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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9165-h.zip b/9165-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0e4b68e --- /dev/null +++ b/9165-h.zip diff --git a/9165-h/9165-h.htm b/9165-h/9165-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f59f6b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/9165-h/9165-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4913 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> + +<head> + +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> + +<title> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Three Cities Trilogy: Paril Vol 2, by Emile Zola +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +body { color: black; + background: white; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +p {text-indent: 4% } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +p.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +p.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +p.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +p.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 60%; + text-align: center } + +h1 { text-align: center } +h2 { text-align: center } +h3 { text-align: center } +h4 { text-align: center } +h5 { text-align: center } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +p.contents {text-indent: -3%; + margin-left: 5% } + +p.thought {text-indent: 0% ; + letter-spacing: 4em ; + text-align: center } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.intro {font-size: 90% ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.quote {text-indent: 4% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +p.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Three Cities Trilogy: Paris, Vol. 2, by Emile Zola + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Three Cities Trilogy: Paris, Vol. 2 + +Author: Emile Zola + +Translator: Ernest A. Vizetelly + +Posting Date: April 13, 2014 [EBook #9165] +Release Date: October, 2005 +First Posted: September 10, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES TRILOGY: PARIS VOL 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1> +<br /><br /><br /> + THE THREE CITIES<br /> +</h1> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t2"> + PARIS<br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3b"> + BY<br /> +<br /> + EMILE ZOLA<br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="t3"> + TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY<br /> +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<h2> + BOOK II<br /> +</h2> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +I +</h3> + +<h3> +REVOLUTIONISTS +</h3> + +<p> +IN that out-of-the-way street at Neuilly, along which nobody passed after +dusk, Pierre's little house was now steeped in deep slumber under the +black sky; each of its shutters closed, and not a ray of light stealing +forth from within. And one could divine, too, the profound quietude of +the little garden in the rear, a garden empty and lifeless, benumbed by +the winter cold. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre had several times feared that his brother would faint away in the +cab in which they were journeying. Leaning back, and often sinking down, +Guillaume spoke not a word. And terrible was the silence between them—a +silence fraught with all the questions and answers which they felt it +would be useless and painful to exchange at such a time. However, the +priest was anxious about the wound, and wondered to what surgeon he might +apply, desirous as he was of admitting only a sure, staunch man into the +secret, for he had noticed with how keen a desire to disappear his +brother had sought to hide himself. +</p> + +<p> +Until they reached the Arc de Triomphe the silence remained unbroken. It +was only there that Guillaume seemed to emerge from the prostration of +his reverie. "Mind, Pierre," said he, "no doctor. We will attend to this +together." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre was on the point of protesting, but he realised that it would be +useless to discuss the subject at such a moment, and so he merely waved +his hand to signify that he should act in spite of the prohibition were +it necessary. In point of fact, his anxiety had increased, and, when the +cab at last drew up before the house, it was with real relief that he saw +his brother alight without evincing any marked feebleness. He himself +quickly paid the driver, well-pleased, too, at finding that nobody, not +even a neighbour, was about. And having opened the door with his latch +key, he helped the injured man to ascend the steps. +</p> + +<p> +A little night lamp glimmered faintly in the vestibule. On hearing the +door open, Pierre's servant, Sophie, had at once emerged from the +kitchen. A short, thin, dark woman of sixty, she had formed part of the +household for more than thirty years, having served the mother before +serving the son. She knew Guillaume, having seen him when he was a young +man, and doubtless she now recognised him, although well-nigh ten years +had gone by since he had last crossed that threshold. Instead of evincing +any surprise, she seemed to consider his extraordinary return quite +natural, and remained as silent and discreet as usual. She led, indeed, +the life of a recluse, never speaking unless her work absolutely required +it. And thus she now contented herself with saying: "Monsieur l'Abbe, +Monsieur Bertheroy is in the study, and has been waiting there for a +quarter of an hour." +</p> + +<p> +At this Guillaume intervened, as if the news revived him: "Does Bertheroy +still come here, then? I'll see him willingly. His is one of the best, +the broadest, minds of these days. He has still remained my master." +</p> + +<p> +A former friend of their father,—the illustrious chemist, Michel +Froment,—Bertheroy had now, in his turn, become one of the loftiest +glories of France, one to whom chemistry owed much of the extraordinary +progress that has made it the mother-science, by which the very face of +the earth is being changed. A member of the Institute, laden with offices +and honours, he had retained much affection for Pierre, and occasionally +visited him in this wise before dinner, by way of relaxation, he would +say. +</p> + +<p> +"You showed him into the study? All right, then, we will go there," said +the Abbe to the servant. "Light a lamp and take it into my room, and get +my bed ready so that my brother may go to bed at once." +</p> + +<p> +While Sophie, without a word or sign of surprise, was obeying these +instructions, the brothers went into their father's former laboratory, of +which the priest had now made a spacious study. And it was with a cry of +joyous astonishment that the <i>savant</i> greeted them on seeing them enter +the room side by side, the one supporting the other. "What, together!" he +exclaimed. "Ah! my dear children, you could not have caused me greater +pleasure! I who have so often deplored your painful misunderstanding." +</p> + +<p> +Bertheroy was a tall and lean septuagenarian, with angular features. His +yellow skin clung like parchment to the projecting bones of his cheeks +and jaw. Moreover, there was nothing imposing about him; he looked like +some old shop-keeping herbalist. At the same time he had a fine, broad, +smooth brow, and his eyes still glittered brightly beneath his tangled +hair. +</p> + +<p> +"What, have you injured yourself, Guillaume?" he continued, as soon as he +saw the bandaged hand. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre remained silent, so as to let his brother tell the story as he +chose. Guillaume had realised that he must confess the truth, but in +simple fashion, without detailing the circumstances. "Yes, in an +explosion," he answered, "and I really think that I have my wrist +broken." +</p> + +<p> +At this, Bertheroy, whose glance was fixed upon him, noticed that his +moustaches were burnt, and that there was an expression of bewildered +stupor, such as follows a catastrophe, in his eyes. Forthwith the +<i>savant</i> became grave and circumspect; and, without seeking to compel +confidence by any questions, he simply said: "Indeed! an explosion! Will +you let me see the injury? You know that before letting chemistry ensnare +me I studied medicine, and am still somewhat of a surgeon." +</p> + +<p> +On hearing these words Pierre could not restrain a heart-cry: "Yes, yes, +master! Look at the injury—I was very anxious, and to find you here is +unhoped-for good fortune!" +</p> + +<p> +The <i>savant</i> glanced at him, and divined that the hidden circumstances of +the accident must be serious. And then, as Guillaume, smiling, though +paling with weakness, consented to the suggestion, Bertheroy retorted +that before anything else he must be put to bed. The servant just then +returned to say the bed was ready, and so they all went into the +adjoining room, where the injured man was soon undressed and helped +between the sheets. +</p> + +<p> +"Light me, Pierre," said Bertheroy, "take the lamp; and let Sophie give +me a basin full of water and some cloths." Then, having gently washed the +wound, he resumed: "The devil! The wrist isn't broken, but it's a nasty +injury. I am afraid there must be a lesion of the bone. Some nails passed +through the flesh, did they not?" +</p> + +<p> +Receiving no reply, he relapsed into silence. But his surprise was +increasing, and he closely examined the hand, which the flame of the +explosion had scorched, and even sniffed the shirt cuff as if seeking to +understand the affair better. He evidently recognised the effects of one +of those new explosives which he himself had studied, almost created. In +the present case, however, he must have been puzzled, for there were +characteristic signs and traces the significance of which escaped him. +</p> + +<p> +"And so," he at last made up his mind to ask, carried away by +professional curiosity, "and so it was a laboratory explosion which put +you in this nice condition? What devilish powder were you concocting +then?" +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, ever since he had seen Bertheroy thus studying his injury, +had, in spite of his sufferings, given marked signs of annoyance and +agitation. And as if the real secret which he wished to keep lay +precisely in the question now put to him, in that powder, the first +experiment with which had thus injured him, he replied with an air of +restrained ardour, and a straight frank glance: "Pray do not question me, +master. I cannot answer you. You have, I know, sufficient nobility of +nature to nurse me and care for me without exacting a confession." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! certainly, my friend," exclaimed Bertheroy; "keep your secret. Your +discovery belongs to you if you have made one; and I know that you are +capable of putting it to the most generous use. Besides, you must be +aware that I have too great a passion for truth to judge the actions of +others, whatever their nature, without knowing every circumstance and +motive." +</p> + +<p> +So saying, he waved his hand as if to indicate how broadly tolerant and +free from error and superstition was that lofty sovereign mind of his, +which in spite of all the orders that bedizened him, in spite of all the +academical titles that he bore as an official <i>savant</i>, made him a man of +the boldest and most independent views, one whose only passion was truth, +as he himself said. +</p> + +<p> +He lacked the necessary appliances to do more than dress the wound, after +making sure that no fragment of any projectile had remained in the flesh. +Then he at last went off, promising to return at an early hour on the +morrow; and, as the priest escorted him to the street door, he spoke some +comforting words: if the bone had not been deeply injured all would be +well. +</p> + +<p> +On returning to the bedside, Pierre found his brother still sitting up +and seeking fresh energy in his desire to write home and tranquillise his +loved ones. So the priest, after providing pen and paper, again had to +take up the lamp and light him. Guillaume fortunately retained full use +of his right hand, and was thus able to pen a few lines to say that he +would not be home that night. He addressed the note to Madame Leroi, the +mother of his deceased mistress, who, since the latter's death, had +remained with him and had reared his three sons. Pierre was aware also +that the household at Montmartre included a young woman of five or six +and twenty, the daughter of an old friend, to whom Guillaume had given +shelter on her father's death, and whom he was soon to marry, in spite of +the great difference in their ages. For the priest, however, all these +were vague, disturbing things, condemnable features of disorderly life, +and he had invariably pretended to be ignorant of them. +</p> + +<p> +"So you wish this note to be taken to Montmartre at once?" he said to his +brother. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, at once. It is scarcely more than seven o'clock now, and it will be +there by eight. And you will choose a reliable man, won't you?" +</p> + +<p> +"The best course will be for Sophie to take a cab. We need have no fear +with her. She won't chatter. Wait a moment, and I will settle +everything." +</p> + +<p> +Sophie, on being summoned, at once understood what was wanted of her, and +promised to say, in reply to any questions, that M. Guillaume had come to +spend the night at his brother's, for reasons which she did not know. And +without indulging in any reflections herself, she left the house, saying +simply: "Monsieur l'Abbe's dinner is ready; he will only have to take the +broth and the stew off the stove." +</p> + +<p> +However, when Pierre this time returned to the bedside to sit down there, +he found that Guillaume had fallen back with his head resting on both +pillows. And he looked very weary and pale, and showed signs of fever. +The lamp, standing on a corner of a side table, cast a soft light around, +and so deep was the quietude that the big clock in the adjoining +dining-room could be heard ticking. For a moment the silence continued +around the two brothers, who, after so many years of separation, were at +last re-united and alone together. Then the injured man brought his right +hand to the edge of the sheet, and the priest grasped it, pressed it +tenderly in his own. And the clasp was a long one, those two brotherly +hands remaining locked, one in the other. +</p> + +<p> +"My poor little Pierre," Guillaume faintly murmured, "you must forgive me +for falling on you in this fashion. I've invaded the house and taken your +bed, and I'm preventing you from dining." +</p> + +<p> +"Don't talk, don't tire yourself any more," interrupted Pierre. "Is not +this the right place for you when you are in trouble?" +</p> + +<p> +A warmer pressure came from Guillaume's feverish hand, and tears gathered +in his eyes. "Thanks, my little Pierre. I've found you again, and you are +as gentle and loving as you always were. Ah! you cannot know how +delightful it seems to me." +</p> + +<p> +Then the priest's eyes also were dimmed by tears. Amidst the deep +quietude, the great sense of comfort which had followed their violent +emotion, the brothers found an infinite charm in being together once more +in the home of their childhood.* It was there that both their father and +mother had died—the father tragically, struck down by an explosion in +his laboratory; the mother piously, like a very saint. It was there, too, +in that same bed, that Guillaume had nursed Pierre, when, after their +mother's death, the latter had nearly died; and it was there now that +Pierre in his turn was nursing Guillaume. All helped to bow them down and +fill them with emotion: the strange circumstances of their meeting, the +frightful catastrophe which had caused them such a shock, the +mysteriousness of the things which remained unexplained between them. And +now that after so long a separation they were tragically brought together +again, they both felt their memory awaking. The old house spoke to them +of their childhood, of their parents dead and gone, of the far-away days +when they had loved and suffered there. Beneath the window lay the +garden, now icy cold, which once, under the sunbeams, had re-echoed with +their play. On the left was the laboratory, the spacious room where their +father had taught them to read. On the right, in the dining-room, they +could picture their mother cutting bread and butter for them, and looking +so gentle with her big, despairing eyes—those of a believer mated to an +infidel. And the feeling that they were now alone in that home, and the +pale, sleepy gleam of the lamp, and the deep silence of the garden and +the house, and the very past itself, all filled them with the softest of +emotion blended with the keenest bitterness. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> + * See M. Zola's "Lourdes," Day I., Chapter II. +</p> + +<p> +They would have liked to talk and unbosom themselves. But what could they +say to one another? Although their hands remained so tightly clasped, did +not the most impassable of chasms separate them? In any case, they +thought so. Guillaume was convinced that Pierre was a saint, a priest of +the most robust faith, without a doubt, without aught in common with +himself, whether in the sphere of ideas or in that of practical life. A +hatchet-stroke had parted them, and each lived in a different world. And +in the same way Pierre pictured Guillaume as one who had lost caste, +whose conduct was most suspicious, who had never even married the mother +of his three children, but was on the point of marrying that girl who was +far too young for him, and who had come nobody knew whence. In him, +moreover, were blended the passionate ideas of a <i>savant</i> and a +revolutionist, ideas in which one found negation of everything, +acceptance and possibly provocation of the worst forms of violence, with +a glimpse of the vague monster of Anarchism underlying all. And so, on +what basis could there be any understanding between them, since each +retained his prejudices against the other, and saw him on the opposite +side of the chasm, without possibility of any plank being thrown across +it to enable them to unite? Thus, all alone in that room, their poor +hearts bled with distracted brotherly love. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre knew that, on a previous occasion, Guillaume had narrowly escaped +being compromised in an Anarchist affair. He asked him no questions, but +he could not help reflecting that he would not have hidden himself in +this fashion had he not feared arrest for complicity. Complicity with +Salvat? Was he really an accomplice? Pierre shuddered, for the only +materials on which he could found a contrary opinion were, on one hand, +the words that had escaped his brother after the crime, the cry he had +raised accusing Salvat of having stolen a cartridge from him; and, on the +other hand, his heroic rush into the doorway of the Duvillard mansion in +order to extinguish the match. A great deal still remained obscure; but +if a cartridge of that frightful explosive had been stolen from Guillaume +the fact must be that he manufactured such cartridges and had others at +home. Of course, even if he were not an accomplice, the injury to his +wrist had made it needful for him to disappear. Given his bleeding hand, +and the previous suspicions levelled against him, he would never have +convinced anybody of his innocence. And yet, even allowing for these +surmises, the affair remained wrapt in darkness: a crime on Guillaume's +part seemed a possibility, and to Pierre it was all dreadful to think of. +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, by the trembling of his brother's moist, yielding hand, must +in some degree have realised the prostration of his poor mind, already +shattered by doubt and finished off by this calamity. Indeed, the +sepulchre was empty now, the very ashes had been swept out of it. +</p> + +<p> +"My poor little Pierre," the elder brother slowly said. "Forgive me if I +do not tell you anything. I cannot do so. And besides, what would be the +use of it? We should certainly not understand one another. . . . So let +us keep from saying anything, and let us simply enjoy the delight of +being together and loving one another in spite of all." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre raised his eyes, and for a long time their glances lingered, one +fixed on the other. "Ah!" stammered the priest, "how frightful it all +is!" +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, however, had well understood the mute inquiry of Pierre's +eyes. His own did not waver but replied boldly, beaming with purity and +loftiness: "I can tell you nothing. Yet, all the same, let us love each +other, my little Pierre." +</p> + +<p> +And then Pierre for a moment felt that his brother was above all base +anxiety, above the guilty fear of the man who trembles for himself. In +lieu thereof he seemed to be carried away by the passion of some great +design, the noble thought of concealing some sovereign idea, some secret +which it was imperative for him to save. But, alas! this was only the +fleeting vision of a vague hope; for all vanished, and again came the +doubt, the suspicion, of a mind dealing with one that it knew nothing of. +</p> + +<p> +And all at once a souvenir, a frightful spectacle, arose before Pierre's +eyes and distracted him: "Did you see, brother," he stammered, "did you +see that fair-haired girl lying under the archway, ripped open, with a +smile of astonishment on her face?" +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume in his turn quivered, and in a low and dolorous voice replied: +"Yes, I saw her! Ah, poor little thing! Ah! the atrocious necessities, +the atrocious errors, of justice!" +</p> + +<p> +Then, amidst the frightful shudder that seemed to sweep by, Pierre, with +his horror of all violence, succumbed, and let his face sink upon the +counterpane at the edge of the bed. And he sobbed distractedly: a sudden +attack of weakness, overflowing in tears, cast him there exhausted, with +no more strength than a child. It was as if all his sufferings since the +morning, the deep grief with which universal injustice and woe inspired +him, were bursting forth in that flood of tears which nothing now could +stay. And Guillaume, who, to calm his little brother, had set his hand +upon his head, in the same way as he had often caressingly stroked his +hair in childhood's days, likewise felt upset and remained silent, unable +to find a word of consolation, resigned, as he was, to the eruption which +in life is always possible, the cataclysm by which the slow evolution of +nature is always liable to be precipitated. But how hard a fate for the +wretched ones whom the lava sweeps away in millions! And then his tears +also began to flow amidst the profound silence. +</p> + +<p> +"Pierre," he gently exclaimed at last, "you must have some dinner. Go, go +and have some. And screen the lamp; leave me by myself, and let me close +my eyes. It will do me good." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre had to content him. Still, he left the dining-room door open; and, +weak for want of food, though he had not hitherto noticed it, he ate +standing, with his ears on the alert, listening lest his brother should +complain or call him. And the silence seemed to have become yet more +complete, the little house sank, as it were, into annihilation, instinct +with all the melancholy charm of the past. +</p> + +<p> +At about half-past eight, when Sophie returned from her errand to +Montmartre, Guillaume heard her step, light though it was. And he at once +became restless and wanted to know what news she brought. It was Pierre, +however, who enlightened him. "Don't be anxious. Sophie was received by +an old lady who, after reading your note, merely answered, 'Very well.' +She did not even ask Sophie a question, but remained quite composed +without sign of curiosity." +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, realising that this fine serenity perplexed his brother, +thereupon replied with similar calmness: "Oh! it was only necessary that +grandmother should be warned. She knows well enough that if I don't +return home it is because I can't." +</p> + +<p> +However, from that moment it was impossible for the injured man to rest. +Although the lamp was hidden away in a corner, he constantly opened his +eyes, glanced round him, and seemed to listen, as if for sounds from the +direction of Paris. And it at last became necessary for the priest to +summon the servant and ask her if she had noticed anything strange on her +way to or from Montmartre. She seemed surprised by the question, and +answered that she had noticed nothing. Besides, the cab had followed the +outer boulevards, which were almost deserted. A slight fog had again +begun to fall, and the streets were steeped in icy dampness. +</p> + +<p> +By the time it was nine o'clock Pierre realised that his brother would +never be able to sleep if he were thus left without news. Amidst his +growing feverishness the injured man experienced keen anxiety, a haunting +desire to know if Salvat were arrested and had spoken out. He did not +confess this; indeed he sought to convey the impression that he had no +personal disquietude, which was doubtless true. But his great secret was +stifling him; he shuddered at the thought that his lofty scheme, all his +labour and all his hope, should be at the mercy of that unhappy man whom +want had filled with delusions and who had sought to set justice upon +earth by the aid of a bomb. And in vain did the priest try to make +Guillaume understand that nothing certain could yet be known. He +perceived that his impatience increased every minute, and at last +resolved to make some effort to satisfy him. +</p> + +<p> +But where could he go, of whom could he inquire? Guillaume, while talking +and trying to guess with whom Salvat might have sought refuge, had +mentioned Janzen, the Princess de Harn's mysterious lover; and for a +moment he had even thought of sending to this man for information. But he +reflected that if Janzen had heard of the explosion he was not at all the +individual to wait for the police at home. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime Pierre repeated: "I will willingly go to buy the evening papers +for you—but there will certainly be nothing in them. Although I know +almost everyone in Neuilly I can think of nobody who is likely to have +any information, unless perhaps it were Bache—" +</p> + +<p> +"You know Bache, the municipal councillor?" interrupted Guillaume. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, we have both had to busy ourselves with charitable work in the +neighbourhood." +</p> + +<p> +"Well, Bache is an old friend of mine, and I know no safer man. Pray go +to him and bring him back with you." +</p> + +<p> +A quarter of an hour later Pierre returned with Bache, who resided in a +neighbouring street. And it was not only Bache whom he brought with him, +for, much to his surprise, he had found Janzen at Bache's house. As +Guillaume had suspected, Janzen, while dining at the Princess de Harn's, +had heard of the crime, and had consequently refrained from returning to +his little lodging in the Rue des Martyrs, where the police might well +have set a trap for him. His connections were known, and he was aware +that he was watched and was liable at any moment to arrest or expulsion +as a foreign Anarchist. And so he had thought it prudent to solicit a few +days' hospitality of Bache, a very upright and obliging man, to whom he +entrusted himself without fear. He would never have remained with +Rosemonde, that adorable lunatic who for a month past had been exhibiting +him as her lover, and whose useless and dangerous extravagance of conduct +he fully realised. +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume was so delighted on seeing Bache and Janzen that he wished to +sit up in bed again. But Pierre bade him remain quiet, rest his head on +the pillows, and speak as little as possible. Then, while Janzen stood +near, erect and silent, Bache took a chair and sat down by the bedside +with many expressions of friendly interest. He was a stout man of sixty, +with a broad, full face, a large white beard and long white hair. His +little, gentle eyes had a dim, dreamy expression, while a pleasant, +hopeful smile played round his thick lips. His father, a fervent St. +Simonian, had brought him up in the doctrines of that belief. While +retaining due respect for it, however, his personal inclinations towards +orderliness and religion had led him to espouse the ideas of Fourier, in +such wise that one found in him a succession and an abridgment, so to +say, of two doctrines. Moreover, when he was about thirty, he had busied +himself with spiritualism. Possessed of a comfortable little fortune, his +only adventure in life had been his connection with the Paris Commune of +1871. How or why he had become a member of it he could now scarcely tell. +Condemned to death by default, although he had sat among the Moderates, +he had resided in Belgium until the amnesty; and since then Neuilly had +elected him as its representative on the Paris Municipal Council, less by +way of glorifying in him a victim of reaction than as a reward for his +worthiness, for he was really esteemed by the whole district. +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, with his desire for tidings, was obliged to confide in his two +visitors, tell them of the explosion and Salvat's flight, and how he +himself had been wounded while seeking to extinguish the match. Janzen, +with curly beard and hair, and a thin, fair face such as painters often +attribute to the Christ, listened coldly, as was his wont, and at last +said slowly in a gentle voice: "Ah! so it was Salvat! I thought it might +be little Mathis—I'm surprised that it should be Salvat—for he hadn't +made up his mind." Then, as Guillaume anxiously inquired if he thought +that Salvat would speak out, he began to protest: "Oh! no; oh! no." +</p> + +<p> +However, he corrected himself with a gleam of disdain in his clear, harsh +eyes: "After all, there's no telling. Salvat is a man of sentiment." +</p> + +<p> +Then Bache, who was quite upset by the news of the explosion, tried to +think how his friend Guillaume, to whom he was much attached, might be +extricated from any charge of complicity should he be denounced. And +Guillaume, at sight of Janzen's contemptuous coldness, must have suffered +keenly, for the other evidently believed him to be trembling, tortured by +the one desire to save his own skin. But what could he say, how could he +reveal the deep concern which rendered him so feverish without betraying +the secret which he had hidden even from his brother? +</p> + +<p> +However, at this moment Sophie came to tell her master that M. Theophile +Morin had called with another gentleman. Much astonished by this visit at +so late an hour, Pierre hastened into the next room to receive the new +comers. He had become acquainted with Morin since his return from Rome, +and had helped him to introduce a translation of an excellent scientific +manual, prepared according to the official programmes, into the Italian +schools.* A Franc-Comtois by birth, a compatriot of Proudhon, with whose +poor family he had been intimate at Besancon, Morin, himself the son of a +journeyman clockmaker, had grown up with Proudhonian ideas, full of +affection for the poor and an instinctive hatred of property and wealth. +Later on, having come to Paris as a school teacher, impassioned by study, +he had given his whole mind to Auguste Comte. Beneath the fervent +Positivist, however, one might yet find the old Proudhonian, the pauper +who rebelled and detested want. Moreover, it was scientific Positivism +that he clung to; in his hatred of all mysticism he would have naught to +do with the fantastic religious leanings of Comte in his last years. And +in Morin's brave, consistent, somewhat mournful life, there had been but +one page of romance: the sudden feverish impulse which had carried him +off to fight in Sicily by Garibaldi's side. Afterwards he had again +become a petty professor in Paris, obscurely earning a dismal livelihood. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> + * See M. Zola's "Rome," Chapters IV. and XVI. +</p> + +<p> +When Pierre returned to the bedroom he said to his brother in a tone of +emotion: "Morin has brought me Barthes, who fancies himself in danger and +asks my hospitality." +</p> + +<p> +At this Guillaume forgot himself and became excited: "Nicholas Barthes, a +hero with a soul worthy of antiquity. Oh! I know him; I admire and love +him. You must set your door open wide for him." +</p> + +<p> +Bache and Janzen, however, had glanced at one another smiling. And the +latter, with his cold ironical air, slowly remarked: "Why does Monsieur +Barthes hide himself? A great many people think he is dead; he is simply +a ghost who no longer frightens anybody." +</p> + +<p> +Four and seventy years of age as he now was, Barthes had spent nearly +half a century in prison. He was the eternal prisoner, the hero of +liberty whom each successive Government had carried from citadel to +fortress. Since his youth he had been marching on amidst his dream of +fraternity, fighting for an ideal Republic based on truth and justice, +and each and every endeavour had led him to a dungeon; he had invariably +finished his humanitarian reverie under bolts and bars. Carbonaro, +Republican, evangelical sectarian, he had conspired at all times and in +all places, incessantly struggling against the Power of the day, whatever +it might be. And when the Republic at last had come, that Republic which +had cost him so many years of gaol, it had, in its own turn, imprisoned +him, adding fresh years of gloom to those which already had lacked +sunlight. And thus he remained the martyr of freedom: freedom which he +still desired in spite of everything; freedom, which, strive as he might, +never came, never existed. +</p> + +<p> +"But you are mistaken," replied Guillaume, wounded by Janzen's raillery. +"There is again a thought of getting rid of Barthes, whose uncompromising +rectitude disturbs our politicians; and he does well to take his +precautions!" +</p> + +<p> +Nicholas Barthes came in, a tall, slim, withered old man, with a nose +like an eagle's beak, and eyes that still burned in their deep sockets, +under white and bushy brows. His mouth, toothless but still refined, was +lost to sight between his moustaches and snowy beard; and his hair, +crowning him whitely like an aureola, fell in curls over his shoulders. +Behind him with all modesty came Theophile Morin, with grey whiskers, +grey, brush-like hair, spectacles, and yellow, weary mien—that of an old +professor exhausted by years of teaching. Neither of them seemed +astonished or awaited an explanation on finding that man in bed with an +injured wrist. And there were no introductions: those who were acquainted +merely smiled at one another. +</p> + +<p> +Barthes, for his part, stooped and kissed Guillaume on both cheeks. "Ah!" +said the latter, almost gaily, "it gives me courage to see you." +</p> + +<p> +However, the new comers had brought a little information. The boulevards +were in an agitated state, the news of the crime had spread from cafe to +cafe, and everybody was anxious to see the late edition which one paper +had published giving a very incorrect account of the affair, full of the +most extraordinary details. Briefly, nothing positive was as yet known. +</p> + +<p> +On seeing Guillaume turn pale Pierre compelled him to lie down again, and +even talked of taking the visitors into the next room. But the injured +man gently replied: "No, no, I promise you that I won't stir again, that +I won't open my mouth. But stay there and chat together. I assure you +that it will do me good to have you near me and hear you." +</p> + +<p> +Then, under the sleepy gleams of the lamp, the others began to talk in +undertones. Old Barthes, who considered that bomb to be both idiotic and +abominable, spoke of it with the stupefaction of one who, after fighting +like a hero through all the legendary struggles for liberty, found +himself belated, out of his element, in a new era, which he could not +understand. Did not the conquest of freedom suffice for everything? he +added. Was there any other problem beyond that of founding the real +Republic? Then, referring to Mege and his speech in the Chamber that +afternoon, he bitterly arraigned Collectivism, which he declared to be +one of the democratic forms of tyranny. Theophile Morin, for his part, +also spoke against the Collectivist enrolling of the social forces, but +he professed yet greater hatred of the odious violence of the Anarchists; +for it was only by evolution that he expected progress, and he felt +somewhat indifferent as to what political means might bring about the +scientific society of to-morrow. And in like way Bache did not seem +particularly fond of the Anarchists, though he was touched by the idyllic +dream, the humanitarian hope, whose germs lay beneath their passion for +destruction. And, like Barthes, he also flew into a passion with Mege, +who since entering the Chamber had become, said he, a mere rhetorician +and theorist, dreaming of dictatorship. Meantime Janzen, still erect, his +face frigid and his lips curling ironically, listened to all three of +them, and vented a few trenchant words to express his own Anarchist +faith; the uselessness of drawing distinctions, and the necessity of +destroying everything in order that everything might be rebuilt on fresh +lines. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre, who had remained near the bed, also listened with passionate +attention. Amidst the downfall of his own beliefs, the utter void which +he felt within him, here were these four men, who represented the +cardinal points of this century's ideas, debating the very same terrible +problem which brought him so much suffering, that of the new belief which +the democracy of the coming century awaits. And, ah! since the days of +the immediate ancestors, since the days of Voltaire and Diderot and +Rousseau how incessantly had billows of ideas followed and jostled one +another, the older ones giving birth to new ones, and all breaking and +bounding in a tempest in which it was becoming so difficult to +distinguish anything clearly! Whence came the wind, and whither was the +ship of salvation going, for what port ought one to embark? Pierre had +already thought that the balance-sheet of the century ought to be drawn +up, and that, after accepting the legacies of Rousseau and the other +precursors, he ought to study the ideas of St. Simon, Fourier and even +Cabet; of Auguste Comte, Proudhon and Karl Marx as well, in order, at any +rate, to form some idea of the distance that had been travelled, and of +the cross-ways which one had now reached. And was not this an +opportunity, since chance had gathered those men together in his house, +living exponents of the conflicting doctrines which he wished to examine? +</p> + +<p> +On turning round, however, he perceived that Guillaume was now very pale +and had closed his eyes. Had even he, with his faith in science, felt the +doubt which is born of contradictory theories, and the despair which +comes when one sees the fight for truth resulting in growth of error? +</p> + +<p> +"Are you in pain?" the priest anxiously inquired. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, a little. But I will try to sleep." +</p> + +<p> +At this they all went off with silent handshakes. Nicholas Barthes alone +remained in the house and slept in a room on the first floor which Sophie +had got ready for him. Pierre, unwilling to quit his brother, dozed off +upon a sofa. And the little house relapsed into its deep quietude, the +silence of solitude and winter, through which passed the melancholy +quiver of the souvenirs of childhood. +</p> + +<p> +In the morning, as soon as it was seven o'clock, Pierre had to go for the +newspapers. Guillaume had passed a bad night and intense fever had set +in. Nevertheless, his brother was obliged to read him the articles on the +explosion. There was an amazing medley of truths and inventions, of +precise information lost amidst the most unexpected extravagance. +Sagnier's paper, the "Voix du Peuple," distinguished itself by its +sub-titles in huge print and a whole page of particulars jumbled together +chance-wise. It had at once decided to postpone the famous list of the +thirty-two deputies and senators compromised in the African Railways +affair; and there was no end to the details it gave of the aspect of the +entrance to the Duvillard mansion after the explosion the pavement broken +up, the upper floor rent open, the huge doors torn away from their +hinges. Then came the story of the Baron's son and daughter preserved as +by a miracle, the landau escaping the slightest injury, while the banker +and his wife, it was alleged, owed their preservation to the circumstance +that they had lingered at the Madeleine after Monseigneur Martha's +remarkable address there. An entire column was given to the one victim, +the poor, pretty, fair-haired errand girl, whose identity did not seem to +be clearly established, although a flock of reporters had rushed first to +the modiste employing her, in the Avenue de l'Opera, and next to the +upper part of the Faubourg St. Denis, where it was thought her +grandmother resided. Then, in a gravely worded article in "Le Globe," +evidently inspired by Fonsegue, an appeal was made to the Chamber's +patriotism to avoid giving cause for any ministerial crisis in the +painful circumstances through which the country was passing. Thus the +ministry might last, and live in comparative quietude, for a few weeks +longer. +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, however, was struck by one point only: the culprit was not +known; Salvat, it appeared certain, was neither arrested nor even +suspected. It seemed, indeed, as if the police were starting on a false +scent—that of a well-dressed gentleman wearing gloves, whom a neighbour +swore he had seen entering the mansion at the moment of the explosion. +Thus Guillaume became a little calmer. But his brother read to him from +another paper some particulars concerning the engine of destruction that +had been employed. It was a preserved-meat can, and the fragments of it +showed that it had been comparatively small. And Guillaume relapsed into +anxiety on learning that people were much astonished at the violent +ravages of such a sorry appliance, and that the presence of some new +explosive of incalculable power was already suspected. +</p> + +<p> +At eight o'clock Bertheroy put in an appearance. Although he was +sixty-eight, he showed as much briskness and sprightliness as any young +sawbones calling in a friendly way to perform a little operation. He had +brought an instrument case, some linen bands and some lint. However, he +became angry on finding the injured man nervous, flushed and hot with +fever. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! I see that you haven't been reasonable, my dear child," said he. +"You must have talked too much, and have bestirred and excited yourself." +Then, having carefully probed the wound, he added, while dressing it: +"The bone is injured, you know, and I won't answer for anything unless +you behave better. Any complications would make amputation necessary." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre shuddered, but Guillaume shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that +he might just as well be amputated since all was crumbling around him. +Bertheroy, who had sat down, lingering there for another moment, +scrutinised both brothers with his keen eyes. He now knew of the +explosion, and must have thought it over. "My dear child," he resumed in +his brusque way, "I certainly don't think that you committed that +abominable act of folly in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy. But I fancy that you +were in the neighbourhood—no, no, don't answer me, don't defend +yourself. I know nothing and desire to know nothing, not even the formula +of that devilish powder of which your shirt cuff bore traces, and which +has wrought such terrible havoc." +</p> + +<p> +And then as the brothers remained surprised, turning cold with anxiety, +in spite of his assurances, he added with a sweeping gesture: "Ah! my +friends, I regard such an action as even more useless than criminal! I +only feel contempt for the vain agitation of politics, whether they be +revolutionary or conservative. Does not science suffice? Why hasten the +times when one single step of science brings humanity nearer to the goal +of truth and justice than do a hundred years of politics and social +revolt? Why, it is science alone which sweeps away dogmas, casts down +gods, and creates light and happiness. And I, Member of the Institute as +I am, decorated and possessed of means, I am the only true +Revolutionist." +</p> + +<p> +Then he began to laugh and Guillaume realised all the good-natured irony +of his laugh. While admiring him as a great <i>savant</i>, he had hitherto +suffered at seeing him lead such a <i>bourgeois</i> life, accepting whatever +appointments and honours were offered him, a Republican under the +Republic, but quite ready to serve science under no matter what master. +But now, from beneath this opportunist, this hieratical <i>savant</i>, this +toiler who accepted wealth and glory from all hands, there appeared a +quiet yet terrible evolutionist, who certainly expected that his own work +would help to ravage and renew the world! +</p> + +<p> +However, Bertheroy rose and took his leave: "I'll come back; behave +sensibly, and love one another as well as you can." +</p> + +<p> +When the brothers again found themselves alone, Pierre seated at +Guillaume's bedside, their hands once more sought each other and met in a +burning clasp instinct with all their anguish. How much threatening +mystery and distress there was both around and within them! The grey +wintry daylight came into the room, and they could see the black trees in +the garden, while the house remained full of quivering silence, save that +overhead a faint sound of footsteps was audible. They were the steps of +Nicholas Barthes, the heroic lover of freedom, who, rising at daybreak, +had, like a caged lion, resumed his wonted promenade, the incessant +coming and going of one who had ever been a prisoner. And as the brothers +ceased listening to him their eyes fell on a newspaper which had remained +open on the bed, a newspaper soiled by a sketch in outline which +pretended to portray the poor dead errand girl, lying, ripped open, +beside the bandbox and the bonnet it had contained. It was so frightful, +so atrociously hideous a scene, that two big tears again fell upon +Pierre's cheeks, whilst Guillaume's blurred, despairing eyes gazed +wistfully far away, seeking for the Future. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +II +</h3> + +<h3> +A HOME OF INDUSTRY +</h3> + +<p> +THE little house in which Guillaume had dwelt for so many years, a home +of quietude and hard work, stood in the pale light of winter up yonder at +Montmartre, peacefully awaiting his return. He reflected, however, after +<i>dejeuner</i> that it might not be prudent for him to go back thither for +some three weeks, and so he thought of sending Pierre to explain the +position of affairs. "Listen, brother," he said. "You must render me this +service. Go and tell them the truth—that I am here, slightly injured, +and do not wish them to come to see me, for fear lest somebody should +follow them and discover my retreat. After the note I wrote them last +evening they would end by getting anxious if I did not send them some +news." Then, yielding to the one worry which, since the previous night, +had disturbed his clear, frank glance, he added: "Just feel in the +right-hand pocket of my waistcoat; you will find a little key there. +Good! that's it. Now you must give it to Madame Leroi, my mother-in-law, +and tell her that if any misfortune should happen to me, she is to do +what is understood between us. That will suffice, she will understand +you." +</p> + +<p> +At the first moment Pierre had hesitated; but he saw how even the slight +effort of speaking exhausted his brother, so he silenced him, saying: +"Don't talk, but put your mind at ease. I will go and reassure your +people, since you wish that this commission should be undertaken by me." +</p> + +<p> +Truth to tell, the errand was so distasteful to Pierre that he had at +first thought of sending Sophie in his place. All his old prejudices were +reviving; it was as if he were going to some ogre's den. How many times +had he not heard his mother say "that creature!" in referring to the +woman with whom her elder son cohabited. Never had she been willing to +kiss Guillaume's boys; the whole connection had shocked her, and she was +particularly indignant that Madame Leroi, the woman's mother, should have +joined the household for the purpose of bringing up the little ones. +Pierre retained so strong a recollection of all this that even nowadays, +when he went to the basilica of the Sacred Heart and passed the little +house on his way, he glanced at it distrustfully, and kept as far from it +as he could, as if it were some abode of vice and error. Undoubtedly, for +ten years now, the boys' mother had been dead, but did not another +scandal-inspiring creature dwell there, that young orphan girl to whom +his brother had given shelter, and whom he was going to marry, although a +difference of twenty years lay between them? To Pierre all this was +contrary to propriety, abnormal and revolting, and he pictured a home +given over to social rebellion, where lack of principle led to every kind +of disorder. +</p> + +<p> +However, he was leaving the room to start upon his journey, when +Guillaume called him back. "Tell Madame Leroi," said he, "that if I +should die you will let her know of it, so that she may immediately do +what is necessary." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes," answered Pierre. "But calm yourself, and don't move about. +I'll say everything. And in my absence Sophie will stop here with you in +case you should need her." +</p> + +<p> +Having given full instructions to the servant, Pierre set out to take a +tramcar, intending to alight from it on the Boulevard de Rochechouart, +and then climb the height on foot. And on the road, lulled by the gliding +motion of the heavy vehicle, he began to think of his brother's past life +and connections, with which he was but vaguely, imperfectly, acquainted. +It was only at a later date that details of everything came to his +knowledge. In 1850 a young professor named Leroi, who had come from Paris +to the college of Montauban with the most ardent republican ideas, had +there married Agathe Dagnan, the youngest of the five girls of an old +Protestant family from the Cevennes. Young Madame Leroi was <i>enceinte</i> +when her husband, threatened with arrest for contributing some violent +articles to a local newspaper, immediately after the "Coup d'Etat," found +himself obliged to seek refuge at Geneva. It was there that the young +couple's daughter, Marguerite, a very delicate child, was born in 1852. +For seven years, that is until the Amnesty of 1859, the household +struggled with poverty, the husband giving but a few ill-paid lessons, +and the wife absorbed in the constant care which the child required. +Then, after their return to Paris, their ill-luck became even greater. +For a long time the ex-professor vainly sought regular employment; it was +denied him on account of his opinions, and he had to run about giving +lessons in private houses. When he was at last on the point of being +received back into the University a supreme blow, an attack of paralysis, +fell upon him. He lost the use of both legs. And then came utter misery, +every kind of sordid drudgery, the writing of articles for dictionaries, +the copying of manuscripts, and even the addressing of newspaper +wrappers, on the fruits of which the household barely contrived to live, +in a little lodging in the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince. +</p> + +<p> +It was there that Marguerite grew up. Leroi, embittered by injustice and +suffering, predicted the advent of a Republic which would avenge the +follies of the Empire, and a reign of science which would sweep away the +deceptive and cruel divinity of religious dogmas. On the other hand, +Agathe's religious faith had collapsed at Geneva, at sight of the narrow +and imbecile practices of Calvinism, and all that she retained of it was +the old Protestant leaven of rebellion. She had become at once the head +and the arm of the house; she went for her husband's work, took it back +when completed, and even did much of it herself, whilst, at the same +time, performing her house duties, and rearing and educating her +daughter. The latter, who attended no school, was indebted for all she +learnt to her father and mother, on whose part there was never any +question of religious instruction. Through contact with her husband, +Madame Leroi had lost all belief, and her Protestant heredity inclining +her to free inquiry and examination, she had arranged for herself a kind +of peaceful atheism, based on paramount principles of human duty and +justice, which she applied courageously, irrespective of all social +conventionalities. The long iniquity of her husband's fate, the +undeserved misfortunes which struck her through him and her daughter, +ended by endowing her with wonderful fortitude and devotion, which made +her, whether as a judge, a manager, or a consoler, a woman of +incomparable energy and nobleness of character. +</p> + +<p> +It was in the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince that Guillaume became acquainted +with the Leroi family, after the war of 1870. On the same floor as their +little lodging he occupied a large room, where he devoted himself +passionately to his studies. At the outset there was only an occasional +bow, for Guillaume's neighbours were very proud and very grave, leading +their life of poverty in fierce silence and retirement. Then intercourse +began with the rendering of little services, such as when the young man +procured the ex-professor a commission to write a few articles for a new +encyclopaedia. But all at once came the catastrophe: Leroi died in his +armchair one evening while his daughter was wheeling him from his table +to his bed. The two distracted women had not even the money to bury him. +The whole secret of their bitter want flowed forth with their tears, and +they were obliged to accept the help of Guillaume, who, from that moment, +became the necessary confidant and friend. And the thing which was bound +to happen did happen, in the most simple and loving manner, permitted by +the mother herself, who, full of contempt for a social system which +allowed those of good hearts to die of hunger, refused to admit the +necessity of any social tie. Thus there was no question of a regular +marriage. One day Guillaume, who was twenty-three years old, found +himself mated to Marguerite, who was twenty; both of them handsome, +healthy, and strong, adoring one another, loving work, and full of hope +in the future. +</p> + +<p> +From that moment a new life began. Since his father's death, Guillaume, +who had broken off all intercourse with his mother, had been receiving an +allowance of two hundred francs a month. This just represented daily +bread; however, he was already doubling the amount by his work as a +chemist,—his analyses and researches, which tended to the employment of +certain chemical products in industry. So he and Marguerite installed +themselves on the very summit of Montmartre, in a little house, at a +rental of eight hundred francs a year, the great convenience of the place +being a strip of garden, where one might, later on, erect a wooden +workshop. In all tranquillity Madame Leroi took up her abode with the +young people, helping them, and sparing them the necessity of keeping a +second servant. And at successive intervals of two years, her three +grandchildren were born, three sturdy boys: first Thomas, then Francois, +and then Antoine. And in the same way as she had devoted herself to her +husband and daughter, and then to Guillaume, so did she now devote +herself to the three children. She became "Mere-Grand"—an emphatic and +affectionate way of expressing the term "grandmother"—for all who lived +in the house, the older as well as the younger ones. She there +personified sense, and wisdom, and courage; it was she who was ever on +the watch, who directed everything, who was consulted about everything, +and whose opinion was always followed. Indeed, she reigned there like an +all-powerful queen-mother. +</p> + +<p> +For fifteen years this life went on, a life of hard work and peaceful +affection, while the strictest economy was observed in contenting every +need of the modest little household. Then Guillaume lost his mother, took +his share of the family inheritance, and was able to satisfy his old +desire, which was to buy the house he lived in, and build a spacious +workshop in the garden. He was even able to build it of bricks, and add +an upper story to it. But the work was scarcely finished, and life seemed +to be on the point of expanding and smiling on them all, when misfortune +returned, and typhoid fever, with brutal force, carried off Marguerite, +after a week's illness. She was then five and thirty, and her eldest boy, +Thomas, was fourteen. Thus Guillaume, distracted by his loss, found +himself a widower at thirty-eight. The thought of introducing any unknown +woman into that retired home, where all hearts beat in tender unison, was +so unbearable to him that he determined to take no other mate. His work +absorbed him, and he would know how to quiet both his heart and his +flesh. Mere-Grand, fortunately, was still there, erect and courageous; +the household retained its queen, and in her the children found a +manageress and teacher, schooled in adversity and heroism. +</p> + +<p> +Two years passed; and then came an addition to the family. A young woman, +Marie Couturier, the daughter of one of Guillaume's friends, suddenly +entered it. Couturier had been an inventor, a madman with some measure of +genius, and had spent a fairly large fortune in attempting all sorts of +fantastic schemes. His wife, a very pious woman, had died of grief at it +all; and although on the rare occasions when he saw his daughter, he +showed great fondness for her and loaded her with presents, he had first +placed her in a boarding college, and afterwards left her in the charge +of a poor female relative. Remembering her only on his death-bed, he had +begged Guillaume to give her an asylum, and find her a husband. The poor +relation, who dealt in ladies' and babies' linen, had just become a +bankrupt. So, at nineteen, the girl, Marie, found herself a penniless +outcast, possessed of nothing save a good education, health and courage. +Guillaume would never allow her to run about giving lessons. He took her, +in quite a natural way, to help Mere-Grand, who was no longer so active +as formerly. And the latter approved the arrangement, well pleased at the +advent of youth and gaiety, which would somewhat brighten the household, +whose life had been one of much gravity ever since Marguerite's death. +Marie would simply be an elder sister; she was too old for the boys, who +were still at college, to be disturbed by her presence. And she would +work in that house where everybody worked. She would help the little +community pending the time when she might meet and love some worthy +fellow who would marry her. +</p> + +<p> +Five more years elapsed without Marie consenting to quit that happy home. +The sterling education she had received was lodged in a vigorous brain, +which contented itself with the acquirement of knowledge. Yet she had +remained very pure and healthy, even very <i>naive</i>, maidenly by reason of +her natural rectitude. And she was also very much a woman, beautifying +and amusing herself with a mere nothing, and ever showing gaiety and +contentment. Moreover, she was in no wise of a dreamy nature, but very +practical, always intent on some work or other, and only asking of life +such things as life could give, without anxiety as to what might lie +beyond it. She lovingly remembered her pious mother, who had prepared her +for her first Communion in tears, imagining that she was opening heaven's +portals to her. But since she had been an orphan she had of her own +accord ceased all practice of religion, her good sense revolting and +scorning the need of any moral police regulations to make her do her +duty. Indeed, she considered such regulations dangerous and destructive +of true health. Thus, like Mere-Grand, she had come to a sort of quiet +and almost unconscious atheism, not after the fashion of one who reasons, +but simply like the brave, healthy girl she was, one who had long endured +poverty without suffering from it, and believed in nothing save the +necessity of effort. She had been kept erect, indeed, by her conviction +that happiness was to be found in the normal joys of life, lived +courageously. And her happy equilibrium of mind had ever guided and saved +her, in such wise that she willingly listened to her natural instinct, +saying, with her pleasant laugh, that this was, after all, her best +adviser. She rejected two offers of marriage, and on the second occasion, +as Guillaume pressed her to accept, she grew astonished, and inquired if +he had had enough of her in the house. She found herself very +comfortable, and she rendered service there. So why should she leave and +run the risk of being less happy elsewhere, particularly as she was not +in love with anybody? +</p> + +<p> +Then, by degrees, the idea of a marriage between Marie and Guillaume +presented itself; and indeed what could have been more reasonable and +advantageous for all? If Guillaume had not mated again it was for his +sons' sake, because he feared that by introducing a stranger to the house +he might impair its quietude and gaiety. But now there was a woman among +them who already showed herself maternal towards the boys, and whose +bright youth had ended by disturbing his own heart. He was still in his +prime, and had always held that it was not good for man to live alone, +although, personally, thanks to his ardour for work, he had hitherto +escaped excessive suffering in his bereavement. However, there was the +great difference of ages to be considered; and he would have bravely +remained in the background and have sought a younger husband for Marie, +if his three big sons and Mere-Grand herself had not conspired to effect +his happiness by doing all they could to bring about a marriage which +would strengthen every home tie and impart, as it were, a fresh +springtide to the house. As for Marie, touched and grateful to Guillaume +for the manner in which he had treated her for five years past, she +immediately consented with an impulse of sincere affection, in which, she +fancied, she could detect love. And at all events, could she act in a +more sensible, reasonable way, base her life on more certain prospects of +happiness? So the marriage had been resolved upon; and about a month +previously it had been decided that it should take place during the +ensuing spring, towards the end of April. +</p> + +<p> +When Pierre, after alighting from the tramcar, began to climb the +interminable flights of steps leading to the Rue St. Eleuthere, a feeling +of uneasiness again came over him at the thought that he was about to +enter that suspicious ogre's den where everything would certainly wound +and irritate him. Given the letter which Sophie had carried thither on +the previous night, announcing that the master would not return, how +anxious and upset must all its inmates be! However, as Pierre ascended +the final flight and nervously raised his head, the little house appeared +to him right atop of the hill, looking very serene and quiet under the +bright wintry sun, which had peered forth as if to bestow upon the modest +dwelling an affectionate caress. +</p> + +<p> +There was a door in the old garden wall alongside the Rue St. Eleuthere, +almost in front of the broad thoroughfare conducting to the basilica of +the Sacred Heart; but to reach the house itself one had to skirt the wall +and climb to the Place du Tertre, where one found the facade and the +entrance. Some children were playing on the Place, which, planted as it +was with a few scrubby trees, and edged with humble shops,—a +fruiterer's, a grocer's and a baker's,—looked like some square in a +small provincial town. In a corner, on the left, Guillaume's dwelling, +which had been whitewashed during the previous spring, showed its bright +frontage and five lifeless windows, for all its life was on the other, +the garden, side, which overlooked Paris and the far horizon. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre mustered his courage and, pulling a brass knob which glittered +like gold, rang the bell. There came a gay, distant jingle; but for a +moment nobody appeared, and he was about to ring again, when the door was +thrown wide open, revealing a passage which ran right through the house, +beyond which appeared the ocean of Paris, the endless sea of house roofs +bathed in sunlight. And against this spacious, airy background, stood a +young woman of twenty-six, clad in a simple gown of black woolen stuff, +half covered by a large blue apron. She had her sleeves rolled up above +her elbows, and her arms and hands were still moist with water which she +had but imperfectly wiped away. +</p> + +<p> +A moment's surprise and embarrassment ensued. The young woman, who had +hastened to the door with laughing mien, became grave and covertly +hostile at sight of the visitor's cassock. The priest thereupon realised +that he must give his name: "I am Abbe Pierre Froment." +</p> + +<p> +At this the young woman's smile of welcome came back to her. "Oh! I beg +your pardon, monsieur—I ought to have recognised you, for I saw you wish +Guillaume good day one morning as you passed." +</p> + +<p> +She said Guillaume; she, therefore, must be Marie. And Pierre looked at +her in astonishment, finding her very different from what he had +imagined. She was only of average height, but she was vigorously, +admirably built, broad of hip and broad of shoulder, with the small firm +bosom of an amazon. By her erect and easy step, instinct with all the +adorable grace of woman in her prime, one could divine that she was +strong, muscular and healthy. A brunette, but very white of skin, she had +a heavy helm of superb black hair, which she fastened in a negligent way, +without any show of coquetry. And under her dark locks, her pure, +intelligent brow, her delicate nose and gay eyes appeared full of intense +life; whilst the somewhat heavier character of her lower features, her +fleshy lips and full chin, bespoke her quiet kindliness. She had surely +come on earth as a promise of every form of tenderness, every form of +devotion. In a word, she was a true mate for man. +</p> + +<p> +However, with her heavy, straying hair and superb arms, so ingenuous in +their nudity, she only gave Pierre an impression of superfluous health +and extreme self-assurance. She displeased him and even made him feel +somewhat anxious, as if she were a creature different from all others. +</p> + +<p> +"It is my brother Guillaume who has sent me," he said. +</p> + +<p> +At this her face again changed; she became grave and hastened to admit +him to the passage. And when the door was closed she answered: "You have +brought us news of him, then! I must apologise for receiving you in this +fashion. The servants have just finished some washing, and I was making +sure if the work had been well done. Pray excuse me, and come in here for +a moment; it is perhaps best that I should be the first to know the +news." +</p> + +<p> +So saying, she led him past the kitchen to a little room which served as +scullery and wash-house. A tub full of soapy water stood there, and some +dripping linen hung over some wooden bars. "And so, Guillaume?" she +asked. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre then told the truth in simple fashion: that his brother's wrist +had been injured; that he himself had witnessed the accident, and that +his brother had then sought an asylum with him at Neuilly, where he +wished to remain and get cured of his injury in peace and quietness, +without even receiving a visit from his sons. While speaking in this +fashion, the priest watched the effect of his words on Marie's face: +first fright and pity, and then an effort to calm herself and judge +things reasonably. +</p> + +<p> +"His letter quite froze me last night," she ended by replying. "I felt +sure that some misfortune had happened. But one must be brave and hide +one's fear from others. His wrist injured, you say; it is not a serious +injury, is it?" +</p> + +<p> +"No; but it is necessary that every precaution should be taken with it." +</p> + +<p> +She looked him well in the face with her big frank eyes, which dived into +his own as if to reach the very depths of his being, though at the same +time she plainly sought to restrain the score of questions which rose to +her lips. "And that is all: he was injured in an accident," she resumed; +"he didn't ask you to tell us anything further about it?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, he simply desires that you will not be anxious." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon she insisted no further, but showed herself obedient and +respectful of the decision which Guillaume had arrived at. It sufficed +that he should have sent a messenger to reassure the household—she did +not seek to learn any more. And even as she had returned to her work in +spite of the secret anxiety in which the letter of the previous evening +had left her, so now, with her air of quiet strength, she recovered an +appearance of serenity, a quiet smile and clear brave glance. +</p> + +<p> +"Guillaume only gave me one other commission," resumed Pierre, "that of +handing a little key to Madame Leroi." +</p> + +<p> +"Very good," Marie answered, "Mere-Grand is here; and, besides, the +children must see you. I will take you to them." +</p> + +<p> +Once more quite tranquil, she examined Pierre without managing to conceal +her curiosity, which seemed of rather a kindly nature blended with an +element of vague pity. Her fresh white arms had remained bare. In all +candour she slowly drew down her sleeves; then took off the large blue +apron, and showed herself with her rounded figure, at once robust and +elegant, in her modest black gown. He meanwhile looked at her, and most +certainly he did not find her to his liking. On seeing her so natural, +healthy, and courageous, quite a feeling of revolt arose within him, +though he knew not why. +</p> + +<p> +"Will you please follow me, Monsieur l'Abbe?" she said. "We must cross +the garden." +</p> + +<p> +On the ground-floor of the house, across the passage, and facing the +kitchen and the scullery, there were two other rooms, a library +overlooking the Place du Tertre, and a dining-room whose windows opened +into the garden. The four rooms on the first floor served as bedchambers +for the father and the sons. As for the garden, originally but a small +one, it had now been reduced to a kind of gravelled yard by the erection +of the large workshop at one end of it. Of the former greenery, however, +there still remained two huge plum-trees with old knotted trunks, as well +as a big clump of lilac-bushes, which every spring were covered with +bloom. And in front of the latter Marie had arranged a broad flower-bed, +in which she amused herself with growing a few roses, some wallflowers +and some mignonette. +</p> + +<p> +With a wave of her hand as she went past, she called Pierre's attention +to the black plum-trees and the lilacs and roses, which showed but a few +greenish spots, for winter still held the little nook in sleep. "Tell +Guillaume," she said, "that he must make haste to get well and be back +for the first shoots." +</p> + +<p> +Then, as Pierre glanced at her, she all at once flushed purple. Much to +her distress, sudden and involuntary blushes would in this wise +occasionally come upon her, even at the most innocent remarks. She found +it ridiculous to feel such childish emotion when she had so brave a +heart. But her pure maidenly blood had retained exquisite delicacy, such +natural and instinctive modesty that she yielded to it perforce. And +doubtless she had merely blushed because she feared that the priest might +think she had referred to her marriage in speaking of the spring. +</p> + +<p> +"Please go in, Monsieur l'Abbe. The children are there, all three." And +forthwith she ushered him into the workshop. +</p> + +<p> +It was a very spacious place, over sixteen feet high, with a brick +flooring and bare walls painted an iron grey. A sheet of light, a stream +of sunshine, spread to every corner through a huge window facing the +south, where lay the immensity of Paris. The Venetian shutters often had +to be lowered in the summer to attenuate the great heat. From morn till +night the whole family lived here, closely and affectionately united in +work. Each was installed as fancy listed, having a particular chosen +place. One half of the building was occupied by the father's chemical +laboratory, with its stove, experiment tables, shelves for apparatus, +glass cases and cupboards for phials and jars. Near all this Thomas, the +eldest son, had installed a little forge, an anvil, a vice bench, in fact +everything necessary to a working mechanician, such as he had become +since taking his bachelor's degree, from his desire to remain with his +father and help him with certain researches and inventions. Then, at the +other end, the younger brothers, Francois and Antoine, got on very well +together on either side of a broad table which stood amidst a medley of +portfolios, nests of drawers and revolving book-stands. Francois, laden +with academical laurels, first on the pass list for the Ecole Normale, +had entered that college where young men are trained for university +professorships, and was there preparing for his Licentiate degree, while +Antoine, who on reaching the third class at the Lycee Condorcet had taken +a dislike to classical studies, now devoted himself to his calling as a +wood-engraver. And, in the full light under the window, Mere-Grand and +Marie likewise had their particular table, where needlework, embroidery, +all sorts of <i>chiffons</i> and delicate things lay about near the somewhat +rough jumble of retorts, tools and big books. +</p> + +<p> +Marie, however, on the very threshold called out in her calm voice, to +which she strove to impart a gay and cheering accent: "Children! +children! here is Monsieur l'Abbe with news of father!" +</p> + +<p> +Children, indeed! Yet what motherliness she already set in the word as +she applied it to those big fellows whose elder sister she had long +considered herself to be! At three and twenty Thomas was quite a +colossus, already bearded and extremely like his father. But although he +had a lofty brow and energetic features, he was somewhat slow both in +mind and body. And he was also taciturn, almost unsociable, absorbed in +filial devotion, delighted with the manual toil which made him a mere +workman at his master's orders. Francois, two years younger than Thomas, +and nearly as tall, showed a more refined face, though he had the same +large brow and firm mouth, a perfect blending of health and strength, in +which the man of intellect, the scientific Normalian, could only be +detected by the brighter and more subtle sparkle of the eyes. The +youngest of the brothers, Antoine, who for his eighteen years was almost +as strong as his elders, and promised to become as tall, differed from +them by his lighter hair and soft, blue, dreamy eyes, which he had +inherited from his mother. It had been difficult, however, to distinguish +one from the other when all three were schoolboys at the Lycee Condorcet; +and even nowadays people made mistakes unless they saw them side by side, +so as to detect the points of difference which were becoming more marked +as age progressed. +</p> + +<p> +On Pierre's arrival the brothers were so absorbed in their work that they +did not even hear the door open. And again, as in the case of Marie, the +priest was surprised by the discipline and firmness of mind, which amidst +the keenest anxiety gave the young fellows strength to take up their +daily task. Thomas, who stood at his vice-bench in a blouse, was +carefully filing a little piece of copper with rough but skilful hands. +Francois, leaning forward, was writing in a bold, firm fashion, whilst on +the other side of the table, Antoine, with a slender graver between his +fingers, finished a block for an illustrated newspaper. +</p> + +<p> +However, Marie's clear voice made them raise their heads: "Children, +father has sent you some news!" +</p> + +<p> +Then all three with the same impulse hurriedly quitted their work and +came forward. One could divine that directly there was any question of +their father they were drawn together, blended one with the other, so +that but one and the same heart beat in their three broad chests. +However, a door at the far end of the workroom opened at that moment, and +Mere-Grand, coming from the upper floor where she and Marie had their +bedrooms, made her appearance. She had just absented herself to fetch a +skein of wool; and she gazed fixedly at the priest, unable to understand +the reason of his presence. +</p> + +<p> +Marie had to explain matters. "Mere-Grand," said she, "this is Monsieur +l'Abbe Froment, Guillaume's brother; he has come from him." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre on his side was examining the old lady, astonished to find her so +erect and full of life at seventy. Her former beauty had left a stately +charm on her rather long face; youthful fire still lingered in her brown +eyes; and very firm was the contour of her pale lips, which in parting +showed that she had retained all her teeth. A few white hairs alone +silvered her black tresses, which were arranged in old-time fashion. Her +cheeks had but slightly withered, and her deep, symmetrical wrinkles gave +her countenance an expression of much nobility, a sovereign air as of a +queen-mother, which, tall and slight of stature as she was, and +invariably gowned in black woollen stuff, she always retained, no matter +how humble her occupation. +</p> + +<p> +"So Guillaume sent you, monsieur," she said; "he is injured, is he not?" +</p> + +<p> +Surprised by this proof of intuition, Pierre repeated his story. "Yes, +his wrist is injured—but oh! it's not a case of immediate gravity." +</p> + +<p> +On the part of the three sons, he had divined a sudden quiver, an impulse +of their whole beings to rush to the help and defence of their father. +And for their sakes he sought words of comfort: "He is with me at +Neuilly. And with due care it is certain that no serious complications +will arise. He sent me to tell you to be in no wise uneasy about him." +</p> + +<p> +Mere-Grand for her part evinced no fears, but preserved great calmness, +as if the priest's tidings contained nothing beyond what she had known +already. If anything, she seemed rather relieved, freed from anxiety +which she had confided to none. "If he is with you, monsieur," she +answered, "he is evidently as comfortable as he can be, and sheltered +from all risks. We were surprised, however, by his letter last night, as +it did not explain why he was detained, and we should have ended by +feeling frightened. But now everything is satisfactory." +</p> + +<p> +Mere-Grand and the three sons, following Marie's example, asked no +explanations. On a table near at hand Pierre noticed several morning +newspapers lying open and displaying column after column of particulars +about the crime. The sons had certainly read these papers, and had feared +lest their father should be compromised in that frightful affair. How far +did their knowledge of the latter go? They must be ignorant of the part +played by Salvat. It was surely impossible for them to piece together all +the unforeseen circumstances which had brought about their father's +meeting with the workman, and then the crime. Mere-Grand, no doubt, was +in certain respects better informed than the others. But they, the sons +and Marie, neither knew nor sought to know anything. And thus what a +wealth of respect and affection there was in their unshakable confidence +in the father, in the tranquillity they displayed directly he sent them +word that they were not to be anxious about him! +</p> + +<p> +"Madame," Pierre resumed, "Guillaume told me to give you this little key, +and to remind you to do what he charged you to do, if any misfortune +should befall him." +</p> + +<p> +She started, but so slightly that it was scarcely perceptible; and taking +the key she answered as if some ordinary wish on the part of a sick +person were alone in question. "Very well. Tell him that his wishes shall +be carried out." Then she added, "But pray take a seat, monsieur." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre, indeed, had remained standing. However, he now felt it necessary +to accept a chair, desirous as he was of hiding the embarrassment which +he still felt in this house, although he was <i>en famille</i> there. Marie, +who could not live without occupation for her fingers, had just returned +to some embroidery, some of the fine needlework which she stubbornly +executed for a large establishment dealing in baby-linen and bridal +<i>trousseaux</i>; for she wished at any rate to earn her own pocket-money, +she often said with a laugh. Mere-Grand, too, from habit, which she +followed even when visitors were present, had once more started on her +perpetual stocking-mending; while Francois and Antoine had again seated +themselves at their table; and Thomas alone remained on his legs, leaning +against his bench. All the charm of industrious intimacy pervaded the +spacious, sun-lit room. +</p> + +<p> +"But we'll all go to see father to-morrow," Thomas suddenly exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +Before Pierre could answer Marie raised her head. "No, no," said she, "he +does not wish any of us to go to him; for if we should be watched and +followed we should betray the secret of his retreat. Isn't that so, +Monsieur l'Abbe?" +</p> + +<p> +"It would indeed be prudent of you to deprive yourselves of the pleasure +of embracing him until he himself can come back here. It will be a matter +of some two or three weeks," answered Pierre. +</p> + +<p> +Mere-Grand at once expressed approval of this. "No doubt," said she. +"Nothing could be more sensible." +</p> + +<p> +So the three sons did not insist, but bravely accepted the secret anxiety +in which they must for a time live, renouncing the visit which would have +caused them so much delight, because their father bade them do so and +because his safety depended perhaps on their obedience. +</p> + +<p> +However, Thomas resumed: "Then, Monsieur l'Abbe, will you please tell him +that as work will be interrupted here, I shall return to the factory +during his absence. I shall be more at ease there for the researches on +which we are engaged." +</p> + +<p> +"And please tell him from me," put in Francois, "that he mustn't worry +about my examination. Things are going very well. I feel almost certain +of success." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre promised that he would forget nothing. However, Marie raised her +head, smiling and glancing at Antoine, who had remained silent with a +faraway look in his eyes. "And you, little one," said she, "don't you +send him any message?" +</p> + +<p> +Emerging from a dream, the young fellow also began to smile. "Yes, yes, a +message that you love him dearly, and that he's to make haste back for +you to make him happy." +</p> + +<p> +At this they all became merry, even Marie, who in lieu of embarrassment +showed a tranquil gaiety born of confidence in the future. Between her +and the young men there was naught but happy affection. And a grave smile +appeared even on the pale lips of Mere-Grand, who likewise approved of +the happiness which life seemed to be promising. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre wished to stay a few minutes longer. They all began to chat, and +his astonishment increased. He had gone from surprise to surprise in this +house where he had expected to find that equivocal, disorderly life, that +rebellion against social laws, which destroy morality. But instead of +this he had found loving serenity, and such strong discipline that life +there partook of the gravity, almost the austerity, of convent life, +tempered by youth and gaiety. The vast room was redolent of industry and +quietude, warm with bright sunshine. However, what most particularly +struck him was the Spartan training, the bravery of mind and heart among +those sons who allowed nothing to be seen of their personal feelings, and +did not presume to judge their father, but remained content with his +message, ready to await events, stoical and silent, while carrying on +their daily tasks. Nothing could be more simple, more dignified, more +lofty. And there was also the smiling heroism of Mere-Grand and Marie, +those two women who slept over that laboratory where terrible +preparations were manipulated, and where an explosion was always +possible. +</p> + +<p> +However, such courage, orderliness and dignity merely surprised Pierre, +without touching him. He had no cause for complaint, he had received a +polite greeting if not an affectionate one; but then he was as yet only a +stranger there, a priest. In spite of everything, however, he remained +hostile, feeling that he was in a sphere where none of his own torments +could be shared or even divined. How did these folks manage to be so calm +and happy amidst their religious unbelief, their sole faith in science, +and in presence of that terrifying Paris which spread before them the +boundless sea, the growling abomination of its injustice and its want? As +this thought came to him he turned his head and gazed at the city through +the huge window, whence it stretched away, ever present, ever living its +giant life. And at that hour, under the oblique sun-rays of the winter +afternoon, all Paris was speckled with luminous dust, as if some +invisible sower, hidden amidst the glory of the planet, were fast +scattering seed which fell upon every side in a stream of gold. The whole +field was covered with it; for the endless chaos of house roofs and +edifices seemed to be land in tilth, furrowed by some gigantic plough. +And Pierre in his uneasiness, stirred, despite everything, by an +invincible need of hope, asked himself if this was not a good sowing, the +furrows of Paris strewn with light by the divine sun for the great future +harvest, that harvest of truth and justice of whose advent he had +despaired. +</p> + +<p> +At last he rose and took his leave, promising to return at once, if there +should be any bad news. It was Marie who showed him to the front door. +And there another of those childish blushes which worried her so much +suddenly rose to her face, just as she, in her turn, also wished to send +her loving message to the injured man. However, with her gay, candid eyes +fixed on those of the priest, she bravely spoke the words: "<i>Au revoir, +Monsieur l'Abbe</i>. Tell Guillaume that I love him and await him." +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +III +</h3> + +<h3> +PENURY AND TOIL +</h3> + +<p> +THREE days went by, and every morning Guillaume, confined to his bed and +consumed by fever and impatience, experienced fresh anxiety directly the +newspapers arrived. Pierre had tried to keep them from him, but Guillaume +then worried himself the more, and so the priest had to read him column +by column all the extraordinary articles that were published respecting +the crime. +</p> + +<p> +Never before had so many rumours inundated the press. Even the "Globe," +usually so grave and circumspect, yielded to the general <i>furore</i>, and +printed whatever statements reached it. But the more unscrupulous papers +were the ones to read. The "Voix du Peuple" in particular made use of the +public feverishness to increase its sales. Each morning it employed some +fresh device, and printed some frightful story of a nature to drive +people mad with terror. It related that not a day passed without Baron +Duvillard receiving threatening letters of the coarsest description, +announcing that his wife, his son and his daughter would all be killed, +that he himself would be butchered in turn, and that do what he might his +house would none the less be blown up. And as a measure of precaution the +house was guarded day and night alike by a perfect army of plain-clothes +officers. Then another article contained an amazing piece of invention. +Some anarchists, after carrying barrels of powder into a sewer near the +Madeleine, were said to have undermined the whole district, planning a +perfect volcano there, into which one half of Paris would sink. And at +another time it was alleged that the police were on the track of a +terrible plot which embraced all Europe, from the depths of Russia to the +shores of Spain. The signal for putting it into execution was to be given +in France, and there would be a three days' massacre, with grape shot +sweeping everyone off the Boulevards, and the Seine running red, swollen +by a torrent of blood. Thanks to these able and intelligent devices of +the Press, terror now reigned in the city; frightened foreigners fled +from the hotels <i>en masse</i>; and Paris had become a mere mad-house, where +the most idiotic delusions at once found credit. +</p> + +<p> +It was not all this, however, that worried Guillaume. He was only anxious +about Salvat and the various new "scents" which the newspaper reporters +attempted to follow up. The engineer was not yet arrested, and, so far +indeed, there had been no statement in print to indicate that the police +were on his track. At last, however, Pierre one morning read a paragraph +which made the injured man turn pale. +</p> + +<p> +"Dear me! It seems that a tool has been found among the rubbish at the +entrance of the Duvillard mansion. It is a bradawl, and its handle bears +the name of Grandidier, which is that of a man who keeps some well-known +metal works. He is to appear before the investigating magistrate to-day." +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume made a gesture of despair. "Ah!" said he, "they are on the +right track at last. That tool must certainly have been dropped by +Salvat. He worked at Grandidier's before he came to me for a few days. +And from Grandidier they will learn all that they need to know in order +to follow the scent." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre then remembered that he had heard the Grandidier factory mentioned +at Montmartre. Guillaume's eldest son, Thomas, had served his +apprenticeship there, and even worked there occasionally nowadays. +</p> + +<p> +"You told me," resumed Guillaume, "that during my absence Thomas intended +to go back to the factory. It's in connection with a new motor which he's +planning, and has almost hit upon. If there should be a perquisition +there, he may be questioned, and may refuse to answer, in order to guard +his secret. So he ought to be warned of this, warned at once!" +</p> + +<p> +Without trying to extract any more precise statement from his brother, +Pierre obligingly offered his services. "If you like," said he, "I will +go to see Thomas this afternoon. Perhaps I may come across Monsieur +Grandidier himself and learn how far the affair has gone, and what was +said at the investigating magistrate's." +</p> + +<p> +With a moist glance and an affectionate grasp of the hand, Guillaume at +once thanked Pierre: "Yes, yes, brother, go there, it will be good and +brave of you." +</p> + +<p> +"Besides," continued the priest, "I really wanted to go to Montmartre +to-day. I haven't told you so, but something has been worrying me. If +Salvat has fled, he must have left the woman and the child all alone up +yonder. On the morning of the day when the explosion took place I saw the +poor creatures in such a state of destitution, such misery, that I can't +think of them without a heart-pang. Women and children so often die of +hunger when the man is no longer there." +</p> + +<p> +At this, Guillaume, who had kept Pierre's hand in his own, pressed it +more tightly, and in a trembling voice exclaimed: "Yes, yes, and that +will be good and brave too. Go there, brother, go there." +</p> + +<p> +That house of the Rue des Saules, that horrible home of want and agony, +had lingered in Pierre's memory. To him it was like an embodiment of the +whole filthy <i>cloaca</i>, in which the poor of Paris suffer unto death. And +on returning thither that afternoon, he found the same slimy mud around +it; its yard littered with the same filth, its dark, damp stairways +redolent of the same stench of neglect and poverty, as before. In winter +time, while the fine central districts of Paris are dried and cleansed, +the far-away districts of the poor remain gloomy and miry, beneath the +everlasting tramp of the wretched ones who dwell in them. +</p> + +<p> +Remembering the staircase which conducted to Salvat's lodging, Pierre +began to climb it amidst a loud screaming of little children, who +suddenly became quiet, letting the house sink into death-like silence +once more. Then the thought of Laveuve, who had perished up there like a +stray dog, came back to Pierre. And he shuddered when, on the top +landing, he knocked at Salvat's door, and profound silence alone answered +him. Not a breath was to be heard. +</p> + +<p> +However, he knocked again, and as nothing stirred he began to think that +nobody could be there. Perhaps Salvat had returned to fetch the woman and +the child, and perhaps they had followed him to some humble nook abroad. +Still this would have astonished him; for the poor seldom quit their +homes, but die where they have suffered. So he gave another gentle knock. +</p> + +<p> +And at last a faint sound, the light tread of little feet, was heard +amidst the silence. Then a weak, childish voice ventured to inquire: "Who +is there?" +</p> + +<p> +"Monsieur l'Abbe." +</p> + +<p> +The silence fell again, nothing more stirred. There was evidently +hesitation on the other side. +</p> + +<p> +"Monsieur l'Abbe who came the other day," said Pierre again. +</p> + +<p> +This evidently put an end to all uncertainty, for the door was set ajar +and little Celine admitted the priest. "I beg your pardon, Monsieur +l'Abbe," said she, "but Mamma Theodore has gone out, and she told me not +to open the door to anyone." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre had, for a moment, imagined that Salvat himself was hiding there. +But with a glance he took in the whole of the small bare room, where man, +woman and child dwelt together. At the same time, Madame Theodore +doubtless feared a visit from the police. Had she seen Salvat since the +crime? Did she know where he was hiding? Had he come back there to +embrace and tranquillise them both? +</p> + +<p> +"And your papa, my dear," said Pierre to Celine, "isn't he here either?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! no, monsieur, he has gone away." +</p> + +<p> +"What, gone away?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, he hasn't been home to sleep, and we don't know where he is." +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps he's working." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, no! he'd send us some money if he was." +</p> + +<p> +"Then he's gone on a journey, perhaps?" +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know." +</p> + +<p> +"He wrote to Mamma Theodore, no doubt?" +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre asked no further questions. In fact, he felt somewhat ashamed of +his attempt to extract information from this child of eleven, whom he +thus found alone. It was quite possible that she knew nothing, that +Salvat, in a spirit of prudence, had even refrained from sending any +tidings of himself. Indeed, there was an expression of truthfulness on +the child's fair, gentle and intelligent face, which was grave with the +gravity that extreme misery imparts to the young. +</p> + +<p> +"I am sorry that Mamma Theodore isn't here," said Pierre, "I wanted to +speak to her." +</p> + +<p> +"But perhaps you would like to wait for her, Monsieur l'Abbe. She has +gone to my Uncle Toussaint's in the Rue Marcadet; and she can't stop much +longer, for she's been away more than an hour." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon Celine cleared one of the chairs on which lay a handful of +scraps of wood, picked up on some waste ground. +</p> + +<p> +The bare and fireless room was assuredly also a breadless one. Pierre +could divine the absence of the bread-winner, the disappearance of the +man who represents will and strength in the home, and on whom one still +relies even when weeks have gone by without work. He goes out and scours +the city, and often ends by bringing back the indispensable crust which +keeps death at bay. But with his disappearance comes complete +abandonment, the wife and child in danger, destitute of all prop and +help. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre, who had sat down and was looking at that poor, little, blue-eyed +girl, to whose lips a smile returned in spite of everything, could not +keep from questioning her on another point. "So you don't go to school, +my child?" said he. +</p> + +<p> +She faintly blushed and answered: "I've no shoes to go in." +</p> + +<p> +He glanced at her feet, and saw that she was wearing a pair of ragged old +list-slippers, from which her little toes protruded, red with cold. +</p> + +<p> +"Besides," she continued, "Mamma Theodore says that one doesn't go to +school when one's got nothing to eat. Mamma Theodore wanted to work but +she couldn't, because her eyes got burning hot and full of water. And so +we don't know what to do, for we've had nothing left since yesterday, and +if Uncle Toussaint can't lend us twenty sous it'll be all over." +</p> + +<p> +She was still smiling in her unconscious way, but two big tears had +gathered in her eyes. And the sight of the child shut up in that bare +room, apart from all the happy ones of earth, so upset the priest that he +again felt his anger with want and misery awakening. Then, another ten +minutes having elapsed, he became impatient, for he had to go to the +Grandidier works before returning home. +</p> + +<p> +"I don't know why Mamma Theodore doesn't come back," repeated Celine. +"Perhaps she's chatting." Then, an idea occurring to her she continued: +"I'll take you to my Uncle Toussaint's, Monsieur l'Abbe, if you like. +It's close by, just round the corner." +</p> + +<p> +"But you have no shoes, my child." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! that don't matter, I walk all the same." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon he rose from the chair and said simply: "Well, yes, that will +be better, take me there. And I'll buy you some shoes." +</p> + +<p> +Celine turned quite pink, and then made haste to follow him after +carefully locking the door of the room like a good little housewife, +though, truth to tell, there was nothing worth stealing in the place. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime it had occurred to Madame Theodore that before calling on +her brother Toussaint to try to borrow a franc from him, she might first +essay her luck with her younger sister, Hortense, who had married little +Chretiennot, the clerk, and occupied a flat of four rooms on the +Boulevard de Rochechouart. This was quite an affair, however, and the +poor woman only made the venture because Celine had been fasting since +the previous day. +</p> + +<p> +Eugene Toussaint, the mechanician, a man of fifty, was her stepbrother, +by the first marriage contracted by her father. A young dressmaker whom +the latter had subsequently wedded, had borne him three daughters, +Pauline, Leonie and Hortense. And on his death, his son Eugene, who +already had a wife and child of his own, had found himself for a short +time with his stepmother and sisters on his hands. The stepmother, +fortunately, was an active and intelligent woman, and knew how to get out +of difficulties. She returned to her former workroom where her daughter +Pauline was already apprenticed, and she next placed Leonie there; so +that Hortense, the youngest girl, who was a spoilt child, prettier and +more delicate than her sisters, was alone left at school. And, later +on,—after Pauline had married Labitte the stonemason, and Leonie, Salvat +the journeyman-engineer,—Hortense, while serving as assistant at a +confectioner's in the Rue des Martyrs, there became acquainted with +Chretiennot, a clerk, who married her. Leonie had died young, only a few +weeks after her mother; Pauline, forsaken by her husband, lived with her +brother-in-law Salvat, and Hortense alone wore a light silk gown on +Sundays, resided in a new house, and ranked as a <i>bourgeoise</i>, at the +price, however, of interminable worries and great privation. +</p> + +<p> +Madame Theodore knew that her sister was generally short of money towards +the month's end, and therefore felt rather ill at ease in thus venturing +to apply for a loan. Chretiennot, moreover, embittered by his own +mediocrity, had of late years accused his wife of being the cause of +their spoilt life, and had ceased all intercourse with her relatives. +Toussaint, no doubt, was a decent workman; but that Madame Theodore who +lived in misery with her brother-in-law, and that Salvat who wandered +from workshop to workshop like an incorrigible ranter whom no employer +would keep; those two, with their want and dirt and rebellion, had ended +by incensing the vain little clerk, who was not only a great stickler for +the proprieties, but was soured by all the difficulties he encountered in +his own life. And thus he had forbidden Hortense to receive her sister. +</p> + +<p> +All the same, as Madame Theodore climbed the carpeted staircase of the +house on the Boulevard Rochechouart, she experienced a certain feeling of +pride at the thought that she had a relation living in such luxury. The +Chretiennot's rooms were on the third floor, and overlooked the +courtyard. Their <i>femme-de-menage</i>—a woman who goes out by the day or +hour charring, cleaning and cooking—came back every afternoon about four +o'clock to see to the dinner, and that day she was already there. She +admitted the visitor, though she could not conceal her anxious surprise +at her boldness in calling in such slatternly garb. However, on the very +threshold of the little salon, Madame Theodore stopped short in +wonderment herself, for her sister Hortense was sobbing and crouching on +one of the armchairs, upholstered in blue repp, of which she was so +proud. +</p> + +<p> +"What is the matter? What has happened to you?" asked Madame Theodore. +</p> + +<p> +Her sister, though scarcely two and thirty, was no longer "the beautiful +Hortense" of former days. She retained a doll-like appearance, with a +tall slim figure, pretty eyes and fine, fair hair. But she who had once +taken so much care of herself, had now come down to dressing-gowns of +doubtful cleanliness. Her eyelids, too, were reddening, and blotches were +appearing on her skin. She had begun to fade after giving birth to two +daughters, one of whom was now nine and the other seven years of age. +Very proud and egotistical, she herself had begun to regret her marriage, +for she had formerly considered herself a real beauty, worthy of the +palaces and equipages of some Prince Charming. And at this moment she was +plunged in such despair, that her sister's sudden appearance on the scene +did not even astonish her: "Ah! it's you," she gasped. "Ah! if you only +knew what a blow's fallen on me in the middle of all our worries!" +</p> + +<p> +Madame Theodore at once thought of the children, Lucienne and Marcelle. +"Are your daughters ill?" she asked. +</p> + +<p> +"No, no, our neighbour has taken them for a walk on the Boulevard. But +the fact is, my dear, I'm <i>enceinte</i>, and when I told Chretiennot of it +after <i>dejeuner</i>, he flew into a most fearful passion, saying the most +dreadful, the most cruel things!" +</p> + +<p> +Then she again sobbed. Gentle and indolent by nature, desirous of peace +and quietness before anything else, she was incapable of deceiving her +husband, as he well knew. But the trouble was that an addition to the +family would upset the whole economy of the household. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Mon Dieu</i>!" said Madame Theodore at last, "you brought up the others, +and you'll bring up this one too." +</p> + +<p> +At this an explosion of anger dried the other's eyes; and she rose, +exclaiming: "You are good, you are! One can see that our purse isn't +yours. How are we to bring up another child when we can scarcely make +both ends meet as it is?" +</p> + +<p> +And thereupon, forgetting the <i>bourgeois</i> pride which usually prompted +her to silence or falsehood, she freely explained their embarrassment, +the horrid pecuniary worries which made their life a perpetual misery. +Their rent amounted to 700 francs,* so that out of the 3000 francs** +which the husband earned at his office, barely a couple of hundred were +left them every month. And how were they to manage with that little sum, +provide food and clothes, keep up their rank and so forth? There was the +indispensable black coat for monsieur, the new dress which madame must +have at regular intervals, under penalty of losing caste, the new boots +which the children required almost every month, in fact, all sorts of +things that could not possibly be dispensed with. One might strike a dish +or two out of the daily menu, and even go without wine; but evenings came +when it was absolutely necessary to take a cab. And, apart from all this, +one had to reckon with the wastefulness of the children, the disorder in +which the discouraged wife left the house, and the despair of the +husband, who was convinced that he would never extricate himself from his +difficulties, even should his salary some day be raised to as high a +figure as 4000 francs. Briefly, one here found the unbearable penury of +the petty clerk, with consequences as disastrous as the black want of the +artisan: the mock facade and lying luxury; all the disorder and suffering +which lie behind intellectual pride at not earning one's living at a +bench or on a scaffolding. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> + * $140. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> + ** $600. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, well," repeated Madame Theodore, "you can't kill the child." +</p> + +<p> +"No, of course not; but it's the end of everything," answered Hortense, +sinking into the armchair again. "What will become of us, <i>mon Dieu</i>! +What will become of us!" Then she collapsed in her unbuttoned dressing +gown, tears once more gushing from her red and swollen eyes. +</p> + +<p> +Much vexed that circumstances should be so unpropitious, Madame Theodore +nevertheless ventured to ask for the loan of twenty sons; and this +brought her sister's despair and confusion to a climax. "I really haven't +a centime in the house," said she, "just now I borrowed ten sous for the +children from the servant. I had to get ten francs from the Mont de Piete +on a little ring the other day. And it's always the same at the end of +the month. However, Chretiennot will be paid to-day, and he's coming back +early with the money for dinner. So if I can I will send you something +to-morrow." +</p> + +<p> +At this same moment the servant hastened in with a distracted air, being +well aware that monsieur was in no wise partial to madame's relatives. +"Oh madame, madame!" said she; "here's monsieur coming up the stairs." +</p> + +<p> +"Quick then, quick, go away!" cried Hortense, "I should only have another +scene if he met you here. To-morrow, if I can, I promise you." +</p> + +<p> +To avoid Chretiennot who was coming in, Madame Theodore had to hide +herself in the kitchen. As he passed, she just caught sight of him, well +dressed as usual in a tight-fitting frock-coat. Short and lean, with a +thin face and long and carefully tended beard, he had the bearing of one +who is both vain and quarrelsome. Fourteen years of office life had +withered him, and now the long evening hours which he spent at a +neighbouring cafe were finishing him off. +</p> + +<p> +When Madame Theodore had quitted the house she turned with dragging steps +towards the Rue Marcadet where the Toussaints resided. Here, again, she +had no great expectations, for she well knew what ill-luck and worry had +fallen upon her brother's home. During the previous autumn Toussaint, +though he was but fifty, had experienced an attack of paralysis which had +laid him up for nearly five months. Prior to this mishap he had borne +himself bravely, working steadily, abstaining from drink, and bringing up +his three children in true fatherly fashion. One of them, a girl, was now +married to a carpenter, with whom she had gone to Le Havre, while of the +others, both boys—one a soldier, had been killed in Tonquin, and the +other Charles, after serving his time in the army, had become a working +mechanician. Still, Toussaint's long illness had exhausted the little +money which he had in the Savings Bank, and now that he had been set on +his legs again, he had to begin life once more without a copper before +him. +</p> + +<p> +Madame Theodore found her sister-in-law alone in the cleanly kept room +which she and her husband occupied. Madame Toussaint was a portly woman, +whose corpulence increased in spite of everything, whether it were worry +or fasting. She had a round puffy face with bright little eyes; and was a +very worthy woman, whose only faults were an inclination for gossiping +and a fondness for good cheer. Before Madame Theodore even opened her +mouth she understood the object of her visit. "You've come on us at a bad +moment, my dear," she said, "we're stumped. Toussaint wasn't able to go +back to the works till the day before yesterday, and he'll have to ask +for an advance this evening." +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke, she looked at the other with no great sympathy, hurt as she +felt by her slovenly appearance. "And Salvat," she added, "is he still +doing nothing?" +</p> + +<p> +Madame Theodore doubtless foresaw the question, for she quietly lied: "He +isn't in Paris, a friend has taken him off for some work over Belgium +way, and I'm waiting for him to send us something." +</p> + +<p> +Madame Toussaint still remained distrustful, however: "Ah!" she said, +"it's just as well that he shouldn't be in Paris; for with all these bomb +affairs we couldn't help thinking of him, and saying that he was quite +mad enough to mix himself up in them." +</p> + +<p> +The other did not even blink. If she knew anything she kept it to +herself. +</p> + +<p> +"But you, my dear, can't you find any work?" continued Madame Toussaint. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what would you have me do with my poor eyes? It's no longer +possible for me to sew." +</p> + +<p> +"That's true. A seamstress gets done for. When Toussaint was laid up here +I myself wanted to go back to my old calling as a needlewoman. But there! +I spoilt everything and did no good. Charring's about the only thing that +one can always do. Why don't you get some jobs of that kind?" +</p> + +<p> +"I'm trying, but I can't find any." +</p> + +<p> +Little by little Madame Toussaint was softening at sight of the other's +miserable appearance. She made her sit down, and told her that she would +give her something if Toussaint should come home with money. Then, +yielding to her partiality for gossiping, since there was somebody to +listen to her, she started telling stories. The one affair, however, on +which she invariably harped was the sorry business of her son Charles and +the servant girl at a wine shop over the way. Before going into the army +Charles had been a most hard-working and affectionate son, invariably +bringing his pay home to his mother. And certainly he still worked and +showed himself good-natured; but military service, while sharpening his +wits, had taken away some of his liking for ordinary manual toil. It +wasn't that he regretted army life, for he spoke of his barracks as a +prison. Only his tools had seemed to him rather heavy when, on quitting +the service, he had been obliged to take them in hand once more. +</p> + +<p> +"And so, my dear," continued Madame Toussaint, "it's all very well for +Charles to be kind-hearted, he can do no more for us. I knew that he +wasn't in a hurry to get married, as it costs money to keep a wife. And +he was always very prudent, too, with girls. But what would you have? +There was that moment of folly with that Eugenie over the road, a regular +baggage who's already gone off with another man, and left her baby +behind. Charles has put it out to nurse, and pays for it every month. And +a lot of expense it is too, perfect ruination. Yes, indeed, every +possible misfortune has fallen on us." +</p> + +<p> +In this wise Madame Toussaint rattled on for a full half hour. Then +seeing that waiting and anxiety had made her sister-in-law turn quite +pale, she suddenly stopped short. "You're losing patience, eh?" she +exclaimed. "The fact is, that Toussaint won't be back for some time. +Shall we go to the works together? I'll easily find out if he's likely to +bring any money home." +</p> + +<p> +They then decided to go down, but at the bottom of the stairs they +lingered for another quarter of an hour chatting with a neighbour who had +lately lost a child. And just as they were at last leaving the house they +heard a call: "Mamma! mamma!" +</p> + +<p> +It came from little Celine, whose face was beaming with delight. She was +wearing a pair of new shoes and devouring a cake. "Mamma," she resumed, +"Monsieur l'Abbe who came the other day wants to see you. Just look! he +bought me all this!" +</p> + +<p> +On seeing the shoes and the cake, Madame Theodore understood matters. And +when Pierre, who was behind the child, accosted her she began to tremble +and stammer thanks. Madame Toussaint on her side had quickly drawn near, +not indeed to ask for anything herself, but because she was well pleased +at such a God-send for her sister-in-law, whose circumstances were worse +than her own. And when she saw the priest slip ten francs into Madame +Theodore's hand she explained to him that she herself would willingly +have lent something had she been able. Then she promptly started on the +stories of Toussaint's attack and her son Charles's ill-luck. +</p> + +<p> +But Celine broke in: "I say, mamma, the factory where papa used to work +is here in this street, isn't it? Monsieur l'Abbe has some business +there."* +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> + * Although the children of the French peasantry almost + invariably address their parents as "father" and "mother," + those of the working classes of Paris, and some other large + cities, usually employ the terms "papa" and "mamma."—Trans. +</p> + +<p> +"The Grandidier factory," resumed Madame Toussaint; "well, we were just +going there, and we can show Monsieur l'Abbe the way." +</p> + +<p> +It was only a hundred steps off. Escorted by the two women and the child, +Pierre slackened his steps and tried to extract some information about +Salvat from Madame Theodore. But she at once became very prudent. She had +not seen him again, she declared; he must have gone with a mate to +Belgium, where there was a prospect of some work. From what she said, it +appeared to the priest that Salvat had not dared to return to the Rue des +Saules since his crime, in which all had collapsed, both his past life of +toil and hope, and his recent existence with its duties towards the woman +and the child. +</p> + +<p> +"There's the factory, Monsieur l'Abbe," suddenly said Madame Toussaint, +"my sister-in-law won't have to wait now, since you've been kind enough +to help her. Thank you for her and for us." +</p> + +<p> +Madame Theodore and Celine likewise poured forth their thanks, standing +beside Madame Toussaint in the everlasting mud of that populous district, +amidst the jostling of the passers-by. And lingering there as if to see +Pierre enter, they again chatted together and repeated that, after all, +some priests were very kind. +</p> + +<p> +The Grandidier works covered an extensive plot of ground. Facing the +street there was only a brick building with narrow windows and a great +archway, through which one espied a long courtyard. But, in the rear, +came a suite of habitations, workshops, and sheds, above whose never +ending roofs arose the two lofty chimneys of the generators. From the +very threshold one detected the rumbling and quivering of machinery, all +the noise and bustle of work. Black water flowed by at one's feet, and up +above white vapour spurted from a slender pipe with a regular strident +puff, as if it were the very breath of that huge, toiling hive. +</p> + +<p> +Bicycles were now the principal output of the works. When Grandidier had +taken them on leaving the Dijon Arts and Trades School, they were +declining under bad management, slowly building some little motive +engines by the aid of antiquated machinery. Foreseeing the future, +however, he had induced his elder brother, one of the managers of the Bon +Marche, to finance him, on the promise that he would supply that great +emporium with excellent bicycles at 150 francs apiece. And now quite a +big venture was in progress, for the Bon Marche was already bringing out +the new popular machine "La Lisette," the "Bicycle for the Multitude," as +the advertisements asserted. Nevertheless, Grandidier was still in all +the throes of a great struggle, for his new machinery had cast a heavy +burden of debt on him. At the same time each month brought its effort, +the perfecting or simplifying of some part of the manufacture, which +meant a saving in the future. He was ever on the watch; and even now was +thinking of reverting to the construction of little motors, for he +thought he could divine in the near future the triumph of the motor-car. +</p> + +<p> +On asking if M. Thomas Froment were there, Pierre was led by an old +workman to a little shed, where he found the young fellow in the linen +jacket of a mechanician, his hands black with filings. He was adjusting +some piece of mechanism, and nobody would have suspected him to be a +former pupil of the Lycee Condorcet, one of the three clever Froments who +had there rendered the name famous. But his only desire had been to act +as his father's faithful servant, the arm that forges, the embodiment of +the manual toil by which conceptions are realised. And, a giant of three +and twenty, ever attentive and courageous, he was likewise a man of +patient, silent and sober nature. +</p> + +<p> +On catching sight of Pierre he quivered with anxiety and sprang forward. +"Father is no worse?" he asked. +</p> + +<p> +"No, no. But he read in the papers that story of a bradawl found in the +Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, and it made him anxious, because the police may make +a perquisition here." +</p> + +<p> +Thomas, his own anxiety allayed, began to smile. "Tell him he may sleep +quietly," he responded. "To begin with, I've unfortunately not yet hit on +our little motor such as I want it to be. In fact, I haven't yet put it +together. I'm keeping the pieces at our house, and nobody here knows +exactly what I come to do at the factory. So the police may search, it +will find nothing. Our secret runs no risk." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre promised to repeat these words to Guillaume, so as to dissipate +his fears. However, when he tried to sound Thomas, and ascertain the +position of affairs, what the factory people thought of the discovery of +the bradawl, and whether there was as yet any suspicion of Salvat, he +once more found the young man taciturn, and elicited merely a "yes" or a +"no" in answer to his inquiries. The police had not been there as yet? +No. But the men must surely have mentioned Salvat? Yes, of course, on +account of his Anarchist opinions. But what had Grandidier, the master, +said, on returning from the investigating magistrate's? As for that +Thomas knew nothing. He had not seen Grandidier that day. +</p> + +<p> +"But here he comes!" the young man added. "Ah! poor fellow, his wife, I +fancy, had another attack this morning." +</p> + +<p> +He alluded to a frightful story which Guillaume had already recounted to +Pierre. Grandidier, falling in love with a very beautiful girl, had +married her; but for five years now she had been insane: the result of +puerperal fever and the death of an infant son. Her husband, with his +ardent affection for her, had been unwilling to place her in an asylum, +and had accordingly kept her with him in a little pavilion, whose +windows, overlooking the courtyard of the factory, always remained +closed. She was never seen; and never did he speak of her to anybody. It +was said that she was usually like a child, very gentle and very sad, and +still beautiful, with regal golden hair. At times, however, attacks of +frantic madness came upon her, and he then had to struggle with her, and +often hold her for hours in his arms to prevent her from splitting her +head against the walls. Fearful shrieks would ring out for a time, and +then deathlike silence would fall once more. +</p> + +<p> +Grandidier came into the shed where Thomas was working. A handsome man of +forty, with an energetic face, he had a dark and heavy moustache, +brush-like hair and clear eyes. He was very partial to Thomas, and during +the young fellow's apprenticeship there, had treated him like a son. And +he now let him return thither whenever it pleased him, and placed his +appliances at his disposal. He knew that he was trying to devise a new +motor, a question in which he himself was extremely interested; still he +evinced the greatest discretion, never questioning Thomas, but awaiting +the result of his endeavours. +</p> + +<p> +"This is my uncle, Abbe Froment, who looked in to wish me good day," said +the young man, introducing Pierre. +</p> + +<p> +An exchange of polite remarks ensued. Then Grandidier sought to cast off +the sadness which made people think him stern and harsh, and in a +bantering tone exclaimed: "I didn't tell you, Thomas, of my business with +the investigating magistrate. If I hadn't enjoyed a good reputation we +should have had all the spies of the Prefecture here. The magistrate +wanted me to explain the presence of that bradawl in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy, and I at once realised that, in his opinion, the culprit +must have worked here. For my part I immediately thought of Salvat. But I +don't denounce people. The magistrate has my hiring-book, and as for +Salvat I simply answered that he worked here for nearly three months last +autumn, and then disappeared. They can look for him themselves! Ah! that +magistrate! you can picture him a little fellow with fair hair and +cat-like eyes, very careful of his appearance, a society man evidently, +but quite frisky at being mixed up in this affair." +</p> + +<p> +"Isn't he Monsieur Amadieu?" asked Pierre. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, that's his name. Ah! he's certainly delighted with the present +which those Anarchists have made him, with that crime of theirs." +</p> + +<p> +The priest listened in deep anxiety. As his brother had feared, the true +scent, the first conducting wire, had now been found. And he looked at +Thomas to see if he also were disturbed. But the young man was either +ignorant of the ties which linked Salvat to his father, or else he +possessed great power of self-control, for he merely smiled at +Grandidier's sketch of the magistrate. +</p> + +<p> +Then, as Grandidier went to look at the piece of mechanism which Thomas +was finishing, and they began to speak about it, Pierre drew near to an +open doorway which communicated with a long workshop where engine lathes +were rumbling, and the beams of press-drills falling quickly and +rhythmically. Leather gearing spun along with a continuous gliding, and +there was ceaseless bustle and activity amidst the odoriferous dampness +of all the steam. Scores of perspiring workmen, grimy with dust and +filings, were still toiling. Still this was the final effort of the day. +And as three men approached a water-tap near Pierre to wash their hands, +he listened to their talk, and became particularly interested in it when +he heard one of them, a tall, ginger-haired fellow, call another +Toussaint, and the third Charles. +</p> + +<p> +Toussaint, a big, square-shouldered man with knotty arms, only showed his +fifty years on his round, scorched face, which besides being roughened +and wrinkled by labour, bristled with grey hairs, which nowadays he was +content to shave off once a week. It was only his right arm that was +affected by paralysis, and moved rather sluggishly. As for Charles, a +living portrait of his father, he was now in all the strength of his six +and twentieth year, with splendid muscles distending his white skin, and +a full face barred by a heavy black moustache. The three men, like their +employer, were speaking of the explosion at the Duvillard mansion, of the +bradawl found there, and of Salvat, whom they all now suspected. +</p> + +<p> +"Why, only a brigand would do such a thing!" said Toussaint. "That +Anarchism disgusts me. I'll have none of it. But all the same it's for +the <i>bourgeois</i> to settle matters. If the others want to blow them up, +it's their concern. It's they who brought it about." +</p> + +<p> +This indifference was undoubtedly the outcome of a life of want and +social injustice; it was the indifference of an old toiler, who, weary of +struggling and hoping for improvements, was now quite ready to tolerate +the crumbling of a social system, which threatened him with hunger in his +impotent old age. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, you know," rejoined Charles, "I've heard the Anarchists talking, +and they really say some very true and sensible things. And just take +yourself, father; you've been working for thirty years, and isn't it +abominable that you should have had to pass through all that you did pass +through recently, liable to go off like some old horse that's slaughtered +at the first sign of illness? And, of course, it makes me think of +myself, and I can't help feeling that it won't be at all amusing to end +like that. And may the thunder of God kill me if I'm wrong, but one feels +half inclined to join in their great flare-up if it's really to make +everybody happy!" +</p> + +<p> +He certainly lacked the flame of enthusiasm, and if he had come to these +views it was solely from impatience to lead a less toilsome life, for +obligatory military service had given him ideas of equality among all +men—a desire to struggle, raise himself and obtain his legitimate share +of life's enjoyments. It was, in fact, the inevitable step which carries +each generation a little more forward. There was the father, who, +deceived in his hope of a fraternal republic, had grown sceptical and +contemptuous; and there was the son advancing towards a new faith, and +gradually yielding to ideas of violence, since political liberty had +failed to keep its promises. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, as the big, ginger-haired fellow grew angry, and shouted +that if Salvat were guilty, he ought to be caught and guillotined at +once, without waiting for judges, Toussaint ended by endorsing his +opinion. "Yes, yes, he may have married one of my sisters, but I renounce +him. . . . And yet, you know, it would astonish me to find him guilty, +for he isn't wicked at heart. I'm sure he wouldn't kill a fly." +</p> + +<p> +"But what would you have?" put in Charles. "When a man's driven to +extremities he goes mad." +</p> + +<p> +They had now washed themselves; but Toussaint, on perceiving his +employer, lingered there in order to ask him for an advance. As it +happened, Grandidier, after cordially shaking hands with Pierre, +approached the old workman of his own accord, for he held him in esteem. +And, after listening to him, he gave him a line for the cashier on a +card. As a rule, he was altogether against the practice of advancing +money, and his men disliked him, and said he was over rigid, though in +point of fact he had a good heart. But he had his position as an employer +to defend, and to him concessions meant ruin. With such keen competition +on all sides, with the capitalist system entailing a terrible and +incessant struggle, how could one grant the demands of the workers, even +when they were legitimate? +</p> + +<p> +Sudden compassion came upon Pierre when, after quitting Thomas, he saw +Grandidier, who had finished his round, crossing the courtyard in the +direction of the closed pavilion, where all the grief of his +heart-tragedy awaited him. Here was that man waging the battle of life, +defending his fortune with the risk that his business might melt away +amidst the furious warfare between capital and labour; and at the same +time, in lieu of evening repose, finding naught but anguish it his +hearth: a mad wife, an adored wife, who had sunk back into infancy, and +was for ever dead to love! How incurable was his secret despair! Even on +the days when he triumphed in his workshops, disaster awaited him at +home. And could any more unhappy man, any man more deserving of pity, be +found even among the poor who died of hunger, among those gloomy workers, +those vanquished sons of labour who hated and who envied him? +</p> + +<p> +When Pierre found himself in the street again he was astonished to see +Madame Toussaint and Madame Theodore still there with little Celine. With +their feet in the mud, like bits of wreckage against which beat the +ceaseless flow of wayfarers, they had lingered there, still and ever +chatting, loquacious and doleful, lulling their wretchedness to rest +beneath a deluge of tittle-tattle. And when Toussaint, followed by his +son, came out, delighted with the advance he had secured, he also found +them on the same spot. Then he told Madame Theodore the story of the +bradawl, and the idea which had occurred to him and all his mates that +Salvat might well be the culprit. She, however, though turning very pale, +began to protest, concealing both what she knew and what she really +thought. +</p> + +<p> +"I tell you I haven't seen him for several days," said she. "He must +certainly be in Belgium. And as for a bomb, that's humbug. You say +yourself that he's very gentle and wouldn't harm a fly!" +</p> + +<p> +A little later as Pierre journeyed back to Neuilly in a tramcar he fell +into a deep reverie. All the stir and bustle of that working-class +district, the buzzing of the factory, the overflowing activity of that +hive of labour, seemed to have lingered within him. And for the first +time, amidst his worries, he realised the necessity of work. Yes, it was +fatal, but it also gave health and strength. In effort which sustains and +saves, he at last found a solid basis on which all might be reared. Was +this, then, the first gleam of a new faith? But ah! what mockery! Work an +uncertainty, work hopeless, work always ending in injustice! And then +want ever on the watch for the toiler, strangling him as soon as slack +times came round, and casting him into the streets like a dead dog +immediately old age set in. +</p> + +<p> +On reaching Neuilly, Pierre found Bertheroy at Guillaume's bedside. The +old <i>savant</i> had just dressed the injured wrist, and was not yet certain +that no complications would arise. "The fact is," he said to Guillaume, +"you don't keep quiet. I always find you in a state of feverish emotion +which is the worst possible thing for you. You must calm yourself, my +dear fellow, and not allow anything to worry you." +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes later, though, just as he was going away, he said with his +pleasant smile: "Do you know that a newspaper writer came to interview me +about that explosion? Those reporters imagine that scientific men know +everything! I told the one who called on me that it would be very kind of +<i>him</i> to enlighten <i>me</i> as to what powder was employed. And, by the way, +I am giving a lesson on explosives at my laboratory to-morrow. There will +be just a few persons present. You might come as well, Pierre, so as to +give an account of it to Guillaume; it would interest him." +</p> + +<p> +At a glance from his brother, Pierre accepted the invitation. Then, +Bertheroy having gone, he recounted all he had learnt during the +afternoon, how Salvat was suspected, and how the investigating magistrate +had been put on the right scent. And at this news, intense fever again +came over Guillaume, who, with his head buried in the pillow, and his +eyes closed, stammered as if in a kind of nightmare: "Ah! then, this is +the end! Salvat arrested, Salvat interrogated! Ah! that so much toil and +so much hope should crumble!" +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +IV +</h3> + +<h3> +CULTURE AND HOPE +</h3> + +<p> +ON the morrow, punctually at one o'clock, Pierre reached the Rue d'Ulm, +where Bertheroy resided in a fairly large house, which the State had +placed at his disposal, in order that he might install in it a laboratory +for study and research. Thus the whole first floor had been transformed +into one spacious apartment, where, from time to time, the illustrious +chemist was fond of receiving a limited number of pupils and admirers, +before whom he made experiments, and explained his new discoveries and +theories. +</p> + +<p> +For these occasions a few chairs were set out before the long and massive +table, which was covered with jars and appliances. In the rear one saw +the furnace, while all around were glass cases, full of vials and +specimens. The persons present were, for the most part, fellow <i>savants</i>, +with a few young men, and even a lady or two, and, of course, an +occasional journalist. The whole made up a kind of family gathering, the +visitors chatting with the master in all freedom. +</p> + +<p> +Directly Bertheroy perceived Pierre he came forward, pressed his hand and +seated him on a chair beside Guillaume's son Francois, who had been one +of the first arrivals. The young man was completing his third year at the +Ecole Normale, close by, so he only had a few steps to take to call upon +his master Bertheroy, whom he regarded as one of the firmest minds of the +age. Pierre was delighted to meet his nephew, for he had been greatly +impressed in his favour on the occasion of his visit to Montmartre. +Francois, on his side, greeted his uncle with all the cordial +expansiveness of youth. He was, moreover, well pleased to obtain some +news of his father. +</p> + +<p> +However, Bertheroy began. He spoke in a familiar and sober fashion, but +frequently employed some very happy expressions. At first he gave an +account of his own extensive labours and investigations with regard to +explosive substances, and related with a laugh that he sometimes +manipulated powders which would have blown up the entire district. But, +said he, in order to reassure his listeners, he was always extremely +prudent. At last he turned to the subject of that explosion in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy, which, for some days, had filled Paris with dismay. The +remnants of the bomb had been carefully examined by experts, and one +fragment had been brought to him, in order that he might give his opinion +on it. The bomb appeared to have been prepared in a very rudimentary +fashion; it had been charged with small pieces of iron, and fired by +means of a match, such as a child might have devised. The extraordinary +part of the affair was the formidable power of the central cartridge, +which, although it must have been a small one, had wrought as much havoc +as any thunderbolt. And the question was this: What incalculable power of +destruction might one not arrive at if the charge were increased ten, +twenty or a hundredfold. Embarrassment began, and divergencies of opinion +clouded the issue directly one tried to specify what explosive had been +employed. Of the three experts who had been consulted, one pronounced +himself in favour of dynamite pure and simple; but the two others, +although they did not agree together, believed in some combination of +explosive matters. He, Bertheroy, had modestly declined to adjudicate, +for the fragment submitted to him bore traces of so slight a character, +that analysis became impossible. Thus he was unwilling to make any +positive pronouncement. But his opinion was that one found oneself in +presence of some unknown powder, some new explosive, whose power exceeded +anything that had hitherto been dreamt of. He could picture some unknown +<i>savant</i>, or some ignorant but lucky inventor, discovering the formula of +this explosive under mysterious conditions. And this brought him to the +point he wished to reach, the question of all the explosives which are so +far unknown, and of the coming discoveries which he could foresee. In the +course of his investigations he himself had found cause to suspect the +existence of several such explosives, though he had lacked time and +opportunity to prosecute his studies in that direction. However, he +indicated the field which should be explored, and the best way of +proceeding. In his opinion it was there that lay the future. And in a +broad and eloquent peroration, he declared that explosives had hitherto +been degraded by being employed in idiotic schemes of vengeance and +destruction; whereas it was in them possibly that lay the liberating +force which science was seeking, the lever which would change the face of +the world, when they should have been so domesticated and subdued as to +be only the obedient servants of man. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout this familiar discourse Pierre could feel that Francois was +growing impassioned, quivering at thought of the vast horizon which the +master opened up. He himself had become extremely interested, for he +could not do otherwise than notice certain allusions, and connect what he +heard with what he had guessed of Guillaume's anxiety regarding that +secret which he feared to see at the mercy of an investigating +magistrate. And so as he, Pierre, before going off with Francois, +approached Bertheroy to wish him good day, he pointedly remarked: +"Guillaume will be very sorry that he was unable to hear you unfold those +admirable ideas." +</p> + +<p> +The old <i>savant</i> smiled. "Pooh!" said he; "just give him a summary of +what I said. He will understand. He knows more about the matter than I +do." +</p> + +<p> +In presence of the illustrious chemist, Francois preserved the silent +gravity of a respectful pupil, but when he and Pierre had taken a few +steps down the street in silence, he remarked: "What a pity it is that a +man of such broad intelligence, free from all superstition, and anxious +for the sole triumph of truth, should have allowed himself to be +classified, ticketed, bound round with titles and academical functions! +How greatly our affection for him would increase if he took less State +pay, and freed himself from all the grand cordons which tie his hands." +</p> + +<p> +"What would you have!" rejoined Pierre, in a conciliatory spirit. "A man +must live! At the same time I believe that he does not regard himself as +tied by anything." +</p> + +<p> +Then, as they had reached the entrance of the Ecole Normale, the priest +stopped, thinking that his companion was going back to the college. But +Francois, raising his eyes and glancing at the old place, remarked: "No, +no, to-day's Thursday, and I'm at liberty! Oh! we have a deal of liberty, +perhaps too much. But for my own part I'm well pleased at it, for it +often enables me to go to Montmartre and work at my old little table. +It's only there that I feel any real strength and clearness of mind." +</p> + +<p> +His preliminary examinations had entitled him to admission at either the +Ecole Polytechnique or the Ecole Normale,* and he had chosen the latter, +entering its scientific section with No. l against his name. His father +had wished him to make sure of an avocation, that of professor, even if +circumstances should allow him to remain independent and follow his own +bent on leaving the college. Francois, who was very precocious, was now +preparing for his last examination there, and the only rest he took was +in walking to and from Montmartre, or in strolling through the Luxembourg +gardens. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> + * The purposes of the Ecole Normale have been referred to on + p. 197. At the Ecole Polytechnique young men receive much + of the preliminary training which they require to become + either artillery officers, or military, naval or civil + engineers.—Trans. +</p> + +<p> +From force of habit he now turned towards the latter, accompanied by +Pierre and chatting with him. One found the mildness of springtime there +that February afternoon; for pale sunshine streamed between the trees, +which were still leafless. It was indeed one of those first fine days +which draw little green gems from the branches of the lilac bushes. +</p> + +<p> +The Ecole Normale was still the subject of conversation and Pierre +remarked: "I must own that I hardly like the spirit that prevails there. +Excellent work is done, no doubt, and the only way to form professors is +to teach men the trade by cramming them with the necessary knowledge. But +the worst is that although all the students are trained for the teaching +profession, many of them don't remain in it, but go out into the world, +take to journalism, or make it their business to control the arts, +literature and society. And those who do this are for the most part +unbearable. After swearing by Voltaire they have gone back to +spirituality and mysticism, the last drawing-room craze. Now that a firm +faith in science is regarded as brutish and inelegant, they fancy that +they rid themselves of their caste by feigning amiable doubt, and +ignorance, and innocence. What they most fear is that they may carry a +scent of the schools about with them, so they put on extremely Parisian +airs, venture on somersaults and slang, and assume all the grace of +dancing bears in their eager desire to please. From that desire spring +the sarcastic shafts which they aim at science, they who pretend that +they know everything, but who go back to the belief of the humble, the +<i>naive</i> idealism of Biblical legends, just because they think the latter +to be more distinguished." +</p> + +<p> +Francois began to laugh: "The portrait is perhaps a little overdrawn," +said he, "still there's truth in it, a great deal of truth." +</p> + +<p> +"I have known several of them," continued Pierre, who was growing +animated. "And among them all I have noticed that a fear of being duped +leads them to reaction against the entire effort, the whole work of the +century. Disgust with liberty, distrust of science, denial of the future, +that is what they now profess. And they have such a horror of the +commonplace that they would rather believe in nothing or the incredible. +It may of course be commonplace to say that two and two make four, yet +it's true enough; and it is far less foolish for a man to say and repeat +it than to believe, for instance, in the miracles of Lourdes." +</p> + +<p> +Francois glanced at the priest in astonishment. The other noticed it and +strove to restrain himself. Nevertheless, grief and anger carried him +away whenever he spoke of the educated young people of the time, such as, +in his despair, he imagined them to be. In the same way as he had pitied +the toilers dying of hunger in the districts of misery and want, so here +he overflowed with contempt for the young minds that lacked bravery in +the presence of knowledge, and harked back to the consolation of +deceptive spirituality, the promise of an eternity of happiness in death, +which last was longed for and exalted as the very sum of life. Was not +the cowardly thought of refusing to live for the sake of living so as to +discharge one's simple duty in being and making one's effort, equivalent +to absolute assassination of life? However, the <i>Ego</i> was always the +mainspring; each one sought personal happiness. And Pierre was grieved to +think that those young people, instead of discarding the past and +marching on to the truths of the future, were relapsing into shadowy +metaphysics through sheer weariness and idleness, due in part perhaps to +the excessive exertion of the century, which had been overladen with +human toil. +</p> + +<p> +However, Francois had begun to smile again. "But you are mistaken," said +he; "we are not all like that at the Ecole Normale. You only seem to know +the Normalians of the Section of Letters, and your opinions would surely +change if you knew those of the Section of Sciences. It is quite true +that the reaction against Positivism is making itself felt among our +literary fellow-students, and that they, like others, are haunted by the +idea of that famous bankruptcy of science. This is perhaps due to their +masters, the neo-spiritualists and dogmatical rhetoricians into whose +hands they have fallen. And it is still more due to fashion, the whim of +the times which, as you have very well put it, regards scientific truth +as bad taste, something graceless and altogether too brutal for light and +distinguished minds. Consequently, a young fellow of any shrewdness who +desires to please is perforce won over to the new spirit." +</p> + +<p> +"The new spirit!" interrupted Pierre, unable to restrain himself. "Oh! +that is no mere innocent, passing fashion, it is a tactical device and a +terrible one, an offensive return of the powers of darkness against those +of light, of servitude against free thought, truth and justice." +</p> + +<p> +Then, as the young man again looked at him with growing astonishment, he +relapsed into silence. The figure of Monseigneur Martha had risen before +his eyes, and he fancied he could again hear the prelate at the +Madeleine, striving to win Paris over to the policy of Rome, to that +spurious neo-Catholicism which, with the object of destroying democracy +and science, accepted such portions of them as it could adapt to its own +views. This was indeed the supreme struggle. Thence came all the poison +poured forth to the young. Pierre knew what efforts were being made in +religious circles to help on this revival of mysticism, in the mad hope +of hastening the rout of science. Monseigneur Martha, who was +all-powerful at the Catholic University, said to his intimates, however, +that three generations of devout and docile pupils would be needed before +the Church would again be absolute sovereign of France. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, as for the Ecole Normale," continued Francois, "I assure you that +you are mistaken. There are a few narrow bigots there, no doubt. But even +in the Section of Letters the majority of the students are sceptics at +bottom—sceptics of discreet and good-natured average views. Of course +they are professors before everything else, though they are a trifle +ashamed of it; and, as professors, they judge things with no little +pedantic irony, devoured by a spirit of criticism, and quite incapable of +creating anything themselves. I should certainly be astonished to see the +man of genius whom we await come out of their ranks. To my thinking, +indeed, it would be preferable that some barbarian genius, neither well +read nor endowed with critical faculty, or power of weighing and shading +things, should come and open the next century with a hatchet stroke, +sending up a fine flare of truth and reality. . . . But, as for my +comrades of the Scientific Section, I assure you that neo-Catholicism and +Mysticism and Occultism, and every other branch of the fashionable +phantasmagoria trouble them very little indeed. They are not making a +religion of science, they remain open to doubt on many points; but they +are mostly men of very clear and firm minds, whose passion is the +acquirement of certainty, and who are ever absorbed in the investigations +which continue throughout the whole vast field of human knowledge. They +haven't flinched, they have remained Positivists, or Evolutionists, or +Determinists, and have set their faith in observation and experiment to +help on the final conquest of the world." +</p> + +<p> +Francois himself was growing excited, as he thus confessed his faith +while strolling along the quiet sunlit garden paths. "The young indeed!" +he resumed. "Do people know them? It makes us laugh when we see all sorts +of apostles fighting for us, trying to attract us, and saying that we are +white or black or grey, according to the hue which they require for the +triumph of their particular ideas! The young, the real ones, why, they're +in the schools, the laboratories and the libraries. It's they who work +and who'll bring to-morrow to the world. It's not the young fellows of +dinner and supper clubs, manifestoes and all sorts of extravagances. The +latter make a great deal of noise, no doubt; in fact, they alone are +heard. But if you knew of the ceaseless efforts and passionate striving +of the others, those who remain silent, absorbed in their tasks. And I +know many of them: they are with their century, they have rejected none +of its hopes, but are marching on to the coming century, resolved to +pursue the work of their forerunners, ever going towards more light and +more equity. And just speak to them of the bankruptcy of science. They'll +shrug their shoulders at the mere idea, for they know well enough that +science has never before inflamed so many hearts or achieved greater +conquests! It is only if the schools, laboratories and libraries were +closed, and the social soil radically changed, that one would have cause +to fear a fresh growth of error such as weak hearts and narrow minds hold +so dear!" +</p> + +<p> +At this point Francois's fine flow of eloquence was interrupted. A tall +young fellow stopped to shake hands with him; and Pierre was surprised to +recognise Baron Duvillard's son Hyacinthe, who bowed to him in very +correct style. "What! you here in our old quarter," exclaimed Francois. +</p> + +<p> +"My dear fellow, I'm going to Jonas's, over yonder, behind the +Observatory. Don't you know Jonas? Ah! my dear fellow, he's a delightful +sculptor, who has succeeded in doing away with matter almost entirely. He +has carved a figure of Woman, no bigger than the finger, and entirely +soul, free from all baseness of form, and yet complete. All Woman, +indeed, in her essential symbolism! Ah! it's grand, it's overpowering. A +perfect scheme of aesthetics, a real religion!" +</p> + +<p> +Francois smiled as he looked at Hyacinthe, buttoned up in his long +pleated frock-coat, with his made-up face, and carefully cropped hair and +beard. "And yourself?" said he, "I thought you were working, and were +going to publish a little poem, shortly?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! the task of creating is so distasteful to me, my dear fellow! A +single line often takes me weeks. . . . Still, yes, I have a little poem +on hand, 'The End of Woman.' And you see, I'm not so exclusive as some +people pretend, since I admire Jonas, who still believes in Woman. His +excuse is sculpture, which, after all, is at best such a gross +materialistic art. But in poetry, good heavens, how we've been +overwhelmed with Woman, always Woman! It's surely time to drive her out +of the temple, and cleanse it a little. Ah! if we were all pure and lofty +enough to do without Woman, and renounce all those horrid sexual +questions, so that the last of the species might die childless, eh? The +world would then at least finish in a clean and proper manner!" +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon, Hyacinthe walked off with his languid air, well pleased with +the effect which he had produced on the others. +</p> + +<p> +"So you know him?" said Pierre to Francois. +</p> + +<p> +"He was my school-fellow at Condorcet, we were in the same classes +together. Such a funny fellow he was! A perfect dunce! And he was always +making a parade of Father Duvillard's millions, while pretending to +disdain them, and act the revolutionist, for ever saying that he'd use +his cigarette to fire the cartridge which was to blow up the world! He +was Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, and Tolstoi, and Ibsen, rolled into one! +And you can see what he has become with it all: a humbug with a diseased +mind!" +</p> + +<p> +"It's a terrible symptom," muttered Pierre, "when through <i>ennui</i> or +lassitude, or the contagion of destructive fury, the sons of the happy +and privileged ones start doing the work of the demolishers." +</p> + +<p> +Francois had resumed his walk, going down towards the ornamental water, +where some children were sailing their boats. "That fellow is simply +grotesque," he replied; "but how would you have sane people give any heed +to that mysticism, that awakening of spirituality which is alleged by the +same <i>doctrinaires</i> who started the bankruptcy of science cry, when after +so brief an evolution it produces such insanity, both in art and +literature? A few years of influence have sufficed; and now Satanism, +Occultism and other absurdities are flourishing; not to mention that, +according to some accounts, the Cities of the Plains are reconciled with +new Rome. Isn't the tree judged by its fruits? And isn't it evident that, +instead of a renascence, a far-spreading social movement bringing back +the past, we are simply witnessing a transitory reaction, which many +things explain? The old world would rather not die, and is struggling in +a final convulsion, reviving for a last hour before it is swept away by +the overflowing river of human knowledge, whose waters ever increase. And +yonder, in the future, is the new world, which the real young ones will +bring into existence, those who work, those who are not known, who are +not heard. And yet, just listen! Perhaps you will hear them, for we are +among them, in their 'quarter.' This deep silence is that of the labour +of all the young fellows who are leaning over their work-tables, and day +by day carrying forward the conquest of truth." +</p> + +<p> +So saying Francois waved his hand towards all the day-schools and +colleges and high schools beyond the Luxembourg garden, towards the +Faculties of Law and Medicine, the Institute and its five Academies, the +innumerable libraries and museums which made up the broad domain of +intellectual labour. And Pierre, moved by it all, shaken in his theories +of negation, thought that he could indeed hear a low but far-spreading +murmur of the work of thousands of active minds, rising from +laboratories, studies and class, reading and lecture rooms. It was not +like the jerky, breathless trepidation, the loud clamour of factories +where manual labour toils and chafes. But here, too, there were sighs of +weariness, efforts as killing, exertion as fruitful in its results. Was +it indeed true that the cultured young were still and ever in their +silent forge, renouncing no hope, relinquishing no conquest, but in full +freedom of mind forging the truth and justice of to-morrow with the +invincible hammers of observation and experiment? +</p> + +<p> +Francois, however, had raised his eyes to the palace clock to ascertain +the time. "I'm going to Montmartre," he said; "will you come part of the +way with me?" +</p> + +<p> +Pierre assented, particularly as the young man added that on his way he +meant to call for his brother Antoine at the Museum of the Louvre. That +bright afternoon the Louvre picture galleries were steeped in warm and +dignified quietude, which one particularly noticed on coming from the +tumult and scramble of the streets. The majority of the few people one +found there were copyists working in deep silence, which only the +wandering footsteps of an occasional tourist disturbed. Pierre and +Francois found Antoine at the end of the gallery assigned to the +Primitive masters. With scrupulous, almost devout care he was making a +drawing of a figure by Mantegna. The Primitives did not impassion him by +reason of any particular mysticism and ideality, such as fashion pretends +to find in them, but on the contrary, and justifiably enough, by reason +of the sincerity of their ingenuous realism, their respect and modesty in +presence of nature, and the minute fidelity with which they sought to +transcribe it. He spent days of hard work in copying and studying them, +in order to learn strictness and probity of drawing from them—all that +lofty distinction of style which they owe to their candour as honest +artists. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre was struck by the pure glow which a sitting of good hard work had +set in Antoine's light blue eyes. It imparted warmth and even +feverishness to his fair face, which was usually all dreaminess and +gentleness. His lofty forehead now truly looked like a citadel armed for +the conquest of truth and beauty. He was only eighteen, and his story was +simply this: as he had grown disgusted with classical studies and been +mastered by a passion for drawing, his father had let him leave the Lycee +Condorcet when he was in the third class there. Some little time had then +elapsed while he felt his way and the deep originality within him was +being evolved. He had tried etching on copper, but had soon come to wood +engraving, and had attached himself to it in spite of the discredit into +which it had fallen, lowered as it had been to the level of a mere trade. +Was there not here an entire art to restore and enlarge? For his own part +he dreamt of engraving his own drawings, of being at once the brain which +conceives and the hand which executes, in such wise as to obtain new +effects of great intensity both as regards perception and touch. To +comply with the wishes of his father, who desired each of his sons to +have a trade, he earned his bread like other engravers by working for the +illustrated newspapers. But, in addition to this current work, he had +already engraved several blocks instinct with wonderful power and life. +They were simply copies of real things, scenes of everyday existence, but +they were accentuated, elevated so to say, by the essential line, with a +maestria which on the part of so young a lad fairly astonished one. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you want to engrave that?" Francois asked him, as he placed his copy +of Mantegna's figure in his portfolio. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! no, that's merely a dip into innocence, a good lesson to teach one +to be modest and sincere. Life is very different nowadays." +</p> + +<p> +Then, while walking along the streets—for Pierre, who felt growing +sympathy for the two young fellows, went with them in the direction of +Montmartre, forgetful of all else,—Antoine, who was beside him, spoke +expansively of his artistic dreams. +</p> + +<p> +"Colour is certainly a power, a sovereign source of charm, and one may, +indeed, say that without colour nothing can be completely represented. +Yet, singularly enough, it isn't indispensable to me. It seems to me that +I can picture life as intensely and definitely with mere black and white, +and I even fancy that I shall be able to do so in a more essential +manner, without any of the dupery which lies in colour. But what a task +it is! I should like to depict the Paris of to-day in a few scenes, a few +typical figures, which would serve as testimony for all time. And I +should like to do it with great fidelity and candour, for an artist only +lives by reason of his candour, his humility and steadfast belief in +Nature, which is ever beautiful. I've already done a few figures, I will +show them to you. But ah! if I only dared to tackle my blocks with the +graver, at the outset, without drawing my subject beforehand. For that +generally takes away one's fire. However, what I do with the pencil is a +mere sketch; for with the graver I may come upon a find, some unexpected +strength or delicacy of effect. And so I'm draughtsman and engraver all +in one, in such a way that my blocks can only be turned out by myself. If +the drawings on them were engraved by another, they would be quite +lifeless. . . . Yes, life can spring from the fingers just as well as +from the brain, when one really possesses creative power." +</p> + +<p> +They walked on, and when they found themselves just below Montmartre, and +Pierre spoke of taking a tramcar to return to Neuilly, Antoine, quite +feverish with artistic passion, asked him if he knew Jahan, the sculptor, +who was working for the Sacred Heart. And on receiving a negative reply, +he added: "Well, come and see him for a moment. He has a great future +before him. You'll see an angel of his which has been declined." +</p> + +<p> +Then, as Francois began to praise the angel in question, Pierre agreed to +accompany them. On the summit of the height, among all the sheds which +the building of the basilica necessitated, Jahan had been able to set up +a glazed workshop large enough for the huge angel ordered of him. His +three visitors found him there in a blouse, watching a couple of +assistants, who were rough-hewing the block of stone whence the angel was +to emerge. Jahan was a sturdy man of thirty-six, with dark hair and +beard, a large, ruddy mouth and fine bright eyes. Born in Paris, he had +studied at the Fine Art School, but his impetuous temperament had +constantly landed him in trouble there. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! yes," said he, "you've come to see my angel, the one which the +Archbishop wouldn't take. Well, there it is." +</p> + +<p> +The clay model of the figure, some three feet high, and already drying, +looked superb in its soaring posture, with its large, outspread wings +expanding as if with passionate desire for the infinite. The body, barely +draped, was that of a slim yet robust youth, whose face beamed with the +rapture of his heavenly flight. +</p> + +<p> +"They found him too human," said Jahan. "And after all they were right. +There's nothing so difficult to conceive as an angel. One even hesitates +as to the sex; and when faith is lacking one has to take the first model +one finds and copy it and spoil it. For my part, while I was modelling +that one, I tried to imagine a beautiful youth suddenly endowed with +wings, and carried by the intoxication of his flight into all the joy of +the sunshine. But it upset them, they wanted something more religious, +they said; and so then I concocted that wretched thing over there. After +all, one has to earn one's living, you know." +</p> + +<p> +So saying, he waved his hand towards another model, the one for which his +assistants were preparing the stone. And this model represented an angel +of the correct type, with symmetrical wings like those of a goose, a +figure of neither sex, and commonplace features, expressing the silly +ecstasy that tradition requires. +</p> + +<p> +"What would you have?" continued Jahan. "Religious art has sunk to the +most disgusting triteness. People no longer believe; churches are built +like barracks, and decorated with saints and virgins fit to make one +weep. The fact is that genius is only the fruit of the social soil; and a +great artist can only send up a blaze of the faith of the time he lives +in. For my part, I'm the grandson of a Beauceron peasant. My father came +to Paris to set himself up in business as a marble worker for tombstones +and so forth, just at the top of the Rue de la Roquette. It was there I +grew up. I began as a workman, and all my childhood was spent among the +masses, in the streets, without ever a thought coming to me of setting +foot in a church. So few Parisians think of doing so nowadays. And so +what's to become of art since there's no belief in the Divinity or even +in beauty? We're forced to go forward to the new faith, which is the +faith in life and work and fruitfulness, in all that labours and +produces." +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly breaking off he exclaimed: "By the way, I've been doing +some more work to my figure of Fecundity, and I'm fairly well pleased +with it. Just come with me and I'll show it you." +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon he insisted on taking them to his private studio, which was +near by, just below Guillaume's little house. It was entered by way of +the Rue du Calvaire, a street which is simply a succession of ladder-like +flights of steps. The door opened on to one of the little landings, and +one found oneself in a spacious, well-lighted apartment littered with +models and casts, fragments and figures, quite an overflow of sturdy, +powerful talent. On a stool was the unfinished model of Fecundity swathed +in wet cloths. These Jahan removed, and then she stood forth with her +rounded figure, her broad hips and her wifely, maternal bosom, full of +the milk which nourishes and redeems. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, what do you think of her?" asked Jahan. "Built as she is, I fancy +that her children ought to be less puny than the pale, languid, aesthetic +fellows of nowadays!" +</p> + +<p> +While Antoine and Francois were admiring the figure, Pierre, for his +part, took most interest in a young girl who had opened the door to them, +and who had now wearily reseated herself at a little table to continue a +book she was reading. This was Jahan's sister, Lise. A score of years +younger than himself, she was but sixteen, and had been living alone with +him since their father's death. Very slight and delicate looking, she had +a most gentle face, with fine light hair which suggested pale gold-dust. +She was almost a cripple, with legs so weak that she only walked with +difficulty, and her mind also was belated, still full of childish +<i>naivete</i>. At first this had much saddened her brother, but with time he +had grown accustomed to her innocence and languor. Busy as he always was, +ever in a transport, overflowing with new plans, he somewhat neglected +her by force of circumstances, letting her live beside him much as she +listed. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre had noticed, however, the sisterly impulsiveness with which she +had greeted Antoine. And the latter, after congratulating Jahan on his +statue, came and sat down beside her, questioned her and wished to see +the book which she was reading. During the last six months the most pure +and affectionate intercourse had sprung up between them. He, from his +father's garden, up yonder on the Place du Tertre, could see her through +the huge window of that studio where she led so innocent a life. And +noticing that she was always alone, as if forsaken, he had begun to take +an interest in her. Then had come acquaintance; and, delighted to find +her so simple and so charming, he had conceived the design of rousing her +to intelligence and life, by loving her, by becoming at once the mind and +the heart whose power fructifies. Weak plant that she was, in need of +delicate care, sunshine and affection, he became for her all that her +brother had, through circumstances, failed to be. He had already taught +her to read, a task in which every mistress had previously failed. But +him she listened to and understood. And by slow degrees a glow of +happiness came to the beautiful clear eyes set in her irregular face. It +was love's miracle, the creation of woman beneath the breath of a young +lover who gave himself entirely. No doubt she still remained very +delicate, with such poor health that one ever feared that she might +expire in a faint sigh; and her legs, moreover, were still too weak to +admit of her walking any distance. But all the same, she was no longer +the little wilding, the little ailing flower of the previous spring. +</p> + +<p> +Jahan, who marvelled at the incipient miracle, drew near to the young +people. "Ah!" said he, "your pupil does you honour. She reads quite +fluently, you know, and understands the fine books you send her. You read +to me of an evening now, don't you, Lise?" +</p> + +<p> +She raised her candid eyes, and gazed at Antoine with a smile of infinite +gratitude. "Oh! whatever he'll teach me," she said, "I'll learn it, and +do it." +</p> + +<p> +The others laughed gently. Then, as the visitors were going off, Francois +paused before a model which had cracked while drying. "Oh! that's a +spoilt thing," said the sculptor. "I wanted to model a figure of Charity. +It was ordered of me by a philanthropic institution. But try as I might, +I could only devise something so commonplace that I let the clay spoil. +Still, I must think it over and endeavour to take the matter in hand +again." +</p> + +<p> +When they were outside, it occurred to Pierre to go as far as the +basilica of the Sacred Heart in the hope of finding Abbe Rose there. So +the three of them went round by way of the Rue Gabrielle and climbed the +steps of the Rue Chape. And just as they were reaching the summit where +the basilica reared its forest of scaffoldings beneath the clear sky, +they encountered Thomas, who, on leaving the factory, had gone to give an +order to a founder in the Rue Lamarck. +</p> + +<p> +He, who as a rule was so silent and discreet, now happened to be in an +expansive mood, which made him look quite radiant. "Ah! I'm so pleased," +he said, addressing Pierre; "I fancy that I've found what I want for our +little motor. Tell father that things are going on all right, and that he +must make haste to get well." +</p> + +<p> +At these words his brothers, Francois and Antoine, drew close to him with +a common impulse. And they stood there all three, a valiant little group, +their hearts uniting and beating with one and the same delight at the +idea that their father would be gladdened, that the good news they were +sending him would help him towards recovery. As for Pierre, who, now that +he knew them, was beginning to love them and judge them at their worth, +he marvelled at the sight of these three young giants, each so strikingly +like the other, and drawn together so closely and so promptly, directly +their filial affection took fire. +</p> + +<p> +"Tell him that we are waiting for him, and will come to him at the first +sign if we are wanted." +</p> + +<p> +Then each in turn shook the priest's hand vigorously. And while he +remained watching them as they went off towards the little house, whose +garden he perceived over the wall of the Rue Saint Eleuthere, he fancied +he could there detect a delicate silhouette, a white, sunlit face under a +help of dark hair. It was doubtless the face of Marie, examining the buds +on her lilac bushes. At that evening hour, however, the diffuse light was +so golden that the vision seemed to fade in it as in a halo. And Pierre, +feeling dazzled, turned his head, and on the other side saw naught but +the overwhelming, chalky mass of the basilica, whose hugeness shut out +all view of the horizon. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment he remained motionless on that spot, so agitated by +conflicting thoughts and feelings that he could read neither heart nor +mind clearly. Then, as he turned towards the city, all Paris spread +itself out at his feet, a limpid, lightsome Paris, beneath the pink glow +of that spring-like evening. The endless billows of house-roofs showed +forth with wonderful distinctness, and one could have counted the chimney +stacks and the little black streaks of the windows by the million. The +edifices rising into the calm atmosphere seemed like the anchored vessels +of some fleet arrested in its course, with lofty masting which glittered +at the sun's farewell. And never before had Pierre so distinctly observed +the divisions of that human ocean. Eastward and northward was the city of +manual toil, with the rumbling and the smoke of its factories. Southward, +beyond the river, was the city of study, of intellectual labour, so calm, +so perfectly serene. And on all sides the passion of trade ascended from +the central districts, where the crowds rolled and scrambled amidst an +everlasting uproar of wheels; while westward, the city of the happy and +powerful ones, those who fought for sovereignty and wealth, spread out +its piles of palaces amidst the slowly reddening flare of the declining +planet. +</p> + +<p> +And then, from the depths of his negation, the chaos into which his loss +of faith had plunged him, Pierre felt a delicious freshness pass like the +vague advent of a new faith. So vague it was that he could not have +expressed even his hope of it in words. But already among the rough +factory workers, manual toil had appeared to him necessary and +redemptive, in spite of all the misery and abominable injustice to which +it led. And now the young men of intellect of whom he had despaired, that +generation of the morrow which he had thought spoilt, relapsing into +ancient error and rottenness, had appeared to him full of virile promise, +resolved to prosecute the work of those who had gone before, and effect, +by the aid of Science only, the conquest of absolute truth and absolute +justice. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /></p> + +<h3> +V +</h3> + +<h3> +PROBLEMS +</h3> + +<p> +A FULL month had already gone by since Guillaume had taken refuge at his +brother's little house at Neuilly. His wrist was now nearly healed. He +had long ceased to keep his bed, and often strolled through the garden. +In spite of his impatience to go back to Montmartre, join his loved ones +and resume his work there, he was each morning prompted to defer his +return by the news he found in the newspapers. The situation was ever the +same. Salvat, whom the police now suspected, had been perceived one +evening near the central markets, and then again lost sight of. Every +day, however, his arrest was said to be imminent. And in that case what +would happen? Would he speak out, and would fresh perquisitions be made? +</p> + +<p> +For a whole week the press had been busy with the bradawl found under the +entrance of the Duvillard mansion. Nearly every reporter in Paris had +called at the Grandidier factory and interviewed both workmen and master. +Some had even started on personal investigations, in the hope of +capturing the culprit themselves. There was no end of jesting about the +incompetence of the police, and the hunt for Salvat was followed all the +more passionately by the general public, as the papers overflowed with +the most ridiculous concoctions, predicting further explosions, and +declaring even that all Paris would some morning be blown into the air. +The "Voix du Peuple" set a fresh shudder circulating every day by its +announcements of threatening letters, incendiary placards and mysterious, +far-reaching plots. And never before had so base and foolish a spirit of +contagion wafted insanity through a civilised city. +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, for his part, no sooner awoke of a morning than he was all +impatience to see the newspapers, quivering at the idea that he would at +last read of Salvat's arrest. In his state of nervous expectancy, the +wild campaign which the press had started, the idiotic and the ferocious +things which he found in one or another journal, almost drove him crazy. +A number of "suspects" had already been arrested in a kind of chance +razzia, which had swept up the usual Anarchist herd, together with sundry +honest workmen and bandits, <i>illumines</i> and lazy devils, in fact, a most +singular, motley crew, which investigating magistrate Amadieu was +endeavouring to turn into a gigantic association of evil-doers. One +morning, moreover, Guillaume found his own name mentioned in connection +with a perquisition at the residence of a revolutionary journalist, who +was a friend of his. At this his heart bounded with revolt, but he was +forced to the conclusion that it would be prudent for him to remain +patient a little longer, in his peaceful retreat at Neuilly, since the +police might at any moment break into his home at Montmartre, to arrest +him should it find him there. +</p> + +<p> +Amidst all this anxiety the brothers led a most solitary and gentle life. +Pierre himself now spent most of his time at home. The first days of +March had come, and precocious springtide imparted delightful charm and +warmth to the little garden. Guillaume, however, since quitting his bed, +had more particularly installed himself in his father's old laboratory, +now transformed into a spacious study. All the books and papers left by +the illustrious chemist were still there, and among the latter Guillaume +found a number of unfinished essays, the perusal of which greatly excited +his interest, and often absorbed him from morning till night. It was this +which largely enabled him to bear his voluntary seclusion patiently. +Seated on the other side of the big table, Pierre also mostly occupied +himself with reading; but at times his eyes would quit his book and +wander away into gloomy reverie, into all the chaos into which he still +and ever sank. For long hours the brothers would in this wise remain side +by side, without speaking a word. Yet they knew they were together; and +occasionally, when their eyes met, they would exchange a smile. The +strong affection of former days was again springing up within them; their +childhood, their home, their parents, all seemed to live once more in the +quiet atmosphere they breathed. However, the bay window overlooked the +garden in the direction of Paris, and often, when they emerged from their +reading or their reverie, it was with a sudden feeling of anxiety, and in +order to lend ear to the distant rumbling, the increased clamour of the +great city. +</p> + +<p> +On other occasions they paused as if in astonishment at hearing a +continuous footfall overhead. It was that of Nicholas Barthes, who still +lingered in the room above. He seldom came downstairs, and scarcely ever +ventured into the garden, for fear, said he, that he might be perceived +and recognised from a distant house whose windows were concealed by a +clump of trees. One might laugh at the old conspirator's haunting thought +of the police. Nevertheless, the caged-lion restlessness, the ceaseless +promenade of that perpetual prisoner who had spent two thirds of his life +in the dungeons of France in his desire to secure the liberty of others, +imparted to the silence of the little house a touching melancholy, the +very rhythm as it were of all the great good things which one hoped for, +but which would never perhaps come. +</p> + +<p> +Very few visits drew the brothers from their solitude. Bertheroy came +less frequently now that Guillaume's wrist was healing. The most +assiduous caller was certainly Theophile Morin, whose discreet ring was +heard every other day at the same hour. Though he did not share the ideas +of Barthes he worshipped him as a martyr; and would always go upstairs to +spend an hour with him. However, they must have exchanged few words, for +not a sound came from the room. Whenever Morin sat down for a moment in +the laboratory with the brothers, Pierre was struck by his seeming +weariness, his ashen grey hair and beard and dismal countenance, all the +life of which appeared to have been effaced by long years spent in the +teaching profession. Indeed, it was only when the priest mentioned Italy +that he saw his companion's resigned eyes blaze up like live coals. One +day when he spoke of the great patriot Orlando Prada, Morin's companion +of victory in Garibaldi's days, he was amazed by the sudden flare of +enthusiasm which lighted up the other's lifeless features. However, these +were but transient flashes: the old professor soon reappeared, and all +that one found in Morin was the friend of Proudhon and the subsequent +disciple of Auguste Comte. Of his Proudhonian principles he had retained +all a pauper's hatred of wealth, and a desire for a more equitable +partition of fortune. But the new times dismayed him, and neither +principle nor temperament allowed him to follow Revolutionism to its +utmost limits. Comte had imparted unshakable convictions to him in the +sphere of intellectual questions, and he contented himself with the clear +and decisive logic of Positivism, rejecting all metaphysical hypotheses +as useless, persuaded as he was that the whole human question, whether +social or religious, would be solved by science alone. This faith, firm +as it had remained, was, however, coupled with secret bitterness, for +nothing seemed to advance in a sensible manner towards its goal. Comte +himself had ended in the most cloudy mysticism; great <i>savants</i> recoiled +from truth in terror; and now barbarians were threatening the world with +fresh night; all of which made Morin almost a reactionist in politics, +already resigned to the advent of a dictator, who would set things +somewhat in order, so that humanity might be able to complete its +education. +</p> + +<p> +Other visitors who occasionally called to see Guillaume were Bache and +Janzen, who invariably came together and at night-time. Every now and +then they would linger chatting with Guillaume in the spacious study +until two o'clock in the morning. Bache, who was fat and had a fatherly +air, with his little eyes gently beaming amidst all the snowy whiteness +of his hair and beard, would talk on slowly, unctuously and interminably, +as soon as he had begun to explain his views. He would address merely a +polite bow to Saint-Simon, the initiator, the first to lay down the law +that work was a necessity for one and all according to their capacities; +but on coming to Fourier his voice softened and he confessed his whole +religion. To his thinking, Fourier had been the real messiah of modern +times, the saviour of genius, who had sown the good seed of the future +world, by regulating society such as it would certainly be organised +to-morrow. The law of harmony had been promulgated; human passions, +liberated and utilised in healthy fashion, would become the requisite +machinery; and work, rendered pleasant and attractive, would prove the +very function of life. Nothing could discourage Bache; if merely one +parish began by transforming itself into a <i>phalansterium</i>, the whole +department would soon follow, then the adjacent departments, and finally +all France. Moreover, Bache even favoured the schemes of Cabet, whose +Icaria, said he, had in no wise been such a foolish idea. Further, he +recalled a motion he had made, when member of the Commune in 1871, to +apply Fourier's ideas to the French Republic; and he was apparently +convinced that the troops of Versailles had delayed the triumph of +Communism for half a century. Whenever people nowadays talked of +table-turning he pretended to laugh, but at bottom he had remained an +impenitent "spiritist." Since he had been a municipal councillor he had +been travelling from one socialist sect to another, according as their +ideas offered points of resemblance to his old faith. And he was fairly +consumed by his need of faith, his perplexity as to the Divine, which he +was now occasionally inclined to find in the legs of some piece of +furniture, after denying its presence in the churches. +</p> + +<p> +Janzen, for his part, was as taciturn as his friend Bache was garrulous. +Such remarks as he made were brief, but they were as galling as lashes, +as cutting as sabre-strokes. At the same time his ideas and theories +remained somewhat obscure, partly by reason of this brevity of his, and +partly on account of the difficulty he experienced in expressing himself +in French. He was from over yonder, from some far-away land—Russia, +Poland, Austria or Germany, nobody exactly knew; and it mattered little, +for he certainly acknowledged no country, but wandered far and wide with +his dream of blood-shedding fraternity. Whenever, with his wonted +frigidity, he gave utterance to one of those terrible remarks of his +which, like a scythe in a meadow, cut away all before him, little less +than the necessity of thus mowing down nations, in order to sow the earth +afresh with a young and better community, became apparent. At each +proposition unfolded by Bache, such as labour rendered agreeable by +police regulations, <i>phalansteria</i> organised like barracks, religion +transformed into pantheist or spiritist deism, he gently shrugged his +shoulders. What could be the use of such childishness, such hypocritical +repairing, when the house was falling and the only honest course was to +throw it to the ground, and build up the substantial edifice of to-morrow +with entirely new materials? On the subject of propaganda by deeds, +bomb-throwing and so forth, he remained silent, though his gestures were +expressive of infinite hope. He evidently approved that course. The +legend which made him one of the perpetrators of the crime of Barcelona +set a gleam of horrible glory in his mysterious past. One day when Bache, +while speaking to him of his friend Bergaz, the shadowy Bourse jobber who +had already been compromised in some piece of thieving, plainly declared +that the aforesaid Bergaz was a bandit, Janzen contented himself with +smiling, and replying quietly that theft was merely forced restitution. +Briefly, in this man of culture and refinement, in whose own mysterious +life one might perhaps have found various crimes but not a single act of +base improbity, one could divine an implacable, obstinate theoretician, +who was resolved to set the world ablaze for the triumph of his ideas. +</p> + +<p> +On certain evenings when a visit from Theophile Morin coincided with one +from Bache and Janzen, and they and Guillaume lingered chatting until far +into the night, Pierre would listen to them in despair from the shadowy +corner where he remained motionless, never once joining in the +discussions. Distracted, by his own unbelief and thirst for truth, he had +at the outset taken a passionate interest in these debates, desirous as +he was of drawing up a balance-sheet of the century's ideas, so as to +form some notion of the distance that had been travelled, and the profits +that had accrued. But he recoiled from all this in fresh despair, on +hearing the others argue, each from his own standpoint and without +possibility of concession and agreement. After the repulses he had +encountered at Lourdes and Rome, he well realised that in this fresh +experiment which he was making with Paris, the whole brain of the century +was in question, the new truths, the expected gospel which was to change +the face of the world. And, burning with inconsiderate zeal, he went from +one belief to another, which other he soon rejected in order to adopt a +third. If he had first felt himself to be a Positivist with Morin, an +Evolutionist and Determinist with Guillaume, he had afterwards been +touched by the fraternal dream of a new golden age which he had found in +Bache's humanitarian Communism. And indeed even Janzen had momentarily +shaken him by his fierce confidence in the theory of liberative +Individualism. But afterwards he had found himself out of his depth; and +each and every theory had seemed to him but part of the chaotic +contradictions and incoherences of humanity on its march. It was all a +continuous piling up of dross, amidst which he lost himself. Although +Fourier had sprung from Saint-Simon he denied him in part; and if +Saint-Simon's doctrine ended in a kind of mystical sensuality, the +other's conducted to an unacceptable regimenting of society. Proudhon, +for his part, demolished without rebuilding anything. Comte, who created +method and declared science to be the one and only sovereign, had not +even suspected the advent of the social crisis which now threatened to +sweep all away, and had finished personally as a mere worshipper of love, +overpowered by woman. Nevertheless, these two, Comte and Proudhon, +entered the lists and fought against the others, Fourier and Saint-Simon; +the combat between them or their disciples becoming so bitter and so +blind that the truths common to them all were obscured and disfigured +beyond recognition. Thence came the extraordinary muddle of the present +hour; Bache with Saint-Simon and Fourier, and Morin with Proudhon and +Comte, utterly failing to understand Mege, the Collectivist deputy, whom +they held up to execration, him and his State Collectivism, in the same +way, moreover, as they thundered against all the other present-time +Socialist sects, without realising that these also, whatever their +nature, had more or less sprung from the same masters as themselves. And +all this seemingly indicated that Janzen was right when he declared that +the house was past repair, fast crumbling amidst rottenness and insanity, +and that it ought to be levelled to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +One night, after the three visitors had gone, Pierre, who had remained +with Guillaume, saw him grow very gloomy as he slowly walked to and fro. +He, in his turn, had doubtless felt that all was crumbling. And though +his brother alone was there to hear him, he went on speaking. He +expressed all his horror of the Collectivist State as imagined by Mege, a +Dictator-State re-establishing ancient servitude on yet closer lines. The +error of all the Socialist sects was their arbitrary organisation of +Labour, which enslaved the individual for the profit of the community. +And, forced to conciliate the two great currents, the rights of society +and the rights of the individual, Guillaume had ended by placing his +whole faith in free Communism, an anarchical state in which he dreamt of +seeing the individual freed, moving and developing without restraint, for +the benefit both of himself and of all others. Was not this, said he, the +one truly scientific theory, unities creating worlds, atoms producing +life by force of attraction, free and ardent love? All oppressive +minorities would disappear; and the faculties and energies of one and all +would by free play arrive at harmony amidst the equilibrium—which +changed according to needs—of the active forces of advancing humanity. +In this wise he pictured a nation, saved from State tutelage, without a +master, almost without laws, a happy nation, each citizen of which, +completely developed by the exercise of liberty, would, of his free will, +come to an understanding with his neighbours with regard to the thousand +necessities of life. And thence would spring society, free association, +hundreds of associations which would regulate social life; though at the +same time they would remain variable, in fact often opposed and hostile +to one another. For progress is but the fruit of conflict and struggle; +the world has only been created by the battle of opposing forces. And +that was all; there would be no more oppressors, no more rich, no more +poor; the domain of the earth with its natural treasures and its +implements of labour would be restored to the people, its legitimate +owners, who would know how to enjoy it with justice and logic, when +nothing abnormal would impede their expansion. And then only would the +law of love make its action felt; then would human solidarity, which, +among mankind, is the living form of universal attraction, acquire all +its power, bringing men closer and closer together, and uniting them in +one sole family. A splendid dream it was—the noble and pure dream of +absolute freedom—free man in free society. And thither a <i>savant's</i> +superior mind was fated to come after passing on the road the many +Socialist sects which one and all bore the stigma of tyranny. And, +assuredly, as thus indulged, the Anarchist idea is the loftiest, the +proudest, of all ideas. And how delightful to yield to the hope of +harmony in life—life which restored to the full exercise of its natural +powers would of itself create happiness! +</p> + +<p> +When Guillaume ceased speaking, he seemed to be emerging from a dream; +and he glanced at Pierre with some dismay, for he feared that he might +have said too much and have hurt his feelings. Pierre—moved though he +was, for a moment in fact almost won over—had just seen the terrible +practical objection, which destroyed all hope, arise before his mind's +eye. Why had not harmony asserted itself in the first days of the world's +existence, at the time when societies were formed? How was it that +tyranny had triumphed, delivering nations over to oppressors? And +supposing that the apparently insolvable problem of destroying +everything, and beginning everything afresh, should ever be solved, who +could promise that mankind, obedient to the same laws, would not again +follow the same paths as formerly? After all, mankind, nowadays, is +simply what life has made it; and nothing proves that life would again +make it other than it is. To begin afresh, ah, yes! but to attain another +result! But could that other result really come from man? Was it not +rather man himself who should be changed? To start afresh from where one +was, to continue the evolution that had begun, undoubtedly meant slow +travel and dismal waiting. But how great would be the danger and even the +delay, if one went back without knowing by what road across the whole +chaos of ruins one might regain all the lost time! +</p> + +<p> +"Let us go to bed," at last said Guillaume, smiling. "It's silly of me to +weary you with all these things which don't concern you." +</p> + +<p> +Pierre, in his excitement, was about to reveal his own heart and mind, +and the whole torturing battle within him. But a feeling of shame again +restrained him. His brother only knew him as a believing priest, faithful +to his faith. And so, without answering, he betook himself to his room. +</p> + +<p> +On the following evening, about ten o'clock, while Guillaume and Pierre +sat reading in the study, the old servant entered to announce M. Janzen +and a friend. The friend was Salvat. +</p> + +<p> +"He wished to see you," Janzen explained to Guillaume. "I met him, and +when he heard of your injury and anxiety he implored me to bring him +here. And I've done so, though it was perhaps hardly prudent of me." +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume had risen, full of surprise and emotion at such a visit; +Pierre, however, though equally upset by Salvat's appearance; did not +stir from his chair, but kept his eyes upon the workman. +</p> + +<p> +"Monsieur Froment," Salvat ended by saying, standing there in a timid, +embarrassed way, "I was very sorry indeed when I heard of the worry I'd +put you in; for I shall never forget that you were very kind to me when +everybody else turned me away." +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke he balanced himself alternately on either leg, and +transferred his old felt hat from hand to hand. +</p> + +<p> +"And so I wanted to come and tell you myself that if I took a cartridge +of your powder one evening when you had your back turned, it's the only +thing that I feel any remorse about in the whole business, since it may +compromise you. And I also want to take my oath before you that you've +nothing to fear from me, that I'll let my head be cut off twenty times if +need be, rather than utter your name. That's all that I had in my heart." +</p> + +<p> +He relapsed into silence and embarrassment, but his soft, dreamy eyes, +the eyes of a faithful dog, remained fixed upon Guillaume with an +expression of respectful worship. And Pierre was still gazing at him +athwart the hateful vision which his arrival had conjured up, that of the +poor, dead, errand girl, the fair pretty child lying ripped open under +the entrance of the Duvillard mansion! Was it possible that he was there, +he, that madman, that murderer, and that his eyes were actually moist! +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, touched by Salvat's words, had drawn near and pressed his +hand. "I am well aware, Salvat," said he, "that you are not wicked at +heart. But what a foolish and abominable thing you did!" +</p> + +<p> +Salvat showed no sign of anger, but gently smiled. "Oh! if it had to be +done again, Monsieur Froment, I'd do it. It's my idea, you know. And, +apart from you, all is well; I am content." +</p> + +<p> +He would not sit down, but for another moment continued talking with +Guillaume, while Janzen, as if he washed his hands of the business, +deeming this visit both useless and dangerous, sat down and turned over +the leaves of a picture book. And Guillaume made Salvat tell him what he +had done on the day of the crime; how like a stray dog he had wandered in +distraction through Paris, carrying his bomb with him, originally in his +tool-bag and then under his jacket; how he had gone a first time to the +Duvillard mansion and found its carriage entrance closed; then how he had +betaken himself first to the Chamber of Deputies which the ushers had +prevented him from entering, and afterwards to the Circus, where the +thought of making a great sacrifice of <i>bourgeois</i> had occurred to him +too late. And finally, how he had at last come back to the Duvillard +mansion, as if drawn thither by the very power of destiny. His tool-bag +was lying in the depths of the Seine, he said; he had thrown it into the +water with sudden hatred of work, since it had even failed to give him +bread. And he next told the story of his flight; the explosion shaking +the whole district behind him, while, with delight and astonishment, he +found himself some distance off, in quiet streets where nothing was as +yet known. And for a month past he had been living in chance fashion, how +or where he could hardly tell, but he had often slept in the open, and +gone for a day without food. One evening little Victor Mathis had given +him five francs. And other comrades had helped him, taken him in for a +night and sent him off at the first sign of peril. A far-spreading, tacit +complicity had hitherto saved him from the police. As for going abroad, +well, he had, at one moment, thought of doing so; but a description of +his person must have been circulated, the gendarmes must be waiting for +him at the frontiers, and so would not flight, instead of retarding, +rather hasten his arrest? Paris, however, was an ocean; it was there that +he incurred the least risk of capture. Moreover, he no longer had +sufficient energy to flee. A fatalist as he was after his own fashion, he +could not find strength to quit the pavements of Paris, but there awaited +arrest, like a social waif carried chancewise through the multitude as in +a dream. +</p> + +<p> +"And your daughter, little Celine?" Guillaume inquired. "Have you +ventured to go back to see her?" +</p> + +<p> +Salvat waved his hand in a vague way. "No, but what would you have? She's +with Mamma Theodore. Women always find some help. And then I'm done for, +I can do nothing for anybody. It's as if I were already dead." However, +in spite of these words, tears were rising to his eyes. "Ah! the poor +little thing!" he added, "I kissed her with all my heart before I went +away. If she and the woman hadn't been starving so long the idea of that +business would perhaps never have come to me." +</p> + +<p> +Then, in all simplicity, he declared that he was ready to die. If he had +ended by depositing his bomb at the entrance of Duvillard's house, it was +because he knew the banker well, and was aware that he was the wealthiest +of those <i>bourgeois</i> whose fathers at the time of the Revolution had +duped the people, by taking all power and wealth for themselves,—the +power and wealth which the sons were nowadays so obstinately bent in +retaining that they would not even bestow the veriest crumbs on others. +As for the Revolution, he understood it in his own fashion, like an +illiterate fellow who had learnt the little he knew from newspapers and +speeches at public meetings. And he struck his chest with his fist as he +spoke of his honesty, and was particularly desirous that none should +doubt his courage because he had fled. +</p> + +<p> +"I've never robbed anybody," said he, "and if I don't go and hand myself +up to the police, it's because they may surely take the trouble to find +and arrest me. I'm very well aware that my affair's clear enough as +they've found that bradawl and know me. All the same, it would be silly +of me to help them in their work. Still, they'd better make haste, for +I've almost had enough of being tracked like a wild beast and no longer +knowing how I live." +</p> + +<p> +Janzen, yielding to curiosity, had ceased turning over the leaves of the +picture book and was looking at Salvat. There was a smile of disdain in +the Anarchist leader's cold eyes; and in his usual broken French he +remarked: "A man fights and defends himself, kills others and tries to +avoid being killed himself. That's warfare." +</p> + +<p> +These words fell from his lips amidst deep silence. Salvat, however, did +not seem to have heard them, but stammered forth his faith in a long +sentence laden with fulsome expressions, such as the sacrifice of his +life in order that want might cease, and the example of a great action, +in the certainty that it would inspire other heroes to continue the +struggle. And with this certainly sincere faith and illuminism of his +there was blended a martyr's pride, delight at being one of the radiant, +worshipped saints of the dawning Revolutionary Church. +</p> + +<p> +As he had come so he went off. When Janzen had led him away, it seemed as +if the night which had brought him had carried him back into its +impenetrable depths. And then only did Pierre rise from his chair. He was +stifling, and threw the large window of the room wide open. It was a very +mild but moonless night, whose silence was only disturbed by the +subsiding clamour of Paris, which stretched away, invisible, on the +horizon. +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume, according to his habit, had begun to walk up and down. And at +last he spoke, again forgetting that his brother was a priest. "Ah! the +poor fellow! How well one can understand that deed of violence and hope! +His whole past life of fruitless labour and ever-growing want explains +it. Then, too, there has been all the contagion of ideas; the +frequentation of public meetings where men intoxicate themselves with +words, and of secret meetings among comrades where faith acquires +firmness and the mind soars wildly. Ah! I think I know that man well +indeed! He's a good workman, sober and courageous. Injustice has always +exasperated him. And little by little the desire for universal happiness +has cast him out of the realities of life which he has ended by holding +in horror. So how can he do otherwise than live in a dream—a dream of +redemption, which, from circumstances, has turned to fire and murder as +its fitting instruments. As I looked at him standing there, I fancied I +could picture one of the first Christian slaves of ancient Rome. All the +iniquity of olden pagan society, agonising beneath the rottenness born of +debauchery and covetousness, was weighing on his shoulders, bearing him +down. He had come from the dark Catacombs where he had whispered words of +deliverance and redemption with his wretched brethren. And a thirst for +martyrdom consumed him, he spat in the face of Caesar, he insulted the +gods, he fired the pagan temples, in order that the reign of Jesus might +come and abolish servitude. And he was ready to die, to be torn to pieces +by the wild beasts!" +</p> + +<p> +Pierre did not immediately reply. He had already been struck, however, by +the fact that there were undoubted points of resemblance between the +secret propaganda and militant faith of the Anarchists, and certain +practices of the first Christians. Both sects abandon themselves to a new +faith in the hope that the humble may thereby at last reap justice. +Paganism disappears through weariness of the flesh and the need of a more +lofty and pure faith. That dream of a Christian paradise opening up a +future life with a system of compensations for the ills endured on earth, +was the outcome of young hope dawning at its historic hour. But to-day, +when eighteen centuries have exhausted that hope, when the long +experiment is over and the toiler finds himself duped and still and ever +a slave, he once more dreams of getting happiness upon this earth, +particularly as each day Science tends more and more to show him that the +happiness of the spheres beyond is a lie. And in all this there is but +the eternal struggle of the poor and the rich, the eternal question of +bringing more justice and less suffering to the world. +</p> + +<p> +"But surely," Pierre at last replied, "you can't be on the side of those +bandits, those murderers whose savage violence horrifies me. I let you +talk on yesterday, when you dreamt of a great and happy people, of ideal +anarchy in which each would be free amidst the freedom of all. But what +abomination, what disgust both for mind and heart, when one passes from +theory to propaganda and practice! If yours is the brain that thinks, +whose is the hateful hand that acts, that kills children, throws down +doors and empties drawers? Do you accept that responsibility? With your +education, your culture, the whole social heredity behind you, does not +your entire being revolt at the idea of stealing and murdering?" +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume halted before his brother, quivering. "Steal and murder! no! +no! I will not. But one must say everything and fully understand the +history of the evil hour through which we are passing. It is madness +sweeping by; and, to tell the truth, everything necessary to provoke it +has been done. At the very dawn of the Anarchist theory, at the very +first innocent actions of its partisans, there was such stern repression, +the police so grossly ill-treating the poor devils that fell into its +hands, that little by little came anger and rage leading to the most +horrible reprisals. It is the Terror initiated by the <i>bourgeois</i> that +has produced Anarchist savagery. And would you know whence Salvat and his +crime have come? Why, from all our centuries of impudence and iniquity, +from all that the nations have suffered, from all the sores which are now +devouring us, the impatience for enjoyment, the contempt of the strong +for the weak, the whole monstrous spectacle which is presented by our +rotting society!" +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume was again slowly walking to and fro; and as if he were +reflecting aloud he continued: "Ah! to reach the point I have attained, +through how much thought, through how many battles, have I not passed! I +was merely a Positivist, a <i>savant</i> devoted to observation and +experiment, accepting nothing apart from proven facts. Scientifically and +socially, I admitted that simple evolution had slowly brought humanity +into being. But both in the history of the globe and that of human +society, I found it necessary to make allowance for the volcano, the +sudden cataclysm, the sudden eruption, by which each geological phase, +each historical period, has been marked. In this wise one ends by +ascertaining that no forward step has ever been taken, no progress ever +accomplished in the world's history, without the help of horrible +catastrophes. Each advance has meant the sacrifice of millions and +millions of human lives. This of course revolts us, given our narrow +ideas of justice, and we regard nature as a most barbarous mother; but, +if we cannot excuse the volcano, we ought to deal with it when it bursts +forth, like <i>savants</i> forewarned of its possibility. . . . And then, ah, +then! well, perhaps I'm a dreamer like others, but I have my own +notions." +</p> + +<p> +With a sweeping gesture he confessed what a social dreamer there was +within him beside the methodical and scrupulous <i>savant</i>. His constant +endeavour was to bring all back to science, and he was deeply grieved at +finding in nature no scientific sign of equality or even justice, such as +he craved for in the social sphere. His despair indeed came from this +inability to reconcile scientific logic with apostolic love, the dream of +universal happiness and brotherhood and the end of all iniquity. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre, however, who had remained near the open window, gazing into the +night towards Paris, whence ascended the last sounds of the evening of +passionate pleasure, felt the whole flood of his own doubt and despair +stifling him. It was all too much: that brother of his who had fallen +upon him with his scientific and apostolic beliefs, those men who came to +discuss contemporary thought from every standpoint, and finally that +Salvat who had brought thither the exasperation of his mad deed. And +Pierre, who had hitherto listened to them all without a word, without a +gesture, who had hidden his secrets from his brother, seeking refuge in +his supposed priestly views, suddenly felt such bitterness stirring his +heart that he could lie no longer. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! brother, if you have your dream, I have my sore which has eaten into +me and left me void! Your Anarchy, your dream of just happiness, for +which Salvat works with bombs, why, it is the final burst of insanity +which will sweep everything away! How is it that you can't realise it? +The century is ending in ruins. I've been listening to you all for a +month past. Fourier destroyed Saint-Simon, Proudhon and Comte demolished +Fourier, each in turn piling up incoherences and contradictions, leaving +mere chaos behind them, which nobody dares to sort out. And since then, +Socialist sects have been swarming and multiplying, the more sensible of +them leading simply to dictatorship, while the others indulge in most +dangerous reveries. And after such a tempest of ideas there could indeed +come nothing but your Anarchy, which undertakes to bring the old world to +a finish by reducing it to dust. . . . Ah! I expected it, I was waiting +for it—that final catastrophe, that fratricidal madness, the inevitable +class warfare in which our civilisation was destined to collapse! +Everything announced it: the want and misery below, the egotism up above, +all the cracking of the old human habitation, borne down by too great a +weight of crime and grief. When I went to Lourdes it was to see if the +divinity of simple minds would work the awaited miracle, and restore the +belief of the early ages to the people, which rebelled through excess of +suffering. And when I went to Rome it was in the <i>naive</i> hope of there +finding the new religion required by our democracies, the only one that +could pacify the world by bringing back the fraternity of the golden age. +But how foolish of me all that was! Both here and there, I simply lighted +on nothingness. There where I so ardently dreamt of finding the salvation +of others, I only sank myself, going down apeak like a ship not a timber +of which is ever found again. One tie still linked me to my fellow-men, +that of charity, the dressing, relieving, and perhaps, in the long run, +healing, of wounds and sores; but that last cable has now been severed. +Charity, to my mind, appears futile and derisive by the side of justice, +to whom all supremacy belongs, and whose advent has become a necessity +and can be stayed by none. And so it is all over, I am mere ashes, an +empty grave as it were. I no longer believe in anything, anything, +anything whatever!" +</p> + +<p> +Pierre had risen to his full height, with arms outstretched as if to let +all the nothingness within his heart and mind fall from them. And +Guillaume, distracted by the sight of such a fierce denier, such a +despairing Nihilist as was now revealed to him, drew near, quivering: +"What are you saying, brother! I thought you so firm, so calm in your +belief! A priest to be admired, a saint worshipped by the whole of this +parish! I was unwilling even to discuss your faith, and now it is you who +deny all, and believe in nothing whatever!" +</p> + +<p> +Pierre again slowly stretched out his arms. "There is nothing, I tried to +learn all, and only found the atrocious grief born of the nothingness +that overwhelms me." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah! how you must suffer, Pierre, my little brother! Can religion, then, +be even more withering than science, since it has ravaged you like that, +while I have yet remained an old madman, still full of fancies?" +</p> + +<p> +Guillaume caught hold of Pierre's hands and pressed them, full of +terrified compassion in presence of all the grandeur and horror embodied +in that unbelieving priest who watched over the belief of others, and +chastely, honestly discharged his duty amidst the haughty sadness born of +his falsehood. And how heavily must that falsehood have weighed upon his +conscience for him to confess himself in that fashion, amidst an utter +collapse of his whole being! A month previously, in the unexpansiveness +of his proud solitude, he would never have taken such a course. To speak +out it was necessary that he should have been stirred by many things, his +reconciliation with his brother, the conversations he had heard of an +evening, the terrible drama in which he was mingled, as well as his +reflections on labour struggling against want, and the vague hope with +which the sight of intellectual youth had inspired him. And, indeed, amid +the very excess of his negation was there not already the faint dawn of a +new faith? +</p> + +<p> +This Guillaume must have understood, on seeing how he quivered with +unsatisfied tenderness as he emerged from the fierce silence which he had +preserved so long. He made him sit down near the window, and placed +himself beside him without releasing his hands. "But I won't have you +suffer, my little brother!" he said; "I won't leave you, I'll nurse you. +For I know you much better than you know yourself. You would never have +suffered were it not for the battle between your heart and your mind, and +you will cease to suffer on the day when they make peace, and you love +what you understand." And in a lower voice, with infinite affection, he +went on: "You see, it's our poor mother and our poor father continuing +their painful struggle in you. You were too young at the time, you +couldn't know what went on. But I knew them both very wretched: he, +wretched through her, who treated him as if he were one of the damned; +and she, suffering through him, tortured by his irreligion. When he died, +struck down by an explosion in this very room, she took it to be the +punishment of God. Yet, what an honest man he was, with a good, great +heart, what a worker, seeking for truth alone, and desirous of the love +and happiness of all! Since we have spent our evenings here, I have felt +him coming back, reviving as it were both around and within us; and she, +too, poor, saintly woman, is ever here, enveloping us with love, weeping, +and yet stubbornly refusing to understand. It is they, perhaps, who have +kept me here so long, and who at this very moment are present to place +your hands in mine." +</p> + +<p> +And, indeed, it seemed to Pierre as if he could feel the breath of +vigilant affection which Guillaume evoked passing over them both. There +was again a revival of all the past, all their youth, and nothing could +have been more delightful. +</p> + +<p> +"You hear me, brother," Guillaume resumed. "You must reconcile them, for +it is only in you that they can be reconciled. You have his firm, lofty +brow, and her mouth and eyes of unrealisable tenderness. So, try to bring +them to agreement, by some day contenting, as your reason shall allow, +the everlasting thirst for love, and self-bestowal, and life, which for +lack of satisfaction is killing you. Your frightful wretchedness has no +other cause. Come back to life, love, bestow yourself, be a man!" +</p> + +<p> +Pierre raised a dolorous cry: "No, no, the death born of doubt has swept +through me, withering and shattering everything, and nothing more can +live in that cold dust!" +</p> + +<p> +"But, come," resumed Guillaume, "you cannot have reached such absolute +negation. No man reaches it. Even in the most disabused of minds there +remains a nook of fancy and hope. To deny charity, devotion, the +prodigies which love may work, ah! for my part I do not go so far as +that. And now that you have shown me your sore, why should I not tell you +my dream, the wild hope which keeps me alive! It is strange; but, are +<i>savants</i> to be the last childish dreamers, and is faith only to spring +up nowadays in chemical laboratories?" +</p> + +<p> +Intense emotion was stirring Guillaume; there was battle waging in both +his brain and his heart. And at last, yielding to the deep compassion +which filled him, vanquished by his ardent affection for his unhappy +brother, he spoke out. But he had drawn yet closer to Pierre, even passed +one arm around him; and it was thus embracing him that he, in his turn, +made his confession, lowering his voice as if he feared that someone +might overhear his secret. "Why should you not know it?" he said. "My own +sons are ignorant of it. But you are a man and my brother, and since +there is nothing of the priest left in you, it is to the brother I will +confide it. This will make me love you the more, and perhaps it may do +you good." +</p> + +<p> +Then he told him of his invention, a new explosive, a powder of such +extraordinary force that its effects were incalculable. And he had found +employment for this powder in an engine of warfare, a special cannon, +hurling bombs which would assure the most overwhelming victory to the +army using them. The enemy's forces would be destroyed in a few hours, +and besieged cities would fall into dust at the slightest bombardment. He +had long searched and doubted, calculated, recalculated and experimented; +but everything was now ready: the precise formula of the powder, the +drawings for the cannon and the bombs, a whole packet of precious papers +stored in a safe spot. And after months of anxious reflection he had +resolved to give his invention to France, so as to ensure her a certainty +of victory in her coming, inevitable war with Germany! +</p> + +<p> +At the same time, he was not a man of narrow patriotism; on the contrary +he had a very broad, international conception of the future liberative +civilisation. Only he believed in the initiatory mission of France, and +particularly in that of Paris, which, even as it is to-day, was destined +to be the world's brain to-morrow, whence all science and justice would +proceed. The great idea of liberty and equality had already soared from +it at the prodigious blast of the Revolution; and from its genius and +valour the final emancipation of man would also take its flight. Thus it +was necessary that Paris should be victorious in the struggle in order +that the world might be saved. +</p> + +<p> +Pierre understood his brother, thanks to the lecture on explosives which +he had heard at Bertheroy's. And the grandeur of this scheme, this dream, +particularly struck him when he thought of the extraordinary future which +would open for Paris amidst the effulgent blaze of the bombs. Moreover, +he was struck by all the nobility of soul which had lain behind his +brother's anxiety for a month past. If Guillaume had trembled it was +simply with fear that his invention might be divulged in consequence of +Salvat's crime. The slightest indiscretion might compromise everything; +and that little stolen cartridge, whose effects had so astonished +<i>savants</i>, might reveal his secret. He felt it necessary to act in +mystery, choosing his own time, awaiting the proper hour, until when the +secret would slumber in its hiding-place, confided to the sole care of +Mere-Grand, who had her orders and knew what she was to do should he, in +any sudden accident, disappear. +</p> + +<p> +"And, now," said Guillaume in conclusion, "you know my hopes and my +anguish, and you can help me and even take my place if I am unable to +reach the end of my task. Ah! to reach the end! Since I have been shut up +here, reflecting, consumed by anxiety and impatience, there have been +hours when I have ceased to see my way clearly! There is that Salvat, +that wretched fellow for whose crime we are all of us responsible, and +who is now being hunted down like a wild beast! There is also that +insensate and insatiable <i>bourgeoisie</i>, which will let itself be crushed +by the fall of the shaky old house, rather than allow the least repair to +it! And there is further that avaricious, that abominable Parisian press, +so harsh towards the weak and little, so fond of insulting those who have +none to defend them, so eager to coin money out of public misfortune, and +ready to spread insanity on all sides, simply to increase its sales! +Where, therefore, shall one find truth and justice, the hand endowed with +logic and health that ought to be armed with the thunderbolt? Would Paris +the conqueror, Paris the master of the nations, prove the justiciar, the +saviour that men await! Ah! the anguish of believing oneself to be the +master of the world's destinies, and to have to choose and decide." +</p> + +<p> +He had risen again quivering, full of anger and fear that human +wretchedness and baseness might prevent the realisation of his dream. And +amidst the heavy silence which fell in the room, the little house +suddenly resounded with a regular, continuous footfall. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, yes! to save men and love them, and wish them all to be equal and +free," murmured Pierre, bitterly. "But just listen! Barthes's footsteps +are answering you, as if from the everlasting dungeon into which his love +of liberty has thrown him!" +</p> + +<p> +However, Guillaume had already regained possession of himself, and coming +back in a transport of his faith, he once more took Pierre in his loving, +saving arms, like an elder brother who gives himself without restraint. +"No, no, I'm wrong, I'm blaspheming," he exclaimed; "I wish you to be +with me, full of hope and full of certainty. You must work, you must +love, you must revive to life. Life alone can give you back peace and +health." +</p> + +<p> +Tears returned to the eyes of Pierre, who was penetrated to the heart by +this ardent affection. "Ah! how I should like to believe you," he +faltered, "and try to cure myself. True, I have already felt, as it were, +a vague revival within me. And yet to live again, no, I cannot; the +priest that I am is dead—a lifeless, an empty tomb." +</p> + +<p> +He was shaken by so frightful a sob, that Guillaume could not restrain +his own tears. And clasped in one another's arms the brothers wept on, +their hearts full of the softest emotion in that home of their youth, +whither the dear shadows of their parents ever returned, hovering around +until they should be reconciled and restored to the peace of the earth. +And all the darkness and mildness of the garden streamed in through the +open window, while yonder, on the horizon, Paris had fallen asleep in the +mysterious gloom, beneath a very peaceful sky which was studded with +stars. +</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Cities Trilogy: Paris, Vol. 2, by +Emile Zola + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES TRILOGY: PARIS VOL 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 9165-h.htm or 9165-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/1/6/9165/ + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Three Cities Trilogy: Paris, Vol. 2 + +Author: Emile Zola + +Translator: Ernest A. Vizetelly + +Posting Date: April 13, 2014 [EBook #9165] +Release Date: October, 2005 +First Posted: September 10, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES TRILOGY: PARIS VOL 2 *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + THE THREE CITIES + + + + PARIS + + + + BY + + EMILE ZOLA + + + + TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY + + + + BOOK II + + + +I + +REVOLUTIONISTS + +IN that out-of-the-way street at Neuilly, along which nobody passed after +dusk, Pierre's little house was now steeped in deep slumber under the +black sky; each of its shutters closed, and not a ray of light stealing +forth from within. And one could divine, too, the profound quietude of +the little garden in the rear, a garden empty and lifeless, benumbed by +the winter cold. + +Pierre had several times feared that his brother would faint away in the +cab in which they were journeying. Leaning back, and often sinking down, +Guillaume spoke not a word. And terrible was the silence between them--a +silence fraught with all the questions and answers which they felt it +would be useless and painful to exchange at such a time. However, the +priest was anxious about the wound, and wondered to what surgeon he might +apply, desirous as he was of admitting only a sure, staunch man into the +secret, for he had noticed with how keen a desire to disappear his +brother had sought to hide himself. + +Until they reached the Arc de Triomphe the silence remained unbroken. It +was only there that Guillaume seemed to emerge from the prostration of +his reverie. "Mind, Pierre," said he, "no doctor. We will attend to this +together." + +Pierre was on the point of protesting, but he realised that it would be +useless to discuss the subject at such a moment, and so he merely waved +his hand to signify that he should act in spite of the prohibition were +it necessary. In point of fact, his anxiety had increased, and, when the +cab at last drew up before the house, it was with real relief that he saw +his brother alight without evincing any marked feebleness. He himself +quickly paid the driver, well-pleased, too, at finding that nobody, not +even a neighbour, was about. And having opened the door with his latch +key, he helped the injured man to ascend the steps. + +A little night lamp glimmered faintly in the vestibule. On hearing the +door open, Pierre's servant, Sophie, had at once emerged from the +kitchen. A short, thin, dark woman of sixty, she had formed part of the +household for more than thirty years, having served the mother before +serving the son. She knew Guillaume, having seen him when he was a young +man, and doubtless she now recognised him, although well-nigh ten years +had gone by since he had last crossed that threshold. Instead of evincing +any surprise, she seemed to consider his extraordinary return quite +natural, and remained as silent and discreet as usual. She led, indeed, +the life of a recluse, never speaking unless her work absolutely required +it. And thus she now contented herself with saying: "Monsieur l'Abbe, +Monsieur Bertheroy is in the study, and has been waiting there for a +quarter of an hour." + +At this Guillaume intervened, as if the news revived him: "Does Bertheroy +still come here, then? I'll see him willingly. His is one of the best, +the broadest, minds of these days. He has still remained my master." + +A former friend of their father,--the illustrious chemist, Michel +Froment,--Bertheroy had now, in his turn, become one of the loftiest +glories of France, one to whom chemistry owed much of the extraordinary +progress that has made it the mother-science, by which the very face of +the earth is being changed. A member of the Institute, laden with offices +and honours, he had retained much affection for Pierre, and occasionally +visited him in this wise before dinner, by way of relaxation, he would +say. + +"You showed him into the study? All right, then, we will go there," said +the Abbe to the servant. "Light a lamp and take it into my room, and get +my bed ready so that my brother may go to bed at once." + +While Sophie, without a word or sign of surprise, was obeying these +instructions, the brothers went into their father's former laboratory, of +which the priest had now made a spacious study. And it was with a cry of +joyous astonishment that the _savant_ greeted them on seeing them enter +the room side by side, the one supporting the other. "What, together!" he +exclaimed. "Ah! my dear children, you could not have caused me greater +pleasure! I who have so often deplored your painful misunderstanding." + +Bertheroy was a tall and lean septuagenarian, with angular features. His +yellow skin clung like parchment to the projecting bones of his cheeks +and jaw. Moreover, there was nothing imposing about him; he looked like +some old shop-keeping herbalist. At the same time he had a fine, broad, +smooth brow, and his eyes still glittered brightly beneath his tangled +hair. + +"What, have you injured yourself, Guillaume?" he continued, as soon as he +saw the bandaged hand. + +Pierre remained silent, so as to let his brother tell the story as he +chose. Guillaume had realised that he must confess the truth, but in +simple fashion, without detailing the circumstances. "Yes, in an +explosion," he answered, "and I really think that I have my wrist +broken." + +At this, Bertheroy, whose glance was fixed upon him, noticed that his +moustaches were burnt, and that there was an expression of bewildered +stupor, such as follows a catastrophe, in his eyes. Forthwith the +_savant_ became grave and circumspect; and, without seeking to compel +confidence by any questions, he simply said: "Indeed! an explosion! Will +you let me see the injury? You know that before letting chemistry ensnare +me I studied medicine, and am still somewhat of a surgeon." + +On hearing these words Pierre could not restrain a heart-cry: "Yes, yes, +master! Look at the injury--I was very anxious, and to find you here is +unhoped-for good fortune!" + +The _savant_ glanced at him, and divined that the hidden circumstances of +the accident must be serious. And then, as Guillaume, smiling, though +paling with weakness, consented to the suggestion, Bertheroy retorted +that before anything else he must be put to bed. The servant just then +returned to say the bed was ready, and so they all went into the +adjoining room, where the injured man was soon undressed and helped +between the sheets. + +"Light me, Pierre," said Bertheroy, "take the lamp; and let Sophie give +me a basin full of water and some cloths." Then, having gently washed the +wound, he resumed: "The devil! The wrist isn't broken, but it's a nasty +injury. I am afraid there must be a lesion of the bone. Some nails passed +through the flesh, did they not?" + +Receiving no reply, he relapsed into silence. But his surprise was +increasing, and he closely examined the hand, which the flame of the +explosion had scorched, and even sniffed the shirt cuff as if seeking to +understand the affair better. He evidently recognised the effects of one +of those new explosives which he himself had studied, almost created. In +the present case, however, he must have been puzzled, for there were +characteristic signs and traces the significance of which escaped him. + +"And so," he at last made up his mind to ask, carried away by +professional curiosity, "and so it was a laboratory explosion which put +you in this nice condition? What devilish powder were you concocting +then?" + +Guillaume, ever since he had seen Bertheroy thus studying his injury, +had, in spite of his sufferings, given marked signs of annoyance and +agitation. And as if the real secret which he wished to keep lay +precisely in the question now put to him, in that powder, the first +experiment with which had thus injured him, he replied with an air of +restrained ardour, and a straight frank glance: "Pray do not question me, +master. I cannot answer you. You have, I know, sufficient nobility of +nature to nurse me and care for me without exacting a confession." + +"Oh! certainly, my friend," exclaimed Bertheroy; "keep your secret. Your +discovery belongs to you if you have made one; and I know that you are +capable of putting it to the most generous use. Besides, you must be +aware that I have too great a passion for truth to judge the actions of +others, whatever their nature, without knowing every circumstance and +motive." + +So saying, he waved his hand as if to indicate how broadly tolerant and +free from error and superstition was that lofty sovereign mind of his, +which in spite of all the orders that bedizened him, in spite of all the +academical titles that he bore as an official _savant_, made him a man of +the boldest and most independent views, one whose only passion was truth, +as he himself said. + +He lacked the necessary appliances to do more than dress the wound, after +making sure that no fragment of any projectile had remained in the flesh. +Then he at last went off, promising to return at an early hour on the +morrow; and, as the priest escorted him to the street door, he spoke some +comforting words: if the bone had not been deeply injured all would be +well. + +On returning to the bedside, Pierre found his brother still sitting up +and seeking fresh energy in his desire to write home and tranquillise his +loved ones. So the priest, after providing pen and paper, again had to +take up the lamp and light him. Guillaume fortunately retained full use +of his right hand, and was thus able to pen a few lines to say that he +would not be home that night. He addressed the note to Madame Leroi, the +mother of his deceased mistress, who, since the latter's death, had +remained with him and had reared his three sons. Pierre was aware also +that the household at Montmartre included a young woman of five or six +and twenty, the daughter of an old friend, to whom Guillaume had given +shelter on her father's death, and whom he was soon to marry, in spite of +the great difference in their ages. For the priest, however, all these +were vague, disturbing things, condemnable features of disorderly life, +and he had invariably pretended to be ignorant of them. + +"So you wish this note to be taken to Montmartre at once?" he said to his +brother. + +"Yes, at once. It is scarcely more than seven o'clock now, and it will be +there by eight. And you will choose a reliable man, won't you?" + +"The best course will be for Sophie to take a cab. We need have no fear +with her. She won't chatter. Wait a moment, and I will settle +everything." + +Sophie, on being summoned, at once understood what was wanted of her, and +promised to say, in reply to any questions, that M. Guillaume had come to +spend the night at his brother's, for reasons which she did not know. And +without indulging in any reflections herself, she left the house, saying +simply: "Monsieur l'Abbe's dinner is ready; he will only have to take the +broth and the stew off the stove." + +However, when Pierre this time returned to the bedside to sit down there, +he found that Guillaume had fallen back with his head resting on both +pillows. And he looked very weary and pale, and showed signs of fever. +The lamp, standing on a corner of a side table, cast a soft light around, +and so deep was the quietude that the big clock in the adjoining +dining-room could be heard ticking. For a moment the silence continued +around the two brothers, who, after so many years of separation, were at +last re-united and alone together. Then the injured man brought his right +hand to the edge of the sheet, and the priest grasped it, pressed it +tenderly in his own. And the clasp was a long one, those two brotherly +hands remaining locked, one in the other. + +"My poor little Pierre," Guillaume faintly murmured, "you must forgive me +for falling on you in this fashion. I've invaded the house and taken your +bed, and I'm preventing you from dining." + +"Don't talk, don't tire yourself any more," interrupted Pierre. "Is not +this the right place for you when you are in trouble?" + +A warmer pressure came from Guillaume's feverish hand, and tears gathered +in his eyes. "Thanks, my little Pierre. I've found you again, and you are +as gentle and loving as you always were. Ah! you cannot know how +delightful it seems to me." + +Then the priest's eyes also were dimmed by tears. Amidst the deep +quietude, the great sense of comfort which had followed their violent +emotion, the brothers found an infinite charm in being together once more +in the home of their childhood.* It was there that both their father and +mother had died--the father tragically, struck down by an explosion in +his laboratory; the mother piously, like a very saint. It was there, too, +in that same bed, that Guillaume had nursed Pierre, when, after their +mother's death, the latter had nearly died; and it was there now that +Pierre in his turn was nursing Guillaume. All helped to bow them down and +fill them with emotion: the strange circumstances of their meeting, the +frightful catastrophe which had caused them such a shock, the +mysteriousness of the things which remained unexplained between them. And +now that after so long a separation they were tragically brought together +again, they both felt their memory awaking. The old house spoke to them +of their childhood, of their parents dead and gone, of the far-away days +when they had loved and suffered there. Beneath the window lay the +garden, now icy cold, which once, under the sunbeams, had re-echoed with +their play. On the left was the laboratory, the spacious room where their +father had taught them to read. On the right, in the dining-room, they +could picture their mother cutting bread and butter for them, and looking +so gentle with her big, despairing eyes--those of a believer mated to an +infidel. And the feeling that they were now alone in that home, and the +pale, sleepy gleam of the lamp, and the deep silence of the garden and +the house, and the very past itself, all filled them with the softest of +emotion blended with the keenest bitterness. + + * See M. Zola's "Lourdes," Day I., Chapter II. + +They would have liked to talk and unbosom themselves. But what could they +say to one another? Although their hands remained so tightly clasped, did +not the most impassable of chasms separate them? In any case, they +thought so. Guillaume was convinced that Pierre was a saint, a priest of +the most robust faith, without a doubt, without aught in common with +himself, whether in the sphere of ideas or in that of practical life. A +hatchet-stroke had parted them, and each lived in a different world. And +in the same way Pierre pictured Guillaume as one who had lost caste, +whose conduct was most suspicious, who had never even married the mother +of his three children, but was on the point of marrying that girl who was +far too young for him, and who had come nobody knew whence. In him, +moreover, were blended the passionate ideas of a _savant_ and a +revolutionist, ideas in which one found negation of everything, +acceptance and possibly provocation of the worst forms of violence, with +a glimpse of the vague monster of Anarchism underlying all. And so, on +what basis could there be any understanding between them, since each +retained his prejudices against the other, and saw him on the opposite +side of the chasm, without possibility of any plank being thrown across +it to enable them to unite? Thus, all alone in that room, their poor +hearts bled with distracted brotherly love. + +Pierre knew that, on a previous occasion, Guillaume had narrowly escaped +being compromised in an Anarchist affair. He asked him no questions, but +he could not help reflecting that he would not have hidden himself in +this fashion had he not feared arrest for complicity. Complicity with +Salvat? Was he really an accomplice? Pierre shuddered, for the only +materials on which he could found a contrary opinion were, on one hand, +the words that had escaped his brother after the crime, the cry he had +raised accusing Salvat of having stolen a cartridge from him; and, on the +other hand, his heroic rush into the doorway of the Duvillard mansion in +order to extinguish the match. A great deal still remained obscure; but +if a cartridge of that frightful explosive had been stolen from Guillaume +the fact must be that he manufactured such cartridges and had others at +home. Of course, even if he were not an accomplice, the injury to his +wrist had made it needful for him to disappear. Given his bleeding hand, +and the previous suspicions levelled against him, he would never have +convinced anybody of his innocence. And yet, even allowing for these +surmises, the affair remained wrapt in darkness: a crime on Guillaume's +part seemed a possibility, and to Pierre it was all dreadful to think of. + +Guillaume, by the trembling of his brother's moist, yielding hand, must +in some degree have realised the prostration of his poor mind, already +shattered by doubt and finished off by this calamity. Indeed, the +sepulchre was empty now, the very ashes had been swept out of it. + +"My poor little Pierre," the elder brother slowly said. "Forgive me if I +do not tell you anything. I cannot do so. And besides, what would be the +use of it? We should certainly not understand one another. . . . So let +us keep from saying anything, and let us simply enjoy the delight of +being together and loving one another in spite of all." + +Pierre raised his eyes, and for a long time their glances lingered, one +fixed on the other. "Ah!" stammered the priest, "how frightful it all +is!" + +Guillaume, however, had well understood the mute inquiry of Pierre's +eyes. His own did not waver but replied boldly, beaming with purity and +loftiness: "I can tell you nothing. Yet, all the same, let us love each +other, my little Pierre." + +And then Pierre for a moment felt that his brother was above all base +anxiety, above the guilty fear of the man who trembles for himself. In +lieu thereof he seemed to be carried away by the passion of some great +design, the noble thought of concealing some sovereign idea, some secret +which it was imperative for him to save. But, alas! this was only the +fleeting vision of a vague hope; for all vanished, and again came the +doubt, the suspicion, of a mind dealing with one that it knew nothing of. + +And all at once a souvenir, a frightful spectacle, arose before Pierre's +eyes and distracted him: "Did you see, brother," he stammered, "did you +see that fair-haired girl lying under the archway, ripped open, with a +smile of astonishment on her face?" + +Guillaume in his turn quivered, and in a low and dolorous voice replied: +"Yes, I saw her! Ah, poor little thing! Ah! the atrocious necessities, +the atrocious errors, of justice!" + +Then, amidst the frightful shudder that seemed to sweep by, Pierre, with +his horror of all violence, succumbed, and let his face sink upon the +counterpane at the edge of the bed. And he sobbed distractedly: a sudden +attack of weakness, overflowing in tears, cast him there exhausted, with +no more strength than a child. It was as if all his sufferings since the +morning, the deep grief with which universal injustice and woe inspired +him, were bursting forth in that flood of tears which nothing now could +stay. And Guillaume, who, to calm his little brother, had set his hand +upon his head, in the same way as he had often caressingly stroked his +hair in childhood's days, likewise felt upset and remained silent, unable +to find a word of consolation, resigned, as he was, to the eruption which +in life is always possible, the cataclysm by which the slow evolution of +nature is always liable to be precipitated. But how hard a fate for the +wretched ones whom the lava sweeps away in millions! And then his tears +also began to flow amidst the profound silence. + +"Pierre," he gently exclaimed at last, "you must have some dinner. Go, go +and have some. And screen the lamp; leave me by myself, and let me close +my eyes. It will do me good." + +Pierre had to content him. Still, he left the dining-room door open; and, +weak for want of food, though he had not hitherto noticed it, he ate +standing, with his ears on the alert, listening lest his brother should +complain or call him. And the silence seemed to have become yet more +complete, the little house sank, as it were, into annihilation, instinct +with all the melancholy charm of the past. + +At about half-past eight, when Sophie returned from her errand to +Montmartre, Guillaume heard her step, light though it was. And he at once +became restless and wanted to know what news she brought. It was Pierre, +however, who enlightened him. "Don't be anxious. Sophie was received by +an old lady who, after reading your note, merely answered, 'Very well.' +She did not even ask Sophie a question, but remained quite composed +without sign of curiosity." + +Guillaume, realising that this fine serenity perplexed his brother, +thereupon replied with similar calmness: "Oh! it was only necessary that +grandmother should be warned. She knows well enough that if I don't +return home it is because I can't." + +However, from that moment it was impossible for the injured man to rest. +Although the lamp was hidden away in a corner, he constantly opened his +eyes, glanced round him, and seemed to listen, as if for sounds from the +direction of Paris. And it at last became necessary for the priest to +summon the servant and ask her if she had noticed anything strange on her +way to or from Montmartre. She seemed surprised by the question, and +answered that she had noticed nothing. Besides, the cab had followed the +outer boulevards, which were almost deserted. A slight fog had again +begun to fall, and the streets were steeped in icy dampness. + +By the time it was nine o'clock Pierre realised that his brother would +never be able to sleep if he were thus left without news. Amidst his +growing feverishness the injured man experienced keen anxiety, a haunting +desire to know if Salvat were arrested and had spoken out. He did not +confess this; indeed he sought to convey the impression that he had no +personal disquietude, which was doubtless true. But his great secret was +stifling him; he shuddered at the thought that his lofty scheme, all his +labour and all his hope, should be at the mercy of that unhappy man whom +want had filled with delusions and who had sought to set justice upon +earth by the aid of a bomb. And in vain did the priest try to make +Guillaume understand that nothing certain could yet be known. He +perceived that his impatience increased every minute, and at last +resolved to make some effort to satisfy him. + +But where could he go, of whom could he inquire? Guillaume, while talking +and trying to guess with whom Salvat might have sought refuge, had +mentioned Janzen, the Princess de Harn's mysterious lover; and for a +moment he had even thought of sending to this man for information. But he +reflected that if Janzen had heard of the explosion he was not at all the +individual to wait for the police at home. + +Meantime Pierre repeated: "I will willingly go to buy the evening papers +for you--but there will certainly be nothing in them. Although I know +almost everyone in Neuilly I can think of nobody who is likely to have +any information, unless perhaps it were Bache--" + +"You know Bache, the municipal councillor?" interrupted Guillaume. + +"Yes, we have both had to busy ourselves with charitable work in the +neighbourhood." + +"Well, Bache is an old friend of mine, and I know no safer man. Pray go +to him and bring him back with you." + +A quarter of an hour later Pierre returned with Bache, who resided in a +neighbouring street. And it was not only Bache whom he brought with him, +for, much to his surprise, he had found Janzen at Bache's house. As +Guillaume had suspected, Janzen, while dining at the Princess de Harn's, +had heard of the crime, and had consequently refrained from returning to +his little lodging in the Rue des Martyrs, where the police might well +have set a trap for him. His connections were known, and he was aware +that he was watched and was liable at any moment to arrest or expulsion +as a foreign Anarchist. And so he had thought it prudent to solicit a few +days' hospitality of Bache, a very upright and obliging man, to whom he +entrusted himself without fear. He would never have remained with +Rosemonde, that adorable lunatic who for a month past had been exhibiting +him as her lover, and whose useless and dangerous extravagance of conduct +he fully realised. + +Guillaume was so delighted on seeing Bache and Janzen that he wished to +sit up in bed again. But Pierre bade him remain quiet, rest his head on +the pillows, and speak as little as possible. Then, while Janzen stood +near, erect and silent, Bache took a chair and sat down by the bedside +with many expressions of friendly interest. He was a stout man of sixty, +with a broad, full face, a large white beard and long white hair. His +little, gentle eyes had a dim, dreamy expression, while a pleasant, +hopeful smile played round his thick lips. His father, a fervent St. +Simonian, had brought him up in the doctrines of that belief. While +retaining due respect for it, however, his personal inclinations towards +orderliness and religion had led him to espouse the ideas of Fourier, in +such wise that one found in him a succession and an abridgment, so to +say, of two doctrines. Moreover, when he was about thirty, he had busied +himself with spiritualism. Possessed of a comfortable little fortune, his +only adventure in life had been his connection with the Paris Commune of +1871. How or why he had become a member of it he could now scarcely tell. +Condemned to death by default, although he had sat among the Moderates, +he had resided in Belgium until the amnesty; and since then Neuilly had +elected him as its representative on the Paris Municipal Council, less by +way of glorifying in him a victim of reaction than as a reward for his +worthiness, for he was really esteemed by the whole district. + +Guillaume, with his desire for tidings, was obliged to confide in his two +visitors, tell them of the explosion and Salvat's flight, and how he +himself had been wounded while seeking to extinguish the match. Janzen, +with curly beard and hair, and a thin, fair face such as painters often +attribute to the Christ, listened coldly, as was his wont, and at last +said slowly in a gentle voice: "Ah! so it was Salvat! I thought it might +be little Mathis--I'm surprised that it should be Salvat--for he hadn't +made up his mind." Then, as Guillaume anxiously inquired if he thought +that Salvat would speak out, he began to protest: "Oh! no; oh! no." + +However, he corrected himself with a gleam of disdain in his clear, harsh +eyes: "After all, there's no telling. Salvat is a man of sentiment." + +Then Bache, who was quite upset by the news of the explosion, tried to +think how his friend Guillaume, to whom he was much attached, might be +extricated from any charge of complicity should he be denounced. And +Guillaume, at sight of Janzen's contemptuous coldness, must have suffered +keenly, for the other evidently believed him to be trembling, tortured by +the one desire to save his own skin. But what could he say, how could he +reveal the deep concern which rendered him so feverish without betraying +the secret which he had hidden even from his brother? + +However, at this moment Sophie came to tell her master that M. Theophile +Morin had called with another gentleman. Much astonished by this visit at +so late an hour, Pierre hastened into the next room to receive the new +comers. He had become acquainted with Morin since his return from Rome, +and had helped him to introduce a translation of an excellent scientific +manual, prepared according to the official programmes, into the Italian +schools.