonable! The
+absentees are incurring grave responsibility."
+
+"Their negligence is all the more reprehensible seeing that we must act
+to-morrow; it is to-morrow that the King is to be taken to that den of
+knaves, known as the Convention," added his brother the Bishop.
+
+"Our friends must be kept away by some serious obstacle," continued
+Plouernel. "Gentlemen can not be suspected of cowardice."
+
+The Marquis let loose a peal of laughter. "Gentlemen! And that
+money-changer, that Monsieur Hubert! That blue head! At first I would
+not be one of the party, when I learned I had to sit with that
+bourgeois. But after all, he bears the name of the great St. Hubert,
+patron of hunters! Hi! hi! And so, out of regard for his patron, I
+admitted the clown!"
+
+"For God's sake, Marquis," broke in Plouernel, "put a bridle on your
+hilarity. Let us talk sense. This Monsieur Hubert is a determined clown,
+and very influential among the old grenadiers of the battalion of the
+Daughters of St. Thomas."
+
+"Hi! hi! hi!" shrieked the Marquis, "a battalion of girls given the
+title of St. Thomas, who had to touch in order to believe! Hi! hi! hi!
+Bless me, Count, I could teach that battalion an evolution which would
+amuse us. Load and empty! Hi! hi!"
+
+"No one else is coming; we are wasting precious time. Let us take
+counsel," put in Jesuit Morlet, sourly. "The porter is to whistle in
+case of alarm. At that signal, my god-son, on the watch on the second
+floor, will come up to warn the beadle, and we shall have time to flee,
+or to gain the cachette through the pantry. Let us take account of the
+state of affairs--"
+
+"This double-bottomed pantry reminds me," struck in the uproarious
+Marquis, "of a certain gallant adventure of which I was once the hero.
+I'll tell it to you--"
+
+"Devil take the bore! Give us a rest with your stories," quoth the
+Count.
+
+"Marquis, why did you return to France? Answer categorically," said the
+Bishop to him.
+
+"Idiot! To save my King! To snatch him out of the hands of the
+Philistines!"
+
+"And is it thus that you pretend to save him, by interrupting our
+deliberations with your buffoonery? With jests out of season?"
+
+"But you are not deliberating on a thing! You're sitting there like
+three sea-storks! Hi! hi! hi! You're not going ahead with the business
+any more than I am."
+
+"The giddy fellow is correct," said Morlet, for once taking the
+Marquis's side. "We shall never finish if we do not introduce some order
+into this. I shall take the chair, and open the meeting."
+
+"You--take the chair--my reverend sir? And by what right?" was the reply
+of the Bishop of Gallipoli.
+
+"By the right which a man of sense has over fools like the Marquis; by
+the right which my age gives me. For I am here much older than any of
+you."
+
+"So be it; preside," said Plouernel.
+
+"If it is only a question of the precedence of age, I yield," said his
+brother.
+
+"Oh, and I also! Hi! hi!" cried the Marquis, holding his sides.
+
+"By heaven, Marquis, we shall have to toss you out of the window!"
+impatiently shouted the Count.
+
+"Shut your heads, one and all of you," commanded Abbot Morlet. "I shall
+put the case to you in two words. To-morrow Louis XVI will be conducted
+from the prison of the Temple to the bar of the Convention. The occasion
+seems favorable for rescuing the King during the passage. Here is the
+means proposed. Five or six hundred resolute men, armed under their
+cloaks with pistols and poniards, will meet at different places
+previously agreed on, and locate themselves in isolated groups along the
+route to be taken by the King; they will mingle with the crowd, affect
+the language of the sans-culottes, and propagate the rumor, designedly
+launched several days ago, that the majority of the Convention is
+resolved to spare the life of Capet, and that the people must take
+justice into its own hands. Our agents will strive thus to inflame the
+people; during the passage of the King they will cry, 'Death to the
+tyrant!' At those words, the signal agreed upon, they shall resolutely
+attack the escort with pistols and daggers. It is our hope that, favored
+by the tumult, we may be able boldly to seize Louis XVI, and carry him
+off to some safe retreat prepared in advance. Our men will then march to
+the Convention and exterminate its members; this being successfully
+accomplished, proclamations already in print will be placarded over
+Paris calling all honest men to arms against the Republic. A part of the
+old elite companies of the National Guard, all the royalists and
+constitutionalists of Paris, the Emigrants who have been arriving for a
+fortnight--all will respond to the call to arms, and conduct the King to
+the Tuileries. Numerous emissaries will be sent at once into the west
+and south, and to Lyons, all of which places are ready to rise at the
+voice of the nobles and priests in hiding there. Civil war will flare up
+at once in several parts of the kingdom. The foreign armies, demoralized
+by their defeat at Valmy, are now beating an offensive retreat to the
+frontier; it is hoped that, through the civil war and the consequent
+chaos, the allies will regain the advantage they had at the opening of
+the campaign, advance on Paris by forced marches, and inflict terrible
+chastisement upon it. This culmination, prepared with a long hand--the
+only way to save the King--was about to occur just before the September
+massacres. The massacres had their good and their bad side."
+
+"You dare to say there was a good side to that carnage? Your language is
+odious!" interrupted the Bishop.
+
+"The massacres of September had a good side and a bad side," calmly
+reiterated the Abbot. "Here is the bad: The most active chiefs in the
+conspiracy, detained as suspects in the prisons, whence they were
+carrying on their plots, were killed; the royalists of Paris and the
+provinces, struck with terror, lay low and ceased their activity. It
+took three months to knit together all the threads of the conspiracy
+which had been snapped by the death of its leaders. The September
+massacres had also the bad aspect for us that they were combined with an
+outburst of patriotism. The volunteers, flocking in mass to the front,
+changed entirely by their bedevilled fury the previous tactics of the
+war. The Prussian infantry, the best in Europe, was overcome by the
+mad-caps--there is danger lest it may long remain in the panic into
+which it was thrown by the bayonet charge of the volunteers at the
+battle of Valmy."
+
+"Blue death! my reverend sir, you would best hold your tongue in matters
+of war, of which you know nothing!" the Count of Plouernel impatiently
+declared. "I served in the Emigrant corps which stormed the position of
+Croix-aux-Bois at the battle of Argonne; I was at the side of the Duke
+of Brunswick in the affray at Valmy; and I say that if the Prussian
+infantry was beaten down by these bare-feet, who precipitated themselves
+upon us like savages, it is now recovered from the panic, and asks
+nothing better than to avenge its disgrace. Yes, and let a war come, a
+real war, a great war, and the allies will make a butchery of these
+undisciplined hordes. The Prussians will feed fat their vengeance!"
+
+"And I in turn tell you, that in this matter you are completely off your
+base," was the Abbot's unmoved rejoinder.
+
+"By heaven, my reverend sir!" flared back the Count, "measure your
+terms!"
+
+And the giggling Marquis cried, "Plague on it, Abbot, all you need is a
+switch to give us a flogging! Hi! hi! hi!"
+
+"And in your case in particular, Marquis, it would fall where it was
+deserved. But to continue, I come now to the good, the excellent side of
+the September massacres."
+
+Again the mere mention of such a possibility was more than the Bishop
+could contain himself under. "It is impossible," he broke in, "to sit
+still and hear it said in cold blood that that abominable carnage
+produced any good results."
+
+"Monseigneur," was Morlet's reply, "it does not at all become you to
+discredit events in which you did not participate. Disguised as a
+charcoal burner, and with my god-son as a chimney-sweep, I saw these
+massacres at close range. Do you remember, Count, what I told you over
+the supper-table, four years ago, the evening the Bastille was taken:
+The ferocious beast must get the taste of blood to put it in the humor
+of slaying? Well, so it was. And, to make the blood flow, I rolled back
+my sleeves to the elbow, and set to work! So I say again, the massacres
+of September held this much good for us, that they aroused general
+horror throughout Europe and exasperated the foreign powers, even
+including England, which was until then almost neutral, but is now
+become the soul of the coalition. Even in Paris, this execrable hot-bed
+of revolution, where, it must be admitted, the massacres were, in a
+moment of vertigo, accepted by all classes of the people as a measure of
+public safety, they now inspire unspeakable horror! The revolutionists
+themselves are divided into two camps--the patriots of the 10th of
+August, and the Septembrists--a precious germ of internal discord among
+the wretches. All in all, there is good, much good for us, in the days
+of September. The terror evoked by them will come to the assistance of
+the present plot. Everything is prepared; the posts are assigned, the
+depots of arms established, the proclamations printed. Lehiron, a knave
+for any trick, if you grease his palm well, is in charge of the band of
+make-believe sans-culottes which is to assail the King's escort. I can
+answer for his intelligence and courage; he awaits his final orders next
+door. Finally, this very evening, and in spite of the careful guard kept
+about him, Louis XVI is to receive from his waiting-man Clery word of
+the project, merely that the prince may not be frightened at the tumult,
+and that he may follow with confidence those who give him the pass-word,
+'God and the King! Pilnitz and Brunswick.' That, then, is how matters
+stand. A plot has been framed, it is on the eve of being carried out.
+Now, I put this question: Is the time ripe for action?"
+
+Mute with astonishment, the Count, the Marquis and the Bishop stared
+blankly at one another. The Count was the first to break the silence:
+
+"How is that! You give out the details, the agencies, the object of the
+plot, the execution of which is fixed for to-morrow, and still you seem
+to be in doubt as to whether action should be taken?"
+
+"I ask deliberation on these two plain propositions: First, would it not
+be more opportune to await the day set for the execution of Louis
+XVI--his condemnation is not a matter of doubt--and only then attempt
+our stroke, in the hope that the horror of regicide will add to the
+number of our partisans? And secondly,--it is I, on my own initiative,
+on my own responsibility, who propose this grave question--would it not
+be more expedient, in the manifest interest of the Church and the
+monarchy--simply to allow Louis to be guillotined?"
+
+The Jesuit's proposal, as strange as it was unexpected, threw his
+hearers into such amazement that they were struck dumb anew, and sat
+with their mouths hanging open. Three taps at the door, given like a
+preconcerted signal, were heard in the stillness.
+
+"It is my god-son," whispered the Jesuit; and in a louder tone, he
+added: "Come in!"
+
+Little Rodin was togged out in a red jacket and bonnet the same as the
+prelate. He saluted the company.
+
+"What news, my child? What have you to tell us?" inquired his
+preceptor.
+
+"Gentle god-father, there is a man down below, with the porter,
+disguised as a woman. He gave the pass-word, but the porter, not
+recognizing him, replied that he knew not what he was after with his
+jargon. Scenting a possible spy, the porter sent his wife up to me on
+the second floor, to warn me of what had happened."
+
+"Doubtless it is one of our men, obliged to take refuge in disguise,"
+began the Count.
+
+"It is more serious than that," the Bishop dissented. "How are you to
+make sure he is one of us?"
+
+"A man tricked out as a woman!" exclaimed the Marquis. "Is this carnival
+time?"
+
+"You know all our people by sight?" asked Morlet of his god-son.
+
+"Yes, dear god-father. When I've seen a person once, I do not forget
+him. The Lord God," and he crossed himself, "has blessed His little
+servant with the gift of memory, which he has so much use for."
+
+"Go down to the porter's lodge," returned his dear god-father. "Examine
+the personage in question. If you recognize him, tell the porter to let
+him come up. If not, come back and let me know."
+
+"Yes, good god-father, your orders shall be followed to the dot!"
+responded little Rodin, sliding out of the door, while the Bishop asked,
+dubiously:
+
+"But may not that child make a mistake? Meseems the errand is poorly
+entrusted."
+
+"My god-son is a prodigy of cleverness and penetration," returned the
+Abbot.
+
+The interrupted topic of discussion was immediately resumed by the
+Count.
+
+"I refuse to sit under a chairman," said he, "a priest, a subject of the
+King, who has the sacrilegious audacity of bringing up for consideration
+the abominable question, Is it, yes or no, expedient to allow Louis XVI
+to be guillotined?"
+
+"Such abomination would seem incredible," chimed in the Bishop, "did one
+not know that the Society of Jesus often preaches regicide."
+
+"The Society of Jesus has preached, has counseled regicide whenever it
+became important to suppress Kings _ad majorem Dei gloriam_--to the
+greater glory of God! The church is above monarchs," retorted the
+representative of the Society.
+
+"A capital pleasantry!" put in the Marquis. "Here we are met to advise
+on measures to save the King, and the priest proposes to us to let them
+clip his head! The idea is brilliant!"
+
+At this moment little Rodin returned, and reported to the Jesuit:
+
+"Good god-father, in the person rigged out as a woman I have recognized
+Monsieur Hubert."
+
+"Let him come in," ordered the recipient of the information.
+
+Still in Madam Desmarais's hat and fur cloak Hubert entered the room. At
+the sight, the Marquis greeted him with a roar of laughter. Pale with
+rage, Hubert threw at his feet his feminine head-gear, dashed off the
+cloak which hid his vest and grey trousers, rushed at the Marquis, and,
+shaking his fist under the latter's nose, cried:
+
+"You shall give me a reason for your insolence, you pigeon-house
+tenant!"
+
+But the Count of Plouernel and his brother the Bishop interposed between
+the two, and succeeded in calming the financier's irritation, explaining
+to him that the Marquis was a hare-brain, and should not be taken
+seriously. Apparently bent upon proving his reputation, the Marquis
+cried out:
+
+"Pardon, dear sir, hi! hi! or, rather, dear madam! Ah, ah, ah! if you
+knew what a winsome face you had! Pardon me, I am all upset over it--it
+is too much for me. Ah, ah, ah! Oh, the idea! I shall die of bottled-up
+laughter if you don't let me give vent to it!"
+
+Suiting action to word, the Marquis went off into another roar of
+hysterics. Hubert's violent nature was about once more to get the better
+of him, but once more was it appeased by the solicitations of the Count
+and his brother. At last he cooled down sufficiently to make known to
+the company the secret of his transfiguration, and how he owed his life
+to his sister's devotion. During these confidences, the laughter of the
+Marquis gradually died out.
+
+"Then, that part of St. Honoré Street where you have just missed arrest,
+dear Monsieur Hubert," said the Count, "will to-night be watched by the
+police, and I may, on leaving here, fall into their hands. For the
+refuge where I have hidden myself since my return to Paris is situated
+close to the St. Honoré Gate. The wife of a former whipper-in in the
+King's Huntsmen is giving me asylum. From the window of my garret I can
+see the house of this Desmarais, your brother-in-law; whom I now regret
+not having allowed to die under the cudgels when I had him flogged by
+my lackeys."
+
+"You live near the St. Honoré Gate, you say, Count? What is the number
+of the house, if you please?" asked the Abbot with a start.
+
+"Number 19; the entrance is distinguished by a small gate-way."
+
+"You could not have chosen your refuge worse! I am glad to be able to
+warn you of your danger. At No. 17 of that same street live two members
+of the Lebrenn family, John the iron-worker, and that beautiful woman
+whom you knew under the name of Marchioness Aldini. Be on your guard,
+for if these people came to know where you were hidden, they would not
+let slip the opportunity to wreak on you the hate with which they have
+pursued your family for so many centuries."
+
+"Now that that fool of a Marquis has become almost reasonable, let us
+resume the course of our deliberation," replied the Count, thanking
+Morlet for his information; and addressing Hubert: "When you came in,
+the priest was having the presumption to propose for our consideration
+the question whether it would not be wiser to postpone the projected
+stroke until after the King was sentenced, instead of to-morrow, as we
+purpose."
+
+"Any such delay would be all the sadder seeing that this very evening a
+case of arms, containing also several copies of our proclamation, was
+seized in my brother-in-law's house. The Committee of General Safety
+thus has by this time the most flagrant proof of a conspiracy. So then,
+I say, we must make haste. Yesterday and day before I saw several
+officers and grenadiers of my old battalion, who are very influential
+in their quarter. They await but the signal to run to arms. The
+bourgeoisie has a horror of the Republic."
+
+"Confess, Monsieur Hubert, that it would be better for the bourgeoisie
+to resign itself to what it calls 'the privileges of the throne, the
+immunities of the nobility and clergy,' than to submit to the tyranny of
+the populace," rejoined Plouernel.
+
+"Monsieur Count, a few years ago you administered through the cudgels of
+your lackeys a good dressing down to a man whom I have the unhappiness
+to possess for brother-in-law. I, in his place, would have paid you
+back, not by proxy, through hirelings, but in person. Now, great
+seigneur that you are, what would you have done in that case?"
+
+"Eh! My God, my poor Monsieur Hubert! If I did not, in the first moment
+of anger, run you through the body with my sword, I would have been
+under the obligation of asking for a lettre de cachet and sending you to
+the Bastille."
+
+"Because a man of your birth could not consent to fight a bourgeois?"
+
+"Certainly; for the tribunal composed of our seigneurs the Marshals of
+France, to which the nobility refers its affairs of honor, would have
+formally prohibited the duel; and we are bound by oath to respect the
+decisions of Messieurs the Marshals. For the common herd we have nothing
+but contempt."
+
+"It seems to me we are wandering singularly astray from the question at
+stake," interposed the Bishop. "Let us come back to it."
+
+"Not at all, Monsieur Bishop," retorted Hubert. "We must first of all
+know what we are conspiring for. If we are conspiring to overthrow the
+Republic, we must know by what regime we shall replace it. Shall it be
+by an absolute monarchy, as before, or by the constitutional monarchy of
+1791? Well, gentlemen of the nobility, gentlemen of the clergy, what we
+want, we bourgeois, we of the common herd, whom you despise, is the
+constitutional monarchy. Take that for said."
+
+"So that the bourgeoisie may reign in fact, under the semblance of a
+kingdom? We reject that sort of a government," sneered Plouernel.
+
+"Naturally."
+
+"Whence it follows that you wish to substitute the bourgeois oligarchy,
+the privilege of the franc, for our aristocracy?"
+
+"Without a doubt. For we hold in equal aversion both the old regime,
+that is, the rule of unbridled privilege, and the Republic."
+
+"Let us come back to the subject," snapped Jesuit Morlet. "The
+bourgeoisie, the nobility, the clergy--all abominate the Republic. So
+much is settled. Let us, then, first attend to the overthrow of the
+Republic; later we may decide on its successor. Let us decide
+immediately whether we shall or shall not delay the execution of our
+plot of to-morrow--the first question; and the second, which, to tell
+the truth, ought to take precedence over the other--whether it would not
+be better after all, in the combined interests of the Church, the
+monarchy, the nobility and the bourgeoisie, simply to let them, without
+any more ado, send Louis to the guillotine!"
+
+The Jesuit's words were again received with imprecations by the Bishop
+and Monsieur Plouernel, while the Marquis, finding the idea funnier and
+funnier, burst into irrepressible laughter. Hubert, greatly surprised,
+but curious to fathom the Abbot's purposes, insisted on knowing the
+reasons on which he based his opinion. Accordingly, when silence was
+restored, the Jesuit commenced:
+
+"I maintain, and I shall prove, that the sentencing and execution of
+Louis XVI offer to us precious advantages. This sovereign--I leave it to
+you, Count, and to you, Monsieur Hubert--is completely lost, both as an
+absolute King, because he lacks energy, and as a constitutional King,
+because he has twenty times striven to abolish the Constitution which he
+pledged himself to support. So much is self-evident and incontestible.
+Accordingly, the death of Louis XVI will deliver us from the unpleasant
+outcome of an absolute King without vigor, if absolute royalty is to
+prevail; and will spare us a constitutional King without fidelity to his
+oath, if constitutional royalty wins out. That settles the first and
+extremely interesting point. Second point, the execution of the King
+will deal a mortal blow to the Republic. Louis XVI will become a martyr,
+and the wrath of the foreign sovereigns will be aroused to the last
+notch against a rising Republic which for first gage of battle throws at
+their feet the head of a King, and summons their peoples to revolt. The
+extermination of the Republic will thus become a question of life and
+death for the monarchs of Europe; they will summon up a million
+soldiers, and invest vast treasuries, coupled with the credit of
+England. Can the outcome of such a struggle be doubted? France, without
+a disciplined army; France, ruined, reduced to a paper currency, torn
+by factions, by the civil war which we priests will let loose in the
+west and south--France will be unable to resist all Europe. But, in
+order to exasperate the foreign rulers, to excite their hatred, their
+fury, they must be made to behold the head of Louis XVI rolling at their
+feet!"
+
+"Reverend sir, you frighten me with your doctrines!" was all the Count
+of Plouernel could say. With a paternal air the Jesuit continued:
+
+"Big baby! I am through. One of two things: Either to-morrow's plot
+works well, or it works ill. In the first case, Louis XVI is delivered;
+the Convention is exterminated. A thousand resolute men can carry out
+the stroke. But afterwards? You will have to fight the suburbs, the
+Sections, the troops around Paris, which will run to the succor of the
+capital."
+
+"We shall fight them!" was Hubert's exclamation.
+
+"We shall cut them to pieces! Neither mercy nor pity for the rebels!"
+cried Plouernel.
+
+"We shall have the bandits from the prisons set fire to the suburbs at
+all four corners! A general conflagration!" suggested the Bishop.
+
+"And these worthy tenants of the suburbs," giggled the Marquis, "seeing
+their kennels ablaze, will think of nothing else but to fire in the air,
+to check the flames. Hi! hi! hi! The idea is a jolly one!"
+
+Morlet the Jesuit again brought the conversation back into its channel.
+"Monsieur Hubert," he said to the banker, "at what number do you
+estimate the energetic bourgeois who will take part in the fight?"
+
+"Five or six thousand, old members of the National Guard. I can answer
+for that number."
+
+"I am willing to concede you ten thousand. There are ten thousand men.
+And you, Count, how many do you think there are of the returned
+Emigrants, the old officers and soldiers of the constitutional guard of
+Louis XVI, and finally of the ex-servitors of the King and the
+Princes--coachmen, lackeys, whippers-in, stable-boys and other menials,
+who form your minute-militia?"
+
+"I figure on four thousand--or less," replied the Count.
+
+"Let us say five thousand. Add them to Monsieur Hubert's ten thousand
+National Guards, and we have a total of fifteen thousand men. Now,
+although Paris has vomited to the frontiers since September fifty
+thousand volunteers, how estimate you the number remaining of these
+sans-culottes and Jacobins of the suburbs, the Sections and the
+federations, and finally the regiments of infantry, cavalry and
+artillery which are republican?"
+
+"There are fifteen thousand men, about, troops of all arms, not in
+Paris, but within the constitutional limits, that is, within twelve
+leagues of the capital," Hubert answered.
+
+"These troops could reach Paris in one day's march. There you have
+fifteen thousand men in trained and equipped corps, cavalry, infantry,
+and artillery, devoted to the Republic and the Convention; troops equal
+in number to your fifteen thousand insurgents. We can number the Jacobin
+population of the suburbs and the Sections, and the hordes of the
+federations, at thirty thousand--scamps, armed with pikes or guns, and
+provided with cannon as well! Now, suppose the King liberated, and the
+members of the Convention exterminated. You then find yourselves face
+to face with a regular and irregular army of forty-five thousand
+determined villains, while you number only fifteen thousand men, without
+artillery, and extremely ill provided with supplies."
+
+"A brave man doesn't count his enemies--he attacks them!" exclaimed
+Hubert.
+
+"We shall have for auxiliaries the foreign armies," interjected
+Plouernel, "and the civil war in the west and south."
+
+"Let us not be carried away by fancies. We are considering a levy of
+defenders which must be made to-morrow, in Paris; we are considering a
+fight which will be over in one day, in the capital," returned Abbot
+Morlet, coldly.
+
+"If we are beaten in Paris, we shall retreat to the revolted provinces!
+We shall be new food to the civil war!" cried the Bishop.
+
+"The mitre weighs too much for your head, monseigneur," retorted the
+Jesuit. "Retreat to the provinces, say you? But if the insurrection is
+defeated, how are you going to slip through the hands of the victors in
+the fray? All or nearly all of you will be massacred or guillotined."
+
+"Eh!" cried the Count, in a rage, "our friends the foreigners will
+avenge us! They will burn Paris to the ground!"
+
+"And the King? He will have been, I suppose, delivered by a bold sortie.
+But the insurrection worsted, he will be retaken and will not escape
+death."
+
+"Well, we shall avenge him by a civil and a foreign war," was the lame
+solution of the problem proposed by the Count.
+
+"Let us proceed," continued the Abbot. "Since, taking your own figures,
+it is a hundred to one that, even if you succeed in snatching Louis from
+his jailers for an instant, he will not fail to be retaken and have his
+head shorn off, what will your insurrection have availed you? Let the
+good populace, then, tranquilly trim the neck of this excellent prince.
+His death will be the signal for civil war, for the foreign invasion,
+and for the stamping out of the Republic. Do not uselessly endanger your
+lives and those of your friends; they can, like you, render great
+service at the proper moment. Accordingly, I sum up: the interests of
+all--bourgeoisie, nobles and clergy--will best be served by letting
+Louis XVI be guillotined with the briefest possible delay. I have
+spoken."
+
+The inflexible logic of the prelate made a keen impression on his
+auditors. He spoke sooth in regard to the certain defeat of the royalist
+insurrection, and in relation to the redoubled fury into which the death
+of Louis would throw the rulers of the surrounding monarchies. Nothing,
+indeed, could be more formidable than their concerted efforts and
+activity against the Republic--impoverished, torn by factions and almost
+without trained troops as the latter would be. But the Jesuit suspected
+not, was unable, despite his profound cunning, to conceive, what
+prodigies love of country and the republican faith were soon to give
+birth to.
+
+"By the Eternal! my reverend sir," at last cried the Count, "why, then,
+have you approved of our projects, why have you put at our service
+Lehiron and his band of frightful villains after his own pattern, to
+help undertake the affair?"
+
+"Firstly, because I might have been mistaken in my conjectures--_Errare
+humanum est_--to err is human. A man of sense is not obstinate in his
+error. Secondly, and this is supreme to me, I have received from the
+General of my Order, at Rome, these instructions: '_It is important to
+our holy mother the Church that Louis XVI be crowned with the palm of
+martyrdom_.' So that, having tested the danger and uselessness of an
+uprising, I declare point-blank my determination not to take the least
+part in it; I declare that I shall withhold from it whatever means of
+action I can in any way control; in short, I shall oppose it in all
+possible manner, licit and illicit. On the which account," concluded the
+Jesuit, rising and bowing, "I shall now withdraw, so please you, my
+humble reverence from your honorable company. I have nothing more to do
+here."
+
+The Abbot moved impassively toward the door, only replying to the looks
+of wonder on every face with the words, "I have said."
+
+But Hubert blocked his passage, and cried: "Miserable cassock,
+hypocrite, cock-roach! Would you be also capable of denouncing us?"
+
+"I am capable of everything to the end of preventing an act reprobated
+by the General of my Order. The General of the Jesuits has spoken; all
+must obey him--even Kings, even the Pope. Silence and obedience are the
+words!"
+
+So saying, and profiting by the stupor into which his audacity and
+self-possession threw the other conspirators, the Jesuit left the room.
+
+"We are off, god-son," he said to little Rodin when he had descended to
+the second floor. "Come, my child; other cares call me elsewhere."
+
+"Me also," responded the boy, blessing himself and rising. "I am ready
+to follow you, good god-father. Command. To hear you is to obey."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE KING ON TRIAL.
+
+
+As already recounted, John Lebrenn, in his capacity as municipal
+officer, was charged on the night of December 10, 1793, with the task of
+watching over Louis XVI, detained, with his family, at the Temple.
+Occupying a room before the chamber of the ex-King, Lebrenn felt for the
+prisoner a sort of compassion, as he reflected that this man, not
+without his good inclinations, and endowed with certain undeniable
+domestic virtues, had been pushed by his position as King to wrongful
+acts which were about to bring down a terrible punishment upon his head.
+
+Louis submitted to his confinement with mingled carelessness and
+resignation, rarely displaying either annoyance or anger at the rigorous
+surveillance of which he was the object; he hoped that the penalty
+pronounced against him by the Convention would not exceed imprisonment
+until after the peace, and then banishment. For his wife, his sister,
+and his son and daughter, he showed great solicitude; one proof of the
+inherent sin of royalty, which could transform a good husband, a good
+brother, and a good father--a man without malice in his private
+life--into an execrable tyrant, capable of every transgression.
+
+The curtains which screened the glass door separating the ante-chamber
+from that occupied by the fallen King accidentally falling apart in the
+middle, they revealed to John Lebrenn Louis XVI pacing up and down the
+room, although his usual bed-time had long sounded. The King seemed to
+be in a state of agitation which accorded ill with his apathetic nature.
+On the morrow he was to appear at the bar of the Convention; and during
+the day he had learned from Clery, his man-in-waiting, who, due to his
+secret connection with the royalists, was informed of their moves, that
+a plan was afoot to snatch him from his escort on the way from the
+Temple to the Convention. Quite likely to turn his mind from these
+thoughts, he opened the door leading into the room guarded by John
+Lebrenn, in order to speak with him. The countenance of his watchman
+seemed to inspire some confidence in the prisoner; perhaps he remarked
+on the young man's features an expression of compassion, easy to
+confound with the respectful interest of a subject for a prisoner King.
+He stepped into the room of his guard. Not out of respect for the King,
+but out of commiseration for the captive man, the soldier rose from the
+camp cot on which he had been sitting. Louis addressed him affably, as
+follows:
+
+"My friend, I am not disposed to sleep, to-night. If you will, let us
+talk together, that my sleeplessness may be rendered less irksome."
+
+"Willingly, Sire," replied Lebrenn.
+
+This was the first time since his captivity that Louis XVI heard one of
+his captors address him by that title 'Sire.' They called him habitually
+'citizen,' or 'monsieur,' or 'Louis Capet.' Seeking to read the inner
+thoughts of the man before him, Louis resumed, after a moment's
+silence:
+
+"My friend, I do not think I am mistaken in believing that you pity my
+lot? I have been calumniated, but the light will break some day, perhaps
+soon: thank God, I still have friends. I know not what it is that tells
+me you are one of those faithful and devoted subjects of whom I speak."
+
+"Sire, I am too loyal to leave you a single instant in error. I do not
+accept the designation of 'subject,' Sire! I am a citizen of the French
+Republic."
+
+"Enough, monsieur; I was mistaken," bitterly replied Louis.
+"Nevertheless, I thank you for your frankness."
+
+"My words were dictated by my dignity, first of all; next, by my pity
+for the misfortunes, not of the King, but of the man."
+
+"Sir," cried Louis XVI haughtily, "I require no one's pity; the
+commiseration of heaven and my conscience are enough. Let us stop
+there."
+
+"Sire, I did not seek the honor of this conversation; and, should it
+continue, it is well that you be under no illusion as to my sentiments
+towards royalty. The Revolution and the Republic have no more devoted
+soldier than myself. Now, Sire, I am at your service."
+
+Louis XVI was not utterly lacking in sense; his first resentment past,
+he admitted to himself that the conduct of this municipal officer was
+all the more praiseworthy, inasmuch as while declaring himself a
+revolutionist and a republican, he nevertheless treated a captive King
+with respect.
+
+"I was rude just now, I am sorry for it," he said at length. "Hoping for
+a moment to discover in you a faithful subject, I found myself face to
+face with an enemy. The disappointment was great. Still, let us talk a
+little on this subject of your hatred for royalty. What harm have this
+royalty, this nobility, this clergy, against which you rail, done to you
+and your like?"
+
+"I could, Sire, reply to you in a few words, by facts and not by
+railings. But I wish not to wound your preconceived ideas, and above all
+to avoid giving you cause to make a sad comparison. This, Sire, is the
+third time, in the course of fourteen centuries, that a descendant of my
+family encounters one of the heirs of the monarchy of Clovis; and that
+under circumstances--"
+
+"Doubtless the circumstances were intensely interesting. What were they?
+You pique my curiosity."
+
+"Sire, the circumstances are sinister. It would be painful to me to give
+you cause to draw the sad comparison between your present position and
+that of the princes, your predecessors."
+
+"Tell me that part of your legends, Monsieur Lebrenn. My curiosity is
+highly excited, and my confidence in a brighter future will not be
+dimmed by your recital."
+
+"To obey you, Sire, I shall. It was in the year 738 that one of my
+ancestors, named Amael, a soldier of fortune and companion to Charles
+Martel, found himself in Anjou, at the Convent of St. Saturnine. My
+ancestor was commissioned by Charles Martel to keep prisoner in the
+convent a poor boy of nine, the only son of Thierry IV, the do-nothing
+King, named Childeric. The child soon died, thus extinguishing, in the
+last scion of the Merovingians, the stock of Clovis who had covered Gaul
+with ruins.[11] Two centuries and a half later, in 987, at the palace
+of Compiegne, another of my ancestors, the son of a forester of the
+royal domain, found himself alone in the chamber of Louis the Do-nothing
+with that prince; he saw him of a sudden faint, become deadly pale, and
+writhe in agony. He apostrophized the dying King thus: 'Louis, last year
+Hugh the Capet, Count of Paris, had your father Lothaire poisoned by the
+Queen his wife, a concubine of the Bishop of Laon. Louis, you are about
+to die of poison which your wife, Queen Blanche, has just given you. She
+has promised Hugh the Capet, her accomplice, to wed him during the
+coming year.' And so it was; the last of the Carlovingians dead, Hugh
+the Capet espoused his widow and had himself enthroned King of
+France.[12] There, Sire, that is how royal dynasties are founded and
+ended."
+
+"These are strange chances, Monsieur Lebrenn," replied Louis XVI. "One
+of your ancestors charged to watch the last prince of the dynasty of
+Clovis; another ancestor sees perish the last scion of the monarchy of
+Charlemagne; and this night you are to watch over me, whom you probably
+consider as the last King of the dynasty of Hugh Capet. You will soon
+perceive your error."
+
+"Sire," returned John Lebrenn, "you insisted on knowing the occurrences
+of which I just spoke, in connection with a question you put to me--"
+
+"Aye, Monsieur Lebrenn; and in spite of the strangeness of the
+circumstances with which you have just made me acquainted, I repeat my
+question. What harm have royalty, nobility and clergy ever done to you
+and yours, that you should hate them so?"
+
+"To begin with, Sire, we know upon what crimes hang the rise and fall
+of dynasties; consequently we are unable to love and respect a royalty
+imposed upon us by conquest. All monarchies have had a similar origin.
+The Count of Boulainvilliers, in this very century, established and
+demonstrated that the land of the Gauls belonged of fact and of right to
+the King and the nobility, by the grace of God and the right of their
+good swords: the Gauls were a vanquished race."
+
+For several seconds Louis did not speak. Then he began brusquely,
+"Triumph in your hate, monsieur; you are here as the jailer of the
+descendant of those Kings whom you and your fellows have abhorred for
+ages."
+
+"The circumstance which has placed me near you, Sire, is of too high an
+order of morality to evoke in me a sentiment so miserable as that of
+sated hatred."
+
+"What, then, is the feeling which you do entertain, monsieur?"
+
+"A religious emotion, Sire; such as is bred in every honest heart by one
+of these mysterious decrees of eternal justice which, sooner or later,
+manifests itself in its divine grandeur and seizes the guilty ones, in
+whatever rank they may be stationed."
+
+"So, monsieur, you make me a party to the evil my forefathers may have
+perpetrated upon their subjects?"
+
+"Monarchs are rightfully regarded as parties to the crimes of their
+ancestors, the same as they pretend to be masters of the people by
+virtue of divine right and the conquests of those ancestors. All
+inheritance carries with it its responsibilities as well as its
+benefits. You surely would not dispute that, Sire?"
+
+"To-morrow rebellious subjects will arrogate to themselves the right to
+summon their King before them to trial," murmured Louis, without
+noticing Lebrenn's question. "The will of heaven be done in all things;
+it will punish the wicked, and protect the just."
+
+As Louis pronounced these words, the porter of the Temple entered the
+room, saying, as he handed John the letter from advocate Desmarais,
+"Citizen officer, here is a letter just brought for you by Citizen
+Billaud-Varenne, who enjoined me to take it to you at once."
+
+"Good night, Monsieur Lebrenn," said the King; and turning to the
+porter: "Send me my waiting-man Clery, to help me make my toilet. I wish
+to retire."
+
+Louis XVI returned to his room, while John Lebrenn, greatly surprised to
+recognize Desmarais's hand-writing on the envelope which Billaud-Varenne
+had sent him, quickly tore it open, his heart, in spite of himself,
+beating loud against his ribs.
+
+The missive read, Lebrenn for a moment thought he was dreaming. He
+hesitated to pin any faith to such unlooked-for good fortune, the
+realization of his dearest hopes. In vain did he seek to penetrate the
+motive for the singular condition placed by the lawyer upon his
+marriage. Examined in turn from the viewpoint of duty, of honor and of
+delicacy, the condition seemed to him on the whole acceptable; he simply
+bound himself for the future to a discretion from which he had not, in
+the past, varied a hair's breadth.
+
+Why attempt to paint the ineffable felicity of John Lebrenn? The night
+passed for him in a flood of joy.
+
+In the morning he was one of the municipal officers charged to conduct
+Louis XVI to the bar of the Convention. Towards nine o'clock Chambon,
+Mayor of Paris, accompanied by a court clerk came to deliver to the King
+the order to appear before the Convention.
+
+A two-horse coach awaited Louis at the door of the great tower, within
+the precincts of the Temple. Generals Santerre and Witenkoff were
+stationed on horseback beside the windows. Louis climbed into the
+vehicle, and seated himself on the rear seat, beside the Mayor of Paris;
+John Lebrenn and one of his colleagues in the Municipal Council occupied
+the front. As soon as the carriage issued from the courtyard of the
+Temple, the King realized, by the mass of military force with which his
+route to the National Convention was hemmed in, that the Committee of
+General Safety had been informed of the royalist intrigue, and had taken
+steps to make impossible any sudden assault calculated to carry off the
+prisoner.
+
+While Louis was on his way to the Convention, that sovereign assembly,
+already two hours in session, was calmly and with dignity transacting
+public affairs. The trial of the ex-Executive was, no doubt, of prime
+importance, but to have changed its order of business, or to interrupt
+it without cause before the appearance of the accused, would have given
+the Convention almost the appearance of intimidation before the act
+which it was about to consummate in the teeth of the allied Kings of
+Europe. The countenances of the various factions presented singular
+contrasts. The galleries were filled with patriots, who, in common with
+the Mountain and the Jacobins, saw no safety for the Republic and the
+Revolution save in the condemnation of Louis XVI to the penalty of
+death.
+
+The dark and rainy sky of that December day sent its lightning flashes
+across the windows of the vast hall. The members of the Right and the
+Swamp seemed weighed down by painful preoccupation; the Mountainists
+alone were unmoved. One of the latter was speaking to certain articles
+of a decree introducing some exceptions into the law on Emigrants, when
+a low rumor running through the chamber heralded Louis's approach. The
+Mountainist called for order and continued his discussion. The question
+was put to a vote and carried. Only then did the president, rising in
+his place, say to the Assembly:
+
+"I wish to inform the Assembly that Louis Capet is at the door. Citizen
+Representatives, you are about to exercise the right of justice; the
+Republic expects of you firm and deliberate action; Europe's eyes are
+turned upon you; history will record your actions; posterity will judge
+you. The dignity of your session should correspond to the majesty of the
+French people; the latter is about, through your instrumentality, to
+give a lesson to Kings and a fruitful example for the emancipation of
+nations. Citizens in the galleries, forget not that justice presides
+only over calm deliberations."
+
+Then, addressing the ushers:
+
+"Bring in the accused."
+
+Generals Santerre and Witenkoff advanced to the bar, leading the deposed
+King between them by the arms; they were followed by Mayor Chambon, and
+by John Lebrenn and his colleague. Several chairs were arranged near the
+bar. Louis XVI removed his overcoat, placed it across the back of his
+seat, took off his hat, and sat down, with his hat on his knees. His
+large, bulging eyes wandered here and there over the benches of the
+members with childish curiosity. Then his face took on its usual
+expression of apathy; his eyelids drooped, his loose lip fell down over
+his fat and retreating triple chin; he settled himself as best he could
+in his chair and seemed lost to his surroundings.
+
+The bustle caused in the chamber and galleries by Louis XVI's entry,
+died out little by little, and Defermont, president of the Convention,
+took up the examination of the accused on the facts charged against him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have just attended the examination of Louis Capet. His answers,
+hypocritical, evasive, or spun out of the whole cloth; his denials in
+flat contradiction to verified facts; his obliviousness to all decency,
+to all dignity, if not as a King, at least as a man, aroused in all
+present, as they did in me, only pity for this prince who had neither
+the courage to confess nor the nobility to repent his crimes, but who
+resorted for his defense to the weapons of the vilest criminal, denial
+and falsification.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+LEBRENN AND NEROWEG.
+
+
+Night had fallen. Half an hour after his return from the Temple, John
+Lebrenn was awaiting in silence the result of his sister's consideration
+of the letter written him by advocate Desmarais the previous evening,
+and also one from Charlotte received during the day.
+
+Seated at her work table, which was lighted by a small lamp, Victoria
+hung thoughtfully over the two letters.
+
+"Sister," at last said John, "are you more keen-sighted than I in
+solving the reason for the condition set by Desmarais upon my marriage?"
+
+"Nay, I also am at a loss for an explanation," replied Victoria; "but I
+suspect some cowardice in the mystery. You often see Billaud-Varenne, he
+never told you, so far as I know, that he was in close connection with
+Charlotte's father. And yet I read in Desmarais's letter that he begs
+you to keep from Billaud-Varenne the secret of your love for his
+daughter. Doubtless you could easily clear up the matter by seeing
+Billaud-Varenne and asking him about his relations with Desmarais."
+
+"Would that not be failing in the discretion which Charlotte's father
+imposes upon me an a condition for my marriage?"
+
+"Not at all. He asks you to keep from his colleague the secret of your
+love for his daughter. Nothing more. On that subject, my dear brother,
+you can still be as reserved in your talk with Billaud-Varenne as you
+have been in the past."
+
+"That is so. I shall go and see him this very evening; I am certain to
+find him at home. At any rate, does not the condition, placed by
+Charlotte's father upon our marriage, seem to you, as it does to her and
+me, acceptable on the score of honor?"
+
+"Surely, brother. And moreover, have you not always guarded with
+delicacy this secret which Desmarais now asks you to keep? How will it
+embarrass you to engage yourself upon your honor to continue holding it
+a secret? In no wise. As to the motive for the condition, what matters
+it? Go at once to Monsieur Desmarais's; Charlotte, poor child, is
+counting the hours, the minutes till you come."
+
+"Ah, Victoria," cried John, his breast heaving and his eyes filled with
+tears, "I can hardly believe my good fortune! To marry Charlotte! To
+live with her and my beloved sister!"
+
+"Me! To live with you and your wife? It is impossible! Think of the
+past."
+
+"Victoria, I might once have hesitated to reveal to Charlotte the
+mystery of your life; it is no longer so, dearest sister. The conduct of
+my betrothed has proved to me the firmness of her character; I am as
+sure of her as of myself. She shall know all that has contributed to
+your sad life, and her dearest wish will be like mine, I am certain--to
+have you pass the rest of your days with us."
+
+"I admit that your sweetheart's spirit is sufficiently lofty to rise
+above prejudice. But will it be the same with her family?"
+
+"I answer to that, dearest sister, that there is nothing else for you to
+do but what I have just indicated. Have you not lived with our parents
+and with me since the day the Bastille was taken, when you came home to
+us? Have I not many a time spoken of you to Billaud-Varenne? If he is on
+intimate terms with Citizen Desmarais, is it not likely that he has
+spoken to him? In fine, for a last reason, the gravest of all, is it not
+known in the neighborhood that we live together? Charlotte's father, our
+neighbor, must be aware of the circumstance. Shall I resign myself to a
+falsehood, and say that you are not my sister? What would Charlotte and
+her father think then? What would that young and beautiful woman who
+shared my lodgings then be in their eyes?"
+
+Victoria remained silent. She found, and, in fact, there was, no answer
+to John's arguments. The latter, triumphing in his brotherly love, rose,
+tenderly embraced his sister, and said:
+
+"You see you are convinced of the necessity of my confidence to
+Charlotte. Now tell me, darling sister, which do you prefer, to live
+alone or with us?"
+
+The young woman did not answer. Instead, her pale visage was bathed in
+tears, always so rare in her. After a moment, she pressed her brother to
+her heart, and murmured in a voice broken with sobs:
+
+"Ah, do not fear that the sight of your good fortune will make my
+chagrin more bitter. On the contrary, perhaps I shall forget it in
+seeing you happy."
+
+John tenderly embraced his sister, and set out for Billaud-Varenne's,
+whom he wished to see before his interview with advocate Desmarais.
+
+Upon being left alone, Victoria pondered long the recent conversation
+with her brother. Then, lending an ear mechanically to the whistling of
+the winter's wind without, she bent over the little stove that warmed
+their humble quarters, and resumed her sewing. Suddenly the young woman
+uttered a cry of surprise, and jumped to her feet. One of the panes of
+the dormer window which looked out upon the roof fell with a crash, and
+as the fragments of glass jangled to the floor, a hand passing through
+the opening left by the broken pane forcibly shoved the lower sash of
+the window up in the casing. A great gust of wind filled the room, blew
+out the lamp, and out of the darkness a muffled, suppliant voice called
+to Victoria:
+
+"Have pity on me. I am an Emigrant; they are searching for me. I have a
+hundred louis on me; they are yours if you save me!"
+
+At the same time that the words were pronounced, Victoria heard on the
+floor the foot-fall of the fugitive, who had introduced himself by the
+window.
+
+At the sound of the first words Victoria believed she recognized the
+voice that came from out the shadows. The young woman was frozen with
+astonishment.
+
+"O, Providence! O, Justice the Avenger," she exclaimed. "It is _he_!"
+Then, transported with fierce joy, she ran in the darkness to the door,
+which she double locked, put the key in her pocket, and made sure that
+she had by her the double-barreled pistol she always kept ready and
+loaded since she became aware of the intentions of the Jesuit Morlet
+and Lehiron. These precautions taken, Victoria groped about on the
+bureau for a match, and held it to the stove-grate, while the fugitive,
+surprised at the silence maintained by the occupant of the garret,
+repeated again, believing it an irresistible argument to the mistress of
+so poor a dwelling:
+
+"I am an Emigrant. You have a hundred louis to win by saving me. You
+have no interest in turning me over to my pursuers."
+
+Victoria replied in a low voice, as she approached the lighted match to
+a candle on the bureau, "Draw the curtain before the window, lest the
+wind blow out my light."
+
+The Emigrant hastened to execute the order. Victoria lighted the candle.
+Its light flooded the garret; and when the Count of Plouernel--for it
+was that self-same gentleman--turned around once more, he stood
+petrified at the sight of the woman he beheld before him. In spite of
+the poverty of her costume, he recognized--Marchioness Aldini! Her black
+eyes flashed; hatred contributed to her face so fearsome an expression
+that Plouernel shuddered as he gasped to himself:
+
+"I am lost! Abbot Morlet told me that the Lebrenns dwelt near my refuge.
+Let me flee!"
+
+He dashed to the door, expecting to open it and reach the stairway, but
+found it locked. In vain he tried to beat it down.
+
+"Count," coldly said Victoria, in mocking accents, "know that this house
+is occupied by good patriots. The noise you yourself are making will
+give the alarm, and you will be arrested on the instant."
+
+"Infamous creature!" shouted Plouernel, wild with rage, but ceasing to
+shake the door. Then, rapidly approaching Victoria he unsheathed a
+poniard which he carried concealed in his clothes; "You wish to deliver
+me to the scaffold. But I shall avenge my death before it occurs! Your
+life is in my hands."
+
+"Be that as it may," replied the young woman, as she leveled her pistol
+at the Count's breast. The latter recoiled in terror. Still keeping
+Plouernel covered, Victoria went up to one of the partitions, struck it
+with her hand, and called out aloud:
+
+"Neighbor Jerome, are you there?"
+
+"Aye, citizeness," responded Jerome from the other side of the wall, "we
+are here, my son and I, at your service. We have just come in, and are
+getting supper."
+
+"My watch is stopped. Do you know what time it is, neighbor?"
+
+"Ten has just sounded from the ex-parish of the Assumption. It is late,
+neighbor. We wish you a good night."
+
+Plouernel was fairly cornered. He could not think of escaping by the
+window and the roof--one movement by Victoria would send him rolling to
+the street below. To break down the door was no less perilous; the two
+speakers in the garret, and soon all the inhabitants of the house, would
+run to the young woman's call. And, finally, to attempt to kill her was
+an expedient as fraught with danger as the other two. He would have to
+brave two shots at close range and by a sure hand.
+
+Victoria sat down in such a manner as to place her worktable between
+herself and the Count, and keeping the pistol still in her hand, said:
+
+"Count of Plouernel, you are the head of one of those families which
+have the honor of tracing their origin back to the early times of
+conquest. The further you go back in the centuries the more crimes you
+take to your account, and the more terrible should be the punishment
+reserved to you. The representatives of these families will pay, like
+you, Neroweg, Count of Plouernel, the debt of blood."
+
+Victoria was uttering these words in a voice of fierce exaltation when
+her brother John, who had another key to the door, suddenly entered. His
+sister's last words to Plouernel fell upon his ear. The Count, at the
+unexpected apparition of the young artisan, fell back defiantly, and
+involuntarily clapped his hand again to his dagger.
+
+"John, lock the door," cried Victoria quickly. "This man's name is
+Neroweg, Count of Plouernel!"
+
+The Count put on a bold front, and said, in an attempt to brazen it out
+with the young workman, who, he knew, shared the sentiments of his
+sister with regard to the sons of Neroweg: "Go on, citizen, do your
+business as purveyor of the scaffold."
+
+Unmoved by the insult, John cast a cold look in the Emigrant's direction
+and said to his sister:
+
+"How comes the fellow here?"
+
+"He was evidently fleeing from the men sent to arrest him. He climbed to
+the roof of the next house, and forced his way in by breaking the
+window."
+
+"So," said John to the Count, "you are an Emigrant, and denounced? They
+want you for judgment?"
+
+"The marauder has the impudence to question me!" answered the Count with
+a burst of sardonic laughter. "A switch for the rascal!"
+
+"Count of Plouernel," returned John Lebrenn imperturbably, "I am of a
+different opinion from my sister on the nature of the punishment to be
+meted out to you. The Revolution, in abolishing royalty, nobility and
+clergy, has already chastised the crimes of the enemies of the people:
+The evil your race has done to ours is expiated. Count of Plouernel, the
+conquered have taken their revenge upon the conquerors, the nation has
+re-entered upon her sovereignty. The Republic is proclaimed; justice is
+done!"
+
+"Blood of God!" exclaimed Plouernel, "the beggar has the insolence to
+grant me grace in the name of the people!"
+
+"Count of Plouernel, your judges and not I will grant you grace, if you
+merit it," answered John, controlling himself under the goading flings
+of the Emigrant. "If it were for me to say, you would remain in France
+unmolested, like so many other ex-nobles. I would leave you in peace, I
+swear it before God! in spite of all the wrong your family has heaped
+upon mine. I would have pardoned you, Count of Plouernel, and I shall
+tell you why I would have shown myself thus clement: A century or more
+ago, one of my forefathers, Nominoë, said to Bertha of Plouernel, who
+loved him with a love as passionate as his own, 'I experience I know not
+what emotions at once sad and tender, in loving in you a descendant of
+that race which, from infancy, I have been taught to execrate. You are
+in my eyes, Bertha, an angel of pardon and concord. In you, I absolve
+your ancestors; instead of making you party to their iniquities, I
+transfer to them your virtues. You ransom the evil ones of your race, as
+Christ, they say, ransomed the world by his divine grace.'
+
+"It is in memory of these words of my ancestor Nominoë," proceeded
+Lebrenn, "that I would have pardoned you, Count of Plouernel, in making
+you share, not in the crimes of your stock, but in the virtues of that
+young girl and in the qualities of another of your blood, a Protestant
+and republican in his time, Colonel Plouernel, the friend of the great
+Coligny and of my ancestor Odelin, the armorer of La Rochelle."
+
+"You lie," cried the Count of Plouernel, furiously. "Never did woman or
+maid of the house of Plouernel dishonor herself with love for a vassal!
+As to Colonel Plouernel, a turn-coat and a Protestant, he is the shame
+of our family; as such, he may, indeed, have played the part of friend
+to a base plebeian."
+
+"Accordingly, I would have pardoned, Count, the evil done by your family
+to mine," John Lebrenn continued unperturbed. "But though I have the
+right to show myself generous to my personal enemy, my duty as a citizen
+forbids me to furnish asylum to an enemy of the nation and the Republic,
+to a monarchist conspirator."
+
+"O, the hypocrite!" exclaimed the Count. "All the while pretending a
+generosity which would be an insult to me, the clown wants to gratify
+his hatred by sending me to the scaffold!"
+
+"I have told you that duty prevents my affording asylum to an enemy of
+the Republic; but I am not an informer, I would not deliver up even my
+personal enemy when he has sought shelter under my roof. Leave this
+place. Go down the stairs softly, and you may gain the street. The gate
+is not locked. If you were not under the shadow of a capital accusation,
+I would chastise you as you deserve for your insults. So, out of here!
+my ex-gentleman."
+
+"Ah, miserable vassal," replied Plouernel, pale with rage. "You dare to
+threaten me!" And suddenly throwing himself upon Lebrenn, he dealt him a
+blow that crimsoned the side of his face.
+
+"The fellow now belongs to me," grimly muttered John. He went to the
+corner where his tools lay, and arming himself with a bar of iron which
+he found there, tossed to the Count a sword which hung on the wall,
+saying, as he did so:
+
+"Come, Count of Plouernel; take the weapon, and guard yourself!"
+
+"John," shrieked Victoria in terror, "your bar is no match for his
+saber. You shall not expose your life so!"
+
+Plouernel drew the sword from its sheath and prepared to defend himself,
+while Victoria, unable to intervene, shudderingly followed the duel.
+
+"Son of the Nerowegs," cried John, brandishing his bar of iron, "my
+avenging arm is about to fall upon you."
+
+"I await it," coolly replied the Count, putting himself on his guard.
