diff options
Diffstat (limited to '38570.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 38570.txt | 5716 |
1 files changed, 5716 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/38570.txt b/38570.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..33027ac --- /dev/null +++ b/38570.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5716 @@ +Project Gutenberg's When a Cobbler Ruled a King, by Augusta Huiell Seaman + +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: When a Cobbler Ruled a King + +Author: Augusta Huiell Seaman + +Illustrator: George Wharton Edwards + +Release Date: January 14, 2012 [EBook #38570] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN A COBBLER RULED A KING *** + + + + +Produced by Annie R. McGuire. This book was produced from +scanned images of public domain material from the Google +Print archive. + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Book Cover] + + + + +WHEN A COBBLER +RULED THE KING + + +[Illustration] + + +THE MACMILLAN COMPANY +NEW YORK * BOSTON * CHICAGO * DALLAS +ATLANTA * SAN FRANCISCO + +MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED +LONDON * BOMBAY * CALCUTTA +MELBOURNE + +THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. +TORONTO + + + +When a Cobbler Ruled the King + +by + +Augusta Husiell Seaman + + +with + +Decoration and Drawings by + +George Wharton Edwards + +New York The Macmillan Co. 1919 + + +[Illustration: Title Page] + + +COPYRIGHT, 1911, +BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + + +TO MY HUSBAND + + + + +FOREWORD + + +About the tradition of the "Lost Dauphin" there hovers a romance and +charm perennially new, and history contains perhaps no more appealing +little figure than that of Louis XVII of France. + +At the time when the tempest of the French Revolution submerged the +throne of the Bourbon monarchy, Louis Charles, royal Dauphin, was but a +child of seven. On his sunny head, for the space of three years, the +Terror wreaked its vengeance; and at the age of ten, it would have been +difficult to recognize in the forlorn little captive of the Temple +Tower, aged by imprisonment and abuse, and experienced in many forms of +suffering, the once light-hearted and lovely child of Versailles and the +Tuileries. + +History in its most accepted form has chosen to close this regrettable +chapter with the death of the little prince at the age of ten, and while +still in his unjust captivity. With the receding years, however, there +has arisen a not unreasonable doubt of this premature ending. Evidences +strangely convincing have come to light, revealing a possibility of his +having been rescued, spirited away from his native land, and allowed to +live out the alloted number of his days in peaceful obscurity. + +There are few of us who do not welcome this possibility, who do not +relish the thought that his watchful and heartless tormentors may have +been cleverly hoodwinked. And added to our pleasure in a happier fate +for this much-wronged child of monarchy, is the delightful romance and +mystery with which a possible escape and an existence thenceforth +incognito has surrounded the history of the "Lost Dauphin." In the field +of fiction the subject affords an all but endless variety of solution, +and numerous are the romances woven about the person of "Little Capet." +Curiously enough, few if any of these novels are quite suitable for +younger readers, though the subject is one that should have a special +appeal for the hearts of youth, since the chief personality is a child +of peculiarly winning characteristics, and one who endured diversified +and exciting vicissitudes. + +Such a story I have striven to relate in _When a Cobbler Ruled the +King_, endeavoring to present a picture, faithful as far as it goes, of +the historical and political situation. It may add to the interest of +the story to know that except for the persons of "Jean," "La Souris" and +"Prevot," who are pure fiction, there is not one character in the book +but has a counterpart in history. These characters are in the main +obscure enough to admit of much latitude in fictitious presentation. The +Citizeness Clouet, of number 670 rue de Lille, was actually the +laundress for the Temple Tower, and her little daughter was occasionally +introduced into the prison by Commissary Barelle to play with the +captive prince. Had there been schemes of escape concocted by the few +friends remaining to royalty, as doubtless there were, it would be +scarcely strange if the laundress had been involved in them. + +Be these things as they may, it is to be hoped that the history of the +throneless, crownless, ill-used child-king, Louis XVII of France, will +make its own appeal to the hearts of all childhood. + + A. H. S. + RICHMOND HILL, L. I. + February, 1911. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. IN THE DAUPHIN'S GARDEN 3 + II. JEAN MEETS WITH A THIN YOUNG MAN 23 + III. IN WHICH THE DAUPHIN WEARS THE RED CAP 41 + IV. ON TERRIBLE AUGUST TENTH 59 + V. A DOMICILIARY VISIT 81 + VI. ENTER THE COBBLER--EXIT THE KING 101 + VII. THE SCHEME OF THE BARON DE BATZ 117 + VIII. THE COBBLER TAKES COMMAND 135 + IX. HOW YVONNE SAW THE KING 155 + X. THE BLOW FALLS 173 + XI. EXIT THE COBBLER 193 + XII. A FRIEND RE-ENTERS AND EVENTS MOVE ON 211 + XIII. THE TENTH THERMIDOR 231 + XIV. IN WHICH JEAN "FINDS CARON" 249 + XV. LA SOURIS MEETS HIS MATCH 271 + XVI. THE LAST MOVE 295 + XVII. THE STAR OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 317 + XVIII. AFTER LONG YEARS 341 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +From drawings by George Wharton Edwards + + * * * * * + + + FACING + PAGE + Decorative Title Page + The King and his Family driven through the pitiless crowd 76 + Sing that song about the Austrian wolf or I'll throttle you 160 + He stood before the former child of the Tower--Louis XVII 342 + + + + +IN THE DAUPHIN'S GARDEN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +IN THE DAUPHIN'S GARDEN + + +"Hurry along, Yvonne! Why do you lag behind so!" + +"Oh, Jean! I am doing my best, but your legs are so long, and you take +such great strides that I can scarcely keep up!" + +Two children, a well-grown, long-limbed boy of twelve, and a little girl +of scarcely more than seven, were hurrying hand-in-hand along the Rue +St. Honore, on a brilliant May morning in the year 1792. Paris on that +day resembled, more than anything else, a great bee-hive whose swarming +population buzzed hither and thither under the influence of angry +excitement and general unrest. The two youngsters were bubbling over +with the same eager restlessness that agitated their elders. They pushed +their way through throngs of men in red liberty-caps, soldiers in +uniforms of the National Guard, and women in tri-coloured skirts and +bodices. Poor little Yvonne, panting and tired, struggled to keep up +with the striding gait of her larger companion. + +"If you don't hurry," said Jean, "we shall not see the little 'Wolf-Cub' +out for his walk, and I want a look at him!" + +"Is he very dreadful to look at?" queried Yvonne, innocently. + +"I don't know,--I've never seen him," answered Jean, "but he must be +pretty ugly if he's the son of a monster,--and that's what they call our +Citizen King!" + +They turned into a narrow lane with but few houses on either side. At +one end stood the church of St. Roch, and at the other lay the park of +the Tuileries, in the centre of which rose the royal palace. + +"This is called the Rue du Dauphin because the little monster comes +through it when he goes to church," remarked Jean. + +"Well, I think he can't be so very dreadful if he goes to church," +protested Yvonne. + +"Oh, he only pretends to be good to deceive us!" answered Jean, +carelessly. + +When they reached the park, they turned and ran along the edge till they +came to the side flanked by the river Seine. Here they were stopped by a +low wooden fence decorated with festoons of tri-coloured ribbons and +bunting. In a small plot of ground behind this fence, a little boy could +be seen digging up the ground about some flower-beds. He was a really +beautiful child and his age evidently did not much exceed seven years. +Great blue eyes looked out of a face whose expression was one of +charming attractiveness. His silky golden-brown hair fell in curls about +his shoulders, and he was dressed in the uniform of a tiny National +Guard, with a small jewelled sword hanging at his side. About his feet +a handsome, coal-black spaniel romped, shaking his long ears that almost +trailed on the ground, barking and biting at the spade in his master's +hand. + +Jean stopped and looked over the fence. His snapping black eyes grew +soft at the sight of the group within. What boyish heart does not yearn +toward a dog! + +"That's a fine little spaniel you have there, Citizen Boy!" he remarked. +"What do you call him?" The child inside the fence looked up with a +pleased smile. + +"His name is Moufflet. Isn't he a beauty? Don't you want to pet him?" +The little boy lifted the wriggling animal to the fence while Jean put +out his hand and stroked the long, curly ears. + +"Jean! Jean! lift me up! I want to see him too!" begged Yvonne who was +so short that her head barely came to the top of the fence. Jean reached +down, and with his strong arms swung her to a seat on his shoulder. + +"Oh, you beautiful thing!" she exclaimed. "And what a pretty little boy, +too! I like you, boy!" The little fellow laughed with pleasure. + +"And I like you also!" he declared. "Don't you want some flowers? I +gathered some for my mother this morning, but I think there are enough +left to make you a nice bouquet." Dropping the dog, he ran hither and +thither gathering from one bush and another, till he had collected quite +a large mass of blossoms. These he handed to the little girl, saying: + +"And won't you tell me your name?" + +"I am Yvonne Marie Clouet," she answered, burying her face in the +fragrant bunch, "and I thank you!" + +Jean, however, was growing restless. This was all very pleasant, but it +was not that for which he had stolen a holiday from the services of the +Citizeness Clouet, risking thereby the prospect of certain punishment, +and had hurried through two miles of hot streets to see. He leaned +across the fence toward the boy, and spoke in a half-whisper: + +"I say, Citizen Boy, do you happen to know whereabouts we can get a +sight of the little 'Wolf-Cub'?" The child looked startled. + +"I don't know what you mean!" he replied. + +"Why, you must know!--the son of that monster, the Citizen King!" The +little fellow drew back proudly. His blue eyes grew dark with anger, and +he laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. + +"I am the Dauphin of France! And my father the King is _not_ a monster! +He is a good man!" Jean was so astonished that he let go his hold of +Yvonne, who all but toppled from her perch on his shoulder. + +"But--but--" he stammered, "you are not a bit like what they said! What +does all this mean? I--I like you! I don't care if you _are_ the +Dauphin! Say, will you forgive me, little Citizen Prince?" The generous +heart of the royal child was as quick to forgive as it was to take +offence, and he held out his hand with a charming smile. Jean took it, +glanced furtively around, and shook it heartily. + +"I hope no one sees me doing this!" he muttered. The Dauphin, now all +restored to good humour, seated himself on an upturned box and nursed +his knees with his clasped hands. + +"Let us talk awhile!" he begged. "I do not see any children now, except +my sister, and I'm often very lonely. Please tell me your name." + +"I am called Jean Dominique Mettot," answered his new friend. "That is +the name they gave me in the Foundling Hospital from which the +Citizeness Clouet took me." + +"Oh, did you come from the Foundling Hospital?" eagerly replied the +Dauphin. "Why, I used to go there often with the Queen, my mother. We +brought food and money for the sick children. I loved to go there! I +never wanted to come away!" + +"Did the Citizeness Queen really go there?" marvelled Jean. "Why, she +can't be such a bad one, after all!" The Dauphin's face grew sad. + +"Do you know," he said, "I believe that people say a great many false +things about my father and mother because they do not know the +truth,--they do not know how really _good_ they are!" + +"Oh, they say bad enough things!" remarked Jean, cheerfully. "You ought +to hear a man they call Citizen Marat! He gets up on a bench in our +street and tells the people that the king and queen are starving them +just for the pastime of hearing them howl for bread,--that they like +that kind of music!" + +"It is not true! It is not true!" repeated the Dauphin with tears in his +eyes. "Oh, if you could only _see_ my father, you would not think so!" +Then, glancing over his shoulder he exclaimed gladly, "Why, here he is +now!" Jean made a movement to put down Yvonne and take to his heels, +but the Dauphin begged him to stay. They all stood silent, watching the +approach of a large, stout man who walked slowly with his hands clasped +behind him. His face was gentle, thoughtful and kindly. Across his coat +were stretched the ribbons of several royal orders. + +"Father!" called the Dauphin when the King drew near enough. "These are +my little new friends, Yvonne and Jean. Won't you speak to them?" The +King smiled at his son and came over to the fence. + +"Good-morning, my children!" he said kindly, laying a hand on Jean's +shoulder. "I am glad to know and greet the friends of my son." Jean +looked up into the fatherly eyes, and noticed the sad lines about the +gentle mouth. He was sorely puzzled in his boyish heart. Certainly this +was not the horrible monster such as he had heard the King described in +the Faubourg St. Antoine. The boy was thoroughly in sympathy with the +downtrodden people who were rising at last to claim their liberty and a +few other inalienable human rights. But there was something wrong +somewhere! At any rate, this royal gentleman had that about him which +compelled his reverence and trust. Snatching off his red liberty-cap, +Jean bent his knee and kissed the hand of Louis XVI of France! + + * * * * * + +"Yvonne," remarked Jean, as they strolled homeward, "we--at least _I_ +will have to pay for this little holiday!" + +"Oh, Jean, I'm sorry! I ought to take part of the punishment, for I made +you take me," sympathised Yvonne. + +"Mother Clouet won't beat _you_, you can warrant, but this is the day +when I should have carried the wash to the Rue du Bac," explained her +companion. "Oh, well! I have had my dance, now I must pay the fiddler!" +It was evident that this was not Jean's first attempt at playing truant. +Then a new thought struck him and he stopped short. + +"Yvonne, what do you think of the poor little Citizen Dauphin?" + +"I love him!" she answered simply. + +"Well, I do too, and yet I suppose I ought not, if I am to be a good +citizen of the Nation. Kings are wrong! We've had enough kings, and +they've trodden us under foot and robbed us of our rights for centuries. +And yet this little fellow might make a good one. Who knows! And there's +his father, too--the Citizen King. How did you like him?" + +"He seemed very, very kind," answered Yvonne, "and very sad. I felt +sorry for him. And I don't believe all the things they say about him, +either. Why did you kiss his hand, Jean?" + +"I don't know! Something made me. Perhaps it's because he is so +different from what we thought. But, see here, Yvonne! Let me tell you +that if anyone finds out how we feel, or that I kissed his hand, our +heads won't be safe on our shoulders! Do you know that?" The child made +a frightened gesture of assent. + +"Then keep it to yourself!" said Jean, shortly. They walked on in +silence, and with dragging steps. It was plain that they were in no +hurry to get home. + +"Shall we go to see the little prince again?" inquired Yvonne. + +"I'd certainly like to. We will try to go soon,--as soon as I can make +up my mind to another beating!" answered Jean, whimsically. Then in a +more sober manner: + +"He's lonesome, poor little fellow! It's a shame for the people to take +away his liberty and keep him cooped up in that palace without any +little friends, I say!" + +They turned at length into the Rue de Lille, a narrow, dirty street, +rather deserted at the time, since most of the inhabitants were off at +the Place de la Revolution, singing the "Marseillaise," shouting for +Danton, or dancing the Carmagnole. At the door of the house numbered +"670," stood a woman in a short cotton dress and wooden shoes. She was +shading her eyes and looking far up the street, in the direction +opposite to that from which the children were approaching. + +"There's Mere Clouet now!" whispered Jean. Suddenly the woman turned, +caught sight of the pair, and made a dash at Jean who ducked, slid aside +and came out unharmed quite behind the enraged laundress. But Mere +Clouet was agile, and moreover well acquainted with Jean's system of +manoeuvres! + +"Ah, you rascal!" she shouted, catching him deftly by the collar. "You +_will_ run away for the whole day, and leave me to carry home the wash +myself! You _will_ entrap my little Yvonne and force her to accompany +you, scaring her good mother almost beyond her wits lest the child come +to harm! To bed you go this night with never a bite or a sup, and lucky +you'll be if there's a whole bone in your lazy, idle body!" + +With her great, muscular arms she shook Jean till his teeth clicked +together, dropping him only when sheer exhaustion compelled her. Poor +Yvonne stood by, trembling, wide-eyed and frightened. Citizeness Clouet +having temporarily disposed of Jean, turned her attention to her +daughter. + +"And as for thee, naughty little mouse!--" Then her eyes fell for the +first time on the flowers. + +"But by all the saints, where did you get that magnificent bouquet, +child? Never since I was a girl in Normandy have I seen such blossoms, +except on the altars in the churches at Eastertide!" + +"Why, Mother, the dear little Citizen Dauphin gave them to me!" +exclaimed Yvonne. Then she cast a frightened glance at Jean, remembering +too late his warning on the way home. Jean himself trembled, and +expected that Mere Clouet would break into a torrent of abuse and +invective against the little prince. But to their astonishment she +replied: + +"The poor little fellow! Well do I remember how his mother brought him +to the great church of Notre Dame when he was but a tiny baby. You, +Yvonne, were also but a few months old, and I carried you out with me to +see the sight. The Queen in her carriage held him up that all the people +might see him, and how the crowds sang and shouted for joy! Who would +have thought that in seven years they would be keeping him a prisoner in +his own palace and calling him names! These are marvellous times! But +tell me how you came to see him. 'Tis quite a jaunt from here to the +Tuileries." + +Encouraged by her mother's relenting mood, Yvonne told the story of +their morning, described the Dauphin, the King and even Moufflet. Jean +too forgot that he was in disgrace, and added his say to the tale at +frequent intervals. Then Yvonne cast all caution to the winds. + +"Mother," she ended, "I love the little Citizen Dauphin, and I'm sorry +for his father the Citizen King, and I don't care if you do know it! So +does Jean!" + +"Hush, hush, precious one!" exclaimed her mother in alarm. "The walls +may have ears! Never say that thought aloud if you do not wish us all to +be made acquainted with the sharp edge of La Guillotine! But tell me, +what else said the little lad?" + +"He said, Citizeness Clouet," broke in Jean, "just when we were coming +away, that if we were ever in need or trouble, his good parents the King +and Queen would help us out if they could. Do you know, I believe that +if you were to ask them, they would give you the money to pay the taxes +that you said would be due next month, and that you could never pay. +Then we would not be turned out of the house. Why don't you ask it?" But +Mere Clouet was incredulous. + +"The little Prince is all very well," she remarked scornfully, "but his +father and mother are a different matter. They have ground the poor +under their heel for many years, and they only do an act of charity +when there may be a crowd around to see and applaud it. Trust me, Jean +and Yvonne, the King and Queen would set the soldiery upon us were we to +come and demand money!" But Jean was far from convinced. + +"If you would only try!" he begged. "They seemed so kind to-day. Come +with us to-morrow, and see the little fellow! At least it can do no +harm!" + +"Well, we shall see!" she conceded. "But tell no one about this, or,--" +and she made a sign indicative of the instability of their heads. "And +now, sit you down to your supper, Yvonne. And you, idle +good-for-nothing, sit you down also, since you have paid with your +chattering tongue for your day's wickedness!" + +And so Jean sat down! + + + + +JEAN MEETS WITH A THIN YOUNG MAN + + + + +CHAPTER II + +JEAN MEETS WITH A THIN YOUNG MAN + + +When the Dauphin came to dig in his garden next morning, he found his +new friends again at the fence, accompanied by a woman. + +"Little Citizen Prince, this is my mother," said Yvonne, "and we have +persuaded her to come with us and beg you to fulfil the promise that you +gave for your good father and mother yesterday. She is indeed in sore +need of help." The Dauphin came to the fence and gave Mother Clouet his +hand with his own peculiarly winning smile. + +"Good Madame Clouet, my mother will be walking here in a little while. +Will you not wait and speak to her yourself? I know she will be glad to +help you." Now Mere Clouet bore no animosity toward this little +prince,--on the contrary, she admired and almost loved him,--but she +was plainly reluctant to meet the Queen who appealed in no way to her +sympathies. But there seemed nothing else to be done, so she drew aside +while the children chatted together and romped with Moufflet. Presently, +hearing voices, the Dauphin left his friends, ran along one of the +walks, and came back leading a lady and a young girl of thirteen. + +"This is my Mother-Queen, and this is my sister, Marie-Therese," he +announced. "Mother, these are the new friends that I told you of +yesterday, and this is Yvonne's mother. She wishes to ask something of +you." + +"Good Mistress Clouet," said the Queen gently, "whatever I can do for +you I will, if you will but make known your request." Her voice was soft +and penetratingly sweet, and her face, framed in waving hair whitened by +sorrow, was full of a strange beauty veiled by overwhelming sadness. +Here was something entirely different from the haughty sovereign that +Mere Clouet had expected to meet, and she was overcome by surprise and +bashfulness, but she managed to stammer out her request. + +"Your Majesty," she faltered, "my good man when he died, left me the +house I live in, but though I work hard,--I am a laundress,--I have been +unable to do more than provide our three mouths with bread. Jean here I +adopted from the Foundling Hospital to help me with my work. But his +mouth is wide!--he eats quantities unknown, and hardly does he pay for +his keep! For three years past I have been unable to pay the taxes, so +great is their amount, and now they threaten to turn me out and keep the +house, if I do not pay up every sou next month. For myself, I would go +uncomplainingly, but how can I rob the little Yvonne of a roof to +shelter her!" Tears came into the woman's eyes as she clasped tighter +her little daughter's hand. "So I must beg for my daughter's sake, but +Madame I trust that some day I may repay it, for I would not be under +obligations, even to a queen!" The Queen was sincerely touched by this +revelation of mingled pride and mother-love. + +"I know how you feel, Mistress Clouet. I should not be ashamed to do the +same for my own children. How much is the amount?" The laundress +shuddered, as with bated breath she named the sum,--a fortune in her +eyes. + +"A thousand francs, your Majesty!" The Queen seemed not a whit appalled. + +"I have not the money with me to-day, but come to-morrow and the Dauphin +shall give it to you. I do not walk out every day. God bless you and the +little Yvonne, and Jean also!" She held out her little white hand, and +Mere Clouet, moved by a gratitude and respect the like of which she +would not yesterday have believed she could experience, took it in both +her rough, work-worn ones. And so they stood a moment gazing at each +other, the proud, beautiful Marie Antoinette, and Citizeness Clouet, the +woman of the people, hand locked in hand across the tri-coloured fence. + +"Some day I will repay you!" declared Mere Clouet. "It may not be in +money, but it shall be in service. We are of the people, and our hearts +and sympathies are with the people. But this is a debt of gratitude +which we three shall never forget. We will repay you!" + +The Citizeness Clouet spoke more truly than she knew! + + * * * * * + +After this event, Jean was sorely perplexed. He talked his trouble over +with Mere Clouet who seemed more kindly disposed toward him since the +load of debt had been lifted from her shoulders, and her mind had been +set at rest about a home for her beloved Yvonne. + +"I do not now know how to act," he told her. "My heart is still all for +the people and the cause of our Liberty, yet I do truly love the little +prince, and even the King and Queen. And I fear from the things I have +heard, that the people will sometime do them harm." + +"Let your sympathies still be with the people," counselled Mere Clouet +wisely. "We are not royalists, and our heads will not be safe should we +appear so! But that need not prevent your loyal friendship for these +royal ones, only you must keep it very secret. Heaven help us should it +be discovered! I pray God that the royalty may be left in peace, or at +least be allowed to depart from the country unharmed when the time +comes. We may not desire their sway, but we should not menace their +personal safety." + +"Well, at least," answered Jean, "it will do no harm for me to keep +posted as to what the popular intention toward them may be. And for +this, I could learn best what I wish at one of the political clubs,--the +Cordeliers or the Jacobins. But none except the initiated are allowed +to enter. However, I'm going to watch my chance and try!" True to this +resolve, he informed Mere Clouet one evening: + +"I shall go to the Rue St. Honore to-night and linger near the Jacobin +Club. We shall see what we shall see!" And he was off before she could +even protest at the lateness of the hour. + +The way from the Rue de Lille to the Rue St. Honore was not long, but it +was varied by sights and sounds only to be witnessed in Paris during one +of her revolutions. More than once Jean caught the infection from some +shouting group, and snatching outstretched hands, joined in the wild +dance of the Carmagnole. Then again he would pause before a +gesticulating orator madly haranguing his audience from a bench or +improvised platform. The air was filled with shouts of "Vive la Nation!" +"Vive Danton!" "A bas le Roi!" Jean drank it all in, his boyish bosom +filled with pride at the thought of this strange, new liberty. Yet at +the cry, "Down with the King!" his heart would grow sick with the menace +that it carried for his benefactors. + +At last he reached the Rue St. Honore and stood before the great stone +building, so long the peaceful retreat of the Dominican Monks, now given +over to the strongest political society of the day,--the Jacobin Club. +Men were passing through its well-guarded doorway, each separately +interviewed for a moment by a crabbed, ill-disposed doorkeeper. Each as +he passed this watchful sentinel, exhibited a card or murmured some +magic password. Jean possessed neither a card nor the knowledge of the +proper watchword, but he was not to be daunted by either lack. Boldly he +marched up the steps, and would have walked straight into the hall, had +not the doorkeeper seized him wrathfully by the collar. No one else was +passing in at that moment. + +"Impudent! What is your business here?" he shouted. + +"I am a good citizen who loves liberty, and I demand to be admitted to +this meeting!" replied Jean, hopefully. + +"Well, of all outrages!" gasped the astounded doorkeeper. "Begone, you +young scamp! The Nation has little use for such as you!" He released the +boy's collar, and pursued him down the steps with a thick cane he had +snatched up. Jean, deeming flight his wisest course, took to his heels +and was speedily beyond the premises. But so rapid was his retreat that +before he was aware of it, he had butted plumply into someone who was +coming in the opposite direction, and the concussion knocked the +stranger flat on his back! + +"Oh, I beg your pardon!" entreated Jean, breathlessly, assisting his +victim to rise. + +"You would make a splendid catapult on a field of artillery!" answered +the stranger who proved to be a short and exceedingly thin young man. +He was wrapped in an old grey great-coat, though the weather was May, +and warm. A round, shabby black hat was pulled over his eyes. His hair +was arranged in a slovenly manner, and hung about his ears. In the +lamplight his face was sallow, with high cheek-bones and a very +prominent chin. But he had, so Jean thought, the most extraordinary eyes +in the world. They were deepset, grey and piercing, and fixed one with a +look as sharp as a sword. Jean felt that, had the man's lips commanded +him to throw himself into the fire, those eyes would have compelled him +to obey! + +"Perhaps you will explain the cause for this unwarrantable attack on a +peaceful citizen!" said the stranger as he brushed his coat. + +"Indeed I meant no harm, nor even knew what I was about, since I was +occupied in being forcibly put out of the Jacobin Club!" laughed the +boy. + +"And why should you want to be _in_ the Jacobin Club!" demanded the +stranger. Jean was on his guard at once. + +"All good citizens must wish to be present at meetings so important," he +replied airily. "I merely had a curiosity to know what was going on!" +The young man fixed him with his brilliant eyes, and Jean felt the blood +mount guiltily to his cheeks. + +"There's something deeper than that!" he remarked coolly. "I can see it! +What are your _real_ reasons? Are you a royalist?" + +"Indeed, I'm not!" asserted Jean vehemently. + +"Well, it doesn't make a sou's difference to _me_!" his new companion +declared. "I'm neither a royalist, nor am I a republican, nor, for that +matter, even a Frenchman. But I happen to have a ticket for the Jacobins +myself to-night, and since you're so interested, and have even +graciously condescended to knock me down, I'll take you in with me!" +Here was a stroke of luck indeed! Jean was instant in expressing his +delight, and the two climbed together the steps down which he had so +lately fled in ignominy. The gatekeeper scolded and muttered, but there +was nothing to do but let him pass, since a man with a card vouched for +him. + +The boy never forgot that night. He reached home and the Rue de Lille +long after midnight, encountering Mere Clouet at the door. She had been +very uneasy, and was inclined to be somewhat wrathful at the lateness of +the hour. But Jean was too excited to care. + +"Don't scold, Mere Clouet!" he entreated. "I've gotten into the Jacobin +Club at last!" + +"You young rascal!" she exclaimed incredulously, "are you telling the +truth?" + +"Every bit!" he answered. "Give me a bite to eat, good mother, and I'll +tell you all about it." + +"Always hungry!" she muttered, but nevertheless she gave him a generous +slice of bread and jam. Between great mouthfuls, he told the story of +his forcible encounter with the thin young man and its sequel,--his +admission to the club. + +"Ah, but it was a wonderful night for me!" he continued. "Such speeches +did I hear from Citizen Marat who is its president, and from one, +Robespierre, whose voice, they say, has greater weight than any, and +also from Citizen Danton, the president of the Cordeliers, who came this +evening with many more of his own club! Much of what they said was hard +for me to understand, but one thing I learned that it is well to know. + +"The citizens of the Faubourg St. Antoine are planning a fete for the +twentieth of June (that's the day after to-morrow), in which they will +form a procession and march to the palace to present a petition to the +King. That, of course, is all very well, but let me tell you what I +heard whispered about by Santerre, the brewer, who is to lead them. Each +_sans-culotte_ is to carry a pike, and he thinks that when the King +sees forty thousand pikes assembled about his door that he will become +alarmed. Then will be the time to lead a general insurrection and demand +that he resign his throne and crown or else _force_ him to it. Is it not +outrageous thus to take advantage of him unfairly?" Mere Clouet was +alarmed and indignant. + +"It is indeed!" she declared. "I believe the King means to do the right +thing by his people, but the country is becoming mob-ruled. It is only +the scum of Paris, of which that Santerre is a good sample, who would +sanction such plans! But sadly do I fear that they will do the royal +family harm!" + +"And so do I," replied Jean, "and therefore I intend to march with the +mob on the twentieth. Who knows but I may be in some way useful to the +poor little Citizen Dauphin!" + +"But," continued Mere Clouet, "it was kind of that strange young man to +take you into the club to-night! Did you learn who he may be?" + +"Indeed I did!" answered the boy. "All through the meeting he sat with +his arms folded and his strange eyes fixed on the speakers. Once, when +Santerre harangued us, I heard him mutter, '_Canaille!_' and another +time when Robespierre was speaking, he whispered to me, 'That is a man +of power, but--one should beware!' When we left the club, we parted on +the Rue St. Honore, and he said, 'Perhaps you will tell me your name, +young sir. You seem a lad of spirit!' When I had informed him, he told +me his own. 