* A Franc-Comtois by birth, a compatriot of Proudhon, with whose +poor family he had been intimate at Besancon, Morin, himself the son of a +journeyman clockmaker, had grown up with Proudhonian ideas, full of +affection for the poor and an instinctive hatred of property and wealth. +Later on, having come to Paris as a school teacher, impassioned by study, +he had given his whole mind to Auguste Comte. Beneath the fervent +Positivist, however, one might yet find the old Proudhonian, the pauper +who rebelled and detested want. Moreover, it was scientific Positivism +that he clung to; in his hatred of all mysticism he would have naught to +do with the fantastic religious leanings of Comte in his last years. And +in Morin's brave, consistent, somewhat mournful life, there had been but +one page of romance: the sudden feverish impulse which had carried him +off to fight in Sicily by Garibaldi's side. Afterwards he had again +become a petty professor in Paris, obscurely earning a dismal livelihood. + + * See M. Zola's "Rome," Chapters IV. and XVI. + +When Pierre returned to the bedroom he said to his brother in a tone of +emotion: "Morin has brought me Barthes, who fancies himself in danger and +asks my hospitality." + +At this Guillaume forgot himself and became excited: "Nicholas Barthes, a +hero with a soul worthy of antiquity. Oh! I know him; I admire and love +him. You must set your door open wide for him." + +Bache and Janzen, however, had glanced at one another smiling. And the +latter, with his cold ironical air, slowly remarked: "Why does Monsieur +Barthes hide himself? A great many people think he is dead; he is simply +a ghost who no longer frightens anybody." + +Four and seventy years of age as he now was, Barthes had spent nearly +half a century in prison. He was the eternal prisoner, the hero of +liberty whom each successive Government had carried from citadel to +fortress. Since his youth he had been marching on amidst his dream of +fraternity, fighting for an ideal Republic based on truth and justice, +and each and every endeavour had led him to a dungeon; he had invariably +finished his humanitarian reverie under bolts and bars. Carbonaro, +Republican, evangelical sectarian, he had conspired at all times and in +all places, incessantly struggling against the Power of the day, whatever +it might be. And when the Republic at last had come, that Republic which +had cost him so many years of gaol, it had, in its own turn, imprisoned +him, adding fresh years of gloom to those which already had lacked +sunlight. And thus he remained the martyr of freedom: freedom which he +still desired in spite of everything; freedom, which, strive as he might, +never came, never existed. + +"But you are mistaken," replied Guillaume, wounded by Janzen's raillery. +"There is again a thought of getting rid of Barthes, whose uncompromising +rectitude disturbs our politicians; and he does well to take his +precautions!" + +Nicholas Barthes came in, a tall, slim, withered old man, with a nose +like an eagle's beak, and eyes that still burned in their deep sockets, +under white and bushy brows. His mouth, toothless but still refined, was +lost to sight between his moustaches and snowy beard; and his hair, +crowning him whitely like an aureola, fell in curls over his shoulders. +Behind him with all modesty came Theophile Morin, with grey whiskers, +grey, brush-like hair, spectacles, and yellow, weary mien--that of an old +professor exhausted by years of teaching. Neither of them seemed +astonished or awaited an explanation on finding that man in bed with an +injured wrist. And there were no introductions: those who were acquainted +merely smiled at one another. + +Barthes, for his part, stooped and kissed Guillaume on both cheeks. "Ah!" +said the latter, almost gaily, "it gives me courage to see you." + +However, the new comers had brought a little information. The boulevards +were in an agitated state, the news of the crime had spread from cafe to +cafe, and everybody was anxious to see the late edition which one paper +had published giving a very incorrect account of the affair, full of the +most extraordinary details. Briefly, nothing positive was as yet known. + +On seeing Guillaume turn pale Pierre compelled him to lie down again, and +even talked of taking the visitors into the next room. But the injured +man gently replied: "No, no, I promise you that I won't stir again, that +I won't open my mouth. But stay there and chat together. I assure you +that it will do me good to have you near me and hear you." + +Then, under the sleepy gleams of the lamp, the others began to talk in +undertones. Old Barthes, who considered that bomb to be both idiotic and +abominable, spoke of it with the stupefaction of one who, after fighting +like a hero through all the legendary struggles for liberty, found +himself belated, out of his element, in a new era, which he could not +understand. Did not the conquest of freedom suffice for everything? he +added. Was there any other problem beyond that of founding the real +Republic? Then, referring to Mege and his speech in the Chamber that +afternoon, he bitterly arraigned Collectivism, which he declared to be +one of the democratic forms of tyranny. Theophile Morin, for his part, +also spoke against the Collectivist enrolling of the social forces, but +he professed yet greater hatred of the odious violence of the Anarchists; +for it was only by evolution that he expected progress, and he felt +somewhat indifferent as to what political means might bring about the +scientific society of to-morrow. And in like way Bache did not seem +particularly fond of the Anarchists, though he was touched by the idyllic +dream, the humanitarian hope, whose germs lay beneath their passion for +destruction. And, like Barthes, he also flew into a passion with Mege, +who since entering the Chamber had become, said he, a mere rhetorician +and theorist, dreaming of dictatorship. Meantime Janzen, still erect, his +face frigid and his lips curling ironically, listened to all three of +them, and vented a few trenchant words to express his own Anarchist +faith; the uselessness of drawing distinctions, and the necessity of +destroying everything in order that everything might be rebuilt on fresh +lines. + +Pierre, who had remained near the bed, also listened with passionate +attention. Amidst the downfall of his own beliefs, the utter void which +he felt within him, here were these four men, who represented the +cardinal points of this century's ideas, debating the very same terrible +problem which brought him so much suffering, that of the new belief which +the democracy of the coming century awaits. And, ah! since the days of +the immediate ancestors, since the days of Voltaire and Diderot and +Rousseau how incessantly had billows of ideas followed and jostled one +another, the older ones giving birth to new ones, and all breaking and +bounding in a tempest in which it was becoming so difficult to +distinguish anything clearly! Whence came the wind, and whither was the +ship of salvation going, for what port ought one to embark? Pierre had +already thought that the balance-sheet of the century ought to be drawn +up, and that, after accepting the legacies of Rousseau and the other +precursors, he ought to study the ideas of St. Simon, Fourier and even +Cabet; of Auguste Comte, Proudhon and Karl Marx as well, in order, at any +rate, to form some idea of the distance that had been travelled, and of +the cross-ways which one had now reached. And was not this an +opportunity, since chance had gathered those men together in his house, +living exponents of the conflicting doctrines which he wished to examine? + +On turning round, however, he perceived that Guillaume was now very pale +and had closed his eyes. Had even he, with his faith in science, felt the +doubt which is born of contradictory theories, and the despair which +comes when one sees the fight for truth resulting in growth of error? + +"Are you in pain?" the priest anxiously inquired. + +"Yes, a little. But I will try to sleep." + +At this they all went off with silent handshakes. Nicholas Barthes alone +remained in the house and slept in a room on the first floor which Sophie +had got ready for him. Pierre, unwilling to quit his brother, dozed off +upon a sofa. And the little house relapsed into its deep quietude, the +silence of solitude and winter, through which passed the melancholy +quiver of the souvenirs of childhood. + +In the morning, as soon as it was seven o'clock, Pierre had to go for the +newspapers. Guillaume had passed a bad night and intense fever had set +in. Nevertheless, his brother was obliged to read him the articles on the +explosion. There was an amazing medley of truths and inventions, of +precise information lost amidst the most unexpected extravagance. +Sagnier's paper, the "Voix du Peuple," distinguished itself by its +sub-titles in huge print and a whole page of particulars jumbled together +chance-wise. It had at once decided to postpone the famous list of the +thirty-two deputies and senators compromised in the African Railways +affair; and there was no end to the details it gave of the aspect of the +entrance to the Duvillard mansion after the explosion the pavement broken +up, the upper floor rent open, the huge doors torn away from their +hinges. Then came the story of the Baron's son and daughter preserved as +by a miracle, the landau escaping the slightest injury, while the banker +and his wife, it was alleged, owed their preservation to the circumstance +that they had lingered at the Madeleine after Monseigneur Martha's +remarkable address there. An entire column was given to the one victim, +the poor, pretty, fair-haired errand girl, whose identity did not seem to +be clearly established, although a flock of reporters had rushed first to +the modiste employing her, in the Avenue de l'Opera, and next to the +upper part of the Faubourg St. Denis, where it was thought her +grandmother resided. Then, in a gravely worded article in "Le Globe," +evidently inspired by Fonsegue, an appeal was made to the Chamber's +patriotism to avoid giving cause for any ministerial crisis in the +painful circumstances through which the country was passing. Thus the +ministry might last, and live in comparative quietude, for a few weeks +longer. + +Guillaume, however, was struck by one point only: the culprit was not +known; Salvat, it appeared certain, was neither arrested nor even +suspected. It seemed, indeed, as if the police were starting on a false +scent--that of a well-dressed gentleman wearing gloves, whom a neighbour +swore he had seen entering the mansion at the moment of the explosion. +Thus Guillaume became a little calmer. But his brother read to him from +another paper some particulars concerning the engine of destruction that +had been employed. It was a preserved-meat can, and the fragments of it +showed that it had been comparatively small. And Guillaume relapsed into +anxiety on learning that people were much astonished at the violent +ravages of such a sorry appliance, and that the presence of some new +explosive of incalculable power was already suspected. + +At eight o'clock Bertheroy put in an appearance. Although he was +sixty-eight, he showed as much briskness and sprightliness as any young +sawbones calling in a friendly way to perform a little operation. He had +brought an instrument case, some linen bands and some lint. However, he +became angry on finding the injured man nervous, flushed and hot with +fever. + +"Ah! I see that you haven't been reasonable, my dear child," said he. +"You must have talked too much, and have bestirred and excited yourself." +Then, having carefully probed the wound, he added, while dressing it: +"The bone is injured, you know, and I won't answer for anything unless +you behave better. Any complications would make amputation necessary." + +Pierre shuddered, but Guillaume shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that +he might just as well be amputated since all was crumbling around him. +Bertheroy, who had sat down, lingering there for another moment, +scrutinised both brothers with his keen eyes. He now knew of the +explosion, and must have thought it over. "My dear child," he resumed in +his brusque way, "I certainly don't think that you committed that +abominable act of folly in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy. But I fancy that you +were in the neighbourhood--no, no, don't answer me, don't defend +yourself. I know nothing and desire to know nothing, not even the formula +of that devilish powder of which your shirt cuff bore traces, and which +has wrought such terrible havoc." + +And then as the brothers remained surprised, turning cold with anxiety, +in spite of his assurances, he added with a sweeping gesture: "Ah! my +friends, I regard such an action as even more useless than criminal! I +only feel contempt for the vain agitation of politics, whether they be +revolutionary or conservative. Does not science suffice? Why hasten the +times when one single step of science brings humanity nearer to the goal +of truth and justice than do a hundred years of politics and social +revolt? Why, it is science alone which sweeps away dogmas, casts down +gods, and creates light and happiness. And I, Member of the Institute as +I am, decorated and possessed of means, I am the only true +Revolutionist." + +Then he began to laugh and Guillaume realised all the good-natured irony +of his laugh. While admiring him as a great _savant_, he had hitherto +suffered at seeing him lead such a _bourgeois_ life, accepting whatever +appointments and honours were offered him, a Republican under the +Republic, but quite ready to serve science under no matter what master. +But now, from beneath this opportunist, this hieratical _savant_, this +toiler who accepted wealth and glory from all hands, there appeared a +quiet yet terrible evolutionist, who certainly expected that his own work +would help to ravage and renew the world! + +However, Bertheroy rose and took his leave: "I'll come back; behave +sensibly, and love one another as well as you can." + +When the brothers again found themselves alone, Pierre seated at +Guillaume's bedside, their hands once more sought each other and met in a +burning clasp instinct with all their anguish. How much threatening +mystery and distress there was both around and within them! The grey +wintry daylight came into the room, and they could see the black trees in +the garden, while the house remained full of quivering silence, save that +overhead a faint sound of footsteps was audible. They were the steps of +Nicholas Barthes, the heroic lover of freedom, who, rising at daybreak, +had, like a caged lion, resumed his wonted promenade, the incessant +coming and going of one who had ever been a prisoner. And as the brothers +ceased listening to him their eyes fell on a newspaper which had remained +open on the bed, a newspaper soiled by a sketch in outline which +pretended to portray the poor dead errand girl, lying, ripped open, +beside the bandbox and the bonnet it had contained. It was so frightful, +so atrociously hideous a scene, that two big tears again fell upon +Pierre's cheeks, whilst Guillaume's blurred, despairing eyes gazed +wistfully far away, seeking for the Future. + + + +II + +A HOME OF INDUSTRY + +THE little house in which Guillaume had dwelt for so many years, a home +of quietude and hard work, stood in the pale light of winter up yonder at +Montmartre, peacefully awaiting his return. He reflected, however, after +_dejeuner_ that it might not be prudent for him to go back thither for +some three weeks, and so he thought of sending Pierre to explain the +position of affairs. "Listen, brother," he said. "You must render me this +service. Go and tell them the truth--that I am here, slightly injured, +and do not wish them to come to see me, for fear lest somebody should +follow them and discover my retreat. After the note I wrote them last +evening they would end by getting anxious if I did not send them some +news." Then, yielding to the one worry which, since the previous night, +had disturbed his clear, frank glance, he added: "Just feel in the +right-hand pocket of my waistcoat; you will find a little key there. +Good! that's it. Now you must give it to Madame Leroi, my mother-in-law, +and tell her that if any misfortune should happen to me, she is to do +what is understood between us. That will suffice, she will understand +you." + +At the first moment Pierre had hesitated; but he saw how even the slight +effort of speaking exhausted his brother, so he silenced him, saying: +"Don't talk, but put your mind at ease. I will go and reassure your +people, since you wish that this commission should be undertaken by me." + +Truth to tell, the errand was so distasteful to Pierre that he had at +first thought of sending Sophie in his place. All his old prejudices were +reviving; it was as if he were going to some ogre's den. How many times +had he not heard his mother say "that creature!" in referring to the +woman with whom her elder son cohabited. Never had she been willing to +kiss Guillaume's boys; the whole connection had shocked her, and she was +particularly indignant that Madame Leroi, the woman's mother, should have +joined the household for the purpose of bringing up the little ones. +Pierre retained so strong a recollection of all this that even nowadays, +when he went to the basilica of the Sacred Heart and passed the little +house on his way, he glanced at it distrustfully, and kept as far from it +as he could, as if it were some abode of vice and error. Undoubtedly, for +ten years now, the boys' mother had been dead, but did not another +scandal-inspiring creature dwell there, that young orphan girl to whom +his brother had given shelter, and whom he was going to marry, although a +difference of twenty years lay between them? To Pierre all this was +contrary to propriety, abnormal and revolting, and he pictured a home +given over to social rebellion, where lack of principle led to every kind +of disorder. + +However, he was leaving the room to start upon his journey, when +Guillaume called him back. "Tell Madame Leroi," said he, "that if I +should die you will let her know of it, so that she may immediately do +what is necessary." + +"Yes, yes," answered Pierre. "But calm yourself, and don't move about. +I'll say everything. And in my absence Sophie will stop here with you in +case you should need her." + +Having given full instructions to the servant, Pierre set out to take a +tramcar, intending to alight from it on the Boulevard de Rochechouart, +and then climb the height on foot. And on the road, lulled by the gliding +motion of the heavy vehicle, he began to think of his brother's past life +and connections, with which he was but vaguely, imperfectly, acquainted. +It was only at a later date that details of everything came to his +knowledge. In 1850 a young professor named Leroi, who had come from Paris +to the college of Montauban with the most ardent republican ideas, had +there married Agathe Dagnan, the youngest of the five girls of an old +Protestant family from the Cevennes. Young Madame Leroi was _enceinte_ +when her husband, threatened with arrest for contributing some violent +articles to a local newspaper, immediately after the "Coup d'Etat," found +himself obliged to seek refuge at Geneva. It was there that the young +couple's daughter, Marguerite, a very delicate child, was born in 1852. +For seven years, that is until the Amnesty of 1859, the household +struggled with poverty, the husband giving but a few ill-paid lessons, +and the wife absorbed in the constant care which the child required. +Then, after their return to Paris, their ill-luck became even greater. +For a long time the ex-professor vainly sought regular employment; it was +denied him on account of his opinions, and he had to run about giving +lessons in private houses. When he was at last on the point of being +received back into the University a supreme blow, an attack of paralysis, +fell upon him. He lost the use of both legs. And then came utter misery, +every kind of sordid drudgery, the writing of articles for dictionaries, +the copying of manuscripts, and even the addressing of newspaper +wrappers, on the fruits of which the household barely contrived to live, +in a little lodging in the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince. + +It was there that Marguerite grew up. Leroi, embittered by injustice and +suffering, predicted the advent of a Republic which would avenge the +follies of the Empire, and a reign of science which would sweep away the +deceptive and cruel divinity of religious dogmas. On the other hand, +Agathe's religious faith had collapsed at Geneva, at sight of the narrow +and imbecile practices of Calvinism, and all that she retained of it was +the old Protestant leaven of rebellion. She had become at once the head +and the arm of the house; she went for her husband's work, took it back +when completed, and even did much of it herself, whilst, at the same +time, performing her house duties, and rearing and educating her +daughter. The latter, who attended no school, was indebted for all she +learnt to her father and mother, on whose part there was never any +question of religious instruction. Through contact with her husband, +Madame Leroi had lost all belief, and her Protestant heredity inclining +her to free inquiry and examination, she had arranged for herself a kind +of peaceful atheism, based on paramount principles of human duty and +justice, which she applied courageously, irrespective of all social +conventionalities. The long iniquity of her husband's fate, the +undeserved misfortunes which struck her through him and her daughter, +ended by endowing her with wonderful fortitude and devotion, which made +her, whether as a judge, a manager, or a consoler, a woman of +incomparable energy and nobleness of character. + +It was in the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince that Guillaume became acquainted +with the Leroi family, after the war of 1870. On the same floor as their +little lodging he occupied a large room, where he devoted himself +passionately to his studies. At the outset there was only an occasional +bow, for Guillaume's neighbours were very proud and very grave, leading +their life of poverty in fierce silence and retirement. Then intercourse +began with the rendering of little services, such as when the young man +procured the ex-professor a commission to write a few articles for a new +encyclopaedia. But all at once came the catastrophe: Leroi died in his +armchair one evening while his daughter was wheeling him from his table +to his bed. The two distracted women had not even the money to bury him. +The whole secret of their bitter want flowed forth with their tears, and +they were obliged to accept the help of Guillaume, who, from that moment, +became the necessary confidant and friend. And the thing which was bound +to happen did happen, in the most simple and loving manner, permitted by +the mother herself, who, full of contempt for a social system which +allowed those of good hearts to die of hunger, refused to admit the +necessity of any social tie. Thus there was no question of a regular +marriage. One day Guillaume, who was twenty-three years old, found +himself mated to Marguerite, who was twenty; both of them handsome, +healthy, and strong, adoring one another, loving work, and full of hope +in the future. + +From that moment a new life began. Since his father's death, Guillaume, +who had broken off all intercourse with his mother, had been receiving an +allowance of two hundred francs a month. This just represented daily +bread; however, he was already doubling the amount by his work as a +chemist,--his analyses and researches, which tended to the employment of +certain chemical products in industry. So he and Marguerite installed +themselves on the very summit of Montmartre, in a little house, at a +rental of eight hundred francs a year, the great convenience of the place +being a strip of garden, where one might, later on, erect a wooden +workshop. In all tranquillity Madame Leroi took up her abode with the +young people, helping them, and sparing them the necessity of keeping a +second servant. And at successive intervals of two years, her three +grandchildren were born, three sturdy boys: first Thomas, then Francois, +and then Antoine. And in the same way as she had devoted herself to her +husband and daughter, and then to Guillaume, so did she now devote +herself to the three children. She became "Mere-Grand"--an emphatic and +affectionate way of expressing the term "grandmother"--for all who lived +in the house, the older as well as the younger ones. She there +personified sense, and wisdom, and courage; it was she who was ever on +the watch, who directed everything, who was consulted about everything, +and whose opinion was always followed. Indeed, she reigned there like an +all-powerful queen-mother. + +For fifteen years this life went on, a life of hard work and peaceful +affection, while the strictest economy was observed in contenting every +need of the modest little household. Then Guillaume lost his mother, took +his share of the family inheritance, and was able to satisfy his old +desire, which was to buy the house he lived in, and build a spacious +workshop in the garden. He was even able to build it of bricks, and add +an upper story to it. But the work was scarcely finished, and life seemed +to be on the point of expanding and smiling on them all, when misfortune +returned, and typhoid fever, with brutal force, carried off Marguerite, +after a week's illness. She was then five and thirty, and her eldest boy, +Thomas, was fourteen. Thus Guillaume, distracted by his loss, found +himself a widower at thirty-eight. The thought of introducing any unknown +woman into that retired home, where all hearts beat in tender unison, was +so unbearable to him that he determined to take no other mate. His work +absorbed him, and he would know how to quiet both his heart and his +flesh. Mere-Grand, fortunately, was still there, erect and courageous; +the household retained its queen, and in her the children found a +manageress and teacher, schooled in adversity and heroism. + +Two years passed; and then came an addition to the family. A young woman, +Marie Couturier, the daughter of one of Guillaume's friends, suddenly +entered it. Couturier had been an inventor, a madman with some measure of +genius, and had spent a fairly large fortune in attempting all sorts of +fantastic schemes. His wife, a very pious woman, had died of grief at it +all; and although on the rare occasions when he saw his daughter, he +showed great fondness for her and loaded her with presents, he had first +placed her in a boarding college, and afterwards left her in the charge +of a poor female relative. Remembering her only on his death-bed, he had +begged Guillaume to give her an asylum, and find her a husband. The poor +relation, who dealt in ladies' and babies' linen, had just become a +bankrupt. So, at nineteen, the girl, Marie, found herself a penniless +outcast, possessed of nothing save a good education, health and courage. +Guillaume would never allow her to run about giving lessons. He took her, +in quite a natural way, to help Mere-Grand, who was no longer so active +as formerly. And the latter approved the arrangement, well pleased at the +advent of youth and gaiety, which would somewhat brighten the household, +whose life had been one of much gravity ever since Marguerite's death. +Marie would simply be an elder sister; she was too old for the boys, who +were still at college, to be disturbed by her presence. And she would +work in that house where everybody worked. She would help the little +community pending the time when she might meet and love some worthy +fellow who would marry her. + +Five more years elapsed without Marie consenting to quit that happy home. +The sterling education she had received was lodged in a vigorous brain, +which contented itself with the acquirement of knowledge. Yet she had +remained very pure and healthy, even very _naive_, maidenly by reason of +her natural rectitude. And she was also very much a woman, beautifying +and amusing herself with a mere nothing, and ever showing gaiety and +contentment. Moreover, she was in no wise of a dreamy nature, but very +practical, always intent on some work or other, and only asking of life +such things as life could give, without anxiety as to what might lie +beyond it. She lovingly remembered her pious mother, who had prepared her +for her first Communion in tears, imagining that she was opening heaven's +portals to her. But since she had been an orphan she had of her own +accord ceased all practice of religion, her good sense revolting and +scorning the need of any moral police regulations to make her do her +duty. Indeed, she considered such regulations dangerous and destructive +of true health. Thus, like Mere-Grand, she had come to a sort of quiet +and almost unconscious atheism, not after the fashion of one who reasons, +but simply like the brave, healthy girl she was, one who had long endured +poverty without suffering from it, and believed in nothing save the +necessity of effort. She had been kept erect, indeed, by her conviction +that happiness was to be found in the normal joys of life, lived +courageously. And her happy equilibrium of mind had ever guided and saved +her, in such wise that she willingly listened to her natural instinct, +saying, with her pleasant laugh, that this was, after all, her best +adviser. She rejected two offers of marriage, and on the second occasion, +as Guillaume pressed her to accept, she grew astonished, and inquired if +he had had enough of her in the house. She found herself very +comfortable, and she rendered service there. So why should she leave and +run the risk of being less happy elsewhere, particularly as she was not +in love with anybody? + +Then, by degrees, the idea of a marriage between Marie and Guillaume +presented itself; and indeed what could have been more reasonable and +advantageous for all? If Guillaume had not mated again it was for his +sons' sake, because he feared that by introducing a stranger to the house +he might impair its quietude and gaiety. But now there was a woman among +them who already showed herself maternal towards the boys, and whose +bright youth had ended by disturbing his own heart. He was still in his +prime, and had always held that it was not good for man to live alone, +although, personally, thanks to his ardour for work, he had hitherto +escaped excessive suffering in his bereavement. However, there was the +great difference of ages to be considered; and he would have bravely +remained in the background and have sought a younger husband for Marie, +if his three big sons and Mere-Grand herself had not conspired to effect +his happiness by doing all they could to bring about a marriage which +would strengthen every home tie and impart, as it were, a fresh +springtide to the house. As for Marie, touched and grateful to Guillaume +for the manner in which he had treated her for five years past, she +immediately consented with an impulse of sincere affection, in which, she +fancied, she could detect love. And at all events, could she act in a +more sensible, reasonable way, base her life on more certain prospects of +happiness? So the marriage had been resolved upon; and about a month +previously it had been decided that it should take place during the +ensuing spring, towards the end of April. + +When Pierre, after alighting from the tramcar, began to climb the +interminable flights of steps leading to the Rue St. Eleuthere, a feeling +of uneasiness again came over him at the thought that he was about to +enter that suspicious ogre's den where everything would certainly wound +and irritate him. Given the letter which Sophie had carried thither on +the previous night, announcing that the master would not return, how +anxious and upset must all its inmates be! However, as Pierre ascended +the final flight and nervously raised his head, the little house appeared +to him right atop of the hill, looking very serene and quiet under the +bright wintry sun, which had peered forth as if to bestow upon the modest +dwelling an affectionate caress. + +There was a door in the old garden wall alongside the Rue St. Eleuthere, +almost in front of the broad thoroughfare conducting to the basilica of +the Sacred Heart; but to reach the house itself one had to skirt the wall +and climb to the Place du Tertre, where one found the facade and the +entrance. Some children were playing on the Place, which, planted as it +was with a few scrubby trees, and edged with humble shops,--a +fruiterer's, a grocer's and a baker's,--looked like some square in a +small provincial town. In a corner, on the left, Guillaume's dwelling, +which had been whitewashed during the previous spring, showed its bright +frontage and five lifeless windows, for all its life was on the other, +the garden, side, which overlooked Paris and the far horizon. + +Pierre mustered his courage and, pulling a brass knob which glittered +like gold, rang the bell. There came a gay, distant jingle; but for a +moment nobody appeared, and he was about to ring again, when the door was +thrown wide open, revealing a passage which ran right through the house, +beyond which appeared the ocean of Paris, the endless sea of house roofs +bathed in sunlight. And against this spacious, airy background, stood a +young woman of twenty-six, clad in a simple gown of black woolen stuff, +half covered by a large blue apron. She had her sleeves rolled up above +her elbows, and her arms and hands were still moist with water which she +had but imperfectly wiped away. + +A moment's surprise and embarrassment ensued. The young woman, who had +hastened to the door with laughing mien, became grave and covertly +hostile at sight of the visitor's cassock. The priest thereupon realised +that he must give his name: "I am Abbe Pierre Froment." + +At this the young woman's smile of welcome came back to her. "Oh! I beg +your pardon, monsieur--I ought to have recognised you, for I saw you wish +Guillaume good day one morning as you passed." + +She said Guillaume; she, therefore, must be Marie. And Pierre looked at +her in astonishment, finding her very different from what he had +imagined. She was only of average height, but she was vigorously, +admirably built, broad of hip and broad of shoulder, with the small firm +bosom of an amazon. By her erect and easy step, instinct with all the +adorable grace of woman in her prime, one could divine that she was +strong, muscular and healthy. A brunette, but very white of skin, she had +a heavy helm of superb black hair, which she fastened in a negligent way, +without any show of coquetry. And under her dark locks, her pure, +intelligent brow, her delicate nose and gay eyes appeared full of intense +life; whilst the somewhat heavier character of her lower features, her +fleshy lips and full chin, bespoke her quiet kindliness. She had surely +come on earth as a promise of every form of tenderness, every form of +devotion. In a word, she was a true mate for man. + +However, with her heavy, straying hair and superb arms, so ingenuous in +their nudity, she only gave Pierre an impression of superfluous health +and extreme self-assurance. She displeased him and even made him feel +somewhat anxious, as if she were a creature different from all others. + +"It is my brother Guillaume who has sent me," he said. + +At this her face again changed; she became grave and hastened to admit +him to the passage. And when the door was closed she answered: "You have +brought us news of him, then! I must apologise for receiving you in this +fashion. The servants have just finished some washing, and I was making +sure if the work had been well done. Pray excuse me, and come in here for +a moment; it is perhaps best that I should be the first to know the +news." + +So saying, she led him past the kitchen to a little room which served as +scullery and wash-house. A tub full of soapy water stood there, and some +dripping linen hung over some wooden bars. "And so, Guillaume?" she +asked. + +Pierre then told the truth in simple fashion: that his brother's wrist +had been injured; that he himself had witnessed the accident, and that +his brother had then sought an asylum with him at Neuilly, where he +wished to remain and get cured of his injury in peace and quietness, +without even receiving a visit from his sons. While speaking in this +fashion, the priest watched the effect of his words on Marie's face: +first fright and pity, and then an effort to calm herself and judge +things reasonably. + +"His letter quite froze me last night," she ended by replying. "I felt +sure that some misfortune had happened. But one must be brave and hide +one's fear from others. His wrist injured, you say; it is not a serious +injury, is it?" + +"No; but it is necessary that every precaution should be taken with it." + +She looked him well in the face with her big frank eyes, which dived into +his own as if to reach the very depths of his being, though at the same +time she plainly sought to restrain the score of questions which rose to +her lips. "And that is all: he was injured in an accident," she resumed; +"he didn't ask you to tell us anything further about it?" + +"No, he simply desires that you will not be anxious." + +Thereupon she insisted no further, but showed herself obedient and +respectful of the decision which Guillaume had arrived at. It sufficed +that he should have sent a messenger to reassure the household--she did +not seek to learn any more. And even as she had returned to her work in +spite of the secret anxiety in which the letter of the previous evening +had left her, so now, with her air of quiet strength, she recovered an +appearance of serenity, a quiet smile and clear brave glance. + +"Guillaume only gave me one other commission," resumed Pierre, "that of +handing a little key to Madame Leroi." + +"Very good," Marie answered, "Mere-Grand is here; and, besides, the +children must see you. I will take you to them." + +Once more quite tranquil, she examined Pierre without managing to conceal +her curiosity, which seemed of rather a kindly nature blended with an +element of vague pity. Her fresh white arms had remained bare. In all +candour she slowly drew down her sleeves; then took off the large blue +apron, and showed herself with her rounded figure, at once robust and +elegant, in her modest black gown. He meanwhile looked at her, and most +certainly he did not find her to his liking. On seeing her so natural, +healthy, and courageous, quite a feeling of revolt arose within him, +though he knew not why. + +"Will you please follow me, Monsieur l'Abbe?" she said. "We must cross +the garden." + +On the ground-floor of the house, across the passage, and facing the +kitchen and the scullery, there were two other rooms, a library +overlooking the Place du Tertre, and a dining-room whose windows opened +into the garden. The four rooms on the first floor served as bedchambers +for the father and the sons. As for the garden, originally but a small +one, it had now been reduced to a kind of gravelled yard by the erection +of the large workshop at one end of it. Of the former greenery, however, +there still remained two huge plum-trees with old knotted trunks, as well +as a big clump of lilac-bushes, which every spring were covered with +bloom. And in front of the latter Marie had arranged a broad flower-bed, +in which she amused herself with growing a few roses, some wallflowers +and some mignonette. + +With a wave of her hand as she went past, she called Pierre's attention +to the black plum-trees and the lilacs and roses, which showed but a few +greenish spots, for winter still held the little nook in sleep. "Tell +Guillaume," she said, "that he must make haste to get well and be back +for the first shoots." + +Then, as Pierre glanced at her, she all at once flushed purple. Much to +her distress, sudden and involuntary blushes would in this wise +occasionally come upon her, even at the most innocent remarks. She found +it ridiculous to feel such childish emotion when she had so brave a +heart. But her pure maidenly blood had retained exquisite delicacy, such +natural and instinctive modesty that she yielded to it perforce. And +doubtless she had merely blushed because she feared that the priest might +think she had referred to her marriage in speaking of the spring. + +"Please go in, Monsieur l'Abbe. The children are there, all three." And +forthwith she ushered him into the workshop. + +It was a very spacious place, over sixteen feet high, with a brick +flooring and bare walls painted an iron grey. A sheet of light, a stream +of sunshine, spread to every corner through a huge window facing the +south, where lay the immensity of Paris. The Venetian shutters often had +to be lowered in the summer to attenuate the great heat. From morn till +night the whole family lived here, closely and affectionately united in +work. Each was installed as fancy listed, having a particular chosen +place. One half of the building was occupied by the father's chemical +laboratory, with its stove, experiment tables, shelves for apparatus, +glass cases and cupboards for phials and jars. Near all this Thomas, the +eldest son, had installed a little forge, an anvil, a vice bench, in fact +everything necessary to a working mechanician, such as he had become +since taking his bachelor's degree, from his desire to remain with his +father and help him with certain researches and inventions. Then, at the +other end, the younger brothers, Francois and Antoine, got on very well +together on either side of a broad table which stood amidst a medley of +portfolios, nests of drawers and revolving book-stands. Francois, laden +with academical laurels, first on the pass list for the Ecole Normale, +had entered that college where young men are trained for university +professorships, and was there preparing for his Licentiate degree, while +Antoine, who on reaching the third class at the Lycee Condorcet had taken +a dislike to classical studies, now devoted himself to his calling as a +wood-engraver. And, in the full light under the window, Mere-Grand and +Marie likewise had their particular table, where needlework, embroidery, +all sorts of _chiffons_ and delicate things lay about near the somewhat +rough jumble of retorts, tools and big books. + +Marie, however, on the very threshold called out in her calm voice, to +which she strove to impart a gay and cheering accent: "Children! +children! here is Monsieur l'Abbe with news of father!" + +Children, indeed! Yet what motherliness she already set in the word as +she applied it to those big fellows whose elder sister she had long +considered herself to be! At three and twenty Thomas was quite a +colossus, already bearded and extremely like his father. But although he +had a lofty brow and energetic features, he was somewhat slow both in +mind and body. And he was also taciturn, almost unsociable, absorbed in +filial devotion, delighted with the manual toil which made him a mere +workman at his master's orders. Francois, two years younger than Thomas, +and nearly as tall, showed a more refined face, though he had the same +large brow and firm mouth, a perfect blending of health and strength, in +which the man of intellect, the scientific Normalian, could only be +detected by the brighter and more subtle sparkle of the eyes. The +youngest of the brothers, Antoine, who for his eighteen years was almost +as strong as his elders, and promised to become as tall, differed from +them by his lighter hair and soft, blue, dreamy eyes, which he had +inherited from his mother. It had been difficult, however, to distinguish +one from the other when all three were schoolboys at the Lycee Condorcet; +and even nowadays people made mistakes unless they saw them side by side, +so as to detect the points of difference which were becoming more marked +as age progressed. + +On Pierre's arrival the brothers were so absorbed in their work that they +did not even hear the door open. And again, as in the case of Marie, the +priest was surprised by the discipline and firmness of mind, which amidst +the keenest anxiety gave the young fellows strength to take up their +daily task. Thomas, who stood at his vice-bench in a blouse, was +carefully filing a little piece of copper with rough but skilful hands. +Francois, leaning forward, was writing in a bold, firm fashion, whilst on +the other side of the table, Antoine, with a slender graver between his +fingers, finished a block for an illustrated newspaper. + +However, Marie's clear voice made them raise their heads: "Children, +father has sent you some news!" + +Then all three with the same impulse hurriedly quitted their work and +came forward. One could divine that directly there was any question of +their father they were drawn together, blended one with the other, so +that but one and the same heart beat in their three broad chests. +However, a door at the far end of the workroom opened at that moment, and +Mere-Grand, coming from the upper floor where she and Marie had their +bedrooms, made her appearance. She had just absented herself to fetch a +skein of wool; and she gazed fixedly at the priest, unable to understand +the reason of his presence. + +Marie had to explain matters. "Mere-Grand," said she, "this is Monsieur +l'Abbe Froment, Guillaume's brother; he has come from him." + +Pierre on his side was examining the old lady, astonished to find her so +erect and full of life at seventy. Her former beauty had left a stately +charm on her rather long face; youthful fire still lingered in her brown +eyes; and very firm was the contour of her pale lips, which in parting +showed that she had retained all her teeth. A few white hairs alone +silvered her black tresses, which were arranged in old-time fashion. Her +cheeks had but slightly withered, and her deep, symmetrical wrinkles gave +her countenance an expression of much nobility, a sovereign air as of a +queen-mother, which, tall and slight of stature as she was, and +invariably gowned in black woollen stuff, she always retained, no matter +how humble her occupation. + +"So Guillaume sent you, monsieur," she said; "he is injured, is he not?" + +Surprised by this proof of intuition, Pierre repeated his story. "Yes, +his wrist is injured--but oh! it's not a case of immediate gravity." + +On the part of the three sons, he had divined a sudden quiver, an impulse +of their whole beings to rush to the help and defence of their father. +And for their sakes he sought words of comfort: "He is with me at +Neuilly. And with due care it is certain that no serious complications +will arise. He sent me to tell you to be in no wise uneasy about him." + +Mere-Grand for her part evinced no fears, but preserved great calmness, +as if the priest's tidings contained nothing beyond what she had known +already. If anything, she seemed rather relieved, freed from anxiety +which she had confided to none. "If he is with you, monsieur," she +answered, "he is evidently as comfortable as he can be, and sheltered +from all risks. We were surprised, however, by his letter last night, as +it did not explain why he was detained, and we should have ended by +feeling frightened. But now everything is satisfactory." + +Mere-Grand and the three sons, following Marie's example, asked no +explanations. On a table near at hand Pierre noticed several morning +newspapers lying open and displaying column after column of particulars +about the crime. The sons had certainly read these papers, and had feared +lest their father should be compromised in that frightful affair. How far +did their knowledge of the latter go? They must be ignorant of the part +played by Salvat. It was surely impossible for them to piece together all +the unforeseen circumstances which had brought about their father's +meeting with the workman, and then the crime. Mere-Grand, no doubt, was +in certain respects better informed than the others. But they, the sons +and Marie, neither knew nor sought to know anything. And thus what a +wealth of respect and affection there was in their unshakable confidence +in the father, in the tranquillity they displayed directly he sent them +word that they were not to be anxious about him! + +"Madame," Pierre resumed, "Guillaume told me to give you this little key, +and to remind you to do what he charged you to do, if any misfortune +should befall him." + +She started, but so slightly that it was scarcely perceptible; and taking +the key she answered as if some ordinary wish on the part of a sick +person were alone in question. "Very well. Tell him that his wishes shall +be carried out." Then she added, "But pray take a seat, monsieur." + +Pierre, indeed, had remained standing. However, he now felt it necessary +to accept a chair, desirous as he was of hiding the embarrassment which +he still felt in this house, although he was _en famille_ there. Marie, +who could not live without occupation for her fingers, had just returned +to some embroidery, some of the fine needlework which she stubbornly +executed for a large establishment dealing in baby-linen and bridal +_trousseaux_; for she wished at any rate to earn her own pocket-money, +she often said with a laugh. Mere-Grand, too, from habit, which she +followed even when visitors were present, had once more started on her +perpetual stocking-mending; while Francois and Antoine had again seated +themselves at their table; and Thomas alone remained on his legs, leaning +against his bench. All the charm of industrious intimacy pervaded the +spacious, sun-lit room. + +"But we'll all go to see father to-morrow," Thomas suddenly exclaimed. + +Before Pierre could answer Marie raised her head. "No, no," said she, "he +does not wish any of us to go to him; for if we should be watched and +followed we should betray the secret of his retreat. Isn't that so, +Monsieur l'Abbe?" + +"It would indeed be prudent of you to deprive yourselves of the pleasure +of embracing him until he himself can come back here. It will be a matter +of some two or three weeks," answered Pierre. + +Mere-Grand at once expressed approval of this. "No doubt," said she. +"Nothing could be more sensible." + +So the three sons did not insist, but bravely accepted the secret anxiety +in which they must for a time live, renouncing the visit which would have +caused them so much delight, because their father bade them do so and +because his safety depended perhaps on their obedience. + +However, Thomas resumed: "Then, Monsieur l'Abbe, will you please tell him +that as work will be interrupted here, I shall return to the factory +during his absence. I shall be more at ease there for the researches on +which we are engaged." + +"And please tell him from me," put in Francois, "that he mustn't worry +about my examination. Things are going very well. I feel almost certain +of success." + +Pierre promised that he would forget nothing. However, Marie raised her +head, smiling and glancing at Antoine, who had remained silent with a +faraway look in his eyes. "And you, little one," said she, "don't you +send him any message?" + +Emerging from a dream, the young fellow also began to smile. "Yes, yes, a +message that you love him dearly, and that he's to make haste back for +you to make him happy." + +At this they all became merry, even Marie, who in lieu of embarrassment +showed a tranquil gaiety born of confidence in the future. Between her +and the young men there was naught but happy affection. And a grave smile +appeared even on the pale lips of Mere-Grand, who likewise approved of +the happiness which life seemed to be promising. + +Pierre wished to stay a few minutes longer. They all began to chat, and +his astonishment increased. He had gone from surprise to surprise in this +house where he had expected to find that equivocal, disorderly life, that +rebellion against social laws, which destroy morality. But instead of +this he had found loving serenity, and such strong discipline that life +there partook of the gravity, almost the austerity, of convent life, +tempered by youth and gaiety. The vast room was redolent of industry and +quietude, warm with bright sunshine. However, what most particularly +struck him was the Spartan training, the bravery of mind and heart among +those sons who allowed nothing to be seen of their personal feelings, and +did not presume to judge their father, but remained content with his +message, ready to await events, stoical and silent, while carrying on +their daily tasks. Nothing could be more simple, more dignified, more +lofty. And there was also the smiling heroism of Mere-Grand and Marie, +those two women who slept over that laboratory where terrible +preparations were manipulated, and where an explosion was always +possible. + +However, such courage, orderliness and dignity merely surprised Pierre, +without touching him. He had no cause for complaint, he had received a +polite greeting if not an affectionate one; but then he was as yet only a +stranger there, a priest. In spite of everything, however, he remained +hostile, feeling that he was in a sphere where none of his own torments +could be shared or even divined. How did these folks manage to be so calm +and happy amidst their religious unbelief, their sole faith in science, +and in presence of that terrifying Paris which spread before them the +boundless sea, the growling abomination of its injustice and its want? As +this thought came to him he turned his head and gazed at the city through +the huge window, whence it stretched away, ever present, ever living its +giant life. And at that hour, under the oblique sun-rays of the winter +afternoon, all Paris was speckled with luminous dust, as if some +invisible sower, hidden amidst the glory of the planet, were fast +scattering seed which fell upon every side in a stream of gold. The whole +field was covered with it; for the endless chaos of house roofs and +edifices seemed to be land in tilth, furrowed by some gigantic plough. +And Pierre in his uneasiness, stirred, despite everything, by an +invincible need of hope, asked himself if this was not a good sowing, the +furrows of Paris strewn with light by the divine sun for the great future +harvest, that harvest of truth and justice of whose advent he had +despaired. + +At last he rose and took his leave, promising to return at once, if there +should be any bad news. It was Marie who showed him to the front door. +And there another of those childish blushes which worried her so much +suddenly rose to her face, just as she, in her turn, also wished to send +her loving message to the injured man. However, with her gay, candid eyes +fixed on those of the priest, she bravely spoke the words: "_Au revoir, +Monsieur l'Abbe_. Tell Guillaume that I love him and await him." + + + +III + +PENURY AND TOIL + +THREE days went by, and every morning Guillaume, confined to his bed and +consumed by fever and impatience, experienced fresh anxiety directly the +newspapers arrived. Pierre had tried to keep them from him, but Guillaume +then worried himself the more, and so the priest had to read him column +by column all the extraordinary articles that were published respecting +the crime. + +Never before had so many rumours inundated the press. Even the "Globe," +usually so grave and circumspect, yielded to the general _furore_, and +printed whatever statements reached it. But the more unscrupulous papers +were the ones to read. The "Voix du Peuple" in particular made use of the +public feverishness to increase its sales. Each morning it employed some +fresh device, and printed some frightful story of a nature to drive +people mad with terror. It related that not a day passed without Baron +Duvillard receiving threatening letters of the coarsest description, +announcing that his wife, his son and his daughter would all be killed, +that he himself would be butchered in turn, and that do what he might his +house would none the less be blown up. And as a measure of precaution the +house was guarded day and night alike by a perfect army of plain-clothes +officers. Then another article contained an amazing piece of invention. +Some anarchists, after carrying barrels of powder into a sewer near the +Madeleine, were said to have undermined the whole district, planning a +perfect volcano there, into which one half of Paris would sink. And at +another time it was alleged that the police were on the track of a +terrible plot which embraced all Europe, from the depths of Russia to the +shores of Spain. The signal for putting it into execution was to be given +in France, and there would be a three days' massacre, with grape shot +sweeping everyone off the Boulevards, and the Seine running red, swollen +by a torrent of blood. Thanks to these able and intelligent devices of +the Press, terror now reigned in the city; frightened foreigners fled +from the hotels _en masse_; and Paris had become a mere mad-house, where +the most idiotic delusions at once found credit. + +It was not all this, however, that worried Guillaume. He was only anxious +about Salvat and the various new "scents" which the newspaper reporters +attempted to follow up. The engineer was not yet arrested, and, so far +indeed, there had been no statement in print to indicate that the police +were on his track. At last, however, Pierre one morning read a paragraph +which made the injured man turn pale. + +"Dear me! It seems that a tool has been found among the rubbish at the +entrance of the Duvillard mansion. It is a bradawl, and its handle bears +the name of Grandidier, which is that of a man who keeps some well-known +metal works. He is to appear before the investigating magistrate to-day." + +Guillaume made a gesture of despair. "Ah!" said he, "they are on the +right track at last. That tool must certainly have been dropped by +Salvat. He worked at Grandidier's before he came to me for a few days. +And from Grandidier they will learn all that they need to know in order +to follow the scent." + +Pierre then remembered that he had heard the Grandidier factory mentioned +at Montmartre. Guillaume's eldest son, Thomas, had served his +apprenticeship there, and even worked there occasionally nowadays. + +"You told me," resumed Guillaume, "that during my absence Thomas intended +to go back to the factory. It's in connection with a new motor which he's +planning, and has almost hit upon. If there should be a perquisition +there, he may be questioned, and may refuse to answer, in order to guard +his secret. So he ought to be warned of this, warned at once!" + +Without trying to extract any more precise statement from his brother, +Pierre obligingly offered his services. "If you like," said he, "I will +go to see Thomas this afternoon. Perhaps I may come across Monsieur +Grandidier himself and learn how far the affair has gone, and what was +said at the investigating magistrate's." + +With a moist glance and an affectionate grasp of the hand, Guillaume at +once thanked Pierre: "Yes, yes, brother, go there, it will be good and +brave of you." + +"Besides," continued the priest, "I really wanted to go to Montmartre +to-day. I haven't told you so, but something has been worrying me. If +Salvat has fled, he must have left the woman and the child all alone up +yonder. On the morning of the day when the explosion took place I saw the +poor creatures in such a state of destitution, such misery, that I can't +think of them without a heart-pang. Women and children so often die of +hunger when the man is no longer there." + +At this, Guillaume, who had kept Pierre's hand in his own, pressed it +more tightly, and in a trembling voice exclaimed: "Yes, yes, and that +will be good and brave too. Go there, brother, go there." + +That house of the Rue des Saules, that horrible home of want and agony, +had lingered in Pierre's memory. To him it was like an embodiment of the +whole filthy _cloaca_, in which the poor of Paris suffer unto death. And +on returning thither that afternoon, he found the same slimy mud around +it; its yard littered with the same filth, its dark, damp stairways +redolent of the same stench of neglect and poverty, as before. In winter +time, while the fine central districts of Paris are dried and cleansed, +the far-away districts of the poor remain gloomy and miry, beneath the +everlasting tramp of the wretched ones who dwell in them. + +Remembering the staircase which conducted to Salvat's lodging, Pierre +began to climb it amidst a loud screaming of little children, who +suddenly became quiet, letting the house sink into death-like silence +once more. Then the thought of Laveuve, who had perished up there like a +stray dog, came back to Pierre. And he shuddered when, on the top +landing, he knocked at Salvat's door, and profound silence alone answered +him. Not a breath was to be heard. + +However, he knocked again, and as nothing stirred he began to think that +nobody could be there. Perhaps Salvat had returned to fetch the woman and +the child, and perhaps they had followed him to some humble nook abroad. +Still this would have astonished him; for the poor seldom quit their +homes, but die where they have suffered. So he gave another gentle knock. + +And at last a faint sound, the light tread of little feet, was heard +amidst the silence. Then a weak, childish voice ventured to inquire: "Who +is there?" + +"Monsieur l'Abbe." + +The silence fell again, nothing more stirred. There was evidently +hesitation on the other side. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe who came the other day," said Pierre again. + +This evidently put an end to all uncertainty, for the door was set ajar +and little Celine admitted the priest. "I beg your pardon, Monsieur +l'Abbe," said she, "but Mamma Theodore has gone out, and she told me not +to open the door to anyone." + +Pierre had, for a moment, imagined that Salvat himself was hiding there. +But with a glance he took in the whole of the small bare room, where man, +woman and child dwelt together. At the same time, Madame Theodore +doubtless feared a visit from the police. Had she seen Salvat since the +crime? Did she know where he was hiding? Had he come back there to +embrace and tranquillise them both? + +"And your papa, my dear," said Pierre to Celine, "isn't he here either?" + +"Oh! no, monsieur, he has gone away." + +"What, gone away?" + +"Yes, he hasn't been home to sleep, and we don't know where he is." + +"Perhaps he's working." + +"Oh, no! he'd send us some money if he was." + +"Then he's gone on a journey, perhaps?" + +"I don't know." + +"He wrote to Mamma Theodore, no doubt?" + +"I don't know." + +Pierre asked no further questions. In fact, he felt somewhat ashamed of +his attempt to extract information from this child of eleven, whom he +thus found alone. It was quite possible that she knew nothing, that +Salvat, in a spirit of prudence, had even refrained from sending any +tidings of himself. Indeed, there was an expression of truthfulness on +the child's fair, gentle and intelligent face, which was grave with the +gravity that extreme misery imparts to the young. + +"I am sorry that Mamma Theodore isn't here," said Pierre, "I wanted to +speak to her." + +"But perhaps you would like to wait for her, Monsieur l'Abbe. She has +gone to my Uncle Toussaint's in the Rue Marcadet; and she can't stop much +longer, for she's been away more than an hour." + +Thereupon Celine cleared one of the chairs on which lay a handful of +scraps of wood, picked up on some waste ground. + +The bare and fireless room was assuredly also a breadless one. Pierre +could divine the absence of the bread-winner, the disappearance of the +man who represents will and strength in the home, and on whom one still +relies even when weeks have gone by without work. He goes out and scours +the city, and often ends by bringing back the indispensable crust which +keeps death at bay. But with his disappearance comes complete +abandonment, the wife and child in danger, destitute of all prop and +help. + +Pierre, who had sat down and was looking at that poor, little, blue-eyed +girl, to whose lips a smile returned in spite of everything, could not +keep from questioning her on another point. "So you don't go to school, +my child?" said he. + +She faintly blushed and answered: "I've no shoes to go in." + +He glanced at her feet, and saw that she was wearing a pair of ragged old +list-slippers, from which her little toes protruded, red with cold. + +"Besides," she continued, "Mamma Theodore says that one doesn't go to +school when one's got nothing to eat. Mamma Theodore wanted to work but +she couldn't, because her eyes got burning hot and full of water. And so +we don't know what to do, for we've had nothing left since yesterday, and +if Uncle Toussaint can't lend us twenty sous it'll be all over." + +She was still smiling in her unconscious way, but two big tears had +gathered in her eyes. And the sight of the child shut up in that bare +room, apart from all the happy ones of earth, so upset the priest that he +again felt his anger with want and misery awakening. Then, another ten +minutes having elapsed, he became impatient, for he had to go to the +Grandidier works before returning home. + +"I don't know why Mamma Theodore doesn't come back," repeated Celine. +"Perhaps she's chatting." Then, an idea occurring to her she continued: +"I'll take you to my Uncle Toussaint's, Monsieur l'Abbe, if you like. +It's close by, just round the corner." + +"But you have no shoes, my child." + +"Oh! that don't matter, I walk all the same." + +Thereupon he rose from the chair and said simply: "Well, yes, that will +be better, take me there. And I'll buy you some shoes." + +Celine turned quite pink, and then made haste to follow him after +carefully locking the door of the room like a good little housewife, +though, truth to tell, there was nothing worth stealing in the place. + +In the meantime it had occurred to Madame Theodore that before calling on +her brother Toussaint to try to borrow a franc from him, she might first +essay her luck with her younger sister, Hortense, who had married little +Chretiennot, the clerk, and occupied a flat of four rooms on the +Boulevard de Rochechouart. This was quite an affair, however, and the +poor woman only made the venture because Celine had been fasting since +the previous day. + +Eugene Toussaint, the mechanician, a man of fifty, was her stepbrother, +by the first marriage contracted by her father. A young dressmaker whom +the latter had subsequently wedded, had borne him three daughters, +Pauline, Leonie and Hortense. And on his death, his son Eugene, who +already had a wife and child of his own, had found himself for a short +time with his stepmother and sisters on his hands. The stepmother, +fortunately, was an active and intelligent woman, and knew how to get out +of difficulties. She returned to her former workroom where her daughter +Pauline was already apprenticed, and she next placed Leonie there; so +that Hortense, the youngest girl, who was a spoilt child, prettier and +more delicate than her sisters, was alone left at school. And, later +on,--after Pauline had married Labitte the stonemason, and Leonie, Salvat +the journeyman-engineer,--Hortense, while serving as assistant at a +confectioner's in the Rue des Martyrs, there became acquainted with +Chretiennot, a clerk, who married her. Leonie had died young, only a few +weeks after her mother; Pauline, forsaken by her husband, lived with her +brother-in-law Salvat, and Hortense alone wore a light silk gown on +Sundays, resided in a new house, and ranked as a _bourgeoise_, at the +price, however, of interminable worries and great privation. + +Madame Theodore knew that her sister was generally short of money towards +the month's end, and therefore felt rather ill at ease in thus venturing +to apply for a loan. Chretiennot, moreover, embittered by his own +mediocrity, had of late years accused his wife of being the cause of +their spoilt life, and had ceased all intercourse with her relatives. +Toussaint, no doubt, was a decent workman; but that Madame Theodore who +lived in misery with her brother-in-law, and that Salvat who wandered +from workshop to workshop like an incorrigible ranter whom no employer +would keep; those two, with their want and dirt and rebellion, had ended +by incensing the vain little clerk, who was not only a great stickler for +the proprieties, but was soured by all the difficulties he encountered in +his own life. And thus he had forbidden Hortense to receive her sister. + +All the same, as Madame Theodore climbed the carpeted staircase of the +house on the Boulevard Rochechouart, she experienced a certain feeling of +pride at the thought that she had a relation living in such luxury. The +Chretiennot's rooms were on the third floor, and overlooked the +courtyard. Their _femme-de-menage_--a woman who goes out by the day or +hour charring, cleaning and cooking--came back every afternoon about four +o'clock to see to the dinner, and that day she was already there. She +admitted the visitor, though she could not conceal her anxious surprise +at her boldness in calling in such slatternly garb. However, on the very +threshold of the little salon, Madame Theodore stopped short in +wonderment herself, for her sister Hortense was sobbing and crouching on +one of the armchairs, upholstered in blue repp, of which she was so +proud. + +"What is the matter? What has happened to you?" asked Madame Theodore. + +Her sister, though scarcely two and thirty, was no longer "the beautiful +Hortense" of former days. She retained a doll-like appearance, with a +tall slim figure, pretty eyes and fine, fair hair. But she who had once +taken so much care of herself, had now come down to dressing-gowns of +doubtful cleanliness. Her eyelids, too, were reddening, and blotches were +appearing on her skin. She had begun to fade after giving birth to two +daughters, one of whom was now nine and the other seven years of age. +Very proud and egotistical, she herself had begun to regret her marriage, +for she had formerly considered herself a real beauty, worthy of the +palaces and equipages of some Prince Charming. And at this moment she was +plunged in such despair, that her sister's sudden appearance on the scene +did not even astonish her: "Ah! it's you," she gasped. "Ah! if you only +knew what a blow's fallen on me in the middle of all our worries!" + +Madame Theodore at once thought of the children, Lucienne and Marcelle. +"Are your daughters ill?" she asked. + +"No, no, our neighbour has taken them for a walk on the Boulevard. But +the fact is, my dear, I'm _enceinte_, and when I told Chretiennot of it +after _dejeuner_, he flew into a most fearful passion, saying the most +dreadful, the most cruel things!" + +Then she again sobbed. Gentle and indolent by nature, desirous of peace +and quietness before anything else, she was incapable of deceiving her +husband, as he well knew. But the trouble was that an addition to the +family would upset the whole economy of the household. + +"_Mon Dieu_!" said Madame Theodore at last, "you brought up the others, +and you'll bring up this one too." + +At this an explosion of anger dried the other's eyes; and she rose, +exclaiming: "You are good, you are! One can see that our purse isn't +yours. How are we to bring up another child when we can scarcely make +both ends meet as it is?" + +And thereupon, forgetting the _bourgeois_ pride which usually prompted +her to silence or falsehood, she freely explained their embarrassment, +the horrid pecuniary worries which made their life a perpetual misery. +Their rent amounted to 700 francs,* so that out of the 3000 francs** +which the husband earned at his office, barely a couple of hundred were +left them every month. And how were they to manage with that little sum, +provide food and clothes, keep up their rank and so forth? There was the +indispensable black coat for monsieur, the new dress which madame must +have at regular intervals, under penalty of losing caste, the new boots +which the children required almost every month, in fact, all sorts of +things that could not possibly be dispensed with. One might strike a dish +or two out of the daily menu, and even go without wine; but evenings came +when it was absolutely necessary to take a cab. And, apart from all this, +one had to reckon with the wastefulness of the children, the disorder in +which the discouraged wife left the house, and the despair of the +husband, who was convinced that he would never extricate himself from his +difficulties, even should his salary some day be raised to as high a +figure as 4000 francs. Briefly, one here found the unbearable penury of +the petty clerk, with consequences as disastrous as the black want of the +artisan: the mock facade and lying luxury; all the disorder and suffering +which lie behind intellectual pride at not earning one's living at a +bench or on a scaffolding. + + * $140. + + ** $600. + +"Well, well," repeated Madame Theodore, "you can't kill the child." + +"No, of course not; but it's the end of everything," answered Hortense, +sinking into the armchair again. "What will become of us, _mon Dieu_! +What will become of us!" Then she collapsed in her unbuttoned dressing +gown, tears once more gushing from her red and swollen eyes. + +Much vexed that circumstances should be so unpropitious, Madame Theodore +nevertheless ventured to ask for the loan of twenty sons; and this +brought her sister's despair and confusion to a climax. "I really haven't +a centime in the house," said she, "just now I borrowed ten sous for the +children from the servant. I had to get ten francs from the Mont de Piete +on a little ring the other day. And it's always the same at the end of +the month. However, Chretiennot will be paid to-day, and he's coming back +early with the money for dinner. So if I can I will send you something +to-morrow." + +At this same moment the servant hastened in with a distracted air, being +well aware that monsieur was in no wise partial to madame's relatives. +"Oh madame, madame!" said she; "here's monsieur coming up the stairs." + +"Quick then, quick, go away!" cried Hortense, "I should only have another +scene if he met you here. To-morrow, if I can, I promise you." + +To avoid Chretiennot who was coming in, Madame Theodore had to hide +herself in the kitchen. As he passed, she just caught sight of him, well +dressed as usual in a tight-fitting frock-coat. Short and lean, with a +thin face and long and carefully tended beard, he had the bearing of one +who is both vain and quarrelsome. Fourteen years of office life had +withered him, and now the long evening hours which he spent at a +neighbouring cafe were finishing him off. + +When Madame Theodore had quitted the house she turned with dragging steps +towards the Rue Marcadet where the Toussaints resided. Here, again, she +had no great expectations, for she well knew what ill-luck and worry had +fallen upon her brother's home. During the previous autumn Toussaint, +though he was but fifty, had experienced an attack of paralysis which had +laid him up for nearly five months. Prior to this mishap he had borne +himself bravely, working steadily, abstaining from drink, and bringing up +his three children in true fatherly fashion. One of them, a girl, was now +married to a carpenter, with whom she had gone to Le Havre, while of the +others, both boys--one a soldier, had been killed in Tonquin, and the +other Charles, after serving his time in the army, had become a working +mechanician. Still, Toussaint's long illness had exhausted the little +money which he had in the Savings Bank, and now that he had been set on +his legs again, he had to begin life once more without a copper before +him. + +Madame Theodore found her sister-in-law alone in the cleanly kept room +which she and her husband occupied. Madame Toussaint was a portly woman, +whose corpulence increased in spite of everything, whether it were worry +or fasting. She had a round puffy face with bright little eyes; and was a +very worthy woman, whose only faults were an inclination for gossiping +and a fondness for good cheer. Before Madame Theodore even opened her +mouth she understood the object of her visit. "You've come on us at a bad +moment, my dear," she said, "we're stumped. Toussaint wasn't able to go +back to the works till the day before yesterday, and he'll have to ask +for an advance this evening." + +As she spoke, she looked at the other with no great sympathy, hurt as she +felt by her slovenly appearance. "And Salvat," she added, "is he still +doing nothing?" + +Madame Theodore doubtless foresaw the question, for she quietly lied: "He +isn't in Paris, a friend has taken him off for some work over Belgium +way, and I'm waiting for him to send us something." + +Madame Toussaint still remained distrustful, however: "Ah!" she said, +"it's just as well that he shouldn't be in Paris; for with all these bomb +affairs we couldn't help thinking of him, and saying that he was quite +mad enough to mix himself up in them." + +The other did not even blink. If she knew anything she kept it to +herself. + +"But you, my dear, can't you find any work?" continued Madame Toussaint. + +"Well, what would you have me do with my poor eyes? It's no longer +possible for me to sew." + +"That's true. A seamstress gets done for. When Toussaint was laid up here +I myself wanted to go back to my old calling as a needlewoman. But there! +I spoilt everything and did no good. Charring's about the only thing that +one can always do. Why don't you get some jobs of that kind?" + +"I'm trying, but I can't find any." + +Little by little Madame Toussaint was softening at sight of the other's +miserable appearance. She made her sit down, and told her that she would +give her something if Toussaint should come home with money. Then, +yielding to her partiality for gossiping, since there was somebody to +listen to her, she started telling stories. The one affair, however, on +which she invariably harped was the sorry business of her son Charles and +the servant girl at a wine shop over the way. Before going into the army +Charles had been a most hard-working and affectionate son, invariably +bringing his pay home to his mother. And certainly he still worked and +showed himself good-natured; but military service, while sharpening his +wits, had taken away some of his liking for ordinary manual toil. It +wasn't that he regretted army life, for he spoke of his barracks as a +prison. Only his tools had seemed to him rather heavy when, on quitting +the service, he had been obliged to take them in hand once more. + +"And so, my dear," continued Madame Toussaint, "it's all very well for +Charles to be kind-hearted, he can do no more for us. I knew that he +wasn't in a hurry to get married, as it costs money to keep a wife. And +he was always very prudent, too, with girls. But what would you have? +There was that moment of folly with that Eugenie over the road, a regular +baggage who's already gone off with another man, and left her baby +behind. Charles has put it out to nurse, and pays for it every month. And +a lot of expense it is too, perfect ruination. Yes, indeed, every +possible misfortune has fallen on us." + +In this wise Madame Toussaint rattled on for a full half hour. Then +seeing that waiting and anxiety had made her sister-in-law turn quite +pale, she suddenly stopped short. "You're losing patience, eh?" she +exclaimed. "The fact is, that Toussaint won't be back for some time. +Shall we go to the works together? I'll easily find out if he's likely to +bring any money home." + +They then decided to go down, but at the bottom of the stairs they +lingered for another quarter of an hour chatting with a neighbour who had +lately lost a child. And just as they were at last leaving the house they +heard a call: "Mamma! mamma!" + +It came from little Celine, whose face was beaming with delight. She was +wearing a pair of new shoes and devouring a cake. "Mamma," she resumed, +"Monsieur l'Abbe who came the other day wants to see you. Just look! he +bought me all this!" + +On seeing the shoes and the cake, Madame Theodore understood matters. And +when Pierre, who was behind the child, accosted her she began to tremble +and stammer thanks. Madame Toussaint on her side had quickly drawn near, +not indeed to ask for anything herself, but because she was well pleased +at such a God-send for her sister-in-law, whose circumstances were worse +than her own. And when she saw the priest slip ten francs into Madame +Theodore's hand she explained to him that she herself would willingly +have lent something had she been able. Then she promptly started on the +stories of Toussaint's attack and her son Charles's ill-luck. + +But Celine broke in: "I say, mamma, the factory where papa used to work +is here in this street, isn't it? Monsieur l'Abbe has some business +there."