+The robust iron-worker advanced upon his adversary, describing with his
+weapon a figure-of-eight so lusty, so rapid, and to which the vigor of
+his wrist lent such force that, encountering the sword at the moment
+when the ex-colonel was about to lunge, the iron bar broke down the
+latter's guard, and descended heavily upon his skull. Almost without
+losing a drop of blood, and without a single cry, the Count dropped in
+his tracks, and rolled upon the floor like an ox smitten with a sledge.
+
+With a bound Victoria flung herself on her brother's neck, wrapped him
+in a convulsive embrace, and, suffocated with emotion, broke into tears,
+unable to utter a word. Partaking of his sister's emotion, John pressed
+her tenderly to his breast; but their embrace ended in a start as they
+heard a knock at their room door, and the voice of the porter calling:
+"Citizen John, if you are abed, rise! They are looking for an Emigrant
+in the house."
+
+The porter had barely uttered these words when John and his sister heard
+a low moan from the Count of Plouernel. At the same moment the porter
+called still more loudly, once more knocking at the door.
+
+"The wretch is not dead, and we can not give him up," said the workman
+to his sister, looking at Plouernel.
+
+"Citizen John, awake!" it was the porter's voice as he redoubled his
+knocks. "Here is the commissioner of the Section."
+
+"Who is knocking? Who's there?" answered the artisan, with a meaning
+gesture to his sister, and saying to her, softly: "I'll feign to be
+waking from a deep sleep. Help me carry the wounded man to your room;
+for it would be an infamous deed to give up a suffering enemy. I shall
+say that you are ill in bed, and they will not intrude upon you."
+
+"It is I, James," replied the porter. "You sleep a sound sleep, Citizen
+John. This is the third time I have pounded at your door."
+
+"Ah, 'tis you, Father James. I slept so hard I did not hear you. What do
+you wish?"
+
+"The commissioner of the Section and his agents are after an Emigrant.
+They have already visited three floors; they will doubtless come up to
+your chamber, as a matter of form. They know well enough that you would
+never harbor an Emigrant in your place."
+
+"Alright, Father James. I'll slip on my trousers and open the door in an
+instant."
+
+While speaking, John had hustled off his cravat, his vest, and his cloak
+of municipal officership. He kept on only his pantaloons, and feigning
+to be but half dressed in his haste to get out of bed, opened the door
+at the moment that the commissioner of the Section, the same who the
+evening before had carried on the search at Desmarais's, appeared on the
+landing, followed by his agents and several gendarmes. The magistrate, a
+friend of Marat's, knew Lebrenn, and greeted him cordially:
+
+"I regret, Citizen Lebrenn, that you have been awakened. You are one of
+those in whose abodes there is no reason for searches and seizures."
+
+"No matter, citizen; come in, do your duty. I ask you only not to go
+into my sister's room. She is ill."
+
+"I shall go neither into your sister's room nor yours, Citizen Lebrenn."
+
+"Who is it you seek?"
+
+"An ex-noble, the Count of Plouernel, formerly a colonel in the Guards.
+He was installed in a house next to this, in the rooms of an old
+huntsman of Louis Capet's; but warned, no doubt, of our approach, our
+ex-noble took to his heels. I first thought he might have escaped by the
+roofs; but after an inspection of them, I recognized that only a roofer,
+and an intrepid one at that, would have dared to risk his life on such a
+slope. To acquit my conscience I came, nevertheless, to inspect the
+attic of this house. So, good night, Citizen Lebrenn."
+
+The magistrate shook the hand of the young man, who watched the
+commissioner proceed towards the attic, and then re-entered his own
+rooms and locked the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.
+
+
+The day following these events in the lodgings of John Lebrenn,
+Charlotte Desmarais was again talking with her mother in the parlor of
+their apartment. The latter, pale and downcast, and her eyes red with
+weeping, still trembled for the life of her brother, who, scenting the
+snare in the commissioner's advice to leave Paris by the St. Victor
+barrier, had remained snug in his refuge. The lawyer's wife was saying
+to her daughter:
+
+"And so you are happy, very happy at your coming marriage, my child?"
+
+"Oh, mother!" echoed the young girl, covering Madam Desmarais's hand
+with kisses, "nothing is now wanting to my happiness but to see you no
+longer sad."
+
+"You know the reason for my sadness."
+
+"Has not, perhaps, my marriage, to which you consented only reluctantly,
+added to the other causes of your sorrow?"
+
+"Since you ask me, my dear daughter, I will admit that the ideas, or
+prejudices, if you will, in which I was brought up made me consider this
+match with a workingman a misalliance. I opposed it with all my might,
+up to the last moment. But--I confess it to you sincerely, my
+child--last night when your father announced to Monsieur Lebrenn that
+he granted him your hand, the young man showed himself so grateful, he
+expressed his joy in such eloquent terms, he evinced so much attention,
+so much deference, he spoke so touchingly of his sister, in short he
+showed himself so completely a man of heart and generosity, that my
+repugnance vanished. Your marriage now satisfies me at all points."
+
+"What delight I feel, good mother, to hear you say so," responded
+Charlotte clasping Madam Desmarais around the neck. "John will be to you
+the tenderest of sons."
+
+"He will, I doubt not, but--" added Madam Desmarais sorrowfully, "I can
+never share your happiness, dear child. I know the uprightness of your
+spirit, the strength of your character; and I am going to make to you a
+serious and painful avowal: Your father has wounded me to the heart, he
+has lost my esteem and affection. It is impossible for me to live longer
+with him. You witnessed his conduct toward me, you heard his repeated
+denunciations."
+
+"Alas," replied Charlotte, forcing herself to make excuses for her
+father, "it was only a shameful role he was driven to by necessity; be
+assured of that, good mother."
+
+"No, it was not a role," answered the injured wife. "You must know the
+whole truth. Last night, after Monsieur Lebrenn's departure, when we
+were alone, your father said to me:
+
+"'Madam, take this once for all, you and your miserable brother; you
+almost sent me to the guillotine to-day. God grant that the perils which
+I dread be fended off in the future by this marriage of my daughter to
+this--this Lebrenn.
+
+"'We live, madam,' continued your father, 'in terrible times, and I am
+in such a position that, should it some day come about that I must
+either send others to the guillotine or face death myself, I would not
+hesitate to send even you before the revolutionary tribunal. Let these
+words always be present to your mind, madam, in regulating your conduct
+henceforth.'
+
+"In these words your father wound up. Such, my child, was his language,"
+concluded Madam Desmarais, burying her tear-bedewed face in her
+handkerchief.
+
+Charlotte answered not. She was torn with inward struggle against the
+sad flood of ideas borne upon her by her father's hypocrisy. Brought up
+in an atmosphere of filial affection and respect, the young girl
+suffered at being compelled to lower her estimate of her paternal
+parent. But this last conversation of the lawyer with his wife left no
+more room for doubt as to his true character.
+
+Having somewhat calmed her tears, Madam Desmarais went on:
+
+"I have now, dear child, too much knowledge of your father's innermost
+nature. His presence is hateful to me. It would be impossible for me to
+live with him. Hence, my poor girl, we must part."
+
+"We part!" cried Charlotte, passionately embracing Madam Desmarais and
+mingling her tears with her mother's: "And where will you go?"
+
+"I shall go back to Lyons, to my cousin's; I have resolved upon that,
+since I can do nothing here, alas, to add either to your happiness or my
+brother's safety."
+
+"Let us hope, mother, let us hope," said Charlotte through her tears,
+after a pause. "Perhaps there is a way for us not to separate, good
+mother, and also to save uncle. Ah, mother, happiness, and above all
+the desire to make others whom we love share our happiness, renders the
+mind quick to invent. Last night, after father and you consented to my
+marrying John, he and I were alone for a few minutes. Here is what he
+told me: Before coming here, he had gone to Monsieur Billaud-Varenne,
+and he learned from this gentleman that father had previously
+commissioned him to offer my hand to Monsieur St. Just. Thus John
+learned that father counted on finding in him a buffer against the
+dangers which he fears, and that this was the motive that led him, in
+default of Monsieur St. Just, to offer my hand to John. That does not
+matter; but John also learned from Monsieur Billaud-Varenne that he had
+said to father: 'Since you so greatly desire to marry your daughter to a
+good republican, why not give her to John Lebrenn? He is, you say, your
+pupil; he enjoys the esteem and friendship of the most eminent men of
+the Revolution.'"
+
+"No doubt your father hoped, in marrying you to St. Just--"
+
+"To build himself a powerful bulwark against possible danger. But
+Monsieur St. Just not having accepted the alliance, and Monsieur
+Billaud-Varenne proposing John, father feared to seem to despise a
+workingman should he refuse him my hand."
+
+"And what opinion did John Lebrenn express of your father?"
+
+"John said that father's conduct was lacking in straightforwardness, and
+added, 'I have never failed in frankness toward you, Charlotte. If it
+pleases you still to live with your father, I shall yield to your
+desires, and I shall keep ever hidden the slight esteem in which,
+unhappily, I am forced to hold him. But if it is in your thoughts not to
+dwell beneath the paternal roof after our marriage, I shall be more
+pleased with that resolution, as it will permit me not to be separated
+from my sister.' And in this connection, mother," added Charlotte with
+touching emotion, "John gave me a proof of confidence as honorable in
+him as in his sister. He recounted to me all that related to the
+unfortunate girl, but all under the seal of secrecy. If Mademoiselle
+Lebrenn has been the most unhappy creature in the world, because of
+certain terrible events, no one is now more than she worthy of the
+respect of all."
+
+"Gertrude was speaking to me yesterday about Mademoiselle Lebrenn, and
+assured me that during the four years she has lived in our quarter, all
+agree in praising her conduct. My husband used this as a pretext for
+giving Monsieur Lebrenn to believe that if he formerly refused him your
+hand on the ground that his sister had been Louis XV's mistress, that
+obstacle no longer intervened, as by her virtuous conduct Mademoiselle
+Lebrenn had redeemed the past. Would not such deceit, without, alas, the
+other grievances I have against my husband, suffice to estrange us? Such
+is our situation."
+
+"Mother," said Charlotte, interrupting Madam Desmarais, "I told you that
+John, while consenting to live with me at father's house, would much
+prefer for us to dwell by ourselves, with his sister. Ah, well, mother,
+as I can not feel for father the sentiments which hallow the paternal
+roof-tree, I have resolved to part from him after my marriage. And now,
+mother mine, what reason can you give for a separation between us two?"
+
+"Dear child," answered Madam Desmarais, embracing her daughter in tears,
+"you grant my wish before I utter it. Much as I longed for it, I did not
+dare make the request of you for our living together; and even now I do
+not know whether I ought to accept. To live with you would be my most
+cherished desire; but Monsieur Lebrenn knows that I have constantly
+opposed his marriage, and perhaps it would not please him to see me in
+his home."
+
+"Here comes John, mother," cried her daughter as Gertrude led the young
+man into the parlor. "He will take upon himself the task of reassuring
+you."
+
+As soon as the maid had withdrawn, Charlotte said to her betrothed, who
+bowed respectfully to Madam Desmarais:
+
+"My dear John, in case, after our marriage, it should not please me to
+live in my father's house, would it be agreeable to you for mother to
+come with us?"
+
+"I shall answer you, Charlotte, in all sincerity," responded the young
+artisan. "I should be happy to have Madam Desmarais with us; all the
+more, seeing that since what passed between her husband and her after
+Monsieur Hubert's escape, it seems to me almost impossible that she
+could resign herself to inhabit any longer the home of her marriage."
+And he continued, to Madam Desmarais: "Believe me, madam; by my respect,
+by my filial attachment, I shall strive to make you forget what you have
+suffered; moreover, I promise to try to call a halt to the pursuit of
+your brother."
+
+"Great God!" cried Madam Desmarais in accents of gratitude, "can it be
+possible!"
+
+"I have some hope, due to my political relations, of success in what
+concerns your brother's safety."
+
+"Ah, John!" said Charlotte, "you have divined my thoughts, anticipated
+my wishes; for just now, in trying to reassure mother on the score of
+uncle's fate, I dreamt of asking your assistance."
+
+"And I, Monsieur Lebrenn, am doubly grateful for your generosity towards
+my brother, especially since you are not unaware that, even as I, he was
+ever obstinately opposed to your marriage with my daughter," added Madam
+Desmarais, with tears of happiness standing in her eyes. "Ah, whatever
+the result of your efforts, my gratitude towards you will be eternal,
+Monsieur Lebrenn. But, alas! how can you save my brother?"
+
+"Write, madam, to Monsieur Hubert, that if he will promise, on his word
+of honor, to abstain henceforth from all intrigue, and to live quietly
+in Paris, I hope, due to my relations with the procurator of the Commune
+and several members of the Committee of General Safety, to be able to
+secure a suspension of the searches against him. I ask of him nothing
+which a man of honor can not accede to; I ask nothing which looks toward
+his dropping his opinions, nothing that engages him towards the
+Republic, except that he respect the established laws."
+
+"Ah, uncle is saved, mother. This proposal is too straightforward for
+him not to accept. Let your heart rejoice."
+
+"Ah, Monsieur Lebrenn, what generosity, what grandeur of heart! Will you
+pardon me for having so long misprised you?"
+
+"John, for answer, embrace _our_ mother," said Charlotte, gently
+pushing her betrothed toward Madam Desmarais. The latter held out her
+arms to the young workman, who clasped her in a hearty hug.
+
+"Aye, aye, you will hereafter be for me the best of sons," replied she.
+"I owe to you forgetfulness from my sorrows, perhaps the life of my
+brother, and assuredly the happiness of my Charlotte."
+
+"And now let us talk of our plans," resumed the young girl. "It is
+understood, mother, that when we are married, you are to live with us?
+We need not go back to that."
+
+"That is my dearest wish."
+
+"Since we are speaking of plans, Charlotte," put in John, "I should
+acquaint your mother and you of my intention to continue my trade of
+ironsmith. My employer, Master Gervais, has long proposed to turn his
+establishment over to me, for which I was to reimburse him by yearly
+payments to be agreed on by us. I am not of an age to enter upon another
+career from that I have so far lived by."
+
+"But, my dear John," began Madam Desmarais, "as you speak of continuing
+your trade, I should tell you that my daughter has a dower--of
+considerable importance."
+
+"That is something, I must declare to you, which I have never
+considered," John made answer. "Charlotte's dowry belongs to her, she is
+to use it as seems good to her. As to me, I am certain that neither you
+nor she will disapprove of my resolution to live by my own labor, as
+heretofore. The establishment, perfectly equipped, which I shall get
+from Master Gervais for thirty thousand livres, should bring me, good
+year or bad, five or six thousand livres steadily. The output of my
+forge will permit us, then, to live in some comfort, and allow me to pay
+off my master in a few years, according to the arrangements that we
+shall make."
+
+"But, my dear John, my daughter's dower is more than 120,000 livres in
+good gold louis, snugly stowed underground in our cellar; not to speak
+of my personal fortune."
+
+"Dear mother, permit me to interrupt you," returned John. "Your private
+fortune is yours, and Charlotte's dowry is hers; she and you may dispose
+of them as you will, and in acts of benevolence. I wish only to prove to
+you that my labor will suffice for the maintenance of our household,
+apart from your resources."
+
+"I have always given you credit for delicacy, my dear John," replied
+Madam Desmarais.
+
+"For which I thank you, dear mother. You now know that I wish to
+continue to live by my trade. For the rest, be easy," added the young
+workingman, smiling. "Neither Charlotte nor you will be deafened by the
+clang of my anvil. Master Gervais's shop is on Anjou Street, and a great
+courtyard separates it from a pretty house in the midst of a garden. The
+dwelling is at present occupied by Master Gervais, but as he purposes to
+go to live in the country, he will rent it to me. We shall be, my dear
+mother--you, Charlotte, my sister, and I--comfortably established in our
+little nest, which smiles in the shade of the garden about it. These are
+my plans, subject to your and Charlotte's approval; except, I repeat, my
+firm resolve to continue to live by the work of my forge."
+
+"I, to begin with, am agreed to these projects of John's," said the
+young girl gaily. "The house, surrounded by its garden, charms me before
+I see it. But do not be afraid, Monsieur John, that I shall fear to
+blacken my dress with the smoke of your forge; I shall also prove to
+you that I dread not being deafened with the thunder of your anvil. And
+you, mother, what have you to say to our projects? Do they meet with
+your approval?"
+
+"I say that our John is honor, probity and delicacy itself," replied
+Madam Desmarais with welling emotion. "I say that I would live, if need
+be, in a garret, rather than be parted from you, my children. I say that
+now I am ashamed of the prejudices in which I have heretofore lived in
+regard to the men of the people. John teaches me to value them as they
+truly deserve."
+
+"Ah, dear mother," was John's answer, "I understand, I overlook the
+prejudices of which you accuse yourself. What causes them, what even
+often justifies them, is the faults of so many of the disinherited,
+unhappy ones, who, sunk in misery, in ignorance, and abandonment, have
+fallen prey to the fatal vices that are nearly always engendered by
+these conditions. So, do you know what has been my motive in wishing to
+succeed Master Gervais in his smithy, where a score or so of apprentices
+are always employed? It is to form in our shop a sort of practical
+school of industrious, upright, and efficient workmen, jealous of their
+rights as citizens, but also imbued with a sense of their public duties.
+I hope to render still more fervent, still more glowing, their love for
+their country, and for the Republic. I wish, in associating them with my
+labors, to make them associated with the benefits thereof. I hope, in
+short, to watch with fatherly solicitude over my young apprentices. I
+shall choose orphans wherever possible, to the end of giving them a
+family, and bringing them up good republicans. I have not, have I,
+Charlotte, presumed too much upon you, in counting on your help for
+these poor boys?"
+
+"Ah, count also on my co-operation, my dear John," exclaimed Madam
+Desmarais, her eyes filling with tears. "I now understand the grandeur,
+the usefulness, the holiness of the task which you impose upon yourself
+for the benefit of your apprentices and workmen. You seek to educate
+them; you charge yourself with the molding of their characters!"
+
+Gertrude, entering at that moment, said to the young workman:
+
+"Monsieur Desmarais knows that you are here, Monsieur Lebrenn. He asks
+you to wait for him. He will be in directly."
+
+"Mother," said Charlotte sadly, "grievous as is the dissimulation, I
+believe there is every necessity for us not to inform father as yet of
+our resolve to live apart from him after my wedding."
+
+"I am not of your opinion, my dear Charlotte," objected John, whose
+candidness would have suffered under the reticence. "At any rate, we
+have time to consider the matter. But it is necessary to decide, before
+Monsieur Desmarais comes in on how to convey to Monsieur Hubert the
+proposal I made to you, dear mother."
+
+"Dear John," replied Madam Desmarais, "I have a secure means of
+communication with him. But should my letter indeed be intercepted, and
+your name be found in it, do you not fear to be compromised?"
+
+"Should they seize your letter, it will not injure me in the slightest.
+The attempt I make is loyal. I accept proudly the responsibility
+attached to it, the same as, this very morning, I took upon myself the
+responsibility, still more serious on the face of it, of giving an
+Emigrant who had sought refuge with me the means, not of escaping
+justice--my duty would not permit that--but of leaving our house. Thanks
+to me, the ex-Count of Plouernel was able, without molestation, to gain
+a safe retreat."
+
+"That great seigneur who once so shamefully outraged my husband?" cried
+Madam Desmarais in surprise.
+
+"Monsieur Plouernel," Charlotte asked, "the descendant of that ancient
+family of warrior Franks which has done so much injury to your plebeian
+stock?"
+
+"Precisely. By a strange fatality, he picked a fight with me last night.
+I thought I had killed him, but he was only stunned. This morning when
+Monsieur Plouernel had sufficiently regained his senses and strength, I
+conducted him to the threshold of our house. The porter, recognizing my
+voice, opened the street door to the Emigrant. Now let the justice of
+men be done; I can not denounce an enemy defeated and wounded."
+
+At this moment advocate Desmarais stepped into the parlor, cordially
+tendering his hand to Lebrenn, and saying:
+
+"Good day, my dear friend, my worthy _pupil_." Then passing to the young
+artisan a paper he held in his hand, the lawyer added: "Read that aloud,
+my dear John."
+
+Charlotte's betrothed read as follows:
+
+     "Citizen colleague:
+
+     "I announce to you the marriage of my daughter, Charlotte
+     Desmarais, to Citizen John Lebrenn, the iron worker.
+
+     "The vows of the two as husband and wife will be received by the
+     municipal officer of the Section of the Pikes, on the day that the
+     head of Louis Capet the tyrant falls on the scaffold.
+
+     "Fraternal greetings,
+     "BRUTUS DESMARAIS.
+
+     "December 12, year One of the
+     Republic one and indivisible."
+
+"That is a copy of the circular letter I have just addressed to my
+colleagues of the Convention, to invite them to your wedding with my
+daughter. What do you say to the phrasing of my missive, and especially
+to the time chosen for your wedding?"
+
+"My God!" thought Madam Desmarais with a shudder, "the fate of Louis XVI
+aroused my husband's pity, and still he chooses the day of that prince's
+execution to marry our daughter upon. What abominable hypocrisy!" And
+Madam Desmarais left the parlor.
+
+"You ask me, Citizen Desmarais, what I think of your letter of
+invitation, and of the time set for my union with Charlotte; I reply to
+you, in all sincerity, that I extremely regret that you chose the day of
+the execution of Louis XVI for our marriage."
+
+"And I, father, hold with John."
+
+"I suspect you, my daughter, of being a little royalist," replied the
+lawyer in a bitter-sweet tone; "and as to you, my dear pupil, I did not
+believe it necessary to remind you that the day a King's head falls into
+the basket is a festive day, a day of joy for all good patriots."
+
+"Citizen Desmarais, did I sit in the Convention I would have voted for
+the death of Louis XVI, as a perjurer and a conspirer against the
+nation. But the day when the glaive of the law strikes the last of the
+Kings will not be a day of joy for the Republic."
+
+"And what will it be, then, O my pupil? A day of mourning, perhaps?"
+
+"For good patriots there will be neither joy nor mourning, Citizen
+Desmarais. It will be a day of deep and sober thought. Louis XVI is not
+a man, but a principle, representing the oldest monarchy in Europe. In
+striking Louis XVI, it is royalty that is beheaded. It is not a head
+that will fall to the scaffold, but a crown."
+
+"My faith, my dear pupil, you have indeed out-reasoned your master. The
+death of the tyrant, in fact, causes patriots more than the delirium of
+joy, it causes a religious meditation, as you have so aptly said. But
+what is done is done. I sent off my circular this morning to all our
+friends in the Mountain; I can not now change the date of your
+marriage."
+
+"Father," said Charlotte gravely, "John and I have awaited for years the
+day that would consummate our hopes; we would gladly consent to postpone
+still further the day that is to unite us, in order not to coincide with
+that of the death of the King, guilty though he be."
+
+"Enough on that subject, my daughter, time presses. You, my pupil, will
+come to the notary's with me, if you please, to settle the terms of your
+marriage contract. Thence we shall hie us to the Convention, where I
+shall present you to my colleagues of the Mountain as my future
+son-in-law."
+
+"I would say to you, Citizen Desmarais, that I do not intend to
+interfere in the making of the contract; that shall be drawn up as it
+pleases you."
+
+"But you must know, my dear pupil, what dowry I settle upon my
+daughter!"
+
+"That is a financial question in which I am not in the slightest degree
+interested."
+
+"Ah, my children," returned the lawyer, in sepulchral tones, "what
+regret I feel at not being able to endow you as I would wish! But I have
+ruined myself in patriotic gifts. Save for this house and some little
+properties which amount to almost nothing, there remain to me in all
+only 850 louis, which I share with you, my children. This dowry is very
+small, my dear John, after that which you hoped to secure from your
+father-in-law."
+
+"The thought of a dower never presented itself to me; be convinced of
+that, Monsieur Desmarais."
+
+"I believe you, my dear pupil, expecting no less of your delicacy. But,
+apart from the 425 louis which I leave to you, you shall be lodged here,
+without expense to you; for we shall never part, my dear pupil. We shall
+be but one single family, and we shall also find room for your sister,
+who has so admirably lived down her past; for I no longer see in her the
+mistress of Louis XV, but the worthy daughter of the proletaire. And so,
+my dear John, it is indeed settled that neither you nor your wife shall
+leave me; I count on it, absolutely; it is for our peace and mutual
+happiness."
+
+Charlotte was as indifferent as John to the figure of her dowry; but
+knowing through her mother that the settlement originally was to have
+been 120,000 livres, buried in the cellar of the house, the young girl
+was wounded by the secret calculations of her father, who, she thought
+(nor was she mistaken), in dowering her so niggardly expected to force
+John Lebrenn to take up his residence with him.
+
+"I must thank you for your offer, Citizen Desmarais," answered John,
+"but I desire but one thing in the world, the hand of Charlotte. That I
+have obtained. All the rest is in my eyes but a bauble; it concerns me
+little, and troubles me not at all."
+
+"Such delicacy does not surprise me, coming from you, my dear John. So
+you accept the terms of contract, as to the dowry? It is agreed?"
+
+"Perfectly, and without objection."
+
+"In that case, let us at once set about drawing up the marriage
+articles. The notary awaits us."
+
+"Adieu, Charlotte. I shall at once see the members of the Committee of
+General Safety about your uncle," added John softly to his betrothed.
+
+"Ah, if I had ever hesitated to leave my father's house," replied the
+young girl to her lover in like tones, "this last interview with him
+would have removed my scruples."
+
+"Come, my pupil, let us go," said the lawyer, approaching the young
+couple. "Adieu, my daughter; tell mother that our dear John will dine
+here--the betrothal feast!"
+
+"Till we meet again, father," answered the young girl, with a look of
+intelligence to John, who, accompanying his future father-in-law, left
+the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE KING SENTENCED.
+
+
+If there had ever existed any doubt as to the crimes of high treason
+charged against Louis XVI, the doubt vanished before the crushing proofs
+furnished against him during his examination. Deseze, Tronchet and
+Malesherbes, charged with the defense made their main plea on the royal
+inviolability guaranteed by the Constitution of 1791.
+
+According to the defense of Louis XVI, and, indeed, according to the
+text of the Constitution itself, the King, even though he violated the
+Constitution, even though he betrayed the state, even though he led an
+invasion upon France, and at the head of foreign troops put the country
+to fire and sword, even then he incurred no penalty other than that of
+deposition. Such was the brief of the King's lawyers.
+
+This theory, in which the absurd jostled the monstrous, was not judged
+worthy of a refutation by the Convention. Capet's accusers placed the
+question on a higher plane, by affirming and demonstrating the nullity
+of the Constitutional pact of 1791. Such was the opinion held by
+Robespierre, St. Just, Condorcet, Carnot, Danton, several Girondins,
+and, in fact, the great majority of the house.
+
+In the name of justice, of right, and of reason, Louis XVI richly
+merited the verdict of guilty.
+
+The sovereignty of the people being permanent, indivisible and
+inalienable, the Constitution of 1791 was radically null and void, in
+that it provided for the hereditary alienation of a portion of the
+people's rights, in favor of the ex-royal family. The Conventionists of
+1793 were no more in love with the Constitution of 1791 than the
+Constituents of 1791 were with the monarchical, feudal and religious
+institutions which had weighed like an incubus on France fourteen
+centuries long.
+
+A nation has the power, but never the right, to alienate its
+sovereignty, either in whole or in part, by delegating it to a
+hereditary family. Such an alienation, imposed amid the violence of
+conquest, borne out of habits of thought, or consented to in a moment of
+public aberration, binds neither the present generation nor those to
+come. Accordingly, the Constitution of 1791 being virtually null in
+fact, Louis Capet could not invoke the protection of that Constitution,
+which guaranteed the inviolability of the royal person, and limited his
+punishment to deposition in a few specified cases. Louis XVI was, then,
+legally brought to trial. By reconquering its full sovereignty on the
+10th of August, the nation invested the Convention with the powers
+necessary for judging the one-time King. His crimes were notorious and
+flagrant; their penalty was written in the books of the law, equally for
+all citizens; he must, then, undergo the penalty for his misdeeds.
+
+I, John Lebrenn, add here some further passages from my diary, relating
+to the trial, judgment and execution of Louis Capet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+JANUARY 15, 1793.--Having heard the defense submitted by Deseze, one of
+the attorneys for Louis XVI, the Convention put to a vote this first
+question:
+
+"Is Louis Capet guilty of conspiracy against liberty and the nation, and
+of assault on the general safety of the State?"
+
+The Assembly contained seven hundred and forty-nine members.
+
+Six hundred and eighty-three replied:
+
+"Yes, the accused is guilty."
+
+The roll-call being completed, the president of the Assembly announced
+the decision:
+
+"In the name of the French people, the National Convention declares
+Louis Capet guilty of conspiracy against liberty and the nation, and of
+assault on the general safety of the State."
+
+The second question was:
+
+"Shall the decision of the National Convention be submitted to
+ratification by the people?"
+
+The members who voted for ratification by the people were two hundred
+and eighty-one; those against ratification, four hundred and
+twenty-three.
+
+The president announced the result of the vote:
+
+"The National Convention declares the judgment rendered on Louis Capet
+shall not be sent for ratification to the people."
+
+JANUARY 17, 1793.--To-day and yesterday the sessions of the Convention
+were permanent, due to the gravity of the situation. The debate turned
+upon the third question:
+
+"What shall be the penalty imposed on Louis XVI?"
+
+I was present at the sessions wherein the elected Representatives of the
+people decided the fate of the Frankish monarchy, imposed on Gaul for
+fourteen centuries. It was not alone the man, the King, that the
+Convention decapitated--it was the most ancient monarchy in Europe. It
+was not only the head of Capet that the Republic wished defiantly to
+cast at the feet of allied Europe; it was the crown of the last of the
+Kings.
+
+It was eight in the evening. In response to their names as the roll was
+called the members of the Convention mounted the tribunal one by one,
+and in the midst of a solemn silence cast their vote.
+
+This evening, Thursday, at eight o'clock, while throughout the spacious
+hall one might have heard a pin drop, Vergniaud announced the result:
+
+"The Assembly consists of seven hundred and forty-nine members; 15 are
+absent on committees, 7 because of illness, 1 without cause, censured;
+and 5 excused; number remaining, seven hundred and twenty-one.
+
+"Required for an absolute majority, three hundred and sixty-one.
+
+"Members voting for death unconditionally, three hundred and
+eighty-seven.
+
+"Members voting for imprisonment, irons, or conditional death, three
+hundred and thirty-four.
+
+"In the name of the people and the National Convention, I declare the
+penalty of death pronounced against Louis Capet."
+
+JANUARY 19, 1793.--The question put by Mailhe, "Shall there be any
+postponement of Louis XVI's execution?" was discussed during the
+sessions of the 17th and 18th. At the end of to-day's session, the
+president put the question to a vote:
+
+"Shall the execution of Louis Capet be postponed, yes or no?"
+
+The vote resulted: for postponement, three hundred and ten; against,
+three hundred and eighty. The postponement was lost. Pale, and with
+grief impressed upon his features, Vergniaud again ascended the tribunal
+and in a trembling voice announced:
+
+"The National Convention declares:
+
+"Article first.--Louis Capet, last King of France, is guilty of
+conspiracy against the liberty of the nation and of assault upon the
+general safety of the State.
+
+"Article second.--The National Convention declares that Louis Capet
+shall suffer the penalty of death.
+
+"Article third.--Notice of the decree which condemns Louis Capet to
+death shall he sent to the Executive Council.
+
+"The Executive Council is charged to notify Louis XVI of the decree
+during the day, and to have him executed within twenty-four hours.
+
+"The mayors and municipal officers of Paris shall be enjoined to allow
+Louis Capet liberty to communicate with his family, and to call upon a
+minister of the denomination he may elect, to attend his last moments."
+
+At three in the morning of Sunday, January 20, the meeting adjourned;
+and to cries of "Long live the Nation!" "Long live the Republic!" the
+multitude poured out of the galleries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+EXECUTION.
+
+
+Such were the memorable sessions of the National Assembly of the 15th,
+17th, 19th and 20th of January, 1793.
+
+Glory to the men of energy, to the inexorable patriots!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+JANUARY 21, 1793.--The execution of Louis Capet took place to-day,
+Monday, the 21st of January, 1793!
+
+My sister and I were present at the death of Louis. A vast throng filled
+the Place of the Revolution. The scaffold faced the avenue of the
+Elysian Fields, a short distance from the spot occupied by the statue of
+Louis XV.
+
+At ten minutes past ten in the morning, a dull rumor, drawing nearer and
+nearer, announced the arrival of the condemned. My sister and I were not
+far from the scaffold, behind a line of Municipal Guards. We beheld a
+two-horse carriage draw up, accompanied by General Santerre and several
+officers of his staff. Claude Bernard and James Roux, an ex-priest, the
+municipal officers charged with guarding Capet, alighted first from the
+carriage, where Louis remained for two minutes' space with his
+confessor. Then, with firm tread, and supported by the executioners, he
+ascended the steps of the platform. He was clad in grey trousers and a
+soft white waistcoat; his purpled face betrayed intense excitement.
+Suddenly he stepped to the edge of the scaffold, and cried to the
+people:
+
+"Frenchmen, I am innocent--"
+
+At Santerre's command the roll of drums drowned the rest of the speech.
+Louis XVI cast a look of rage at the drummers, and cried to them angrily
+to desist.
+
+The drumming continued. Louis Capet was turned over to Sampson, the
+executioner-in-chief, and his aides. A few seconds later, the
+sixty-sixth of these foreign Kings of Gaul had paid the penalty of his
+crimes, had expiated the wrongs of the monarchy of which he was the last
+incarnation.
+
+The King's head, held up to the people by the headsman, was greeted with
+the shouts of the multitude.
+
+No. 155 of Marat's journal terminates its account of the execution of
+Capet with the following reflections:
+
+"The head of the tyrant has just fallen under the sword of the law; that
+same blow has overthrown the foundation of monarchy among us. I now
+believe in the Republic.... Not a voice cried for grace during the
+execution; a profound silence reigned about the scaffold. But when the
+head of Capet was shown to the people, from all sides rose the cries,
+'Long live the Nation! Long live the Republic!' The execution of Louis
+XVI is one of those memorable events which mark epochs in the life of
+nations. It will have an immense influence on the fate of the despots of
+Europe and on those peoples who have as yet not broken their chains."
+
+Robespierre, in a letter to one of his constituents (second trimester,
+page 3), penned the following appreciation of the consequences of the
+great political occurrence:
+
+"Citizens, the tyrant is fallen under the sword of the law. This great
+act of justice has struck consternation to the hearts of the
+aristocracy, annihilated the superstition of royalty, and created the
+Republic. It imparts a character of grandeur to the Convention, and
+makes it worthy the confidence of France. The imposing and majestic
+attitude of the people in this solemn hour will cause the tyrants of
+earth more terror than even the death of their fellow. A profound
+silence surrounded the scaffold up to the moment the head of Louis XVI
+fell. That instant, the air shook with the unanimous shout of a hundred
+thousand citizens, 'Long live the Republic!' It was not the barbarous
+curiosity of men who came to feast their eyes on the death of a
+fellow-being; it was the powerful interest of a people, impassioned for
+liberty, and assuring itself of the fact that royalty had breathed its
+last.... Formerly, when a King died at Versailles, the reign of his
+successor was immediately ushered in to the tune of 'The King is dead,
+long live the King!' as if to make the nation understand that despotism
+was immortal. This time, a whole people, with a sublime instinct,
+acclaimed: 'Long live the Republic,' to teach a universe that tyranny
+had died with the tyrant."
+
+May the same lot be reserved for all the Kings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+MARRIAGE OF JOHN LEBRENN.
+
+
+Under date of January 26, 1793, the diary of John Lebrenn bears the
+record, without comment:
+
+"To-day I espoused Charlotte Desmarais."
+
+Despite the circular addressed by advocate Desmarais to his colleagues
+in the Convention, and in which he fixed as the date for his daughter's
+wedding the day of the tyrant's death, Charlotte, without regard for her
+father's very lively disappointment, and unmindful of his reiterated
+importunities, would not consent to be married until the 26th of
+January. With his habitual calculation, considering the union merely as
+a precaution, the lawyer had chosen Robespierre and Marat as witnesses
+to the ceremony; those selected by John Lebrenn were Billaud-Varenne and
+Legendre. The municipal officer of the Section received the vows of the
+young couple in his office on the evening after the Convention session
+of January 26. John Lebrenn had several days previously obtained from
+his old employer, Master Gervais, the deed of his smithy and the lease
+of the house. The preparations, the modest embellishments of his future
+home, were finished on the eve of his marriage.
+
+After returning from the offices of the Section, the young couple
+received the pledges and felicitations of the witnesses, and presently
+were left alone with Madam Desmarais and her husband, who said to John:
+
+"My dear son-in-law, I leave you an instant to go to look up my
+daughter's dowry and present it to you."
+
+When Desmarais left the room, his wife addressed her daughter and
+new-found son:
+
+"My children, this is the decisive instant. I would rather die than live
+any longer with my husband; but I tremble to think of the rage into
+which our resolution will throw him. Do not forsake me."
+
+"Dear mother," responded Charlotte, "could you really think that of us?
+Is not our life bound up with yours?"
+
+"Nevertheless, if he should oppose our separation? He would perhaps be
+in the right, my children?"
+
+"Reassure yourself, dear mother," quoth John in his turn. "In the first
+place, the separation will relieve Monsieur Desmarais of one fear, that
+of being compromised by his relationship with Monsieur Hubert, your
+brother; who, unfortunately, as you tell me, has refused to accept the
+proposal made to him in my name."
+
+"Alas, yes; my brother replied that he appreciated your offer, but that
+he considered it an act of cowardice to remain passive; he wished to
+retain full freedom to combat the Republic."
+
+"Alas," echoed Charlotte, with a sigh, "I deplore uncle's blindness, but
+I can not but pay homage to his strength of character."
+
+"True enough, my dear Charlotte, Monsieur Hubert is one of those
+adversaries whom one admires while fighting. As I have several times
+told your mother, I hoped that struck especially by the attitude of the
+people of Paris on the 21st your uncle, who is a man of sense, would
+recognize how vain would now be any attempt against the Republic,"
+observed John. "In that case, dear mother, Monsieur Desmarais,
+heretofore so terrified at the perils to which he believed himself
+exposed by his kinship with Monsieur Hubert, will no doubt see in your
+determination to leave him nothing but a pledge of his safety for the
+future, and will hardly dream of holding you back. At least, that is the
+way it appears to me."
+
+At that moment the attorney returned, holding in his hands a little
+inlaid casket which he held out to the young artisan with a radiant air,
+saying:
+
+"My dear son-in-law, I have found in my strong-box, besides the sum I
+mentioned, a hundred louis, which I add to my daughter's dower."
+
+But seeing John Lebrenn repulse the proffered casket, the attorney added
+in great surprise: "Come, take the little chest, my dear pupil. It
+contains, in fine good louis, the dower I promised you, to which I have
+just added two thousand four hundred livres. Moreover, it is understood
+that in recompense for the slimness of the dower Charlotte, you, and
+your sister will lodge and board with me, without, to put it plainly,
+any expense to you. We shall live as one family."
+
+"Citizen Desmarais," replied John, "before accepting the dower which you
+offer me and of which I have no need, it is our duty, my wife's and
+mine, to inform you of our plans. First of all, I shall continue in my
+station as an iron-worker."
+
+"That is admirable, my dear pupil," exclaimed the lawyer with hastily
+assumed enthusiasm. "Far from blushing at your condition, far from
+seeing in the advantage afforded you by your marriage with my daughter
+an opportunity to renounce honest toil and to live in indolence, you
+choose to remain a workman. That is indeed admirable!"
+
+"Citizen Desmarais, I hasten to disabuse you of a misunderstanding that
+exists between us. Upon mature consideration my wife and I have decided
+to dwell in our own house, completely separated from you."
+
+"What do you mean!"
+
+"I mean, Citizen Desmarais, that my former employer has sold me his
+establishment. Whence it follows that my labors and the care of my forge
+will oblige me, as well as my wife, to live elsewhere than here with
+you. I have, in consequence, hired the house previously occupied by my
+old master, and this very night my wife and I shall take possession of
+our new abode. The question has been considered and settled."
+
+"Aye, father," added Charlotte. "Such is, indeed, our firm resolution."
+
+At these words, pronounced by John Lebrenn and Charlotte in a voice that
+admitted of no reply, advocate Desmarais turned livid with rage and
+amazement. Forgetting now all his tricks of dissimulation, distracted
+with fear, and exasperated by what he took as an indignity on the part
+of his daughter and her husband, the lawyer cried to Charlotte, as he
+shook with anger and fright:
+
+"Treason! Shameful treason! Heartless, unnatural daughter! This is the
+gratitude with which you repay my bounties to you? You would have the
+audacity to leave your father's house, would you! And you----" he added,
+turning tempestuously upon John Lebrenn, "and you, traitor, how dare
+you thus abuse my confidence, my generosity?"
+
+"Not another word in that tone, Citizen Desmarais," interposed John. "Do
+not oblige me to forget the respect I owe the father of my wife; do not
+oblige me to tell you for what reasons your daughter--and her
+mother--have resolved to fix their abode elsewhere than with you."
+
+"My wife! She also--would dare----" cried the lawyer, his rage
+redoubling till it almost choked him.
+
+"Yes, monsieur, I also wish to leave you," replied Madam Desmarais. "You
+have treated me most cruelly, because my unhappy brother, a proscript
+and a fugitive, came to ask of you a few hours' shelter. You denounced
+me to the commissioner of our Section, adjured him to hale me away as a
+prisoner. You have even gone so far as to declare to me, 'If it were
+necessary, madam, in order to save my life, to send you to the
+scaffold--I would not hesitate an instant. Just now I must roar with the
+tigers; but then I should become a tiger.'"
+
+"Hold your tongue!" shrieked the advocate, in a frenzy. "Do you wish to
+get my head cut off, gabbling like that before this man who perhaps
+awaits but the moment to settle me? Serpent that he is, whom I have
+warmed in my bosom!"
+
+"Citizen Desmarais," replied Lebrenn, half in pity, half in disgust, "it
+depends upon you alone to put an end to your alarms, to the terrors by
+which you are assailed and of which those about you are the first
+victims. Cease to display in exaggerated form opinions which are at
+fisticuffs with your real belief. Renounce your public career. The
+weakness of your character, the uneasiness of your conscience, evoke
+fantasms before your eyes."
+
+"It is a plot against my life!" continued Desmarais wildly. "They want
+to draw upon my head the fury of the Jacobins, and have me packed off to
+the scaffold. They want to be rid of me so that my dutiful daughter and
+son-in-law may play ducks and drakes with my fortune! But the old fox
+knows the trap! I shall stay at the Convention. My daughter and
+son-in-law may take themselves off, if they so wish; but as for you,
+Citizeness Desmarais, you shall not leave this house. The wife,
+according to the law, is bound to reside at the home of her husband."
+
+"I will live with you no longer," resolutely replied Madam Desmarais. "A
+hundred times rather die!"
+
+"Once would suffice, worthy wife! And it would be good riddance to a
+most abominable burden."
+
+"Come, mother," said Charlotte, wroth at her father's brutal language.
+"Come. You shall not remain here another instant."
+
+"Your mother shall stop where she is," cried the lawyer threateningly.
+"As for you, my daughter--as for you, my son-in-law--I shall denounce
+your execrable complot to my friends of the mad-men's party, to Hebert,
+to James Roux the disfrocked priest, to Varlet. Get you hence--I drive
+you from my house." Then seizing his wife by the arm, Desmarais added,
+"But not you. You stay!"
+
+"You will please to allow my mother full control over her own actions,
+Citizen Desmarais," said Lebrenn calmly, and mastering his indignation.
+"Unhand her!"
+
+"Get out of here, scoundrel!" retorted the attorney, still holding his
+wife by the wrist. "Get out of here, at once!"
+
+"For the last time, Citizen Desmarais," quoth John Lebrenn. "Allow Madam
+Desmarais to follow her daughter, as is her desire. My patience is at an
+end, and I can not much longer tolerate the brutality I see here."
+
+"Would you have the boldness to raise your hand against me, wretch!"
+replied the advocate, foaming with rage, and roughly wrenching his
+wife's arm. "Malediction on you both."
+
+"Aye, I shall succor your wife from your wretched treatment," John
+answered; and seizing the lawyer's wrist with his iron hand as if in a
+vise, he forced the attorney to release his almost fainting spouse. She,
+on her part, made all haste to leave the now intolerable presence of her
+husband, and, supported by Charlotte, disappeared into the next room.
+
+As John left the parlor to rejoin his bride and his second mother,
+advocate Desmarais, hiding his face in his hands, sank into an
+arm-chair, crying:
+
+"Abandoned by wife, abandoned by daughter! Henceforth I am condemned to
+live alone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+A LOVE FROM THE GRAVE.
+
+
+His marriage with Charlotte achieved, John Lebrenn, his sister, his wife
+and Madam Desmarais took up their abode in the modest dwelling on Anjou
+Street. Here also was Lebrenn's smithy, now for two months transformed
+into an armorer's shop, for he had received an order for guns for the
+volunteers, and, with his companions, set about the work with a will.
+
+On the evening of May the 30th, in the year of his marriage, Lebrenn was
+looking over the newspapers while he rested from the heavy labors of the
+day, when his wife, sad and engrossed, came to him, saying to herself:
+
+"No--painful though the confidence be, my last talk with the poor child,
+and my tender attachment for Victoria, will not permit me to postpone
+it--" Then, aloud to her husband, she began:
+
+"I have for long hesitated, my friend, over the communication I am about
+to make to you. But the interest I feel in Victoria compels me to-day to
+speak. Closer knowledge of your sister's character has shown me, my
+friend, that you do not over-state when you say that, despite the
+youthful degradation she perforce underwent, her heart has remained
+pure. And yet I very wrongly harbored an evil thought against her. Now
+I have the proof of my mistake. I attributed to jealousy the change we
+noticed coming over her. I thought to myself that Victoria, used to
+concentrate upon you all her tenderness, to share your life, might feel
+toward me that sort of sisterly jealousy which the best and bravest of
+sisters feel in spite of themselves toward the wife of an idolized
+brother. I blush for my error, my friend, but still it was pardonable.
+Do you recall that shortly after our wedding we began to remark in your
+sister a growing sadness and taciturnity? Did she not seem by turns
+happy and saddened at our intimacy? Has she not appeared almost
+continuously under the empire of some secret brooding?"
+
+"True; for long I have noticed in Victoria a sort of capricious
+changefulness of spirit which contrasted strongly with her ordinary
+equability. Thus, after having taken upon herself the task of evening
+lessons for our three apprentice boys and little Oliver, the orphan lad
+whom we took in, who, in spite of his eighteen years, knows no more than
+the younger boys, my sister suddenly declared she was going to stop the
+lessons and leave Paris; and without a word of explanation, at that."
+
+"You remember, John, how bitter were her farewells at leaving us?"
+
+"Happily, at the end of barely a week, Victoria returned, and--strange
+contradiction--insisted upon resuming her functions as school mistress."
+
+"But her sadness, her sighs, the decline of her health proved only too
+well the persistence of her secret anguish. I said to myself, 'The
+courageous woman is fighting with all her might against her sisterly
+jealousy. In vain she tried to flee. Drawn again to us by her
+tenderness for John, she prefers to live with us and suffer.' But no, my
+friend, I was in error. I am now positive of it."
+
+"To what cause, then, do you attribute Victoria's deep dejection and
+chagrin?"
+
+"I shall surprise you, my friend, in revealing the burden--it is love!"
+
+Mute with astonishment, John looked at his wife at first without
+answering her. Then, sadly smiling, and shaking his head incredulously,
+he said:
+
+"Charlotte, you mistake. Victoria has had but one love in her life. He
+whom she loved to distraction is dead. She will be faithful to that
+flame to the tomb."
+
+"You related to me the sad story of Victoria and Maurice, the young
+sergeant in the French Guards, killed by his disgraceful punishment.
+But, recall to mind that two or three days after our marriage, when you
+presented Oliver and the three apprentices, whom she wished to teach to
+read, to her, she suddenly shuddered, and cried as in great
+bewilderment--'Good God! Is it a vision, or is it a specter? 'Tis he,
+'tis Maurice I see again!'"
+
+"I remember the circumstance. And instantly coming to herself, Victoria
+told us she had had a spell of dizziness; but said no more on the
+subject."
+
+"So, noticing her embarrassment, her downheartedness, we did not insist
+on knowing from her the real cause of so strange an incident; but a few
+days after this first meeting with Oliver, a remarkable change began to
+manifest itself in your sister's manner."
+
+"That is all true; but what do you conclude from it?"
+
+"I conclude, my friend, that it was in amazement at something in
+Oliver's appearance that your sister uttered the wandering words which
+startled us. I now believe the words expressed the surprise, mingled
+with affright, into which she was thrown by the striking resemblance
+between Oliver and Sergeant Maurice. And finally, the resemblance is
+explained by what I have discovered;--Oliver is Maurice's brother!"
+
+"Strange, strange indeed!" muttered John. "But tell me, how did you come
+by the discovery?"
+
+"As you know, we had to bring Oliver into the house, so as to have him
+close by us, as he is suffering from some languorous malady which
+renders him unable, despite his courage and willingness, to work in the
+shop. The unhappy boy, undermined by a slow fever, is in a deplorable
+state of weakness."
+
+"The physician attributes it to his rapid growth. Oliver is, in fact,
+hardly eighteen. He has grown fast lately; this would explain his
+temporary lassitude."
+
+"The physician, it seems to me, is deceived there. I shall tell you why,
+my friend. Just now, in coming from the shop, I crossed the garden. I
+saw Oliver seated under the yoke-elm bower, apparently sunk in mournful
+revery. His eye was fixed, his face bathed in tears. On seeing me he
+furtively tried to wipe his eyes. His features revealed mental
+suffering; it was easy to see that all was not physical in his malady.
+'Oliver,' I said, seating myself close beside him, 'the cause of your
+illness is not the one the doctor gives. You feel some great
+disappointment, you hide it from us--that is wrong. My husband cares for
+you like a father, why do you not confide your trouble to him?' He
+seemed as much pained as surprised at my penetration; the embarrassed
+answers he gave were not sincere. He attributed his sorrow to the
+loneliness he felt in being left an orphan, without any relatives."
+
+"Such a reply from Oliver surprises me. Has he not often shown by his
+manner the most touching recognition of our kindnesses toward him? We
+make him forget, he says, the unhappiness of his orphanhood; we surround
+him with a family's attention."
+
+"No doubt he was hiding the truth from me, my friend. Then I spoke to
+him of the family he mourned. He eagerly seized upon the topic, as if
+glad of an avenue of escape from the new questions he feared I would put
+to him. He gave me many details of his parents. I learned that his
+furthest memories went back only ten or twelve years, when he was a boy
+of six or seven. He remembered that his brother Maurice wore the uniform
+of the French Guards, and came often to see their mother, a poor
+lace-weaver."
+
+"There can no longer be any doubt!" cried Lebrenn, greatly amazed. "And
+indeed, by dint of much turning about of my early memories, which are
+greatly confused as I was then only a child, meseems that Sergeant
+Maurice, whom I saw often at the house as my sister's betrothed, did, in
+fact, resemble Oliver."
+
+"So, my friend, what is there astonishing in the fact that Victoria,
+finding again, so to speak, Maurice in his younger brother, should yield
+despite herself to the reawakening of a sentiment which always ruled her
+so strongly? A strange sentiment, against which Victoria rebels,
+although in vain, for a thousand reasons, among them the difference in
+years between herself and Oliver. Victoria, although still young and in
+the ripeness of her beauty, might be his mother. The slow malady which
+is gnawing at Oliver's heart has no other cause than a secret and mad
+love for our sister Victoria."
+
+These last words of Charlotte's, recalling to him many circumstances
+previously insignificant, forced conviction upon Lebrenn. He felt as one
+crushed, under the weight of the revelation, and presaging its sad
+consequences, cried, "Charlotte, Charlotte, what sorrows I foresee--if
+your suspicions are well founded! And what is worse, I believe you speak
+sooth."
+
+"My friend, my suspicions are but too well founded. They explain the
+sadness of our poor sister; they explain her heart's anguish, the cause
+of which has eluded us. Alas, her grief arises from the conflict between
+her reason and this strange passion, so incomprehensible at first
+glance. And still, one can see how her love for Maurice, lasting beyond
+the grave, would predispose her toward a similar sentiment for his
+brother, who reflects so perfect an image of the departed. On the other
+hand, no more is it really strange that Oliver, drawn to your sister by
+her many proofs of interest in him, by her beauty, by the loftiness of
+her spirit and the nobility of her character, should end in becoming
+seriously enamored of her. His love, which seeks to hide itself from all
+eyes, and which hardly dares acknowledge itself, thinking it could never
+be returned, will consume him, and perhaps carry him to the grave."
+
+John was silent for some moments. "The affair is so delicate," he said
+at length, "that I would not venture upon taking it up with Victoria,
+confident though I am of her attachment to me. We must, then, see to
+Oliver, and seek to snatch him from his wild passion. I shall have to
+hasten into execution a project I had already formed for his future.
+Everything about the boy seems to indicate military inclinations. A long
+time before his illness I observed during the Section drills not only
+his aptitude in the handling of arms, but with what insight he seemed to
+anticipate, as it were, the manoeuvres, and with what precision he
+executed them."
+
+"Indeed, you have often told me of it, my friend. There are in Oliver,
+you say, the makings of an officer."
+
+"I wished to wait, before proposing to him to enrol, until his health
+was completely restored. But, although his convalescence must, indeed,
+be allowed time for, I think I shall now push forward his engagement in
+whatever corps of the army is most to his liking. The distractions of
+the trip to join his regiment, the change of scene, the soldier's life,
+will, I doubt not, by awakening in Oliver his martial talents, exercise
+a salutary influence over his health. He will feel his mind grow
+gradually calmer in the measure that he finds himself further and
+further removed from Victoria. And lastly, she, no longer having Oliver
+daily before her, will succeed, I hope, in mastering this fatal love.
+'Twould be a happy solution."