'Tis a strange one, and has a foreign sound,--Napoleon +Bonaparte!" + + + + +IN WHICH THE DAUPHIN WEARS THE RED CAP + + + + +CHAPTER III + +IN WHICH THE DAUPHIN WEARS THE RED CAP + + +There is nothing in this world so fickle as a Parisian mob! A breath, a +word, a gesture even, can often turn it aside from its most murderous +purpose, and bring it worshipping to the very feet of those it sought +but a moment before to destroy! + +The great palace of the Tuileries was crowded to suffocation. Hordes of +savage men, women, and even children from the poorest quarters of Paris, +thronged, jostled and fought one another to get a sight of their hated +sovereigns. A small company of soldiers strove in vain to clear the +rooms and defend the royalty from the taunts and insults of the +populace. Outside the palace, a still greater section of the mob, unable +to force an entrance, shrieked for something spectacular, even to +demanding the heads of the royal family. It was a wild, turbulent scene! + +Jean had kept his word. Throughout the four hours' march along the Rue +St. Honore, on that memorable twentieth of June, he had stayed closely +by that great giant of a Santerre, who finally gave him his heavy pike +to carry. At the palace gate the mob forced the doors with a rush, and +Jean, by virtue of being in the van with the brewer, entered among the +first. Up the Grand Staircase they hurried, pell-mell, dragging a piece +of cannon with them, and using hatchets, commenced to force the door +behind which it was rumoured that the King was hiding. Doubtless the mob +expected to find him cowering in terror behind a few faithful soldiers. +What then was their amazement when the panels of the door fell in, to +behold him standing directly before them, calm and unmoved! + +"Here I am!" announced Louis XVI. "Had you waited but a moment, you +might have entered the door without destroying it. What do you wish with +me?" The rabble fell back a pace, in enforced respect. Jean crept behind +some of the tallest, not wishing the King to perceive him and +misinterpret his intentions. + +"We have here a decree concerning the rights of the people!" announced +one, Legendre, a butcher, who had constituted himself their spokesman. +"We wish you to sanction it!" + +"This," said the King quietly, "is neither the place nor the time for me +to do that. You know that I will do all which your new Constitution +requires of me!" His kingly dignity quite changed the attitude of the +turbulent throng. + +"Vive la nation!" suddenly shouted his assailants in response. + +"Yes," answered the King, "shout for the nation! I am its best friend!" + +"Well, prove it then!" demanded a bold voice, and its owner handed the +King a red cap on the point of a pike. Jean held his breath, wondering +what the monarch would do now. But Louis XVI deemed this neither the +time nor the place to resist what was after all but a symbol. He lifted +the cap, and with a dignified gesture, placed it on his head. Further +than that, he even poured some liquor from a bottle offered to him, and +drank to the nation, though there were a thousand chances that he had +been presented with poison. After that he was loudly applauded, and +there was plainly no reason to fear an attack upon his person. + +But now Jean became anxious for the safety of the little prince, and +pushed his way from the room to ascertain what he could concerning the +other members of the royal family. At the door of the council hall he +heard it said that within could be seen the "Austrian Wolf," as they +called the Queen. Truly enough, there she was at the end of the room. +Jean's heart gave a bound at the sight of the group. Fenced in by a +long table stood Marie Antoinette, her head high, her great eyes +flashing, her cheeks deathly pale. On one side of her stood young +Marie-Therese, pale also, but brave and unflinching, her hand clasped in +her mother's. And on the table, supported by his mother's arm, stood the +Dauphin. In his face was mingled astonishment and fright, and he turned +his eyes constantly toward his mother, as if to read in her countenance +the meaning of this amazing invasion. + +For a time nothing but confusion reigned. Cries of "Down with the +Austrian Wolf!" mingled with shouts of "Vive Santerre!" "Vivent les +Sans-culottes!" "Vive le Faubourg St. Antoine!" Then suddenly there was +silence. A huge woman pushed her way through the crowd, threw her red +woollen liberty-cap on the table and cried: + +"If thou art so fond of the nation, thou Austrian Wolf, let thy son wear +the red cap of liberty!" + +"Yes, yes!" shrieked the crowd. "Crown the little Wolf-Cub with the red +cap, and give him some tri-coloured ribbons to wear!" Someone threw down +the ribbons beside the cap. The Queen turned to one of the guards +standing close by. + +"Place the cap on his head!" she commanded, and the grenadier did so, +setting it on the boy's brown curls; then he tied the ribbons in his +button-hole. The little fellow, hardly comprehending whether this might +be in sport or insult, smiled uncertainly. The multitude shouted and +applauded, and more confusion ensued. Jean, taking advantage of the +racket, slipped to the front, and placed himself directly before the +Dauphin. The little prince at once recognised him, but before he should +show that he did, Jean leaned across the table and shouted "Vive la +nation!" and then in an undertone whispered: "I am only here to help +you! What can I do?" The Dauphin's face lit up with a smile of +understanding, and without an instant's hesitation he murmured: + +"Find Moufflet!" Comprehending well the boy's anxiety for his pet, Jean +passed on, melted into the crowd and quickly scurried away, darting here +and there, in and out of all the rooms to which he could find +admittance. But it was like hunting for a needle in a haystack. Chance +alone finally favoured him. As he passed a thickly-packed group in one +of the corridors, he thought he distinguished a faint yelp. In another +moment he knew that he was not mistaken. Hating anything that was royal +property, a crowd of rough _sans-culottes_ had surrounded the poor +shivering animal, for lack of being able to get any nearer its master. + +"Here, Jacques!" called one ruffian, "give me your pike and I'll finish +him!" He was just about to spear the frightened, yelping ball of fluff, +when Jean broke madly through the crowd. + +"Give him to me!" he commanded. "He's just the kind of a dog I want! +I'll teach him to bark for Liberty, Equality and Fraternity!" The crowd +laughed, patted Jean's head approvingly, and handing Moufflet over to +his protection, hurried off to seek other prey. The dog whined his +recognition of a former friend, and tried to hide under the boy's +jacket. + +But Jean could not carry the little thing around in his arms, and at the +same time restore him to his master, that was plain. Where could he +place him so that the little animal might remain in safety? He looked +about him in despair. There was not a corner or the smallest cubby-hole +where it would be secure. Suddenly he remembered that in one of the +rooms now deserted, he had opened a door of what seemed to be a large +closet. He hurried to the spot and found just the hiding-place he +needed. Thrusting Moufflet into the darkness, he commanded: + +"You be a good dog! Lie down and be quiet!" As if comprehending the +situation completely, the dog crawled into a far corner, curled up and +lay shivering and silent. Jean closed the door, turned the key, and ran +back to the council-hall. Meanwhile, what had taken place in his +absence? + +For many minutes the Dauphin stood crowned with the heavy woollen cap, +while the crowd hooted, laughed and jeered. The day was very hot, and +the perspiration streamed down his face and dampened his curls. His +mother pressed him closer to her, whispering him to be brave a little +longer. As she did so, a young woman in front called out: + +"How proud and haughty that Austrian is! How she hates us!" The girl was +pretty, and her expression mild and gentle. The Queen wondered at the +contrast between her appearance and her words. For the first time that +day, she opened her lips and answered: + +"I do not hate you, my friend! Why should I? But I am afraid that you +hate me, though I have done you no wrong!" The young woman began to feel +a little ashamed. + +"No, no! I do not mean that you hate _me_," she replied, "but the +nation. You love only Austria from whence you came!" + +"You poor child!" answered the Queen. "They have told you that and you +believe it, but it is not true! I came from Austria when I was a very +young girl, to marry the King. But since then I have forgotten the land +of my birth. I love only France! Why, see! am I not the mother of your +future king?" and she pointed to the Dauphin. "I love all my French +people, and I only wish them to be happy!" The girl was so touched by +the Queen's gentle, reproachful manner, that the tears came into her +eyes. + +"Oh, pardon me, Madame! I did not know you!" she begged. "I see now that +you are not as wicked as they said!" It was then that the humour of the +mob changed. Women and men who had been the fiercest, wept at the grief +in the Queen's words and looks. They pressed about the table, admiring +the bravery of Marie Antoinette and the beauty of her children. Cries of +"Down with the Queen!" gave place to words of praise and admiration for +her courage. Even the big, brutal Santerre was touched. + +"Take off that cap from the little fellow's head!" he ordered. "Don't +you see how hot he is?" And then to the Queen he whispered: "Have no +fear, Madame! I will send away the people in peace!" + +It was then that Jean returned to the room, amazed at the changed aspect +of affairs. Under Santerre's direction the throng began to file out past +the royal family, contenting themselves with kindly looks and words, or +rough ones, as their changeable tempers dictated. Jean was among the +last to leave, and he had only time to whisper in a very low voice as he +passed the prince, + +"It's all right! The closet in the next room!" But by the grateful smile +of his little Highness, Jean knew that the Dauphin had both heard and +understood. + +Outside, on the terrace of the Tuileries, other events of interest +appeared to be happening, and Jean lingered to witness them. A man +standing on an armchair at a window in the palace, was addressing the +crowds below. It proved to be Petion, the Mayor of Paris, and he was +bidding the mob disperse peaceably now that the King had been +interviewed. While Jean was looking up, he felt himself clapped on the +shoulder, and a voice exclaimed: + +"Well, if here is not my young friend the catapult!" and turning, he +found himself face to face with the thin young man. "And what may you be +doing here? Helping to mob the King?" Now Jean could scarcely have +explained why, but something about this young man both invited and +compelled his confidence, and he had the instinctive feeling that +confidence in him would not be misplaced. So he boldly declared: + +"No, Citizen Bonaparte, indeed I have been far from mobbing the King. I +am not a royalist, and I wish to be a true patriot, but I feel that the +people are not dealing rightly with the King, and that they will yet +allow the rabble to do him an ill turn!" + +"Well said!" agreed the young man, heartily. "My opinion to a dot! My +friend, I am a Corsican by birth, and I have aided in the unsuccessful +fight for Corsica's liberty, but now I believe I will adopt a new +country and become a French patriot. The situation in this land appeals +to me. My heart thrills when I see an oppressed people rising to throw +off the yoke of the oppressor! And you are right when you say that, +groping in the twilight of their first new liberties, the people are not +dealing justly with their king. But, look you, my friend! Their king +means well, only he is making the biggest mistake a monarch ever made! +He is yet their monarch! He should show it! The people bow to force, to +power, and to that alone. See him now!" and he pointed to a window +where Louis XVI, still crowned with the red cap, was surveying the +throng below. + +"Never should he have allowed them to put on him that emblem!" continued +Bonaparte vehemently. "Never should he have countenanced this invasion +of his palace! It was madness! Had he turned a few cannon upon them, and +blown a hundred or more of this rabble to pieces, the rest would have +taken to their heels and fled with respect for him in their hearts! As +it is now, they have none! Mark my words!--worse will come, and he will +live to regret his forbearance!" + +Jean marvelled at the fire that flashed from those grey eyes. Instinct +told him that here was a man born to command, and he felt drawn to the +stranger by a feeling of intense admiration. + +"I came here to-day through curiosity," he continued, "but what did you +in the palace, my young friend?" And Jean, in his new trust, told the +whole story of his attachment to the little Dauphin, and the debt of +gratitude the Clouets owed to the Queen. When he had finished his +auditor remarked: + +"You are a faithful soul, my little friend, and I admire your spirit of +gratitude. I too am genuinely sorry for the royal family. But I fear you +have set yourself a hard road to travel, between your patriotism and +your friendship for royalty. Beware of the many pitfalls that beset you! +I am staying at the Rue Clery, number 548, over the tobacconist's. Come +and see me sometimes. Fortune is not dealing with me so very lavishly +just at present, and I should be grateful for your bright companionship +while I am far from my family and friends!" + +And Jean gladly promised to come. + + + + +ON TERRIBLE AUGUST TENTH + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ON TERRIBLE AUGUST TENTH + + +Jean speedily availed himself of the invitation from Bonaparte to visit +him. A few evenings after June twentieth, he went to the Rue Clery, +ascended to a room over the tobacconist's shop, and found Bonaparte +reading by the light of a single candle. The room was empty of all but +the barest necessities, and it was evident that its occupant was having +a hard struggle to make ends meet. But Bonaparte seemed pleased at the +visit of his new friend, and the two were soon engaged in lively +conversation. + +That night Jean heard the story of this young man's life. He told the +eager, sympathetic lad how he had been born of a fine family in Corsica; +how his father had lost all in the vain struggle for Corsican liberty; +how he, Napoleon, a poor shy, proud boy had been sent to the military +school at Brienne where he suffered agonies of wounded pride among his +richer classmates; how at fifteen he had spent a year at the military +school of Paris, suffering similar humiliation because of his poverty, +and at sixteen was appointed second lieutenant of a regiment of +artillery at Valence; how, soon after, his father died, leaving +practically on his shoulders the responsibility of a mother, four +brothers and three sisters! how he left the army and for a time devoted +himself to straightening out his family affairs; how he had returned to +the army, but encouraged by the breaking out of the Revolution in 1789, +he had again attempted to aid in freeing Corsica, and for this reason +had lost his place in the French army. Now he was hoping to regain it, +but in the present disturbed condition of affairs, could obtain little +attention from the authorities. In the meantime he was struggling +along, poor as a church mouse, making the barest kind of a living by +doing a little writing. All this information was not imparted at once, +but came out by degrees in the course of their conversation. Jean drank +it in with intense interest. + +"But the tide will turn!" ended Bonaparte. "Something tells me that I +was born under a fortunate star. Things will be different some day!" And +catching the proud flash from his wonderful eyes, Jean had no doubt of +it! + +As the days went on, Jean was drawn by an irresistible fascination more +and more into the society of "the thin young man," as he often spoke of +him to Mere Clouet and Yvonne. One evening, as he ran up the stairs of +Rue Clery, number 548, Napoleon's first greeting was: + +"I've something to tell you that will interest you, Jean! I've been to +the Jacobins again. There's a bloody insurrection planned for August +tenth! They are going to mob the palace, dethrone the King, seize the +Dauphin, and make all the royal family prisoners. Santerre is at the +head of it, and Danton, of course, at the bottom! You'd better look +sharp for your royal friends!" + +"Oh!" said Jean thankfully, "I'm so glad you warned me. I shall be +there, at least, and see what I can do to help them! I can't of course +do much, but--who knows!" + +"But, see here, my lad," answered Bonaparte, laying his hand on the +boy's shoulder, "you must not go alone! You are hardly more than a child +yet, and these are perilous times. I'd be anxious for your safety. +Promise me that you will not go without me! Together, we may be a +protection for each other." Jean gave his word, deeply touched that his +new friend should exhibit such thoughtfulness for his welfare. + + * * * * * + +Meanwhile, gloomy days had ensued for Louis Charles, royal Dauphin of +France. His little garden where he longed to dig among the flower-beds +and romp with Moufflet was forbidden him. Once only since the hateful +day of June twentieth, he had gone there accompanied by his mother. But +the shouts and threats of the crowd behind the fence, quickly drove them +into the palace again for safety. + +Distrust and suspicion were in the very air! For the people of Paris, +like a sullen, angry dog that has obtained a bone only to have it +snatched away again, felt that they had been defeated of their purpose +on the day they besieged the Tuileries. They were laying dark plans to +repeat the expedition, which this time, they vowed, should not fail. +Just at present they were only lying in wait till the time should be +fully ripe. + +The Dauphin roamed from room to room in the castle, pressed his face to +the windows and gazed with envy at the Park, brilliant with sunshine, +and at the throngs of common people who were free to come and go as +they pleased. He wondered whether Jean and Yvonne ever came to the +garden now. Once he thought he distinguished the boy among the strolling +crowds but he could not be sure. The King and Queen were preoccupied and +sad. His aunt, Madame Elizabeth, was much with them, and had little time +to give to his amusement. Even his sister sometimes forgot to romp and +frolic with him as had been her wont. To all it was a season of +breathless suspense. + +And then the fatal day arrived. On the night of August ninth, after his +supper, the Queen went to the Dauphin's room where he was being put to +bed, to kiss him good-night. Tears stood in her eyes as she clasped him +more closely than usual. + +"But, Mother, you are crying!" he exclaimed. "Is anything the matter?" + +"There is some danger, we have heard, but perhaps not immediate. You +would not understand if I explained it, little son!" + +"But can you not stay with me this evening?" he begged. "I am so +lonesome, and everyone is so sad!" + +"That I would love to do, but I must be with your father. He needs me +most. Do not be afraid, for we shall be near you." + +For a long time the boy lay sleepless, pondering his mother's words. +What did it all mean, anyway! His childish mind strove in vain to +comprehend why the French people should hate his parents so. There must +certainly be something very wrong somewhere! Sleep refused to come to +his tired little brain, and the hours passed slowly by. + +Suddenly he was startled by the strokes of a bell sounding far across +the city. It was the great tocsin of the Cordeliers Club, striking the +general alarm. Immediately it was answered by bells from all sections, +mingled with cannon-shots and the hoarse cries of an infuriated mob. +Nearer and nearer came the racket, and then the tumult became general +both within and without the palace. The Dauphin was hurriedly dressed, +and joined his parents, sister and aunt in another room. The King alone +seemed calm. + +"Come," said he, "we must all visit the soldiers who are defending the +palace and encourage them! Are you afraid, my son?" + +"Indeed no, Father!" answered the boy. "Let us go at once!" and he +seized the King's hand in his own. Down the stairs and from room to room +they passed, the King, calm and gentle as ever, speaking words of +encouragement to the few defenders who remained with them. The grand +gallery of the palace was filled with the troops of the Swiss Guard. As +the royal family passed, the captain snatched up the Dauphin, lifted the +child high above his head, and shouted: + +"Long live the King and the King's son!" Wild huzzas broke from every +throat, but their enthusiasm was short-lived. For without was +approaching a sinister clamour. Horrible cries, chiefly "The Crown or +the King's head!" "Deposition or Death!" resounded on all sides. At +that moment there burst into the room the procureur-general, who +approached the king crying: + +"Sire, the danger is beyond all expression! All Paris is in arms! +Resistance is impossible! They demand that you resign the throne! It is +death to you and yours if you refuse!" Louis XVI gave one last +despairing look about him. He feared nothing for his own life, but he +refused to risk those of his loved ones. + +"It is done!" he said gravely. "I make the last sacrifice! Do with me +what you will!" And so fell the ancient monarchy of France! + +"Come!" commanded an officer. "You must leave the palace!" + +It was quarter past six in the morning, when the sad procession wended +its way from the abode of its ancestors forever. Louis XVI went first +with Madame Elizabeth. Marie Antoinette followed, leading her two +children by the hand. The Dauphin looked back constantly, dragging at +his mother's hand. + +"What is it, son," she said at last, "that you are looking back for?" + +"Oh, Mother, can I not wait and find Moufflet?" he pleaded. "I must not +leave him behind! I know just where he is!" + +"No, no!" she exclaimed. "You would be killed if you went back! Be a +brave boy and make up your mind to part with Moufflet!" Tears stood in +the little fellow's eyes, and he struggled hard to keep them from +falling. A few trickled down, however, and he dashed them away, lest +someone should think them caused by fear. "My poor Moufflet!" he +thought, when he saw the mob forcing its entrance into the Tuileries. +Could he have known that in the midst of the bloodthirsty rabble was his +little friend Jean, he would have been both amazed and sorely troubled. + +But how did Jean get there! All the evening of August ninth, he had been +uneasy, and found it almost unendurable to stay quietly at home with +Mere Clouet and Yvonne. Excitement was in the air! A great event was +about to occur, and when the tocsin of the Cordeliers sounded the first +stroke, he was off like a rocket to the Rue Clery. + +"Citizen Bonaparte!" he clamoured, hammering on that young man's closed +door. "Come! come! They are about to assault the Tuileries! Here I am as +I promised!" Bonaparte came out dressed, after what seemed an age to +Jean, and the two hurried into the street and were instantly carried +almost off their feet in the swirling human current sweeping toward the +Tuileries. Men, women and children, chiefly of the lowest scum of Paris, +carried pikes, knives, hatchets, bludgeons,--anything that might serve +as a weapon of offence. "Death to the King!" "Down with the Austrian +Wolf!" "To the guillotine with Royalty!" were the predominating cries. + +Into the Rue St. Honore, through the Pont Neuf and the Pont Royal they +poured, ever increasing in numbers and ferocity. Almost without +volition on their part, Bonaparte and Jean were carried along by the +throng that swept through the Rue St. Honore, and in the first faint +dawn of morning, they, with the crowds, drove through the ill-guarded +palace gates, and stood before the long windows. Pressed close to the +wall of the palace, the two friends witnessed the departure of the royal +family, and Jean even guessed at the meaning of the little Dauphin's +despairing, backward looks. + +"Citizen Bonaparte," he whispered, "I see plainly that we can do nothing +now to help the royal ones, since they have placed themselves in the +care of the National Assembly, and will probably be safe. But I _would_ +like to save that poor little fellow's pet, if it be possible. What do +you think?" + +Before Bonaparte could reply, there was an exchange of volleying shots +between the outside mob, and the inner defenders. With a roar of +exasperation, the rabble flung itself at the doors and windows using +the hatchets, and when these gave way, the throng poured into the +palace. For a moment Jean and Bonaparte were hurried along in the rush, +and then at some sudden obstruction were forcibly separated, and Jean +found himself alone amid a scene of indescribable confusion and danger. + +The mob, first inhumanly butchered the Swiss Guard who had remained to +defend the palace, then turned its attention to pillaging and +destroying, with ruthless indiscrimination, the carefully hoarded +treasures of this kingly mansion, and when this grew wearisome, +attempted to set fire to different parts of the building. In such a +reign of confusion, members of the mob frequently failed to discriminate +among their victims, and often turned their weapons upon their own +numbers. + +Now Jean saw no reason for uselessly exposing himself to murder, and he +looked about for the safest and most convenient place to hide. It +occurred to him that the closet where he had placed Moufflet on that +memorable twentieth of June, would afford the best shelter. Making his +way through the crush with the greatest difficulty, he at last reached +the room, and managed to slip unobserved into this retreat, closing the +door and locking it on the inside. The space was small, and no sooner +had he crouched down in the farthest corner, than he felt something warm +and soft under his hand. For a moment it startled him, and then, with a +stifled cry, he clasped the fluffy mass to his heart. + +"Moufflet!" he breathed, and the dog licked his face in an ecstasy of +delighted recognition. Then he realised that the Dauphin must have +placed him once more in this retreat, when the first alarm was heard. He +felt almost happy. Here was half his plan accomplished! Now if he could +only find Bonaparte, and they could get away unharmed, all would be +well. He was just about to emerge from his hiding-place with Moufflet +under his coat, when horrible shouts filled the room, and he quickly +decided to remain where he was. + +"Search this room! Search this room!" shrieked hoarse voices. "There may +be aristocrats hiding here!" Then someone pulled at the door of his +retreat. "Here's a locked door!" called a rough fellow. "A +hatchet,--quick!" The splintered wood fell in with a crash, and +shrieking with delight, they dragged Jean out of the closet. Thirsting +for blood, the ruffians cared not, by this time, whether he was an +aristocrat or one of their own number. He was hiding!--that was enough! +A bloody hand grasped his collar, and another with a meat-axe was raised +over his head. Jean was too paralysed with terror to do anything but +wonder just how long it would take that axe to descend, when suddenly he +saw it dashed from his assailant's hand, and a well-known voice shouted: + +"Fool! Don't you know a good _sans-culotte_ when you see one? I believe +you'd murder your own brother!" The ruffian backed away, apologised +sheepishly, and darted off into the crowd. And with a glad cry of +recognition, Jean found himself in the arms of Bonaparte! + +"A close one for you, lad!" was all his rescuer had time to say. To the +end of his days, Jean could never tell just how they two struggled out +of that palace of horrors, nor how he managed to keep his grip on the +frightened, shivering, squirming Moufflet. But at last they found +themselves beyond the walls, and near the bank of the Seine. In sheer +exhaustion they dropped to the ground and lay there in the sultry +morning sun for over an hour, happy merely to be alive and whole, after +the experiences of that dreadful day. + +And elsewhere the hours of this memorable day wore on, filled with a +series of confused events through which the Dauphin and his family +moved, as through some horrible nightmare. The child knew not their +meaning, and could only occasionally grasp at the import of the drama. +Three long, terribly uncomfortable days were passed in the great hall of +the Assembly filled with representatives of the people. During all this +time the royal family was crowded into a tiny hot room at the side where +they were nearly stifled by the intense heat and discomfort, their +hearts constantly trembling at the horrible sounds made by the mob +raging without the building. Three weary nights were passed in the tiny +cells in another building where they were taken to sleep. + +The Assembly seemed to have great difficulty in deciding what to do with +their superfluous ex-monarch! Some,--they were the fiercest,--wanted him +killed immediately, as that would save them all further trouble and +expense. Some thought that he and his family should be sent out of the +country into exile. This was opposed because they said he might raise an +army, march back and regain his throne. Others were in favour of +allowing him to live in retirement at the Luxembourg, a smaller palace +than the Tuileries. This too was frowned down, because they thought it +too luxurious and comfortable, and besides had underground passages to +other parts of the city, through which he might escape. Finally they +grew weary of the discussion. + +[Illustration] + +"Oh, let us send him to the old Temple Tower, and keep him there! That +is good enough for him!" And so it was decided. Two large carriages were +procured, and the King, his family, and a few faithful servants were +driven across the city, through the pitiless, mocking crowds, to the +gloomy prison where they were to pass so many weary months and even +years. The Dauphin, seated on his father's knee, looked out at the mob, +shouting its frenzy of joy at their monarch's abasement. + +"Are they not very wicked, Father?" he asked. + +"No, dear son," answered the forgiving Louis XVI. "They are not +wicked,--only mistaken!" + +When at last the courtyard of the Temple was reached, the carriages +halted and the occupants stepped out. The yard was filled with soldiers +commanded by Santerre (but yesterday made a general!) yet no one helped +them to alight. As they walked to the entrance, no man removed his hat, +and when Santerre addressed the King, he forgot to say "Your Majesty," +or "Sire." At the doorway they paused a second, but they did not look +back. The crowd shouted "Vive la Nation!" They passed inside, and the +door was shut on the humiliation of the dethroned monarch! + + + + +A DOMICILIARY VISIT + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A DOMICILIARY VISIT + + +"This country is going to the dogs!" It was Bonaparte who spoke, +striding up and down thoughtfully, his head bent, his hands clasped +behind him. The two friends were taking an evening stroll in the Jardin +des Plantes, and discussing, of course, the affairs of the nation, which +were the only matters that interested anyone in those stirring days. + +"Yes, the country, and especially this city is going to the dogs, and I +think I'll leave it!" Jean was thoroughly startled. + +"Leave it!" he echoed. "Oh, Citizen Bonaparte, where would you go?" + +"I believe I'll go home to Corsica," replied Bonaparte. "I love my home, +and I've always been happy there, poor though it is. And besides, my +sister Elisa has been a student at the royal school of St. Cyr. I have +just received word that this school was closed and suppressed by the +Assembly on August sixteenth. So I must go there and take Elisa home. I +don't want to return. Paris is a horrible place!" + +"But what shall I do without you?" wailed Jean. "You are my best friend! +I have almost no others in these dreadful days." + +"Come with me, then!" generously responded Bonaparte. "Have you never +thought of becoming a soldier? I have received news of my reinstatement +in the army, and I would gladly take you with me." + +"Ah, but would I not love to do so!" answered the boy sadly. "It has +ever been my secret wish to serve my country in the army, and in these +days when we are struggling for liberty, I desire it beyond everything. +But how can I leave Mere Clouet and Yvonne? The good mother has cared +for me ever since she took me, a homeless waif from the Foundling +Hospital, and it would be wrong to leave her and the little Yvonne +unprotected in this mad city. It is true I am young, but I am all they +have! And besides, I have set my heart on being of service to the poor +little Citizen Dauphin in prison, if I can. We owe that debt to him and +to his parents, who helped us in our hour of need." + +"You speak truly!" said Bonaparte. "Your family is your first concern, +and nothing appeals to me more than the desire to pay a debt, whether of +money or gratitude. But should the opportunity ever come, I'll take you +with me in the army, lad, for I like your spirit. Would that Paris had +in her many more such! + +"But Paris is insane, blood-intoxicated!" he went on thoughtfully. "It +is amazing how blind she has become to the real peril! She seems to +think that the whole danger to her new liberty comes from within her +midst, in the persons of suspected royalists. Whereas, look you! France +is really menaced from _without_ by the foreign powers Austria and +Prussia, whose armies are threatening our borders everywhere. These +powers think that the conquest of this nation will be a mere summer +picnic, because she is internally torn by a great Revolution. What the +country needs is a _head_! Oh, for someone who could mass all her +squabbling factions in one united whole, and lead her to a glorious +victory!" + +So declaimed Bonaparte on this dusky, starlit night in the Jardin des +Plantes. What if the curtain of the future could have rolled back for an +instant and revealed to Jean's astonished gaze this same shabby young +man, eight years later! He is the hero of a hundred, victorious battles! +He has raised the perishing land of France and set her on the highest +pinnacle of power in the world! He is the emperor of his country and the +king of Italy! He has made his impoverished brothers and sisters kings +and queens. He is at once feared, obeyed and adored! He has truly +fulfilled his destiny! But the stars twinkled down on the Jardin des +Plantes. Out of Paris rose the subdued murmur of an ever restless +populace. The two friends walked together in silence for a space, and +the future still darkly guarded the wonderful secret! + +Suddenly the stillness of the night was broken by a roll of drums from +the Rue Saint Victor. In an instant everyone was hurrying in that +direction, realising that it was a signal of importance. Jean and +Bonaparte lost no time in joining the ranks of the curious. What they +learned that night served to add in no way to their peace of mind. + +It seemed that the brain of Danton, ever fertile in inventing outrageous +and unbearable measures, had hatched a new scheme. This was no less than +to apprehend all aristocrats