* + + * Although the children of the French peasantry almost + invariably address their parents as "father" and "mother," + those of the working classes of Paris, and some other large + cities, usually employ the terms "papa" and "mamma."--Trans. + +"The Grandidier factory," resumed Madame Toussaint; "well, we were just +going there, and we can show Monsieur l'Abbe the way." + +It was only a hundred steps off. Escorted by the two women and the child, +Pierre slackened his steps and tried to extract some information about +Salvat from Madame Theodore. But she at once became very prudent. She had +not seen him again, she declared; he must have gone with a mate to +Belgium, where there was a prospect of some work. From what she said, it +appeared to the priest that Salvat had not dared to return to the Rue des +Saules since his crime, in which all had collapsed, both his past life of +toil and hope, and his recent existence with its duties towards the woman +and the child. + +"There's the factory, Monsieur l'Abbe," suddenly said Madame Toussaint, +"my sister-in-law won't have to wait now, since you've been kind enough +to help her. Thank you for her and for us." + +Madame Theodore and Celine likewise poured forth their thanks, standing +beside Madame Toussaint in the everlasting mud of that populous district, +amidst the jostling of the passers-by. And lingering there as if to see +Pierre enter, they again chatted together and repeated that, after all, +some priests were very kind. + +The Grandidier works covered an extensive plot of ground. Facing the +street there was only a brick building with narrow windows and a great +archway, through which one espied a long courtyard. But, in the rear, +came a suite of habitations, workshops, and sheds, above whose never +ending roofs arose the two lofty chimneys of the generators. From the +very threshold one detected the rumbling and quivering of machinery, all +the noise and bustle of work. Black water flowed by at one's feet, and up +above white vapour spurted from a slender pipe with a regular strident +puff, as if it were the very breath of that huge, toiling hive. + +Bicycles were now the principal output of the works. When Grandidier had +taken them on leaving the Dijon Arts and Trades School, they were +declining under bad management, slowly building some little motive +engines by the aid of antiquated machinery. Foreseeing the future, +however, he had induced his elder brother, one of the managers of the Bon +Marche, to finance him, on the promise that he would supply that great +emporium with excellent bicycles at 150 francs apiece. And now quite a +big venture was in progress, for the Bon Marche was already bringing out +the new popular machine "La Lisette," the "Bicycle for the Multitude," as +the advertisements asserted. Nevertheless, Grandidier was still in all +the throes of a great struggle, for his new machinery had cast a heavy +burden of debt on him. At the same time each month brought its effort, +the perfecting or simplifying of some part of the manufacture, which +meant a saving in the future. He was ever on the watch; and even now was +thinking of reverting to the construction of little motors, for he +thought he could divine in the near future the triumph of the motor-car. + +On asking if M. Thomas Froment were there, Pierre was led by an old +workman to a little shed, where he found the young fellow in the linen +jacket of a mechanician, his hands black with filings. He was adjusting +some piece of mechanism, and nobody would have suspected him to be a +former pupil of the Lycee Condorcet, one of the three clever Froments who +had there rendered the name famous. But his only desire had been to act +as his father's faithful servant, the arm that forges, the embodiment of +the manual toil by which conceptions are realised. And, a giant of three +and twenty, ever attentive and courageous, he was likewise a man of +patient, silent and sober nature. + +On catching sight of Pierre he quivered with anxiety and sprang forward. +"Father is no worse?" he asked. + +"No, no. But he read in the papers that story of a bradawl found in the +Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, and it made him anxious, because the police may make +a perquisition here." + +Thomas, his own anxiety allayed, began to smile. "Tell him he may sleep +quietly," he responded. "To begin with, I've unfortunately not yet hit on +our little motor such as I want it to be. In fact, I haven't yet put it +together. I'm keeping the pieces at our house, and nobody here knows +exactly what I come to do at the factory. So the police may search, it +will find nothing. Our secret runs no risk." + +Pierre promised to repeat these words to Guillaume, so as to dissipate +his fears. However, when he tried to sound Thomas, and ascertain the +position of affairs, what the factory people thought of the discovery of +the bradawl, and whether there was as yet any suspicion of Salvat, he +once more found the young man taciturn, and elicited merely a "yes" or a +"no" in answer to his inquiries. The police had not been there as yet? +No. But the men must surely have mentioned Salvat? Yes, of course, on +account of his Anarchist opinions. But what had Grandidier, the master, +said, on returning from the investigating magistrate's? As for that +Thomas knew nothing. He had not seen Grandidier that day. + +"But here he comes!" the young man added. "Ah! poor fellow, his wife, I +fancy, had another attack this morning." + +He alluded to a frightful story which Guillaume had already recounted to +Pierre. Grandidier, falling in love with a very beautiful girl, had +married her; but for five years now she had been insane: the result of +puerperal fever and the death of an infant son. Her husband, with his +ardent affection for her, had been unwilling to place her in an asylum, +and had accordingly kept her with him in a little pavilion, whose +windows, overlooking the courtyard of the factory, always remained +closed. She was never seen; and never did he speak of her to anybody. It +was said that she was usually like a child, very gentle and very sad, and +still beautiful, with regal golden hair. At times, however, attacks of +frantic madness came upon her, and he then had to struggle with her, and +often hold her for hours in his arms to prevent her from splitting her +head against the walls. Fearful shrieks would ring out for a time, and +then deathlike silence would fall once more. + +Grandidier came into the shed where Thomas was working. A handsome man of +forty, with an energetic face, he had a dark and heavy moustache, +brush-like hair and clear eyes. He was very partial to Thomas, and during +the young fellow's apprenticeship there, had treated him like a son. And +he now let him return thither whenever it pleased him, and placed his +appliances at his disposal. He knew that he was trying to devise a new +motor, a question in which he himself was extremely interested; still he +evinced the greatest discretion, never questioning Thomas, but awaiting +the result of his endeavours. + +"This is my uncle, Abbe Froment, who looked in to wish me good day," said +the young man, introducing Pierre. + +An exchange of polite remarks ensued. Then Grandidier sought to cast off +the sadness which made people think him stern and harsh, and in a +bantering tone exclaimed: "I didn't tell you, Thomas, of my business with +the investigating magistrate. If I hadn't enjoyed a good reputation we +should have had all the spies of the Prefecture here. The magistrate +wanted me to explain the presence of that bradawl in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy, and I at once realised that, in his opinion, the culprit +must have worked here. For my part I immediately thought of Salvat. But I +don't denounce people. The magistrate has my hiring-book, and as for +Salvat I simply answered that he worked here for nearly three months last +autumn, and then disappeared. They can look for him themselves! Ah! that +magistrate! you can picture him a little fellow with fair hair and +cat-like eyes, very careful of his appearance, a society man evidently, +but quite frisky at being mixed up in this affair." + +"Isn't he Monsieur Amadieu?" asked Pierre. + +"Yes, that's his name. Ah! he's certainly delighted with the present +which those Anarchists have made him, with that crime of theirs." + +The priest listened in deep anxiety. As his brother had feared, the true +scent, the first conducting wire, had now been found. And he looked at +Thomas to see if he also were disturbed. But the young man was either +ignorant of the ties which linked Salvat to his father, or else he +possessed great power of self-control, for he merely smiled at +Grandidier's sketch of the magistrate. + +Then, as Grandidier went to look at the piece of mechanism which Thomas +was finishing, and they began to speak about it, Pierre drew near to an +open doorway which communicated with a long workshop where engine lathes +were rumbling, and the beams of press-drills falling quickly and +rhythmically. Leather gearing spun along with a continuous gliding, and +there was ceaseless bustle and activity amidst the odoriferous dampness +of all the steam. Scores of perspiring workmen, grimy with dust and +filings, were still toiling. Still this was the final effort of the day. +And as three men approached a water-tap near Pierre to wash their hands, +he listened to their talk, and became particularly interested in it when +he heard one of them, a tall, ginger-haired fellow, call another +Toussaint, and the third Charles. + +Toussaint, a big, square-shouldered man with knotty arms, only showed his +fifty years on his round, scorched face, which besides being roughened +and wrinkled by labour, bristled with grey hairs, which nowadays he was +content to shave off once a week. It was only his right arm that was +affected by paralysis, and moved rather sluggishly. As for Charles, a +living portrait of his father, he was now in all the strength of his six +and twentieth year, with splendid muscles distending his white skin, and +a full face barred by a heavy black moustache. The three men, like their +employer, were speaking of the explosion at the Duvillard mansion, of the +bradawl found there, and of Salvat, whom they all now suspected. + +"Why, only a brigand would do such a thing!" said Toussaint. "That +Anarchism disgusts me. I'll have none of it. But all the same it's for +the _bourgeois_ to settle matters. If the others want to blow them up, +it's their concern. It's they who brought it about." + +This indifference was undoubtedly the outcome of a life of want and +social injustice; it was the indifference of an old toiler, who, weary of +struggling and hoping for improvements, was now quite ready to tolerate +the crumbling of a social system, which threatened him with hunger in his +impotent old age. + +"Well, you know," rejoined Charles, "I've heard the Anarchists talking, +and they really say some very true and sensible things. And just take +yourself, father; you've been working for thirty years, and isn't it +abominable that you should have had to pass through all that you did pass +through recently, liable to go off like some old horse that's slaughtered +at the first sign of illness? And, of course, it makes me think of +myself, and I can't help feeling that it won't be at all amusing to end +like that. And may the thunder of God kill me if I'm wrong, but one feels +half inclined to join in their great flare-up if it's really to make +everybody happy!" + +He certainly lacked the flame of enthusiasm, and if he had come to these +views it was solely from impatience to lead a less toilsome life, for +obligatory military service had given him ideas of equality among all +men--a desire to struggle, raise himself and obtain his legitimate share +of life's enjoyments. It was, in fact, the inevitable step which carries +each generation a little more forward. There was the father, who, +deceived in his hope of a fraternal republic, had grown sceptical and +contemptuous; and there was the son advancing towards a new faith, and +gradually yielding to ideas of violence, since political liberty had +failed to keep its promises. + +Nevertheless, as the big, ginger-haired fellow grew angry, and shouted +that if Salvat were guilty, he ought to be caught and guillotined at +once, without waiting for judges, Toussaint ended by endorsing his +opinion. "Yes, yes, he may have married one of my sisters, but I renounce +him. . . . And yet, you know, it would astonish me to find him guilty, +for he isn't wicked at heart. I'm sure he wouldn't kill a fly." + +"But what would you have?" put in Charles. "When a man's driven to +extremities he goes mad." + +They had now washed themselves; but Toussaint, on perceiving his +employer, lingered there in order to ask him for an advance. As it +happened, Grandidier, after cordially shaking hands with Pierre, +approached the old workman of his own accord, for he held him in esteem. +And, after listening to him, he gave him a line for the cashier on a +card. As a rule, he was altogether against the practice of advancing +money, and his men disliked him, and said he was over rigid, though in +point of fact he had a good heart. But he had his position as an employer +to defend, and to him concessions meant ruin. With such keen competition +on all sides, with the capitalist system entailing a terrible and +incessant struggle, how could one grant the demands of the workers, even +when they were legitimate? + +Sudden compassion came upon Pierre when, after quitting Thomas, he saw +Grandidier, who had finished his round, crossing the courtyard in the +direction of the closed pavilion, where all the grief of his +heart-tragedy awaited him. Here was that man waging the battle of life, +defending his fortune with the risk that his business might melt away +amidst the furious warfare between capital and labour; and at the same +time, in lieu of evening repose, finding naught but anguish it his +hearth: a mad wife, an adored wife, who had sunk back into infancy, and +was for ever dead to love! How incurable was his secret despair! Even on +the days when he triumphed in his workshops, disaster awaited him at +home. And could any more unhappy man, any man more deserving of pity, be +found even among the poor who died of hunger, among those gloomy workers, +those vanquished sons of labour who hated and who envied him? + +When Pierre found himself in the street again he was astonished to see +Madame Toussaint and Madame Theodore still there with little Celine. With +their feet in the mud, like bits of wreckage against which beat the +ceaseless flow of wayfarers, they had lingered there, still and ever +chatting, loquacious and doleful, lulling their wretchedness to rest +beneath a deluge of tittle-tattle. And when Toussaint, followed by his +son, came out, delighted with the advance he had secured, he also found +them on the same spot. Then he told Madame Theodore the story of the +bradawl, and the idea which had occurred to him and all his mates that +Salvat might well be the culprit. She, however, though turning very pale, +began to protest, concealing both what she knew and what she really +thought. + +"I tell you I haven't seen him for several days," said she. "He must +certainly be in Belgium. And as for a bomb, that's humbug. You say +yourself that he's very gentle and wouldn't harm a fly!" + +A little later as Pierre journeyed back to Neuilly in a tramcar he fell +into a deep reverie. All the stir and bustle of that working-class +district, the buzzing of the factory, the overflowing activity of that +hive of labour, seemed to have lingered within him. And for the first +time, amidst his worries, he realised the necessity of work. Yes, it was +fatal, but it also gave health and strength. In effort which sustains and +saves, he at last found a solid basis on which all might be reared. Was +this, then, the first gleam of a new faith? But ah! what mockery! Work an +uncertainty, work hopeless, work always ending in injustice! And then +want ever on the watch for the toiler, strangling him as soon as slack +times came round, and casting him into the streets like a dead dog +immediately old age set in. + +On reaching Neuilly, Pierre found Bertheroy at Guillaume's bedside. The +old _savant_ had just dressed the injured wrist, and was not yet certain +that no complications would arise. "The fact is," he said to Guillaume, +"you don't keep quiet. I always find you in a state of feverish emotion +which is the worst possible thing for you. You must calm yourself, my +dear fellow, and not allow anything to worry you." + +A few minutes later, though, just as he was going away, he said with his +pleasant smile: "Do you know that a newspaper writer came to interview me +about that explosion? Those reporters imagine that scientific men know +everything! I told the one who called on me that it would be very kind of +_him_ to enlighten _me_ as to what powder was employed. And, by the way, +I am giving a lesson on explosives at my laboratory to-morrow. There will +be just a few persons present. You might come as well, Pierre, so as to +give an account of it to Guillaume; it would interest him." + +At a glance from his brother, Pierre accepted the invitation. Then, +Bertheroy having gone, he recounted all he had learnt during the +afternoon, how Salvat was suspected, and how the investigating magistrate +had been put on the right scent. And at this news, intense fever again +came over Guillaume, who, with his head buried in the pillow, and his +eyes closed, stammered as if in a kind of nightmare: "Ah! then, this is +the end! Salvat arrested, Salvat interrogated! Ah! that so much toil and +so much hope should crumble!" + + + +IV + +CULTURE AND HOPE + +ON the morrow, punctually at one o'clock, Pierre reached the Rue d'Ulm, +where Bertheroy resided in a fairly large house, which the State had +placed at his disposal, in order that he might install in it a laboratory +for study and research. Thus the whole first floor had been transformed +into one spacious apartment, where, from time to time, the illustrious +chemist was fond of receiving a limited number of pupils and admirers, +before whom he made experiments, and explained his new discoveries and +theories. + +For these occasions a few chairs were set out before the long and massive +table, which was covered with jars and appliances. In the rear one saw +the furnace, while all around were glass cases, full of vials and +specimens. The persons present were, for the most part, fellow _savants_, +with a few young men, and even a lady or two, and, of course, an +occasional journalist. The whole made up a kind of family gathering, the +visitors chatting with the master in all freedom. + +Directly Bertheroy perceived Pierre he came forward, pressed his hand and +seated him on a chair beside Guillaume's son Francois, who had been one +of the first arrivals. The young man was completing his third year at the +Ecole Normale, close by, so he only had a few steps to take to call upon +his master Bertheroy, whom he regarded as one of the firmest minds of the +age. Pierre was delighted to meet his nephew, for he had been greatly +impressed in his favour on the occasion of his visit to Montmartre. +Francois, on his side, greeted his uncle with all the cordial +expansiveness of youth. He was, moreover, well pleased to obtain some +news of his father. + +However, Bertheroy began. He spoke in a familiar and sober fashion, but +frequently employed some very happy expressions. At first he gave an +account of his own extensive labours and investigations with regard to +explosive substances, and related with a laugh that he sometimes +manipulated powders which would have blown up the entire district. But, +said he, in order to reassure his listeners, he was always extremely +prudent. At last he turned to the subject of that explosion in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy, which, for some days, had filled Paris with dismay. The +remnants of the bomb had been carefully examined by experts, and one +fragment had been brought to him, in order that he might give his opinion +on it. The bomb appeared to have been prepared in a very rudimentary +fashion; it had been charged with small pieces of iron, and fired by +means of a match, such as a child might have devised. The extraordinary +part of the affair was the formidable power of the central cartridge, +which, although it must have been a small one, had wrought as much havoc +as any thunderbolt. And the question was this: What incalculable power of +destruction might one not arrive at if the charge were increased ten, +twenty or a hundredfold. Embarrassment began, and divergencies of opinion +clouded the issue directly one tried to specify what explosive had been +employed. Of the three experts who had been consulted, one pronounced +himself in favour of dynamite pure and simple; but the two others, +although they did not agree together, believed in some combination of +explosive matters. He, Bertheroy, had modestly declined to adjudicate, +for the fragment submitted to him bore traces of so slight a character, +that analysis became impossible. Thus he was unwilling to make any +positive pronouncement. But his opinion was that one found oneself in +presence of some unknown powder, some new explosive, whose power exceeded +anything that had hitherto been dreamt of. He could picture some unknown +_savant_, or some ignorant but lucky inventor, discovering the formula of +this explosive under mysterious conditions. And this brought him to the +point he wished to reach, the question of all the explosives which are so +far unknown, and of the coming discoveries which he could foresee. In the +course of his investigations he himself had found cause to suspect the +existence of several such explosives, though he had lacked time and +opportunity to prosecute his studies in that direction. However, he +indicated the field which should be explored, and the best way of +proceeding. In his opinion it was there that lay the future. And in a +broad and eloquent peroration, he declared that explosives had hitherto +been degraded by being employed in idiotic schemes of vengeance and +destruction; whereas it was in them possibly that lay the liberating +force which science was seeking, the lever which would change the face of +the world, when they should have been so domesticated and subdued as to +be only the obedient servants of man. + +Throughout this familiar discourse Pierre could feel that Francois was +growing impassioned, quivering at thought of the vast horizon which the +master opened up. He himself had become extremely interested, for he +could not do otherwise than notice certain allusions, and connect what he +heard with what he had guessed of Guillaume's anxiety regarding that +secret which he feared to see at the mercy of an investigating +magistrate. And so as he, Pierre, before going off with Francois, +approached Bertheroy to wish him good day, he pointedly remarked: +"Guillaume will be very sorry that he was unable to hear you unfold those +admirable ideas." + +The old _savant_ smiled. "Pooh!" said he; "just give him a summary of +what I said. He will understand. He knows more about the matter than I +do." + +In presence of the illustrious chemist, Francois preserved the silent +gravity of a respectful pupil, but when he and Pierre had taken a few +steps down the street in silence, he remarked: "What a pity it is that a +man of such broad intelligence, free from all superstition, and anxious +for the sole triumph of truth, should have allowed himself to be +classified, ticketed, bound round with titles and academical functions! +How greatly our affection for him would increase if he took less State +pay, and freed himself from all the grand cordons which tie his hands." + +"What would you have!" rejoined Pierre, in a conciliatory spirit. "A man +must live! At the same time I believe that he does not regard himself as +tied by anything." + +Then, as they had reached the entrance of the Ecole Normale, the priest +stopped, thinking that his companion was going back to the college. But +Francois, raising his eyes and glancing at the old place, remarked: "No, +no, to-day's Thursday, and I'm at liberty! Oh! we have a deal of liberty, +perhaps too much. But for my own part I'm well pleased at it, for it +often enables me to go to Montmartre and work at my old little table. +It's only there that I feel any real strength and clearness of mind." + +His preliminary examinations had entitled him to admission at either the +Ecole Polytechnique or the Ecole Normale,* and he had chosen the latter, +entering its scientific section with No. l against his name. His father +had wished him to make sure of an avocation, that of professor, even if +circumstances should allow him to remain independent and follow his own +bent on leaving the college. Francois, who was very precocious, was now +preparing for his last examination there, and the only rest he took was +in walking to and from Montmartre, or in strolling through the Luxembourg +gardens. + + * The purposes of the Ecole Normale have been referred to on + p. 197. At the Ecole Polytechnique young men receive much + of the preliminary training which they require to become + either artillery officers, or military, naval or civil + engineers.--Trans. + +From force of habit he now turned towards the latter, accompanied by +Pierre and chatting with him. One found the mildness of springtime there +that February afternoon; for pale sunshine streamed between the trees, +which were still leafless. It was indeed one of those first fine days +which draw little green gems from the branches of the lilac bushes. + +The Ecole Normale was still the subject of conversation and Pierre +remarked: "I must own that I hardly like the spirit that prevails there. +Excellent work is done, no doubt, and the only way to form professors is +to teach men the trade by cramming them with the necessary knowledge. But +the worst is that although all the students are trained for the teaching +profession, many of them don't remain in it, but go out into the world, +take to journalism, or make it their business to control the arts, +literature and society. And those who do this are for the most part +unbearable. After swearing by Voltaire they have gone back to +spirituality and mysticism, the last drawing-room craze. Now that a firm +faith in science is regarded as brutish and inelegant, they fancy that +they rid themselves of their caste by feigning amiable doubt, and +ignorance, and innocence. What they most fear is that they may carry a +scent of the schools about with them, so they put on extremely Parisian +airs, venture on somersaults and slang, and assume all the grace of +dancing bears in their eager desire to please. From that desire spring +the sarcastic shafts which they aim at science, they who pretend that +they know everything, but who go back to the belief of the humble, the +_naive_ idealism of Biblical legends, just because they think the latter +to be more distinguished." + +Francois began to laugh: "The portrait is perhaps a little overdrawn," +said he, "still there's truth in it, a great deal of truth." + +"I have known several of them," continued Pierre, who was growing +animated. "And among them all I have noticed that a fear of being duped +leads them to reaction against the entire effort, the whole work of the +century. Disgust with liberty, distrust of science, denial of the future, +that is what they now profess. And they have such a horror of the +commonplace that they would rather believe in nothing or the incredible. +It may of course be commonplace to say that two and two make four, yet +it's true enough; and it is far less foolish for a man to say and repeat +it than to believe, for instance, in the miracles of Lourdes." + +Francois glanced at the priest in astonishment. The other noticed it and +strove to restrain himself. Nevertheless, grief and anger carried him +away whenever he spoke of the educated young people of the time, such as, +in his despair, he imagined them to be. In the same way as he had pitied +the toilers dying of hunger in the districts of misery and want, so here +he overflowed with contempt for the young minds that lacked bravery in +the presence of knowledge, and harked back to the consolation of +deceptive spirituality, the promise of an eternity of happiness in death, +which last was longed for and exalted as the very sum of life. Was not +the cowardly thought of refusing to live for the sake of living so as to +discharge one's simple duty in being and making one's effort, equivalent +to absolute assassination of life? However, the _Ego_ was always the +mainspring; each one sought personal happiness. And Pierre was grieved to +think that those young people, instead of discarding the past and +marching on to the truths of the future, were relapsing into shadowy +metaphysics through sheer weariness and idleness, due in part perhaps to +the excessive exertion of the century, which had been overladen with +human toil. + +However, Francois had begun to smile again. "But you are mistaken," said +he; "we are not all like that at the Ecole Normale. You only seem to know +the Normalians of the Section of Letters, and your opinions would surely +change if you knew those of the Section of Sciences. It is quite true +that the reaction against Positivism is making itself felt among our +literary fellow-students, and that they, like others, are haunted by the +idea of that famous bankruptcy of science. This is perhaps due to their +masters, the neo-spiritualists and dogmatical rhetoricians into whose +hands they have fallen. And it is still more due to fashion, the whim of +the times which, as you have very well put it, regards scientific truth +as bad taste, something graceless and altogether too brutal for light and +distinguished minds. Consequently, a young fellow of any shrewdness who +desires to please is perforce won over to the new spirit." + +"The new spirit!" interrupted Pierre, unable to restrain himself. "Oh! +that is no mere innocent, passing fashion, it is a tactical device and a +terrible one, an offensive return of the powers of darkness against those +of light, of servitude against free thought, truth and justice." + +Then, as the young man again looked at him with growing astonishment, he +relapsed into silence. The figure of Monseigneur Martha had risen before +his eyes, and he fancied he could again hear the prelate at the +Madeleine, striving to win Paris over to the policy of Rome, to that +spurious neo-Catholicism which, with the object of destroying democracy +and science, accepted such portions of them as it could adapt to its own +views. This was indeed the supreme struggle. Thence came all the poison +poured forth to the young. Pierre knew what efforts were being made in +religious circles to help on this revival of mysticism, in the mad hope +of hastening the rout of science. Monseigneur Martha, who was +all-powerful at the Catholic University, said to his intimates, however, +that three generations of devout and docile pupils would be needed before +the Church would again be absolute sovereign of France. + +"Well, as for the Ecole Normale," continued Francois, "I assure you that +you are mistaken. There are a few narrow bigots there, no doubt. But even +in the Section of Letters the majority of the students are sceptics at +bottom--sceptics of discreet and good-natured average views. Of course +they are professors before everything else, though they are a trifle +ashamed of it; and, as professors, they judge things with no little +pedantic irony, devoured by a spirit of criticism, and quite incapable of +creating anything themselves. I should certainly be astonished to see the +man of genius whom we await come out of their ranks. To my thinking, +indeed, it would be preferable that some barbarian genius, neither well +read nor endowed with critical faculty, or power of weighing and shading +things, should come and open the next century with a hatchet stroke, +sending up a fine flare of truth and reality. . . . But, as for my +comrades of the Scientific Section, I assure you that neo-Catholicism and +Mysticism and Occultism, and every other branch of the fashionable +phantasmagoria trouble them very little indeed. They are not making a +religion of science, they remain open to doubt on many points; but they +are mostly men of very clear and firm minds, whose passion is the +acquirement of certainty, and who are ever absorbed in the investigations +which continue throughout the whole vast field of human knowledge. They +haven't flinched, they have remained Positivists, or Evolutionists, or +Determinists, and have set their faith in observation and experiment to +help on the final conquest of the world." + +Francois himself was growing excited, as he thus confessed his faith +while strolling along the quiet sunlit garden paths. "The young indeed!" +he resumed. "Do people know them? It makes us laugh when we see all sorts +of apostles fighting for us, trying to attract us, and saying that we are +white or black or grey, according to the hue which they require for the +triumph of their particular ideas! The young, the real ones, why, they're +in the schools, the laboratories and the libraries. It's they who work +and who'll bring to-morrow to the world. It's not the young fellows of +dinner and supper clubs, manifestoes and all sorts of extravagances. The +latter make a great deal of noise, no doubt; in fact, they alone are +heard. But if you knew of the ceaseless efforts and passionate striving +of the others, those who remain silent, absorbed in their tasks. And I +know many of them: they are with their century, they have rejected none +of its hopes, but are marching on to the coming century, resolved to +pursue the work of their forerunners, ever going towards more light and +more equity. And just speak to them of the bankruptcy of science. They'll +shrug their shoulders at the mere idea, for they know well enough that +science has never before inflamed so many hearts or achieved greater +conquests! It is only if the schools, laboratories and libraries were +closed, and the social soil radically changed, that one would have cause +to fear a fresh growth of error such as weak hearts and narrow minds hold +so dear!" + +At this point Francois's fine flow of eloquence was interrupted. A tall +young fellow stopped to shake hands with him; and Pierre was surprised to +recognise Baron Duvillard's son Hyacinthe, who bowed to him in very +correct style. "What! you here in our old quarter," exclaimed Francois. + +"My dear fellow, I'm going to Jonas's, over yonder, behind the +Observatory. Don't you know Jonas? Ah! my dear fellow, he's a delightful +sculptor, who has succeeded in doing away with matter almost entirely. He +has carved a figure of Woman, no bigger than the finger, and entirely +soul, free from all baseness of form, and yet complete. All Woman, +indeed, in her essential symbolism! Ah! it's grand, it's overpowering. A +perfect scheme of aesthetics, a real religion!" + +Francois smiled as he looked at Hyacinthe, buttoned up in his long +pleated frock-coat, with his made-up face, and carefully cropped hair and +beard. "And yourself?" said he, "I thought you were working, and were +going to publish a little poem, shortly?" + +"Oh! the task of creating is so distasteful to me, my dear fellow! A +single line often takes me weeks. . . . Still, yes, I have a little poem +on hand, 'The End of Woman.' And you see, I'm not so exclusive as some +people pretend, since I admire Jonas, who still believes in Woman. His +excuse is sculpture, which, after all, is at best such a gross +materialistic art. But in poetry, good heavens, how we've been +overwhelmed with Woman, always Woman! It's surely time to drive her out +of the temple, and cleanse it a little. Ah! if we were all pure and lofty +enough to do without Woman, and renounce all those horrid sexual +questions, so that the last of the species might die childless, eh? The +world would then at least finish in a clean and proper manner!" + +Thereupon, Hyacinthe walked off with his languid air, well pleased with +the effect which he had produced on the others. + +"So you know him?" said Pierre to Francois. + +"He was my school-fellow at Condorcet, we were in the same classes +together. Such a funny fellow he was! A perfect dunce! And he was always +making a parade of Father Duvillard's millions, while pretending to +disdain them, and act the revolutionist, for ever saying that he'd use +his cigarette to fire the cartridge which was to blow up the world! He +was Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, and Tolstoi, and Ibsen, rolled into one! +And you can see what he has become with it all: a humbug with a diseased +mind!" + +"It's a terrible symptom," muttered Pierre, "when through _ennui_ or +lassitude, or the contagion of destructive fury, the sons of the happy +and privileged ones start doing the work of the demolishers." + +Francois had resumed his walk, going down towards the ornamental water, +where some children were sailing their boats. "That fellow is simply +grotesque," he replied; "but how would you have sane people give any heed +to that mysticism, that awakening of spirituality which is alleged by the +same _doctrinaires_ who started the bankruptcy of science cry, when after +so brief an evolution it produces such insanity, both in art and +literature? A few years of influence have sufficed; and now Satanism, +Occultism and other absurdities are flourishing; not to mention that, +according to some accounts, the Cities of the Plains are reconciled with +new Rome. Isn't the tree judged by its fruits? And isn't it evident that, +instead of a renascence, a far-spreading social movement bringing back +the past, we are simply witnessing a transitory reaction, which many +things explain? The old world would rather not die, and is struggling in +a final convulsion, reviving for a last hour before it is swept away by +the overflowing river of human knowledge, whose waters ever increase. And +yonder, in the future, is the new world, which the real young ones will +bring into existence, those who work, those who are not known, who are +not heard. And yet, just listen! Perhaps you will hear them, for we are +among them, in their 'quarter.' This deep silence is that of the labour +of all the young fellows who are leaning over their work-tables, and day +by day carrying forward the conquest of truth." + +So saying Francois waved his hand towards all the day-schools and +colleges and high schools beyond the Luxembourg garden, towards the +Faculties of Law and Medicine, the Institute and its five Academies, the +innumerable libraries and museums which made up the broad domain of +intellectual labour. And Pierre, moved by it all, shaken in his theories +of negation, thought that he could indeed hear a low but far-spreading +murmur of the work of thousands of active minds, rising from +laboratories, studies and class, reading and lecture rooms. It was not +like the jerky, breathless trepidation, the loud clamour of factories +where manual labour toils and chafes. But here, too, there were sighs of +weariness, efforts as killing, exertion as fruitful in its results. Was +it indeed true that the cultured young were still and ever in their +silent forge, renouncing no hope, relinquishing no conquest, but in full +freedom of mind forging the truth and justice of to-morrow with the +invincible hammers of observation and experiment? + +Francois, however, had raised his eyes to the palace clock to ascertain +the time. "I'm going to Montmartre," he said; "will you come part of the +way with me?" + +Pierre assented, particularly as the young man added that on his way he +meant to call for his brother Antoine at the Museum of the Louvre. That +bright afternoon the Louvre picture galleries were steeped in warm and +dignified quietude, which one particularly noticed on coming from the +tumult and scramble of the streets. The majority of the few people one +found there were copyists working in deep silence, which only the +wandering footsteps of an occasional tourist disturbed. Pierre and +Francois found Antoine at the end of the gallery assigned to the +Primitive masters. With scrupulous, almost devout care he was making a +drawing of a figure by Mantegna. The Primitives did not impassion him by +reason of any particular mysticism and ideality, such as fashion pretends +to find in them, but on the contrary, and justifiably enough, by reason +of the sincerity of their ingenuous realism, their respect and modesty in +presence of nature, and the minute fidelity with which they sought to +transcribe it. He spent days of hard work in copying and studying them, +in order to learn strictness and probity of drawing from them--all that +lofty distinction of style which they owe to their candour as honest +artists. + +Pierre was struck by the pure glow which a sitting of good hard work had +set in Antoine's light blue eyes. It imparted warmth and even +feverishness to his fair face, which was usually all dreaminess and +gentleness. His lofty forehead now truly looked like a citadel armed for +the conquest of truth and beauty. He was only eighteen, and his story was +simply this: as he had grown disgusted with classical studies and been +mastered by a passion for drawing, his father had let him leave the Lycee +Condorcet when he was in the third class there. Some little time had then +elapsed while he felt his way and the deep originality within him was +being evolved. He had tried etching on copper, but had soon come to wood +engraving, and had attached himself to it in spite of the discredit into +which it had fallen, lowered as it had been to the level of a mere trade. +Was there not here an entire art to restore and enlarge? For his own part +he dreamt of engraving his own drawings, of being at once the brain which +conceives and the hand which executes, in such wise as to obtain new +effects of great intensity both as regards perception and touch. To +comply with the wishes of his father, who desired each of his sons to +have a trade, he earned his bread like other engravers by working for the +illustrated newspapers. But, in addition to this current work, he had +already engraved several blocks instinct with wonderful power and life. +They were simply copies of real things, scenes of everyday existence, but +they were accentuated, elevated so to say, by the essential line, with a +maestria which on the part of so young a lad fairly astonished one. + +"Do you want to engrave that?" Francois asked him, as he placed his copy +of Mantegna's figure in his portfolio. + +"Oh! no, that's merely a dip into innocence, a good lesson to teach one +to be modest and sincere. Life is very different nowadays." + +Then, while walking along the streets--for Pierre, who felt growing +sympathy for the two young fellows, went with them in the direction of +Montmartre, forgetful of all else,--Antoine, who was beside him, spoke +expansively of his artistic dreams. + +"Colour is certainly a power, a sovereign source of charm, and one may, +indeed, say that without colour nothing can be completely represented. +Yet, singularly enough, it isn't indispensable to me. It seems to me that +I can picture life as intensely and definitely with mere black and white, +and I even fancy that I shall be able to do so in a more essential +manner, without any of the dupery which lies in colour. But what a task +it is! I should like to depict the Paris of to-day in a few scenes, a few +typical figures, which would serve as testimony for all time. And I +should like to do it with great fidelity and candour, for an artist only +lives by reason of his candour, his humility and steadfast belief in +Nature, which is ever beautiful. I've already done a few figures, I will +show them to you. But ah! if I only dared to tackle my blocks with the +graver, at the outset, without drawing my subject beforehand. For that +generally takes away one's fire. However, what I do with the pencil is a +mere sketch; for with the graver I may come upon a find, some unexpected +strength or delicacy of effect. And so I'm draughtsman and engraver all +in one, in such a way that my blocks can only be turned out by myself. If +the drawings on them were engraved by another, they would be quite +lifeless. . . . Yes, life can spring from the fingers just as well as +from the brain, when one really possesses creative power." + +They walked on, and when they found themselves just below Montmartre, and +Pierre spoke of taking a tramcar to return to Neuilly, Antoine, quite +feverish with artistic passion, asked him if he knew Jahan, the sculptor, +who was working for the Sacred Heart. And on receiving a negative reply, +he added: "Well, come and see him for a moment. He has a great future +before him. You'll see an angel of his which has been declined." + +Then, as Francois began to praise the angel in question, Pierre agreed to +accompany them. On the summit of the height, among all the sheds which +the building of the basilica necessitated, Jahan had been able to set up +a glazed workshop large enough for the huge angel ordered of him. His +three visitors found him there in a blouse, watching a couple of +assistants, who were rough-hewing the block of stone whence the angel was +to emerge. Jahan was a sturdy man of thirty-six, with dark hair and +beard, a large, ruddy mouth and fine bright eyes. Born in Paris, he had +studied at the Fine Art School, but his impetuous temperament had +constantly landed him in trouble there. + +"Ah! yes," said he, "you've come to see my angel, the one which the +Archbishop wouldn't take. Well, there it is." + +The clay model of the figure, some three feet high, and already drying, +looked superb in its soaring posture, with its large, outspread wings +expanding as if with passionate desire for the infinite. The body, barely +draped, was that of a slim yet robust youth, whose face beamed with the +rapture of his heavenly flight. + +"They found him too human," said Jahan. "And after all they were right. +There's nothing so difficult to conceive as an angel. One even hesitates +as to the sex; and when faith is lacking one has to take the first model +one finds and copy it and spoil it. For my part, while I was modelling +that one, I tried to imagine a beautiful youth suddenly endowed with +wings, and carried by the intoxication of his flight into all the joy of +the sunshine. But it upset them, they wanted something more religious, +they said; and so then I concocted that wretched thing over there. After +all, one has to earn one's living, you know." + +So saying, he waved his hand towards another model, the one for which his +assistants were preparing the stone. And this model represented an angel +of the correct type, with symmetrical wings like those of a goose, a +figure of neither sex, and commonplace features, expressing the silly +ecstasy that tradition requires. + +"What would you have?" continued Jahan. "Religious art has sunk to the +most disgusting triteness. People no longer believe; churches are built +like barracks, and decorated with saints and virgins fit to make one +weep. The fact is that genius is only the fruit of the social soil; and a +great artist can only send up a blaze of the faith of the time he lives +in. For my part, I'm the grandson of a Beauceron peasant. My father came +to Paris to set himself up in business as a marble worker for tombstones +and so forth, just at the top of the Rue de la Roquette. It was there I +grew up. I began as a workman, and all my childhood was spent among the +masses, in the streets, without ever a thought coming to me of setting +foot in a church. So few Parisians think of doing so nowadays. And so +what's to become of art since there's no belief in the Divinity or even +in beauty? We're forced to go forward to the new faith, which is the +faith in life and work and fruitfulness, in all that labours and +produces." + +Then suddenly breaking off he exclaimed: "By the way, I've been doing +some more work to my figure of Fecundity, and I'm fairly well pleased +with it. Just come with me and I'll show it you." + +Thereupon he insisted on taking them to his private studio, which was +near by, just below Guillaume's little house. It was entered by way of +the Rue du Calvaire, a street which is simply a succession of ladder-like +flights of steps. The door opened on to one of the little landings, and +one found oneself in a spacious, well-lighted apartment littered with +models and casts, fragments and figures, quite an overflow of sturdy, +powerful talent. On a stool was the unfinished model of Fecundity swathed +in wet cloths. These Jahan removed, and then she stood forth with her +rounded figure, her broad hips and her wifely, maternal bosom, full of +the milk which nourishes and redeems. + +"Well, what do you think of her?" asked Jahan. "Built as she is, I fancy +that her children ought to be less puny than the pale, languid, aesthetic +fellows of nowadays!" + +While Antoine and Francois were admiring the figure, Pierre, for his +part, took most interest in a young girl who had opened the door to them, +and who had now wearily reseated herself at a little table to continue a +book she was reading. This was Jahan's sister, Lise. A score of years +younger than himself, she was but sixteen, and had been living alone with +him since their father's death. Very slight and delicate looking, she had +a most gentle face, with fine light hair which suggested pale gold-dust. +She was almost a cripple, with legs so weak that she only walked with +difficulty, and her mind also was belated, still full of childish +_naivete_. At first this had much saddened her brother, but with time he +had grown accustomed to her innocence and languor. Busy as he always was, +ever in a transport, overflowing with new plans, he somewhat neglected +her by force of circumstances, letting her live beside him much as she +listed. + +Pierre had noticed, however, the sisterly impulsiveness with which she +had greeted Antoine. And the latter, after congratulating Jahan on his +statue, came and sat down beside her, questioned her and wished to see +the book which she was reading. During the last six months the most pure +and affectionate intercourse had sprung up between them. He, from his +father's garden, up yonder on the Place du Tertre, could see her through +the huge window of that studio where she led so innocent a life. And +noticing that she was always alone, as if forsaken, he had begun to take +an interest in her. Then had come acquaintance; and, delighted to find +her so simple and so charming, he had conceived the design of rousing her +to intelligence and life, by loving her, by becoming at once the mind and +the heart whose power fructifies. Weak plant that she was, in need of +delicate care, sunshine and affection, he became for her all that her +brother had, through circumstances, failed to be. He had already taught +her to read, a task in which every mistress had previously failed. But +him she listened to and understood. And by slow degrees a glow of +happiness came to the beautiful clear eyes set in her irregular face. It +was love's miracle, the creation of woman beneath the breath of a young +lover who gave himself entirely. No doubt she still remained very +delicate, with such poor health that one ever feared that she might +expire in a faint sigh; and her legs, moreover, were still too weak to +admit of her walking any distance. But all the same, she was no longer +the little wilding, the little ailing flower of the previous spring. + +Jahan, who marvelled at the incipient miracle, drew near to the young +people. "Ah!" said he, "your pupil does you honour. She reads quite +fluently, you know, and understands the fine books you send her. You read +to me of an evening now, don't you, Lise?" + +She raised her candid eyes, and gazed at Antoine with a smile of infinite +gratitude. "Oh! whatever he'll teach me," she said, "I'll learn it, and +do it." + +The others laughed gently. Then, as the visitors were going off, Francois +paused before a model which had cracked while drying. "Oh! that's a +spoilt thing," said the sculptor. "I wanted to model a figure of Charity. +It was ordered of me by a philanthropic institution. But try as I might, +I could only devise something so commonplace that I let the clay spoil. +Still, I must think it over and endeavour to take the matter in hand +again." + +When they were outside, it occurred to Pierre to go as far as the +basilica of the Sacred Heart in the hope of finding Abbe Rose there. So +the three of them went round by way of the Rue Gabrielle and climbed the +steps of the Rue Chape. And just as they were reaching the summit where +the basilica reared its forest of scaffoldings beneath the clear sky, +they encountered Thomas, who, on leaving the factory, had gone to give an +order to a founder in the Rue Lamarck. + +He, who as a rule was so silent and discreet, now happened to be in an +expansive mood, which made him look quite radiant. "Ah! I'm so pleased," +he said, addressing Pierre; "I fancy that I've found what I want for our +little motor. Tell father that things are going on all right, and that he +must make haste to get well." + +At these words his brothers, Francois and Antoine, drew close to him with +a common impulse. And they stood there all three, a valiant little group, +their hearts uniting and beating with one and the same delight at the +idea that their father would be gladdened, that the good news they were +sending him would help him towards recovery. As for Pierre, who, now that +he knew them, was beginning to love them and judge them at their worth, +he marvelled at the sight of these three young giants, each so strikingly +like the other, and drawn together so closely and so promptly, directly +their filial affection took fire. + +"Tell him that we are waiting for him, and will come to him at the first +sign if we are wanted." + +Then each in turn shook the priest's hand vigorously. And while he +remained watching them as they went off towards the little house, whose +garden he perceived over the wall of the Rue Saint Eleuthere, he fancied +he could there detect a delicate silhouette, a white, sunlit face under a +help of dark hair. It was doubtless the face of Marie, examining the buds +on her lilac bushes. At that evening hour, however, the diffuse light was +so golden that the vision seemed to fade in it as in a halo. And Pierre, +feeling dazzled, turned his head, and on the other side saw naught but +the overwhelming, chalky mass of the basilica, whose hugeness shut out +all view of the horizon. + +For a moment he remained motionless on that spot, so agitated by +conflicting thoughts and feelings that he could read neither heart nor +mind clearly. Then, as he turned towards the city, all Paris spread +itself out at his feet, a limpid, lightsome Paris, beneath the pink glow +of that spring-like evening. The endless billows of house-roofs showed +forth with wonderful distinctness, and one could have counted the chimney +stacks and the little black streaks of the windows by the million. The +edifices rising into the calm atmosphere seemed like the anchored vessels +of some fleet arrested in its course, with lofty masting which glittered +at the sun's farewell. And never before had Pierre so distinctly observed +the divisions of that human ocean. Eastward and northward was the city of +manual toil, with the rumbling and the smoke of its factories. Southward, +beyond the river, was the city of study, of intellectual labour, so calm, +so perfectly serene. And on all sides the passion of trade ascended from +the central districts, where the crowds rolled and scrambled amidst an +everlasting uproar of wheels; while westward, the city of the happy and +powerful ones, those who fought for sovereignty and wealth, spread out +its piles of palaces amidst the slowly reddening flare of the declining +planet. + +And then, from the depths of his negation, the chaos into which his loss +of faith had plunged him, Pierre felt a delicious freshness pass like the +vague advent of a new faith. So vague it was that he could not have +expressed even his hope of it in words. But already among the rough +factory workers, manual toil had appeared to him necessary and +redemptive, in spite of all the misery and abominable injustice to which +it led. And now the young men of intellect of whom he had despaired, that +generation of the morrow which he had thought spoilt, relapsing into +ancient error and rottenness, had appeared to him full of virile promise, +resolved to prosecute the work of those who had gone before, and effect, +by the aid of Science only, the conquest of absolute truth and absolute +justice. + + + +V + +PROBLEMS + +A FULL month had already gone by since Guillaume had taken refuge at his +brother's little house at Neuilly. His wrist was now nearly healed. He +had long ceased to keep his bed, and often strolled through the garden. +In spite of his impatience to go back to Montmartre, join his loved ones +and resume his work there, he was each morning prompted to defer his +return by the news he found in the newspapers. The situation was ever the +same. Salvat, whom the police now suspected, had been perceived one +evening near the central markets, and then again lost sight of. Every +day, however, his arrest was said to be imminent. And in that case what +would happen? Would he speak out, and would fresh perquisitions be made? + +For a whole week the press had been busy with the bradawl found under the +entrance of the Duvillard mansion. Nearly every reporter in Paris had +called at the Grandidier factory and interviewed both workmen and master. +Some had even started on personal investigations, in the hope of +capturing the culprit themselves. There was no end of jesting about the +incompetence of the police, and the hunt for Salvat was followed all the +more passionately by the general public, as the papers overflowed with +the most ridiculous concoctions, predicting further explosions, and +declaring even that all Paris would some morning be blown into the air. +The "Voix du Peuple" set a fresh shudder circulating every day by its +announcements of threatening letters, incendiary placards and mysterious, +far-reaching plots. And never before had so base and foolish a spirit of +contagion wafted insanity through a civilised city. + +Guillaume, for his part, no sooner awoke of a morning than he was all +impatience to see the newspapers, quivering at the idea that he would at +last read of Salvat's arrest. In his state of nervous expectancy, the +wild campaign which the press had started, the idiotic and the ferocious +things which he found in one or another journal, almost drove him crazy. +A number of "suspects" had already been arrested in a kind of chance +razzia, which had swept up the usual Anarchist herd, together with sundry +honest workmen and bandits, _illumines_ and lazy devils, in fact, a most +singular, motley crew, which investigating magistrate Amadieu was +endeavouring to turn into a gigantic association of evil-doers. One +morning, moreover, Guillaume found his own name mentioned in connection +with a perquisition at the residence of a revolutionary journalist, who +was a friend of his. At this his heart bounded with revolt, but he was +forced to the conclusion that it would be prudent for him to remain +patient a little longer, in his peaceful retreat at Neuilly, since the +police might at any moment break into his home at Montmartre, to arrest +him should it find him there. + +Amidst all this anxiety the brothers led a most solitary and gentle life. +Pierre himself now spent most of his time at home. The first days of +March had come, and precocious springtide imparted delightful charm and +warmth to the little garden. Guillaume, however, since quitting his bed, +had more particularly installed himself in his father's old laboratory, +now transformed into a spacious study. All the books and papers left by +the illustrious chemist were still there, and among the latter Guillaume +found a number of unfinished essays, the perusal of which greatly excited +his interest, and often absorbed him from morning till night. It was this +which largely enabled him to bear his voluntary seclusion patiently. +Seated on the other side of the big table, Pierre also mostly occupied +himself with reading; but at times his eyes would quit his book and +wander away into gloomy reverie, into all the chaos into which he still +and ever sank. For long hours the brothers would in this wise remain side +by side, without speaking a word. Yet they knew they were together; and +occasionally, when their eyes met, they would exchange a smile. The +strong affection of former days was again springing up within them; their +childhood, their home, their parents, all seemed to live once more in the +quiet atmosphere they breathed. However, the bay window overlooked the +garden in the direction of Paris, and often, when they emerged from their +reading or their reverie, it was with a sudden feeling of anxiety, and in +order to lend ear to the distant rumbling, the increased clamour of the +great city. + +On other occasions they paused as if in astonishment at hearing a +continuous footfall overhead. It was that of Nicholas Barthes, who still +lingered in the room above. He seldom came downstairs, and scarcely ever +ventured into the garden, for fear, said he, that he might be perceived +and recognised from a distant house whose windows were concealed by a +clump of trees. One might laugh at the old conspirator's haunting thought +of the police. Nevertheless, the caged-lion restlessness, the ceaseless +promenade of that perpetual prisoner who had spent two thirds of his life +in the dungeons of France in his desire to secure the liberty of others, +imparted to the silence of the little house a touching melancholy, the +very rhythm as it were of all the great good things which one hoped for, +but which would never perhaps come. + +Very few visits drew the brothers from their solitude. Bertheroy came +less frequently now that Guillaume's wrist was healing. The most +assiduous caller was certainly Theophile Morin, whose discreet ring was +heard every other day at the same hour. Though he did not share the ideas +of Barthes he worshipped him as a martyr; and would always go upstairs to +spend an hour with him. However, they must have exchanged few words, for +not a sound came from the room. Whenever Morin sat down for a moment in +the laboratory with the brothers, Pierre was struck by his seeming +weariness, his ashen grey hair and beard and dismal countenance, all the +life of which appeared to have been effaced by long years spent in the +teaching profession. Indeed, it was only when the priest mentioned Italy +that he saw his companion's resigned eyes blaze up like live coals. One +day when he spoke of the great patriot Orlando Prada, Morin's companion +of victory in Garibaldi's days, he was amazed by the sudden flare of +enthusiasm which lighted up the other's lifeless features. However, these +were but transient flashes: the old professor soon reappeared, and all +that one found in Morin was the friend of Proudhon and the subsequent +disciple of Auguste Comte. Of his Proudhonian principles he had retained +all a pauper's hatred of wealth, and a desire for a more equitable +partition of fortune. But the new times dismayed him, and neither +principle nor temperament allowed him to follow Revolutionism to its +utmost limits. Comte had imparted unshakable convictions to him in the +sphere of intellectual questions, and he contented himself with the clear +and decisive logic of Positivism, rejecting all metaphysical hypotheses +as useless, persuaded as he was that the whole human question, whether +social or religious, would be solved by science alone. This faith, firm +as it had remained, was, however, coupled with secret bitterness, for +nothing seemed to advance in a sensible manner towards its goal. Comte +himself had ended in the most cloudy mysticism; great _savants_ recoiled +from truth in terror; and now barbarians were threatening the world with +fresh night; all of which made Morin almost a reactionist in politics, +already resigned to the advent of a dictator, who would set things +somewhat in order, so that humanity might be able to complete its +education. + +Other visitors who occasionally called to see Guillaume were Bache and +Janzen, who invariably came together and at night-time. Every now and +then they would linger chatting with Guillaume in the spacious study +until two o'clock in the morning. Bache, who was fat and had a fatherly +air, with his little eyes gently beaming amidst all the snowy whiteness +of his hair and beard, would talk on slowly, unctuously and interminably, +as soon as he had begun to explain his views. He would address merely a +polite bow to Saint-Simon, the initiator, the first to lay down the law +that work was a necessity for one and all according to their capacities; +but on coming to Fourier his voice softened and he confessed his whole +religion. To his thinking, Fourier had been the real messiah of modern +times, the saviour of genius, who had sown the good seed of the future +world, by regulating society such as it would certainly be organised +to-morrow. The law of harmony had been promulgated; human passions, +liberated and utilised in healthy fashion, would become the requisite +machinery; and work, rendered pleasant and attractive, would prove the +very function of life. Nothing could discourage Bache; if merely one +parish began by transforming itself into a _phalansterium_, the whole +department would soon follow, then the adjacent departments, and finally +all France. Moreover, Bache even favoured the schemes of Cabet, whose +Icaria, said he, had in no wise been such a foolish idea. Further, he +recalled a motion he had made, when member of the Commune in 1871, to +apply Fourier's ideas to the French Republic; and he was apparently +convinced that the troops of Versailles had delayed the triumph of +Communism for half a century. Whenever people nowadays talked of +table-turning he pretended to laugh, but at bottom he had remained an +impenitent "spiritist." Since he had been a municipal councillor he had +been travelling from one socialist sect to another, according as their +ideas offered points of resemblance to his old faith. And he was fairly +consumed by his need of faith, his perplexity as to the Divine, which he +was now occasionally inclined to find in the legs of some piece of +furniture, after denying its presence in the churches. + +Janzen, for his part, was as taciturn as his friend Bache was garrulous. +Such remarks as he made were brief, but they were as galling as lashes, +as cutting as sabre-strokes. At the same time his ideas and theories +remained somewhat obscure, partly by reason of this brevity of his, and +partly on account of the difficulty he experienced in expressing himself +in French. He was from over yonder, from some far-away land--Russia, +Poland, Austria or Germany, nobody exactly knew; and it mattered little, +for he certainly acknowledged no country, but wandered far and wide with +his dream of blood-shedding fraternity. Whenever, with his wonted +frigidity, he gave utterance to one of those terrible remarks of his +which, like a scythe in a meadow, cut away all before him, little less +than the necessity of thus mowing down nations, in order to sow the earth +afresh with a young and better community, became apparent. At each +proposition unfolded by Bache, such as labour rendered agreeable by +police regulations, _phalansteria_ organised like barracks, religion +transformed into pantheist or spiritist deism, he gently shrugged his +shoulders. What could be the use of such childishness, such hypocritical +repairing, when the house was falling and the only honest course was to +throw it to the ground, and build up the substantial edifice of to-morrow +with entirely new materials? On the subject of propaganda by deeds, +bomb-throwing and so forth, he remained silent, though his gestures were +expressive of infinite hope. He evidently approved that course. The +legend which made him one of the perpetrators of the crime of Barcelona +set a gleam of horrible glory in his mysterious past. One day when Bache, +while speaking to him of his friend Bergaz, the shadowy Bourse jobber who +had already been compromised in some piece of thieving, plainly declared +that the aforesaid Bergaz was a bandit, Janzen contented himself with +smiling, and replying quietly that theft was merely forced restitution. +Briefly, in this man of culture and refinement, in whose own mysterious +life one might perhaps have found various crimes but not a single act of +base improbity, one could divine an implacable, obstinate theoretician, +who was resolved to set the world ablaze for the triumph of his ideas. + +On certain evenings when a visit from Theophile Morin coincided with one +from Bache and Janzen, and they and Guillaume lingered chatting until far +into the night, Pierre would listen to them in despair from the shadowy +corner where he remained motionless, never once joining in the +discussions. Distracted, by his own unbelief and thirst for truth, he had +at the outset taken a passionate interest in these debates, desirous as +he was of drawing up a balance-sheet of the century's ideas, so as to +form some notion of the distance that had been travelled, and the profits +that had accrued. But he recoiled from all this in fresh despair, on +hearing the others argue, each from his own standpoint and without +possibility of concession and agreement. After the repulses he had +encountered at Lourdes and Rome, he well realised that in this fresh +experiment which he was making with Paris, the whole brain of the century +was in question, the new truths, the expected gospel which was to change +the face of the world. And, burning with inconsiderate zeal, he went from +one belief to another, which other he soon rejected in order to adopt a +third. If he had first felt himself to be a Positivist with Morin, an +Evolutionist and Determinist with Guillaume, he had afterwards been +touched by the fraternal dream of a new golden age which he had found in +Bache's humanitarian Communism. And indeed even Janzen had momentarily +shaken him by his fierce confidence in the theory of liberative +Individualism. But afterwards he had found himself out of his depth; and +each and every theory had seemed to him but part of the chaotic +contradictions and incoherences of humanity on its march. It was all a +continuous piling up of dross, amidst which he lost himself. Although +Fourier had sprung from Saint-Simon he denied him in part; and if +Saint-Simon's doctrine ended in a kind of mystical sensuality, the +other's conducted to an unacceptable regimenting of society. Proudhon, +for his part, demolished without rebuilding anything. Comte, who created +method and declared science to be the one and only sovereign, had not +even suspected the advent of the social crisis which now threatened to +sweep all away, and had finished personally as a mere worshipper of love, +overpowered by woman. Nevertheless, these two, Comte and Proudhon, +entered the lists and fought against the others, Fourier and Saint-Simon; +the combat between them or their disciples becoming so bitter and so +blind that the truths common to them all were obscured and disfigured +beyond recognition. Thence came the extraordinary muddle of the present +hour; Bache with Saint-Simon and Fourier, and Morin with Proudhon and +Comte, utterly failing to understand Mege, the Collectivist deputy, whom +they held up to execration, him and his State Collectivism, in the same +way, moreover, as they thundered against all the other present-time +Socialist sects, without realising that these also, whatever their +nature, had more or less sprung from the same masters as themselves. And +all this seemingly indicated that Janzen was right when he declared that +the house was past repair, fast crumbling amidst rottenness and insanity, +and that it ought to be levelled to the ground. + +One night, after the three visitors had gone, Pierre, who had remained +with Guillaume, saw him grow very gloomy as he slowly walked to and fro. +He, in his turn, had doubtless felt that all was crumbling. And though +his brother alone was there to hear him, he went on speaking. He +expressed all his horror of the Collectivist State as imagined by Mege, a +Dictator-State re-establishing ancient servitude on yet closer lines. The +error of all the Socialist sects was their arbitrary organisation of +Labour, which enslaved the individual for the profit of the community. +And, forced to conciliate the two great currents, the rights of society +and the rights of the individual, Guillaume had ended by placing his +whole faith in free Communism, an anarchical state in which he dreamt of +seeing the individual freed, moving and developing without restraint, for +the benefit both of himself and of all others. Was not this, said he, the +one truly scientific theory, unities creating worlds, atoms producing +life by force of attraction, free and ardent love? All oppressive +minorities would disappear; and the faculties and energies of one and all +would by free play arrive at harmony amidst the equilibrium--which +changed according to needs--of the active forces of advancing humanity. +In this wise he pictured a nation, saved from State tutelage, without a +master, almost without laws, a happy nation, each citizen of which, +completely developed by the exercise of liberty, would, of his free will, +come to an understanding with his neighbours with regard to the thousand +necessities of life. And thence would spring society, free association, +hundreds of associations which would regulate social life; though at the +same time they would remain variable, in fact often opposed and hostile +to one another. For progress is but the fruit of conflict and struggle; +the world has only been created by the battle of opposing forces. And +that was all; there would be no more oppressors, no more rich, no more +poor; the domain of the earth with its natural treasures and its +implements of labour would be restored to the people, its legitimate +owners, who would know how to enjoy it with justice and logic, when +nothing abnormal would impede their expansion. And then only would the +law of love make its action felt; then would human solidarity, which, +among mankind, is the living form of universal attraction, acquire all +its power, bringing men closer and closer together, and uniting them in +one sole family. A splendid dream it was--the noble and pure dream of +absolute freedom--free man in free society. And thither a _savant's_ +superior mind was fated to come after passing on the road the many +Socialist sects which one and all bore the stigma of tyranny. And, +assuredly, as thus indulged, the Anarchist idea is the loftiest, the +proudest, of all ideas. And how delightful to yield to the hope of +harmony in life--life which restored to the full exercise of its natural +powers would of itself create happiness! + +When Guillaume ceased speaking, he seemed to be emerging from a dream; +and he glanced at