+
+The conversation of John and his wife was broken in upon by the entrance
+of Madam Desmarais. The lady seemed quite uneasy, and said to her
+son-in-law in alarm:
+
+"My God! What is going on in Paris to-night? They are beating the
+assembly! The streets are all excitement and hubbub. I was hardly able
+to get back home, for the crowds. Have we another _day_ to fear?"
+
+"According to what you say, dear mother, there probably will be a _day_
+to-morrow," replied John, smiling. "But it will be as peaceful as it
+will be imposing, and will, I hope, insure the safety of the Republic."
+
+"May God hear you, my dear John. I know what faith one can place in your
+words. Nevertheless, I can not help but tremble when I think of your
+being engaged in these struggles, which may at any time end in
+massacre."
+
+Gertrude, the old servant of the family, who had followed Madam
+Desmarais and her daughter to their new dwelling, just then entered and
+said to John: "Monsieur, your foreman Castillon is in the entry. He
+wishes me to tell you he would like to speak with you."
+
+"Go and tell him he may come in, my good Gertrude."
+
+"Charlotte and I will leave you," said Madam Desmarais. "If you go out,
+John, come and see us before you leave."
+
+"Certainly, dear mother." Then addressing his wife, John added,
+significantly, "If you see Victoria before I do, keep silence on the
+subject of our talk."
+
+"Speaking of Victoria, my children, I must say that the change in her
+health seems serious."
+
+"We share your fears, good mother. Without a doubt, Victoria is
+suffering from some secret sorrow. But you know what reserve we must
+proceed with if we wish to win our sister's confidence. Depend upon us,
+mother, and until John or I have seen you, say nothing to Victoria which
+could lead her to suppose that we have remarked the change which
+afflicts us--alas, with all too much cause."
+
+"You may count upon my discretion," replied Madam Desmarais. She and her
+daughter then left the room, and soon Castillon, foreman to John
+Lebrenn, was engaged in conversation with his master.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+MASTER AND FOREMAN.
+
+
+The foreman of John Lebrenn's iron works, a stalwart smith of about the
+same age as his master, was splendidly typical of the republican
+workingman of the time. Like most of the proletarians of his day,
+Castillon had embraced revolutionary ideas more by instinct than by
+reason. In common with his brother workmen, he desired equality before
+the law, and common possession of the tools of production as a means of
+escape from bourgeois exploitation. A high-minded patriot, conscious of
+his rights and still more conscious of his civic duties; an honest man
+in the fullest sense of the word, rigorous of conduct, and despite his
+complete lack of education, endowed with a lively intelligence; an
+excellent workman at his trade, Castillon often regretted not being able
+to go to war. He was a true child of Paris, open, joyous and determined
+of character, joining to solid qualities of heart a spirit full of go
+and vivacity, and often of an original turn. Much attached to the young
+artisan, who had worked more than ten years at the forge beside him,
+John Lebrenn appreciated his foreman as he deserved, and exercised over
+him a command founded on rectitude of principle, mature judgment, and a
+degree of education only too rare among his brothers of the people.
+Master and foreman thee-and-thoued each other like old friends, less in
+obedience to the general habit of the time than as the result of old
+reciprocal affection, and long community of labor.
+
+"Ah, John, I would not have disturbed you," said Castillon, as he
+entered the room. "You were in conversation with your wife and her
+mother--perhaps I come at the wrong time?"
+
+"You are always welcome, my good Castillon. Be seated. What's afoot?"
+
+"Such as you see me, my friend, I come as an ambassador--but without
+emoluments. I shall not break the treasury of the Republic."
+
+"The ambassador of our comrades, no doubt; and what is the text of your
+embassy?"
+
+"This: For a fortnight we have none of us had the time to go to our
+Section meetings, we had to finish the order of guns and muskets for the
+nation; for that is sacred, it comes first before everything. To forge
+arms for our brothers at the front! Ah! by my pipe, they will be proud
+and happy, down there, to be able to slap the Prussians!"
+
+"Patience, Castillon, our day will come."
+
+"Patience let it be. But it is beggarly hard to be able only to assemble
+and polish up for others these fine five-foot clarinets, on which one
+would so love to play the _Ça Ira_, while we spat our lead at the
+Prussians; and It will come, by my pipe, It will! But what would you? We
+are like the poor workpeople of the silk factories of Lyons and Tours,
+who see the holy bourgeois sporting the beautiful goods they themselves
+have woven! So you see, we could not go to our Section meetings, since
+we worked from six in the morning till twelve at night, without
+stopping. And in this labor for the country you set us the example, for
+if you were before us in the shop, old fellow, you left it after us."
+
+"That was my duty; I demanded great efforts of you in the name of the
+Republic, I should share your fatigues."
+
+"Hold, John. You are what we may call a man; a worthy man."
+
+"Come, we are too old friends to be bandying compliments."
+
+"Call it what you like, I repeat that you are a worthy man. Look--what
+did you say to us when you bought the place of our old master, Goodman
+Gervais? 'Here we are, a score of good fellows, working as one family
+like good republicans. Let us take count: The shop brings in, or should
+bring in, in income, so much. Good. From this income we must first take
+out the sum I must annually pay to Master Gervais, and at the end of ten
+years the establishment will belong to us. Up till then, we shall share
+the proceeds proportionately to the hours of labor put in by each of us.
+My wife, who keeps our books and manages the treasury, will have her
+share of the proceeds, like us.' It was in this fashion that you spoke
+to us, John. It was in your power, on becoming our employer, to exploit
+us, as the bourgeois do. But you, you shared with us as brothers, as
+good comrades. Ah, and now, to return to the purpose of my mission, for
+I have traveled far from it, here is the business. It is, as you see, a
+fortnight since we have been able to go either to our Sections or to the
+Jacobins or the Cordeliers, to keep track of events. Then, to-night,
+they beat the assembly. We knew vaguely, from one side and another,
+that something was simmering; but what it was that was simmering, and
+what it was simmering for--that was the rub! We could have learned by
+going to our Sections, but we were sworn, due to the urgency of our
+task, never to leave the shop before midnight, when work was stopped.
+Nevertheless, we were restless over what was taking place this evening
+in Paris. We asked ourselves whether we ought not to drop work anyhow,
+and go and lend a hand to our brothers, when they beat the assembly. So
+that finally my comrades sent me to you, John, to ask whether we should
+stick to the shop, or go to our Sections. Decide the question; we shall
+follow your advice."
+
+"My advice is that we should work still more diligently to-night, for
+to-morrow and perhaps day after to-morrow we may have to go out in the
+street to hold a demonstration, a great demonstration."
+
+"Let's get busy!" exclaimed Castillon, his face shining with ardor. "We
+have perhaps to exterminate a new intrigue of Pitt and Coburg, or a
+little scheme of the ex-nobles and the skull-caps? By my pipe, that's
+fine. And, _ça ira_; I have just finished a love of a musket; maybe I
+can test it on the blacks or the whites, on the Jesuits, their laymen,
+and the nobles! What an opportunity!"
+
+"You will not have that sad chance."
+
+"What, to mow down the enemies of the Republic, you call that a sad
+chance? You, my old fellow?"
+
+"Civil war is always a sad thing, my friend. And it is death to the soul
+when it must resign itself to take up arms against our brothers, against
+the sons of our common mother, the nation."
+
+"Ah, but tell me, friend John, did not these brigands pull sweet faces
+and send the blue-bonnets to ambush and cannonade the patriots on the
+14th of July, on the 5th and 6th of October, on the day of the Field of
+Mars, on the 10th of August, and everywhere, and all the time? The
+aristocrats are our enemies."
+
+"If our adversaries are strangers to the sentiment of brotherhood, must
+we then imitate them, my friend? In civil war either chance is cause for
+mourning--victory or defeat."
+
+"Come, John, we shall never agree on that. As to me, I know but one
+motto--'To a good cat, a good rat,' or if you like it better, 'An eye
+for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' as they said of old. That's why, in
+September, we did jolly well to purge the prisons, I'm thinking."
+
+"If you are set on recalling dates, my good comrade, speak of the great
+days of July 14 and August 10. Let us combat abuse, and be indulgent
+toward individuals. We are on the eve of a very grave crisis. To-morrow
+the whole people will be in the public place in arms, not to fight--God
+be thanked!--but to demonstrate in the name of its rights, in its
+fullness and power and sovereign might. All must bow before the people."
+
+"Good! I know it, old friend. A manifestation is afoot like that of the
+20th of June of last year, when we went to say to Capet, full in his
+face, 'Here, my man, you are the hereditary guardian of the nation! It
+has given you for your pains forty million pledges. Excuse yourself! you
+betray the nation, in place of serving it. Attention to the command, my
+man. If you do not walk straight, we shall sack you, if we don't do
+worse!' Capet didn't walk straight; on the contrary; accordingly, we
+both sacked him and did worse besides, as was just; we shaved him."
+
+"To-morrow's manifestation should be as peaceable as that of the 20th of
+June."
+
+"And for what purpose is the demonstration? It is good to know the
+reasons for it."
+
+"I shall tell you, along with your comrades. Let us go down to the shop.
+It is nine o'clock, and while we work we shall talk. I shall bring with
+me certain papers which will be necessary to give you the full lay of
+the land," added John, taking several written sheets in a portfolio from
+the bureau. "Return to our comrades, I shall soon join you."
+
+"So be it, my old friend, we await you, big and little, journeymen and
+apprentices. Speaking of apprentices, how is Oliver? We have not seen
+him to-day. Poor boy, do you know he seems to be in a bad way? He is so
+weak he can hardly drag himself along. And yet he does not lack courage!
+He haunts the workshop like a lost soul, so great is his chagrin at
+seeing us at work while he remains idle against his will. Day before
+yesterday he tried to fit in a gunlock, a girl's work, but, bah! almost
+at once his weakness seized him, and we had barely time to open our arms
+to catch him and carry him out to the garden. He had fainted outright."
+
+"We shall talk again of the good boy. Perhaps I shall have to beg you to
+do him a service."
+
+"You have but to speak. We all love Oliver in the shop, and I am like
+the rest."
+
+"Thanks, Castillon. I knew I could count on you." And ringing the bell,
+John added: "I have two words to say to Gertrude before joining our
+friends in the smithy; you shall not have long to await me."
+
+Castillon left, and Gertrude having come in in response to the bell,
+John said to her:
+
+"Is my sister in her room?"
+
+"No, monsieur, she went out two hours ago, saying that perhaps she might
+not be back for supper. Poor mademoiselle! You really ought, Monsieur
+John, to consult Oliver's physician about her."
+
+"Do you know where the boy is?"
+
+"He went up to his room at sundown; he was very tired, he said,
+complained of a fever, and shivered with the cold. He asked me to give
+him some coals in a chafing dish to keep his medicine warm, which I did
+immediately."
+
+"Go, Gertrude, please, and see how he is, and whether he wants for
+anything," replied Lebrenn; and to himself he continued, "Ah, what
+sorrows I foresee if, as Charlotte supposes and as I have every reason
+to fear, Victoria loves Oliver, and he feels for her a mad passion, a
+fatal love barren of hope. My sister's past, her betrothal to the poor
+boy's brother, condemn her never to marry him. The difference of age
+would not in itself constitute any obstacle, but my sister is of too
+dignified and firm a mold not to resign herself to the cruel position in
+which the memory of Maurice has placed her, even should the resignation
+carry her to the grave." And thoughtfully John mused on: "The departure
+of Oliver can alone prevent these woes; the matter must be hastened
+through."
+
+At that moment Gertrude broke in, saying to John in a mysterious, almost
+frightened air:
+
+"Ah! monsieur, something strange--"
+
+"What is it, Gertrude?"
+
+"On the way up to poor Oliver, I had to pass by Mademoiselle Victoria's
+door, and I heard the sound of footsteps within."
+
+"My sister did not go out, then?"
+
+"Pardon me, monsieur; I saw mademoiselle leave the house, with my own
+eyes, and she gave me the key of her room."
+
+"That is truly strange! Who then can be there?"
+
+"No one, monsieur, for your sister does not receive a soul. That is why
+the sound of steps astonished me so!"
+
+"Explain yourself more clearly!"
+
+"I mean I heard, or thought I heard, someone walking in mademoiselle's
+chamber. It could not be you, monsieur, because you are here. It could
+be neither madam nor her mother, for I had just seen them on the first
+floor as I went up to mademoiselle's; so I said to myself, 'Perhaps it
+is some rogue who has broken in!' Then I rapped at the door and called,
+'Mademoiselle, are you there?' No answer. I rapped again; no answer. I
+said to myself, 'It surely must be some rascal or other!' I came down in
+haste to get the key; risking whatever might come, I opened the door,
+and, 'pon my faith----"
+
+"That is what you should have done first thing. The mystery would have
+been solved at once. Whom did you find?"
+
+"No one--absolutely no one. Everything was in good order, as it always
+is in mademoiselle's room. Her work table and her other little writing
+table were in their accustomed place, near the dormer window that looks
+on the garden, and as it was open I peeped out. I saw neither ladder nor
+cord which could have served anyone either for entry or escape. I
+looked under the bed, I opened the door of the closet--no one! Then I
+said to myself--"
+
+"Whence it follows, my good Gertrude, that you thought you heard
+footsteps in my sister's room and that you were mistaken, that's all.
+Now tell me, how did you find Oliver?"
+
+"When I knocked at his door, the young man was sound asleep, for he did
+not hear me at first."
+
+"So much the better. If he sleeps deep it is a happy symptom. His fever
+has gone."
+
+"I asked him through the door how he was, and whether he needed
+anything. He told me he had lain down after taking his hot drink, and
+that he had slept till I woke him; that he felt better, and that he
+hoped to pass a good night. Thereupon he wished me good-even."
+
+"Poor boy--may his hope of rest be realized. Tell my wife, Gertrude,
+that I am going out to the shop, and not to be worried at my absence. I
+shall come in for supper at ten o'clock as usual."
+
+So saying, John passed out of the parlor and went to join his comrades
+in the smithy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+TO THE WORKMAN THE TOOL.
+
+
+The factory of implements of war, established by John Lebrenn in his
+iron works, took the toil of twenty workmen. All--apprentices, old men,
+young men--vied with one another in patriotic ardor in the
+accomplishment of their task. They felt that this was no ordinary labor.
+They were conscious of serving the Republic, and lavished their skill on
+the arms destined for the patriots at the front. Accordingly, with what
+eagerness did not these artisans forge, beat, or file the iron, lighted
+here by a smoky lamp against the wall, there by the reverberating glow
+of the furnace. The ringing cadence of the hammers on the anvils was
+often accompanied by the popular songs of the period chanted in chorus
+by the workmen's sturdy voices. Most oft it was the Marseillaise, the
+Carmagnole, or the famous _Ça Ira_, whose brief and rapid rythm seemed
+to beat the "Charge!"
+
+Songs and labors both stopped short at the entrance of John Lebrenn.
+Castillon had notified the shop a few minutes before that 'friend John,'
+as they cordially called him, was coming to post them on the events of
+the coming day, and to supply the information of which they had for some
+time been deprived.
+
+"Citizens," said Castillon when he saw Lebrenn, "I rise to a motion! In
+order to lose as little time as possible, and in order to hear friend
+John without halting the work, let us set aside for an hour our hammers
+and files, and put in the time fitting or polishing our pieces. That
+will make practically no noise, and in this way we shall not be idling,
+and still can hear friend John in comfort."
+
+"The motion is carried!" cried the workmen. In a few moments the bustle,
+consequent on the change of occupations, was over, and silence fell on
+the shop. John Lebrenn took his accustomed place, and speaking to
+several by name, thus addressed his companions:
+
+"Brothers, we are on the eve of a great day, as beautiful, as decisive,
+as those of July 14 and August 10. This day will save, I hope, the
+Revolution, the Republic, and France, now more seriously threatened than
+ever. And moreover, it is also my firm hope that not a drop of blood
+will be shed. The law and the national Representatives will be
+respected, the people will know how to rise to the grandeur of its
+mission and overcome its adversaries no longer by force of arms, but by
+its moral influence. My language surprises you, men of action that you
+are."
+
+"My faith, yes, friend John. But after all, if one can win without a
+fight, that is so much gained. It makes for peace."
+
+"The victory will only be the purer for it. But, in order that you may
+understand the significance of the events now on the threshold, we must
+first take up those which have preceded. You know, my friends, and it is
+one of the greatest misfortunes of the times, that the Convention chosen
+by the people to proclaim the Republic and to arraign and judge Louis
+Capet has been, from the beginning of its existence, divided by party
+rivalries. The party leaders, the Mountainists, the Moderates, or the
+Girondins, are all more or less guilty of the same fault, I ought to say
+the same crime; for, forgetting the public weal, or confounding it with
+their own personalities, they have lost precious time reciprocally
+accusing one another of treason. Thus Capet's trial was dragged out over
+four months. The new Constitution is hardly drafted. National education
+is as yet but a project. Finally, if they have accepted the compulsory
+tax of a thousand million on the rich, and have established a maximum of
+wealth, we still await the laws to complete the emancipation of the
+proletariat by decreeing the right to the common possession of the
+instruments of production, for all citizens, male and female."
+
+"We agree with you, friend John. The bourgeoisie has gotten its part of
+the Revolution, namely, justice; but Jacques Bonhomme has still the half
+of his to get. He has won political rights, universal suffrage, and the
+Republic--that is good, it is something, but it is not all. One must eat
+to live, and in order to eat one must have at his disposal either work
+or the tool with which to produce the necessaries of life. To the
+peasant the land, to the workman the tool. To each his part in the
+common property."
+
+"Whose the fault, my friends, if our legitimate hopes have not been
+fulfilled?"
+
+"By my pipe, friend John, the fault is in the delays of the Convention;
+that is clear as day."
+
+"Whence it follows, that if we had chosen better Representatives we
+would never have had to suffer the delays which now bear so harmfully
+upon us. If the Convention has not up to now completed the emancipation
+of us proletarians, the fault lies with our lack of discernment in
+choosing our Representatives. You follow my reasoning? Now let us come
+to the conclusion."
+
+"In fact, that is true enough, friend John. But, after all, if we made a
+bad choice, on whom can it be blamed?"
+
+"On our inexperience, my friends; an inexperience entirely natural, for
+we are still _apprentices_ in the exercise of our political rights. But
+experience will teach us how to serve ourselves better with the
+sovereign instrument over which we dispose; we shall obtain by the votes
+of our Representatives everything that we can legitimately claim and
+demand. Are we proletarians not, after all, the vast majority of the
+country? Let us then know how to make a better choice for the Assembly
+which will succeed the Convention, and our freedom will be complete.
+Does that mean, however, that the Convention does not count within its
+ranks some true friends of the people? That would be a slander on it;
+but these, Robespierre, St. Just, Danton and the other Jacobins, are
+unfortunately in the minority. The Girondins, who control the majority,
+are incapable of dissipating the perils which now stare the Republic in
+the face."
+
+"An idea, friend John! How if we invited the Girondins to take a little
+visit down there to see how their friends Pitt and Coburg were getting
+along? If they don't accept, we march in force upon the Convention, sort
+the goats from the sheep, purge the flock of the goats, and then--.
+Stern diseases need stern remedies!"
+
+"Then, my friend Castillon, the sovereignty of the people one and
+indivisible would be violated in the person of its Girondist
+Representatives. For these, no less than the Mountainists, are sacred by
+virtue of their popular election. Their inviolability covers them so
+long as there exists against them no proof of overt treason. We shall
+not step out of the just path. What must be done to save the Republic
+without violence, without illegality, without an assault on the
+sovereignty of the people, is to obtain from the Girondins, voluntarily,
+an abandonment of their power to the Jacobins."
+
+"But how can that be done?"
+
+"By using our right of assemblage and petition, by making the Convention
+hear the voice of the people, of Paris, and of all France. And, I call
+God to witness, that voice will be heard! The most refractory of our
+Representatives will be forced to obey."
+
+"Bravo! Tell us some more!"
+
+"Here, comrades, is what occurred yesterday, May 29. The Section of the
+Cité, through the organ of its president Dobsen, issued an appeal to the
+other forty-seven Sections of Paris, inviting them each to send two
+delegates to the electoral club sitting at the Bishopric. These
+delegates, clad by the Sections with full power for the common safety,
+are to act in concert. The call of the Cité has been heeded, and to-day
+these ninety-six commissioners of the Sections have named a superior
+committee of nine. This committee has resolved as follows:
+
+"To-morrow, in order to establish the legality of the power with which
+the Sections have invested it, the committee will repair to the City
+Hall, declare its powers, and dismiss (but only for form's sake) the
+Municipal Council, whose authority exists only at the will of the
+Sections. This done, the Municipal Council will be reinstated in its
+functions, as it is composed of good patriots. The directorate of the
+department, on its part, being with the Sections, will call upon the
+officers of the Commune to assemble at the City Hall to-morrow and meet
+with the Municipal Council to the end of consulting, if need be, on
+matters of general security. Thus, to-morrow, at daybreak, all the
+Sections will assemble, with their cannon; that is to say, all Paris
+will be afoot, armed, not to fight, but to demonstrate, calm and
+dignifiedly, garbed imposingly in its power and sovereignty."
+
+"I understand, friend John, that the ex-nobles still carry, even in
+tranquil times, their rapiers at their sides. It is 'part of their
+costume,' they say. Well, by my pipe, on these grand occasions, and
+without meaning to fight, the people shall put on _its_ Sunday best, and
+march with pike-staves and cannon! That will be its ceremonial costume!"
+
+"You have said it, friend Castillon. The ex-gentleman is not complete
+without his sword beside him--it is his symbol of oppression. The
+patriot is not complete without the pike in his hand, his symbol of
+resistance to oppression. To-morrow, then, when the Sections are
+peacefully assembled, in their ceremonial costume, as you said,
+Castillon, Citizen Rousselin, the spokesman of the deputation of the
+forty-eight Sections of Paris, and L'Huillier, in the name of the
+directorate of the department of Paris, will read at the bar of the
+Convention the petitions borne by the delegates of the Sections."
+
+"Now, friend John, I understand the affair," returned Castillon. "We go
+say to the Girondins: 'Look you, citizens, we are here, a hundred
+thousand good patriots of Paris; and down there, in the country, other
+hundreds of thousands of good patriots, all convinced, like us, that you
+have not enough hair on your eyebrows to save the Republic. That is
+settled! We have the numbers, the force and the cannon for you, but
+these numbers, this force, these cannon we do not want to use. Only we
+say to you, in the name of the country: Citizen Girondins, when your
+loins are not strong enough to bear the burden, leave it to others more
+robust. Come, make yourselves scarce!'"
+
+"You speak words of gold, my good Castillon. Yes, in all probability,
+such will be the consequences of to-morrow's program. The majority of
+the Convention--a majority which is often vacillating and undecided, but
+which has so far supported the Girondins--will, struck with this
+imposing manifestation, this calm, dignified, legal attitude of the
+people, and yielding to the pressure of public opinion, throw off the
+Girondin influence which dominates it, and join forces with the
+Jacobins, who will thus become masters of the situation. Then, my
+friends, be sure of it, whatever the allied monarchs of Europe may do,
+whatever the plots of the royalists and priests, the Republic, the
+Revolution, France, will be saved without the sovereignty of the people
+having been violated in the person of a single one of its
+Representatives in the Commune or the Convention, even of those most
+opposed to new ideas; and without the stigma of bloodshed."
+
+All at once John Lebrenn's wife dashed into the workshop. She was pale
+and trembling, and called in tones of terror:
+
+"John, my friend, come at once! What a misfortune!"
+
+"Charlotte, you frighten me," cried Lebrenn, hastening to his wife's
+side. "Heavens, what has happened?"
+
+"Come, come, in haste."
+
+"Citizeness Lebrenn, do you need us?" called Castillon, as much moved as
+his comrades at the anxiety depicted on the young woman's face.
+"Speak--here we are, at your service."
+
+"Thank you all, my friends, thank you. Alas! There is no remedy for the
+grief which has smitten us," replied Charlotte. And taking the arm of
+her husband, who grew every instant more uneasy, she dragged him out of
+the shop and towards their dwelling.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+LOST AGAIN.
+
+
+While John Lebrenn was enlightening his companions on the probable
+events of the coming day, Victoria, returning home close on half past
+nine, had gone up to her room. Setting the lamp on the table, she took
+off her street cloak and sat down, sad and weary. Her head fell between
+her hands. Suddenly her glance rested on a sheet of paper, placed
+conspicuously in the center of the table, and the young woman read,
+almost mechanically, these lines, traced in Oliver's still inexpert
+hand:
+
+     In daring to write you this letter, I put to use the little that I
+     know, and which I owe to your generosity. You had pity on me, a
+     poor orphan, you had compassion upon my ignorance. Thanks to you I
+     can read, and form the letters. Thanks be to God, for at least I am
+     able to write you what I would never have dared to tell you, for
+     fear of incurring your anger or contempt. But at this hour what
+     have I to fear?
+
+     What a change has come over me! A moment ago my hand trembled that
+     I could not write, at the mere thought of acknowledging that I love
+     you passionately. Now it seems to me that this acknowledgment will
+     cause you neither contempt nor anger, for it is a sincere one.
+
+     You will not love me, you can never love me, because I am not
+     worthy of you, and for that I am too young--I am a child, as you so
+     often told me. I can not hope to win your affection.
+
+     This evening, about eight, I saw you go out. I was glad of it. I
+     preferred to know that you were not here, and that I could thus in
+     your absence place this letter on your table, to be read by you on
+     your return.
+
+     I double-locked myself in. I looked at the roof gutter. The passage
+     seemed practicable. To assure myself, I went as far as your window.
+     It was open. I saw your table, your work-basket, your books. Ah,
+     how I wept.
+
+     On returning to my chamber I began writing you this letter. I went
+     at once to place it on your table, and then, thanks to some
+     charcoal I have procured, I shall--put an end--to my existence--
+
+"The poor child!" exclaimed Victoria, throwing the letter far from her;
+and rising, pale with apprehension, she ran to Oliver's door, crying
+aloud for help as she went. But in vain she beat on the panels and
+sought to force an entrance. Gertrude, Madam Lebrenn and her mother
+hastened up at Victoria's summons. The latter's presence of mind was
+only increased by the impending danger; failing in all her attempts to
+break down the door, she returned to her own room, adventured the narrow
+gutter which had served Oliver for a pathway, and arrived thus before
+the window of his garret chamber. There it was but the work of a minute
+to break one of the little panes, snap back the catch, leap into the
+room, and unfasten the locked door from within. Immediately, assisted by
+Madam Desmarais, Charlotte and Gertrude, she hastened to take the first
+steps for the resuscitation of the unfortunate boy stretched on the
+couch. The apprentice no longer gave any signs of life. But soon the
+pure air, rushing in by the now opened door and window, dispelled the
+deadly fumes of the charcoal. Oliver's breast heaved; he drew a faint
+breath. Victoria and Madam Desmarais carried the almost suffocated lad
+to the window. There he was propped up in a chair; his ashen features,
+covered with icy sweat, slowly regained a slight color, and little by
+little life returned to his bosom.
+
+Two hours later he had quite come to, and found himself in John
+Lebrenn's parlor, alone with Victoria. One would have difficulty to
+frame in his imagination a countenance of more rare perfection than that
+of the youth, who possessed a physiognomy of charming candor. On her
+part, the young woman was grave. Her eyes, reddened with tears, and the
+feverish color which replaced the habitual pallor of her beautiful
+features, both bore witness to the painful emotions under which she was
+laboring. After a few seconds' hesitation, she thus addressed the youth
+in a sweet and solemn voice:
+
+"Oliver, you are now, I believe, in condition to listen to me. I have
+requested my brother and his family to leave us to ourselves a while.
+Our interview will, I trust, exert a happy influence over your future,
+and give you complete satisfaction."
+
+"I listen, Mademoiselle Victoria."
+
+"I have read your letter," resumed the young woman, drawing Oliver's
+missive from her corsage. "Frightened at your resolve of suicide, and
+thinking only of snatching you from death while there was yet time, I
+was not at first able to finish it. But now I have just read it
+through."
+
+"What do I hear!" exclaimed the youth, clasping his hands in a transport
+of joy. "My letter caused you neither contempt nor anger?"
+
+"Why should it? You yielded to the promptings of gratitude toward me,
+and sympathy for my character. So, I am not irritated, but touched, by
+your affection."
+
+"You are touched by my affection, Mademoiselle Victoria? My heaven, what
+do you say!"
+
+"Now, my friend, answer me sincerely. The fear of seeing me insensible
+to an avowal which timidity has for so long kept trembling on your lips,
+drove you to think of suicide--am I right?"
+
+"Helas, yes, mademoiselle!"
+
+"Now speak true, Oliver. Was it as a mistress, or a wife, that you
+dreamt of me?"
+
+"Good heavens! Do you think--?"
+
+"You thought of me as the future companion of your life? Ah, me, I
+declare that I am unworthy to become your wife. Cruelly as this avowal
+wounds my heart, Oliver, I must make it to you, in order that you retain
+no illusion, and no hope. But I offer you in their place a devoted
+attachment, the affection of a mother for her child. That is all I can
+give you."
+
+Oliver, who so far had held his hands clasped over his face, now let
+them drop upon his knees. He replied with not a single word, but fixing
+upon Victoria a dark and foreboding look, rose with difficulty from his
+seat, and with a step that still wavered, moved towards the door.
+
+The apprentice's silence and the expression on his face bore evidence to
+so profound a despair that Victoria presaged some new misfortune. She
+hastened to Oliver's side, took his hand, and asked:
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"To my room. I need rest."
+
+"You shall not stay alone in your room. Gertrude and I will watch over
+you. We will remain there all night."
+
+"Good night, Mademoiselle Victoria," returned the apprentice, moving
+anew towards the door. But Victoria, still holding him by the hand,
+replied:
+
+"Oliver, I know what you are thinking of. You are not in your right
+mind."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Mademoiselle Victoria; I am fully in possession of
+my senses; and if you have read my thoughts, you ought to realize that
+no power in the world can balk my resolution."
+
+"You would have the cruelty to leave me under the weight of the horrible
+thought that I--I who love you as a son--was the cause of your death?"
+
+"Your heart is compassionate, Mademoiselle Victoria, and your character
+generous. I wish to leave this world because you do not wish, or are not
+able, to love me."
+
+"Unhappy child, even were I not sufficiently old to be your mother, I
+repeat to you with a blushing forehead, I am not worthy of being your
+wife. You can not be my husband. Such a union would be the shame of your
+life and the eternal remorse of mine."
+
+"In your eyes, perhaps, but not in mine, Mademoiselle Victoria. Whatever
+a past of which I am ignorant may hold, a past in which I am in no way
+concerned, you are now for me the one creature in the world most worthy
+of respect and love. Life without you will be insupportable. I have
+resolved to die--"
+
+"What a crazy thought! I do not love you with a lover's love. Why do you
+persist thus in a struggle for the impossible, poor foolish lad?"
+
+"I have no thought of a struggle. I am resigned--and shall put myself
+out of the way."
+
+These final words of Oliver's, pronounced without emphasis or
+bitterness, could not but remove from Victoria's mind her last doubts as
+to the unfortunate boy's resolution. She had been used long enough to
+read to the bottom of his open and childlike soul, to recognize there a
+blending of gentleness and strength of will. Hardly escaped from one
+almost certain death, the apprentice was all the more determined to seek
+in self-destruction the end of his torments. Victoria communed long with
+herself, and after an extended silence, began again:
+
+"Oliver, you are resolved to die. I do not wish at any price to reawaken
+your hopes by entering into any engagement with you whatsoever. I do not
+wish to revive your illusions--they must be destroyed, and forever. But
+in the name of the interest I have always borne you, in the name even of
+your attachment for me, I ask of you only to promise me not to attempt
+to destroy your life until to-morrow at midnight. At that hour, you will
+meet me here again, or if not you will receive a letter from me. If the
+interview I shall then have with you, or if the reading of my letter
+does not change your sad designs, you may put them into execution, as
+you please. Let your destiny then run its course."
+
+"To die twenty-four hours later, or twenty-four hours earlier, it
+matters little. I promise not to go before the hour you have set,"
+replied the apprentice with such marked indifference that it was clear
+the poor boy entertained no hope of his suicide's being obviated. Again
+turning to the door, he added:
+
+"Mademoiselle Victoria, to-morrow, then, shall decide my fate."
+
+"Oliver, we have a full day to reflect on the grave matter which thus
+links both our existences."
+
+Hardly had Oliver left the parlor when Victoria rose, and running to the
+door of an ante-room where John Lebrenn and his wife were concealed,
+said to them in a shaking voice:
+
+"You heard everything?"
+
+"Ah, the unfortunate boy," exclaimed John. "He is out of his mind. It is
+certain to me that he will carry out his fatal threat."
+
+"Oh, heaven," added Madam Lebrenn, drying her eyes, "to think that
+to-day we saved him from death, and that to-morrow--oh, it is horrible!
+But what can one do in such an extremity? What can we make up our minds
+on? What is your idea?"
+
+"We can and ought at least to put to profit the twenty-four hours and
+over which you have succeeded in winning from him, dear sister," replied
+Lebrenn. "I have before now not wished to intrude in this painful
+affair. But Oliver has a great affection for me. I have some influence
+over him; his heart is good, his spirit unblemished, his character open.
+I can appeal to his good parts, I can endeavor to exalt his already so
+ardent patriotism, which even his mad passion has not been able to cool.
+I shall prove to Oliver that he would commit a crime against the
+Republic, against his mother country, in sacrificing his life instead of
+devoting it to her protection when she is menaced by foreign invasion."
+
+"Ah, brother, do you then believe that I have not thought of
+resurrecting that soul, now crushed and disheartened? Alas, my efforts
+were unavailing. I know the child better than you, my friends. Listen to
+me--this is the hour of a cruel confession, brother. You know what part
+Maurice, the sergeant in the French Guards, the unfortunate victim of
+Monsieur Plouernel, played in my life."
+
+"Aye, and I know further, or I believe I know, that Oliver is Maurice's
+brother." Then, in answer to a gesture of surprise on Victoria's part,
+"It is to Charlotte's penetration that I owe the discovery."
+
+"Oliver is, indeed, the brother of Maurice, and by one of those
+inexplicable mysteries of nature, the physical resemblance between the
+two is even perhaps less remarkable than their mental resemblance. My
+knowledge of Maurice's nature has given me the key to Oliver's. Woe is
+me!" cried Victoria in heartrending tones. "In seeing, in hearing the
+one, I thought I saw and heard the other! The same voice, the same look!
+How many times, entranced in memories, have I surprised myself moved, my
+heart beating for this living phantom of the only man I ever loved in my
+sad life!"
+
+"You love Oliver--or rather in him you continue to love Maurice. Unhappy
+sister!"
+
+"Sister, dear," said Charlotte, warmly seizing the two hands of
+Victoria, who stood mute and overcome, bowing her face which was
+empurpled with shame and flooded with tears, "do you suppose that we
+could breathe one word of censure against you? Your new agonies inspire
+but the tenderest compassion. Ah, if our sisterly affection were capable
+of any growth, it would increase before this touching proof of the
+persistence of the single love of your life. Do we not know, alas, that
+for you to love Oliver is but for you to continue faithful to Maurice?"
+
+"And still this love, although as pure as the former one, would be
+shameful, revolting," murmured Victoria.
+
+"Victoria," interposed John, unable to restrain his tears, "do not
+abandon yourself to despair. Let us face the reality coolly, and
+regulate our conduct accordingly."
+
+"Helas, the reality!" broke from Victoria. "This it is: No human power
+can prevent the suicide of Oliver, if I do not promise to be his
+wife--or his mistress. The only alternatives are my shame or his death."
+
+Victoria's words were followed by silence for several minutes.
+
+"Woe is us," at length resumed John, the first to speak. "Aye, fate has
+shut us in an iron circle. And still, despite myself, some dim hope
+supports me. Some inspiration will come to us."
+
+"Yes," replied Charlotte, "I also hope, because our sister Victoria is a
+noble creature; because Oliver is gifted with generous qualities. I
+believe it will be possible to discover a solution honorable for all of
+us."
+
+"Oh, dear wife," exclaimed John, "how your words do comfort me. Aye,
+aye, every situation, desperate as it may seem, is capable of an
+honorable solution. Beloved sister, raise that bowed forehead. Let us
+have faith in the unison of noble hearts."
+
+Suddenly Victoria lifted her head, transfigured, radiant; and
+passionately embracing her brother's wife, she cried:
+
+"You spoke sooth, Charlotte. We shall come out of this situation with
+honor." Then, clasping John with redoubled ardor, she continued: "Ah,
+brother, what a weight of fear has been lifted from my heart! To-morrow
+you shall know all. To-morrow that circle of iron shall be broken which
+now hems us in. A happy path opens itself before me."
+
+The following morning, as John Lebrenn was leaving his house for the
+shop, he was met in the courtyard by the servant Gertrude, who drew from
+her pocket an addressed envelope.
+
+"Mademoiselle Victoria gave me this letter for you, Monsieur John."
+
+"My sister has gone out, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir. She left at daybreak with Oliver. He had a traveling-case on
+his shoulder."
+
+"My sister has left us!" stammered John, in amazement. Then he hastily
+broke the envelope he had just received from Gertrude, and read as
+follows:
+
+     Adieu, brother! Embrace your wife tenderly for me.
+
+     I have taken Oliver away. I may not at present let you into my
+     plans; but of one thing be assured, the solution is honorable for
+     all. I am and shall remain worthy of your esteem and affection. Do
+     not seek for the present to fathom what has become of me, and have
+     no uneasiness over my fate. You shall receive a letter from me
+     every week, until the day, close at hand, it may be, or perhaps far
+     away, when I can return to you, dear brother, dear sister, never to
+     leave you again.
+
+     While awaiting that day so much to be desired, continue, both of
+     you, to love me--for never shall I have so much needed your
+     affection.
+
+     VICTORIA.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+ROYALIST BARBARITIES.
+
+
+The following extracts from my diary will help to trace the course of
+the important political events occurring in Paris between the 31st of
+May and the 1st of November, 1793.
+
+JUNE 5, 1793.--Rejoice in the day of the 31st of May, sons of Joel. It
+means safety for the Republic, certain triumph for the Revolution.
+Aroused as one body, the population of Paris, embracing more than a
+hundred and twenty thousand citizens in arms, has succeeded in securing,
+solely by the moral pressure of its patriotism, the suspension of the
+Girondin Representatives. The greater part of these went into voluntary
+exile. The people of Paris remained under arms for five whole days--from
+May 31 to June 4.
+
+JUNE 6, 1793.--A singular chance placed in my hands to-day a note
+written by Robespierre. I hastened to take a copy, as it was of the
+greatest interest. It sums up in a few firm and concise lines the policy
+which he purposes henceforth to impress upon the Jacobin party, which,
+since the 31st of May, is master of power:
+
+     There must be one will.
+
+     It must be Republican.
+
+     In order that it may be Republican, there must be Republican
+     ministers, Republican journals, Republican deputies, a Republican
+     government. The Republic can not establish itself save with honest
+     and Republican officials.
+
+     The foreign war is a deadly scourge so long as the body politic is
+     suffering from the convulsions of revolution, and from divided
+     counsels. The present insurrection must be sustained until the
+     proper measures be taken to save the Republic. The people must
+     rally to the Convention, and the Convention must serve the will of
+     the people. The insurrection must extend further and further, on
+     the same plan; the sans-culottes must be paid and remain in the
+     cities. They must be furnished with arms, encouraged, and
+     enlightened.
+
+JUNE 7, 1793.--I received this day a letter from Victoria, in fulfilment
+of her promise to write me each week. Not to mention the profound grief
+her absence caused us, our uneasiness over her was extreme, in spite of
+the assurances she gave us in her farewell letter. She now informed me
+that Oliver's health was improving, and that his spirits were returning.
+She did not despair of bringing him back to reason and the practice of
+his civic duties. She was living, she told me, at some distance from the
+capital; and she could not yet disclose to us the mainsprings of her
+mysterious conduct, and the reticence of her correspondence.
+
+JUNE 10, 1793.--The majority of the Convention has just made recognition
+of the value of the passive insurrection of May 31, by adopting the
+appended resolution:
+
+     The National Convention declares that in the days of May 31 to June
+     4 the general revolutionary council of the Commune and the people
+     of Paris powerfully co-operated to save the liberty, the unity and
+     the indivisibility of the Republic.
+
+JULY 12, 1793.--Upon a report from the committee rendered by St. Just,
+the Girondin members of the Convention were on the 10th of July declared
+traitors to the country, and outlawed. Several other adherents of that
+party were sent before the revolutionary tribunal.
+
+JULY 19, 1793.--Last Saturday, July 13, Marat was assassinated, between
+seven and eight in the evening. His assailant was Marie Anne Charlotte
+Corday D'Armans, the daughter of an ex-nobleman, whose usual abode was
+Caen, one of those hot-beds of federal insurrection fomented by the
+Girondins. Simulating the role of a victim who besought assistance and
+protection from the Friend of the People, Charlotte Corday solicited an
+interview with him. Worn out and unwell, Marat was taking a bath, but
+yielding to compassion for the young girl who implored his aid, he
+consented to receive her. Introduced into his presence, Charlotte Corday
+struck him with a knife. He died almost instantly. I record this new
+assassination as an abominable crime! The beauty, the youth, the
+resolute character of Charlotte Corday in no wise lessen her guilt. It
+is vain to compare her with Brutus. He struck down Caesar, the undoubted
+tyrant of his country, whereas the patriotism of Marat, the Friend of
+the People, had never been called into question. Taken to-day before the
+revolutionary court presided over by Fouquier-Tinville, the accused
+woman confessed her connection with the Girondin party, of which she
+plainly was the instrument. She prided herself on having dealt Marat his
+death blow, the condign punishment, she said, for his crimes.
+Unanimously condemned by the jury to death, Charlotte Corday suffered on
+the scaffold the penalty for homicide.
+
+The universal consternation of the patriots as they learned of the
+murder of the Friend of the People was an additional proof of the
+immense influence exercised by this extraordinary man over their heads
+and hearts. All over Paris these verses were placarded:
+
+    People, Marat is dead, the lover of the land;
+    Your friend, your aid, the hope of all who would be free
+    Is fallen 'neath the blow of an accursed band;
+    Weep--but remember, avenged must he be!
+
+This morning I received a letter from Victoria. She informs me that
+Oliver's health is being restored, and that he soon will prove to me
+that my affection for him was not misplaced. In a few lines in his own
+hand at the end of Victoria's letter, Oliver himself repeated the same
+pledges. What is her project? I know not. She has at least saved the
+unhappy boy from suicide.
+
+JULY 30, 1793.--The royalist and "federalist" insurrection of Lyons,
+Marseilles, Toulon and Bordeaux against the Republic and the Convention
+has assumed a more threatening aspect through the war that broke out in
+the Vendee, and which is spreading amid scenes of ungovernable ferocity.
+Read, sons of Joel, and shudder at the atrocious reprisals, the nameless
+horrors, committed by the Vendeans under the leadership of their priests
+and the ex-nobles. If the law of retaliation, that savage and barbarous
+law, is ever applied to the Chouans and Vendeans by the avengers of the
+patriots, let the responsibility fall upon the heads of these madmen
+themselves.
+
+The brigands of the Vendee themselves gave the signal and set the
+example for murder and massacre. Machecoul was the theater of scenes of
+horror. Eight hundred patriots were hatcheted to pieces. Several were
+buried alive. The women were forced to witness the torture of their
+husbands; then, together with their children, they were spiked hand and
+foot to the doors of their dwellings, where they expired under the blows
+and stabs of the assassins. The parish curate, who had taken the oath to
+the Constitution, was impaled on a spit, and marched through the streets
+and public places of Machecoul with his genitals cut off. Finally, still
+breathing, he was nailed to the liberty tree. A Vendean priest
+celebrated the mass standing in blood and upon mutilated corpses. In the
+swamps of Niort six hundred children of Nantes were rounded up,
+massacred, and atrociously mutilated. At Chollet the brigands repeated
+the frightful scenes of Machecoul. They put the patriots through the
+most terrible tortures before depriving them of their lives. There,
+also, they nailed the women and children alive to their house-doors, and
+made their bosoms a target for their bayonets. They put to the torture
+everywhere those patriots whom they found, or persons who would not bear
+arms against the Republic. When they captured Saumur, all who bore the
+reputation of patriot perished amid indescribable tortures. The women,
+their children in their arms, were thrown from the windows, and the
+tigers in the streets poniarded them. The agonies which they made our
+brave defenders undergo were no less cruel; the least barbarous was to
+slay them with ball or bayonet; but the most common was to hang them
+feet uppermost from trees and kindle bonfires under their heads; or to
+nail them alive to the trees; or to place cartridges in their mouths or
+nostrils and explode them. It is impossible to take a step in the
+Vendee without opening new perspectives of torture to the eye. Here, at
+the entrance of one village, are exposed to our view brave defenders of
+the Republic hewed to pieces or spiked to the doors of their dwellings.
+There, the fringe of trees at the edge of a wood displays to us the
+disfigured forms of our brave brothers hanged from the branches, their
+bodies half burned. Yonder, we discern their lifeless corpses bound,
+nailed to trees, to pieces of timber, mutilated, riddled with wounds,
+their faces burned and baked. Nor did the brigands confine themselves to
+these inhuman tortures. They filled their country ovens with our
+defenders, kindled the fires, and left them to expire slowly in this
+atrocious agony. Recently these cannibals have invented a new manner of
+torture; they cut off the noses, hands and feet of their prisoners, shut
+them in their dark caves, and abandon them to perish of hunger.
+
+The distinguished patriot Chalier, at the head of a list of
+eighty-three, was led to the scaffold at Lyons. The instrument worked
+poorly. Chalier was twice mutilated. The cruelties of the royalists and
+parishioners of Lyons will call down great calamities upon the city.
+
+AUGUST 2, 1793.--Often did my sister and I wonder at receiving no news
+from Prince Franz of Gerolstein, our relative, and one of the most
+ardent of the Illuminati. The secret of Franz's silence has just been
+revealed to me. An officer of the garrison of Mayence, long a prisoner
+in the duchy of Deux Ponts, adjoining the principality of Gerolstein,
+informed me to-day that for four years, the length of time since Franz
+left us, the latter was held in a state prison by order of his father,
+the reigning prince. So did Franz of Gerolstein expiate in harsh
+captivity his sympathy with the new ideas.
+
+AUGUST 4, 1793.--The Convention passed yesterday a decree of marked
+Socialist and revolutionary character:
+
+     The National Convention, in consideration of the evils which
+     monopolists inflict upon society by their murderous speculations in
+     the most pressing necessaries of life and upon the public misery,
+     decrees:
+
+     Article 1.--Monopoly is a capital crime....
+
+     Article 8.--Eight days from the publication and proclamation of the
+     present law, those who have not made the prescribed declarations
+     shall be held to be monopolists, and, as such, be punished with
+     death; their goods shall be confiscate, and also the merchandise
+     and food-stuffs seized in their possession.
+
+AUGUST 7, 1793.--The law against monopolies has had its effect upon the
+produce and stock jobbers. All food-stuffs have fallen considerably in
+price.
+
+With redoubled energy the Convention is turning its attention to the
+dangers which threaten the Republic. News is brought that among the
+Vendeans have been uncovered the widow of Louis Capet, a large number of
+non-juring priests, and several imprisoned ex-nobles. The following
+decrees are passed:
+
+     The National Assembly denounces, in the name of the outraged
+     humanity of all nations, and even of the English people, the
+     cowardly, perfidious and atrocious conduct of the British
+     government, which is instigating and paying for the employment of
+     assassination, poison, arson, and every imaginable crime, for the
+     triumph of tyranny and the annihilation of the rights of man.
+
+Marie Antoinette is taken before the tribunal extraordinary. From there
+she is at once transferred to the Conciergerie Prison:
+
+     All the individuals of the Capet family are to be deported outside
+     of the territory of the Republic, with the exception of the two
+     children of Louis Capet and those members of the family who are
+     under the sword of the law. Elizabeth Capet may not be deported
+     until after the trial of Marie Antoinette.
+
+Also:
+
+     The tombs and mausoleums of the old Kings, erected in the Church of
+     St. Denis, in the temples, and in other places throughout the whole
+     extent of the Republic, shall be destroyed on the 10th of August
+     next, and their ashes thrown to the winds.
+
+AUGUST 8, 1793.--Up to date Victoria, true to her promise, has written
+me regularly every week in her own name and that of Oliver. He, she
+says, is treading with firm step the path of duty. My sister raises not
+the veil of mystery in which she has enshrouded herself since she quit
+our house. She announces that she is going to suspend her
+correspondence, but that if anything untoward intervenes she will inform
+me of it at once.
+
+AUGUST 23, 1793.--Allied Europe is increasing the masses of troops she
+is hurling on our frontiers, here menaced, there already invaded. O
+Fatherland! you appeal to the heroism of your children; your call shall
+be heard. The Committee of Public Safety, among whose most influential
+members are Robespierre, St. Just and Couthon, increases its vigilance.
+The Convention passes decree upon decree, brief, pointed, courageous,
+like the roll of the drum beating the charge:
+
+     The National Convention, having heard the report of its Committee
+     of Public Safety, decrees:
+
+     Article 1.--Until the moment when the foreign hordes and all the
+     enemies of the Republic shall have been driven out of the land, all
+     French people are under permanent requisition for the service of
+     the armies.
+
+     The young men shall go to the front; the married men shall forge
+     arms and transfer supplies; the women shall make tents and
+     uniforms, and serve in the hospitals; the children shall pull lint,
+     and the old men shall betake themselves to the public places to
+     kindle the courage of the warriors, keep alive hatred for Kings,
+     and promote the unity of the Republic.
+
+The French people will soon present to the tyrants a united front. The
+effect produced to-day by the latest decrees of the Convention was
+immense, indescribable. Thanks to God! the consignment of arms I was
+charged with making will be finished in a few days. I will be able to
+rejoin the army. Castillon and I have enrolled in one of the battalions
+of our Parisian volunteers.
+
+SEPTEMBER 18, 1793.--Since the commencement of this month, Terror is the
+order of the day. Terror reigns; but to whom impute this fatal
+necessity, if not to the enemies of the fatherland? The Republic struck
+only after she had been outraged; she attacked not, she but defended.
+She obeyed the supreme law of self-preservation, the common right of an
+individual and a body social. The Terror is reducing our enemies within
+to impotence.
+
+OCTOBER 17, 1793.--Yesterday the revolutionary tribunal sentenced Marie
+Antoinette to death, in these words:
+
+     The court, in accord with the unanimous verdict of the jury, in
+     accordance with its right as public investigator and accuser, and
+     in conformity with the laws which it has cited, condemns the said
+     Marie Antoinette, of Lorraine in Austria, widow of Louis Capet, to
+     the penalty of death. It declares, conformably to the law of the
+     10th of March last, that her goods, if any she have within the
+     confines of French territory, be confiscate to the benefit of the
+     nation. It orders that, at the request of the public ministry, the
+     present sentence be executed upon the Place of the Revolution, and
+     printed and posted throughout the Republic.
+
+Throughout her trial Marie Antoinette maintained an air of calmness and
+assurance. She left the audience chamber after the pronouncement of
+sentence without evincing the slightest emotion, or uttering a word to
+judges or jurors. She mounted the scaffold at half past four in the
+morning. Only a few spectators were present.
+
+OCTOBER 18, 1793.--The Convention has superseded the old calendar with a
+new one, based on the observations of exact science. The new names for
+the months are as poetic, harmonious, and above all as rational, as the
+old ones were barbarous and senseless, borrowed, as they were in part
+from the fetes and rulers of the Roman Empire, in part from a pagan
+theocracy. The decree of the Convention is as follows:
+
+     Article 1.--The era of the French dates from the foundation of the
+     Republic, which took place the 22nd of September, 1792, of the
+     common era, on which day the sun arrived at the true autumnal
+     equinox, and entered the sign Libra at nine hours, eighteen
+     minutes, thirty seconds, Paris Observatory.
+
+     Article 2.--The common year is abolished from civil usage.
+
+     Article 3.--Each year commences at midnight of the day on which
+     falls the true autumnal equinox, for the Observatory of Paris....
+
+     Article 7.--The year is divided into twelve equal months of thirty
+     days each. After the twelve months follow five days to complete
+     the ordinary year. These five days belong to no month.
+
+     Article 8.--Each month in divided into three equal parts of ten
+     days each, which are called decades.
+
+     Article 9.--The names of the days of the decade are: Primidi,
+     Duodi, Tridi, Quartidi, Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi, Octidi, Nonidi,
+     Decadi.
+
+     The names of the months are,
+
+     For Autumn:
+
+     Vendemiaire (the Vintage month, September 22 to October 21),
+     Brumaire (the Foggy month, October 22 to November 20), Frimaire
+     (the Frosty month, November 21 to December 20).
+
+     For Winter:
+
+     Nivose (the Snowy month, December 21 to January 19), Pluviose (the
+     Rainy month, January 20 to February 18), Ventose (the Windy month,
+     February 19 to March 20).
+
+     For Spring:
+
+     Germinal (the Budding month, March 21 to April 19), Floreal (the
+     Flowery month, April 20 to May 19), Prairial (the Pasture month,
+     May 20 to June 18).
+
+     For Summer:
+
+     Messidor (the Harvest month, June 19 to July 18), Thermidor (the
+     Hot month, July 19 to August 17), Fructidor (the Fruit month,
+     August 18 to September 16).[13]
+
+12TH BRUMAIRE, YEAR II (November 2, 1793).--The detail of arms is
+completed, and Castillon and I leave day after to-morrow to join at
+Lille the Seventh Battalion, Paris Volunteers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+A REVOLUTIONARY OUTPOST.
+
+
+On the 5th Nivose of the year II (December 25, 1793), an advance post of
+the main body of the Army of the Republic lay in military occupancy of
+an isolated tavern some quarter of a league's distance from Ingelsheim,
+a French burg about twelve leagues from Strasburg. Hoche and Pichegru,
+the Generals of the detachments called "of the Rhine and Moselle," had
+removed their headquarters to Ingelsheim, after several advantages
+gained over Marshal Wurmser, the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince of
+Condé. The republican troops were bivouacked about the city. The light
+of their campfires struggled with difficulty through the mists of a
+black winter's night. A line of scouts and pickets covered the position
+of the post, which was composed of a company of the Seventh Battalion,
+Paris Volunteers, among whom were John Lebrenn and his foreman
+Castillon.