who had been concealing themselves since +August tenth, all who had belonged to the late Court or were in any way +connected with it, and all who were suspected of royalistic sympathies. +This was to be effected by a series of _domiciliary visits_. At the roll +of the drums, all citizens were to repair at once to their homes and +remain there two days, during which time they would be personally +visited by a committee of surveillance. Suspicious evidences found in +any house, would subject all its inmates to immediate imprisonment. + +"You are to disperse at once!" ended the soldier who delivered this +message. "By ten o'clock not a soul must be abroad! Citizens, retire at +once to your homes!" + +"Outrage! Unwarrantable outrage! This is worse than the Bourbon +tyranny!" muttered Bonaparte, as the two separated, for it lacked but +half an hour of the required time. "But go cautiously, Jean, when the +inspectors visit your house! Remember, you've something incriminating +there!" + +When the following morning dawned, Paris was a singular sight! Streets +that had been populous with passing throngs and carriages, or swarming +with the crowded masses of the poor, were silent and deserted. Everyone +sought the vain protection of his own roof, which was soon to prove no +protection at all, and waited in fearful expectation for the threatened +visit. No one, were he never so innocent, could be certain of immunity. +Valuable property was hurriedly concealed, and persons who had the +slightest reason to think themselves objects of suspicion were carefully +hidden, some even going so far as to have themselves nailed up within +the walls of their houses! + +For two days Mere Clouet, Yvonne and Jean remained within doors in +nerve-racking uncertainty, trembling at the slightest sound, or the +faintest cry in the streets. For they had in their midst, as Bonaparte +had said, "something most incriminating,"--the pretty, coal-black +spaniel of Louis Charles, so lately imprisoned and deprived of his +title. + +"What shall we do with Moufflet, when the committee of surveillance +comes?" whispered Yvonne, who with all the others, instinctively lowered +her voice in this time of peril, lest the very walls betray her. + +"Leave that to me!" commanded Jean. "I've decided what I shall do and +say, only be sure you do not contradict me, either by word or action!" + +"I wish we could have hidden the little animal," sighed Mere Clouet, +"but of course it would have been useless to try. He would surely betray +both himself and us by some bark or whine!" So the hours wore away. The +two days of suspense drew to an end, and the Clouet family were +beginning to hope they had escaped the ordeal, when at dusk that night, +a thundering knock was heard at the door. + +"Open, or we break in!" growled a voice, and Jean hastened to comply. + +"Coming, coming!" he called cheerfully. "You are welcome, citizens all!" + +"That's a gayer greeting than we get at most places!" answered a high +nasal voice as the door was opened. And without further ceremony there +tramped in six huge pikemen, headed by one of the committee of +surveillance,--the owner of the nasal voice. He was a singularly +unprepossessing specimen of humanity, thin, wiry, short of stature, +evil-faced, with little, claw-like hands. He had a curious habit of +slinking about with soft, noiseless steps and a watchful look in his +beady eyes that reminded one irresistibly of a mouse. The pikemen +addressed him as Citizen Coudert. + +"Pikemen, do your duty," he commanded, "while I question these people!" +And while the pikemen tramped through the house, emptying drawers, boxes +and barrels, thumping the walls and floors, tearing up clothing and +destroying china on the pretence of a more thorough search, Citizen +Coudert proceeded to put the inmates upon a rack of torturing questions. +He had just touched upon the ticklish subject of sympathy for the +ex-king and the royal family, when a shout from one of the pikemen +announced the discovery of Moufflet, curled up in a distant corner. + +"That's a dog I'll swear I saw at the Tuileries garden many a day this +past year, with the little Wolf-Cub! I know dogs well, and am never +mistaken in one!" Jean's heart was in his throat, but he maintained an +indifferent air. + +"Aha! is it so!" snarled Coudert, rubbing his claw-like hands, and with +a gleam very like satisfaction in his beady eyes. "Answer me in regard +to this dog, if you please, young sir! Is he the property of that +Wolf-Cub brat?" Then Jean played his boldest card. + +"He was, I suppose, Citizen Coudert, but he's mine now! And when you +hear how I got him, you will say I did well, and acted worthily as a +good republican citizen. I went with the throng to the palace on June +twentieth, to see the sights. There I found this little dog, and I said +to myself,--'Won't it be a fine joke on royalty to take this animal and +train him in good republican ways!' So I caught him and carried him +home." Citizen Coudert looked incredulous. + +"You do not believe me, Citizen," continued Jean eagerly, "but hark! I +will prove it! Here, Moufflet! Bark for Liberty!" The little animal ran +to him, crouched, and barked once. "Now for Equality!" Moufflet barked +twice. "Now for Fraternity!" The dog gave three short, sharp barks, then +sat up and lifted its paws to beg. And Mere Clouet and Yvonne realised +now why Jean had been diligently training the intelligent animal in this +new accomplishment during the past two days of seclusion. + +"Bravo!" applauded the pikeman. "That's a rare trick for a royalist dog! +You've done well, my boy! I imagine we've no fault to find with you!" + +"Be silent, Citizen Prevot!" growled Coudert. "Pay attention to your own +duties, and leave these things to me! Now, young sir, this is all very +well, but what business had you to appropriate to yourself any property +that belongs to the people at large? This dog should have been delivered +to the Assembly. He is valuable, and might have been sold and the money +turned to helping our starving poor. Hand him over to me! I will do what +is right with him, but I'm going to keep a strict watch over you, do you +understand? You have given me cause to be suspicious of you! Here, +Prevot, carry this dog! To the next house, pikemen!" + +It was all Jean could do to be silent and submissive under this act of +injustice and outrage, but imploring glances from Mere Clouet and Yvonne +helped him to hold his tongue. The committee of surveillance left the +house, accompanied by yelps of protest from Moufflet, struggling in the +grip of Prevot. When they were gone, Jean tramped up and down the room +in a fury of rage and disappointment. + +"That sneak of a Coudert!" he exploded. "Has he any more right to that +dog than we have? He'll never give it to the Assembly, that I know! He +wants it for himself, or else he just took it for the sake of robbing +us! And now I cannot restore Moufflet to his little master, as I had +hoped some day to do!" + +"Hush! hush!" begged Mere Clouet. "We were lucky to have gotten off +without being dragged to prison! Had it not been for that dog's trick, +which you were clever enough to teach him, I doubt not but we would have +all been in La Conciergerie within an hour!" But Jean was not to be +passified by such reasoning, and he went to bed in wrath and tears, and +Yvonne followed his example. + +Events, however, shortly came to pass that made him sincerely thankful +they were all yet alive and going about with heads still secure on their +shoulders. The domiciliary visits of the last of August had so filled to +overflowing every prison in the city with victims (sad to say, for the +most part absolutely innocent of the crimes imputed to them!) that a +still more horrible plan was determined upon by those two arch fiends of +the Revolution, Marat and Danton,--one which should at once clear the +prisons for more victims, and strike such terror to the hearts of any +remaining royalists as to suppress absolutely all further tendencies in +this direction. This was nothing more nor less than a general massacre +of all the prisoners without trial, justice or mercy. + +At two o'clock on Sunday, September 2, 1792, this wholesale slaughter +commenced, and for five days the prisons of Paris were scenes of +unspeakable and indescribable carnage till at last they were empty. +Never was there in history so revolting a sacrifice of innocent lives. +Twelve thousand victims perished, and with this fearful prelude, the +Reign of Terror began! + +Three days later, Jean went to make his farewell visit to his friend +Bonaparte, now no longer a resident of the Rue Clery, for he had in the +meantime brought his sister to the city from St. Cyr, and was staying at +the little hotel De Metz in the Rue du Mail. Bonaparte introduced the +boy to his sister, a slender, rather pretty girl of fifteen in the +tight-fitting black taffeta cap of the St. Cyr school. As she had little +to say for herself, Bonaparte suggested that she remain in her room, +while he and Jean repaired for a walk to their favourite spot, the +Jardin des Plantes. Once there, Jean reported to him the outrages of +their domiciliary visit and discussed with him the horrors of the past +few days. + +"Oh, Citizen Bonaparte," he ended, "I am sorely tempted to go away with +you and join the army! I want to fight for better things for France. +This is not liberty, here in Paris! It is oppression and butchery! But I +dare not leave yet! I feel that I have a sacred trust to fulfil! Yet all +has gone wrong! Moufflet is stolen and I shall never see him again. We +are constantly in danger from that spying Coudert; it was only +yesterday that I saw him again sneaking about our street! To help the +royal family seems utterly impossible. And now you are going to leave me +too,--you who once saved my life, and to whom I can never be grateful +enough!" + +"I am sorry, little Jean! I truly am!" answered his friend. "Many things +call me away, but cheer up! The tide will turn, and there is no telling +what you may yet do--or what I may yet be! I tell you I believe in my +fortunate star! But one thing I will say to you, my lad. You have a +brave loyal spirit, than which I admire nothing more heartily. I like +you, and I will surely come back some day,--and who knows what we may +yet do together! Au revoir now! Be true to your trust, and don't forget +the friend you once made by butting him flat on his back!" Jean could +not even answer. He seized the young man's hands, kissed them +passionately, and with a sob fled down one of the long, green alleys of +the Jardin. Could he have guessed how long it would be before he and +this thin young man with the marvellous eyes should meet again, his +despair would have been deeper yet. But that also was guarded with the +secret of the future! + + + + +ENTER THE COBBLER,--EXIT THE KING + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ENTER THE COBBLER,--EXIT THE KING + + +The warm September sun shone dazzlingly on the pavement before the +_buvette_ or tavern of Pere Lefevre. This shop was situated in the outer +courtyard of the Temple Tower, and enjoyed the trade of all the +soldiers, guards and commissaries employed in guarding the imprisoned +king and his family. Pere Lefevre sat in a chair outside the door, +nodding in the sunshine, for it was mid-afternoon and trade was dull. + +Presently through the great gate and down the courtyard strolled a boy, +whistling vigorously the "Ca ira!" He was a little over twelve years of +age, strong and long-limbed. His eyes and hair were black, and his +curls were surmounted by a red liberty-cap. Such a racket did he make, +that Pere Lefevre was awakened from his nap. + +"Good afternoon, Citizen!" said the boy. "You look comfortable and +happy! Business must be pretty poor to give you so much leisure!" + +"Business is good enough, most of the time!" snapped Pere Lefevre. "I'm +rushed to death in the morning and evening. Just now, however, the +soldiers are all on duty, and it is not the hour for the commissaries' +visit." + +"Why don't you get someone to help you?" inquired the boy. "At your age +it is not good for the health to get about so lively!" + +"Help,--indeed!" growled Pere Lefevre. "Gladly would I, but the young +boys are all too busy running about the streets and dancing the +Carmagnole to pay attention to sober work. These are demoralising times +for the young!" + +"I imagine you are just the man for me, then," replied the boy. "The +good woman I live with shoved me into the street this morning, and bade +me not return till I had found employment for not less than seven francs +a week. What do you say to that, my friend?" + +"I say the saints must have sent you to me in my hour of need, and stay +you shall for seven francs a week! But you must be here at six in the +morning, and leave no earlier than ten at night." + +"Done!" cried Jean, for of course it was he. "And now set me to work at +once, lest I find time to regret our bargain!" + +When Jean came back to the Rue de Lille that night, he was bubbling over +with excitement and news. + +"Oh, what do you think?" he exclaimed. "News!--the best of news! I am +waiter at the tavern of Pere Lefevre, and have learned all about the +situation of the ex-king and his family. The shop is crowded in the +evening with soldiers and commissaries, and they do nothing but gossip +over their suppers about what goes on in the Tower. + +"Ah! their poor, fallen Majesties! It must be terrible for them! They +are called no longer 'King' and 'Queen,' but 'tis 'Monsieur Capet' and +'Madame Capet' and the 'Little Capets'!--nothing but 'Capet, Capet,' +every other word! Then they are watched and guarded every moment. There +are two rogues, Tison and his wife, who are hired to do nothing but +watch, watch, watch, spy on every word, sneak behind them at unexpected +moments to see that they are not writing to anyone outside, listen to +all their conversation, and search them every night and morning lest +they have concealed weapons about them, or some means of escape! + +"Think of it!--they prevented the King from teaching his son the +multiplication table, because they said it might contain a cipher for +communicating with friends outside! They took away the Queen's +embroidery-work because they thought she might be sewing into it a +secret language! They search every article of food that goes into the +Tower, even cutting open loaves of bread and cake! Ah, it is horrible! + +"The King and Queen and Madame Elizabeth spend their time in reading or +teaching the children. Sometimes they take a walk in the tiny garden +that is all enclosed by a high wall. To-day I heard the little fellow +shout, as he romped there with his sister. There is talk too, in the +tavern, that they are going to separate the King from his family, and +keep him shut up by himself. After that they will bring him to trial, +condemn him to death, and then!--" The thought was almost too much for +the tender-hearted Jean, and he turned away lest the others should see +the tears in his eyes. + +"But do you think," questioned Yvonne, "that you will sometime get a +chance to speak to the little fellow, and tell him that we still love +him, and would do what we can to aid him?" + +"I do not know yet," said Jean, "but I am going to try. He is so closely +guarded, that it is all but impossible for even one within the Tower to +make the slightest sign to him,--so well do those cats of Tisons perform +their task. I can only wait and try, and meanwhile keep my eyes and ears +open to all that goes on. I think some of the guards are more friendly +to the unfortunates than others. If I am not mistaken, one or two are +even royalists in disguise. If there should ever be any plans made for +their escape you may warrant that I shall be helping! Royalist I may not +be, but I am even willing to be taken for one in order to help my +friends. But here's a piece of news that's not so good! Citizen Coudert +is one of the commissaries of the Tower! He was not there to-day, but I +heard his name mentioned, by chance. You should hear how they all speak +of him! He has reminded more people than ourselves of a mouse, and +hence they call him La Souris! But we must beware!" + +Jean had not been long in the service of Pere Lefevre, before he became +a general favourite. His friendly smile, his gay rejoinders, his sharp +wit and his ready willingness won him many admirers. Few days went by +when he did not dance on one of the tables, and sing the "Marseillaise" +in his fresh young voice, for the benefit of an applauding audience. He +even drew unaccustomed outsiders to the little tavern, and Pere Lefevre +began to think he had drawn a prize when he hired the lively lad. + +"He's worth seven francs and more," he would mutter, "even if he _does_ +crawl behind the counter and sleep away half his time!" But Jean was not +as idle as Pere Lefevre supposed. He had his shrewd eyes always open, +and his quick ears ready to catch the slightest whisper. Many a time +when the tavern-keeper thought him sleeping behind the counter, he was +in reality only "playing possum," and listening all the while to the +low-muttered conversations of the soldiers or municipals of the Tower. +In this way he learned much, that no one ever suspected him of knowing. + +Strangely enough, Citizen Coudert, or La Souris as he was universally +though not openly called, exhibited no special interest in the boy's +position as waiter here, nor in his close proximity to the royal +prisoners. But Jean was perfectly certain that La Souris was keeping him +under the strictest watch, nevertheless. He longed to ask him what had +become of his little Moufflet, but dared not exhibit the slightest +interest in a subject so dangerous. + +But there was yet another of all the throng that frequented the tavern, +who struck Jean with a thrill of dread, whenever he entered the shop. +This was Simon, once a cobbler in the Rue des Cordeliers, now a +commissary of the Tower. He was a medium-sized, square-built man of +about fifty-seven years, with great, powerful limbs, a tanned face +framed by coarse black hair that was always hanging in his eyes, and a +heavy beard. His eyes were ugly and malicious, and he was never seen +without a short black pipe between his teeth. His manner was gruff and +insolent, especially when he spoke of the royal prisoners. Jean's hands +itched to choke him, particularly on one day when he flung himself into +a chair, and exploded in the following fashion: + +"That Capet creature! What do you think he has done to-day? Handed me a +paper on which was written,--'The _King_ wishes such and such articles +for his wardrobe! The _Queen_ desires some more linen, etc!' I said to +him,--'Capet, don't you understand that we have abolished kings and +queens? This nation is a republic now! Alter that memorandum as quickly +as you can!' He replied that I could hand it to his valet and he would +attend to it. The insolent object! Those Capets! Kinging and queening +themselves in spite of everything! I'll teach them a few lessons!" + +Jean could not rid himself of the impression that this man was to play +some dreadful part in the lives of the unhappy prisoners, and as time +proved, he was not mistaken. + +Meanwhile the months were passing, and events were hastening on toward +the dark deed which our Jean could neither delay nor prevent,--the +trial, condemnation and execution of Louis XVI. At last it came! The +Republic pronounced him guilty of conspiring against the liberty of his +people, and of endeavouring to endanger their safety by defending +himself. + +Poor King! His only crime had been that of being born a monarch, his +heritage the wrongs committed by generations of his ruling ancestors, +and his misfortune that he was utterly unable to cope with the situation +in which fate had placed him. Never was a trial conducted that was so +much of a farce! The King was allowed two lawyers to defend his cause, +but his condemnation was a foregone conclusion--even to himself. He was +sentenced to lay down his life the very next day, the twenty-first of +January, 1793. The new Republic had stained her glorious liberty by this +great injustice, and therefore she dared lose no time in executing the +sentence. + +It must not, however, be supposed that the royal sufferers had no +friends, that they were abandoned by all. Many royalists in the same +city yet remained alive after the massacre of September, and would have +laid down their lives to save the monarch they had never renounced. But +they were overwhelmingly outnumbered by their enemies and rendered +practically helpless. And even the good Republicans deemed this an +outrage on personal liberty and deplored it, but the Terror kept them +silent. Outside of Paris, whole sections of France still declared for +the king. One especially, La Vendee, was engaged in raising an army to +defend his cause. Meanwhile, mob-ruled Paris held him in the very heart +of her, helpless, a prisoner, condemned to die! + +Jean never forgot that dreadful day! 'Twas early in the morning, and the +tavern was crowded. In the courtyard stood the carriage waiting for the +doomed monarch, while all pressed close to the doors and windows to see +the better. Simon, the cobbler, harangued the crowd in his strident +voice, and bade them rejoice that they were at last to be rid of so +great a tyrant. + +A roll of drums announced the coming of the fallen monarch. He crossed +the courtyard on foot, pale but erect, calm and brave. Twice he turned +and looked back toward the Tower, in farewell to all he held dear. At +the entrance gate he stepped into the carriage and the door was shut. A +great shout led by Simon went up from all but Jean. The cobbler, +noticing his silence, grasped him by the collar. + +"Shout, you monkey! Rejoice for the death of Capet! What? Are you a +royalist?" he hissed. Jean did not dare to disobey. With a bursting +heart, he snatched off his liberty-cap, threw it in the air, and cried: +"Vive la Republique!" Simon, satisfied, let him go. He darted through +the crowd unnoticed, and running madly, sought his home in the Rue de +Lille. There on good Mere Clouet's broad bosom he sobbed out his shame +and sorrow for hours, and did not return to the tavern that day. + +At quarter past ten o'clock, a dreadful shout rang out from the Place de +la Revolution, mingled with the ringing of bells and the booming of +cannon. Louis XVI was no more! Paris congratulated herself that at last +she was rid of monarchy. But back in the Tower, a little frightened lad +wept and shuddered on his mother's bosom,--a throneless, crownless +boy-king, called Louis XVII of France! + + + + +THE SCHEME OF THE BARON DE BATZ + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SCHEME OF THE BARON DE BATZ + + +"If we could only find someone among the _sans-culottes_ where they +could hide over one night,--someone who is at heart a sympathiser! That +is all wanting to perfect the plan!" + +Two men in _sans-culotte_ costume were seated at a small table in the +restaurant of Pere Lefevre. Both were faces hitherto unfamiliar in the +tavern. One was that of a young man, and was bold, keen and daring. His +older companion's was of a more common type, but was distinguished by +kindly blue eyes. They leaned across the table and spoke in low whispers +with their heads close together. The little room was otherwise deserted, +for Pere Lefevre nodded outside in the morning sun. He had tended to +the wants of his two customers with many muttered complaints about "that +idle, good-for-nothing vagabond of a Jean, who was probably lying asleep +somewhere!" Then he went back to his own nap. + +The younger man, who had spoken last, tapped his fingers on the table +impatiently, and waited for his companion to reply. + +"I know of no one just now who would be safe," replied the other, "but +wait a few days and perhaps we shall find one in time." Suddenly they +were both startled to see the body of a boy wriggle noiselessly from +behind an old screen and crawl toward them. He was covered with dust and +cobwebs, and his eyes blazed excitedly. + +"Citizens," he whispered, "I know of one who will serve you right well! +Trust me!" The men looked at each other in astonishment and alarm. Had +their cherished plans then, been overheard by this fierce little +Republican who danced the Carmagnole and sang the "Ca ira!" with such +grim delight? If so, all was lost! But Jean hastened to reassure them: + +"I beg you to trust me, citizen friends! It is true I am not a royalist, +but we love the little fellow and his good mother. Once she gave us +heaven-sent help, and we have sworn to aid her if we could. For this I +took service in the tavern. For this I have listened to every word of +conversation that men carry on here in low tones, when Pere Lefevre +thinks I am asleep. For this opportunity I have prayed,--oh, long, long +months! Trust me, gentlemen!" The boy's words and looks were so earnest +and sincere that the two men felt certain that he could be trusted with +their secret, and must be, since he had discovered so much. The younger +one took him by the shoulder: + +"Swear by God and the late martyred King that you will be faithful!" he +commanded. And Jean vowed to be faithful. + +"Now," said the man, "how do you think you can help us, since you have +discovered so much?" + +"Mere Clouet, with whom I live," declared Jean, "will joyfully open her +house to the royal ones, and shelter them safely. She has the reputation +for being one of the stanchest _sans-culottes_ in the Rue de Lille, and +none would ever suspect her!" + +"It is the very thing!" exclaimed the two men. "It is a godsend!" Then +in whispers they elaborated to Jean all the details of the plan for the +escape of the Queen, her sister and the two children from the Tower. +This is the plot that the boy had discovered, and in which he was to +take so important a part. + +There was in Paris a loyal and daring royalist, the Baron de Batz, who +schemed so cleverly for the release of his sovereign that he was never +discovered, even when it chanced that his plans failed. He, it seemed, +was the younger of the two men whom Jean had overheard. He contrived to +be present everywhere, seen nowhere, and had the most trusty agents and +spies in his service. He also had many retreats and secure hiding-places +in Paris, the principal one being at the house of a grocer named Cortey, +who was a commissary at the Tower, and at heart a sympathiser with the +royal sufferers. Through him, De Batz discovered another royalist, one +Michonis, a soldier of the Temple guard. The three together had +perfected a bold scheme of escape. + +They had arranged that the first time Cortey should be on duty among the +commissaries, he should enroll De Batz as his colleague for the day, +under the name of Citizen Forget, and thus gain his admission to the +Temple Tower. This had already been done, and De Batz, or Forget as he +was now called, had studied the situation for several days, discovering +about thirty men among the soldiery who would be faithful to the cause. + +Then the scheme was to wait till a day when Cortey should be on duty as +commissary, and Michonis also on guard among the sentinels, both at the +same time. They would probably be obliged to wait quite a while for +this, as the two men's turns did not coincide often. That day all the +men on sentry at the staircase of the Tower were to wear long, military +capes above their uniforms. When the hour came, late at night, Michonis +was to take these capes from some of them, and put them on three royal +women. In this disguise the Princesses with guns in their hands, would +be incorporated among a patrol, and in their midst they would surround +the child-king. Cortey was to command the patrol, and under the pretence +of investigating some imaginary disturbance in the street, would have +the great inner gates of the courtyard opened for them. Once outside the +walls, their safety would be almost certain. + +A carriage was to be waiting in the Rue Charlot. Jean was to be allowed +to drive this, and take the fugitives near to the Rue de Lille. Then +they would get out and make their way unobtrusively to the home of +Citizeness Clouet. Here they would rest secure for the night, and in the +morning escape in _sans-culotte_ costumes to a ship that would leave the +port of Havre next night. The plan seemed perfectly thought out, and to +Jean it appeared that success was certain. + +While the three conspirators were whispering at the table, suddenly a +shadow fell across the floor from the open doorway. With a little shiver +of distrust, Jean turned round and faced the rat-like eyes of La Souris! +He had, however, the presence of mind to appear very unconcerned, and +invited Coudert to be seated at another table. The two men rose to +leave, and before they went Jean remarked aloud: + +"Citizens, you have entertained me vastly this afternoon with your tales +of La Guillotine! I hope you will come again to help me pass a dull +hour! What will you take, Citizen Coudert?" But in spite of his apparent +unconcern, his heart misgave him somewhat, for though La Souris said +nothing to alarm him, he watched the boy more suspiciously than ever. He +hurried home that night to Mere Clouet and Yvonne, with joy and fear +mingled in his heart, and told them all the wonderful news, and the two +Clouets spent some happy days thereafter, preparing for their royal +guests. + +The time passed while they were waiting for the auspicious day, and the +conspirators were careful not to be seen too much in each others' +company. Once, however, when Forget and Michonis happened to meet and +exchange a few low-whispered words in the courtyard, if they had looked +behind them, they would have noticed a little, wiry, evil-faced creature +skulking around the corner of the building near which they stood. Jean, +the lynx-eyed, from his vantage ground in the tavern doorway, caught +sight of La Souris' suspicious manoeuvres. He left the door, and +strolled nonchalantly--past his friends, singing loudly, "Allons, +enfants de la patrie!" Just when he was opposite them he muttered +between his teeth, "'Ware La Souris!" and sauntered on. The two men +parted, and were careful not to meet again. + +At last the long-looked-for day arrived. Michonis and Cortey were both +on duty, and also twenty-eight loyal soldiers, among whom was Forget. +All during the day nothing occurred to mar their plans, and Jean hugged +himself and chuckled with delight. Night came and all was well. Michonis +was at his post in the prisoners' apartments, while his colleagues +rested, lounged or played _tric-trac_ in the council-room below. Simon +alone was not among them, having been absent from the Tower for several +hours. This was looked upon as a favourable omen. + +At ten o'clock Jean hastened home to the Rue de Lille, donned the +costume of a coachman, which, as he was growing wondrously tall and +large, did not fit him ill, and leaving Mere Clouet and Yvonne tingling +with suppressed excitement, hurried to one of the dark and deserted +streets nearby. True to appointment, there stood a carriage driven by a +liveried coachman. At the whispered word, "_De Batz_," the man got down, +assisted Jean to climb up in his place, promised to be at the same spot +two hours hence, and disappeared. Jean drove away, not proceeding +straight to the Rue Charlot, but by a wide and devious route that took +him first over a large part of that section of Paris. When he entered +the Rue Charlot at the appointed time, eleven-thirty, it was quiet and +dark. + +Here he halted, and sat for nearly half an hour, feverish with +impatience for the royal party to arrive. Presently he heard soft steps +coming down the street, and his heart began to beat violently. But as +the steps drew nearer, he beheld a little, wizened figure that had +something strangely familiar about it, and his heart beat more violently +still when he recognised his old enemy, La Souris! Nearer and nearer he +drew with his queer, mouse-like manner, peering sharply to the right +and left, and Jean began to hope that he would pass the waiting carriage +without paying it any particular heed. But, no!--Citizen Coudert stopped +directly before it, measured up the driver with his crafty eyes, and +inquired: + +"Is this carriage hired?" Jean thanked his stars for the broad hat that +shaded his face, and the scarf that muffled him to the chin. He made his +voice as deep as possible and replied: + +"Yes, citizen! It is engaged for the evening!" + +"Ah! Then you cannot take me to the Rue St. Denis?" + +"No, citizen! I'm sorry!" + +"Good-night, then!" growled Coudert as he moved off, and Jean responded +with a shiver of apprehension. This strange individual's manner was so +peculiar that one could never guess what were his real thoughts. +Something about it all made the boy perfectly certain that La Souris +did not want a carriage to take him anywhere. But why he should inquire, +and how much he suspected, or whether he suspected at all, Jean could +not, for the life of him, determine! Another quarter of an hour passed. +At last the silence of the night was broken by the stern command of a +guard, and the clanking open of a great gate. Then indeed Jean's heart +leaped into his throat, and he felt assured of success. But instead of a +party of five, one man came running at top speed down the street. When +he was near enough, Jean recognised the Baron. + +"Quick!" whispered De Batz. "Drive like the wind!" + +"Where?" demanded Jean in despair. + +"To the Barriere St. Denis! I must get out of Paris!" and De Batz jumped +in, closing the door softly. + +The drive through Paris to the entrance called the Barriere St. Denis +was the most bewildering Jean had ever taken. All the way he was +wondering what could have happened, how the plot had been discovered, +and whether this would affect the welfare and safety of all concerned. +That La Souris was at the bottom of it, somehow, he had not a doubt. But +nothing could be ascertained before the carriage reached its +destination. When the Baron finally alighted, he pressed Jean's hand and +thanked him for his quiet, efficient service. + +"It's a mystery to me!" he said in explanation. "All seemed to be going +so well until nearly midnight. Then that devil of a Simon entered the +guard-room with his usual infernal racket, and demanded that we have a +roll-call of the guards. He turned to Cortey and snarled,--'I'm +especially glad to see you here, Citizen Cortey! I wouldn't be easy +without _you_!' Then I saw plainly that the whole thing was discovered. +Ah! but for a moment I had a wild desire to blow out that surly rascal's +brains! But reason told me that this would, far from mending matters, +only serve to incriminate us all. So I managed to keep perfectly calm +while the roll was called. Then Simon went upstairs, probably to +interview Michonis, and left Cortey in charge of us. While he was gone, +Cortey pretended that he heard a disturbance in the street, organised a +patrol of eight (including myself), and we came out to investigate it. +Thus I escaped. Cortey is a brave man and true! His patrol will number +only seven when he returns! Well, it is a grief to me that it has failed +but be of good courage, lad! I shall live to hatch more plots and, trust +me, you shall take a part! I pray that none of you suffer for this, but +I think you will not, as our tracks are well covered. I cannot stay +longer! God bless you, and good-bye!" The brave man slipped away in the +darkness, leaving Jean to drive wearily back to where he was to deliver +the carriage to the coachman, and then plod home on foot to the Rue de +Lille. + +His heart was almost too heavy to care what became of him, and he hated +to face the disappointment of Mere Clouet and Yvonne. Their sorrow at +the failure of their hopes was all and more than he had pictured it. But +after a while, when they had talked it all over and were preparing to +retire for the night, Yvonne made a sign to her mother, and then turned +to Jean: + +"We have a surprise for you!" + +"What is it?" he asked without much enthusiasm, for he was too weary and +disgusted to care about lesser matters. Mere Clouet disappeared into +another room for a moment, and returning, with a quick movement +deposited something in his lap. Jean almost tumbled out of his chair! + +"_Moufflet!