Pierre with some dismay, for he feared that he might +have said too much and have hurt his feelings. Pierre--moved though he +was, for a moment in fact almost won over--had just seen the terrible +practical objection, which destroyed all hope, arise before his mind's +eye. Why had not harmony asserted itself in the first days of the world's +existence, at the time when societies were formed? How was it that +tyranny had triumphed, delivering nations over to oppressors? And +supposing that the apparently insolvable problem of destroying +everything, and beginning everything afresh, should ever be solved, who +could promise that mankind, obedient to the same laws, would not again +follow the same paths as formerly? After all, mankind, nowadays, is +simply what life has made it; and nothing proves that life would again +make it other than it is. To begin afresh, ah, yes! but to attain another +result! But could that other result really come from man? Was it not +rather man himself who should be changed? To start afresh from where one +was, to continue the evolution that had begun, undoubtedly meant slow +travel and dismal waiting. But how great would be the danger and even the +delay, if one went back without knowing by what road across the whole +chaos of ruins one might regain all the lost time! + +"Let us go to bed," at last said Guillaume, smiling. "It's silly of me to +weary you with all these things which don't concern you." + +Pierre, in his excitement, was about to reveal his own heart and mind, +and the whole torturing battle within him. But a feeling of shame again +restrained him. His brother only knew him as a believing priest, faithful +to his faith. And so, without answering, he betook himself to his room. + +On the following evening, about ten o'clock, while Guillaume and Pierre +sat reading in the study, the old servant entered to announce M. Janzen +and a friend. The friend was Salvat. + +"He wished to see you," Janzen explained to Guillaume. "I met him, and +when he heard of your injury and anxiety he implored me to bring him +here. And I've done so, though it was perhaps hardly prudent of me." + +Guillaume had risen, full of surprise and emotion at such a visit; +Pierre, however, though equally upset by Salvat's appearance; did not +stir from his chair, but kept his eyes upon the workman. + +"Monsieur Froment," Salvat ended by saying, standing there in a timid, +embarrassed way, "I was very sorry indeed when I heard of the worry I'd +put you in; for I shall never forget that you were very kind to me when +everybody else turned me away." + +As he spoke he balanced himself alternately on either leg, and +transferred his old felt hat from hand to hand. + +"And so I wanted to come and tell you myself that if I took a cartridge +of your powder one evening when you had your back turned, it's the only +thing that I feel any remorse about in the whole business, since it may +compromise you. And I also want to take my oath before you that you've +nothing to fear from me, that I'll let my head be cut off twenty times if +need be, rather than utter your name. That's all that I had in my heart." + +He relapsed into silence and embarrassment, but his soft, dreamy eyes, +the eyes of a faithful dog, remained fixed upon Guillaume with an +expression of respectful worship. And Pierre was still gazing at him +athwart the hateful vision which his arrival had conjured up, that of the +poor, dead, errand girl, the fair pretty child lying ripped open under +the entrance of the Duvillard mansion! Was it possible that he was there, +he, that madman, that murderer, and that his eyes were actually moist! + +Guillaume, touched by Salvat's words, had drawn near and pressed his +hand. "I am well aware, Salvat," said he, "that you are not wicked at +heart. But what a foolish and abominable thing you did!" + +Salvat showed no sign of anger, but gently smiled. "Oh! if it had to be +done again, Monsieur Froment, I'd do it. It's my idea, you know. And, +apart from you, all is well; I am content." + +He would not sit down, but for another moment continued talking with +Guillaume, while Janzen, as if he washed his hands of the business, +deeming this visit both useless and dangerous, sat down and turned over +the leaves of a picture book. And Guillaume made Salvat tell him what he +had done on the day of the crime; how like a stray dog he had wandered in +distraction through Paris, carrying his bomb with him, originally in his +tool-bag and then under his jacket; how he had gone a first time to the +Duvillard mansion and found its carriage entrance closed; then how he had +betaken himself first to the Chamber of Deputies which the ushers had +prevented him from entering, and afterwards to the Circus, where the +thought of making a great sacrifice of _bourgeois_ had occurred to him +too late. And finally, how he had at last come back to the Duvillard +mansion, as if drawn thither by the very power of destiny. His tool-bag +was lying in the depths of the Seine, he said; he had thrown it into the +water with sudden hatred of work, since it had even failed to give him +bread. And he next told the story of his flight; the explosion shaking +the whole district behind him, while, with delight and astonishment, he +found himself some distance off, in quiet streets where nothing was as +yet known. And for a month past he had been living in chance fashion, how +or where he could hardly tell, but he had often slept in the open, and +gone for a day without food. One evening little Victor Mathis had given +him five francs. And other comrades had helped him, taken him in for a +night and sent him off at the first sign of peril. A far-spreading, tacit +complicity had hitherto saved him from the police. As for going abroad, +well, he had, at one moment, thought of doing so; but a description of +his person must have been circulated, the gendarmes must be waiting for +him at the frontiers, and so would not flight, instead of retarding, +rather hasten his arrest? Paris, however, was an ocean; it was there that +he incurred the least risk of capture. Moreover, he no longer had +sufficient energy to flee. A fatalist as he was after his own fashion, he +could not find strength to quit the pavements of Paris, but there awaited +arrest, like a social waif carried chancewise through the multitude as in +a dream. + +"And your daughter, little Celine?" Guillaume inquired. "Have you +ventured to go back to see her?" + +Salvat waved his hand in a vague way. "No, but what would you have? She's +with Mamma Theodore. Women always find some help. And then I'm done for, +I can do nothing for anybody. It's as if I were already dead." However, +in spite of these words, tears were rising to his eyes. "Ah! the poor +little thing!" he added, "I kissed her with all my heart before I went +away. If she and the woman hadn't been starving so long the idea of that +business would perhaps never have come to me." + +Then, in all simplicity, he declared that he was ready to die. If he had +ended by depositing his bomb at the entrance of Duvillard's house, it was +because he knew the banker well, and was aware that he was the wealthiest +of those _bourgeois_ whose fathers at the time of the Revolution had +duped the people, by taking all power and wealth for themselves,--the +power and wealth which the sons were nowadays so obstinately bent in +retaining that they would not even bestow the veriest crumbs on others. +As for the Revolution, he understood it in his own fashion, like an +illiterate fellow who had learnt the little he knew from newspapers and +speeches at public meetings. And he struck his chest with his fist as he +spoke of his honesty, and was particularly desirous that none should +doubt his courage because he had fled. + +"I've never robbed anybody," said he, "and if I don't go and hand myself +up to the police, it's because they may surely take the trouble to find +and arrest me. I'm very well aware that my affair's clear enough as +they've found that bradawl and know me. All the same, it would be silly +of me to help them in their work. Still, they'd better make haste, for +I've almost had enough of being tracked like a wild beast and no longer +knowing how I live." + +Janzen, yielding to curiosity, had ceased turning over the leaves of the +picture book and was looking at Salvat. There was a smile of disdain in +the Anarchist leader's cold eyes; and in his usual broken French he +remarked: "A man fights and defends himself, kills others and tries to +avoid being killed himself. That's warfare." + +These words fell from his lips amidst deep silence. Salvat, however, did +not seem to have heard them, but stammered forth his faith in a long +sentence laden with fulsome expressions, such as the sacrifice of his +life in order that want might cease, and the example of a great action, +in the certainty that it would inspire other heroes to continue the +struggle. And with this certainly sincere faith and illuminism of his +there was blended a martyr's pride, delight at being one of the radiant, +worshipped saints of the dawning Revolutionary Church. + +As he had come so he went off. When Janzen had led him away, it seemed as +if the night which had brought him had carried him back into its +impenetrable depths. And then only did Pierre rise from his chair. He was +stifling, and threw the large window of the room wide open. It was a very +mild but moonless night, whose silence was only disturbed by the +subsiding clamour of Paris, which stretched away, invisible, on the +horizon. + +Guillaume, according to his habit, had begun to walk up and down. And at +last he spoke, again forgetting that his brother was a priest. "Ah! the +poor fellow! How well one can understand that deed of violence and hope! +His whole past life of fruitless labour and ever-growing want explains +it. Then, too, there has been all the contagion of ideas; the +frequentation of public meetings where men intoxicate themselves with +words, and of secret meetings among comrades where faith acquires +firmness and the mind soars wildly. Ah! I think I know that man well +indeed! He's a good workman, sober and courageous. Injustice has always +exasperated him. And little by little the desire for universal happiness +has cast him out of the realities of life which he has ended by holding +in horror. So how can he do otherwise than live in a dream--a dream of +redemption, which, from circumstances, has turned to fire and murder as +its fitting instruments. As I looked at him standing there, I fancied I +could picture one of the first Christian slaves of ancient Rome. All the +iniquity of olden pagan society, agonising beneath the rottenness born of +debauchery and covetousness, was weighing on his shoulders, bearing him +down. He had come from the dark Catacombs where he had whispered words of +deliverance and redemption with his wretched brethren. And a thirst for +martyrdom consumed him, he spat in the face of Caesar, he insulted the +gods, he fired the pagan temples, in order that the reign of Jesus might +come and abolish servitude. And he was ready to die, to be torn to pieces +by the wild beasts!" + +Pierre did not immediately reply. He had already been struck, however, by +the fact that there were undoubted points of resemblance between the +secret propaganda and militant faith of the Anarchists, and certain +practices of the first Christians. Both sects abandon themselves to a new +faith in the hope that the humble may thereby at last reap justice. +Paganism disappears through weariness of the flesh and the need of a more +lofty and pure faith. That dream of a Christian paradise opening up a +future life with a system of compensations for the ills endured on earth, +was the outcome of young hope dawning at its historic hour. But to-day, +when eighteen centuries have exhausted that hope, when the long +experiment is over and the toiler finds himself duped and still and ever +a slave, he once more dreams of getting happiness upon this earth, +particularly as each day Science tends more and more to show him that the +happiness of the spheres beyond is a lie. And in all this there is but +the eternal struggle of the poor and the rich, the eternal question of +bringing more justice and less suffering to the world. + +"But surely," Pierre at last replied, "you can't be on the side of those +bandits, those murderers whose savage violence horrifies me. I let you +talk on yesterday, when you dreamt of a great and happy people, of ideal +anarchy in which each would be free amidst the freedom of all. But what +abomination, what disgust both for mind and heart, when one passes from +theory to propaganda and practice! If yours is the brain that thinks, +whose is the hateful hand that acts, that kills children, throws down +doors and empties drawers? Do you accept that responsibility? With your +education, your culture, the whole social heredity behind you, does not +your entire being revolt at the idea of stealing and murdering?" + +Guillaume halted before his brother, quivering. "Steal and murder! no! +no! I will not. But one must say everything and fully understand the +history of the evil hour through which we are passing. It is madness +sweeping by; and, to tell the truth, everything necessary to provoke it +has been done. At the very dawn of the Anarchist theory, at the very +first innocent actions of its partisans, there was such stern repression, +the police so grossly ill-treating the poor devils that fell into its +hands, that little by little came anger and rage leading to the most +horrible reprisals. It is the Terror initiated by the _bourgeois_ that +has produced Anarchist savagery. And would you know whence Salvat and his +crime have come? Why, from all our centuries of impudence and iniquity, +from all that the nations have suffered, from all the sores which are now +devouring us, the impatience for enjoyment, the contempt of the strong +for the weak, the whole monstrous spectacle which is presented by our +rotting society!" + +Guillaume was again slowly walking to and fro; and as if he were +reflecting aloud he continued: "Ah! to reach the point I have attained, +through how much thought, through how many battles, have I not passed! I +was merely a Positivist, a _savant_ devoted to observation and +experiment, accepting nothing apart from proven facts. Scientifically and +socially, I admitted that simple evolution had slowly brought humanity +into being. But both in the history of the globe and that of human +society, I found it necessary to make allowance for the volcano, the +sudden cataclysm, the sudden eruption, by which each geological phase, +each historical period, has been marked. In this wise one ends by +ascertaining that no forward step has ever been taken, no progress ever +accomplished in the world's history, without the help of horrible +catastrophes. Each advance has meant the sacrifice of millions and +millions of human lives. This of course revolts us, given our narrow +ideas of justice, and we regard nature as a most barbarous mother; but, +if we cannot excuse the volcano, we ought to deal with it when it bursts +forth, like _savants_ forewarned of its possibility. . . . And then, ah, +then! well, perhaps I'm a dreamer like others, but I have my own +notions." + +With a sweeping gesture he confessed what a social dreamer there was +within him beside the methodical and scrupulous _savant_. His constant +endeavour was to bring all back to science, and he was deeply grieved at +finding in nature no scientific sign of equality or even justice, such as +he craved for in the social sphere. His despair indeed came from this +inability to reconcile scientific logic with apostolic love, the dream of +universal happiness and brotherhood and the end of all iniquity. + +Pierre, however, who had remained near the open window, gazing into the +night towards Paris, whence ascended the last sounds of the evening of +passionate pleasure, felt the whole flood of his own doubt and despair +stifling him. It was all too much: that brother of his who had fallen +upon him with his scientific and apostolic beliefs, those men who came to +discuss contemporary thought from every standpoint, and finally that +Salvat who had brought thither the exasperation of his mad deed. And +Pierre, who had hitherto listened to them all without a word, without a +gesture, who had hidden his secrets from his brother, seeking refuge in +his supposed priestly views, suddenly felt such bitterness stirring his +heart that he could lie no longer. + +"Ah! brother, if you have your dream, I have my sore which has eaten into +me and left me void! Your Anarchy, your dream of just happiness, for +which Salvat works with bombs, why, it is the final burst of insanity +which will sweep everything away! How is it that you can't realise it? +The century is ending in ruins. I've been listening to you all for a +month past. Fourier destroyed Saint-Simon, Proudhon and Comte demolished +Fourier, each in turn piling up incoherences and contradictions, leaving +mere chaos behind them, which nobody dares to sort out. And since then, +Socialist sects have been swarming and multiplying, the more sensible of +them leading simply to dictatorship, while the others indulge in most +dangerous reveries. And after such a tempest of ideas there could indeed +come nothing but your Anarchy, which undertakes to bring the old world to +a finish by reducing it to dust. . . . Ah! I expected it, I was waiting +for it--that final catastrophe, that fratricidal madness, the inevitable +class warfare in which our civilisation was destined to collapse! +Everything announced it: the want and misery below, the egotism up above, +all the cracking of the old human habitation, borne down by too great a +weight of crime and grief. When I went to Lourdes it was to see if the +divinity of simple minds would work the awaited miracle, and restore the +belief of the early ages to the people, which rebelled through excess of +suffering. And when I went to Rome it was in the _naive_ hope of there +finding the new religion required by our democracies, the only one that +could pacify the world by bringing back the fraternity of the golden age. +But how foolish of me all that was! Both here and there, I simply lighted +on nothingness. There where I so ardently dreamt of finding the salvation +of others, I only sank myself, going down apeak like a ship not a timber +of which is ever found again. One tie still linked me to my fellow-men, +that of charity, the dressing, relieving, and perhaps, in the long run, +healing, of wounds and sores; but that last cable has now been severed. +Charity, to my mind, appears futile and derisive by the side of justice, +to whom all supremacy belongs, and whose advent has become a necessity +and can be stayed by none. And so it is all over, I am mere ashes, an +empty grave as it were. I no longer believe in anything, anything, +anything whatever!" + +Pierre had risen to his full height, with arms outstretched as if to let +all the nothingness within his heart and mind fall from them. And +Guillaume, distracted by the sight of such a fierce denier, such a +despairing Nihilist as was now revealed to him, drew near, quivering: +"What are you saying, brother! I thought you so firm, so calm in your +belief! A priest to be admired, a saint worshipped by the whole of this +parish! I was unwilling even to discuss your faith, and now it is you who +deny all, and believe in nothing whatever!" + +Pierre again slowly stretched out his arms. "There is nothing, I tried to +learn all, and only found the atrocious grief born of the nothingness +that overwhelms me." + +"Ah! how you must suffer, Pierre, my little brother! Can religion, then, +be even more withering than science, since it has ravaged you like that, +while I have yet remained an old madman, still full of fancies?" + +Guillaume caught hold of Pierre's hands and pressed them, full of +terrified compassion in presence of all the grandeur and horror embodied +in that unbelieving priest who watched over the belief of others, and +chastely, honestly discharged his duty amidst the haughty sadness born of +his falsehood. And how heavily must that falsehood have weighed upon his +conscience for him to confess himself in that fashion, amidst an utter +collapse of his whole being! A month previously, in the unexpansiveness +of his proud solitude, he would never have taken such a course. To speak +out it was necessary that he should have been stirred by many things, his +reconciliation with his brother, the conversations he had heard of an +evening, the terrible drama in which he was mingled, as well as his +reflections on labour struggling against want, and the vague hope with +which the sight of intellectual youth had inspired him. And, indeed, amid +the very excess of his negation was there not already the faint dawn of a +new faith? + +This Guillaume must have understood, on seeing how he quivered with +unsatisfied tenderness as he emerged from the fierce silence which he had +preserved so long. He made him sit down near the window, and placed +himself beside him without releasing his hands. "But I won't have you +suffer, my little brother!" he said; "I won't leave you, I'll nurse you. +For I know you much better than you know yourself. You would never have +suffered were it not for the battle between your heart and your mind, and +you will cease to suffer on the day when they make peace, and you love +what you understand." And in a lower voice, with infinite affection, he +went on: "You see, it's our poor mother and our poor father continuing +their painful struggle in you. You were too young at the time, you +couldn't know what went on. But I knew them both very wretched: he, +wretched through her, who treated him as if he were one of the damned; +and she, suffering through him, tortured by his irreligion. When he died, +struck down by an explosion in this very room, she took it to be the +punishment of God. Yet, what an honest man he was, with a good, great +heart, what a worker, seeking for truth alone, and desirous of the love +and happiness of all! Since we have spent our evenings here, I have felt +him coming back, reviving as it were both around and within us; and she, +too, poor, saintly woman, is ever here, enveloping us with love, weeping, +and yet stubbornly refusing to understand. It is they, perhaps, who have +kept me here so long, and who at this very moment are present to place +your hands in mine." + +And, indeed, it seemed to Pierre as if he could feel the breath of +vigilant affection which Guillaume evoked passing over them both. There +was again a revival of all the past, all their youth, and nothing could +have been more delightful. + +"You hear me, brother," Guillaume resumed. "You must reconcile them, for +it is only in you that they can be reconciled. You have his firm, lofty +brow, and her mouth and eyes of unrealisable tenderness. So, try to bring +them to agreement, by some day contenting, as your reason shall allow, +the everlasting thirst for love, and self-bestowal, and life, which for +lack of satisfaction is killing you. Your frightful wretchedness has no +other cause. Come back to life, love, bestow yourself, be a man!" + +Pierre raised a dolorous cry: "No, no, the death born of doubt has swept +through me, withering and shattering everything, and nothing more can +live in that cold dust!" + +"But, come," resumed Guillaume, "you cannot have reached such absolute +negation. No man reaches it. Even in the most disabused of minds there +remains a nook of fancy and hope. To deny charity, devotion, the +prodigies which love may work, ah! for my part I do not go so far as +that. And now that you have shown me your sore, why should I not tell you +my dream, the wild hope which keeps me alive! It is strange; but, are +_savants_ to be the last childish dreamers, and is faith only to spring +up nowadays in chemical laboratories?" + +Intense emotion was stirring Guillaume; there was battle waging in both +his brain and his heart. And at last, yielding to the deep compassion +which filled him, vanquished by his ardent affection for his unhappy +brother, he spoke out. But he had drawn yet closer to Pierre, even passed +one arm around him; and it was thus embracing him that he, in his turn, +made his confession, lowering his voice as if he feared that someone +might overhear his secret. "Why should you not know it?" he said. "My own +sons are ignorant of it. But you are a man and my brother, and since +there is nothing of the priest left in you, it is to the brother I will +confide it. This will make me love you the more, and perhaps it may do +you good." + +Then he told him of his invention, a new explosive, a powder of such +extraordinary force that its effects were incalculable. And he had found +employment for this powder in an engine of warfare, a special cannon, +hurling bombs which would assure the most overwhelming victory to the +army using them. The enemy's forces would be destroyed in a few hours, +and besieged cities would fall into dust at the slightest bombardment. He +had long searched and doubted, calculated, recalculated and experimented; +but everything was now ready: the precise formula of the powder, the +drawings for the cannon and the bombs, a whole packet of precious papers +stored in a safe spot. And after months of anxious reflection he had +resolved to give his invention to France, so as to ensure her a certainty +of victory in her coming, inevitable war with Germany! + +At the same time, he was not a man of narrow patriotism; on the contrary +he had a very broad, international conception of the future liberative +civilisation. Only he believed in the initiatory mission of France, and +particularly in that of Paris, which, even as it is to-day, was destined +to be the world's brain to-morrow, whence all science and justice would +proceed. The great idea of liberty and equality had already soared from +it at the prodigious blast of the Revolution; and from its genius and +valour the final emancipation of man would also take its flight. Thus it +was necessary that Paris should be victorious in the struggle in order +that the world might be saved. + +Pierre understood his brother, thanks to the lecture on explosives which +he had heard at Bertheroy's. And the grandeur of this scheme, this dream, +particularly struck him when he thought of the extraordinary future which +would open for Paris amidst the effulgent blaze of the bombs. Moreover, +he was struck by all the nobility of soul which had lain behind his +brother's anxiety for a month past. If Guillaume had trembled it was +simply with fear that his invention might be divulged in consequence of +Salvat's crime. The slightest indiscretion might compromise everything; +and that little stolen cartridge, whose effects had so astonished +_savants_, might reveal his secret. He felt it necessary to act in +mystery, choosing his own time, awaiting the proper hour, until when the +secret would slumber in its hiding-place, confided to the sole care of +Mere-Grand, who had her orders and knew what she was to do should he, in +any sudden accident, disappear. + +"And, now," said Guillaume in conclusion, "you know my hopes and my +anguish, and you can help me and even take my place if I am unable to +reach the end of my task. Ah! to reach the end! Since I have been shut up +here, reflecting, consumed by anxiety and impatience, there have been +hours when I have ceased to see my way clearly! There is that Salvat, +that wretched fellow for whose crime we are all of us responsible, and +who is now being hunted down like a wild beast! There is also that +insensate and insatiable _bourgeoisie_, which will let itself be crushed +by the fall of the shaky old house, rather than allow the least repair to +it! And there is further that avaricious, that abominable Parisian press, +so harsh towards the weak and little, so fond of insulting those who have +none to defend them, so eager to coin money out of public misfortune, and +ready to spread insanity on all sides, simply to increase its sales! +Where, therefore, shall one find truth and justice, the hand endowed with +logic and health that ought to be armed with the thunderbolt? Would Paris +the conqueror, Paris the master of the nations, prove the justiciar, the +saviour that men await! Ah! the anguish of believing oneself to be the +master of the world's destinies, and to have to choose and decide." + +He had risen again quivering, full of anger and fear that human +wretchedness and baseness might prevent the realisation of his dream. And +amidst the heavy silence which fell in the room, the little house +suddenly resounded with a regular, continuous footfall. + +"Ah, yes! to save men and love them, and wish them all to be equal and +free," murmured Pierre, bitterly. "But just listen! Barthes's footsteps +are answering you, as if from the everlasting dungeon into which his love +of liberty has thrown him!" + +However, Guillaume had already regained possession of himself, and coming +back in a transport of his faith, he once more took Pierre in his loving, +saving arms, like an elder brother who gives himself without restraint. +"No, no, I'm wrong, I'm blaspheming," he exclaimed; "I wish you to be +with me, full of hope and full of certainty. You must work, you must +love, you must revive to life. Life alone can give you back peace and +health." + +Tears returned to the eyes of Pierre, who was penetrated to the heart by +this ardent affection. "Ah! how I should like to believe you," he +faltered, "and try to cure myself. True, I have already felt, as it were, +a vague revival within me. And yet to live again, no, I cannot; the +priest that I am is dead--a lifeless, an empty tomb." + +He was shaken by so frightful a sob, that Guillaume could not restrain +his own tears. And clasped in one another's arms the brothers wept on, +their hearts full of the softest emotion in that home of their youth, +whither the dear shadows of their parents ever returned, hovering around +until they should be reconciled and restored to the peace of the earth. +And all the darkness and mildness of the garden streamed in through the +open window, while yonder, on the horizon, Paris had fallen asleep in the +mysterious gloom, beneath a very peaceful sky which was studded with +stars. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Cities Trilogy: Paris, Vol. 2, by +Emile Zola + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES TRILOGY: PARIS VOL 2 *** + +***** This file should be named 9165.txt or 9165.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/1/6/9165/ + +Produced by Dagny, and David Widger. 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VIZETELLY + + + + BOOK II + + + +I + +REVOLUTIONISTS + +IN that out-of-the-way street at Neuilly, along which nobody passed after +dusk, Pierre's little house was now steeped in deep slumber under the +black sky; each of its shutters closed, and not a ray of light stealing +forth from within. And one could divine, too, the profound quietude of +the little garden in the rear, a garden empty and lifeless, benumbed by +the winter cold. + +Pierre had several times feared that his brother would faint away in the +cab in which they were journeying. Leaning back, and often sinking down, +Guillaume spoke not a word. And terrible was the silence between them--a +silence fraught with all the questions and answers which they felt it +would be useless and painful to exchange at such a time. However, the +priest was anxious about the wound, and wondered to what surgeon he might +apply, desirous as he was of admitting only a sure, staunch man into the +secret, for he had noticed with how keen a desire to disappear his +brother had sought to hide himself. + +Until they reached the Arc de Triomphe the silence remained unbroken. It +was only there that Guillaume seemed to emerge from the prostration of +his reverie. "Mind, Pierre," said he, "no doctor. We will attend to this +together." + +Pierre was on the point of protesting, but he realised that it would be +useless to discuss the subject at such a moment, and so he merely waved +his hand to signify that he should act in spite of the prohibition were +it necessary. In point of fact, his anxiety had increased, and, when the +cab at last drew up before the house, it was with real relief that he saw +his brother alight without evincing any marked feebleness. He himself +quickly paid the driver, well-pleased, too, at finding that nobody, not +even a neighbour, was about. And having opened the door with his latch +key, he helped the injured man to ascend the steps. + +A little night lamp glimmered faintly in the vestibule. On hearing the +door open, Pierre's servant, Sophie, had at once emerged from the +kitchen. A short, thin, dark woman of sixty, she had formed part of the +household for more than thirty years, having served the mother before +serving the son. She knew Guillaume, having seen him when he was a young +man, and doubtless she now recognised him, although well-nigh ten years +had gone by since he had last crossed that threshold. Instead of evincing +any surprise, she seemed to consider his extraordinary return quite +natural, and remained as silent and discreet as usual. She led, indeed, +the life of a recluse, never speaking unless her work absolutely required +it. And thus she now contented herself with saying: "Monsieur l'Abbe, +Monsieur Bertheroy is in the study, and has been waiting there for a +quarter of an hour." + +At this Guillaume intervened, as if the news revived him: "Does Bertheroy +still come here, then? I'll see him willingly. His is one of the best, +the broadest, minds of these days. He has still remained my master." + +A former friend of their father,--the illustrious chemist, Michel +Froment,--Bertheroy had now, in his turn, become one of the loftiest +glories of France, one to whom chemistry owed much of the extraordinary +progress that has made it the mother-science, by which the very face of +the earth is being changed. A member of the Institute, laden with offices +and honours, he had retained much affection for Pierre, and occasionally +visited him in this wise before dinner, by way of relaxation, he would +say. + +"You showed him into the study? All right, then, we will go there," said +the Abbe to the servant. "Light a lamp and take it into my room, and get +my bed ready so that my brother may go to bed at once." + +While Sophie, without a word or sign of surprise, was obeying these +instructions, the brothers went into their father's former laboratory, of +which the priest had now made a spacious study. And it was with a cry of +joyous astonishment that the /savant/ greeted them on seeing them enter +the room side by side, the one supporting the other. "What, together!" he +exclaimed. "Ah! my dear children, you could not have caused me greater +pleasure! I who have so often deplored your painful misunderstanding." + +Bertheroy was a tall and lean septuagenarian, with angular features. His +yellow skin clung like parchment to the projecting bones of his cheeks +and jaw. Moreover, there was nothing imposing about him; he looked like +some old shop-keeping herbalist. At the same time he had a fine, broad, +smooth brow, and his eyes still glittered brightly beneath his tangled +hair. + +"What, have you injured yourself, Guillaume?" he continued, as soon as he +saw the bandaged hand. + +Pierre remained silent, so as to let his brother tell the story as he +chose. Guillaume had realised that he must confess the truth, but in +simple fashion, without detailing the circumstances. "Yes, in an +explosion," he answered, "and I really think that I have my wrist +broken." + +At this, Bertheroy, whose glance was fixed upon him, noticed that his +moustaches were burnt, and that there was an expression of bewildered +stupor, such as follows a catastrophe, in his eyes. Forthwith the +/savant/ became grave and circumspect; and, without seeking to compel +confidence by any questions, he simply said: "Indeed! an explosion! Will +you let me see the injury? You know that before letting chemistry ensnare +me I studied medicine, and am still somewhat of a surgeon." + +On hearing these words Pierre could not restrain a heart-cry: "Yes, yes, +master! Look at the injury--I was very anxious, and to find you here is +unhoped-for good fortune!" + +The /savant/ glanced at him, and divined that the hidden circumstances of +the accident must be serious. And then, as Guillaume, smiling, though +paling with weakness, consented to the suggestion, Bertheroy retorted +that before anything else he must be put to bed. The servant just then +returned to say the bed was ready, and so they all went into the +adjoining room, where the injured man was soon undressed and helped +between the sheets. + +"Light me, Pierre," said Bertheroy, "take the lamp; and let Sophie give +me a basin full of water and some cloths." Then, having gently washed the +wound, he resumed: "The devil! The wrist isn't broken, but it's a nasty +injury. I am afraid there must be a lesion of the bone. Some nails passed +through the flesh, did they not?" + +Receiving no reply, he relapsed into silence. But his surprise was +increasing, and he closely examined the hand, which the flame of the +explosion had scorched, and even sniffed the shirt cuff as if seeking to +understand the affair better. He evidently recognised the effects of one +of those new explosives which he himself had studied, almost created. In +the present case, however, he must have been puzzled, for there were +characteristic signs and traces the significance of which escaped him. + +"And so," he at last made up his mind to ask, carried away by +professional curiosity, "and so it was a laboratory explosion which put +you in this nice condition? What devilish powder were you concocting +then?" + +Guillaume, ever since he had seen Bertheroy thus studying his injury, +had, in spite of his sufferings, given marked signs of annoyance and +agitation. And as if the real secret which he wished to keep lay +precisely in the question now put to him, in that powder, the first +experiment with which had thus injured him, he replied with an air of +restrained ardour, and a straight frank glance: "Pray do not question me, +master. I cannot answer you. You have, I know, sufficient nobility of +nature to nurse me and care for me without exacting a confession." + +"Oh! certainly, my friend," exclaimed Bertheroy; "keep your secret. Your +discovery belongs to you if you have made one; and I know that you are +capable of putting it to the most generous use. Besides, you must be +aware that I have too great a passion for truth to judge the actions of +others, whatever their nature, without knowing every circumstance and +motive." + +So saying, he waved his hand as if to indicate how broadly tolerant and +free from error and superstition was that lofty sovereign mind of his, +which in spite of all the orders that bedizened him, in spite of all the +academical titles that he bore as an official /savant/, made him a man of +the boldest and most independent views, one whose only passion was truth, +as he himself said. + +He lacked the necessary appliances to do more than dress the wound, after +making sure that no fragment of any projectile had remained in the flesh. +Then he at last went off, promising to return at an early hour on the +morrow; and, as the priest escorted him to the street door, he spoke some +comforting words: if the bone had not been deeply injured all would be +well. + +On returning to the bedside, Pierre found his brother still sitting up +and seeking fresh energy in his desire to write home and tranquillise his +loved ones. So the priest, after providing pen and paper, again had to +take up the lamp and light him. Guillaume fortunately retained full use +of his right hand, and was thus able to pen a few lines to say that he +would not be home that night. He addressed the note to Madame Leroi, the +mother of his deceased mistress, who, since the latter's death, had +remained with him and had reared his three sons. Pierre was aware also +that the household at Montmartre included a young woman of five or six +and twenty, the daughter of an old friend, to whom Guillaume had given +shelter on her father's death, and whom he was soon to marry, in spite of +the great difference in their ages. For the priest, however, all these +were vague, disturbing things, condemnable features of disorderly life, +and he had invariably pretended to be ignorant of them. + +"So you wish this note to be taken to Montmartre at once?" he said to his +brother. + +"Yes, at once. It is scarcely more than seven o'clock now, and it will be +there by eight. And you will choose a reliable man, won't you?" + +"The best course will be for Sophie to take a cab. We need have no fear +with her. She won't chatter. Wait a moment, and I will settle +everything." + +Sophie, on being summoned, at once understood what was wanted of her, and +promised to say, in reply to any questions, that M. Guillaume had come to +spend the night at his brother's, for reasons which she did not know. And +without indulging in any reflections herself, she left the house, saying +simply: "Monsieur l'Abbe's dinner is ready; he will only have to take the +broth and the stew off the stove." + +However, when Pierre this time returned to the bedside to sit down there, +he found that Guillaume had fallen back with his head resting on both +pillows. And he looked very weary and pale, and showed signs of fever. +The lamp, standing on a corner of a side table, cast a soft light around, +and so deep was the quietude that the big clock in the adjoining +dining-room could be heard ticking. For a moment the silence continued +around the two brothers, who, after so many years of separation, were at +last re-united and alone together. Then the injured man brought his right +hand to the edge of the sheet, and the priest grasped it, pressed it +tenderly in his own. And the clasp was a long one, those two brotherly +hands remaining locked, one in the other. + +"My poor little Pierre," Guillaume faintly murmured, "you must forgive me +for falling on you in this fashion. I've invaded the house and taken your +bed, and I'm preventing you from dining." + +"Don't talk, don't tire yourself any more," interrupted Pierre. "Is not +this the right place for you when you are in trouble?" + +A warmer pressure came from Guillaume's feverish hand, and tears gathered +in his eyes. "Thanks, my little Pierre. I've found you again, and you are +as gentle and loving as you always were. Ah! you cannot know how +delightful it seems to me." + +Then the priest's eyes also were dimmed by tears. Amidst the deep +quietude, the great sense of comfort which had followed their violent +emotion, the brothers found an infinite charm in being together once more +in the home of their childhood.* It was there that both their father and +mother had died--the father tragically, struck down by an explosion in +his laboratory; the mother piously, like a very saint. It was there, too, +in that same bed, that Guillaume had nursed Pierre, when, after their +mother's death, the latter had nearly died; and it was there now that +Pierre in his turn was nursing Guillaume. All helped to bow them down and +fill them with emotion: the strange circumstances of their meeting, the +frightful catastrophe which had caused them such a shock, the +mysteriousness of the things which remained unexplained between them. And +now that after so long a separation they were tragically brought together +again, they both felt their memory awaking. The old house spoke to them +of their childhood, of their parents dead and gone, of the far-away days +when they had loved and suffered there. Beneath the window lay the +garden, now icy cold, which once, under the sunbeams, had re-echoed with +their play. On the left was the laboratory, the spacious room where their +father had taught them to read. On the right, in the dining-room, they +could picture their mother cutting bread and butter for them, and looking +so gentle with her big, despairing eyes--those of a believer mated to an +infidel. And the feeling that they were now alone in that home, and the +pale, sleepy gleam of the lamp, and the deep silence of the garden and +the house, and the very past itself, all filled them with the softest of +emotion blended with the keenest bitterness. + + * See M. Zola's "Lourdes," Day I., Chapter II. + +They would have liked to talk and unbosom themselves. But what could they +say to one another? Although their hands remained so tightly clasped, did +not the most impassable of chasms separate them? In any case, they +thought so. Guillaume was convinced that Pierre was a saint, a priest of +the most robust faith, without a doubt, without aught in common with +himself, whether in the sphere of ideas or in that of practical life. A +hatchet-stroke had parted them, and each lived in a different world. And +in the same way Pierre pictured Guillaume as one who had lost caste, +whose conduct was most suspicious, who had never even married the mother +of his three children, but was on the point of marrying that girl who was +far too young for him, and who had come nobody knew whence. In him, +moreover, were blended the passionate ideas of a /savant/ and a +revolutionist, ideas in which one found negation of everything, +acceptance and possibly provocation of the worst forms of violence, with +a glimpse of the vague monster of Anarchism underlying all. And so, on +what basis could there be any understanding between them, since each +retained his prejudices against the other, and saw him on the opposite +side of the chasm, without possibility of any plank being thrown across +it to enable them to unite? Thus, all alone in that room, their poor +hearts bled with distracted brotherly love. + +Pierre knew that, on a previous occasion, Guillaume had narrowly escaped +being compromised in an Anarchist affair. He asked him no questions, but +he could not help reflecting that he would not have hidden himself in +this fashion had he not feared arrest for complicity. Complicity with +Salvat? Was he really an accomplice? Pierre shuddered, for the only +materials on which he could found a contrary opinion were, on one hand, +the words that had escaped his brother after the crime, the cry he had +raised accusing Salvat of having stolen a cartridge from him; and, on the +other hand, his heroic rush into the doorway of the Duvillard mansion in +order to extinguish the match. A great deal still remained obscure; but +if a cartridge of that frightful explosive had been stolen from Guillaume +the fact must be that he manufactured such cartridges and had others at +home. Of course, even if he were not an accomplice, the injury to his +wrist had made it needful for him to disappear. Given his bleeding hand, +and the previous suspicions levelled against him, he would never have +convinced anybody of his innocence. And yet, even allowing for these +surmises, the affair remained wrapt in darkness: a crime on Guillaume's +part seemed a possibility, and to Pierre it was all dreadful to think of. + +Guillaume, by the trembling of his brother's moist, yielding hand, must +in some degree have realised the prostration of his poor mind, already +shattered by doubt and finished off by this calamity. Indeed, the +sepulchre was empty now, the very ashes had been swept out of it. + +"My poor little Pierre," the elder brother slowly said. "Forgive me if I +do not tell you anything. I cannot do so. And besides, what would be the +use of it? We should certainly not understand one another. . . . So let +us keep from saying anything, and let us simply enjoy the delight of +being together and loving one another in spite of all." + +Pierre raised his eyes, and for a long time their glances lingered, one +fixed on the other. "Ah!" stammered the priest, "how frightful it all +is!" + +Guillaume, however, had well understood the mute inquiry of Pierre's +eyes. His own did not waver but replied boldly, beaming with purity and +loftiness: "I can tell you nothing. Yet, all the same, let us love each +other, my little Pierre." + +And then Pierre for a moment felt that his brother was above all base +anxiety, above the guilty fear of the man who trembles for himself. In +lieu thereof he seemed to be carried away by the passion of some great +design, the noble thought of concealing some sovereign idea, some secret +which it was imperative for him to save. But, alas! this was only the +fleeting vision of a vague hope; for all vanished, and again came the +doubt, the suspicion, of a mind dealing with one that it knew nothing of. + +And all at once a souvenir, a frightful spectacle, arose before Pierre's +eyes and distracted him: "Did you see, brother," he stammered, "did you +see that fair-haired girl lying under the archway, ripped open, with a +smile of astonishment on her face?" + +Guillaume in his turn quivered, and in a low and dolorous voice replied: +"Yes, I saw her! Ah, poor little thing! Ah! the atrocious necessities, +the atrocious errors, of justice!" + +Then, amidst the frightful shudder that seemed to sweep by, Pierre, with +his horror of all violence, succumbed, and let his face sink upon the +counterpane at the edge of the bed. And he sobbed distractedly: a sudden +attack of weakness, overflowing in tears, cast him there exhausted, with +no more strength than a child. It was as if all his sufferings since the +morning, the deep grief with which universal injustice and woe inspired +him, were bursting forth in that flood of tears which nothing now could +stay. And Guillaume, who, to calm his little brother, had set his hand +upon his head, in the same way as he had often caressingly stroked his +hair in childhood's days, likewise felt upset and remained silent, unable +to find a word of consolation, resigned, as he was, to the eruption which +in life is always possible, the cataclysm by which the slow evolution of +nature is always liable to be precipitated. But how hard a fate for the +wretched ones whom the lava sweeps away in millions! And then his tears +also began to flow amidst the profound silence. + +"Pierre," he gently exclaimed at last, "you must have some dinner. Go, go +and have some. And screen the lamp; leave me by myself, and let me close +my eyes. It will do me good." + +Pierre had to content him. Still, he left the dining-room door open; and, +weak for want of food, though he had not hitherto noticed it, he ate +standing, with his ears on the alert, listening lest his brother should +complain or call him. And the silence seemed to have become yet more +complete, the little house sank, as it were, into annihilation, instinct +with all the melancholy charm of the past. + +At about half-past eight, when Sophie returned from her errand to +Montmartre, Guillaume heard her step, light though it was. And he at once +became restless and wanted to know what news she brought. It was Pierre, +however, who enlightened him. "Don't be anxious. Sophie was received by +an old lady who, after reading your note, merely answered, 'Very well.' +She did not even ask Sophie a question, but remained quite composed +without sign of curiosity." + +Guillaume, realising that this fine serenity perplexed his brother, +thereupon replied with similar calmness: "Oh! it was only necessary that +grandmother should be warned. She knows well enough that if I don't +return home it is because I can't." + +However, from that moment it was impossible for the injured man to rest. +Although the lamp was hidden away in a corner, he constantly opened his +eyes, glanced round him, and seemed to listen, as if for sounds from the +direction of Paris. And it at last became necessary for the priest to +summon the servant and ask her if she had noticed anything strange on her +way to or from Montmartre. She seemed surprised by the question, and +answered that she had noticed nothing. Besides, the cab had followed the +outer boulevards, which were almost deserted. A slight fog had again +begun to fall, and the streets were steeped in icy dampness. + +By the time it was nine o'clock Pierre realised that his brother would +never be able to sleep if he were thus left without news. Amidst his +growing feverishness the injured man experienced keen anxiety, a haunting +desire to know if Salvat were arrested and had spoken out. He did not +confess this; indeed he sought to convey the impression that he had no +personal disquietude, which was doubtless true. But his great secret was +stifling him; he shuddered at the thought that his lofty scheme, all his +labour and all his hope, should be at the mercy of that unhappy man whom +want had filled with delusions and who had sought to set justice upon +earth by the aid of a bomb. And in vain did the priest try to make +Guillaume understand that nothing certain could yet be known. He +perceived that his impatience increased every minute, and at last +resolved to make some effort to satisfy him. + +But where could he go, of whom could he inquire? Guillaume, while talking +and trying to guess with whom Salvat might have sought refuge, had +mentioned Janzen, the Princess de Harn's mysterious lover; and for a +moment he had even thought of sending to this man for information. But he +reflected that if Janzen had heard of the explosion he was not at all the +individual to wait for the police at home. + +Meantime Pierre repeated: "I will willingly go to buy the evening papers +for you--but there will certainly be nothing in them. Although I know +almost everyone in Neuilly I can think of nobody who is likely to have +any information, unless perhaps it were Bache--" + +"You know Bache, the municipal councillor?" interrupted Guillaume. + +"Yes, we have both had to busy ourselves with charitable work in the +neighbourhood." + +"Well, Bache is an old friend of mine, and I know no safer man. Pray go +to him and bring him back with you." + +A quarter of an hour later Pierre returned with Bache, who resided in a +neighbouring street. And it was not only Bache whom he brought with him, +for, much to his surprise, he had found Janzen at Bache's house. As +Guillaume had suspected, Janzen, while dining at the Princess de Harn's, +had heard of the crime, and had consequently refrained from returning to +his little lodging in the Rue des Martyrs, where the police might well +have set a trap for him. His connections were known, and he was aware +that he was watched and was liable at any moment to arrest or expulsion +as a foreign Anarchist. And so he had thought it prudent to solicit a few +days' hospitality of Bache, a very upright and obliging man, to whom he +entrusted himself without fear. He would never have remained with +Rosemonde, that adorable lunatic who for a month past had been exhibiting +him as her lover, and whose useless and dangerous extravagance of conduct +he fully realised. + +Guillaume was so delighted on seeing Bache and Janzen that he wished to +sit up in bed again. But Pierre bade him remain quiet, rest his head on +the pillows, and speak as little as possible. Then, while Janzen stood +near, erect and silent, Bache took a chair and sat down by the bedside +with many expressions of friendly interest. He was a stout man of sixty, +with a broad, full face, a large white beard and long white hair. His +little, gentle eyes had a dim, dreamy expression, while a pleasant, +hopeful smile played round his thick lips. His father, a fervent St. +Simonian, had brought him up in the doctrines of that belief. While +retaining due respect for it, however, his personal inclinations towards +orderliness and religion had led him to espouse the ideas of Fourier, in +such wise that one found in him a succession and an abridgment, so to +say, of two doctrines. Moreover, when he was about thirty, he had busied +himself with spiritualism. Possessed of a comfortable little fortune, his +only adventure in life had been his connection with the Paris Commune of +1871. How or why he had become a member of it he could now scarcely tell. +Condemned to death by default, although he had sat among the Moderates, +he had resided in Belgium until the amnesty; and since then Neuilly had +elected him as its representative on the Paris Municipal Council, less by +way of glorifying in him a victim of reaction than as a reward for his +worthiness, for he was really esteemed by the whole district. + +Guillaume, with his desire for tidings, was obliged to confide in his two +visitors, tell them of the explosion and Salvat's flight, and how he +himself had been wounded while seeking to extinguish the match. Janzen, +with curly beard and hair, and a thin, fair face such as painters often +attribute to the Christ, listened coldly, as was his wont, and at last +said slowly in a gentle voice: "Ah! so it was Salvat! I thought it might +be little Mathis--I'm surprised that it should be Salvat--for he hadn't +made up his mind." Then, as Guillaume anxiously inquired if he thought +that Salvat would speak out, he began to protest: "Oh! no; oh! no." + +However, he corrected himself with a gleam of disdain in his clear, harsh +eyes: "After all, there's no telling. Salvat is a man of sentiment." + +Then Bache, who was quite upset by the news of the explosion, tried to +think how his friend Guillaume, to whom he was much attached, might be +extricated from any charge of complicity should he be denounced. And +Guillaume, at sight of Janzen's contemptuous coldness, must have suffered +keenly, for the other evidently believed him to be trembling, tortured by +the one desire to save his own skin. But what could he say, how could he +reveal the deep concern which rendered him so feverish without betraying +the secret which he had hidden even from his brother? + +However, at this moment Sophie came to tell her master that M. Theophile +Morin had called with another gentleman. Much astonished by this visit at +so late an hour, Pierre hastened into the next room to receive the new +comers. He had become acquainted with Morin since his return from Rome, +and had helped him to introduce a translation of an excellent scientific +manual, prepared according to the official programmes, into the Italian +schools.* A Franc-Comtois by birth, a compatriot of Proudhon, with whose +poor family he had been intimate at Besancon, Morin, himself the son of a +journeyman clockmaker, had grown up with Proudhonian ideas, full of +affection for the poor and an instinctive hatred of property and wealth. +Later on, having come to Paris as a school teacher, impassioned by study, +he had given his whole mind to Auguste Comte. Beneath the fervent +Positivist, however, one might yet find the old Proudhonian, the pauper +who rebelled and detested want. Moreover, it was scientific Positivism +that he clung to; in his hatred of all mysticism he would have naught to +do with the fantastic religious leanings of Comte in his last years. And +in Morin's brave, consistent, somewhat mournful life, there had been but +one page of romance: the sudden feverish impulse which had carried him +off to fight in Sicily by Garibaldi's side. Afterwards he had again +become a petty professor in Paris, obscurely earning a dismal livelihood. + + * See M. Zola's "Rome," Chapters IV. and XVI. + +When Pierre returned to the bedroom he said to his brother in a tone of +emotion: "Morin has brought me Barthes, who fancies himself in danger and +asks my hospitality." + +At this Guillaume forgot himself and became excited: "Nicholas Barthes, a +hero with a soul worthy of antiquity. Oh! I know him; I admire and love +him. You must set your door open wide for him." + +Bache and Janzen, however, had glanced at one another smiling. And the +latter, with his cold ironical air, slowly remarked: "Why does Monsieur +Barthes hide himself? A great many people think he is dead; he is simply +a ghost who no longer frightens anybody." + +Four and seventy years of age as he now was, Barthes had spent nearly +half a century in prison. He was the eternal prisoner, the hero of +liberty whom each successive Government had carried from citadel to +fortress. Since his youth he had been marching on amidst his dream of +fraternity, fighting for an ideal Republic based on truth and justice, +and each and every endeavour had led him to a dungeon; he had invariably +finished his humanitarian reverie under bolts and bars. Carbonaro, +Republican, evangelical sectarian, he had conspired at all times and in +all places, incessantly struggling against the Power of the day, whatever +it might be. And when the Republic at last had come, that Republic which +had cost him so many years of gaol, it had, in its own turn, imprisoned +him, adding fresh years of gloom to those which already had lacked +sunlight. And thus he remained the martyr of freedom: freedom which he +still desired in spite of everything; freedom, which, strive as he might, +never came, never existed. + +"But you are mistaken," replied Guillaume, wounded by Janzen's raillery. +"There is again a thought of getting rid of Barthes, whose uncompromising +rectitude disturbs our politicians; and he does well to take his +precautions!" + +Nicholas Barthes came in, a tall, slim, withered old man, with a nose +like an eagle's beak, and eyes that still burned in their deep sockets, +under white and bushy brows. His mouth, toothless but still refined, was +lost to sight between his moustaches and snowy beard; and his hair, +crowning him whitely like an aureola, fell in curls over his shoulders. +Behind him with all modesty came Theophile Morin, with grey whiskers, +grey, brush-like hair, spectacles, and yellow, weary mien--that of an old +professor exhausted by years of teaching. Neither of them seemed +astonished or awaited an explanation on finding that man in bed with an +injured wrist. And there were no introductions: those who were acquainted +merely smiled at one another. + +Barthes, for his part, stooped and kissed Guillaume on both cheeks. "Ah!" +said the latter, almost gaily, "it gives me courage to see you." + +However, the new comers had brought a little information. The boulevards +were in an agitated state, the news of the crime had spread from cafe to +cafe, and everybody was anxious to see the late edition which one paper +had published giving a very incorrect account of the affair, full of the +most extraordinary details. Briefly, nothing positive was as yet known. + +On seeing Guillaume turn pale Pierre compelled him to lie down again, and +even talked of taking the visitors into the next room. But the injured +man gently replied: "No, no, I promise you that I won't stir again, that +I won't open my mouth. But stay there and chat together. I assure you +that it will do me good to have you near me and hear you." + +Then, under the sleepy gleams of the lamp, the others began to talk in +undertones. Old Barthes, who considered that bomb to be both idiotic and +abominable, spoke of it with the stupefaction of one who, after fighting +like a hero through all the legendary struggles for liberty, found +himself belated, out of his element, in a new era, which he could not +understand. Did not the conquest of freedom suffice for everything? he +added. Was there any other problem beyond that of founding the real +Republic? Then, referring to Mege and his speech in the Chamber that +afternoon, he bitterly arraigned Collectivism, which he declared to be +one of the democratic forms of tyranny. Theophile Morin, for his part, +also spoke against the Collectivist enrolling of the social forces, but +he professed yet greater hatred of the odious violence of the Anarchists; +for it was only by evolution that he expected progress, and he felt +somewhat indifferent as to what political means might bring about the +scientific society of to-morrow. And in like way Bache did not seem +particularly fond of the Anarchists, though he was touched by the idyllic +dream, the humanitarian hope, whose germs lay beneath their passion for +destruction. And, like Barthes, he also flew into a passion with Mege, +who since entering the Chamber had become, said he, a mere rhetorician +and theorist, dreaming of dictatorship. Meantime Janzen, still erect, his +face frigid and his lips curling ironically, listened to all three of +them, and vented a few trenchant words to express his own Anarchist +faith; the uselessness of drawing distinctions, and the necessity of +destroying everything in order that everything might be rebuilt on fresh +lines. + +Pierre, who had remained near the bed, also listened with passionate +attention. Amidst the downfall of his own beliefs, the utter void which +he felt within him, here were these four men, who represented the +cardinal points of this century's ideas, debating the very same terrible +problem which brought him so much suffering, that of the new belief which +the democracy of the coming century awaits. And, ah! since the days of +the immediate ancestors, since the days of Voltaire and Diderot and +Rousseau how incessantly had billows of ideas followed and jostled one +another, the older ones giving birth to new ones, and all breaking and +bounding in a tempest in which it was becoming so difficult to +distinguish anything clearly! Whence came the wind, and whither was the +ship of salvation going, for what port ought one to embark? Pierre had +already thought that the balance-sheet of the century ought to be drawn +up, and that, after accepting the legacies of Rousseau and the other +precursors, he ought to study the ideas of St. Simon, Fourier and even +Cabet; of Auguste Comte, Proudhon and Karl Marx as well, in order, at any +rate, to form some idea of the distance that had been travelled, and of +the cross-ways which one had now reached. And was not this an +opportunity, since chance had gathered those men together in his house, +living exponents of the conflicting doctrines which he wished to examine? + +On turning round, however, he perceived that Guillaume was now very pale +and had closed his eyes. Had even he, with his faith in science, felt the +doubt which is born of contradictory theories, and the despair which +comes when one sees the fight for truth resulting in growth of error? + +"Are you in pain?" the priest anxiously inquired. + +"Yes, a little. But I will try to sleep." + +At this they all went off with silent handshakes. Nicholas Barthes alone +remained in the house and slept in a room on the first floor which Sophie +had got ready for him. Pierre, unwilling to quit his brother, dozed off +upon a sofa. And the little house relapsed into its deep quietude, the +silence of solitude and winter, through which passed the melancholy +quiver of the souvenirs of childhood. + +In the morning, as soon as it was seven o'clock, Pierre had to go for the +newspapers. Guillaume had passed a bad night and intense fever had set +in. Nevertheless, his brother was obliged to read him the articles on the +explosion. There was an amazing medley of truths and inventions, of +precise information lost amidst the most unexpected extravagance. +Sagnier's paper, the "Voix du Peuple," distinguished itself by its +sub-titles in huge print and a whole page of particulars jumbled together +chance-wise. It had at once decided to postpone the famous list of the +thirty-two deputies and senators compromised in the African Railways +affair; and there was no end to the details it gave of the aspect of the +entrance to the Duvillard mansion after the explosion the pavement broken +up, the upper floor rent open, the huge doors torn away from their +hinges. Then came the story of the Baron's son and daughter preserved as +by a miracle, the landau escaping the slightest injury, while the banker +and his wife, it was alleged, owed their preservation to the circumstance +that they had lingered at the Madeleine after Monseigneur Martha's +remarkable address there. An entire column was given to the one victim, +the poor, pretty, fair-haired errand girl, whose identity did not seem to +be clearly established, although a flock of reporters had rushed first to +the modiste employing her, in the Avenue de l'Opera, and next to the +upper part of the Faubourg St. Denis, where it was thought her +grandmother resided. Then, in a gravely worded article in "Le Globe," +evidently inspired by Fonsegue, an appeal was made to the Chamber's +patriotism to avoid giving cause for any ministerial crisis in the +painful circumstances through which the country was passing. Thus the +ministry might last, and live in comparative quietude, for a few weeks +longer. + +Guillaume, however, was struck by one point only: the culprit was not +known; Salvat, it appeared certain, was neither arrested nor even +suspected. It seemed, indeed, as if the police were starting on a false +scent--that of a well-dressed gentleman wearing gloves, whom a neighbour +swore he had seen entering the mansion at the moment of the explosion. +Thus Guillaume became a little calmer. But his brother read to him from +another paper some particulars concerning the engine of destruction that +had been employed. It was a preserved-meat can, and the fragments of it +showed that it had been comparatively small. And Guillaume relapsed into +anxiety on learning that people were much astonished at the violent +ravages of such a sorry appliance, and that the presence of some new +explosive of incalculable power was already suspected. + +At eight o'clock Bertheroy put in an appearance. Although he was +sixty-eight, he showed as much briskness and sprightliness as any young +sawbones calling in a friendly way to perform a little operation. He had +brought an instrument case, some linen bands and some lint. However, he +became angry on finding the injured man nervous, flushed and hot with +fever. + +"Ah! I see that you haven't been reasonable, my dear child," said he. +"You must have talked too much, and have bestirred and excited yourself." +Then, having carefully probed the wound, he added, while dressing it: +"The bone is injured, you know, and I won't answer for anything unless +you behave better. Any complications would make amputation necessary." + +Pierre shuddered, but Guillaume shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that +he might just as well be amputated since all was crumbling around him. +Bertheroy, who had sat down, lingering there for another moment, +scrutinised both brothers with his keen eyes. He now knew of the +explosion, and must have thought it over. "My dear child," he resumed in +his brusque way, "I certainly don't think that you committed that +abominable act of folly in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy. But I fancy that you +were in the neighbourhood--no, no, don't answer me, don't defend +yourself. I know nothing and desire to know nothing, not even the formula +of that devilish powder of which your shirt cuff bore traces, and which +has wrought such terrible havoc." + +And then as the brothers remained surprised, turning cold with anxiety, +in spite of his assurances, he added with a sweeping gesture: "Ah! my +friends, I regard such an action as even more useless than criminal! I +only feel contempt for the vain agitation of politics, whether they be +revolutionary or conservative. Does not science suffice? Why hasten the +times when one single step of science brings humanity nearer to the goal +of truth and justice than do a hundred years of politics and social +revolt? Why, it is science alone which sweeps away dogmas, casts down +gods, and creates light and happiness. And I, Member of the Institute as +I am, decorated and possessed of means, I am the only true +Revolutionist." + +Then he began to laugh and Guillaume realised all the good-natured irony +of his laugh. While admiring him as a great /savant/, he had hitherto +suffered at seeing him lead such a /bourgeois/ life, accepting whatever +appointments and honours were offered him, a Republican under the +Republic, but quite ready to serve science under no matter what master. +But now, from beneath this opportunist, this hieratical /savant/, this +toiler who accepted wealth and glory from all hands, there appeared a +quiet yet terrible evolutionist, who certainly expected that his own work +would help to ravage and renew the world! + +However, Bertheroy rose and took his leave: "I'll come back; behave +sensibly, and love one another as well as you can." + +When the brothers again found themselves alone, Pierre seated at +Guillaume's bedside, their hands once more sought each other and met in a +burning clasp instinct with all their anguish. How much threatening +mystery and distress there was both around and within them! The grey +wintry daylight came into the room, and they could see the black trees in +the garden, while the house remained full of quivering silence, save that +overhead a faint sound of footsteps was audible. They were the steps of +Nicholas Barthes, the heroic lover of freedom, who, rising at daybreak, +had, like a caged lion, resumed his wonted promenade, the incessant +coming and going of one who had ever been a prisoner. And as the brothers +ceased listening to him their eyes fell on a newspaper which had remained +open on the bed, a newspaper soiled by a sketch in outline which +pretended to portray the poor dead errand girl, lying, ripped open, +beside the bandbox and the bonnet it had contained. It was so frightful, +so atrociously hideous a scene, that two big tears again fell upon +Pierre's cheeks, whilst Guillaume's blurred, despairing eyes gazed +wistfully far away, seeking for the Future. + + + +II + +A HOME OF INDUSTRY + +THE little house in which Guillaume had dwelt for so many years, a home +of quietude and hard work, stood in the pale light of winter up yonder at +Montmartre, peacefully awaiting his return. He reflected, however, after +/dejeuner/ that it might not be prudent for him to go back thither for +some three weeks, and so he thought of sending Pierre to explain the +position of affairs. "Listen, brother," he said. "You must render me this +service. Go and tell them the truth--that I am here, slightly injured, +and do not wish them to come to see me, for fear lest somebody should +follow them and discover my retreat. After the note I wrote them last +evening they would end by getting anxious if I did not send them some +news." Then, yielding to the one worry which, since the previous night, +had disturbed his clear, frank glance, he added: "Just feel in the +right-hand pocket of my waistcoat; you will find a little key there. +Good! that's it. Now you must give it to Madame Leroi, my mother-in-law, +and tell her that if any misfortune should happen to me, she is to do +what is understood between us. That will suffice, she will understand +you." + +At the first moment Pierre had hesitated; but he saw how even the slight +effort of speaking exhausted his brother, so he silenced him, saying: +"Don't talk, but put your mind at ease. I will go and reassure your +people, since you wish that this commission should be undertaken by me." + +Truth to tell, the errand was so distasteful to Pierre that he had at +first thought of sending Sophie in his place. All his old prejudices were +reviving; it was as if he were going to some ogre's den. How many times +had he not heard his mother say "that creature!" in referring to the +woman with whom her elder son cohabited. Never had she been willing to +kiss Guillaume's boys; the whole connection had shocked her, and she was +particularly indignant that Madame Leroi, the woman's mother, should have +joined the household for the purpose of bringing up the little ones. +Pierre retained so strong a recollection of all this that even nowadays, +when he went to the basilica of the Sacred Heart and passed the little +house on his way, he glanced at it distrustfully, and kept as far from it +as he could, as if it were some abode of vice and error. Undoubtedly, for +ten years now, the boys' mother had been dead, but did not another +scandal-inspiring creature dwell there, that young orphan girl to whom +his brother had given shelter, and whom he was going to marry, although a +difference of twenty years lay between them? To Pierre all this was +contrary to propriety, abnormal and revolting, and he pictured a home +given over to social rebellion, where lack of principle led to every kind +of disorder. + +However, he was leaving the room to start upon his journey, when +Guillaume called him back. "Tell Madame Leroi," said he, "that if I +should die you will let her know of it, so that she may immediately do +what is necessary." + +"Yes, yes," answered Pierre. "But calm yourself, and don't move about. +I'll say everything. And in my absence Sophie will stop here with you in +case you should need her." + +Having given full instructions to the servant, Pierre set out to take a +tramcar, intending to alight from it on the Boulevard de Rochechouart, +and then climb the height on foot. And on the road, lulled by the gliding +motion of the heavy vehicle, he began to think of his brother's past life +and connections, with which he was but vaguely, imperfectly, acquainted. +It was only at a later date that details of everything came to his +knowledge. In 1850 a young professor named Leroi, who had come from Paris +to the college of Montauban with the most ardent republican ideas, had +there married Agathe Dagnan, the youngest of the five girls of an old +Protestant family from the Cevennes. Young Madame Leroi was /enceinte/ +when her husband, threatened with arrest for contributing some violent +articles to a local newspaper, immediately after the "Coup d'Etat," found +himself obliged to seek refuge at Geneva. It was there that the young +couple's daughter, Marguerite, a very delicate child, was born in 1852. +For seven years, that is until the Amnesty of 1859, the household +struggled with poverty, the husband giving but a few ill-paid lessons, +and the wife absorbed in the constant care which the child required. +Then, after their return to Paris, their ill-luck became even greater. +For a long time the ex-professor vainly sought regular employment; it was +denied him on account of his opinions, and he had to run about giving +lessons in private houses. When he was at last on the point of being +received back into the University a supreme blow, an attack of paralysis, +fell upon him. He lost the use of both legs. And then came utter misery, +every kind of sordid drudgery, the writing of articles for dictionaries, +the copying of manuscripts, and even the addressing of newspaper +wrappers, on the fruits of which the household barely contrived to live, +in a little lodging in the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince. + +It was there that Marguerite grew up. Leroi, embittered by injustice and +suffering, predicted the advent of a Republic which would avenge the +follies of the Empire, and a reign of science which would sweep away the +deceptive and cruel divinity of religious dogmas. On the other hand, +Agathe's religious faith had collapsed at Geneva, at sight of the narrow +and imbecile practices of Calvinism, and all that she retained of it was +the old Protestant leaven of rebellion. She had become at once the head +and the arm of the house; she went for her husband's work, took it back +when completed, and even did much of it herself, whilst, at the same +time, performing her house duties, and rearing and educating her +daughter. The latter, who attended no school, was indebted for all she +learnt to her father and mother, on whose part there was never any +question of religious instruction. Through contact with her husband, +Madame Leroi had lost all belief, and her Protestant heredity inclining +her to free inquiry and examination, she had arranged for herself a kind +of peaceful atheism, based on paramount principles of human duty and +justice, which she applied courageously, irrespective of all social +conventionalities. The long iniquity of her husband's fate, the +undeserved misfortunes which struck her through him and her daughter, +ended by endowing her with wonderful fortitude and devotion, which made +her, whether as a judge, a manager, or a consoler, a woman of +incomparable energy and nobleness of character. + +It was in the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince that Guillaume became acquainted +with the Leroi family, after the war of 1870. On the same floor as their +little lodging he occupied a large room, where he devoted himself +passionately to his studies. At the outset there was only an occasional +bow, for Guillaume's neighbours were very proud and very grave, leading +their life of poverty in fierce silence and retirement. Then intercourse +began with the rendering of little services, such as when the young man +procured the ex-professor a commission to write a few articles for a new +encyclopaedia. But all at once came the catastrophe: Leroi died in his +armchair one evening while his daughter was wheeling him from his table +to his bed. The two distracted women had not even the money to bury him. +The whole secret of their bitter want flowed forth with their tears, and +they were obliged to accept the help of Guillaume, who, from that moment, +became the necessary confidant and friend. And the thing which was bound +to happen did happen, in the most simple and loving manner, permitted by +the mother herself, who, full of contempt for a social system which +allowed those of good hearts to die of hunger, refused to admit the +necessity of any social tie. Thus there was no question of a regular +marriage. One day Guillaume, who was twenty-three years old, found +himself mated to Marguerite, who was twenty; both of them handsome, +healthy, and strong, adoring one another, loving work, and full of hope +in the future. + +From that moment a new life began. Since his father's death, Guillaume, +who had broken off all intercourse with his mother, had