+
+The company was gathered in the large hall of the inn, and in the
+kitchen, where blazed a great fire. The greater part of the men, worn
+out with fatigue, sought repose on beds of fresh straw laid along the
+walls, making shift to use their knapsacks as pillows. Others furbished
+their arms, or blacked their cartridge-boxes; still others were mending
+their dilapidated garments or exercising their wits to cobble their
+shoes into a semblance of serviceableness; for neither the stores of the
+army nor draughts on nature sufficed to clothe and shoe all the citizens
+called to the flag in the last levies, or to replenish their wardrobes
+against the havocs of war. Few, indeed, of the volunteers, wore the
+complete uniform decreed by the Convention and which was already covered
+with the glory of so many victories. This consisted of a coat of deep
+blue, with facings and trimmings of red, and large white lapels, which
+left displayed the vest of white cloth, like the trousers; black knit
+leggins, with leather buttons, reaching to the knee; a flat
+three-cornered hat, surmounted with a plume of red horse-hair, falling
+beside the cockade; and a knapsack of white calf or buffalo-skin. Only
+the most recent recruits to the battalion were dressed correctly in
+accord with the decree.
+
+The company was in command of a captain named Martin, a pupil of the
+painter David, the Convention member. Martin had enrolled after the days
+of September and at once left for the front. He had already advanced
+through all the elective ranks. Twice wounded, full of bravery and dash,
+and knowing how to win obedience in the moment of action, Captain Martin
+showed himself always jovial, open, and engaging in his relations with
+the volunteers. Although he had now followed war for fifteen months,
+David's young pupil did not renounce his former profession. He only
+awaited peace to lay down his sword, take up his brushes, and attempt to
+open a new field in his art by depicting the battles of the Revolution,
+and episodes of camp life. Seated at one corner of a table that was
+lighted by an iron lamp, Captain Martin was even now amusing himself
+with sketching, in a little pocket sketch-book, the figure, at once
+pitiable and grotesque, of the frightened innkeeper. Although a native
+of Alsace, the latter spoke an unintelligible dialect, and understood no
+French. Castillon, who was addressing him, indicated with a gesture a
+young volunteer in spick-and-span new uniform, scrupulously combed and
+shaven, and altogether looking, as they say, as if he had stepped out of
+a band-box, and explained:
+
+"This citizen asks for twenty bottles of Moselle wine, to be paid for,
+of course. Isn't what I'm saying to you clear enough--barbarian!"
+
+To which the innkeeper, multiplying his manifestations of distress,
+replied in an agonizing jargon.
+
+"But, Gott's t'under, ve vant vine! Ve temant vine of you!" retorted
+Castillon impatiently, assuming a German patois in the hope of making
+himself understood.
+
+It was Captain Martin who cut the gordian knot and ended the already
+too-long debate. Hastily outlining in his sketch-book a bottle and a
+glass, he waved the drawing under mine host's eyes together with an
+assignat[14] which he drew from his pocket. The Alsatian gave a sigh of
+relief, motioned that he at last comprehended, and was about to scamper
+off to his cellar when the captain held him back, and, to prevent any
+further misunderstanding, drew the figure 20 underneath the picture of
+the bottle. To this new intelligence the tavernkeeper responded with
+uncouth contortions of delight, and a formidable "Yah!"
+
+"The animal!" exclaimed Castillon, shrugging his shoulders, "why
+couldn't he answer like that right off!" And addressing himself to the
+new recruit: "If our innkeeper weren't such a booby, we would have been
+able to drink your welcome to the battalion half an hour ago, Citizen
+Duresnel."
+
+"True; but then we would have already drunk it, while now we have still
+in store the pleasure of putting it down," replied Duresnel thickly, as
+if he had a hot potato in his mouth, and dropping all his r's like one
+who had never seen Paris.
+
+"Ho, ho! You come in time, comrade," replied a volunteer banteringly.
+"We're going to have a fight to-morrow, you'll see what it is to go
+under fire. We'll have a brush of it!"
+
+"That's what I came for," Duresnel made answer in his muffled voice;
+"only--and you will laugh at me, citizens--I confess to you--never
+having smelled gunpowder, I am afraid--"
+
+"Which? What?" cried the troop in chorus, greatly amused at the
+babyishness of the young Parisian. "What are you afraid of? Come,
+comrade, explain yourself."
+
+"Damn! citizens--I am afraid--of being afraid!"
+
+The answer provoked an explosion of hilarity. Without being in the least
+put out of countenance, Duresnel added: "Yes, wo'd of honor, citizens;
+never having been in action, and not knowing what effect it will have
+upon me, I am afraid of being afraid. That's very simple."
+
+"Bravo, comrade," interjected Captain Martin, "it is not always those
+who make a flourish of their swords in advance who prove the most heady.
+Your modesty is a good omen; in consequence of which I wager that
+to-morrow you will take your baptism of fire bravely, with a cry of
+Long live the Republic! Just have a little confidence in yourself."
+
+"You're a good fellow, captain; I shall do my best. For, wo'd of honor,
+it would be disagreeable to me to know that I am a coward, after having
+posted from Paris to join the battalion."
+
+"You came by post?" exclaimed Castillon. "You must have been in a hurry
+to get here!"
+
+"Surely; I had already lost so much time. First I was at the quarters of
+the battalion in the barracks of Picpus, where I learned a little of the
+drill, after which I took a stage coach to reach Strasburg. Then, taking
+advantage of the escort which accompanied Representatives St. Just and
+Lebas to Ingelsheim, I rejoined the battalion, and here I am."
+
+"A beaker of Moselle will give you courage, comrade," said Captain
+Martin, full of interest in the young man; and seeing at that moment the
+host return with two baskets bursting with bottles: "Come, friends, let
+us drink a welcome to Citizen Duresnel. Drink, comrades, to the
+extermination of Kings, priests, Jesuits, and aristocrats."
+
+"Thanks, captain, I drink nothing but water;" and seeing on the
+sideboard a water-jug, Duresnel poured himself out a glassful. Then
+raising his bumper, he replied: "To the health of my brave companions of
+the Seventh Battalion, Volunteers of Paris! To the extermination of all
+monarchs! To the lamp-post with the aristocrats!--Captain," continued
+Duresnel, "since you are my military superior, I have a favor to ask of
+you."
+
+"Granted in advance, on one condition."
+
+"And what's that, if you please, captain?"
+
+"That you thee-and-thou us, myself and our comrades, as we thee-and-thou
+you. It is a mark of political fraternity."
+
+"Very well, captain. Here, then, is the request I wish to make of you: I
+am now a soldier of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle. It seems to me I
+should take more pleasure of the business if I knew whereabouts we were
+in the war. Otherwise I should be like a man starting to read a story in
+the middle, and unable to understand a word, since he does not know the
+beginning."
+
+"What you say is in point, comrade. I shall do the right thing by your
+request at one of our next watches."
+
+At this moment the attention of the volunteers was drawn to a new
+personage who entered the inn-hall. This individual wore the uniform of
+a mounted cannonier, and the insignia of chief quartermaster. His dress,
+like that of the volunteers, bore many a patch. His face was of a
+strikingly martial cut, his long moustaches were covered with
+hoar-frost. On entering the room he delivered the military salute, and
+said briskly:
+
+"Good even, citizens. Have you room for a moment at fire and lamplight
+for a mounted artilleryman of the Army of the Rhine?"
+
+"By heaven, yes!" replied Castillon, stepping away from the fireplace to
+make room for the newcomer; then gazing at him curiously, he added: "But
+tell me, comrade, this doesn't seem to be the first time we two have
+met?"
+
+"Quite likely not," replied the cannonier, in turn searching Castillon's
+features. "In fact, listen here, we met on an occasion which is, by
+heaven, difficult to forget--a meeting without its like!"
+
+"Last year, on the second of September--"
+
+"At the prison of La Force!"
+
+"When we purged it of the priests, the holy shaven-pates, and the
+aristocrats."
+
+"Comrade, you are James Duchemin," cried Captain Martin, seizing him by
+the hand. "I heard your name pronounced in the National Assembly along
+with the other names of those who had given themselves to the
+fatherland. I admire your devotion. You offered all you possessed--your
+life and your two horses."
+
+"Ah, you were at the Assembly that day?"
+
+"Aye, I came from the Abbey."
+
+"Where you also did work?"
+
+"A fatal and terrible necessity. I believed so then and think so still.
+Death to the aristocrats and priests! But how one does meet! Come, a
+glass of wine, my old friend."
+
+"That is not to be refused, comrade. I am frozen numb," returned
+Duchemin; and added, in a tone of bitter recrimination, "That brigand of
+a Reddy!"
+
+"Of what 'Reddy' do you speak, friend?"
+
+"Oh, that is the name of one of the horses I gave to the country. We
+were enrolled, my two beasts and I, in '92, in the Second Battalion,
+Flying Artillery. But my other horse, my Double-grey, was missing from
+roll call after the battle of Watignies, because of a little impediment
+in the way of a four-pound cannon ball, which he received in the belly
+while one of the servants of my darling Carmagnole was riding him."
+
+"What, you have a sweetheart whom you call Carmagnole? The idea is a
+droll one!"
+
+"That is how I christened the four-pounder I had charge of in my
+battery. Ah, citizens," added Duchemin, in reply to the volunteers'
+mirth at his explanation, "if you only knew that beautiful little piece!
+Such an amorous little mouth--to spit fire and cannon balls at the nose
+of the Austro-Prussians and the other Ostrogoths."
+
+"Come, come, old chap, do you take us for marines?" said Castillon,
+laughingly. "Do you want to give us the idea that pieces of artillery in
+general--and Carmagnole in particular--have characters!"
+
+"Whether they have characters! Just ask your good cannoniers about that,
+you'll hear their answer. There are slatterns of pieces on whom you can
+never depend for a good shot. Whereas with Carmagnole--never a caprice.
+You train her so many lines' elevation--she'll fire just so high; so
+many lines' depression--she'll fire low. An angel of a spit-fire! A very
+love!"
+
+"Comrades," chimed in Captain Martin gaily, "captivated by the
+character, the virtues and the bravery of Citizeness Carmagnole, I
+propose her health, and that of the brave artillerymen of the Army of
+the Rhine."
+
+"To the health of Carmagnole! To the health of the artillerymen of the
+Rhine!" chorused the volunteers, draining their glasses with Duchemin.
+Touched by this proof of sympathy for his cannon and his brothers in
+arms, the latter in turn raised his own glass and cried:
+
+"Thanks, comrades, thanks! I shall convey your good wishes to
+Carmagnole, and I can tell you that in to-morrow's battle we shall be
+neither slothful nor over-hot, but just right. Meanwhile, I drink in
+her name and mine: To the health of the brave men of the Army of the
+Moselle. To the relief of Landau! Long live the Republic! To the
+lamp-post with the aristocrats, the black-caps, and all the Jesuits!"
+
+"We shall raise the siege of Landau, or die!" enthusiastically acclaimed
+the volunteers. "Long live the Republic!"
+
+"Well, indeed, wo'd of honor, I don't believe I am going to have any
+fear at all to-morrow!" exclaimed Duresnel, electrified by the ardor of
+his comrades. "Long live the Republic! Death to the aristocrats and down
+with the skull caps!"
+
+"Citizen Duresnel," replied Captain Martin, smiling, "you will see that
+it is not such a devil of an undertaking to go under fire the first
+time, surrounded by gallant comrades."
+
+"Faith, captain, I begin to believe it," replied Duresnel, while
+Castillon said, addressing Duchemin:
+
+"See there, old fellow, your love for Carmagnole has interfered with
+your telling us your troubles with your horse, that brigand Reddy,
+formerly so patriotic a fellow, as you told us, and whom you suspect of
+having been bought over by a peck of oats given him by an agent of Pitt
+and Coburg."
+
+"Well, comrades, to return to Reddy, yes, I say that dumb animal is a
+patriot at heart. Judge for yourselves: Lately, at the affair of
+Kaiserslautern, we were tearing along at a gallop with one wing of my
+battery, to take up our position. I was helping along with the flat of
+my saber two wretches of drivers who had charge of the team of six that
+drew Carmagnole, and who looked out of sorts at going into action.
+Suddenly a squadron of Prussian Uhlans, until then hidden by a rise in
+the ground, broke cover and charged upon us. We were supported by a
+squad of the famous Third Hussars. We met at full tilt. But right in the
+middle of the embroglio my brave Reddy seized the horse of a Uhlan by
+the mane. Reddy did not let go his hold--he lost his footing in the
+crush--he fell, and me with him. There I was, pinned under him; but
+thanks to the intervention of the famous pair of the Third Hussars, I
+was able to escape. This was the first time I saw those two inseparables
+of the Army of the Rhine, Victor and Oliver, two heroic fellows!"
+
+"These two cavalrymen are called, you say, Oliver and Victor?" and
+Castillon continued thoughtfully to himself. "A singular idea those two
+names suggest. What if the gallant pair should be our apprentice and our
+master's sister! Despite the strangeness of the disguise, it is said
+there are in the army many patriotic women who enrolled to follow their
+lovers to the war--"
+
+While Castillon was thus reflecting, the report of a firearm rang out
+about a hundred paces from the inn. One of the pickets had fired.
+Captain Martin at once spoke to an under-officer:
+
+"Sergeant, take four men and go see what is up out there. It must be
+comrade Lebrenn who fired that shot."
+
+"Perhaps he got a bead on some spy within the lines," suggested
+Duchemin, as the sergeant hastened out with his guard.
+
+The incident, however, passed almost unnoticed by Castillon, who,
+preoccupied with his own thoughts concerning the "pair" in the Third
+Hussars approached Duchemin and asked:
+
+"Comrade, did you ever see the two brave cavalrymen you spoke of,
+again?"
+
+"Yes, often. After Kaiserslautern our battery was attached to their
+division."
+
+"How old would you say Oliver was?"
+
+"He is eighteen or so; black haired, with blue eyes. He is a fine
+looking hussar; but in respect of beauty, his companion takes the shine
+out of him."
+
+"Victor is also a pretty boy, then?"
+
+"He is too good looking for a man. What an air of authority! What an eye
+of fire!"
+
+"No more doubt of it," murmured Castillon to himself. "It is Citizeness
+Victoria and Oliver, who have joined the hussars!"
+
+At this moment the sergeant and his squad returned, minus one man who
+had relieved John Lebrenn at his post. A man and a boy of ten or eleven,
+dressed as Alsatian peasants, were marched in by the volunteers.
+
+The two seemed perfectly calm as they entered the inn-hall. They did not
+even shudder when John Lebrenn announced:
+
+"Captain, I think we have laid our hands on a couple of spies."
+
+"And how did they fall into our picket lines, comrade Lebrenn?" asked
+Captain Martin.
+
+"I had posted my sentries, captain. The mist was so thick I could not
+see the lights of the inn from my position. The ground, hardened by the
+frost, carried sounds clearly. All at once I heard at some distance the
+steps of men coming almost directly at me. I could distinguish also
+that they wore wooden shoes. I could see nothing, but I cried: 'Halt!
+Who goes there?' At the challenge the two individuals attempted to flee,
+but they failed to perceive a patch of ice, on which their wooden shoes
+slipped. The noise of their fall reached me distinctly. I fired my gun
+to give the alarm, and plunged in their direction. I reached the pair
+just as they regained their feet. I grabbed the man by his collar, the
+boy by his frock. They tried at first to break away, but soon realizing
+that I had a tough grip, they offered no further resistance. The man
+addressed me in some unintelligible jargon. Then my comrades ran up, and
+we bring you the catch."
+
+"You young brigand, you are swallowing a paper!" cried Captain Martin,
+rushing, but too late, upon little Rodin; for he it was, unrecognized by
+John Lebrenn as the latter had seen him but once before, and briefly,
+the day of the taking of the Bastille, when the vicious youngster had
+attempted to make away with the annals of the Lebrenn family. Needless
+to say, the man accompanying him, and also unknown to the company of
+volunteers, was his "sweet" god-father, his "gentle" god-father, his
+"dear" god-father Abbot Morlet. The wretched youngster had just the
+minute before quickly carried to his mouth one of his hands, which he
+had up till then held hidden beneath his coat.
+
+"Search the knaves!" ordered Captain Martin. And quickly raising little
+Rodin's blouse, he saw that the young one held his left hand tightly
+shut. The captain pried it open, and some fragments of torn paper fell
+to the floor. John Lebrenn and Castillon discovered nothing upon the
+reverend Father Morlet. Carefully the captain pieced together the
+scraps of paper he had gotten from the Jesuit's god-son, but found
+nothing but figures. After a moment's examination he cried:
+
+"No doubt of it! The man and his brat are emissaries of the enemy. The
+letter of which they were the bearers is in cipher, except two names
+which I find in the fragments--Condé, and then another of which some
+letters seem to be missing;" and drawing nearer to the lamp, Captain
+Martin added, "It is something like Plouar--Plouer--"
+
+"Plouernel! without a doubt!" exclaimed John Lebrenn. "This ex-Count of
+Plouernel, former colonel in the French Guards, was aide-de-camp to the
+Duke of Brunswick, and must now be serving in the Emigrant ranks of the
+Prince of Condé."
+
+"Which is all the more probable since the corps of ex-nobles forms part
+of Wurmser's army which is to attack us at daybreak," replied Captain
+Martin, while John Lebrenn muttered to himself: "To-morrow, perhaps, I
+shall find myself again face to face, arms in hand, with that descendant
+of the Nerowegs whose life I saved last year."
+
+"Your account will not take long to settle, you old rascal," said
+Captain Martin to the Jesuit, gathering together the pieces of the
+despatch. "You will be conducted to headquarters and simply shot as a
+spy, after an examination by way of preface, of course. All the forms
+will be followed!"
+
+The Jesuit, unmoved, seemed not to hear the captain's words, and made
+answer in a lingo invented by him for the occasion:
+
+"_Rama o schlick!_"
+
+"Yes, yes, _Rama o schlick_! It is clear as day. Yes, you will be
+hanged!" replied Captain Martin imperturbably. Then he said to little
+Rodin, who stood no less stolid than his good god-father: "You commence
+your pretty trade quite young, you little scoundrel, you brigandette.
+Your audacity, your presence of mind don't seem to fail you in the
+least. No doubt they charged you with the despatch in the hope that even
+if arrested you would not be suspected of carrying it. You are too young
+to be shot, but we will first give your trousers a good dusting and then
+send you to a house of correction."
+
+During this speech little Rodin showed himself the worthy pupil of his
+god-father and master. He did not wink an eyelid, although he kept his
+snaky optics fixed on the captain. Then, beating his chest with one hand
+with an air of compunction, he carried the other to each ear in turn and
+to his mouth, as a pantomimic indication that he was deaf and dumb.
+
+"So, poor lad, you are deaf and dumb?" said the captain. "In that case
+you are free. Get out. May the devil take you."
+
+But little Rodin remained motionless, not seeming to have heard.
+Instead, he made a new sign that he could neither hear nor speak, and
+heaved a most lamentable sigh. The sigh, the motions and the face of the
+boy were stamped with such an air of sincerity that Captain Martin and
+the brave volunteers who witnessed the scene began to believe that the
+Jesuit's god-son had indeed the use of neither faculty.
+
+The captain continued: "If this little beggar is, indeed, as he seems to
+be, a deaf-mute, we shall send him to Abbot Sicard. He will have a
+splendid pupil!" Then, turning to the Jesuit: "But you, old rogue, who
+are neither dumb nor deaf, you shall be recompensed as you deserve!
+Come, off to headquarters!"
+
+"_Mira ta bi lou!_" replied the Jesuit, simulating the impatience of a
+man tired of listening to gibberish.
+
+"I understand perfectly," the captain said. "Be easy, you shall be well
+hanged." He thereupon turned to John Lebrenn, saying, "You, comrade,
+will take the prisoners to headquarters, and transmit these shreds of
+paper to the staff-officer to whom you give the account of your capture.
+One or two volunteers will accompany you to keep watch on the two
+rascals."
+
+"Do not weaken your post, Citizen Captain," said Duchemin. "On my way
+back to my battery I shall accompany my comrade as far as the General's
+quarters."
+
+Then John Lebrenn, noticing for the first time the cannonier whose
+patriotism had so strongly touched him a year before, cried out:
+"Citizen James Duchemin!"
+
+"Present, comrade! But how the deuce did you know me?"
+
+"I'll tell you on our way to the General's," replied John. And soon,
+taking the Jesuit by the collar while Duchemin seized little Rodin
+firmly by the hand, the volunteer and the artilleryman left the inn and
+set out towards the burg of Ingelsheim.
+
+"The capture of the two spies prevented me from acquainting friend John
+with what I have discovered as to Citizeness Victoria and our apprentice
+Oliver," thought Castillon that night as he stretched himself out to
+rest on his pallet of straw. "Well, the confidence will come a little
+later!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+THE HEROINE IN ARMS.
+
+
+The headquarters of General Hoche were established in the Commune Hall
+of the burg of Ingelsheim; soldiers and under-officers of various corps
+of the army, detailed as orderlies, awaited the commands of the General
+in a sort of vestibule leading to the room in which Hoche himself,
+together with his fellow-General Pichegru and their aides-de-camp, were
+in conference with St. Just, Lebas, Randon and Lacost, the
+Representatives of the people sent on special mission from the
+Convention to the Armies of the Rhine and Moselle. Among the various
+troopers seated about on the benches, and for the most part sleeping,
+overcome by the fatigues of the day, were two, a cavalryman and a
+quartermaster of the Third Hussars, who sat to one side of the folding
+door in earnest conversation. The manly beauty of one of them, his light
+brown complexion, the soft black down which shaded his upper lip, his
+thick eyelashes, his height, the squareness of his shoulders, and the
+fire and boldness of his glance, left no doubt but that it was Victoria,
+the missing sister of John Lebrenn. Her companion, who could be none
+other than the apprentice Oliver, seemed transfigured. His radiant
+youthful features now shone with hope and martial ardor. His large
+brilliant blue eyes seemed to mirror dazzling visions. One would have
+said it was Mars himself in the uniform of a hussar.
+
+"With what impatience I await the morrow," he was saying to Victoria.
+"Here in my heart I feel that I shall either be killed or named
+sub-lieutenant on the field of battle. Hoche, our General-in-chief, was
+sub-lieutenant at twenty-two; I shall be an officer at eighteen! What a
+future opens before me!"
+
+Dreaming of his martial career, the young soldier gazed long and
+silently into the golden picture it held up before him. Victoria
+observed him closely. An inscrutable smile overspread her lips, when
+suddenly, recalled from his revery by the recollections of love, Oliver
+blushed and added: "If I am made an officer, perhaps you will at last
+think me worthy of you, Victoria! Oh! what happiness! To merit the
+supreme gifts of your tenderness, or to die before your eyes!"
+
+"You yield yourself too readily to the intoxication of glory," said
+Victoria, gravely reproaching him.
+
+"Is not the glory of arms the most sublime of all?"
+
+"Oliver, woe to those who, loving arms merely as arms, glory as glory,
+give way to such enticements. Their reason becomes clouded, their spirit
+becomes unsteeled, their patriotism falters. They grow ready to
+sacrifice right, liberty, dignity for that glory whose brilliancy oft
+conceals so much of mere low ambition, of abject servility, of shameful
+appetites, and vain and childish selfishness. Military chiefs are nearly
+all contemptible men, even under the republican regime."
+
+"Victoria, how severe you are!" replied Oliver, sorrowfully. "Have I
+really merited this reproach?"
+
+"When St. Just and Lebas came here to hold council with the Generals
+over to-morrow's battle, I noticed your hesitancy in giving, as
+customary, the military salute."
+
+"Yes, I felt extreme repugnance toward saluting a commissioner of the
+Convention to the armies, because these people are in no way military.
+If some day I become a general, I shall never consent to submit my plans
+of campaign to a Representative of the people. No authority should
+precede that of a general in his army. That authority should be single,
+absolute, obeyed without discussion; he should be responsible to none
+for his acts. His soldiers should hear but one voice: his; know but one
+power: his."
+
+"That is the language held by Dumouriez the eve of the day on which he
+betrayed the Republic," answered Victoria bitterly. Just then John
+Lebrenn and Duchemin entered, bringing in their prisoners.
+
+John did not see his sister sitting with Oliver beside the door. But the
+young woman, doubly surprised by meeting at once both her brother and
+the Jesuit Morlet, whom she immediately recognized through his rustic
+disguise, made at first a move to rush after John. But fearing lest he,
+unable to master his surprise, might compromise the secret of a
+transformation which she desired to guard, she checked herself, and
+whispered to Oliver, who was no less stupefied than she at the sight of
+his former master: "My brother has gone with that country fellow and the
+little boy into the room of the aides-de-camp. Go tell the cannonier
+Duchemin to meet me in the courtyard." Tossing her sword under her left
+arm with military ease, the young woman started for the door; and
+designating by a glance the other soldiers, she added, "I do not wish my
+first interview with my brother to take place before our comrades; his
+emotion would betray me."
+
+"I obey, Victoria," sadly replied Oliver. "My surprise at meeting your
+brother in the army prevents me from asking you in what I deserve the
+cruel words you have but just addressed to me."
+
+"My attachment for you, Oliver, compels me never to conceal the truth,
+harsh as it may be. That is the only means of forestalling results of
+which you perhaps have no premonition. We shall resume the conversation
+later," she added, as she left the vestibule, the pavement of which rang
+under her spurred boots.
+
+The courtyard in front of the Commune Hall was a spacious one. On either
+side were ranged the horses of the couriers. The fog had lifted; the
+stars shone overhead. In the clear air of the crisp, cold night,
+Victoria soon beheld the artilleryman coming towards her. She advanced
+to meet him, saying: "I desired to speak to you, citizen, for the
+purpose of giving you some information upon that man and the young child
+whom you and a volunteer have just brought in as prisoners."
+
+"They are two spies of Pitt and Coburg, who fell among our pickets and
+were arrested, only an hour ago, by one of our sentries, a Parisian."
+
+"Is that Parisian named John Lebrenn?"
+
+"What, do you know him, my brave hussar!" asked Duchemin.
+
+"That I do. We are old friends. But here is my information: The man
+under arrest is a French priest, a Jesuit, an enemy of the Republic."
+
+"A Jesuit! Ah, double brigand and black-cap! The gallows-bird!"
+
+"His name is Abbot Morlet. It it urgent that you go at once and inform
+John Lebrenn of this circumstance; he no doubt will be a witness at the
+reverend's examination, which may even now be under way. The spy should
+be unmasked."
+
+"The examiner will give the black-cap's tongue to the dogs if he answers
+in the gibberish he treated us to just now, in order to throw us off the
+scent."
+
+"When he finds himself recognized, he will not be likely to persist in
+that ruse. Go, then, comrade, acquaint John Lebrenn with the fact that
+his prisoner is the Jesuit Morlet, whom he already knows by reputation.
+Then say to him that a trooper of the Third Hussars wishes to speak with
+him a moment, and awaits him here in the court."
+
+"'Tis well. The two commissions will be fulfilled, as you request."
+
+While awaiting her brother, Victoria paced thoughtfully up and down the
+courtyard. "Dear brother," she thought, "he has kept his promise. He
+would pay his debt of blood to the Republic, and here he is, a soldier.
+I can now unveil to him my mystery, and the object of my conduct in
+regard to Oliver."
+
+Informed by Duchemin that a hussar of the Third wished to see him, John
+soon stepped out of the Commune Hall, and descrying a cavalryman of the
+designated regiment at some paces from the door, walked towards him,
+saying:
+
+"Is it you, comrade, who sent me word by an under-officer of the
+artillery that you had something to say to me?"
+
+"It is I," answered Victoria, taking two steps toward her brother. The
+latter, at first taken aback by surprise at hearing a voice which he
+believed he knew, now approached rapidly. Incapable of leaving him any
+longer in suspense, Victoria threw herself on the volunteer's neck,
+saying in a broken voice:
+
+"Brother! Dear and tender brother! Pardon me the pain I have caused
+you!"
+
+"All is forgotten now," murmured John, weeping with joy, and straining
+his sister to his breast. "At last I recover you, darling sister!"
+
+"And soon, I hope, we shall be separated no more. My task draws to its
+close. And your worthy wife?"
+
+"I heard from her only day before yesterday. She is well, and sustains
+my absence courageously. Ah, Charlotte is doubly dear to me now--for she
+is about to be a mother."
+
+"How happy she must be!"
+
+"In the midst of all her happiness, she still thinks of you. There is
+not one of her letters in which she does not mention you, and wonder at
+the mystery which has enveloped you for so many months. Good heaven, to
+find you here in the army, in uniform. I know not whether I am awake or
+dreaming. I can hardly collect my thoughts." And then after a moment's
+silence, John resumed: "Your pardon, sister. I am now calmer. I now
+believe I can divine the cause which led you to emulate those many
+heroines who are enlisted against the enemies of the Republic.
+Oliver--doubtless--serves in the same regiment with you? You were
+anxious to continue directing him, watching over him?"
+
+"Yes, brother mine; and already, by his bravery and aptitude in war he
+has scaled the lower rounds of the ladder. A brilliant future is
+unrolled before him."
+
+"Sister--" began John with some hesitancy, "the result is beyond what we
+hoped--but--"
+
+"At what price have I obtained it? is it not, John? I can read your
+thoughts. I have no cause to blush for the means I have employed. The
+day of his attempted suicide, Oliver pledged me, as you know, that he
+would not make a second attempt within twenty-four hours. Before
+daybreak I rapped at his door. He had not retired. His face was as
+ominous as the evening before. 'Oliver,' I said to him, 'let us go at
+once.' 'Where are we going?' 'You shall know. You have promised me to
+renounce till night-fall your projects of suicide. It matters little to
+you where you pass your last day, here or elsewhere. Come.' Oliver
+followed me. We went to Sceaux, where I had once before spent some time,
+hoping to find relief in solitude from my griefs. Perhaps you have
+forgotten that when the chateau of Sceaux became national property, our
+good old patriot porter in St. Honoré Street became, by your
+recommendation to Cambon, one of the guardians of the domain. The fine
+old man occupies with his wife the ground floor of a pavilion situated
+near one of the gates of the estate. The second floor is vacant, and it
+was there I dwelt during my former sojourn in the place. To this abode I
+conducted Oliver. I presented him to the keeper and his wife as one of
+our relatives who had been ordered to the country for his health; I was
+to stay to take care of him. The good people received us with joy. They
+fitted up, from the relics in the furniture repository of the old
+mansion, a room for Oliver, and took upon themselves the task of
+preparing our meals. I had in the neighborhood of six hundred livres,
+which I had saved. That sum would suffice for all our needs for quite a
+while.
+
+"My arrangements with the keeper concluded," continued Victoria, "I led
+Oliver out into the park. We had left Paris before dawn. By the time we
+arrived at Sceaux, nature had donned all the fragrant beauty of new-born
+day. The May morning sun cast his first radiant beams over those
+enchanted vistas. We walked in silence over the velvety lawns, whose
+richness was reflected in the little ponds that dotted them. Here were
+vases and statues of marble niched in the green of the hedges; yonder
+spouting fountains surrounded by immense rose-bushes then in full bloom.
+Their scent filled the air. These details may seem childish, brother,
+but they were all important."
+
+"I can well see it; you hoped to reattach the poor boy to life by
+displaying to him, in that fine spring morning, nature in her most
+smiling aspect."
+
+"Such indeed was my purpose. I observed Oliver closely. His looks, at
+first lorn and somber, brightened little by little. He breathed in with
+wide nostrils the morning ambrosia of the woods, the fields and the
+flowers. He rapturously bent his ear to catch the chirping of the birds
+nested in the foliage. His glance lost its heaviness, and again glowed
+with youthful buoyancy. He took new hold of life while abandoning
+himself to the sweet sensations awakened in him by the contemplation of
+nature. I sought to stir the most sensitive and delicate chords of the
+boy's being. My friendliness tempered what had up till then been stern
+and parental in my relations with him; I spoke to him now more as sister
+than as mother.
+
+"'It would be paradise upon earth to live here,' he said.
+
+"'Then let us settle in the village, Oliver.'
+
+"'What! You consent to share this solitude with me?'
+
+"'Most assuredly. Indeed, it was even with that hope that I brought you
+here.'
+
+"He beamed with happiness. But suddenly, his face clouding again, he
+asked me sadly 'what I would be to him.' 'Your sister,' I told him. But
+seeing him continue to lose the brightness he had just regained, I added
+gaily:
+
+"'Yesterday, my friend, I would consent to be nothing more than mother
+to you. To-day I am willing to rejuvenate myself sufficiently to become
+your sister. Is not that great progress?'
+
+"'So,' he cried in a transport, 'you give me leave to hope?'
+
+"'I give you permission to hope for what I hope myself, Oliver: that one
+day I may feel for you a sentiment more tender than that of fraternity.
+But it depends upon you still more than on me.'
+
+"'What must I do?'
+
+"'Become a man, Oliver; a man of whom I can be proud.'
+
+"Oliver at first gave himself up with joy to this hope; but soon he
+again asked, with a shade of suspicion in his voice, 'You will not make
+me any promises--are you thinking, then, of forsaking me?'
+
+"'Not at all, Oliver; and moreover, here is what I propose. We shall
+remain in this charming retreat until you are completely recovered,
+then we shall join the army, and enroll in the same regiment.' And in
+answer to a gesture of stupefaction from Oliver, I added, 'Shall I, do
+you imagine, be the first woman who shares the perils of our soldiers,
+with her secret locked under her uniform? I wish to see you rise from
+rank to rank. Then will come the day, perhaps soon, when some brilliant
+deed will raise you to the height I dream of for you, and to our common
+hope. Now, Oliver, choose between suicide and the glorious future I
+present to you.'"
+
+"All is now explained, worthy and great-hearted sister," exclaimed John
+Lebrenn.
+
+"I am now happy to note that my influence over Oliver diminishes daily.
+His warlike ardor, the intoxication of his early successes, the activity
+of camp life--all, according to my calculation, have combined to
+overcome his passion. I foresaw that love would be fleeting in that
+warlike soul, I sought above all to snatch him from suicide, from
+failure. I wished by a vague hope to rekindle his dying courage,
+initiate him into the career of arms, which his nature called him to,
+and by watching over him like a mother and sharing his soldier's life,
+to preserve him from the pitfalls that destroy so many young men. I
+wished, in fine, to affirm him in the path of justice and virtue, to
+develop his civic character, and to render still more fervent his love
+for the fatherland and the Republic. Then, this self-imposed duty once
+fulfilled, I reserve the means of casting Oliver upon the destiny which
+the future seems to hold for him. Such was my project. In part it is
+realized. The young man's passion for war is now his only amour.
+Accordingly, I will soon be able to leave him."
+
+At this point in their conversation the brother and sister saw Jesuit
+Morlet and little Rodin file out of the Commune Hall, escorted by
+several soldiers. One of these carried a lantern. The artilleryman
+Duchemin brought up the rear.
+
+"Hey, comrade!" called John Lebrenn to the quartermaster, as he
+approached him, while Victoria remained behind, "I have something to ask
+you."
+
+"Speak, citizen."
+
+"Do you know what they have decided about this doubly-dangerous spy,
+this minion of the Society of Jesus?"
+
+"According to what I just heard, the black-cap will be shot to-morrow
+morning. They are taking him to the quarters of the Grand Provost of the
+army, who has charge of the execution; and as my battery is established
+near the Provost's quarters, I am acting as conduct to the agent of Pitt
+and Coburg."
+
+One of Hoche's aides-de-camp now stepped precipitately out of the
+Commune Hall, hastened across the court, and ran in the direction of the
+General's quarters. A company of grenadiers stationed there at once
+caught up their arms and fell in line, drum at the right, officers at
+the head, and soon the four Representatives of the people, St. Just and
+Lebas, commissioners in extraordinary from the Convention to Strasburg,
+and Lacoste and Randon, commissioners to the Army of the Rhine and
+Moselle, descended the steps of the Commune Hall, preceded by several
+officers furnished with lanterns, and followed by Generals Hoche and
+Pichegru, and the superior officers of the divisions. The
+Representatives of the people wore hats, one side of which, turned up,
+was surmounted with a tricolor plume; their uniform coats were blue,
+with large unbroidered lapels, and crossed with a scarf in the national
+colors; over their trousers, which were blue like their coats, they had
+on heavy spurred boots, and cavalry sabers hung by their sides. St. Just
+walked before the others. He was of almost the same age as Hoche, about
+twenty-four. The two conversed in low tones, some steps ahead of the
+other Generals and Representatives. The features and attitudes of Hoche
+and St. Just, as revealed by the light of the lanterns, contrasted
+sharply. The republican General, of robust stature and with a bluff
+countenance, intelligent and resolute, which a glorious scar rendered
+all the more martial, displayed an insistence almost supplicating, as he
+addressed St. Just. The latter, of only medium height, with a high and
+proud forehead, accorded to the pleadings of Hoche a silent attention.
+His pale and firm-set features, set off by his long straight hair, gave
+to the man an air of sculptured impassivity. His life, his feeling,
+seemed concentrated in his burning glances.
+
+"Brother, do you remark Oliver's countenance?" said Victoria. "Pride
+possesses it. He seems to regard as acts of servility the marks of
+respect shown by the officers to the Representatives of the people."
+
+"Oliver's expression is indeed significant," replied John.
+
+"Halloa! Courier of the Third Hussars!" one of the under-officers cried
+at that moment from the doorway, holding up a sealed packet. "To horse!
+A despatch to carry to Sultz."
+
+"Present!" called back Victoria; then she continued in a voice filled
+with emotion, as she held out her hand to John,
+
+"Adieu, brother, till to-morrow. Perchance the order of battle or the
+fortunes of war will bring us near each other."
+
+"I hope--and fear it, sister," answered John, his eyes moist with tears,
+lest this should be the last time he was to see Victoria. "You have
+shown yourself valiant, devoted and generous in your conduct towards
+Oliver. Till to-morrow."
+
+"Adieu, brother!" And Victoria hastened to receive the despatch, while
+John returned to the bivouac of the Paris Volunteers.
+
+The despatch which Victoria carried to Sultz had been written by Hoche
+that very evening, and addressed to Citizen Bouchotte, Minister of War.
+It read:
+
+     Ingelsheim, 6th Nivose, year II, 1 A. M.
+
+     I hasten to inform you, Citizen Minister, that the Representatives
+     of the people have just placed me in command of the two armies of
+     the Rhine and Moselle, to march to the succor of Landau.
+
+     No prayer or pleading on my part could change the resolution of the
+     Representatives of the people. Judge me. With nothing but courage,
+     how will I be able to carry such a burden? Nevertheless, I shall do
+     my best in the service of the Republic.
+
+     Greetings and brotherhood,
+
+     HOCHE.[15]
+
+This letter of Hoche's, in which the great captain reveals the modesty
+that in him equalled his military genius, illustrates also his anxieties
+on the score of the responsibility which had just fallen upon
+him--anxieties his noble and touching expression of which was unable to
+shake the will of St. Just.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+SERVING AND MIS-SERVING.
+
+
+Jesuit Morlet and his god-son, little Rodin, had been taken in due
+course before the Provost, and the reverend fellow was now awaiting the
+hour of his execution, which was set for sun-up. The cord which bound
+his arms was fastened to a post of the cart-shed that served as shelter
+for the Grand Provost's mounted police; at the foot of the post the
+Jesuit lay huddled. Too case-hardened not to face death with a certain
+degree of calm, he said to his god-son:
+
+"I have no chance of escaping death. I shall be shot at break of day.
+Here ends my career."
+
+"You will soon be with the angels," dryly responded little Rodin, who
+now seemed strangely to have recovered both speech and hearing.
+
+"Poor little one! My beloved son, you are, are you not, very sad at my
+approaching death?"
+
+"You are an elect of the Lord, predestined to glory, and you will sit at
+His right side through eternity. _Hosannah in excelsis!_ On the
+contrary, I rejoice in your martyrdom."
+
+"So young, and already devoid of affection!" muttered the Jesuit to
+himself. "Are you not grieved at the idea of being left behind and
+forsaken by my death?"
+
+"The Lord God will watch over His servant, as He watches over the birds
+of the air. He provides for all."
+
+"Listen, dear child; when God has called me to Him, go you to Rome, to
+the General of the Order. God will perform the rest."
+
+"I shall go to Rome; your recommendations will be precisely followed,
+dear god-father; I shall serve the holy cause of God."
+
+As little Rodin concluded these words, a courier came up and said to the
+cavalryman on picket duty before the Jesuit and his god-son: "Comrade,
+can you show me to the quarters of Citizen General Donadieu? I have a
+message for him."
+
+"You haven't far to go. Pass through the shed, turn to the right, and
+you will see another cavalry picket before the door of a house. There is
+where General Donadieu is quartered," replied the sentry, while the
+courier vanished in the direction indicated.
+
+"Good god-father, General Donadieu is attached to this army! Good news
+for us!"
+
+"But, dear god-son, how will the presence of this general serve us any?"
+
+"Good god-father," replied young Rodin in a whisper, "if you wish it,
+you need not go to-day to visit the angels of the Lord. Think and decide
+whether you would rather go. I am here to obey you."
+
+With a nod the Jesuit approved the advice of his god-son, and beckoning
+to the cavalryman, who approached them, he said: "Hey, sentry! Is it
+indeed decided that I be shot at daybreak?"
+
+"In the shake of a lamb's tail. You won't have long to wait."
+
+"Well, well! Since it must be so, I have decided to make
+revelations--very important ones."
+
+"I shall call the brigadier and he will take you before the Provost."
+
+"No, no. It is to a general that I wish to make my revelations. Let your
+chiefs know without delay."
+
+"You hear that, brigadier!" commented the sentry to an under-officer who
+had come up. "The old rascal calls for a general to make revelations
+to!"
+
+"I'll go see the Provost about it," said the brigadier. The few moments
+he was gone the Jesuit utilized to confer in whispers with his god-son.
+The brigadier quickly returned, went up to the post to which the
+reverend was tethered, and said to him:
+
+"Off to General Donadieu. But look out for yourself if your confidences
+are a sham!" And seeing that little Rodin made ready to follow the
+prisoner, the soldier added: "Has this brat also revelations to make?
+Has he got anything to do with you?"
+
+"The child will attest, by his tender candor, the sincerity of my
+communications, and will complete them in case of gaps in my memory."
+
+General Donadieu, commandant of a brigade of light cavalry in the Army
+of the Rhine and Moselle, had just finished reading the order he had
+received, when one of his aides-de-camp informed him that a spy,
+condemned to be shot at sunrise, asked for an audience to give him
+information of the utmost importance, but requested that the interview
+have no other witness than the child who would accompany him.
+
+"I do not accept the scoundrel's proposal," replied the General to his
+aide-de-camp. "His condition is compromising. Send him in, and stay here
+yourself."
+
+Accompanied by his god-son, the Jesuit appeared. Both were calm. The
+General looked the spy over from head to foot, and said to him sharply:
+
+"You pretend to have important matters to disclose to me, which, you
+say, concern the army? I shall listen to you. But be brief. Do not abuse
+my patience."
+
+"When we are alone," replied the Jesuit, glancing at the aide-de-camp.
+"Our interview must be in secret."
+
+"My aide is my second self. He may hear all. Speak, then. Speak at once,
+or go to the devil!"
+
+"I shall speak, then, General, since you command it. The day after the
+battle of Watignies a cavalry colonel in the republican army was taken
+prisoner. He was marched to headquarters--"
+
+"Wait a moment!" cried General Donadieu, visibly troubled at these
+opening words of the Jesuit's. "You hope to obtain a suspension of
+sentence as the price of your revelations?"
+
+"More than that. I must be set at liberty."
+
+"I can grant you neither delay nor liberation without the authority of
+the Representatives of the people. Captain, find Citizen St. Just at
+once, and ask him whether I may suspend the execution of this man if his
+revelations seem worthy of it."
+
+"At your orders, General," replied the aide, as he left the room.
+
+The General, at last overcoming the uneasiness which the Jesuit's first
+words caused him, now resumed, haughtily:
+
+"As you were saying, the day after the battle of Watignies a cavalry
+colonel--"
+
+"General Donadieu," came imperiously from the Jesuit, "your moments are
+numbered. If, before your aide returns, you have not contrived a way to
+set me at liberty, you are lost. Think it over. A prisoner at the battle
+of Watignies, you were conducted by the Count of Plouernel before
+Monseigneur the Prince of Condé, who received you most flatteringly. You
+admitted to him that it was with regret that you served in an army so
+lacking in military pride as to submit to the yoke of the
+Representatives of the people. You added--still speaking, be it
+remembered, to the Prince of Condé--these words, literally:
+'Monseigneur, my dignity as an officer is so outraged by subjection to
+the tyranny of these bourgeois pro-consuls, that, without the slightest
+scruple of conscience, I would offer you my sword and serve on your
+side.'"
+
+"Ah, indeed? So I said that to the Prince of Condé, did I? And perhaps
+you have proofs of what you say?"
+
+"The proofs are inscribed in a certain register kept in the Prince's
+staff headquarters. In that register are kept the names of all the
+officers in the republican army on whom, in case of need, the royalist
+party thinks it can call. The fact which concerns you was related to me
+by the Count of Plouernel, former colonel in the French Guards, who was
+present at your interview with Monseigneur the Prince of Condé; which
+interview was continued by his Most Serene Highness in these words: 'My
+dear colonel, remain in the republican army. You will there be able to
+serve the cause of our rightful King most efficaciously by spurring your
+regiment to rebel at the proper moment in the name of military honor,
+against these miserable bourgeois pro-consuls. Be sure, my dear colonel,
+that the day the good cause triumphs you will be rewarded as you
+deserve. Until then, keep snug behind your republican mask.' So,"
+continued the Jesuit, "you have so well worn your mask that after being
+returned to the army in the exchange of prisoners, you were first
+promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, then to Division General--"
+
+"Enough, stop," cut in Donadieu in a sardonic tone of complete
+reassurance. "What now is your project? You intend to make your
+disclosures to others besides me, if I do not at once enable you to
+escape?"
+
+"Aye, General, that is my intention."
+
+"There is only one obstacle--"
+
+"And that is, General? Have the goodness to make it known to me. We will
+find a way around it."
+
+"Eh!" replied Donadieu, moving towards the door, "It is that I shall
+call the mounted patrolman who brought you hither, order him to shoot
+you on the spot, and your secret dies with you. The solution is swift
+and simple."
+
+"And St. Just, to whom you have just applied for permission to remit my
+sentence? You have forgotten that detail."
+
+"I shall tell St. Just that your revelations were rubbish, and I let the
+execution take its course. St. Just is not the man to reproach me for
+hastening the death of a counter-revolutionist. So, then," continued
+General Donadieu, taking another step toward the door, "you will be
+shot at once. Our conversation in over."
+
+"And me?" piped up little Rodin, who had so far kept himself motionless
+and silent in a dark corner of the room. "And me? They won't shoot me,
+I'm very sure. I am hardly eleven. So then, if you send my good
+god-father to the angels, I shall tell everyone what I have just seen
+and heard."
+
+"Whence it follows, General," chimed in the reverend, "that you have no
+other safe course than to shut your eyes to our flight, and if you are
+wise, accompany us, and carry the plan of to-morrow's battle to the
+Austrian headquarters with you."
+
+"This low window opens on the ground," volunteered Rodin, examining the
+casing. "We will be able to clear out through it, General, before your
+aide-de-camp comes back. The rest--God will care for."
+
+"The light will help us to avoid your picket lines, among whom we fell
+last night," added the prelate, in turn approaching the window, whence
+he beheld the first grey streaks of dawn. Then to Donadieu, who stood
+paralyzed with fear, he added: "Come, General, loose me of my bonds. I
+must have this place far behind me when your aide returns."
+
+"What shall I do?" stammered the bewildered General. "My aide will
+return with St. Just's orders. The prisoners' escape will be the end of
+me--I shall be suspected of having assisted in it--and suspicion is
+death!"
+
+"Good god-father," cried Rodin, who had been ferreting around the room
+and had just opened a door leading into a neighboring apartment,
+"listen, the General does not wish to fly with us--he will let us
+escape. He will say to his aide-de-camp that while he was in the next
+room a minute or two, we profited by his momentary absence to cut the
+cords on your wrists and to vanish by yonder window."
+
+"What presence of mind!" exclaimed the Jesuit; and, turning to the
+General, "My god-son is right. There is nothing else left for you to do.
+You will be accused of negligence; that is grave. But you will at least
+have a chance of averting suspicion."
+
+"All the more, seeing that if the General had had the intention of
+letting us escape he would not have sent his aide to St. Just for
+orders," judicially added Rodin. "You have every chance not to be
+molested because of our escape, General. But if you have my god-father
+shot, I shall denounce you to St. Just."
+
+This reasoning commanded prompt action. General Donadieu chose of the
+two evils the lesser. Hurriedly whipping off the prelate's bonds he
+said: "Fly, quick. You will find a clump of trees a hundred paces off,
+within our picket line. Hide there; and lie close till you hear the
+cannon, which will announce to you the battle is on. Then you will have
+nothing more to fear. Now go!" cried the General, flinging open the
+window, "Go, quickly!"
+
+"I shall not prove an ingrate," promised the Jesuit as he passed towards
+the opening the other had made for him. "When I see the Prince of Condé,
+I shall report to him that he may always count on you."
+
+The prelate's god-son slipped like a serpent through the window, and was
+gone. The Jesuit followed suit.
+
+"Ah, well," said General Donadieu to himself. "If St. Just suspects me,
+over I go to the enemy. We soldiers know how to serve or mis-serve
+according as our interests or safety demand. If I carry the plans of the
+battle to the Austrians, I shall at least have saved my life and
+general's commission. Devil take the Republic!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+BATTLE OF THE LINES OF WEISSENBURG.
+
+
+Towards eight o'clock on the morning of the 6th Nivose, year II
+(December 26, 1793), under cover of a thick fog, St. Just and Hoche
+began their advance. The two leaders walked their horses side by side,
+close behind a squad of cavalrymen detailed as scouts. A short distance
+to the rear of the Representative of the people and the
+Commander-in-chief followed a group of aides-de-camp and artillery
+officers.
+
+Gradually, in the teeth of a stiff north wind, the fog began again to
+lift. The gallop of an approaching horse was heard, and one of Hoche's
+aides loomed out of the thinning haze, made straight for his
+commander-in-chief, and said, as he reined in his mount:
+
+"Citizen General, our scouts just encountered a party of Uhlans. We
+charged them and reached the enemy's advance guard near enough to make
+out a considerable body of cavalry."
+
+The north wind continued to blow, clearing away the mists, and soon,
+from the rising ground where they had taken their station, St. Just,
+Hoche, and their staff were able to sweep with their eye the field of
+the approaching battle. Before them, from northwest to southeast at the
+extreme edge of the horizon, stretched the regular outline of the
+"Lines" or entrenchments of Weissenburg, parallel to the course of the
+Lauter, a rapid river which served as moat to these fortified works. To
+the right, the now leafless fastnesses of the forest of Bienvalt, which
+also bordered on the Lauter over which the remnants of the fog still
+hung, reached away till they lost themselves in the distance toward
+Lauterburg, a town situated in one of the bends of the Rhine, now the
+headquarters of the army of Condé.
+
+With his glass Hoche examined the position of the Austrian army, and
+said to St. Just:
+
+"The Austrian general, as I foresaw, surprised by our march which has
+taken from him the offensive, has changed his plan of battle by making
+his infantry fall back half way upon the plateau of Geisberg. We must
+haste to profit by the hesitation into which this discreet retreat will
+have thrown the enemy." Then, addressing one of the artillery officers,
+Hoche added: "Citizen, order General Ferino to push out with the cavalry
+and flying artillery of his division. His cannoniers are to open fire
+upon the enemy's squadrons, and when they weaken, he is to send in his
+cavalry."
+
+The officer left at a gallop to convey the order to Ferino, who
+commanded the advance guard. The republican army was drawn up in three
+columns, the cavalry on the right, the infantry in the center, and the
+artillery on the left, with the reserves, the supplies and the
+ambulances in second line. Suddenly a distant booming, deep and
+prolonged, resounded on the left, in the direction of Nothweiller, and
+Hoche exclaimed:
+
+"The cannon! The cannon! Gonvion St. Cyr has followed my orders! He is
+pouring out of the valley of the Lauter and attacking Brunswick's
+position. There are the Prussians engaged. They will hardly bring aid to
+the Austrians now! If Desaix has carried out his movement as well, and
+attacked Condé's body at Lauterburg, the Austrian army is thrown on its
+own resources. The Lines of Weissenburg are ours, and we shall raise the
+siege of Landau!"
+
+At that moment General Ferino, in response to Hoche's orders, advanced
+at a rapid trot at the head of his cavalry and artillery. Beside the
+General rode Lebas, the Representative of the people on mission to the
+armies. Recognizing the importance of this first charge for the success
+of the day, he desired to assist Hoche, and to march in the front rank.
+
+"On, my brave Ferino," called Hoche to the General as he swept by.
+"First shatter the Austrian cavalry with your cannon, and then--a taste
+of your saber for them!"
+
+"Count on me, General. I'll send the white-cloaks to drink in the
+Lauter, whether they are thirsty or not," replied Ferino; and waving his
+sword he turned towards his cohorts and gave the cry:
+
+"Forward, my children, forward! Long live the Republic!"
+
+"Long live the Republic!" shouted back the cavalrymen, flashing their
+swords in the air as they thundered past Hoche. "Our comrades have
+retaken Toulon--we shall free Landau!"
+
+"Soldiers," called Hoche, "show yourselves worthy of your past
+victories. The Republic counts on the Army of the Rhine and Moselle! To
+victory or death!"