_" he gasped. "How?--when?--where?--" The little animal +fairly smothered him with caresses, and the light of happiness came back +to the boy's eyes. + +"Listen!" cried Yvonne. "About eleven o'clock this evening, we were +sitting here, when suddenly I heard a strange scratching at the door. I +thought perhaps you had returned with the royal ones and were giving us +a signal, so I ran to open the door, when there jumped right into my +arms this little Moufflet! He was breathless with running and covered +with mud and dirt. Oh, how glad he seemed to see us! I gave him a bath +and fed him well, and he has been sleeping ever since. How _do_ you +suppose he came here?" + +"He must have escaped in some way from La Souris, though I can't imagine +how!" replied Jean. "And, goodness knows! he's had a run, clear from the +other side of Paris! It's a wonder he ever found us again! But we must +be right careful of him, now. If La Souris should discover him here +again, he'll swear I stole him! + +"But, oh!" he thought, "if only the little fellow could have come +to-night and found his pet here!" + + + + +THE COBBLER TAKES COMMAND + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE COBBLER TAKES COMMAND + + +No one ever knew just how it came about that the scheme of the Baron De +Batz had failed. La Souris was firmly believed to be the one who had +discovered it, though whether he had really become acquainted with the +facts, or only suspected a plot could not be ascertained. All the +conspirators could discover was that during the day, one of the +grenadiers not in the plot had found a folded paper lying outside the +courtyard. It contained but one sentence,--"Beware! Michonis will betray +you to-night!" The soldier handed this to Simon, who immediately took +steps to prevent all action, and had Michonis brought up before the +Commune. + +But wary Michonis had cleverly covered up his tracks! There was no +evidence of guilt found upon him or any of his companions. He answered +openly and calmly all incriminating questions, and seemed so earnestly +and candidly interested in the welfare of the Republic, that the Commune +decided Simon must have been mistaken, in spite of the note. + +This, however, irritated Simon beyond measure! He doubled all the guards +at the Tower. Then he went whining to the great Republican leader, +Robespierre, complaining that he had unearthed evidence of many plots to +carry off the royal child, proclaim him King of France, and overthrow +the Republic. Between the two they so manoeuvred that in consequence +of these rumours, the Committee of Public Safety issued a decree:--the +boy must be separated from his mother, kept in an apartment by himself, +and put in charge of some tutor to be chosen by the Convention. + +Then came the question who should take charge of him, who should be +given the important task of educating his royal ideas in the principles +of the Republic? Who but Simon, the zealous commissary that had been so +active in thwarting all schemes of release! Yes, let Simon have charge +of this tender life, and let his wife be there to assist him and +minister to the bodily wants of this carefully reared, tenderly nurtured +little son of a monarch! So it was decreed! + +It was about ten o'clock on the night of July third, 1793. Louis XVI had +been dead nearly six months. In their room in the Tower sat the Queen, +Madame Elizabeth and little Marie-Therese. The two older women were +sewing, or rather vainly attempting to darn and patch their much-worn +clothes, for the Republic saw fit to provide them with no new ones. The +fair young girl of fifteen was reading aloud. All were dressed in neat +black gowns, their mourning-costume for the late king. + +Over in a corner, in a small bed with no curtains about it, slept the +little Louis Charles. His mother had carefully hung up a dark shawl to +shield his eyes from the light and shut off the draughts. Once he +stirred in his sleep and sighed heavily. Marie-Therese stopped reading, +and all glanced toward the bed. + +"Poor little fellow!" sighed his mother. "His life is not very happy +now!" + +"But how brave he is!" said Madame Elizabeth. "He never complains a bit, +he tries so hard to be cheerful and keep us all in good spirits, and how +tenderly he always speaks of his father!" + +"Is it not strange," added Marie-Therese, "how he never speaks now of +our happy life at Versailles, (how far away that all seems!) and he +never even mentions the Tuileries, for fear it will make us sad! For one +so young, he is very, very thoughtful!" + +"God grant that he may have happier years in store for him in the +future!" sighed Marie Antoinette. "But, whatever comes, I pray that he +may never sit on the throne of France! Nothing but sorrow could come of +it!" She shuddered, and after a moment's silence they all continued +their work. Suddenly there was a loud sound outside on the staircase,--a +heavy tread of feet, a hideous clanking of bolts and bars unfastened. +The three women looked at one another in dismay. But they thought it was +only another of the insulting searches to which they were obliged to +submit so frequently, and at such uncertain hours. The last door opened, +and six municipals entered. + +"We are come with an order from the Committee of Public Safety," said +their spokesman, in a loud, brutal manner. "The son of Louis Capet is to +be separated from his family. Give him up to us at once!" Poor Marie +Antoinette could not believe her senses. Separated from his mother! A +little child of only eight! They could not be so cruel! + +"It is not possible!" she cried, trembling. "You have got the order +wrong! It cannot be true! He is so young, so weak! He needs my care!" +Her anguish softened for a moment even the hearts of the rough +municipals. + +"Here is the decree," they said, more gently. "We did not make it,--it +was the Convention. We are only here to carry it out and we cannot help +ourselves." The three women placed themselves before the child's bed. +They defended it with their bodies, they sobbed, they prayed, they +implored, they humbled themselves to the utmost. All to no purpose! + +"Come, come!" at length remonstrated the head of the band. "Give over +this disturbance! They are not going to _kill_ the child! He will be +safe and in good hands." He approached the bed and seized the heavy +shawl which fell on the boy, waking him suddenly and completely +enveloping him. He shrieked aloud in his sudden fright and clung to his +mother, crying: + +"Do not let them take me! Oh, mother, mother!" + +But the municipals were growing weary of the scene. "If you do not let +him go peaceably," they warned, "we will call the guard and take him by +force!" Then the Queen begged that he should be left at least over that +night, that she should be allowed to see him at meals each day. In vain! +In despair the three women began to dress him. Never did a toilet take +so long! They lingered over each garment, passed his shoes from hand to +hand, put them on and took them off again, thinking in this way to delay +the time of parting a few moments. + +"Hurry, hurry!" commanded the officials. "We cannot wait all night!" At +length it was completed. The Queen took her son, all trembling and +frightened, sat him on a chair, kneeled down before him, and clasped +both his hands in hers. + +"Dear little child of mine, we are about to part! I know not when we +shall see each other again, but when I am not with you, remember always +your duty. Never forget that it is the good God who is putting you to +this test! Be good and patient, brave and straightforward, and your +father will bless you from Heaven where he is gone!" Then she kissed him +and gave him to the municipals. But the little fellow broke from them, +rushed to her again and clasped her knees with his arms. With the tears +streaming down her cheeks, she released his hold. "Go, my son! You must +obey me!" Grasping his arm, the leader dragged him, still looking +backward, from the room. The women strained their gaze till they could +see him no longer, and the door was shut! + +Down in the room below, in the apartment formerly occupied by Louis XVI, +a thick-set, dark man was striding about, smoking an evil-smelling pipe. +The door opened, and some municipals entered with a sobbing boy. They +spoke a few words to the man and then went out, leaving Louis XVII alone +with his tutor. He recognised at once Simon the cobbler, whom he had +frequently seen before, and for whom he entertained an unconquerable +aversion. + +"Sit down on that chair, Little Capet!" commanded the cobbler, without +removing his pipe from his mouth. The child obeyed. + +"Now there are a few things I want you to understand," said Simon, +striding up and down before him, puffing out great clouds of smoke, "and +we might as well make them plain in the beginning. In the first place, +you are to be called nothing but Little Capet! Do you comprehend that?" +The boy made no answer, but only choked and coughed, for the +unaccustomed smoke almost strangled him. Simon laughed aloud at his +plight. + +"Next, you are to obey implicitly every order that I give you. I'm +master, now! Do you understand?" Still no answer. + +"Lastly, you are to forget all about your royal fol-de-rols, and learn +carefully from me how to conduct yourself as a good citizen of this +great and glorious Republic. I'll teach you! Oh, I'll teach you well!" +The boy's continued silence irritated him beyond measure. + +"Answer me, you little pig!" he shouted, grasping him by the collar. And +for the first time in his life, the son of a king, the gentle loving +child who had never before had a rough hand laid on him, was shaken to +and fro by the cobbler's muscular arm. He sobbed and caught his breath, +but still persisted in a stubborn silence. Simon now perceived that in +this frail little body, he had an iron will to cope with, and mentally +bracing himself, he vowed to break it or perish in the attempt. + +Then ensued a frightful struggle! The cobbler scolded, threatened, +raged, tramped about the room, and finally resorted to blows. The little +king set his teeth and endured to the last, but he would not open his +lips. It was far into the night when Simon, furious but exhausted, threw +the boy on his bed in a dark corner, and left him to sob out his grief, +pain and despair till morning. + +The next day appeared on the scenes, Madame Simon, the cobbler's wife. +She was very little, very fat and very ugly. Her face and hands were +brown like Simon's, and she always wore a cap tied with red ribbons, and +a blue apron. She was rough, coarse-mannered and common like her +husband, but unlike him, she was inclined to be a little more kindly +toward their captive. + +The young King took no more notice of her than he had of Simon. For two +days he would touch neither food nor drink, persisting always in his +obstinate silence. On the third day some municipals came to pay a visit +of inspection. Rushing to them, the child demanded with blazing eyes: + +"Where is the law by which you keep me from my mother? Show me the law! +I wish to see it!" The men only laughed, but Simon dragged him away, +exclaiming: + +"Silence, Little Capet! What do you know about the law, young fool?" +When the visitors had gone, he continued: + +"Now that I see you have not forgotten how to speak, I shall teach you +to shout 'Vive la Republique!' and dance the Carmagnole. We will make a +brave little patriot of you!" + +Time went on, and gradually the poor child learned that stubbornness +would prove of little avail, so he resigned himself to his cruel master +with as good grace as he could. He never forgot, however, that he was a +king, and his actions were always dignified and manly. His mother, +failing in her demand to see him, had his books and playthings sent +down, that he might both amuse himself and continue his studies. The +things were all dumped into a corner in a heap. Simon 'pooh-poohed' at +the books and used their pages to light his pipe. The toys he either +stepped on or threw away, as the fancy took him. + +"I'll give thee something to amuse thee, and instruct thee too!" he +volunteered one day, and presented his charge with a little concertina. +"Now pipe away on that! Thy wolf of a mother can play, and thy dog of an +aunt can sing. Thou shalt learn to accompany them! It will be a fine +racket!" Louis Charles pushed the instrument away from him. The coarse +remarks about his mother and aunt stung him to the quick. "I do not wish +it!" he said quietly. Simon was furious! He had taken the trouble to +make the little wretch a gift, and it was scorned! + +"Peste! You shall suffer for this!" he threatened. And suffer the poor +child did for many a long day, in consequence of that refusal. Yet no +brutality ever induced him to touch the hated instrument. Simon finally +gave it up. + +When he entered under the cobbler's yoke, the little king had worn a +suit of black clothes, in memory of his father. Simon's jealous eye was +not long in perceiving that the child was fond of these clothes, since +his mother had fashioned them. + +"It's time you left those off!" he announced one day. "I'll have no one +about me mourning for old Capet! We'll have a gay little new suit made +for you!" Louis begged and pleaded to no avail. A few days after, he was +arrayed in a little coat and trousers of the Revolutionary red, and a +bright red liberty-cap. The boy donned the suit sadly but without +resistance. But when it came to the liberty-cap, nothing would induce +him to let it be placed on his head. He fought and struggled wildly +against wearing the headdress of his father's murderers. It was only +through Madame Simon's interference that the cobbler gave up the +contest. + +"Come, come!" she said. "Let be! Another time perhaps, he will listen to +reason!" The child gave her a grateful glance that she never forgot. + +In addition to his other hardships, the young king was obliged to wait +on his two captors, and run at their beck and call like the meanest +servant. He performed his tasks without a murmur, and counted himself +fortunate if he were not rewarded by a kick, or a cuff on the ear. + +One morning while it was yet dark, Louis XVII awoke on his hard +truckle-bed. All days now were bad enough and sad enough, but he somehow +had a presentiment that this one would be worse than the rest. He rose +shivering, lighted a little foot-stove, and took it to Madame Simon's +bed as he had been directed to do. She scolded him sleepily for not +bringing it sooner, and his heart ached as he recalled how he used to +lay a bouquet from his garden at Versailles on his mother's bed every +morning. Oh, the hideous difference! After his scanty breakfast, he +caught the eye of Simon fastened upon him, with some new, malignant +interest in its gaze. + +"Thou art bewigged like a royal courtier!" growled the cobbler, passing +his rough hand over the silky curls. "'Tis little like a good +Republican's head. This must go!" With a huge pair of shears, he hacked +into the thick hair with great, jagged strokes. In a few moments the +curls all lay on the floor, and Louis Charles stood like a shorn lamb, +heartbroken but tearless, before his tormentor. Then the cobbler took +his charge down to the courtyard for his daily breath of fresh air. Some +of the soldiers, at the sight of the poor, ill-cropped head, laughed +immoderately. Only one commissary, Meunier, said regretfully: + +"Why have you hacked off all the hair that was so becoming, Simon?" + +"Oh, don't you see! We are playing at a game of despoiling kings!" +chuckled Simon. Again the soldiers laughed. The child, always peculiarly +sensitive to mockery, hung his head and turned away, losing all desire +to run about with his football. He was glad when Simon took him in +again. + +That night the cobbler made him drink two glasses of bad wine. As he had +heretofore never touched anything but water, it made him stupid and +heavy. Perhaps he did not quite understand what was happening. Perhaps +his spirit was at last beginning to break. But, at any rate, when Simon +said to him: + +"Now here's your nice red cap! Put it on!" the boy, worn out with +struggling, yielded at last. + +"Ah! Now thou art a true _sans-culotte_!" cried Simon in triumph. And he +crowned the shorn head of Louis XVII with the badge of the Commune! + + + + +HOW YVONNE SAW THE KING + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOW YVONNE SAW THE KING + + +Meantime, Jean in the tavern had not been idle. His quick eyes, keen +ears and alert wits were ever on the watch. During the past month he had +made a friend, and hatched a little scheme of his own. The friend was +Citizen Barelle, one of the many and ever-changing commissaries of the +Tower. Barelle often came into the little tavern after his duties for +the day were over, and not infrequently Jean heard him speak with +sincere regret of the present condition of the wretched little monarch +and his brutal tutor. These remarks made Jean feel certain that Barelle +possessed not only a kindly heart and quickly aroused sympathies, but +that he would also be easily disposed to render the necessary help. He +resolved to take this man at least partially into his confidence. + +Therefore when a favourable opportunity presented itself one afternoon, +and he had Barelle to himself in the little eating-room, he opened the +subject cautiously. + +"Citizen Barelle, I see you are a friend of the little fellow over +yonder! So am I!" Barelle showed some astonishment at this disclosure. +He replied: + +"If you are, my lad, you had best say little about it in public! But why +do you speak of it to me?" Then Jean told him how the queen had once +rendered them help in their distress, and how they had grieved at the +misfortune of their royal benefactors. He said nothing of his +determination to aid them to escape if he could, but he did suggest +this: + +"Mere Clouet would be very glad to do the laundry work for the Tower. I +see that the position is vacant since Citizeness Pataud left here last +week. Perhaps you could have her appointed. And then, would it not be +possible, when she and little Yvonne come with the clothes, to have +Yvonne taken up to play with the little fellow once in a while? You say +he is so lonely, and has no pleasures. There could surely be no harm in +that!" Barelle considered for a while, gravely. + +"You are a kind little chap!" he said at last, "and a grateful one too! +Yes, we need a laundress badly, and no doubt they will be glad to have +found one so soon. I will use what influence I have. But about the +little Yvonne,--we must see later!" The next week it was all settled. +Mere Clouet was notified of her appointment as laundress to the Tower, +and Barelle whispered to Jean that he thought they could manage it about +Yvonne. + +Jean was ecstatic at the success of his scheme! So was the good Mere +Clouet, and as for Yvonne,--she never slept a wink the night before she +went for the first time, so excited was she over the prospect! Jean +gave her a long list of instructions early that morning, before he +departed for Pere Lefevre's. Among them, these were the principal ones: + +"Don't let anyone see by your words or actions that you know him or have +seen him before! And _don't_ let anyone overhear what you tell him!" +Yvonne promised, understanding thoroughly the necessity for the utmost +caution. She and her mother packed the clothes in a great basket, hired +a carriage for a franc, and were driven to the Temple. At the outer +courtyard the carriage was stopped by a sentry on duty, and they were +obliged to carry the heavy basket across to the door of the inner +courtyard. Yvonne saw Jean standing in the doorway of the tavern, but, +with a prudence beyond her years, she refrained from noticing him in any +way, as likewise did her mother. + +At the inner gate they were again halted. Here Citizeness Clouet must +stop, as she was allowed to go no further. Every article of clothes +must be taken from the basket and minutely examined to see that they +contained no hidden writing or messages from the outer world. This was a +long and tiresome process. While it was being completed, Citizen Barelle +called to Yvonne: + +"Come with me and romp with the little fellow upstairs awhile! You are +not afraid, are you?" + +"I think not!" she replied, putting her hand in his. And they climbed +the gloomy, guarded stairs together. At the door of the room on the +second floor Barelle gave a command to the sentry, the clanking bolts +and chains were drawn, the door opened, and they stood in the presence +of Louis XVII of France! Yvonne could scarcely believe her eyes! Had she +not known whom she was going to see, she would never have recognised +him. Remembering the beautiful boy in the Tuileries garden, the +laughing, dimpled face, the long curls of golden-brown, the round +graceful limbs, the sweet trusting blue eyes, she shrank back and drew +in her breath with almost a sob. + +On a chair in a corner sat the unhappy monarch. His little body, grown +thin and wasted by captivity and ill-treatment, was clad in a startling +red suit. On his shorn, jagged hair rested a liberty-cap. His cheeks +were sunken and pale, and his eyes red with weeping. Over him towered +the burly form of the cobbler. + +[Illustration] + +"Sing that song about the 'Austrian Wolf,' you wretched little cub, or +I'll throttle you!" he threatened. + +"I will never sing such a thing about my mother, if you should beat me +to death!" answered the child, quietly but firmly. Simon put out his +great, hairy hand to grasp the boy's collar. + +"There, there, Simon!" interposed Barelle. "Leave off your instructions +for a while, and have a game of billiards with me. See, I've brought +this little youngster to play with the boy, and give you some freedom! +You don't have much leisure time now." Simon, exceedingly flattered by +what he deemed Barelle's thoughtfulness for him, acquiesced at once. The +two men went to a billiard-table at the other end of the room, leaving +the children together. + +"You're right about my time!" grumbled the cobbler as they chalked their +cues. "I don't have a moment to myself. I'm tied to that cub every +minute of the day, and I'm just as much a prisoner as he is. I tell you +I can't stand it very long! It's bad for my health! It's driving me +crazy! Why, look you! I could not go to Marat's funeral, and I even +missed the great anniversary fete in the Champ de Mars on August tenth! +I'm tired of it!" + +But how fared it with Yvonne and the little king? For a moment after +Simon left him, the child remained motionless, his head sunk on his +breast, sobs only half under control heaving his chest. Then he raised +his head and looked at Yvonne. He gave a great start of recognition and +delight, and would have uttered a glad cry, had not Yvonne laid her +finger on her lips, glanced at the two men, and shaken her head. The boy +understood the action. His adversity had taught him only too well, the +necessity for caution. Yvonne boldly took the initiative. Stepping up to +him, and speaking so that she could be heard by the cobbler, she said: + +"Little Capet, don't you want to play a game of tag with me? You shall +try to catch me. I do not think you can!" She sprang away from him, and +he jumped from his chair with a new and unaccustomed lightness, to chase +her round and round the room. Presently she allowed herself to be +caught. Under cover of much loud shouting and laughter, she managed to +whisper: + +"I have something to tell you! Do you remember Moufflet?" + +"Yes," he replied. "He is lost,--dead!" Yvonne noticed that the cobbler +was eyeing them suspiciously. + +"Now I'll catch you!" she called loudly. And Louis Charles obediently +broke into a run, she following, till they were both breathless. Then +she caught him. + +"Moufflet is not dead!" she murmured. "Jean found him in the Tuileries +the night you left it." Question after question crowded to the boy's +lips, but he dared not satisfy his curiosity at once. + +"Have you not some other game we can play?" asked Yvonne. "Ah! here is a +checker-board. I'm tired of running so let us play this!" They arranged +the board on a chair and commenced to move the pieces, quarrelling +loudly with each other every moment or two. Under cover of this noisy +talk, Yvonne, in short scraps of sentences told the boy the story of how +Jean rescued Moufflet from the Tuileries, how La Souris had wrongfully +taken him away, and how he had since returned. She assured the child +that they were keeping the little animal with the hope of some day +returning him to his master. She also told him how Jean worked in the +tavern in order to be nearby, how her mother did the laundry-work for +the royal prisoners, and how she was to be allowed to come and play with +him once in a while, through the kindness of Citizen Barelle. + +The little, heart-sick boy grew radiant with a delight which he dared +not exhibit, lest it be discovered by his watchful tormentor. In the +short time he asked many questions about his mother, sister and aunt. +These Yvonne answered by smiling and pointing to the room above to +indicate that all was well with them. He inquired after Jean and his +beloved dog, and sent many messages to his faithful friend. But the time +was all too short. + +"Come, we must be going!" warned Barelle. + +"A moment!--only a moment, till we finish this game!" implored Louis +Charles. The good-natured commissary agreed, and turned once more to +engage Simon's attention. + +"Yvonne," whispered the boy, "I love you and Jean and your mother. Tell +them so for me, and that I thank them!" Yvonne signified that she would, +and pressed a little packet into his hand. + +"Hide it!" she commanded. "'Tis a curl of Moufflet's hair. I thought you +would like to have it, perhaps." He slipped it inside his blouse with a +grateful look. + +"I'll hide it in my mattress, and I do thank you for it. Good-bye, +Yvonne! Oh, come again soon!" + +"I will," she promised, "as soon as they will let me. Good-bye, poor +little King!" And as Barelle led her away, she called back: "Good-bye, +Little Capet!" But the child heard only her last whispered, "poor little +King," and he gratefully pressed the packet of Moufflet's hair to his +heart. + +Four weeks had passed in which Marie Antoinette had heard not a word +concerning the welfare of her little son,--weeks of fear, uncertainty, +and foreboding, terrible in their dragging length. Each day she eagerly +questioned the visiting municipals, but they answered merely that he was +well and studying with a tutor. + +At length circumstances favoured her, and help arrived from an +unexpected quarter. This was nothing less than the astonishing change of +disposition in the spy Tison and his wife. Madame Tison fell suddenly +very ill, and in her sickness begged the Queen's pardon for all her +former meanness and spite. Marie Antoinette forgave her freely, but the +poor woman's mind had become so unsettled through remorse, that she had +to be moved from the Tower to a hospital. Then Tison himself entreated +the Queen's forgiveness: + +"I never knew you till you came here. I never dreamed what noble, true +characters you all were, till I was set to act as a spy upon you! Oh, +forgive me also!" Tison it was then, who came to the Queen's aid in her +hour of need. Making himself acquainted with all that he could gather +about her son's welfare, he gave her daily accounts of all that he +thought would interest her. More than this, he showed her a loophole in +the wall, tiny it is true, but through which she could sometime catch a +glimpse of her boy as he passed up the stairs daily to take the air on +the turret. + +She was deeply shocked when she learned in whose care her tender child +had been placed, and horrified when she saw his appearance through her +loophole, clad in the red suit of the Commune. But once as he passed, +she heard him humming softly the air of a little cradle-song she used to +sing him: + + "Sleep, my child, and cease thy weeping! + Sleep, my child! my heart is sad." + +By this she knew that his thoughts were still with her, and her heart +was a trifle comforted. + +But a great change was to come. At two o'clock in the morning, on the +first of August, 1793, the Queen was awakened and told that she must +prepare to leave the Temple Tower. She was transferred to the prison of +La Conciergerie where she was kept two months and a half in a small, +damp cell. After that she was obliged to undergo a trial that was even +more of a flimsy mockery than the one accorded to Louis XVI. "Anything, +anything to be rid of her!" was the one idea of this terrible tribunal. +The end, like her husband's, was a foregone conclusion. On the sixteenth +of October, she bravely, calmly, proudly gave up her life, happy in +being reunited at last with her beloved husband, regretting only that +she must leave her children to so uncertain a fate. + +In the Tower of the Temple wept and waited poor Madame Elizabeth and +Marie-Therese, all in ignorance of the Queen's fate. And on the floor +below, also waited the persecuted child, who did not even know that his +mother was gone from the room above, where he loved to think of her as +watching over him. + + + + +THE BLOW FALLS + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE BLOW FALLS + + +On a night toward the end of October, 1793, Jean was walking slowly and +thoughtfully home from the tavern to the Rue de Lille. His day's work +was over and it was long past ten o'clock. He was in no special hurry, +for he had many things to think over and he felt that he could do this +better by himself and in the open. None of his thoughts were +particularly happy. It was but a week since the Queen had given up her +life on the guillotine, and his heart ached with pity and horror for her +sorrowful end. The little King, doubtless all in ignorance of his loss, +was constantly more and more cruelly treated by the cobbler, whose +already evil temper was now thoroughly demoralised by his own enforced +imprisonment. + +Then too, the condition of Paris was appalling. The Terror was at its +height, the prisons were overflowing with "suspects," and the guillotine +claimed daily a sickening array of victims. Robespierre ruled the +Convention with a hand of iron, and ruthlessly sacrificed to La +Guillotine all who stood in his way. + +Jean had heard no news from his friend Bonaparte except a brief note +some time before, saying that he was in Marseilles with all his family +(which had left Corsica forever), and that he was again in the army. And +there was yet another problem weighing on the boy's mind. Tison, with +whom he had established quite a friendship since the spy's strange +conversion, had come to him two days before with a request. It seemed +that the Queen, before she was taken to La Conciergerie, had entrusted +to Tison a little book of prayers that she wished in some way to be +conveyed to her son. Tison had promised faithfully to accomplish this +mission if possible, but had as yet been unable to do so, as he was +never admitted to Simon's room. + +Then he bethought himself of Yvonne, and of how she came occasionally to +play there, and he remembered that Jean had once confided to him the +tale of her first admittance. Here then was the solution! He came to +Jean and begged him to see that the book was in some way delivered, and +had only that morning placed the precious parcel in the boy's keeping. +This Jean felt to be a sacred trust, more so than ever now that the +Queen was dead. He determined that Yvonne must take it on the morrow +when she went with her mother and the laundry. Barelle would be on duty +that day, and would very likely gain her entrance. + +One more vague fear troubled him. La Souris had never, by word or sign, +indicated that he concerned himself in the least about the boy, since +the memorable night when the plot of the Baron de Batz had failed. But +of late the man was constant in his hovering about the tavern, and the +very fact that he seemed to avoid speaking to the boy purposely, made +Jean most uneasy. It was as though a sword were suspended above his +head, and might fall at any unexpected moment. + +All these thoughts served to depress the spirits of this usually lively +lad. He walked soberly, his head bent, looking neither to the right nor +left, his hands jammed in his trousers pockets. The street he traversed +was alive with people and bright with the lights from many shop-windows. +But presently he turned into one that was quite deserted, and almost +pitch dark by contrast. He had not proceeded far in this black lane +before he became aware of stealthy steps following him. His first +impulse was to take to his heels and run at top speed, but he wisely +decided to do no such thing. Instead he stopped abruptly and demanded: + +"Who is following me? What do you want?" The stealthy footfalls ceased +for a moment, then out of the shadow stepped a huge figure. + +"Do not be afraid!" a voice whispered, as the figure drew near. "I am +Citizen Prevot, the pikeman, who helped to search your house over a year +ago!" Jean was astonished and not a little alarmed. He knew Prevot to be +an almost constant attendant of his enemy, La Souris, and he could not +imagine whether to expect an attack from this giant or a friendly +advance. Prevot hastened to reassure him: + +"I am following you with the friendliest intentions, believe me! I +always liked you for your cleverness in teaching that little dog his +trick, and I've news that will interest you to-night. I followed you +from the tavern, but I dared not address you till we came to this dark +street, for fear of--_him_! He's a born spy! It's the sole ambition of +his life to get someone into trouble,--you know whom I mean!