been receiving an +allowance of two hundred francs a month. This just represented daily +bread; however, he was already doubling the amount by his work as a +chemist,--his analyses and researches, which tended to the employment of +certain chemical products in industry. So he and Marguerite installed +themselves on the very summit of Montmartre, in a little house, at a +rental of eight hundred francs a year, the great convenience of the place +being a strip of garden, where one might, later on, erect a wooden +workshop. In all tranquillity Madame Leroi took up her abode with the +young people, helping them, and sparing them the necessity of keeping a +second servant. And at successive intervals of two years, her three +grandchildren were born, three sturdy boys: first Thomas, then Francois, +and then Antoine. And in the same way as she had devoted herself to her +husband and daughter, and then to Guillaume, so did she now devote +herself to the three children. She became "Mere-Grand"--an emphatic and +affectionate way of expressing the term "grandmother"--for all who lived +in the house, the older as well as the younger ones. She there +personified sense, and wisdom, and courage; it was she who was ever on +the watch, who directed everything, who was consulted about everything, +and whose opinion was always followed. Indeed, she reigned there like an +all-powerful queen-mother. + +For fifteen years this life went on, a life of hard work and peaceful +affection, while the strictest economy was observed in contenting every +need of the modest little household. Then Guillaume lost his mother, took +his share of the family inheritance, and was able to satisfy his old +desire, which was to buy the house he lived in, and build a spacious +workshop in the garden. He was even able to build it of bricks, and add +an upper story to it. But the work was scarcely finished, and life seemed +to be on the point of expanding and smiling on them all, when misfortune +returned, and typhoid fever, with brutal force, carried off Marguerite, +after a week's illness. She was then five and thirty, and her eldest boy, +Thomas, was fourteen. Thus Guillaume, distracted by his loss, found +himself a widower at thirty-eight. The thought of introducing any unknown +woman into that retired home, where all hearts beat in tender unison, was +so unbearable to him that he determined to take no other mate. His work +absorbed him, and he would know how to quiet both his heart and his +flesh. Mere-Grand, fortunately, was still there, erect and courageous; +the household retained its queen, and in her the children found a +manageress and teacher, schooled in adversity and heroism. + +Two years passed; and then came an addition to the family. A young woman, +Marie Couturier, the daughter of one of Guillaume's friends, suddenly +entered it. Couturier had been an inventor, a madman with some measure of +genius, and had spent a fairly large fortune in attempting all sorts of +fantastic schemes. His wife, a very pious woman, had died of grief at it +all; and although on the rare occasions when he saw his daughter, he +showed great fondness for her and loaded her with presents, he had first +placed her in a boarding college, and afterwards left her in the charge +of a poor female relative. Remembering her only on his death-bed, he had +begged Guillaume to give her an asylum, and find her a husband. The poor +relation, who dealt in ladies' and babies' linen, had just become a +bankrupt. So, at nineteen, the girl, Marie, found herself a penniless +outcast, possessed of nothing save a good education, health and courage. +Guillaume would never allow her to run about giving lessons. He took her, +in quite a natural way, to help Mere-Grand, who was no longer so active +as formerly. And the latter approved the arrangement, well pleased at the +advent of youth and gaiety, which would somewhat brighten the household, +whose life had been one of much gravity ever since Marguerite's death. +Marie would simply be an elder sister; she was too old for the boys, who +were still at college, to be disturbed by her presence. And she would +work in that house where everybody worked. She would help the little +community pending the time when she might meet and love some worthy +fellow who would marry her. + +Five more years elapsed without Marie consenting to quit that happy home. +The sterling education she had received was lodged in a vigorous brain, +which contented itself with the acquirement of knowledge. Yet she had +remained very pure and healthy, even very /naive/, maidenly by reason of +her natural rectitude. And she was also very much a woman, beautifying +and amusing herself with a mere nothing, and ever showing gaiety and +contentment. Moreover, she was in no wise of a dreamy nature, but very +practical, always intent on some work or other, and only asking of life +such things as life could give, without anxiety as to what might lie +beyond it. She lovingly remembered her pious mother, who had prepared her +for her first Communion in tears, imagining that she was opening heaven's +portals to her. But since she had been an orphan she had of her own +accord ceased all practice of religion, her good sense revolting and +scorning the need of any moral police regulations to make her do her +duty. Indeed, she considered such regulations dangerous and destructive +of true health. Thus, like Mere-Grand, she had come to a sort of quiet +and almost unconscious atheism, not after the fashion of one who reasons, +but simply like the brave, healthy girl she was, one who had long endured +poverty without suffering from it, and believed in nothing save the +necessity of effort. She had been kept erect, indeed, by her conviction +that happiness was to be found in the normal joys of life, lived +courageously. And her happy equilibrium of mind had ever guided and saved +her, in such wise that she willingly listened to her natural instinct, +saying, with her pleasant laugh, that this was, after all, her best +adviser. She rejected two offers of marriage, and on the second occasion, +as Guillaume pressed her to accept, she grew astonished, and inquired if +he had had enough of her in the house. She found herself very +comfortable, and she rendered service there. So why should she leave and +run the risk of being less happy elsewhere, particularly as she was not +in love with anybody? + +Then, by degrees, the idea of a marriage between Marie and Guillaume +presented itself; and indeed what could have been more reasonable and +advantageous for all? If Guillaume had not mated again it was for his +sons' sake, because he feared that by introducing a stranger to the house +he might impair its quietude and gaiety. But now there was a woman among +them who already showed herself maternal towards the boys, and whose +bright youth had ended by disturbing his own heart. He was still in his +prime, and had always held that it was not good for man to live alone, +although, personally, thanks to his ardour for work, he had hitherto +escaped excessive suffering in his bereavement. However, there was the +great difference of ages to be considered; and he would have bravely +remained in the background and have sought a younger husband for Marie, +if his three big sons and Mere-Grand herself had not conspired to effect +his happiness by doing all they could to bring about a marriage which +would strengthen every home tie and impart, as it were, a fresh +springtide to the house. As for Marie, touched and grateful to Guillaume +for the manner in which he had treated her for five years past, she +immediately consented with an impulse of sincere affection, in which, she +fancied, she could detect love. And at all events, could she act in a +more sensible, reasonable way, base her life on more certain prospects of +happiness? So the marriage had been resolved upon; and about a month +previously it had been decided that it should take place during the +ensuing spring, towards the end of April. + +When Pierre, after alighting from the tramcar, began to climb the +interminable flights of steps leading to the Rue St. Eleuthere, a feeling +of uneasiness again came over him at the thought that he was about to +enter that suspicious ogre's den where everything would certainly wound +and irritate him. Given the letter which Sophie had carried thither on +the previous night, announcing that the master would not return, how +anxious and upset must all its inmates be! However, as Pierre ascended +the final flight and nervously raised his head, the little house appeared +to him right atop of the hill, looking very serene and quiet under the +bright wintry sun, which had peered forth as if to bestow upon the modest +dwelling an affectionate caress. + +There was a door in the old garden wall alongside the Rue St. Eleuthere, +almost in front of the broad thoroughfare conducting to the basilica of +the Sacred Heart; but to reach the house itself one had to skirt the wall +and climb to the Place du Tertre, where one found the facade and the +entrance. Some children were playing on the Place, which, planted as it +was with a few scrubby trees, and edged with humble shops,--a +fruiterer's, a grocer's and a baker's,--looked like some square in a +small provincial town. In a corner, on the left, Guillaume's dwelling, +which had been whitewashed during the previous spring, showed its bright +frontage and five lifeless windows, for all its life was on the other, +the garden, side, which overlooked Paris and the far horizon. + +Pierre mustered his courage and, pulling a brass knob which glittered +like gold, rang the bell. There came a gay, distant jingle; but for a +moment nobody appeared, and he was about to ring again, when the door was +thrown wide open, revealing a passage which ran right through the house, +beyond which appeared the ocean of Paris, the endless sea of house roofs +bathed in sunlight. And against this spacious, airy background, stood a +young woman of twenty-six, clad in a simple gown of black woolen stuff, +half covered by a large blue apron. She had her sleeves rolled up above +her elbows, and her arms and hands were still moist with water which she +had but imperfectly wiped away. + +A moment's surprise and embarrassment ensued. The young woman, who had +hastened to the door with laughing mien, became grave and covertly +hostile at sight of the visitor's cassock. The priest thereupon realised +that he must give his name: "I am Abbe Pierre Froment." + +At this the young woman's smile of welcome came back to her. "Oh! I beg +your pardon, monsieur--I ought to have recognised you, for I saw you wish +Guillaume good day one morning as you passed." + +She said Guillaume; she, therefore, must be Marie. And Pierre looked at +her in astonishment, finding her very different from what he had +imagined. She was only of average height, but she was vigorously, +admirably built, broad of hip and broad of shoulder, with the small firm +bosom of an amazon. By her erect and easy step, instinct with all the +adorable grace of woman in her prime, one could divine that she was +strong, muscular and healthy. A brunette, but very white of skin, she had +a heavy helm of superb black hair, which she fastened in a negligent way, +without any show of coquetry. And under her dark locks, her pure, +intelligent brow, her delicate nose and gay eyes appeared full of intense +life; whilst the somewhat heavier character of her lower features, her +fleshy lips and full chin, bespoke her quiet kindliness. She had surely +come on earth as a promise of every form of tenderness, every form of +devotion. In a word, she was a true mate for man. + +However, with her heavy, straying hair and superb arms, so ingenuous in +their nudity, she only gave Pierre an impression of superfluous health +and extreme self-assurance. She displeased him and even made him feel +somewhat anxious, as if she were a creature different from all others. + +"It is my brother Guillaume who has sent me," he said. + +At this her face again changed; she became grave and hastened to admit +him to the passage. And when the door was closed she answered: "You have +brought us news of him, then! I must apologise for receiving you in this +fashion. The servants have just finished some washing, and I was making +sure if the work had been well done. Pray excuse me, and come in here for +a moment; it is perhaps best that I should be the first to know the +news." + +So saying, she led him past the kitchen to a little room which served as +scullery and wash-house. A tub full of soapy water stood there, and some +dripping linen hung over some wooden bars. "And so, Guillaume?" she +asked. + +Pierre then told the truth in simple fashion: that his brother's wrist +had been injured; that he himself had witnessed the accident, and that +his brother had then sought an asylum with him at Neuilly, where he +wished to remain and get cured of his injury in peace and quietness, +without even receiving a visit from his sons. While speaking in this +fashion, the priest watched the effect of his words on Marie's face: +first fright and pity, and then an effort to calm herself and judge +things reasonably. + +"His letter quite froze me last night," she ended by replying. "I felt +sure that some misfortune had happened. But one must be brave and hide +one's fear from others. His wrist injured, you say; it is not a serious +injury, is it?" + +"No; but it is necessary that every precaution should be taken with it." + +She looked him well in the face with her big frank eyes, which dived into +his own as if to reach the very depths of his being, though at the same +time she plainly sought to restrain the score of questions which rose to +her lips. "And that is all: he was injured in an accident," she resumed; +"he didn't ask you to tell us anything further about it?" + +"No, he simply desires that you will not be anxious." + +Thereupon she insisted no further, but showed herself obedient and +respectful of the decision which Guillaume had arrived at. It sufficed +that he should have sent a messenger to reassure the household--she did +not seek to learn any more. And even as she had returned to her work in +spite of the secret anxiety in which the letter of the previous evening +had left her, so now, with her air of quiet strength, she recovered an +appearance of serenity, a quiet smile and clear brave glance. + +"Guillaume only gave me one other commission," resumed Pierre, "that of +handing a little key to Madame Leroi." + +"Very good," Marie answered, "Mere-Grand is here; and, besides, the +children must see you. I will take you to them." + +Once more quite tranquil, she examined Pierre without managing to conceal +her curiosity, which seemed of rather a kindly nature blended with an +element of vague pity. Her fresh white arms had remained bare. In all +candour she slowly drew down her sleeves; then took off the large blue +apron, and showed herself with her rounded figure, at once robust and +elegant, in her modest black gown. He meanwhile looked at her, and most +certainly he did not find her to his liking. On seeing her so natural, +healthy, and courageous, quite a feeling of revolt arose within him, +though he knew not why. + +"Will you please follow me, Monsieur l'Abbe?" she said. "We must cross +the garden." + +On the ground-floor of the house, across the passage, and facing the +kitchen and the scullery, there were two other rooms, a library +overlooking the Place du Tertre, and a dining-room whose windows opened +into the garden. The four rooms on the first floor served as bedchambers +for the father and the sons. As for the garden, originally but a small +one, it had now been reduced to a kind of gravelled yard by the erection +of the large workshop at one end of it. Of the former greenery, however, +there still remained two huge plum-trees with old knotted trunks, as well +as a big clump of lilac-bushes, which every spring were covered with +bloom. And in front of the latter Marie had arranged a broad flower-bed, +in which she amused herself with growing a few roses, some wallflowers +and some mignonette. + +With a wave of her hand as she went past, she called Pierre's attention +to the black plum-trees and the lilacs and roses, which showed but a few +greenish spots, for winter still held the little nook in sleep. "Tell +Guillaume," she said, "that he must make haste to get well and be back +for the first shoots." + +Then, as Pierre glanced at her, she all at once flushed purple. Much to +her distress, sudden and involuntary blushes would in this wise +occasionally come upon her, even at the most innocent remarks. She found +it ridiculous to feel such childish emotion when she had so brave a +heart. But her pure maidenly blood had retained exquisite delicacy, such +natural and instinctive modesty that she yielded to it perforce. And +doubtless she had merely blushed because she feared that the priest might +think she had referred to her marriage in speaking of the spring. + +"Please go in, Monsieur l'Abbe. The children are there, all three." And +forthwith she ushered him into the workshop. + +It was a very spacious place, over sixteen feet high, with a brick +flooring and bare walls painted an iron grey. A sheet of light, a stream +of sunshine, spread to every corner through a huge window facing the +south, where lay the immensity of Paris. The Venetian shutters often had +to be lowered in the summer to attenuate the great heat. From morn till +night the whole family lived here, closely and affectionately united in +work. Each was installed as fancy listed, having a particular chosen +place. One half of the building was occupied by the father's chemical +laboratory, with its stove, experiment tables, shelves for apparatus, +glass cases and cupboards for phials and jars. Near all this Thomas, the +eldest son, had installed a little forge, an anvil, a vice bench, in fact +everything necessary to a working mechanician, such as he had become +since taking his bachelor's degree, from his desire to remain with his +father and help him with certain researches and inventions. Then, at the +other end, the younger brothers, Francois and Antoine, got on very well +together on either side of a broad table which stood amidst a medley of +portfolios, nests of drawers and revolving book-stands. Francois, laden +with academical laurels, first on the pass list for the Ecole Normale, +had entered that college where young men are trained for university +professorships, and was there preparing for his Licentiate degree, while +Antoine, who on reaching the third class at the Lycee Condorcet had taken +a dislike to classical studies, now devoted himself to his calling as a +wood-engraver. And, in the full light under the window, Mere-Grand and +Marie likewise had their particular table, where needlework, embroidery, +all sorts of /chiffons/ and delicate things lay about near the somewhat +rough jumble of retorts, tools and big books. + +Marie, however, on the very threshold called out in her calm voice, to +which she strove to impart a gay and cheering accent: "Children! +children! here is Monsieur l'Abbe with news of father!" + +Children, indeed! Yet what motherliness she already set in the word as +she applied it to those big fellows whose elder sister she had long +considered herself to be! At three and twenty Thomas was quite a +colossus, already bearded and extremely like his father. But although he +had a lofty brow and energetic features, he was somewhat slow both in +mind and body. And he was also taciturn, almost unsociable, absorbed in +filial devotion, delighted with the manual toil which made him a mere +workman at his master's orders. Francois, two years younger than Thomas, +and nearly as tall, showed a more refined face, though he had the same +large brow and firm mouth, a perfect blending of health and strength, in +which the man of intellect, the scientific Normalian, could only be +detected by the brighter and more subtle sparkle of the eyes. The +youngest of the brothers, Antoine, who for his eighteen years was almost +as strong as his elders, and promised to become as tall, differed from +them by his lighter hair and soft, blue, dreamy eyes, which he had +inherited from his mother. It had been difficult, however, to distinguish +one from the other when all three were schoolboys at the Lycee Condorcet; +and even nowadays people made mistakes unless they saw them side by side, +so as to detect the points of difference which were becoming more marked +as age progressed. + +On Pierre's arrival the brothers were so absorbed in their work that they +did not even hear the door open. And again, as in the case of Marie, the +priest was surprised by the discipline and firmness of mind, which amidst +the keenest anxiety gave the young fellows strength to take up their +daily task. Thomas, who stood at his vice-bench in a blouse, was +carefully filing a little piece of copper with rough but skilful hands. +Francois, leaning forward, was writing in a bold, firm fashion, whilst on +the other side of the table, Antoine, with a slender graver between his +fingers, finished a block for an illustrated newspaper. + +However, Marie's clear voice made them raise their heads: "Children, +father has sent you some news!" + +Then all three with the same impulse hurriedly quitted their work and +came forward. One could divine that directly there was any question of +their father they were drawn together, blended one with the other, so +that but one and the same heart beat in their three broad chests. +However, a door at the far end of the workroom opened at that moment, and +Mere-Grand, coming from the upper floor where she and Marie had their +bedrooms, made her appearance. She had just absented herself to fetch a +skein of wool; and she gazed fixedly at the priest, unable to understand +the reason of his presence. + +Marie had to explain matters. "Mere-Grand," said she, "this is Monsieur +l'Abbe Froment, Guillaume's brother; he has come from him." + +Pierre on his side was examining the old lady, astonished to find her so +erect and full of life at seventy. Her former beauty had left a stately +charm on her rather long face; youthful fire still lingered in her brown +eyes; and very firm was the contour of her pale lips, which in parting +showed that she had retained all her teeth. A few white hairs alone +silvered her black tresses, which were arranged in old-time fashion. Her +cheeks had but slightly withered, and her deep, symmetrical wrinkles gave +her countenance an expression of much nobility, a sovereign air as of a +queen-mother, which, tall and slight of stature as she was, and +invariably gowned in black woollen stuff, she always retained, no matter +how humble her occupation. + +"So Guillaume sent you, monsieur," she said; "he is injured, is he not?" + +Surprised by this proof of intuition, Pierre repeated his story. "Yes, +his wrist is injured--but oh! it's not a case of immediate gravity." + +On the part of the three sons, he had divined a sudden quiver, an impulse +of their whole beings to rush to the help and defence of their father. +And for their sakes he sought words of comfort: "He is with me at +Neuilly. And with due care it is certain that no serious complications +will arise. He sent me to tell you to be in no wise uneasy about him." + +Mere-Grand for her part evinced no fears, but preserved great calmness, +as if the priest's tidings contained nothing beyond what she had known +already. If anything, she seemed rather relieved, freed from anxiety +which she had confided to none. "If he is with you, monsieur," she +answered, "he is evidently as comfortable as he can be, and sheltered +from all risks. We were surprised, however, by his letter last night, as +it did not explain why he was detained, and we should have ended by +feeling frightened. But now everything is satisfactory." + +Mere-Grand and the three sons, following Marie's example, asked no +explanations. On a table near at hand Pierre noticed several morning +newspapers lying open and displaying column after column of particulars +about the crime. The sons had certainly read these papers, and had feared +lest their father should be compromised in that frightful affair. How far +did their knowledge of the latter go? They must be ignorant of the part +played by Salvat. It was surely impossible for them to piece together all +the unforeseen circumstances which had brought about their father's +meeting with the workman, and then the crime. Mere-Grand, no doubt, was +in certain respects better informed than the others. But they, the sons +and Marie, neither knew nor sought to know anything. And thus what a +wealth of respect and affection there was in their unshakable confidence +in the father, in the tranquillity they displayed directly he sent them +word that they were not to be anxious about him! + +"Madame," Pierre resumed, "Guillaume told me to give you this little key, +and to remind you to do what he charged you to do, if any misfortune +should befall him." + +She started, but so slightly that it was scarcely perceptible; and taking +the key she answered as if some ordinary wish on the part of a sick +person were alone in question. "Very well. Tell him that his wishes shall +be carried out." Then she added, "But pray take a seat, monsieur." + +Pierre, indeed, had remained standing. However, he now felt it necessary +to accept a chair, desirous as he was of hiding the embarrassment which +he still felt in this house, although he was /en famille/ there. Marie, +who could not live without occupation for her fingers, had just returned +to some embroidery, some of the fine needlework which she stubbornly +executed for a large establishment dealing in baby-linen and bridal +/trousseaux/; for she wished at any rate to earn her own pocket-money, +she often said with a laugh. Mere-Grand, too, from habit, which she +followed even when visitors were present, had once more started on her +perpetual stocking-mending; while Francois and Antoine had again seated +themselves at their table; and Thomas alone remained on his legs, leaning +against his bench. All the charm of industrious intimacy pervaded the +spacious, sun-lit room. + +"But we'll all go to see father to-morrow," Thomas suddenly exclaimed. + +Before Pierre could answer Marie raised her head. "No, no," said she, "he +does not wish any of us to go to him; for if we should be watched and +followed we should betray the secret of his retreat. Isn't that so, +Monsieur l'Abbe?" + +"It would indeed be prudent of you to deprive yourselves of the pleasure +of embracing him until he himself can come back here. It will be a matter +of some two or three weeks," answered Pierre. + +Mere-Grand at once expressed approval of this. "No doubt," said she. +"Nothing could be more sensible." + +So the three sons did not insist, but bravely accepted the secret anxiety +in which they must for a time live, renouncing the visit which would have +caused them so much delight, because their father bade them do so and +because his safety depended perhaps on their obedience. + +However, Thomas resumed: "Then, Monsieur l'Abbe, will you please tell him +that as work will be interrupted here, I shall return to the factory +during his absence. I shall be more at ease there for the researches on +which we are engaged." + +"And please tell him from me," put in Francois, "that he mustn't worry +about my examination. Things are going very well. I feel almost certain +of success." + +Pierre promised that he would forget nothing. However, Marie raised her +head, smiling and glancing at Antoine, who had remained silent with a +faraway look in his eyes. "And you, little one," said she, "don't you +send him any message?" + +Emerging from a dream, the young fellow also began to smile. "Yes, yes, a +message that you love him dearly, and that he's to make haste back for +you to make him happy." + +At this they all became merry, even Marie, who in lieu of embarrassment +showed a tranquil gaiety born of confidence in the future. Between her +and the young men there was naught but happy affection. And a grave smile +appeared even on the pale lips of Mere-Grand, who likewise approved of +the happiness which life seemed to be promising. + +Pierre wished to stay a few minutes longer. They all began to chat, and +his astonishment increased. He had gone from surprise to surprise in this +house where he had expected to find that equivocal, disorderly life, that +rebellion against social laws, which destroy morality. But instead of +this he had found loving serenity, and such strong discipline that life +there partook of the gravity, almost the austerity, of convent life, +tempered by youth and gaiety. The vast room was redolent of industry and +quietude, warm with bright sunshine. However, what most particularly +struck him was the Spartan training, the bravery of mind and heart among +those sons who allowed nothing to be seen of their personal feelings, and +did not presume to judge their father, but remained content with his +message, ready to await events, stoical and silent, while carrying on +their daily tasks. Nothing could be more simple, more dignified, more +lofty. And there was also the smiling heroism of Mere-Grand and Marie, +those two women who slept over that laboratory where terrible +preparations were manipulated, and where an explosion was always +possible. + +However, such courage, orderliness and dignity merely surprised Pierre, +without touching him. He had no cause for complaint, he had received a +polite greeting if not an affectionate one; but then he was as yet only a +stranger there, a priest. In spite of everything, however, he remained +hostile, feeling that he was in a sphere where none of his own torments +could be shared or even divined. How did these folks manage to be so calm +and happy amidst their religious unbelief, their sole faith in science, +and in presence of that terrifying Paris which spread before them the +boundless sea, the growling abomination of its injustice and its want? As +this thought came to him he turned his head and gazed at the city through +the huge window, whence it stretched away, ever present, ever living its +giant life. And at that hour, under the oblique sun-rays of the winter +afternoon, all Paris was speckled with luminous dust, as if some +invisible sower, hidden amidst the glory of the planet, were fast +scattering seed which fell upon every side in a stream of gold. The whole +field was covered with it; for the endless chaos of house roofs and +edifices seemed to be land in tilth, furrowed by some gigantic plough. +And Pierre in his uneasiness, stirred, despite everything, by an +invincible need of hope, asked himself if this was not a good sowing, the +furrows of Paris strewn with light by the divine sun for the great future +harvest, that harvest of truth and justice of whose advent he had +despaired. + +At last he rose and took his leave, promising to return at once, if there +should be any bad news. It was Marie who showed him to the front door. +And there another of those childish blushes which worried her so much +suddenly rose to her face, just as she, in her turn, also wished to send +her loving message to the injured man. However, with her gay, candid eyes +fixed on those of the priest, she bravely spoke the words: "/Au revoir, +Monsieur l'Abbe/. Tell Guillaume that I love him and await him." + + + +III + +PENURY AND TOIL + +THREE days went by, and every morning Guillaume, confined to his bed and +consumed by fever and impatience, experienced fresh anxiety directly the +newspapers arrived. Pierre had tried to keep them from him, but Guillaume +then worried himself the more, and so the priest had to read him column +by column all the extraordinary articles that were published respecting +the crime. + +Never before had so many rumours inundated the press. Even the "Globe," +usually so grave and circumspect, yielded to the general /furore/, and +printed whatever statements reached it. But the more unscrupulous papers +were the ones to read. The "Voix du Peuple" in particular made use of the +public feverishness to increase its sales. Each morning it employed some +fresh device, and printed some frightful story of a nature to drive +people mad with terror. It related that not a day passed without Baron +Duvillard receiving threatening letters of the coarsest description, +announcing that his wife, his son and his daughter would all be killed, +that he himself would be butchered in turn, and that do what he might his +house would none the less be blown up. And as a measure of precaution the +house was guarded day and night alike by a perfect army of plain-clothes +officers. Then another article contained an amazing piece of invention. +Some anarchists, after carrying barrels of powder into a sewer near the +Madeleine, were said to have undermined the whole district, planning a +perfect volcano there, into which one half of Paris would sink. And at +another time it was alleged that the police were on the track of a +terrible plot which embraced all Europe, from the depths of Russia to the +shores of Spain. The signal for putting it into execution was to be given +in France, and there would be a three days' massacre, with grape shot +sweeping everyone off the Boulevards, and the Seine running red, swollen +by a torrent of blood. Thanks to these able and intelligent devices of +the Press, terror now reigned in the city; frightened foreigners fled +from the hotels /en masse/; and Paris had become a mere mad-house, where +the most idiotic delusions at once found credit. + +It was not all this, however, that worried Guillaume. He was only anxious +about Salvat and the various new "scents" which the newspaper reporters +attempted to follow up. The engineer was not yet arrested, and, so far +indeed, there had been no statement in print to indicate that the police +were on his track. At last, however, Pierre one morning read a paragraph +which made the injured man turn pale. + +"Dear me! It seems that a tool has been found among the rubbish at the +entrance of the Duvillard mansion. It is a bradawl, and its handle bears +the name of Grandidier, which is that of a man who keeps some well-known +metal works. He is to appear before the investigating magistrate to-day." + +Guillaume made a gesture of despair. "Ah!" said he, "they are on the +right track at last. That tool must certainly have been dropped by +Salvat. He worked at Grandidier's before he came to me for a few days. +And from Grandidier they will learn all that they need to know in order +to follow the scent." + +Pierre then remembered that he had heard the Grandidier factory mentioned +at Montmartre. Guillaume's eldest son, Thomas, had served his +apprenticeship there, and even worked there occasionally nowadays. + +"You told me," resumed Guillaume, "that during my absence Thomas intended +to go back to the factory. It's in connection with a new motor which he's +planning, and has almost hit upon. If there should be a perquisition +there, he may be questioned, and may refuse to answer, in order to guard +his secret. So he ought to be warned of this, warned at once!" + +Without trying to extract any more precise statement from his brother, +Pierre obligingly offered his services. "If you like," said he, "I will +go to see Thomas this afternoon. Perhaps I may come across Monsieur +Grandidier himself and learn how far the affair has gone, and what was +said at the investigating magistrate's." + +With a moist glance and an affectionate grasp of the hand, Guillaume at +once thanked Pierre: "Yes, yes, brother, go there, it will be good and +brave of you." + +"Besides," continued the priest, "I really wanted to go to Montmartre +to-day. I haven't told you so, but something has been worrying me. If +Salvat has fled, he must have left the woman and the child all alone up +yonder. On the morning of the day when the explosion took place I saw the +poor creatures in such a state of destitution, such misery, that I can't +think of them without a heart-pang. Women and children so often die of +hunger when the man is no longer there." + +At this, Guillaume, who had kept Pierre's hand in his own, pressed it +more tightly, and in a trembling voice exclaimed: "Yes, yes, and that +will be good and brave too. Go there, brother, go there." + +That house of the Rue des Saules, that horrible home of want and agony, +had lingered in Pierre's memory. To him it was like an embodiment of the +whole filthy /cloaca/, in which the poor of Paris suffer unto death. And +on returning thither that afternoon, he found the same slimy mud around +it; its yard littered with the same filth, its dark, damp stairways +redolent of the same stench of neglect and poverty, as before. In winter +time, while the fine central districts of Paris are dried and cleansed, +the far-away districts of the poor remain gloomy and miry, beneath the +everlasting tramp of the wretched ones who dwell in them. + +Remembering the staircase which conducted to Salvat's lodging, Pierre +began to climb it amidst a loud screaming of little children, who +suddenly became quiet, letting the house sink into death-like silence +once more. Then the thought of Laveuve, who had perished up there like a +stray dog, came back to Pierre. And he shuddered when, on the top +landing, he knocked at Salvat's door, and profound silence alone answered +him. Not a breath was to be heard. + +However, he knocked again, and as nothing stirred he began to think that +nobody could be there. Perhaps Salvat had returned to fetch the woman and +the child, and perhaps they had followed him to some humble nook abroad. +Still this would have astonished him; for the poor seldom quit their +homes, but die where they have suffered. So he gave another gentle knock. + +And at last a faint sound, the light tread of little feet, was heard +amidst the silence. Then a weak, childish voice ventured to inquire: "Who +is there?" + +"Monsieur l'Abbe." + +The silence fell again, nothing more stirred. There was evidently +hesitation on the other side. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe who came the other day," said Pierre again. + +This evidently put an end to all uncertainty, for the door was set ajar +and little Celine admitted the priest. "I beg your pardon, Monsieur +l'Abbe," said she, "but Mamma Theodore has gone out, and she told me not +to open the door to anyone." + +Pierre had, for a moment, imagined that Salvat himself was hiding there. +But with a glance he took in the whole of the small bare room, where man, +woman and child dwelt together. At the same time, Madame Theodore +doubtless feared a visit from the police. Had she seen Salvat since the +crime? Did she know where he was hiding? Had he come back there to +embrace and tranquillise them both? + +"And your papa, my dear," said Pierre to Celine, "isn't he here either?" + +"Oh! no, monsieur, he has gone away." + +"What, gone away?" + +"Yes, he hasn't been home to sleep, and we don't know where he is." + +"Perhaps he's working." + +"Oh, no! he'd send us some money if he was." + +"Then he's gone on a journey, perhaps?" + +"I don't know." + +"He wrote to Mamma Theodore, no doubt?" + +"I don't know." + +Pierre asked no further questions. In fact, he felt somewhat ashamed of +his attempt to extract information from this child of eleven, whom he +thus found alone. It was quite possible that she knew nothing, that +Salvat, in a spirit of prudence, had even refrained from sending any +tidings of himself. Indeed, there was an expression of truthfulness on +the child's fair, gentle and intelligent face, which was grave with the +gravity that extreme misery imparts to the young. + +"I am sorry that Mamma Theodore isn't here," said Pierre, "I wanted to +speak to her." + +"But perhaps you would like to wait for her, Monsieur l'Abbe. She has +gone to my Uncle Toussaint's in the Rue Marcadet; and she can't stop much +longer, for she's been away more than an hour." + +Thereupon Celine cleared one of the chairs on which lay a handful of +scraps of wood, picked up on some waste ground. + +The bare and fireless room was assuredly also a breadless one. Pierre +could divine the absence of the bread-winner, the disappearance of the +man who represents will and strength in the home, and on whom one still +relies even when weeks have gone by without work. He goes out and scours +the city, and often ends by bringing back the indispensable crust which +keeps death at bay. But with his disappearance comes complete +abandonment, the wife and child in danger, destitute of all prop and +help. + +Pierre, who had sat down and was looking at that poor, little, blue-eyed +girl, to whose lips a smile returned in spite of everything, could not +keep from questioning her on another point. "So you don't go to school, +my child?" said he. + +She faintly blushed and answered: "I've no shoes to go in." + +He glanced at her feet, and saw that she was wearing a pair of ragged old +list-slippers, from which her little toes protruded, red with cold. + +"Besides," she continued, "Mamma Theodore says that one doesn't go to +school when one's got nothing to eat. Mamma Theodore wanted to work but +she couldn't, because her eyes got burning hot and full of water. And so +we don't know what to do, for we've had nothing left since yesterday, and +if Uncle Toussaint can't lend us twenty sous it'll be all over." + +She was still smiling in her unconscious way, but two big tears had +gathered in her eyes. And the sight of the child shut up in that bare +room, apart from all the happy ones of earth, so upset the priest that he +again felt his anger with want and misery awakening. Then, another ten +minutes having elapsed, he became impatient, for he had to go to the +Grandidier works before returning home. + +"I don't know why Mamma Theodore doesn't come back," repeated Celine. +"Perhaps she's chatting." Then, an idea occurring to her she continued: +"I'll take you to my Uncle Toussaint's, Monsieur l'Abbe, if you like. +It's close by, just round the corner." + +"But you have no shoes, my child." + +"Oh! that don't matter, I walk all the same." + +Thereupon he rose from the chair and said simply: "Well, yes, that will +be better, take me there. And I'll buy you some shoes." + +Celine turned quite pink, and then made haste to follow him after +carefully locking the door of the room like a good little housewife, +though, truth to tell, there was nothing worth stealing in the place. + +In the meantime it had occurred to Madame Theodore that before calling on +her brother Toussaint to try to borrow a franc from him, she might first +essay her luck with her younger sister, Hortense, who had married little +Chretiennot, the clerk, and occupied a flat of four rooms on the +Boulevard de Rochechouart. This was quite an affair, however, and the +poor woman only made the venture because Celine had been fasting since +the previous day. + +Eugene Toussaint, the mechanician, a man of fifty, was her stepbrother, +by the first marriage contracted by her father. A young dressmaker whom +the latter had subsequently wedded, had borne him three daughters, +Pauline, Leonie and Hortense. And on his death, his son Eugene, who +already had a wife and child of his own, had found himself for a short +time with his stepmother and sisters on his hands. The stepmother, +fortunately, was an active and intelligent woman, and knew how to get out +of difficulties. She returned to her former workroom where her daughter +Pauline was already apprenticed, and she next placed Leonie there; so +that Hortense, the youngest girl, who was a spoilt child, prettier and +more delicate than her sisters, was alone left at school. And, later +on,--after Pauline had married Labitte the stonemason, and Leonie, Salvat +the journeyman-engineer,--Hortense, while serving as assistant at a +confectioner's in the Rue des Martyrs, there became acquainted with +Chretiennot, a clerk, who married her. Leonie had died young, only a few +weeks after her mother; Pauline, forsaken by her husband, lived with her +brother-in-law Salvat, and Hortense alone wore a light silk gown on +Sundays, resided in a new house, and ranked as a /bourgeoise/, at the +price, however, of interminable worries and great privation. + +Madame Theodore knew that her sister was generally short of money towards +the month's end, and therefore felt rather ill at ease in thus venturing +to apply for a loan. Chretiennot, moreover, embittered by his own +mediocrity, had of late years accused his wife of being the cause of +their spoilt life, and had ceased all intercourse with her relatives. +Toussaint, no doubt, was a decent workman; but that Madame Theodore who +lived in misery with her brother-in-law, and that Salvat who wandered +from workshop to workshop like an incorrigible ranter whom no employer +would keep; those two, with their want and dirt and rebellion, had ended +by incensing the vain little clerk, who was not only a great stickler for +the proprieties, but was soured by all the difficulties he encountered in +his own life. And thus he had forbidden Hortense to receive her sister. + +All the same, as Madame Theodore climbed the carpeted staircase of the +house on the Boulevard Rochechouart, she experienced a certain feeling of +pride at the thought that she had a relation living in such luxury. The +Chretiennot's rooms were on the third floor, and overlooked the +courtyard. Their /femme-de-menage/--a woman who goes out by the day or +hour charring, cleaning and cooking--came back every afternoon about four +o'clock to see to the dinner, and that day she was already there. She +admitted the visitor, though she could not conceal her anxious surprise +at her boldness in calling in such slatternly garb. However, on the very +threshold of the little salon, Madame Theodore stopped short in +wonderment herself, for her sister Hortense was sobbing and crouching on +one of the armchairs, upholstered in blue repp, of which she was so +proud. + +"What is the matter? What has happened to you?" asked Madame Theodore. + +Her sister, though scarcely two and thirty, was no longer "the beautiful +Hortense" of former days. She retained a doll-like appearance, with a +tall slim figure, pretty eyes and fine, fair hair. But she who had once +taken so much care of herself, had now come down to dressing-gowns of +doubtful cleanliness. Her eyelids, too, were reddening, and blotches were +appearing on her skin. She had begun to fade after giving birth to two +daughters, one of whom was now nine and the other seven years of age. +Very proud and egotistical, she herself had begun to regret her marriage, +for she had formerly considered herself a real beauty, worthy of the +palaces and equipages of some Prince Charming. And at this moment she was +plunged in such despair, that her sister's sudden appearance on the scene +did not even astonish her: "Ah! it's you," she gasped. "Ah! if you only +knew what a blow's fallen on me in the middle of all our worries!" + +Madame Theodore at once thought of the children, Lucienne and Marcelle. +"Are your daughters ill?" she asked. + +"No, no, our neighbour has taken them for a walk on the Boulevard. But +the fact is, my dear, I'm /enceinte/, and when I told Chretiennot of it +after /dejeuner/, he flew into a most fearful passion, saying the most +dreadful, the most cruel things!" + +Then she again sobbed. Gentle and indolent by nature, desirous of peace +and quietness before anything else, she was incapable of deceiving her +husband, as he well knew. But the trouble was that an addition to the +family would upset the whole economy of the household. + +"/Mon Dieu/!" said Madame Theodore at last, "you brought up the others, +and you'll bring up this one too." + +At this an explosion of anger dried the other's eyes; and she rose, +exclaiming: "You are good, you are! One can see that our purse isn't +yours. How are we to bring up another child when we can scarcely make +both ends meet as it is?" + +And thereupon, forgetting the /bourgeois/ pride which usually prompted +her to silence or falsehood, she freely explained their embarrassment, +the horrid pecuniary worries which made their life a perpetual misery. +Their rent amounted to 700 francs,* so that out of the 3000 francs** +which the husband earned at his office, barely a couple of hundred were +left them every month. And how were they to manage with that little sum, +provide food and clothes, keep up their rank and so forth? There was the +indispensable black coat for monsieur, the new dress which madame must +have at regular intervals, under penalty of losing caste, the new boots +which the children required almost every month, in fact, all sorts of +things that could not possibly be dispensed with. One might strike a dish +or two out of the daily menu, and even go without wine; but evenings came +when it was absolutely necessary to take a cab. And, apart from all this, +one had to reckon with the wastefulness of the children, the disorder in +which the discouraged wife left the house, and the despair of the +husband, who was convinced that he would never extricate himself from his +difficulties, even should his salary some day be raised to as high a +figure as 4000 francs. Briefly, one here found the unbearable penury of +the petty clerk, with consequences as disastrous as the black want of the +artisan: the mock facade and lying luxury; all the disorder and suffering +which lie behind intellectual pride at not earning one's living at a +bench or on a scaffolding. + + * $140. + + ** $600. + +"Well, well," repeated Madame Theodore, "you can't kill the child." + +"No, of course not; but it's the end of everything," answered Hortense, +sinking into the armchair again. "What will become of us, /mon Dieu/! +What will become of us!" Then she collapsed in her unbuttoned dressing +gown, tears once more gushing from her red and swollen eyes. + +Much vexed that circumstances should be so unpropitious, Madame Theodore +nevertheless ventured to ask for the loan of twenty sons; and this +brought her sister's despair and confusion to a climax. "I really haven't +a centime in the house," said she, "just now I borrowed ten sous for the +children from the servant. I had to get ten francs from the Mont de Piete +on a little ring the other day. And it's always the same at the end of +the month. However, Chretiennot will be paid to-day, and he's coming back +early with the money for dinner. So if I can I will send you something +to-morrow." + +At this same moment the servant hastened in with a distracted air, being +well aware that monsieur was in no wise partial to madame's relatives. +"Oh madame, madame!" said she; "here's monsieur coming up the stairs." + +"Quick then, quick, go away!" cried Hortense, "I should only have another +scene if he met you here. To-morrow, if I can, I promise you." + +To avoid Chretiennot who was coming in, Madame Theodore had to hide +herself in the kitchen. As he passed, she just caught sight of him, well +dressed as usual in a tight-fitting frock-coat. Short and lean, with a +thin face and long and carefully tended beard, he had the bearing of one +who is both vain and quarrelsome. Fourteen years of office life had +withered him, and now the long evening hours which he spent at a +neighbouring cafe were finishing him off. + +When Madame Theodore had quitted the house she turned with dragging steps +towards the Rue Marcadet where the Toussaints resided. Here, again, she +had no great expectations, for she well knew what ill-luck and worry had +fallen upon her brother's home. During the previous autumn Toussaint, +though he was but fifty, had experienced an attack of paralysis which had +laid him up for nearly five months. Prior to this mishap he had borne +himself bravely, working steadily, abstaining from drink, and bringing up +his three children in true fatherly fashion. One of them, a girl, was now +married to a carpenter, with whom she had gone to Le Havre, while of the +others, both boys--one a soldier, had been killed in Tonquin, and the +other Charles, after serving his time in the army, had become a working +mechanician. Still, Toussaint's long illness had exhausted the little +money which he had in the Savings Bank, and now that he had been set on +his legs again, he had to begin life once more without a copper before +him. + +Madame Theodore found her sister-in-law alone in the cleanly kept room +which she and her husband occupied. Madame Toussaint was a portly woman, +whose corpulence increased in spite of everything, whether it were worry +or fasting. She had a round puffy face with bright little eyes; and was a +very worthy woman, whose only faults were an inclination for gossiping +and a fondness for good cheer. Before Madame Theodore even opened her +mouth she understood the object of her visit. "You've come on us at a bad +moment, my dear," she said, "we're stumped. Toussaint wasn't able to go +back to the works till the day before yesterday, and he'll have to ask +for an advance this evening." + +As she spoke, she looked at the other with no great sympathy, hurt as she +felt by her slovenly appearance. "And Salvat," she added, "is he still +doing nothing?" + +Madame Theodore doubtless foresaw the question, for she quietly lied: "He +isn't in Paris, a friend has taken him off for some work over Belgium +way, and I'm waiting for him to send us something." + +Madame Toussaint still remained distrustful, however: "Ah!" she said, +"it's just as well that he shouldn't be in Paris; for with all these bomb +affairs we couldn't help thinking of him, and saying that he was quite +mad enough to mix himself up in them." + +The other did not even blink. If she knew anything she kept it to +herself. + +"But you, my dear, can't you find any work?" continued Madame Toussaint. + +"Well, what would you have me do with my poor eyes? It's no longer +possible for me to sew." + +"That's true. A seamstress gets done for. When Toussaint was laid up here +I myself wanted to go back to my old calling as a needlewoman. But there! +I spoilt everything and did no good. Charring's about the only thing that +one can always do. Why don't you get some jobs of that kind?" + +"I'm trying, but I can't find any." + +Little by little Madame Toussaint was softening at sight of the other's +miserable appearance. She made her sit down, and told her that she would +give her something if Toussaint should come home with money. Then, +yielding to her partiality for gossiping, since there was somebody to +listen to her, she started telling stories. The one affair, however, on +which she invariably harped was the sorry business of her son Charles and +the servant girl at a wine shop over the way. Before going into the army +Charles had been a most hard-working and affectionate son, invariably +bringing his pay home to his mother. And certainly he still worked and +showed himself good-natured; but military service, while sharpening his +wits, had taken away some of his liking for ordinary manual toil. It +wasn't that he regretted army life, for he spoke of his barracks as a +prison. Only his tools had seemed to him rather heavy when, on quitting +the service, he had been obliged to take them in hand once more. + +"And so, my dear," continued Madame Toussaint, "it's all very well for +Charles to be kind-hearted, he can do no more for us. I knew that he +wasn't in a hurry to get married, as it costs money to keep a wife. And +he was always very prudent, too, with girls. But what would you have? +There was that moment of folly with that Eugenie over the road, a regular +baggage who's already gone off with another man, and left her baby +behind. Charles has put it out to nurse, and pays for it every month. And +a lot of expense it is too, perfect ruination. Yes, indeed, every +possible misfortune has fallen on us." + +In this wise Madame Toussaint rattled on for a full half hour. Then +seeing that waiting and anxiety had made her sister-in-law turn quite +pale, she suddenly stopped short. "You're losing patience, eh?" she +exclaimed. "The fact is, that Toussaint won't be back for some time. +Shall we go to the works together? I'll easily find out if he's likely to +bring any money home." + +They then decided to go down, but at the bottom of the stairs they +lingered for another quarter of an hour chatting with a neighbour who had +lately lost a child. And just as they were at last leaving the house they +heard a call: "Mamma! mamma!" + +It came from little Celine, whose face was beaming with delight. She was +wearing a pair of new shoes and devouring a cake. "Mamma," she resumed, +"Monsieur l'Abbe who came the other day wants to see you. Just look! he +bought me all this!" + +On seeing the shoes and the cake, Madame Theodore understood matters. And +when Pierre, who was behind the child, accosted her she began to tremble +and stammer thanks. Madame Toussaint on her side had quickly drawn near, +not indeed to ask for anything herself, but because she was well pleased +at such a God-send for her sister-in-law, whose circumstances were worse +than her own. And when she saw the priest slip ten francs into Madame +Theodore's hand she explained to him that she herself would willingly +have lent something had she been able. Then she promptly started on the +stories of Toussaint's attack and her son Charles's ill-luck. + +But Celine broke in: "I say, mamma, the factory where papa used to work +is here in this street, isn't it? Monsieur l'Abbe has some business +there."* + + * Although the children of the French peasantry almost + invariably address their parents as "father" and "mother," + those of the working classes of Paris, and some other large + cities, usually employ the terms "papa" and "mamma."--Trans. + +"The Grandidier factory," resumed Madame Toussaint; "well, we were just +going there, and we can show Monsieur l'Abbe the way." + +It was only a hundred steps off. Escorted by the two women and the child, +Pierre slackened his steps and tried to extract some information about +Salvat from Madame Theodore. But she at once became very prudent. She had +not seen him again, she declared; he must have gone with a mate to +Belgium, where there was a prospect of some work. From what she said, it +appeared to the priest that Salvat had not dared to return to the Rue des +Saules since his crime, in which all had collapsed, both his past life of +toil and hope, and his recent existence with its duties towards the woman +and the child. + +"There's the factory, Monsieur l'Abbe," suddenly said Madame Toussaint, +"my sister-in-law won't have to wait now, since you've been kind enough +to help her. Thank you for her and for us." + +Madame Theodore and Celine likewise poured forth their thanks, standing +beside Madame Toussaint in the everlasting mud of that populous district, +amidst the jostling of the passers-by. And lingering there as if to see +Pierre enter, they again chatted together and repeated that, after all, +some priests were very kind. + +The Grandidier works covered an extensive plot of ground. Facing the +street there was only a brick building with narrow windows and a great +archway, through which one espied a long courtyard. But, in the rear, +came a suite of habitations, workshops, and sheds, above whose never +ending roofs arose the two lofty chimneys of the generators. From the +very threshold one detected the rumbling and quivering of machinery, all +the noise and bustle of work. Black water flowed by at one's feet, and up +above white vapour spurted from a slender pipe with a regular strident +puff, as if it were the very breath of that huge, toiling hive. + +Bicycles were now the principal output of the works. When Grandidier had +taken them on leaving the Dijon Arts and Trades School, they were +declining under bad management, slowly building some little motive +engines by the aid of antiquated machinery. Foreseeing the future, +however, he had induced his elder brother, one of the managers of the Bon +Marche, to finance him, on the promise that he would supply that great +emporium with excellent bicycles at 150 francs apiece. And now quite a +big venture was in progress, for the Bon Marche was already bringing out +the new popular machine "La Lisette," the "Bicycle for the Multitude," as +the advertisements asserted. Nevertheless, Grandidier was still in all +the throes of a great struggle, for his new machinery had cast a heavy +burden of debt on him. At the same time each month brought its effort, +the perfecting or simplifying of some part of the manufacture, which +meant a saving in the future. He was ever on the watch; and even now was +thinking of reverting to the construction of little motors, for he +thought he could divine in the near future the triumph of the motor-car. + +On asking if M. Thomas Froment were there, Pierre was led by an old +workman to a little shed, where he found the young fellow in the linen +jacket of a mechanician, his hands black with filings. He was adjusting +some piece of mechanism, and nobody would have suspected him to be a +former pupil of the Lycee Condorcet, one of the three clever Froments who +had there rendered the name famous. But his only desire had been to act +as his father's faithful servant, the arm that forges, the embodiment of +the manual toil by which conceptions are realised. And, a giant of three +and twenty, ever attentive and courageous, he was likewise a man of +patient, silent and sober nature. + +On catching sight of Pierre he quivered with anxiety and sprang forward. +"Father is no worse?" he asked. + +"No, no. But he read in the papers that story of a bradawl found in the +Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, and it made him anxious, because the police may make +a perquisition here." + +Thomas, his own anxiety allayed, began to smile. "Tell him he may sleep +quietly," he responded. "To begin with, I've unfortunately not yet hit on +our little motor such as I want it to be. In fact, I haven't yet put it +together. I'm keeping the pieces at our house, and nobody here knows +exactly what I come to do at the factory. So the police may search, it +will find nothing. Our secret runs no risk." + +Pierre promised to repeat these words to Guillaume, so as to dissipate +his fears. However, when he tried to sound Thomas, and ascertain the +position of affairs, what the factory people thought of the discovery of +the bradawl, and whether there was as yet any suspicion of Salvat, he +once more found the young man taciturn, and elicited merely a "yes" or a +"no" in answer to his inquiries. The police had not been there as yet? +No. But the men must surely have mentioned Salvat? Yes, of course, on +account of his Anarchist opinions. But what had Grandidier, the master, +said, on returning from the investigating magistrate's? As for that +Thomas knew nothing. He had not seen Grandidier that day. + +"But here he comes!" the young man added. "Ah! poor fellow, his wife, I +fancy, had another attack this morning." + +He alluded to a frightful story which Guillaume had already recounted to +Pierre. Grandidier, falling in love with a very beautiful girl, had +married her; but for five years now she had been insane: the result of +puerperal fever and the death of an infant son. Her husband, with his +ardent affection for her, had been unwilling to place her in an asylum, +and had accordingly kept her with him in a little pavilion, whose +windows, overlooking the courtyard of the factory, always remained +closed. She was never seen; and never did he speak of her to anybody. It +was said that she was usually like a child, very gentle and very sad, and +still beautiful, with regal golden hair. At times, however, attacks of +frantic madness came upon her, and he then had to struggle with her, and +often hold her for hours in his arms to prevent her from splitting her +head against the walls. Fearful shrieks would ring out for a time, and +then deathlike silence would fall once more. + +Grandidier came into the shed where Thomas was working. A handsome man of +forty, with an energetic face, he had a dark and heavy moustache, +brush-like hair and clear eyes. He was very partial to Thomas, and during +the young fellow's apprenticeship there, had treated him like a son. And +he now let him return thither whenever it pleased him, and placed his +appliances at his disposal. He knew that he was trying to devise a new +motor, a question in which he himself was extremely interested; still he +evinced the greatest discretion, never questioning Thomas, but awaiting +the result of his endeavours. + +"This is my uncle, Abbe Froment, who looked in to wish me good day," said +the young man, introducing Pierre. + +An exchange of polite remarks ensued. Then Grandidier sought to cast off +the sadness which made people think him stern and harsh, and in a +bantering tone exclaimed: "I didn't tell you, Thomas, of my business with +the investigating magistrate. If I hadn't enjoyed a good reputation we +should have had all the spies of the Prefecture here. The magistrate +wanted me to explain the presence of that bradawl in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy, and I at once realised that, in his opinion, the culprit +must have worked here. For my part I immediately thought of Salvat. But I +don't denounce people. The magistrate has my hiring-book, and as for +Salvat I simply answered that he worked here for nearly three months last +autumn, and then disappeared. They can look for him themselves! Ah! that +magistrate! you can picture him a little fellow with fair hair and +cat-like eyes, very careful of his appearance, a society man evidently, +but quite frisky at being mixed up in this affair." + +"Isn't he Monsieur Amadieu?" asked Pierre. + +"Yes, that's his name. Ah! he's certainly delighted with the present +which those Anarchists have made him, with that crime of theirs." + +The priest listened in deep anxiety. As his brother had feared, the true +scent, the first conducting wire, had now been found. And he looked at +Thomas to see if he also were disturbed. But the young man was either +ignorant of the ties which linked Salvat to his father, or else he +possessed great power of self-control, for he merely smiled at +Grandidier's sketch of the magistrate. + +Then, as Grandidier went to look at the piece of mechanism which Thomas +was finishing, and they began to speak about it, Pierre drew near to an +open doorway which communicated with a long workshop where engine lathes +were rumbling, and the beams of press-drills falling quickly and +rhythmically. Leather gearing spun along with a continuous gliding, and +there was ceaseless bustle and activity amidst the odoriferous dampness +of all the steam. Scores of perspiring workmen, grimy with dust and +filings, were still toiling. Still this was the final effort of the day. +And as three men approached a water-tap near Pierre to wash their hands, +he listened to their talk, and became particularly interested in it when +he heard one of them, a tall, ginger-haired fellow, call another +Toussaint, and the third Charles. + +Toussaint, a big, square-shouldered man with knotty arms, only showed his +fifty years on his round, scorched face, which besides being roughened +and wrinkled by labour, bristled with grey hairs, which nowadays he was +content to shave off once a week. It was only his right arm that was +affected by paralysis, and moved rather sluggishly. As for Charles, a +living portrait of his father, he was now in all the strength of his six +and twentieth year, with splendid muscles distending his white skin, and +a full face barred by a heavy black moustache. The three men, like their +employer, were speaking of the explosion at the Duvillard mansion, of the +bradawl found there, and of Salvat, whom they all now suspected. + +"Why, only a brigand would do such a thing!" said Toussaint. "That +Anarchism disgusts me. I'll have none of it. But all the same it's for +the /bourgeois/ to settle matters. If the others want to blow them up, +it's their concern. It's they who brought it about." + +This indifference was undoubtedly the outcome of a life of want and +social injustice; it was the indifference of an old toiler, who, weary of +struggling and hoping for improvements, was now quite ready to tolerate +the crumbling of a social system, which threatened him with hunger in his +impotent old age. + +"Well, you know," rejoined Charles, "I've heard the Anarchists talking, +and they really say some very true and sensible things. And just take +yourself, father; you've been working for thirty years, and isn't it +abominable that you should have had to pass through all that you did pass +through recently, liable to go off like some old horse that's slaughtered +at the first sign of illness? And, of course, it makes me think of +myself, and I can't help feeling that it won't be at all amusing to end +like that. And may the thunder of God kill me if I'm wrong, but one feels +half inclined to join in their great flare-up if it's really to make +everybody happy!" + +He certainly lacked the flame of enthusiasm, and if he had come to these +views it was solely from impatience to lead a less toilsome life, for +obligatory military service had given him ideas of equality among all +men--a desire to struggle, raise himself and obtain his legitimate share +of life's enjoyments. It was, in fact, the inevitable step which carries +each generation a little more forward. There was the father, who, +deceived in his hope of a fraternal republic, had grown sceptical and +contemptuous; and there was the son advancing towards a new faith, and +gradually yielding to ideas of violence, since political liberty had +failed to keep its promises. + +Nevertheless, as the big, ginger-haired fellow grew angry, and shouted +that if Salvat were guilty, he ought to be caught and guillotined at +once, without waiting for judges, Toussaint ended by endorsing his +opinion. "Yes, yes, he may have married one of my sisters, but I renounce +him. . . . And yet, you know, it would astonish me to find him guilty, +for he isn't wicked at heart. I'm sure he wouldn't kill a fly." + +"But what would you have?" put in Charles. "When a man's driven to +extremities he goes mad." + +They had now washed themselves; but Toussaint, on perceiving his +employer, lingered there in order to ask him for an advance. As it +happened, Grandidier, after cordially shaking hands with Pierre, +approached the old workman of his own accord, for he held him in esteem. +And, after listening to him, he gave him a line for the cashier on a +card. As a rule, he was altogether against the practice of advancing +money, and his men disliked him, and said he was over rigid, though in +point of fact he had a good heart. But he had his position as an employer +to defend, and to him concessions meant ruin. With such keen competition +on all sides, with the capitalist system entailing a terrible and +incessant struggle, how could one grant the demands of the workers, even +when they were legitimate? + +Sudden compassion came upon Pierre when, after quitting Thomas, he saw +Grandidier, who had finished his round, crossing the courtyard in the +direction of the closed pavilion, where all the grief of his +heart-tragedy awaited him. Here was that man waging the battle of life, +defending his fortune with the risk that his business might melt away +amidst the furious warfare between capital and labour; and at the same +time, in lieu of evening repose, finding naught but anguish it his +hearth: a mad wife, an adored wife, who had sunk back into infancy, and +was for ever dead to love! How incurable was his secret despair! Even on +the days when he triumphed in his workshops, disaster awaited him at +home. And could any more unhappy man, any man more deserving of pity, be +found even among the poor who died of hunger, among those gloomy workers, +those vanquished sons of labour who hated and who envied him? + +When Pierre found himself in the street again he was astonished to see +Madame Toussaint and Madame Theodore still there with little Celine. With +their feet in the mud, like bits of wreckage against which beat the +ceaseless flow of wayfarers, they had lingered there, still and ever +chatting, loquacious and doleful, lulling their wretchedness to rest +beneath a deluge of tittle-tattle. And when Toussaint, followed by his +son, came out, delighted with the advance he had secured, he also found +them on the same spot. Then he told Madame Theodore the story of the +bradawl, and the idea which had occurred to him and all his mates that +Salvat might well be the culprit. She, however, though turning very pale, +began to protest, concealing both what she knew and what she really +thought. + +"I tell you I haven't seen him for several days," said she. "He must +certainly be in Belgium. And as for a bomb, that's humbug. You say +yourself that he's very gentle and wouldn't harm a fly!" + +A little later as Pierre journeyed back to Neuilly in a tramcar he fell +into a deep reverie. All the stir and bustle of that working-class +district, the buzzing of the factory, the overflowing activity of that +hive of labour, seemed to have lingered within him. And for the first +time, amidst his worries, he realised the necessity of work. Yes, it was +fatal, but it also gave health and strength. In effort which sustains and +saves, he at last found a solid basis on which all might be reared. Was +this, then, the first gleam of a new faith? But ah! what mockery! Work an +uncertainty, work hopeless, work always ending in injustice! And then +want ever on the watch for the toiler, strangling him as soon as slack +times came round, and casting him into the streets like a dead dog +immediately old age set in. + +On reaching Neuilly, Pierre found Bertheroy at Guillaume's bedside. The +old /savant/ had just dressed the injured wrist, and was not yet certain +that no complications would arise. "The fact is," he said to Guillaume, +"you don't keep quiet. I always find you in a state of feverish emotion +which is the worst possible thing for you. You must calm yourself, my +dear fellow, and not allow anything to worry you." + +A few minutes later, though, just as he was going away, he said with his +pleasant smile: "Do you know that a newspaper writer came to interview me +about that explosion? Those reporters imagine that scientific men know +everything! I told the one who called on me that it would be very kind of +/him/ to enlighten /me/ as to what powder was employed. And, by the way, +I am giving a lesson on explosives at my laboratory to-morrow. There will +be just a few persons present. You might come as well, Pierre, so as to +give an account of it to Guillaume; it would interest him." + +At a glance from his brother, Pierre accepted the invitation. Then, +Bertheroy having gone, he recounted all he had learnt during the +afternoon, how Salvat was suspected, and how the investigating magistrate +had been put on the right scent. And at this news, intense fever again +came over Guillaume, who, with his head buried in the pillow, and his +eyes closed, stammered as if in a kind of nightmare: "Ah! then, this is +the end! Salvat arrested, Salvat interrogated! Ah! that so much toil and +so much hope should crumble!" + + + +IV + +CULTURE AND HOPE + +ON the morrow, punctually at one o'clock, Pierre reached the Rue d'Ulm, +where Bertheroy resided in a fairly large house, which the State had +placed at his disposal, in order that he might install in it a laboratory +for study and research. Thus the whole first floor had been transformed +into one spacious apartment, where, from time to time, the illustrious +chemist was fond of receiving a limited number of pupils and admirers, +before whom he made experiments, and explained his new discoveries and +theories. + +For these occasions a few chairs were set out before the long and massive +table, which was covered with jars and appliances. In the rear one saw +the furnace, while all around were glass cases, full of vials and +specimens. The persons present were, for the most part, fellow /savants/, +with a few young men, and even a lady or two, and, of course, an +occasional journalist. The whole made up a kind of family gathering, the +visitors chatting with the master in all freedom. + +Directly Bertheroy perceived Pierre he came forward, pressed his hand and +seated him on a chair beside Guillaume's son Francois, who had been one +of the first arrivals. The young man was completing his third year at the +Ecole Normale, close by, so he only had a few steps to take to call upon +his master Bertheroy, whom he regarded as one of the firmest minds of the +age. Pierre was delighted to meet his nephew, for he had been greatly +impressed in his favour on the occasion of his visit to Montmartre. +Francois, on his side, greeted his uncle with all the cordial +expansiveness of youth. He was, moreover, well pleased to obtain some +news of his father. + +However, Bertheroy began. He spoke in a familiar and sober fashion, but +frequently employed some very happy expressions. At first he gave an +account of his own extensive labours and investigations with regard to +explosive substances, and related with a laugh that he sometimes +manipulated powders which would have blown up the entire district. But, +said he, in order to reassure his listeners, he was always extremely +prudent. At last he turned to the subject of that explosion in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy, which, for some days, had filled Paris with dismay. The +remnants of the bomb had been carefully examined by experts, and one +fragment had been brought to him, in order that he might give his opinion +on it. The bomb appeared to have been prepared in a very rudimentary +fashion; it had been charged with small pieces of iron, and fired by +means of a match, such as a child might have devised. The extraordinary +part of the affair was the formidable power of the central cartridge, +which, although it must have been a small one, had wrought as much havoc +as any thunderbolt. And the question was this: What incalculable power of +destruction might one not arrive at if the charge were increased ten, +twenty or a hundredfold. Embarrassment began, and divergencies of opinion +clouded the issue directly one tried to specify what explosive had been +employed. Of the three experts who had been consulted, one pronounced +himself in favour of dynamite pure and simple; but the two others, +although they did not agree together, believed in some combination of +explosive matters. He, Bertheroy, had modestly declined to adjudicate, +for the fragment submitted to him bore traces of so slight a character, +that analysis became impossible. Thus he was unwilling to make any +positive pronouncement. But his opinion was that one found oneself in +presence of some unknown powder, some new explosive, whose power exceeded +anything that had hitherto been dreamt of. He could picture some unknown +/savant/, or some ignorant but lucky inventor, discovering the formula of +this explosive under mysterious conditions. And this brought him to the +point he wished to reach, the question of all the explosives which are so +far unknown, and of the coming discoveries which he could foresee. In the +course of his investigations he himself had found cause to suspect the +existence of several such explosives, though he had lacked time and +opportunity to prosecute his studies in that direction. However, he +indicated the field which should be explored, and the best way of +proceeding. In his opinion it was there that lay the future. And in a +broad and eloquent peroration, he declared that explosives had hitherto +been degraded by being employed in idiotic schemes of vengeance and +destruction; whereas it was in them possibly that lay the liberating +force which science was seeking, the lever which would change the face of +the world, when they should have been so domesticated and subdued as to +be only the obedient servants of man. + +Throughout this familiar discourse Pierre could feel that Francois was +growing impassioned, quivering at thought of the vast horizon which the +master opened up. He himself had become extremely interested, for he +could not do otherwise than notice certain allusions, and connect what he +heard with what he had guessed of Guillaume's anxiety regarding that +secret which he feared to see at the mercy of an investigating +magistrate. And so as he, Pierre, before going off with Francois, +approached Bertheroy to wish him good day, he pointedly remarked: +"Guillaume will be very sorry that he was unable to hear you unfold those +admirable ideas." + +The old /savant/ smiled. "Pooh!" said he; "just give him a summary of +what I said. He will understand. He knows more about the matter than I +do." + +In presence of the illustrious chemist, Francois preserved the silent +gravity of a respectful pupil, but when he and Pierre had taken a few +steps down the street in silence, he remarked: "What a pity it is that a +man of such broad intelligence, free from all superstition, and anxious +for the sole triumph of truth, should have allowed himself to be +classified, ticketed, bound round with titles and academical functions! +How greatly our affection for him would increase if he took less State +pay, and freed himself from all the grand cordons which tie his hands." + +"What would you have!" rejoined Pierre, in a conciliatory spirit. "A man +must live! At the same time I believe that he does not regard himself as +tied by anything." + +Then, as they had reached the entrance of the Ecole Normale, the priest +stopped, thinking that his companion was going back to the college. But +Francois, raising his eyes and glancing at the old place, remarked: "No, +no, to-day's Thursday, and I'm at liberty! Oh! we have a deal of liberty, +perhaps too much. But for my own part I'm well pleased at it, for it +often enables me to go to Montmartre and work at my old little table. +It's only there that I feel any real strength and clearness of mind." + +His preliminary examinations had entitled him to admission at either the +Ecole Polytechnique or the Ecole Normale,* and he had chosen the latter, +entering its scientific section with No. l against his name. His father +had wished him to make sure of an avocation, that of professor, even if +circumstances should allow him to remain independent and follow his own +bent on leaving the college. Francois, who was very precocious, was now +preparing for his last examination there, and the only rest he took was +in walking to and from Montmartre, or in strolling through the Luxembourg +gardens. + + * The purposes of the Ecole Normale have been referred to on + p. 197. At the Ecole Polytechnique young men receive much + of the preliminary training which they require to become + either artillery officers, or military, naval or civil + engineers.