+
+The battle was on. General Ferino's artillery mowed down the Austrian
+cavalry, Wurmser's first line. Profiting by their disorder, gathering up
+his squadrons and hurling them with himself at their head upon the
+enemy, Ferino overthrew the forces which opposed him, and carried his
+mounted sabers right into the infantry squares of the second line. Then
+Hoche flung his attacking column upon Wurmser's center, while that
+general's left wing fell under the fire of several batteries of flying
+artillery. One of these batteries, consisting of six four-pounders, had
+taken position on an eminence where lay a solitary farmhouse. From this
+hillock it was possible to rake the Austrian's left flank from the rear.
+A squadron of the Third Hussars and two companies of the Seventh
+Battalion, Paris Volunteers, were detached to act as guard to this
+artillery. The captain of the battery, on reconnoitering his position,
+found that the farmhouse and its buildings occupied nearly the center of
+a mound about three hundred paces in diameter. Toward the enemy the hill
+presented a rapid rise of some thirty feet, while on the side of the
+republican army it was nearly level with the plain occupied by the
+reserves. A thicket of trees and live brush extended to the right and a
+little to the rear of the battery's position. The inhabitants of the
+place had fled with the opening of the engagement, carrying with them
+their cattle and all their more valuable belongings. One by one the iron
+spit-fires arrived to take their position in the battery, the first to
+appear being Carmagnole, the sweetheart of quartermaster Duchemin. This
+piece, by the almost grotesque cut of its furniture, presented a curious
+example of the oddity of artillery carriages in those days.
+
+The team drew up with a half-turn, Duchemin and his eight assistants
+leaped to the ground, and confided their horses to the two artillerymen
+charged with their care. The pin which coupled the piece proper to the
+caisson was removed, and there she stood in position on her two wheels,
+some distance ahead of the caisson, in which the cartridges were kept.
+The drivers hurried their horses under shelter of the farmhouse, some
+fifty paces away. Soon the six spit-fires were in position. The
+commanders of the squadron of hussars and the two companies of
+volunteers also took what advantage they could of the lay of the land to
+protect their men from the fire which an Austrian battery might at any
+moment be expected to open upon the republican guns. One of the Paris
+Volunteers' companies was masked in the brush of the little wood just
+mentioned, in position to fire from under cover in case the enemy should
+attempt to seize the battery. The other company entrenched itself behind
+the stone wall which enclosed the courtyard of the farm, and behind the
+buildings which already acted as cover to the artillery horses.
+
+By the chances of war there were thus reunited among the defenders of
+the battery Oliver and Victoria, John Lebrenn and Castillon, and finally
+the young Parisian recruit Duresnel, who also was a member of Captain
+Martin's company.
+
+"Well, comrade," said Captain Martin to him, "how goes it? Your heart is
+still whole? Keep up your courage, all will go well."
+
+"So far, captain, things are not going badly. But we must wait for the
+end--or rather for the beginning, for we haven't begun to fight yet."
+
+"It seems it is going to be warm!" volunteered Castillon. "By my pipe,
+what a cannonade! That must be comrade Duchemin making his Carmagnole
+spit! Let me see if I can get a glimpse of him over the wall."
+
+Stretching himself on tiptoe, Castillon raised himself sufficiently to
+cast his eye above the wall, upon the group of cannon, now half
+enveloped in the smoke of their first volleys. Duchemin, kneeling on the
+ground after conning the hostile battery through his pocket-glass, was
+training his piece, already roughly aimed by a brigadier, while his
+assistants on either side, armed with their ramrods, sponges and levers,
+stood ready for action. One of them held the match, waiting for the
+order to light the fuse. The other five pieces, ranged parallel to
+Carmagnole, were likewise surrounded by their attendants and being
+sighted by their under-officers. The captain of artillery and his
+lieutenants, on horseback, superintended the manoeuvring. In the
+distance the Austrian lines and the advancing columns of the French were
+lost almost completely in the smoke and smother of the now general
+cannonade. Nevertheless, the watchers on the hill soon perceived a large
+mass of opposing infantry so cut up and thrown into disorder by the
+relentless and accurate fire of the battery, that the Austrian general
+was moving up four howitzers and four six-pounders, with the intention
+of crippling the republican artillery. Seeing with his glass the first
+howitzer advance to the left from the enemy's battery, Duchemin at once
+carefully re-trained his Carmagnole, shook his fist in the howitzer's
+direction, and growled under his heavy moustache, alluding to the short
+and stocky build of those pieces:
+
+"Ah, it is you who would presume to silence my Carmagnole, stump-nose!
+I'll show you that you were never cast to clip my sweetheart's words!"
+
+Just then, in response to a sign from the captain, the trumpeter of the
+battery sounded the signal to "Fire!"
+
+"Come, my cadet," cried Duchemin to the soldier with the burning match,
+"the soup is ready--all we need is to serve it! Light her! light her!
+Let her go!"
+
+The cannonier touched off the fuse with his match, and Carmagnole's
+discharge rang out several seconds ahead of the general volley of the
+battery. Gazing again through his field-glass to watch the effect of his
+shell, Duchemin cried out: "There she is! The stump-nose is knocked off
+one wheel, and two of her flunkies are keeled over. Long live the
+Republic!"
+
+In fact, Carmagnole's ball had crushed one of the wheels of the howitzer
+and knocked down two of the Austrian artillerists an instant before the
+hostile battery had gotten in its first shot. But almost immediately the
+enemy's guns were crowned with several little clouds of white smoke,
+lighted up with streaks of flame. A prolonged roar reached the
+Frenchmen, and Duchemin exclaimed, turning towards the stone wall where
+the volunteer infantrymen were entrenched:
+
+"Citizens, look out for the shells!"
+
+Hardly had Duchemin sounded the warning when the rain of iron was upon
+them; the balls screamed, the shells rebounded and burst. The commander
+of the little republican battery was cut in two by a flying shell; horse
+and rider went down mangled before the shot. Another shell burst between
+two cannon, killing one of their crew and wounding two others so
+severely that they fell and with difficulty dragged themselves to the
+ambulance sheltered behind the farmhouse.
+
+"Cannoniers! Load at will! Aim for the howitzers!" cried the first
+lieutenant, assuming command. The trumpet repeated the order through its
+metal throat. The artillerymen vied with one another in haste to charge
+their pieces. Then cries of "Fire! Fire!" rang out from the farmhouse,
+which suddenly became enveloped in thick black smoke. A shell exploding
+in a hay loft had set the blaze.
+
+"In one way that little bonfire isn't bad," said Castillon, "for it is
+deuced cold. But too much is too much, and now we're going to roast."
+And catching sight of the volunteer Duresnel, pale, propping himself up
+with his gun, his lips working as though he would talk, though no sound
+proceeded from them, Castillon continued: "Well, neighbor, here we are,
+'wo'd of honor;' but what the devil do you see back there to make your
+eyes pop out so?" So saying, Castillon followed Duresnel's fixed and
+frightened stare, and what he saw made him pull the young volunteer
+toward him, with the words: "Come, comrade, do not look that way. You
+haven't got the hang of the thing yet. That is the fortune of war."
+
+"My heaven," stammered Duresnel, as he followed Castillon's advice. "My
+heaven, it is horrible! Poor victims!"
+
+A ball, rebounding on the inner face of the stone wall, had struck the
+lines of volunteers sheltered there, killing and maiming all in its
+path. The dead and wounded weltered in blood. Captain Martin, struck by
+the spent ball near the end of its course, had been knocked down, but
+only bruised on the shoulder. Soon recovering from the shock, he lent
+his aid to the soldiers of his company, John Lebrenn among them, to
+help or carry the wounded to the surgeons' post in the rear. These at
+once gave their care to the cannoniers and to some hussars of the Third,
+among whom a shell had also wrought its havoc.
+
+Undaunted by these disasters, the republican artillery continued to work
+marvels. At last the opposing commander, fearing lest his right wing be
+annihilated, sent word to the regiment of the Gerolstein Cuirassiers to
+storm the battery. Up to this time masked behind a hill, this regiment
+of heavy reserve cavalry had taken no part in the conflict. They were
+part of the contingent put by the principality of Gerolstein at the
+service of the Germanic Confederation, and were commanded by the Grand
+Duke himself. This prince was the father of Franz of Gerolstein, whom he
+held immured in a state dungeon. In spite of his sixty-and-odd years,
+the old Grand Duke preserved the freshness and buoyancy of youth; to his
+natural bravery he now added the incentive of hatred for the Revolution.
+The Count of Plouernel, having made good his second escape from Paris,
+and now for some time married to the daughter of the Prince of Holtzern,
+was second in command. The horsemen of this troop wore a cuirass and
+helmet of steel, over a livery in the Grand Duke's colors--bright blue
+with orange facings--with heavy boots, and white wool trousers. In
+short, the regiment was one of the best equipped and finest in the
+allied army. The rank and file, lusty fellows in the prime of life,
+warlike, well drilled, well clad, well fed and well paid, pampered up,
+in short, like a troop of the chosen, were typical 'soldiers of
+monarchy.' Disciplined by their officers with the cane, after the German
+fashion, they were the instrument of their master's will, ready to
+saber father, mother, brother or fellow-citizen, or to march upon the
+enemy, with equal indifference, killing merely because some one said
+"Kill!" or falling in the onslaught because some one said "Forward!" On
+the right of the regiment rode the Grand Duke, a robust man, tall of
+frame, and hard and proud of feature. His face was half concealed under
+the visor of his helmet, which was surmounted with a rich plume of heron
+feathers. The gentlemen and officers of his household rode somewhat
+apart from him, while he himself held the following conversation with
+the Count of Plouernel, who now bore the uniform of a colonel of
+cuirassiers:
+
+"Count, I saw the Prince of Condé yesterday on his way through
+Weissenburg to take up quarters at Lauterburg. 'The Republic,' he said
+to me, 'is no longer betrayed by its generals. _Our goose is cooked!_'
+The Prince's observation was sound; I look forward to a series of
+reverses to our arms. In case I am killed in to-day's battle, do not
+forget the promise you have given me. Go to my son Franz, in the prison
+where he lies; tell him that my last thoughts were curses upon him.
+Then," the Grand Duke added, with a sinister air, "see that justice
+takes its course with him. My highest court has judged and condemned my
+unworthy son; he is convicted of a revolutionary plot against the safety
+of my states, and against my person. He has incurred the penalty of
+death--the sentence is to be executed with the briefest possible delay.
+My nephew Otto, whose cousin you married, is to inherit my grand-ducal
+crown. All the bequests, minutely set forth in my testament, are to be
+fully carried out."
+
+"Drive away these dark thoughts, monseigneur," replied the Count. "You
+will reign a long time yet, and decide all these matters for yourself."
+
+The word to advance was given, and the Gerolstein regiment, the Grand
+Duke at its head, set out at a round trot. The ground shook under the
+hoofs of its eight hundred horses; the rattle of its sabers, muskets and
+breastplates made a formidable din. Two hundred rods away rose the
+hillock on whose brow scowled the republican battery that now menaced
+every foot of the plain the cuirassiers were advancing over. Unable to
+outflank the battery, owing to its being protected to the right by the
+little wood and to the left by the semi-demolished farm buildings, the
+Grand Duke could see nothing for it but to charge right into the muzzles
+of the cannon which he hoped to capture, little thinking that they were
+supported by both infantry and cavalry so cunningly disposed that he was
+prevented from detecting them.
+
+"The republican position is too strong, monseigneur, to be attacked in
+front," said the Count of Plouernel, "and yet it would be difficult to
+try to turn its flank."
+
+"I am resolved to take it in front," replied the Grand Duke. "I rely on
+the courage of my cuirassiers. Here we are within short range of their
+cannon, and those fellows do not fire."
+
+"They await our closer approach, that their discharge may be the more
+deadly."
+
+"Then let us close up the distance, and start the action," exclaimed the
+Grand Duke.
+
+The trumpets sounded the charge. Formed in a narrow column, to offer
+less front to the republican fire, the troop trotted rapidly forward.
+Then, at two hundred paces from the hill, they spread out into two
+lines, and, at the Grand Duke's command, spurred their steeds to a
+gallop. In this order, and uttering loud huzzahs, they reached the foot
+of the hill. Here their impetuous advance was checked by the steep rise
+they had to surmount in order to reach the summit and the guns. They
+discharged their muskets at the cannoniers of the battery, whose pieces,
+pointed straight down the hill, and till this minute dumb, now spoke out
+with a fearful volley of shot and shell. The Paris Volunteers, placed as
+sharpshooters in the fringes of the woody thicket, rained upon their
+assailants a storm of bullets which mingled with the fire of the other
+company cloaked in the courtyard of the farmhouse. The rain of lead and
+iron being especially trained on the steeds of the first advancing line,
+these fell or stumbled, rolled over on their riders, and threw the
+second line into such disorder that in spite of its momentum it was
+forced to waver and flee. The Grand Duke ordered a retreat on the
+gallop, in order to reform his ranks out of range.
+
+Repeated cries of "Long live the Republic!" greeted the retreat. The
+German musketry-fire had gone over the heads of the French; only a few
+were wounded. All hastened to reload their pieces. The volunteers threw
+fresh cartridges into their guns, in order to receive the second charge
+of the enemy. The cuirassiers, galled and goaded by the desire to
+retrieve their first set-back, reformed while describing a wide circuit
+on the plain. Then, led on by the example of the impetuous Grand Duke,
+they came on again, not this time in wide front, but in still narrower
+column. Again they reached the rise of the hill, bending low over their
+horses' manes, and belaboring the animals with boot and spur. They
+received the new volley of artillery almost point blank, but still
+almost immediately gained the top of the eminence, the Grand Duke in the
+lead. They found themselves awaited by the two companies of volunteers,
+formed in a hollow square about the cannon, whose attendants were
+furiously reloading them. Of the three ranks which formed the square,
+the first was on one knee; the others were erect, their bodies bent
+forward, guns at position; ready to let fly at the command of Captain
+Martin.
+
+Solemn silence reigned among the volunteers as they saw, some thirty
+paces from them, the Grand Duke of Gerolstein gain the summit of their
+hillock, flanked on one side by a colossus in casque and cuirass bearing
+the regimental standard, and followed by several officers of his
+military household.
+
+Castillon, who was in the second line, with John Lebrenn half kneeling
+before him, and the new volunteer Duresnel behind, said to the former,
+sotto voice:
+
+"Friend John, let us unite to bowl over that drum-major on horseback
+with the flag. What say you? Let us fire together."
+
+"I am with you. Take the man--I shall aim for the horse."
+
+"Citizens, I also shall aim at the giant," said Duresnel, in his
+reed-like voice; "if you will permit, I shall be of your party."
+
+At that moment Captain Martin saw behind the Grand Duke, their bodies
+half over the brow of the hill, the first rank of cuirassiers. Only
+then, the cavalry being exposed, did he give the order: "Citizens!
+Attention! Pick each his man! Aim! Fire!"
+
+"Onward, cuirassiers! Saber this canaille!" shouted the Grand Duke,
+urging his horse to a great leap in order to reach the serried square.
+"Onward! Hurrah! Thrust, my braves, and on!"
+
+Attackers and defenders disappeared together in the heavy cloud of smoke
+from cannon and musket. For long the lurid obscurity of battle hung over
+the little hill; when the blue haze cleared away, the scene that
+presented itself to the survivors was one of rejoicing for the Republic,
+of rout and disaster for its enemies.
+
+The foremost cuirassiers, overwhelmed by the fire from the hollow
+square, had nearly all either fallen, with their horses, or been
+trampled down by the following ranks which succeeded in scaling the
+hill. Still the Grand Duke of Gerolstein and several of his men had been
+carried by the impetuosity of their charge into the interior of the
+square, in spite of the forest of bayonets with which it bristled; but
+they came to a stop when their coursers, exhausted by their last
+assault, and pierced by the republican bayonets, sank under them.
+Castillon had been sabered in the shoulder by the old Grand Duke;
+Duresnel was stunned and bruised but not wounded. Both at once, after
+their first disorder, beheld the Grand Duke within the square, pinned
+under his riddled horse. The great orange belt which he wore marked him
+as a military chieftain. Castillon and Duresnel precipitated themselves
+upon him and took him prisoner. John Lebrenn, for his part, had aimed
+accurately, and sent a ball into the chest of the color-bearer's mount.
+The giant, proof against musket balls, thanks to the thickness of his
+helmet, breastplate and heavy boots, leaped clear of his steed, and, his
+saber in one hand, his standard in the other, defended himself against
+John, who rushed at him with fixed bayonet. The colossus whirled his
+sword about him and wounded John in the knee; though wounded, the latter
+rushed on--and captured the colors.
+
+Simultaneously with this, at a few paces' distance, another episode was
+enacting. An under-officer of the Gerolstein Cuirassiers, seeing himself
+surrounded, fell furiously upon quartermaster Duchemin and his men.
+Duchemin, old wagoner that he was, entrenched himself behind one of
+Carmagnole's wheels, which thus served to shield nearly half his body
+from the saber and hoof-strokes which his adversary sought to rain upon
+him. Thus barricaded, and further defending himself with a gun-swab, he
+at last succeeded in landing so masterful a blow upon his antagonist's
+helmet that the latter tumbled from his saddle half senseless. Meanwhile
+Carmagnole's other servitors had reloaded her. At a signal the ranks
+opened, and once more the artillery belched forth its iron hail upon the
+last squadron of the Gerolstein regiment, a reserve squad which the
+Count of Plouernel led again to the charge. Suddenly the remaining
+cuirassiers, seized with panic, wheeled about and fled full tilt down
+the steep incline. Their hurried departure was not due alone to the
+lively and sustained fire of the republican battery. The squadron of the
+Third Hussars, drawn up in battle array behind the burning farm
+buildings, had so far taken no part in the fray. Its captain had been
+killed and its lieutenant disabled by an exploding shell. But Oliver,
+although the youngest of the under-officers, already possessed so great
+a reputation for bravery that the soldiers, by common accord, voted him
+the command of the regiment. "Ah, I was sure of it!" said the dashing
+young man, leaning over to Victoria, as they walked their horses
+together alongside the first platoon; "I felt that I should either be
+killed to-day or win my epaulets. I shall be named an officer on the
+field of battle."
+
+The French squadron, now put to a gallop, fell upon the rear ranks of
+the Gerolstein Cuirassiers just as their head was being thrown into
+disorder and repulsed by the joint fire of the battery and the volunteer
+infantrymen. Oliver charged the German horsemen furiously. The broil was
+desperate. The Count of Plouernel, who strove in vain to rally the
+fleers, suddenly found himself beset by a young hussar whose cap had
+fallen off in the tumult of battle.
+
+Apparently careless of self the young cavalier rushed straight at the
+traitor Count--slashed at his face--one eye he would never see out of
+again. Infuriated by the wound, the Count made a lunge and drove his
+saber into his adversary's breast. Then Neroweg urged his horse towards
+the left wing of the Austrian army, and escaped the pursuit of the
+republican hussars.
+
+The young horseman was Victoria.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+DEATH OF VICTORIA.
+
+
+Night was come. Across the December fogs glared the watch-fires of the
+republican army. The French troops rested on the field of battle,
+establishing headquarters in the ruins of the chateau of Geisberg, half
+demolished by cannon-balls. A large barn, one of the outbuildings of the
+estate, was turned over to the hospital corps. There the wounded were
+stretched upon litters of straw, receiving medical attendance by the
+light of torches. Everywhere were heard the moans drawn by the pain of
+an amputation, or the extraction of a ball. At one end of the barn, an
+enclosure of planks set off the threshing floor from the rest of the
+building. Mortally wounded by the Count of Plouernel, Victoria was at
+length carried from the field hospital into this retreat, her sex having
+been revealed while her wound was receiving its first dressing.
+
+A torch fastened into a post illuminated the scene. John Lebrenn, also
+wounded, knelt beside his sister, who lay out-stretched upon her pallet,
+half wrapped in a coverlet. His back to the wall, Oliver buried his face
+in his hands and with difficulty checked his sobs, while Castillon,
+whose manly face was streaming tears, stood a little apart, leaning
+against one of the door posts.
+
+Victoria's pallor, and her broken breathing, announced that her sands of
+life were run. Tightly clasped in both of his, her brother held her
+hand; he felt that hand grow ever colder and colder.
+
+"Adieu, Oliver," said Victoria feebly, as she turned toward the young
+fellow. "Love and serve the Republic as you would a mother. Bear in mind
+that you are a citizen before you are a soldier. Remember above all that
+those who see in war only a field opened to their ambition and their
+pride are the worst enemies of the people." Then, addressing her
+brother, Victoria continued: "Adieu, brother. Before the battle I had
+the presentiment that I would die as did our ancestress Anna Bell--whose
+sad life bears so many resemblances to mine." Then, struck by a sudden
+idea, Victoria continued on a new train of thought: "The Grand Duke of
+Gerolstein is taken prisoner, you told me, brother? St. Just should be
+told of the services rendered to our cause by Franz of Gerolstein, and
+the Grand Duke informed that he will be kept in durance until his son is
+set free. Franz's liberation will mean one soldier the more for the
+Revolution."
+
+"Your recommendations will be followed, sister dear," replied John
+between his sobs; "and oh, dear sister, I weep at our separation. You
+are going on a journey without return. I am young yet, and long years
+will pass, perhaps, before I will again be able to behold you."
+
+"Those years will pass for you, brother, as a day--sweetened by the
+tenderness of your wife, by the love of your children, by the fulfilment
+of your civic duties."
+
+Then, just as a lamp before its dying flicker casts still some bright
+beams, the young woman rose to a sitting position. Her great black eyes
+shone radiantly from within; her voice, erstwhile choked and gasping,
+became sonorous and full; her beautiful features glowed with enthusiasm;
+she exclaimed:
+
+"Ah, brother, I feel it--my spirit is shaking off my present body, in
+order to inhabit a new envelope beyond. The future unrolls before me--
+
+"Hail to that beautiful day predicted by Victoria the Great! Hail!
+Radiant is its dawn! I see shattered irons, crumbled Bastilles, thrones
+and altars in dust, and crowning the ruins of the old world a scaffold,
+the reckoning of Kings! Hail, holy scaffold, symbol of popular justice!
+O, Republic! Radiant is your birthday! Glorious your sun rises over
+Europe! Your star, full-orbed, O Republic, pours its torrents of light
+upon a regenerate world! It buds--It flowers--It bursts into bloom--It
+sheds in peace its treasures, its riches, its glories, its wonders, amid
+the joy of its children, free and equal, freed forever from the double
+yoke of Church and Misery--and united forever by the brotherly
+solidarity of the confederated peoples--"
+
+The witnesses of the scene, carried away by Victoria's words, deceived
+by the clearness of her glance and the superexcitation of which she was
+capable in a supreme burst of energy, forgot that the young woman was
+dying. Her eyes half-closed, her countenance ashy pale and bathed in an
+icy sweat, Victoria fell back in her brother's arms; after a moment's
+agony she passed out of this life to live again in those worlds whither
+we shall all go.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+ONRUSH OF THE REVOLUTION.
+
+
+The army was to move at break of day. Before dawn John Lebrenn and
+Castillon dug Victoria's grave on the heights of Geisberg. Thither she
+was carried on a funeral litter borne by Captain Martin, Castillon,
+Duchemin and Oliver. John Lebrenn, leaning because of his wounded knee
+upon the arm of the young volunteer Duresnel, followed his sister's bier
+in deep grief. It was snowing, and Victoria's last resting place soon
+disappeared beneath the white blanket that fell upon the heights as the
+army marched from its bivouac to advance upon Weissenburg, which might
+still be defended by the Austrian army. But the Austrians left their
+trenches during the night; they evacuated Weissenburg; the hordes of the
+monarchs fled before the legions of the Republic.
+
+Oliver was made under-lieutenant in the Third Hussars. Captain Martin
+was elected commander of the battalion of Paris Volunteers, succeeding
+the former commander, who was killed in the siege of Geisberg. The
+standard captured from the Gerolstein Cuirassiers was carried to General
+Hoche by John Lebrenn, who received from the hands of the young general,
+in honor and memory of the glorious defense, a sword taken from the
+enemy on that day.
+
+On the 10th Nivose, General Donadieu, denounced before the revolutionary
+tribunal, and convicted of treason, was condemned to death, a penalty
+which he paid on the scaffold.
+
+Hoche's victory, of the Lines of Weissenburg, decided the success of the
+whole campaign. On the 12th Nivose the Convention, upon motion of
+Barrere, rendered this decree:
+
+     The National Convention decrees:
+
+     The Armies of the Rhine and of the Moselle, and the citizens and
+     garrison of Landau, have deserved well of the fatherland.
+
+John Lebrenn, accordingly, being a soldier of the Army of the Rhine and
+Moselle, engraved these words on the blade of the sword presented to him
+by Hoche--JOHN LEBRENN HAS DESERVED WELL OF THE FATHERLAND.
+
+The war continued. As soon as his wound had closed, Lebrenn wished to
+rejoin the Army of the Rhine and the Moselle. But the cut, hardly
+healed, opened again, and grew worse under the fatigues of a new
+campaign. He was invalided to the hospital at Strasburg late in the
+month of Germinal of the year II (March, 1794).
+
+During her husband's absence Charlotte Lebrenn continued to live with
+her mother in the house on Anjou Street. Master Gervais consented to
+resume the direction of the smithy he had sold to Lebrenn, until the
+latter's return from the army. Charlotte, as previously, kept the books
+of the house. On this task she was engaged on the 23rd Prairial, year II
+(June 11, 1794). The young woman, now nearing her confinement, was still
+dressed in mourning for Victoria, her sister-in-law. Madam Desmarais
+was employed about some dressmaking.
+
+Having finished her accounts, Charlotte closed her books, took out a
+portfolio of white paper, and prepared to write.
+
+"I must seem very curious, my dear daughter," said Madam Desmarais, "but
+I am piqued about these sheets of paper which you fill with manuscript
+every night, and which will soon make a book."
+
+"It is a surprise I am preparing for John upon his return, good mother."
+
+"May he be able, for his sake and for ours, to enjoy the surprise soon!
+His last letter gave us at least the hope of seeing him any moment. He
+wrote in the same tenor to Monsieur Billaud-Varenne, who came to see us
+day before yesterday expecting to find your husband here."
+
+"John awaited only the permission of his surgeon to set out on his way,
+for the results of his wound made great precautions imperative. Ah,
+mother! How proud I am to be his wife! With what joy and honor I will
+embrace him!"
+
+"Alas, that pride costs dear. My fear is that our poor John will be
+crippled all his life. Ah, war, war," sighed Madam Desmarais, her eyes
+moistening with tears. "Poor Victoria--what a terrible end was hers!"
+
+"Valiant sister! She lived a martyr, and died a heroine. Never was I so
+moved as when reading the letter John wrote us from Weissenburg the day
+after Victoria expired in his arms prophecying the Universal Republic,
+the Federation of the Nations." Then smiling faintly and indicating to
+her mother the papers scattered over the table Charlotte added: "And
+that brings us back to the surprise I am getting ready for our dear
+John. Read the title of this page."
+
+Madam Desmarais took the sheet which her daughter held out to her, and
+read upon it, traced in large characters, "TO MY CHILD!"
+
+"So!" began Madam Desmarais, much moved, "these pages you have been at
+work on so many days--"
+
+"Are addressed, in thought, to my child. The babe will see the light
+during a terrible period. If it is a boy, I can not hold before him a
+better example than that of his own father; if it is a girl--" and
+Charlotte's voice changed slightly, "I shall offer her as a model that
+courageous woman whom chance gave me to know, to love, and to admire for
+a short while before her martyrdom."
+
+"Lucile!" cried Madam Desmarais, shuddering at the recollection. "The
+unfortunate wife of Camille Desmoulins! Poor Lucile! So beautiful, so
+modest, so good--and a young mother, too! Nothing could soften the
+monsters who sat upon the revolutionary tribunal; they sent that
+innocent young woman of twenty to the scaffold!"
+
+"Alas, the eve of her death, she sent to Madam Duplessis, her mother,
+this letter of two lines:
+
+     "Good mother; a tear escapes my eye; it is for you. I go to sleep
+     in the calmness of innocence.
+
+     "LUCILE.[16]
+
+"Touching farewell!" continued Charlotte. "I also, shall know how to
+die."
+
+"You frighten me!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais, trembling. "But no; you
+are a mother, and women in your condition escape the scaffold."
+
+"The child protects the mother. So I address this writing to my child,
+to whom, perchance, I may owe my life. Camille Desmoulins, Danton, those
+illustrious men, those lofty patriots, were all sacrificed yesterday. My
+husband has equalled them in civic virtue, he may be judged and
+guillotined to-morrow. Sad outlook!"
+
+"Ah, blood, always blood!" murmured Madam Desmarais, her heart sinking
+within her. "Good God, have pity on us."
+
+"Good mother, let me read you a few lines from the memoirs I have
+written for my child on the events of our times:
+
+"'You are born, dear child, in times without their like in the world.
+And when your reason is sufficiently grown, you will read these pages
+written by me under the eyes of a loving mother, while your father was
+gone to fight for the independence of our country, and for the safety of
+the Revolution and the Republic.
+
+"'Perhaps some day you will hear curses and calumnies leveled at this
+heroic epoch in which you were born. Perhaps for a day, but for a day
+only, you will see walk again the phantoms of the Church of Rome and of
+royalty.
+
+"'Christ, the proletarian of Nazareth said, _The chains of the slaves
+will be broken; all men shall be united in one fraternal equality; the
+poor, the widows and the orphans shall be succored_.
+
+"'And now the time has arrived.
+
+"'Those who called themselves the ministers of God continued, for
+eighteen centuries, to possess slaves, serfs and vassals. In one day
+the Revolution has realized the prophecy of Christ, misconstrued by the
+priests.'"
+
+"True, true, my daughter," assented Madam Desmarais, "the Republic did
+in one day what the Church had for centuries refused to do. It was the
+place of the Church at least to set the example in freeing the slaves,
+the serfs and the vassals who belonged to it before the Revolution. May
+it be accursed for its failure to do so."
+
+"You recognize, then, dear mother, that in these troublous times the
+good still outdistances the bad;" and Charlotte resumed her reading:
+
+"'Church and royalty purposely kept the people in profound ignorance, in
+order to render them more docile to exploitation. On the other hand,
+behold what the Republic decreed, on the 8th Nivose, year II (December
+28, 1793):
+
+     "'The National Convention decrees:
+
+     "'Instruction is unrestricted and shall be gratuitous and
+     compulsory. The Convention charges its Committee on Instruction to
+     draw up for it elementary text books for the education of the
+     citizens. The first of these books shall have in them the
+     Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Constitution, the Table of
+     Virtuous or Heroic Deeds, and the Principles of Eternal Morality.
+
+"'This it followed up by two other decrees, the first under date of the
+28th Nivose, year II (January 17, 1794):
+
+     "'The National Convention decrees:
+
+     "'A competition shall be opened for works treating of;
+
+     "'Instruction on preserving the health of children, from the moment
+     of conception till their birth, and on their physical and moral
+     training until their entrance into the national schools.
+
+     "'The National Convention decrees:
+
+     "'There shall be established in each district within the territory
+     of the Republic a national public library'!"
+
+"These are, as you say, my daughter, great and useful things."
+
+Charlotte continued reading:
+
+"'The National Convention, upon a report of the Committee of Public
+Safety, adopted also this resolution:
+
+     "'The National Convention decrees:
+
+     "'There shall be opened in each department a register entitled the
+     Book of National Benefits.
+
+     "'The first division therein shall be for old and infirm farmers;
+
+     "'The second, for old or infirm mechanics;
+
+     "'The third shall be set apart for mothers and widows as well as
+     unmarried mothers, who have children in the country districts.
+
+"'These decrees prove that the Republic, in its commiseration for the
+unfortunate, consecrates to them a sort of religious care; not only does
+it relieve the miseries of the people, but it honors their misfortune.
+It is not a degrading alms which it throws them, it is the debt of the
+country which it seeks to pay off to the aged who have used up their
+lives in toil upon the land or in trades. This debt the Republic also
+pays off to the poor widows who can not undertake the care of their
+young family. The aged, the child, and the woman, are the constant
+objects of the solicitude of the Republic.'"
+
+Just then Gertrude the serving maid ran quickly into the room. Her
+countenance was at once joyous and pained. Charlotte sprang from her
+seat, and cried,
+
+"My husband has come!"
+
+"Madam--that is to say--but pray, madam, in your condition do not
+agitate yourself too greatly--" replied Gertrude. "Monsieur John is,
+indeed, come, if you please--but--"
+
+Charlotte and her mother were both about to rush to meet their returning
+soldier when he appeared on the threshold, supported on Castillon's arm.
+The two men were dressed in the uniform of the volunteers of the
+Republic. John embraced his wife and her mother rapturously, and wiped
+from his eyes the happy tears which his wife's approaching motherhood
+caused him. Then seeing that Castillon stood aside, with tears in his
+eyes also, John said:
+
+"A hug for Castillon, too. In this campaign he has been to me not a
+comrade, but a brother."
+
+"I knew it by your letters," replied Charlotte, as she warmly embraced
+the foreman.
+
+"You will sup with us, Citizen Castillon--you would not leave us to
+celebrate my husband's return alone?"
+
+"You are very kind, Citizeness Lebrenn. I accept your offer
+gratefully--my day will then be complete," answered the foreman. "I
+shall just run out and say good-day to my comrades in the shop. But do
+not forget--friend John must be kept from walking, if he is not to
+remain a cripple." And Castillon stepped out of the room.
+
+"My child," said Madam Desmarais, "your husband must get off his uniform
+and lie down. Besides, his wound no doubt needs dressing. Let us attend
+to it."
+
+Several hours later John and his wife were sitting together, still
+drinking in the delicious raptures which follow long separations. Day
+was nearly done.
+
+"When I left you," John was saying, "you were the dearest and best of
+wives. I return to find you the noblest of mothers. Words fail me to
+express how moved I am by the sentiment which dictated to you that
+address to our child which you have just read me. I, too, am affrighted,
+not for the future but for the present, for the present generation. The
+most upright spirits seem now to be stricken with a sort of mad vertigo;
+and still the republican arms are everywhere victorious, everywhere the
+oppressed peoples stretch out their hands to us. The Terror has become a
+fatal necessity. The Convention, having restored the public credit and
+assured the livelihood of the people, continues daily to issue decrees
+as generous and lofty in sentiment and as practical in operation as
+those you have embodied in your pages to our child. The national wealth
+still opens to the country enormous financial resources. The people,
+calm and steady, has cast the slough, so to speak, of its effervescence
+and political inexperience. It now shows itself full of respect for the
+law, and for the Convention, in which it sees the incarnation of its own
+sovereignty. And yet, it is at this supreme moment that the best
+patriots are decimating, mowing one another down, with blind fury.
+Anacharsis Clootz, Herault of Sechelles, Camille Desmoulins, Danton, and
+many others, the best and most illustrious citizens, are sent to the
+scaffold."
+
+"Eh! no doubt; and if there is anything surprising, it is your own
+astonishment, my dear Lebrenn!" suddenly put in a voice.
+
+Charlotte and her husband turned quickly around, to see Billaud-Varenne
+standing in the open doorway. For some moments he had been a party to
+Lebrenn's confidences; an indiscretion almost involuntary on Billaud's
+part, for the young couple, absorbed in their conversation, had not
+noticed his entrance. Now stepping forward, he said to Charlotte:
+
+"Be so good as to excuse me, madam, for having listened. Your door was
+open, and that circumstance should mitigate my 'spying'." Then with a
+friendly gesture preventing John's rising from the reclining chair where
+he half sat, half lay, Billaud-Varenne added, as he affectionately
+pressed the hand of Charlotte's husband: "Do not move, my dear invalid.
+You have won the right to remain on your stretcher. Your worthy wife
+must have written to you what interest I took in all that concerned you
+since your departure for the army."
+
+"My wife has often given me intimation of your affectionate remembrance,
+my dear Billaud; and further, I know it is through your intervention
+that Citizen Hubert, my mother-in-law's brother, has been mercifully
+forgotten in the prison of Carmes, where he has long been held as a
+suspect. Thanks to you, his life is no longer in danger."
+
+"Enough, too much, on that subject," declared Billaud-Varenne, half
+smiling, half serious. "Do not awaken in me remorse for a slip. Citizen
+Hubert has ever been, and ever will be, one of the bitterest enemies of
+the Republic. For that reason, he should never have been spared. I
+should have ordered his head to fall."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+AD MAJOREM DEI GLORIAM!
+
+
+It was forty-five days after the visit of Billaud-Varenne to John
+Lebrenn; that is to say, it was the 8th Thermidor of the year II (July
+26, 1794). Alone in his parlor, towards eight o'clock in the evening,
+advocate Desmarais now paced up and down in agitation, now sank
+pensively into a chair, his face between his hands. The anguish and
+terror which for two years had dogged the hypocrite's steps had
+completely whitened his hair. His sallow, atrabilious features disclosed
+the tortures of his soul. Throwing himself into the arm-chair, worn out,
+he muttered to himself:
+
+"They insist upon coming! Such a session on my premises! I tremble to
+think of it--I may be sent to the guillotine to-morrow if Robespierre
+triumphs. Curses upon my wife and daughter who deserted me! Yet, a
+plague on my weakness, there is not a day goes by but I regret the
+unworthy creatures! How happy I was in my family. I loved my daughter, I
+love her still, as much as it is possible to love a creature on this
+earth. With what tenderness she would have surrounded my old age. I
+should have been consoled, comforted; for from my daughter I had no
+secrets, and her confidences gladdened my heart. My God, 'tis I that am
+unhappy!"
+
+After this outburst the lawyer remained for a long time silent and
+dejected. Then, rising of a sudden, he shouted: "That infamous Lebrenn!
+It is he who is the cause of my woes. He came to bring trouble under my
+roof."
+
+The advocate's soliloquy was cut short by the entrance of a lackey, who
+announced that several citizens desired audience with him.
+
+"Show them in," answered the lawyer; and as the servant vanished he
+added, mentally: "The devil take Fouché, who conceived the idea of
+choosing my house for the meeting place of his friends--a perilous honor
+I wish I had the power of declining."
+
+Soon there were introduced into the parlor the Convention members
+Tallien, Durand-Maillane, and Fouché; the reverend Father Morlet
+accompanied them. The three Representatives of the people belonged to
+the bloc formed against Robespierre. Durand-Maillane was a member of the
+Right, or royalist side of the Assembly. Tallien was from the Mountain;
+while Fouché, an ex-monk of the Oratory, was a Terrorist. A more ignoble
+physiognomy than Fouché's it would be impossible to imagine. It was a
+hang-dog face, hedged about with tow-hair, and seamed with vice,
+treachery, dishonesty, baseness, and cruelty unrestrained. A cynical
+smirk raised one corner of his thin mouth. He was the first to enter the
+advocate's parlor. Leading up the Jesuit Morlet, he said:
+
+"Allow me, citizen colleague, to introduce to you a former priest, the
+reverend Father Morlet. He is of the Society of Jesus, as I was of the
+Order of the Oratory. Cassock and frock go together."
+
+"But," replied the attorney, very uneasily, as he returned the Jesuit's
+salute, "the object of the conference which brings us together can not
+be discussed before witnesses."
+
+"The reverend is one of us," answered Fouché. "He comes from London, and
+will give us information of the greatest importance. His head answers
+for his discretion; he is a dissident priest. And so, let us get to
+work."
+
+Fouché, Durand-Maillane, Tallien, Abbot Morlet and advocate Desmarais
+thereupon seated themselves about a round table. Desmarais was made
+chairman, and the conference began.
+
+"I ask the floor," said Durand-Maillane, "to state the question, and to
+establish the conditions upon which as spokesman of the leaders of the
+Right, I am empowered to pledge here the assistance of my political
+friends, royalists, clericals, and conservatives."
+
+"You have the floor," said the chairman.
+
+Durand-Maillane continued:
+
+"Gentlemen, none of you is unaware that in presenting the law of the
+22nd Prairial to the Convention six weeks ago Robespierre hoped to
+obtain for the Committee of Public Safety, and under control of three of
+its members, the right to pass judgment upon the Representatives of the
+people without consulting the Assembly. Whence it follows that, by means
+of the signatures of St. Just and Couthon, Robespierre would be able at
+any time to send before the revolutionary tribunal, that is to say, to
+the scaffold, those members of the Convention whom he wished to be rid
+of. The law of Prairial threatened particularly the Terrorists; its
+effect would soon have extended to the other parties. It is necessary
+that we examine and discuss the most significant passages of
+Robespierre's speech to-day in the Convention, in order to decide what
+we are to do to temper its effect and conjure away the danger which
+overhangs us. Here are the particular points of the speech."
+
+Durand-Maillane drew a paper from his pocket and read:
+
+"'The counter-revolution has made its appearance in all parties. The
+conspirators have pushed us, in spite of ourselves, _to violent
+measures, which their crimes alone rendered necessary_. This system is
+the work of the foreigners, who proposed it through the venal medium of
+Chabot, Lhuilier, Hebert, and a number of other scoundrels. Every effort
+must be made _to restore the Republic to a natural and mild rule_; this
+work has not yet commenced. Slacken the reins of the Revolution for a
+moment, and you will see military despotism seize upon it, and overturn
+the maligned national representation; a century of civil wars and
+calamities will desolate our country, and we would die for not having
+seized the moment marked by history for the founding of liberty. Aye, we
+would deliver up our country to calamities without number, and the
+people's maledictions will fall upon our memory, which should remain
+dear to the human race....
+
+"'The conclusion is, What are we to do? Our duty! What objection can be
+raised to one's speaking the truth and consenting to die for it? Let it
+be said, then, that there is _a conspiracy against the public liberty,
+which owes its force to a criminal coalition that is intriguing in the
+very heart of the Convention_; that this coalition has accomplices in
+the Committee of General Surety and in the bureaus of this committee,
+which it dominates;--that the enemies of the Republic have set this
+committee up against the Committee of Public Safety, thus constituting a
+government within a government;--that _members of the Committee of
+Public Safety are in the plot_;--that the coalition thus formed is
+working for the destruction of patriots and of the fatherland. What is
+the remedy for this evil? _Punish the traitors_, reorganize the bureaus
+of the Committee of General Surety, purge the Committee itself, and
+subordinate it to the Committee of Public Safety; _purge the Committee
+of Public Safety itself_; establish unity of government under the
+supreme authority of the National Convention, which should be the center
+and the judge; _suppress all factions by the weight of national
+authority_, and rear upon their ruins the power of justice and liberty.
+Such are the principles the hour demands. If it is impossible to advance
+them without earning the epithet Ambitious, I shall conclude that
+principles are outlawed, that tyranny reigns among us,--but not that I
+should keep quiet; for how can one object to a man who is right, and who
+knows how to die for his country? I am made to fight crime, not to
+govern it. The time is not yet come when men of worth can serve the
+country fearlessly. The defenders of liberty are no better than exiles,
+so long as there exists the horde of rogues and rascals.'
+
+"So, gentlemen, to sum up this harangue of Robespierre's, we find out
+that 'it is necessary to bring back the Republic to a milder rule, to
+check the bloodshed, to purge the Convention and the Committees, to wipe
+out factions by the weight of national authority, and to combat crime,
+because the defenders of liberty are but exiles as long as the horde of
+rogues and rascals exists.' There remains no one, it seems, outside of
+Robespierre and the Jacobins, capable of defending, preserving and
+strengthening the Republic. Therefore we, royalists and clericals, have
+decided to form a coalition with the Terrorists and the Mountain for the
+purpose of sending Robespierre to the scaffold, and, along with him, the
+most active spirits of the Jacobin party."
+
+"I declare my approval of all the previous speaker has said," observed
+Morlet the Jesuit. "Robespierre is the enemy not only of us Catholics
+and royalists, but also of the Terrorists and Mountainists here present,
+and of several of their friends, who insist upon living in splendor,
+peace and happiness at the popular expense."
+
+"Robespierre to-morrow will attempt to hold a 'day,' with the support of
+Commandant Henriot and the Commune. His designs must be frustrated,"
+added Tallien.
+
+"The surest way of reaching our end," Fouché advised, "is to drown St.
+Just's voice when he mounts the tribunal to complete the speech of
+Robespierre. He will want to speak in defense of his partner. Our cries
+will redouble: 'Down with the tyrant!' 'Down with the dictator!' 'Death
+to St. Just and Robespierre!'"
+
+"It is decided, then," asked Durand-Maillane, "that from the beginning
+of the session we are to interrupt St. Just and Robespierre, and demand
+of the Assembly their immediate arrest? Who will start the ball?"
+
+"I will," volunteered Tallien.
+
+"Collot D'Herbois, Robespierre's implacable enemy, is in the chair
+to-morrow. The affair will go roundly," Desmarais plucked up heart
+enough to say.
+
+"It is probable," continued the Jesuit, "that the Convention will not
+confine itself to packing to the guillotine Robespierre, St. Just,
+Couthon, Lebas, and the other leaders of this truculent party of virtue.
+It may add to the batch several of the most rabid Jacobins from outside
+of the Convention."
+
+"We shall rid ourselves at once of the big guns of the club, and the
+Jacobins in the Commune, Fleuriot-Lescot the Mayor, Coffinhal, and their
+consorts," chuckled Tallien.
+
+"I greatly desire," the Jesuit put in, "for motives of my own, to see
+included in that batch a certain John Lebrenn, who has been made member
+of the General Council of the Commune since his return from the army."
+
+At the mention of the name Fouché turned to Desmarais and said, with a
+leer, "Hey, colleague, the reverend Father demands your son-in-law!"
+
+To which Desmarais grandiosely replied: "Brutus gave his own son--and
+this Lebrenn is not even of my family. I grant you the Jacobin's head."
+
+"To-morrow, messieurs, let us be present at the Assembly before the
+opening of the session, in order to prepare our colleagues of the Right
+and the Center for what we expect of them," suggested Durand-Maillane.
+
+"Fouché and I," acquiesced Tallien, "will take care of the Mountain and
+the Terrorists."
+
+So it was arranged. The cabal then broke up, while Jesuit Morlet said to
+himself:
+
+"The Republic is lost. The sacrifice of the Jacobins delivers it up to
+us, bound hand and foot--_ad majorem Dei gloriam!_ to the greater glory
+of God! May France perish, and our holy Order triumph!"
+
+During this mental invocation of the Jesuit's, Desmarais showed his four
+guests to the door and returned to his parlor alone. For some time he
+brooded somber and silent in his arm chair. At last he muttered
+defiantly:
+
+"Was it I who demanded the guillotining of my son-in-law? After all, it
+will be but justice; I will have returned him evil for evil. Is he not,
+truly speaking, the prime cause of my torments? After his death my
+daughter and wife will return to me. Everything will be for the best!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+ARREST OF ROBESPIERRE.
+
+
+Early the next morning the chiefs of the anti-Robespierre factions were
+in the Riding Hall of the Tuileries, where the sessions of the
+Convention were held. At about eight o'clock Tallien came in. As he
+walked to his seat on the crest of the Mountain, he passed along in
+front of the benches of the Right, greeting Durand-Maillane and his
+friends with an "Oh! what brave men are these of the Right!" Collot
+D'Herbois, that ex-comedian, thief and criminal, occupied the
+president's chair. St. Just, coming into the hall, went up to
+Robespierre, who appeared to give him some instructions. Couthon was
+carried to his seat between Robespierre the younger and Lebas by two
+ushers; he was paralyzed in both legs. These three citizens were counted
+among the purest, the most generous and energetic of the time. Long
+before the opening of the session the galleries were filled with people
+picked and stationed there by the enemies of Robespierre. The latter
+took his seat, an air of firm assurance dominating the preoccupation
+legible on his austere features. He knew not of the plot laid against
+him, and depended upon St. Just's speech to settle in his favor the
+question of accusation unhappily left undecided the night before. The
+chiefs of the allied factions exchanged signals of intelligence.
+Billaud-Varenne was speaking with one of the vice-presidents of the
+Convention, Thuriot, an irreproachable Terrorist. The whole aspect of
+the Assembly was foreboding. Suddenly the tinkling of Collot D'Herbois's
+bell sounded above the tumult of conversation, and the session was on.
+
+Why follow the debate into all its bitterness and spite; why tell how
+again and again the plotters against the Republic raised their cries of
+"Down with the tyrant! Death to St. Just and Robespierre!"? Suffice it
+to say that the day ended in decrees of accusation against the
+Robespierres, elder and younger, St. Just, Lebas, and Couthon. An
+officer of the gendarmery was commissioned by the president to lead the
+accused to prison.
+
+At five o'clock that afternoon, the 9th Thermidor, Madam Desmarais and
+her daughter, seated side by side in their parlor, pricked their ears at
+hearing the sound of the drum, mingled from time to time with the
+hurried and distant clanging of the tocsin.
+
+"My God!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais, grief-stricken, "Again a
+'day'--again a bloody struggle!"
+
+"Reassure yourself, good mother; the wicked shall not triumph,"
+Charlotte replied. "Robespierre is put under ban of arrest, but the
+Jacobins and the Sections will go to his rescue. The Commune has
+declared the country in danger, the tocsin calls the people to arms."
+
+"Alas, I fear for your husband. He is at the City Hall as a member of
+the General Council. The Commune is in insurrection against the
+Convention; if the Commune loses, John will have become an outlaw."
+
+"My husband will do his duty; the future belongs to God."
+
+Suddenly Castillon entered the parlor, crying: "Good news! The Sections
+are taking arms and assembling to march to the Commune, with their
+cannon; the Jacobins have declared themselves in permanent session.
+Robespierre has been taken to the Luxembourg Prison; his brother to St.
+Lazare; St. Just to the Scotch Prison; Couthon to La Bourbe; and Lebas
+to the Chatelet. As I left the City Hall they were discussing the means
+of rescuing them."
+
+"You see, mother, the Sections are in the majority, with the Commune."
+
+"Ah, madam, madam!" cried Gertrude, running in in a fright. "Don't be
+too alarmed--Oh, heavens, there he is!"
+
+Hardly had Gertrude uttered these words when advocate Desmarais, pale,
+half frightened to death, tumbled into the room, crying: "Save me! In
+heaven's name!"
+
+And running to his wife and daughter, whom he pressed in his arms, he
+continued wailing, "Hide me! They are after me!"
+
+"Fright has unbalanced you, father," said Charlotte. "No one is pursuing
+you."
+
+Madam Desmarais had hurriedly found a bottle of smelling salts, which
+she held to the nose of her half-fainting spouse. He recovered his
+senses, and began again, in a quaking voice: "Thank you. You are
+generous. Now, I beseech you both, conceal me somewhere. Charlotte's
+husband may come back and be accompanied by some member of the General
+Council. I shall be recognized--arrested--guillotined. Pity me!"
+
+"But, father, your fears are all exaggerated. My husband will not allow
+you to be arrested in his house."
+
+At that moment Gertrude, opening a crack of the door, called
+mysteriously to her mistress:
+
+"Madam, come at once!"
+
+"What is it, Gertrude?" Charlotte asked. "Who is there?"
+
+"A man of the mounted police demands to speak with you."
+
+Hearing the nature of the visitor, Monsieur Desmarais flew into a new
+fit of fear. His mind gave way. He ran to a window and sought to hide by
+wrapping himself up in the curtains. Charlotte left the room, closing
+the door behind her. In a second she was back, joyfully waving a paper
+she held in her hand. "It is good news, mother. Where's father?"
+
+Madam Desmarais indicated with a gesture the window, the curtains of
+which revealed the figure of the attorney, and left his feet exposed at
+the bottom. Then she added, in a low voice: "If we do not hide your
+father somehow, he will die of agony and fright."
+
+"His fright is baseless, but I think you are right about it," responded
+Charlotte in the same tone. "We can take him up to the garret, to the
+locked room; there he will no doubt feel that he is safe, and his fears
+will calm down." And she went to the window where her father, white as a
+sheet and bathed in a cold sweat, was clinging for support to the window
+casing.
+
+"That gendarme!" stammered the lawyer. "What did he want?"
+
+"He just brought me a letter from John. I shall read it to you and
+mother, after which you will be taken, as you wish, to a retreat, in the
+top of the house, where you need not fear being seen by a soul. Here is
+what John wrote me:
+
+     "Dearly beloved wife:--All goes well here so far. The General
+     Council of the Commune is almost complete. We are advising on
+     energetic and prompt measures--prompt above all; the Convention, on
+     its side, is not idle. We are in session. The majority of the
+     Sections are with us. We shall receive word in an instant that the
+     suburbs of St. Antoine and Marceau are ready to march; we await
+     their delegates. The City Hall Place is covered with an armed
+     force, furnished with several pieces of artillery, and all crying
+     'Long live the Republic! Down with the brigands of the Convention!'
+     Robespierre and his friends are still in prison; we shall deliver
+     them. Be of good cheer, and remember that you live not alone for
+
+     "Your
+
+     "J. L.
+
+     "Tell Castillon to join me as soon as possible. He is a sure man,
+     and I shall need him."
+
+"If the suburbs march with the Commune, the Convention is lost!"
+murmured the lawyer. "Conduct me to the hiding place you spoke of. You
+shall lock me in, you will keep the key about you, you will not give the
+key to anyone, not even to your husband--you promise me?"
+
+"I swear it;" and forcing a smile, the young woman added: "I alone shall
+be your jailer. Come, come."
+
+As she went out, Charlotte said to her mother, "Please ask Gertrude to
+have Castillon wait for me in the parlor." The advocate staggered out on
+the arm of his daughter. Looking after him, Madam Desmarais sighed to
+herself, "Unhappy man! I pity him." Sinister reflections followed close:
+"The triumph of Robespierre will mean the death of Billaud-Varenne, our
+friend, our protector, he who has prevented, to this very day, my
+brother Hubert from being called before the revolutionary tribunal. But
+when he is there no longer, who will take his place in protecting my
+brother's life? Alas, this day, whatever its issue, will hold a sad
+outcome for our family. How can one prepare for such a crisis?"
+
+Charlotte at that moment returned, bearing the walnut casket in which
+reposed the legends and relics of the Lebrenn family. Madam Desmarais,
+running to her daughter quickly, said, in a tone of reproach, as she
+helped her set the casket down on a table, "Could you not have called
+Gertrude, instead of yourself carrying such a burden?"