--and I hate +him as I hate the devil! But I have to serve him,--that's my living and +likewise the safety of my neck! Now, in the first place, let me ask you +did your little dog ever get back to you?" + +"Oh, yes, yes!" answered Jean. "But how he came to, I know not." + +"Well, _I_ do," returned Prevot, "for I let him out of the house that +night. The poor little beast had been pining away for weeks and weeks. +He would eat almost nothing, and when we tried to make him do that +clever trick, he would only lie down and whine. It was plain that his +heart was breaking. So, one night when _he_ was out on some spying +expedition, I quietly opened the door, and the little animal was off and +away like a flash. I supposed he would get back to you. My soul! But I +had to stand a tirade from _him_ when he came back, for I represented to +him how the beast must have sneaked out unawares!" + +"I can never thank you enough!" said Jean gladly. "We all love the +little thing so!" + +"But that's not all I have to say," went on Prevot. "And the rest is +more serious! Do you know that _he_ has been keeping an eye on you for a +long time? Well, he has had his suspicions that you were mixed up in one +or two things concerning those in the Tower, but he could never be quite +certain till this morning, when he caught you in communication with +Tison, and saw Tison hand you something, secretly. Then he put two and +two together, and became convinced that you were in some plot to aid +those Capets. My lad, to-day he denounced you to the authorities! +To-morrow morning you will be arrested and then off with you to La +Conciergerie,--and you can imagine the rest! Tison is to be treated to +the same attention, only he will probably go to some other prison. Then +said I to myself, that fellow is too bright a young chap to afford a +mouthful to La Guillotine, and I'm going to give him at least a warning! +Cut away to-night, young Jean! If you start at once without even going +home, by to-morrow you can be far out of Paris and the reach of _him_!" + +Jean's heart almost stopped beating at the news, yet, singularly enough, +so long had he been expecting the blow, that when it fell his one +thought was, "It has come at last!" He could not even command words in +which to thank this kind-hearted _sans-culotte_ for his timely warning. +But Prevot understood and grasped his hand: + +"Don't try to thank me, lad! Make haste to get away, and to-morrow +morning there will be one victim the less, thank heaven! I must return +at once, for _he_ will be missing me, and of course suspecting +something! Adieu!" And he was gone before the boy could open his lips. + +For many minutes Jean stood there in the darkness, striving to collect +his thoughts. What _was_ he to do! Circumstance having thus opened the +way for him, combining his safety with one of his most cherished wishes, +it was an almost irresistible temptation to flee from Paris, seek out +his hero and friend in Marseilles, and become a soldier of France. It +was a situation that would have tested the courage and loyalty of many +an older and more experienced mind. But turn and twist it as he would, +the position admitted of one outcome only, for him. Did he take good +Citizen Prevot's advice and escape before morning, what would be the +inevitable result? Simply this--that Mere Clouet and Yvonne would be +suspected of complicity with him, and _they_ would, without doubt, take +his place in one of the overflowing prisons. That they should suffer +while he went scot-free was unthinkable. And of course they could not +all attempt to escape,--that would mean certain apprehension with its +inevitable results. On the other hand, did he stand his ground, go about +his usual duties to-morrow and accept his arrest as if innocent, there +was one chance in a hundred that he might be so considered, and +ultimately set free. And even at the worst, no matter what happened to +him, Mere Clouet and Yvonne would probably escape suspicion. + +Then there was one other consideration,--the dead Queen's little book of +prayers that he held concealed, in trust for her misused son. That must +be delivered at all cost, and in order to facilitate this he must go on +to the Rue de Lille and entrust it to Yvonne. No!--the longer he thought +about it, the plainer his duty became. He must accept with the best +grace possible what fate had in store for him, execute the mission that +had been entrusted to him, and see that no harm came through him, to +those who stood for all the family that he could claim in this world. +Once arrived at this conclusion, his heart actually felt lighter. With +all due gratitude to Prevot, he hurried home, determined to act on the +morrow as though in complete ignorance of what awaited him. + +But when he reached the Rue de Lille, it was with a very grave face. So +unlike his usual gay self was he, that Mere Clouet was alarmed. Jean, +however, told her nothing. He ate his late supper, fed Moufflet, and +tried hard to act as though all were as usual. But when the Citizeness +Clouet had left the room for a time, Jean drew Yvonne aside and took her +into his confidence. + +"Do not tell good Mere Clouet yet," he ended. "She must go to-morrow +with the laundry, and I want her to know nothing, till afterward!" Poor +little Yvonne grew white with terror. + +"Oh, Jean," she whispered, "nothing must happen to you! We love you so! +How could we live without you!" + +"Perhaps nothing more serious than a few days' detention will happen, +little one," he answered, "but we must always be prepared. Now let me +tell you what you must do. Here is the packet. You cannot get it out of +your hands too soon! Do they ever search you when you go to the little +fellow?" + +"No," replied Yvonne. "Citizen Barelle always tells them it is not +necessary." + +"Then you can probably get it to him safely. It is small thank +heaven!--and easily concealed. Few about the place connect me with you +and your mother, so if I am taken, make no inquiries for me except of +Barelle or Meunier,--he is also a friend,--for your own heads would not +then be safe! Trust in God, Yvonne, to save me! I cannot think He will +suffer me to come to harm. Take good care of Moufflet, and give my love +to Mere Clouet. Good-night, Yvonne!" It is scarcely necessary to add +that two people in number 670 Rue de Lille slept but little that night! + +Next morning Jean hurried off to work as though nothing of importance +was to happen that day. The hours of the morning drifted heavily by, and +his heart was in his mouth at every unusual sound. He saw Mere Clouet +and Yvonne arrive with the laundry and leave after their usual stay. +Yvonne looked frightened and was plainly trembling, but by the +imperceptible nod she gave him, he guessed that her mission was +accomplished. Noon came, and still nothing had happened. But about one +o'clock, three gendarmes came into the tavern and ordered some wine. +Scarcely were they finished with their refreshment, when one of them +laid a heavy hand on Jean's shoulder. + +"I arrest you in the name of the Republic!" was all he said, but Jean +knew that the blow had fallen at last. A wondering and regretful group +gathered about to see this favourite led away to some unknown but only +too well-imagined fate. Even Pere Lefevre parted from his little waiter +with quite a show of sympathy. It seemed a long journey from the Temple +to the Palais de Justice, and the gendarmes said not a word all the way. +The procession aroused little interest in the passers-by, for arrests +were too common in those days to cause any excitement. Arriving at the +Palais de Justice, they entered through the great Cour du Mai, and led +the boy to a large office where were seated many clerks at work. His +name was entered and a gendarme assured the clerks that the charge had +already been noted so that it only remained to thrust him within the +walls of the prison. Without further ado, he was led down a gloomy +staircase, a gate was opened and shut, and Jean was fast in La +Conciergerie! + +He found himself in a spacious courtyard filled to overflowing with a +throng of helpless humanity of every degree from the lowest to the +highest. Among them were nobles, authors, priests, bankers, merchants, +bakers, farmers, mechanics, _sans-culottes_ even, and vagabonds, all +rubbing elbows, existing in daily fear and trembling, and almost starved +on the inadequate rations they received. That afternoon a crier came to +the gate and read aloud the list of that day's victims to the +Guillotine. Amid sobs and cries, that batch of prisoners passed out of +the dungeon forever, only to be replaced by a fresh installment before +evening. + +Recognising none of his fellow-prisoners, Jean established himself in a +convenient corner, and amused himself by noting the vast difference in +the way that different classes of victims behaved themselves in their +terrible incarceration. Strangely enough, the class that seemed most +unconcerned was the nobility. A little party of them were grouped +together in a corner, and from their actions they might have been safely +at home enjoying each others' society without a thought of fear. Four of +them were engaged in playing a stately game of cards. When the crier of +the afternoon read, among others, the name of one of these players, Jean +was astonished to see the man rise, apologise politely to the others for +his enforced absence, and request another friend to take his place while +he was away. Then he bowed and departed, as though death were not +awaiting him outside that fatal gate! Others were not less collected. +These aristocrats seemed to pride themselves on ignoring the hideous +peril of their position. + +People in other walks of life were not always so self-contained. Here +and there women, and even men sobbed and shivered for hours at a +stretch, and a shriek of anguish from some doomed victim was no unusual +occurrence. Others seemed frozen dumb with apprehension, while yet +others laughed and sang and played at boisterous games, striving +recklessly to forget their precarious nearness to trouble. + +When evening came, and the prisoners were to be locked into their +crowded cells for the night, four noisy, stupid, half-tipsy jailers +entered, accompanied by several savage dogs, and there was a great to-do +while the roll of the victims was being called. A badly spelled, +incorrect list was passed from hand to hand among the jailers, a wrong +name was called, to which, of course, no one responded. The turnkeys all +swore in chorus, and tried another with no better success! + +"Here, citizens," suggested Jean the irrepressible, "give me that list, +and I'll help you get it straight!" They were only too glad of some +assistance, and willingly handed it to him. Jean called off the names, +while the person to whom each belonged marched before the guards and +assured them of his or her identity. When this performance had been gone +through four times, the muddled keepers were at length convinced that +they had all safely locked in. + +"Thanks, little rat!" they told Jean. "We will remember you another +time!" and the great gates were shut and barred for the night. Jean +found himself in a narrow cell in company with seven other persons +completely unknown to him, and they all slept together on a filthy +mattress of straw. Next day, however, Jean was removed from the common +hall and placed in a tiny, uncomfortable cell by himself. + +"What's this for, my friend?" he demanded of the turnkey. + +"It's because you are a dangerous conspirator, and it has been commanded +to keep you in solitary confinement!" he was told. + +"Here's a pretty pass!" thought Jean. "How plainly we see the finger of +La Souris in this pie!" And he sat down on his straw mattress to think +it over. + + + + +EXIT THE COBBLER + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +EXIT THE COBBLER + + +Louis Charles Capet sat on his rough wooden chair by a table, anxiously +eyeing the door, and listening nervously for the slightest sound. Simon +was not with him, having gone up on the platform by himself for a little +airing. Madame Simon sat knitting in another corner of the room. Just +for a while the child was enjoying one of his rare intervals of peace, +free from violence, insult and terror. + +Had one watched him, it would soon have become evident that he was +waiting for something,--waiting, longing, with every nerve tense, for +some desired event. It was the day that the laundry should come back, +and the child knew it. Therefore with all his heart he was hoping for +one of those infrequent visits with Yvonne, the sole pleasure in his +weary little existence. It was long since she last came to him. + +For a while nothing was heard in the room but the click of Madame +Simon's knitting-needles, and the chirp and flutter of five or six +canaries in a big gilt cage on the table. It was through the goodness of +the kind-hearted Meunier, another commissary, that the child had been +allowed this plaything. Pitying his forlorn and empty life, Meunier had +obtained permission to have placed in the room a gilt cage that he had +found in the store-room of the Temple. This cage contained an artificial +canary, which when wound up would whistle the air, "O Richard! O, my +king!" + +At first Louis Charles was immensely pleased with this toy, thinking +that the bird was alive and a captive like himself. But when he +discovered that it was only an automaton, he lost all interest and +apathetically refused to be entertained by it. Then good-natured +Meunier scoured the neighbourhood and brought him some live canaries to +put with the mechanical one. + +"These, at least, are real birds!" the child cried gleefully, and kissed +each one as it was put into the cage. "I shall try to tame them!" From +that time he had always a pleasing occupation with his feathered +captives. He fed them, cleaned the cage, and clapped his hands with +delight when they all started to sing, accompanying the toy one in his +tune of the "King's March." One little fellow seemed tamer than the +rest, never failed to come when the boy chirped to it, and even perched +fearlessly on his shoulder. This one he called "La Petite," and had tied +a tiny pink ribbon around its leg. + +But the birds were rather quiet just now, hopping about and twittering +softly. Suddenly in the silence of the room there sounded the rasping of +bolts undrawn, the clanking of chains and the hoarse command of the +sentries. The door queued. The boy's heart almost stood still in the +intensity of his expectation. Would she come? Was Yvonne just beyond the +door? With a stifled cry of joy he recognised the sound of her voice, +and knew that his desire was to be fulfilled. When she entered he +thought she looked grave, and not nearly so buoyant as was her wont. +Poor Yvonne! At that very moment she was sick with fear for Jean's yet +unknown fate. + +Wishing to rid herself at once of the packet, and deeming Simon's +absence the most favourable moment, she thrust it into his hand under +the table. + +"From your mother! Hide it quickly!" she whispered. Watching Barelle and +Madame Simon who were talking together, he slipped to his bed, and +shoved the packet into a small hole in the mattress, returning +noiselessly to Yvonne. Then he said aloud: + +"I have something for you, Yvonne. It is not much, but I wish you to +take and enjoy it!" And he handed her a small, shrivelled pear. Little +Yvonne was sincerely touched by this gift. She knew how small an amount +the poor child got to eat, and she could not bear to deprive him of even +this miserable little piece of fruit. + +"Oh, I ought not take it!" she said. "You need it more than I!" But +Louis Charles eagerly pressed her to accept, and even Madame Simon +turned to intervene: + +"Take it! take it, little girl! The little fellow has been saving it for +a week to give to you. He will be sorely grieved if you refuse!" With +tears in her eyes, Yvonne accepted the pitiful gift. + +"And now show me your birds! How pretty they are!" she said. But the boy +had a question to ask. "My mother! How is she?" he whispered. Poor +little fellow! He did not dream that his mother, long since removed from +the Tower, had so recently gone to her eternal repose. Even the +cruel-hearted cobbler had spared him that blow, and Yvonne would sooner +have had her tongue cut out than be the one to impart such news. So she +only smiled and pointed to the ceiling. And Louis Charles, reassured, +turned to show her his birds. + +He whistled and sang to them, and started the toy-bird playing its tune. +This encouraged all the feathered flock to warble and soon there was a +gay little concert in the dingy prison room. The children clapped their +hands and laughed with delight. In the midst of this the door suddenly +opened, and Simon entered, followed by some new municipals who were +making their first tour of inspection. + +"What's this! What's this!" exclaimed one, more ferociously zealous than +the rest, as he approached the cage. The live birds all ceased their +music, but the ill-fated automaton went on with its song, "O, Richard! +O, my king!" + +"Kings! kings! Here's a pretty state of affairs! How comes such a thing +here? There are no more kings!" Then he noticed the ribbon around the +leg of the boy's favourite. "And what's this! Here's a _decorated_ bird! +Here's a _privileged_ character! Here's an _aristocrat_, I suppose!" He +burst open the door of the cage, and seizing the offending songster, +roughly tore off the "Order." Then he threw it violently from him. Poor +Louis Charles was watching the treatment of his pet. He sat rooted to +his chair with frightened eyes, and a little sob escaped him when the +man cast the bird from him. But he knew better than to utter one word in +defence of his favourite. Experience had taught him that such a course +would conspire even sooner, to bring about the defeat of any wish he +might express. + +"Take these things away!" ordered the new municipal, and Simon quickly +removed the cage from the room. Then the municipal turned his attention +to Yvonne. + +"Who is this, and why, pray, is she here?" he stormed. Barelle explained +Yvonne's presence. + +"Away with her! This is all against the rules!" he shouted, and poor +Yvonne was hustled off before she could even say good-bye to her friend. +In her heart she knew that she would never be allowed to come again. + +Louis Charles cried himself to sleep that night, in the agony of the +day's double disappointment. To be robbed at once of his birds and +Yvonne was a crushing blow. But he woke in the night, remembered the +packet his mother had sent him, drew it out and opened it. Though he +could see nothing, by touch he recognised the prayer-book he had so +often seen in his mother's hands. Reassured by her love and thought for +him, he kissed it reverently. After that he thrust it back in its +hiding-place, and went to sleep calmed and comforted. + +He never saw his birds again, nor did Yvonne ever enter the door of his +hated prison as the gloomy weeks passed, yet strange events were +preparing which were to make radical changes in the life of Louis XVII. +These events related chiefly to the cobbler Simon. The long confinement +had been telling on his robust health, and stretching his nerves to an +irritable tension. For confined he was, as surely and closely as the +little king himself. He was there to guard "Little Capet" every moment +of the time, and was being handsomely paid for it. Therefore every +request to go out for a while, change scene and air or witness some +festival of the Republic, was sternly refused by the Council-General. +Madame Simon also grew restive, though she was allowed more freedom than +her husband. + +At length the time came when the cobbler felt he could endure it no +longer. He liked his work,--nothing pleased him more than to maltreat +this little prince of the blood,--and he liked his pay even better. But +more than all he wanted freedom, and that he could not have with the +position of tutor to "Little Capet." Consequently on the fifth of +January, 1794, he handed in his resignation, and was released from a +situation now become hateful to him. + +A few days after, there was a great noise and confusion in the Tower. +The cobbler and his wife were about to leave it. The child-prisoner +could scarcely believe his senses! Was his terrible tormentor really +going? Was he actually to be left in peace? He sat motionless and +silent, watching their operations, while a frenzy of joy surged within +him. At length all was in readiness, and there was no excuse for further +delay. Madame Simon, who had never cherished her husband's hard feeling +for the child, approached him, pressed his hand kindly and said: + +"I do not know when I shall see you again, Little Capet, but good-bye!" +Simon heard her, and added a farewell of his own that was quite +characteristic of him. + +"Ah, you little toad! I suppose you're glad to be rid of me, aren't you! +But you won't get out of this hole, I can tell you, and you may do +worse than have Simon the cobbler about you!" With this he pressed his +hand heavily on the child's head, almost drawing from him a cry of pain. +Then the door was shut, and Simon the cobbler went out of the life of +Louis XVII forever! + +All that day the boy was left alone to amuse himself at will, seeing +none but Caron the cook who brought him his meals. In breathless +expectation he awaited whatever might happen next. Who could tell! He +might even be sent to his mother! Next day, however, another surprise +awaited him. + +The Council-General, it seemed, found great difficulty in replacing +Simon. In fact, they declared that his counterpart could not be found, +and so he should have no successor. They determined instead, to try the +effect of absolute solitude for a time on the little sovereign. + +Perhaps we wonder why, since the child's existence was so troublesome to +them, they did not kill him outright, as they had his royal parents. +But no! Such a crime would not befit a Republic "always great and +generous!" They did not go about slaughtering innocent children whose +only offence was that of having been born to the purple! By no means! +They would make a great pretence of caring for and guarding him, but in +time he should simply fade away, disappear, be lost to public interest. +Or, in plainer words, he should die a natural death, brought about by +systematic ill-treatment and neglect. The first stage had already been +accomplished by the cobbler. The second was about to begin. + +On the morning of the following day, into the room walked carpenters and +workmen. What were they about to do, wondered the boy? He was soon to +discover. First they moved his bed into a dark little back room that +adjoined the large one. Then they cut down the door between to about +breast-height, and criss-crossed the open upper part with heavy iron +bars. In the middle of this they made a wicket or hole closed by other +movable bars, and fastened with an enormous padlock. + +Louis Charles was then commanded to enter. He did so, and the door was +shut and fastened unalterably by every device of which they could think. +And so he was left, having no communication with the outer world save +the little wicket. Through this was passed his coarse meals, and +whatever necessaries they thought fit to allow him. Through this also he +sent out whatever he wished removed. The cell was lighted only by a +lantern hung in the room outside, whose feeble rays scarcely penetrated +beyond the bars of the door. He was allowed no books, no playthings, no +occupation of any kind except to keep his cell clean with an old broom. + +For the first few days, in spite of the utter desolation of his +surroundings, the boy was contented, even happy. His young life had for +the past six months been so constantly harried by the cruel cobbler and +merciless municipals, that he was devoutly thankful for the peace and +rest of his solitude. One of the first things he did was to draw his +mother's prayer-book from its hiding-place, and try in the dim light to +decipher some of the prayers she had so often repeated with him. This he +had never dared to do when the cobbler had charge of him. Then he +examined the glossy curl of Moufflet's hair, and wondered whether he +should some day see his pet once more. When in want of other occupation, +he would sweep his cell again and again, and make and re-make his bed. + +His meals were handed to him twice a day. Coarse, ill-cooked fare it +was, and very little of that,--some watery soup, a small morsel of meat, +a loaf of stale bread and a pitcher of water. He never saw the one who +brought it, for the wicket was so arranged as to hide the face outside. +The commissaries changed daily, and their visits were always after +nightfall. They would come to his wicket and call loudly, "Little Capet, +are you there?" "Yes!" he would reply. "Well, go to bed then! You can't +have any more light!" they would shout, and extinguish the lantern in +the next room. + +And so the time passed! Louis Charles soon lost all track of the +dragging days and weeks, but this solitude began to tell frightfully on +his strength, and he grew almost too weak to move about. Upstairs, just +above him, his sister and aunt knew nothing of his troubles. They only +knew that Simon was gone, for they heard no more dreadful shouting and +scolding, nor the plaintive child's voice singing the songs of the +Revolution at his jailer's command. But one dark night, Madame Elizabeth +received a summons to appear before the terrible tribunal. And she also +went out of the Temple, never to return, for she was shortly to travel +the same dark way that the King and Queen had gone before her. Little +Marie-Therese was also left in solitude. + +And so for a space of several months must we leave the three children, +each to a solitary cell, one in the Conciergerie, and two in the Temple +Tower. + + + + +A FRIEND RE-ENTERS AND EVENTS MOVE ON + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A FRIEND RE-ENTERS AND EVENTS MOVE ON + + +On the morning of July first, 1794, Jean sat on the edge of his straw +mattress, listening intently for the slightest sound in the corridor +without. He had been in the Conciergerie over eight months. How he had +come to be left so long without undergoing a trial was a mystery to him, +except that it might be explained by the fact of his age. Under fifteen, +the Republic considered people as children, and these they did not +punish with death. Over it, he would have to suffer as an adult. Now his +fifteenth birthday having occurred the day before, he held himself in +readiness for trouble! + +How he had endured those long, dreary weeks, he could scarcely himself +have told. Sometimes it seemed as though the solitude, combined with +his fears for his loved ones and himself, and the despair at this +frustration of all his hopes, would deprive him of his reason. But Jean +was a lad of many and varied resources! For one thing he had made +friends with his jailers on the very first day, and had lost no +opportunity since to improve their acquaintance. With them he held long +conversations, and tried thus to learn as much as possible of the state +of affairs in the city. But the turnkeys, though friendly, were rather +chary of information, and Jean gleaned but little intelligence in this +direction. Yesterday, however, one of them had casually dropped a remark +that filled him with an unreasoning joy: + +"We are hideously crowded now, and there's no place to be longer +reserved for solitary confinement. So by to-morrow you may have a +lodger, my friend!" Jean dared not exhibit the pleasure this +announcement caused him. To see and speak to a human being other than +these almost inhuman monstrosities, the turnkeys, was almost too good to +be true! + +"Oh, well! I'll not object, only do not crowd in too many, I beg!" he +replied with greatest indifference. But his heart sang in a very jubilee +of thanksgiving. Therefore was he waiting in breathless expectancy, for +either one of two events,--a companion in his solitude, or a call to +himself face the tribunal of justice and its almost certain result. +Which would it be? + +He waited till noon in eager suspense, but the corridor remained silent. +Jean began to be very impatient. He longed for anything to break the +monotony of this waiting, even were it to mean his own call to judgment. +At last, about two o'clock, voices were heard along the corridor, +tramping footfalls, the hoarse growl of the turnkeys, and finally the +unbolting of the cell-door. But his joy was beyond all words when the +two turnkeys flung into the room a stranger, and closed the door with a +bang and the cheerful remark: + +"There you are! Keep each other company till you go to make your call on +Mistress Guillotine!" The stranger fell heavily on the bed, as though in +a stupor, and so remained for many minutes. While in this state, Jean +had time to look him over and judge what manner of companion he had been +given. The man was clothed in the peasant costume, evidently of Picardy. +His face was covered with a five days' growth of beard, and his +expression indicated no large amount of wits. As he lay on the mattress, +he seemed overcome by a very paroxysm of terror. When he appeared to be +somewhat recovered, Jean broke the conversational ice: + +"And what may be _your_ crime against the Republic, Citizen Friend?" The +peasant started at the sound of his voice, sat up and gave the boy a +scrutinising look. Then his face underwent the strangest transformation +Jean had ever seen. The stupid expression vanished, the eyes sparkled +brilliantly, and a smile played about the bearded mouth. In that +instant Jean recognised him. + +"The Baron de Batz!" he exclaimed, springing forward. + +"Hush!" whispered the Baron, as he wrung the boy's hand. "This is luck +indeed! I knew that you had been sent here, but I thought regretfully, +that you had long since perished!" Jean explained the supposed reason +that he had been so far spared. + +"But tell me, I beg, how you come to be here!" he ended. + +"Oh," said De Batz, "it's not under my right name that I have been +arrested, as you probably surmise. Of course, I'm still devoted to the +cause of rescuing my little king, but up till now all my plans have +failed, chiefly through just such misfortunes as that which spoiled the +one in which you took part. But there is something on foot now,--or will +be soon,--that is of greater scope than any yet conceived! + +"As to how I came here?--well, I was prowling this morning about the +Temple, in this disguise of a peasant of Picardy, seeking to obtain some +needful information. For this purpose I engaged a guard in conversation, +in the course of which he remarked that the country was going to the +Evil One! 'Not _going_, but there already!' I responded, when I felt a +hand on my shoulder. I turned, and confronted--who but Simon the +cobbler! + +"'That's a remark inimical to the Republic!' he roared. 'For that I +order your arrest!' And in two seconds I was in the grasp of a couple of +gendarmes who hustled me, followed by Simon, to this prison. Simon made +the charge, and I gave the name of Antoine Lecoste. The rest you know! +And for such offences are thousands of poor wretches doomed to death in +these glorious days!" + +"But what a misfortune," sighed Jean, "that you should be so imperilled +when you are the soul of the noble schemes for releasing the little +fellow! You stand about one chance in a million of being acquitted, from +all I hear!" + +"Do not fear for me, lad! One can never tell what may happen, of course, +but, hark you! I have a band of trusty followers, and in view of the +very thing that has happened, my arrest, we concerted, some time ago, a +plan to rescue me if I am caught and condemned, even were I on the way +to the very scaffold itself. And trust me, Jean, should it so fall out +that we travel that road together, you shall share my rescue. If I go +before you and am rescued, I will surely devise some scheme for your +escape when your time comes. Only, if you are called to go before me, +heaven alone can aid you!" Jean pressed his hand with a gratitude too +deep for words. + +"Meanwhile," ended the Baron, "it is best that we do not seem too +intimate, when our jailers are around. What a horrible place this is! +How long have you been here?" And Jean gave him a history of his +imprisonment. The two talked nearly all that night. Jean had heard +practically no news from the outer world in all the eight months, and he +learned now much that astonished him. One of the events most amazing to +him was the resignation of Simon from his post of tutor to Louis XVII, +and the young king's solitary confinement. The other was that Danton, +the great original Terrorist leader had perished on the scaffold as far +back as April. + +"How came it about?" inquired Jean in wonder. "I cannot understand it! +He was head and front of every thing!" + +"Simple enough, in these days!" responded De Batz. "It is like the +mountainous waves of the sea. One towers above all for a moment, only to +be overtopped by the one behind it next instant. Robespierre became both +tired and jealous of his great friend and compatriot, and decided to get +rid of him. Nothing easier! He denounced Danton to the Convention, and +he was tried and condemned by the very tribunal he had himself +instituted. Right here in the Conciergerie at that! You should have seen +him during his trial! He sat and made paper pellets which he threw at +his judges! Oh, Danton was a cool one, and he died bravely! But, let me +tell you something. Robespierre's turn is coming next! The people are +weary of him and his underhand ways, and 'tis whispered that he wishes +to sweep all others out of his path and make himself Dictator. But it +won't do! They are furious at him for causing Danton's death,--his +closest friend, mind you!