--Trans. + +From force of habit he now turned towards the latter, accompanied by +Pierre and chatting with him. One found the mildness of springtime there +that February afternoon; for pale sunshine streamed between the trees, +which were still leafless. It was indeed one of those first fine days +which draw little green gems from the branches of the lilac bushes. + +The Ecole Normale was still the subject of conversation and Pierre +remarked: "I must own that I hardly like the spirit that prevails there. +Excellent work is done, no doubt, and the only way to form professors is +to teach men the trade by cramming them with the necessary knowledge. But +the worst is that although all the students are trained for the teaching +profession, many of them don't remain in it, but go out into the world, +take to journalism, or make it their business to control the arts, +literature and society. And those who do this are for the most part +unbearable. After swearing by Voltaire they have gone back to +spirituality and mysticism, the last drawing-room craze. Now that a firm +faith in science is regarded as brutish and inelegant, they fancy that +they rid themselves of their caste by feigning amiable doubt, and +ignorance, and innocence. What they most fear is that they may carry a +scent of the schools about with them, so they put on extremely Parisian +airs, venture on somersaults and slang, and assume all the grace of +dancing bears in their eager desire to please. From that desire spring +the sarcastic shafts which they aim at science, they who pretend that +they know everything, but who go back to the belief of the humble, the +/naive/ idealism of Biblical legends, just because they think the latter +to be more distinguished." + +Francois began to laugh: "The portrait is perhaps a little overdrawn," +said he, "still there's truth in it, a great deal of truth." + +"I have known several of them," continued Pierre, who was growing +animated. "And among them all I have noticed that a fear of being duped +leads them to reaction against the entire effort, the whole work of the +century. Disgust with liberty, distrust of science, denial of the future, +that is what they now profess. And they have such a horror of the +commonplace that they would rather believe in nothing or the incredible. +It may of course be commonplace to say that two and two make four, yet +it's true enough; and it is far less foolish for a man to say and repeat +it than to believe, for instance, in the miracles of Lourdes." + +Francois glanced at the priest in astonishment. The other noticed it and +strove to restrain himself. Nevertheless, grief and anger carried him +away whenever he spoke of the educated young people of the time, such as, +in his despair, he imagined them to be. In the same way as he had pitied +the toilers dying of hunger in the districts of misery and want, so here +he overflowed with contempt for the young minds that lacked bravery in +the presence of knowledge, and harked back to the consolation of +deceptive spirituality, the promise of an eternity of happiness in death, +which last was longed for and exalted as the very sum of life. Was not +the cowardly thought of refusing to live for the sake of living so as to +discharge one's simple duty in being and making one's effort, equivalent +to absolute assassination of life? However, the /Ego/ was always the +mainspring; each one sought personal happiness. And Pierre was grieved to +think that those young people, instead of discarding the past and +marching on to the truths of the future, were relapsing into shadowy +metaphysics through sheer weariness and idleness, due in part perhaps to +the excessive exertion of the century, which had been overladen with +human toil. + +However, Francois had begun to smile again. "But you are mistaken," said +he; "we are not all like that at the Ecole Normale. You only seem to know +the Normalians of the Section of Letters, and your opinions would surely +change if you knew those of the Section of Sciences. It is quite true +that the reaction against Positivism is making itself felt among our +literary fellow-students, and that they, like others, are haunted by the +idea of that famous bankruptcy of science. This is perhaps due to their +masters, the neo-spiritualists and dogmatical rhetoricians into whose +hands they have fallen. And it is still more due to fashion, the whim of +the times which, as you have very well put it, regards scientific truth +as bad taste, something graceless and altogether too brutal for light and +distinguished minds. Consequently, a young fellow of any shrewdness who +desires to please is perforce won over to the new spirit." + +"The new spirit!" interrupted Pierre, unable to restrain himself. "Oh! +that is no mere innocent, passing fashion, it is a tactical device and a +terrible one, an offensive return of the powers of darkness against those +of light, of servitude against free thought, truth and justice." + +Then, as the young man again looked at him with growing astonishment, he +relapsed into silence. The figure of Monseigneur Martha had risen before +his eyes, and he fancied he could again hear the prelate at the +Madeleine, striving to win Paris over to the policy of Rome, to that +spurious neo-Catholicism which, with the object of destroying democracy +and science, accepted such portions of them as it could adapt to its own +views. This was indeed the supreme struggle. Thence came all the poison +poured forth to the young. Pierre knew what efforts were being made in +religious circles to help on this revival of mysticism, in the mad hope +of hastening the rout of science. Monseigneur Martha, who was +all-powerful at the Catholic University, said to his intimates, however, +that three generations of devout and docile pupils would be needed before +the Church would again be absolute sovereign of France. + +"Well, as for the Ecole Normale," continued Francois, "I assure you that +you are mistaken. There are a few narrow bigots there, no doubt. But even +in the Section of Letters the majority of the students are sceptics at +bottom--sceptics of discreet and good-natured average views. Of course +they are professors before everything else, though they are a trifle +ashamed of it; and, as professors, they judge things with no little +pedantic irony, devoured by a spirit of criticism, and quite incapable of +creating anything themselves. I should certainly be astonished to see the +man of genius whom we await come out of their ranks. To my thinking, +indeed, it would be preferable that some barbarian genius, neither well +read nor endowed with critical faculty, or power of weighing and shading +things, should come and open the next century with a hatchet stroke, +sending up a fine flare of truth and reality. . . . But, as for my +comrades of the Scientific Section, I assure you that neo-Catholicism and +Mysticism and Occultism, and every other branch of the fashionable +phantasmagoria trouble them very little indeed. They are not making a +religion of science, they remain open to doubt on many points; but they +are mostly men of very clear and firm minds, whose passion is the +acquirement of certainty, and who are ever absorbed in the investigations +which continue throughout the whole vast field of human knowledge. They +haven't flinched, they have remained Positivists, or Evolutionists, or +Determinists, and have set their faith in observation and experiment to +help on the final conquest of the world." + +Francois himself was growing excited, as he thus confessed his faith +while strolling along the quiet sunlit garden paths. "The young indeed!" +he resumed. "Do people know them? It makes us laugh when we see all sorts +of apostles fighting for us, trying to attract us, and saying that we are +white or black or grey, according to the hue which they require for the +triumph of their particular ideas! The young, the real ones, why, they're +in the schools, the laboratories and the libraries. It's they who work +and who'll bring to-morrow to the world. It's not the young fellows of +dinner and supper clubs, manifestoes and all sorts of extravagances. The +latter make a great deal of noise, no doubt; in fact, they alone are +heard. But if you knew of the ceaseless efforts and passionate striving +of the others, those who remain silent, absorbed in their tasks. And I +know many of them: they are with their century, they have rejected none +of its hopes, but are marching on to the coming century, resolved to +pursue the work of their forerunners, ever going towards more light and +more equity. And just speak to them of the bankruptcy of science. They'll +shrug their shoulders at the mere idea, for they know well enough that +science has never before inflamed so many hearts or achieved greater +conquests! It is only if the schools, laboratories and libraries were +closed, and the social soil radically changed, that one would have cause +to fear a fresh growth of error such as weak hearts and narrow minds hold +so dear!" + +At this point Francois's fine flow of eloquence was interrupted. A tall +young fellow stopped to shake hands with him; and Pierre was surprised to +recognise Baron Duvillard's son Hyacinthe, who bowed to him in very +correct style. "What! you here in our old quarter," exclaimed Francois. + +"My dear fellow, I'm going to Jonas's, over yonder, behind the +Observatory. Don't you know Jonas? Ah! my dear fellow, he's a delightful +sculptor, who has succeeded in doing away with matter almost entirely. He +has carved a figure of Woman, no bigger than the finger, and entirely +soul, free from all baseness of form, and yet complete. All Woman, +indeed, in her essential symbolism! Ah! it's grand, it's overpowering. A +perfect scheme of aesthetics, a real religion!" + +Francois smiled as he looked at Hyacinthe, buttoned up in his long +pleated frock-coat, with his made-up face, and carefully cropped hair and +beard. "And yourself?" said he, "I thought you were working, and were +going to publish a little poem, shortly?" + +"Oh! the task of creating is so distasteful to me, my dear fellow! A +single line often takes me weeks. . . . Still, yes, I have a little poem +on hand, 'The End of Woman.' And you see, I'm not so exclusive as some +people pretend, since I admire Jonas, who still believes in Woman. His +excuse is sculpture, which, after all, is at best such a gross +materialistic art. But in poetry, good heavens, how we've been +overwhelmed with Woman, always Woman! It's surely time to drive her out +of the temple, and cleanse it a little. Ah! if we were all pure and lofty +enough to do without Woman, and renounce all those horrid sexual +questions, so that the last of the species might die childless, eh? The +world would then at least finish in a clean and proper manner!" + +Thereupon, Hyacinthe walked off with his languid air, well pleased with +the effect which he had produced on the others. + +"So you know him?" said Pierre to Francois. + +"He was my school-fellow at Condorcet, we were in the same classes +together. Such a funny fellow he was! A perfect dunce! And he was always +making a parade of Father Duvillard's millions, while pretending to +disdain them, and act the revolutionist, for ever saying that he'd use +his cigarette to fire the cartridge which was to blow up the world! He +was Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, and Tolstoi, and Ibsen, rolled into one! +And you can see what he has become with it all: a humbug with a diseased +mind!" + +"It's a terrible symptom," muttered Pierre, "when through /ennui/ or +lassitude, or the contagion of destructive fury, the sons of the happy +and privileged ones start doing the work of the demolishers." + +Francois had resumed his walk, going down towards the ornamental water, +where some children were sailing their boats. "That fellow is simply +grotesque," he replied; "but how would you have sane people give any heed +to that mysticism, that awakening of spirituality which is alleged by the +same /doctrinaires/ who started the bankruptcy of science cry, when after +so brief an evolution it produces such insanity, both in art and +literature? A few years of influence have sufficed; and now Satanism, +Occultism and other absurdities are flourishing; not to mention that, +according to some accounts, the Cities of the Plains are reconciled with +new Rome. Isn't the tree judged by its fruits? And isn't it evident that, +instead of a renascence, a far-spreading social movement bringing back +the past, we are simply witnessing a transitory reaction, which many +things explain? The old world would rather not die, and is struggling in +a final convulsion, reviving for a last hour before it is swept away by +the overflowing river of human knowledge, whose waters ever increase. And +yonder, in the future, is the new world, which the real young ones will +bring into existence, those who work, those who are not known, who are +not heard. And yet, just listen! Perhaps you will hear them, for we are +among them, in their 'quarter.' This deep silence is that of the labour +of all the young fellows who are leaning over their work-tables, and day +by day carrying forward the conquest of truth." + +So saying Francois waved his hand towards all the day-schools and +colleges and high schools beyond the Luxembourg garden, towards the +Faculties of Law and Medicine, the Institute and its five Academies, the +innumerable libraries and museums which made up the broad domain of +intellectual labour. And Pierre, moved by it all, shaken in his theories +of negation, thought that he could indeed hear a low but far-spreading +murmur of the work of thousands of active minds, rising from +laboratories, studies and class, reading and lecture rooms. It was not +like the jerky, breathless trepidation, the loud clamour of factories +where manual labour toils and chafes. But here, too, there were sighs of +weariness, efforts as killing, exertion as fruitful in its results. Was +it indeed true that the cultured young were still and ever in their +silent forge, renouncing no hope, relinquishing no conquest, but in full +freedom of mind forging the truth and justice of to-morrow with the +invincible hammers of observation and experiment? + +Francois, however, had raised his eyes to the palace clock to ascertain +the time. "I'm going to Montmartre," he said; "will you come part of the +way with me?" + +Pierre assented, particularly as the young man added that on his way he +meant to call for his brother Antoine at the Museum of the Louvre. That +bright afternoon the Louvre picture galleries were steeped in warm and +dignified quietude, which one particularly noticed on coming from the +tumult and scramble of the streets. The majority of the few people one +found there were copyists working in deep silence, which only the +wandering footsteps of an occasional tourist disturbed. Pierre and +Francois found Antoine at the end of the gallery assigned to the +Primitive masters. With scrupulous, almost devout care he was making a +drawing of a figure by Mantegna. The Primitives did not impassion him by +reason of any particular mysticism and ideality, such as fashion pretends +to find in them, but on the contrary, and justifiably enough, by reason +of the sincerity of their ingenuous realism, their respect and modesty in +presence of nature, and the minute fidelity with which they sought to +transcribe it. He spent days of hard work in copying and studying them, +in order to learn strictness and probity of drawing from them--all that +lofty distinction of style which they owe to their candour as honest +artists. + +Pierre was struck by the pure glow which a sitting of good hard work had +set in Antoine's light blue eyes. It imparted warmth and even +feverishness to his fair face, which was usually all dreaminess and +gentleness. His lofty forehead now truly looked like a citadel armed for +the conquest of truth and beauty. He was only eighteen, and his story was +simply this: as he had grown disgusted with classical studies and been +mastered by a passion for drawing, his father had let him leave the Lycee +Condorcet when he was in the third class there. Some little time had then +elapsed while he felt his way and the deep originality within him was +being evolved. He had tried etching on copper, but had soon come to wood +engraving, and had attached himself to it in spite of the discredit into +which it had fallen, lowered as it had been to the level of a mere trade. +Was there not here an entire art to restore and enlarge? For his own part +he dreamt of engraving his own drawings, of being at once the brain which +conceives and the hand which executes, in such wise as to obtain new +effects of great intensity both as regards perception and touch. To +comply with the wishes of his father, who desired each of his sons to +have a trade, he earned his bread like other engravers by working for the +illustrated newspapers. But, in addition to this current work, he had +already engraved several blocks instinct with wonderful power and life. +They were simply copies of real things, scenes of everyday existence, but +they were accentuated, elevated so to say, by the essential line, with a +maestria which on the part of so young a lad fairly astonished one. + +"Do you want to engrave that?" Francois asked him, as he placed his copy +of Mantegna's figure in his portfolio. + +"Oh! no, that's merely a dip into innocence, a good lesson to teach one +to be modest and sincere. Life is very different nowadays." + +Then, while walking along the streets--for Pierre, who felt growing +sympathy for the two young fellows, went with them in the direction of +Montmartre, forgetful of all else,--Antoine, who was beside him, spoke +expansively of his artistic dreams. + +"Colour is certainly a power, a sovereign source of charm, and one may, +indeed, say that without colour nothing can be completely represented. +Yet, singularly enough, it isn't indispensable to me. It seems to me that +I can picture life as intensely and definitely with mere black and white, +and I even fancy that I shall be able to do so in a more essential +manner, without any of the dupery which lies in colour. But what a task +it is! I should like to depict the Paris of to-day in a few scenes, a few +typical figures, which would serve as testimony for all time. And I +should like to do it with great fidelity and candour, for an artist only +lives by reason of his candour, his humility and steadfast belief in +Nature, which is ever beautiful. I've already done a few figures, I will +show them to you. But ah! if I only dared to tackle my blocks with the +graver, at the outset, without drawing my subject beforehand. For that +generally takes away one's fire. However, what I do with the pencil is a +mere sketch; for with the graver I may come upon a find, some unexpected +strength or delicacy of effect. And so I'm draughtsman and engraver all +in one, in such a way that my blocks can only be turned out by myself. If +the drawings on them were engraved by another, they would be quite +lifeless. . . . Yes, life can spring from the fingers just as well as +from the brain, when one really possesses creative power." + +They walked on, and when they found themselves just below Montmartre, and +Pierre spoke of taking a tramcar to return to Neuilly, Antoine, quite +feverish with artistic passion, asked him if he knew Jahan, the sculptor, +who was working for the Sacred Heart. And on receiving a negative reply, +he added: "Well, come and see him for a moment. He has a great future +before him. You'll see an angel of his which has been declined." + +Then, as Francois began to praise the angel in question, Pierre agreed to +accompany them. On the summit of the height, among all the sheds which +the building of the basilica necessitated, Jahan had been able to set up +a glazed workshop large enough for the huge angel ordered of him. His +three visitors found him there in a blouse, watching a couple of +assistants, who were rough-hewing the block of stone whence the angel was +to emerge. Jahan was a sturdy man of thirty-six, with dark hair and +beard, a large, ruddy mouth and fine bright eyes. Born in Paris, he had +studied at the Fine Art School, but his impetuous temperament had +constantly landed him in trouble there. + +"Ah! yes," said he, "you've come to see my angel, the one which the +Archbishop wouldn't take. Well, there it is." + +The clay model of the figure, some three feet high, and already drying, +looked superb in its soaring posture, with its large, outspread wings +expanding as if with passionate desire for the infinite. The body, barely +draped, was that of a slim yet robust youth, whose face beamed with the +rapture of his heavenly flight. + +"They found him too human," said Jahan. "And after all they were right. +There's nothing so difficult to conceive as an angel. One even hesitates +as to the sex; and when faith is lacking one has to take the first model +one finds and copy it and spoil it. For my part, while I was modelling +that one, I tried to imagine a beautiful youth suddenly endowed with +wings, and carried by the intoxication of his flight into all the joy of +the sunshine. But it upset them, they wanted something more religious, +they said; and so then I concocted that wretched thing over there. After +all, one has to earn one's living, you know." + +So saying, he waved his hand towards another model, the one for which his +assistants were preparing the stone. And this model represented an angel +of the correct type, with symmetrical wings like those of a goose, a +figure of neither sex, and commonplace features, expressing the silly +ecstasy that tradition requires. + +"What would you have?" continued Jahan. "Religious art has sunk to the +most disgusting triteness. People no longer believe; churches are built +like barracks, and decorated with saints and virgins fit to make one +weep. The fact is that genius is only the fruit of the social soil; and a +great artist can only send up a blaze of the faith of the time he lives +in. For my part, I'm the grandson of a Beauceron peasant. My father came +to Paris to set himself up in business as a marble worker for tombstones +and so forth, just at the top of the Rue de la Roquette. It was there I +grew up. I began as a workman, and all my childhood was spent among the +masses, in the streets, without ever a thought coming to me of setting +foot in a church. So few Parisians think of doing so nowadays. And so +what's to become of art since there's no belief in the Divinity or even +in beauty? We're forced to go forward to the new faith, which is the +faith in life and work and fruitfulness, in all that labours and +produces." + +Then suddenly breaking off he exclaimed: "By the way, I've been doing +some more work to my figure of Fecundity, and I'm fairly well pleased +with it. Just come with me and I'll show it you." + +Thereupon he insisted on taking them to his private studio, which was +near by, just below Guillaume's little house. It was entered by way of +the Rue du Calvaire, a street which is simply a succession of ladder-like +flights of steps. The door opened on to one of the little landings, and +one found oneself in a spacious, well-lighted apartment littered with +models and casts, fragments and figures, quite an overflow of sturdy, +powerful talent. On a stool was the unfinished model of Fecundity swathed +in wet cloths. These Jahan removed, and then she stood forth with her +rounded figure, her broad hips and her wifely, maternal bosom, full of +the milk which nourishes and redeems. + +"Well, what do you think of her?" asked Jahan. "Built as she is, I fancy +that her children ought to be less puny than the pale, languid, aesthetic +fellows of nowadays!" + +While Antoine and Francois were admiring the figure, Pierre, for his +part, took most interest in a young girl who had opened the door to them, +and who had now wearily reseated herself at a little table to continue a +book she was reading. This was Jahan's sister, Lise. A score of years +younger than himself, she was but sixteen, and had been living alone with +him since their father's death. Very slight and delicate looking, she had +a most gentle face, with fine light hair which suggested pale gold-dust. +She was almost a cripple, with legs so weak that she only walked with +difficulty, and her mind also was belated, still full of childish +/naivete/. At first this had much saddened her brother, but with time he +had grown accustomed to her innocence and languor. Busy as he always was, +ever in a transport, overflowing with new plans, he somewhat neglected +her by force of circumstances, letting her live beside him much as she +listed. + +Pierre had noticed, however, the sisterly impulsiveness with which she +had greeted Antoine. And the latter, after congratulating Jahan on his +statue, came and sat down beside her, questioned her and wished to see +the book which she was reading. During the last six months the most pure +and affectionate intercourse had sprung up between them. He, from his +father's garden, up yonder on the Place du Tertre, could see her through +the huge window of that studio where she led so innocent a life. And +noticing that she was always alone, as if forsaken, he had begun to take +an interest in her. Then had come acquaintance; and, delighted to find +her so simple and so charming, he had conceived the design of rousing her +to intelligence and life, by loving her, by becoming at once the mind and +the heart whose power fructifies. Weak plant that she was, in need of +delicate care, sunshine and affection, he became for her all that her +brother had, through circumstances, failed to be. He had already taught +her to read, a task in which every mistress had previously failed. But +him she listened to and understood. And by slow degrees a glow of +happiness came to the beautiful clear eyes set in her irregular face. It +was love's miracle, the creation of woman beneath the breath of a young +lover who gave himself entirely. No doubt she still remained very +delicate, with such poor health that one ever feared that she might +expire in a faint sigh; and her legs, moreover, were still too weak to +admit of her walking any distance. But all the same, she was no longer +the little wilding, the little ailing flower of the previous spring. + +Jahan, who marvelled at the incipient miracle, drew near to the young +people. "Ah!" said he, "your pupil does you honour. She reads quite +fluently, you know, and understands the fine books you send her. You read +to me of an evening now, don't you, Lise?" + +She raised her candid eyes, and gazed at Antoine with a smile of infinite +gratitude. "Oh! whatever he'll teach me," she said, "I'll learn it, and +do it." + +The others laughed gently. Then, as the visitors were going off, Francois +paused before a model which had cracked while drying. "Oh! that's a +spoilt thing," said the sculptor. "I wanted to model a figure of Charity. +It was ordered of me by a philanthropic institution. But try as I might, +I could only devise something so commonplace that I let the clay spoil. +Still, I must think it over and endeavour to take the matter in hand +again." + +When they were outside, it occurred to Pierre to go as far as the +basilica of the Sacred Heart in the hope of finding Abbe Rose there. So +the three of them went round by way of the Rue Gabrielle and climbed the +steps of the Rue Chape. And just as they were reaching the summit where +the basilica reared its forest of scaffoldings beneath the clear sky, +they encountered Thomas, who, on leaving the factory, had gone to give an +order to a founder in the Rue Lamarck. + +He, who as a rule was so silent and discreet, now happened to be in an +expansive mood, which made him look quite radiant. "Ah! I'm so pleased," +he said, addressing Pierre; "I fancy that I've found what I want for our +little motor. Tell father that things are going on all right, and that he +must make haste to get well." + +At these words his brothers, Francois and Antoine, drew close to him with +a common impulse. And they stood there all three, a valiant little group, +their hearts uniting and beating with one and the same delight at the +idea that their father would be gladdened, that the good news they were +sending him would help him towards recovery. As for Pierre, who, now that +he knew them, was beginning to love them and judge them at their worth, +he marvelled at the sight of these three young giants, each so strikingly +like the other, and drawn together so closely and so promptly, directly +their filial affection took fire. + +"Tell him that we are waiting for him, and will come to him at the first +sign if we are wanted." + +Then each in turn shook the priest's hand vigorously. And while he +remained watching them as they went off towards the little house, whose +garden he perceived over the wall of the Rue Saint Eleuthere, he fancied +he could there detect a delicate silhouette, a white, sunlit face under a +help of dark hair. It was doubtless the face of Marie, examining the buds +on her lilac bushes. At that evening hour, however, the diffuse light was +so golden that the vision seemed to fade in it as in a halo. And Pierre, +feeling dazzled, turned his head, and on the other side saw naught but +the overwhelming, chalky mass of the basilica, whose hugeness shut out +all view of the horizon. + +For a moment he remained motionless on that spot, so agitated by +conflicting thoughts and feelings that he could read neither heart nor +mind clearly. Then, as he turned towards the city, all Paris spread +itself out at his feet, a limpid, lightsome Paris, beneath the pink glow +of that spring-like evening. The endless billows of house-roofs showed +forth with wonderful distinctness, and one could have counted the chimney +stacks and the little black streaks of the windows by the million. The +edifices rising into the calm atmosphere seemed like the anchored vessels +of some fleet arrested in its course, with lofty masting which glittered +at the sun's farewell. And never before had Pierre so distinctly observed +the divisions of that human ocean. Eastward and northward was the city of +manual toil, with the rumbling and the smoke of its factories. Southward, +beyond the river, was the city of study, of intellectual labour, so calm, +so perfectly serene. And on all sides the passion of trade ascended from +the central districts, where the crowds rolled and scrambled amidst an +everlasting uproar of wheels; while westward, the city of the happy and +powerful ones, those who fought for sovereignty and wealth, spread out +its piles of palaces amidst the slowly reddening flare of the declining +planet. + +And then, from the depths of his negation, the chaos into which his loss +of faith had plunged him, Pierre felt a delicious freshness pass like the +vague advent of a new faith. So vague it was that he could not have +expressed even his hope of it in words. But already among the rough +factory workers, manual toil had appeared to him necessary and +redemptive, in spite of all the misery and abominable injustice to which +it led. And now the young men of intellect of whom he had despaired, that +generation of the morrow which he had thought spoilt, relapsing into +ancient error and rottenness, had appeared to him full of virile promise, +resolved to prosecute the work of those who had gone before, and effect, +by the aid of Science only, the conquest of absolute truth and absolute +justice. + + + +V + +PROBLEMS + +A FULL month had already gone by since Guillaume had taken refuge at his +brother's little house at Neuilly. His wrist was now nearly healed. He +had long ceased to keep his bed, and often strolled through the garden. +In spite of his impatience to go back to Montmartre, join his loved ones +and resume his work there, he was each morning prompted to defer his +return by the news he found in the newspapers. The situation was ever the +same. Salvat, whom the police now suspected, had been perceived one +evening near the central markets, and then again lost sight of. Every +day, however, his arrest was said to be imminent. And in that case what +would happen? Would he speak out, and would fresh perquisitions be made? + +For a whole week the press had been busy with the bradawl found under the +entrance of the Duvillard mansion. Nearly every reporter in Paris had +called at the Grandidier factory and interviewed both workmen and master. +Some had even started on personal investigations, in the hope of +capturing the culprit themselves. There was no end of jesting about the +incompetence of the police, and the hunt for Salvat was followed all the +more passionately by the general public, as the papers overflowed with +the most ridiculous concoctions, predicting further explosions, and +declaring even that all Paris would some morning be blown into the air. +The "Voix du Peuple" set a fresh shudder circulating every day by its +announcements of threatening letters, incendiary placards and mysterious, +far-reaching plots. And never before had so base and foolish a spirit of +contagion wafted insanity through a civilised city. + +Guillaume, for his part, no sooner awoke of a morning than he was all +impatience to see the newspapers, quivering at the idea that he would at +last read of Salvat's arrest. In his state of nervous expectancy, the +wild campaign which the press had started, the idiotic and the ferocious +things which he found in one or another journal, almost drove him crazy. +A number of "suspects" had already been arrested in a kind of chance +razzia, which had swept up the usual Anarchist herd, together with sundry +honest workmen and bandits, /illumines/ and lazy devils, in fact, a most +singular, motley crew, which investigating magistrate Amadieu was +endeavouring to turn into a gigantic association of evil-doers. One +morning, moreover, Guillaume found his own name mentioned in connection +with a perquisition at the residence of a revolutionary journalist, who +was a friend of his. At this his heart bounded with revolt, but he was +forced to the conclusion that it would be prudent for him to remain +patient a little longer, in his peaceful retreat at Neuilly, since the +police might at any moment break into his home at Montmartre, to arrest +him should it find him there. + +Amidst all this anxiety the brothers led a most solitary and gentle life. +Pierre himself now spent most of his time at home. The first days of +March had come, and precocious springtide imparted delightful charm and +warmth to the little garden. Guillaume, however, since quitting his bed, +had more particularly installed himself in his father's old laboratory, +now transformed into a spacious study. All the books and papers left by +the illustrious chemist were still there, and among the latter Guillaume +found a number of unfinished essays, the perusal of which greatly excited +his interest, and often absorbed him from morning till night. It was this +which largely enabled him to bear his voluntary seclusion patiently. +Seated on the other side of the big table, Pierre also mostly occupied +himself with reading; but at times his eyes would quit his book and +wander away into gloomy reverie, into all the chaos into which he still +and ever sank. For long hours the brothers would in this wise remain side +by side, without speaking a word. Yet they knew they were together; and +occasionally, when their eyes met, they would exchange a smile. The +strong affection of former days was again springing up within them; their +childhood, their home, their parents, all seemed to live once more in the +quiet atmosphere they breathed. However, the bay window overlooked the +garden in the direction of Paris, and often, when they emerged from their +reading or their reverie, it was with a sudden feeling of anxiety, and in +order to lend ear to the distant rumbling, the increased clamour of the +great city. + +On other occasions they paused as if in astonishment at hearing a +continuous footfall overhead. It was that of Nicholas Barthes, who still +lingered in the room above. He seldom came downstairs, and scarcely ever +ventured into the garden, for fear, said he, that he might be perceived +and recognised from a distant house whose windows were concealed by a +clump of trees. One might laugh at the old conspirator's haunting thought +of the police. Nevertheless, the caged-lion restlessness, the ceaseless +promenade of that perpetual prisoner who had spent two thirds of his life +in the dungeons of France in his desire to secure the liberty of others, +imparted to the silence of the little house a touching melancholy, the +very rhythm as it were of all the great good things which one hoped for, +but which would never perhaps come. + +Very few visits drew the brothers from their solitude. Bertheroy came +less frequently now that Guillaume's wrist was healing. The most +assiduous caller was certainly Theophile Morin, whose discreet ring was +heard every other day at the same hour. Though he did not share the ideas +of Barthes he worshipped him as a martyr; and would always go upstairs to +spend an hour with him. However, they must have exchanged few words, for +not a sound came from the room. Whenever Morin sat down for a moment in +the laboratory with the brothers, Pierre was struck by his seeming +weariness, his ashen grey hair and beard and dismal countenance, all the +life of which appeared to have been effaced by long years spent in the +teaching profession. Indeed, it was only when the priest mentioned Italy +that he saw his companion's resigned eyes blaze up like live coals. One +day when he spoke of the great patriot Orlando Prada, Morin's companion +of victory in Garibaldi's days, he was amazed by the sudden flare of +enthusiasm which lighted up the other's lifeless features. However, these +were but transient flashes: the old professor soon reappeared, and all +that one found in Morin was the friend of Proudhon and the subsequent +disciple of Auguste Comte. Of his Proudhonian principles he had retained +all a pauper's hatred of wealth, and a desire for a more equitable +partition of fortune. But the new times dismayed him, and neither +principle nor temperament allowed him to follow Revolutionism to its +utmost limits. Comte had imparted unshakable convictions to him in the +sphere of intellectual questions, and he contented himself with the clear +and decisive logic of Positivism, rejecting all metaphysical hypotheses +as useless, persuaded as he was that the whole human question, whether +social or religious, would be solved by science alone. This faith, firm +as it had remained, was, however, coupled with secret bitterness, for +nothing seemed to advance in a sensible manner towards its goal. Comte +himself had ended in the most cloudy mysticism; great /savants/ recoiled +from truth in terror; and now barbarians were threatening the world with +fresh night; all of which made Morin almost a reactionist in politics, +already resigned to the advent of a dictator, who would set things +somewhat in order, so that humanity might be able to complete its +education. + +Other visitors who occasionally called to see Guillaume were Bache and +Janzen, who invariably came together and at night-time. Every now and +then they would linger chatting with Guillaume in the spacious study +until two o'clock in the morning. Bache, who was fat and had a fatherly +air, with his little eyes gently beaming amidst all the snowy whiteness +of his hair and beard, would talk on slowly, unctuously and interminably, +as soon as he had begun to explain his views. He would address merely a +polite bow to Saint-Simon, the initiator, the first to lay down the law +that work was a necessity for one and all according to their capacities; +but on coming to Fourier his voice softened and he confessed his whole +religion. To his thinking, Fourier had been the real messiah of modern +times, the saviour of genius, who had sown the good seed of the future +world, by regulating society such as it would certainly be organised +to-morrow. The law of harmony had been promulgated; human passions, +liberated and utilised in healthy fashion, would become the requisite +machinery; and work, rendered pleasant and attractive, would prove the +very function of life. Nothing could discourage Bache; if merely one +parish began by transforming itself into a /phalansterium/, the whole +department would soon follow, then the adjacent departments, and finally +all France. Moreover, Bache even favoured the schemes of Cabet, whose +Icaria, said he, had in no wise been such a foolish idea. Further, he +recalled a motion he had made, when member of the Commune in 1871, to +apply Fourier's ideas to the French Republic; and he was apparently +convinced that the troops of Versailles had delayed the triumph of +Communism for half a century. Whenever people nowadays talked of +table-turning he pretended to laugh, but at bottom he had remained an +impenitent "spiritist." Since he had been a municipal councillor he had +been travelling from one socialist sect to another, according as their +ideas offered points of resemblance to his old faith. And he was fairly +consumed by his need of faith, his perplexity as to the Divine, which he +was now occasionally inclined to find in the legs of some piece of +furniture, after denying its presence in the churches. + +Janzen, for his part, was as taciturn as his friend Bache was garrulous. +Such remarks as he made were brief, but they were as galling as lashes, +as cutting as sabre-strokes. At the same time his ideas and theories +remained somewhat obscure, partly by reason of this brevity of his, and +partly on account of the difficulty he experienced in expressing himself +in French. He was from over yonder, from some far-away land--Russia, +Poland, Austria or Germany, nobody exactly knew; and it mattered little, +for he certainly acknowledged no country, but wandered far and wide with +his dream of blood-shedding fraternity. Whenever, with his wonted +frigidity, he gave utterance to one of those terrible remarks of his +which, like a scythe in a meadow, cut away all before him, little less +than the necessity of thus mowing down nations, in order to sow the earth +afresh with a young and better community, became apparent. At each +proposition unfolded by Bache, such as labour rendered agreeable by +police regulations, /phalansteria/ organised like barracks, religion +transformed into pantheist or spiritist deism, he gently shrugged his +shoulders. What could be the use of such childishness, such hypocritical +repairing, when the house was falling and the only honest course was to +throw it to the ground, and build up the substantial edifice of to-morrow +with entirely new materials? On the subject of propaganda by deeds, +bomb-throwing and so forth, he remained silent, though his gestures were +expressive of infinite hope. He evidently approved that course. The +legend which made him one of the perpetrators of the crime of Barcelona +set a gleam of horrible glory in his mysterious past. One day when Bache, +while speaking to him of his friend Bergaz, the shadowy Bourse jobber who +had already been compromised in some piece of thieving, plainly declared +that the aforesaid Bergaz was a bandit, Janzen contented himself with +smiling, and replying quietly that theft was merely forced restitution. +Briefly, in this man of culture and refinement, in whose own mysterious +life one might perhaps have found various crimes but not a single act of +base improbity, one could divine an implacable, obstinate theoretician, +who was resolved to set the world ablaze for the triumph of his ideas. + +On certain evenings when a visit from Theophile Morin coincided with one +from Bache and Janzen, and they and Guillaume lingered chatting until far +into the night, Pierre would listen to them in despair from the shadowy +corner where he remained motionless, never once joining in the +discussions. Distracted, by his own unbelief and thirst for truth, he had +at the outset taken a passionate interest in these debates, desirous as +he was of drawing up a balance-sheet of the century's ideas, so as to +form some notion of the distance that had been travelled, and the profits +that had accrued. But he recoiled from all this in fresh despair, on +hearing the others argue, each from his own standpoint and without +possibility of concession and agreement. After the repulses he had +encountered at Lourdes and Rome, he well realised that in this fresh +experiment which he was making with Paris, the whole brain of the century +was in question, the new truths, the expected gospel which was to change +the face of the world. And, burning with inconsiderate zeal, he went from +one belief to another, which other he soon rejected in order to adopt a +third. If he had first felt himself to be a Positivist with Morin, an +Evolutionist and Determinist with Guillaume, he had afterwards been +touched by the fraternal dream of a new golden age which he had found in +Bache's humanitarian Communism. And indeed even Janzen had momentarily +shaken him by his fierce confidence in the theory of liberative +Individualism. But afterwards he had found himself out of his depth; and +each and every theory had seemed to him but part of the chaotic +contradictions and incoherences of humanity on its march. It was all a +continuous piling up of dross, amidst which he lost himself. Although +Fourier had sprung from Saint-Simon he denied him in part; and if +Saint-Simon's doctrine ended in a kind of mystical sensuality, the +other's conducted to an unacceptable regimenting of society. Proudhon, +for his part, demolished without rebuilding anything. Comte, who created +method and declared science to be the one and only sovereign, had not +even suspected the advent of the social crisis which now threatened to +sweep all away, and had finished personally as a mere worshipper of love, +overpowered by woman. Nevertheless, these two, Comte and Proudhon, +entered the lists and fought against the others, Fourier and Saint-Simon; +the combat between them or their disciples becoming so bitter and so +blind that the truths common to them all were obscured and disfigured +beyond recognition. Thence came the extraordinary muddle of the present +hour; Bache with Saint-Simon and Fourier, and Morin with Proudhon and +Comte, utterly failing to understand Mege, the Collectivist deputy, whom +they held up to execration, him and his State Collectivism, in the same +way, moreover, as they thundered against all the other present-time +Socialist sects, without realising that these also, whatever their +nature, had more or less sprung from the same masters as themselves. And +all this seemingly indicated that Janzen was right when he declared that +the house was past repair, fast crumbling amidst rottenness and insanity, +and that it ought to be levelled to the ground. + +One night, after the three visitors had gone, Pierre, who had remained +with Guillaume, saw him grow very gloomy as he slowly walked to and fro. +He, in his turn, had doubtless felt that all was crumbling. And though +his brother alone was there to hear him, he went on speaking. He +expressed all his horror of the Collectivist State as imagined by Mege, a +Dictator-State re-establishing ancient servitude on yet closer lines. The +error of all the Socialist sects was their arbitrary organisation of +Labour, which enslaved the individual for the profit of the community. +And, forced to conciliate the two great currents, the rights of society +and the rights of the individual, Guillaume had ended by placing his +whole faith in free Communism, an anarchical state in which he dreamt of +seeing the individual freed, moving and developing without restraint, for +the benefit both of himself and of all others. Was not this, said he, the +one truly scientific theory, unities creating worlds, atoms producing +life by force of attraction, free and ardent love? All oppressive +minorities would disappear; and the faculties and energies of one and all +would by free play arrive at harmony amidst the equilibrium--which +changed according to needs--of the active forces of advancing humanity. +In this wise he pictured a nation, saved from State tutelage, without a +master, almost without laws, a happy nation, each citizen of which, +completely developed by the exercise of liberty, would, of his free will, +come to an understanding with his neighbours with regard to the thousand +necessities of life. And thence would spring society, free association, +hundreds of associations which would regulate social life; though at the +same time they would remain variable, in fact often opposed and hostile +to one another. For progress is but the fruit of conflict and struggle; +the world has only been created by the battle of opposing forces. And +that was all; there would be no more oppressors, no more rich, no more +poor; the domain of the earth with its natural treasures and its +implements of labour would be restored to the people, its legitimate +owners, who would know how to enjoy it with justice and logic, when +nothing abnormal would impede their expansion. And then only would the +law of love make its action felt; then would human solidarity, which, +among mankind, is the living form of universal attraction, acquire all +its power, bringing men closer and closer together, and uniting them in +one sole family. A splendid dream it was--the noble and pure dream of +absolute freedom--free man in free society. And thither a /savant's/ +superior mind was fated to come after passing on the road the many +Socialist sects which one and all bore the stigma of tyranny. And, +assuredly, as thus indulged, the Anarchist idea is the loftiest, the +proudest, of all ideas. And how delightful to yield to the hope of +harmony in life--life which restored to the full exercise of its natural +powers would of itself create happiness! + +When Guillaume ceased speaking, he seemed to be emerging from a dream; +and he glanced at Pierre with some dismay, for he feared that he might +have said too much and have hurt his feelings. Pierre--moved though he +was, for a moment in fact almost won over--had just seen the terrible +practical objection, which destroyed all hope, arise before his mind's +eye. Why had not harmony asserted itself in the first days of the world's +existence, at the time when societies were formed? How was it that +tyranny had triumphed, delivering nations over to oppressors? And +supposing that the apparently insolvable problem of destroying +everything, and beginning everything afresh, should ever be solved, who +could promise that mankind, obedient to the same laws, would not again +follow the same paths as formerly? After all, mankind, nowadays, is +simply what life has made it; and nothing proves that life would again +make it other than it is. To begin afresh, ah, yes! but to attain another +result! But could that other result really come from man? Was it not +rather man himself who should be changed? To start afresh from where one +was, to continue the evolution that had begun, undoubtedly meant slow +travel and dismal waiting. But how great would be the danger and even the +delay, if one went back without knowing by what road across the whole +chaos of ruins one might regain all the lost time! + +"Let us go to bed," at last said Guillaume, smiling. "It's silly of me to +weary you with all these things which don't concern you." + +Pierre, in his excitement, was about to reveal his own heart and mind, +and the whole torturing battle within him. But a feeling of shame again +restrained him. His brother only knew him as a believing priest, faithful +to his faith. And so, without answering, he betook himself to his room. + +On the following evening, about ten o'clock, while Guillaume and Pierre +sat reading in the study, the old servant entered to announce M. Janzen +and a friend. The friend was Salvat. + +"He wished to see you," Janzen explained to Guillaume. "I met him, and +when he heard of your injury and anxiety he implored me to bring him +here. And I've done so, though it was perhaps hardly prudent of me." + +Guillaume had risen, full of surprise and emotion at such a visit; +Pierre, however, though equally upset by Salvat's appearance; did not +stir from his chair, but kept his eyes upon the workman. + +"Monsieur Froment," Salvat ended by saying, standing there in a timid, +embarrassed way, "I was very sorry indeed when I heard of the worry I'd +put you in; for I shall never forget that you were very kind to me when +everybody else turned me away." + +As he spoke he balanced himself alternately on either leg, and +transferred his old felt hat from hand to hand. + +"And so I wanted to come and tell you myself that if I took a cartridge +of your powder one evening when you had your back turned, it's the only +thing that I feel any remorse about in the whole business, since it may +compromise you. And I also want to take my oath before you that you've +nothing to fear from me, that I'll let my head be cut off twenty times if +need be, rather than utter your name. That's all that I had in my heart." + +He relapsed into silence and embarrassment, but his soft, dreamy eyes, +the eyes of a faithful dog, remained fixed upon Guillaume with an +expression of respectful worship. And Pierre was still gazing at him +athwart the hateful vision which his arrival had conjured up, that of the +poor, dead, errand girl, the fair pretty child lying ripped open under +the entrance of the Duvillard mansion! Was it possible that he was there, +he, that madman, that murderer, and that his eyes were actually moist! + +Guillaume, touched by Salvat's words, had drawn near and pressed his +hand. "I am well aware, Salvat," said he, "that you are not wicked at +heart. But what a foolish and abominable thing you did!" + +Salvat showed no sign of anger, but gently smiled. "Oh! if it had to be +done again, Monsieur Froment, I'd do it. It's my idea, you know. And, +apart from you, all is well; I am content." + +He would not sit down, but for another moment continued talking with +Guillaume, while Janzen, as if he washed his hands of the business, +deeming this visit both useless and dangerous, sat down and turned over +the leaves of a picture book. And Guillaume made Salvat tell him what he +had done on the day of the crime; how like a stray dog he had wandered in +distraction through Paris, carrying his bomb with him, originally in his +tool-bag and then under his jacket; how he had gone a first time to the +Duvillard mansion and found its carriage entrance closed; then how he had +betaken himself first to the Chamber of Deputies which the ushers had +prevented him from entering, and afterwards to the Circus, where the +thought of making a great sacrifice of /bourgeois/ had occurred to him +too late. And finally, how he had at last come back to the Duvillard +mansion, as if drawn thither by the very power of destiny. His tool-bag +was lying in the depths of the Seine, he said; he had thrown it into the +water with sudden hatred of work, since it had even failed to give him +bread. And he next told the story of his flight; the explosion shaking +the whole district behind him, while, with delight and astonishment, he +found himself some distance off, in quiet streets where nothing was as +yet known. And for a month past he had been living in chance fashion, how +or where he could hardly tell, but he had often slept in the open, and +gone for a day without food. One evening little Victor Mathis had given +him five francs. And other comrades had helped him, taken him in for a +night and sent him off at the first sign of peril. A far-spreading, tacit +complicity had hitherto saved him from the police. As for going abroad, +well, he had, at one moment, thought of doing so; but a description of +his person must have been circulated, the gendarmes must be waiting for +him at the frontiers, and so would not flight, instead of retarding, +rather hasten his arrest? Paris, however, was an ocean; it was there that +he incurred the least risk of capture. Moreover, he no longer had +sufficient energy to flee. A fatalist as he was after his own fashion, he +could not find strength to quit the pavements of Paris, but there awaited +arrest, like a social waif carried chancewise through the multitude as in +a dream. + +"And your daughter, little Celine?" Guillaume inquired. "Have you +ventured to go back to see her?" + +Salvat waved his hand in a vague way. "No, but what would you have? She's +with Mamma Theodore. Women always find some help. And then I'm done for, +I can do nothing for anybody. It's as if I were already dead." However, +in spite of these words, tears were rising to his eyes. "Ah! the poor +little thing!" he added, "I kissed her with all my heart before I went +away. If she and the woman hadn't been starving so long the idea of that +business would perhaps never have come to me." + +Then, in all simplicity, he declared that he was ready to die. If he had +ended by depositing his bomb at the entrance of Duvillard's house, it was +because he knew the banker well, and was aware that he was the wealthiest +of those /bourgeois/ whose fathers at the time of the Revolution had +duped the people, by taking all power and wealth for themselves,--the +power and wealth which the sons were nowadays so obstinately bent in +retaining that they would not even bestow the veriest crumbs on others. +As for the Revolution, he understood it in his own fashion, like an +illiterate fellow who had learnt the little he knew from newspapers and +speeches at public meetings. And he struck his chest with his fist as he +spoke of his honesty, and was particularly desirous that none should +doubt his courage because he had fled. + +"I've never robbed anybody," said he, "and if I don't go and hand myself +up to the police, it's because they may surely take the trouble to find +and arrest me. I'm very well aware that my affair's clear enough as +they've found that bradawl and know me. All the same, it would be silly +of me to help them in their work. Still, they'd better make haste, for +I've almost had enough of being tracked like a wild beast and no longer +knowing how I live." + +Janzen, yielding to curiosity, had ceased turning over the leaves of the +picture book and was looking at Salvat. There was a smile of disdain in +the Anarchist leader's cold eyes; and in his usual broken French he +remarked: "A man fights and defends himself, kills others and tries to +avoid being killed himself. That's warfare." + +These words fell from his lips amidst deep silence. Salvat, however, did +not seem to have heard them, but stammered forth his faith in a long +sentence laden with fulsome expressions, such as the sacrifice of his +life in order that want might cease, and the example of a great action, +in the certainty that it would inspire other heroes to continue the +struggle. And with this certainly sincere faith and illuminism of his +there was blended a martyr's pride, delight at being one of the radiant, +worshipped saints of the dawning Revolutionary Church. + +As he had come so he went off. When Janzen had led him away, it seemed as +if the night which had brought him had carried him back into its +impenetrable depths. And then only did Pierre rise from his chair. He was +stifling, and threw the large window of the room wide open. It was a very +mild but moonless night, whose silence was only disturbed by the +subsiding clamour of Paris, which stretched away, invisible, on the +horizon. + +Guillaume, according to his habit, had begun to walk up and down. And at +last he spoke, again forgetting that his brother was a priest. "Ah! the +poor fellow! How well one can understand that deed of violence and hope! +His whole past life of fruitless labour and ever-growing want explains +it. Then, too, there has been all the contagion of ideas; the +frequentation of public meetings where men intoxicate themselves with +words, and of secret meetings among comrades where faith acquires +firmness and the mind soars wildly. Ah! I think I know that man well +indeed! He's a good workman, sober and courageous. Injustice has always +exasperated him. And little by little the desire for universal happiness +has cast him out of the realities of life which he has ended by holding +in horror. So how can he do otherwise than live in a dream--a dream of +redemption, which, from circumstances, has turned to fire and murder as +its fitting instruments. As I looked at him standing there, I fancied I +could picture one of the first Christian slaves of ancient Rome. All the +iniquity of olden pagan society, agonising beneath the rottenness born of +debauchery and covetousness, was weighing on his shoulders, bearing him +down. He had come from the dark Catacombs where he had whispered words of +deliverance and redemption with his wretched brethren. And a thirst for +martyrdom consumed him, he spat in the face of Caesar, he insulted the +gods, he fired the pagan temples, in order that the reign of Jesus might +come and abolish servitude. And he was ready to die, to be torn to pieces +by the wild beasts!" + +Pierre did not immediately reply. He had already been struck, however, by +the fact that there were undoubted points of resemblance between the +secret propaganda and militant faith of the Anarchists, and certain +practices of the first Christians. Both sects abandon themselves to a new +faith in the hope that the humble may thereby at last reap justice. +Paganism disappears through weariness of the flesh and the need of a more +lofty and pure faith. That dream of a Christian paradise opening up a +future life with a system of compensations for the ills endured on earth, +was the outcome of young hope dawning at its historic hour. But to-day, +when eighteen centuries have exhausted that hope, when the long +experiment is over and the toiler finds himself duped and still and ever +a slave, he once more dreams of getting happiness upon this earth, +particularly as each day Science tends more and more to show him that the +happiness of the spheres beyond is a lie. And in all this there is but +the eternal struggle of the poor and the rich, the eternal question of +bringing more justice and less suffering to the world. + +"But surely," Pierre at last replied, "you can't be on the side of those +bandits, those murderers whose savage violence horrifies me. I let you +talk on yesterday, when you dreamt of a great and happy people, of ideal +anarchy in which each would be free amidst the freedom of all. But what +abomination, what disgust both for mind and heart, when one passes from +theory to propaganda and practice! If yours is the brain that thinks, +whose is the hateful hand that acts, that kills children, throws down +doors and empties drawers? Do you accept that responsibility? With your +education, your culture, the whole social heredity behind you, does not +your entire being revolt at the idea of stealing and murdering?" + +Guillaume halted before his brother, quivering. "Steal and murder! no! +no! I will not. But one must say everything and fully understand the +history of the evil hour through which we are passing. It is madness +sweeping by; and, to tell the truth, everything necessary to provoke it +has been done. At the very dawn of the Anarchist theory, at the very +first innocent actions of its partisans, there was such stern repression, +the police so grossly ill-treating the poor devils that fell into its +hands, that little by little came anger and rage leading to the most +horrible reprisals. It is the Terror initiated by the /bourgeois/ that +has produced Anarchist savagery. And would you know whence Salvat and his +crime have come? Why, from all our centuries of impudence and iniquity, +from all that the nations have suffered, from all the sores which are now +devouring us, the impatience for enjoyment, the contempt of the strong +for the weak, the whole monstrous spectacle which is presented by our +rotting society!" + +Guillaume was again slowly walking to and fro; and as if he were +reflecting aloud he continued: "Ah! to reach the point I have attained, +through how much thought, through how many battles, have I not passed! I +was merely a Positivist, a /savant/ devoted to observation and +experiment, accepting nothing apart from proven facts. Scientifically and +socially, I admitted that simple evolution had slowly brought humanity +into being. But both in the history of the globe and that of human +society, I found it necessary to make allowance for the volcano, the +sudden cataclysm, the sudden eruption, by which each geological phase, +each historical period, has been marked. In this wise one ends by +ascertaining that no forward step has ever been taken, no progress ever +accomplished in the world's history, without the help of horrible +catastrophes. Each advance has meant the sacrifice of millions and +millions of human lives. This of course revolts us, given our narrow +ideas of justice, and we regard nature as a most barbarous mother; but, +if we cannot excuse the volcano, we ought to deal with it when it bursts +forth, like /savants/ forewarned of its possibility. . . . And then, ah, +then! well, perhaps I'm a dreamer like others, but I have my own +notions." + +With a sweeping gesture he confessed what a social dreamer there was +within him beside the methodical and scrupulous /savant/. His constant +endeavour was to bring all back to science, and he was deeply grieved at +finding in nature no scientific sign of equality or even justice, such as +he craved for in the social sphere. His despair indeed came from this +inability to reconcile scientific logic with apostolic love, the dream of +universal happiness and brotherhood and the end of all iniquity. + +Pierre, however, who had remained near the open window, gazing into the +night towards Paris, whence ascended the last sounds of the evening of +passionate pleasure, felt the whole flood of his own doubt and despair +stifling him. It was all too much: that brother of his who had fallen +upon him with his scientific and apostolic beliefs, those men who came to +discuss contemporary thought from every standpoint, and finally that +Salvat who had brought thither the exasperation of his mad deed. And +Pierre, who had hitherto listened to them all without a word, without a +gesture, who had hidden his secrets from his brother, seeking refuge in +his supposed priestly views, suddenly felt such bitterness stirring his +heart that he could lie no longer. + +"Ah! brother, if you have your dream, I have my sore which has eaten into +me and left me void! Your Anarchy, your dream of just happiness, for +which Salvat works with bombs, why, it is the final burst of insanity +which will sweep everything away! How is it that you can't realise it? +The century is ending in ruins. I've been listening to you all for a +month past. Fourier destroyed Saint-Simon, Proudhon and Comte demolished +Fourier, each in turn piling up incoherences and contradictions, leaving +mere chaos behind them, which nobody dares to sort out. And since then, +Socialist sects have been swarming and multiplying, the more sensible of +them leading simply to dictatorship, while the others indulge in most +dangerous reveries. And after such a tempest of ideas there could indeed +come nothing but your Anarchy, which undertakes to bring the old world to +a finish by reducing it to dust. . . . Ah! I expected it, I was waiting +for it--that final catastrophe, that fratricidal madness, the inevitable +class warfare in which our civilisation was destined to collapse! +Everything announced it: the want and misery below, the egotism up above, +all the cracking of the old human habitation, borne down by too great a +weight of crime and grief. When I went to Lourdes it was to see if the +divinity of simple minds would work the awaited miracle, and restore the +belief of the early ages to the people, which rebelled through excess of +suffering. And when I went to Rome it was in the /naive/ hope of there +finding the new religion required by our democracies, the only one that +could pacify the world by bringing back the fraternity of the golden age. +But how foolish of me all that was! Both here and there, I simply lighted +on nothingness. There where I so ardently dreamt of finding the salvation +of others, I only sank myself, going down apeak like a ship not a timber +of which is ever found again. One tie still linked me to my fellow-men, +that of charity, the dressing, relieving, and perhaps, in the long run, +healing, of wounds and sores; but that last cable has now been severed. +Charity, to my mind, appears futile and derisive by the side of justice, +to whom all supremacy belongs, and whose advent has become a necessity +and can be stayed by none. And so it is all over, I am mere ashes, an +empty grave as it were. I no longer believe in anything, anything, +anything whatever!" + +Pierre had risen to his full height, with arms outstretched as if to let +all the nothingness within his heart and mind fall from them. And +Guillaume, distracted by the sight of such a fierce denier, such a +despairing Nihilist as was now revealed to him, drew near, quivering: +"What are you saying, brother! I thought you so firm, so calm in your +belief! A priest to be admired, a saint worshipped by the whole of this +parish! I was unwilling even to discuss your faith, and now it is you who +deny all, and believe in nothing whatever!" + +Pierre again slowly stretched out his arms. "There is nothing, I tried to +learn all, and only found the atrocious grief born of the nothingness +that overwhelms me." + +"Ah! how you must suffer, Pierre, my little brother! Can religion, then, +be even more withering than science, since it has ravaged you like that, +while I have yet remained an old madman, still full of fancies?" + +Guillaume caught hold of Pierre's hands and pressed them, full of +terrified compassion in presence of all the grandeur and horror embodied +in that unbelieving priest who watched over the belief of others, and +chastely, honestly discharged his duty amidst the haughty sadness born of +his falsehood. And how heavily must that falsehood have weighed upon his +conscience for him to confess himself in that fashion, amidst an utter +collapse of his whole being! A month previously, in the unexpansiveness +of his proud solitude, he would never have taken such a course. To speak +out it was necessary that he should have been stirred by many things, his +reconciliation with his brother, the conversations he had heard of an +evening, the terrible drama in which he was mingled, as well as his +reflections on labour struggling against want, and the vague hope with +which the sight of intellectual youth had inspired him. And, indeed, amid +the very excess of his negation was there not already the faint dawn of a +new faith? + +This Guillaume must have understood, on seeing how he quivered with +unsatisfied tenderness as he emerged from the fierce silence which he had +preserved so long. He made him sit down near the window, and placed +himself beside him without releasing his hands. "But I won't have you +suffer, my little brother!" he said; "I won't leave you, I'll nurse you. +For I know you much better than you know yourself. You would never have +suffered were it not for the battle between your heart and your mind, and +you will cease to suffer on the day when they make peace, and you love +what you understand." And in a lower voice, with infinite affection, he +went on: "You see, it's our poor mother and our poor father continuing +their painful struggle in you. You were too young at the time, you +couldn't know what went on. But I knew them both very wretched: he, +wretched through her, who treated him as if he were one of the damned; +and she, suffering through him, tortured by his irreligion. When he died, +struck down by an explosion in this very room, she took it to be the +punishment of God. Yet, what an honest man he was, with a good, great +heart, what a worker, seeking for truth alone, and desirous of the love +and happiness of all! Since we have spent our evenings here, I have felt +him coming back, reviving as it were both around and within us; and she, +too, poor, saintly woman, is ever here, enveloping us with love, weeping, +and yet stubbornly refusing to understand. It is they, perhaps, who have +kept me here so long, and who at this very moment are present to place +your hands in mine." + +And, indeed, it seemed to Pierre as if he could feel the breath of +vigilant affection which Guillaume evoked passing over them both. There +was again a revival of all the past, all their youth, and nothing could +have been more delightful. + +"You hear me, brother," Guillaume resumed. "You must reconcile them, for +it is only in you that they can be reconciled. You have his firm, lofty +brow, and her mouth and eyes of unrealisable tenderness. So, try to bring +them to agreement, by some day contenting, as your reason shall allow, +the everlasting thirst for love, and self-bestowal, and life, which for +lack of satisfaction is killing you. Your frightful wretchedness has no +other cause. Come back to life, love, bestow yourself, be a man!" + +Pierre raised a dolorous cry: "No, no, the death born of doubt has swept +through me, withering and shattering everything, and nothing more can +live in that cold dust!" + +"But, come," resumed Guillaume, "you cannot have reached such absolute +negation. No man reaches it. Even in the most disabused of minds there +remains a nook of fancy and hope. To deny charity, devotion, the +prodigies which love may work, ah! for my part I do not go so far as +that. And now that you have shown me your sore, why should I not tell you +my dream, the wild hope which keeps me alive! It is strange; but, are +/savants/ to be the last childish dreamers, and is faith only to spring +up nowadays in chemical laboratories?" + +Intense emotion was stirring Guillaume; there was battle waging in both +his brain and his heart. And at last, yielding to the deep compassion +which filled him, vanquished by his ardent affection for his unhappy +brother, he spoke out. But he had drawn yet closer to Pierre, even passed +one arm around him; and it was thus embracing him that he, in his turn, +made his confession, lowering his voice as if he feared that someone +might overhear his secret. "Why should you not know it?" he said. "My own +sons are ignorant of it. But you are a man and my brother, and since +there is nothing of the priest left in you, it is to the brother I will +confide it. This will make me love you the more, and perhaps it may do +you good." + +Then he told him of his invention, a new explosive, a powder of such +extraordinary force that its effects were incalculable. And he had found +employment for this powder in an engine of warfare, a special cannon, +hurling bombs which would assure the most overwhelming victory to the +army using them. The enemy's forces would be destroyed in a few hours, +and besieged cities would fall into dust at the slightest bombardment. He +had long searched and doubted, calculated, recalculated and experimented; +but everything was now ready: the precise formula of the powder, the +drawings for the cannon and the bombs, a whole packet of precious papers +stored in a safe spot. And after months of anxious reflection he had +resolved to give his invention to France, so as to ensure her a certainty +of victory in her coming, inevitable war with Germany! + +At the same time, he was not a man of narrow patriotism; on the contrary +he had a very broad, international conception of the future liberative +civilisation. Only he believed in the initiatory mission of France, and +particularly in that of Paris, which, even as it is to-day, was destined +to be the world's brain to-morrow, whence all science and justice would +proceed. The great idea of liberty and equality had already soared from +it at the prodigious blast of the Revolution; and from its genius and +valour the final emancipation of man would also take its flight. Thus it +was necessary that Paris should be victorious in the struggle in order +that the world might be saved. + +Pierre understood his brother, thanks to the lecture on explosives which +he had heard at Bertheroy's. And the grandeur of this scheme, this dream, +particularly struck him when he thought of the extraordinary future which +would open for Paris amidst the effulgent blaze of the bombs. Moreover, +he was struck by all the nobility of soul which had lain behind his +brother's anxiety for a month past. If Guillaume had trembled it was +simply with fear that his invention might be divulged in consequence of +Salvat's crime. The slightest indiscretion might compromise everything; +and that little stolen cartridge, whose effects had so astonished +/savants/, might reveal his secret. He felt it necessary to act in +mystery, choosing his own time, awaiting the proper hour, until when the +secret would slumber in its hiding-place, confided to the sole care of +Mere-Grand, who had her orders and knew what she was to do should he, in +any sudden accident, disappear. + +"And, now," said Guillaume in conclusion, "you know my hopes and my +anguish, and you can help me and even take my place if I am unable to +reach the end of my task. Ah! to reach the end! Since I have been shut up +here, reflecting, consumed by anxiety and impatience, there have been +hours when I have ceased to see my way clearly! There is that Salvat, +that wretched fellow for whose crime we are all of us responsible, and +who is now being hunted down like a wild beast! There is also that +insensate and insatiable /bourgeoisie/, which will let itself be crushed +by the fall of the shaky old house, rather than allow the least repair to +it! And there is further that avaricious, that abominable Parisian press, +so harsh towards the weak and little, so fond of insulting those who have +none to defend them, so eager to coin money out of public misfortune, and +ready to spread insanity on all sides, simply to increase its sales! +Where, therefore, shall one find truth and justice, the hand endowed with +logic and health that ought to be armed with the thunderbolt? Would Paris +the conqueror, Paris the master of the nations, prove the justiciar, the +saviour that men await! Ah! the anguish of believing oneself to be the +master of the world's destinies, and to have to choose and decide." + +He had risen again quivering, full of anger and fear that human +wretchedness and baseness might prevent the realisation of his dream. And +amidst the heavy silence which fell in the room, the little house +suddenly resounded with a regular, continuous footfall. + +"Ah, yes! to save men and love them, and wish them all to be equal and +free," murmured Pierre, bitterly. "But just listen! Barthes's footsteps +are answering you, as if from the everlasting dungeon into which his love +of liberty has thrown him!" + +However, Guillaume had already regained possession of himself, and coming +back in a transport of his faith, he once more took Pierre in his loving, +saving arms, like an elder brother who gives himself without restraint. +"No, no, I'm wrong, I'm blaspheming," he exclaimed; "I wish you to be +with me, full of hope and full of certainty. You must work, you must +love, you must revive to life. Life alone can give you back peace and +health." + +Tears returned to the eyes of Pierre, who was penetrated to the heart by +this ardent affection. "Ah! how I should like to believe you," he +faltered, "and try to cure myself. True, I have already felt, as it were, +a vague revival within me. And yet to live again, no, I cannot; the +priest that I am is dead--a lifeless, an empty tomb." + +He was shaken by so frightful a sob, that Guillaume could not restrain +his own tears. And clasped in one another's arms the brothers wept on, +their hearts full of the softest emotion in that home of their youth, +whither the dear shadows of their parents ever returned, hovering around +until they should be reconciled and restored to the peace of the earth. +And all the darkness and mildness of the garden streamed in through the +open window, while yonder, on the horizon, Paris had fallen asleep in the +mysterious gloom, beneath a very peaceful sky which was studded with +stars. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Cities Trilogy: Paris, +Vol. 2, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES: PARIS, VOL. 2 *** + +This file should be named pari210.txt or pari210.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, pari211.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, pari210a.txt + +Produced by Dagny [dagnypg@yahoo.com] +and David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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