+
+"Have you asked Castillon to come here, good mother? I wish to set him
+to a task."
+
+"I forgot your request, my girl. I shall at once repair the
+forgetfulness, and go seek your foreman. But before all, tell me, why
+you have brought this box in here?"
+
+"I wish to place it in a safe and secret place, with Castillon's aid,
+dear mother. You know what store John and I set by the papers and
+objects contained in it. In these times of revolution, one must think of
+everything. John will be grateful to me for the precaution." So saying,
+she rang the bell.
+
+Castillon entered. The foreman seemed preoccupied. He had slung on his
+cartridge box, his sword, and his volunteer's rifle.
+
+"Put this chest on your shoulder and follow me, brave Castillon," said
+Charlotte. "I shall soon be back, dear mother. Hope and courage, all
+will go well! The Commune will triumph over the Convention."
+
+"Oh, my presentiments, my presentiments did not deceive me," moaned
+Madam Desmarais after her daughter's and Castillon's departure. "This
+day will be fatal to us!"
+
+Ten o'clock at night of that same day found the General Council of the
+Insurrectionary Commune of Paris still in session in that chamber of the
+City Hall called the Equality Chamber. The open windows gave on the
+square choked with citizens. Their bayonets and pike-heads glittered in
+the light of numerous torches; several cannon had been dragged up by the
+Sections, and from time to time one might hear cries of "Long live the
+Republic!" "Long live the Commune!" Within, torches lighted the vast
+expanse of the Equality Chamber, and the table about which sat, under
+the presidency of Fleuriot-Lescot the Mayor of Paris, the members of the
+Council of the Commune.
+
+"Here is the proclamation," said the Mayor, preparing to read, "which is
+about to be placarded on the streets of Paris:
+
+     "Citizens, the country is more than ever in danger. Scoundrels
+     dictate laws to the Convention, which they overmaster. They pursue
+     Robespierre, who declares for the consoling principles of the
+     existence of the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul; St.
+     Just and Lebas, those two apostles of virtue; Couthon, who has but
+     his heart and head alive, though they are glowing with the ardor of
+     patriotism; Robespierre the younger, who presided over the
+     victories of the army in Italy.
+
+     People, arise! Lose not the fruit of the 10th of August and the
+     31st of May. Let us hurl all the traitors into their tomb!
+
+     Signed, FLEURIOT-LESCOT,
+
+     Mayor,
+
+     BLIN,
+
+     Secretary."
+
+As the Mayor's proclamation was declared adopted by the session, John
+Lebrenn, who had approached one of the windows, remarked that not only
+had the number of armed Section representatives in the square
+diminished, but that the place was almost deserted. Soon the whole City
+Hall Place, with the exception of a group here and there, lay silent and
+empty. John had barely returned to his seat at the table when the doors
+were flung open with a crash by the press of people who sought to enter.
+They carried in Robespierre the elder, Robespierre the younger, Lebas,
+St. Just and Couthon, borne aloft in chairs. At the sight of the
+liberated Representatives of the people, surrounded by their Jacobin
+friends, the members of the Council rose spontaneously with cries of
+"Long live the Republic!" Gradually the tumult died down, and the Mayor
+of Paris began to speak:
+
+"Citizens--from this moment the functions of the General Council of the
+Commune should undergo a change. I move that it be transformed into a
+committee of action, and that the presidency of it be conferred upon
+Maximilien Robespierre. The _Revolution_ now commences!"
+
+Robespierre responded in the following words:
+
+"Citizens, I long resisted the entreaties of the patriots who sought to
+deliver me from prison. I wished to respect the law, for the very reason
+that our enemies make of it a football. I wished, in Marat's steps, to
+appear before the revolutionary tribunal. Had they pronounced me
+innocent, the villains of the Convention would have been confounded, and
+honest folks would triumph; on the contrary, had they pronounced my
+death sentence, I would have drunk the hemlock calmly. But I yield to
+events. I accept the presidency. The era of the Revolution has begun."
+
+On the instant there rushed into the hall General Henriot, pale,
+excited, his clothing in disorder. "All is lost!" he cried.
+
+Leonard Bourdon and Barras, delegates of the Convention, and escorted by
+half a hundred gendarmes with pistols and muskets, burst in at Henriot's
+heels. The soldiers covered with their guns the members of the Council
+of the Commune and the five Representatives of the people, all of whom
+remained standing; calm; impassible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+THE NINTH THERMIDOR.
+
+
+In the early morning of the 10th Thermidor, Charlotte Lebrenn and Madam
+Desmarais, pale from a night of sleeplessness, silent, worried, listened
+anxiously at their garden windows, which had been left open through the
+beautiful, balmy July night. From their nests in the trees the birds
+greeted with their chirping the first glow of the sun, which lighted up
+the eastern azure. Nature was smiling, with repose and calm in every
+lineament.
+
+"Not a sound, absolutely nothing!" said Madam Desmarais, the first to
+break the silence. "It is more than an hour since the tocsin ceased
+clanging."
+
+"If that is so, mother, have courage! If the tocsin has ceased, the
+Commune is worsted. The Convention triumphs," replied the younger woman
+in a tense voice. Then, unable to withstand the emotion which seized
+her, Charlotte burst into tears, raised her hands heavenward, and cried,
+"Just God, spare my husband!"
+
+At this moment Gertrude entered and said to her mistress: "Madam, there
+is a citizen in the ante-chamber who says he is sent by your husband to
+bring you news of him."
+
+"Let him enter," answered Charlotte gladly. "I wonder what the news will
+be," she added, to her mother.
+
+No sooner had she spoken than Jesuit Morlet appeared in the room. His
+hypocritical countenance at once caused Charlotte a revulsion of
+feeling; but immediately reproaching herself for what was perhaps an
+involuntary injustice to the man, she came a few steps toward the
+Jesuit, saying: "Citizen, you come from my husband?"
+
+"Aye, citizeness; to reassure you, and inform you that he is in a safe
+place."
+
+"You hear, my poor child," cried Madam Desmarais, weeping with joy as
+she embraced her daughter. "He is out of danger."
+
+"Can you, citizen, conduct me at once to where my husband is?"
+
+"Such a trip would be very imprudent, citizeness. My friend John Lebrenn
+has sent me to you, first to reassure you as to his situation; next, to
+post you on the course of events. The City Hall is in the power of the
+troops of the Convention, commanded by Leonard Bourdon and Barras. Lebas
+is a suicide. Robespierre the younger has flung himself from a window
+and broken both legs. Robespierre the elder has his jaw broken by a
+pistol fired at him by a gendarme;[17] St. Just and Couthon are
+arrested, they will be executed in the course of the day, without any
+form of trial, having been outlawed by the Convention; the same decree
+has been passed upon the members of the General Council of the Commune,
+who will also, accordingly--all except my friend John, who escaped in
+the melee, and is now in safe hiding with me--be guillotined without
+trial. In short, to tell you all in two words, the Republic is lost. The
+brigands triumph!"
+
+For a moment Charlotte's tears flowed in silence. Reassured as to her
+husband, she wept for the first five victims of the 9th Thermidor, those
+illustrious and virtuous citizens.
+
+"My eternal thanks are yours," she at length replied; and added: "Take
+me to my husband, I implore you. I long to see him."
+
+"To do as you request, citizeness, would be to commit a great
+imprudence. Perhaps its only result would be to put the police on his
+track. As to the gratitude you believe you owe me, let us speak no more
+of it. Between patriots there should be mutual aid and protection; in
+concealing John from the searches of our enemies I did my duty, nothing
+more. But time is fleeting, and I must get to the end of the errand your
+husband sent me on: It is that you give me a certain casket, containing,
+he told me, some precious legends which it is of importance to carry
+away from here, lest they fall into the hands of our enemies; the latter
+will not delay descending with a search party upon your house."
+
+"My husband has already given me his advice on that subject," answered
+Charlotte. "Foreseeing that in the struggle against the Convention the
+Commune might be worsted, my husband arrested, and the house searched, I
+already have had the casket carried to the home of one of our friends."
+A slight spasm of anger contracted the brows of the Jesuit; the young
+woman caught the expression, and the thought flashed over her mind:
+"Careful! This man may be a false friend!"
+
+"Madam," said Gertrude, coming in leading a young boy by the hand, "here
+is a poor child who asked to speak to this gentleman; I brought him up
+to you."
+
+The Jesuit's god-son--who else but he?--respectfully greeted Charlotte,
+at the same moment that the latter whispered to her mother: "My anxiety
+for John is still lively, despite this man's reassurances. Something
+tells me he is deceiving us."
+
+"Gentle god-father," Rodin was whispering to the Jesuit, "I just saw
+John Lebrenn hurry down a street at the end of Anjou Street, and turn in
+this direction."
+
+"The devil!" thought the Jesuit to himself, "our man will land at home
+sooner than I counted on. I shall have to double my audacity; nothing is
+lost as yet." And then, sotto voice to his pupil, "Are the police agents
+placed, and in sufficient number?"
+
+"They are watching all around the building--I counted twenty. John
+Lebrenn will be caught like a mouse in a trap, _Ad majorem Dei
+gloriam!_"
+
+"While the house is being searched from cellar to garret, follow you the
+agents, and try to put your hand on that casket you know of."
+
+"Mother," whispered Charlotte, on her part, "they are plotting some
+treachery." Then, suddenly dashing toward the door, which just then
+opened, she cried,
+
+"Husband!"
+
+Charlotte's husband, into whose arms his wife joyfully threw herself,
+was pale, his clothing in disorder; his face was bathed in sweat, and he
+panted for breath. In a gasping voice he said to his wife, as he
+returned her embrace, "Charlotte, I could not resist the craving to see
+you an instant, and to reassure you and mother of my fate, before I
+flee. The Commune is defeated, I am outlawed; but I hope to escape our
+enemies. Have courage--" Then his eyes falling upon the Jesuit and
+little Rodin, he recognized in them the two spies he had arrested before
+Weissenburg; he recalled that Victoria had designated Morlet to him as
+an enemy of the Lebrenn family; hence, struck with astonishment, he said
+to his wife as he stared at the reverend, "What does this fellow here?
+How did he get entrance to my house?"
+
+"He professed to be sent by you, my friend. He demanded in your name the
+chest with the family legends."
+
+"Ah, my reverend! The Society of Jesus never lets the scent of those it
+seeks to run down grow cold!" cried John. "Wretched, infamous
+spy--hence!"
+
+"Not before you," replied the reverend with a bow and a smirk,
+indicating to John the commissioner of the Section, newly appointed by
+the Convention, who appeared in the door, accompanied by several of his
+agents.
+
+"Search, the house from top to bottom," ordered the magistrate; and to
+Lebrenn: "Citizen, here is a warrant of arrest issued against you. I am
+further ordered to seal your papers and carry them to the office of the
+revolutionary tribunal."
+
+Lebrenn read the warrant and replied to the magistrate, "I am ready to
+follow you, citizen."
+
+"I must first place the seals, in your presence, upon all your
+furniture, and especially on your papers."
+
+The agents of the police, in their search of the house, soon arrived at
+the retreat which sheltered advocate Desmarais. They incontinently broke
+open the door. The advocate was soon informed by the agents of the turn
+events had taken, and at once planned the new role he was to play in the
+business. Stepping briskly down the stairs, he strode into the parlor,
+and went straight to the commissioner:
+
+"Citizen, in the name of the law, I denounce a plot of which I am
+victim. Since yesterday I have been sequestered in this house."
+
+While the advocate was speaking to the officer, Charlotte had given her
+surprised husband in a few words the history of the pretended
+sequestration, and added, "Now, my friend, for your own dignity, and out
+of regard for my mother and myself, maintain the silence of contempt.
+The wretched man is still my father."
+
+"Dear wife, now, and in your presence, I shall keep silence. But
+later--I shall speak," answered Lebrenn, yielding to Charlotte's plea;
+then, recollecting, he suddenly asked, softly, "And the casket?"
+
+"It is safe. Yesterday I thought of burying it, with Castillon's aid, in
+the cellar; but he suggested taking it to the house of one of his
+friends, a workman like himself, in the St. Antoine suburb. This latter
+course I adopted."
+
+"You did wisely. This Jesuit's presence here proves to me that the
+Society of Jesus, which has so many a time and oft already sought the
+destruction of our family legends, will leave no stone unturned to
+ferret them out."
+
+John's words were interrupted by an exclamation from Madam Desmarais.
+"Brother!" she cried as she ran toward the financier, who had just
+entered the room precipitately, "Hubert! You here! You are free!"
+
+"Yes, free," replied Hubert, embracing his sister effusively. "And my
+first visit is to you. The prisons are opened, and all the royalist
+suspects are giving place to the brigands and terrorists."[18]
+
+"Ah, brother, you forget that we are under the roof of my son-in-law
+John Lebrenn, who has been accused, and has just fallen under arrest."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Hubert, not having noticed Lebrenn as he came in, "is
+that true?" Then, addressing the young man, to whom he extended his
+hand, "I was unaware of the misfortune which has fallen upon you,
+Monsieur Lebrenn; I know what interest you have always borne me, and if
+I can to-day in my turn prove useful to you, I am entirely at your
+service."
+
+The commissioner received the report of his agents. They had unearthed
+not a paper in the entire house, nor in the furniture, nor in the
+workshop. They had sounded the cellar floor, examined the earth in the
+garden, nothing gave suspicion of a secret hiding place. Little Rodin
+also confirmed this information to the Jesuit.
+
+"Citizen," said the magistrate to John, "a coach is at the door. Are you
+ready to follow me?"
+
+"_We_ are ready," said Charlotte, hastily throwing a cloak over her
+shoulders. "Come, my friend, let us go. I shall accompany my husband to
+the prison door."
+
+"Adieu, good and dear mother," said John to Madam Desmarais, embracing
+her. "Be of good heart, we shall see each other soon again, I hope.
+Adieu, Citizen Hubert. Revolutions have strange outcomes! You, the
+royalist, are free--I, the republican, go to prison!"
+
+"Whatever your opinions, I have always found you a man of courage,"
+quoth the financier, in a voice of emotion. "If any consolation can
+temper the bitterness of your temporary separation, let it be the
+certainty that my sister and my niece, your wife, will find in me a most
+tender and devoted friend. I shall watch over them both."
+
+John Lebrenn and Charlotte left with the commissioner. Monsieur Hubert
+and Madam Desmarais accompanied them as far as the waiting carriage, and
+strained them in a last adieu.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+DEATH OF ROBESPIERRE.
+
+
+Eight months after the events of Thermidor just described, I, John
+Lebrenn, write this chapter of the story of the Sword of Honor, on the
+26th Germinal, year III of the Republic (April 15, 1795).
+
+Escaped from my prison, I lay for several weeks in hiding in a retreat
+offered me by the friendship of Billaud-Varenne; to him I also owed a
+passport made out in another name, thanks to which I was enabled to
+leave Paris, gain Havre, and there take a coasting vessel for Vannes. I
+chose Vannes as a haven not alone because I was unknown in that retired
+community, but because it was close by the cradle of our family, towards
+which, after such excitement and such cruel political deception, I felt
+myself strongly attracted. At the end of about a month's sojourn in
+Vannes, certain then that I could continue to dwell there without
+danger, I wrote to my wife to rejoin me in Brittany, with her mother and
+our son, whom she had named Marik, and who was born the 7th Vendemiaire,
+year III. Thus I had the joy of being soon reunited with my family. My
+wife brought with her the inestimable treasure of our domestic legends,
+happily preserved from the clutches of Jesuit Morlet. My wound, received
+at the battle of the Lines of Weissenburg, having reopened, I was for
+some time almost helpless, and was forced to give up my trade of
+ironsmith. Madam Desmarais was able to lay out for us some moneys, and
+Charlotte proposed that they be expended in setting up a linen-drapery
+and cloth store in Vannes.
+
+This business afforded my wife and mother-in-law an occupation in line
+with their tastes and aptitudes. For my part I was able, although still
+very lame, to drive about in a carriage to the various markets and out
+into the country, to dispose of our cloth. Everything gave me to hope
+that my obscure name was forgotten in the hurly-burly of the
+Thermidorean reaction.
+
+A short time after the arrival here of my cherished wife, we made a
+pilgrimage to the sacred stones of Karnak; we found them as they had
+lain for so many centuries. You will undertake that same pilgrimage for
+yourself when you have attained the age of reason, my son Marik, you to
+whom I bequeath this legend of the Sword of Honor, which I add to the
+relics of my family.
+
+I conclude my recital of the events of the bourgeois revolution of 1789
+with a few words on the last moments of the martyrs of the 9th
+Thermidor, the words of a hostile eye witness. What could be more
+touching than his account:
+
+     "Robespierre the elder was carried to the City Hall, to the
+     Committee of Public Safety, on the 10th Thermidor, between the
+     hours of one and two in the morning. He was carried in on a board,
+     by several artillerymen and armed citizens. He was placed on a
+     table in the audience hall which lay in front of the executive
+     room of the committee. A pine box, which held some samples of bread
+     sent from the Army of the North, was placed under his head and
+     served in some sort as a pillow. He lay for the space of nearly an
+     hour so immobile that one might think he had ceased to live. Then
+     he began to open his eyes. Blood flowed freely from the wound in
+     his lower left jaw. The jawbone was shattered by a pistol shot. His
+     shirt was bloody; he was hatless and cravatless. He wore a sky-blue
+     coat, and trousers of nankeen; his white stockings were rolled down
+     to his shoes. Between three and four in the morning they noticed
+     that he held in his hand a little bag of white skin, inscribed 'At
+     the Grand Monarch; Lecourt, outfitter to the King and his troops,
+     St. Honoré Street, near Poulies Street, Paris.' This sack he used
+     to dispose of the clotted blood which came from his mouth. The
+     citizens surrounded him, observing all his movements. Some of them
+     even gave him a piece of white linen paper, which he put to the
+     same use, keeping himself ever propped up on his left elbow, and
+     using only his right hand. Two or three different times he was
+     scolded at by citizens, but especially by a cannonier of the same
+     district as himself, who reproached him, with military vigor, for
+     his perfidy and scoundrelism. Towards six in the morning a surgeon
+     who happened to be in the courtyard of the National Palace was
+     called in to tend him. For precaution he placed a key in
+     Robespierre's mouth, and found that his jaw was fractured. He drew
+     two or three teeth, bandaged the wound, and had a hand-basin with
+     water placed beside him. Robespierre made use of this, and also of
+     pieces of paper folded several times, to clean out his mouth,
+     still employing only his right hand. At the moment when it was
+     least expected, he sat up, raised his stockings, slid quickly from
+     the table, and ran to seat himself in an arm-chair. As soon as
+     seated he asked for water and some clean linen. During all the time
+     he had lain on the table, after he regained consciousness, he
+     fixedly regarded all who surrounded him, especially those employes
+     of the Committee of Public Safety whom he recognized. He often
+     raised his eyes toward the platform; but apart from some almost
+     convulsive movements, the bystanders constantly remarked in him a
+     great impassibility, even during the dressing of his wound, which
+     must have caused him the severest pain. His complexion, habitually
+     bilious, assumed the pallor of death.
+
+     "At nine o'clock in the morning Couthon, and Gombeau, a conspirator
+     of the Commune, were brought in on stretchers as far as the big
+     staircase of the Committee, where they were deposited. The citizens
+     detailed to watch them stood about, while a commissioner and an
+     officer of the National Guard went to report to Billaud-Varenne,
+     Barrere and Collot D'Herbois, then sitting in committee. They took
+     an order to these three calling for Robespierre, Couthon and
+     Gombeau to be removed at once to the Conciergerie Prison, a decree
+     which was immediately carried out by the good citizens to whom had
+     been confided the guard over the three prisoners.
+
+     "St. Just and Dumas were taken before the Committee in the audience
+     hall, and at once taken on to the Conciergerie by those who had
+     brought them in. St. Just gazed at the large engrossing of the
+     Declaration of the Rights of Man, and said, as he pointed towards
+     it, 'Yet it was I who got that passed!'
+
+     "Such was the downfall of Robespierre. His agony was more cruel
+     than his death. His erstwhile colleagues on the committees insulted
+     him, struck at him, spat in his face; the clerks of the bureau
+     pricked him with their penknives."
+
+So died Robespierre by the guillotine. Let us glorify, sons of Joel, the
+memory of this great citizen, the Incorruptible revolutionist. And as
+sacred for us let the memory be of the other illustrious martyr-victims
+of Thermidor, like St. Just, Lebas, Couthon, Robespierre the younger; or
+martyrs obscure, like that throng of patriots whose blood flowed from
+the scaffold in torrents during the Four Days. The reaction of Thermidor
+smote with the guillotine without judgment; it assassinated the greater
+part of the last defenders of the Republic.
+
+
+
+
+PART III.
+
+NAPOLEON
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE WHITE TERROR.
+
+
+To-day, the 22nd of September, 1830, the thirty-eighth anniversary of
+the foundation of the French Republic in 1792, I, John Lebrenn, arrived
+at the sixtieth year of my life, add these pages to the legend of the
+Sword of Honor.
+
+I have been for long back in Paris, established with my family in St.
+Denis Street. During my stay in Brittany, beginning after the days of
+Thermidor, 1794, I kept track of the more important historical events by
+means of the journals of the period. Later, on my return to Paris, I
+re-entered political life and took part in the events of the Eighteenth
+Brumaire, the Hundred Days, and the Revolution of 1830. In the following
+pages I shall endeavor to reproduce briefly the principal deeds of these
+three epochs--1800, 1815, and 1830.
+
+Should I depart this life before the completion of my task, my son Marik
+Lebrenn, now arrived in his thirty-seventh year, will supply my place in
+the work, aided thereto by the material and notes left by me, and by his
+own memories. I have postponed from year to year this continuation to
+our family legends, awaiting the accomplishment of the two prophecies
+which hover ever above these accounts. One has been realized, in the
+period from 1800 to 1814; the other has had but one approach toward
+success--in July of this present year 1830.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Alas, we have already seen the sinister fulfilment of the prophecy of
+Robespierre the Incorruptible, the martyr of Thermidor--'_The brigands
+have triumphed, the Revolution is lost._' The reins of the Revolution
+fell into hands that were corrupt, perfidious, criminal. The national
+representation was debauched, annihilated in the month of Brumaire by
+Bonaparte; _military despotism seized the power, and civil war desolated
+the country_.
+
+The second prophecy of our family records--that there should be no more
+Kings--had already begun to move towards fulfilment. Since 1793 the
+tradition of republicanism had struck in the people's minds roots that
+were live, deep, and indestructible. The people protested against the
+Consulate of Bonaparte by the conspiracy of Topino Lebrun and Arena; it
+protested against the Empire by forming the secret society of the
+_Philadelphians_ and by the conspiracy of General Mallet; it protested
+against the Restoration by several conspiracies, among them that of the
+four sergeants of La Rochelle.
+
+Let us rest firm in the assurance that, despite these eclipses, the star
+of the Republic will yet rise over France, over the world, and our
+children will yet greet the appearance of the United States of Europe,
+the Universal Republic.
+
+Meanwhile the disinherited shuddered and trembled before the fury of the
+counter-revolution. At Avignon, at Lyons, at Marseilles, prisoner
+patriots were massacred without even the excuse the latter had when in
+September they put the traitors to death in the name of public safety
+and of the fatherland, menaced from without and within. The victims of
+the royalist reaction were ten times as numerous as those of the Terror.
+The murders of Lyons pass all belief, and that in time of peace, without
+provocation or cause. In one single day and in one single prison one
+hundred and ninety-seven prisoners, among whom were three women, were
+assassinated by the royalist dandies known as the Jeunesse Dorée, or
+"Gilded Youth." At Marseilles, at the St. John Fortress, two hundred and
+ten patriots were slashed to pieces or burned in the same day.
+
+But let us draw the veil over these saturnalia of blood, these orgies of
+the White Terror, and compose our minds in thoughts of the republican
+armies. Our armies learned with grief of the fall of Robespierre; but
+then, submissive to the civil and military powers, and respecting the
+decrees of the Convention, they accepted the Thermidor government; and
+under the command of Hoche, Marceau, Jourdan, Moreau, Augereau, and
+Joubert, they continued to battle against the coalized Kings. Holland,
+freed by our arms, set itself up anew as a Republic; Prussia and Spain
+sued for peace and obtained it; the royalists, encouraged by the
+reaction, attempted again to arouse the Vendee, with the support of the
+English, who made a descent upon Quiberon; but Hoche snuffed out that
+civil war in its first flickers. The Convention modified on the 15th
+Thermidor, year III (August 2, 1795), the Constitution of 1793. The mass
+of the proletariat was stripped of its political rights. According to
+the Constitution of 1793, all citizens twenty-one years old, born and
+living in France, were electors, and members of the sovereign people;
+according to the Constitution of 1795, on the contrary, it was necessary
+to pay a direct tax in order to be eligible to the electoral right. The
+Constitution of the year III, further, divided the legislative power
+into two bodies, the Council of Five Hundred, and the Council of
+Ancients; to be a member of the latter, one must have attained the age
+of forty. The executive power, or Directorate, was to be composed of
+five members, chosen by the Councils, which were themselves elected by a
+taxpayers' and indirect vote, in two degrees. Primary assemblies
+nominated electors, and these latter chose the deputies to the Councils.
+The imposition of a tax qualification excluded the proletariat from the
+count, and delivered it up to the will of a reactionary bourgeoisie;
+hence the royalist party had not the slightest doubt of the success of
+its candidates. The majority of the old Convention, composed in part of
+lukewarm oligarchic republicans, but in the main of corrupted
+legislators who were opposed to a restoration of the monarchy (whose
+vengeance they feared, most of them having been regicides), attempted to
+obviate the certain success of the royalists by decreeing that
+two-thirds of the old members must be re-elected. This restraint imposed
+upon the freedom of the ballot was at once iniquitous and absurd, and
+paved the way for a new civil war. The Constitution of the year III and
+the clause relative to the re-election of two-thirds of the members of
+the Convention was submitted to the sanction of the primary assemblies,
+composed of taxpayers. Among these, thanks to the exclusion of the
+proletariat, the reaction was on top. Certain of a majority in the
+approaching elections, and expecting consequently to control both the
+Councils and Directorate, the reaction had anticipated dealing the last
+blows to the expiring Republic, and re-establishing the monarchy. But
+defeated in their hope by the decree rendering obligatory the
+re-election of two-thirds of the Conventionals, the royalists incited
+the primary assemblies against this decree. On the 11th Vendemiaire,
+year IV (October 3, 1795) the bourgeois and aristocratic Sections of the
+center of Paris--Daughters of St. Thomas and Hill of the Mills among
+others--came to the front of the movement, and a horde of Emigrants and
+ex-suspects raised an insurrection. The rebels declared the decree
+compelling the re-election of two-thirds of the old Conventionals an
+assault upon the rights of the 'sovereign people'; they took up arms and
+organized a council of resistance under the presidency of the Duke of
+Nivernais. The Convention named a committee of defense and called to its
+assistance the patriots of the suburbs. Twelve or fifteen hundred
+patriots responded to the appeal. The royalists, to the number of forty
+thousand men, or thereabouts, under the command of Generals Danican,
+Duhoux, and the ex-bodyguard Lafond, marched against the troops of the
+Convention, and won at first some advantage over them. Barras,
+commander-in-chief of the forces at the disposal of the Assembly, called
+to his staff a young artillery officer named Bonaparte, whose military
+renown dated from the siege of Toulon. The latter hastily brought up the
+cannon from the camp of Sablons, made an able strategic disposition of
+his forces, and, with the aid of the patriots of '93, wiped out the
+royalist insurrection before the Church of St. Roche, on the 13th
+Vendemiaire, year IV. The Convention employed its last session in
+organizing the Councils; that of the Ancients was composed of two
+hundred and fifty members; the remaining elected deputies formed the
+Council of the Five Hundred.
+
+The members of the Directorate elected by these Councils were Carnot,
+Rewbell, Lareveillere-Lepaux, Letourneur, and Barras--all of them,
+except Barras, men of honesty, only moderate republicans, but sincere.
+
+The 4th Brumaire, year IV (October 26, 1795), the Convention pronounced
+its own dissolution. It had been in session since the proclamation of
+the Republic, September 21, 1792.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+COLONEL OLIVER.
+
+
+The studio of Citizen Martin, painter, member of the Council of Five
+Hundred, and former captain and then battalion commander of the Paris
+Volunteers who fought at Weissenburg, was decorated in martial fashion
+with pictures and sketches depicting episodes in the republican wars,
+placed here and there on easels; models of antique statuary and studies
+of nature graced the walls. On one side was a gay display composed of
+the epaulets of Commander Martin, his arms of war, and his military hat,
+whose two bullet holes bore witness to its wearer's intrepidity. One
+morning early in November, 1799, the painter himself was gladsomely
+embracing John Lebrenn, who had just deposited on a stool the traveling
+bag he carried.
+
+"Well, but I'm glad to see you, my friend," said John warmly, "after so
+many chances and such a long separation!"
+
+"It was made less grievous for me," rejoined Martin, "by our
+correspondence. What is the news of your worthy wife, your little Marik,
+and Madam Desmarais?"
+
+"They were all well when I left them."
+
+"And your cloth business--does it prosper as you would wish?"
+
+"Our labor furnishes us the means to supply our modest wants; we desire
+nothing more. Our life is rolling on peacefully at Vannes, that old town
+of Armorica, the cradle of our family."
+
+"I know how greatly the country should please you."
+
+"And nevertheless, we must soon leave our nest, for it is impossible
+there to give my son a suitable education. In a year or two, or perhaps
+even sooner, we shall return to Paris, where we shall continue our
+Breton cloth commerce. Such, at least, is my intention and that of my
+dear wife and her mother."
+
+"Hurrah! May your plan be realized, the sooner the better, my dear
+friend. Then we shall no longer be reduced to a correspondence for
+consolation."
+
+"Your last letters," replied John, "decided me to come to Paris, seeing
+the Republic was in danger of perishing. I think I could be useful to
+you in such a case, and also perhaps to the Republic, by still pulling a
+trigger against her enemies."
+
+"The political situation is indeed grave. Nevertheless, there is no
+ground for fearing a catastrophe very soon. In the Council of Five
+Hundred there is an imposing republican majority; we are decided to
+preserve liberty, and to fight the clericals, Jesuits and monarchists to
+the finish."
+
+"I doubt not your energy nor that of your friends; but the Republic has
+now been for some time deprived of the popular element, its life, its
+spirit, its strength."
+
+"True; since Thermidor a great gap has been made in the republican
+ranks. You may be sure that General Bonaparte, for all his military
+renown, would never have dared affront Vergniaud, Danton, or
+Robespierre, had they been in the Council of Five Hundred. At their
+voice the people would rise in arms, and the ambitious dictator would be
+sent before the revolutionary tribunal."
+
+"Belated regrets, my friend. But explain to me how it is that the
+Directorate, knowing full well the intrigues organized in Napoleon's
+favor by his brothers, by Fouché, and by that former Bishop Talleyrand,
+than whom no meaner rascal ever lived--how the Directorate was so weak
+as not to send this General Bonaparte before a court-martial, guilty as
+he was of deserting the army in Egypt, more than six hundred leagues
+from France? In the height of the Convention such an act would not have
+passed unpunished."
+
+"For this weakness of the Directorate, and our own indecision in the
+Council of Five Hundred, there are many causes. Sieyès is the soul of
+the conspiracy against the Constitution of the year III, which he
+himself framed, while we republicans rather defend that Constitution,
+defective as it is, in order not to throw the Republic open to new
+dangers. Sieyès, a member of the Directorate, and Roger Ducos, his
+colleague and accomplice, are at the head of the sworn enemies of the
+present Constitution. Among these oppositionists are the majority of the
+Council of Ancients and some members of the Council of Five Hundred;
+then come a crowd of intriguers of all sorts, stock brokers, men with
+frayed reputations, get-rich-quick contractors, bourgeois weather-vanes,
+corruptionists, harpies, repentant Terrorists, like Fouché and your
+brother-in-law Desmarais, who is now a member of the Council of
+Ancients. Sieyès's object is to overthrow the Constitution of the year
+III by a coup d'etat and replace it by a bourgeois oligarchy; on top of
+which would come a constitutional monarchy similar to that of '92, and
+then it would be done for the Republic. That is the plan of the
+opposition. Now here is the situation of us republicans, who constitute
+the majority of the Council of Five Hundred. We count on the support of
+two members of the Directorate, Moulins and Gohier, devoted to the
+Republic. Then in case of a conflict, we have cause to hope that General
+Bernadotte, whose influence may serve to blanket Bonaparte's, will march
+on our side. The Council of Five Hundred has, moreover, for braces, the
+remains of the several republican parties--Girondins, Mountainists,
+Jacobins, Terrorists--as well as a large number of former members of the
+Commune who escaped the scaffold after Thermidor, and belong to the
+bourgeoisie--men of progress and free thought."
+
+"And the people," inquired John again, "the workingmen of the suburbs,
+are they also sunk in inertia? They should form a strong element for
+you."
+
+"Alas, they live indifferent to public affairs, except some workingmen
+in Santerre's brewery and some old sans-culottes, such as your old
+foreman Castillon--whom you will no doubt see this morning, as I
+notified him of your arrival."
+
+"Thank you, friend, for having arranged this pleasure for me. I shall be
+happy to see our brave Castillon."
+
+"He is still the industrious and honest artisan of yore; only, credulous
+and naïve as a veritable child of the people, he is like so many other
+sincere republicans, a great partisan of Bonaparte's."
+
+"Castillon, once so devoted to the Republic!"
+
+"Exactly, since there is not a better republican--God save the
+mark!--than this very General Bonaparte, according to Castillon and his
+friends."
+
+Just then Martin's servant entered to hand him a letter, saying: "An
+ordnance dragoon has just brought this epistle, citizen, and awaits your
+answer."
+
+Martin tore open the envelope and read aloud:
+
+     "Perhaps you recall, sir, an under-officer in the Third Hussars,
+     who in the days of terrorism when the nation's honor sought refuge
+     in the armies, fought with you in the defense of a battery at the
+     battle of Weissenburg. This under-officer has made his way. He has
+     had the happy fortune of serving under the orders of the greatest
+     captain of ancient and modern times, on whom to-day hangs the
+     safety of France.
+
+     "Knowing, sir, your renown as a painter of battles, I desire to
+     engage you on a picture. I beg you to let me know at what hour
+     to-day you can grant me an interview on the subject of this work,
+     on which you may set your own price.
+
+     "Accept, sir, my best sentiments,
+
+     "OLIVER,
+
+     "Colonel of the Seventh Dragoons, aide-de-camp to General
+     Bonaparte.
+
+"Tell the soldier I await his colonel this morning," added Martin to the
+domestic, after a moment's thought.
+
+The servant left the studio, and Lebrenn, to whom Martin had passed the
+letter, began:
+
+"My sister's forecast, I see, was not wide of the mark. 'Oliver,' she
+said to me, 'loves battles. He sees in war only a trade, a means to
+carve out a fortune--pride and ambition.' And Oliver has become a
+colonel and one of the staff officers of Bonaparte."
+
+"This order for a picture," replied Martin, "is only a pretext to renew
+acquaintanceship with me, and attempt to bring me over into the party of
+his general."
+
+"Painful as a meeting with Oliver will be, I almost congratulate myself
+on the opportunity. Who knows but I may be able to bring home the truth
+to him who was once my apprentice, and perhaps, thanks to my old
+influence over him, open his eyes to the light?"
+
+"I would like to think, at least, that he will not show himself a
+monster of ingratitude toward you. I know all that he owes to your
+family, and above all to the devotion of your sister."
+
+"Oliver wrote me several times from Italy to inform me of his rapid
+promotion in the army. Then the correspondence gradually died out, and
+now for two years I have completely ceased to receive news from him.
+Such have been his forgetfulness and ingratitude!"
+
+At this moment who should enter the studio but Castillon, accompanied by
+Duchemin, the old quartermaster of the field-artillery of the Army of
+the Rhine and Moselle. The latter wore the fatigue uniform of the
+artillery, and the straps of his rank; his left arm hung in a scarf. His
+face, bronzed by the sun of Egypt, was dark as an Arab's. Unable to
+repress his tears of joy, Castillon fell into Lebrenn's arms, crying
+"Oh! Friend John!"
+
+"Embrace me, my old Castillon," replied the latter, with unrestrained
+warmth. "I find you still as I left you, the best of men."
+
+Lebrenn and his former foreman continued their conversation to one side,
+in low tones, while Duchemin said to Martin, who was studying his face
+as if seeking to trace a resemblance:
+
+"You don't recognize me, captain?"
+
+"It seems to me I have seen you----" replied Martin dubiously.
+
+"That blasted sun of Egypt has spoiled my complexion, else you'd
+remember Duchemin, once cannonier in the Army of the Rhine and Moselle,
+where we served together."
+
+"Aye, now I remember you, old comrade," cried the artist, seizing the
+other's hand. "And how is Carmagnole--and Reddy?" he added with a grin.
+
+"My poor Reddy--he went the way of Double-grey," sighed the artillerist.
+"He died like a brave war-horse. He received a ball in the body at the
+battle of Altenkirchen. As to Carmagnole, my sweetheart of a spit-fire,
+she split laughing, my pretty piece, while sending a triple charge of
+grape-shot into the Austrians. After which, widowed of my Carmagnole, I
+set out for the Orient."
+
+"And so you went through the campaign in Egypt?"
+
+"Bad luck to it, yes! A devil of a war! And Bonaparte!--Twist his noose
+without drum or trumpet! To leave the army in the lurch! Name of names,
+what cries, what shouts there were against the 'Little Corporal,' when
+it became known he had abandoned us. Had we caught him, we'd have tied
+his necktie for him!"
+
+"_You left Egypt, then, after him?_"
+
+"Three days after, with a convoy of wounded men they were sending back
+to France. Our ship had the luck to dodge the English cruisers and
+disembark us at Toulon. Thence I demanded to be sent during my recovery
+to my old Paris, to see again my St. Antoine and the sans-culottes of
+'93. They are not very thick now, but those who are still of this world
+are all good and solid, witness comrade Castillon, one of the first I
+encountered in the suburb. He told me that he was on his way to visit
+you, captain, and as an old soldier of the Rhine and Moselle and a pure
+Jacobin, I thought I might be permitted to follow along with him."
+
+"You could not afford me a greater pleasure, comrade," the painter
+assented, cordially. "The faithful of '93 are scarce in these times."
+
+"Monsieur Colonel Oliver asks to see you, citizen," announced the
+servant.
+
+"Let Colonel Oliver enter. You, Castillon, and you, Duchemin, are going
+to St. Antoine to have a talk with Santerre's workmen?"
+
+"To meet here again at eight this evening, and decide what we shall do,
+in view of developments," added Lebrenn.
+
+Colonel Oliver was introduced. The brilliant uniform of the dragoons
+besat him with natural grace; but his face was haughty, imperious and
+rude; every line in it denoted the arrogance of command. He did not at
+first recognize, or rather he paid no attention to, Lebrenn, Castillon
+and Duchemin; but addressed himself straightway to Martin:
+
+"I am delighted, citizen, to take this opportunity of renewing
+acquaintance with an old brother in arms."
+
+"Citizen," politely rejoined Martin, "I am no less happy than yourself
+at the circumstance that brings us together, as well as three of our old
+comrades of the Army of the Rhine;" and he indicated the three friends.
+
+Greatly surprised, Oliver held out his hand and quickly ran over to
+Lebrenn, crying, "Good meeting! You here? How are Madam Lebrenn and your
+son?"
+
+"All the family are in good health; my son is growing up, and I hope to
+make a good republican out of him."
+
+Castillon now approached, and slapping the colonel familiarly over the
+shoulder, called out, "Say now, my boy--has your rank of colonel made
+you near-sighted?"
+
+Oliver trembled and turned purple with rage. He looked Castillon up and
+down, and replied: "Who are you, sir, to permit yourself such
+familiarity?"
+
+"Well, well! Forsooth, it is I, Castillon, your old foreman, who taught
+you how to handle a file and hammer a piece of iron, when you were our
+apprentice."
+
+"Give you good day, my dear sir, give you good day," retorted Oliver
+haughtily and impatiently; and continuing his conversation with Lebrenn:
+"And what chance brings you to Paris? Tell me about it."
+
+But Castillon touched Oliver on the arm before he had time to get an
+answer, and said: "Say, my boy, have you truly become, to all intents
+and purposes, an aristocrat, since you belong to the staff of General
+Bonaparte, as Duchemin says, our old comrade of the Lines of
+Weissenburg, here, whom you don't seem to recognize either?"
+
+"Hush, my old fellow," said Duchemin in Castillon's ear, "else he will
+have the commandant of Paris toss me into the headquarters of police,
+and then we won't be able to go to St. Antoine."
+
+After a moment's silence, Colonel Oliver spoke, with difficulty holding
+himself in: "I would reply to Monsieur Castillon, that if I was his
+apprentice, it is nothing to blush for. He should understand that my age
+and the rank I owe to my sword render inappropriate the pleasantries
+permissible when I was eighteen."
+
+"Pardon, excuse me, Monsieur the Marquis!" rejoined Castillon, not a
+whit put down by Oliver's manner. "Ah, that's how the staff of General
+Bonaparte comports itself!"
+
+"As to you, who are still in the service," continued Colonel Oliver
+rudely to Duchemin, "do not forget that we put the insolent in cells,
+and shoot the unruly."
+
+"I said nothing, Colonel," replied Duchemin quietly.
+
+"Shut your mouth, hang-dog, and go to the devil!"
+
+"Yes, hold your peace, old comrade, and make yourself scarce, since you
+have but the choice between a cell and the shooting squad," Castillon
+advised Duchemin; and then he turned on Oliver: "As to me, who, as a
+private citizen have hanging over me the shadow of neither, nor yet the
+awe of gold epaulets, I tell you this, Oliver, son of the people, a poor
+orphan, put on your feet by the goodness of our friend John--you contemn
+your brothers. A soldier of the Republic, you conspire against her.
+You're an ingrate and a traitor! But the day of remorse will come."
+
+"Do not provoke me, wretch, or----" cried Colonel Oliver.
+
+Castillon and Duchemin turned on their heels and went out, Martin
+accompanying them to the outer door, as Lebrenn had requested that he be
+left alone a few minutes with the colonel. The latter hung his head and
+maintained an embarrassed silence.
+
+"Castillon's reproaches seem to have made some impression on you,
+Oliver," Lebrenn began, at last.
+
+"Not at all; such insolence does not trouble me. But let us forget the
+wretches, and speak of you and your family, my dear Lebrenn."
+
+"Let us speak rather of you, Oliver; let us speak also of my sister,
+whose memory should be sacred to you. Her forebodings of your future are
+realized; I fear her devotion to you has gone for naught."
+
+"In what may my conduct justify your criticism? Has not my sword been
+ever at the service of the Republic?"
+
+"At the service of your ambition! And at the present moment you seem to
+be in a mind to sacrifice the Republic."
+
+Oliver responded with a start: "I firmly believe that France has need of
+order, repose, stability, and a firm hand. I believe that authority
+should be concentrated in the greatest captain of modern times."
+
+"And what are your Bonaparte's titles--for you doubtless mean him--to
+the government of France?"
+
+"His victories!"
+
+"But is not the military glory of Hoche, Marceau, Joubert, Massena,
+Moreau, Kleber, Augereau, Bernadotte, Desaix, equal to that of your
+general? And even if he were the greatest captain the world has ever
+seen, it does not follow that he should be given the dictatorship. A
+nation should never place its destinies in the hands of one man and
+confide to him that exorbitant power, which smites with vertigo even the
+hardest heads."
+
+At this juncture Martin returned, and by a look inquired of his friend
+the result of his interview with the colonel. Lebrenn shook his head in
+the negative. Martin then addressed the officer:
+
+"I would have excused myself, citizen, for my absence just now, had I
+not left you in the company of our comrade John. Now I am at your
+service. Let us discuss the battle scene you wish to give me the
+commission for. Some explanation will be requisite."
+
+"It is a brilliant charge executed by a squadron of my regiment against
+the Mamelukes of Hussein Bey. I can furnish you with a sketch of the
+field of battle made by one of my officers, and some notes I took on
+the feat of arms itself."
+
+"Any such documents would much facilitate my work, and I can, if you
+desire it, citizen, commence work in a month--provided," he added with a
+smile, "I am not in the meantime banished or shot."
+
+"And why should either of those fates befall you, monsieur?"
+
+"I am one of the Council of Five Hundred, and strongly resolved, like
+the majority of my colleagues, to defend the Republic and the
+Constitution against all factions. But the defenders of the best cause
+may be defeated. In that case, your general, who seems to side with the
+conspirators, is capable, in the event of his triumph, of transporting
+the republican deputies to Cayenne, or having them shot on the plain of
+Grenelle."
+
+"Monsieur, I have still to learn that the vanquisher of Lodi, Arcola,
+and the Pyramids is party to a conspiracy. But if he is conspiring, he
+has for accomplice the whole of France; and in that case the factious
+are those who attempt to oppose themselves to the national will."
+
+Just then Duresnel, the young recruit of the Parisian battalion who
+served under Martin at Weissenburg was introduced into the studio. The
+colonel brusquely saluted the newcomer together with the two who were
+already present and left the apartment.
+
+Duresnel looked at John Lebrenn several seconds, and then cried out:
+
+"Eh! If I am not mistaken, I have the pleasure of meeting, at the house
+of a common friend, an old comrade of the Seventh Battalion of
+Volunteers?"
+
+"A comrade who was a witness to your first feat of arms, Citizen
+Duresnel," rejoined Lebrenn cordially, "when after the charge of the
+German cuirassiers upon our battery, you and Castillon took the Grand
+Duke of Gerolstein prisoner."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+CROSS PURPOSES.
+
+
+The same day as that on which occurred the scene just described, that is
+to say, the 17th Brumaire, year VIII (November 7, 1799), the following
+events took place at the home of Monsieur Hubert, banker and member of
+the Council of Ancients and uncle to Charlotte. This exponent of high
+finance had tenfold increased his fortune by his enterprises in
+furnishing supplies to the army, or, in other words, robbing the people
+and famishing the soldiers. In conference with the banker was the
+reverend Father Morlet; politics was on the carpet.
+
+"My reverend sir," asked Hubert, "will you please to tell me why the
+Catholic and royalist party is taking no hand in political affairs? Do
+you not comprehend that in supporting the dictatorship of Bonaparte you
+deal the last blow to the Republic?"
+
+"And who will profit thereby? Just clarify me on that point."
+
+"He will, as a matter of course."
+
+"Bonaparte's ambition is boundless," returned the Jesuit. "He is not
+ignorant that a monarchy which owes its restoration to a Monck has no
+more dire need than, as soon as it no longer needs his treasons, to rid
+itself of the traitor. It is thus more than probable that General
+Bonaparte prefers the role of a Cromwell, or a Caesar. In either of
+these two cases we Catholics and royalists must oppose him, for he would
+thus put off for a long time the return of the Old Regime. But as, after
+all, and in spite of its improbability, there is one chance in a
+thousand that he may be looking out for a restoration, we maintain for
+the present complete neutrality."
+
+"Monsieur John Lebrenn asks to speak with you, sir," announced a valet.
+
+"John Lebrenn in Paris!--Pray Monsieur Lebrenn to wait an instant!"
+cried the banker to the valet, who at once left the room to execute his
+master's orders.
+
+"My dear Monsieur Hubert, I am not at all anxious for a meeting with
+that red-cap Jacobin, and for reasons of a particular nature," said the
+Jesuit.
+
+"Step into my cabinet. Thence you can descend by the little staircase."
+
+"In case of unforeseen developments, write me, or--you know----"
+
+"Oh, I forgot to ask you about the Count of Plouernel."
+
+"He is," replied the Jesuit, "at Vienna, with his wife, who has just
+presented him with a son, according to what the Count's brother, the
+Bishop _in partibus_, whom you know, has just written me."
+
+"And your god-son, little Rodin?"
+
+"He is growing up under the eye of the Lord. He is in Rome, attending
+the seminary of our Society."
+
+The financier conducted Father Morlet to the door of the cabinet, and
+then rang for the valet to show in Monsieur Lebrenn at once.
+
+"What can be the motive of my nephew's coming now to Paris?" pondered
+Hubert. "I hope he bears no bad news from my poor sister. Her last
+letters foreshadowed nothing untoward. Ah, here he is. Welcome, my dear
+nephew," he cried as he held out his hand, "welcome! And first of all
+put me at ease about my sister and niece. Are they well?"
+
+"Charlotte and her mother are in perfect health," answered Lebrenn.
+"They charged me to visit you and tell you so, and I have made it a
+point to deliver the message the very day of my arrival. We are living
+happily in the peaceful town of Vannes, and still occupied in our cloth
+trade."
+
+"From which I conclude that you no longer trouble yourself with
+politics. I congratulate you upon your wisdom, my dear nephew. The
+Republic is a chimera, as I said long ago. Look at it to-day, as good as
+dead, and to-morrow it will have heaved its last sigh. You come just in
+time to attend the funeral. May it never rise from its ashes."
+
+"The Republic is like Lazarus in the Scriptures. It may be wrapped in
+its shroud, it will burst the stones of its sepulture. But let us leave
+politics aside; we are not agreed on the matter, and never will be. I am
+asked by my wife and her mother to inquire of you after the health of my
+father-in-law, your colleague in the Council of Ancients, of whom we
+have no news."
+
+"My brother-in-law is still the same, dragging his miserable life from
+apostasy to apostasy, tormented by the fear of death."
+
+"What an existence!"
+
+"He is, indeed, the most cowardly of men, and at the same time the most
+talkative and vain of lawyers. Then, his position of Representative of
+the people in the Convention, and now as deputy in the Council of
+Ancients, flatters his vanity, and furnishes him with the opportunity to
+give a loose to his voluble oratory. So, tossed back and forth between
+his vanity, which impels him toward the hazards of political life, just
+now so tempestuous, and his cowardice, which makes him tremble each day
+lest he receive the reward of his apostasies, the miserable fellow's
+life is kept, as the Catholics say, in perpetual hell."
+
+"Monsieur Desmarais!" announced the valet.
+
+The lawyer, barely across the threshold, stopped stock still, as
+surprised as put out of sorts by the unexpected presence of his
+son-in-law; for a moment he was unable to utter a word, and Hubert said
+to him sardonically:
+
+"How, brother! Is it so that you greet your son-in-law after so many
+years' separation?"
+
+"Monsieur Lebrenn should know," at length replied the lawyer, regaining
+his self-assurance, "that a deep gulf separates honest men from the
+Jacobins of '93, the Septembrists, Terrorists, Communists, and other
+Socialists."
+
+"Citizen Desmarais, we have known each other a long time," retorted
+Lebrenn. "You are the father of my dear wife, to whom my life owes its
+happiness. Whatever may be your words or your conduct toward me, there
+are limits which I shall never exceed in my treatment of you. You
+inspire me neither with anger nor hatred, but with a profound pity, for
+you are unhappy."
+
+"What insolence! To hear such words issue from the lips of my daughter's
+husband, and be unable to punish him for them!"
+
+"My pity for you is very natural," continued Lebrenn. "I pity your
+condition because you must feel a cruel chagrin at being separated from
+your wife and daughter."
+
+"Scurrilous fellow!" bellowed the attorney, unable to contain himself.
+"It is you who came to sow trouble and discord between the members of my
+family and me."
+
+"Citizen Desmarais, you are arrived at the decline of life; your
+solitude weighs upon you. You regret, you regret each day anew the
+sweets of the domestic hearth; our home is and always will be open to
+you. Renounce your life in politics, the incessant source of your
+anguish and your alarms, because of your lack of steadfastness. Return
+to your wife and daughter; they will forget the past. But when fear has
+its clutch upon you, you are like a person out of his mind; though you
+may be in perfect safety, yet you will perish anyhow. So then, when you
+please, Citizen Desmarais, you will find a place at our fireside. You
+will enjoy with us an existence as peaceful and happy as your present
+one is tortured."
+
+Then to Hubert he added:
+
+"Adieu, citizen. I shall return before my departure, to get your
+messages for Vannes."
+
+"Adieu, dear nephew," answered the latter. "Although a Jacobin, you have
+my esteem."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+LAYING THE TRAIN.
+
+
+Late that afternoon conspiracy held high carnival in the parlor of
+Lahary, an influential member of the Council of Ancients. The
+conspirators present were scattered in groups about the apartment,
+engaged in lively conversation, when Hubert the banker and advocate
+Desmarais made their entrance upon the scene.
+
+"Messieurs," Lahary was saying, "there are a number of us present. Let
+us begin our deliberations. I shall preside. Our colleague Regnier has
+the floor."
+
+Regnier at once began: "Gentlemen, yesterday, in a long conference held
+at the home of our friend the president of the Council of Ancients,
+various opinions were advanced and discussed, but we separated without
+having reached any conclusion, setting to-day for the final
+deliberation. We should no longer temporize. Time presses; public
+opinion, very uneasy, very restless, is watching; it apprehends a coup
+d'etat, they say, from moment to moment. This state of mind is
+particularly favorable to our projects, only we must make speed to
+profit by circumstances, and hasten events. Else the Council of Five
+Hundred will steal a march on us and appeal to an insurrection, in the
+name of the Constitution in danger. We should thus lose much of our
+vantage ground."
+
+"Aye, let us haste," agreed Fouché. "Trust to my long experience. In
+revolutions, he who attacks has three chances to one."
+
+"The experience and authority of our friend Fouché in matters of
+conspiracy can not be too highly estimated," Regnier hastened to put in.
+"I am for attacking, and that to-morrow, the 18th Brumaire. Here is my
+project. The Council of Five Hundred is the only real obstacle to the
+overthrow of the Constitution, which, it is decided, shall give way to
+another form of government, to be determined on later. The Council of
+Five Hundred, composed in its immense majority of republicans, is, then,
+the stumbling block to our projects. It must be either suppressed or
+annihilated."
+
+"It is more than probable that the canaille of the suburbs will not
+budge an inch. Nevertheless, let us proceed prudently, as if an
+insurrection were really to be feared. Let us get all the police, horse
+and foot, upon the field to repress all suggestion of revolt," advised
+Fouché.