--and something is going to happen. The pot is +on the point of boiling. It will take but a few days at most for it to +boil over. And let me tell you who will be the next man of the +hour,--Barras! He is already very popular. Keep your eye on Barras, +Jean!" + +Two days passed, and the friends were left unmolested. During this time +they exchanged thoughts on many subjects, and waited with apprehension +lest one or the other should be called away, and strove to pass the +hours as best they might. Jean begged De Batz to tell him what was the +new plan for rescuing Louis XVII. + +"That I cannot tell you just yet," said the Baron. "For it is not +perfected, and I am under oath to reveal nothing. But if we get out of +this alive, be sure that you will hear more about it later. But one +thing I will say. I may have to disappear for a time to another part of +France. If I am not in Paris, _find Caron_! You know who he is?" Jean +nodded assent. Then he asked about how they were to escape. + +"It is best that you should not know," said De Batz. "The manner of it +will be attended with great risk, and you will come through it better if +you are ignorant. Only, do not be surprised at anything that may +happen!" + +On the third day, the jailers entered the cell at noon, accompanied by +a court-crier. Jean and the Baron exchanged a look, for they knew that +the fate of at least one of them was to be sealed that day. To their +joy, both their names were read to appear before the tribunal. The +jailers left them saying that they would be back in half an hour. + +"This is a godsend!" exclaimed the Baron. "Nothing could have been +better than that we should go out at the same time. If we are rescued it +will be together, and if not,--well, at least we will die in each +other's company!" The jailers came back in a few moments and bound the +hands of the two behind their backs. In the courtyard they found a band +of thirty more victims, in charge of a corps of gendarmes, all petrified +into a very apathy of fearful anticipation. Strangely enough, there was +not even a tear shed by the band of the condemned. The sobs and +lamentations came wholly from the friends they were leaving. + +Out from the courtyard, and along dark galleries and passages they were +herded like so many cattle, till at length they were pushed into the +great gloomy room where sat the far-famed Tribunal of Terror. Three +judges robed in black, wearing plumed hats, sat on a high platform, and +scribbled occasional notes. A clerk called out the list of names, to +which each prisoner responded. Then, one by one, the names were read +again, and a charge against each was hastily gabbled over, which the +prisoners scarcely heard and in nine cases out of ten did not +understand. When asked if they had anything to say in their defence, +each murmured calmly and hopelessly, "No!" After this, one of the judges +rose and pronounced the sentence: + +"You are all found guilty of conspiring against the Republic! I +pronounce upon you the sentence of immediate death!" + +There was no surprise and scarcely any interest created by this. Why +should there be! They had expected it from the beginning! For the most +part they were as those already dead. The gendarmes hurried them out by +another passage, and they came to an open gate, beyond which stood the +tumbrils waiting for their daily load. Here a great crowd of the +populace had collected. But where months ago they had hooted and jeered +at the doomed ones, now the sympathy of the majority was with the +victims, and the carts were loaded in a sorrowful silence, broken only +by the occasional cry of some outsider who beheld a friend among the +condemned. + +Jean and De Batz were reserved for the last cart, and just before they +entered, the boy saw his friend make an almost imperceptible motion of +the head to a man in the crowd who instantly disappeared. "Courage!" +whispered the Baron to his little comrade, as they were flung +unceremoniously into the tumbril, accompanied by ten or twelve others. +That ride was a thing to be remembered as one recalls a shuddering +nightmare. Crowded in as they were, Jean saw no possible hope of rescue, +and the cart jolted on roughly through street after street. They had +approached very near the Place de la Revolution and the termination of +their ride, when a heavy cart that had driven in between them and the +forward tumbril, suddenly broke down, a wheel flew off, and the way was +completely blocked. + +"Good!" muttered the Baron to Jean. "The first step is a success!" The +driver of their tumbril swore roundly, but nothing could be done except +drive back a block or two and proceed through a very narrow street, +scarcely more than an alley. Meanwhile the crowd had forsaken them, and +had hastened on to the guillotine, lest it be too late for the first of +the day's executions. The last tumbril would doubtless arrive in good +time without their assistance! + +The narrow alley into which they now turned was lined with rickety +wooden houses, and Jean noticed that De Batz watched one of these +narrowly, so he also kept his eye upon it. They had almost reached it +when suddenly, out from it rushed ten or fifteen men, all shouting, +swearing, lunging at each other with knives and bludgeons, apparently +engaged in a fierce dispute that could only be settled by drawing blood. +They surged about the tumbril, while the astonished driver sought to +clear the way by flourishing his whip, and shouting for a free passage. + +In the midst of all this confusion, Jean presently felt a knife inserted +between the cords that bound his wrists, and in a second his hands were +free. Then he saw that De Batz had likewise been released from his +fetters. In the midst of the greatest racket he heard the Baron whisper: + +"Slip down! Get among them!" Fortunately they were both seated at the +rear end of the cart. Before Jean realised it, he was down and in the +midst of the noisy group shouting and struggling like the rest. If the +other inmates of the cart realised what was happening, they were either +too apathetic to care, or too glad that even a few might escape, to make +any outcry. The struggling, fighting men, gradually ceased their blows +and pretending to be appeased, gathered into a group, carefully +concealing in their midst the Baron and Jean. The wrathful driver of the +tumbril shook his fist at them, swore to have them all arrested later, +gathered up his reins, and the cart lumbered heavily away, while he +remained entirely in ignorance of the fact that his load was lighter by +two! When it had disappeared, they all hurried into the house from +whence the men had issued. + +"Oh!" sobbed Jean, now that the terrible tension was relieved, "if we +could only have saved the rest! It seems horrible that they should go on +to what we have escaped!" + +"It could not be done," said De Batz. "It was an awful risk even for +_one_, and for _two_ a still greater peril. But had there been +more,--why all would have perished! You yourself would not have been +saved, had I not given my men a sign." The men now gathered about their +leader, who congratulated them on the successful outcome of the plot. + +"But we must not remain here," he ended. "One by one you must leave the +house, all but Jean and myself. It would not do for us to be seen in +broad daylight so soon. We will hide in the cellar till to-night." +Gradually the men dispersed, and till long after midnight, Jean and the +Baron kept each other company in the dark cellar, for the house was an +abandoned one. At length the time came for them to part. + +"Return to the Rue de Lille," ordered De Batz, "and keep hidden there +for a few days. Things are going to happen, as I told you, and after +that it may be safe to go out. I must leave Paris, perhaps for some +time. But one injunction I leave with you,--_find Caron_! No,--do not +thank me, my boy, for helping you to this escape! It is only what we +owe to each other, and to Louis XVII! But thank God for helping us to +accomplish it. Adieu! adieu! _Find Caron!_" + +And so they parted! + + + + +THE TENTH THERMIDOR + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE TENTH THERMIDOR + + +It would be impossible to describe the meeting between Jean and his +loved ones on that memorable night. To Mere Clouet and Yvonne it seemed +as though he had actually risen from the dead. For months they had +received absolutely no news of him, or his fate. Yvonne confided to him +that Mere Clouet had even gone to witness the daily executions at such +times as she felt she could be away from necessary work, though the +sight of them nearly killed her. But it seemed the only way in which she +could learn whether the boy had yet been doomed to perish. As her work, +however, compelled her to miss many days, she could never be certain +that he had not been executed in her absence. + +For several days Jean remained securely hidden. It would have been far +from safe for him to show his face out of doors, for his enemy, La +Souris, was still very active. So he stayed indoors, played with +Moufflet, and asked incessant questions about the long period of his +imprisonment, striving to learn every detail of what had occurred in his +absence. + +While he was thus in hiding, Paris was full of strange mutterings and +subdued excitement. People conversed in undertones in the streets, +gesticulated freely and had heated arguments. Detachments of soldiers +were stationed in every quarter, and an uprising of some kind was +plainly expected. Jean remembered the words of the Baron de Batz, and +scented trouble but could make little of what he slyly witnessed from +the windows. In fact, people seemed themselves scarcely to comprehend +the true cause of all this ferment. Naturally the unrest communicated +itself to Mere Clouet and the children. Yvonne begged to be allowed to +go out and investigate but Mere Clouet and Jean would not hear of this. +At last, on the afternoon of July twenty-eighth, Mere Clouet herself +could no longer contain her curiosity. + +"I am going out myself!" she announced. "I at least will be safe in the +streets, and something unusual is happening to-day. Rest you here! I +will come back shortly, and tell you all about it!" And she hurried +away. + +Now it must be explained that France, from the time of September, 1792, +had determined to change the names of all the months, and number the +years beginning from her birth as a Republic. Consequently this day of +July 28, 1794, or the Tenth Thermidor, year II, as she called it, was +destined to be a date long remembered in history. + +In about two hours Mere Clouet came back. She was breathless, her eyes +were flashing, and she was under the influence of some keen excitement. + +"My soul!" she exclaimed, sinking into a seat "What I have seen! What I +have heard! What times we live in! You will scarcely believe me! I went +to the Rue St. Honore. It was filled with a shouting crowd. I asked a +woman what was happening, and she looked at me as though she thought me +insane for not knowing! 'Where have you been?' she cried. 'What! do you +not know that Robespierre was yesterday condemned by the Convention for +his barbarity, declared an outlaw, and naturally headed for the +scaffold? Coward that he is! He tried to kill himself, but missed his +aim and only wounded his jaw. He's on the way to the guillotine now, +with a few others of a similar stripe,--Couthon, Henriot, St. Just! +Curse him! Curse him! He put to death my husband and my father for no +crime at all,--they were good Republicans! And Barras,--he's in command +of all the forces of Paris, and will soon be at the head of the +government, also. He is at least a humane man! Ah, here comes the +tumbril now!' + +"Then a mighty roar went up from the crowd, a cart jolted up the street, +and there sat that Robespierre, his hands tied behind him, and his +wicked face bound up in a rag! Faugh! the sight turned me sick! But +here's something else quite as wonderful! Directly beside him, cheek by +jowl, sat (you'll never believe me!) that ruffian Simon the cobbler, in +the very Carmagnole suit he used to wear in the Temple. His teeth fairly +chattered with fright! Ah, but I wish the little fellow could have seen +him! Was ever a punishment so well deserved! + +"Never, in all my life have I witnessed such a sight! People sang for +very joy, and even strangers embraced each other. They say that in some +of the prisons, many were set free! I saw a man pay thirty francs for a +newspaper telling how yesterday Robespierre was condemned! They say the +Reign of Terror is over! Thank God! Thank God!" And Mere Clouet, no +longer able to control herself, sobbed in sheer ecstasy of joy. + +The Reign of Terror _was_ over, at last! In a few days that became +apparent. Exiles flocked back to the country. Prisons gave up their +"suspects" to the number of ten thousand. Families were reunited, and +people who had been existing miserably in all sorts of hiding-places, +came out of their seclusion. Paris became a city of resurrected hopes +and homes. + +On the morning of the Tenth Thermidor, Barras had made a tour of all the +military posts of Paris, in the course of which he stopped at the Temple +and inspected it. When he saw the condition in which poor little Louis +XVII was kept in solitude, he was filled with pity, and announced that +this must be improved, and that he would at once take steps to +accomplish it. We will now see what the Tenth Thermidor brought to this +unfortunate little monarch. + +Six months had passed since Louis Charles had been barred into his +lonely cell. Not that he realised the time at all! One day dragged on +wearily and gave place to the next, but he took no heed, and probably +knew not whether his time of incarceration had been six months or as +many years. + +It was the twenty-eighth of July, 1794. For three days the child had +lain inert upon his bed. Life had become absolutely insupportable to +him. At the very moment when he had been compelled to rise and take in +his morning meal, wishing that they would send in no more food so that +he might die the quicker, Robespierre and Simon were passing through the +streets in a tumbril to their well-deserved reward. But he knew it not! + +That night the light of a candle shone through his wicket, and an +unusually gentle voice called to him: "Capet! Little Capet! Are you +there?" "Yes!" he answered feebly. + +"Can you not come here a moment?" the voice continued. But the boy was +too weak to try, and too exhausted even to answer again. Then the light +disappeared, and the gentle voice was silent. He passed the night in a +feverish sleep. His poor limbs were wasted and thin, and great swellings +on his knees and arms gave him unspeakable pain. No one would have +recognised in him now even the pale captive of the cobbler, much less +the beautiful boy of the Tuileries. + +Next morning he was called again, by many voices this time, but he could +make no response at all. + +"He is dead!" he heard someone say. "Let us break down the door!" +Forthwith, resounding blows rained on the barrier of his prison. When at +length an entrance had been forced, several strange men entered. + +"What a horrible place!" they all exclaimed, starting back in amazement +and disgust at the filth and vile odours, and the rats and mice +scampering off in all directions. The child lay on the bed nervously +watching every movement, wondering what new horror this invasion boded. +The municipals put to him many questions about himself, but he had +neither the strength nor the courage to answer them. Most of them +concluded that he had either become deaf and dumb, or had lost his mind +during his confinement Presently one of them noticed his untouched meal +of the day before still on the table. + +"Why do you not eat?" he demanded. The boy raised himself on his arm +with a great effort. + +"Because I wish to die!" he answered quietly. Tears rose to the eyes of +one or two of his questioners, and after a hasty consultation they all +left the room, closing the door but not barring it. After a while it +opened again, and the child awoke from an uneasy sleep to find a slight, +thin, kindly-faced little man bending over him. + +"I am Laurent," said the same gentle voice of the night before, "and I +have come to take charge of you!" Some memory of the ungentle cobbler +was aroused by the word "charge," and the boy shrank back nervously. +Laurent divined his thought. + +"Do not be afraid!" he went on in the same quiet voice. "I am not like +Simon, poor child!" and a kindly hand was laid on the matted hair. Still +the boy made no response. He was too sick, too weak, too listless, to +care very much what might happen to him now, and he only desired to be +left in peace. + +But Laurent had him moved from his loathsome cell, and placed on a cot +in the clean, airy outer room. With the assistance of Caron the cook, he +bathed the child in warm water, put on fresh clothes, and gently tried +to comb the tangles from his matted hair. Then Louis was given a little +fresh fruit to eat, and some milk, in place of the horrible fare on +which he had lived for six months. After that Laurent left him to rest +and sleep. + +Words cannot paint the slowly growing amazement of Louis Charles at +these changes. So long had he been left to cruel neglect that he could +hardly yet comprehend how any kindness remained in the world. And six +months of absolute silence had rendered him so unaccustomed to speech, +that the good Laurent could not draw from him one word. Many a dumb +grateful look had the child given him, but as yet his lips were silent. +When Laurent came back with his meal in a few hours, he stroked the +boy's head awhile. + +"Do you feel better, Monsieur Charles?" he inquired. Used as he was to +being addressed as "Little Capet," "Wolf-Cub" or worse, the respect and +civility in this long-unused title was almost beyond belief! At length +his tongue was unloosed. + +"Yes, thank you, Monsieur!" he replied. And from that moment his heart +went out to his new keeper. In a few days he was better. Kindness, +care, decent food and the human society of some well-disposed person +revived the flame of life that had all but flickered out in his long +solitude. + +Citizen Laurent was by no means a royalist. On the contrary, his +sympathies were entirely with the Republic. But his heart was so touched +by the desperate plight of the little captive, that he resolved to +render his condition as comfortable as possible. This had also been +Barras's wish in placing him as guardian to the royal prisoner. Laurent +himself was closely watched by the jealous municipals, and he could only +be with the boy part of each day. Among other things, he decided that +Louis Charles, to recover his health, must have exercise. So he sought, +and finally obtained from Barras, permission to take him for an airing +to the top of the Tower. + +The little king could hardly believe his senses! He was going to see the +sky again, to hear bird-voices, to smell the scent of growing things! +Too wonderful! Accompanied by Laurent and a guarding municipal, they +made the ascent of the closely sentinelled stairs. The child, still weak +and inactive, could hardly drag himself up the steps, anxious as he was +to reach the top, so Laurent took him in his arms. + +It was a warm, delightful evening. The sun had scarcely set, and the +birds were twittering their good-night in the trees beyond the Temple. +Up from the street came the calls of vendors, the shouts of drivers, and +occasionally the gay laugh of some child at play. The little prince +listened to it all and his eyes filled with tears of joy to think that +at last he was permitted to breathe again the free air of heaven and see +the blessed light, even though it hurt his eyes a great deal, used as +they had been only to semi-darkness. Releasing Laurent's hand, he +wandered around by himself for a few moments. Suddenly he bent down with +a low cry of pleasure. "See! See!" he cried, pointing, and Laurent +looked down noticing only a few poor half-withered common little yellow +flowers growing in the cracks of the stone walk. But the boy was on his +hands and knees, gathering them eagerly. + +The short time of outing over, Laurent led him down, still clasping +carefully the meagre little bouquet. At the door of the room on the +third floor the boy stopped, pulling back at his keeper's hand with all +his strength. Laurent understood! The boy wished to go in and see his +mother whom he thought was still there. Poor child! He little knew that +only his sister was shut up in that room. It pained Laurent to refuse +him, but to grant the wish was not in his power. + +"You are mistaking the door, Monsieur Charles!" he said gently. + +"No, I am not mistaking it!" answered the boy, terribly disappointed, +and he walked down languidly. At his own door Laurent noticed that the +child no longer carried his cherished flowers. He was about to ask what +had become of them when an instinct warned him to refrain. Louis Charles +had dropped them, a withered but tender offering of love, at the door of +his mother's room! + + + + +IN WHICH JEAN "FINDS CARON" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN WHICH JEAN "FINDS CARON" + + +After the strange events of the last chapter, Jean went in and out +freely, but he did not think it quite safe as yet, to return to the +tavern of Pere Lefevre, till he could ascertain what had become of La +Souris. A week later, Mere Clouet and Yvonne went to the Temple with the +laundry, and returned with welcome news. + +"Only think!" exclaimed Yvonne. "Barelle says that Citizen Coudert has +not been seen since the Tenth Thermidor! As he was one of Robespierre's +most trusted spies, he doubtless thought himself scarcely safe, for you +know they are now imprisoning all who were connected with Robespierre. +He will probably remain in hiding for some time!" + +So one day Jean returned to the tavern, in the hope of again taking up +his duties as helper, and thus keeping in touch with the affairs of the +little King. But Pere Lefevre had a surprise in store for him. He found +to his intense chagrin, that his place had been usurped by a large, fat +old woman, one Mother Matthieu, whose assistance Pere Lefevre declared +he found more satisfactory than Jean's had ever been. + +"She tends to her work, does Mother Matthieu!" insisted Pere Lefevre to +the disappointed boy. "She does not sleep away half her time behind the +counter, as you did, young monkey! And though she cannot whistle, and +dance the Carmagnole on the tables, and she does indulge overmuch in +snuff, she suits me better!" Jean turned away, discomfited, yet smiling +in spite of himself, at the absurd fancy of waddling Mother Matthieu +dancing the Carmagnole on the restaurant table! As he was leaving, he +encountered at the door the burly form of a man hurrying into the +tavern, and recognised Caron, the cook of the Temple Tower kitchen. Here +was a stroke of good fortune, for had he not been told to "find Caron"! +And lately he had been racking his brains to think how this might be +accomplished. But he did not wish outsiders to imagine that he had any +business with the cook, so contented himself merely with a greeting. + +"How now, stranger!" exclaimed the hearty Caron. "Never did I expect to +see _you_ again! But I suppose you were pardoned out after the Tenth +Thermidor. But has the Conciergerie given you such a taste for prisons +that you must needs be always near one?" and he grasped Jean's hand +warmly. + +"I wanted to see if Pere Lefevre would take me back," explained the +crestfallen boy, "for I must be earning money and I liked it here. But +he will not have me." + +"That's bad!" sympathised Caron. "But cheer up! There may be other +things!" And he turned and went out at the boy's side. Once in the +street, however, he grasped Jean's arm. "Were you ever told to _find +me_?" he whispered. + +"Indeed yes!" answered Jean. "De Batz! We were in prison and escaped +together! 'Find Caron'! were his parting words!" + +"I thought so!" said Caron. "He has already told me much of you, and how +you have been, and will yet be, useful to us. It's lucky we met just +now, for I'm seldom out, and you could not get at me in the Temple. Now +I'm going to tell you something. It's just as well that Pere Lefevre +won't take you back, for I have a position for you right in the Tower. +How would you like to be scullery-boy and assist me in the kitchen! I've +lost my assistant, and have been doing all the grubbing work ever since. +It's not very good pay, only five francs a week,--but it is something. +Besides, the most important thing about it is that _you will be in the +Temple Tower_!" Of course Jean could not imagine himself refusing such +an offer, which was one beyond his greatest hopes. + +"Oh, Citizen Caron, when can I come?" he exclaimed. + +"Oh, I must first interview the Council, which will then appoint you if +it sees fit. But never fear! I have considerable influence with those in +authority, and I can almost certainly vouch that the place shall be +yours. Come back in a week's time." That week seemed the longest Jean +had ever spent, not even excepting the dreary days at the Conciergerie. +Promptly at the expiration of the time he sought Caron, who had agreed +to meet him at Pere Lefevre's. + +"It's all right!" said Caron as soon as they met. "I had some trouble at +first, because you had once been 'suspected' and put in prison. But I +assured them that it was without foundation, and was the work of that +sneaking La Souris, who is himself in hiding to save his skin. They did +not hesitate long, I can tell you! So come along with me now, and I'll +show you the first things you will have to do." + +Thus it was that Jean gained admission to the Temple Tower, that he +became in fact a regular inmate, going home to the Rue de Lille only +once a week. He soon made the acquaintance of Laurent, and was not long +in discovering that kindly and humane as the King's new keeper was, he +was not only a devoted Republican, but also strictly conscientious in +discharging the duties the Republic had imposed on him, and would +countenance no plans for his charge's escape. + +Among Jean's duties was that of carrying up to the Tower room the +captive's meals twice a day. At the door Laurent would relieve him of +the tray, but he often caught sight of the boy in the room beyond. The +first time this happened, Jean could scarcely believe that he saw +correctly. This wan, emaciated, listless child the little king of his +former acquaintance! Presently, however, he heard the clear sweet voice +address some question to Laurent, and then he recognised it to be +identical with that of the Dauphin in the Tuileries garden. But his +heart went out all the more to this white shadow of his former rosy +friend, and he consecrated himself anew to the wronged child's service. + +Louis XVII did not recognise this new face at the door. In fact he took +but slight notice of the faces about him now, and moreover, Jean had +grown a foot taller and had developed wonderfully in the two years of +the Prince's imprisonment. And just for the present Jean deemed it more +advisable that Louis Charles should not recognise him. + +Many times since he entered on his new employment did Jean beg Caron to +tell him what was the latest plan for rescuing the imprisoned king. But +Caron always put him off with this remark: + +"Do not inquire yet, my lad. Things are not in a state where it is +possible to explain the plans, but rest assured that you are to help, +and the very fact of your having found me and obtained this position has +all been counted on, and is a part of the scheme. You shall know more in +time!" So Jean was obliged to possess his soul in patience. + +When Laurent had been in the Tower about four months, he began to suffer +from the same restraint that had finally conquered Simon,--he was +wearied to death of his practical imprisonment. So he applied to the +Convention for a colleague who should share his duties and relieve him +at stated intervals. The Convention considered his request and at length +appointed him a companion. + +This colleague, Citizen Gomin by name, was a short, timid, quiet man of +about forty, though he looked much older. He was not at all pleased at +being assigned to this duty, but he dared not refuse, lest he become an +object of suspicion. For he was very moderate in his opinions, leaning +neither to the Republican nor the Royalist side. And to be moderate in +those days, was to be considered almost as bad as an out-and-out enemy +of the Republic of France! + +His heart, however, had long revolted at the unjust imprisonment of the +royal children, and he won the little king's love immediately, by +bringing him as a gift four potted plants, radiantly in bloom. The child +was almost wild with delight at the sight of them. He kissed them, +fondled them, examined each blossom separately, and then putting aside +the three finest, he said to Gomin: + +"Take these to my mother, please!" Poor Gomin gathered them up and +carried them from the room without a word. And Louis Charles smiled to +himself all that day, thinking of the pleasure he had given his mother. +Who shall say that Marie Antoinette, looking down on her little son from +that other world, did not smile too, and bless him in her heart! + +So the months passed, till one night in January, 1795, as Jean was +preparing to go home for his weekly visit to the Rue de Lille, Caron +laid his hand on the boy's arm. + +"Don't go home to-night,--at least not till later!" he whispered. + +"Why not?" demanded Jean wonderingly. + +"_Because the time has come!_" answered Caron, enigmatically. But Jean +understood, and waited in breathless expectation. Later the two passed +into the deserted streets about the Temple. Caron stopped suddenly in +the shadow of a high wall, and grasped Jean's arm. + +"Are you truly devoted to _him_?" he asked in an undertone pointing to +the Tower. + +"I am!" responded the boy quietly, in a simple but convincing manner. + +"So much so that you are willing to risk life, liberty, everything, in +his cause?" + +"Yes!" + +"Then come with me!" And Caron led the way through many winding, +half-deserted streets, till at length they stood before a little +tumble-down hovel in a black, unsightly alley. Caron knocked on the door +with three peculiar taps, two loud and one soft. The door was opened a +moment later by an unseen hand, and someone demanded: + +"The password!" + +"_Marie Antoinette!_" whispered Caron. The voice replied: + +"_And Louis XVII!