+
+"To conjure away the peril of an insurrection, this is what I would
+propose," Regnier continued. "The Constitution of the year III vests
+exclusively in us, the Council of Ancients, the right to appoint or
+change the meeting-place of the Assemblies. Let us, in virtue of our
+constitutional right, transfer our seat and that of the Five Hundred to
+St. Cloud, which we can invest with five or six thousand troops, of
+which we will give the command to General Bonaparte. Things thus
+prepared, if the Council of Five Hundred refuses to adhere to our most
+drastic measures--a refusal who can doubt?--we shall pronounce the
+dissolution of their Council, and commission General Bonaparte to carry
+out the decree. Triumph is assured--"
+
+"I am authorized by my brother," spoke up a new party to the debate,
+Lucien Bonaparte, "to declare to you that if he is placed in supreme
+command of the troops he will answer for everything, even to the burning
+of Paris."
+
+"Those are extreme measures, but we must not recoil before them. We may
+have to burn Paris," chimed in the plotters in chorus.
+
+"Yes, I share the opinion of my colleagues," declared Desmarais the
+lawyer. "The Council of Five Hundred, transferred to St. Cloud, becomes
+no longer an object of fear. But how can we justify that relegation in
+the eyes of the public?"
+
+Fouché smiled sardonically. "Citizen Brutus Desmarais," said he, "you
+have forgotten the fifty thousand Septembrists who are in the catacombs!
+My spies and my horse police will spread themselves all over Paris
+to-morrow trumpeting to the good bourgeois that a tremendous plot has
+been unearthed to-night by Monsieur Fouché, Minister of Police. He,
+wishing to frustrate the abominable projects of the scoundrels of
+Terrorists, who are in league with the Five Hundred, all Jacobins,
+warned the Council of Ancients of what was on foot; and the noble
+conscript fathers, who would be the first to perish under the daggers of
+the bloodthirsty Terrorists, thereupon decided to remove the sessions of
+the national representation to St. Cloud."
+
+"Hurrah for the great complot!" shouted Lemercier, opening his mouth for
+the first time. "And this reason can well be supported by another, by
+insisting above all that the lives of the Council of Ancients are
+menaced by their sitting any longer in Paris."
+
+"Yes, yes--on with the 'great conspiracy'!" cried all.
+
+"It is agreed, then," summed up Regnier, "that the discovery of this
+plot--excellent invention of the police!--is to justify the removal to
+St. Cloud. Now we must see that our project does not miss fire."
+
+"For that purpose we must call a special session of our colleagues of
+the Council of Ancients, without informing them of the reason therefor,"
+suggested Lemercier.
+
+"I would observe to my honorable colleague, that, to my mind, it would
+be a very prudent move not to notify the republican minority which sits
+with us in the Council. These fellows would ask the most indiscreet
+questions, the most absurd, ridiculous questions. They wouldn't content
+themselves with the simple affirmation that there was a plot discovered;
+they would ask for proofs of the plot! And the details of its discovery!
+It would be most difficult to answer them!" put in Desmarais.
+
+"Desmarais is right," assented Cornet, another of the conspirators. "My
+belief is that all of us here present should charge ourselves to go this
+evening to see our colleagues of the majority personally, let them know
+the reason for to-morrow morning's extraordinary session, and address
+letters of notification to them alone. Treason all along the line--our
+success depends upon it. Is my advice taken?"
+
+"If the republican minority complains about not being notified, we can
+blame the inspectors of the hall," ventured Lemercier.
+
+"It will be necessary, as a matter of precaution, to double the troops
+about the Council of Ancients," Lucien Bonaparte advised. "Everything
+must be foreseen. Squads of police agents should even be mixed with
+them."
+
+"General Bonaparte, more than anyone else, will serve our ends,"
+answered Regnier. "We shall count on General Bonaparte; say to him that
+he may count on us."
+
+"Ah, there, Lucien," said Fouché with his withered leer, "if your
+brother orders the troops to march, how will you, as president of the
+Fire Hundred, whom you betray with such neatness and despatch, keep
+those prattlers from screeching like jays when they are dissolved?"
+
+"I shall head off the storm, never fear," laughed Lucien.
+
+"And now, dear colleagues," interrupted Regnier, "let us make haste. The
+day is nearly gone, and we have not a moment to lose. Let us go on. Who
+will undertake to prepare the letters of notification?"
+
+"I," volunteered Lahary, their host. "I shall see the inspectors of the
+hall, who are ours. They are all ready to sell themselves."
+
+"My dear Lucien, you will make it your duty to signify to the General
+the result of our deliberations?" asked Regnier.
+
+"I am going at once to my brother's, on Victory Street," answered the
+young man.
+
+"Who," Regnier continued, "will post the inspectors of the hall to have
+the guards doubled to-morrow?"
+
+"I; and I shall reinforce the posts with spies," replied Cornet.
+
+"My other colleagues and I," Regnier went on, "shall partition among us
+the task of visiting our friends at once, at their homes, and informing
+them of the motive of to-morrow's special session."
+
+"We ought above all to caution them to keep the strictest secrecy about
+the affair," counseled Boulay, from the Meurthe district. "Otherwise it
+will get noised about, and to-morrow we will see the republican minority
+march into the Council with their bothersome questions."
+
+"It must be an absolute secret, and I particularly recommend this to our
+friends," assented Regnier.
+
+"And I," Fouché added, "I shall go teach their lesson to my spies and
+agents of police, all blackguards and off-scourings, willing to do
+anything, if they are well paid."
+
+Meanwhile Desmarais, aside, was saying in Lucien's ear: "And so,
+to-morrow evening the greatest captain of modern times, your illustrious
+brother, that grand man clad in the dictatorship which he alone can
+wield, will decide the form of government it pleases him to bestow upon
+France. We shall behold once more the glorious days of the monarchy."
+
+"How! the dictatorship is to fall on Bonaparte!" cried Councillor
+Herwin, in surprise.
+
+"We certainly shall not allow General Bonaparte to decide alone on the
+form of the government!" declared Cornet.
+
+"What a stupid ass this Desmarais is!" said young Bonaparte to himself.
+"Messieurs," he added aloud, "I give you my word of honor as a man, my
+brother has no other ambition than to place his genius and his sword at
+the service of the Council of Ancients. He is outspokenly republican,
+and has no thoughts of a dictatorship."
+
+Despite the reassuring effect of Lucien Bonaparte's words, his fellow
+conspirator Regnier thought it wisest also to jump into the breach. "We
+won't occupy ourselves, dear colleagues," he said, "with a premature
+question. Let us first turn down the Constitution of the year III, and
+pronounce the dissolution of the Council of Five Hundred which sustains
+it. That done, we shall take further counsel; but first let us triumph
+over the common enemy. And now, gentlemen--till to-morrow!"
+
+To cries of "Till to-morrow!" "Till to-morrow, the day of great events!"
+the conspirators dispersed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE EIGHTEENTH BRUMAIRE.
+
+
+By eight o'clock on the morning of the 18th Brumaire, year VIII
+(November 9, 1799), the Council of Ancients were assembled in their
+hall. Several members of the republican minority, which had not been
+notified of the session, had nevertheless come to the Assembly, warned
+by public rumor of something unusual in the wind. These latter gathered
+in a group about the tribunal, engaged in animated conversation.
+
+Lemercier, presiding officer of the Council, sounded his bell; silence
+fell upon the assembly, and the members took their seats.
+
+"Messieurs, our colleague Cornet, chairman of the Committee of
+Inspectors, has the floor," he said.
+
+Cornet mounted the tribunal and began: "Representatives of the
+people:--The confidence you have reposed in your Committee of Inspectors
+has laid it under the obligation of watching over your individual
+safety, with which the public safety is so closely bound up. For, when
+the representatives of a nation are menaced in their persons, so that
+they do not enjoy in their deliberations the most absolute independence,
+it is no longer a Republic. Your Committee of Inspectors knows that
+conspirators are pouring into Paris in swarms; that those who are
+already here do but await the signal to bare their poniards against the
+representatives of the nation, against the highest authorities and
+members of the Republic. In presence of the danger which encompasses
+you, Representatives of the people, your committee felt it incumbent
+upon it to call you together in special session to inform you thereon;
+it felt it to be its duty to spur the deliberations of the Council on in
+deciding what part it was to play in these circumstances. The Council of
+Ancients holds in its hands the means of saving the country and liberty;
+it would be doubting its prudence, it would be doubting its wisdom, to
+think that it will not grapple the problem with its accustomed courage
+and energy."
+
+"It is inconceivable that neither I nor several of my colleagues
+received notice of this convocation of the Assembly. This
+omission--voluntary or involuntary--must be explained," interposed
+Montmayon, a member of the minority.
+
+"You have not been given the floor!" yelled President Lemercier. "Your
+motion is out of order. I give the floor to Monsieur Regnier."
+
+"Representatives of the people," declared the latter when he in turn had
+climbed up to the tribunal, "where is the man so stupid as still to
+doubt the dangers which encompass us? The proofs have been only too well
+multiplied. But this is not the time to unroll their lamentable length.
+Time presses! The least delay may prove so fatal that it would then no
+longer lie in your power to deliberate on remedies. God forbid that I
+should so insult the citizens of Paris as to believe them capable of
+assaulting the national representation! On the contrary, I doubt not
+but they would protect it with their own bodies, if need were; but this
+immense city is nursing within its bosom a horde of brigands, of bold
+and desperate scoundrels. They only await, with ferocious impatience,
+our first unguarded moment to strike us, and, consequently, to strike at
+the heart of the Republic itself."
+
+Great cries of feigned indignation burst from the conspirators. Tumult
+rose in the hall. Aside to himself Hubert muttered--"Forward, with
+Fouché's Septembrists!"
+
+"If there exists a conspiracy against the Republic--unmask it!" cried a
+member of the minority. "Your assertions are without bottom. Let's have
+the proofs!"
+
+"You have not got the floor!" again declared President Lemercier.
+
+Regnier continued: "I propose, gentlemen, according to the precise terms
+of the Constitution, the following motion and irrevocable decree; and I
+propose it to you with all the more confidence that a large number of
+our colleagues, honored by our confidence, share my views:
+
+     "The Council of Ancients, in virtue of Articles 102, 103, and 104
+     of the Constitution, decrees the following:
+
+     "Article 1.--The legislative body is transferred to the Commune of
+     St. Cloud. The two Councils, the Five Hundred and the Ancients,
+     shall there sit in the two wings of the palace.
+
+     "Article 2.--They shall have moved by to-morrow, the 19th Brumaire,
+     at noon. All continuation of functions and deliberations elsewhere
+     before that time is forbidden.
+
+     "Article 3.--General Bonaparte is commissioned to execute the
+     present decree. He will take all measures necessary for the safety
+     of the national representation. All the troops are placed under
+     the command of General Bonaparte; he will be called into the
+     Council to receive the announcement of the present decree and to
+     take the oath. He shall act in concert with the Committee of
+     Inspectors of the two Councils.
+
+     "Article 5.--The present decree shall at once be transmitted by
+     messenger to the Council of Five Hundred and to the executive
+     Directorate."
+
+The reading of the decree, acclaimed though it was by the intriguing
+majority, elicited the most energetic disapproval from the members
+present of the republican minority.
+
+Cornudet followed Regnier on the tribunal: "Representatives of the
+people, I move the adoption of this address to the French:
+
+     "Frenchmen--The Council of Ancients uses its right, delegated to it
+     by Article 102 of the Constitution, to change the seat of the
+     legislative body.
+
+     "The common safety, the common prosperity, are alone the object of
+     this constitutional measure. They shall be attained.
+
+     "And you, inhabitants of Paris, be calm. In a few days the presence
+     of the legislative body will be restored to you.
+
+     "Frenchmen, the results of this day will soon make it evident
+     whether the legislative body is worthy of establishing your
+     happiness, and if worthy, whether it can.
+
+     "Long live the people, by whom, and of whom, the Republic has its
+     existence."
+
+The intriguers rose in mass to adopt this address to the French. In vain
+the minority struggled to make their protests heard. They were drowned
+out by the clamor raised by the conspirators.
+
+"Ushers, lead General Bonaparte to the bar," ordered President
+Lemercier.
+
+Bonaparte was introduced by the ushers. He was clad in the severe
+uniform of the generals of the Republic, a blue coat with large lapels,
+a scarf tricolored, like the plume in his hat, tight trousers of white
+cloth, and high yellow boots coming up to the middle of his calf. The
+sickly and bilious complexion of the Corsican general brought out
+remarkably the leanness of his countenance, which was furthermore
+strongly accentuated by its frame of straight black hair. His look was
+inscrutable; it disclosed at once pride and dissimulation, astuteness
+and energy. A smile, which varied between insidiousness, mockery and
+haughtiness, completed his physiognomy. Generals Berthier, Lefebvre,
+Moreau, Macdonald, Murat, Moncey, Beurnonville, Marmont, and several
+aides-de-camp, among whom strode Colonel Oliver, escorted Bonaparte.
+Their air was one of jauntiness and triumph, and the clatter of their
+trailing sabers and their spurred boots on the flagstones of the hall
+rang out harshly. Then a profound silence fell upon the Assembly.
+
+"General," quoth President Lemercier, "the Council of Ancients has
+summoned you to its bar to impart to you its instructions."
+
+In a voice that was clear and shrill, and marked by a curt and haughty
+accent, General Bonaparte answered: "Representatives of the people, the
+Republic was perishing. You perceived its plight; your decree has saved
+it. Unhappy they who would trouble or disturb it! I shall arrest them,
+with the aid of General Lefebvre, General Berthier, and all my
+companions in arms. Woe to the seditious!"
+
+Immoderate applause, echoing "Bravos!" on the part of the majority,
+greeted this speech. Cries of "Long live General Bonaparte!" were heard.
+
+President Lemercier interrupted the tumult. "General," he said, "the
+Council of Ancients receives your oaths. It entertains no doubt of their
+sincerity and your zeal to fulfil them. He who never promised the
+Republic victories in vain can not but execute with devotion his new
+engagement to serve her in all faith and loyalty."
+
+Followed by his staff, General Bonaparte strode from the hall. The
+traitor majority rose to its feet with the foresworn cry upon its lips:
+
+"Long live the Republic!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+IN THE ORANGERY AT ST. CLOUD.
+
+
+Promptly at noon of the 19th Brumaire the Council of Ancients assembled
+in the great gallery of the palace at St. Cloud, still under the
+presidency of Lemercier, one of the most active spirits in the
+conspiracy. An usher announced:
+
+"General Bonaparte."
+
+General Bonaparte entered the gallery with a lofty air; his aides
+trailed in his wake. Through the doors of the gallery, which remained
+open, were visible the guns and fur caps of a platoon of grenadiers.
+
+"What! Soldiers here!" demanded several members of the minority, with
+indignation. "What right has General Bonaparte to announce himself in
+this guise? Would he play the role of a new Caesar?"
+
+"I demand the floor!" cried Bonaparte imperiously.
+
+"In what title, in what right do you thrust yourself into these
+precincts?" demanded Savary.
+
+"General Bonaparte has the floor," Lemercier declared from his chair.
+
+"Representatives of the people, you are in no ordinary circumstances,"
+began Bonaparte, when at last he could speak. "You are sitting upon a
+volcano. Allow me to speak with the frankness of a soldier, the
+frankness of a citizen zealous for the welfare of his country; and
+suspend, I pray you, your judgment till you have heard me to the end. I
+was at ease and quiet in Paris when I received the decree of the Council
+of Ancients, which opened my eyes to the dangers that it and the
+Republic ran. At once I called to my brothers-in-arms, and we came to
+give you our support. We came to offer you the arm of the nation, for
+you are its head. Our intentions were pure and disinterested; and as the
+price of the devotion we yesterday and to-day displayed, lo, already we
+reap calumnies! There is speech of 'a new Caesar,' 'a new Cromwell';
+they pretend that I aim to establish a new military government."
+
+The majority violently applauded these words. The minority held itself
+impassible. General Bonaparte continued, increasingly threatening,
+imperious, and haughty:
+
+"If it was said, to put me outside the law, I would call upon you, brave
+defenders of the Republic, with whom I have shared so many perils to
+establish liberty and equality. I would throw myself and my braves upon
+the courage of you all, and upon my fortune!" (Shudders of indignation
+among the minority, shocked by this audacious appeal to force.) "I
+invite you, Representatives of the people, to form into a general
+committee, and to take those salutary measures which the present dangers
+urgently demand. You will find my arm ever ready to execute your
+commands."
+
+Then Bonaparte and his suite retired.
+
+While the majority of the Council of Ancients pledged their allegiance
+to the military dictator, the republican majority in the Council of Five
+Hundred, assembled in the Orangery of the palace, was a prey to the
+most lively agitation. Lucien Bonaparte was in the chair.
+
+"You have the floor, citizen," he said, indicating Emile Gaudin, who was
+on his feet.
+
+The latter mounted to the tribunal: "Citizen Representatives," he began,
+"a decree of the Council of Ancients has transferred the seat of the
+legislative body to this commune. So extraordinary a measure can only be
+evoked by the fear of, or approach of, some extraordinary danger. In
+fact, the Council of Ancients has declared to the French people that it
+made use of the right conferred upon it by Article 102 of the
+Constitution, in order _to disarm the factions which seek to subjugate
+the national representation, and to restore internal peace_. I ask,
+first, that a committee of seven members be elected to report on the
+condition of the Republic and the means of saving it; second, that the
+committee make its report to the present session; third, that until then
+all deliberation be suspended; fourth, that all motions be submitted to
+it. Let the Assembly decide."
+
+Long applause followed this speech. Representative Delbrel rose next.
+
+"Representatives of the people," said he, "grave dangers do, in fact,
+threaten the Republic. But those who wish to destroy it are themselves
+the very ones who, under the pretext of saving it, wish to change or
+overturn the existing form of government. In vain these conspirators
+have hoped to frighten us by deploying about us the trappings of armed
+force. If, nevertheless, the conspirators succeed in deceiving or
+misleading the courage of our troops, we shall know how to die at our
+posts, in the defense of public liberty against the tyrants, against
+the dictators who wish to crush it. _We want the Constitution!_"
+
+Again prolonged applause burst out as Delbrel uttered these words. Many
+of the members spontaneously rose and repeated, with enthusiasm:
+
+"The Constitution or death!"
+
+Lucien Bonaparte hammered his bell for silence, and Delbrel resumed,
+energetically:
+
+"Bayonets affright us not. Here we are free! I ask that all the members
+of this Council, by roll-call, renew at once their oath to sustain the
+Constitution of the year III."
+
+The Assembly rose as one. "Down with the traitors!" "Long live the
+Constitution!" "Death to the traitors and conspirators!" shouted several
+members.
+
+"I ask that we take the oath to oppose the re-establishment of all forms
+of tyranny," cried Grandmaison.
+
+Grandmaison left the tribunal amid thunderous applause and continued
+cries of "Long live the Constitution!" The acclamations lasted several
+minutes. Hardly able to dissimulate the inward irritation he felt, young
+Bonaparte was finally forced to put the taking of the oath to a vote. It
+was carried unanimously, the infamous minority of intriguers in league
+with the president not daring to come out in the open by voting against.
+
+When it came in regular course to his turn to take the oath, Lucien
+Bonaparte left the chair, ostentatiously mounted the tribunal, and in
+the midst of a profound silence, with the eyes of all fixed upon him,
+uttered the words in a strangely unnatural voice:
+
+"_I swear fidelity to the Republic and to the Constitution of the year
+III._"
+
+"Secretary of the _Monitor_ newspaper, insert in the report the solemn
+oath of Citizen Lucien Bonaparte!" cried Briot quickly. The words were
+followed by shouts of "Bravo!"
+
+"If he plays false to his oath, the treachery will live in history!"
+exclaimed Grandmaison.
+
+Suddenly one of the doors of the Orangery flew open with a crash, and on
+the threshold appeared General Bonaparte, encircled by his generals and
+aides-de-camp, and followed by his company of grenadiers, with fixed
+bayonets. At the sight of this irruption of armed force into their
+sacred precincts, the Representatives of the people sprang from their
+benches as if impelled by an electric shock. Their indignation swelled
+to voice, and outcries rose in all quarters--"What! Bayonets here! Saber
+draggers! Down with the dictator!"
+
+All his assurance notwithstanding, General Bonaparte fell back before
+the outburst produced by his and his soldiers' presence. He removed his
+hat and signified that he wished to speak. He made to cross the sill of
+the entrance, when Representative Bigonnet sprang before him, and,
+barring his passage and that of his armed escort, cried:
+
+"Back--back, rash man! Leave this place at once; you violate the
+sanctuary of the law!"
+
+The attitude of the Representative of the people, his forceful accents,
+made their impression upon General Bonaparte. He paled, hesitated, and
+stopped. A new outburst of indignation resounded in the hall:
+
+"Down with the dictator!"
+
+"Outlaw the audacious fellow!"
+
+"Long live the Constitution!"
+
+"Let us die at our post; long live the Republic!"
+
+Controlling the passion which boiled within him, General Bonaparte shook
+his head haughtily, and seemed again, by a commanding gesture, to ask
+for the floor. Once more he essayed to cross the threshold of the hall,
+followed by his staff, when again several Representatives threw
+themselves in front of him, forcing him to retire; and Citizen Destrem
+called in a voice choked with indignation:
+
+"General, did you, then, only conquer in order to insult the national
+representation?"
+
+Anew, and with redoubled energy, the cries broke out of "Long live the
+Constitution! Outlaw the dictator!"
+
+White with fear and at a loss what to do, Bonaparte recoiled before the
+universal reprobation displayed against him. His boldness no longer
+swayed the situation; he made a sign to his officers, several of whom
+had carried their clenched hands to their sabers, and he and they
+withdrew.
+
+Lucien Bonaparte, the secret accomplice of his brother's intrigue
+against the liberties of the land, and who had followed with anguish the
+diverse incidents of the preceding scene, seemed stricken with
+consternation at the General's retreat. The great uproar which continued
+after the departure of Bonaparte gradually calmed down, and little by
+little peace was restored on the benches of the national
+representatives.
+
+No sooner had quiet come upon the assembly, however, than a grenadier
+captain burst into the hall, leaving his platoon standing in the
+hallway. He marched rapidly towards the group in the middle of which
+stood Lucien Bonaparte, answering a vehement cross fire of questions
+from his colleagues with a vehemence no less than theirs. The captain
+approached Lucien, spoke a few words in his ear, and the young man
+hastened from the hall, followed by the captain and his escort. This new
+violation of the council-chamber of the Five Hundred was so sudden, the
+departure of their president so unexpected, that the Representatives of
+the people at first were dumb with astonishment. Then a full-throated
+cry burst forth, "We are betrayed! Our president has gone over to
+General Bonaparte!" The agitation of the assembly was tremendous.
+
+Lucien Bonaparte, on the other hand, surrounded by his escort of
+soldiers, marched rapidly from the hall of the Five Hundred towards a
+large assemblage of troops drawn up in the middle of the park of St.
+Cloud. A great drove of people, inhabitants of the commune or arrivals
+from Paris, drawn thither by curiosity, crowded behind the ranks of
+soldiers; among these spectators were John Lebrenn and Duresnel.
+Bonaparte and his staff were in front of the troops. The General was
+pale and seemed a prey to keen anxiety; for the rumor had spread among
+the throng of onlookers and the soldiers that he had just been outlawed
+by the Council of Five Hundred. When Lucien, feigning intense
+indignation, ran up and spoke to his brother, his first words reassured
+and put new heart into the would-be dictator. Assuredly, failing of
+Lucien's presence of mind, the fortune of that day would have gone
+against the house of Bonaparte, for the youngster at once faced the
+troops and cried, in ringing tones:
+
+"Citizens! Soldiers! I, president of the Council of Five Hundred,
+declare to you that the majority of the Council is at this moment under
+the terror of several Representatives armed with stilettos, who besiege
+the tribunal, threatening their fellow-members with death, and carrying
+on the most frightful deliberations.
+
+"Soldiers," he continued, "I declare to you that these audacious
+brigands, who are without doubt sold to England, have set themselves up
+in rebellion against the Council of Ancients; they have dared to declare
+a sentence of outlawry against the general charged to execute its
+decree, just as if we were still living in the frightful times of the
+Reign of Terror, when that one word--'outlaw'--sufficed to cause the
+dearest heads of the fatherland to fall under the knife."
+
+The aides and generals about Bonaparte began to utter threats against
+the members of the Council of Five Hundred. Colonel Oliver, drawing his
+sword and brandishing it aloft, cried:
+
+"These bandits must be put an end to!"
+
+"Aye! Aye!" replied several voices from the ranks of the soldiery. "Long
+live General Bonaparte!"
+
+"Soldiers, I declare to you," continued Lucien, "that this little
+handful of rabid Representatives has read itself outside the law by its
+assaults on the liberty of the Council. Well, in the name of that people
+which is a by-word with this miserable spawn of the Terror, I confide to
+you, brave soldiers, the necessity of delivering the majority of its
+Representatives, so that, freed by the bayonet from the stiletto, they
+may deliberate on the welfare of the Republic."
+
+Prolonged acclamation on the part of the officers and soldiers greeted
+these words of Lucien's. Exasperation ran high against the
+'Representatives of the stiletto.' "The villains," exclaimed several
+soldiers, "it is with poniard at throat that they have forced the
+others to decree our general an outlaw. They should be shot on the spot!
+Death to the assassins! To the firing squad with these aristocrats."
+
+Noticing that his brother was more and more regaining his confidence, at
+the success of this jugglery with facts, Lucien continued, addressing
+him at first:
+
+"General! And you, soldiers! You shall not recognize as legislators of
+France any but those who follow me. As to those who remain in the
+Orangery, let force be invoked to expel them. These folks are no longer
+Representatives of the people, but Representatives of the poniard. Let
+that title stick to them--let it follow them forever, and when they dare
+to show themselves before the people, let all fingers point them out
+under that well-deserved designation, 'Representatives of the poniard'!
+Long live the Republic!"
+
+While Lucien was thus haranguing his brother's troops, the
+Representatives of the people, no longer doubting the complicity of
+their president in the schemes of the aspiring dictator, and beset by
+inexpressible anxiety, set about averting the evils which they felt
+impending. Motion after motion followed hard upon one another, and
+passed unnoticed amid the tumult.
+
+"Let us die for liberty!" "Outlawry for the dictator!" "Long live the
+Constitution!" "Long live the Republic!" Such were the cries that rang
+within the Orangery.
+
+All at once the roll of drums was heard approaching, then the heavy and
+regular tread of a marching army. The Orangery door was battered down
+with the butts of muskets. General Leclerc, his sword drawn, entered,
+followed by grenadiers. At this apparition, a death-like stillness fell
+as if by enchantment upon the assembly. The Representatives, calm and
+grave, regained their benches, where they sat immovable as the Senators
+of ancient Rome. Right, succumbing to the blows of brutal force,
+protested as it fell, and denounced Iniquity triumphant, a denunciation
+which will ring through the ages.
+
+From the tribunal General Leclerc gave the word of command:
+
+"In the name of General Bonaparte, the Council of Five Hundred is
+dissolved. Let all good citizens retire. Forward, grenadiers! Strike for
+the breast!"
+
+The grenadiers swarmed down the length of the hall, presenting the
+points of their bayonets to the breasts of the elected legislators of
+the nation. Most of the Representatives of the people fell back slowly,
+step by step, still facing the soldiers and crying "Long live the
+Republic!" Others threw themselves upon the bayonet-blades; but the
+grenadiers raised their guns and dragged the Representatives out of the
+hall.
+
+Caesar triumphed; but the day of Brutus will come! Execration on
+Bonaparte!
+
+Such were the days of Brumaire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+GLORY; AND ELBA.
+
+
+The war, immediately after the Brumaire coup d'etat, was pushed with
+vigor. Moreau received the commandership-in-chief of the Army of the
+Rhine, and Bonaparte, on the 16th Floreal of the same year (May 6,
+1800), left Paris to put himself at the head of the Army of Italy. On
+the 25th Prairial (June 14), he achieved the brilliant victory of
+Marengo, which, completing the work begun under the Directorate,
+expelled the Austrians from Italy.
+
+Between January 8, 1801, and the 25th of March, 1802, the various powers
+at war with France were one by one forced to sue for peace. The first
+treaty was signed by England at Amiens. The peace was to be short-lived,
+but Bonaparte improved his days of calm to restore a great part of the
+abuses overthrown by the Revolution, and to lay the foundations for his
+future hereditary power. Himself a sceptic, but considering religion in
+the light of an instrument of domination, he treated with the Pope of
+Rome toward the end of re-establishing Catholicism in all its splendor.
+He founded the order of the Legion of Honor, a ridiculous and
+anti-democratic body, and in so much a restoration of social inequality.
+Shortly thereafter the Revolutionary calendar was replaced by the
+Gregorian; in short, the First Consul set himself against the current
+of public opinion, by returning, more and more, to the traditions of the
+Old Regime.
+
+On May 6, 1802, the Tribunate promulgated the suggestion that the powers
+of the First Consul be extended for ten years; and two months later upon
+motion of the Senate, the docile tool of Bonaparte, he was voted the
+Consulate for life. Pope Pius VII came to Paris to anoint and crown the
+brow of Napoleon, Emperor of the French by the grace of God.
+
+The consequences of the restoration of hereditary monarchy in France
+were not long to await. One by one Napoleon forcibly seized all the
+budding republics of Europe which the breath of the Revolution had
+fanned into being, and bestowed them as benefices upon his family. Part
+of Italy, incorporated into France, was given into the vice-regency of
+Prince Eugene Beauharnais, the Emperor's brother-in-law; and one of the
+Emperor's sisters received the Duchy of Modena.
+
+The 11th of April, 1803, was marked by a new coalition between England,
+Austria and Russia. For a moment bent on a descent upon England,
+Napoleon abandoned the adventurous project. Recalled from Boulogne to
+face a war on the continent, Bonaparte, whose military genius still
+attended him, gained on the 2nd of December, 1805, the wonderful victory
+of Austerlitz. Peace was again imposed upon Austria; on the 26th of the
+same month she signed the treaty of Presburg by which she surrendered
+enormous slices of territory.
+
+In 1806 the King of Naples broke his treaties with France. He was
+summarily dispossessed of his throne to the profit of Joseph Bonaparte,
+brother to Napoleon. A short time thereafter, the republic of Batavia
+was presented to Louis Bonaparte, another brother.
+
+Now dreaming of universal empire, and retrograding toward the era of
+feudal barbarism, Napoleon attached foreign duchy after foreign duchy as
+fiefs to his throne. His continual inroads into the neighboring
+territories rekindled the war. A fourth coalition was formed against the
+Empire. Prussia, neutral in the previous war, this time took an active
+part; but October 14, 1806, saw her crushing defeat at Jena; on the 26th
+the French army entered Berlin in triumph.
+
+Russia, defeated at Friedland and at Eylau, begged for peace; it was
+concluded at Tilsitt, June 21, 1807.
+
+At each of these new and crowning victories Napoleon's vertigo grew.
+Drunk with constant success, a universal monarchy now became his fixed
+idea, and still another of his brothers, Jerome Bonaparte, was invested
+with a kingdom formed out of several states of the Germanic
+Confederation. The single member of the Bonaparte family who took no
+part in the rich quarry of thrones distributed by the conqueror was
+Lucien. Did he seek thus voluntarily to expiate his complicity in the
+events of Brumaire, or was he victim to the Emperor's ingratitude?
+Lucien received not a single crown out of the booty.
+
+Napoleon's return to the traditions of the Old Regime, even to those
+most execrated by the nation, became more and more extravagant. For
+instance, the right of primogeniture, abolished by the Revolution, was
+re-established. This iniquity, from the point of view of society and of
+the family, was forced upon the Emperor by the logic of his mistakes:
+if he reconstituted the nobility, he could not but ensure its existence
+by restricting the partition of property.
+
+On March 1st, 1813, the Prussian government, yielding to the public
+voice of Germany, which was ever more and more hostile to Napoleon, gave
+the signal for treachery by breaking its alliance with the French Empire
+and again joining hands with England and Russia. The new coalition was
+reinforced by Sweden, where Bernadotte, the old general of the Republic,
+had become King. The victories of Lutzen and Bautzen at first seemed to
+assure Napoleon's success. Austria proffered its mediation to the
+belligerent parties, and they concluded, on June 4, 1813, the armistice
+of Plessewitz. A congress, in session at Prague, offered Napoleon as
+national limits those won by the armies of the Republic--the Rhine, the
+Meuse, and the Alps. But Napoleon rejected the proposal with disdain; he
+feared to lose by it his prestige in the eyes of the world and of
+France, which he believed he could hold in subjection only by the glamor
+of his victories.
+
+The war recommenced, but soon, blow upon blow, began the reverses.
+Macdonald was defeated in Silesia, Ney in Prussia, Vandamme at Culm. The
+princes of the Germanic Confederation, encouraged by these checks, and
+yielding to the pressure of their people, abandoned Napoleon on the
+battle-field of Leipzig. They turned their troops against him. The
+French army, in full rout, retreated within its frontiers, October 31,
+1813; soon the allies threatened them even there. Napoleon rushed to
+Paris on November 9th, and ordered new levies of troops. Thousands of
+families, at extortionate prices, had previously bought off their sons
+from conscription. This last draft took them all. The Corsican ogre
+devoured the whole generation.
+
+The situation was desperate. The Austrians advanced by way of Italy and
+through Switzerland; the English, masters of Spain and Portugal, poured
+over the Pyrenees, under the command of Wellington; the Prussians, led
+by Bluecher, invaded Frankfort; and the army of the North, with
+Bernadotte at its head, penetrated France by way of Belgium. In vain the
+French soldiers performed miracles of valor; in vain were the Prussians
+annihilated at Montmirail, at Champaubert, and at Chateau-Thierry, and
+the Austrians overthrown at Montereau. These sterile victories were the
+final effort of Napoleon's warrior genius.
+
+On the 30th of March, 1814, the foreign armies entered the capital, a
+shame which France had undergone but once before across the ages, under
+the monarchy, in the reign of King John. Talleyrand and Fouché, so long
+the servile tools of their master, were the first to betray him. On
+April 11, 1814, Napoleon abdicated the Empire after a reign of ten
+years.
+
+The Senate, whose conduct during the Empire had been marked with abject
+servility, put the final touches to its ignominy by decreeing with the
+following justifications the deposition of the man of whom its own
+members had been the accomplices:
+
+     The Senate Conservator,
+
+     Considering, That under a constitutional monarchy the monarch
+     exists only in virtue of the Constitution, or the social contract;
+
+     That Napoleon Bonaparte, for some time head of a firm and prudent
+     government, gave to the nation and his subjects reason to depend
+     for the future upon his wisdom and justice; but thereupon he
+     sundered the pact which bound the French people, notably by levying
+     imposts and establishing taxes not warranted by the law, and
+     against the expressed tenor of the oath which he swore to before
+     his ascension to the throne, according to Article 43 of the Act of
+     Constitution of the 28th Floreal, year XII;
+
+     That he committed this assault upon the rights of the people just
+     when he had without necessity adjourned the legislative body and
+     had caused to be suppressed as criminal a report of that body in
+     which it contested his title and his part in the national
+     representation;
+
+     That he undertook a series of wars in violation of Article 50 of
+     the Constitutional Act of the 22nd Frimaire, year VIII, which
+     states that declarations of war must be moved, discussed, decreed
+     and promulgated the same as laws;
+
+     That he unconstitutionally rendered several decrees carrying the
+     penalty of death, namely the decrees of the 5th of March, last;
+     that he presumed to consider national a war which he entered upon
+     in the interest alone of his own unbridled ambition;
+
+     That he violated the laws and the Constitution by his decrees on
+     State Prisons;
+
+     That he has abolished ministerial responsibility, confounded all
+     powers, and destroyed the independence of the judiciary;
+
+     Considering, That the liberty of the press, established and
+     consecrated as one of the rights of the nation, has been constantly
+     subjected to the arbitrary censorship of the police, and that at
+     the same time he has made use of the press to fill France and all
+     Europe with contradicted facts, false maxims, doctrines favorable
+     to despotism, and outrages against foreign governments;
+
+     That acts and reports rendered by the Senate have been caused to be
+     garbled in publication;
+
+     Considering, That, in place of reigning with an eye singly to the
+     interest, the happiness and the glory of the French people and in
+     accordance with the words of his oath, Napoleon has heaped high the
+     woes of the fatherland by his refusal to treat upon conditions
+     which the national interests bade him accept, and which would have
+     compromised neither French honor nor the interests of the nation;
+
+     By the abuse he has made of all the resources of men and of money
+     that have been confided to him;
+
+     By his abandoning of the wounded without medical attention, without
+     assistance, and without food;
+
+     By various measures, the result of which has been the ruin of
+     cities, the misery and depopulation of the country districts,
+     famine and contagious diseases;
+
+     Considering, That, by all these causes, the Imperial Government,
+     established by the Senate-Consulate on the 28th Floreal, year XII,
+     has ceased to exist, and that the manifest will of all the French
+     calls for an order of things whose first result shall be the
+     re-establishment of general peace and which may be also an epoch of
+     solemn reconciliation among all the states of the great European
+     family,
+
+     The Senate declares and decrees as follows:
+
+     Article 1.--Napoleon Bonaparte is deposed from the throne, and the
+     hereditary right set up in his family is abolished. The French
+     people and the army are released from their oath of fidelity
+     towards Napoleon Bonaparte, who has ceased to be Emperor.
+
+The heart rises with indignation and disgust at the thought of the
+shamefulness of these miserable senators. Not alone did not one among
+them dare to protest, even by his silence, against these acts which they
+now condemned, but these very acts in their time had had no more
+vociferous upholders than they themselves.
+
+One last test was reserved for France and Napoleon. The latter was
+furnished later (in 1815) with the opportunity to expiate and redeem the
+past. His monarchical pride, his hatred for the Revolution both
+contrived to render impossible this supreme expiation, and a terrible
+chastisement fell upon him. In 1814 Bonaparte, although his throne was
+forfeit, was recognized sovereign of the island of Elba. The coalized
+Kings assigned him that place as a residence, and thither, attended by
+several officers and soldiers faithful to him in his misfortune, he
+repaired.
+
+So great was the need felt by France for peace, repose, and
+independence, after these ten years of warfare and hard service, that in
+spite of her profound aversion for the Bourbons, their return was hailed
+with joy. The kingdom of 1814, a new usurpation of the sole,
+indivisible, indefeasable and inalienable sovereignty of the people,
+consecrated again the iniquitous principle of monarchy, against which
+the republican minority in vain protested.
+
+Louis XVIII, accordingly, made his solemn entry into Paris on the 3rd of
+May, 1814, in the midst of the princes of his family, escorted by the
+greater part of the Marshals of the Empire, among whom mingled Emigrants
+and foreign generals: legitimate punishment to Napoleon!
+
+The Bourbons deeply wounded the sentiment of the nation by a return to
+the usages of the Old Regime and by outrages against the acts of the
+Revolution. Decrees restored to the Emigrants the estates and property
+that had not yet been sold; the loans contracted by Louis XVIII in
+various countries were placed among the debts of the state. Ordinances
+prescribed the observation of church days and Sundays; the censorship
+was retained almost as rigorous as under the Empire. Processions
+commenced again to circulate about the churches. Thus the royal
+government in a short space became as odious as the imperial government
+had been. Several military conspiracies were organized. One faction of
+the bourgeoisie thought of calling to the throne the Duke of Orleans,
+while the republican party thought, on its part, to turn the trend of
+events to its own profit. But, as has well been said, the fate of France
+lay in the hands of the army, attached to Napoleon by the privileges he
+had showered upon it, and by the memories of its glory. The people, long
+grown disused to political life, switched off by Napoleon, and wounded
+by the Bourbons in its revolutionary instincts, lay inert, all save a
+few old patriots of the illustrious days of the Revolution. The army
+alone, then, was the deciding factor in the fate of the Restoration.
+Such was the state of mind in France from the 3rd of May, 1814, the day
+of Louis XVIII's entry into Paris, up to the beginning of the month of
+March, 1815, at which period begins our next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+RETURN OF NAPOLEON.
+
+
+It was ten o'clock in the morning of the 20th day of March, of the year
+1815. Monsieur Desmarais and his brother-in-law, Monsieur Hubert, were
+awaiting in a chamber of the Tuileries an audience which they had
+requested with the Duke of Blacas, minister to Louis XVIII, and his most
+intimate favorite. They had anticipated the hour of the interview, in
+order to arrive among the first; for great was the throng of solicitants
+which sought Monsieur Blacas, whose recommendation was all-powerful with
+the King. Desmarais and Hubert were dressed in the costume of peers of
+the realm of France. The former, first senator under the Consulate, then
+under the Empire, had been besides created a Count by Napoleon. Thus,
+turned royalist, just as he had been Bonapartist (and, to retrace his
+political career, Thermidorean, Terrorist, Jacobin, and first of all
+Constitutional), Count Desmarais owed to his recent royalist devotion
+the fact that he had been included in the list of senators who were made
+peers of France since the Bourbon return. He was now in his sixty-ninth
+year; his careworn, bitter features began to show the weakening hand of
+age. Hubert, on the contrary, seemed lively and brisk as ever. He had
+become the possessor of an enormous fortune, thanks to his purveyorship
+under the Directorate, while he was a member of the Council of Ancients.
+He had curried no favors at the hand of the Empire, whose absolutism
+conflicted with his political principles; his ideal government had
+always been a constitutional King, subordinated to an oligarchy of
+bourgeois. Hubert had been one of a batch of large proprietors whom
+Louis XVIII had in one day admitted to the Chamber of Peers; but he had
+not been long in alienating himself from the government of the
+Restoration, which was piling fault upon fault; he accordingly attached
+himself to the Orleanist faction.
+
+While awaiting their audience with Minister Blacas, the two were engaged
+in a political discussion. Soon there entered Fouché, in tow of an
+usher. "You will inform his Excellency that the Duke of Otranto begs an
+audience with him," said Fouché to the usher. The usher bowed and
+disappeared into the ante-room, while the new Duke exclaimed:
+
+"What, is this you, Citizen Brutus Desmarais? And pray, what are you
+soliciting here? An order for the debut at the Opera of that dancing
+girl you are protecting?"
+
+"That devil of a Fouché knows everything! You would think he was still
+Minister of Police," interjected Hubert.
+
+"The cask will always smell of the herring, my dear. I saw this morning
+two of my old agents, who continue to make me their little confidences."
+
+"Prefect of police, chief of spies! A pretty function, and highly
+honorable!" sneered Hubert.
+
+"Take care, take care, Citizen Hubert," cautioned Fouché. "I have my eye
+on the Orleanist conspiracy, in which you have taken it upon yourself to
+play a role!"
+
+"Your spies are robbing you. You are very ill informed," retorted the
+banker.
+
+"Why try to trifle with me? Everybody conspires under the open heavens
+these days. These Bourbons are imbeciles, and their Prefect of Police,
+Monsieur André, is a ninny! We play all around their legs."
+
+"How can you dare to hold such language in the very palace of our
+beloved sovereigns?" protested Count Desmarais.
+
+"Come, now! You and your fellows in the Chamber of Peers are yourselves
+conspirators and enemies of the Bourbons."
+
+"Your conspiracies are pure will-o'-the-wisps," again retorted Hubert.
+
+"Well, I tell you that you, Hubert, are conspiring for the Duke of
+Orleans. Several officers and generals are conspiring in favor of
+Bonaparte. A number of colonels in command of regiments are connected
+with this second plot; while, finally, the old Jacobins, and notably
+your son-in-law John Lebrenn, Citizen Brutus, as well as the painter
+Martin and their friends, are conspiring for the Republic; that's a
+third conspiracy."
+
+"All these plots and complots are of your own invention," grumbled
+Desmarais, feeling very uneasy.
+
+"True!" acquiesced Fouché with a smile. "But if I never follow the
+conspiracies I invent, I at least always let myself into those which the
+imbeciles are nursing. I've a foot everywhere: with the republicans, as
+an ex-Terrorist; among the Bonapartists, as ex-minister of the Emperor;
+with the Orleanists as an old friend of Philip Equality's; in short, the
+best proof I can give you of the existence of these complots is, that I
+have just come to denounce them. Yes," he continued, his smile
+broadening, while Desmarais and Hubert stared at him in stupefaction, "I
+have come to denounce them to that blockhead of a Blacas."
+
+"His Excellency will have the honor to receive Monsieur the Duke of
+Otranto," announced the usher, making a low bow to Fouché.
+
+"Messieurs," beamed Fouché as he moved towards the open door, "a
+royalist like me comes before everybody."
+
+As the door closed after Fouché, a new group of solicitors entered the
+waiting room. These newcomers were the Count of Plouernel, now in spite
+of his missing eye lieutenant-general and second in command of the
+company of Black Musketeers of the military household of Louis XVIII;
+the Count's son, Viscount Gonthram, a boy of thirteen, in the costume of
+King's page; and, lastly, Cardinal Plouernel, the Count's younger
+brother. The prelate was garbed in a red cloak and cap. For a moment
+these new personages stood apart, then the Count of Plouernel advanced
+towards Monsieur Hubert, whom he did not at first recognize, and engaged
+him in the following conversation:
+
+"Will you have the goodness, sir, to inform me whether the audiences
+have commenced?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur; just now the Duke of Otranto was called in by Monsieur
+the Duke of Blacas. But, pardon me," he added, as little by little he
+recalled the other's features, "is it not Monsieur the Count of
+Plouernel whom I have the honor to address?"
+
+"Yes, monsieur," replied the latter.
+
+"Monsieur, do you not recognize me?" continued Hubert. "I will assist
+you. We met in 1792, during the trial of our unhappy King. We were
+conspiring then against the Republic--"
+
+"St. Roche Street, at the house of the former beadle of the parish? Now
+I recall it!"
+
+"Who would have told us then, Monsieur Count, that more than twenty
+years after that meeting we would encounter each other again in the
+palace of the brother of that royal martyr?"
+
+"I fear lest that terrible lesson be lost upon royalty."
+
+"Between ourselves, and without reproach, you have been somewhat the
+cause of these unhappinesses, you gentlemen of the nobility."
+
+"In conspiring against the republican Constitution we but defended our
+property and our honor. The Republic despoiled us of our seigniorial
+rights, sacred and consecrated rights which we held of God and of our
+sword."
+
+"Ah, the eternal strife between the Franks and the Gauls! Why is not my
+nephew Lebrenn here to reply to you!"
+
+"What say you, sir?" asked Plouernel, shuddering at the name. "That
+Lebrenn, that ironsmith, has he become your nephew? What strange news!"
+
+"He married my niece, the daughter of advocate Desmarais, to-day Count
+and peer of France."
+
+Under the weight of the memories evoked by the name of Lebrenn, the
+Count fell silent. The Cardinal drew close to the speakers, holding by
+the hand his nephew Gonthram. His Eminence, better served by his memory
+than his brother the Count, recognized Hubert at once, and addressed him
+in the most courteous tones:
+
+"It has indeed been many years since we met, monsieur; for, if you
+recollect, I accompanied my brother to the cabal in St. Roche Street.
+What a time! What sad days!"
+
+"Indeed; and your Eminence must recall how lacking in respect to you the
+reverend Father Morlet was, who arrogated to himself the chairmanship of
+our meeting. The reverend was accompanied by his god-son, who seemed to
+be about the age of this pretty page" (indicating Gonthram); "but he was
+far from resembling him, for I never saw a face more sly and
+hypocritical than that child of the Church wore."
+
+"Father Morlet is dead, and his god-son, taking orders in Rome under the
+name of Abbot Rodin, is affiliated with the Society of Jesus," the
+Cardinal informed the group. "This Father Rodin, as private secretary of
+the present General of the Order, enjoys great influence. Ah! by my
+faith! I did not know that our master hypocrite was in Paris!"
+
+While the Cardinal was uttering these last words, the door opened and in
+stepped himself, the reverend Father Rodin. He was accompanied by an
+usher, into whose ear he dropped a couple of words. Rodin was now past
+his thirtieth year. His meager face, smooth shaven and wan, his
+half-closed and restless reptile eyes, his slightly bowed back, his
+already bald forehead, his bent neck, his sidling gait, his attitude of
+mock-humility, through which shone his contempt for others--everything
+about the man stamped him as hypocrisy incarnate. His black gown was
+threadbare and whitened at the seams; the mud was caked on his clumsy
+shoes. In one hand he held a squalid-looking cap, in the other an old
+cotton umbrella with red-and-white checks.
+
+The usher to whom he spoke stepped for a moment into the next room and
+returned almost immediately. He made a deep obeisance of respect to the
+Jesuit, and said to him in a voice marked with great deference,
+"Reverend Father, I have the honor to conduct you at once to the private
+cabinet of monseigneur, who is at present engaged with the Duke of
+Otranto."
+
+Rodin made a sign of assent, and with eyes fixed on his shoes, so that
+he did not see the Cardinal, he was about to walk by the group in which
+the latter stood.
+
+"Usher!" called the Cardinal, haughtily, "a word with you. We, Monsieur
+the Count of Plouernel and I, were here before this reverend, which he
+does not seem to know. The reverend gentleman should wait his time of
+audience, and not usurp ours," he added, while Rodin bowed himself
+almost to the ground before him.
+
+"I have the honor to inform your Eminence that I have orders from
+Monseigneur the Duke of Blacas on the subject of this holy Father. He is
+to be introduced whenever he presents himself, and before all other
+persons. I obey the orders given me," returned the usher.
+
+"I shall not allow a simple priest to precede by a single step a Prince
+of the Church!" stamped the Cardinal. Rodin only bowed before him
+several times, lower than before, without raising his eyes to his face.
+
+"My orders are imperative," said the usher.
+
+Indignant the Cardinal turned to his brother. "Well, brother," he said,
+"there we are! By the navel of the Pope, I'd like to knock the
+interloper down!"
+
+For all answer Rodin again mutely and humbly inclined towards the
+Cardinal. Then he made a sign to the usher to precede him, and vanished
+through a door on the opposite side of the room from where he had
+entered.
+
+The latter entrance again swung open, and admitted Lieutenant General
+Count Oliver, in the garish uniform of his rank and decorated with the
+Legion of Honor and several foreign orders. He wore the great red ribbon
+on his scarf, the order of the Iron Crown over his shoulder, and the
+Cross of St. Louis in one of the buttonholes of his coat, which
+glittered with braid. John Lebrenn's old apprentice was now
+thirty-eight; his moustache still held its blackness, but his hair was
+streaked with grey; his face still was handsome and martial. A total
+stranger to the other personages in the audience chamber, he seated
+himself a little distance off from the group formed by the Cardinal, the
+Count of Plouernel, and Monsieur Hubert. Count Desmarais had withdrawn
+into the alcove of a window.
+
+"That Jesuit, that scamp, that priestlet, introduced to Monsieur Blacas
+before me!" stormed the Cardinal to the Count, his brother. "Me, a
+Prince of the Church! I declare, as things are going, helped along by
+that execrable charter of 1814, we are marching towards another '93!
+France is lost!"
+
+"The Restoration has done a great deal for the clergy, Monsieur
+Cardinal," declared Hubert. "You are very wrong to cast reproaches at
+the King and the government."
+
+"I am of my brother's opinion as to what concerns the nobility," said
+the Count of Plouernel. "I blame the King strongly for giving the
+command of two regiments of his guards to ex-Marshals of the Empire,
+clodhoppers, men of no account, like all these plebeians, hardly scraped
+clean by the nobility Napoleon covered them with." General Oliver, so
+far unnoticed by the Count of Plouernel, here moved indignantly, but the
+Count proceeded: "The King should never have entrusted commands to these
+barrack-heroes, smelling of the pipe and the bottle, bumpkins whom we
+must elbow out of our way at the Tuileries, we, old Emigrants, who
+fought them under the Republic. We sacrificed all for our masters, and
+they do us the outrage to treat these upstarts as our equals! These
+specimens, during their Emperor's time, expressed themselves most
+insultingly toward the house of Bourbon; and to-day they accept
+services, favors, and commands from the King. It is only to betray him
+some day; at least that would not be the last word in the renegades'
+baseness, and they would not even be conscious of their apostasy!"
+
+At this General Oliver rose, pale with anger, and striding roughly up to
+Plouernel said in a voice of concentrated rage:
+
+"Sir, you will regret, I am convinced, your last words, when you learn
+that I, Lieutenant General, Count Oliver, have served the Emperor, to
+whom I owe my rank and title. For I have the honor to be a soldier of
+fortune, sir. I shall know how to chastise any insolence that may be
+addressed to me!"
+
+Disdainfully looking General Oliver over from head to foot, the Count of
+Plouernel made answer: "Well, sir! I, Gaston, Count of Plouernel, second
+in command in his Majesty's Black Musketeers, have the honor never to
+have served any but my masters. I followed them into exile, and I
+returned to France in 1814. You have my opinion of traitors and
+turn-coats."
+
+"The King has conferred on me the command of a military division, and it
+pleased him to award me the Cross of St. Louis. Tell me, sir, am I in
+your eyes because of that command and that decoration a traitor or a
+renegade? Answer, sir," demanded Oliver.
+
+"Since you ask me, sir, I shall reply in all sincerity----"
+
+At the moment when Plouernel would have finished the sentence, he was
+interrupted by the hilarious roar of a new personage who had burst into
+the room laughing fit to split his sides. It was his old friend the
+Marquis of St. Esteve, that intolerable would-be conspirator, whom the
+most serious moment could not check in his buffoonery. Powdered white,
+the Marquis's hair was dressed in 'pigeon-wings'; his little queue
+bobbed up and down on the collar of his bourgeois' coat with gold
+epaulets. He wore a court sword, knee breeches, and top boots; he was
+the epitome of that type of Emigrant dubbed 'Louis XV's tumblers.' On
+seeing Plouernel he at once ran toward him, clasped him in his arms, and
+all the while laughing fit to kill, exclaimed:
+
+"Ah, Count! Hold me! I die! Oh, the idea! Ha, ha, ha! This time I shall
+split of it, surely! Oh, oh, oh! If you knew the funny sto--ry! Ah, the
+idea! I shall surely choke--let me laugh!"
+
+Plouernel pushed him off, muttering "Devil take the nuisance!"
+
+"Hang the Emigrant!" growled Oliver, on his part. "Interrupting just as
+I was about to slap that insolent fellow's face!"
+
+"You don't know of it!" ran on the Marquis, continuing to shriek with
+laughter. "Ha, ha, ha! Bonaparte--has--has--oh! the idea!--has
+returned--has landed at the gulf--oh! oh!--at the gulf of Juan, near the
+town of Antibes! If that wouldn't make one split his sides laughing! Hi,
+hi, hi!"
+
+"Gentlemen," cried an usher rushing in in a fright, and beside himself,
+"his Excellency has just been summoned to the King in haste by an
+important unforeseen matter. There is no need waiting--the audiences are
+off for another day!"
+
+Following him hurriedly out of Blacas's cabinet, came Fouché, rubbing
+his hands. Glimpsing Desmarais, pale and distracted at the news of
+Napoleon's landing, he called to him: "If the tyrant does not have you
+shot on his return, Citizen Count Brutus, my faith, you will have
+fortune with you this time. Make your will!"
+
+"Such a catastrophe! The designs of God are indeed impenetrable!"
+exclaimed the Cardinal to Fouché.
+
+"On the contrary, this is the happiest event that could happen under the
+canopy. You don't see that Bonaparte falls into the little trap I set
+for him. His return is folly. He will reach Paris without striking a
+blow, for the Bourbons are execrated. But before a month, all Europe
+will march against France."
+
+Without waiting for Fouché to finish his speech, the various persons in
+the hall fled to the door, each a prey to a different fear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+WATERLOO.
+
+
+The Hundred Days were over. They had passed like the lightning in a
+stormy night. Relying only on his genius and his army, Napoleon had
+staked upon the turn of a battle his Empire and the independence of the
+country. This battle, of Waterloo, he lost, in spite of the super-human
+heroism of his soldiers.
+
+May the name of Napoleon be accursed!
+
+Several days had passed since that great disaster. In the cloth shop of
+John Lebrenn, in St. Denis Street, under the sign of the 'Sword of
+Brennus,' the following scene was enacting.
+
+General Oliver, back wounded from the battle of Waterloo, where he had
+bravely conducted himself, was engaged in conversation with his former
+master.
+
+"Well, Oliver," Lebrenn was saying to the wounded warrior, "your
+Bonaparte has led France to her doom. We have lost the frontiers
+conquered by the Republic. A second time the stranger is in the heart of
+our country."
+
+"Ah, would that I had remained at Waterloo, like so many others of my
+companions-in-arms. But death would not take me!"
+
+"I reproach you not, Oliver. You are defeated and unhappy; you have
+returned to us. Let us draw the curtain over the past."
+
+"How just were the forebodings of your valiant sister! I sought a title
+of nobility, chivalric orders, and an income. To sustain the Empire I
+would have shot my parents and friends. When the Restoration took place,
+I did like the most of the Marshals and generals. In order to preserve
+my rank, my title, my crosses and my pay, I turned traitor to my past, I
+served the Bourbons, whom I despised. I would still have retained a fair
+competency even if, which was almost impossible, I had been able to tear
+myself away from the attraction of the army. But no, I had become a
+servile courtier. I had breathed the air of the court, I could live
+nowhere else. I cried 'Long live the King!' I went to mass, I followed
+the processions, a wax taper in my hand, I swallowed the insults the
+Emigrants heaped upon us when they beheld us at court crooking the knee
+to their princes. Ah, Victoria! Victoria! Shame and anguish have fallen
+upon me. I betrayed the Republic in Brumaire, I sold myself to the
+Restoration in 1814, I deserted it during the Hundred Days, and here I
+am reduced to exile--a just punishment for my apostasies."
+
+"You have at least, Oliver, the conscience to repent that sad past. But
+you will see how few among the generals and Marshals of the Empire will
+repent like you the acts whose memory now galls you. Yes, you will yet
+see the Princes, the Dukes, and the Counts of the Empire, little as the
+new Restoration will please them, take up again the white cockade as
+quickly as they threw it down three months ago for the tricolor. Most of
+the Marshals are gorged with wealth; dignity would be easy for them.
+But no, they must renounce it for vanities dearer to their pride. Just
+God! There you have the fruits of Napoleon's maxim 'It is by rattles
+that men are led.'"
+
+"I see too late the abysses toward which Napoleon was driving France,"
+groaned Oliver.
+
+Martin the painter just then happened in. "Ah, my dear friend," he
+announced from the threshold, "all hope is lost. Carnot despairs of the
+situation."
+
+"Nevertheless, the situation is still good," protested Oliver. "Paris,
+considered as an immense entrenched camp, gives us the disposition of
+the five bridges across the Seine. It would be possible, by a night
+march, to move our troops by either bank of the river and wipe out the
+Prussian army. But, to carry out that plan, the people would have to be
+armed, which Napoleon does not want. The people in arms would mean
+revolution and the Republic."
+
+"What Oliver says bears the stamp of reason," remarked Lebrenn.
+
+"Our friends said to Carnot," returned Martin, "'The Emperor will be
+forced to abdicate, his hopes of empire will be blasted. The allies will
+not content themselves with sending him back again to Elba; he has
+everything to fear at their hands. Well, despairing as our position
+seems, never, if he wished it, will it have been so excellent! He can
+yet become the savior of France and the admiration of posterity. Let him
+again transform himself into General Bonaparte, let him put himself at
+the head of the troops and the armed people, with the battle-cry "Long
+live the Republic! Long live the Nation!" Then liberty will triumph and
+France arise, as ever, victorious.'"
+
+"My heart leaps with enthusiasm at hearing such noble language," cried
+Oliver. "Yes, yes, Long live the Republic! No more monarchs! Neither
+Kings nor masters!"
+
+"'The Emperor is resolved to abdicate,' replied Carnot to us," Martin
+continued. "'He knows well enough that he has only to don the red bonnet
+and cry To arms! for the whole people to rise. But he does not desire a
+new revolution, he does not want to go outside the law. He has no longer
+any authority. The Chamber of Deputies has seized the executive power,
+and is treating with the allies. The Emperor's part is played, he can do
+nothing more for France. Without his concurrence, I consider it futile
+to engage upon a struggle.' Such was the response of Carnot."
+
+Castillon and Duchemin were the next to come into the cloth shop. The
+first, in his working clothes, still had on his leather apron, blackened
+by smoke from the forge. Duchemin, whose moustache had grown quite grey
+in the interim, wore a veteran's uniform. He had been placed in that
+corps after the Russian campaign, in which he served as quartermaster in
+the artillery of the Imperial Guard.
+
+"Well, my friends, what news from the suburbs?" asked Lebrenn.
+
+"In St. Antoine they are demanding arms to run to the defense of the
+barrier of La Villette, which they say is already threatened by the
+Prussians. 'Guns! Your Emperor will never give them to you!' I told
+them," answered Castillon. And catching sight of General Oliver, he
+gazed at him a moment open-mouthed and concluded: "Well, I am not
+blind! There is Oliver! What a strange encounter!"
+
+"It is indeed Oliver, our old apprentice," said Lebrenn, smiling.
+
+"Ah, it is really you, my fine fellow!" returned Castillon. "Well, well!
+It seems you have become a general. Well, that is nothing wrong, for you
+are a brave one. But I also learned--and this, on my faith, would make a
+hen smile--I also read that you had become a Count! Is it possible! You,
+a Count! an ex-ragamuffin who used to ply the bellows for our forge, and
+to whom I taught the song of those fine days: '_Ah ça ira, ça ira_, to
+the lamp-post with the aristocrats!'"
+
+Instead this time of getting angry, Oliver smiled sadly and extended his
+hand to Castillon, saying, "Amuse yourself at my expense, my old
+Castillon; it is your right. Your quips are merited, I confess my
+wrongs. But be indulgent toward your old comrade. To-day, I wish to
+fight for the Republic."
+
+"Heaven be thanked! You have sung me an air there that has brought the
+tears to my eyes," exclaimed Castillon with emotion as he eagerly
+pressed the general's hand.
+
+Duchemin smiled genially and gave the military salute. "Present,
+general," he said. "Still another of the Army of the Rhine and Moselle.
+You do not recall me at the passage of the Beresina?"
+
+"Well! Well!" replied Oliver warmly. "Well do I remember you, and
+Carmagnole, your sweetheart of a spit-fire."
+
+"Here is an ex-member of the battalion of Paris Volunteers--a tried
+patriot, and a republican of the old school," raid Castillon, indicating
+to General Oliver Duresnel, who just then entered.
+
+"Ah, my friend," said John Lebrenn to the new arrival, "if you do not
+bring me better news than Martin has just given us, our reunion to-day
+will lack its flavor. The masses lie indifferent."
+
+"_Consummatum est!_" Duresnel sighed by way of answer. "It is finished.
+I have just left the Chamber of Deputies; the Emperor has issued his
+abdication, and is preparing, they say, to set out for his residence of
+Malmaison, where he will remain while the allies settle upon his fate."
+
+"And what news of the army?"
+
+"The Prince of Eckmuehl, who commands the troops united under the walls
+of Paris, assembled his generals this morning, and all or nearly all
+have gone over to the Bourbon government. No more hope for it; we must
+endure the ignominy of a second Restoration."
+
+"In which case, friend John, what shall we do? Without arms, without
+headship, without leaders, the people can do nothing," sighed Castillon.
+
+"The old sans-culottes of the St. Antoine suburb ask nothing better than
+to go to the front. In desperation for the cause, they were to march
+to-day in mass to the Elysian Fields, in the hope that Napoleon would
+yield to the acclamations of the populace," commented Duchemin.
+
+"I am on guard at the Elysian Fields at six o'clock!" exclaimed John
+Lebrenn, looking at his watch. "Like an old National Guard, I must to my
+post. Adieu, friends!" And he continued to Oliver, "Come to supper this
+evening with us and with our old comrades here. We shall take our
+adieus of the banished soldier, and before we part, Oliver, we will
+drain a last bumper of wine to the re-birth of the Republic. Neither
+Kings nor masters! The Commune, the Federation, and the Red Flag!"
+
+"Till this evening, then," replied Oliver. "Long live the Republic! War
+upon Kings! Down with the Bourbons!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+DEPOSITION.
+
+
+Although it was mid-June, the day touched its close towards eight
+o'clock in the evening. The shadows of night were already mingling with
+the thick shade of the Elysian Garden, where Napoleon dismounted on his
+return from Waterloo. A compact mass of people filled Marigny Alley, one
+of whose sides was formed by the terrace of the palace, on which trees
+and verdure grew in profusion.
+
+The throng was composed almost to a man of artisans or federated troops
+of the suburbs. From time to time the buzzing of the vast multitude was
+dominated by the cry from thousands of throats--"Down with the
+Bourbons!"--"Down with the foreigners!"--"Down with the
+traitors!"--"Arms!"--"To the front!"--"Long live the Emperor!"
+
+As the evening wore on, however, that last cry of "Long live the
+Emperor," became more and more infrequent. The people understood at last
+that Napoleon, whose return they had acclaimed with such hopefulness,
+preferred rather to abandon France to the woes which hung over her than
+to make an appeal to the spirit of Revolution. The Corsican ceased to be
+the idol of the people. Cursed be the name of Napoleon!
+
+At his post, gun on shoulder, John Lebrenn paced up and down the length
+of the terrace of the Elysian Garden. He heard the cries of the
+crowd--"Down with the traitors"--"Down with the Bourbons"--"The Emperor,
+the Emperor!"--"War to the knife against the invaders!"
+
+At that moment Napoleon, in a round hat and plain citizen's cloak,
+turned out of the alley which abutted on the terrace. The dethroned
+Emperor was walking, in a revery, his hands crossed behind his back. In
+the dark, and under the trees, he did not notice the sentry until close
+upon him. When he did, he stopped short, and, falling into his usual
+habit of questioning those whom he met, he said to Lebrenn, who
+presented arms:
+
+"Have you been in the service?"
+
+"Yes, Sire," replied John. The thought flashed through his mind that he
+had in the same words answered Louis Capet in his prison in the Temple;
+now he was calling Napoleon "Sire" on the day of his deposition.
+
+"What campaigns were you in? Answer," commanded Napoleon.
+
+"The campaign of 1794, in the Army of the Rhine and Moselle."
+
+"Under the Republic! Have you served since?"
+
+"No, Sire; I was married. I served the Republic."
+
+"What is your profession?"
+
+"I am a cloth merchant."
+
+"In what quarter?"
+
+"St. Denis Street."
+
+"What say they of the Emperor among the merchants of St. Denis Street?
+Answer me without hunting for phrases."
+
+At that moment a new cry burst from the throng below and reached the
+ears of Napoleon:
+
+"Down with the Bourbons!"
+
+"Down with the traitors!"
+
+"Arms! Arms! To the frontiers!"
+
+"The Emperor, long live the Emperor!"
+
+"Again?" said Napoleon, shrugging his shoulders; and then to Lebrenn,
+"Well, what do they say of me in St. Denis Street?"
+
+"The most of the burghers look with repugnance upon a new Restoration;
+but for the commercial bourgeoisie, the Restoration, if it will only
+assure peace, means a renewal of business," replied Lebrenn.
+
+"Always the same, these bourgeois," muttered Napoleon; "peace, business.
+Their mouths can shape no other words. Among them never the shadow of
+national sentiment! And what is the attitude of the people, the
+workingmen of your quarter?"
+
+"Some are astonished at your inaction, Sire; others are more severe;
+they arraign your general policies."
+
+"Have I not always had my hands tied by the Chamber of Deputies, by
+babblers, lawyers, and rainbow-chasers! They think only of orating, of
+overwhelming me with their reproaches, instead of aiding me to save the
+country. They balanced opinions like the Greeks in the lower world,
+while here the barbarians were at the gates of Paris. They are the
+wretches!"
+
+"I was at St. Cloud in the days of Brumaire, Sire, when with your
+grenadiers you drove the Representatives of the people from their seats.
+Now, when the safety of the fatherland is at stake, why do you not
+employ the same measures against the deputies who prevent your saving
+France?"
+
+"The Five Hundred were Terrorists, malcontents, seditionists,
+assassins," said Napoleon quickly; "they merited death."
+
+"I arrived shortly after the session of the Five Hundred. You ran no
+danger. No poniard was raised against you. The Five Hundred were no
+malcontents; they defended the law and the Constitution."
+
+"You are a Jacobin."
+
+"Yes, Sire; ever since '93; and I believe that to-day, as in '93, the
+Republic single-handed could cope with coalized Europe--especially had
+the Republic your sword!"
+
+Napoleon's face changed, and he smiled with that inscrutability mingled
+with grace and good-fellowship which gave him, more than anything else,
+such influence over the simple-minded. "Ah, ah, Sir Jacobin," he said,
+"well for you it is that I find out so late what you are. You have no
+doubt some influence in your quarter; I would have sent you to rot in
+Vincennes, my new prison of state, at the bottom of a pit!"
+
+Anew the cries from below broke out: "Down with the Bourbons!" "Arms!"
+"To the frontiers!" "Long live the Emperor--War to the death against the
+foreigners!"
+
+"Brave people!" said Napoleon. "They would let themselves still be hewed
+to pieces for me; and still they bear the weight of imposts, of
+munitions of war, while my Marshals and all the military chiefs whom I
+covered with riches betray me. My role is played out. I shall go to
+America and turn planter, and philosophize on the emptiness of human
+events! I shall write my campaigns, like Caesar."
+
+"Sire, you forget France. Place your sword at her service; become again
+General Bonaparte, as you were in the glorious days of Arcola and
+Lodi--"
+
+"Sir," broke in the Emperor impatiently and with emphasis, "when one has
+been Emperor of the French, he does not step down. To fall, smitten by
+the thunderbolt, is not debasement. Never shall I consent to become
+again a simple general."
+
+An aide-de-camp came up and joined the General. "Sire," he said,
+"Colonel Gourgaud awaits your Majesty's commands."
+
+"Let him harness the six-horse coach and make his way out through the
+large gate of the Elysian Garden, to draw the attention of the mob about
+the palace. I shall take the single-horse carriage and leave by the
+equerries' gate. Hold, I have another order for you."
+
+Napoleon grasped the aide by the arm, addressed him in a low voice, and
+walked off with him. Soon they both disappeared around the corner of the
+alley. The night was now black as pitch. Below, the cries of the people
+ascended again:
+
+"Arms! Arms!"
+
+"To the frontiers!"
+
+"The Emperor, the Emperor! War to the bitter end against the invaders!"
+
+"Your Emperor, O people! is fleeing from you by night," soliloquized
+John Lebrenn as he paced his weary round on the terrace. "He flees the
+duties to which your voice would call him. He might have enshrined his
+name in a new glory, that would have been pure and bright forever. But
+fate drives him on to terrible retribution--captivity, perhaps death.
+And thus will be avenged the coup d'etat of Brumaire, thus his attempts
+against the liberty of the people. May the same fate fall upon all the
+monarchs of the world!"
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+"TO THE BARRICADES!"--1830.
+
+
+Fifteen years have rolled their course since the second Restoration,
+accomplished after the Hundred Days. The Bourbon government seems to
+have set itself the task of making the indignation of the people run
+over.
+
+Many are the grievances of France against the Bourbons: Provocations,
+iniquities, barbarisms, the White Terror of 1815;--the provost courts,
+where the hatred and rancor of the Emigrants sated itself with
+vengeance;--assassination, organized, blessed, and glorified, in the
+south;--Trestaillon and other defenders of altar and throne slaying
+their fellow citizens with impunity;--the Chamber of Deputies
+unattainable, all its members royalists save one;--the billion francs'
+indemnity granted to the Emigrants;--the establishment by the
+Ultramountainists and the Ultraroyalists of the law of sacrilege and the
+law of primogeniture;--the impieties of the clergy;--the orgies of the
+mission fathers.
+
+Military and civil conspiracies sprang up, to protest against the
+Bourbons with the blood of martyrs. The _Carbonarii_, a vast secret
+society, extended its ramifications throughout all France and preserved
+the traditions of republicanism. The Chamber of Deputies was dissolved,
+having been guilty of declaring to Charles X through the organ of its
+majority, in its address to the crown, that harmony no longer existed
+between the legislative body and the government. The Chamber having been
+dissolved, the country in the new elections responded by returning 221
+deputies of the opposition which composed the majority of the Assembly.
+King Charles X, in place of deferring to this manifestation by the
+country, imagined that, thanks to the successes of the French arms in
+Algeria, he could successfully put through a coup d'etat; which he
+attempted, using Minister Polignac as his instrument, and rendering the
+ordinances of the 26th of July, 1830, which suppressed the liberties of
+the nation.
+
+During the fifteen years of the Restoration, John Lebrenn had continued
+his Breton cloth trade in Paris. Monsieur Desmarais, having gone mad
+upon the second return of the Bourbons, died in isolation. Marik,
+Lebrenn's son, had espoused Henory Kerdren, the daughter of a merchant
+of Vannes, a correspondent of his father's. One son had been born of the
+marriage. He was now two years old, and had been given the name of one
+of the heroes of ancient Gaul, Sacrovir.
+
+The 27th of July, the day after the promulgation of the Polignac
+decrees, at about eleven in the evening, Madam Lebrenn and her
+daughter-in-law Henory had closed the shop, and had gone up to their
+mezzanine floor; there, together in their room, they busied themselves
+with the preparation of lint, in anticipation of the insurrection which
+seemed due on the morrow. Marik Lebrenn and Castillon were loading
+cartridges. Castillon, now at the ripe old age of sixty-three, was white
+of hair, but still supple and robust, and still plied his ironsmith's
+trade. A cradle, in which slept little Sacrovir, the grandson of John
+Lebrenn, was placed beside Henory. It was a picture of the sweet joys of
+the family.
+
+"In the presence of the passing events, and especially of those that
+seem to be preparing," observed Madam Lebrenn, the same brave, steadfast
+Charlotte as of yore, "I feel again that grave and almost solemn emotion
+which I felt in my girlhood, in the grand days of the Revolution. Those
+were glorious spectacles!"
+
+"A terrible and glorious time, mother," answered Henory. "Imperishable
+memories!"
+
+"In the name of a name! We shall fight, Madam Henory!" quoth old
+Castillon. "These cartridges will not be wasted. Down with Charles X,
+Polignac, and the whole clique of them! Down with the skull-caps!"
+
+Just then John Lebrenn came up. All rose and ran to meet him. He held
+out his hand to his wife, and kissed his daughter-in-law Henory on the
+forehead.
+
+"The delegates of the patriot workingmen of the quarter have not yet
+come?" he asked.
+
+"No, father," replied Marik.
+
+"What news have you picked up on your travels, my friend?" asked his
+wife.
+
+"Good, and bad."
+
+"Commence with the bad, father," said Marik.
+
+"The 221 deputies of the opposition lack energy," began his father;
+"there is indeed a minority of resolute citizens, Mauguin, Labbey of
+Pompieres, Dupont from the Eure, Audrey of Puyraveau, Daunou, and some
+others. But the majority seems paralyzed with fear. Thiers is a coward,
+Casimir Perier a poltroon. These two wretches pretend that royalty must
+be given time to repent and to return to the paths of legality. They
+propose opening negotiations with the monarchy."
+
+"Death to Thiers, the petty bourgeois! Death to his accomplices. To the
+lamp-post with the traitors!" cried Castillon, as he filled a shell.
+
+"The same fear, the same lack of confidence on the part of the
+bourgeoisie as in 1789," remarked Madam Lebrenn. "To-day, as then, the
+bourgeoisie is ready to fall at the feet of the King and implore his aid
+against the revolution."
+
+"What is James Lafitte's attitude?" queried Marik. "Does he show himself
+a man of resolution in the struggle?"
+
+"His civic courage does not fail him. He remains calm and smiling. His
+establishment is the rendezvous of the Orleanist party, which is making
+a lot of stir, but takes no determined stand."
+
+"And Lafayette--is he on the side of the people?" asked Madam Lebrenn in
+turn.
+
+"He is still the same man as we knew him forty years ago," her husband
+replied; "undecided, vacillating, incapable of taking a stand. Lafayette
+is of all cliques."
+
+"General Lafayette knows well enough that if Charles X wins in the
+struggle, his life is in danger," interjected Madam Lebrenn.
+
+"The General's courage is above suspicion; but his lack of decision may
+have disastrous consequences for our cause."
+
+"His popularity is very great, and he may aspire to be President of the
+Republic," pursued Lebrenn's wife.
+
+"Our friends declared to him to-day that they counted on him for
+President in case the Republic were proclaimed. He made answer that he
+had no ambition in that direction, and that he would first have to see
+how things fell out."
+
+At that moment Martin, the painter of battles, and Duresnel entered the
+room. They were both armed with hunting pieces, and carried belts full
+of cartridges. Both the artist and Duresnel were chiefs in the
+republican Carbonarii, and had played their part in many a conspiracy
+upon the return of the Bourbons. Duresnel had spent three years in
+prison, having been sentenced for press offences, for being proprietor
+of a liberal newspaper. Martin, compromised in the conspiracy of
+Belfort, and being condemned to death in John Doe proceedings, took
+refuge in England, where he lived for four years, returning to France
+only after the amnesty. Through it all the two men had retained the
+patriotic ardor of their youth. They were frank republicans, and
+partisans of the Commune.
+
+"Good even, Madam Lebrenn," said Martin, setting down his gun. "I see
+you are pulling lint; a good precaution, for to-morrow, at daybreak,
+there will be hot work, or I am mistaken. Good evening, Madam Henory;
+your little Sacrovir will probably hear music to-morrow which will not
+be as pleasing to his ear as his mother's songs."
+
+"It is good that my son become early used to such music, Monsieur
+Martin," smiled the young mother. "Perhaps he will have to listen to it
+often, for I want to make him a good republican, like his father and
+grandfather."
+
+"What news do you bring, friends?" asked John Lebrenn.
+
+"I am just from the office of the _National_," said Duresnel, "where
+they were holding a meeting of the opposition journalists. Armand Carrel
+regards all attempt at revolution as senseless. He will not admit that
+an undisciplined population can triumph over an army."
+
+"The people, happily, will not guide themselves by the opinion of this
+particular journalist," laughed Martin. "The agitation is spreading in
+all quarters. A gathering, ordered to evacuate the Place of the Bourse,
+attacked the troops, shouting 'Long live the charter! Down with the
+King! To the lamp-post with the Jesuits and Polignac!'"
+
+"The same scene was reproduced on the Place of Our Lady of Victories,
+and on St. Denis Boulevard," said Duresnel.
+
+"And they are getting ready for the same struggle in the St. Honoré
+quarter," Martin continued. "To-morrow at dawn Paris will bristle with
+barricades. The combatants are pouring in by the thousand. Several
+printers have released their workmen. Maes, the brewer in the Marceau
+suburb, is ready to march at the head of his helpers. Coming along the
+Dauphine passage, I stepped into our friend Joubert's; his book store is
+a veritable arsenal, filled with arms."
+
+"Several armorers' shops have been invaded," Duresnel went on. "On the
+Place of the Bourse I met Etienne Arago, the director of the Vaudeville
+Theater, who was taking a cart-load of guns and swords from the theater
+to the home of Citizen Charles Teste, whom he charged with the task of
+distributing them to combatants. There will be arms in abundance."
+
+"This evening," said Martin, "I saw in St. Antoine women and children
+carrying paving stones to the upper stories of their houses, to hurl
+down upon the troops. The word is being passed along: 'Down with the
+pretorians! Death to all the officers!'"
+
+"When the women take part in a revolution," put in Madam Lebrenn, "it is
+a good omen. Here are some old friends coming," she added. "They will
+have news also."
+
+Upon the word, in came General Oliver, accompanied by the old mounted
+artilleryman of the republican Army of the Rhine and Moselle. Duchemin's
+hair and moustache were now both as white as snow; but he was still
+alert and active, and carried under his arm an old rusted musket. The
+bitterness of exile had furrowed Oliver's face with premature wrinkles,
+and turned his hair nigh as white as his companion's.
+
+Oliver affectionately gave his hand to Charlotte, saying as he did so,
+"Good evening, my dear Madam Lebrenn;--good evening, Madam Henory. Oh,
+ho! Here you are occupied like the Gallic women of old on the eve of
+battle. And here is brave Castillon filling shells. The picture is
+complete."
+
+Duchemin, also, saluted the company in military fashion, and said, "In
+my capacity as old artilleryman, I shall lend you a hand, Castillon."
+
+"So here you are at last," cried John Lebrenn cordially to the General.
+"Our friends and I were beginning to get surprised, and almost worried
+at not having seen you since the promulgation of the ordinances."
+
+"Before two days have passed the Bourbons will be driven from France,"
+returned the General. "The army can not stand against Paris in
+insurrection. There are but twelve thousand troops in the city; the
+victory of the people is assured."
+
+"I fear you are mistaken, General," interposed Martin.
+
+"You may be certain of what I tell you. I have my information from
+several old officers of the Empire, who have maintained some sort of
+relations with the War Ministry."
+
+"Your old friends are thinking, perhaps, of giving the movement a
+Bonapartist turn?" asked Lebrenn.
+
+"They are thinking seriously of it. They besought me to attend a reunion
+at the house of Colonel Gourgaud, where I met Dumoulin, Dufays,
+Bacheville, Clavel, and other old comrades. I strove hard, but
+ineffectually, to convince them that Napoleon's death had made all
+thought of empire impossible. I remained alone in my opinion."
+
+"I am afraid you will fall again under the influence of your old
+war-time memories, and that of your companions-in-arms," said Lebrenn,
+kindly.
+
+"Ah, my friend," replied Oliver with emotion, "I have to-day no other
+desire than that of retrieving the errors of my military career. I have
+resolved to fight with you and our friends for the triumph of the
+Republic."
+
+"We have examined, with Martin, the position of this house," continued
+Lebrenn, "and the wide open angle which the street forms twenty paces
+from here seems to render imperative the building of a barricade almost
+at our doors, in order to cut off the communication of the troops that
+may come by the boulevards to effect their junction with those who no
+doubt will occupy the City Hall."
+
+"The place is well chosen," commented Oliver, ever the General.
+
+"In that case," cried Duresnel, smiling, "I move that we name the
+General commandant-in-chief of the barricade!"
+
+"Carried! Carried!" cried all.
+
+"I accept the position," replied Oliver; "but in order to command a
+barricade, there must first be one."
+
+"Here, my friend, is how things stand," Lebrenn resumed, when the
+merriment had subsided; "my son and I enjoy in this street some
+reputation as patriots. The active men of the quarter, mainly
+workingmen, have full confidence in us. A number of them have come
+several times through the day to seek advice. They are resolved to
+engage in the struggle, if necessary, and only await our giving the
+signal. Our responsibility is great. If we urge them to the conflict, we
+must, in placing ourselves at their head, be certain in our consciences
+of our means of defense. I have assured the brave patriots that this
+evening, after having visited the different quarters of Paris and
+informing myself to the best of my ability, by personal observation and
+through friends, of the state of affairs, I would answer them as to
+whether they would best take up arms or not. They were to come at eleven
+o'clock or midnight to receive my decision. It is now half after eleven;
+their delegates should not be long in coming.
+
+"Now, my friends," continued John, "the supreme hour is come. Let us
+take counsel. Let us not forget that among the energetic citizens who
+await only one word of ours to run to arms, many have wives and children
+of whom they are the only support. If they are killed or defeated, their
+families will be plunged into distress. It is for us, then, to decide
+whether their fighting is commanded by civic duty, whether it offers
+sufficient chance of success for us to give the signal for battle. We,
+more happy than our proletarian brothers, are at least certain, if we
+succumb, of not leaving our families resourceless. Here, then, my
+friends, is what I propose. We all know how things stand in Paris. Let
+us put the question to a vote."
+
+Madam Lebrenn spoke first. "Civil war is a terrible extremity," she
+said. "Vanquishers or vanquished, the mother-country has always some
+children to mourn. But to-day one can no longer hesitate. It is a choice
+between servitude or revolt. So, with my spirit in mourning for the
+fratricidal strife, I say to my husband, and to my son, You must fight
+to defend the liberties that the kingdom has not yet despoiled us of;
+you must fight to reconquer, if possible, the heritage of the great
+Republic. It alone can bestow moral and material freedom upon the
+disinherited ones of the world, in virtue of its immortal principles,
+Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and Solidarity. So then, as I see it, we
+must fight. Let the blood which flows fall upon the head of royalty, it
+alone has called down this impious struggle! To arms! To arms!"
+
+All were deeply moved at Charlotte's stirring words, and Lebrenn said to
+his daughter-in-law, "What is your opinion, dear Henory?"
+
+"I believe throughout with my mother. The insurrection must be called."
+
+"And your opinion, Castillon? Speak, old comrade," Lebrenn continued.
+
+"Faggot and death, and _Ça ira_! Commune and Federation, and the Red
+Flag!"
+
+"You have no need to ask me, friend Lebrenn," volunteered Duchemin. "You
+have only to look at my musket. The barrel is oiled, and the lock
+graced with a new flint. Long live the social and democratic Republic!"
+
+"What do you think about it, my dear Martin? What is your advice?" asked
+Lebrenn of the painter in turn.
+
+"I," said Martin, "say with Madam Lebrenn: Civil war is a terrible
+extremity; but legal resistance is impossible and laughable. When a
+government appeals to cannon to back up a coup d'etat, insurrection
+becomes the most sacred of duties. Long live the Republic!"
+
+"Is that your opinion too, Duresnel?" queried Lebrenn.
+
+"Aye, and all the more so because, as I see it, the insurrection has
+every chance of success. As for asserting that success will lead to a
+re-establishment of the Republic, I would be careful of falling into a
+deception. But at any rate we will have made a big step forward in
+finally driving out the Bourbons; and whatever the government may be
+that succeeds them, it can not but carry us far towards the Republic.
+So, then, down with the King! Down with the Jesuits and priests!"
+
+General Oliver did not wait for the question to be put to him. "My
+friend," he declared simply, "I have but one way to redeem the past.
+That is to fight for the Republic, or to die for it."
+
+"As to you, Marik," said Lebrenn, turning to his son, "you have regarded
+an insurrection as inevitable ever since you heard of the ordinances.
+You are, then, for taking arms, are you not?"
+
+"Yes, I am for battle, father."
+
+"Well, then, war!" cried John; "Long live the Republic."
+
+"Someone to see you, sir," announced a servant.
+
+"These are the delegates of our friends, come for the word. Ask the
+gentlemen in."
+
+The servant showed into the room three workmen, in their laboring
+clothes. One of them, a man still young, and with a face full of fire,
+addressed John Lebrenn: "Are we to fight, or not to fight, in this
+quarter, sir? They say it is warming up in St. Antoine, and that they
+are building barricades. Our St. Denis Street is behind-hand; that will
+be humiliating for the quarter."
+
+"My men, you have asked my advice--" began Lebrenn.
+
+"We felt the need of getting in touch with things, Monsieur Lebrenn.
+Yes, for indeed we said to each other from the first, Ordinances, coups
+d'etat--what has all that to do with us? Our misery is great, our wages
+hardly buy bread for our children and ourselves; will our distress be
+any greater after the coup d'etat than before? And still we said that
+these Bourbons, these 'whites,' are the enemies of the people, and that
+we should seize the occasion to turn them out. But after all, what will
+it bring us? The same misery as in the past."
+
+"What will we have gained by driving out Charles, Polignac, and the
+skull-cap bands?" added the other two workingmen.
+
+"My men, here in two words is the meat of the matter. To-day, in 1830,
+the proletarians of the towns and the country, in other words the
+immense majority of the people, produce, almost by their labor alone,
+the riches of the country; and yet they live in misery. Why is it thus?
+Because you have no political rights."
+
+"And what help would political rights be to us?"
+
+"Suppose you were all electors, as you were under the great Republic.
+You would elect your representatives; these representatives would make
+the laws. So that, if you chose for representatives friends of the
+people, is it not clear that the laws they made would be favorable to
+the people? The law could decree, for example, as in the time of the
+Republic, the education of children, instructed and maintained by the
+state, from the age of five to twelve. The law could decree assistance
+for disabled proletarians, for widows with children. The law could
+decree the abolition of slavery in the colonies, equality of civic
+rights between man and woman. The law could assure work to citizens in
+times of unemployment, and sustain them against the exploitation of
+capital. The law, in short, could change your condition completely, for
+the law is sovereign. The law can perform everything within the limits
+of the possible; so then, by their number, the proletarians composing
+the great majority of the citizens, they would be assured of having a
+majority in the elections; whence it follows that if they had well
+chosen their representatives, all the laws made by these would be in
+favor of the proletariat. Do you follow me, friends?"
+
+"In virtue of our political rights we would choose the representatives
+who make the laws, and they would make them in our interests," answered
+the first workingman. The other two also added: "That is easy to
+understand."
+
+"That is why," continued John Lebrenn, "as long as you remain without
+political rights, your condition will continue precarious and
+miserable."
+
+"But how can we obtain these political rights?" asked one of the
+workingmen.
+
+"By combatting all governments which refuse to recognize your rights or
+which pluck you of them, as did Napoleon, the accursed Corsican, and as
+the Bourbons have done."
+
+"It stiffens one's spine," returned the artisan, "to know that by
+fighting against Charles X and Polignac we will obtain rights which will
+permit us to choose the representatives who will make laws in our favor.
+On to the barricades, then! Let us strike a blow that will count,
+against the gendarmes, and the officers of the troops."
+
+"To the barricades! Death to the gendarmes!" repeated the other two
+artisans.
+
+"In conclusion, my men," resumed Lebrenn, "I tell you in all sincerity,
+it is possible, although doubtful, that we may with this one blow
+reconquer the Republic, which alone can free you in mind and body, and
+restore to you the exercise of your sovereignty. Now, my men, decide."
+
+With ringing enthusiasm the three workingmen shouted:
+
+"To the barricades!"
+
+"Down with Charles X and Polignac!"
+
+"Down with all the Jesuits and skull-caps!"
+
+And all present joined in the battle-cry:
+
+"Long live the Republic! To the barricades!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ORLEANS ON THE THRONE.
+
+
+Four days later, namely, the 31st of July, Marik Lebrenn lay on his bed,
+sorely wounded. Bravely defending, with his father, his friends, and a
+little army of workingmen of St. Denis Street, on the 28th, the
+barricade raised by them the preceding day a few steps from the Lebrenn
+domicile, he had his arm broken by a ball. The wound, grave in itself,
+was further complicated by an attack of lockjaw, induced by the stifling
+heat of those summer days. Thanks to the care of Doctor Delaberge, one
+of his father's political friends and one of the heroes of July, Marik
+had come safely through the lockjaw, in spite of its usual deadliness.
+But for the three days he had remained a prey to a violent delirium; his
+reason had now returned to him hardly an hour ago.
+
+Beside his cot was seated his mother; his wife, bent over the bed, held
+her infant in her arms.
+
+"How sweet it is to return to life between a mother and a darling wife,
+to embrace one's child, and moreover to feel that one has done his duty
+as a patriot," murmured Marik feebly, but happily. "But where is
+father?"
+
+"Father is unwounded. He went out, an hour ago, to be present at a final
+meeting with Monsieur Godefroy Cavaignac, the valiant democrat,"
+answered his mother.
+
+"And our friends, Martin, Duresnel, and General Oliver?"
+
+"You will see them all soon. Neither the General nor Monsieur Martin was
+wounded. Duresnel was grazed slightly by a bayonet."
+
+"And Castillon? And Duchemin?"
+
+Madam Lebrenn exchanged a look of intelligence with her daughter-in-law,
+who had gone to put her child in his cradle, and answered, "We have as
+yet no news of those brave champions, Castillon and Duchemin."
+
+"Then they must be badly hurt," exclaimed Marik, anxiously. "Castillon
+would not have gone without coming to see me, for it was he who picked
+me up when I fell, on the barricade."
+
+"Our friends are probably in some hospital," suggested his wife,
+soothingly. "But please, do not alarm yourself so; you are still very
+weak, and strong excitement might be bad for you. We can only tell you
+that your father is unscathed, and the insurrection victorious."
+
+"Victory rests with the people! It is well; and yet, what will it profit
+them?"
+
+John Lebrenn and General Oliver now entered the sick-room. Madam Lebrenn
+rose and said to her husband, with all a mother's joy: "Our son has come
+entirely to himself, as the consequence of the long sleep which already
+reassured us. About half an hour after you left he awoke with his head
+perfectly clear. Our last anxieties may now be set aside; the
+convalescence begins well."
+
+Lebrenn walked quickly over to the bed, looked at Marik a moment, and
+then embraced him tenderly, saying: "Here you are, out of danger, my
+dear son. Ah, what a weight was on my heart! The joy I feel consoles me
+for our deception--"
+
+"My friend, I beg you--" interposed Madam Lebrenn. "The physician bade
+me shield our dear patient from all emotion."
+
+"Perhaps it would, indeed, be better to leave Marik in ignorance of the
+result of our victory; but now it is impossible longer to hide from him
+the truth."
+
+"You may tell me everything, dear father. Disillusionment is no doubt
+cruel, but we have already reckoned with that possibility in our
+forecasts. Whatever the government may be which succeeds that of Charles
+X, it will still be an improvement over the abhorred regime of the
+Bourbons."
+
+"Well, then, my son, here is our disappointment: The Republic has been
+crowded out by the intriguers of the bourgeoisie, and the Duke of
+Orleans has been acclaimed Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. In a few
+days the deputies will offer him the crown."
+
+"Our friends then let their guns cool after their success? And did not
+Lafayette intervene in this matter of kingship?"
+
+"Here," replied John, "is how the comedy was played. Seeing the
+triumphant progress of the insurrection, and recognizing that Charles
+was as good as gone, his friends flocked over to the Orleanists. The
+Chamber of Deputies met last evening in the Bourbon Palace, in solemn
+session. It was there that Lafitte, elected to the chairmanship of the
+Assembly, proposed outright to confer upon the Duke of Orleans the
+Lieutenant-Generalship of the realm. The majority applauded, and named a
+committee to go to the Chamber of Peers, also in session, and inform
+them of the decision of the deputies. The peers spared no enthusiasm in
+acclaiming the Lieutenant-Generalship of Orleans, in order to safeguard
+their own places, their titles, and their pensions. One single voice
+protested against this act of turpitude, that of Chateaubriand. At the
+City Hall, meanwhile, a municipal committee was in waiting there before
+the arrival of Lafayette. It was composed of Casimir Perier, General
+Lobau, and Messieurs Schonen, Audrey of Puyraveau, and Mauguin. These
+two last republicans and anti-Orleanists urged upon the committee to
+institute a provisional government, but the majority would not hear of
+it, wishing, on the contrary, like Casimir Perier, to treat with Charles
+X; or, like General Lobau, to turn over the office to Orleans. In fact,
+Messieurs Semonville and Sussy having presented themselves in the name
+of Charles X, who then proposed to abdicate in favor of the Duke of
+Bordeaux, Casimir Perier consented to listen to their overtures. But
+Audrey of Puyraveau cried out indignantly, 'If you do not break off your
+shameful negotiations, sir, I shall bring the people up here!' His
+language intimidated Perier, and the Bourbon go-betweens retired,
+followed by Mauguin's words, 'It is too late, gentlemen.'
+
+"A deputation headed by the two Garnier-Pagè brothers was sent to
+General Lafayette to offer him the supreme command of the National
+Guards of the kingdom; which he accepted. From that moment it was a
+dictatorship. The General went to the City Hall, amid the transports of
+the people; he could do anything; he was master, and could have carried
+the revolution to its logical conclusion! But, with the exception of
+Mauguin and Audrey of Puyraveau, the municipal committee, in
+subordinating itself to Lafayette, contrived to frustrate any such
+intention on his part by at once flattering and frightening him, posing
+him in his own eyes as the supreme arbiter of the situation, and showing
+him the responsibility that was falling upon him and the calamities
+ready to loose themselves upon France if he did not attach himself to
+the Duke of Orleans; whom, they went on with much ado to show, was able,
+by an unhoped-for piece of good fortune, to restore order and liberty,
+while as to the Republic--that was anarchy, that was civil war, that was
+war with Europe! These words at once tickled Lafayette's vanity and
+disturbed his honest conscience. He saw before him a role of a certain
+degree of grandeur, that of sacrificing his personal convictions to the
+peace of the country."
+
+"In other words, of sacrificing the Republic to senseless fears!" cried
+Marik.
+
+"History will severely reproach Lafayette for that defection, that lack
+of faith in the principles he supported, which he propagated for half a
+century," continued Marik's father. "But, his character not being equal
+to the dizzy height of the position whither events had wafted him, he
+slipped; and promised his support to the Orleanists. In July, 1830, as
+in the old days of Thermidor, our enemies have defeated us by their
+quickness, although we had right and the people on our side. The Commune
+should at that time have triumphed over the scoundrels of the
+Convention, the same as to-day the City Hall should have triumphed over
+the intrigues of the Bourbon Palace. May this new lesson be studied and
+taken to heart by the revolutionists of the future."
+
+"Malediction on the Conservative deputies! They deserve to be shot!"
+
+"Our program contained in substance this: 'France is free, she wants a
+Constitution. She will accord to the provisional government no right but
+that to consult the nation. The people should not, and can not, alienate
+its sovereignty. No more royalty. Let the executive power be delegated
+to an elected President, responsible and subject to recall. The
+legislative power should be reposed in an Assembly elected by universal
+suffrage. For these principles we have just exposed our lives and shed
+our blood, and we will uphold them at need by a new insurrection.'"
+
+"What effect had the reading of this program?" asked Marik.
+
+"It was applauded by the small number who could hear it. Some cried out,
+in their simplicity, 'That's the program of Lafayette! Long live
+Lafayette!' But at that moment a singular procession arrived at the City
+Hall. It was headed by a coach in which sat Monsieur Lafitte, whose bad
+leg prevented him from walking. Then came the Duke of Orleans, on
+horseback, attended by Generals Gerard, Sebastiani, and others, and
+followed by the committee of the deputies who had named him
+Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. The prince was pale and uneasy,
+although he affected to smile at the throngs of combatants, who still
+carried their arms. Their attitude, their words, became more and more
+threatening. Some guns were even leveled at this man who, after the
+combat, came to usurp the sovereignty of the people. But a feeling of
+humanity soon raised them again, and a few minutes later the Duke
+appeared on the balcony of the City Hall with Lafayette. The latter
+embraced the Duke, and presented him to the people, with the words:
+
+"'Here, my friends, is the best of Republics--'
+
+"Such was the result for which the people of Paris had fought for three
+days! It is for this that we risked our lives, that you shed your blood,
+my son--and that our old friends Castillon and Duchemin died valiantly,
+as did so many other patriots."
+
+"Great heaven! Father, what say you! Castillon--Duchemin--both dead!"
+
+In agony at his unfortunate words, Lebrenn turned to his wife: "Our son
+did not know, then, the fate of our friends?"
+
+"Poor old Castillon--I loved him so," sobbed Marik, while his tears
+poured upon the pillow. "Brave Duchemin--how did he meet his end?"
+
+"In spite of his age," said General Oliver, who had so far been a silent
+spectator of the scene, "he did not leave my side the whole day of the
+27th. His patriotic fervor seemed to double his strength. That night he
+went home with me. At daybreak of the 28th we rejoined, in Prouvaires
+Street, the citizens who were defending the barricades there. The
+colonel who commanded the attack, despairing of ever capturing the
+barricade, attempted to demolish it with his cannon. A piece was brought
+up, and at the first round a bullet rebounded and tore into Duchemin's
+thigh. He fell, crying 'Long live the Republic!' Then he forced a smile
+on his lips, and with his last breath said to me, 'I die like an old
+republican cannonier. Long live the Commune!'"
+
+Just then a servant entered, and said to Lebrenn, "Sir, one of the
+workingmen who was here four days ago is come to ask news of Marik."
+
+"Let him come in," replied the young man's father.
+
+It was the artisan who, on the 27th, had acted as spokesman for his
+comrades of St. Denis Street. His head was wrapped in a bloody bandage;
+he was also wounded in the leg, and supported himself as with a cane,
+with the scabbard of a cavalry saber.
+
+"I heard that your son was wounded, Monsieur Lebrenn. I came to inquire
+after him," he said.
+
+"My son's condition is causing us no uneasiness," Madam Lebrenn
+answered. "Be pleased to take a seat beside his bed, for you also are
+wounded."
+
+"I received a saber cut on the head and a bayonet thrust in the leg. But
+they will be healed in a day or two."
+
+Marik held out his hand to the workman, and said: "Thanks to you,
+citizen, for thinking of me. Thank you for your mark of sympathy."
+
+"Oh, that's nothing, Monsieur Marik," replied the workman, heartily
+pressing the proffered hand. "Only I am sorry to have to come alone to
+see you, because the two comrades who accompanied me here--the other
+evening--"
+
+"They are also wounded?" asked John Lebrenn hastily.
+
+"They are dead, sir," sighed the workman.
+
+"Still martyrs! How much blood Kings cause to flow! What woes they bring
+to families!"
+
+"Here, dear son, is how the political farce was wound up," began John
+Lebrenn again, to complete his interrupted account. "The majority of
+the 221 opposition deputies, typified in Casimir Perier, Dupin,
+Sebastiani, Guizot, Thiers, and a few other reprobates, were terrified
+when they saw the insurrection on the 28th grow to formidable
+proportions. For, had it been defeated, the 221 would have been taken as
+its instigators, and, as such, assuredly condemned for high treason
+either to death or to life imprisonment; on the other hand, if it was
+successful, they dreaded the establishment of the Republic. To conjure
+off this double peril, they declared in their special sessions that they
+still regarded Charles X as the legitimate King, and that if he would
+revoke the ordinances and discharge his minister, they would at all
+costs stand for the continuation of the elder branch. Penetrated by this
+thought, they went to Marshal Marmont on the 28th to beg him to cease
+firing, declaring that if the ordinances were repealed, Paris would
+return to its duty. The Prince of Polignac, full of faith in his army,
+would listen to no proposition on the 27th nor on the 28th. He counted
+on the intervention of God. The stupid monarch and his minister did not
+begin to recognize the gravity of their situation till the evening of
+the 29th, when the troops, thoroughly routed, beat a retreat upon St.
+Cloud. Then the ordinances were repealed, and Messieurs Mortemart and
+Gerard were appointed ministers. Charles imagined that these concessions
+would mollify the insurrectionists, and cause them to throw down their
+arms."
+
+"And what sort of a role did James Lafitte play through all this?" again
+inquired Marik.
+
+"The minority of the deputies convened at his house, and, from the 28th
+on, they judged the kingship of Charles to be at an end. Thenceforward,
+yielding to the counsel of Beranger, they labored actively for the Duke
+of Orleans. The rich bourgeoisie, the big commercial men, and a certain
+number of military chieftains, Gerard and Lobau among them, also rallied
+to the Orleanist party, desiring a new kingdom under which they hoped to
+place the actual government in the hands of a bourgeois oligarchy. The
+house of James Lafitte was thus the center of the Orleanist
+wire-pullings. You asked my advice," continued Lebrenn to the
+workingman, "in the name of your comrades, before entering the fight. In
+the light of our present set-back, do you regret having assisted in the
+revolution?"
+
+"No, Monsieur Lebrenn; I have no regret for having taken up arms. No
+doubt we have not obtained what we sought, a government of the people.
+But is it nothing to have cleaned out the Bourbons who wished to enslave
+us? If we did not get the Republic this time, we at least know how to go
+about driving out a King and defeating his army. We shall appeal to the
+spirit of insurrection!"
+
+"The day of retribution will come, my friend," declared Lebrenn. "A few
+elected men, chosen not by the rank and file of the citizens, but by a
+small party representing the privilege of riches, has decided upon the
+form of government for France and has offered the crown to Louis
+Philippe. They have stained themselves with the guilt of usurping the
+sovereignty of the people, which is single, indivisible, and
+inalienable. To this usurpation we shall reply by a permanent conspiracy
+until the day of that new revolution when shall be proclaimed the
+Republican government, which alone is compatible with the sovereignty of
+the people, which alone is capable of striking off the material and
+mental shackles of the proletariat. The Commune, and the Federation
+under the Red Flag! Neither priests, nor Kings, nor masters!"
+
+"On that day," re-echoed the stalwart proletarian at Marik's bedside,
+"we shall all rise in arms, and cry:
+
+"Long live the Republic! Long live the Commune!"
+
+
+
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+I, John Lebrenn, concluded the writing of this account on the 29th of
+December, 1831, the eve of the day on which a daughter was born to my
+son Marik; she was named Velleda, in memory of our Gallic nationality.
+
+To you, Marik, my beloved son, I bequeath this chronicle, along with the
+sword I received from General Hoche the day of the battle of
+Weissenburg. You will join them to the other legends and relics of our
+family, and you will bequeath them, in your turn, to your son Sacrovir.
+You will add to these scrolls the history of whatever new events may
+befall in your time, and our posterity will continue, from generation to
+generation, these our domestic annals.
+
+And now sons of Joel, courage, perseverance, hope--not only hope, but
+certitude. In spite of the transient eclipses of the star of the
+Republic since the beginning of this century, in spite of the
+disappointment of which we were the victims in 1830, in spite of all the
+trials which we, and our children, perhaps, have yet to undergo, the
+future of the world belongs to the principle of Democracy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I, Marik Lebrenn, inscribe here, with unspeakable anguish, the date of
+April 17, 1832, the evil day on which my beloved father and mother, both
+at the same hour, although some distance from each other, died under the
+scourge of the cholera. They retained to the end the serenity of their
+unsullied lives, and went to await us in those mysterious worlds where
+we shall at last be reborn, to continue to live in mind and body, and
+follow there our eternal existence.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] See "The Pocket Bible," the sixteenth of this series.
+
+[2] See "The Iron Arrow Head," the tenth of this series.
+
+[3] This speech, which clearly shows the social tendencies of the most
+radical party in 1789, is here reproduced almost literally from Luchet,
+_Essays on the Illuminati_, chap. V, p. 23.
+
+[4] See, for details of these scenes, and the questions and discourse of
+the initiators, Luchet's _Essays on the Illuminati_, chap. V. p. 23, and
+following; also Robinson, _Proofs of a Conspiracy against All the
+Religions and all the Governments of Europe_, vol. I, p. 114 and
+following.
+
+[5] See the preceding work in this series, "The Blacksmith's Hammer."
+
+[6] The old palace of the Bourbons, now abandoned to cheap lodgings and
+hucksters' booths.
+
+[7] All the persons and facts cited in this story as of historic
+importance, are authentic.
+
+[8] For an exactly parallel line of conduct, see that of Abbot Le Roy,
+at the time of the invasion of Reveillon's paper factory in the St.
+Antoine suburb, as given in the admirable _History of the Revolution_ by
+Louis Blanc. We are glad to render here this public testimony of our
+sympathy and old friendship for an illustrious campaign in exile.
+
+[9] Mirabeau's death was for long attributed to poison.
+
+[10] The correspondence found at the Tuileries, in the Iron Cupboard, on
+August 10, 1792, and the correspondence of the Count of Lamark,
+published in our day, establish superabundantly the treason of Mirabeau.
+
+[11] See "The Abbatial Crosier," volume eight in this series.
+
+[12] See "The Infant's Skull," volume eleven in this series.
+
+[13] As each year started anew on the autumnal equinox, the dates varied
+a little from those here given. Those given are for the first year of
+the era. September, 1792, to September, 1793.
+
+[14] The name for the paper notes issued by the Convention.
+
+[15] Department of War, Sec. III, Correspondence, 1793-1794.
+
+[16] This note is historic.
+
+[17] It is fallaciously that tradition reports the attempted suicide of
+Robespierre. He was assaulted by the gendarme Herda. See the _Monitor_,
+session of the 10th Thermidor.
+
+[18] The first care of the Royalists in the Convention, the day after
+the 9th Thermidor, was not to decree liberty to the suspects, but to go
+in person to open the prisons, whence flocked forth a horde of
+recalcitrant priests and blood-stained counter-revolutionaries.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Sword of Honor, volumes 1 & 2, by Eugène Sue
+
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