_ Enter and be silent!" Jean was mystified beyond +expression, but in his young enthusiasm he was eager for adventure of +any kind, and one that related to his dearest hopes was all the more +alluring. He entered with Caron, his heart beating high. In utter +darkness they passed through rooms apparently empty, guided always by +the unseen owner of the voice. Then they descended a stairway, and stood +in what Jean took to be the cellar. Here the guide lighted a taper and +bent to examine the floor. By the uncertain light, Jean perceived only +that it was a man, and that his face was hidden by a black mask covering +eyes, nose and mouth. Presently he found an iron ring, lifted it, +thereby pulling up a large stone, and disclosed another staircase +reaching far down beyond the range of light. + +"Do not fear!" whispered Caron. + +"Oh, I'm not in the least afraid!" Jean assured him, and to tell the +truth, he was enjoying himself immensely! Then the guide descended, Jean +followed next, and Caron came last, closing the stone entrance after +him. Guided by the little candle they groped their way down the stairs +and along a passage or tunnel so narrow that even Jean could not walk +upright in it, nor raise his arms far from his side. The tunnel seemed +interminable, and moreover, tiny trickling streams of water slid down +its sides at intervals. Jean was thankful when they ascended another +stairway, and stood in another cellar. This one he could see was much +larger than the first, and filled with casks and barrels, evidently of +wine. Here their guide again halted them. + +"Put on these!" he commanded, and gave them two masks similar to his +own. When these were adjusted he bade them go up the stairs, then he +turned and went back through the tunnel, his duty being that of +doorkeeper. Led by Caron they went upstairs, and knocked on a heavy door +at the summit. + +"The password!" demanded another voice. It was given and answered as +before, and suddenly the two found themselves in a brilliantly lighted +room. So dazzling was the intense light after the blackness through +which they had been travelling, that Jean was for a moment almost +blinded. When this sensation passed, he saw that they were in a large +room furnished with chairs and a heavy centre-table. Everywhere were +evidences of rich taste in decoration, and the apartment was doubtless +in an abode of great wealth. Around the table were seated from twenty to +twenty-five men all masked like themselves. At the head of the table sat +the leader who turned at their entrance. + +"Welcome," he said, "and be seated!" Jean and Caron placed themselves in +two vacant chairs. For several moments no one spoke. Then the man at the +head rose. + +"Brothers," he began, "since we are all here, we will delay no longer in +opening our meeting. Unmask!" At this command every mask was removed +except that of the leader, which he continued to wear throughout the +session. Jean looked about him in complete amazement What did it all +mean? Here were Barelle, Meunier, Gagnie, a former cook at the Tower, +Debierne the commissary who never failed to bring Louis Charles a toy +whenever he visited him, and a host of others whom he knew but slightly. +Most surprising of all, however, was the Baron de Batz seated directly +across the table, who nodded an affectionate greeting and welcome to the +boy. The masked leader looked about him, and his glance fell on Jean. + +"There is a strange face among us! Who is responsible for the +stranger?" Caron rose. + +"'Tis I who brought him. Jean Dominique Mettot is his name, my assistant +in the kitchen. He is a devoted and loyal friend of the little king, and +one who will be able to render us valuable service. I vouch for him!" + +"And I also!" said the Baron de Batz quietly, from the other side of the +table. + +"Then let him be sworn!" replied the leader. The ceremony that followed +was a curious one. The company all rose, and Jean was requested to stand +upon the table. He climbed up assisted by the leader who held a lighted +candle in his hand. + +"We are the Brotherhood of Liberation!" announced the masked one. "Our +sole aim and object is to free Louis XVII from his hateful, cruel and +unjust captivity, and get him out of the country or to some place of +safety. For this we have sworn to devote our lives! Since you desire to +join us, you must submit to being branded with the badge of our Order. +If you flinch in the branding, you are not worthy to be admitted among +us. Jean Dominique Mettot, hold out your left hand, palm downward!" Jean +obeyed. The leader held close under it the flame of the candle. The +boy's first impulse was to shrink back, but he clinched his teeth and +endured to the end what seemed to him an unspeakable torture. Finally +the leader removed the candle. + +"You have stood the test bravely and well! You will now take the oath of +loyalty with the rest. Hold up your branded hand!" Jean held up his +scorched palm, and every man in the room raised his open left hand. In +the palm of each was a small scar, made evidently in the same manner. +The leader raised his hand also, and they all repeated aloud the creed +of their band: + +"By our branded hands we swear to devote our lives and all we hold dear +to the cause of liberating Louis XVII from his captivity. Likewise we +swear that to the end of our lives we will never reveal these secrets, +except with the permission of the entire band!" When this was over they +dropped their hands and resumed their seats, and Jean was helped from +the table. Barelle applied soothing liniments and bandages to his +wounded hand, and the business of the meeting went forward. + +In that night Jean learned much. In the first place he understood that +there was a definite plot to release the little king,--a plot not +confined to a few scattered souls not yet devoid of all humanity, but +organised and countenanced by some high in authority, who however +preferred that their identity should remain unknown. The details of the +scheme were not yet fully worked out. But in the rough, the idea was to +spirit away Louis XVII, hide him for a while in an unused upper part of +the Temple, and substitute in his place some child resembling him that +they would procure from one of the hospitals,--a child so ill that he +could not in all reason live very long. On the death of this sick child +it would be officially proclaimed that Louis XVII was no more, and then +the real boy could be taken away without very much fear of discovery. + +Many things, however, stood for the present in the way of success. In +the first place Laurent was an ardent Republican and too conscientious +to consent to wink at such a scheme. Gomin as yet vacillated, but his +sympathies would probably soon be gained. Then a sick child must be +procured and smuggled into the Tower. No child had yet been discovered +who sufficiently resembled Louis Charles, though Saintanac, a surgeon in +the Society, was making a daily round of the hospitals to find one. It +was a terribly difficult, unthinkably hazardous undertaking, for it +would mean the lives of all were they discovered, and doubtless the +certain death of the very one they sought to rescue. Yet all were eager, +hopeful, enthusiastic! The meeting broke up with a renewal of their +oath of allegiance and they were dismissed in the same way that they had +come, through the tunnel and the hovel in the alley. + +When they were outside, Caron told Jean some additional items of +interest. The house they met in was that of the Marquis de Fenouil, an +ardent royalist. It was the Marquis who had been responsible for the +appointment of Gomin, whom he hoped would be converted to the cause. +Caron said he was sure it was the Marquis who had led the meeting that +night. They had various leaders who always remained masked, thereby +avoiding absolute recognition, for they were frequently men prominent in +Republican authority. It was even whispered that the great Barras +himself was sometimes behind that mask. It was also hinted that Barras +had a secret interest in having the little prince removed to a remote +place of safety. But these things were not openly spoken of. + +Jean went home that night to nurse his wounded hand, with his head in a +whirl, but with immense hope and thankfulness in his heart! + + + + +LA SOURIS MEETS HIS MATCH + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LA SOURIS MEETS HIS MATCH + + +A month and a half had passed. Jean regularly attended the meetings of +the Brotherhood, and in all that company there was no more active and +enthusiastic worker than this youngest member of the league. By the +middle of March many things had been accomplished and the rough details +of the plot were nearing perfection. + +In the first place, the Surgeon Saintanac had at last discovered a child +suffering with a hopeless, incurable disease, and as like the little +prince as could be wished in one so near death. The problem of smuggling +him into the Tower was to be solved in this way. When Citizeness Clouet +came with a basket of clean linen, the sick child was to be concealed +at the bottom. The day chosen for this must of course be one when the +municipals on duty were mostly those of the Brotherhood, and the +examination of the basket could thus be intentionally hasty and +incomplete. Then the child would be hidden in an upper lumber room, till +a favourable opportunity to have him exchange places with the King. + +This opportunity was not far away, for Laurent had intimated to some of +the municipals that he was about to resign his position as keeper of the +royal child. His mother had recently died, family affairs were pressing, +and in spite of his real affection for the boy, he felt that he had done +his duty and that the time had come for his removal. His successor, a +man named Citizen Lasne, was a staunch Republican, but this did not +worry the Brotherhood, since they planned that the false king should be +exchanged for the real one before his arrival. + +One other most important point had been gained by the society. Gomin had +at last ceased his vacillating, and come out staunchly for the cause. +Municipal Debierne the toy-man, was responsible for this. Long and +arduous had been his discussions, quiet and skilful his manipulations of +the impressionable Gomin, till at length, inspired both by Debierne's +influence and his own very real sympathy for his pathetic little charge, +he yielded. He was brought to the Brotherhood meeting, branded and +sworn, and the cause was all but complete. + +Great was the rejoicing on the night of Gomin's initiation into the +Brotherhood, and a huge feast was partaken of in celebration of this +most important event. Jean's delight was beyond all bounds, and he had +hard work to contain his bubbling spirits, when he heard a piece of news +that considerably dampened his ardour. It was Caron who told him. It had +leaked out that La Souris was again walking about as if no harm could +threaten him! After having disappeared for many months, he had managed +to wriggle himself into favour with someone in high authority, probably +with the minor leader of the Convention, La Reveilliere-Lepeaux, and was +again expecting to resume his duties as municipal of the Tower. + +"Look out!" warned Caron. "He has you particularly in his eye, Jean! He +can't do you much harm personally, for you are under the protection of +the Brotherhood. Your place here is secure. But he may be the death of +the whole plot if we don't watch out!" + +"I'll watch him like a cat!" declared the disgusted boy. "I'll keep him +in sight every minute of the time he is in the Tower. Trust me! But, oh, +_why_ did he have to come back?" + +The day was appointed at last for the first great move. Far in the +night, on the twenty-sixth of March, Saintanac drove up in a tightly +closed carriage to Citizeness Clouet's door. No one was about to see him +carry into the house a young boy of ten years, desperately ill and half +delirious. This child, some nameless waif from one of the charity +hospitals, bore a haunting, ghastly resemblance to the little captive of +the Tower. + +The surgeon administered to him a heavy dose of opium that would put him +into a deep sleep for many hours, and left him in the care of Mere +Clouet. She and Yvonne were both in the plot, of course, though it had +not been deemed necessary that they should become sworn and branded +members, since Jean vouched for them. Next morning they packed the +unconscious child into the huge clothes-basket, carefully arranging the +linen so that he should not be smothered. Then, with beating hearts and +courage steeled to the utmost, they called a cab, in it deposited their +heavy burden, and were driven to the Temple. + +"Mother, mother!" gasped Yvonne, pressing her hands to her heart to +still the terrible thumping, "what will happen if La Souris is there +and insists on examining the basket?" + +"Trust in God, little one!" answered Mere Clouet. "Our cause is a just +one and merciful. He will not suffer it to fail! Repeat the prayer for +those in danger, child!" Yvonne's lips moved softly, and scarcely had +she reached the "Amen!" when the carriage drew up at the outer +courtyard. + +Yvonne's presentiments were only too correct! To their horror and +despair, the first face they saw as they entered with the basket, was +the sly, evil, suspicious countenance of La Souris! His little, rat's +eyes glittered under his almost hairless brows, and his claw-like hands +twitched nervously as he reached for the basket. Debierne and Meunier +also stepped up and began to turn over the freshly ironed linen. + +"Hold hard, friends! I will attend to this!" snapped La Souris. "You may +look on and see that I do it thoroughly!" + +Yvonne and Mere Clouet almost fainted away with terror, but they set +their teeth and endured it bravely. All trembled with despair, even the +staunchest man in the group, yet they dared not utter one word of +remonstrance. Layer after layer La Souris removed, shaking out each +piece deliberately, and holding it to the light. The operation seemed +interminable, and the suspense beyond all endurance! At length all but +the last layer had been removed. Nothing but that and a sheet covered +the body of the hidden child. Oh, was there not something that could +stop that dreadful hand! + +Just at this point, out from the kitchen across the courtyard stepped +Jean, bearing in his hands a huge bowl of soup for the breakfast of the +soldiers in the Tower. To carry this to the guard-room where the meal +was served, he was obliged to pass directly through the group gathered +at the door. Well he knew the meaning of those blenched faces, those +hopeless, despairing eyes, but he walked slowly by them all without a +sign of recognition. + +La Souris was kneeling before the basket, holding to the light a +pillow-slip, when Jean passed directly behind him. With a studied +carelessness, the boy deliberately tripped over the man's foot, lost his +grip on the huge tureen, and skilfully managed to pour the entire +steaming contents down the back of the unsuspecting municipal! With a +hideous yell, La Souris dropped the linen and sprang to his feet. + +"Oh! Pardon! pardon, Citizen! It was an accident!" shrieked Jean, +assuming a well-feigned fright and dashing past him into the courtyard. +La Souris, frenzied by the blistering of his back, and furious with rage +at its perpetrator, tore after him, longing only to lay his hands on the +agile lad. Round and round they flew, Jean ducking, doubling and evading +with the skill of an accomplished Parisian _gamin_, while the soldiers +gathered about laughing and applauding the race. La Souris panted and +shrieked for vengeance, but he was no match for this agile lad, and he +stopped at last, exhausted by his exertion and his very real pain. + +"Someone call a doctor!" he groaned. "I haven't an inch of skin left on +my back!" Jean, the wily, was the first and most ardent to rush off at +this command, and fetch the Temple surgeon. La Souris, faint with +suffering, was removed to his house in a cab, having forgotten all about +the basket which had long since been quietly and thankfully removed. +During the excitement and noise, when everyone had rushed to the yard to +witness the chase, the sick child had been carried to the attic and +hidden away in a long-unused half-boarded-up lumber room. The basket was +returned to Mere Clouet, and the plot so far was safe, thanks to the +timely intervention of Jean. He was the hero of the hour that night at +the Brotherhood, and thoroughly did he enjoy that honourable position. + +"But you've no idea," he declared, "how Caron and I worked to get that +soup heated to the proper boiling pitch! I was watching at the window, +when I wasn't cramming wood in the fire, and I certainly thought La +Souris would have everything out of that basket before it was ready! It +was Caron who thought of the soup!" + +"Yes, but no one could have carried it out so well as Jean!" insisted +the admiring Caron. "Whoever thought that La Souris would turn up just +this day! The Evil One himself must have prompted him! Well, he's out of +the way now for a spell, and that's a mercy!" + +All this while the little captive king was living in total ignorance +that there was such a thing as a plot for his escape. Release was +something he had long given up as hopeless. Sometimes, even to his +childish mind, it seemed as though death alone could free him from his +long imprisonment. He was grieved and sad over the thought of Laurent's +approaching departure, for he had begun to cherish a real affection for +this first kindly man who had come into his life in many a weary month. +He dreaded to think who might take his place, though Gomin was still to +be there. But Gomin had to give much of his time to the sister on the +floor above. + +On the night of March twenty-ninth, Laurent bade a tender farewell to +Louis Charles. When the door at last closed behind him, the boy threw +himself on his bed in a violent fit of weeping. It was here that Gomin +found him when he came in later with his supper. Gomin himself was +nervous, excited and ill at ease, for this was the appointed time for +the second great move in the scheme of liberation. On him this time +depended success! + +For a while the child refused to eat anything. This distressed Gomin +beyond measure, for it was important that the meal should be eaten, +since it was heavily dosed with opium. Nothing could be well +accomplished unless the boy were rendered unconscious. At last, to +please his keeper, Louis Charles swallowed the food though it almost +choked him. + +"Why am I so sleepy?" he presently asked. "It is not yet time to go to +bed!" + +"You have worn yourself out with crying," answered Gomin. "You had +better let me put you to bed at once." The boy complied, his eyelids +sinking more and more each moment, and before he was half undressed he +had fallen into a heavy slumber. But Gomin did not put him in bed. On +the contrary, he wrapped him in a large shawl, and opening the door, +made a sign to someone outside. + +Barelle and Debierne entered with a huge basket that at first seemed +empty. When the door was closed, however, they removed a false bottom, +and there lay the sick child, sleeping soundly but not drugged. Quick as +a flash the change was made. The strange boy lay in the little king's +bed, clothed in the king's own gown and cap, and Louis XVII was placed +at the bottom of the basket. The false bottom was again adjusted, and +the remaining space piled with odds and ends of waste that had +accumulated during Laurent's stay. + +When the basket was filled, the two municipals carried it upstairs, +telling the sentries who challenged them that they were going to place +in the lumber room all the old truck that Laurent had left behind him, +in order to clear the premises for Lasne. The sentries, after a hasty +examination, passed them on without trouble. The attic of the Tower was +a vast space more than half filled with every manner of cast-off +articles that could have accumulated in a century past. Here they +removed the rubbish from the basket, and lifted out the boy. Approaching +the wooden partition they knocked softly, in the manner of the +Brotherhood. + +"All right!" whispered a familiar voice from behind, and on removing a +board the curly head of Jean appeared. + +"Hand him in!" he said. With incredible difficulty they managed to +squeeze the unconscious child through the small aperture. Behind the +partition was a tiny space not more than six or seven feet in any +direction. Within this space was a mattress on the floor, and nothing +else. Jean laid the boy on the mattress, covered him, and called once +more, "All right!" The two men drew the board into place, and no one +would have suspected either that there was any space behind it, or what +that space contained. Then they left the garret room, rejoicing in the +success of the second great step, and Jean was left alone with his +charge. + +All night he sat by the bed watching. But morning came and no change had +occurred. The drug still held the boy in its deadening grip. Jean ate +his breakfast of half a loaf of bread, and washed it down with a pitcher +of water. Then he continued his watch. About noon the little king came +to himself, but so deathly ill was he from the effects of the opium, +that he noticed neither his changed surroundings nor his companion for +many hours. Meanwhile Jean nursed him tenderly, and forced him to +swallow a healing draught that had been left for the purpose by +Saintanac. Toward night Louis Charles recovered himself sufficiently to +be conscious of some radical change in his surroundings. + +"Why is it so dark?" he demanded. "And who are you?" Then Jean put his +arms around the boy, and whispered the whole story in his ear. + +"I am Jean," he ended, "who has loved you ever since I first saw you in +your little garden at the Tuileries! Will you not trust me?" For a time +it seemed as if the child could hardly comprehend it all. The news was +so sudden, so confusing! It was too wonderful! It was beyond belief that +he should be free at last, and that his long-lost friend should be one +of the chief actors in that scheme of release! But something else +troubled him. + +"What of my mother and sister and aunt?" he inquired. "Will they also be +released with me? I do not wish to go if they remain!" Jean was silent a +moment. What should he reply? But the time was not yet ripe to reveal +all the truth to this loving child. + +"They will also be safe!" he answered. And satisfied with this, the +little fellow put his head down on Jean's shoulder, and cried long and +softly in the sheer excess of his joy. + +Jean remained hidden with the boy for the next few days. He was supposed +to be away on a leave of absence, so at the Tower his non-appearance was +thus accounted for. During this time he warned Louis Charles that his +position was a terribly dangerous one, and that he must keep absolutely +quiet always, and not be afraid if he were left alone, for he, Jean, +could not be with him all the time. After his horrible six months of +solitude, however, this new departure had little terror for a boy so +inured to suffering. He promised joyfully to do all that was required of +him. + +"How long do you think it will be?" he asked. + +"I cannot tell," answered Jean, "but as long as that poor little chap in +your place down there remains alive. And goodness knows, that won't be +_very_ long, from the description they give of him!" Louis was genuinely +interested in, and sorry for his counterpart. + +"Do not waste much sympathy on him, dear friend," said Jean. "He is long +past knowing even that he suffers, and death will be to him also a +welcome release. Rest assured too that he is having better care here +than he would get in a charity hospital! But now I must go. Be quiet and +contented, and do not fear! I will come again to you as soon as it is +possible. Meanwhile here is food and drink for two days. Adieu!" And in +some inexplicable manner Jean wriggled himself out of the absurdly small +aperture, and closed the plank behind him. + +For nearly two months and a half, Louis Charles remained hidden at the +top of the Tower, waiting till the sick child below should breathe his +last. During this time Jean was his frequent companion, and his only +one. The boy did his best to amuse the lonely little prisoner, telling +him long stories about Moufflet, Yvonne, the good Mere Clouet, and also +about his own imprisonment in the Conciergerie, and his remarkable +escape. The eyesight of the two children grew like an owl's in this +semi-darkness, and they found after a while that they could see each +other quite well. On one occasion, after they had talked a long while +and fallen into silence, Louis Charles suddenly asked his companion what +day of the month it was. + +"The third of May, 1795," answered Jean, unsuspectingly. Louis was quiet +for a while, apparently struggling with some thought or half illusive +recollection. Presently a flash of joy illuminated his face. + +"Why! then it is my Aunt Elizabeth's birthday! How I wish I could go to +her and give her my congratulations! But I suppose my mother will +remember to do so for me!" + +"Yes, yes!" returned Jean, but the words almost choked him, and he could +think of nothing further to say. Something about his actions aroused his +companion's suspicions. Turning on him squarely, Louis Charles demanded: + +"Tell me all about my mother!" Jean felt that the time had at last +arrived when it was expedient to conceal the facts no longer. Summoning +all his courage, he replied softly: + +"She is dead!" + +"And my aunt?" + +"She is also dead!" + +"And my sister?" pursued the relentless voice. + +"She is alive and safe here in the Tower!" For a moment the blow seemed +too stupendous. The stricken child sat almost stunned. Then the +catechism recommenced. + +"How long has my mother been dead?" + +"A year and a half!" + +"And my aunt?" + +"Just one year!" + +"And they never told me?" + +"They did not have the heart!" said Jean gently. This reply broke the +ice of the little fellow's grief. Tears came to his relief, and he threw +himself on the bed sobbing quietly. The struggle was long and severe, +and Jean left him to the sacredness of his sorrow unmolested. When the +storm of sobs grew less and the tears had ceased, Jean took him in his +big, brawny arms and comforted him almost as one would a tired baby. +Then to divert his thoughts for a while, he told him all his experiences +on the night of his first visit to the Brotherhood of Liberation, for +this he had been permitted to do if he chose. The child's interest was +at first languid, but gradually grew intense as the tale advanced. When +Jean recounted how he had been branded and sworn into the circle, Louis +took in his own hands the branded palm of the older boy. + +"And you went through all this for me?" he said in wonder. "Then will I +never, never forget you, and I shall love you always, as I would my own +brother!" Stooping, he bent his head and touched the scar with his +gentle lips! + +In all his life, Jean never forgot that moment! + + + + +THE LAST MOVE + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE LAST MOVE + + +On the night of the tenth of May, Jean attended a meeting of the +Brotherhood. He expected nothing unusual to happen, and was prepared +only to give an account of the little King's welfare during the last few +days. He entered as usual, and found the great room full of masked +figures. But one place remained vacant, and he slipped into it two +minutes before the command for unmasking. In these two minutes he +glanced at his right-hand companion, finding something vaguely familiar +in the short, slight figure. Then came the order to unmask, and a second +later Jean gave a little cry of joy and astonishment, for at his right +hand sat his former well-beloved friend, Napoleon Bonaparte! + +Lean and sallow and poorly clad as ever, but with the same hauntingly +brilliant eyes, it was as though not more than a day had passed since +they last met. Bonaparte expressed a similar astonishment at beholding +Jean, but the business-meeting being in full swing, they could exchange +no more than a hearty hand-clasp under the table. But when the meeting +was dismissed, Bonaparte invited Jean to walk home to his lodgings with +him, and talk over their long period of separation. + +"By all the saints! Jean, I should never know you! You have grown a foot +at least! But this is a singular meeting! Yes, I am back in Paris," said +Bonaparte. "I arrived to-day. Perhaps you wonder at finding me in the +Brotherhood meeting, but I will tell you how it happened. + +"You must know that at present I am a friend and protege of Barras, who, +by the way, was the leader to-night. Barras was a commissioner of the +Convention at Marseilles while I was there, and he used his influence +to better the condition of my family. So of course I feel somewhat in +his debt, though I partially helped to pay that off by the advice and +assistance I gave at the siege of Toulon. But be that as it may, I have +decided to attach myself to him. He is the man of the hour, and I must +attach myself to _something_! + +"Well, recently I received an appointment to come to Paris and command a +brigade of infantry that is soon to stamp out the insurrection in La +Vendee, but, though I came to Paris, I have refused the command. I have +no taste for such butcher's work, and I consider it rather an insult to +be given the infantry when I have always been with the artillery. +Besides that my health is not good at present. + +"So I went to Barras to-day, to acquaint him with these matters. He +invited me to sup with him, and then later asked me if I seriously +wished to render him a great assistance. Naturally, as I still feel +much under obligation to him, I replied that I certainly did so wish. He +then told me that he relied on me as a man of honour not to reveal what +I should hear if he took me to the meeting of a secret society. As he +was leader for the evening, it would not be required that I become a +sworn member as yet, and so I went--and met you! Privately I am glad +enough to help that poor child to escape, for I think his inhuman +detention has been one of the greatest outrages in history. But now tell +me how it has fared with you since last we met?" Then Jean gave an +account of the intervening year and a half. When he had ended, Bonaparte +remarked: + +"My boy, what you tell me makes me regard you more highly than ever, and +I am not surprised to find you taking so prominent a part in this +scheme. In fact I should have expected it. But let me whisper to you a +few surmises that have occurred to me to-night. It was a curious +meeting, that!--and I amused myself by striving to divine the true +motives of many of the leading characters. + +"De Batz and other royalists there have of course but one hope,--to get +Louis XVII out of the clutches of the Republic, no matter how, and then +some day bring him back a victorious king. Then there are not a few +staunch Republicans like Barelle, Meunier and Debierne, who seem +actuated only by the humane wish to rescue the little fellow from his +cruel captivity. + +"But one man there has a motive entirely different, and he is the head +and front of it all. That man is Barras! Shall I tell you what is _his_ +motive? I have guessed it, though of course he never suspects. He sees +in himself the coming man of power. True, he is powerful already, but he +aims at higher things. He would rescue Louis XVII and remove him to some +distant spot where he can find him if necessary. Later he will use him +to dangle over the heads of the royalists as a bait, and over the +Republicans as a threat, so balancing his influence with both parties. +And at last, at some expedient moment, Louis XVII will disappear +forever, and Barras can make himself anything he wishes,--Dictator, +Emperor, what not! It is a clever scheme!" Jean shook his head. + +"I care not what the ultimate scheme of Barras may be," he vouchsafed, +"if only the little fellow can get out of that horrible place! And if I +can assist any, I shall only feel that I have done my duty by him and +his dead mother!" So the two talked far into the night, and dawn was +breaking when Jean went back to the Temple. + +But how fared it in the room in the Tower, where a delirious little +stranger masqueraded all unconsciously as Louis XVII of France? + +For several days before the exchange was effected, Gomin had been +writing daily in the Temple register, "Little Capet is ill!" This was +quite true, as Louis Charles had been suffering with a severe cold. As +Gomin expected, no attention was paid to this report. On the day after +the strange child was placed in his care, he wrote, "Little Capet is +dangerously ill!" Still no one took any notice of it, and then Lasne, +the new keeper arrived. Taking one look at the inert, stricken boy, he +exclaimed: + +"Can that really be the little Dauphin whom I remember so well having +seen in the Park of the Tuileries? I should never recognise him! He must +be terribly ill. Have you sent for a physician?" + +"Yes," answered Gomin. "At least I have reported his sickness, but +nothing has been done about it." That night Lasne wrote in the register, +"Little Capet is so ill that it is feared he will not live!" Then, and +not till then, did the authorities see fit to act on so unimportant a +matter, and they designated physician Desault to attend the boy. Desault +was not long in discovering that his services would be all but useless. +The child was far beyond hope, and all he could do was to ease any +possible suffering. Desault himself was taken suddenly ill, not long +after, and died a short time before the supposed prince. Two other +physicians took his place, though they too felt assured that their +services would not be needed long. At last, word was sent forth on the +tenth of June, "Little Capet is dead!" The event not being considered as +of any special importance by the public at large, it was ordered that he +be buried as quickly and with as little ceremony as possible. This was +done as directed, the reports were duly made out, and _officially_ Louis +XVII was no more! + +But _unofficially_, in the little attic room, Louis XVII was very much +alive, and wild with anxiety to be released from his long confinement! +The time had come for the last step in this great undertaking, and +circumstances had rendered that step far easier than the previous ones +had been. In the first place, La Souris was well out of the way, being +still in a state where it would take months for him to leave his bed. +Then, Louis XVII was considered dead and buried! Therefore, why take any +further precautions for safe-guarding his empty prison, thought the +authorities! + +A few days after the little funeral procession had wended its way from +the Tower, Jean and Caron went to the attic room to procure the great +basket with the false bottom. They were going to remove some things from +the room of the "Little dead Capet" to the rubbish pile upstairs. At the +same hour, Mere Clouet and Yvonne were to call for the soiled linen in +the now deserted room. It was all very simple! The sentries on the +stairs took no notice whatever of their proceedings. When they deposited +the basket in the room, Mere Clouet's big clothes-hamper was already +standing there, having been brought in while they were upstairs. Quickly +they took out the false bottom and lifted up Louis Charles. He was alert +and conscious this time, having begged hard not to be drugged. + +"I will be _so_ good!" he promised. "I will scarcely breathe! Oh, do let +me go as I am, and see and hear everything!" So they granted his wish. +The change of baskets did not take a moment. As the boy cuddled down in +Mere Clouet's hamper, he took one last look about the room where he had +suffered so much. + +"Jean," he whispered, "I pray God that I may never see it again!" Then +they buried him deep beneath a mound of linen. + +"Can you breathe?" whispered Jean through the cracks of the basket. + +"Nicely! I'm all right!" came the voice from within. + +"Then, an revoir!" returned Jean. He and Caron lifted the great burden +to their shoulders and carried it downstairs. No one challenged them. No +one was interested in the contents of a basket which they thought +contained only the soiled clothes of a boy now safely dead and buried! +They shoved the huge hamper into the carriage, slammed the door +carelessly on Citizeness Clouet and Yvonne, and called to the driver: + +"Number six hundred and seventy Rue de Lille!" and the cab rolled away. +It was all over, and the little captive of the Temple was free forever! + +When Jean came home that night, he found the king busy hugging and +kissing Moufflet, while Mere Clouet and Yvonne looked on admiringly. The +boy was almost frantic with joy at being reunited with his long-lost +pet, and the dog had certainly not forgotten his master, for he seemed +as delighted as Louis Charles himself. For two days the little king lay +hidden in the good keeping of Mere Clouet. On the second night, Jean +took the boy off by himself, to have a last long talk with his friend. + +"You know, little king," he said, "that much as we love you, we cannot +keep you always here. That would not be safe or right for you. Other +kind though unknown friends have your interests at heart, and are coming +to-night to take you to a place of greater safety." + +"Oh, Jean," replied the frightened boy, "I do not want to leave you! I +wish to stay here! There is no one now in the whole world that I really +love besides my sister and yourselves. Why must I leave you? Where will +they take me?" + +"You will be in care of kindly people, that I am sure, though I do not +know whom, nor do I know where you will be taken. But always you will +have freedom and the best of care. Perhaps some day you will come back +to live in Paris, when these troubled times are over. That will be a +happy event to look forward to!" + +"But my sister!" persisted the boy. "She is yet in the Tower. When will +she be free also? When can I see her?" + +"There is a rumour abroad that she will soon be released and sent to the +court of Austria, in return for certain important prisoners that the +Austrians have lately captured from us. Perhaps you will be permitted to +join her sometime, at your cousin's court." Louis Charles sat a long +while, thinking it over. + +"I suppose it must be so," he said at last, "since it is best. But I +shall be very, very lonely! May I have a pair of scissors?" Jean opened +his eyes at this strange request, but he procured a pair from the other +room. Louis Charles took them, raised them to his head, and cut off +three of his soft curls. + +"This is for you, Jean!" he said. "It is all I have to give you. And +these are for Madame Clouet and Yvonne. And now, there is one thing more +that I wish you to do for me. I had thought to take the little Moufflet +with me, and never, never part from him. But now I have decided that I +shall give him to my sister, since she is soon to be free. She will +perhaps be as lonely as I am and I want her to have something that will +give her pleasure and remind her of me! Will you do this for me, Jean?" +The older boy was almost overwhelmed at the little fellow's generosity, +knowing well what pain it must cost him to part again with the pet he +had so lately recovered, and which was the sole remaining object that +could remind him of happier days. + +"I will surely do this, little friend!" answered Jean, and his voice +shook as he spoke. "And we will all wait, watch, and look forward to the +time when you may come back to us!" + +"No one will look forward to it more than I," said the boy, "and yet +something tells me that I shall never come back! But at least I shall +never, never forget you, and all that you have suffered and sacrificed +for my sake! And, Jean, neither will I ever forget that day in the attic +room,--you know which one I mean!" Jean nodded. It was the only time +that Louis Charles had ever since alluded to his mother, or to his great +grief at the news of her death. He kept his sorrow locked always +tightly in his own breast. + +Then came the parting with Mere Clouet and Yvonne. He gave them the +little gift of his curls,--the only things he had to bestow,--thanked +them over and over again, kissed them tenderly, and not a few tears of +genuine sorrow were shed by every member of the room. Moufflet he kept +hugged to his breast till the last. All waited in breathless suspense +for the sound that was to indicate the time of parting,--the triple +knock of the Brotherhood. At about two in the morning it came, the three +soft taps so familiar to Jean. He opened the door cautiously, and there +stood two men, masked in the fashion of the band. + +"The password!" demanded Jean. + +"_Liberation!_" they both replied, "_and Louis XVII of France!_" They +were admitted at once, and saw the little king standing ready. In spite +of their masks, Jean recognised the Baron de Batz and Bonaparte. +However, he knew it was best to hold no personal converse with them. + +"Is your majesty ready to accompany us?" inquired the Baron, addressing +Louis. + +"I am!" answered the child simply and manfully. There were to be no +tears now, no tempestuous parting. The tender farewell of the lonely boy +to his dearest friends had all come before and was too sacred to be +witnessed by strangers. He was a _king_ now, and the royal blood that +was in him rose to meet the occasion. + +"Then come with us!" commanded the second masked figure. Louis XVII +turned to give Moufflet a last caress and then addressed the strangers: + +"I am ready! Lead the way!" They wrapped him in a long dark cloak, and +making a sign to Jean to follow, the party left the house and proceeded +on foot to the next street, where a carriage was waiting for them. The +drive was made in absolute silence, but the little king sought and held +Jean's hand all the way. At the Rue Chantereine, number six, the +carriage stopped before the door of a small but handsome mansion. All +four ascended the steps, and De Batz rapped on the door with the knock +of the Brotherhood. The door opened on a hallway perfectly dark, and a +soft voice said: + +"Follow me, gentlemen!" At once the door of a room beyond was opened, +and a flood of light revealed the owner of the voice, a woman dressed in +soft, clinging drapery, and of such sylph-like grace and sweetness of +manner, that she almost took Jean's breath away! + +"Is this little Louis Charles?" she asked. But without waiting for an +answer, she knelt down and threw her arms about the astonished child. + +"Do not fear, poor abused little king!" she crooned. "You will be safe +with me, and I love you already!" And at a sign from her, the three +others withdrew and left the little king and his new protectress +together. On leaving the house De Batz bade Bonaparte and Jean +good-night, and went his own way. But the boy and his friend walked a +few blocks together, before they separated. + +"Tell me, Citizen Bonaparte," asked Jean, "who is that lovely lady with +whom we left the little fellow?" + +"That," answered Bonaparte, "is a great friend of Barras,--the +Vicomtesse Josephine de Beauharnais!" + +When Jean returned to the Rue de Lille, he found Yvonne in tears, and +Mere Clouet thoughtful but happy. He told them what had become of the +king, but Yvonne would not be comforted. + +"Oh, why did he have to leave us!" she sobbed. "We could have kept him +so well, and he would have been so happy here with us!" + +"No, we could not have kept him!" retorted Jean. "He would not have been +safe here long, and he is going to be very happy with that lovely +lady!" Nevertheless he stood for a long time silent at the window, with +his back to the rest, looking steadily out at nothing. But Mere Clouet +dropped to her knees, clasped her hands, and softly uttered this prayer: + +"I praise and thank Thee, O God, that Thou hast permitted us at last to +repay this debt of gratitude to the poor Queen who is now with Thee!" + + + + +THE STAR OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE STAR OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE + + +The days passed by after these events in a strange and unaccustomed +quiet. Indeed the Clouet family could scarcely become used to the +tranquillity, so habituated had it been to months of waiting, days of +suspense, and hours of turmoil and agitation! + +Jean continued in his place as Caron's assistant at the Tower for +several weeks. This he did for two reasons,--because as yet he had +nothing else in view in the way of occupation, and also because he had +still one other duty to perform, in delivering Moufflet to Marie-Therese +as Louis Charles had wished. The detention of this young princess in the +Tower was soon to come to a close, as negotiations for her release and +dismissal to Austria were steadily progressing. Therefore it was only a +question of choosing a favourable time, bringing Moufflet to Gomin, and +letting him deliver the little animal. + +The young girl's imprisonment was now far less rigid than it had been, +so the admission of the dog would be no difficult matter. It was deemed +wise by the Brotherhood that Marie-Therese should not be informed for +the present of her brother's rescue (she had been told that he died on +June tenth) but that Gomin should merely say that the dog had been found +and kept for her by Jean. + +This was done about the first of September, and Gomin reported that she +had been fairly overcome with surprise and joy at having her brother's +former pet so unexpectedly restored to her, and had sent Jean her +heartiest thanks and a little embroidered handkerchief as a remembrance. +She did not start for Austria till December, 1795, but when she went she +was accompanied by Caron, who had been a servant in the royal palace +before the downfall of the monarchy, and who was happiest in serving all +that remained of the royal family. Moufflet also went with her, and +remained with her, it is said, as long as he lived. + +In the early part of September, the Brotherhood of Liberation held a +final meeting at which the society was permanently disbanded, its +mission having been fulfilled. All, however, renewed the oath never to +disclose the secret of the little king's escape and how it was +accomplished, unless a time should ever come for him to reign over +France. Jean learned that the boy had been removed to Croissy, the +country home of the Vicomtesse Beauharnais, till he was strong enough to +travel. Since then he had been taken to an obscure village in a remote +corner of France, where he would live in seclusion and good care till +such time as his presence might be deemed expedient in the political +world,--if, indeed, such a time ever came! + +But there was one other transaction of the society that filled Jean with +pride and joy. The Brotherhood as a whole, voted that the remaining +funds in their treasury should be devoted to providing a pretty little +home for Jean and his family in the near village of Meudon, and a +comfortable income for the Citizeness Clouet during the remainder of her +life, and Jean himself was to have a sum of one thousand francs to do +with as he pleased! This was in recognition of the invaluable services +they had all rendered in the escape of Louis XVII. It was to be settled +and go into effect at the first of the coming year. Jean went home to +his family that night with the good news, a proud and happy boy! + +Meanwhile he had seen little of his friend Bonaparte since that young +man's return to Paris. His own duties kept him rather closely confined +to the Tower, and Bonaparte had now more friends in the city who claimed +his attention. But besides that, his health was poor, and he spent much +time at this period, in gloomy and solitary retirement. + +One day Jean, who was having a little holiday, thanks to the kindness of +Caron, was passing the Corazza Coffee-house near the Palais-Royal when +whom should he see sitting at one of the tables but Bonaparte with +another young man. Bonaparte at once hailed his friend: + +"Ho, Jean Mettot! Come and sit you down with us and share our mid-day +meal! This is a fortunate meeting, and I want you to know Monsieur +Junot. He's a brave fellow whose mettle I tried at Toulon! You two +should know each other!" Jean, nothing loath, joined the little party, +and listened with interest to their discussion of present political +affairs. + +"I do not know what this country is coming to, Jean!" said Bonaparte. +"Public sentiment is like a pendulum! First it swings off to one +extreme, as it did in '93, and then started back on the Tenth Thermidor. +It came to a happy medium just a short time after that, and +now,--behold you!--off it goes in an entirely opposite direction, and +the royalists are coming into favour again!" + +"What's the trouble?" asked Jean. "I'm so busy that I've little time to +give to political discussions, and one hears no news in that lonely hole +of a Temple, nowadays! I wish you would explain it to me!" + +"Why, the long and short of it is this," replied Bonaparte, obligingly. +"Of course you know that on August twenty-second the Convention adopted +a new Constitution for the year III. According to this Constitution, the +Legislative power shall be an executive body of five Directors, a +Council of Five Hundred, and a Council of the Ancients composed of two +hundred and fifty members. That is all very well, but recently the +Convention has added a new decree,--that two-thirds of the members of +this new Legislature shall be chosen from themselves--the +Convention--and only the remaining one-third by the people at large. So +the people naturally consider themselves slighted, and are +yelling,--'Down with the Convention!'" + +"But," interrupted Jean eagerly, "are not the people right? Is not that +what a Republic is for? Was not that the principle for which the +monarchy was overthrown and so much blood spilt?" + +"Wait, wait, lad!" commanded Bonaparte. "You have not heard all yet! The +people of France have had eight centuries of monarchy, and only three +years of ruling themselves. They are enthusiastic, but also childish and +fickle to the last degree, and are no more fit to be allowed to go their +own way than so many babes! They must be guided a while longer by the +men who planned and guided the Revolution,--the old Convention! But +there's more behind it than that, and they are blind as moles who don't +see it! + +"The returned Royalists are hiding behind all these disgruntled +citizens, and they are going to take advantage of and encourage an +uprising to overthrow the existing government. And what then?--Back will +come monarchy again!" Jean was delighted with this clear yet simple +explanation. + +"I see it all now!" he declared. "But what else is happening?" + +"Paris," continued Bonaparte, "is divided into forty-eight sections. Of +these, every section but one has voted against the new decree; and while +many of the sections are inactive, there are seven actually in arms +against the Convention, and the worst of these is the Section +Lepelletier. Mark my words, Jean! As sure as this is the first of +October, there will be a crisis before the month is out! And what is +more, something tells me this crisis will mean much for us three now +sitting here so quietly, sipping our coffee!" + +Bonaparte's prophecy proved true in every respect, except that the +crisis came sooner than he had predicted. On the fourth of October, +Paris was in a state of indescribable confusion. Bells were sounding +the "generale," that horrible call to insurrection. Streets were +thronged with citizens rushing frenziedly to and fro shouting,--"Death +to the Convention!" "Down with the Two-thirds!" Crowds of soldiers +forced their way through the excited mobs, and skirmishing between the +opposing parties could be heard in every quarter. But worse was yet to +come! + +Jean, compelled to pass the day at his duties in the Tower, was as +restive as an imprisoned war-horse, and at eleven that night, Caron +could no longer restrain him. Like a shot from a cannon, he was off in +the driving rain, straight to the lodging of his friend and councillor, +Bonaparte. On being admitted, he found that young man pacing up and down +his narrow room with a curious excitement flaming in his brilliant eyes. +On the table lay a map of Paris, and over it Bonaparte bent anxiously at +every other turn. + +"Oho!" he cried. "Another moment and you would have missed me! But I +might have known you'd come, with gunpowder scenting the air! You cannot +guess who has just been here!" + +"Oh, but I can," replied Jean. "For I passed him on the block,--Citizen +General Barras!" + +"Good! but you cannot guess what brought him here!" + +"No! tell me!" + +"He has offered me the command of the army of Paris!" + +"_He has!_" + +"Nothing less! You see the Sections have the Convention cooped up there +in the Tuileries where they hold their sessions, in a state of siege. +To-morrow the Sections will storm the Convention, and on that issue +depends the continuance of the Republic. The Convention has about four +or five thousand soldiers at its command, against fifty thousand +Sectionists! Poor lookout,--that! But I have a plan that will succeed +if anything does, and Barras will support me in anything I order. He +tested my worth at Toulon, my lad, and there will be hot work +to-morrow!" + +"Oh, Citizen Bonaparte,--I mean Citizen _General_!--let me go with you, +I beg! I will serve you in any capacity you say, only let me be near you +to-morrow!" Bonaparte thought a moment, then he answered: + +"To-morrow, Jean, I am going to put you to a test! You have displayed +courage, energy and skill in the secret work you have done for the +Brotherhood. It now remains for me to see what you can do in the open. +To-morrow will show! Come to me at the Tuileries in the morning, and I +will give you work to do. Now I must go and report to the Convention at +once. I believe my star is rising at last, Jean, and if so, I shall rise +with it. And trust me, you shall not be forgotten!" For a moment his +eyes gleamed with the white fire of inspiration, then he wrapped his +great-coat about him and was gone. + +True to his tryst, Jean made all speed for the Tuileries next morning. +He had difficulty enough in getting there, for the streets were so +crowded with insurgents that a passage through them was all but +impossible. However he got there by way of the Place Carrousel, and +noticed that everywhere were barricades and cannon planted to defend the +palace. + +Where to find Bonaparte was now the question, and doubtless this would +have been a matter of much difficulty, had not that young general come +riding by on a tour of inspection, accompanied by Barras. Before Jean +could even spring forward, Bonaparte recognised him, motioned him +forward, and turned to Barras: + +"Here is a young protege of mine who is to see his first action. I must +assign him to a post!" Then to Jean: + +"Have you ever discharged a cannon, lad?" + +"No!" answered Jean, not a little chagrined at his ignorance. + +"Well, never mind! Come with me. I'm going to place you as assistant to +one of the gunners and you'll soon learn. Don't you desert that cannon, +Jean, if it costs you your life to stick by it!" + +"I will not desert!" Jean promised solemnly. Bonaparte led him through +the Rue de Rivoli to the head of the Rue du Dauphin, where a cannon was +pointed directly down the street at the steps of the church of St. Roch. +To the gunner he said: + +"Here's a lad to assist you, and learn a little, likewise!" The gunner +looked up, and Jean recognised his old acquaintance, Prevot! + +"Ah, I know him, General!" answered the gunner, touching his cap. "And a +brave one he is, too, as I can prove. He's welcome!" Bonaparte rode +away, leaving Jean to exchange reminiscences with his companion. + +"Yes, I quitted the service of that rascal Coudert," said Prevot, "right +after the Tenth Thermidor, and entered the army where I've been ever +since, and have seen some action, I can tell you! But I wish you'd +explain to me why you didn't take advantage of that little hint I gave +you once!" + +"Because it would have placed my people in danger," answered Jean, +simply. + +"Well, you're a plucky one! And you certainly did for that old Coudert, +so I've been told. They _said_ it was an accident, but I have my +suspicions about that! But say! Do you know, that old Coudert, that +sneaking La Souris, lodges right up there!" and he pointed to the window +of a small house facing on the Rue du Dauphin. "He'll hear fine work +to-day,--perhaps he'll see it too. Who knows!" Then he proceeded to +explain to Jean the workings of the great gun. + +All that morning the opposing forces were quiet, except for some light +skirmishing, and so it continued into the afternoon. Jean saw no more of +Bonaparte, and began to grow restless, wondering if there was really to +be any battle. But at four o'clock a roar of musketry from the direction +of the Hotel de Noailles was answered by another roar, and the business +of the day began! In all his young life, Jean had never witnessed so +confusing an affair. He could understand little of what others were +doing, but he kept his attention closely on Prevot, handing him ramrod, +cotton or powder, as he directed. The big cannon, with a companion close +beside it pointed directly down the short street to the steps of the +church which were now crowded with Sectionists. In the windows of the +houses all along the street, Sectionists were hiding with their +death-dealing muskets. The cannon, however, had not yet been fired. +Suddenly up rode Bonaparte. + +"On the steps of St. Roch! Fire!" he commanded, and the two guns poured +forth a great volley of iron, mowing down the human harvest before them +like scythes. The semi-circle of Sectionists on the church steps seemed +to sink to the ground in a body for an instant, then more sprang forward +and filled the vacant spaces. Jean's heart grew sick at the sight of +this carnage, but he worked away at his duties, the perspiration +streaming down his face and matting his black curls. Just as Prevot was +about to touch the match for the second charge, he clapped his hand to +his side, gave a low groan, and sank in a heap by the gun. + +Jean's heart fairly stood still with horror and pity, but some blind +instinct caused him to look up at one of the houses. There in a window, +stood, or rather hung, La Souris, his rat's face twisted into a horrible +smile, a smoking musket in his hands. He was about to reload for another +charge, and it was evident that the effort cost him considerable +suffering in his scorched back. As Jean still looked, he finished and +pointed the musket directly at the boy by the gun. The natural instinct +of self-preservation prompted this untried lad to take to his heels and +get to shelter at once, but a second thought brought back Bonaparte's +final warning,--"Stick to the gun, lad, if it costs you your life!" + +"I'll stick!" he muttered, and clinched his teeth on the determination. +Seizing the match from Prevot's relaxed grasp, he blew on it to rekindle +its flame, while he watched out of the corner of his eye the careful aim +that La Souris was striving to accomplish with his none too steady grip. +Then he laid that match to the touchhole and another rain of iron swept +down the street. At this moment a regiment of Volunteers turned into the +Rue du Dauphin at a run. + +"Charge the steps of St. Roch!" ordered Bonaparte, appearing again very +near the guns. As the regiment charged down the street with fixed +bayonets, Bonaparte turned his eyes to Jean, and saw the boy standing +bravely by the gun, but with his eyes fixed in agony on a window above +and close by. Following his glance, the general quickly perceived the +cause of his distress. La Souris, having by this time arranged his aim +to his satisfaction, was just about to pull the trigger. + +It took Bonaparte but a second to snatch a musket from a passing +soldier, aim it at the window--and fire! Citizen Coudert's musket +clattered from the window to the ground, and he himself dropped from +sight on the other side of the sill, and was seen and heard no more! +After that the general wheeled his horse, galloped down the Rue de +Rivoli, and Jean was left alone, dazed and thankful. + +The remainder of the conflict he could never describe, for he did not +see it. The Rue du Dauphin was swept clear of the enemy; if any +Sectionists remained alive on the steps of St. Roch, they had taken +refuge within the church, and the tide of battle surged to another +quarter, raging down the Rue St. Honore. + +Jean, having temporarily no work to do, turned his attention to Prevot, +whom he found to his joy not killed outright, but severely wounded in +the thigh. It took him a long time to revive the unconscious gunner, and +he had but just accomplished it when he heard resounding from the Park +of the Tuileries terrific huzzas and cries of "Victory! Victory to the +Convention!" Unable longer to contain his curiosity, he left Prevot and +rushed across the park to see what was going on. He was just in time to +behold Bonaparte, escorted by Barras, enter the Tuileries in triumph to +announce to the Convention the utter defeat of the Sectionists. When +Napoleon Bonaparte came out again, he was General-in-chief of the Army +of the Interior! Thus ended the famous fifth of October, 1795, better +known, according to the reckoning of the Revolution, as the Thirteenth +Vendemiaire! + +On the fourth of March, 1796, in the pretty new home at Meudon, where +the Clouets now lived, Jean received a note from Bonaparte asking him to +come at once to his hotel in the Rue Capucines as he had news to +communicate. Naturally Jean let no grass grow under his heels in +complying with this request. + +He found Bonaparte pacing up and down the room as usual, but it was a +very different room from the lodgings in which he had formerly existed, +and for that matter, a rather different Bonaparte too, as well-groomed +and handsomely garbed, as he had once been careless and ill-kempt in +appearance. + +"Jean," he began, "I've never told you how much I admired the way you +held that gun, on the Thirteenth Vendemiaire, in spite of that leering +devil above you. I suppose you thought I'd forgotten, for I really +believe I haven't seen you since, affairs have been so pressing!" + +"No," said Jean, "I didn't think you had forgotten!" + +"Well, here's a piece of news,--I'm going to be married!" + +"Oh, how splendid! May I inquire who the lady may be?" + +"You may! You saw her once,--the Vicomtesse Josephine de Beauharnais!" +Jean was delighted beyond words, and wished his friend the greatest +happiness. + +"But here's something else!" cried Bonaparte. "And this will interest +you more! I've been appointed Commander-in-chief of the Army of Italy!" + +"Oh, congratulations!" said Jean. "A thousand of them! I know how +greatly you always wished for this position." + +"But here's something else that will interest you most of all!" replied +Bonaparte laughing. "I appoint you my aide-de-camp and secretary, and +you will be prepared to accompany me to Nice one week from to-day. Jean, +Jean! my star has risen at last, and I feel that it will shine with a +brilliant light before it goes to its setting!" + +And Napoleon Bonaparte gleefully pinched the boy's ear, the first but by +no means the last time that Jean knew him to indulge in this singular +pleasantry! + + + + +AFTER LONG YEARS + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +AFTER LONG YEARS + + +In the month of June, 1806, the lieutenant of the Eighth Brigade of +Light Artillery received, while on duty at the Imperial Palace of St +Cloud, the following mysterious note: + + "If Jean Dominique Mettot will be at Havre on the fourteenth + instant, he will be admitted on board the vessel 'La Belle + Gabrielle,' where he will meet someone who is most anxious to see + him. He is kindly requested to refrain from mentioning this + rendezvous to anyone. Ask for 'Monsieur Charles Durante.' + + "C.D." + +Devoured with curiosity, he hastened to obtain a leave of absence from +his Emperor, who pinched his ear in giving it, inquired on what errand +he was bound, and laughed when Jean blushed and stammered that he was +not at liberty to explain. + +Having made all speed to Havre, he had no difficulty in finding the ship +"La Belle Gabrielle" which was preparing to set sail that evening, on +its voyage to America. On inquiring for a Monsieur Durant, he was +referred to cabin number twelve, which he reached and on whose door he +knocked. + +[Illustration] + +A tall, slim, gentle-faced young man of perhaps twenty years opened the +door. Jean looked keenly at him for a moment, then gave a little gasp. +For he realised in that instant that he stood before the former child of +the Tower, Louis XVII of France! The young man drew him inside, closed +the door, and the two stood for a long moment, hand clasped in hand, +unable to utter a word. It was Louis Charles who at last broke the +silence: + +"You are much changed, and yet you seem the same Jean of the Temple! +Tell me about yourself!" + +"Indeed," replied Jean, "you are much changed also, but you are +beginning to resemble greatly the late king, your father!" + +"So I think myself," laughed the young man, "and so think others, which +has begun to prove rather troublesome. For that reason I am going to +America, never to return. But I could not leave without seeing you once +more!" + +"Surely, surely," cried Jean aghast, "you will come back sometime!" + +"No, never!" said Louis firmly. "Nothing would induce me to reign over +France, even were the opportunity to present itself. And to reside here +in a private capacity will scarcely be feasible much longer. I have +lived a quiet life for the past ten years with kindly people in a far +corner of France. I was placed with them by Barras, under the name of +Charles Durant, by which name I have been known ever since. They +thought me an orphan of some good Parisian family, sent there to be +away from the violent scenes of the Revolution. I was tenderly nursed +back to health, and carefully educated. Many times lately has De Batz +come secretly to me, and urged me to proclaim my identity and put myself +at the head of the royalist cause, but I have steadily refused. + +"The French nation murdered my father and mother! They will never be +ruled by me! And to live here as a private citizen is becoming +impossible because of my resemblance to my father. Again and again I +have heard it remarked how closely I resemble Louis XVI in his younger +days. It would soon be causing serious political complications, more +particularly as I foresee that affairs are far from stable, even with +such a man as your wonderful Emperor at their head! But in America I +shall never be recognised, and there I can live the quiet, peaceful, +useful life which I crave." + +"But tell me," asked Jean, "have you never seen your sister since her +removal from the Tower?" + +"No, never, for two reasons,--one of them rather curious! She will not +believe that I am alive!" + +"How strange!" murmured Jean. + +"No, not strange, in a way. It was De Batz who informed her of my +escape, after she went to England. But she refused to believe it, saying +it was an impossibility,--that I had died in the Tower, and that anyone +who claimed to be myself must be an impostor! But then, you see, she has +attached herself to our uncle, my father's oldest brother, who, if the +Bourbons ever returned to reign, would be the next in succession, Louis +XVIII. And on that account I feel I can never forgive her, for he was +always a cruel enemy of our mother, Queen Marie Antoinette, and caused +her much grief. How my sister could endure to be even in his presence, I +cannot understand, and this is the reason I wish never to see her again. +But tell me, Jean, all about yourself! And how is the good Madame +Clouet and pretty little Yvonne?" + +"It pains me to tell you," answered Jean, "that our dear Mere Clouet +passed away a few months ago, after a severe illness. But for the last +ten years she had lived a very happy life in our lovely little home at +Meudon. That loss has left little Yvonne,--who is little no longer, but +a beautiful young woman!--quite alone in the world, except for me. We +grew up together as brother and sister, but now I have managed to +persuade her to consider me in another light, and next month she is to +become my wife! The Emperor has promised to give us a beautiful +wedding!" + +"Bravo, bravo!" cried Louis Charles. "A thousand happy wishes! Nothing +could have pleased me better than this news!" And as he looked Jean +over, noting his six feet of splendid brawn and muscle, his handsome +black eyes and crisply curling hair, realising the cleverness and worth +of this fellow and the loyal, loving heart of him, Louis Charles did +not wonder at the choice of Yvonne! + +"But now tell me about your Emperor," he said. "You fairly worship him, +I'm sure, and I do not blame you! And when did you get this?" He pointed +to a Cross of the Legion of Honour on the young man's breast. + +"He decorated me with that after the battle of Austerlitz, for something +or other,--leading a charge, I guess!" replied Jean modestly. "I have +been with him through every campaign since he took command of the Army +of Italy, and I shall go with him through every other, as long as I +live. I love him! Do you blame me?" + +"No, I do not! He is the most wonderful man of modern history! He +deserves all that he has achieved. He has done more for France in these +ten years, than all the line of Bourbon kings ever dreamed of +accomplishing. There is no particle of envy in my heart that he is +occupying a throne which should have been mine. It is an unstable throne +at best! Let him be happy on it while he may, only let him beware lest +too great ambition cause him to overreach the mark!" + +Then the two drifted into talk of the past, and of the painful years of +their childhood and early acquaintance. The hours, all too short, flew +by, and at twilight the order was given to cast loose the ship and set +sail. The two young men bade each other farewell in the cabin, for they +could not endure that their parting should be witnessed on the common +deck. + +"Adieu, adieu, Jean!" murmured Louis Charles huskily. "I owe you a debt +that a lifetime would be too short to repay! But for you I would have +died long since, in that horrible place, and I believe that you and +Yvonne are the only ones in this world who truly care for me now. My +gratitude and love is all that I can give you, for I am poor as regards +worldly wealth. But I know you understand! You are being rewarded by +another and more powerful hand than mine. Give my love to Yvonne, and my +most earnest wishes for her happiness. In you she will have the husband +she deserves!" Jean was almost too overcome to speak at all. + +"I--I love you!" he stammered. "And I have always secretly hoped that +sometime you would come back to live among us!" + +"That is impossible, as you see," said the young man. "This parting is +harder to me than I dare to tell you, for you are all that links me with +my former life! Adieu, adieu, Jean!" + +But Jean could trust himself no longer. He bent and kissed the hands of +Louis Charles, and hastily left the cabin without another word. On the +quay he watched, while the great ship drew in her cables, and moved +majestically out into the tide. But ere the dark hull vanished entirely +from view, Jean perceived a white handkerchief fluttering from the +railing of the afterdeck, and he knew it to be the last farewell of +Louis XVII of France! + + * * * * * + +Jean lived to be a very old man, and he saw in his day many astonishing +changes, and lived through a number of singular epochs in the history of +his country. One of the most peculiar circumstances, however, that came +under his ken was as follows: + +In the course of the years, a rumour was wafted abroad (no one knew just +how it started), that perhaps Louis XVII had not died as a child in the +Tower, after all, but had escaped in some marvellous manner and was now +living. Some believed this, and many more did not! But the strangest +part of it was that in the course of ten years, no less than _forty_ +impostors arose, each claiming that _he_ was the escaped Louis XVII, and +demanding his right to the throne, for the Bourbon monarchy had been +restored for a time. Of these forty impostors, the claims of +thirty-eight were so obviously and impudently preposterous, that they +were at once detected as false. But there were two, Baron de Richmont +and Count Naundorff, who really seemed to know an amazing amount about +the little Dauphin's early life and affairs, and who told wonderful +stories of their escape from the Tower. Count Naundorff's was singularly +like what had really happened. + +But there was always something lacking somewhere, some loose, +ill-fitting stone in their carefully constructed fabrication. None of +them ever gained much serious attention. Perhaps these two had at some +time heard the story of the escape from a member of the Brotherhood who +had been false to his oath. Who can tell! + +Jean used to listen to these tales with interest, and not a few times he +was called upon to interview personally, some brazen claimant of the +throne of France. One glance however, sufficed him, and his decision in +the matter was always accepted as final. Not infrequently someone would +say to him: + +"How absurd of you to imagine that Louis XVII ever escaped from the +Temple Tower! Why, he died there and was buried, as every record +proves!" + +Then Jean would clasp his hands, nod his head and smile patiently. But +in his heart he whispered: + +"_I know!_" + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of When a Cobbler Ruled a King, by +Augusta Huiell Seaman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHEN A COBBLER RULED A KING *** + +***** This file should be named 38570.txt or 38570.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/5/7/38570/ + +Produced by Annie R. McGuire. This book was produced from +scanned images of public domain material from the Google +Print archive. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |