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diff --git a/old/9169.txt b/old/9169.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..feac5c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/9169.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20174 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Paris, 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: Paris + From the "Three Cities" + +Author: Emile Zola + +Translator: Ernest A. Vizetelly + +Posting Date: March 17, 2009 [EBook #9169] +Release Date: October, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARIS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger and Dagny + + + + + + + +PARIS + +FROM THE THREE CITIES + + +By Emile Zola + + +Translated By Ernest A. Vizetelly + + + + +BOOK I. + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE + +WITH the present work M. Zola completes the "Trilogy of the Three +Cities," which he began with "Lourdes" and continued with "Rome"; and +thus the adventures and experiences of Abbe Pierre Froment, the doubting +Catholic priest who failed to find faith at the miraculous grotto by the +Cave, and hope amidst the crumbling theocracy of the Vatican, are here +brought to what, from M. Zola's point of view, is their logical +conclusion. From the first pages of "Lourdes," many readers will have +divined that Abbe Froment was bound to finish as he does, for, frankly, +no other finish was possible from a writer of M. Zola's opinions. + +Taking the Trilogy as a whole, one will find that it is essentially +symbolical. Abbe Froment is Man, and his struggles are the struggles +between Religion, as personified by the Roman Catholic Church, on the one +hand, and Reason and Life on the other. In the Abbe's case the victory +ultimately rests with the latter; and we may take it as being M. Zola's +opinion that the same will eventually be the case with the great bulk of +mankind. English writers are often accused of treating subjects from an +insular point of view, and certainly there may be good ground for such a +charge. But they are not the only writers guilty of the practice. The +purview of French authors is often quite as limited: they regard French +opinion as the only good opinion, and judge the rest of the world by +their own standard. In the present case, if we leave the world and +mankind generally on one side, and apply M. Zola's facts and theories to +France alone, it will be found, I think, that he has made out a +remarkably good case for himself. For it is certain that Catholicism, I +may say Christianity, is fast crumbling in France. There may be revivals +in certain limited circles, efforts of the greatest energy to prop up the +tottering edifice by a "rallying" of believers to the democratic cause, +and by a kindling of the most bitter anti-Semitic warfare; but all these +revivals and efforts, although they are extremely well-advertised and +create no little stir, produce very little impression on the bulk of the +population. So far as France is concerned, the policy of Leo XIII. seems +to have come too late. The French masses regard Catholicism or +Christianity, whichever one pleases, as a religion of death,--a religion +which, taking its stand on the text "There shall always be poor among +you," condemns them to toil and moil in poverty and distress their whole +life long, with no other consolation than the promise of happiness in +heaven. And, on the other hand, they see the ministers of the Deity, +"whose kingdom is not of this world," supporting the wealthy and +powerful, and striving to secure wealth and power for themselves. Charity +exists, of course, but the masses declare that it is no remedy; they do +not ask for doles, they ask for Justice. It is largely by reason of all +this that Socialism and Anarchism have made such great strides in France +of recent years. Robespierre, as will be remembered, once tried to +suppress Christianity altogether, and for a time certainly there was a +virtually general cessation of religious observances in France. But no +such Reign of Terror prevails there to-day. Men are perfectly free to +believe if they are inclined to do so; and yet never were there fewer +religious marriages, fewer baptisms or smaller congregations in the +French churches. I refer not merely to Paris and other large cities, but +to the smaller towns, and even the little hamlets of many parts. Old +village priests, men practising what they teach and possessed of the most +loving, benevolent hearts, have told me with tears in their eyes of the +growing infidelity of their parishioners. + +I have been studying this matter for some years, and write without +prejudice, merely setting down what I believe to be the truth. Of course +we are all aware that the most stupendous efforts are being made by the +Catholic clergy and zealous believers to bring about a revival of the +faith, and certainly in some circles there has been a measure of success. +But the reconversion of a nation is the most formidable of tasks; and, in +my own opinion, as in M. Zola's, France as a whole is lost to the +Christian religion. On this proposition, combined with a second one, +namely, that even as France as a nation will be the first to discard +Christianity, so she will be the first to promulgate a new faith based on +reason, science and the teachings of life, is founded the whole argument +of M. Zola's Trilogy. + +Having thus dealt with the Trilogy's religious aspects, I would now speak +of "Paris," its concluding volume. This is very different from "Lourdes" +and "Rome." Whilst recounting the struggles and fate of Abbe Froment and +his brother Guillaume, and entering largely into the problem of Capital +and Labour, which problem has done so much to turn the masses away from +Christianity, it contains many an interesting and valuable picture of the +Parisian world at the close of the nineteenth century. It is no +guide-book to Paris; but it paints the city's social life, its rich and +poor, its scandals and crimes, its work and its pleasures. Among the +households to which the reader is introduced are those of a banker, an +aged Countess of the old _noblesse_, a cosmopolitan Princess, of a kind +that Paris knows only too well, a scientist, a manufacturer, a working +mechanician, a priest, an Anarchist, a petty clerk and an actress of a +class that so often dishonours the French stage. Science and art and +learning and religion, all have their representatives. Then, too, the +political world is well to the front. There are honest and unscrupulous +Ministers of State, upright and venal deputies, enthusiastic and cautious +candidates for power, together with social theoreticians of various +schools. And the _blase_, weak-minded man of fashion is here, as well as +the young "symbolist" of perverted, degraded mind. The women are of all +types, from the most loathsome to the most lovable. Then, too, the +journalists are portrayed in such life-like fashion that I might give +each of them his real name. And journalism, Parisian journalism, is +flagellated, shown as it really is,--if just a few well-conducted organs +be excepted,--that is, venal and impudent, mendacious and even petty. + +The actual scenes depicted are quite as kaleidoscopic as are the +characters in their variety. We enter the banker's gilded saloon and the +hovel of the pauper, the busy factory, the priest's retired home and the +laboratory of the scientist. We wait in the lobbies of the Chamber of +Deputies, and afterwards witness "a great debate"; we penetrate into the +private sanctum of a Minister of the Interior; we attend a fashionable +wedding at the Madeleine and a first performance at the Comedie +Francaise; we dine at the Cafe Anglais and listen to a notorious vocalist +in a low music hall at Montmartre; we pursue an Anarchist through the +Bois de Boulogne; we slip into the Assize Court and see that Anarchist +tried there; we afterwards gaze upon his execution by the guillotine; we +are also on the boulevards when the lamps are lighted for a long night of +revelry, and we stroll along the quiet streets in the small hours of the +morning, when crime and homeless want are prowling round. + +And ever the scene changes; the whole world of Paris passes before one. +Yet the book, to my thinking, is far less descriptive than analytical. +The souls of the principal characters are probed to their lowest depths. +Many of the scenes, too, are intensely dramatic, admirably adapted for +the stage; as, for instance, Baroness Duvillard's interview with her +daughter in the chapter which I have called "The Rivals." And side by +side with baseness there is heroism, while beauty of the flesh finds its +counterpart in beauty of the mind. M. Zola has often been reproached for +showing us the vileness of human nature; and no doubt such vileness may +be found in "Paris," but there are contrasting pictures. If some of M. +Zola's characters horrify the reader, there are others that the latter +can but admire. Life is compounded of good and evil, and unfortunately it +is usually the evil that makes the most noise and attracts the most +attention. Moreover, in M. Zola's case, it has always been his purpose to +expose the evils from which society suffers in the hope of directing +attention to them and thereby hastening a remedy, and thus, in the course +of his works, he could not do otherwise than drag the whole frightful +mass of human villany and degradation into the full light of day. But if +there are, again, black pages in "Paris," others, bright and comforting, +will be found near them. And the book ends in no pessimist strain. +Whatever may be thought of the writer's views on religion, most readers +will, I imagine, agree with his opinion that, despite much social +injustice, much crime, vice, cupidity and baseness, we are ever marching +on to better things. + +In the making of the coming, though still far-away, era of truth and +justice, Paris, he thinks, will play the leading part, for whatever the +stains upon her, they are but surface-deep; her heart remains good and +sound; she has genius and courage and energy and wit and fancy. She can +be generous, too, when she chooses, and more than once her ideas have +irradiated the world. Thus M. Zola hopes much from her, and who will +gainsay him? Not I, who can apply to her the words which Byron addressed +to the home of my own and M. Zola's forefathers:-- + + "I loved her from my boyhood; she to me + Was as a fairy city of the heart." + +Thus I can but hope that Paris, where I learnt the little I know, where I +struggled and found love and happiness, whose every woe and disaster and +triumph I have shared for over thirty years, may, however dark the clouds +that still pass over her, some day fully justify M. Zola's confidence, +and bring to pass his splendid dream of perfect truth and perfect +justice. + +E. A. V. + +MERTON, SURREY, ENGLAND, + +Feb. 5, 1898. + + + + + +I. THE PRIEST AND THE POOR + +THAT morning, one towards the end of January, Abbe Pierre Froment, who +had a mass to say at the Sacred Heart at Montmartre, was on the height, +in front of the basilica, already at eight o'clock. And before going in +he gazed for a moment upon the immensity of Paris spread out below him. + +After two months of bitter cold, ice and snow, the city was steeped in a +mournful, quivering thaw. From the far-spreading, leaden-hued heavens a +thick mist fell like a mourning shroud. All the eastern portion of the +city, the abodes of misery and toil, seemed submerged beneath ruddy +steam, amid which the panting of workshops and factories could be +divined; while westwards, towards the districts of wealth and enjoyment, +the fog broke and lightened, becoming but a fine and motionless veil of +vapour. The curved line of the horizon could scarcely be divined, the +expanse of houses, which nothing bounded, appeared like a chaos of stone, +studded with stagnant pools, which filled the hollows with pale steam; +whilst against them the summits of the edifices, the housetops of the +loftier streets, showed black like soot. It was a Paris of mystery, +shrouded by clouds, buried as it were beneath the ashes of some disaster, +already half-sunken in the suffering and the shame of that which its +immensity concealed. + +Thin and sombre in his flimsy cassock, Pierre was looking on when Abbe +Rose, who seemed to have sheltered himself behind a pillar of the porch +on purpose to watch for him, came forward: "Ah! it's you at last, my dear +child," said he, "I have something to ask you." + +He seemed embarrassed and anxious, and glanced round distrustfully to +make sure that nobody was near. Then, as if the solitude thereabouts did +not suffice to reassure him, he led Pierre some distance away, through +the icy, biting wind, which he himself did not seem to feel. "This is the +matter," he resumed, "I have been told that a poor fellow, a former +house-painter, an old man of seventy, who naturally can work no more, is +dying of hunger in a hovel in the Rue des Saules. So, my dear child, I +thought of you. I thought you would consent to take him these three +francs from me, so that he may at least have some bread to eat for a few +days." + +"But why don't you take him your alms yourself?" + +At this Abbe Rose again grew anxious, and cast vague, frightened glances +about him. "Oh, no, oh, no!" he said, "I can no longer do that after all +the worries that have befallen me. You know that I am watched, and should +get another scolding if I were caught giving alms like this, scarcely +knowing to whom I give them. It is true that I had to sell something to +get these three francs. But, my dear child, render me this service, I +pray you." + +Pierre, with heart oppressed, stood contemplating the old priest, whose +locks were quite white, whose full lips spoke of infinite kindliness, and +whose eyes shone clear and childlike in his round and smiling face. And +he bitterly recalled the story of that lover of the poor, the +semi-disgrace into which he had fallen through the sublime candour of his +charitable goodness. His little ground-floor of the Rue de Charonne, +which he had turned into a refuge where he offered shelter to all the +wretchedness of the streets, had ended by giving cause for scandal. His +_naivete_ and innocence had been abused; and abominable things had gone +on under his roof without his knowledge. Vice had turned the asylum into +a meeting-place; and at last, one night, the police had descended upon it +to arrest a young girl accused of infanticide. Greatly concerned by this +scandal, the diocesan authorities had forced Abbe Rose to close his +shelter, and had removed him from the church of Ste. Marguerite to that +of St. Pierre of Montmartre, where he now again acted as curate. Truth to +tell, it was not a disgrace but a removal to another spot. However, he +had been scolded and was watched, as he said; and he was much ashamed of +it, and very unhappy at being only able to give alms by stealth, much +like some harebrained prodigal who blushes for his faults. + +Pierre took the three francs. "I promise to execute your commission, my +friend, oh! with all my heart," he said. + +"You will go after your mass, won't you? His name is Laveuve, he lives in +the Rue des Saules in a house with a courtyard, just before reaching the +Rue Marcadet. You are sure to find it. And if you want to be very kind +you will tell me of your visit this evening at five o'clock, at the +Madeleine, where I am going to hear Monseigneur Martha's address. He has +been so good to me! Won't you also come to hear him?" + +Pierre made an evasive gesture. Monseigneur Martha, Bishop of Persepolis +and all powerful at the archiepiscopal palace, since, like the genial +propagandist he was, he had been devoting himself to increasing the +subscriptions for the basilica of the Sacred Heart, had indeed supported +Abbe Rose; in fact, it was by his influence that the abbe had been kept +in Paris, and placed once more at St. Pierre de Montmartre. + +"I don't know if I shall be able to hear the address," said Pierre, "but +in any case I will go there to meet you." + +The north wind was blowing, and the gloomy cold penetrated both of them +on that deserted summit amidst the fog which changed the vast city into a +misty ocean. However, some footsteps were heard, and Abbe Rose, again +mistrustful, saw a man go by, a tall and sturdy man, who wore clogs and +was bareheaded, showing his thick and closely-cut white hair. "Is not +that your brother?" asked the old priest. + +Pierre had not stirred. "Yes, it is my brother Guillaume," he quietly +responded. "I have found him again since I have been coming occasionally +to the Sacred Heart. He owns a house close by, where he has been living +for more than twenty years, I think. When we meet we shake hands, but I +have never even been to his house. Oh! all is quite dead between us, we +have nothing more in common, we are parted by worlds." + +Abbe Rose's tender smile again appeared, and he waved his hand as if to +say that one must never despair of love. Guillaume Froment, a savant of +lofty intelligence, a chemist who lived apart from others, like one who +rebelled against the social system, was now a parishioner of the abbe's, +and when the latter passed the house where Guillaume lived with his three +sons--a house all alive with work--he must often have dreamt of leading +him back to God. + +"But, my dear child," he resumed, "I am keeping you here in this dark +cold, and you are not warm. Go and say your mass. Till this evening, at +the Madeleine." Then, in entreating fashion, after again making sure that +none could hear them, he added, still with the air of a child at fault: +"And not a word to anybody about my little commission--it would again be +said that I don't know how to conduct myself." + +Pierre watched the old priest as he went off towards the Rue Cartot, +where he lived on a damp ground-floor, enlivened by a strip of garden. +The veil of disaster, which was submerging Paris, now seemed to grow +thicker under the gusts of the icy north wind. And at last Pierre entered +the basilica, his heart upset, overflowing with the bitterness stirred up +by the recollection of Abbe Rose's story--that bankruptcy of charity, the +frightful irony of a holy man punished for bestowing alms, and hiding +himself that he might still continue to bestow them. Nothing could calm +the smart of the wound reopened in Pierre's heart--neither the warm +peacefulness into which he entered, nor the silent solemnity of the +broad, deep fabric, whose new stonework was quite bare, without a single +painting or any kind of decoration; the nave being still half-barred by +the scaffoldings which blocked up the unfinished dome. At that early hour +the masses of entreaty had already been said at several altars, under the +grey light falling from the high and narrow windows, and the tapers of +entreaty were burning in the depths of the apse. So Pierre made haste to +go to the sacristy, there to assume his vestments in order that he might +say his mass in the chapel of St. Vincent de Paul. + +But the floodgates of memory had been opened, and he had no thought but +for his distress whilst, in mechanical fashion, he performed the rites +and made the customary gestures. Since his return from Rome three years +previously, he had been living in the very worst anguish that can fall on +man. At the outset, in order to recover his lost faith, he had essayed a +first experiment: he had gone to Lourdes, there to seek the innocent +belief of the child who kneels and prays, the primitive faith of young +nations bending beneath the terror born of ignorance; but he had rebelled +yet more than ever in presence of what he had witnessed at Lourdes: that +glorification of the absurd, that collapse of common sense; and was +convinced that salvation, the peace of men and nations nowadays, could +not lie in that puerile relinquishment of reason. And afterwards, again +yielding to the need of loving whilst yet allowing reason, so hard to +satisfy, her share in his intellect, he had staked his final peace on a +second experiment, and had gone to Rome to see if Catholicism could there +be renewed, could revert to the spirit of primitive Christianity and +become the religion of the democracy, the faith which the modern world, +upheaving and in danger of death, was awaiting in order to calm down and +live. And he had found there naught but ruins, the rotted trunk of a tree +that could never put forth another springtide; and he had heard there +naught but the supreme rending of the old social edifice, near to its +fall. Then it was, that, relapsing into boundless doubt, total negation, +he had been recalled to Paris by Abbe Rose, in the name of their poor, +and had returned thither that he might forget and immolate himself and +believe in them--the poor--since they and their frightful sufferings +alone remained certain. And then it was too, that for three years he came +into contact with that collapse, that very bankruptcy of goodness itself: +charity a derision, charity useless and flouted. + +Those three years had been lived by Pierre amidst ever-growing torments, +in which his whole being had ended by sinking. His faith was forever +dead; dead, too, even his hope of utilising the faith of the multitudes +for the general salvation. He denied everything, he anticipated nothing +but the final, inevitable catastrophe: revolt, massacre and +conflagration, which would sweep away a guilty and condemned world. +Unbelieving priest that he was, yet watching over the faith of others, +honestly, chastely discharging his duties, full of haughty sadness at the +thought that he had been unable to renounce his mind as he had renounced +his flesh and his dream of being a saviour of the nations, he withal +remained erect, full of fierce yet solitary grandeur. And this +despairing, denying priest, who had dived to the bottom of nothingness, +retained such a lofty and grave demeanour, perfumed by such pure +kindness, that in his parish of Neuilly he had acquired the reputation of +being a young saint, one beloved by Providence, whose prayers wrought +miracles. He was but a personification of the rules of the Church; of the +priest he retained only the gestures; he was like an empty sepulchre in +which not even the ashes of hope remained; yet grief-stricken weeping +women worshipped him and kissed his cassock; and it was a tortured mother +whose infant was in danger of death, who had implored him to come and ask +that infant's cure of Jesus, certain as she felt that Jesus would grant +her the boon in that sanctuary of Montmartre where blazed the prodigy of +His heart, all burning with love. + +Clad in his vestments, Pierre had reached the chapel of St. Vincent de +Paul. He there ascended the altar-step and began the mass; and when he +turned round with hands spread out to bless the worshippers he showed his +hollow cheeks, his gentle mouth contracted by bitterness, his loving eyes +darkened by suffering. He was no longer the young priest whose +countenance had glowed with tender fever on the road to Lourdes, whose +face had been illumined by apostolic fervour when he started for Rome. +The two hereditary influences which were ever at strife within him--that +of his father to whom he owed his impregnable, towering brow, that of his +mother who had given him his love-thirsting lips, were still waging war, +the whole human battle of sentiment and reason, in that now ravaged face +of his, whither in moments of forgetfulness ascended all the chaos of +internal suffering. The lips still confessed that unquenched thirst for +love, self-bestowal and life, which he well thought he could nevermore +content, whilst the solid brow, the citadel which made him suffer, +obstinately refused to capitulate, whatever might be the assaults of +error. But he stiffened himself, hid the horror of the void in which he +struggled, and showed himself superb, making each gesture, repeating each +word in sovereign fashion. And gazing at him through her tears, the +mother who was there among the few kneeling women, the mother who awaited +a supreme intercession from him, who thought him in communion with Jesus +for the salvation of her child, beheld him radiant with angelic beauty +like some messenger of the divine grace. + +When, after the offertory, Pierre uncovered the chalice he felt contempt +for himself. The shock had been too great, and he thought of those things +in spite of all. What puerility there had been in his two experiments at +Lourdes and Rome, the _naivete_ of a poor distracted being, consumed by +desire to love and believe. To have imagined that present-day science +would in his person accommodate itself to the faith of the year One +Thousand, and in particular to have foolishly believed that he, petty +priest that he was, would be able to indoctrinate the Pope and prevail on +him to become a saint and change the face of the world! It all filled him +with shame; how people must have laughed at him! Then, too, his idea of a +schism made him blush. He again beheld himself at Rome, dreaming of +writing a book by which he would violently sever himself from Catholicism +to preach the new religion of the democracies, the purified, human and +living Gospel. But what ridiculous folly! A schism? He had known in Paris +an abbe of great heart and mind who had attempted to bring about that +famous, predicted, awaited schism. Ah! the poor man, the sad, the +ludicrous labour in the midst of universal incredulity, the icy +indifference of some, the mockery and the reviling of others! If Luther +were to come to France in our days he would end, forgotten and dying of +hunger, on a Batignolles fifth-floor. A schism cannot succeed among a +people that no longer believes, that has ceased to take all interest in +the Church, and sets its hope elsewhere. And it was all Catholicism, in +fact all Christianity, that would be swept away, for, apart from certain +moral maxims, the Gospel no longer supplied a possible code for society. +And this conviction increased Pierre's torment on the days when his +cassock weighed more heavily on his shoulders, when he ended by feeling +contempt for himself at thus celebrating the divine mystery of the mass, +which for him had become but the formula of a dead religion. + +Having half filled the chalice with wine from the vase, Pierre washed his +hands and again perceived the mother with her face of ardent entreaty. +Then he thought it was for her that, with the charitable leanings of a +vow-bound man, he had remained a priest, a priest without belief, feeding +the belief of others with the bread of illusion. But this heroic conduct, +the haughty spirit of duty in which he imprisoned himself, was not +practised by him without growing anguish. Did not elementary probity +require that he should cast aside the cassock and return into the midst +of men? At certain times the falsity of his position filled him with +disgust for his useless heroism; and he asked himself if it were not +cowardly and dangerous to leave the masses in superstition. Certainly the +theory of a just and vigilant Providence, of a future paradise where all +these sufferings of the world would receive compensation, had long seemed +necessary to the wretchedness of mankind; but what a trap lay in it, what +a pretext for the tyrannical grinding down of nations; and how far more +virile it would be to undeceive the nations, however brutally, and give +them courage to live the real life, even if it were in tears. If they +were already turning aside from Christianity was not this because they +needed a more human ideal, a religion of health and joy which should not +be a religion of death? On the day when the idea of charity should +crumble, Christianity would crumble also, for it was built upon the idea +of divine charity correcting the injustice of fate, and offering future +rewards to those who might suffer in this life. And it was crumbling; for +the poor no longer believed in it, but grew angry at the thought of that +deceptive paradise, with the promise of which their patience had been +beguiled so long, and demanded that their share of happiness should not +always be put off until the morrow of death. A cry for justice arose from +every lip, for justice upon this earth, justice for those who hunger and +thirst, whom alms are weary of relieving after eighteen hundred years of +Gospel teaching, and who still and ever lack bread to eat. + +When Pierre, with his elbows on the altar, had emptied the chalice after +breaking the sacred wafer, he felt himself sinking into yet greater +distress. And so a third experiment was beginning for him, the supreme +battle of justice against charity, in which his heart and his mind would +struggle together in that great Paris, so full of terrible, unknown +things. The need for the divine still battled within him against +domineering intelligence. How among the masses would one ever be able to +content the thirst for the mysterious? Leaving the _elite_ on one side, +would science suffice to pacify desire, lull suffering, and satisfy the +dream? And what would become of himself in the bankruptcy of that same +charity, which for three years had alone kept him erect by occupying his +every hour, and giving him the illusion of self-devotion, of being useful +to others? It seemed, all at once, as if the ground sank beneath him, and +he heard nothing save the cry of the masses, silent so long, but now +demanding justice, growling and threatening to take their share, which +was withheld from them by force and ruse. Nothing more, it seemed, could +delay the inevitable catastrophe, the fratricidal class warfare that +would sweep away the olden world, which was condemned to disappear +beneath the mountain of its crimes. Every hour with frightful sadness he +expected the collapse, Paris steeped in blood, Paris in flames. And his +horror of all violence froze him; he knew not where to seek the new +belief which might dissipate the peril. Fully conscious, though he was, +that the social and religious problems are but one, and are alone in +question in the dreadful daily labour of Paris, he was too deeply +troubled himself, too far removed from ordinary things by his position as +a priest, and too sorely rent by doubt and powerlessness to tell as yet +where might be truth, and health, and life. Ah! to be healthy and to +live, to content at last both heart and reason in the peace, the certain, +simply honest labour, which man has come to accomplish upon this earth! + +The mass was finished, and Pierre descended from the altar, when the +weeping mother, near whom he passed, caught hold of a corner of the +chasuble with her trembling hands, and kissed it with wild fervour, as +one may kiss some relic of a saint from whom one expects salvation. She +thanked him for the miracle which he must have accomplished, certain as +she felt that she would find her child cured. And he was deeply stirred +by that love, that ardent faith of hers, in spite of the sudden and yet +keener distress which he felt at being in no wise the sovereign minister +that she thought him, the minister able to obtain a respite from Death. +But he dismissed her consoled and strengthened, and it was with an ardent +prayer that he entreated the unknown but conscious Power to succour the +poor creature. Then, when he had divested himself in the sacristy, and +found himself again out of doors before the basilica, lashed by the keen +wintry wind, a mortal shiver came upon him, and froze him, while through +the mist he looked to see if a whirlwind of anger and justice had not +swept Paris away: that catastrophe which must some day destroy it, +leaving under the leaden heavens only the pestilential quagmire of its +ruins. + +Pierre wished to fulfil Abbe Rose's commission immediately. He followed +the Rue des Norvins, on the crest of Montmartre; and, reaching the Rue +des Saules, descended by its steep slope, between mossy walls, to the +other side of Paris. The three francs which he was holding in his +cassock's pocket, filled him at once with gentle emotion and covert anger +against the futility of charity. But as he gradually descended by the +sharp declivities and interminable storeys of steps, the mournful nooks +of misery which he espied took possession of him, and infinite pity wrung +his heart. A whole new district was here being built alongside the broad +thoroughfares opened since the great works of the Sacred Heart had begun. +Lofty middle-class houses were already rising among ripped-up gardens and +plots of vacant land, still edged with palings. And these houses with +their substantial frontages, all new and white, lent a yet more sombre +and leprous aspect to such of the old shaky buildings as remained, the +low pot-houses with blood-coloured walls, the _cites_ of workmen's +dwellings, those abodes of suffering with black, soiled buildings in +which human cattle were piled. Under the low-hanging sky that day, the +pavement, dented by heavily-laden carts, was covered with mud; the thaw +soaked the walls with an icy dampness, whilst all the filth and +destitution brought terrible sadness to the heart. + +After going as far as the Rue Marcadet, Pierre retraced his steps; and in +the Rue des Saules, certain that he was not mistaken, he entered the +courtyard of a kind of barracks or hospital, encompassed by three +irregular buildings. This court was a quagmire, where filth must have +accumulated during the two months of terrible frost; and now all was +melting, and an abominable stench arose. The buildings were half falling, +the gaping vestibules looked like cellar holes, strips of paper streaked +the cracked and filthy window-panes, and vile rags hung about like flags +of death. Inside a shanty which served as the door-keeper's abode Pierre +only saw an infirm man rolled up in a tattered strip of what had once +been a horse-cloth. + +"You have an old workman named Laveuve here," said the priest. "Which +staircase is it, which floor?" + +The man did not answer, but opened his anxious eyes, like a scared idiot. +The door-keeper, no doubt, was in the neighbourhood. For a moment the +priest waited; then seeing a little girl on the other side of the +courtyard, he risked himself, crossed the quagmire on tip-toe, and asked: +"Do you know an old workman named Laveuve in the house, my child?" + +The little girl, who only had a ragged gown of pink cotton stuff about +her meagre figure, stood there shivering, her hands covered with +chilblains. She raised her delicate face, which looked pretty though +nipped by the cold: "Laveuve," said she, "no, don't know, don't know." +And with the unconscious gesture of a beggar child she put out one of her +poor, numbed and disfigured hands. Then, when the priest had given her a +little bit of silver, she began to prance through the mud like a joyful +goat, singing the while in a shrill voice: "Don't know, don't know." + +Pierre decided to follow her. She vanished into one of the gaping +vestibules, and, in her rear, he climbed a dark and fetid staircase, +whose steps were half-broken and so slippery, on account of the vegetable +parings strewn over them, that he had to avail himself of the greasy rope +by which the inmates hoisted themselves upwards. But every door was +closed; he vainly knocked at several of them, and only elicited, at the +last, a stifled growl, as though some despairing animal were confined +within. Returning to the yard, he hesitated, then made his way to another +staircase, where he was deafened by piercing cries, as of a child who is +being butchered. He climbed on hearing this noise and at last found +himself in front of an open room where an infant, who had been left +alone, tied in his little chair, in order that he might not fall, was +howling and howling without drawing breath. Then Pierre went down again, +upset, frozen by the sight of so much destitution and abandonment. + +But a woman was coming in, carrying three potatoes in her apron, and on +being questioned by him she gazed distrustfully at his cassock. "Laveuve, +Laveuve? I can't say," she replied. "If the door-keeper were there, she +might be able to tell you. There are five staircases, you see, and we +don't all know each other. Besides, there are so many changes. Still try +over there; at the far end." + +The staircase at the back of the yard was yet more abominable than the +others, its steps warped, its walls slimy, as if soaked with the sweat of +anguish. At each successive floor the drain-sinks exhaled a pestilential +stench, whilst from every lodging came moans, or a noise of quarrelling, +or some frightful sign of misery. A door swung open, and a man appeared +dragging a woman by the hair whilst three youngsters sobbed aloud. On the +next floor, Pierre caught a glimpse of a room where a young girl in her +teens, racked by coughing, was hastily carrying an infant to and fro to +quiet it, in despair that all the milk of her breast should be exhausted. +Then, in an adjoining lodging, came the poignant spectacle of three +beings, half clad in shreds, apparently sexless and ageless, who, amidst +the dire bareness of their room, were gluttonously eating from the same +earthen pan some pottage which even dogs would have refused. They barely +raised their heads to growl, and did not answer Pierre's questions. + +He was about to go down again, when right atop of the stairs, at the +entry of a passage, it occurred to him to make a last try by knocking at +the door. It was opened by a woman whose uncombed hair was already +getting grey, though she could not be more than forty; while her pale +lips, and dim eyes set in a yellow countenance, expressed utter +lassitude, the shrinking, the constant dread of one whom wretchedness has +pitilessly assailed. The sight of Pierre's cassock disturbed her, and she +stammered anxiously: "Come in, come in, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +However, a man whom Pierre had not at first seen--a workman also of some +forty years, tall, thin and bald, with scanty moustache and beard of a +washed-out reddish hue--made an angry gesture--a threat as it were--to +turn the priest out of doors. But he calmed himself, sat down near a +rickety table and pretended to turn his back. And as there was also a +child present--a fair-haired girl, eleven or twelve years old, with a +long and gentle face and that intelligent and somewhat aged expression +which great misery imparts to children--he called her to him, and held +her between his knees, doubtless to keep her away from the man in the +cassock. + +Pierre--whose heart was oppressed by his reception, and who realised the +utter destitution of this family by the sight of the bare, fireless room, +and the distressed mournfulness of its three inmates--decided all the +same to repeat his question: "Madame, do you know an old workman named +Laveuve in the house?" + +The woman--who now trembled at having admitted him, since it seemed to +displease her man--timidly tried to arrange matters. "Laveuve, Laveuve? +no, I don't. But Salvat, you hear? Do you know a Laveuve here?" + +Salvat merely shrugged his shoulders; but the little girl could not keep +her tongue still: "I say, mamma Theodore, it's p'raps the Philosopher." + +"A former house-painter," continued Pierre, "an old man who is ill and +past work." + +Madame Theodore was at once enlightened. "In that case it's him, it's +him. We call him the Philosopher, a nickname folks have given him in the +neighbourhood. But there's nothing to prevent his real name from being +Laveuve." + +With one of his fists raised towards the ceiling, Salvat seemed to be +protesting against the abomination of a world and a Providence that +allowed old toilers to die of hunger just like broken-down beasts. +However, he did not speak, but relapsed into the savage, heavy silence, +the bitter meditation in which he had been plunged when the priest +arrived. He was a journeyman engineer, and gazed obstinately at the table +where lay his little leather tool-bag, bulging with something it +contained--something, perhaps, which he had to take back to a work-shop. +He might have been thinking of a long, enforced spell of idleness, of a +vain search for any kind of work during the two previous months of that +terrible winter. Or perhaps it was the coming bloody reprisals of the +starvelings that occupied the fiery reverie which set his large, strange, +vague blue eyes aglow. All at once he noticed that his daughter had taken +up the tool-bag and was trying to open it to see what it might contain. +At this he quivered and at last spoke, his voice kindly, yet bitter with +sudden emotion, which made him turn pale. "Celine, you must leave that +alone. I forbade you to touch my tools," said he; then taking the bag, he +deposited it with great precaution against the wall behind him. + +"And so, madame," asked Pierre, "this man Laveuve lives on this floor?" + +Madame Theodore directed a timid, questioning glance at Salvat. She was +not in favour of hustling priests when they took the trouble to call, for +at times there was a little money to be got from them. And when she +realised that Salvat, who had once more relapsed into his black reverie, +left her free to act as she pleased, she at once tendered her services. +"If Monsieur l'Abbe is agreeable, I will conduct him. It's just at the +end of the passage. But one must know the way, for there are still some +steps to climb." + +Celine, finding a pastime in this visit, escaped from her father's knees +and likewise accompanied the priest. And Salvat remained alone in that +den of poverty and suffering, injustice and anger, without a fire, +without bread, haunted by his burning dream, his eyes again fixed upon +his bag, as if there, among his tools, he possessed the wherewithal to +heal the ailing world. + +It indeed proved necessary to climb a few more steps; and then, following +Madame Theodore and Celine, Pierre found himself in a kind of narrow +garret under the roof, a loft a few yards square, where one could not +stand erect. There was no window, only a skylight, and as the snow still +covered it one had to leave the door wide open in order that one might +see. And the thaw was entering the place, the melting snow was falling +drop by drop, and coming over the tiled floor. After long weeks of +intense cold, dark dampness rained quivering over all. And there, lacking +even a chair, even a plank, Laveuve lay in a corner on a little pile of +filthy rags spread upon the bare tiles; he looked like some animal dying +on a dung-heap. + +"There!" said Celine in her sing-song voice, "there he is, that's the +Philosopher!" + +Madame Theodore had bent down to ascertain if he still lived. "Yes, he +breathes; he's sleeping I think. Oh! if he only had something to eat +every day, he would be well enough. But what would you have? He has +nobody left him, and when one gets to seventy the best is to throw +oneself into the river. In the house-painting line it often happens that +a man has to give up working on ladders and scaffoldings at fifty. He at +first found some work to do on the ground level. Then he was lucky enough +to get a job as night watchman. But that's over, he's been turned away +from everywhere, and, for two months now, he's been lying in this nook +waiting to die. The landlord hasn't dared to fling him into the street as +yet, though not for want of any inclination that way. We others sometimes +bring him a little wine and a crust, of course; but when one has nothing +oneself, how can one give to others?" + +Pierre, terrified, gazed at that frightful remnant of humanity, that +remnant into which fifty years of toil, misery and social injustice had +turned a man. And he ended by distinguishing Laveuve's white, worn, +sunken, deformed head. Here, on a human face, appeared all the ruin +following upon hopeless labour. Laveuve's unkempt beard straggled over +his features, suggesting an old horse that is no longer cropped; his +toothless jaws were quite askew, his eyes were vitreous, and his nose +seemed to plunge into his mouth. But above all else one noticed his +resemblance to some beast of burden, deformed by hard toil, lamed, worn +to death, and now only good for the knackers. + +"Ah! the poor fellow," muttered the shuddering priest. "And he is left to +die of hunger, all alone, without any succour? And not a hospital, not an +asylum has given him shelter?" + +"Well," resumed Madame Theodore in her sad yet resigned voice, "the +hospitals are built for the sick, and he isn't sick, he's simply +finishing off, with his strength at an end. Besides he isn't always easy +to deal with. People came again only lately to put him in an asylum, but +he won't be shut up. And he speaks coarsely to those who question him, +not to mention that he has the reputation of liking drink and talking +badly about the gentle-folks. But, thank Heaven, he will now soon be +delivered." + +Pierre had leant forward on seeing Laveuve's eyes open, and he spoke to +him tenderly, telling him that he had come from a friend with a little +money to enable him to buy what he might most pressingly require. At +first, on seeing Pierre's cassock, the old man had growled some coarse +words; but, despite his extreme feebleness, he still retained the pert +chaffing spirit of the Parisian artisan: "Well, then, I'll willingly +drink a drop," he said distinctly, "and have a bit of bread with it, if +there's the needful; for I've lost taste of both for a couple of days +past." + +Celine offered her services, and Madame Theodore sent her to fetch a loaf +and a quart of wine with Abbe Rose's money. And in the interval she told +Pierre how Laveuve was at one moment to have entered the Asylum of the +Invalids of Labour, a charitable enterprise whose lady patronesses were +presided over by Baroness Duvillard. However, the usual regulation +inquiries had doubtless led to such an unfavourable report that matters +had gone no further. + +"Baroness Duvillard! but I know her, and will go to see her to-day!" +exclaimed Pierre, whose heart was bleeding. "It is impossible for a man +to be left in such circumstances any longer." + +Then, as Celine came back with the loaf and the wine, the three of them +tried to make Laveuve more comfortable, raised him on his heap of rags, +gave him to eat and to drink, and then left the remainder of the wine and +the loaf--a large four-pound loaf--near him, recommending him to wait +awhile before he finished the bread, as otherwise he might stifle. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe ought to give me his address in case I should have any +news to send him," said Madame Theodore when she again found herself at +her door. + +Pierre had no card with him, and so all three went into the room. But +Salvat was no longer alone there. He stood talking in a low voice very +quickly, and almost mouth to mouth, with a young fellow of twenty. The +latter, who was slim and dark, with a sprouting beard and hair cut in +brush fashion, had bright eyes, a straight nose and thin lips set in a +pale and slightly freckled face, betokening great intelligence. With +stern and stubborn brow, he stood shivering in his well-worn jacket. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe wants to leave me his address for the Philosopher's +affair," gently explained Madame Theodore, annoyed to find another there +with Salvat. + +The two men had glanced at the priest and then looked at one another, +each with terrible mien. And they suddenly ceased speaking in the bitter +cold which fell from the ceiling. Then, again with infinite precaution, +Salvat went to take his tool-bag from alongside the wall. + +"So you are going down, you are again going to look for work?" asked +Madame Theodore. + +He did not answer, but merely made an angry gesture, as if to say that he +would no longer have anything to do with work since work for so long a +time had not cared to have anything to do with him. + +"All the same," resumed the woman, "try to bring something back with you, +for you know there's nothing. At what time will you be back?" + +With another gesture he seemed to answer that he would come back when he +could, perhaps never. And tears rising, despite all his efforts, to his +vague, blue, glowing eyes he caught hold of his daughter Celine, kissed +her violently, distractedly, and then went off, with his bag under his +arm, followed by his young companion. + +"Celine," resumed Madame Theodore, "give Monsieur l'Abbe your pencil, +and, see, monsieur, seat yourself here, it will be better for writing." + +Then, when Pierre had installed himself at the table, on the chair +previously occupied by Salvat, she went on talking, seeking to excuse her +man for his scanty politeness: "He hasn't a bad heart, but he's had so +many worries in life that he has become a bit cracked. It's like that +young man whom you just saw here, Monsieur Victor Mathis. There's another +for you, who isn't happy, a young man who was well brought up, who has a +lot of learning, and whose mother, a widow, has only just got the +wherewithal to buy bread. So one can understand it, can't one? It all +upsets their heads, and they talk of blowing up everybody. For my part +those are not my notions, but I forgive them, oh! willingly enough." + +Perturbed, yet interested by all the mystery and vague horror which he +could divine around him, Pierre made no haste to write his address, but +lingered listening, as if inviting confidence. + +"If you only knew, Monsieur l'Abbe, that poor Salvat was a forsaken +child, without father or mother, and had to scour the roads and try every +trade at first to get a living. Then afterwards he became a mechanician, +and a very good workman, I assure you, very skilful and very painstaking. +But he already had those ideas of his, and quarrelled with people, and +tried to bring his mates over to his views; and so he was unable to stay +anywhere. At last, when he was thirty, he was stupid enough to go to +America with an inventor, who traded on him to such a point that after +six years of it he came back ill and penniless. I must tell you that he +had married my younger sister Leonie, and that she died before he went to +America, leaving him little Celine, who was then only a year old. I was +then living with my husband, Theodore Labitte, a mason; and it's not to +brag that I say it, but however much I wore out my eyes with needlework +he used to beat me till he left me half-dead on the floor. But he ended +by deserting me and going off with a young woman of twenty, which, after +all, caused me more pleasure than grief. And naturally when Salvat came +back he sought me out and found me alone with his little Celine, whom he +had left in my charge when he went away, and who called me mamma. And +we've all three been living together since then--" + +She became somewhat embarrassed, and then, as if to show that she did not +altogether lack some respectable family connections, she went on to say: +"For my part I've had no luck; but I've another sister, Hortense, who's +married to a clerk, Monsieur Chretiennot, and lives in a pretty lodging +on the Boulevard Rochechouart. There were three of us born of my father's +second marriage,--Hortense, who's the youngest, Leonie, who's dead, and +myself, Pauline, the eldest. And of my father's first marriage I've still +a brother Eugene Toussaint, who is ten years older than me and is an +engineer like Salvat, and has been working ever since the war in the same +establishment, the Grandidier factory, only a hundred steps away in the +Rue Marcadet. The misfortune is that he had a stroke lately. As for me, +my eyes are done for; I ruined them by working ten hours a day at fine +needlework. And now I can no longer even try to mend anything without my +eyes filling with water till I can't see at all. I've tried to find +charwoman's work, but I can't get any; bad luck always follows us. And so +we are in need of everything; we've nothing but black misery, two or +three days sometimes going by without a bite, so that it's like the +chance life of a dog that feeds on what it can find. And with these last +two months of bitter cold to freeze us, it's sometimes made us think that +one morning we should never wake up again. But what would you have? I've +never been happy, I was beaten to begin with, and now I'm done for, left +in a corner, living on, I really don't know why." + +Her voice had begun to tremble, her red eyes moistened, and Pierre could +realise that she thus wept through life, a good enough woman but one who +had no will, and was already blotted out, so to say, from existence. + +"Oh! I don't complain of Salvat," she went on. "He's a good fellow; he +only dreams of everybody's happiness, and he doesn't drink, and he works +when he can. Only it's certain that he'd work more if he didn't busy +himself with politics. One can't discuss things with comrades, and go to +public meetings and be at the workshop at the same time. In that he's at +fault, that's evident. But all the same he has good reason to complain, +for one can't imagine such misfortunes as have pursued him. Everything +has fallen on him, everything has beaten him down. Why, a saint even +would have gone mad, so that one can understand that a poor beggar who +has never had any luck should get quite wild. For the last two months he +has only met one good heart, a learned gentleman who lives up yonder on +the height, Monsieur Guillaume Froment, who has given him a little work, +just something to enable us to have some soup now and then." + +Much surprised by this mention of his brother, Pierre wished to ask +certain questions; but a singular feeling of uneasiness, in which fear +and discretion mingled, checked his tongue. He looked at Celine, who +stood before him, listening in silence with her grave, delicate air; and +Madame Theodore, seeing him smile at the child, indulged in a final +remark: "It's just the idea of that child," said she, "that throws Salvat +out of his wits. He adores her, and he'd kill everybody if he could, when +he sees her go supperless to bed. She's such a good girl, she was +learning so nicely at the Communal School! But now she hasn't even a +shift to go there in." + +Pierre, who had at last written his address, slipped a five-franc piece +into the little girl's hand, and, desirous as he was of curtailing any +thanks, he hastily said: "You will know now where to find me if you need +me for Laveuve. But I'm going to busy myself about him this very +afternoon, and I really hope that he will be fetched away this evening." + +Madame Theodore did not listen, but poured forth all possible blessings; +whilst Celine, thunderstruck at seeing five francs in her hand, murmured: +"Oh! that poor papa, who has gone to hunt for money! Shall I run after +him to tell him that we've got enough for to-day?" + +Then the priest, who was already in the passage, heard the woman answer: +"Oh! he's far away if he's still walking. He'll p'raps come back right +enough." + +However, as Pierre, with buzzing head and grief-stricken heart, hastily +escaped out of that frightful house of suffering, he perceived to his +astonishment Salvat and Victor Mathis standing erect in a corner of the +filthy courtyard, where the stench was so pestilential. They had come +downstairs, there to continue their interrupted colloquy. And again, they +were talking in very low tones, and very quickly, mouth to mouth, +absorbed in the violent thoughts which made their eyes flare. But they +heard the priest's footsteps, recognised him, and suddenly becoming cold +and calm, exchanged an energetic hand-shake without uttering another +word. Victor went up towards Montmartre, whilst Salvat hesitated like a +man who is consulting destiny. Then, as if trusting himself to stern +chance, drawing up his thin figure, the figure of a weary, hungry toiler, +he turned into the Rue Marcadet, and walked towards Paris, his tool-bag +still under his arm. + +For an instant Pierre felt a desire to run and call to him that his +little girl wished him to go back again. But the same feeling of +uneasiness as before came over the priest--a commingling of discretion +and fear, a covert conviction that nothing could stay destiny. And he +himself was no longer calm, no longer experienced the icy, despairing +distress of the early morning. On finding himself again in the street, +amidst the quivering fog, he felt the fever, the glow of charity which +the sight of such frightful wretchedness had ignited, once more within +him. No, no! such suffering was too much; he wished to struggle still, to +save Laveuve and restore a little joy to all those poor folk. The new +experiment presented itself with that city of Paris which he had seen +shrouded as with ashes, so mysterious and so perturbing beneath the +threat of inevitable justice. And he dreamed of a huge sun bringing +health and fruitfulness, which would make of the huge city the fertile +field where would sprout the better world of to-morrow. + + + + +II. WEALTH AND WORLDLINESS + +THAT same morning, as was the case nearly every day, some intimates were +expected to _dejeuner_ at the Duvillards', a few friends who more or less +invited themselves. And on that chilly day, all thaw and fog, the regal +mansion in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy near the Boulevard de la Madeleine +bloomed with the rarest flowers, for flowers were the greatest passion of +the Baroness, who transformed the lofty, sumptuous rooms, littered with +marvels, into warm and odoriferous conservatories, whither the gloomy, +livid light of Paris penetrated caressingly with infinite softness. + +The great reception rooms were on the ground-floor looking on to the +spacious courtyard, and preceded by a little winter garden, which served +as a vestibule where two footmen in liveries of dark green and gold were +invariably on duty. A famous gallery of paintings, valued at millions of +francs, occupied the whole of the northern side of the house. And the +grand staircase, of a sumptuousness which also was famous, conducted to +the apartments usually occupied by the family, a large red drawing-room, +a small blue and silver drawing-room, a study whose walls were hung with +old stamped leather, and a dining-room in pale green with English +furniture, not to mention the various bedchambers and dressing-rooms. +Built in the time of Louis XIV. the mansion retained an aspect of noble +grandeur, subordinated to the epicurean tastes of the triumphant +_bourgeoisie_, which for a century now had reigned by virtue of the +omnipotence of money. + +Noon had not yet struck, and Baron Duvillard, contrary to custom, found +himself the first in the little blue and silver _salon_. He was a man of +sixty, tall and sturdy, with a large nose, full cheeks, broad, fleshy +lips, and wolfish teeth, which had remained very fine. He had, however, +become bald at an early age, and dyed the little hair that was left him. +Moreover, since his beard had turned white, he had kept his face +clean-shaven. His grey eyes bespoke his audacity, and in his laugh there +was a ring of conquest, while the whole of his face expressed the fact +that this conquest was his own, that he wielded the sovereignty of an +unscrupulous master, who used and abused the power stolen and retained by +his caste. + +He took a few steps, and then halted in front of a basket of wonderful +orchids near the window. On the mantel-piece and table tufts of violets +sent forth their perfume, and in the warm, deep silence which seemed to +fall from the hangings, the Baron sat down and stretched himself in one +of the large armchairs, upholstered in blue satin striped with silver. He +had taken a newspaper from his pocket, and began to re-peruse an article +it contained, whilst all around him the entire mansion proclaimed his +immense fortune, his sovereign power, the whole history of the century +which had made him the master. His grandfather, Jerome Duvillard, son of +a petty advocate of Poitou, had come to Paris as a notary's clerk in +1788, when he was eighteen; and very keen, intelligent and hungry as he +was, he had gained the family's first three millions--at first in +trafficking with the _emigres'_ estates when they were confiscated and +sold as national property, and later, in contracting for supplies to the +imperial army. His father, Gregoire Duvillard, born in 1805, and the real +great man of the family--he who had first reigned in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy, after King Louis Philippe had granted him the title of +Baron--remained one of the recognized heroes of modern finance by reason +of the scandalous profits which he had made in every famous thieving +speculation of the July Monarchy and the Second Empire, such as mines, +railroads, and the Suez Canal. And he, the present Baron, Henri by name, +and born in 1836, had only seriously gone into business on Baron +Gregoire's death soon after the Franco-German War. However, he had done +so with such a rageful appetite, that in a quarter of a century he had +again doubled the family fortune. He rotted and devoured, corrupted, +swallowed everything that he touched; and he was also the tempter +personified--the man who bought all consciences that were for +sale--having fully understood the new times and its tendencies in +presence of the democracy, which in its turn had become hungry and +impatient. Inferior though he was both to his father and his grandfather, +being a man of enjoyment, caring less for the work of conquest than the +division of the spoil, he nevertheless remained a terrible fellow, a +sleek triumpher, whose operations were all certainties, who amassed +millions at each stroke, and treated with governments on a footing of +equality, able as he was to place, if not France, at least a ministry in +his pocket. In one century and three generations, royalty had become +embodied in him: a royalty already threatened, already shaken by the +tempest close ahead. And at times his figure grew and expanded till it +became, as it were, an incarnation of the whole _bourgeoisie_--that +_bourgeoisie_ which at the division of the spoils in 1789 appropriated +everything, and has since fattened on everything at the expense of the +masses, and refuses to restore anything whatever. + +The article which the Baron was re-perusing in a halfpenny newspaper +interested him. "La Voix du Peuple" was a noisy sheet which, under the +pretence of defending outraged justice and morality, set a fresh scandal +circulating every morning in the hope of thereby increasing its sales. +And that morning, in big type on its front page, this sub-title was +displayed: "The Affair of the African Railways. Five Millions spent in +Bribes: Two Ministers Bought, Thirty Deputies and Senators Compromised." +Then in an article of odious violence the paper's editor, the famous +Sagnier, announced that he possessed and intended to publish the list of +the thirty-two members of Parliament, whose support Baron Duvillard had +purchased at the time when the Chambers had voted the bill for the +African Railway Lines. Quite a romantic story was mingled with all this, +the adventures of a certain Hunter, whom the Baron had employed as his +go-between and who had now fled. The Baron, however, re-perused each +sentence and weighed each word of the article very calmly; and although +he was alone he shrugged his shoulders and spoke aloud with the tranquil +assurance of a man whose responsibility is covered and who is, moreover, +too powerful to be molested. + +"The idiot," he said, "he knows even less than he pretends." + +Just then, however, a first guest arrived, a man of barely four and +thirty, elegantly dressed, dark and good looking, with a delicately +shaped nose, and curly hair and beard. As a rule, too, he had laughing +eyes, and something giddy, flighty, bird-like in his demeanour; but that +morning he seemed nervous, anxious even, and smiled in a scared way. + +"Ah! it's you, Duthil," said the Baron, rising. "Have you read this?" And +he showed the new comer the "Voix du Peuple," which he was folding up to +replace it in his pocket. + +"Why yes, I've read it. It's amazing. How can Sagnier have got hold of +the list of names? Has there been some traitor?" + +The Baron looked at his companion quietly, amused by his secret anguish. +Duthil, the son of a notary of Angouleme, almost poor and very honest, +had been sent to Paris as deputy for that town whilst yet very young, +thanks to the high reputation of his father; and he there led a life of +pleasure and idleness, even as he had formerly done when a student. +However, his pleasant bachelor's quarters in the Rue de Suresnes, and his +success as a handsome man in the whirl of women among whom he lived, cost +him no little money; and gaily enough, devoid as he was of any moral +sense, he had already glided into all sorts of compromising and lowering +actions, like a light-headed, superior man, a charming, thoughtless +fellow, who attached no importance whatever to such trifles. + +"Bah!" said the Baron at last. "Has Sagnier even got a list? I doubt it, +for there was none; Hunter wasn't so foolish as to draw one up. And then, +too, it was merely an ordinary affair; nothing more was done than is +always done in such matters of business." + +Duthil, who for the first time in his life had felt anxious, listened +like one that needs to be reassured. "Quite so, eh?" he exclaimed. +"That's what I thought. There isn't a cat to be whipped in the whole +affair." + +He tried to laugh as usual, and no longer exactly knew how it was that he +had received some ten thousand francs in connection with the matter, +whether it were in the shape of a vague loan, or else under some pretext +of publicity, puffery, or advertising, for Hunter had acted with extreme +adroitness so as to give no offence to the susceptibilities of even the +least virginal consciences. + +"No, there's not a cat to be whipped," repeated Duvillard, who decidedly +seemed amused by the face which Duthil was pulling. "And besides, my dear +fellow, it's well known that cats always fall on their feet. But have you +seen Silviane?" + +"I just left her. I found her in a great rage with you. She learnt this +morning that her affair of the Comedie is off." + +A rush of anger suddenly reddened the Baron's face. He, who could scoff +so calmly at the threat of the African Railways scandal, lost his balance +and felt his blood boiling directly there was any question of Silviane, +the last, imperious passion of his sixtieth year. "What! off?" said he. +"But at the Ministry of Fine Arts they gave me almost a positive promise +only the day before yesterday." + +He referred to a stubborn caprice of Silviane d'Aulnay, who, although she +had hitherto only reaped a success of beauty on the stage, obstinately +sought to enter the Comedie Francaise and make her _debut_ there in the +part of "Pauline" in Corneille's "Polyeucte," which part she had been +studying desperately for several months past. Her idea seemed an insane +one, and all Paris laughed at it; but the young woman, with superb +assurance, kept herself well to the front, and imperiously demanded the +_role_, feeling sure that she would conquer. + +"It was the minister who wouldn't have it," explained Duthil. + +The Baron was choking. "The minister, the minister! Ah! well, I will soon +have that minister sent to the rightabout." + +However, he had to cease speaking, for at that moment Baroness Duvillard +came into the little drawing-room. At forty-six years of age she was +still very beautiful. Very fair and tall, having hitherto put on but +little superfluous fat, and retaining perfect arms and shoulders, with +speckless silky skin, it was only her face that was spoiling, colouring +slightly with reddish blotches. And these blemishes were her torment, her +hourly thought and worry. Her Jewish origin was revealed by her somewhat +long and strangely charming face, with blue and softly voluptuous eyes. +As indolent as an Oriental slave, disliking to have to move, walk, or +even speak, she seemed intended for a harem life, especially as she was +for ever tending her person. That day she was all in white, gowned in a +white silk toilette of delicious and lustrous simplicity. + +Duthil complimented her, and kissed her hand with an enraptured air. "Ah! +madame, you set a little springtide in my heart. Paris is so black and +muddy this morning." + +However, a second guest entered the room, a tall and handsome man of five +or six and thirty; and the Baron, still disturbed by his passion, +profited by this opportunity to make his escape. He carried Duthil away +into his study, saying, "Come here an instant, my dear fellow. I have a +few more words to say to you about the affair in question. Monsieur de +Quinsac will keep my wife company for a moment." + +The Baroness, as soon as she was alone with the new comer, who, like +Duthil, had most respectfully kissed her hand, gave him a long, silent +look, while her soft eyes filled with tears. Deep silence, tinged with +some slight embarrassment, had fallen, but she ended by saying in a very +low voice: "How happy I am, Gerard, to find myself alone with you for a +moment. For a month past I have not had that happiness." + +The circumstances in which Henri Duvillard had married the younger +daughter of Justus Steinberger, the great Jew banker, formed quite a +story which was often recalled. The Steinbergers--after the fashion of +the Rothschilds--were originally four brothers--Justus, residing in +Paris, and the three others at Berlin, Vienna, and London, a circumstance +which gave their secret association most formidable power in the +financial markets of Europe. Justus, however, was the least wealthy of +the four, and in Baron Gregoire Duvillard he had a redoubtable adversary +against whom he was compelled to struggle each time that any large prey +was in question. And it was after a terrible encounter between the pair, +after the eager sharing of the spoils, that the crafty idea had come to +Justus of giving his younger daughter Eve in marriage, by way of +_douceur_, to the Baron's son, Henri. So far the latter had only been +known as an amiable fellow, fond of horses and club life; and no doubt +Justus's idea was that, at the death of the redoubtable Baron, who was +already condemned by his physicians, he would be able to lay his hands on +the rival banking-house, particularly if he only had in front of him a +son-in-law whom it was easy to conquer. As it happened, Henri had been +mastered by a violent passion for Eve's blond beauty, which was then +dazzling. He wished to marry her, and his father, who knew him, +consented, in reality greatly amused to think that Justus was making an +execrably bad stroke of business. The enterprise became indeed disastrous +for Justus when Henri succeeded his father and the man of prey appeared +from beneath the man of pleasure and carved himself his own huge share in +exploiting the unbridled appetites of the middle-class democracy, which +had at last secured possession of power. Not only did Eve fail to devour +Henri, who in his turn had become Baron Duvillard, the all-powerful +banker, more and more master of the market; but it was the Baron who +devoured Eve, and this in less than four years' time. After she had borne +him a daughter and a son in turn, he suddenly drew away from her, +neglected her, as if she were a mere toy that he no longer cared for. She +was at first both surprised and distressed by the change, especially on +learning that he was resuming his bachelor's habits, and had set his +fickle if ardent affections elsewhere. Then, however, without any kind of +recrimination, any display of anger, or even any particular effort to +regain her ascendency over him, she, on her side, imitated his example. +She could not live without love, and assuredly she had only been born to +be beautiful, to fascinate and reap adoration. To the lover whom she +chose when she was five and twenty she remained faithful for more than +fifteen years, as faithful as she might have been to a husband; and when +he died her grief was intense, it was like real widowhood. Six months +later, however, having met Count Gerard de Quinsac she had again been +unable to resist her imperative need of adoration, and an intrigue had +followed. + +"Have you been ill, my dear Gerard?" she inquired, noticing the young +man's embarrassment. "Are you hiding some worry from me?" + +She was ten years older than he was; and she clung desperately to this +last passion of hers, revolting at the thought of growing old, and +resolved upon every effort to keep the young man beside her. + +"No, I am hiding nothing, I assure you," replied the Count. "But my +mother has had much need of me recently." + +She continued looking at him, however, with anxious passion, finding him +so tall and aristocratic of mien, with his regular features and dark hair +and moustaches which were always most carefully tended. He belonged to +one of the oldest families of France, and resided on a ground-floor in +the Rue St. Dominique with his widowed mother, who had been ruined by her +adventurously inclined husband, and had at most an income of some fifteen +thousand francs* to live upon. Gerard for his part had never done +anything; contenting himself with his one year of obligatory military +service, he had renounced the profession of arms in the same way as he +had renounced that of diplomacy, the only one that offered him an opening +of any dignity. He spent his days in that busy idleness common to all +young men who lead "Paris life." And his mother, haughtily severe though +she was, seemed to excuse this, as if in her opinion a man of his birth +was bound by way of protest to keep apart from official life under a +Republic. However, she no doubt had more intimate, more disturbing +reasons for indulgence. She had nearly lost him when he was only seven, +through an attack of brain fever. At eighteen he had complained of his +heart, and the doctors had recommended that he should be treated gently +in all respects. She knew, therefore, what a lie lurked behind his proud +demeanour, within his lofty figure, that haughty _facade_ of his race. He +was but dust, ever threatened with illness and collapse. In the depths of +his seeming virility there was merely girlish _abandon_; and he was +simply a weak, good-natured fellow, liable to every stumble. It was on +the occasion of a visit which he had paid with his mother to the Asylum +of the Invalids of Labour that he had first seen Eve, whom he continued +to meet; his mother, closing her eyes to this culpable connection in a +sphere of society which she treated with contempt, in the same way as she +had closed them to so many other acts of folly which she had forgiven +because she regarded them as the mere lapses of an ailing child. +Moreover, Eve had made a conquest of Madame de Quinsac, who was very +pious, by an action which had recently amazed society. It had been +suddenly learnt that she had allowed Monseigneur Martha to convert her to +the Roman Catholic faith. This thing, which she had refused to do when +solicited by her lawful husband, she had now done in the hope of ensuring +herself a lover's eternal affection. And all Paris was still stirred by +the magnificence exhibited at the Madeleine, on the occasion of the +baptism of this Jewess of five and forty, whose beauty and whose tears +had upset every heart. + + * About 3000 dollars. + +Gerard, on his side, was still flattered by the deep and touching +tenderness shown to him; but weariness was coming, and he had already +sought to break off the connection by avoiding any further assignations. +He well understood Eve's glances and her tears, and though he was moved +at sight of them he tried to excuse himself. "I assure you," said he, "my +mother has kept me so busy that I could not get away." But she, without a +word, still turned her tearful glance on him, and weak, like herself, in +despair that he should have been left alone with her in this fashion, he +yielded, unable to continue refusing. "Well, then," said he, "this +afternoon at four o'clock if you are free." + +He had lowered his voice in speaking, but a slight rustle made him turn +his head and start like one in fault. It was the Baroness's daughter +Camille entering the room. She had heard nothing; but by the smile which +the others had exchanged, by the very quiver of the air, she understood +everything; an assignation for that very day and at the very spot which +she suspected. Some slight embarrassment followed, an exchange of anxious +and evil glances. + +Camille, at three and twenty, was a very dark young woman, short of +stature and somewhat deformed, with her left shoulder higher than the +right. There seemed to be nothing of her father or mother in her. Her +case was one of those unforeseen accidents in family heredity which make +people wonder whence they can arise. Her only pride lay in her beautiful +black eyes and superb black hair, which, short as she was, would, said +she, have sufficed to clothe her. But her nose was long, her face +deviated to the left, and her chin was pointed. Her thin, witty, and +malicious lips bespoke all the rancour and perverse anger stored in the +heart of this uncomely creature, whom the thought of her uncomeliness +enraged. However, the one whom she most hated in the whole world was her +own mother, that _amorosa_ who was so little fitted to be a mother, who +had never loved her, never paid attention to her, but had abandoned her +to the care of servants from her very infancy. In this wise real hatred +had grown up between the two women, mute and frigid on the one side, and +active and passionate on the other. The daughter hated her mother because +she found her beautiful, because she had not been created in the same +image: beautiful with the beauty with which her mother crushed her. Day +by day she suffered at being sought by none, at realising that the +adoration of one and all still went to her mother. As she was amusing in +her maliciousness, people listened to her and laughed; however, the +glances of all the men--even and indeed especially the younger ones--soon +reverted to her triumphant mother, who seemingly defied old age. In part +for this reason Camille, with ferocious determination, had decided that +she would dispossess her mother of her last lover Gerard, and marry him +herself, conscious that such a loss would doubtless kill the Baroness. +Thanks to her promised dowry of five millions of francs, the young woman +did not lack suitors; but, little flattered by their advances, she was +accustomed to say, with her malicious laugh: "Oh! of course; why for five +millions they would take a wife from a mad-house." However, she, herself, +had really begun to love Gerard, who, good-natured as he was, evinced +much kindness towards this suffering young woman whom nature had treated +so harshly. It worried him to see her forsaken by everyone, and little by +little he yielded to the grateful tenderness which she displayed towards +him, happy, handsome man that he was, at being regarded as a demi-god and +having such a slave. Indeed, in his attempt to quit the mother there was +certainly a thought of allowing the daughter to marry him, which would be +an agreeable ending to it all, though he did not as yet acknowledge this, +ashamed as he felt and embarrassed by his illustrious name and all the +complications and tears which he foresaw. + +The silence continued. Camille with her piercing glance, as sharp as any +knife, had told her mother that she knew the truth; and then with another +and pain-fraught glance she had complained to Gerard. He, in order to +re-establish equilibrium, could only think of a compliment: "Good +morning, Camille. Ah! that havana-brown gown of yours looks nice! It's +astonishing how well rather sombre colours suit you." + +Camille glanced at her mother's white robe, and then at her own dark +gown, which scarcely allowed her neck and wrists to be seen. "Yes," she +replied laughing, "I only look passable when I don't dress as a young +girl." + +Eve, ill at ease, worried by the growth of a rivalry in which she did not +as yet wish to believe, changed the conversation. "Isn't your brother +there?" she asked. + +"Why yes, we came down together." + +Hyacinthe, who came in at that moment, shook hands with Gerard in a weary +way. He was twenty, and had inherited his mother's pale blond hair, and +her long face full of Oriental languor; while from his father he had +derived his grey eyes and thick lips, expressive of unscrupulous +appetites. A wretched scholar, regarding every profession with the same +contempt, he had decided to do nothing. Spoilt by his father, he took +some little interest in poetry and music, and lived in an extraordinary +circle of artists, low women, madmen and bandits; boasting himself of all +sorts of crimes and vices, professing the very worst philosophical and +social ideas, invariably going to extremes, becoming in turn a +Collectivist, an Individualist, an Anarchist, a Pessimist, a Symbolist, +and what not besides; without, however, ceasing to be a Catholic, as this +conjunction of Catholicity with something else seemed to him the supreme +_bon ton_. In reality he was simply empty and rather a fool. In four +generations the vigorous hungry blood of the Duvillards, after producing +three magnificent beasts of prey, had, as if exhausted by the contentment +of every passion, ended in this sorry emasculated creature, who was +incapable alike of great knavery or great debauchery. + +Camille, who was too intelligent not to realise her brother's +nothingness, was fond of teasing him; and looking at him as he stood +there, tightly buttoned in his long frock coat with pleated skirt--a +resurrection of the romantic period, which he carried to exaggeration, +she resumed: "Mamma has been asking for you, Hyacinthe. Come and show her +your gown. You are the one who would look nice dressed as a young girl." + +However, he eluded her without replying. He was covertly afraid of her, +though they lived together in great intimacy, frankly exchanging +confidences respecting their perverse views of life. And he directed a +glance of disdain at the wonderful basket of orchids which seemed to him +past the fashion, far too common nowadays. For his part he had left the +lilies of life behind him, and reached the ranunculus, the flower of +blood. + +The two last guests who were expected now arrived almost together. The +first was the investigating magistrate Amadieu, a little man of five and +forty, who was an intimate of the household and had been brought into +notoriety by a recent anarchist affair. Between a pair of fair, bushy +whiskers he displayed a flat, regular judicial face, to which he tried to +impart an expression of keenness by wearing a single eyeglass behind +which his glance sparkled. Very worldly, moreover, he belonged to the new +judicial school, being a distinguished psychologist and having written a +book in reply to the abuses of criminalist physiology. And he was also a +man of great, tenacious ambition, fond of notoriety and ever on the +lookout for those resounding legal affairs which bring glory. Behind him, +at last appeared General de Bozonnet, Gerard's uncle on the maternal +side, a tall, lean old man with a nose like an eagle's beak. Chronic +rheumatism had recently compelled him to retire from the service. Raised +to a colonelcy after the Franco-German War in reward for his gallant +conduct at St. Privat, he had, in spite of his extremely monarchical +connections, kept his sworn faith to Napoleon III. And he was excused in +his own sphere of society for this species of military Bonapartism, on +account of the bitterness with which he accused the Republic of having +ruined the army. Worthy fellow that he was, extremely fond of his sister, +Madame de Quinsac, it seemed as though he acted in accordance with some +secret desire of hers in accepting the invitations of Baroness Duvillard +by way of rendering Gerard's constant presence in her house more natural +and excusable. + +However, the Baron and Duthil now returned from the study, laughing +loudly in an exaggerated way, doubtless to make the others believe that +they were quite easy in mind. And one and all passed into the large +dining-room where a big wood fire was burning, its gay flames shining +like a ray of springtide amid the fine mahogany furniture of English make +laden with silver and crystal. The room, of a soft mossy green, had an +unassuming charm in the pale light, and the table which in the centre +displayed the richness of its covers and the immaculate whiteness of its +linen adorned with Venetian point, seemed to have flowered miraculously +with a wealth of large tea roses, most admirable blooms for the season, +and of delicious perfume. + +The Baroness seated the General on her right, and Amadieu on her left. +The Baron on his right placed Duthil, and on his left Gerard. Then the +young people installed themselves at either end, Camille between Gerard +and the General, and Hyacinthe between Duthil and Amadieu. And forthwith, +from the moment of starting on the scrambled eggs and truffles, +conversation began, the usual conversation of Parisian _dejeuners_, when +every event, great or little, of the morning or the day before is passed +in review: the truths and the falsehoods current in every social sphere, +the financial scandal, and the political adventure of the hour, the novel +that has just appeared, the play that has just been produced, the stories +which should only be retailed in whispers, but which are repeated aloud. +And beneath all the light wit which circulates, beneath all the laughter, +which often has a false ring, each retains his or her particular worry, +or distress of mind, at times so acute that it becomes perfect agony. + +With his quiet and wonted impudence, the Baron, bravely enough, was the +first to speak of the article in the "Voix du Peuple." "I say, have you +read Sagnier's article this morning? It's a good one; he has _verve_ you +know, but what a dangerous lunatic he is!" + +This set everybody at ease, for the article would certainly have weighed +upon the _dejeuner_ had no one mentioned it. + +"It's the 'Panama' dodge over again!" cried Duthil. "But no, no, we've +had quite enough of it!" + +"Why," resumed the Baron, "the affair of the African Railway Lines is as +clear as spring water! All those whom Sagnier threatens may sleep in +peace. The truth is that it's a scheme to upset Barroux's ministry. Leave +to interpellate will certainly be asked for this afternoon. You'll see +what a fine uproar there'll be in the Chamber." + +"That libellous, scandal-seeking press," said Amadieu gravely, "is a +dissolving agent which will bring France to ruin. We ought to have laws +against it." + +The General made an angry gesture: "Laws, what's the use of them, since +nobody has the courage to enforce them." + +Silence fell. With a light, discreet step the house-steward presented +some grilled mullet. So noiseless was the service amid the cheerful +perfumed warmth that not even the faintest clatter of crockery was heard. +Without anyone knowing how it had come about, however, the conversation +had suddenly changed; and somebody inquired: "So the revival of the piece +is postponed?" + +"Yes," said Gerard, "I heard this morning that 'Polyeucte' wouldn't get +its turn till April at the earliest." + +At this Camille, who had hitherto remained silent, watching the young +Count and seeking to win him back, turned her glittering eyes upon her +father and mother. It was a question of that revival in which Silviane +was so stubbornly determined to make her _debut_. However, the Baron and +the Baroness evinced perfect serenity, having long been acquainted with +all that concerned each other. Moreover Eve was too much occupied with +her own passion to think of anything else; and the Baron too busy with +the fresh application which he intended to make in tempestuous fashion at +the Ministry of Fine Arts, so as to wrest Silviane's engagement from +those in office. He contented himself with saying: "How would you have +them revive pieces at the Comedie! They have no actresses left there." + +"Oh, by the way," the Baroness on her side simply remarked, "yesterday, +in that play at the Vaudeville, Delphine Vignot wore such an exquisite +gown. She's the only one too who knows how to arrange her hair." + +Thereupon Duthil, in somewhat veiled language, began to relate a story +about Delphine and a well-known senator. And then came another scandal, +the sudden and almost suspicious death of a lady friend of the +Duvillards'; whereupon the General, without any transition, broke in to +relieve his bitter feelings by denouncing the idiotic manner in which the +army was nowadays organised. Meantime the old Bordeaux glittered like +ruby blood in the delicate crystal glasses. A truffled fillet of venison +had just cast its somewhat sharp scent amidst the dying perfume of the +roses, when some asparagus made its appearance, a _primeur_ which once +had been so rare but which no longer caused any astonishment. + +"Nowadays we get it all through the winter," said the Baron with a +gesture of disenchantment. + +"And so," asked Gerard at the same moment, "the Princess de Harn's +_matinee_ is for this afternoon?" + +Camille quickly intervened. "Yes, this afternoon. Shall you go?" + +"No, I don't think so, I shan't be able," replied the young man in +embarrassment. + +"Ah! that little Princess, she's really deranged you know," exclaimed +Duthil. "You are aware that she calls herself a widow? But the truth, it +seems, is that her husband, a real Prince, connected with a royal house +and very handsome, is travelling about the world in the company of a +singer. She with her vicious urchin-like face preferred to come and reign +in Paris, in that mansion of the Avenue Hoche, which is certainly the +most extraordinary Noah's ark imaginable, with its swarming of +cosmopolitan society indulging in every extravagance!" + +"Be quiet, you malicious fellow," the Baroness gently interrupted. "We, +here, are very fond of Rosemonde, who is a charming woman." + +"Oh! certainly," Camille again resumed. "She invited us; and we are going +to her place by-and-by, are we not, mamma?" + +To avoid replying, the Baroness pretended that she did not hear, whilst +Duthil, who seemed to be well-informed concerning the Princess, continued +to make merry over her intended _matinee_, at which she meant to produce +some Spanish dancing girls, whose performance was so very indecorous that +all Paris, forewarned of the circumstance, would certainly swarm to her +house. And he added: "You've heard that she has given up painting. Yes, +she busies herself with chemistry. Her _salon_ is full of Anarchists +now--and, by the way, it seemed to me that she had cast her eyes on you, +my dear Hyacinthe." + +Hyacinthe had hitherto held his tongue, as if he took no interest in +anything. "Oh! she bores me to death," he now condescended to reply. "If +I'm going to her _matinee_ it's simply in the hope of meeting my friend +young Lord George Eldrett, who wrote to me from London to give me an +appointment at the Princess's. And I admit that hers is the only _salon_ +where I find somebody to talk to." + +"And so," asked Amadieu in an ironical way, "you have now gone over to +Anarchism?" + +With his air of lofty elegance Hyacinthe imperturbably confessed his +creed: "But it seems to me, monsieur, that in these times of universal +baseness and ignominy, no man of any distinction can be other than an +Anarchist." + +A laugh ran round the table. Hyacinthe was very much spoilt, and +considered very entertaining. His father in particular was immensely +amused by the notion that he of all men should have an Anarchist for a +son. However, the General, in his rancorous moments, talked anarchically +enough of blowing up a society which was so stupid as to let itself be +led by half a dozen disreputable characters. And, indeed, the +investigating magistrate, who was gradually making a specialty of +Anarchist affairs, proved the only one who opposed the young man, +defending threatened civilisation and giving terrifying particulars +concerning what he called the army of devastation and massacre. The +others, while partaking of some delicious duck's-liver _pate_, which the +house-steward handed around, continued smiling. There was so much misery, +said they; one must take everything into account: things would surely end +by righting themselves. And the Baron himself declared, in a conciliatory +manner: "It's certain that one might do something, though nobody knows +exactly what. As for all sensible and moderate claims, oh! I agree to +them in advance. For instance, the lot of the working classes may be +ameliorated, charitable enterprises may be undertaken, such, for +instance, as our Asylum for the Invalids of Labour, which we have reason +to be proud of. But we must not be asked for impossibilities." + +With the dessert came a sudden spell of silence; it was as if, amidst the +restless fluttering of the conversation, and the dizziness born of the +copious meal, each one's worry or distress was again wringing the heart +and setting an expression of perturbation on the countenance. The nervous +unconscientiousness of Duthil, threatened with denunciation, was seen to +revive; so, too, the anxious anger of the Baron, who was meditating how +he might possibly manage to content Silviane. That woman was this sturdy, +powerful man's taint, the secret sore which would perhaps end by eating +him away and destroying him. But it was the frightful drama in which the +Baroness, Camille and Gerard were concerned that flitted by most visibly +across the faces of all three of them: that hateful rivalry of mother and +daughter, contending for the man they loved. And, meantime, the +silver-gilt blades of the dessert-knives were delicately peeling choice +fruit. And there were bunches of golden grapes looking beautifully fresh, +and a procession of sweetmeats, little cakes, an infinity of dainties, +over which the most satiated appetites lingered complacently. + +Then, just as the finger-glasses were being served, a footman came and +bent over the Baroness, who answered in an undertone, "Well, show him +into the _salon_, I will join him there." And aloud to the others she +added: "It's Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, who has called and asks most +particularly to see me. He won't be in our way; I think that almost all +of you know him. Oh! he's a genuine saint, and I have much sympathy for +him." + +For a few minutes longer they loitered round the table, and then at last +quitted the dining-room, which was full of the odours of viands, wines, +fruits and roses; quite warm, too, with the heat thrown out by the big +logs of firewood, which were falling into embers amidst the somewhat +jumbled brightness of all the crystal and silver, and the pale, delicate +light which fell upon the disorderly table. + +Pierre had remained standing in the centre of the little blue and silver +_salon_. Seeing a tray on which the coffee and the liqueurs were in +readiness, he regretted that he had insisted upon being received. And his +embarrassment increased when the company came in rather noisily, with +bright eyes and rosy cheeks. However, his charitable fervour had revived +so ardently within him that he overcame this embarrassment, and all that +remained to him of it was a slight feeling of discomfort at bringing the +whole frightful morning which he had just spent amid such scenes of +wretchedness, so much darkness and cold, so much filth and hunger, into +this bright, warm, perfumed affluence, where the useless and the +superfluous overflowed around those folks who seemed so gay at having +made a delightful meal. + +However, the Baroness at once came forward with Gerard, for it was +through the latter, whose mother he knew, that the priest had been +presented to the Duvillards at the time of the famous conversion. And as +he apologised for having called at such an inconvenient hour, the +Baroness responded: "But you are always welcome, Monsieur l'Abbe. You +will allow me just to attend to my guests, won't you? I will be with you +in an instant." + +She thereupon returned to the table on which the tray had been placed, in +order to serve the coffee and the liqueurs, with her daughter's +assistance. Gerard, however, remained with Pierre; and, it so chanced, +began to speak to him of the Asylum for the Invalids of Labour, where +they had met one another at the recent laying of the foundation-stone of +a new pavilion which was being erected, thanks to a handsome donation of +100,000 francs made by Baron Duvillard. So far, the enterprise only +comprised four pavilions out of the fourteen which it was proposed to +erect on the vast site given by the City of Paris on the peninsula of +Gennevilliers*; and so the subscription fund remained open, and, indeed, +no little noise was made over this charitable enterprise, which was +regarded as a complete and peremptory reply to the accusations of those +evilly disposed persons who charged the satiated _bourgeoisie_ with doing +nothing for the workers. But the truth was that a magnificent chapel, +erected in the centre of the site, had absorbed two-thirds of the funds +hitherto collected. Numerous lady patronesses, chosen from all the +"worlds" of Paris--the Baroness Duvillard, the Countess de Quinsac, the +Princess Rosemonde de Harn, and a score of others--were entrusted with +the task of keeping the enterprise alive by dint of collections and fancy +bazaars. But success had been chiefly obtained, thanks to the happy idea +of ridding the ladies of all the weighty cares of organisation, by +choosing as managing director a certain Fonsegue, who, besides being a +deputy and editor of the "Globe" newspaper, was a prodigious promoter of +all sorts of enterprises. And the "Globe" never paused in its propaganda, +but answered the attacks of the revolutionaries by extolling the +inexhaustible charity of the governing classes in such wise that, at the +last elections, the enterprise had served as a victorious electoral +weapon. + + * This so-called peninsula lies to the northwest of Paris, and + is formed by the windings of the Seine.--Trans. + +However, Camille was walking about with a steaming cup of coffee in her +hand: "Will you take some coffee, Monsieur l'Abbe?" she inquired. + +"No, thank you, mademoiselle." + +"A glass of Chartreuse then?" + +"No, thank you." + +Then everybody being served, the Baroness came back and said amiably: +"Come, Monsieur l'Abbe, what do you desire of me?" + +Pierre began to speak almost in an undertone, his throat contracting and +his heart beating with emotion. "I have come, madame, to appeal to your +great kindness of heart. This morning, in a frightful house, in the Rue +des Saules, behind Montmartre, I beheld a sight which utterly upset me. +You can have no idea what an abode of misery and suffering it was; its +inmates without fire or bread, the men reduced to idleness because there +is no work, the mothers having no more milk for their babes, the children +barely clad, coughing and shivering. And among all these horrors I saw +the worst, the most abominable of all, an old workman, laid on his back +by age, dying of hunger, huddled on a heap of rags, in a nook which a dog +would not even accept as kennel." + +He tried to recount things as discreetly as possible, frightened by the +very words he spoke, the horrors he had to relate in that sphere of +superlative luxury and enjoyment, before those happy ones who possessed +all the gifts of this world; for--to use a slang expression--he fully +realised that he sang out of tune, and in most uncourteous fashion. What +a strange idea of his to have called at the hour when one has just +finished _dejeuner_, when the aroma of hot coffee flatters happy +digestion. Nevertheless he went on, and even ended by raising his voice, +yielding to the feeling of revolt which gradually stirred him, going to +the end of his terrible narrative, naming Laveuve, insisting on the +unjust abandonment in which the old man was left, and asking for succour +in the name of human compassion. And the whole company approached to +listen to him; he could see the Baron and the General, and Duthil and +Amadieu, in front of him, sipping their coffee, in silence, without a +gesture. + +"Well, madame," he concluded, "it seemed to me that one could not leave +that old man an hour longer in such a frightful position, and that this +very evening you would have the extreme goodness to have him admitted +into the Asylum of the Invalids of Labour, which is, I think, the proper +and only place for him." + +Tears had moistened Eve's beautiful eyes. She was in consternation at so +sad a story coming to her to spoil her afternoon when she was looking +forward to her assignation with Gerard. Weak and indolent as she was, +lacking all initiative, too much occupied moreover with her own person, +she had only accepted the presidency of the Committee on the condition +that all administrative worries were to fall on Fonsegue. "Ah! Monsieur +l'Abbe," she murmured, "you rend my heart. But I can do nothing, nothing +at all, I assure you. Moreover, I believe that we have already inquired +into the affair of that man Laveuve. With us, you know, there must be the +most serious guarantees with regard to every admission. A reporter is +chosen who has to give us full information. Wasn't it you, Monsieur +Duthil, who was charged with this man Laveuve's affair?" + +The deputy was finishing a glass of Chartreuse. "Yes, it was I. That fine +fellow played you a comedy, Monsieur l'Abbe. He isn't at all ill, and if +you left him any money you may be sure he went down to drink it as soon +as you were gone. For he is always drunk; and, besides that, he has the +most hateful disposition imaginable, crying out from morning till evening +against the _bourgeois_, and saying that if he had any strength left in +his arms he would undertake to blow up the whole show. And, moreover, he +won't go into the asylum; he says that it's a real prison where one's +guarded by Beguins who force one to hear mass, a dirty convent where the +gates are shut at nine in the evening! And there are so many of them like +that, who rather than be succoured prefer their liberty, with cold and +hunger and death. Well then, let the Laveuves die in the street, since +they refuse to be with us, and be warm and eat in our asylums!" + +The General and Amadieu nodded their heads approvingly. But Duvillard +showed himself more generous. "No, no, indeed! A man's a man after all, +and should be succoured in spite of himself." + +Eve, however, in despair at the idea that she would be robbed of her +afternoon, struggled and sought for reasons. "I assure you that my hands +are altogether tied. Monsieur l'Abbe does not doubt my heart or my zeal. +But how call I possibly assemble the Committee without a few days' delay? +And I have particular reasons for coming to no decision, especially in an +affair which has already been inquired into and pronounced upon, without +the Committee's sanction." Then, all at once she found a solution: "What +I advise you to do, Monsieur l'Abbe, is to go at once to see Monsieur +Fonsegue, our managing director. He alone can act in an urgent case, for +he knows that the ladies have unlimited confidence in him and approve +everything he does." + +"You will find Fonsegue at the Chamber," added Duthil smiling, "only the +sitting will be a warm one, and I doubt whether you will be able to have +a comfortable chat with him." + +Pierre, whose heart had contracted yet more painfully, insisted on the +subject no further; but at once made up his mind to see Fonsegue, and in +any event obtain from him a promise that the wretched Laveuve should be +admitted to the Asylum that very evening. Then he lingered in the saloon +for a few minutes listening to Gerard, who obligingly pointed out to him +how he might best convince the deputy, which was by alleging how bad an +effect such a story could have, should it be brought to light by the +revolutionary newspapers. However, the guests were beginning to take +their leave. The General, as he went off, came to ask his nephew if he +should see him that afternoon at his mother's, Madame de Quinsac, whose +"day" it was: a question which the young man answered with an evasive +gesture when he noticed that both Eve and Camille were looking at him. +Then came the turn of Amadieu, who hurried off saying that a serious +affair required his presence at the Palace of Justice. And Duthil soon +followed him in order to repair to the Chamber. + +"I'll see you between four and five at Silviane's, eh?" said the Baron as +he conducted him to the door. "Come and tell me what occurs at the +Chamber in consequence of that odious article of Sagnier's. I must at all +events know. For my part I shall go to the Ministry of Fine Arts, to +settle that affair of the Comedie; and besides I've some calls to make, +some contractors to see, and a big launching and advertisement affair to +settle." + +"It's understood then, between four and five, at Silviane's," said the +deputy, who went off again mastered by his vague uneasiness, his anxiety +as to what turn that nasty affair of the African Railway Lines might +take. + +And all of them had forgotten Laveuve, the miserable wretch who lay at +death's door; and all of them were hastening away to their business or +their passions, caught in the toils, sinking under the grindstone and +whisked away by that rush of all Paris, whose fever bore them along, +throwing one against another in an ardent scramble, in which the sole +question was who should pass over the others and crush them. + +"And so, mamma," said Camille, who continued to scrutinise her mother and +Gerard, "you are going to take us to the Princess's _matinee_?" + +"By-and-by, yes. Only I shan't be able to stay there with you. I received +a telegram from Salmon about my corsage this morning, and I must +absolutely go to try it on at four o'clock." + +By the slight trembling of her mother's voice, the girl felt certain that +she was telling a falsehood. "Oh!" said she, "I thought you were only +going to try it on to-morrow? In that case I suppose we are to go and +call for you at Salmon's with the carriage on leaving the _matinee_?" + +"Oh! no my dear! One never knows when one will be free; and besides, if I +have a moment, I shall call at the _modiste's_." + +Camille's secret rage brought almost a murderous glare to her dark eyes. +The truth was evident. But however passionately she might desire to set +some obstacle across her mother's path, she could not, dared not, carry +matters any further. In vain had she attempted to implore Gerard with her +eyes. He was standing to take his leave, and turned away his eyes. +Pierre, who had become acquainted with many things since he had +frequented the house, noticed how all three of them quivered, and divined +thereby the mute and terrible drama. + +At this moment, however, Hyacinthe, stretched in an armchair, and +munching an ether capsule, the only liqueur in which he indulged, raised +his voice: "For my part, you know, I'm going to the Exposition du Lis. +All Paris is swarming there. There's one painting in particular, 'The +Rape of a Soul,' which it's absolutely necessary for one to have seen." + +"Well, but I don't refuse to drive you there," resumed the Baroness. +"Before going to the Princess's we can look in at that exhibition." + +"That's it, that's it," hastily exclaimed Camille, who, though she +harshly derided the symbolist painters as a rule, now doubtless desired +to delay her mother. Then, forcing herself to smile, she asked: "Won't +you risk a look-in at the Exposition du Lis with us, Monsieur Gerard?" + +"Well, no," replied the Count, "I want to walk. I shall go with Monsieur +l'Abbe Froment to the Chamber." + +Thereupon he took leave of mother and daughter, kissing the hand of each +in turn. It had just occurred to him that to while away his time he also +might call for a moment at Silviane's, where, like the others, he had his +_entrees_. On reaching the cold and solemn courtyard he said to the +priest, "Ah! it does one good to breathe a little cool air. They keep +their rooms too hot, and all those flowers, too, give one the headache." + +Pierre for his part was going off with his brain in a whirl, his hands +feverish, his senses oppressed by all the luxury which he left behind +him, like the dream of some glowing, perfumed paradise where only the +elect had their abode. At the same time his reviving thirst for charity +had become keener than ever, and without listening to the Count, who was +speaking very affectionately of his mother, he reflected as to how he +might obtain Laveuve's admission to the Asylum from Fonsegue. However, +when the door of the mansion had closed behind them and they had taken a +few steps along the street, it occurred to Pierre that a moment +previously a sudden vision had met his gaze. Had he not seen a workman +carrying a tool-bag, standing and waiting on the foot pavement across the +road, gazing at that monumental door, closed upon so much fabulous +wealth--a workman in whom he fancied he had recognised Salvat, that +hungry fellow who had gone off that morning in search of work? At this +thought Pierre hastily turned round. Such wretchedness in face of so much +affluence and enjoyment made him feel anxious. But the workman, disturbed +in his contemplation, and possibly fearing that he had been recognised, +was going off with dragging step. And now, getting only a back view of +him, Pierre hesitated, and ended by thinking that he must have been +mistaken. + + + + +III. RANTERS AND RULERS + +WHEN Abbe Froment was about to enter the Palais-Bourbon he remembered +that he had no card, and he was making up his mind that he would simply +ask for Fonsegue, though he was not known to him, when, on reaching the +vestibule, he perceived Mege, the Collectivist deputy, with whom he had +become acquainted in his days of militant charity in the poverty-stricken +Charonne district. + +"What, you here? You surely have not come to evangelise us?" said Mege. + +"No, I've come to see Monsieur Fonsegue on an urgent matter, about a poor +fellow who cannot wait." + +"Fonsegue? I don't know if he has arrived. Wait a moment." And stopping a +short, dark young fellow with a ferreting, mouse-like air, Mege said to +him: "Massot, here's Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, who wants to speak to your +governor at once." + +"The governor? But he isn't here. I left him at the office of the paper, +where he'll be detained for another quarter of an hour. However, if +Monsieur l'Abbe likes to wait he will surely see him here." + +Thereupon Mege ushered Pierre into the large waiting-hall, the Salle des +Pas Perdus, which in other moments looked so vast and cold with its +bronze Minerva and Laocoon, and its bare walls on which the pale mournful +winter light fell from the glass doors communicating with the garden. +Just then, however, it was crowded, and warmed, as it were, by the +feverish agitation of the many groups of men that had gathered here and +there, and the constant coming and going of those who hastened through +the throng. Most of these were deputies, but there were also numerous +journalists and inquisitive visitors. And a growing uproar prevailed: +colloquies now in undertones, now in loud voices, exclamations and bursts +of laughter, amidst a deal of passionate gesticulation, Mege's return +into the tumult seemed to fan it. He was tall, apostolically thin, and +somewhat neglectful of his person, looking already old and worn for his +age, which was but five and forty, though his eyes still glowed with +youth behind the glasses which never left his beak-like nose. And he had +a warm but grating voice, and had always been known to cough, living on +solely because he was bitterly intent on doing so in order to realise the +dream of social re-organisation which haunted him. The son of an +impoverished medical man of a northern town, he had come to Paris when +very young, living there during the Empire on petty newspaper and other +unknown work, and first making a reputation as an orator at the public +meetings of the time. Then, after the war, having become the chief of the +Collectivist party, thanks to his ardent faith and the extraordinary +activity of his fighting nature, he had at last managed to enter the +Chamber, where, brimful of information, he fought for his ideas with +fierce determination and obstinacy, like a _doctrinaire_ who has decided +in his own mind what the world ought to be, and who regulates in advance, +and bit by bit, the whole dogma of Collectivism. However, since he had +taken pay as a deputy, the outside Socialists had looked upon him as a +mere rhetorician, an aspiring dictator who only tried to cast society in +a new mould for the purpose of subordinating it to his personal views and +ruling it. + +"You know what is going on?" he said to Pierre. "This is another nice +affair, is it not? But what would you have? We are in mud to our very +ears." + +He had formerly conceived genuine sympathy for the priest, whom he had +found so gentle with all who suffered, and so desirous of social +regeneration. And the priest himself had ended by taking an interest in +this authoritarian dreamer, who was resolved to make men happy in spite +even of themselves. He knew that he was poor, and led a retired life with +his wife and four children, to whom he was devoted. + +"You can well understand that I am no ally of Sagnier's," Mege resumed. +"But as he chose to speak out this morning and threaten to publish the +names of all those who have taken bribes, we can't allow ourselves to +pass as accomplices any further. It has long been said that there was +some nasty jobbery in that suspicious affair of the African railways. And +the worst is that two members of the present Cabinet are in question, for +three years ago, when the Chambers dealt with Duvillard's emission, +Barroux was at the Home Department, and Monferrand at that of Public +Works. Now that they have come back again, Monferrand at the Home +Department, and Barroux at that of Finance, with the Presidency of the +Council, it isn't possible, is it, for us to do otherwise than compel +them to enlighten us, in their own interest even, about their former +goings-on? No, no, they can no longer keep silence, and I've announced +that I intend to interpellate them this very day." + +It was the announcement of Mege's interpellation, following the terrible +article of the "Voix du Peuple," which thus set the lobbies in an uproar. +And Pierre remained rather scared at this big political affair falling +into the midst of his scheme to save a wretched pauper from hunger and +death. Thus he listened without fully understanding the explanations +which the Socialist deputy was passionately giving him, while all around +them the uproar increased, and bursts of laughter rang out, testifying to +the astonishment which the others felt at seeing Mege in conversation +with a priest. + +"How stupid they are!" said Mege disdainfully. "Do they think then that I +eat a cassock for _dejeuner_ every morning? But I beg your pardon, my +dear Monsieur Froment. Come, take a place on that seat and wait for +Fonsegue." + +Then he himself plunged into all the turmoil, and Pierre realised that +his best course was to sit down and wait quietly. His surroundings began +to influence and interest him, and he gradually forgot Laveuve for the +passion of the Parliamentary crisis amidst which he found himself cast. +The frightful Panama adventure was scarcely over; he had followed the +progress of that tragedy with the anguish of a man who every night +expects to hear the tocsin sound the last hour of olden, agonising +society. And now a little Panama was beginning, a fresh cracking of the +social edifice, an affair such as had been frequent in all parliaments in +connection with big financial questions, but one which acquired mortal +gravity from the circumstances in which it came to the front. That story +of the African Railway Lines, that little patch of mud, stirred up and +exhaling a perturbing odour, and suddenly fomenting all that emotion, +fear, and anger in the Chamber, was after all but an opportunity for +political strife, a field on which the voracious appetites of the various +"groups" would take exercise and sharpen; and, at bottom, the sole +question was that of overthrowing the ministry and replacing it by +another. Only, behind all that lust of power, that continuous onslaught +of ambition, what a distressful prey was stirring--the whole people with +all its poverty and its sufferings! + +Pierre noticed that Massot, "little Massot," as he was generally called, +had just seated himself on the bench beside him. With his lively eye and +ready ear listening to everything and noting it, gliding everywhere with +his ferret-like air, Massot was not there in the capacity of a gallery +man, but had simply scented a stormy debate, and come to see if he could +not pick up material for some occasional "copy." And this priest lost in +the midst of the throng doubtless interested him. + +"Have a little patience, Monsieur l'Abbe," said he, with the amiable +gaiety of a young gentleman who makes fun of everything. "The governor +will certainly come, for he knows well enough that they are going to heat +the oven here. You are not one of his constituents from La Correze, are +you?" + +"No, no! I belong to Paris; I've come on account of a poor fellow whom I +wish to get admitted into the Asylum of the Invalids of Labour." + +"Oh! all right. Well, I'm a child of Paris, too." + +Then Massot laughed. And indeed he was a child of Paris, son of a chemist +of the St. Denis district, and an ex-dunce of the Lycee Charlemagne, +where he had not even finished his studies. He had failed entirely, and +at eighteen years of age had found himself cast into journalism with +barely sufficient knowledge of orthography for that calling. And for +twelve years now, as he often said, he had been a rolling stone wandering +through all spheres of society, confessing some and guessing at others. +He had seen everything, and become disgusted with everything, no longer +believing in the existence of great men, or of truth, but living +peacefully enough on universal malice and folly. He naturally had no +literary ambition, in fact he professed a deliberate contempt for +literature. Withal, he was not a fool, but wrote in accordance with no +matter what views in no matter what newspaper, having neither conviction +nor belief, but quietly claiming the right to say whatever he pleased to +the public on condition that he either amused or impassioned it. + +"And so," said he, "you know Mege, Monsieur l'Abbe? What a study in +character, eh? A big child, a dreamer of dreams in the skin of a terrible +sectarian! Oh! I have had a deal of intercourse with him, I know him +thoroughly. You are no doubt aware that he lives on with the everlasting +conviction that he will attain to power in six months' time, and that +between evening and morning he will have established that famous +Collectivist community which is to succeed capitalist society, just as +day follows night. And, by the way, as regards his interpellation to-day, +he is convinced that in overthrowing the Barroux ministry he'll be +hastening his own turn. His system is to use up his adversaries. How many +times haven't I heard him making his calculations: there's such a one to +be used up, then such a one, and then such a one, so that he himself may +at last reign. And it's always to come off in six months at the latest. +The misfortune is, however, that others are always springing up, and so +his turn never comes at all." + +Little Massot openly made merry over it. Then, slightly lowering his +voice, he asked: "And Sagnier, do you know him? No? Do you see that +red-haired man with the bull's neck--the one who looks like a butcher? +That one yonder who is talking in a little group of frayed frock-coats." + +Pierre at last perceived the man in question. He had broad red ears, a +hanging under-lip, a large nose, and big, projecting dull eyes. + +"I know that one thoroughly, as well," continued Massot; "I was on the +'Voix du Peuple' under him before I went on the 'Globe.' The one thing +that nobody is exactly aware of is whence Sagnier first came. He long +dragged out his life in the lower depths of journalism, doing nothing at +all brilliant, but wild with ambition and appetite. Perhaps you remember +the first hubbub he made, that rather dirty affair of a new Louis XVII. +which he tried to launch, and which made him the extraordinary Royalist +that he still is. Then it occurred to him to espouse the cause of the +masses, and he made a display of vengeful Catholic socialism, attacking +the Republic and all the abominations of the times in the name of justice +and morality, under the pretext of curing them. He began with a series of +sketches of financiers, a mass of dirty, uncontrolled, unproved +tittle-tattle, which ought to have led him to the dock, but which met, as +you know, with such wonderful success when gathered together in a volume. +And he goes on in the same style in the 'Voix du Peuple,' which he +himself made a success at the time of the Panama affair by dint of +denunciation and scandal, and which to-day is like a sewer-pipe pouring +forth all the filth of the times. And whenever the stream slackens, why, +he invents things just to satisfy his craving for that hubbub on which +both his pride and his pocket subsist." + +Little Massot spoke without bitterness; indeed, he had even begun to +laugh again. Beneath his thoughtless ferocity he really felt some respect +for Sagnier. "Oh! he's a bandit," he continued, "but a clever fellow all +the same. You can't imagine how full of vanity he is. Lately it occurred +to him to get himself acclaimed by the populace, for he pretends to be a +kind of King of the Markets, you know. Perhaps he has ended by taking his +fine judge-like airs in earnest, and really believes that he is saving +the people and helping the cause of virtue. What astonishes me is his +fertility in the arts of denunciation and scandalmongering. Never a +morning comes but he discovers some fresh horror, and delivers fresh +culprits over to the hatred of the masses. No! the stream of mud never +ceases; there is an incessant, unexpected spurt of infamy, an increase of +monstrous fancies each time that the disgusted public shows any sign of +weariness. And, do you know, there's genius in that, Monsieur l'Abbe; for +he is well aware that his circulation goes up as soon as he threatens to +speak out and publish a list of traitors and bribe-takers. His sales are +certain now for some days to come." + +Listening to Massot's gay, bantering voice, Pierre began to understand +certain things, the exact meaning of which had hitherto escaped him. He +ended by questioning the young journalist, surprised as he was that so +many deputies should be in the lobbies when the sitting was in progress. +Oh! the sitting indeed. The gravest matters, some bill of national +interest, might be under discussion, yet every member fled from it at the +sudden threat of an interpellation which might overturn the ministry. And +the passion stirring there was the restrained anger, the growing anxiety +of the present ministry's clients, who feared that they might have to +give place to others; and it was also the sudden hope, the eager hunger +of all who were waiting--the clients of the various possible ministries +of the morrow. + +Massot pointed to Barroux, the head of the Cabinet, who, though he was +out of his element in the Department of Finances, had taken it simply +because his generally recognised integrity was calculated to reassure +public opinion after the Panama crisis. Barroux was chatting in a corner +with the Minister of Public Instruction, Senator Taboureau, an old +university man with a shrinking, mournful air, who was extremely honest, +but totally ignorant of Paris, coming as he did from some far-away +provincial faculty. Barroux for his part was of decorative aspect, tall, +and with a handsome, clean-shaven face, which would have looked quite +noble had not his nose been rather too small. Although he was sixty, he +still had a profusion of curly snow-white hair completing the somewhat +theatrical majesty of his appearance, which he was wont to turn to +account when in the tribune. Coming of an old Parisian family, +well-to-do, an advocate by profession, then a Republican journalist under +the Empire, he had reached office with Gambetta, showing himself at once +honest and romantic, loud of speech, and somewhat stupid, but at the same +time very brave and very upright, and still clinging with ardent faith to +the principles of the great Revolution. However, his Jacobinism was +getting out of fashion, he was becoming an "ancestor," as it were, one of +the last props of the middle-class Republic, and the new comers, the +young politicians with long teeth, were beginning to smile at him. +Moreover, beneath the ostentation of his demeanour, and the pomp of his +eloquence, there was a man of hesitating, sentimental nature, a good +fellow who shed tears when re-perusing the verses of Lamartine. + +However, Monferrand, the minister for the Home Department, passed by and +drew Barroux aside to whisper a few words in his ear. He, Monferrand, was +fifty, short and fat, with a smiling, fatherly air; nevertheless a look +of keen intelligence appeared at times on his round and somewhat common +face fringed by a beard which was still dark. In him one divined a man of +government, with hands which were fitted for difficult tasks, and which +never released a prey. Formerly mayor of the town of Tulle, he came from +La Correze, where he owned a large estate. He was certainly a force in +motion, one whose constant rise was anxiously watched by keen observers. +He spoke in a simple quiet way, but with extraordinary power of +conviction. Having apparently no ambition, affecting indeed the greatest +disinterestedness, he nevertheless harboured the most ferocious +appetites. Sagnier had written that he was a thief and a murderer, having +strangled two of his aunts in order to inherit their property. But even +if he were a murderer, he was certainly not a vulgar one. + +Then, too, came another personage of the drama which was about to be +performed--deputy Vignon, whose arrival agitated the various groups. The +two ministers looked at him, whilst he, at once surrounded by his +friends, smiled at them from a distance. He was not yet thirty-six. Slim, +and of average height, very fair, with a fine blond beard of which he +took great care, a Parisian by birth, having rapidly made his way in the +government service, at one time Prefect at Bordeaux, he now represented +youth and the future in the Chamber. He had realised that new men were +needed in the direction of affairs in order to accomplish the more +urgent, indispensable reforms; and very ambitious and intelligent as he +was, knowing many things, he already had a programme, the application of +which he was quite capable of attempting, in part at any rate. However, +he evinced no haste, but was full of prudence and shrewdness, convinced +that his day would dawn, strong in the fact that he was as yet +compromised in nothing, but had all space before him. At bottom he was +merely a first-class administrator, clear and precise in speech, and his +programme only differed from Barroux's by the rejuvenation of its +formulas, although the advent of a Vignon ministry in place of a Barroux +ministry appeared an event of importance. And it was of Vignon that +Sagnier had written that he aimed at the Presidency of the Republic, even +should he have to march through blood to reach the Elysee Palace. + +"_Mon Dieu_!" Massot was explaining, "it's quite possible that Sagnier +isn't lying this time, and that he has really found a list of names in +some pocket-book of Hunter's that has fallen into his hands. I myself +have long known that Hunter was Duvillard's vote-recruiter in the affair +of the African Railways. But to understand matters one must first realise +what his mode of proceeding was, the skill and the kind of amiable +delicacy which he showed, which were far from the brutal corruption and +dirty trafficking that people imagine. One must be such a man as Sagnier +to picture a parliament as an open market, where every conscience is for +sale and is impudently knocked down to the highest bidder. Oh! things +happened in a very different way indeed; and they are explainable, and at +times even excusable. Thus the article is levelled in particular against +Barroux and Monferrand, who are designated in the clearest possible +manner although they are not named. You are no doubt aware that at the +time of the vote Barroux was at the Home Department and Monferrand at +that of Public Works, and so now they are accused of having betrayed +their trusts, the blackest of all social crimes. I don't know into what +political combinations Barroux may have entered, but I am ready to swear +that he put nothing in his pocket, for he is the most honest of men. As +for Monferrand, that's another matter; he's a man to carve himself his +share, only I should be much surprised if he had put himself in a bad +position. He's incapable of a blunder, particularly of a stupid blunder, +like that of taking money and leaving a receipt for it lying about." + +Massot paused, and with a jerk of his head called Pierre's attention to +Duthil, who, feverish, but nevertheless smiling, stood in a group which +had just collected around the two ministers. "There! do you see that +young man yonder, that dark handsome fellow whose beard looks so +triumphant?" + +"I know him," said Pierre. + +"Oh! you know Duthil. Well, he's one who most certainly took money. But +he's a mere bird. He came to us from Angouleme to lead the pleasantest of +lives here, and he has no more conscience, no more scruples, than the +pretty finches of his native part, who are ever love-making. Ah! for +Duthil, Hunter's money was like manna due to him, and he never even +paused to think that he was dirtying his fingers. You may be quite sure +he feels astonished that people should attach the slightest importance to +the matter." + +Then Massot designated another deputy in the same group, a man of fifty +or thereabouts, of slovenly aspect and lachrymose mien, lanky, too, like +a maypole, and somewhat bent by the weight of his head, which was long +and suggestive of a horse's. His scanty, straight, yellowish hair, his +drooping moustaches, in fact the whole of his distracted countenance, +expressed everlasting distress. + +"And Chaigneux, do you know him?" continued Massot, referring to the +deputy in question. "No? Well, look at him and ask yourself if it isn't +quite as natural that he, too, should have taken money. He came from +Arras. He was a solicitor there. When his division elected him he let +politics intoxicate him, and sold his practice to make his fortune in +Paris, where he installed himself with his wife and his three daughters. +And you can picture his bewilderment amidst those four women, terrible +women ever busy with finery, receiving and paying visits, and running +after marriageable men who flee away. It's ill-luck with a vengeance, the +daily defeat of a poor devil of mediocre attainments, who imagined that +his position as a deputy would facilitate money-making, and who is +drowning himself in it all. And so how can Chaigneux have done otherwise +than take money, he who is always hard up for a five-hundred-franc note! +I admit that originally he wasn't a dishonest man. But he's become one, +that's all." + +Massot was now fairly launched, and went on with his portraits, the +series which he had, at one moment, dreamt of writing under the title of +"Deputies for Sale." There were the simpletons who fell into the furnace, +the men whom ambition goaded to exasperation, the low minds that yielded +to the temptation of an open drawer, the company-promoters who grew +intoxicated and lost ground by dint of dealing with big figures. At the +same time, however, Massot admitted that these men were relatively few in +number, and that black sheep were to be found in every parliament of the +world. Then Sagnier's name cropped up again, and Massot remarked that +only Sagnier could regard the French Chambers as mere dens of thieves. + +Pierre, meantime, felt most interested in the tempest which the threat of +a ministerial crisis was stirring up before him. Not only the men like +Duthil and Chaigneux, pale at feeling the ground tremble beneath them, +and wondering whether they would not sleep at the Mazas prison that +night, were gathered round Barroux and Monferrand; all the latters' +clients were there, all who enjoyed influence or office through them, and +who would collapse and disappear should they happen to fall. And it was +something to see the anxious glances and the pale dread amidst all the +whispered chatter, the bits of information and tittle-tattle which were +carried hither and thither. Then, in a neighbouring group formed round +Vignon, who looked very calm and smiled, were the other clients, those +who awaited the moment to climb to the assault of power, in order that +they, in their turn, might at last possess influence or office. Eyes +glittered with covetousness, hopeful delight could be read in them, +pleasant surprise at the sudden opportunity now offered. Vignon avoided +replying to the over-direct questions of his friends, and simply +announced that he did not intend to intervene. Evidently enough his plan +was to let Mege interpellate and overthrow the ministry, for he did not +fear him, and in his own estimation would afterwards simply have to stoop +to pick up the fallen portfolios. + +"Ah! Monferrand now," little Massot was saying, "there's a rascal who +trims his sails! I knew him as an anti-clerical, a devourer of priests, +Monsieur l'Abbe, if you will allow me so to express myself; however, I +don't say this to be agreeable to you, but I think I may tell you for +certain that he has become reconciled to religion. At least, I have been +told that Monseigneur Martha, who is a great converter, now seldom leaves +him. This is calculated to please one in these new times, when science +has become bankrupt, and religion blooms afresh with delicious mysticism +on all sides, whether in art, literature, or society itself." + +Massot was jesting, according to his wont; but he spoke so amiably that +the priest could not do otherwise than bow. However, a great stir had set +in before them; it was announced that Mege was about to ascend the +tribune, and thereupon all the deputies hastened into the assembly hall, +leaving only the inquisitive visitors and a few journalists in the Salle +des Pas Perdus. + +"It's astonishing that Fonsegue hasn't yet arrived," resumed Massot; +"he's interested in what's going on. However, he's so cunning, that when +he doesn't behave as others do, one may be sure that he has his reasons +for it. Do you know him?" And as Pierre gave a negative answer, Massot +went on: "Oh! he's a man of brains and real power--I speak with all +freedom, you know, for I don't possess the bump of veneration; and, as +for my editors, well, they're the very puppets that I know the best and +pick to pieces with the most enjoyment. Fonsegue, also, is clearly +designated in Sagnier's article. Moreover, he's one of Duvillard's usual +clients. There can be no doubt that he took money, for he takes money in +everything. Only he always protects himself, and takes it for reasons +which may be acknowledged--as payment or commission on account of +advertising, and so forth. And if I left him just now, looking, as it +seemed to me, rather disturbed, and if he delays his arrival here to +establish, as it were, a moral alibi, the truth must be that he has +committed the first imprudent action in his life." + +Then Massot rattled on, telling all there was to tell about Fonsegue. He, +too, came from the department of La Correze, and had quarrelled for life +with Monferrand after some unknown underhand affairs. Formerly an +advocate at Tulle, his ambition had been to conquer Paris; and he had +really conquered it, thanks to his big morning newspaper, "Le Globe," of +which he was both founder and director. He now resided in a luxurious +mansion in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, and no enterprise was launched +but he carved himself a princely share in it. He had a genius for +"business," and employed his newspaper as a weapon to enable him to reign +over the market. But how very carefully he had behaved, what long and +skilful patience he had shown, before attaining to the reputation of a +really serious man, who guided authoritatively the most virtuous and +respected of the organs of the press! Though in reality he believed +neither in God nor in Devil, he had made this newspaper the supporter of +order, property, and family ties; and though he had become a Conservative +Republican, since it was to his interest to be such, he had remained +outwardly religious, affecting a Spiritualism which reassured the +_bourgeoisie_. And amidst all his accepted power, to which others bowed, +he nevertheless had one hand deep in every available money-bag. + +"Ah! Monsieur l'Abbe," said Massot, "see to what journalism may lead a +man. There you have Sagnier and Fonsegue: just compare them a bit. In +reality they are birds of the same feather: each has a quill and uses it. +But how different the systems and the results. Sagnier's print is really +a sewer which rolls him along and carries him to the cesspool; while the +other's paper is certainly an example of the best journalism one can +have, most carefully written, with a real literary flavour, a treat for +readers of delicate minds, and an honour to the man who directs it. But +at the bottom, good heavens! in both cases the farce is precisely the +same!" + +Massot burst out laughing, well pleased with this final thrust. Then all +at once: "Ah! here's Fonsegue at last!" said he. + +Quite at his ease, and still laughing, he forthwith introduced the +priest. "This is Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, my dear _patron_, who has been +waiting more than twenty minutes for you--I'm just going to see what is +happening inside. You know that Mege is interpellating the government." + +The new comer started slightly: "An interpellation!" said he. "All right, +all right, I'll go to it." + +Pierre was looking at him. He was about fifty years of age, short of +stature, thin and active, still looking young without a grey hair in his +black beard. He had sparkling eyes, too, but his mouth, said to be a +terrible one, was hidden by his moustaches. And withal he looked a +pleasant companion, full of wit to the tip of his little pointed nose, +the nose of a sporting dog that is ever scenting game. "What can I do for +you, Monsieur l'Abbe?" he inquired. + +Then Pierre briefly presented his request, recounting his visit to +Laveuve that morning, giving every heart-rending particular, and asking +for the poor wretch's immediate admittance to the Asylum. + +"Laveuve!" said the other, "but hasn't his affair been examined? Why, +Duthil drew up a report on it, and things appeared to us of such a nature +that we could not vote for the man's admittance." + +But the priest insisted: "I assure you, monsieur, that your heart would +have burst with compassion had you been with me this morning. It is +revolting that an old man should be left in such frightful abandonment +even for another hour. He must sleep at the Asylum to-night." + +Fonsegue began to protest. "To-night! But it's impossible, altogether +impossible! There are all sorts of indispensable formalities to be +observed. And besides I alone cannot take such responsibility. I haven't +the power. I am only the manager; all that I do is to execute the orders +of the committee of lady patronesses." + +"But it was precisely Baroness Duvillard who sent me to you, monsieur, +telling me that you alone had the necessary authority to grant immediate +admittance in an exceptional case." + +"Oh! it was the Baroness who sent you? Ah! that is just like her, +incapable of coming to any decision herself, and far too desirous of her +own quietude to accept any responsibility. Why is it that she wants me to +have the worries? No, no, Monsieur l'Abbe, I certainly won't go against +all our regulations; I won't give an order which would perhaps embroil me +with all those ladies. You don't know them, but they become positively +terrible directly they attend our meetings." + +He was growing lively, defending himself with a jocular air, whilst in +secret he was fully determined to do nothing. However, just then Duthil +abruptly reappeared, darting along bareheaded, hastening from lobby to +lobby to recruit absent members, particularly those who were interested +in the grave debate at that moment beginning. "What, Fonsegue!" he cried, +"are you still here? Go, go to your seat at once, it's serious!" And +thereupon he disappeared. + +His colleague evinced no haste, however. It was as if the suspicious +affair which was impassioning the Chamber had no concern for him. And he +still smiled, although a slight feverish quiver made him blink. "Excuse +me, Monsieur l'Abbe," he said at last. "You see that my friends have need +of me. I repeat to you that I can do absolutely nothing for your +_protege_." + +But Pierre would not accept this reply as a final one. "No, no, +monsieur," he rejoined, "go to your affairs, I will wait for you here. +Don't come to a decision without full reflection. You are wanted, and I +feel that your mind is not sufficiently at liberty for you to listen to +me properly. By-and-by, when you come back and give me your full +attention, I am sure that you will grant me what I ask." + +And, although Fonsegue, as he went off, repeated that he could not alter +his decision, the priest stubbornly resolved to make him do so, and sat +down on the bench again, prepared, if needful, to stay there till the +evening. The Salle des Pas Perdus was now almost quite empty, and looked +yet more frigid and mournful with its Laocoon and its Minerva, its bare +commonplace walls like those of a railway-station waiting-room, between +which all the scramble of the century passed, though apparently without +even warming the lofty ceiling. Never had paler and more callous light +entered by the large glazed doors, behind which one espied the little +slumberous garden with its meagre, wintry lawns. And not an echo of the +tempest of the sitting near at hand reached the spot; from the whole +heavy pile there fell but death-like silence, and a covert quiver of +distress that had come from far away, perhaps from the entire country. + +It was that which now haunted Pierre's reverie. The whole ancient, +envenomed sore spread out before his mind's eye, with its poison and +virulence. Parliamentary rottenness had slowly increased till it had +begun to attack society itself. Above all the low intrigues and the rush +of personal ambition there certainly remained the loftier struggle of the +contending principles, with history on the march, clearing the past away +and seeking to bring more truth, justice, and happiness in the future. +But in practice, if one only considered the horrid daily cuisine of the +sphere, what an unbridling of egotistical appetite one beheld, what an +absorbing passion to strangle one's neighbour and triumph oneself alone! +Among the various groups one found but an incessant battle for power and +the satisfactions that it gives. "Left," "Right," "Catholics," +"Republicans," "Socialists," the names given to the parties of twenty +different shades, were simply labels classifying forms of the one burning +thirst to rule and dominate. All questions could be reduced to a single +one, that of knowing whether this man, that man, or that other man should +hold France in his grasp, to enjoy it, and distribute its favours among +his creatures. And the worst was that the outcome of the great +parliamentary battles, the days and the weeks lost in setting this man in +the place of that man, and that other man in the place of this man, was +simply stagnation, for not one of the three men was better than his +fellows, and there were but vague points of difference between them; in +such wise that the new master bungled the very same work as the previous +one had bungled, forgetful, perforce, of programmes and promises as soon +as ever he began to reign. + +However, Pierre's thoughts invincibly reverted to Laveuve, whom he had +momentarily forgotten, but who now seized hold of him again with a quiver +as of anger and death. Ah! what could it matter to that poor old wretch, +dying of hunger on his bed of rags, whether Mege should overthrow +Barroux's ministry, and whether a Vignon ministry should ascend to power +or not! At that rate, a century, two centuries, would be needed before +there would be bread in the garrets where groan the lamed sons of labour, +the old, broken-down beasts of burden. And behind Laveuve there appeared +the whole army of misery, the whole multitude of the disinherited and the +poor, who agonised and asked for justice whilst the Chamber, sitting in +all pomp, grew furiously impassioned over the question as to whom the +nation should belong to, as to who should devour it. Mire was flowing on +in a broad stream, the hideous, bleeding, devouring sore displayed itself +in all impudence, like some cancer which preys upon an organ and spreads +to the heart. And what disgust, what nausea must such a spectacle +inspire; and what a longing for the vengeful knife that would bring +health and joy! + +Pierre could not have told for how long he had been plunged in this +reverie, when uproar again filled the hall. People were coming back, +gesticulating and gathering in groups. And suddenly he heard little +Massot exclaim near him: "Well, if it isn't down it's not much better +off. I wouldn't give four sous for its chance of surviving." + +He referred to the ministry, and began to recount the sitting to a fellow +journalist who had just arrived. Mege had spoken very eloquently, with +extraordinary fury of indignation against the rotten _bourgeoisie_, which +rotted everything it touched; but, as usual, he had gone much too far, +alarming the Chamber by his very violence. And so, when Barroux had +ascended the tribune to ask for a month's adjournment of the +interpellation, he had merely had occasion to wax indignant, in all +sincerity be it said, full of lofty anger that such infamous campaigns +should be carried on by a certain portion of the press. Were the shameful +Panama scandals about to be renewed? Were the national representatives +going to let themselves be intimidated by fresh threats of denunciation? +It was the Republic itself which its adversaries were seeking to submerge +beneath a flood of abominations. No, no, the hour had come for one to +collect one's thoughts, and work in quietude without allowing those who +hungered for scandal to disturb the public peace. And the Chamber, +impressed by these words, fearing, too, lest the electorate should at +last grow utterly weary of the continuous overflow of filth, had +adjourned the interpellation to that day month. However, although Vignon +had not personally intervened in the debate, the whole of his group had +voted against the ministry, with the result that the latter had merely +secured a majority of two votes--a mockery. + +"But in that case they will resign," said somebody to Massot. + +"Yes, so it's rumoured. But Barroux is very tenacious. At all events if +they show any obstinacy they will be down before a week is over, +particularly as Sagnier, who is quite furious, declares that he will +publish the list of names to-morrow." + +Just then, indeed, Barroux and Monferrand were seen to pass, hastening +along with thoughtful, busy mien, and followed by their anxious clients. +It was said that the whole Cabinet was about to assemble to consider the +position and come to a decision. And then Vignon, in his turn, reappeared +amidst a stream of friends. He, for his part, was radiant, with a joy +which he sought to conceal, calming his friends in his desire not to cry +victory too soon. However, the eyes of the band glittered, like those of +a pack of hounds when the moment draws near for the offal of the quarry +to be distributed. And even Mege also looked triumphant. He had all but +overthrown the ministry. That made another one that was worn out, and +by-and-by he would wear out Vignon's, and at last govern in his turn. + +"The devil!" muttered little Massot, "Chaigneux and Duthil look like +whipped dogs. And see, there's nobody who is worth the governor. Just +look at him, how superb he is, that Fonsegue! But good-by, I must now be +off!" + +Then he shook hands with his brother journalist unwilling as he was to +remain any longer, although the sitting still continued, some bill of +public importance again being debated before the rows of empty seats. + +Chaigneux, with his desolate mien, had gone to lean against the pedestal +of the high figure of Minerva; and never before had he been more bowed +down by his needy distress, the everlasting anguish of his ill-luck. On +the other hand, Duthil, in spite of everything, was perorating in the +centre of a group with an affectation of scoffing unconcern; nevertheless +nervous twitches made his nose pucker and distorted his mouth, while the +whole of his handsome face was becoming moist with fear. And even as +Massot had said, there really was only Fonsegue who showed composure and +bravery, ever the same with his restless little figure, and his eyes +beaming with wit, though at times they were just faintly clouded by a +shadow of uneasiness. + +Pierre had risen to renew his request; but Fonsegue forestalled him, +vivaciously exclaiming: "No, no, Monsieur l'Abbe, I repeat that I cannot +take on myself such an infraction of our rules. There was an inquiry, and +a decision was arrived at. How would you have me over-rule it?" + +"Monsieur," said the priest, in a tone of deep grief, "it is a question +of an old man who is hungry and cold, and in danger of death if he be not +succoured." + +With a despairing gesture, the director of "Le Globe" seemed to take the +very walls as witnesses of his powerlessness. No doubt he feared some +nasty affair for his newspaper, in which he had abused the Invalids of +Labour enterprise as an electoral weapon. Perhaps, too, the secret terror +into which the sitting of the Chamber had just thrown him was hardening +his heart. "I can do nothing," he repeated. "But naturally I don't ask +better than to have my hands forced by the ladies of the Committee. You +already have the support of the Baroness Duvillard, secure that of some +others." + +Pierre, who was determined to fight on to the very end, saw in this +suggestion a supreme chance. "I know the Countess de Quinsac," he said, +"I can go to see her at once." + +"Quite so! an excellent idea, the Countess de Quinsac! Take a cab and go +to see the Princess de Harn as well. She bestirs herself a great deal, +and is becoming very influential. Secure the approval of these ladies, go +back to the Baroness's at seven, get a letter from her to cover me, and +then call on me at the office of my paper. That done, your man shall +sleep at the Asylum at nine o'clock!" + +He evinced in speaking a kind of joyous good nature, as though he no +longer doubted of success now that he ran no risk of compromising +himself. And great hope again came back to the priest: "Ah! thank you, +monsieur," he said; "it is a work of salvation that you will accomplish." + +"But you surely know that I ask nothing better. Ah! if we could only cure +misery, prevent hunger and thirst by a mere word. However, make haste, +you have not a minute to lose." + +They shook hands, and Pierre at once tried to get out of the throng. +This, however, was no easy task, for the various groups had grown larger +as all the anger and anguish, roused by the recent debate, ebbed back +there amid a confused tumult. It was as when a stone, cast into a pool, +stirs the ooze below, and causes hidden, rotting things to rise once more +to the surface. And Pierre had to bring his elbows into play and force a +passage athwart the throng, betwixt the shivering cowardice of some, the +insolent audacity of others, and the smirchings which sullied the greater +number, given the contagion which inevitably prevailed. However, he +carried away a fresh hope, and it seemed to him that if he should save a +life, make but one man happy that day, it would be like a first +instalment of redemption, a sign that a little forgiveness would be +extended to the many follies and errors of that egotistical and +all-devouring political world. + +On reaching the vestibule a final incident detained him for a moment +longer. Some commotion prevailed there following upon a quarrel between a +man and an usher, the latter of whom had prevented the former from +entering on finding that the admission ticket which he tendered was an +old one, with its original date scratched out. The man, very rough at the +outset, had then refrained from insisting, as if indeed sudden timidity +had come upon him. And in this ill-dressed fellow Pierre was astonished +to recognise Salvat, the journeyman engineer, whom he had seen going off +in search of work that same morning. This time it was certainly he, tall, +thin and ravaged, with dreamy yet flaming eyes, which set his pale +starveling's face aglow. He no longer carried his tool-bag; his ragged +jacket was buttoned up and distended on the left side by something that +he carried in a pocket, doubtless some hunk of bread. And on being +repulsed by the ushers, he walked away, taking the Concorde bridge, +slowly, as if chancewise, like a man who knows not whither he is going. + + + + +IV. SOCIAL SIDELIGHTS + +IN her old faded drawing-room--a Louis Seize _salon_ with grey +woodwork--the Countess de Quinsac sat near the chimney-piece in her +accustomed place. She was singularly like her son, with a long and noble +face, her chin somewhat stern, but her eyes still beautiful beneath her +fine snowy hair, which was arranged in the antiquated style of her youth. +And whatever her haughty coldness, she knew how to be amiable, with +perfect, kindly graciousness. + +Slightly waving her hand after a long silence, she resumed, addressing +herself to the Marquis de Morigny, who sat on the other side of the +chimney, where for long years he had always taken the same armchair. "Ah! +you are right, my friend, Providence has left us here forgotten, in a +most abominable epoch." + +"Yes, we passed by the side of happiness and missed it," the Marquis +slowly replied, "and it was your fault, and doubtless mine as well." + +Smiling sadly, she stopped him with another wave of her hand. And the +silence fell once more; not a sound from the streets reached that gloomy +ground floor at the rear of the courtyard of an old mansion in the Rue +St. Dominique, almost at the corner of the Rue de Bourgogne. + +The Marquis was an old man of seventy-five, nine years older than the +Countess. Short and thin though he was, he none the less had a +distinguished air, with his clean-shaven face, furrowed by deep, +aristocratic wrinkles. He belonged to one of the most ancient families of +France, and remained one of the last hopeless Legitimists, of very pure +and lofty views, zealously keeping his faith to the dead monarchy amidst +the downfall of everything. His fortune, still estimated at several +millions of francs, remained, as it were, in a state of stagnation, +through his refusal to invest it in any of the enterprises of the +century. It was known that in all discretion he had loved the Countess, +even when M. de Quinsac was alive, and had, moreover, offered marriage +after the latter's death, at the time when the widow had sought a refuge +on that damp ground floor with merely an income of some 15,000 francs, +saved with great difficulty from the wreck of the family fortune. But +she, who adored her son Gerard, then in his tenth year, and of delicate +health, had sacrificed everything to the boy from a kind of maternal +chasteness and a superstitious fear that she might lose him should she +set another affection and another duty in her life. And the Marquis, +while bowing to her decision, had continued to worship her with his whole +soul, ever paying his court as on the first evening when he had seen her, +still gallant and faithful after a quarter of a century had passed. There +had never been anything between them, not even the exchange of a kiss. + +Seeing how sad she looked, he feared that he might have displeased her, +and so he asked: "I should have liked to render you happy, but I didn't +know how, and the fault can certainly only rest with me. Is Gerard giving +you any cause for anxiety?" + +She shook her head, and then replied: "As long as things remain as they +are we cannot complain of them, my friend, since we accepted them." + +She referred to her son's culpable connection with Baroness Duvillard. +She had ever shown much weakness with regard to that son whom she had had +so much trouble to rear, for she alone knew what exhaustion, what racial +collapse was hidden behind his proud bearing. She tolerated his idleness, +the apathetic disgust which, man of pleasure that he was, had turned him +from the profession of diplomacy as from that of arms. How many times had +she not repaired his acts of folly and paid his petty debts, keeping +silent concerning them, and refusing all pecuniary help from the Marquis, +who no longer dared offer his millions, so stubbornly intent she was on +living upon the remnants of her own fortune. And thus she had ended by +closing her eyes to her son's scandalous love intrigue, divining in some +measure how things had happened, through self-abandonment and lack of +conscience--the man weak, unable to resume possession of himself, and the +woman holding and retaining him. The Marquis, however, strangely enough, +had only forgiven the intrigue on the day when Eve had allowed herself to +be converted. + +"You know, my friend, how good-natured Gerard is," the Countess resumed. +"In that lie both his strength and weakness. How would you have me scold +him when he weeps over it all with me? He will tire of that woman." + +M. de Morigny wagged his head. "She is still very beautiful," said he. +"And then there's the daughter. It would be graver still if he were to +marry her--" + +"But the daughter's infirm?" + +"Yes, and you know what would be said: A Quinsac marrying a monster for +the sake of her millions." + +This was their mutual terror. They knew everything that went on at the +Duvillards, the affectionate friendship of the uncomely Camille and the +handsome Gerard, the seeming idyll beneath which lurked the most awful of +dramas. And they protested with all their indignation. "Oh! that, no, no, +never!" the Countess declared. "My son in that family, no, I will never +consent to it." + +Just at that moment General de Bozonnet entered. He was much attached to +his sister and came to keep her company on the days when she received, +for the old circle had gradually dwindled down till now only a few +faithful ones ventured into that grey gloomy _salon_, where one might +have fancied oneself at thousands of leagues from present-day Paris. And +forthwith, in order to enliven the room, he related that he had been to +_dejeuner_ at the Duvillards, and named the guests, Gerard among them. He +knew that he pleased his sister by going to the banker's house whence he +brought her news, a house, too, which he cleansed in some degree by +conferring on it the great honour of his presence. And he himself in no +wise felt bored there, for he had long been gained over to the century +and showed himself of a very accommodating disposition in everything that +did not pertain to military art. + +"That poor little Camille worships Gerard," said he; "she was devouring +him with her eyes at table." + +But M. de Morigny gravely intervened: "There lies the danger, a marriage +would be absolutely monstrous from every point of view." + +The General seemed astonished: "Why, pray? She isn't beautiful, but it's +not only the beauties who marry! And there are her millions. However, our +dear child would only have to put them to a good use. True, there is also +the mother; but, _mon Dieu_! such things are so common nowadays in Paris +society." + +This revolted the Marquis, who made a gesture of utter disgust. What was +the use of discussion when all collapsed? How could one answer a +Bozonnet, the last surviving representative of such an illustrious +family, when he reached such a point as to excuse the infamous morals +that prevailed under the Republic; after denying his king, too, and +serving the Empire, faithfully and passionately attaching himself to the +fortunes and memory of Caesar? However, the Countess also became +indignant: "Oh! what are you saying, brother? I will never authorize such +a scandal, I swore so only just now." + +"Don't swear, sister," exclaimed the General; "for my part I should like +to see our Gerard happy. That's all. And one must admit that he's not +good for much. I can understand that he didn't go into the Army, for that +profession is done for. But I do not so well understand why he did not +enter the diplomatic profession, or accept some other occupation. It is +very fine, no doubt, to run down the present times and declare that a man +of our sphere cannot possibly do any clean work in them. But, as a matter +of fact, it is only idle fellows who still say that. And Gerard has but +one excuse, his lack of aptitude, will and strength." + +Tears had risen to the mother's eyes. She even trembled, well knowing how +deceitful were appearances: a mere chill might carry her son off, however +tall and strong he might look. And was he not indeed a symbol of that +old-time aristocracy, still so lofty and proud in appearance, though at +bottom it is but dust? + +"Well," continued the General, "he's thirty-six now; he's constantly +hanging on your hands, and he must make an end of it all." + +However, the Countess silenced him and turned to the Marquis: "Let us put +our confidence in God, my friend," said she. "He cannot but come to my +help, for I have never willingly offended Him." + +"Never!" replied the Marquis, who in that one word set an expression of +all his grief, all his affection and worship for that woman whom he had +adored for so many years. + +But another faithful friend came in and the conversation changed. M. de +Larombiere, Vice-President of the Appeal Court, was an old man of +seventy-five, thin, bald and clean shaven but for a pair of little white +whiskers. And his grey eyes, compressed mouth and square and obstinate +chin lent an expression of great austerity to his long face. The grief of +his life was that, being afflicted with a somewhat childish lisp, he had +never been able to make his full merits known when a public prosecutor, +for he esteemed himself to be a great orator. And this secret worry +rendered him morose. In him appeared an incarnation of that old royalist +France which sulked and only served the Republic against its heart, that +old stern magistracy which closed itself to all evolution, to all new +views of things and beings. Of petty "gown" nobility, originally a +Legitimist but now supporting Orleanism, he believed himself to be the +one man of wisdom and logic in that _salon_, where he was very proud to +meet the Marquis. + +They talked of the last events; but with them political conversation was +soon exhausted, amounting as it did to a mere bitter condemnation of men +and occurrences, for all three were of one mind as to the abominations of +the Republican _regime_. They themselves, however, were only ruins, the +remnants of the old parties now all but utterly powerless. The Marquis +for his part soared on high, yielding in nothing, ever faithful to the +dead past; he was one of the last representatives of that lofty obstinate +_noblesse_ which dies when it finds itself without an effort to escape +its fate. The judge, who at least had a pretender living, relied on a +miracle, and demonstrated the necessity for one if France were not to +sink into the depths of misfortune and completely disappear. And as for +the General, all that he regretted of the two Empires was their great +wars; he left the faint hope of a Bonapartist restoration on one side to +declare that by not contenting itself with the Imperial military system, +and by substituting thereto obligatory service, the nation in arms, the +Republic had killed both warfare and the country. + +When the Countess's one man-servant came to ask her if she would consent +to receive Abbe Froment she seemed somewhat surprised. "What can he want +of me? Show him in," she said. + +She was very pious, and having met Pierre in connection with various +charitable enterprises, she had been touched by his zeal as well as by +the saintly reputation which he owed to his Neuilly parishioners. + +He, absorbed by his fever, felt intimidated directly he crossed the +threshold. He could at first distinguish nothing, but fancied he was +entering some place of mourning, a shadowy spot where human forms seemed +to melt away, and voices were never raised above a whisper. Then, on +perceiving the persons present, he felt yet more out of his element, for +they seemed so sad, so far removed from the world whence he had just +come, and whither he was about to return. And when the Countess had made +him sit down beside her in front of the chimney-piece, it was in a low +voice that he told her the lamentable story of Laveuve, and asked her +support to secure the man's admittance to the Asylum for the Invalids of +Labour. + +"Ah! yes," said she, "that enterprise which my son wished me to belong +to. But, Monsieur l'Abbe, I have never once attended the Committee +meetings. So how could I intervene, having assuredly no influence +whatever?" + +Again had the figures of Eve and Gerard arisen before her, for it was at +this asylum that the pair had first met. And influenced by her sorrowful +maternal love she was already weakening, although it was regretfully that +she had lent her name to one of those noisy charitable enterprises, which +people abused to further their selfish interests in a manner she +condemned. + +"But, madame," Pierre insisted, "it is a question of a poor starving old +man. I implore you to be compassionate." + +Although the priest had spoken in a low voice the General drew near. +"It's for your old revolutionary that you are running about, is it not," +said he. "Didn't you succeed with the manager, then? The fact is that +it's difficult to feel any pity for fellows who, if they were the +masters, would, as they themselves say, sweep us all away." + +M. de Larombiere jerked his chin approvingly. For some time past he had +been haunted by the Anarchist peril. But Pierre, distressed and +quivering, again began to plead his cause. He spoke of all the frightful +misery, the homes where there was no food, the women and children +shivering with cold, and the fathers scouring muddy, wintry Paris in +search of a bit of bread. All that he asked for was a line on a visiting +card, a kindly word from the Countess, which he would at once carry to +Baroness Duvillard to prevail on her to set the regulations aside. And +his words fell one by one, tremulous with stifled tears, in that mournful +_salon_, like sounds from afar, dying away in a dead world where there +was no echo left. + +Madame de Quinsac turned towards M. de Morigny, but he seemed to take no +interest in it all. He was gazing fixedly at the fire, with the haughty +air of a stranger who was indifferent to the things and beings in whose +midst an error of time compelled him to live. But feeling that the glance +of the woman he worshipped was fixed upon him he raised his head; and +then their eyes met for a moment with an expression of infinite +gentleness, the mournful gentleness of their heroic love. + +"_Mon Dieu_!" said she, "I know your merits, Monsieur l'Abbe, and I won't +refuse my help to one of your good works." + +Then she went off for a moment, and returned with a card on which she had +written that she supported with all her heart Monsieur l'Abbe Froment in +the steps he was taking. And he thanked her and went off delighted, as if +he carried yet a fresh hope of salvation from that drawing-room where, as +he retired, gloom and silence once more seemed to fall on that old lady +and her last faithful friends gathered around the fire, last relics of a +world that was soon to disappear. + +Once outside, Pierre joyfully climbed into his cab again, after giving +the Princess de Harn's address in the Avenue Kleber. If he could also +obtain her approval he would no longer doubt of success. However, there +was such a crush on the Concorde bridge, that the driver had to walk his +horse. And, on the foot-pavement, Pierre again saw Duthil, who, with a +cigar between his lips, was smiling at the crowd, with his amiable +bird-like heedlessness, happy as he felt at finding the pavement dry and +the sky blue on leaving that worrying sitting of the Chamber. Seeing how +gay and triumphant he looked, a sudden inspiration came to the priest, +who said to himself that he ought to win over this young man, whose +report had had such a disastrous effect. As it happened, the cab having +been compelled to stop altogether, the deputy had just recognized him and +was smiling at him. + +"Where are you going, Monsieur Duthil?" Pierre asked. + +"Close by, in the Champs Elysees." + +"I'm going that way, and, as I should much like to speak to you for a +moment, it would be very kind of you to take a seat beside me. I will set +you down wherever you like." + +"Willingly, Monsieur l'Abbe. It won't inconvenience you if I finish my +cigar?" + +"Oh! not at all." + +The cab found its way out of the crush, crossed the Place de la Concorde +and began to ascend the Champs Elysees. And Pierre, reflecting that he +had very few minutes before him, at once attacked Duthil, quite ready for +any effort to convince him. He remembered what a sortie the young deputy +had made against Laveuve at the Baron's; and thus he was astonished to +hear him interrupt and say quite pleasantly, enlivened as he seemed by +the bright sun which was again beginning to shine: "Ah, yes! your old +drunkard! So you didn't settle his business with Fonsegue? And what is it +you want? To have him admitted to-day? Well, you know I don't oppose it?" + +"But there's your report." + +"My report, oh, my report! But questions change according to the way one +looks at them. And if you are so anxious about your Laveuve I won't +refuse to help you." + +Pierre looked at him in astonishment, at bottom extremely well pleased. +And there was no further necessity even for him to speak. + +"You didn't take the matter in hand properly," continued Duthil, leaning +forward with a confidential air. "It's the Baron who's the master at +home, for reasons which you may divine, which you may very likely know. +The Baroness does all that he asks without even discussing the point; and +this morning,--instead of starting on a lot of useless visits, you only +had to gain his support, particularly as he seemed to be very well +disposed. And she would then have given way immediately." Duthil began to +laugh. "And so," he continued, "do you know what I'll do? Well, I'll gain +the Baron over to your cause. Yes, I am this moment going to a house +where he is, where one is certain to find him every day at this time." +Then he laughed more loudly. "And perhaps you are not ignorant of it, +Monsieur l'Abbe. When he is there you may be certain he never gives a +refusal. I promise you I'll make him swear that he will compel his wife +to grant your man admission this very evening. Only it will, perhaps, be +rather late." + +Then all at once, as if struck by a fresh idea, Duthil went on: "But why +shouldn't you come with me? You secure a line from the Baron, and +thereupon, without losing a minute, you go in search of the Baroness. Ah! +yes, the house embarrasses you a little, I understand it. Would you like +to see only the Baron there? You can wait for him in a little _salon_ +downstairs; I will bring him to you." + +This proposal made Duthil altogether merry, but Pierre, quite scared, +hesitated at the idea of thus going to Silviane d'Aulnay's. It was hardly +a place for him. However, to achieve his purpose, he would have descended +into the very dwelling of the fiend, and had already done so sometimes +with Abbe Rose, when there was hope of assuaging wretchedness. So he +turned to Duthil and consented to accompany him. + +Silviane d'Aulnay's little mansion, a very luxurious one, displaying, +too, so to say, the luxury of a temple, refined but suggestive of +gallantry, stood in the Avenue d'Antin, near the Champs Elysees. The +inmate of this sanctuary, where the orfrays of old dalmaticas glittered +in the mauve reflections from the windows of stained-glass, had just +completed her twenty-fifth year. Short and slim she was, of an adorable, +dark beauty, and all Paris was acquainted with her delicious, virginal +countenance of a gentle oval, her delicate nose, her little mouth, her +candid cheeks and artless chin, above all which she wore her black hair +in thick, heavy bands, which hid her low brow. Her notoriety was due +precisely to her pretty air of astonishment, the infinite purity of her +blue eyes, the whole expression of chaste innocence which she assumed +when it so pleased her, an expression which contrasted powerfully with +her true nature, shameless creature that she really was, of the most +monstrous, confessed, and openly-displayed perversity; such as, in fact, +often spring up from the rotting soil of great cities. Extraordinary +things were related about Silviane's tastes and fancies. Some said that +she was a door-keeper's, others a doctor's, daughter. In any case she had +managed to acquire instruction and manners, for when occasion required +she lacked neither wit, nor style, nor deportment. She had been rolling +through the theatres for ten years or so, applauded for her beauty's +sake, and she had even ended by obtaining some pretty little successes in +such parts as those of very pure young girls or loving and persecuted +young women. Since there had been a question, though, of her entering the +Comedie Francaise to play the _role_ of Pauline in "Polyeucte," some +people had waxed indignant and others had roared with laughter, so +ridiculous did the idea appear, so outrageous for the majesty of classic +tragedy. She, however, quiet and stubborn, wished this thing to be, was +resolved that it should be, certain as she was that she would secure it, +insolent like a creature to whom men had never yet been able to refuse +anything. + +That day, at three o'clock, Gerard de Quinsac, not knowing how to kill +the time pending the appointment he had given Eve in the Rue Matignon, +had thought of calling at Silviane's, which was in the neighbourhood. She +was an old caprice of his, and even nowadays he would sometimes linger at +the little mansion if its pretty mistress felt bored. But he had this +time found her in a fury; and, reclining in one of the deep armchairs of +the _salon_ where "old gold" formed the predominant colour, he was +listening to her complaints. She, standing in a white gown, white indeed +from head to foot like Eve herself at the _dejeuner_, was speaking +passionately, and fast convincing the young man, who, won over by so much +youth and beauty, unconsciously compared her to his other flame, weary +already of his coming assignation, and so mastered by supineness, both +moral and physical, that he would have preferred to remain all day in the +depths of that armchair. + +"You hear me, Gerard!" she at last exclaimed, "I'll have nothing whatever +to do with him, unless he brings me my nomination." + +Just then Baron Duvillard came in, and forthwith she changed to ice and +received him like some sorely offended young queen who awaits an +explanation; whilst he, who foresaw the storm and brought moreover +disastrous tidings, forced a smile, though very ill at ease. She was the +stain, the blemish attaching to that man who was yet so sturdy and so +powerful amidst the general decline of his race. And she was also the +beginning of justice and punishment, taking all his piled-up gold from +him by the handful, and by her cruelty avenging those who shivered and +who starved. And it was pitiful to see that feared and flattered man, +beneath whom states and governments trembled, here turn pale with +anxiety, bend low in all humility, and relapse into the senile, lisping +infancy of acute passion. + +"Ah! my dear friend," said he, "if you only knew how I have been rushing +about. I had a lot of worrying business, some contractors to see, a big +advertisement affair to settle, and I feared that I should never be able +to come and kiss your hand." + +He kissed it, but she let her arm fall, coldly, indifferently, contenting +herself with looking at him, waiting for what he might have to say to +her, and embarrassing him to such a point that he began to perspire and +stammer, unable to express himself. "Of course," he began, "I also +thought of you, and went to the Fine Arts Office, where I had received a +positive promise. Oh! they are still very much in your favour at the Fine +Arts Office! Only, just fancy, it's that idiot of a minister, that +Taboureau,* an old professor from the provinces who knows nothing about +our Paris, that has expressly opposed your nomination, saying that as +long as he is in office you shall not appear at the Comedie." + + * Taboureau is previously described as Minister of Public + Instruction. It should be pointed out, however, that + although under the present Republic the Ministries of + Public Instruction and Fine Arts have occasionally been + distinct departments, at other times they have been + united, one minister, as in Taboureau's case, having + charge of both.--Trans. + +Erect and rigid, she spoke but two words: "And then?" + +"And then--well, my dear, what would you have me do? One can't after all +overthrow a ministry to enable you to play the part of Pauline." + +"Why not?" + +He pretended to laugh, but his blood rushed to his face, and the whole of +his sturdy figure quivered with anguish. "Come, my little Silviane," said +he, "don't be obstinate. You can be so nice when you choose. Give up the +idea of that _debut_. You, yourself, would risk a great deal in it, for +what would be your worries if you were to fail? You would weep all the +tears in your body. And besides, you can ask me for so many other things +which I should be so happy to give you. Come now, at once, make a wish +and I will gratify it immediately." + +In a frolicsome way he sought to take her hand again. But she drew back +with an air of much dignity. "No, you hear me, my dear fellow, I will +have nothing whatever to do with you--nothing, so long as I don't play +Pauline." + +He understood her fully, and he knew her well enough to realise how +rigorously she would treat him. Only a kind of grunt came from his +contracted throat, though he still tried to treat the matter in a jesting +way. "Isn't she bad-tempered to-day!" he resumed at last, turning towards +Gerard. "What have you done to her that I find her in such a state?" + +But the young man, who kept very quiet for fear lest he himself might be +bespattered in the course of the dispute, continued to stretch himself +out in a languid way and gave no answer. + +But Silviane's anger burst forth. "What has he done to me? He has pitied +me for being at the mercy of such a man as you--so egotistical, so +insensible to the insults heaped upon me. Ought you not to be the first +to bound with indignation? Ought you not to have exacted my admittance to +the Comedie as a reparation for the insult? For, after all, it is a +defeat for you; if I'm considered unworthy, you are struck at the same +time as I am. And so I'm a drab, eh? Say at once that I'm a creature to +be driven away from all respectable houses." + +She went on in this style, coming at last to vile words, the abominable +words which, in moments of anger, always ended by returning to her +innocent-looking lips. The Baron, who well knew that a syllable from him +would only increase the foulness of the overflow, vainly turned an +imploring glance on the Count to solicit his intervention. Gerard, with +his keen desire for peace and quietness, often brought about a +reconciliation, but this time he did not stir, feeling too lazy and +sleepy to interfere. And Silviane all at once came to a finish, repeating +her trenchant, severing words: "Well, manage as you can, secure my +_debut_, or I'll have nothing more to do with you, nothing!" + +"All right! all right!" Duvillard at last murmured, sneering, but in +despair, "we'll arrange it all." + +However, at that moment a servant came in to say that M. Duthil was +downstairs and wished to speak to the Baron in the smoking-room. +Duvillard was astonished at this, for Duthil usually came up as though +the house were his own. Then he reflected that the deputy had doubtless +brought him some serious news from the Chamber which he wished to impart +to him confidentially at once. So he followed the servant, leaving Gerard +and Silviane together. + +In the smoking-room, an apartment communicating with the hall by a wide +bay, the curtain of which was drawn up, Pierre stood with his companion, +waiting and glancing curiously around him. What particularly struck him +was the almost religious solemnness of the entrance, the heavy hangings, +the mystic gleams of the stained-glass, the old furniture steeped in +chapel-like gloom amidst scattered perfumes of myrrh and incense. Duthil, +who was still very gay, tapped a low divan with his cane and said: "She +has a nicely-furnished house, eh? Oh! she knows how to look after her +interests." + +Then the Baron came in, still quite upset and anxious. And without even +perceiving the priest, desirous as he was of tidings, he began: "Well, +what did they do? Is there some very bad news, then?" + +"Mege interpellated and applied for a declaration of urgency so as to +overthrow Barroux. You can imagine what his speech was." + +"Yes, yes, against the _bourgeois_, against me, against you. It's always +the same thing--And then?" + +"Then--well, urgency wasn't voted, but, in spite of a very fine defence, +Barroux only secured a majority of two votes." + +"Two votes, the devil! Then he's down, and we shall have a Vignon +ministry next week." + +"That's what everybody said in the lobbies." + +The Baron frowned, as if he were estimating what good or evil might +result to the world from such a change. Then, with a gesture of +displeasure, he said: "A Vignon ministry! The devil! that would hardly be +any better. Those young democrats pretend to be virtuous, and a Vignon +ministry wouldn't admit Silviane to the Comedie." + +This, at first, was his only thought in presence of the crisis which made +the political world tremble. And so the deputy could not refrain from +referring to his own anxiety. "Well, and we others, what is our position +in it all?" + +This brought Duvillard back to the situation. With a fresh gesture, this +time a superbly proud one, he expressed his full and impudent confidence. +"We others, why we remain as we are; we've never been in peril, I +imagine. Oh! I am quite at ease. Sagnier can publish his famous list if +it amuses him to do so. If we haven't long since bought Sagnier and his +list, it's because Barroux is a thoroughly honest man, and for my part I +don't care to throw money out of the window--I repeat to you that we fear +nothing." + +Then, as he at last recognised Abbe Froment, who had remained in the +shade, Duthil explained what service the priest desired of him. And +Duvillard, in his state of emotion, his heart still rent by Silviane's +sternness, must have felt a covert hope that a good action might bring +him luck; so he at once consented to intervene in favour of Laveuve's +admission. Taking a card and a pencil from his pocket-book he drew near +to the window. "Oh! whatever you desire, Monsieur l'Abbe," he said, "I +shall be very happy to participate in this good work. Here, this is what +I have written: 'My dear, please do what M. l'Abbe Froment solicits in +favour of this unfortunate man, since our friend Fonsegue only awaits a +word from you to take proper steps.'" + +At this moment through the open bay Pierre caught sight of Gerard, whom +Silviane, calm once more, and inquisitive no doubt to know why Duthil had +called, was escorting into the hall. And the sight of the young woman +filled him with astonishment, so simple and gentle did she seem to him, +full of the immaculate candour of a virgin. Never had he dreamt of a lily +of more unobtrusive yet delicious bloom in the whole garden of innocence. + +"Now," continued Duvillard, "if you wish to hand this card to my wife at +once, you must go to the Princess de Harn's, where there is a +_matinee_--" + +"I was going there, Monsieur le Baron." + +"Very good. You will certainly find my wife there; she is to take the +children there." Then he paused, for he too had just seen Gerard; and he +called him: "I say, Gerard, my wife said that she was going to that +_matinee_, didn't she? You feel sure--don't you?--that Monsieur l'Abbe +will find her there?" + +Although the young man was then going to the Rue Matignon, there to wait +for Eve, it was in the most natural manner possible that he replied: "If +Monsieur l'Abbe makes haste, I think he will find her there, for she was +certainly going there before trying on a corsage at Salmon's." + +Then he kissed Silviane's hand, and went off with the air of a handsome, +indolent man, who knows no malice, and is even weary of pleasure. + +Pierre, feeling rather embarrassed, was obliged to let Duvillard +introduce him to the mistress of the house. He bowed in silence, whilst +she, likewise silent, returned his bow with modest reserve, the tact +appropriate to the occasion, such as no _ingenue_, even at the Comedie, +was then capable of. And while the Baron accompanied the priest to the +door, she returned to the _salon_ with Duthil, who was scarcely screened +by the door-curtain before he passed his arm round her waist. + +When Pierre, who at last felt confident of success, found himself, still +in his cab, in front of the Princess de Harn's mansion in the Avenue +Kleber, he suddenly relapsed into great embarrassment. The avenue was +crowded with carriages brought thither by the musical _matinee_, and such +a throng of arriving guests pressed round the entrance, decorated with a +kind of tent with scallopings of red velvet, that he deemed the house +unapproachable. How could he manage to get in? And how in his cassock +could he reach the Princess, and ask for a minute's conversation with +Baroness Duvillard? Amidst all his feverishness he had not thought of +these difficulties. However, he was approaching the door on foot, asking +himself how he might glide unperceived through the throng, when the sound +of a merry voice made him turn: "What, Monsieur l'Abbe! Is it possible! +So now I find you here!" + +It was little Massot who spoke. He went everywhere, witnessed ten sights +a day,--a parliamentary sitting, a funeral, a wedding, any festive or +mourning scene,--when he wanted a good subject for an article. "What! +Monsieur l'Abbe," he resumed, "and so you have come to our amiable +Princess's to see the Mauritanians dance!" + +He was jesting, for the so-called Mauritanians were simply six Spanish +dancing-girls, who by the sensuality of their performance were then +making all Paris rush to the Folies-Bergere. For drawing-room +entertainments these girls reserved yet more indecorous dances--dances of +such a character indeed that they would certainly not have been allowed +in a theatre. And the _beau monde_ rushed to see them at the houses of +the bolder lady-entertainers, the eccentric and foreign ones like the +Princess, who in order to draw society recoiled from no "attraction." + +But when Pierre had explained to little Massot that he was still running +about on the same business, the journalist obligingly offered to pilot +him. He knew the house, obtained admittance by a back door, and brought +Pierre along a passage into a corner of the hall, near the very entrance +of the grand drawing-room. Lofty green plants decorated this hall, and in +the spot selected Pierre was virtually hidden. "Don't stir, my dear +Abbe," said Massot, "I will try to ferret out the Princess for you. And +you shall know if Baroness Duvillard has already arrived." + +What surprised Pierre was that every window-shutter of the mansion was +closed, every chink stopped up so that daylight might not enter, and that +every room flared with electric lamps, an illumination of supernatural +intensity. The heat was already very great, the atmosphere heavy with a +violent perfume of flowers and _odore di femina_. And to Pierre, who felt +both blinded and stifled, it seemed as if he were entering one of those +luxurious, unearthly Dens of the Flesh such as the pleasure-world of +Paris conjures from dreamland. By rising on tiptoes, as the drawing-room +entrance was wide open, he could distinguish the backs of the women who +were already seated, rows of necks crowned with fair or dark hair. The +Mauritanians were doubtless executing their first dance. He did not see +them, but he could divine the lascivious passion of the dance from the +quiver of all those women's necks, which swayed as beneath a great gust +of wind. Then laughter arose and a tempest of bravos, quite a tumult of +enjoyment. + +"I can't put my hand on the Princess; you must wait a little," Massot +returned to say. "I met Janzen and he promised to bring her to me. Don't +you know Janzen?" + +Then, in part because his profession willed it, and in part for +pleasure's sake, he began to gossip. The Princess was a good friend of +his. He had described her first _soiree_ during the previous year, when +she had made her _debut_ at that mansion on her arrival in Paris. He knew +the real truth about her so far as it could be known. Rich? yes, perhaps +she was, for she spent enormous sums. Married she must have been, and to +a real prince, too; no doubt she was still married to him, in spite of +her story of widowhood. Indeed, it seemed certain that her husband, who +was as handsome as an archangel, was travelling about with a vocalist. As +for having a bee in her bonnet that was beyond discussion, as clear as +noonday. Whilst showing much intelligence, she constantly and suddenly +shifted. Incapable of any prolonged effort, she went from one thing that +had awakened her curiosity to another, never attaching herself anywhere. +After ardently busying herself with painting, she had lately become +impassioned for chemistry, and was now letting poetry master her. + +"And so you don't know Janzen," continued Massot. "It was he who threw +her into chemistry, into the study of explosives especially, for, as you +may imagine, the only interest in chemistry for her is its connection +with Anarchism. She, I think, is really an Austrian, though one must +always doubt anything she herself says. As for Janzen, he calls himself a +Russian, but he's probably German. Oh! he's the most unobtrusive, +enigmatical man in the world, without a home, perhaps without a name--a +terrible fellow with an unknown past. I myself hold proofs which make me +think that he took part in that frightful crime at Barcelona. At all +events, for nearly a year now I've been meeting him in Paris, where the +police no doubt are watching him. And nothing can rid me of the idea that +he merely consented to become our lunatic Princess's lover in order to +throw the detectives off the scent. He affects to live in the midst of +_fetes_, and he has introduced to the house some extraordinary people, +Anarchists of all nationalities and all colours--for instance, one +Raphanel, that fat, jovial little man yonder, a Frenchman he is, and his +companions would do well to mistrust him. Then there's a Bergaz, a +Spaniard, I think, an obscure jobber at the Bourse, whose sensual, +blobber-lipped mouth is so disquieting. And there are others and others, +adventurers and bandits from the four corners of the earth!... Ah! the +foreign colonies of our Parisian pleasure-world! There are a few spotless +fine names, a few real great fortunes among them, but as for the rest, +ah! what a herd!" + +Rosemonde's own drawing-room was summed up in those words: resounding +titles, real millionaires, then, down below, the most extravagant medley +of international imposture and turpitude. And Pierre thought of that +internationalism, that cosmopolitanism, that flight of foreigners which, +ever denser and denser, swooped down upon Paris. Most certainly it came +thither to enjoy it, as to a city of adventure and delight, and it helped +to rot it a little more. Was it then a necessary thing, that +decomposition of the great cities which have governed the world, that +affluxion of every passion, every desire, every gratification, that +accumulation of reeking soil from all parts of the world, there where, in +beauty and intelligence, blooms the flower of civilisation? + +However, Janzen appeared, a tall, thin fellow of about thirty, very fair +with grey, pale, harsh eyes, and a pointed beard and flowing curly hair +which elongated his livid, cloudy face. He spoke indifferent French in a +low voice and without a gesture. And he declared that the Princess could +not be found; he had looked for her everywhere. Possibly, if somebody had +displeased her, she had shut herself up in her room and gone to bed, +leaving her guests to amuse themselves in all freedom in whatever way +they might choose. + +"Why, but here she is!" suddenly said Massot. + +Rosemonde was indeed there, in the vestibule, watching the door as if she +expected somebody. Short, slight, and strange rather than pretty, with +her delicate face, her sea-green eyes, her small quivering nose, her +rather large and over-ruddy mouth, which was parted so that one could see +her superb teeth, she that day wore a sky-blue gown spangled with silver; +and she had silver bracelets on her arms and a silver circlet in her pale +brown hair, which rained down in curls and frizzy, straggling locks as +though waving in a perpetual breeze. + +"Oh! whatever you desire, Monsieur l'Abbe," she said to Pierre as soon as +she knew his business. "If they don't take your old man in at our asylum, +send him to me, I'll take him, I will; I will sleep him somewhere here." + +Still, she remained disturbed, and continually glanced towards the door. +And on the priest asking if Baroness Duvillard had yet arrived, "Why no!" +she cried, "and I am much surprised at it. She is to bring her son and +daughter. Yesterday, Hyacinthe positively promised me that he would +come." + +There lay her new caprice. If her passion for chemistry was giving way to +a budding taste for decadent, symbolical verse, it was because one +evening, whilst discussing Occultism with Hyacinthe, she had discovered +an extraordinary beauty in him: the astral beauty of Nero's wandering +soul! At least, said she, the signs of it were certain. + +And all at once she quitted Pierre: "Ah, at last!" she cried, feeling +relieved and happy. Then she darted forward: Hyacinthe was coming in with +his sister Camille. + +On the very threshold, however, he had just met the friend on whose +account he was there, young Lord George Eldrett, a pale and languid +stripling with the hair of a girl; and he scarcely condescended to notice +the tender greeting of Rosemonde, for he professed to regard woman as an +impure and degrading creature. Distressed by such coldness, she followed +the two young men, returning in their rear into the reeking, blinding +furnace of the drawing-room. + +Massot, however, had been obliging enough to stop Camille and bring her +to Pierre, who at the first words they exchanged relapsed into despair. +"What, mademoiselle, has not madame your mother accompanied you here?" + +The girl, clad according to her wont in a dark gown, this time of +peacock-blue, was nervous, with wicked eyes and sibilant voice. And as +she ragefully drew up her little figure, her deformity, her left shoulder +higher than the right one, became more apparent than ever. "No," she +rejoined, "she was unable. She had something to try on at her +dressmaker's. We stopped too long at the Exposition du Lis, and she +requested us to set her down at Salmon's door on our way here." + +It was Camille herself who had skilfully prolonged the visit to the art +show, still hoping to prevent her mother from meeting Gerard. And her +rage arose from the ease with which her mother had got rid of her, thanks +to that falsehood of having something to try on. + +"But," ingenuously said Pierre, "if I went at once to this person Salmon, +I might perhaps be able to send up my card." + +Camille gave a shrill laugh, so funny did the idea appear to her. Then +she retorted: "Oh! who knows if you would still find her there? She had +another pressing appointment, and is no doubt already keeping it!" + +"Well, then, I will wait for her here. She will surely come to fetch you, +will she not?" + +"Fetch us? Oh no! since I tell you that she has other important affairs +to attend to. The carriage will take us home alone, my brother and I." + +Increasing bitterness was infecting the girl's pain-fraught irony. Did he +not understand her then, that priest who asked such naive questions which +were like dagger-thrusts in her heart? Yet he must know, since everybody +knew the truth. + +"Ah! how worried I am," Pierre resumed, so grieved indeed that tears +almost came to his eyes. "It's still on account of that poor man about +whom I have been busying myself since this morning. I have a line from +your father, and Monsieur Gerard told me--" But at this point he paused +in confusion, and amidst all his thoughtlessness of the world, absorbed +as he was in the one passion of charity, he suddenly divined the truth. +"Yes," he added mechanically, "I just now saw your father again with +Monsieur de Quinsac." + +"I know, I know," replied Camille, with the suffering yet scoffing air of +a girl who is ignorant of nothing. "Well, Monsieur l'Abbe, if you have a +line from papa for mamma, you must wait till mamma has finished her +business. You might come to the house about six o'clock, but I doubt if +you'll find her there, as she may well be detained." + +While Camille thus spoke, her murderous eyes glistened, and each word she +uttered, simple as it seemed, became instinct with ferocity, as if it +were a knife, which she would have liked to plunge into her mother's +breast. In all certainty she had never before hated her mother to such a +point as this in her envy of her beauty and her happiness in being loved. +And the irony which poured from the girl's virgin lips, before that +simple priest, was like a flood of mire with which she sought to submerge +her rival. + +Just then, however, Rosemonde came back again, feverish and flurried as +usual. And she led Camille away: "Ah, my dear, make haste. They are +extraordinary, delightful, intoxicating!" + +Janzen and little Massot also followed the Princess. All the men hastened +from the adjoining rooms, scrambled and plunged into the _salon_ at the +news that the Mauritanians had again begun to dance. That time it must +have been the frantic, lascivious gallop that Paris whispered about, for +Pierre saw the rows of necks and heads, now fair, now dark, wave and +quiver as beneath a violent wind. With every window-shutter closed, the +conflagration of the electric lamps turned the place into a perfect +brazier, reeking with human effluvia. And there came a spell of rapture, +fresh laughter and bravos, all the delight of an overflowing orgy. + +When Pierre again found himself on the footwalk, he remained for a moment +bewildered, blinking, astonished to be in broad daylight once more. +Half-past four would soon strike, but he had nearly two hours to wait +before calling at the house in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy. What should he +do? He paid his driver; preferring to descend the Champs Elysees on foot, +since he had some time to lose. A walk, moreover, might calm the fever +which was burning his hands, in the passion of charity which ever since +the morning had been mastering him more and more, in proportion as he +encountered fresh and fresh obstacles. He now had but one pressing +desire, to complete his good work, since success henceforth seemed +certain. And he tried to restrain his steps and walk leisurely down the +magnificent avenue, which had now been dried by the bright sun, and was +enlivened by a concourse of people, while overhead the sky was again +blue, lightly blue, as in springtime. + +Nearly two hours to lose while, yonder, the wretched Laveuve lay with +life ebbing from him on his bed of rags, in his icy den. Sudden feelings +of revolt, of well-nigh irresistible impatience ascended from Pierre's +heart, making him quiver with desire to run off and at once find Baroness +Duvillard so as to obtain from her the all-saving order. He felt sure +that she was somewhere near, in one of those quiet neighbouring streets, +and great was his perturbation, his grief-fraught anger at having to wait +in this wise to save a human life until she should have attended to those +affairs of hers, of which her daughter spoke with such murderous glances! +He seemed to hear a formidable cracking, the family life of the +_bourgeoisie_ was collapsing: the father was at a hussy's house, the +mother with a lover, the son and daughter knew everything; the former +gliding to idiotic perversity, the latter enraged and dreaming of +stealing her mother's lover to make a husband of him. And meantime the +splendid equipages descended the triumphal avenue, and the crowd with its +luxury flowed along the sidewalks, one and all joyous and superb, +seemingly with no idea that somewhere at the far end there was a gaping +abyss wherein everyone of them would fall and be annihilated! + +When Pierre got as far as the Summer Circus he was much surprised at +again seeing Salvat, the journeyman engineer, on one of the avenue seats. +He must have sunk down there, overcome by weariness and hunger, after +many a vain search. However, his jacket was still distended by something +he carried in or under it, some bit of bread, no doubt, which he meant to +take home with him. And leaning back, with his arms hanging listlessly, +he was watching with dreamy eyes the play of some very little children, +who, with the help of their wooden spades, were laboriously raising +mounds of sand, and then destroying them by dint of kicks. As he looked +at them his red eyelids moistened, and a very gentle smile appeared on +his poor discoloured lips. This time Pierre, penetrated by disquietude, +wished to approach and question him. But Salvat distrustfully rose and +went off towards the Circus, where a concert was drawing to a close; and +he prowled around the entrance of that festive edifice in which two +thousand happy people were heaped up together listening to music. + + + + +V. FROM RELIGION TO ANARCHY + +AS Pierre was reaching the Place de la Concorde he suddenly remembered +the appointment which Abbe Rose had given him for five o'clock at the +Madeleine, and which he was forgetting in the feverishness born of his +repeated steps to save Laveuve. And at thought of it he hastened on, well +pleased at having this appointment to occupy and keep him patient. + +When he entered the church he was surprised to find it so dark. There +were only a few candles burning, huge shadows were flooding the nave, and +amidst the semi-obscurity a very loud, clear voice spoke on with a +ceaseless streaming of words. All that one could at first distinguish of +the numerous congregation was a pale, vague mass of heads, motionless +with extreme attention. In the pulpit stood Monseigneur Martha, finishing +his third address on the New Spirit. The two former ones had re-echoed +far and wide, and so what is called "all Paris" was there--women of +society, politicians, and writers, who were captivated by the speaker's +artistic oratory, his warm, skilful language, and his broad, easy +gestures, worthy of a great actor. + +Pierre did not wish to disturb the solemn attention, the quivering +silence above which the prelate's voice alone rang out. Accordingly he +resolved to wait before seeking Abbe Rose, and remained standing near a +pillar. A parting gleam of daylight fell obliquely on Monseigneur Martha, +who looked tall and sturdy in his white surplice, and scarcely showed a +grey hair, although he was more than fifty. He had handsome features: +black, keen eyes, a commanding nose, a mouth and chin of the greatest +firmness of contour. What more particularly struck one, however, what +gained the heart of every listener, was the expression of extreme +amiability and anxious sympathy which ever softened the imperious +haughtiness of the prelate's face. + +Pierre had formerly known him as Cure, or parish priest, of Ste. +Clotilde. He was doubtless of Italian origin, but he had been born in +Paris, and had quitted the seminary of St. Sulpice with the best possible +record. Very intelligent and very ambitious, he had evinced an activity +which even made his superiors anxious. Then, on being appointed Bishop of +Persepolis, he had disappeared, gone to Rome, where he had spent five +years engaged in work of which very little was known. However, since his +return he had been astonishing Paris by his brilliant propaganda, busying +himself with the most varied affairs, and becoming much appreciated and +very powerful at the archiepiscopal residence. He devoted himself in +particular, and with wonderful results, to the task of increasing the +subscriptions for the completion of the basilica of the Sacred Heart. He +recoiled from nothing, neither from journeys, nor lectures, nor +collections, nor applications to Government, nor even endeavours among +Israelites and Freemasons. And at last, again enlarging his sphere of +action, he had undertaken to reconcile Science with Catholicism, and to +bring all Christian France to the Republic, on all sides expounding the +policy of Pope Leo XIII., in order that the Church might finally triumph. + +However, in spite of the advances of this influential and amiable man, +Pierre scarcely liked him. He only felt grateful to him for one thing, +the appointment of good Abbe Rose as curate at St. Pierre de Montmartre, +which appointment he had secured for him no doubt in order to prevent +such a scandal as the punishment of an old priest for showing himself too +charitable. On thus finding and hearing the prelate speak in that +renowned pulpit of the Madeleine, still and ever pursuing his work of +conquest, Pierre remembered how he had seen him at the Duvillards' during +the previous spring, when, with his usual _maestria_, he had achieved his +greatest triumph--the conversion of Eve to Catholicism. That church, too, +had witnessed her baptism, a wonderfully pompous ceremony, a perfect gala +offered to the public which figures in all the great events of Parisian +life. Gerard had knelt down, moved to tears, whilst the Baron triumphed +like a good-natured husband who was happy to find religion establishing +perfect harmony in his household. It was related among the spectators +that Eve's family, and particularly old Justus Steinberger, her father, +was not in reality much displeased by the affair. The old man sneeringly +remarked, indeed, that he knew his daughter well enough to wish her to +belong to his worst enemy. In the banking business there is a class of +security which one is pleased to see discounted by one's rivals. With the +stubborn hope of triumph peculiar to his race, Justus, consoling himself +for the failure of his first scheme, doubtless considered that Eve would +prove a powerful dissolving agent in the Christian family which she had +entered, and thus help to make all wealth and power fall into the hands +of the Jews. + +However, Pierre's vision faded. Monseigneur Martha's voice was rising +with increase of volume, celebrating, amidst the quivering of the +congregation, the benefits that would accrue from the New Spirit, which +was at last about to pacify France and restore her to her due rank and +power. Were there not certain signs of this resurrection on every hand? +The New Spirit was the revival of the Ideal, the protest of the soul +against degrading materialism, the triumph of spirituality over filthy +literature; and it was also Science accepted, but set in its proper +place, reconciled with Faith, since it no longer pretended to encroach on +the latter's sacred domain; and it was further the Democracy welcomed in +fatherly fashion, the Republic legitimated, recognised in her turn as +Eldest Daughter of the Church. A breath of poetry passed by. The Church +opened her heart to all her children, there would henceforth be but +concord and delight if the masses, obedient to the New Spirit, would give +themselves to the Master of love as they had given themselves to their +kings, recognising that the Divinity was the one unique power, absolute +sovereign of both body and soul. + +Pierre was now listening attentively, wondering where it was that he had +previously heard almost identical words. And suddenly he remembered; and +could fancy that he was again at Rome, listening to the last words of +Monsignor Nani, the Assessor of the Holy Office. Here, again, he found +the dream of a democratic Pope, ceasing to support the compromised +monarchies, and seeking to subdue the masses. Since Caesar was down, or +nearly so, might not the Pope realise the ancient ambition of his +forerunners and become both emperor and pontiff, the sovereign, universal +divinity on earth? This, too, was the dream in which Pierre himself, with +apostolic naivete, had indulged when writing his book, "New Rome": a +dream from which the sight of the real Rome had so roughly roused him. At +bottom it was merely a policy of hypocritical falsehood, the priestly +policy which relies on time, and is ever tenacious, carrying on the work +of conquest with extraordinary suppleness, resolved to profit by +everything. And what an evolution it was, the Church of Rome making +advances to Science, to the Democracy, to the Republican _regimes_, +convinced that it would be able to devour them if only it were allowed +the time! Ah! yes, the New Spirit was simply the Old Spirit of +Domination, incessantly reviving and hungering to conquer and possess the +world. + +Pierre thought that he recognised among the congregation certain deputies +whom he had seen at the Chamber. Wasn't that tall gentleman with the fair +beard, who listened so devoutly, one of Monferrand's creatures? It was +said that Monferrand, once a devourer of priests, was now smilingly +coquetting with the clergy. Quite an underhand evolution was beginning in +the sacristies, orders from Rome flitted hither and thither; it was a +question of accepting the new form of government, and absorbing it by +dint of invasion. France was still the Eldest Daughter of the Church, the +only great nation which had sufficient health and strength to place the +Pope in possession of his temporal power once more. So France must be +won; it was well worth one's while to espouse her, even if she were +Republican. In the eager struggle of ambition the bishop made use of the +minister, who thought it to his interest to lean upon the bishop. But +which of the two would end by devouring the other? And to what a _role_ +had religion sunk: an electoral weapon, an element in a parliamentary +majority, a decisive, secret reason for obtaining or retaining a +ministerial portfolio! Of divine charity, the basis of religion, there +was no thought, and Pierre's heart filled with bitterness as he +remembered the recent death of Cardinal Bergerot, the last of the great +saints and pure minds of the French episcopacy, among which there now +seemed to be merely a set of intriguers and fools. + +However, the address was drawing to a close. In a glowing peroration, +which evoked the basilica of the Sacred Heart dominating Paris with the +saving symbol of the Cross from the sacred Mount of the Martyrs,* +Monseigneur Martha showed that great city of Paris Christian once more +and master of the world, thanks to the moral omnipotence conferred upon +it by the divine breath of the New Spirit. Unable to applaud, the +congregation gave utterance to a murmur of approving rapture, delighted +as it was with this miraculous finish which reassured both pocket and +conscience. Then Monseigneur Martha quitted the pulpit with a noble step, +whilst a loud noise of chairs broke upon the dark peacefulness of the +church, where the few lighted candles glittered like the first stars in +the evening sky. A long stream of men, vague, whispering shadows, glided +away. The women alone remained, praying on their knees. + + * Montmartre. + +Pierre, still in the same spot, was rising on tip-toes, looking for Abbe +Rose, when a hand touched him. It was that of the old priest, who had +seen him from a distance. "I was yonder near the pulpit," said he, "and I +saw you plainly, my dear child. Only I preferred to wait so as to disturb +nobody. What a beautiful address dear Monseigneur delivered!" + +He seemed, indeed, much moved. But there was deep sadness about his +kindly mouth and clear childlike eyes, whose smile as a rule illumined +his good, round white face. "I was afraid you might go off without seeing +me," he resumed, "for I have something to tell you. You know that poor +old man to whom I sent you this morning and in whom I asked you to +interest yourself? Well, on getting home I found a lady there, who +sometimes brings me a little money for my poor. Then I thought to myself +that the three francs I gave you were really too small a sum, and as the +thought worried me like a kind of remorse, I couldn't resist the impulse, +but went this afternoon to the Rue des Saules myself." + +He lowered his voice from a feeling of respect, in order not to disturb +the deep, sepulchral silence of the church. Covert shame, moreover, +impeded his utterance, shame at having again relapsed into the sin of +blind, imprudent charity, as his superiors reproachfully said. And, +quivering, he concluded in a very low voice indeed: "And so, my child, +picture my grief. I had five francs more to give the poor old man, and I +found him dead." + +Pierre suddenly shuddered. But he was unwilling to understand: "What, +dead!" he cried. "That old man dead! Laveuve dead?" + +"Yes, I found him dead--ah! amidst what frightful wretchedness, like an +old animal that has laid itself down for the finish on a heap of rags in +the depths of a hole. No neighbours had assisted him in his last moments; +he had simply turned himself towards the wall. And ah! how bare and cold +and deserted it was! And what a pang for a poor creature to go off like +that without a word, a caress. Ah! my heart bounded within me and it is +still bleeding!" + +Pierre in his utter amazement at first made but a gesture of revolt +against imbecile social cruelty. Had the bread left near the unfortunate +wretch, and devoured too eagerly, perhaps, after long days of abstinence, +been the cause of his death? Or was not this rather the fatal +_denouement_ of an ended life, worn away by labour and privation? +However, what did the cause signify? Death had come and delivered the +poor man. "It isn't he that I pity," Pierre muttered at last; "it is +we--we who witness all that, we who are guilty of these abominations." + +But good Abbe Rose was already becoming resigned, and would only think of +forgiveness and hope. "No, no, my child, rebellion is evil. If we are all +guilty we can only implore Providence to forget our faults. I had given +you an appointment here hoping for good news; and it's I who come to tell +you of that frightful thing. Let us be penitent and pray." + +Then he knelt upon the flagstones near the pillar, in the rear of the +praying women, who looked black and vague in the gloom. And he inclined +his white head, and for a long time remained in a posture of humility. + +But Pierre was unable to pray, so powerfully did revolt stir him. He did +not even bend his knees, but remained erect and quivering. His heart +seemed to have been crushed; not a tear came to his ardent eyes. So +Laveuve had died yonder, stretched on his litter of rags, his hands +clenched in his obstinate desire to cling to his life of torture, whilst +he, Pierre, again glowing with the flame of charity, consumed by +apostolic zeal, was scouring Paris to find him for the evening a clean +bed on which he might be saved. Ah! the atrocious irony of it all! He +must have been at the Duvillards' in the warm _salon_, all blue and +silver, whilst the old man was expiring; and it was for a wretched corpse +that he had then hastened to the Chamber of Deputies, to the Countess de +Quinsac's, to that creature Silviane's, and to that creature Rosemonde's. +And it was for that corpse, freed from life, escaped from misery as from +prison, that he had worried people, broken in upon their egotism, +disturbed the peace of some, threatened the pleasures of others! What was +the use of hastening from the parliamentary den to the cold _salon_ where +the dust of the past was congealing; of going from the sphere of +middle-class debauchery to that of cosmopolitan extravagance, since one +always arrived too late, and saved people when they were already dead? +How ridiculous to have allowed himself to be fired once more by that +blaze of charity, that final conflagration, only the ashes of which he +now felt within him? This time he thought he was dead himself; he was +naught but an empty sepulchre. + +And all the frightful void and chaos which he had felt that morning at +the basilica of the Sacred Heart after his mass became yet deeper, +henceforth unfathomable. If charity were illusory and useless the Gospel +crumbled, the end of the Book was nigh. After centuries of stubborn +efforts, Redemption through Christianity failed, and another means of +salvation was needed by the world in presence of the exasperated thirst +for justice which came from the duped and wretched nations. They would +have no more of that deceptive paradise, the promise of which had so long +served to prop up social iniquity; they demanded that the question of +happiness should be decided upon this earth. But how? By means of what +new religion, what combination between the sentiment of the Divine and +the necessity for honouring life in its sovereignty and its fruitfulness? +Therein lay the grievous, torturing problem, into the midst of which +Pierre was sinking; he, a priest, severed by vows of chastity and +superstition from the rest of mankind. + +He had ceased to believe in the efficacy of alms; it was not sufficient +that one should be charitable, henceforth one must be just. Given +justice, indeed, horrid misery would disappear, and no such thing as +charity would be needed. Most certainly there was no lack of +compassionate hearts in that grievous city of Paris; charitable +foundations sprouted forth there like green leaves at the first warmth of +springtide. There were some for every age, every peril, every misfortune. +Through the concern shown for mothers, children were succoured even +before they were born; then came the infant and orphan asylums lavishly +provided for all sorts of classes; and, afterwards, man was followed +through his life, help was tendered on all sides, particularly as he grew +old, by a multiplicity of asylums, almshouses, and refuges. And there +were all the hands stretched out to the forsaken ones, the disinherited +ones, even the criminals, all sorts of associations to protect the weak, +societies for the prevention of crime, homes that offered hospitality to +those who repented. Whether as regards the propagation of good deeds, the +support of the young, the saving of life, the bestowal of pecuniary help, +or the promotion of guilds, pages and pages would have been needed merely +to particularise the extraordinary vegetation of charity that sprouted +between the paving-stones of Paris with so fine a vigour, in which +goodness of soul was mingled with social vanity. Still that could not +matter, since charity redeemed and purified all. But how terrible the +proposition that this charity was a useless mockery! What! after so many +centuries of Christian charity not a sore had healed. Misery had only +grown and spread, irritated even to rage. Incessantly aggravated, the +evil was reaching the point when it would be impossible to tolerate it +for another day, since social injustice was neither arrested nor even +diminished thereby. And besides, if only one single old man died of cold +and hunger, did not the social edifice, raised on the theory of charity, +collapse? But one victim, and society was condemned, thought Pierre. + +He now felt such bitterness of heart that he could remain no longer in +that church where the shadows ever slowly fell, blurring the sanctuaries +and the large pale images of Christ nailed upon the Cross. All was about +to sink into darkness, and he could hear nothing beyond an expiring +murmur of prayers, a plaint from the women who were praying on their +knees, in the depths of the shrouding gloom. + +At the same time he hardly liked to go off without saying a word to Abbe +Rose, who in his entreaties born of simple faith left the happiness and +peace of mankind to the good pleasure of the Invisible. However, fearing +that he might disturb him, Pierre was making up his mind to retire, when +the old priest of his own accord raised his head. "Ah, my child," said +he, "how difficult it is to be good in a reasonable manner. Monseigneur +Martha has scolded me again, and but for the forgiveness of God I should +fear for my salvation." + +For a moment Pierre paused under the porticus of the Madeleine, on the +summit of the great flight of steps which, rising above the railings, +dominates the Place. Before him was the Rue Royale dipping down to the +expanse of the Place de la Concorde, where rose the obelisk and the pair +of plashing fountains. And, farther yet, the paling colonnade of the +Chamber of Deputies bounded the horizon. It was a vista of sovereign +grandeur under that pale sky over which twilight was slowly stealing, and +which seemed to broaden the thoroughfares, throw back the edifices, and +lend them the quivering, soaring aspect of the palaces of dreamland. No +other capital in the world could boast a scene of such aerial pomp, such +grandiose magnificence, at that hour of vagueness, when falling night +imparts to cities a dreamy semblance, the infinite of human immensity. + +Motionless and hesitating in presence of the opening expanse, Pierre +distressfully pondered as to whither he should go now that all which he +had so passionately sought to achieve since the morning had suddenly +crumbled away. Was he still bound for the Duvillard mansion in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy? He no longer knew. Then the exasperating remembrance, +with its cruel irony, returned to him. Since Laveuve was dead, of what +use was it for him to kill time and perambulate the pavements pending the +arrival of six o'clock? The idea that he had a home, and that the most +simple course would be to return to it, did not even occur to him. He +felt as if there were something of importance left for him to do, though +he could not possibly tell what it might be. It seemed to him to be +everywhere and yet very far away, to be so vague and so difficult of +accomplishment that he would certainly never be in time or have +sufficient power to do it. However, with heavy feet and tumultuous brain +he descended the steps and, yielding to some obstinate impulse, began to +walk through the flower-market, a late winter market where the first +azaleas were opening with a little shiver. Some women were purchasing +Nice roses and violets; and Pierre looked at them as if he were +interested in all that soft, delicate, perfumed luxury. But suddenly he +felt a horror of it and went off, starting along the Boulevards. + +He walked straight before him without knowing why or whither. The falling +darkness surprised him as if it were an unexpected phenomenon. Raising +his eyes to the sky he felt astonished at seeing its azure gently pale +between the slender black streaks of the chimney funnels. And the huge +golden letters by which names or trades were advertised on every balcony +also seemed to him singular in the last gleams of the daylight. Never +before had he paid attention to the motley tints seen on the +house-fronts, the painted mirrors, the blinds, the coats of arms, the +posters of violent hues, the magnificent shops, like drawing-rooms and +boudoirs open to the full light. And then, both in the roadway and along +the foot-pavements, between the blue, red or yellow columns and kiosks, +what mighty traffic there was, what an extraordinary crowd! The vehicles +rolled along in a thundering stream: on all sides billows of cabs were +parted by the ponderous tacking of huge omnibuses, which suggested lofty, +bright-hued battle-ships. And on either hand, and farther and farther, +and even among the wheels, the flood of passengers rushed on incessantly, +with the conquering haste of ants in a state of revolution. Whence came +all those people, and whither were all those vehicles going? How +stupefying and torturing it all was. + +Pierre was still walking straight ahead, mechanically, carried on by his +gloomy reverie. Night was coming, the first gas-burners were being +lighted; it was the dusk of Paris, the hour when real darkness has not +yet come, when the electric lights flame in the dying day. Lamps shone +forth on all sides, the shop-fronts were being illumined. Soon, moreover, +right along the Boulevards the vehicles would carry their vivid starry +lights, like a milky way on the march betwixt the foot-pavements all +glowing with lanterns and cordons and girandoles, a dazzling profusion of +radiance akin to sunlight. And the shouts of the drivers and the jostling +of the foot passengers re-echoed the parting haste of the Paris which is +all business or passion, which is absorbed in the merciless struggle for +love and for money. The hard day was over, and now the Paris of Pleasure +was lighting up for its night of _fete_. The cafes, the wine shops, the +restaurants, flared and displayed their bright metal bars, and their +little white tables behind their clear and lofty windows, whilst near +their doors, by way of temptation, were oysters and choice fruits. And +the Paris which was thus awaking with the first flashes of the gas was +already full of the gaiety of enjoyment, already yielding to an unbridled +appetite for whatsoever may be purchased. + +However, Pierre had a narrow escape from being knocked down. A flock of +newspaper hawkers came out of a side street, and darted through the crowd +shouting the titles of the evening journals. A fresh edition of the "Voix +du Peuple" gave rise, in particular, to a deafening clamour, which rose +above all the rumbling of wheels. At regular intervals hoarse voices +raised and repeated the cry: "Ask for the 'Voix du Peuple'--the new +scandal of the African Railway Lines, the repulse of the ministry, the +thirty-two bribe-takers of the Chamber and the Senate!" And these +announcements, set in huge type, could be read on the copies of the +paper, which the hawkers flourished like banners. Accustomed as it was to +such filth, saturated with infamy, the crowd continued on its way without +paying much attention. Still a few men paused and bought the paper, while +painted women, who had come down to the Boulevards in search of a dinner, +trailed their skirts and waited for some chance lover, glancing +interrogatively at the outside customers of the cafes. And meantime the +dishonouring shout of the newspaper hawkers, that cry in which there was +both smirch and buffet, seemed like the last knell of the day, ringing +the nation's funeral at the outset of the night of pleasure which was +beginning. + +Then Pierre once more remembered his morning and that frightful house in +the Rue des Saules, where so much want and suffering were heaped up. He +again saw the yard filthy like a quagmire, the evil-smelling staircases, +the sordid, bare, icy rooms, the families fighting for messes which even +stray dogs would not have eaten; the mothers, with exhausted breasts, +carrying screaming children to and fro; the old men who fell in corners +like brute beasts, and died of hunger amidst filth. And then came his +other hours with the magnificence or the quietude or the gaiety of the +_salons_ through which he had passed, the whole insolent display of +financial Paris, and political Paris, and society Paris. And at last he +came to the dusk, and to that Paris-Sodom and Paris-Gomorrah before him, +which was lighting itself up for the night, for the abominations of that +accomplice night which, like fine dust, was little by little submerging +the expanse of roofs. And the hateful monstrosity of it all howled aloud +under the pale sky where the first pure, twinkling stars were gleaming. + +A great shudder came upon Pierre as he thought of all that mass of +iniquity and suffering, of all that went on below amid want and crime, +and all that went on above amid wealth and vice. The _bourgeoisie_, +wielding power, would relinquish naught of the sovereignty which it had +conquered, wholly stolen, while the people, the eternal dupe, silent so +long, clenched its fists and growled, claiming its legitimate share. And +it was that frightful injustice which filled the growing gloom with +anger. From what dark-breasted cloud would the thunderbolt fall? For +years he had been waiting for that thunderbolt which low rumbles +announced on all points of the horizon. And if he had written a book full +of candour and hope, if he had gone in all innocence to Rome, it was to +avert that thunderbolt and its frightful consequences. But all hope of +the kind was dead within him; he felt that the thunderbolt was +inevitable, that nothing henceforth could stay the catastrophe. And never +before had he felt it to be so near, amidst the happy impudence of some, +and the exasperated distress of others. And it was gathering, and it +would surely fall over that Paris, all lust and bravado, which, when +evening came, thus stirred up its furnace. + +Tired out and distracted, Pierre raised his eyes as he reached the Place +de l'Opera. Where was he then? The heart of the great city seemed to beat +on this spot, in that vast expanse where met so many thoroughfares, as if +from every point the blood of distant districts flowed thither along +triumphal avenues. Right away to the horizon stretched the great gaps of +the Avenue de l'Opera, the Rue du Quatre-Septembre, and the Rue de la +Paix, still showing clearly in a final glimpse of daylight, but already +starred with swarming sparks. The torrent of the Boulevard traffic poured +across the Place, where clashed, too, all that from the neighbouring +streets, with a constant turning and eddying which made the spot the most +dangerous of whirlpools. In vain did the police seek to impose some +little prudence, the stream of pedestrians still overflowed, wheels +became entangled and horses reared amidst all the uproar of the human +tide, which was as loud, as incessant, as the tempest voice of an ocean. +Then there was the detached mass of the opera-house, slowly steeped in +gloom, and rising huge and mysterious like a symbol, its lyre-bearing +figure of Apollo, right aloft, showing a last reflection of daylight +amidst the livid sky. And all the windows of the house-fronts began to +shine, gaiety sprang from those thousands of lamps which coruscated one +by one, a universal longing for ease and free gratification of each +desire spread with the increasing darkness; whilst, at long intervals, +the large globes of the electric lights shone as brightly as the moons of +the city's cloudless nights. + +But why was he, Pierre, there, he asked himself, irritated and wondering. +Since Laveuve was dead he had but to go home, bury himself in his nook, +and close up door and windows, like one who was henceforth useless, who +had neither belief nor hope, and awaited naught save annihilation. It was +a long journey from the Place de l'Opera to his little house at Neuilly. +Still, however great his weariness, he would not take a cab, but retraced +his steps, turning towards the Madeleine again, and plunging into the +scramble of the pavements, amidst the deafening uproar from the roadway, +with a bitter desire to aggravate his wound and saturate himself with +revolt and anger. Was it not yonder at the corner of that street, at the +end of that Boulevard, that he would find the expected abyss into which +that rotten world, whose old society he could hear rending at each step, +must soon assuredly topple? + +However, when Pierre wished to cross the Rue Scribe a block in the +traffic made him halt. In front of a luxurious cafe two tall, +shabbily-clad and very dirty fellows were alternately offering the "Voix +du Peuple" with its account of the scandals and the bribe-takers of the +Chamber and the Senate, in voices so suggestive of cracked brass that +passers-by clustered around them. And here, in a hesitating, wandering +man, who after listening drew near to the large cafe and peered through +its windows, Pierre was once again amazed to recognise Salvat. This time +the meeting struck him forcibly, filled him with suspicion to such a +point that he also stopped and resolved to watch the journeyman engineer. +He did not expect that one of such wretched aspect, with what seemed to +be a hunk of bread distending his old ragged jacket, would enter and seat +himself at one of the cafe's little tables amidst the warm gaiety of the +lamps. However, he waited for a moment, and then saw him wander away with +slow and broken steps as if the cafe, which was nearly empty, did not +suit him. What could he have been seeking, whither had he been going, +since the morning, ever on a wild, solitary chase through the Paris of +wealth and enjoyment while hunger dogged his steps? It was only with +difficulty that he now dragged himself along, his will and energy seemed +to be exhausted. As if quite overcome, he drew near to a kiosk, and for a +moment leant against it. Then, however, he drew himself up again, and +walked on further, still as it were in search of something. + +And now came an incident which brought Pierre's emotion to a climax. A +tall sturdy man on turning out of the Rue Caumartin caught sight of +Salvat, and approached him. And just as the new comer without false pride +was shaking the workman's hand, Pierre recognised him as his brother +Guillaume. Yes, it was indeed he, with his thick bushy hair already white +like snow, though he was but seven and forty. However, his heavy +moustaches had remained quite dark without one silver thread, thus +lending an expression of vigorous life to his full face with its lofty +towering brow. It was from his father that he had inherited that brow of +impregnable logic and reason, similar to that which Pierre himself +possessed. But the lower part of the elder brother's countenance was +fuller than that of his junior; his nose was larger, his chin was square, +and his mouth broad and firm of contour. A pale scar, the mark of an old +wound, streaked his left temple. And his physiognomy, though it might at +first seem very grave, rough, and unexpansive, beamed with masculine +kindliness whenever a smile revealed his teeth, which had remained +extremely white. + +While looking at his brother, Pierre remembered what Madame Theodore had +told him that morning. Guillaume, touched by Salvat's dire want, had +arranged to give him a few days' employment. And this explained the air +of interest with which he now seemed to be questioning him, while the +engineer, whom the meeting disturbed, stamped about as if eager to resume +his mournful ramble. For a moment Guillaume appeared to notice the +other's perturbation, by the embarrassed answers which he obtained from +him. Still, they at last parted as if each were going his way. Then, +however, almost immediately, Guillaume turned round again and watched the +other, as with harassed stubborn mien he went off through the crowd. And +the thoughts which had come to Guillaume must have been very serious and +very pressing, for he all at once began to retrace his steps and follow +the workman from a distance, as if to ascertain for certain what +direction he would take. + +Pierre had watched the scene with growing disquietude. His nervous +apprehension of some great unknown calamity, the suspicions born of his +frequent and inexplicable meetings with Salvat, his surprise at now +seeing his brother mingled with the affair, all helped to fill him with a +pressing desire to know, witness, and perhaps prevent. So he did not +hesitate, but began to follow the others in a prudent way. + +Fresh perturbation came upon him when first Salvat and then Guillaume +suddenly turned into the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy. What destiny was thus +bringing him back to that street whither a little time previously he had +wished to return in feverish haste, and whence only the death of Laveuve +had kept him? And his consternation increased yet further when, after +losing sight of Salvat for a moment, he saw him standing in front of the +Duvillard mansion, on the same spot where he had fancied he recognised +him that morning. As it happened the carriage entrance of the mansion was +wide open. Some repairs had been made to the paving of the porch, and +although the workmen had now gone off, the doorway remained gaping, full +of the falling night. The narrow street, running from the glittering +Boulevard, was steeped in bluish gloom, starred at long intervals by a +few gas-lamps. Some women went by, compelling Salvat to step off the +foot-pavement. But he returned to it again, lighted the stump of a cigar, +some remnant which he had found under a table outside a cafe, and then +resumed his watch, patient and motionless, in front of the mansion. + +Disturbed by his dim conjectures, Pierre gradually grew frightened, and +asked himself if he ought not to approach that man. The chief thing that +detained him was the presence of his brother, whom he had seen disappear +into a neighbouring doorway, whence he also was observing the engineer, +ready to intervene. And so Pierre contented himself with not losing sight +of Salvat, who was still waiting and watching, merely taking his eyes +from the mansion in order to glance towards the Boulevard as though he +expected someone or something which would come from that direction. And +at last, indeed, the Duvillards' landau appeared, with coachman and +footman in livery of green and gold--a closed landau to which a pair of +tall horses of superb build were harnessed in stylish fashion. + +Contrary to custom, however, the carriage, which at that hour usually +brought the father and mother home, was only occupied that evening by the +son and daughter, Hyacinthe and Camille. Returning from the Princess de +Harn's _matinee_, they were chatting freely, with that calm immodesty by +which they sought to astonish one another. Hyacinthe, influenced by his +perverted ideas, was attacking women, whilst Camille openly counselled +him to respond to the Princess's advances. However, she was visibly +irritated and feverish that evening, and, suddenly changing the subject, +she began to speak of their mother and Gerard de Quinsac. + +"But what can it matter to you?" quietly retorted Hyacinthe; and, seeing +that she almost bounded from the seat at this remark, he continued: "Are +you still in love with him, then? Do you still want to marry him?" + +"Yes, I do, and I will!" she cried with all the jealous rage of an +uncomely girl, who suffered so acutely at seeing herself spurned whilst +her yet beautiful mother stole from her the man she wanted. + +"You will, you will!" resumed Hyacinthe, well pleased to have an +opportunity of teasing his sister, whom he somewhat feared. "But you +won't unless _he_ is willing--And he doesn't care for you." + +"He does!" retorted Camille in a fury. "He's kind and pleasant with me, +and that's enough." + +Her brother felt afraid as he noticed the blackness of her glance, and +the clenching of her weak little hands, whose fingers bent like claws. +And after a pause he asked: "And papa, what does he say about it?" + +"Oh, papa! All that he cares about is the other one." + +Then Hyacinthe began to laugh. + +But the landau, with its tall horses trotting on sonorously, had turned +into the street and was approaching the house, when a slim fair-haired +girl of sixteen or seventeen, a modiste's errand girl with a large +bandbox on her arm, hastily crossed the road in order to enter the arched +doorway before the carriage. She was bringing a bonnet for the Baroness, +and had come all along the Boulevard musing, with her soft blue eyes, her +pinky nose, and her mouth which ever laughed in the most adorable little +face that one could see. And it was at this same moment that Salvat, +after another glance at the landau, sprang forward and entered the +doorway. An instant afterwards he reappeared, flung his lighted cigar +stump into the gutter; and without undue haste went off, slinking into +the depths of the vague gloom of the street. + +And then what happened? Pierre, later on, remembered that a dray of the +Western Railway Company in coming up stopped and delayed the landau for a +moment, whilst the young errand girl entered the doorway. And with a +heart-pang beyond description he saw his brother Guillaume in his turn +spring forward and rush into the mansion as though impelled to do so by +some revelation, some sudden certainty. He, Pierre, though he understood +nothing clearly, could divine the approach of some frightful horror. But +when he would have run, when he would have shouted, he found himself as +if nailed to the pavement, and felt his throat clutched as by a hand of +lead. Then suddenly came a thunderous roar, a formidable explosion, as if +the earth was opening, and the lightning-struck mansion was being +annihilated. Every window-pane of the neighbouring houses was shivered, +the glass raining down with the loud clatter of hail. For a moment a +hellish flame fired the street, and the dust and the smoke were such that +the few passers-by were blinded and howled with affright, aghast at +toppling, as they thought, into that fiery furnace. + +And that dazzling flare brought Pierre enlightenment. He once more saw +the bomb distending the tool-bag, which lack of work had emptied and +rendered useless. He once more saw it under the ragged jacket, a +protuberance caused, he had fancied, by some hunk of bread, picked up in +a corner and treasured that it might be carried home to wife and child. +After wandering and threatening all happy Paris, it was there that it had +flared, there that it had burst with a thunder-clap, there on the +threshold of the sovereign _bourgeoisie_ to whom all wealth belonged. He, +however, at that moment thought only of his brother Guillaume, and flung +himself into that porch where a volcanic crater seemed to have opened. +And at first he distinguished nothing, the acrid smoke streamed over all. +Then he perceived the walls split, the upper floor rent open, the paving +broken up, strewn with fragments. Outside, the landau which had been on +the point of entering, had escaped all injury; neither of the horses had +been touched, nor was there even a scratch on any panel of the vehicle. +But the young girl, the pretty, slim, fair-haired errand girl, lay there +on her back, her stomach ripped open, whilst her delicate face remained +intact, her eyes clear, her smile full of astonishment, so swiftly and +lightning-like had come the catastrophe. And near her, from the fallen +bandbox, whose lid had merely come unfastened, had rolled the bonnet, a +very fragile pink bonnet, which still looked charming in its flowery +freshness. + +By a prodigy Guillaume was alive and already on his legs again. His left +hand alone streamed with blood, a projectile seemed to have broken his +wrist. His moustaches moreover had been burnt, and the explosion by +throwing him to the ground had so shaken and bruised him that he shivered +from head to feet as with intense cold. Nevertheless, he recognised his +brother without even feeling astonished to see him there, as indeed often +happens after great disasters, when the unexplained becomes providential. +That brother, of whom he had so long lost sight, was there, naturally +enough, because it was necessary that he should be there. And Guillaume, +amidst the wild quivers by which he was shaken, at once cried to him +"Take me away! take me away! To your house at Neuilly, oh! take me away!" + +Then, for sole explanation, and referring to Salvat, he stammered: "I +suspected that he had stolen a cartridge from me; only one, most +fortunately, for otherwise the whole district would have been blown to +pieces. Ah! the wretched fellow! I wasn't in time to set my foot upon the +match." + +With perfect lucidity of mind, such as danger sometimes imparts, Pierre, +neither speaking nor losing a moment, remembered that the mansion had a +back entrance fronting the Rue Vignon. He had just realised in what +serious peril his brother would be if he were found mixed up in that +affair. And with all speed, when he had led him into the gloom of the Rue +Vignon, he tied his handkerchief round his wrist, which he bade him press +to his chest, under his coat, as that would conceal it. + +But Guillaume, still shivering and haunted by the horror he had +witnessed, repeated: "Take me away--to your place at Neuilly--not to my +home." + +"Of course, of course, be easy. Come, wait here a second, I will stop a +cab." + +In his eagerness to procure a conveyance, Pierre had brought his brother +down to the Boulevard again. But the terrible thunderclap of the +explosion had upset the whole neighbourhood, horses were still rearing, +and people were running demented, hither and thither. And numerous +policemen had hastened up, and a rushing crowd was already blocking the +lower part of the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, which was now as black as a pit, +every light in it having been extinguished; whilst on the Boulevard a +hawker of the "Voix du Peuple" still stubbornly vociferated: "The new +scandal of the African Railway Lines! The thirty-two bribe-takers of the +Chamber and the Senate! The approaching fall of the ministry!" + +Pierre was at last managing to stop a cab when he heard a person who ran +by say to another, "The ministry? Ah, well! that bomb will mend it right +enough!" + +Then the brothers seated themselves in the cab, which carried them away. +And now, over the whole of rumbling Paris black night had gathered, an +unforgiving night, in which the stars foundered amidst the mist of crime +and anger that had risen from the house-roofs. The great cry of justice +swept by amidst the same terrifying flapping of wings which Sodom and +Gomorrah once heard bearing down upon them from all the black clouds of +the horizon. + + + + + +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. 1 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. + + + + + +BOOK III. + + + + +I. THE RIVALS + + +ON the Wednesday preceding the mid-Lent Thursday, a great charity bazaar +was held at the Duvillard mansion, for the benefit of the Asylum of the +Invalids of Labour. The ground-floor reception rooms, three spacious +Louis Seize _salons_, whose windows overlooked the bare and solemn +courtyard, were given up to the swarm of purchasers, five thousand +admission cards having been distributed among all sections of Parisian +society. And the opening of the bombarded mansion in this wise to +thousands of visitors was regarded as quite an event, a real +manifestation, although some people whispered that the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy and the adjacent streets were guarded by quite an army of +police agents. + +The idea of the bazaar had come from Duvillard himself, and at his +bidding his wife had resigned herself to all this worry for the benefit +of the enterprise over which she presided with such distinguished +nonchalance. On the previous day the "Globe" newspaper, inspired by its +director Fonsegue, who was also the general manager of the asylum, had +published a very fine article, announcing the bazaar, and pointing out +how noble, and touching, and generous was the initiative of the Baroness, +who still gave her time, her money, and even her home to charity, in +spite of the abominable crime which had almost reduced that home to +ashes. Was not this the magnanimous answer of the spheres above to the +hateful passions of the spheres below? And was it not also a peremptory +answer to those who accused the capitalists of doing nothing for the +wage-earners, the disabled and broken-down sons of toil? + +The drawing-room doors were to be opened at two o'clock, and would only +close at seven, so that there would be five full hours for the sales. And +at noon, when nothing was as yet ready downstairs, when workmen and women +were still decorating the stalls, and sorting the goods amidst a final +scramble, there was, as usual, a little friendly _dejeuner_, to which a +few guests had been invited, in the private rooms on the first floor. +However, a scarcely expected incident had given a finishing touch to the +general excitement of the house: that very morning Sagnier had resumed +his campaign of denunciation in the matter of the African Railway Lines. +In a virulent article in the "Voix du Peuple," he had inquired if it were +the intention of the authorities to beguile the public much longer with +the story of that bomb and that Anarchist whom the police did not arrest. +And this time, while undertaking to publish the names of the thirty-two +corrupt senators and deputies in a very early issue, he had boldly named +Minister Barroux as one who had pocketed a sum of 200,000 francs. Mege +would therefore certainly revive his interpellation, which might become +dangerous, now that Paris had been thrown into such a distracted state by +terror of the Anarchists. At the same time it was said that Vignon and +his party had resolved to turn circumstances to account, with the object +of overthrowing the ministry. Thus a redoubtable crisis was inevitably at +hand. Fortunately, the Chamber did not meet that Wednesday; in fact, it +had adjourned until the Friday, with the view of making mid-Lent a +holiday. And so forty-eight hours were left one to prepare for the +onslaught. + +Eve, that morning, seemed more gentle and languid than ever, rather pale +too, with an expression of sorrowful anxiety in the depths of her +beautiful eyes. She set it all down to the very great fatigue which the +preparations for the bazaar had entailed on her. But the truth was that +Gerard de Quinsac, after shunning any further assignation, had for five +days past avoided her in an embarrassed way. Still she was convinced that +she would see him that morning, and so she had again ventured to wear the +white silk gown which made her look so much younger than she really was. +At the same time, beautiful as she had remained, with her delicate skin, +superb figure and noble and charming countenance, her six and forty years +were asserting themselves in her blotchy complexion and the little +creases which were appearing about her lips, eyelids and temples. + +Camille, for her part, though her position as daughter of the house made +it certain that she would attract much custom as a saleswoman, had +obstinately persisted in wearing one of her usual dresses, a dark +"carmelite" gown, an old woman's frock, as she herself called it with a +cutting laugh. However, her long and wicked-looking face beamed with some +secret delight; such an expression of wit and intelligence wreathing her +thin lips and shining in her big eyes that one lost sight of her +deformity and thought her almost pretty. + +Eve experienced a first deception in the little blue and silver +sitting-room, where, accompanied by her daughter, she awaited the arrival +of her guests. General de Bozonnet, whom Gerard was to have brought with +him, came in alone, explaining that Madame de Quinsac had felt rather +poorly that morning, and that Gerard, like a good and dutiful son, had +wished to remain with her. Still he would come to the bazaar directly +after _dejeuner_. While the Baroness listened to the General, striving to +hide her disappointment and her fear that she would now be unable to +obtain any explanation from Gerard that day, Camille looked at her with +eager, devouring eyes. And a certain covert instinct of the misfortune +threatening her must at that moment have come to Eve, for in her turn she +glanced at her daughter and turned pale as if with anxiety. + +Then Princess Rosemonde de Harn swept in like a whirlwind. She also was +to be one of the saleswomen at the stall chosen by the Baroness, who +liked her for her very turbulence, the sudden gaiety which she generally +brought with her. Gowned in fire-hued satin (red shot with yellow), +looking very eccentric with her curly hair and thin boyish figure, she +laughed and talked of an accident by which her carriage had almost been +cut in halves. Then, as Baron Duvillard and Hyacinthe came in from their +rooms, late as usual, she took possession of the young man and scolded +him, for on the previous evening she had vainly waited for him till ten +o'clock in the expectation that he would keep his promise to escort her +to a tavern at Montmartre, where some horrible things were said to occur. +Hyacinthe, looking very bored, quietly replied that he had been detained +at a seance given by some adepts in the New Magic, in the course of which +the soul of St. Theresa had descended from heaven to recite a love +sonnet. + +However, Fonsegue was now coming in with his wife, a tall, thin, silent +and generally insignificant woman, whom he seldom took about with him. On +this occasion he had been obliged to bring her, as she was one of the +lady-patronesses of the asylum, and he himself was coming to lunch with +the Duvillards in his capacity as general manager. To the superficial +observer he looked quite as gay as usual; but he blinked nervously, and +his first glance was a questioning one in the direction of Duvillard, as +if he wished to know how the latter bore the fresh thrust directed at him +by Sagnier. And when he saw the banker looking perfectly composed, as +superb, as rubicund as usual, and chatting in a bantering way with +Rosemonde, he also put on an easy air, like a gamester who had never lost +but had always known how to compel good luck, even in hours of treachery. +And by way of showing his unconstraint of mind he at once addressed the +Baroness on managerial matters: "Have you now succeeded in seeing M. +l'Abbe Froment for the affair of that old man Laveuve, whom he so warmly +recommended to us? All the formalities have been gone through, you know, +and he can be brought to us at once, as we have had a bed vacant for +three days past." + +"Yes, I know," replied Eve; "but I can't imagine what has become of Abbe +Froment, for he hasn't given us a sign of life for a month past. However, +I made up my mind to write to him yesterday, and beg him to come to the +bazaar to-day. In this manner I shall be able to acquaint him with the +good news myself." + +"It was to leave you the pleasure of doing so," said Fonsegue, "that I +refrained from sending him any official communication. He's a charming +priest, is he not?" + +"Oh! charming, we are very fond of him." + +However, Duvillard now intervened to say that they need not wait for +Duthil, as he had received a telegram from him stating that he was +detained by sudden business. At this Fonsegue's anxiety returned, and he +once more questioned the Baron with his eyes. Duvillard smiled, however, +and reassured him in an undertone: "It's nothing serious. Merely a +commission for me, about which he'll only be able to bring me an answer +by-and-by." Then, taking Fonsegue on one side, he added: "By the way, +don't forget to insert the paragraph I told you of." + +"What paragraph? Oh! yes, the one about that _soiree_ at which Silviane +recited a piece of verse. Well, I wanted to speak to you about it. It +worries me a little, on account of the excessive praise it contains." + +Duvillard, but a moment before so full of serenity, with his lofty, +conquering, disdainful mien, now suddenly became pale and agitated. "But +I absolutely want it to be inserted, my dear fellow! You would place me +in the greatest embarrassment if it were not to appear, for I promised +Silviane that it should." + +As he spoke his lips trembled, and a scared look came into his eyes, +plainly revealing his dismay. + +"All right, all right," said Fonsegue, secretly amused, and well pleased +at this complicity. "As it's so serious the paragraph shall go in, I +promise you." + +The whole company was now present, since neither Gerard nor Duthil was to +be expected. So they went into the dining-room amidst a final noise of +hammering in the sale-rooms below. The meal proved somewhat of a +scramble, and was on three occasions disturbed by female attendants, who +came to explain difficulties and ask for orders. Doors were constantly +slamming, and the very walls seemed to shake with the unusual bustle +which filled the house. And feverish as they all were in the dining-room, +they talked in desultory, haphazard fashion on all sorts of subjects, +passing from a ball given at the Ministry of the Interior on the previous +night, to the popular mid-Lent festival which would take place on the +morrow, and ever reverting to the bazaar, the prices that had been given +for the goods which would be on sale, the prices at which they might be +sold, and the probable figure of the full receipts, all this being +interspersed with strange anecdotes, witticisms and bursts of laughter. +On the General mentioning magistrate Amadieu, Eve declared that she no +longer dared to invite him to _dejeuner_, knowing how busy he was at the +Palace of Justice. Still, she certainly hoped that he would come to the +bazaar and contribute something. Then Fonsegue amused himself with +teasing Princess Rosemonde about her fire-hued gown, in which, said he, +she must already feel roasted by the flames of hell; a suggestion which +secretly delighted her, as Satanism had now become her momentary passion. +Meantime, Duvillard lavished the most gallant politeness on that silent +creature, Madame Fonsegue, while Hyacinthe, in order to astonish even the +Princess, explained in a few words how the New Magic could transform a +chaste young man into a real angel. And Camille, who seemed very happy +and very excited, from time to time darted a hot glance at her mother, +whose anxiety and sadness increased as she found the other more and more +aggressive, and apparently resolved upon open and merciless warfare. + +At last, just as the dessert was coming to an end, the Baroness heard her +daughter exclaim in a piercing, defiant voice: "Oh! don't talk to me of +the old ladies who still seem to be playing with dolls, and paint +themselves, and dress as if they were about to be confirmed! All such +ogresses ought to retire from the scene! I hold them in horror!" + +At this, Eve nervously rose from her seat, and exclaimed apologetically: +"You must forgive me for hurrying you like this. But I'm afraid that we +shan't have time to drink our coffee in peace." + +The coffee was served in the little blue and silver sitting-room, where +bloomed some lovely yellow roses, testifying to the Baroness's keen +passion for flowers, which made the house an abode of perpetual spring. +Duvillard and Fonsegue, however, carrying their cups of steaming coffee +with them, at once went into the former's private room to smoke a cigar +there and chat in freedom. As the door remained wide open, one could +hear their gruff voices more or less distinctly. Meantime, General de +Bozonnet, delighted to find in Madame Fonsegue a serious, submissive +person, who listened without interrupting, began to tell her a very long +story of an officer's wife who had followed her husband through +every battle of the war of 1870. Then Hyacinthe, who took no +coffee--contemptuously declaring it to be a beverage only fit for +door-keepers--managed to rid himself of Rosemonde, who was sipping some +kummel, in order to come and whisper to his sister: "I say, it was very +stupid of you to taunt mamma in the way you did just now. I don't care a +rap about it myself. But it ends by being noticed, and, I warn you +candidly, it shows ill breeding." + +Camille gazed at him fixedly with her black eyes. "Pray don't _you_ +meddle with my affairs," said she. + +At this he felt frightened, scented a storm, and decided to take +Rosemonde into the adjoining red drawing-room in order to show her a +picture which his father had just purchased. And the General, on being +called by him, likewise conducted Madame Fonsegue thither. + +The mother and daughter then suddenly found themselves alone and face to +face. Eve was leaning on a pier-table, as if overcome; and indeed, the +least sorrow bore her down, so weak at heart she was, ever ready to weep +in her naive and perfect egotism. Why was it that her daughter thus hated +her, and did her utmost to disturb that last happy spell of love in which +her heart lingered? She looked at Camille, grieved rather than irritated; +and the unfortunate idea came to her of making a remark about her dress +at the very moment when the girl was on the point of following the others +into the larger drawing-room. + +"It's quite wrong of you, my dear," said she, "to persist in dressing +like an old woman. It doesn't improve you a bit." + +As Eve spoke, her soft eyes, those of a courted and worshipped handsome +woman, clearly expressed the compassion she felt for that ugly, deformed +girl, whom she had never been able to regard as a daughter. Was it +possible that she, with her sovereign beauty, that beauty which she +herself had ever adored and nursed, making it her one care, her one +religion--was it possible that she had given birth to such a graceless +creature, with a dark, goatish profile, one shoulder higher than the +other, and a pair of endless arms such as hunchbacks often have? All her +grief and all her shame at having had such a child became apparent in the +quivering of her voice. + +Camille, however, had stopped short, as if struck in the face with a +whip. Then she came back to her mother and the horrible explanation began +with these simple words spoken in an undertone: "You consider that I +dress badly? Well, you ought to have paid some attention to me, have seen +that my gowns suited your taste, and have taught me your secret of +looking beautiful!" + +Eve, with her dislike of all painful feeling, all quarrelling and bitter +words, was already regretting her attack. So she sought to make a +retreat, particularly as time was flying and they would soon be expected +downstairs: "Come, be quiet, and don't show your bad temper when all +those people can hear us. I have loved you--" + +But with a quiet yet terrible laugh Camille interrupted her. "You've +loved me! Oh! my poor mamma, what a comical thing to say! Have you ever +loved _anybody_? You want others to love _you_, but that's another +matter. As for your child, any child, do you even know how it ought to be +loved? You have always neglected me, thrust me on one side, deeming me so +ugly, so unworthy of you! And besides, you have not had days and nights +enough to love yourself! Oh! don't deny it, my poor mamma; but even now +you're looking at me as if I were some loathsome monster that's in your +way." + +From that moment the abominable scene was bound to continue to the end. +With their teeth set, their faces close together, the two women went on +speaking in feverish whispers. + +"Be quiet, Camille, I tell you! I will not allow such language!" + +"But I won't be quiet when you do all you can to wound me. If it's wrong +of me to dress like an old woman, perhaps another is rather ridiculous in +dressing like a girl, like a bride." + +"Like a bride? I don't understand you." + +"Oh! yes, you do. However, I would have you know that everybody doesn't +find me so ugly as you try to make them believe." + +"If you look amiss, it is because you don't dress properly; that is all I +said." + +"I dress as I please, and no doubt I do so well enough, since I'm loved +as I am." + +"What, really! Does someone love you? Well, let him inform us of it and +marry you." + +"Yes--certainly, certainly! It will be a good riddance, won't it? And +you'll have the pleasure of seeing me as a bride!" + +Their voices were rising in spite of their efforts to restrain them. +However, Camille paused and drew breath before hissing out the words: +"Gerard is coming here to ask for my hand in a day or two." + +Eve, livid, with wildly staring eyes, did not seem to understand. +"Gerard? why do you tell me that?" + +"Why, because it's Gerard who loves me and who is going to marry me! You +drive me to extremities; you're for ever repeating that I'm ugly; you +treat me like a monster whom nobody will ever care for. So I'm forced to +defend myself and tell you the truth in order to prove to you that +everybody is not of your opinion." + +Silence fell; the frightful thing which had risen between them seemed to +have arrested the quarrel. But there was neither mother nor daughter left +there. They were simply two suffering, defiant rivals. Eve in her turn +drew a long breath and glanced anxiously towards the adjoining room to +ascertain if anyone were coming in or listening to them. And then in a +tone of resolution she made answer: + +"You cannot marry Gerard." + +"Pray, why not?" + +"Because I won't have it; because it's impossible." + +"That isn't a reason; give me a reason." + +"The reason is that the marriage is impossible that is all." + +"No, no, I'll tell you the reason since you force me to it. The reason is +that Gerard is your lover! But what does that matter, since I know it and +am willing to take him all the same?" + +And to this retort Camille's flaming eyes added the words: "And it is +particularly on that account that I want him." All the long torture born +of her infirmities, all her rage at having always seen her mother +beautiful, courted and adored, was now stirring her and seeking vengeance +in cruel triumph. At last then she was snatching from her rival the lover +of whom she had so long been jealous! + +"You wretched girl!" stammered Eve, wounded in the heart and almost +sinking to the floor. "You don't know what you say or what you make me +suffer." + +However, she again had to pause, draw herself erect and smile; for +Rosemonde hastened in from the adjoining room with the news that she was +wanted downstairs. The doors were about to be opened, and it was +necessary she should be at her stall. Yes, Eve answered, she would be +down in another moment. Still, even as she spoke she leant more heavily +on the pier-table behind her in order that she might not fall. + +Hyacinthe had drawn near to his sister: "You know," said he, "it's simply +idiotic to quarrel like that. You would do much better to come +downstairs." + +But Camille harshly dismissed him: "Just _you_ go off, and take the +others with you. It's quite as well that they shouldn't be about our +ears." + +Hyacinthe glanced at his mother, like one who knew the truth and +considered the whole affair ridiculous. And then, vexed at seeing her so +deficient in energy in dealing with that little pest, his sister, he +shrugged his shoulders, and leaving them to their folly, conducted the +others away. One could hear Rosemonde laughing as she went off below, +while the General began to tell Madame Fonsegue another story as they +descended the stairs together. However, at the moment when the mother and +daughter at last fancied themselves alone once more, other voices reached +their ears, those of Duvillard and Fonsegue, who were still near at hand. +The Baron from his room might well overhear the dispute. + +Eve felt that she ought to have gone off. But she had lacked the strength +to do so; it had been a sheer impossibility for her after those words +which had smote her like a buffet amidst her distress at the thought of +losing her lover. + +"Gerard cannot marry you," she said; "he does not love you." + +"He does." + +"You fancy it because he has good-naturedly shown some kindness to you, +on seeing others pay you such little attention. But he does not love +you." + +"He does. He loves me first because I'm not such a fool as many others +are, and particularly because I'm young." + +This was a fresh wound for the Baroness; one inflicted with mocking +cruelty in which rang out all the daughter's triumphant delight at seeing +her mother's beauty at last ripening and waning. "Ah! my poor mamma, you +no longer know what it is to be young. If I'm not beautiful, at all +events I'm young; my eyes are clear and my lips are fresh. And my hair's +so long too, and I've so much of it that it would suffice to gown me if I +chose. You see, one's never ugly when one's young. Whereas, my poor +mamma, everything is ended when one gets old. It's all very well for a +woman to have been beautiful, and to strive to keep so, but in reality +there's only ruin left, and shame and disgust." + +She spoke these words in such a sharp, ferocious voice that each of them +entered her mother's heart like a knife. Tears rose to the eyes of the +wretched woman, again stricken in her bleeding wound. Ah! it was true, +she remained without weapons against youth. And all her anguish came from +the consciousness that she was growing old, from the feeling that love +was departing from her now, that like a fruit she had ripened and fallen +from the tree. + +"But Gerard's mother will never let him marry you," she said. + +"He will prevail on her; that's his concern. I've a dowry of two +millions, and two millions can settle many things." + +"Do you now want to libel him, and say that he's marrying you for your +money?" + +"No, indeed! Gerard's a very nice and honest fellow. He loves me and he's +marrying me for myself. But, after all, he isn't rich; he still has no +assured position, although he's thirty-six; and there may well be some +advantage in a wife who brings you wealth as well as happiness. For, you +hear, mamma, it's happiness I'm bringing him, real happiness, love that's +shared and is certain of the future." + +Once again their faces drew close together. The hateful scene, +interrupted by sounds around them, postponed, and then resumed, was +dragging on, becoming a perfect drama full of murderous violence, +although they never shouted, but still spoke on in low and gasping +voices. Neither gave way to the other, though at every moment they were +liable to some surprise; for not only were all the doors open, so that +the servants might come in, but the Baron's voice still rang out gaily, +close at hand. + +"He loves you, he loves you"--continued Eve. "That's what you say. But +_he_ never told you so." + +"He has told me so twenty times; he repeats it every time that we are +alone together!" + +"Yes, just as one says it to a little girl by way of amusing her. But he +has never told you that he meant to marry you." + +"He told it me the last time he came. And it's settled. I'm simply +waiting for him to get his mother's consent and make his formal offer." + +"You lie, you lie, you wretched girl! You simply want to make me suffer, +and you lie, you lie!" + +Eve's grief at last burst forth in that cry of protest. She no longer +knew that she was a mother, and was speaking to her daughter. The woman, +the _amorosa_, alone remained in her, outraged and exasperated by a +rival. And with a sob she confessed the truth: "It is I he loves! Only +the last time I spoke to him, he swore to me--you hear me?--he swore upon +his honour that he did not love you, and that he would never marry you!" + +A faint, sharp laugh came from Camille. Then, with an air of derisive +compassion, she replied: "Ah! my poor mamma, you really make me sorry for +you! What a child you are! Yes, really, you are the child, not I. What! +you who ought to have so much experience, you still allow yourself to be +duped by a man's protests! That one really has no malice; and, indeed, +that's why he swears whatever you want him to swear, just to please and +quiet you, for at heart he's a bit of a coward." + +"You lie, you lie!" + +"But just think matters over. If he no longer comes here, if he didn't +come to _dejeuner_ this morning, it is simply because he's had enough of +you. He has left you for good; just have the courage to realise it. Of +course he's still polite and amiable, because he's a well-bred man, and +doesn't know how to break off. The fact is that he takes pity on you." + +"You lie, you lie!" + +"Well, question him then. Have a frank explanation with him. Ask him his +intentions in a friendly way. And then show some good nature yourself, +and realise that if you care for him you ought to give him me at once in +his own interest. Give him back his liberty, and you will soon see that +I'm the one he loves." + +"You lie, you lie! You wretched child, you only want to torture and kill +me!" + +Then, in her fury and distress, Eve remembered that she was the mother, +and that it was for her to chastise that unworthy daughter. There was no +stick near her, but from a basket of the yellow roses, whose powerful +scent intoxicated both of them, she plucked a handful of blooms, with +long and spiny stalks, and smote Camille across the face. A drop of blood +appeared on the girl's left temple, near her eyelid. + +But she sprang forward, flushed and maddened by this correction, with her +hand raised and ready to strike back. "Take care, mother! I swear I'd +beat you like a gipsy! And now just put this into your head: I mean to +marry Gerard, and I will; and I'll take him from you, even if I have to +raise a scandal, should you refuse to give him to me with good grace." + +Eve, after her one act of angry vigour, had sunk into an armchair, +overcome, distracted. And all the horror of quarrels, which sprang from +her egotistical desire to be happy, caressed, flattered and adored, was +returning to her. But Camille, still threatening, still unsatiated, +showed her heart as it really was, her stern, black, unforgiving heart, +intoxicated with cruelty. There came a moment of supreme silence, while +Duvillard's gay voice again rang out in the adjoining room. + +The mother was gently weeping, when Hyacinthe, coming upstairs at a run, +swept into the little _salon_. He looked at the two women, and made a +gesture of indulgent contempt. "Ah! you're no doubt satisfied now! But +what did I tell you? It would have been much better for you to have come +downstairs at once! Everybody is asking for you. It's all idiotic. I've +come to fetch you." + +Eve and Camille would not yet have followed him, perhaps, if Duvillard +and Fonsegue had not at that moment come out of the former's room. Having +finished their cigars they also spoke of going downstairs. And Eve had to +rise and smile and show dry eyes, while Camille, standing before a +looking-glass, arranged her hair, and stanched the little drop of blood +that had gathered on her temple. + +There was already quite a number of people below, in the three huge +saloons adorned with tapestry and plants. The stalls had been draped with +red silk, which set a gay, bright glow around the goods. And no ordinary +bazaar could have put forth such a show, for there was something of +everything among the articles of a thousand different kinds, from +sketches by recognised masters, and the autographs of famous writers, +down to socks and slippers and combs. The haphazard way in which things +were laid out was in itself an attraction; and, in addition, there was a +buffet, where the whitest of beautiful hands poured out champagne, and +two lotteries, one for an organ and another for a pony-drawn village +cart, the tickets for which were sold by a bevy of charming girls, who +had scattered through the throng. As Duvillard had expected, however, the +great success of the bazaar lay in the delightful little shiver which the +beautiful ladies experienced as they passed through the entrance where +the bomb had exploded. The rougher repairing work was finished, the walls +and ceilings had been doctored, in part re-constructed. However, the +painters had not yet come, and here and there the whiter stone and +plaster work showed like fresh scars left by all the terrible gashes. It +was with mingled anxiety and rapture that pretty heads emerged from the +carriages which, arriving in a continuous stream, made the flagstones of +the court re-echo. And in the three saloons, beside the stalls, there was +no end to the lively chatter: "Ah! my dear, did you see all those marks? +How frightful, how frightful! The whole house was almost blown up. And to +think it might begin again while we are here! One really needs some +courage to come, but then, that asylum is such a deserving institution, +and money is badly wanted to build a new wing. And besides, those +monsters will see that we are not frightened, whatever they do." + +When the Baroness at last came down to her stall with Camille she found +the saleswomen feverishly at work already under the direction of Princess +Rosemonde, who on occasions of this kind evinced the greatest cunning and +rapacity, robbing the customers in the most impudent fashion. "Ah! here +you are," she exclaimed. "Beware of a number of higglers who have come to +secure bargains. I know them! They watch for their opportunities, turn +everything topsy-turvy and wait for us to lose our heads and forget +prices, so as to pay even less than they would in a real shop. But I'll +get good prices from them, you shall see!" + +At this, Eve, who for her own part was a most incapable saleswoman, had +to laugh with the others. And in a gentle voice she made a pretence of +addressing certain recommendations to Camille, who listened with a +smiling and most submissive air. In point of fact the wretched mother was +sinking with emotion, particularly at the thought that she would have to +remain there till seven o'clock, and suffer in secret before all those +people, without possibility of relief. And thus it was almost like a +respite when she suddenly perceived Abbe Froment sitting and waiting for +her on a settee, covered with red velvet, near her stall. Her legs were +failing her, so she took a place beside him. + +"You received my letter then, Monsieur l'Abbe. I am glad that you have +come, for I have some good news to give you, and wished to leave you the +pleasure of imparting it to your _protege_, that man Laveuve, whom you so +warmly recommended to me. Every formality has now been fulfilled, and you +can bring him to the asylum to-morrow." + +Pierre gazed at her in stupefaction. "Laveuve? Why, he is dead!" + +In her turn she became astonished. "What, dead! But you never informed me +of it! If I told you of all the trouble that has been taken, of all that +had to be undone and done again, and the discussions and the papers and +the writing! Are you quite sure that he is dead?" + +"Oh! yes, he is dead. He has been dead a month." + +"Dead a month! Well, we could not know; you yourself gave us no sign of +life. Ah! _mon Dieu_! what a worry that he should be dead. We shall now +be obliged to undo everything again!" + +"He is dead, madame. It is true that I ought to have informed you of it. +But that doesn't alter the fact--he is dead." + +Dead! that word which kept on returning, the thought too, that for a +month past she had been busying herself for a corpse, quite froze her, +brought her to the very depths of despair, like an omen of the cold death +into which she herself must soon descend, in the shroud of her last +passion. And, meantime, Pierre, despite himself, smiled bitterly at the +atrocious irony of it all. Ah! that lame and halting Charity, which +proffers help when men are dead! + +The priest still lingered on the settee when the Baroness rose. She had +seen magistrate Amadieu hurriedly enter like one who just wished to show +himself, purchase some trifle, and then return to the Palace of Justice. +However, he was also perceived by little Massot, the "Globe" reporter, +who was prowling round the stalls, and who at once bore down upon him, +eager for information. And he hemmed him in and forthwith interviewed him +respecting the affair of that mechanician Salvat, who was accused of +having deposited the bomb at the entrance of the house. Was this simply +an invention of the police, as some newspapers pretended? Or was it +really correct? And if so, would Salvat soon be arrested? In self-defence +Amadieu answered correctly enough that the affair did not as yet concern +him, and would only come within his attributions, if Salvat should be +arrested and the investigation placed in his hands. At the same time, +however, the magistrate's pompous and affectedly shrewd manner suggested +that he already knew everything to the smallest details, and that, had he +chosen, he could have promised some great events for the morrow. A circle +of ladies had gathered round him as he spoke, quite a number of pretty +women feverish with curiosity, who jostled one another in their eagerness +to hear that brigand tale which sent a little shiver coursing under their +skins. However, Amadieu managed to slip off after paying Rosemonde twenty +francs for a cigarette case, which was perhaps worth thirty sous. + +Massot, on recognising Pierre, came up to shake hands with him. "Don't +you agree with me, Monsieur l'Abbe, that Salvat must be a long way off by +now if he's got good legs? Ah! the police will always make me laugh!" + +However, Rosemonde brought Hyacinthe up to the journalist. "Monsieur +Massot," said she, "you who go everywhere, I want you to be judge. That +Chamber of Horrors at Montmartre, that tavern where Legras sings the +'Flowers of the Streets'--" + +"Oh! a delightful spot, madame," interrupted Massot, "I wouldn't take +even a gendarme there." + +"No, don't jest, Monsieur Massot, I'm talking seriously. Isn't it quite +allowable for a respectable woman to go there when she's accompanied by a +gentleman?" And, without allowing the journalist time to answer her, she +turned towards Hyacinthe: "There! you see that Monsieur Massot doesn't +say no! You've got to take me there this evening, it's sworn, it's +sworn." + +Then she darted away to sell a packet of pins to an old lady, while the +young man contented himself with remarking, in the voice of one who has +no illusions left: "She's quite idiotic with her Chamber of Horrors!" + +Massot philosophically shrugged his shoulders. It was only natural that a +woman should want to amuse herself. And when Hyacinthe had gone off, +passing with perverse contempt beside the lovely girls who were selling +lottery tickets, the journalist ventured to murmur: "All the same, it +would do that youngster good if a woman were to take him in hand." + +Then, again addressing Pierre, he resumed: "Why, here comes Duthil! What +did Sagnier mean this morning by saying that Duthil would sleep at Mazas +to-night?" + +In a great hurry apparently, and all smiles, Duthil was cutting his way +through the crowd in order to join Duvillard and Fonsegue, who still +stood talking near the Baroness's stall. And he waved his hand to them in +a victorious way, to imply that he had succeeded in the delicate mission +entrusted to him. This was nothing less than a bold manoeuvre to hasten +Silviane's admission to the Comedie Francaise. The idea had occurred to +her of making the Baron give a dinner at the Cafe Anglais in order that +she might meet at it an influential critic, who, according to her +statements, would compel the authorities to throw the doors wide open for +her as soon as he should know her. However, it did not seem easy to +secure the critic's presence, as he was noted for his sternness and +grumbling disposition. And, indeed, after a first repulse, Duthil had for +three days past been obliged to exert all his powers of diplomacy, and +bring even the remotest influence into play. But he was radiant now, for +he had conquered. + +"It's for this evening, my dear Baron, at half-past seven," he exclaimed. +"Ah! dash it all, I've had more trouble than I should have had to secure +a concession vote!" Then he laughed with the pretty impudence of a man of +pleasure, whom political conscientiousness did not trouble. And, indeed, +his allusion to the fresh denunciations of the "Voix du Peuple" hugely +amused him. + +"Don't jest," muttered Fonsegue, who for his part wished to amuse himself +by frightening the young deputy. "Things are going very badly!" + +Duthil turned pale, and a vision of the police and Mazas rose before his +eyes. In this wise sheer funk came over him from time to time. However, +with his lack of all moral sense, he soon felt reassured and began to +laugh. "Bah!" he retorted gaily, winking towards Duvillard, "the +governor's there to pilot the barque!" + +The Baron, who was extremely pleased, had pressed his hands, thanked him, +and called him an obliging fellow. And now turning towards Fonsegue, he +exclaimed: "I say, you must make one of us this evening. Oh! it's +necessary. I want something imposing round Silviane. Duthil will +represent the Chamber, you journalism, and I finance--" But he suddenly +paused on seeing Gerard, who, with a somewhat grave expression, was +leisurely picking his way through the sea of skirts. "Gerard, my friend," +said the Baron, after beckoning to him, "I want you to do me a service." +And forthwith he told him what was in question; how the influential +critic had been prevailed upon to attend a dinner which would decide +Silviane's future; and how it was the duty of all her friends to rally +round her. + +"But I can't," the young man answered in embarrassment. "I have to dine +at home with my mother, who was rather poorly this morning." + +"Oh! a sensible woman like your mother will readily understand that there +are matters of exceptional importance. Go home and excuse yourself. Tell +her some story, tell her that a friend's happiness is in question." And +as Gerard began to weaken, Duvillard added: "The fact is, that I really +want you, my dear fellow; I must have a society man. Society, you know, +is a great force in theatrical matters; and if Silviane has society with +her, her triumph is certain." + +Gerard promised, and then chatted for a moment with his uncle, General de +Bozonnet, who was quite enlivened by that throng of women, among whom he +had been carried hither and thither like an old rudderless ship. After +acknowledging the amiability with which Madame Fonsegue had listened to +his stories, by purchasing an autograph of Monseigneur Martha from her +for a hundred francs, he had quite lost himself amid the bevy of girls +who had passed him on, one to another. And now, on his return from them, +he had his hands full of lottery tickets: "Ah! my fine fellow," said he, +"I don't advise you to venture among all those young persons. You would +have to part with your last copper. But, just look! there's Mademoiselle +Camille beckoning to you!" + +Camille, indeed, from the moment she had perceived Gerard, had been +smiling at him and awaiting his approach. And when their glances met he +was obliged to go to her, although, at the same moment, he felt that +Eve's despairing and entreating eyes were fixed upon him. The girl, who +fully realised that her mother was watching her, at once made a marked +display of amiability, profiting by the license which charitable fervour +authorised, to slip a variety of little articles into the young man's +pockets, and then place others in his hands, which she pressed within her +own, showing the while all the sparkle of youth, indulging in fresh, +merry laughter, which fairly tortured her rival. + +So extreme was Eve's suffering, that she wished to intervene and part +them. But it so chanced that Pierre barred her way, for he wished to +submit an idea to her before leaving the bazaar. "Madame," said he, +"since that man Laveuve is dead, and you have taken so much trouble with +regard to the bed which you now have vacant, will you be so good as to +keep it vacant until I have seen our venerable friend, Abbe Rose? I am to +see him this evening, and he knows so many cases of want, and would be so +glad to relieve one of them, and bring you some poor _protege_ of his." + +"Yes, certainly," stammered the Baroness, "I shall be very happy,--I will +wait a little, as you desire,--of course, of course, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +She was trembling all over; she no longer knew what she was saying; and, +unable to conquer her passion, she turned aside from the priest, unaware +even that he was still there, when Gerard, yielding to the dolorous +entreaty of her eyes, at last managed to escape from Camille and join +her. + +"What a stranger you are becoming, my friend!" she said aloud, with a +forced smile. "One never sees you now." + +"Why, I have been poorly," he replied, in his amiable way. "Yes, I assure +you I have been ailing a little." + +He, ailing! She looked at him with maternal anxiety, quite upset. And, +indeed, however proud and lofty his figure, his handsome regular face did +seem to her paler than usual. It was as if the nobility of the facade +had, in some degree, ceased to hide the irreparable dilapidation within. +And given his real good nature, it must be true that he +suffered--suffered by reason of his useless, wasted life, by reason of +all the money he cost his impoverished mother, and of the needs that were +at last driving him to marry that wealthy deformed girl, whom at first he +had simply pitied. And so weak did he seem to Eve, so like a piece of +wreckage tossed hither and thither by a tempest, that, at the risk of +being overheard by the throng, she let her heart flow forth in a low but +ardent, entreating murmur: "If you suffer, ah! what sufferings are +mine!--Gerard, we must see one another, I will have it so." + +"No, I beg you, let us wait," he stammered in embarrassment. + +"It must be, Gerard; Camille has told me your plans. You cannot refuse to +see me. I insist on it." + +He made yet another attempt to escape the cruel explanation. "But it's +impossible at the usual place," he answered, quivering. "The address is +known." + +"Then to-morrow, at four o'clock, at that little restaurant in the Bois +where we have met before." + +He had to promise, and they parted. Camille had just turned her head and +was looking at them. Moreover, quite a number of women had besieged the +stall; and the Baroness began to attend to them with the air of a ripe +and nonchalant goddess, while Gerard rejoined Duvillard, Fonsegue and +Duthil, who were quite excited at the prospect of their dinner that +evening. + +Pierre had heard a part of the conversation between Gerard and the +Baroness. He knew what skeletons the house concealed, what physiological +and moral torture and wretchedness lay beneath all the dazzling wealth +and power. There was here an envenomed, bleeding sore, ever spreading, a +cancer eating into father, mother, daughter and son, who one and all had +thrown social bonds aside. However, the priest made his way out of the +_salons_, half stifling amidst the throng of lady-purchasers who were +making quite a triumph of the bazaar. And yonder, in the depths of the +gloom, he could picture Salvat still running and running on; while the +corpse of Laveuve seemed to him like a buffet of atrocious irony dealt to +noisy and delusive charity. + + + + +II. SPIRIT AND FLESH + +How delightful was the quietude of the little ground-floor overlooking a +strip of garden in the Rue Cortot, where good Abbe Rose resided! +Hereabouts there was not even a rumble of wheels, or an echo of the +panting breath of Paris, which one heard on the other side of the height +of Montmartre. The deep silence and sleepy peacefulness were suggestive +of some distant provincial town. + +Seven o'clock had struck, the dusk had gathered slowly, and Pierre was in +the humble dining-room, waiting for the _femme-de-menage_ to place the +soup upon the table. Abbe Rose, anxious at having seen so little of him +for a month past, had written, asking him to come to dinner, in order +that they might have a quiet chat concerning their affairs. From time to +time Pierre still gave his friend money for charitable purposes; in fact, +ever since the days of the asylum in the Rue de Charonne, they had had +accounts together, which they periodically liquidated. So that evening +after dinner they were to talk of it all, and see if they could not do +even more than they had hitherto done. The good old priest was quite +radiant at the thought of the peaceful evening which he was about to +spend in attending to the affairs of his beloved poor; for therein lay +his only amusement, the sole pleasure to which he persistently and +passionately returned, in spite of all the worries that his inconsiderate +charity had already so often brought him. + +Glad to be able to procure his friend this pleasure, Pierre, on his side, +grew calmer, and found relief and momentary repose in sharing the other's +simple repast and yielding to all the kindliness around him, far from his +usual worries. He remembered the vacant bed at the Asylum, which Baroness +Duvillard had promised to keep in reserve until he should have asked Abbe +Rose if he knew of any case of destitution particularly worthy of +interest; and so before sitting down to table he spoke of the matter. + +"Destitution worthy of interest!" replied Abbe Rose, "ah! my dear child, +every case is worthy of interest. And when it's a question of old toilers +without work the only trouble is that of selection, the anguish of +choosing one and leaving so many others in distress." Nevertheless, +painful though his scruples were, he strove to think and come to some +decision. "I know the case which will suit you," he said at last. "It's +certainly one of the greatest suffering and wretchedness; and, so humble +a one, too--an old carpenter of seventy-five, who has been living on +public charity during the eight or ten years that he has been unable to +find work. I don't know his name, everybody calls him 'the big Old'un.' +There are times when he does not come to my Saturday distributions for +weeks together. We shall have to look for him at once. I think that he +sleeps at the Night Refuge in the Rue d'Orsel when lack of room there +doesn't force him to spend the night crouching behind some palings. Shall +we go down the Rue d'Orsel this evening?" + +Abbe Rose's eyes beamed brightly as he spoke, for this proposal of his +signified a great debauch, the tasting of forbidden fruit. He had been +reproached so often and so roughly with his visits to those who had +fallen to the deepest want and misery, that in spite of his overflowing, +apostolic compassion, he now scarcely dared to go near them. However, he +continued: "Is it agreed, my child? Only this once? Besides, it is our +only means of finding the big Old'un. You won't have to stop with me +later than eleven. And I should so like to show you all that! You will +see what terrible sufferings there are! And perhaps we may be fortunate +enough to relieve some poor creature or other." + +Pierre smiled at the juvenile ardour displayed by this old man with snowy +hair. "It's agreed, my dear Abbe," he responded, "I shall be very pleased +to spend my whole evening with you, for I feel it will do me good to +follow you once more on one of those rambles which used to fill our +hearts with grief and joy." + +At this moment the servant brought in the soup; however, just as the two +priests were taking their seats a discreet ring was heard, and when Abbe +Rose learnt that the visitor was a neighbour, Madame Mathis, who had come +for an answer, he gave orders that she should be shown in. + +"This poor woman," he explained to Pierre, "needed an advance of ten +francs to get a mattress out of pawn; and I didn't have the money by me +at the time. But I've since procured it. She lives in the house, you +know, in silent poverty, on so small an income that it hardly keeps her +in bread." + +"But hasn't she a big son of twenty?" asked Pierre, suddenly remembering +the young man he had seen at Salvat's. + +"Yes, yes. Her parents, I believe, were rich people in the provinces. +I've been told that she married a music master, who gave her lessons, at +Nantes; and who ran away with her and brought her to Paris, where he +died. It was quite a doleful love-story. By selling the furniture and +realising every little thing she possessed, she scraped together an +income of about two thousand francs a year, with which she was able to +send her son to college and live decently herself. But a fresh blow fell +on her: she lost the greater part of her little fortune, which was +invested in doubtful securities. So now her income amounts at the utmost +to eight hundred francs; two hundred of which she has to expend in rent. +For all her other wants she has to be content with fifty francs a month. +About eighteen months ago her son left her so as not to be a burden on +her, and he is trying to earn his living somewhere, but without success, +I believe." + +Madame Mathis, a short, dark woman, with a sad, gentle, retiring face, +came in. Invariably clad in the same black gown, she showed all the +anxious timidity of a poor creature whom the storms of life perpetually +assailed. When Abbe Rose had handed her the ten francs discreetly wrapped +in paper, she blushed and thanked him, promising to pay him back as soon +as she received her month's money, for she was not a beggar and did not +wish to encroach on the share of those who starved. + +"And your son, Victor, has he found any employment?" asked the old +priest. + +She hesitated, ignorant as she was of what her son might be doing, for +now she did not see him for weeks together. And finally, she contented +herself with answering: "He has a good heart, he is very fond of me. It +is a great misfortune that we should have been ruined before he could +enter the Ecole Normale. It was impossible for him to prepare for the +examination. But at the Lycee he was such a diligent and intelligent +pupil!" + +"You lost your husband when your son was ten years old, did you not?" +said Abbe Rose. + +At this she blushed again, thinking that her husband's story was known to +the two priests. "Yes, my poor husband never had any luck," she said. +"His difficulties embittered and excited his mind, and he died in prison. +He was sent there through a disturbance at a public meeting, when he had +the misfortune to wound a police officer. He had also fought at the time +of the Commune. And yet he was a very gentle man and extremely fond of +me." + +Tears had risen to her eyes; and Abbe Rose, much touched, dismissed her: +"Well, let us hope that your son will give you satisfaction, and be able +to repay you for all you have done for him." + +With a gesture of infinite sorrow, Madame Mathis discreetly withdrew. She +was quite ignorant of her son's doings, but fate had pursued her so +relentlessly that she ever trembled. + +"I don't think that the poor woman has much to expect from her son," said +Pierre, when she had gone. "I only saw him once, but the gleam in his +eyes was as harsh and trenchant as that of a knife." + +"Do you think so?" the old priest exclaimed, with his kindly _naivete_. +"Well, he seemed to me very polite, perhaps a trifle eager to enjoy life; +but then, all the young folks are impatient nowadays. Come, let us sit +down to table, for the soup will be cold." + +Almost at the same hour, on the other side of Paris, night had in like +fashion slowly fallen in the drawing-room of the Countess de Quinsac, on +the dismal, silent ground-floor of an old mansion in the Rue St. +Dominique. The Countess was there, alone with her faithful friend, the +Marquis de Morigny, she on one side, and he on the other side of the +chimney-piece, where the last embers of the wood fire were dying out. The +servant had not yet brought the lamp, and the Countess refrained from +ringing, finding some relief from her anxiety in the falling darkness, +which hid from view all the unconfessed thoughts that she was afraid of +showing on her weary face. And it was only now, before that dim hearth, +and in that black room, where never a sound of wheels disturbed the +silence of the slumberous past, that she dared to speak. + +"Yes, my friend," she said, "I am not satisfied with Gerard's health. You +will see him yourself, for he promised to come home early and dine with +me. Oh! I'm well aware that he looks big and strong; but to know him +properly one must have nursed and watched him as I have done! What +trouble I had to rear him! In reality he is at the mercy of any petty +ailment. His slightest complaint becomes serious illness. And the life he +leads does not conduce to good health." + +She paused and sighed, hesitating to carry her confession further. + +"He leads the life he can," slowly responded the Marquis de Morigny, of +whose delicate profile, and lofty yet loving bearing, little could be +seen in the gloom. "As he was unable to endure military life, and as even +the fatigues of diplomacy frighten you, what would you have him do? He +can only live apart pending the final collapse, while this abominable +Republic is dragging France to the grave." + +"No doubt, my friend. And yet it is just that idle life which frightens +me. He is losing in it all that was good and healthy in him. I don't +refer merely to the _liaisons_ which we have had to tolerate. The last +one, which I found so much difficulty in countenancing at the outset, so +contrary did it seem to all my ideas and beliefs, has since seemed to me +to exercise almost a good influence. Only he is now entering his +thirty-sixth year, and can he continue living in this fashion without +object or duties? If he is ailing it is perhaps precisely because he does +nothing, holds no position, and serves no purpose." Her voice again +quavered. "And then, my friend, since you force me to tell you +everything, I must own that I am not in good health myself. I have had +several fainting fits of late, and have consulted a doctor. The truth is, +that I may go off at any moment." + +With a quiver, Morigny leant forward in the still deepening gloom, and +wished to take hold of her hands. "You! what, am I to lose you, my last +affection!" he faltered, "I who have seen the old world I belong to +crumble away, I who only live in the hope that you at all events will +still be here to close my eyes!" + +But she begged him not to increase her grief: "No, no, don't take my +hands, don't kiss them! Remain there in the shade, where I can scarcely +see you.... We have loved one another so long without aught to cause +shame or regret; and that will prove our strength--our divine +strength--till we reach the grave.... And if you were to touch me, if +I were to feel you too near me I could not finish, for I have not done so +yet." + +As soon as he had relapsed into silence and immobility, she continued: +"If I were to die to-morrow, Gerard would not even find here the little +fortune which he still fancies is in my hands. The dear child has often +cost me large sums of money without apparently being conscious of it. I +ought to have been more severe, more prudent. But what would you have? +Ruin is at hand. I have always been too weak a mother. And do you now +understand in what anguish I live? I ever have the thought that if I die +Gerard will not even possess enough to live on, for he is incapable of +effecting the miracle which I renew each day, in order to keep the house +up on a decent footing.... Ah! I know him, so supine, so sickly, in +spite of his proud bearing, unable to do anything, even conduct himself. +And so what will become of him; will he not fall into the most dire +distress?" + +Then her tears flowed freely, her heart opened and bled, for she foresaw +what must happen after her death: the collapse of her race and of a whole +world in the person of that big child. And the Marquis, still motionless +but distracted, feeling that he had no title to offer his own fortune, +suddenly understood her, foresaw in what disgrace this fresh disaster +would culminate. + +"Ah! my poor friend!" he said at last in a voice trembling with revolt +and grief. "So you have agreed to that marriage--yes, that abominable +marriage with that woman's daughter! Yet you swore it should never be! +You would rather witness the collapse of everything, you said. And now +you are consenting, I can feel it!" + +She still wept on in that black, silent drawing-room before the +chimney-piece where the fire had died out. Did not Gerard's marriage to +Camille mean a happy ending for herself, a certainty of leaving her son +wealthy, loved, and seated at the banquet of life? However, a last +feeling of rebellion arose within her. + +"No, no," she exclaimed, "I don't consent, I swear to you that I don't +consent as yet. I am fighting with my whole strength, waging an incessant +battle, the torture of which you cannot imagine." + +Then, in all sincerity, she foresaw the likelihood of defeat. "If I +should some day give way, my friend, at all events believe that I feel, +as fully as you do, how abominable such a marriage must be. It will be +the end of our race and our honour!" + +This cry profoundly stirred the Marquis, and he was unable to add a word. +Haughty and uncompromising Catholic and Royalist that he was, he, on his +side also, expected nothing but the supreme collapse. Yet how +heartrending was the thought that this noble woman, so dearly and so +purely loved, would prove one of the most mournful victims of the +catastrophe! And in the shrouding gloom he found courage to kneel before +her, take her hand, and kiss it. + +Just as the servant was at last bringing a lighted lamp Gerard made his +appearance. The past-century charm of the old Louis XVI. drawing-room, +with its pale woodwork, again became apparent in the soft light. In order +that his mother might not be over-saddened by his failure to dine with +her that evening the young man had put on an air of brisk gaiety; and +when he had explained that some friends were waiting for him, she at once +released him from his promise, happy as she felt at seeing him so merry. + +"Go, go, my dear boy," said she, "but mind you do not tire yourself too +much.... I am going to keep Morigny; and the General and Larombiere +are coming at nine o'clock. So be easy, I shall have someone with me to +keep me from fretting and feeling lonely." + +In this wise Gerard after sitting down for a moment and chatting with the +Marquis was able to slip away, dress, and betake himself to the Cafe +Anglais. + +When he reached it women in fur cloaks were already climbing the stairs, +fashionable and merry parties were filling the private rooms, the +electric lights shone brilliantly, and the walls were already vibrating +with the stir of pleasure and debauchery. In the room which Baron +Duvillard had engaged the young man found an extraordinary display, the +most superb flowers, and a profusion of plate and crystal as for a royal +gala. The pomp with which the six covers were laid called forth a smile; +while the bill of fare and the wine list promised marvels, all the rarest +and most expensive things that could be selected. + +"It's stylish, isn't it?" exclaimed Silviane, who was already there with +Duvillard, Fonsegue and Duthil. "I just wanted to make your influential +critic open his eyes a little! When one treats a journalist to such a +dinner as this, he has got to be amiable, hasn't he?" + +In her desire to conquer, it had occurred to the young woman to array +herself in the most amazing fashion. Her gown of yellow satin, covered +with old Alencon lace, was cut low at the neck; and she had put on all +her diamonds, a necklace, a diadem, shoulder-knots, bracelets and rings. +With her candid, girlish face, she looked like some Virgin in a missal, a +Queen-Virgin, laden with the offerings of all Christendom. + +"Well, well, you look so pretty," said Gerard, who sometimes jested with +her, "that I think it will do all the same." + +"Ah!" she replied with equanimity. "You consider me a _bourgeoise_, I +see. Your opinion is that a simple little dinner and a modest gown would +have shown better taste. But ah! my dear fellow, you don't know the way +to get round men!" + +Duvillard signified his approval, for he was delighted to be able to show +her in all her glory, adorned like an idol. Fonsegue, for his part, +talked of diamonds, saying that they were now doubtful investments, as +the day when they would become articles of current manufacture was fast +approaching, thanks to the electrical furnace and other inventions. +Meantime Duthil, with an air of ecstasy and the dainty gestures of a +lady's maid, hovered around the young woman, either smoothing a +rebellious bow or arranging some fold of her lace. + +"But I say," resumed Silviane, "your critic seems to be an ill-bred man, +for he's keeping us waiting." + +Indeed, the critic arrived a quarter of an hour late, and while +apologising, he expressed his regret that he should be obliged to leave +at half-past nine, for he was absolutely compelled to put in an +appearance at a little theatre in the Rue Pigalle. He was a big fellow of +fifty with broad shoulders and a full, bearded face. His most +disagreeable characteristic was the narrow dogmatic pedantry which he had +acquired at the Ecole Normale, and had never since been able to shake +off. All his herculean efforts to be sceptical and frivolous, and the +twenty years he had spent in Paris mingling with every section of +society, had failed to rid him of it. _Magister_ he was, and _magister_ +he remained, even in his most strenuous flights of imagination and +audacity. From the moment of his arrival he tried to show himself +enraptured with Silviane. Naturally enough, he already knew her by sight, +and had even criticised her on one occasion in five or six contemptuous +lines. However, the sight of her there, in full beauty, clad like a +queen, and presented by four influential protectors, filled him with +emotion; and he was struck with the idea that nothing would be more +Parisian and less pedantic than to assert she had some talent and give +her his support. + +They had seated themselves at table, and the repast proved a magnificent +one, the service ever prompt and assiduous, an attendant being allotted +to each diner. While the flowers scattered their perfumes through the +room, and the plate and crystal glittered on the snowy cloth, an +abundance of delicious and unexpected dishes were handed round--a +sturgeon from Russia, prohibited game, truffles as big as eggs, and +hothouse vegetables and fruit as full of flavour as if they had been +naturally matured. It was money flung out of window, simply for the +pleasure of wasting more than other people, and eating what they could +not procure. The influential critic, though he displayed the ease of a +man accustomed to every sort of festivity, really felt astonished at it +all, and became servile, promising his support, and pledging himself far +more than he really wished to. Moreover, he showed himself very gay, +found some witty remarks to repeat, and even some rather ribald jests. +But when the champagne appeared after the roast and the grand burgundies, +his over-excitement brought him back perforce to his real nature. The +conversation had now turned on Corneille's "Polyeucte" and the part of +"Pauline," in which Silviane wished to make her _debut_ at the Comedie +Francaise. This extraordinary caprice, which had quite revolted the +influential critic a week previously, now seemed to him simply a bold +enterprise in which the young woman might even prove victorious if she +consented to listen to his advice. And, once started, he delivered quite +a lecture on the past, asserting that no actress had ever yet understood +it properly, for at the outset Pauline was simply a well-meaning little +creature of the middle classes, and the beauty of her conversion at the +finish arose from the working of a miracle, a stroke of heavenly grace +which endowed her with something divine. This was not the opinion of +Silviane, who from the first lines regarded Pauline as the ideal heroine +of some symbolical legend. However, as the critic talked on and on, she +had to feign approval; and he was delighted at finding her so beautiful +and docile beneath his ferule. At last, as ten o'clock was striking, he +rose and tore out of the hot and reeking room in order to do his work. + +"Ah! my dears," cried Silviane, "he's a nice bore is that critic of +yours! What a fool he is with his idea of Pauline being a little +_bourgeoise_! I would have given him a fine dressing if it weren't for +the fact that I have some need of him. Ah! no, it's too idiotic! Pour me +out a glass of champagne. I want something to set me right after all +that!" + +The _fete_ then took quite an intimate turn between the four men who +remained and that bare-armed, bare-breasted girl, covered with diamonds; +while from the neighbouring passages and rooms came bursts of laughter +and sounds of kissing, all the stir and mirth of the debauchery now +filling the house. And beneath the windows torrents of vehicles and +pedestrians streamed along the Boulevards where reigned the wild fever of +pleasure and harlotry. + +"No, don't open it, or I shall catch cold!" resumed Silviane, addressing +Fonsegue as he stepped towards the window. "Are you so very warm, then? +I'm just comfortable.... But, Duvillard, my good fellow, please order +some more champagne. It's wonderful what a thirst your critic has given +me!" + +Amidst the blinding glare of the lamps and the perfume of the flowers and +wines, one almost stifled in the room. And Silviane was seized with an +irresistible desire for a spree, a desire to tipple and amuse herself in +some vulgar fashion, as in her bygone days. A few glasses of champagne +brought her to full pitch, and she showed the boldest and giddiest +gaiety. The others, who had never before seen her so lively, began on +their own side to feel amused. As Fonsegue was obliged to go to his +office she embraced him "like a daughter," as she expressed it. However, +on remaining alone with the others she indulged in great freedom of +speech, which became more and more marked as her intoxication increased. +And to the class of men with whom she consorted her great attraction, as +she was well aware, lay in the circumstance that with her virginal +countenance and her air of ideal purity was coupled the most monstrous +perversity ever displayed by any shameless woman. Despite her innocent +blue eyes and lily-like candour, she would give rein, particularly when +she was drunk, to the most diabolical of fancies. + +Duvillard let her drink on, but she guessed his thoughts, like she +guessed those of the others, and simply smiled while concocting +impossible stories and descanting fantastically in the language of the +gutter. And seeing her there in her dazzling gown fit for a queenly +virgin, and hearing her pour forth the vilest words, they thought her +most wonderfully droll. However, when she had drunk as much champagne as +she cared for and was half crazy, a novel idea suddenly occurred to her. + +"I say, my children," she exclaimed, "we are surely not going to stop +here. It's so precious slow! You shall take me to the Chamber of +Horrors--eh? just to finish the evening. I want to hear Legras sing 'La +Chemise,' that song which all Paris is running to hear him sing." + +But Duvillard indignantly rebelled: "Oh! no," said he; "most certainly +not. It's a vile song and I'll never take you to such an abominable +place." + +But she did not appear to hear him. She had already staggered to her feet +and was arranging her hair before a looking-glass. "I used to live at +Montmartre," she said, "and it'll amuse me to go back there. And, +besides, I want to know if this Legras is a Legras that I knew, oh! ever +so long ago! Come, up you get, and let us be off!" + +"But, my dear girl," pleaded Duvillard, "we can't take you into that den +dressed as you are! Just fancy your entering that place in a low-necked +gown and covered with diamonds! Why everyone would jeer at us! Come, +Gerard, just tell her to be a little reasonable." + +Gerard, equally offended by the idea of such a freak, was quite willing +to intervene. But she closed his mouth with her gloved hand and repeated +with the gay obstinacy of intoxication: "Pooh, it will be all the more +amusing if they do jeer at us! Come, let us be off, let us be off, +quick!" + +Thereupon Duthil, who had been listening with a smile and the air of a +man of pleasure whom nothing astonishes or displeases, gallantly took her +part. "But, my dear Baron, everybody goes to the Chamber of Horrors," +said he. "Why, I myself have taken the noblest ladies there, and +precisely to hear that song of Legras, which is no worse than anything +else." + +"Ah! you hear what Duthil says!" cried Silviane. "He's a deputy, he is, +and he wouldn't go there if he thought it would compromise his +honorability!" + +Then, as Duvillard still struggled on in despair at the idea of +exhibiting himself with her in such a scandalous place, she became all +the merrier: "Well, my dear fellow, please yourself. I don't need you. +You and Gerard can go home if you like. But I'm going to Montmartre with +Duthil. You'll take charge of me, won't you, Duthil, eh?" + +Still, the Baron was in no wise disposed to let the evening finish in +that fashion. The mere idea of it gave him a shock, and he had to resign +himself to the girl's stubborn caprice. The only consolation he could +think of was to secure Gerard's presence, for the young man, with some +lingering sense of decorum, still obstinately refused to make one of the +party. So the Baron took his hands and detained him, repeating in urgent +tones that he begged him to come as an essential mark of friendship. And +at last the wife's lover and daughter's suitor had to give way to the man +who was the former's husband and the latter's father. + +Silviane was immensely amused by it all, and, indiscreetly thee-ing and +thou-ing Gerard, suggested that he at least owed the Baron some little +compliance with his wishes. + +Duvillard pretended not to hear her. He was listening to Duthil, who told +him that there was a sort of box in a corner of the Chamber of Horrors, +in which one could in some measure conceal oneself. And then, as +Silviane's carriage--a large closed landau, whose coachman, a sturdy, +handsome fellow, sat waiting impassively on his box--was down below, they +started off. + +The Chamber of Horrors was installed in premises on the Boulevard de +Rochechouart, formerly occupied by a cafe whose proprietor had become +bankrupt.* It was a suffocating place, narrow, irregular, with all sorts +of twists, turns, and secluded nooks, and a low and smoky ceiling. And +nothing could have been more rudimentary than its decorations. The walls +had simply been placarded with posters of violent hues, some of the +crudest character, showing the barest of female figures. Behind a piano +at one end there was a little platform reached by a curtained doorway. +For the rest, one simply found a number of bare wooden forms set +alongside the veriest pot-house tables, on which the glasses containing +various beverages left round and sticky marks. There was no luxury, no +artistic feature, no cleanliness even. Globeless gas burners flared +freely, heating a dense mist compounded of tobacco smoke and human +breath. Perspiring, apoplectical faces could be perceived through this +veil, and an acrid odour increased the intoxication of the assembly, +which excited itself with louder and louder shouts at each fresh song. It +had been sufficient for an enterprising fellow to set up these boards, +bring out Legras, accompanied by two or three girls, make him sing his +frantic and abominable songs, and in two or three evenings overwhelming +success had come, all Paris being enticed and flocking to the place, +which for ten years or so had failed to pay as a mere cafe, where by way +of amusement petty cits had been simply allowed their daily games at +dominoes. + + * Those who know Paris will identify the site selected by M. Zola + as that where 'Colonel' Lisbonne of the Commune installed his + den the 'Bagne' some years ago. Nevertheless, such places as the + 'Chamber of Horrors' now abound in the neighbourhood of + Montmartre, and it must be admitted that whilst they are + frequented by certain classes of Frenchmen they owe much of + their success in a pecuniary sense to the patronage of + foreigners. Among the latter, Englishmen are particularly + conspicuous.--Trans. + +And the change had been caused by the passion for filth, the irresistible +attraction exercised by all that brought opprobrium and disgust. The +Paris of enjoyment, the _bourgeoisie_ which held all wealth and power, +which would relinquish naught of either, though it was surfeited and +gradually wearying of both, simply hastened to the place in order that +obscenity and insult might be flung in its face. Hypnotised, as it were, +while staggering to its fall, it felt a need of being spat upon. And what +a frightful symptom there lay in it all: those condemned ones rushing +upon dirt of their own accord, voluntarily hastening their own +decomposition by that unquenchable thirst for the vile, which attracted +men, reputed to be grave and upright, and lovely women of the most +perfect grace and luxury, to all the beastliness of that low den! + +At one of the tables nearest the stage sat little Princess Rosemonde de +Harn, with wild eyes and quivering nostrils, delighted as she felt at now +being able to satisfy her curiosity regarding the depths of Paris life. +Young Hyacinthe had resigned himself to the task of bringing her, and, +correctly buttoned up in his long frock-coat, he was indulgent enough to +refrain from any marked expression of boredom. At a neighbouring table +they had found a shadowy Spaniard of their acquaintance, a so-called +Bourse jobber, Bergaz, who had been introduced to the Princess by Janzen, +and usually attended her entertainments. They virtually knew nothing +about him, not even if he really earned at the Bourse all the money which +he sometimes spent so lavishly, and which enabled him to dress with +affected elegance. His slim, lofty figure was not without a certain air +of distinction, but his red lips spoke of strong passions and his bright +eyes were those of a beast of prey. That evening he had two young fellows +with him, one Rossi, a short, swarthy Italian, who had come to Paris as a +painter's model, and had soon glided into the lazy life of certain +disreputable callings, and the other, Sanfaute, a born Parisian +blackguard, a pale, beardless, vicious and impudent stripling of La +Chapelle, whose long curly hair fell down upon either side of his bony +cheeks. + +"Oh! pray now!" feverishly said Rosemonde to Bergaz; "as you seem to know +all these horrid people, just show me some of the celebrities. Aren't +there some thieves and murderers among them?" + +He laughed shrilly, and in a bantering way replied: "But you know these +people well enough, madame. That pretty, pink, delicate-looking woman +over yonder is an American lady, the wife of a consul, whom, I believe, +you receive at your house. That other on the right, that tall brunette +who shows such queenly dignity, is a Countess, whose carriage passes +yours every day in the Bois. And the thin one yonder, whose eyes glitter +like those of a she-wolf, is the particular friend of a high official, +who is well known for his reputation of austerity." + +But she stopped him, in vexation: "I know, I know. But the others, those +of the lower classes, those whom one comes to see." + +Then she went on asking questions, and seeking for terrifying and +mysterious countenances. At last, two men seated in a corner ended by +attracting her attention; one of them a very young fellow with a pale, +pinched face, and the other an ageless individual who, besides being +buttoned up to his neck in an old coat, had pulled his cap so low over +his eyes, that one saw little of his face beyond the beard which fringed +it. Before these two stood a couple of mugs of beer, which they drank +slowly and in silence. + +"You are making a great mistake, my dear," said Hyacinthe with a frank +laugh, "if you are looking for brigands in disguise. That poor fellow +with the pale face, who surely doesn't have food to eat every day, was my +schoolfellow at Condorcet!" + +Bergaz expressed his amazement. "What! you knew Mathis at Condorcet! +After all, though, you're right, he received a college education. Ah! and +so you knew him. A very remarkable young man he is, though want is +throttling him. But, I say, the other one, his companion, you don't know +him?" + +Hyacinthe, after looking at the man with the cap-hidden face, was already +shaking his head, when Bergaz suddenly gave him a nudge as a signal to +keep quiet, and by way of explanation he muttered: "Hush! Here's +Raphanel. I've been distrusting him for some time past. Whenever he +appears anywhere, the police is not far off." + +Raphanel was another of the vague, mysterious Anarchists whom Janzen had +presented to the Princess by way of satisfying her momentary passion for +revolutionism. This one, though he was a fat, gay, little man, with a +doll-like face and childish nose, which almost disappeared between his +puffy cheeks, had the reputation of being a thorough desperado; and at +public meetings he certainly shouted for fire and murder with all his +lungs. Still, although he had already been compromised in various +affairs, he had invariably managed to save his own bacon, whilst his +companions were kept under lock and key; and this they were now beginning +to think somewhat singular. + +He at once shook hands with the Princess in a jovial way, took a seat +near her without being invited, and forthwith denounced the dirty +_bourgeoisie_ which came to wallow in places of ill fame. Rosemonde was +delighted, and encouraged him, but others near by began to get angry, and +Bergaz examined him with his piercing eyes, like a man of energy who +acts, and lets others talk. Now and then, too, he exchanged quick glances +of intelligence with his silent lieutenants, Sanfaute and Rossi, who +plainly belonged to him, both body and soul. They were the ones who found +their profit in Anarchy, practising it to its logical conclusions, +whether in crime or in vice. + +Meantime, pending the arrival of Legras with his "Flowers of the +Pavement," two female vocalists had followed one another on the stage, +the first fat and the second thin, one chirruping some silly love songs +with an under-current of dirt, and the other shouting the coarsest of +refrains, in a most violent, fighting voice. She had just finished amidst +a storm of bravos, when the assembly, stirred to merriment and eager for +a laugh, suddenly exploded once more. Silviane was entering the little +box at one end of the hall. When she appeared erect in the full light, +with bare arms and shoulders, looking like a planet in her gown of yellow +satin and her blazing diamonds, there arose a formidable uproar, shouts, +jeers, hisses, laughing and growling, mingled with ferocious applause. +And the scandal increased, and the vilest expressions flew about as soon +as Duvillard, Gerard and Duthil also showed themselves, looking very +serious and dignified with their white ties and spreading shirt fronts. + +"We told you so!" muttered Duvillard, who was much annoyed with the +affair, while Gerard tried to conceal himself in a dim corner. + +She, however, smiling and enchanted, faced the public, accepting the +storm with the candid bearing of a foolish virgin, much as one inhales +the vivifying air of the open when it bears down upon one in a squall. +And, indeed, she herself had sprung from the sphere before her, its +atmosphere was her native air. + +"Well, what of it?" she said replying to the Baron who wanted her to sit +down. "They are merry. It's very nice. Oh! I'm really amusing myself!" + +"Why, yes, it's very nice," declared Duthil, who in like fashion set +himself at his ease. "Silviane is right, people naturally like a laugh +now and then!" + +Amidst the uproar, which did not cease, little Princess Rosemonde rose +enthusiastically to get a better view. "Why, it's your father who's with +that woman Silviane," she said to Hyacinthe. "Just look at them! Well, he +certainly has plenty of bounce to show himself here with her!" + +Hyacinthe, however, refused to look. It didn't interest him, his father +was an idiot, only a child would lose his head over a girl in that +fashion. And with his contempt for woman the young man became positively +insulting. + +"You try my nerves, my dear fellow," said Rosemonde as she sat down. "You +are the child with your silly ideas about us. And as for your father, he +does quite right to love that girl. I find her very pretty indeed, quite +adorable!" + +Then all at once the uproar ceased, those who had risen resumed their +seats, and the only sound was that of the feverish throb which coursed +through the assembly. Legras had just appeared on the platform. He was a +pale sturdy fellow with a round and carefully shaven face, stern eyes, +and the powerful jaws of a man who compels the adoration of women by +terrorising them. He was not deficient in talent, he sang true, and his +ringing voice was one of extraordinary penetration and pathetic power. +And his _repertoire_, his "Flowers of the Pavement," completed the +explanation of his success; for all the foulness and suffering of the +lower spheres, the whole abominable sore of the social hell created by +the rich, shrieked aloud in these songs in words of filth and fire and +blood. + +A prelude was played on the piano, and Legras standing there in his +velvet jacket sang "La Chemise," the horrible song which brought all +Paris to hear him. All the lust and vice that crowd the streets of the +great city appeared with their filth and their poison; and amid the +picture of Woman stripped, degraded, ill-treated, dragged through the +mire and cast into a cesspool, there rang out the crime of the +_bourgeoisie_. But the scorching insult of it all was less in the words +themselves than in the manner in which Legras cast them in the faces of +the rich, the happy, the beautiful ladies who came to listen to him. +Under the low ceiling, amidst the smoke from the pipes, in the blinding +glare of the gas, he sent his lines flying through the assembly like +expectorations, projected by a whirlwind of furious contempt. And when he +had finished there came delirium; the beautiful ladies did not even think +of wiping away the many affronts they had received, but applauded +frantically. The whole assembly stamped and shouted, and wallowed, +distracted, in its ignominy. + +"Bravo! bravo!" the little Princess repeated in her shrill voice. "It's +astonishing, astonishing, prodigious!" + +And Silviane, whose intoxication seemed to have increased since she had +been there, in the depths of that fiery furnace, made herself +particularly conspicuous by the manner in which she clapped her hands and +shouted: "It's he, it's my Legras! I really must kiss him, he's pleased +me so much!" + +Duvillard, now fairly exasperated, wished to take her off by force. But +she clung to the hand-rest of the box, and shouted yet more loudly, +though without any show of temper. It became necessary to parley with +her. Yes, she was willing to go off and let them drive her home; but, +first of all, she must embrace Legras, who was an old friend of hers. "Go +and wait for me in the carriage!" she said, "I will be with you in a +moment." + +Just as the assembly was at last becoming calmer, Rosemonde perceived +that the box was emptying; and her own curiosity being satisfied, she +thought of prevailing on Hyacinthe to see her home. He, who had listened +to Legras in a languid way without even applauding, was now talking of +Norway with Bergaz, who pretended that he had travelled in the North. Oh! +the fiords! oh! the ice-bound lakes! oh! the pure lily-white, chaste +coldness of the eternal winter! It was only amid such surroundings, said +Hyacinthe, that he could understand woman and love, like a kiss of the +very snow itself. + +"Shall we go off there to-morrow?" exclaimed the Princess with her +vivacious effrontery. "I'll shut up my house and slip the key under the +door." + +Then she added that she was jesting, of course. But Bergaz knew her to be +quite capable of such a freak; and at the idea that she might shut up her +little mansion and perhaps leave it unprotected he exchanged a quick +glance with Sanfaute and Rossi, who still smiled in silence. Ah! what an +opportunity for a fine stroke! What an opportunity to get back some of +the wealth of the community appropriated by the blackguard _bourgeoisie_! + +Meantime Raphanel, after applauding Legras, was looking all round the +place with his little grey, sharp eyes. And at last young Mathis and his +companion, the ill-clad individual, of whose face only a scrap of beard +could be seen, attracted his attention. They had neither laughed nor +applauded; they seemed to be simply a couple of tired fellows who were +resting, and in whose opinion one is best hidden in the midst of a crowd. + +All at once, though, Raphanel turned towards Bergaz: "That's surely +little Mathis over yonder. But who's that with him?" + +Bergaz made an evasive gesture; he did not know. Still, he no longer took +his eyes from Raphanel. And he saw the other feign indifference at what +followed, and finish his beer and take his leave, with the jesting remark +that he had an appointment with a lady at a neighbouring omnibus office. +No sooner had he gone than Bergaz rose, sprang over some of the forms and +jostled people in order to reach little Mathis, into whose ear he +whispered a few words. And the young man at once left his table, taking +his companion and pushing him outside through an occasional exit. It was +all so rapidly accomplished that none of the general public paid +attention to the flight. + +"What is it?" said the Princess to Bergaz, when he had quietly resumed +his seat between Rossi and Sanfaute. + +"Oh! nothing, I merely wished to shake hands with Mathis as he was going +off." + +Thereupon Rosemonde announced that she meant to do the same. +Nevertheless, she lingered a moment longer and again spoke of Norway on +perceiving that nothing could impassion Hyacinthe except the idea of the +eternal snow, the intense, purifying cold of the polar regions. In his +poem on the "End of Woman," a composition of some thirty lines, which he +hoped he should never finish, he thought of introducing a forest of +frozen pines by way of final scene. Now the Princess had risen and was +gaily reverting to her jest, declaring that she meant to take him home to +drink a cup of tea and arrange their trip to the Pole, when an +involuntary exclamation fell from Bergaz, who, while listening, had kept +his eyes on the doorway. + +"Mondesir! I was sure of it!" + +There had appeared at the entrance a short, sinewy, broad-backed little +man, about whose round face, bumpy forehead, and snub nose there was +considerable military roughness. One might have thought him a +non-commissioned officer in civilian attire. He gazed over the whole +room, and seemed at once dismayed and disappointed. + +Bergaz, however, wishing to account for his exclamation, resumed in an +easy way: "Ah! I said there was a smell of the police about the place! +You see that fellow--he's a detective, a very clever one, named Mondesir, +who had some trouble when he was in the army. Just look at him, sniffing +like a dog that has lost scent! Well, well, my brave fellow, if you've +been told of any game you may look and look for it, the bird's flown +already!" + +Once outside, when Rosemonde had prevailed on Hyacinthe to see her home, +they hastened to get into the brougham, which was waiting for them, for +near at hand they perceived Silviane's landau, with the majestic coachman +motionless on his box, while Duvillard, Gerard, and Duthil still stood +waiting on the curbstone. They had been there for nearly twenty minutes +already, in the semi-darkness of that outer boulevard, where all the +vices of the poor districts of Paris were on the prowl. They had been +jostled by drunkards; and shadowy women brushed against them as they went +by whispering beneath the oaths and blows of bullies. And there were +couples seeking the darkness under the trees, and lingering on the +benches there; while all around were low taverns and dirty lodging-houses +and places of ill-fame. All the human degradation which till break of day +swarms in the black mud of this part of Paris, enveloped the three men, +giving them the horrors, and yet neither the Baron nor Gerard nor Duthil +was willing to go off. Each hoped that he would tire out the others, and +take Silviane home when she should at last appear. + +But after a time the Baron grew impatient, and said to the coachman: +"Jules, go and see why madame doesn't come." + +"But the horses, Monsieur le Baron?" + +"Oh! they will be all right, we are here." + +A fine drizzle had begun to fall; and the wait went on again as if it +would never finish. But an unexpected meeting gave them momentary +occupation. A shadowy form, something which seemed to be a thin, +black-skirted woman, brushed against them. And all of a sudden they were +surprised to find it was a priest. + +"What, is it you, Monsieur l'Abbe Froment?" exclaimed Gerard. "At this +time of night? And in this part of Paris?" + +Thereupon Pierre, without venturing either to express his own +astonishment at finding them there themselves, or to ask them what they +were doing, explained that he had been belated through accompanying Abbe +Rose on a visit to a night refuge. Ah! to think of all the frightful want +which at last drifted to those pestilential dormitories where the stench +had almost made him faint! To think of all the weariness and despair +which there sank into the slumber of utter prostration, like that of +beasts falling to the ground to sleep off the abominations of life! No +name could be given to the promiscuity; poverty and suffering were there +in heaps, children and men, young and old, beggars in sordid rags, beside +the shameful poor in threadbare frock-coats, all the waifs and strays of +the daily shipwrecks of Paris life, all the laziness and vice, and +ill-luck and injustice which the torrent rolls on, and throws off like +scum. Some slept on, quite annihilated, with the faces of corpses. +Others, lying on their backs with mouths agape, snored loudly as if still +venting the plaint of their sorry life. And others tossed restlessly, +still struggling in their slumber against fatigue and cold and hunger, +which pursued them like nightmares of monstrous shape. And from all those +human beings, stretched there like wounded after a battle, from all that +ambulance of life reeking with a stench of rottenness and death, there +ascended a nausea born of revolt, the vengeance-prompting thought of all +the happy chambers where, at that same hour, the wealthy loved or rested +in fine linen and costly lace.* + + * Even the oldest Paris night refuges, which are the outcome + of private philanthropy--L'Oeuvre de l'Hospitalite de Nuit-- + have only been in existence some fourteen or fifteen years. + Before that time, and from the period of the great Revolution + forward, there was absolutely no place, either refuge, asylum, + or workhouse, in the whole of that great city of wealth and + pleasure, where the houseless poor could crave a night's + shelter. The various royalist, imperialist and republican + governments and municipalities of modern France have often + been described as 'paternal,' but no governments and + municipalities in the whole civilised world have done less for + the very poor. The official Poor Relief Board--L'Assistance + Publique--has for fifty years been a by-word, a mockery and a + sham, in spite of its large revenue. And this neglect of the + very poor has been an important factor in every French + revolution. Each of these--even that of 1870--had its purely + economic side, though many superficial historians are content + to ascribe economic causes to the one Revolution of 1789, and + to pass them by in all other instances.--Trans. + +In vain had Pierre and Abbe Rose passed all the poor wretches in review +while seeking the big Old'un, the former carpenter, so as to rescue him +from the cesspool of misery, and send him to the Asylum on the very +morrow. He had presented himself at the refuge that evening, but there +was no room left, for, horrible to say, even the shelter of that hell +could only be granted to early comers. And so he must now be leaning +against a wall, or lying behind some palings. This had greatly distressed +poor Abbe Rose and Pierre, but it was impossible for them to search every +dark, suspicious corner; and so the former had returned to the Rue +Cortot, while the latter was seeking a cab to convey him back to Neuilly. + +The fine drizzling rain was still falling and becoming almost icy, when +Silviane's coachman, Jules, at last reappeared and interrupted the +priest, who was telling the Baron and the others how his visit to the +refuge still made him shudder. + +"Well, Jules--and madame?" asked Duvillard, quite anxious at seeing the +coachman return alone. + +Impassive and respectful, with no other sign of irony than a slight +involuntary twist of the lips, Jules answered: "Madame sends word that +she is not going home; and she places her carriage at the gentlemen's +disposal if they will allow me to drive them home." + +This was the last straw, and the Baron flew into a passion. To have +allowed her to drag him to that vile den, to have waited there hopefully +so long, and to be treated in this fashion for the sake of a Legras! No, +no, he, the Baron, had had enough of it, and she should pay dearly for +her abominable conduct! Then he stopped a passing cab and pushed Gerard +inside it saying, "You can set me down at my door." + +"But she's left us the carriage!" shouted Duthil, who was already +consoled, and inwardly laughed at the termination of it all. "Come here, +there's plenty of room for three. No? you prefer the cab? Well, just as +you like, you know." + +For his part he gaily climbed into the landau and drove off lounging on +the cushions, while the Baron, in the jolting old cab, vented his rage +without a word of interruption from Gerard, whose face was hidden by the +darkness. To think of it! that she, whom he had overwhelmed with gifts, +who had already cost him two millions of francs, should in this fashion +insult him, the master who could dispose both of fortunes and of men! +Well, she had chosen to do it, and he was delivered! Then Duvillard drew +a long breath like a man released from the galleys. + +For a moment Pierre watched the two vehicles go off; and then took his +own way under the trees, so as to shelter himself from the rain until a +vacant cab should pass. Full of distress and battling thoughts he had +begun to feel icy cold. The whole monstrous night of Paris, all the +debauchery and woe that sobbed around him made him shiver. Phantom-like +women who, when young, had led lives of infamy in wealth, and who now, +old and faded, led lives of infamy in poverty, were still and ever +wandering past him in search of bread, when suddenly a shadowy form +grazed him, and a voice murmured in his ear: "Warn your brother, the +police are on Salvat's track, he may be arrested at any moment." + +The shadowy figure was already going its way, and as a gas ray fell upon +it, Pierre thought that he recognised the pale, pinched face of Victor +Mathis. And at the same time, yonder in Abbe Rose's peaceful dining-room, +he fancied he could again see the gentle face of Madame Mathis, so sad +and so resigned, living on solely by the force of the last trembling hope +which she had unhappily set in her son. + + + + +III. PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT + +ALREADY at eight o'clock on that holiday-making mid-Lent Thursday, when +all the offices of the Home Department were empty, Monferrand, the +Minister, sat alone in his private room. A single usher guarded his door, +and in the first ante-chamber there were only a couple of messengers. + +The Minister had experienced, on awaking, the most unpleasant of +emotions. The "Voix du Peuple," which on the previous day had revived the +African Railway scandal, by accusing Barroux of having pocketed 20,000 +francs, had that morning published its long-promised list of the +bribe-taking senators and deputies. And at the head of this list +Monferrand had found his own name set down against a sum of 80,000 +francs, while Fonsegue was credited with 50,000. Then a fifth of the +latter amount was said to have been Duthil's share, and Chaigneux had +contented himself with the beggarly sum of 3,000 francs--the lowest price +paid for any one vote, the cost of each of the others ranging from 5 to +20,000. + +It must be said that there was no anger in Monferrand's emotion. Only he +had never thought that Sagnier would carry his passion for uproar and +scandal so far as to publish this list--a page which was said to have +been torn from a memorandum book belonging to Duvillard's agent, Hunter, +and which was covered with incomprehensible hieroglyphics that ought to +have been discussed and explained, if, indeed, the real truth was to be +arrived at. Personally, Monferrand felt quite at ease, for he had written +nothing, signed nothing, and knew that one could always extricate oneself +from a mess by showing some audacity, and never confessing. Nevertheless, +what a commotion it would all cause in the parliamentary duck-pond. He at +once realised the inevitable consequences, the ministry overthrown and +swept away by this fresh whirlwind of denunciation and tittle-tattle. +Mege would renew his interpellation on the morrow, and Vignon and his +friends would at once lay siege to the posts they coveted. And he, +Monferrand, could picture himself driven out of that ministerial sanctum +where, for eight months past, he had been taking his ease, not with any +foolish vainglory, but with the pleasure of feeling that he was in his +proper place as a born ruler, who believed he could tame and lead the +multitude. + +Having thrown the newspapers aside with a disdainful gesture, he rose and +stretched himself, growling the while like a plagued lion. And then he +began to walk up and down the spacious room, which showed all the faded +official luxury of mahogany furniture and green damask hangings. Stepping +to and fro, with his hands behind his back, he no longer wore his usual +fatherly, good-natured air. He appeared as he really was, a born +wrestler, short, but broad shouldered, with sensual mouth, fleshy nose +and stern eyes, that all proclaimed him to be unscrupulous, of iron will +and fit for the greatest tasks. Still, in this case, in what direction +lay his best course? Must he let himself be dragged down with Barroux? +Perhaps his personal position was not absolutely compromised? And yet how +could he part company from the others, swim ashore, and save himself +while they were being drowned? It was a grave problem, and with his +frantic desire to retain power, he made desperate endeavours to devise +some suitable manoeuvre. + +But he could think of nothing, and began to swear at the virtuous fits of +that silly Republic, which, in his opinion, rendered all government +impossible. To think of such foolish fiddle-faddle stopping a man of his +acumen and strength! How on earth can one govern men if one is denied the +use of money, that sovereign means of sway? And he laughed bitterly; for +the idea of an idyllic country where all great enterprises would be +carried out in an absolutely honest manner seemed to him the height of +absurdity. + +At last, however, unable as he was to come to a determination, it +occurred to him to confer with Baron Duvillard, whom he had long known, +and whom he regretted not having seen sooner so as to urge him to +purchase Sagnier's silence. At first he thought of sending the Baron a +brief note by a messenger; but he disliked committing anything to paper, +for the veriest scrap of writing may prove dangerous; so he preferred to +employ the telephone which had been installed for his private use near +his writing-table. + +"It is Baron Duvillard who is speaking to me?... Quite so. It's I, the +Minister, Monsieur Monferrand. I shall be much obliged if you will come +to see me at once.... Quite so, quite so, I will wait for you." + +Then again he walked to and fro and meditated. That fellow Duvillard was +as clever a man as himself, and might be able to give him an idea. And he +was still laboriously trying to devise some scheme, when the usher +entered saying that Monsieur Gascogne, the Chief of the Detective Police, +particularly wished to speak to him. Monferrand's first thought was that +the Prefecture of Police desired to know his views respecting the steps +which ought to be taken to ensure public order that day; for two mid-Lent +processions--one of the Washerwomen and the other of the Students--were +to march through Paris, whose streets would certainly be crowded. + +"Show Monsieur Gascogne in," he said. + +A tall, slim, dark man, looking like an artisan in his Sunday best, then +stepped into the ministerial sanctum. Fully acquainted with the +under-currents of Paris life, this Chief of the Detective Force had a +cold dispassionate nature and a clear and methodical mind. +Professionalism slightly spoilt him, however: he would have possessed +more intelligence if he had not credited himself with so much. + +He began by apologising for his superior the Prefect, who would certainly +have called in person had he not been suffering from indisposition. +However, it was perhaps best that he, Gascogne, should acquaint Monsieur +le Ministre with the grave affair which brought him, for he knew every +detail of it. Then he revealed what the grave affair was. + +"I believe, Monsieur le Ministre, that we at last hold the perpetrator of +the crime in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy." + +At this, Monferrand, who had been listening impatiently, became quite +impassioned. The fruitless searches of the police, the attacks and the +jeers of the newspapers, were a source of daily worry to him. "Ah!--Well, +so much the better for you Monsieur Gascogne," he replied with brutal +frankness. "You would have ended by losing your post. The man is +arrested?" + +"Not yet, Monsieur le Ministre; but he cannot escape, and it is merely an +affair of a few hours." + +Then the Chief of the Detective Force told the whole story: how Detective +Mondesir, on being warned by a secret agent that the Anarchist Salvat was +in a tavern at Montmartre, had reached it just as the bird had flown; +then how chance had again set him in presence of Salvat at a hundred +paces or so from the tavern, the rascal having foolishly loitered there +to watch the establishment; and afterwards how Salvat had been stealthily +shadowed in the hope that they might catch him in his hiding-place with +his accomplices. And, in this wise, he had been tracked to the +Porte-Maillot, where, realising, no doubt, that he was pursued, he had +suddenly bolted into the Bois de Boulogne. It was there that he had been +hiding since two o'clock in the morning in the drizzle which had not +ceased to fall. They had waited for daylight in order to organise a +_battue_ and hunt him down like some animal, whose weariness must +necessarily ensure capture. And so, from one moment to another, he would +be caught. + +"I know the great interest you take in the arrest, Monsieur le Ministre," +added Gascogne, "and it occurred to me to ask your orders. Detective +Mondesir is over there, directing the hunt. He regrets that he did not +apprehend the man on the Boulevard de Rochechouart; but, all the same, +the idea of following him was a capital one, and one can only reproach +Mondesir with having forgotten the Bois de Boulogne in his calculations." + +Salvat arrested! That fellow Salvat whose name had filled the newspapers +for three weeks past. This was a most fortunate stroke which would be +talked of far and wide! In the depths of Monferrand's fixed eyes one +could divine a world of thoughts and a sudden determination to turn this +incident which chance had brought him to his own personal advantage. In +his own mind a link was already forming between this arrest and that +African Railways interpellation which was likely to overthrow the +ministry on the morrow. The first outlines of a scheme already rose +before him. Was it not his good star that had sent him what he had been +seeking--a means of fishing himself out of the troubled waters of the +approaching crisis? + +"But tell me, Monsieur Gascogne," said he, "are you quite sure that this +man Salvat committed the crime?" + +"Oh! perfectly sure, Monsieur le Ministre. He'll confess everything in +the cab before he reaches the Prefecture." + +Monferrand again walked to and fro with a pensive air, and ideas came to +him as he spoke on in a slow, meditative fashion. "My orders! well, my +orders, they are, first, that you must act with the very greatest +prudence. Yes, don't gather a mob of promenaders together. Try to arrange +things so that the arrest may pass unperceived--and if you secure a +confession keep it to yourself, don't communicate it to the newspapers. +Yes, I particularly recommend that point to you, don't take the +newspapers into your confidence at all--and finally, come and tell me +everything, and observe secrecy, absolute secrecy, with everybody else." + +Gascogne bowed and would have withdrawn, but Monferrand detained him to +say that not a day passed without his friend Monsieur Lehmann, the Public +Prosecutor, receiving letters from Anarchists who threatened to blow him +up with his family; in such wise that, although he was by no means a +coward, he wished his house to be guarded by plain-clothes officers. A +similar watch was already kept upon the house where investigating +magistrate Amadieu resided. And if the latter's life was precious, that +of Public Prosecutor Lehmann was equally so, for he was one of those +political magistrates, one of those shrewd talented Israelites, who make +their way in very honest fashion by invariably taking the part of the +Government in office. + +Then Gascogne in his turn remarked: "There is also the Barthes affair, +Monsieur le Ministre--we are still waiting. Are we to arrest Barthes at +that little house at Neuilly?" + +One of those chances which sometimes come to the help of detectives and +make people think the latter to be men of genius had revealed to him the +circumstance that Barthes had found a refuge with Abbe Pierre Froment. +Ever since the Anarchist terror had thrown Paris into dismay a warrant +had been out against the old man, not for any precise offence, but simply +because he was a suspicious character and might, therefore, have had some +intercourse with the Revolutionists. However, it had been repugnant to +Gascogne to arrest him at the house of a priest whom the whole district +venerated as a saint; and the Minister, whom he had consulted on the +point, had warmly approved of his reserve, since a member of the clergy +was in question, and had undertaken to settle the affair himself. + +"No, Monsieur Gascogne," he now replied, "don't move in the matter. You +know what my feelings are, that we ought to have the priests with us and +not against us--I have had a letter written to Abbe Froment in order that +he may call here this morning, as I shall have no other visitors. I will +speak to him myself, and you may take it that the affair no longer +concerns you." + +Then he was about to dismiss him when the usher came back saying that the +President of the Council was in the ante-room.* + + * The title of President of the Council is given to the French + prime minister.--Trans. + +"Barroux!--Ah! dash it, then, Monsieur Gascogne, you had better go out +this way. It is as well that nobody should meet you, as I wish you to +keep silent respecting Salvat's arrest. It's fully understood, is it not? +I alone am to know everything; and you will communicate with me here +direct, by the telephone, if any serious incident should arise." + +The Chief of the Detective Police had scarcely gone off, by way of an +adjoining _salon_, when the usher reopened the door communicating with +the ante-room: "Monsieur le President du Conseil." + +With a nicely adjusted show of deference and cordiality, Monferrand +stepped forward, his hands outstretched: "Ah! my dear President, why did +you put yourself out to come here? I would have called on you if I had +known that you wished to see me." + +But with an impatient gesture Barroux brushed aside all question of +etiquette. "No, no! I was taking my usual stroll in the Champs Elysees, +and the worries of the situation impressed me so keenly that I preferred +to come here at once. You yourself must realise that we can't put up with +what is taking place. And pending to-morrow morning's council, when we +shall have to arrange a plan of defence, I felt that there was good +reason for us to talk things over." + +He took an armchair, and Monferrand on his side rolled another forward so +as to seat himself with his back to the light. Whilst Barroux, the elder +of the pair by ten years, blanched and solemn, with a handsome face, +snowy whiskers, clean-shaven chin and upper-lip, retained all the dignity +of power, the bearing of a Conventionnel of romantic views, who sought to +magnify the simple loyalty of a rather foolish but good-hearted +_bourgeois_ nature into something great; the other, beneath his heavy +common countenance and feigned frankness and simplicity, concealed +unknown depths, the unfathomable soul of a shrewd enjoyer and despot who +was alike pitiless and unscrupulous in attaining his ends. + +For a moment Barroux drew breath, for in reality he was greatly moved, +his blood rising to his head, and his heart beating with indignation and +anger at the thought of all the vulgar insults which the "Voix du Peuple" +had poured upon him again that morning. "Come, my dear colleague," said +he, "one must stop that scandalous campaign. Moreover, you can realise +what awaits us at the Chamber to-morrow. Now that the famous list has +been published we shall have every malcontent up in arms. Vignon is +bestirring himself already--" + +"Ah! you have news of Vignon?" exclaimed Monferrand, becoming very +attentive. + +"Well, as I passed his door just now, I saw a string of cabs waiting +there. All his creatures have been on the move since yesterday, and at +least twenty persons have told me that the band is already dividing the +spoils. For, as you must know, the fierce and ingenuous Mege is again +going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for others. Briefly, we are +dead, and the others claim that they are going to bury us in mud before +they fight over our leavings." With his arm outstretched Barroux made a +theatrical gesture, and his voice resounded as if he were in the tribune. +Nevertheless, his emotion was real, tears even were coming to his eyes. +"To think that I who have given my whole life to the Republic, I who +founded it, who saved it, should be covered with insults in this fashion, +and obliged to defend myself against abominable charges! To say that I +abused my trust! That I sold myself and took 200,000 francs from that man +Hunter, simply to slip them into my pocket! Well, certainly there _was_ a +question of 200,000 francs between us. But how and under what +circumstances? They were doubtless the same as in your case, with regard +to the 80,000 francs that he is said to have handed you--" + +But Monferrand interrupted his colleague in a clear trenchant voice: "He +never handed me a centime." + +The other looked at him in astonishment, but could only see his big, +rough head, whose features were steeped in shadow: "Ah! But I thought you +had business relations with him, and knew him particularly well." + +"No, I simply knew Hunter as everyone knew him. I was not even aware that +he was Baron Duvillard's agent in the African Railways matter; and there +was never any question of that affair between us." + +This was so improbable, so contrary to everything Barroux knew of the +business, that for a moment he felt quite scared. Then he waved his hand +as if to say that others might as well look after their own affairs, and +reverted to himself. "Oh! as for me," he said, "Hunter called on me more +than ten times, and made me quite sick with his talk of the African +Railways. It was at the time when the Chamber was asked to authorise the +issue of lottery stock.* And, by the way, my dear fellow, I was then here +at the Home Department, while you had just taken that of Public Works. I +can remember sitting at that very writing-table, while Hunter was in the +same armchair that I now occupy. That day he wanted to consult me about +the employment of the large sum which Duvillard's house proposed to spend +in advertising; and on seeing what big amounts were set down against the +Royalist journals, I became quite angry, for I realised with perfect +accuracy that this money would simply be used to wage war against the +Republic. And so, yielding to Hunter's entreaties, I also drew up a list +allotting 200,000 francs among the friendly Republican newspapers, which +were paid through me, I admit it. And that's the whole story."** + + * This kind of stock is common enough in France. A part of it is + extinguished annually at a public "drawing," when all such + shares or bonds that are drawn become entitled to redemption + at "par," a percentage of them also securing prizes of various + amounts. City of Paris Bonds issued on this system are very + popular among French people with small savings; but, on the + other hand, many ventures, whose lottery stock has been + authorised by the Legislature, have come to grief and ruined + investors.--Trans. + + ** All who are acquainted with recent French history will be + aware that Barroux' narrative is simply a passage from the + life of the late M. Floquet, slightly modified to suit the + requirements of M. Zola's story.--Trans. + +Then he sprang to his feet and struck his chest, whilst his voice again +rose: "Well, I've had more than enough of all that calumny and falsehood! +And I shall simply tell the Chamber my story to-morrow. It will be my +only defence. An honest man does not fear the truth!" + +But Monferrand, in his turn, had sprung up with a cry which was a +complete confession of his principles: "It's ridiculous, one never +confesses; you surely won't do such a thing!" + +"I shall," retorted Barroux with superb obstinacy. "And we shall see if +the Chamber won't absolve me by acclamation." + +"No, you will fall beneath an explosion of hisses, and drag all of us +down with you." + +"What does it matter? We shall fall with dignity, like honest men!" + +Monferrand made a gesture of furious anger, and then suddenly became +calm. Amidst all the anxious confusion in which he had been struggling +since daybreak, a gleam now dawned upon him. The vague ideas suggested by +Salvat's approaching arrest took shape, and expanded into an audacious +scheme. Why should he prevent the fall of that big ninny Barroux? The +only thing of importance was that he, Monferrand, should not fall with +him, or at any rate that he should rise again. So he protested no +further, but merely mumbled a few words, in which his rebellious feeling +seemingly died out. And at last, putting on his good-natured air once +more, he said: "Well, after all you are perhaps right. One must be brave. +Besides, you are our head, my dear President, and we will follow you." + +They had now again sat down face to face, and their conversation +continued till they came to a cordial agreement respecting the course +which the Government should adopt in view of the inevitable +interpellation on the morrow. + +Meantime, Baron Duvillard was on his way to the ministry. He had scarcely +slept that night. When on the return from Montmartre Gerard had set him +down at his door in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, he had at once gone to bed, +like a man who is determined to compel sleep, so that he may forget his +worries and recover self-control. But slumber would not come; for hours +and hours he vainly sought it. The manner in which he had been insulted +by that creature Silviane was so monstrous! To think that she, whom he +had enriched, whose every desire he had contented, should have cast such +mud at him, the master, who flattered himself that he held Paris and the +Republic in his hands, since he bought up and controlled consciences just +as others might make corners in wool or leather for the purposes of +Bourse speculation. And the dim consciousness that Silviane was the +avenging sore, the cancer preying on him who preyed on others, completed +his exasperation. In vain did he try to drive away his haunting thoughts, +remember his business affairs, his appointments for the morrow, his +millions which were working in every quarter of the world, the financial +omnipotence which placed the fate of nations in his grasp. Ever, and in +spite of all, Silviane rose up before him, splashing him with mud. In +despair he tried to fix his mind on a great enterprise which he had been +planning for months past, a Trans-Saharan railway, a colossal venture +which would set millions of money at work, and revolutionise the trade of +the world. And yet Silviane appeared once more, and smacked him on both +cheeks with her dainty little hand, which she had dipped in the gutter. +It was only towards daybreak that he at last dozed off, while vowing in a +fury that he would never see her again, that he would spurn her, and +order her away, even should she come and drag herself at his feet. + +However, when he awoke at seven, still tired and aching, his first +thought was for her, and he almost yielded to a fit of weakness. The idea +came to him to ascertain if she had returned home, and if so make his +peace. But he jumped out of bed, and after his ablutions he recovered all +his bravery. She was a wretch, and he this time thought himself for ever +cured of his passion. To tell the truth, he forgot it as soon as he +opened the morning newspapers. The publication of the list of +bribe-takers in the "Voix du Peuple" quite upset him, for he had hitherto +thought it unlikely that Sagnier held any such list. However, he judged +the document at a glance, at once separating the few truths it contained +from a mass of foolishness and falsehood. And this time also he did not +consider himself personally in danger. There was only one thing that he +really feared: the arrest of his intermediary, Hunter, whose trial might +have drawn him into the affair. As matters stood, and as he did not cease +to repeat with a calm and smiling air, he had merely done what every +banking-house does when it issues stock, that is, pay the press for +advertisements and puffery, employ brokers, and reward services +discreetly rendered to the enterprise. It was all a business matter, and +for him that expression summed up everything. Moreover, he played the +game of life bravely, and spoke with indignant contempt of a banker who, +distracted and driven to extremities by blackmailing, had imagined that +he would bring a recent scandal to an end by killing himself: a pitiful +tragedy, from all the mire and blood of which the scandal had sprouted +afresh with the most luxuriant and indestructible vegetation. No, no! +suicide was not the course to follow: a man ought to remain erect, and +struggle on to his very last copper, and the very end of his energy. + +At about nine o'clock a ringing brought Duvillard to the telephone +installed in his private room. And then his folly took possession of him +once more: it must be Silviane who wished to speak to him. She often +amused herself by thus disturbing him amidst his greatest cares. No doubt +she had just returned home, realising that she had carried things too far +on the previous evening and desiring to be forgiven. However, when he +found that the call was from Monferrand, who wished him to go to the +ministry, he shivered slightly, like a man saved from the abyss beside +which he is travelling. And forthwith he called for his hat and stick, +desirous as he was of walking and reflecting in the open air. And again +he became absorbed in the intricacies of the scandalous business which +was about to stir all Paris and the legislature. Kill himself! ah, no, +that would be foolish and cowardly. A gust of terror might be sweeping +past; nevertheless, for his part he felt quite firm, superior to events, +and resolved to defend himself without relinquishing aught of his power. + +As soon as he entered the ante-rooms of the ministry he realised that the +gust of terror was becoming a tempest. The publication of the terrible +list in the "Voix du Peuple" had chilled the guilty ones to the heart; +and, pale and distracted, feeling the ground give way beneath them, they +had come to take counsel of Monferrand, who, they hoped, might save them. +The first whom Duvillard perceived was Duthil, looking extremely +feverish, biting his moustaches, and constantly making grimaces in his +efforts to force a smile. The banker scolded him for coming, saying that +it was a great mistake to have done so, particularly with such a scared +face. The deputy, however, his spirits already cheered by these rough +words, began to defend himself, declaring that he had not even read +Sagnier's article, and had simply come to recommend a lady friend to the +Minister. Thereupon the Baron undertook this business for him and sent +him away with the wish that he might spend a merry mid-Lent. However, the +one who most roused Duvillard's pity was Chaigneux, whose figure swayed +about as if bent by the weight of his long equine head, and who looked so +shabby and untidy that one might have taken him for an old pauper. On +recognising the banker he darted forward, and bowed to him with +obsequious eagerness. + +"Ah! Monsieur le Baron," said he, "how wicked some men must be! They are +killing me, I shall die of it all; and what will become of my wife, what +will become of my three daughters, who have none but me to help them?" + +The whole of his woeful story lay in that lament. A victim of politics, +he had been foolish enough to quit Arras and his business there as a +solicitor, in order to seek triumph in Paris with his wife and daughters, +whose menial he had then become--a menial dismayed by the constant +rebuffs and failures which his mediocrity brought upon him. An honest +deputy! ah, good heavens! yes, he would have liked to be one; but was he +not perpetually "hard-up," ever in search of a hundred-franc note, and +thus, perforce, a deputy for sale? And withal he led such a pitiable +life, so badgered by the women folk about him, that to satisfy their +demands he would have picked up money no matter where or how. + +"Just fancy, Monsieur le Baron, I have at last found a husband for my +eldest girl. It is the first bit of luck that I have ever had; there will +only be three women left on my hands if it comes off. But you can imagine +what a disastrous impression such an article as that of this morning must +create in the young man's family. So I have come to see the Minister to +beg him to give my future son-in-law a prefectoral secretaryship. I have +already promised him the post, and if I can secure it things may yet be +arranged." + +He looked so terribly shabby and spoke in such a doleful voice that it +occurred to Duvillard to do one of those good actions on which he +ventured at times when they were likely to prove remunerative +investments. It is, indeed, an excellent plan to give a crust of bread to +some poor devil whom one can turn, if necessary, into a valet or an +accomplice. So the banker dismissed Chaigneux, undertaking to do his +business for him in the same way as he had undertaken to do Duthil's. And +he added that he would be pleased to see him on the morrow, and have a +chat with him, as he might be able to help him in the matter of his +daughter's marriage. + +At this Chaigneux, scenting a loan, collapsed into the most lavish +thanks. "Ah! Monsieur le Baron, my life will not be long enough to enable +me to repay such a debt of gratitude." + +As Duvillard turned round he was surprised to see Abbe Froment waiting in +a corner of the ante-room. Surely that one could not belong to the batch +of _suspects_, although by the manner in which he was pretending to read +a newspaper it seemed as if he were trying to hide some keen anxiety. At +last the Baron stepped forward, shook hands, and spoke to him cordially. +And Pierre thereupon related that he had received a letter requesting him +to call on the Minister that day. Why, he could not tell; in fact, he was +greatly surprised, he said, putting on a smile in order to conceal his +disquietude. He had been waiting a long time already, and hoped that he +would not be forgotten on that bench. + +Just then the usher appeared, and hastened up to the banker. "The +Minister," said he, "was at that moment engaged with the President of the +Council; but he had orders to admit the Baron as soon as the President +withdrew." Almost immediately afterwards Barroux came out, and as +Duvillard was about to enter he recognised and detained him. And he spoke +of the denunciations very bitterly, like one indignant with all the +slander. Would not he, Duvillard, should occasion require it, testify +that he, Barroux, had never taken a centime for himself? Then, forgetting +that he was speaking to a banker, and that he was Minister of Finances, +he proceeded to express all his disgust of money. Ah! what poisonous, +murky, and defiling waters were those in which money-making went on! +However, he repeated that he would chastise his insulters, and that a +statement of the truth would suffice for the purpose. + +Duvillard listened and looked at him. And all at once the thought of +Silviane came back, and took possession of the Baron, without any attempt +on his part to drive it away. He reflected that if Barroux had chosen to +give him a helping hand when he had asked for it, Silviane would now have +been at the Comedie Francaise, in which case the deplorable affair of the +previous night would not have occurred; for he was beginning to regard +himself as guilty in the matter; if he had only contented Silviane's whim +she would never have dismissed him in so vile a fashion. + +"You know, I owe you a grudge," he said, interrupting Barroux. + +The other looked at him in astonishment. "And why, pray?" he asked. + +"Why, because you never helped me in the matter of that friend of mine +who wishes to make her _debut_ in 'Polyeucte.'" + +Barroux smiled, and with amiable condescension replied: "Ah! yes, +Silviane d'Aulnay! But, my dear sir, it was Taboureau who put spokes in +the wheel. The Fine Arts are his department, and the question was +entirely one for him. And I could do nothing; for that very worthy and +honest gentleman, who came to us from a provincial faculty, was full of +scruples. For my own part I'm an old Parisian, I can understand anything, +and I should have been delighted to please you." + +At this fresh resistance offered to his passion Duvillard once more +became excited, eager to obtain that which was denied him. "Taboureau, +Taboureau!" said he, "he's a nice deadweight for you to load yourself +with! Honest! isn't everybody honest? Come, my dear Minister, there's +still time, get Silviane admitted, it will bring you good luck for +to-morrow." + +This time Barroux burst into a frank laugh: "No, no, I can't cast +Taboureau adrift at this moment--people would make too much sport of +it--a ministry wrecked or saved by a Silviane question!" + +Then he offered his hand before going off. The Baron pressed it, and for +a moment retained it in his own, whilst saying very gravely and with a +somewhat pale face: "You do wrong to laugh, my dear Minister. Governments +have fallen or set themselves erect again through smaller matters than +that. And should you fall to-morrow I trust that you will never have +occasion to regret it." + +Wounded to the heart by the other's jesting air, exasperated by the idea +that there was something he could not achieve, Duvillard watched Barroux +as he withdrew. Most certainly the Baron did not desire a reconciliation +with Silviane, but he vowed that he would overturn everything if +necessary in order to send her a signed engagement for the Comedie, and +this simply by way of vengeance, as a slap, so to say,--yes, a slap which +would make her tingle! That moment spent with Barroux had been a decisive +one. + +However, whilst still following Barroux with his eyes, Duvillard was +surprised to see Fonsegue arrive and manoeuvre in such a way as to escape +the Prime Minister's notice. He succeeded in doing so, and then entered +the ante-room with an appearance of dismay about the whole of his little +figure, which was, as a rule, so sprightly. It was the gust of terror, +still blowing, that had brought him thither. + +"Didn't you see your friend Barroux?" the Baron asked him, somewhat +puzzled. + +"Barroux? No!" + +This quiet lie was equivalent to a confession of everything. Fonsegue was +so intimate with Barroux that he thee'd and thou'd him, and for ten years +had been supporting him in his newspaper, having precisely the same +views, the same political religion. But with a smash-up threatening, he +doubtless realised, thanks to his wonderfully keen scent, that he must +change his friendships if he did not wish to remain under the ruins +himself. If he had, for long years, shown so much prudence and diplomatic +virtue in order to firmly establish the most dignified and respected of +Parisian newspapers, it was not for the purpose of letting that newspaper +be compromised by some foolish blunder on the part of an honest man. + +"I thought you were on bad terms with Monferrand," resumed Duvillard. +"What have you come here for?" + +"Oh! my dear Baron, the director of a leading newspaper is never on bad +terms with anybody. He's at the country's service." + +In spite of his emotion, Duvillard could not help smiling. "You are +right," he responded. "Besides, Monferrand is really an able man, whom +one can support without fear." + +At this Fonsegue began to wonder whether his anguish of mind was visible. +He, who usually played the game of life so well, with his own hand under +thorough control, had been terrified by the article in the "Voix du +Peuple." For the first time in his career he had perpetrated a blunder, +and felt that he was at the mercy of some denunciation, for with +unpardonable imprudence he had written a very brief but compromising +note. He was not anxious concerning the 50,000 francs which Barroux had +handed him out of the 200,000 destined for the Republican press. But he +trembled lest another affair should be discovered, that of a sum of money +which he had received as a present. It was only on feeling the Baron's +keen glance upon him that he was able to recover some self-possession. +How silly it was to lose the knack of lying and to confess things simply +by one's demeanour! + +But the usher drew near and repeated that the Minister was now waiting +for the Baron; and Fonsegue went to sit down beside Abbe Froment, whom he +also was astonished to find there. Pierre repeated that he had received a +letter, but had no notion what the Minister might wish to say to him. And +the quiver of his hands again revealed how feverishly impatient he was to +know what it might be. However, he could only wait, since Monferrand was +still busy discussing such grave affairs. + +On seeing Duvillard enter, the Minister had stepped forward, offering his +hand. However much the blast of terror might shake others, he had +retained his calmness and good-natured smile. "What an affair, eh, my +dear Baron!" he exclaimed. + +"It's idiotic!" plainly declared the other, with a shrug of his +shoulders. Then he sat down in the armchair vacated by Barroux, while the +Minister installed himself in front of him. These two were made to +understand one another, and they indulged in the same despairing gestures +and furious complaints, declaring that government, like business, would +no longer be possible if men were required to show such virtue as they +did not possess. At all times, and under every _regime_, when a decision +of the Chambers had been required in connection with some great +enterprise, had not the natural and legitimate tactics been for one to do +what might be needful to secure that decision? It was absolutely +necessary that one should obtain influential and sympathetic support, in +a word, make sure of votes. Well, everything had to be paid for, men like +other things, some with fine words, others with favours or money, +presents made in a more or less disguised manner. And even admitting +that, in the present cases, one had gone rather far in the purchasing, +that some of the bartering had been conducted in an imprudent way, was it +wise to make such an uproar over it? Would not a strong government have +begun by stifling the scandal, from motives of patriotism, a mere sense +of cleanliness even? + +"Why, of course! You are right, a thousand times right!" exclaimed +Monferrand. "Ah! if I were the master you would see what a fine +first-class funeral I would give it all!" Then, as Duvillard looked at +him fixedly, struck by these last words, he added with his expressive +smile: "Unfortunately I'm not the master, and it was to talk to you of +the situation that I ventured to disturb you. Barroux, who was here just +now, seemed to me in a regrettable frame of mind." + +"Yes, I saw him, he has such singular ideas at times--" Then, breaking +off, the Baron added: "Do you know that Fonsegue is in the ante-room? As +he wishes to make his peace with you, why not send for him? He won't be +in the way, in fact, he's a man of good counsel, and the support of his +newspaper often suffices to give one the victory." + +"What, is Fonsegue there!" cried Monferrand. "Why, I don't ask better +than to shake hands with him. There were some old affairs between us that +don't concern anybody! But, good heavens! if you only knew what little +spite I harbour!" + +When the usher had admitted Fonsegue the reconciliation took place in the +simplest fashion. They had been great friends at college in their native +Correze, but had not spoken together for ten years past in consequence of +some abominable affair the particulars of which were not exactly known. +However, it becomes necessary to clear away all corpses when one wishes +to have the arena free for a fresh battle. + +"It's very good of you to come back the first," said Monferrand. "So it's +all over, you no longer bear me any grudge?" + +"No, indeed!" replied Fonsegue. "Why should people devour one another +when it would be to their interest to come to an understanding?" + +Then, without further explanations, they passed to the great affair, and +the conference began. And when Monferrand had announced Barroux' +determination to confess and explain his conduct, the others loudly +protested. That meant certain downfall, they would prevent him, he surely +would not be guilty of such folly. Forthwith they discussed every +imaginable plan by which the Ministry might be saved, for that must +certainly be Monferrand's sole desire. He himself with all eagerness +pretended to seek some means of extricating his colleagues and himself +from the mess in which they were. However, a faint smile, still played +around his lips, and at last as if vanquished he sought no further. +"There's no help for it," said he, "the ministry's down." + +The others exchanged glances, full of anxiety at the thought of another +Cabinet dealing with the African Railways affair. A Vignon Cabinet would +doubtless plume itself on behaving honestly. + +"Well, then, what shall we do?" + +But just then the telephone rang, and Monferrand rose to respond to the +summons: "Allow me." + +He listened for a moment and then spoke into the tube, nothing that he +said giving the others any inkling of the information which had reached +him. This had come from the Chief of the Detective Police, and was to the +effect that Salvat's whereabouts in the Bois de Boulogne had been +discovered, and that he would be hunted down with all speed. "Very good! +And don't forget my orders," replied Monferrand. + +Now that Salvat's arrest was certain, the Minister determined to follow +the plan which had gradually taken shape in his mind; and returning to +the middle of the room he slowly walked to and fro, while saying with his +wonted familiarity: "But what would you have, my friends? It would be +necessary for me to be the master. Ah! if I were the master! A Commission +of Inquiry, yes! that's the proper form for a first-class funeral to take +in a big affair like this, so full of nasty things. For my part, I should +confess nothing, and I should have a Commission appointed. And then you +would see the storm subside." + +Duvillard and Fonsegue began to laugh. The latter, however, thanks to his +intimate knowledge of Monferrand, almost guessed the truth. "Just +listen!" said he; "even if the ministry falls it doesn't necessarily +follow that you must be on the ground with it. Besides, a ministry can be +mended when there are good pieces of it left." + +Somewhat anxious at finding his thoughts guessed, Monferrand protested: +"No, no, my dear fellow, I don't play that game. We are jointly +responsible, we've got to keep together, dash it all!" + +"Keep together! Pooh! Not when simpletons purposely drown themselves! +And, besides, if we others have need of you, we have a right to save you +in spite of yourself! Isn't that so, my dear Baron?" + +Then, as Monferrand sat down, no longer protesting but waiting, +Duvillard, who was again thinking of his passion, full of anger at the +recollection of Barroux' refusal, rose in his turn, and exclaimed: "Why, +certainly! If the ministry's condemned let it fall! What good can you get +out of a ministry which includes such a man as Taboureau! There you have +an old, worn-out professor without any prestige, who comes to Paris from +Grenoble, and has never set foot in a theatre in his life! Yet the +control of the theatres is handed over to him, and naturally he's ever +doing the most stupid things!" + +Monferrand, who was well informed on the Silviane question, remained +grave, and for a moment amused himself by trying to excite the Baron. +"Taboureau," said he, "is a somewhat dull and old-fashioned University +man, but at the department of Public Instruction he's in his proper +element." + +"Oh! don't talk like that, my dear fellow! You are more intelligent than +that, you are not going to defend Taboureau as Barroux did. It's quite +true that I should very much like to see Silviane at the Comedie. She's a +very good girl at heart, and she has an amazing lot of talent. Would you +stand in her way if you were in Taboureau's place?" + +"I? Good heavens, no! A pretty girl on the stage, why, it would please +everybody, I'm sure. Only it would be necessary to have a man of the same +views as were at the department of Instruction and Fine Arts." + +His sly smile had returned to his face. The securing of that girl's +_debut_ was certainly not a high price to pay for all the influence of +Duvillard's millions. Monferrand therefore turned towards Fonsegue as if +to consult him. The other, who fully understood the importance of the +affair, was meditating in all seriousness: "A senator is the proper man +for Public Instruction," said he. "But I can think of none, none at all, +such as would be wanted. A man of broad mind, a real Parisian, and yet +one whose presence at the head of the University wouldn't cause too much +astonishment--there's perhaps Dauvergne--" + +"Dauvergne! Who's he?" exclaimed Monferrand in surprise. "Ah! yes, +Dauvergne the senator for Dijon--but he's altogether ignorant of +University matters, he hasn't the slightest qualification." + +"Well, as for that," resumed Fonsegue, "I'm trying to think. Dauvergne is +certainly a good-looking fellow, tall and fair and decorative. Besides, +he's immensely rich, has a most charming young wife--which does no harm, +on the contrary--and he gives real _fetes_ at his place on the Boulevard +St. Germain." + +It was only with hesitation that Fonsegue himself had ventured to suggest +Dauvergne. But by degrees his selection appeared to him a real "find." +"Wait a bit! I recollect now that in his young days Dauvergne wrote a +comedy, a one act comedy in verse, and had it performed at Dijon. And +Dijon's a literary town, you know, so that piece of his sets a little +perfume of 'Belles-Lettres' around him. And then, too, he left Dijon +twenty years ago, and is a most determined Parisian, frequenting every +sphere of society. Dauvergne will do whatever one desires. He's the man +for us, I tell you." + +Duvillard thereupon declared that he knew him, and considered him a very +decent fellow. Besides, he or another, it mattered nothing! + +"Dauvergne, Dauvergne," repeated Monferrand. "_Mon Dieu_, yes! After all, +why not? He'll perhaps make a very good minister. Let us say Dauvergne." +Then suddenly bursting into a hearty laugh: "And so we are reconstructing +the Cabinet in order that that charming young woman may join the Comedie! +The Silviane cabinet--well, and what about the other departments?" + +He jested, well knowing that gaiety often hastens difficult solutions. +And, indeed, they merrily continued settling what should be done if the +ministry were defeated on the morrow. Although they had not plainly said +so the plan was to let Barroux sink, even help him to do so, and then +fish Monferrand out of the troubled waters. The latter engaged himself +with the two others, because he had need of them, the Baron on account of +his financial sovereignty, and the director of "Le Globe" on account of +the press campaign which he could carry on in his favour. And in the same +way the others, quite apart from the Silviane business, had need of +Monferrand, the strong-handed man of government, who undertook to bury +the African Railways scandal by bringing about a Commission of Inquiry, +all the strings of which would be pulled by himself. There was soon a +perfect understanding between the three men, for nothing draws people +more closely together than common interest, fear and need. Accordingly, +when Duvillard spoke of Duthil's business, the young lady whom he wished +to recommend, the Minister declared that it was settled. A very nice +fellow was Duthil, they needed a good many like him. And it was also +agreed that Chaigneux' future son-in-law should have his secretaryship. +Poor Chaigneux! He was so devoted, always ready to undertake any +commission, and his four women folk led him such a hard life! + +"Well, then, it's understood." And Monferrand, Duvillard and Fonsegue +vigorously shook hands. + +However, when the first accompanied the others to the door, he noticed a +prelate, in a cassock of fine material, edged with violet, speaking to a +priest in the ante-room. Thereupon he, the Minister, hastened forward, +looking much distressed. "Ah! you were waiting, Monseigneur Martha! Come +in, come in quick!" + +But with perfect urbanity the Bishop refused. "No, no, Monsieur l'Abbe +Froment was here before me. Pray receive him first." + +Monferrand had to give way; he admitted the priest, and speedily dealt +with him. He who usually employed the most diplomatic reserve when he was +in presence of a member of the clergy plumply unfolded the Barthes +business. Pierre had experienced the keenest anguish during the two hours +that he had been waiting there, for he could only explain the letter he +had received by a surmise that the police had discovered his brother's +presence in his house. And so when he heard the Minister simply speak of +Barthes, and declare that the government would rather see him go into +exile than be obliged to imprison him once more, he remained for a moment +quite disconcerted. As the police had been able to discover the old +conspirator in the little house at Neuilly, how was it that they seemed +altogether ignorant of Guillaume's presence there? It was, however, the +usual gap in the genius of great detectives. + +"Pray what do you desire of me, Monsieur le Ministre?" said Pierre at +last; "I don't quite understand." + +"Why, Monsieur l'Abbe, I leave all this to your sense of prudence. If +that man were still at your house in forty-eight hours from now, we +should be obliged to arrest him there, which would be a source of grief +to us, for we are aware that your residence is the abode of every virtue. +So advise him to leave France. If he does that we shall not trouble him." + +Then Monferrand hastily brought Pierre back to the ante-room; and, +smiling and bending low, he said: "Monseigneur, I am entirely at your +disposal. Come in, come in, I beg you." + +The prelate, who was gaily chatting with Duvillard and Fonsegue, shook +hands with them, and then with Pierre. In his desire to win all hearts, +he that morning displayed the most perfect graciousness. His bright, +black eyes were all smiles, the whole of his handsome face wore a +caressing expression, and he entered the ministerial sanctum leisurely +and gracefully, with an easy air of conquest. + +And now only Monferrand and Monseigneur Martha were left, talking on and +on in the deserted building. Some people had thought that the prelate +wished to become a deputy. But he played a far more useful and lofty part +in governing behind the scenes, in acting as the directing mind of the +Vatican's policy in France. Was not France still the Eldest Daughter of +the Church, the only great nation which might some day restore +omnipotence to the Papacy? For that reason he had accepted the Republic, +preached the duty of "rallying" to it, and inspired the new Catholic +group in the Chamber. And Monferrand, on his side, struck by the progress +of the New Spirit, that reaction of mysticism which flattered itself that +it would bury science, showed the prelate much amiability, like a +strong-handed man who, to ensure his own victory, utilised every force +that was offered him. + + + + +IV. THE MAN HUNT + +ON the afternoon of that same day such a keen desire for space and the +open air came upon Guillaume, that Pierre consented to accompany him on a +long walk in the Bois de Boulogne. The priest, upon returning from his +interview with Monferrand, had informed his brother that the government +once more wished to get rid of Nicholas Barthes. However, they were so +perplexed as to how they should impart these tidings to the old man, that +they resolved to postpone the matter until the evening. During their walk +they might devise some means of breaking the news in a gentle way. As for +the walk, this seemed to offer no danger; to all appearance Guillaume was +in no wise threatened, so why should he continue hiding? Thus the +brothers sallied forth and entered the Bois by the Sablons gate, which +was the nearest to them. + +The last days of March had now come, and the trees were beginning to show +some greenery, so soft and light, however, that one might have thought it +was pale moss or delicate lace hanging between the stems and boughs. +Although the sky remained of an ashen grey, the rain, after falling +throughout the night and morning, had ceased; and exquisite freshness +pervaded that wood now awakening to life once more, with its foliage +dripping in the mild and peaceful atmosphere. The mid-Lent rejoicings had +apparently attracted the populace to the centre of Paris, for in the +avenues one found only the fashionable folks of select days, the people +of society who come thither when the multitude stops away. There were +carriages and gentlemen on horseback; beautiful aristocratic ladies who +had alighted from their broughams or landaus; and wet-nurses with +streaming ribbons, who carried infants wearing the most costly lace. Of +the middle-classes, however, one found only a few matrons living in the +neighbourhood, who sat here and there on the benches busy with embroidery +or watching their children play. + +Pierre and Guillaume followed the Allee de Longchamp as far as the road +going from Madrid to the lakes. Then they took their way under the trees, +alongside the little Longchamp rivulet. They wished to reach the lakes, +pass round them, and return home by way of the Maillot gate. But so +charming and peaceful was the deserted plantation through which they +passed, that they yielded to a desire to sit down and taste the delight +of resting amidst all the budding springtide around them. A fallen tree +served them as a bench, and it was possible for them to fancy themselves +far away from Paris, in the depths of some real forest. It was, too, of a +real forest that Guillaume began to think on thus emerging from his long, +voluntary imprisonment. Ah! for the space; and for the health-bringing +air which courses between that forest's branches, that forest of the +world which by right should be man's inalienable domain! However, the +name of Barthes, the perpetual prisoner, came back to Guillaume's lips, +and he sighed mournfully. The thought that there should be even a single +man whose liberty was thus ever assailed, sufficed to poison the pure +atmosphere he breathed. + +"What will you say to Barthes?" he asked his brother. "The poor fellow +must necessarily be warned. Exile is at any rate preferable to +imprisonment." + +Pierre sadly waved his hand. "Yes, of course, I must warn him. But what a +painful task it is!" + +Guillaume made no rejoinder, for at that very moment, in that remote, +deserted nook, where they could fancy themselves at the world's end, a +most extraordinary spectacle was presented to their view. Something or +rather someone leapt out of a thicket and bounded past them. It was +assuredly a man, but one who was so unrecognisable, so miry, so woeful +and so frightful, that he might have been taken for an animal, a boar +that hounds had tracked and forced from his retreat. On seeing the +rivulet, he hesitated for a moment, and then followed its course. But, +all at once, as a sound of footsteps and panting breath drew nearer, he +sprang into the water, which reached his thighs, bounded on to the +further bank, and vanished from sight behind a clump of pines. A moment +afterwards some keepers and policemen rushed by, skirting the rivulet, +and in their turn disappearing. It was a man hunt that had gone past, a +fierce, secret hunt with no display of scarlet or blast of horns athwart +the soft, sprouting foliage. + +"Some rascal or other," muttered Pierre. "Ah! the wretched fellow!" + +Guillaume made a gesture of discouragement. "Gendarmes and prison!" said +he. "They still constitute society's only schooling system!" + +Meantime the man was still running on, farther and farther away. + +When, on the previous night, Salvat had suddenly escaped from the +detectives by bounding into the Bois de Boulogne, it had occurred to him +to slip round to the Dauphine gate and there descend into the deep ditch* +of the city ramparts. He remembered days of enforced idleness which he +had spent there, in nooks where, for his own part, he had never met a +living soul. Nowhere, indeed, could one find more secret places of +retreat, hedged round by thicker bushes, or concealed from view by +loftier herbage. Some corners of the ditch, at certain angles of the +massive bastions, are favourite dens or nests for thieves and lovers. +Salvat, as he made his way through the thickest of the brambles, nettles +and ivy, was lucky enough to find a cavity full of dry leaves, in which +he buried himself to the chin. The rain had already drenched him, and +after slipping down the muddy slope, he had frequently been obliged to +grope his way upon all fours. So those dry leaves proved a boon such as +he had not dared to hope for. They dried him somewhat, serving as a +blanket in which he coiled himself after his wild race through the dank +darkness. The rain still fell, but he now only felt it on his head, and, +weary as he was, he gradually sank into deep slumber beneath the +continuous drizzle. When he opened his eyes again, the dawn was breaking, +and it was probably about six o'clock. During his sleep the rain had +ended by soaking the leaves, so that he was now immersed in a kind of +chilly bath. Still he remained in it, feeling that he was there sheltered +from the police, who must now surely be searching for him. None of those +bloodhounds would guess his presence in that hole, for his body was quite +buried, and briers almost completely hid his head. So he did not stir, +but watched the rise of the dawn. + + * This ditch or dry moat is about 30 feet deep and 50 feet wide. + The counterscarp by which one may descend into it has an angle + of 45 degrees.--Trans. + +When at eight o'clock some policemen and keepers came by, searching the +ditch, they did not perceive him. As he had anticipated, the hunt had +begun at the first glimmer of light. For a time his heart beat violently; +however, nobody else passed, nothing whatever stirred the grass. The only +sounds that reached him were faint ones from the Bois de Boulogne, the +ring of a bicyclist's bell, the thud of a horse's hoofs, the rumble of +carriage wheels. And time went by, nine o'clock came, and then ten +o'clock. Since the rain had ceased falling, Salvat had not suffered so +much from the cold, for he was wearing a thick overcoat which little +Mathis had given him. But, on the other hand, hunger was coming back; +there was a burning sensation in his stomach, and leaden hoops seemed to +be pressing against his ribs. He had eaten nothing for two days; he had +been starving already on the previous evening, when he had accepted a +glass of beer at that tavern at Montmartre. Nevertheless, his plan was to +remain in the ditch until nightfall, and then slip away in the direction +of the village of Boulogne, where he knew of a means of egress from the +wood. He was not caught yet, he repeated, he might still manage to +escape. Then he tried to get to sleep again, but failed, so painful had +his sufferings become. By the time it was eleven, everything swam before +his eyes. He once nearly fainted, and thought that he was going to die. +Then rage gradually mastered him, and, all at once, he sprang out of his +leafy hiding-place, desperately hungering for food, unable to remain +there any longer, and determined to find something to eat, even should it +cost him his liberty and life. It was then noon. + +On leaving the ditch he found the spreading lawns of the chateau of La +Muette before him. He crossed them at a run, like a madman, instinctively +going towards Boulogne, with the one idea that his only means of escape +lay in that direction. It seemed miraculous that nobody paid attention to +his helter-skelter flight. However, when he had reached the cover of some +trees he became conscious of his imprudence, and almost regretted the +sudden madness which had borne him along, eager for escape. Trembling +nervously, he bent low among some furze bushes, and waited for a few +minutes to ascertain if the police were behind him. Then with watchful +eye and ready ear, wonderful instinct and scent of danger, he slowly went +his way again. He hoped to pass between the upper lake and the Auteuil +race-course; but there were few trees in that part, and they formed a +broad avenue. He therefore had to exert all his skill in order to avoid +observation, availing himself of the slenderest stems, the smallest +bushes, as screens, and only venturing onward after a lengthy inspection +of his surroundings. Before long the sight of a guard in the distance +revived his fears and detained him, stretched on the ground behind some +brambles, for a full quarter of an hour. Then the approach first of a +cab, whose driver had lost his way, and afterwards of a strolling +pedestrian, in turn sufficed to stop him. He breathed once more, however, +when, after passing the Mortemart hillock, he was able to enter the +thickets lying between the two roads which lead to Boulogne and St. +Cloud. The coppices thereabouts were dense, and he merely had to follow +them, screened from view, in order to reach the outlet he knew of, which +was now near at hand. So he was surely saved. + +But all at once, at a distance of some five and thirty yards, he saw a +keeper, erect and motionless, barring his way. He turned slightly to the +left and there perceived another keeper, who also seemed to be awaiting +him. And there were more and more of them; at every fifty paces or so +stood a fresh one, the whole forming a _cordon_, the meshes as it were of +a huge net. The worst was that he must have been perceived, for a light +cry, like the clear call of an owl, rang out, and was repeated farther +and farther off. The hunters were at last on the right scent, prudence +had become superfluous, and it was only by flight that the quarry might +now hope to escape. Salvat understood this so well that he suddenly began +to run, leaping over all obstacles and darting between the trees, +careless whether he were seen or heard. A few bounds carried him across +the Avenue de St. Cloud into the plantations stretching to the Allee de +la Reine Marguerite. There the undergrowth was very dense; in the whole +Bois there are no more closely set thickets. In summer they become one +vast entanglement of verdure, amidst which, had it been the leafy season, +Salvat might well have managed to secrete himself. For a moment he did +find himself alone, and thereupon he halted to listen. He could neither +see nor hear the keepers now. Had they lost his track, then? Profound +quietude reigned under the fresh young foliage. But the light, owlish cry +arose once more, branches cracked, and he resumed his wild flight, +hurrying straight before him. Unluckily he found the Allee de la Reine +Marguerite guarded by policemen, so that he could not cross over, but had +to skirt it without quitting the thickets. And now his back was turned +towards Boulogne; he was retracing his steps towards Paris. However, a +last idea came to his bewildered mind: it was to run on in this wise as +far as the shady spots around Madrid, and then, by stealing from copse to +copse, attempt to reach the Seine. To proceed thither across the bare +expanse of the race-course and training ground was not for a moment to be +thought of. + +So Salvat still ran on and on. But on reaching the Allee de Longchamp he +found it guarded like the other roads, and therefore had to relinquish +his plan of escaping by way of Madrid and the river-bank. While he was +perforce making a bend alongside the Pre Catelan, he became aware that +the keepers, led by detectives, were drawing yet nearer to him, confining +his movements to a smaller and smaller area. And his race soon acquired +all the frenzy of despair. Haggard and breathless he leapt mounds, rushed +past multitudinous obstacles. He forced a passage through brambles, broke +down palings, thrice caught his feet in wire work which he had not seen, +and fell among nettles, yet picked himself up went on again, spurred by +the stinging of his hands and face. It was then Guillaume and Pierre saw +him pass, unrecognisable and frightful, taking to the muddy water of the +rivulet like a stag which seeks to set a last obstacle between itself and +the hounds. There came to him a wild idea of getting to the lake, and +swimming, unperceived, to the island in the centre of it. That, he madly +thought, would be a safe retreat, where he might burrow and hide himself +without possibility of discovery. And so he still ran on. But once again +the sight of some guards made him retrace his steps, and he was compelled +to go back and back in the direction of Paris, chased, forced towards the +very fortifications whence he had started that morning. It was now nearly +three in the afternoon. For more than two hours and a half he had been +running. + +At last he saw a soft, sandy ride for horsemen before him. He crossed it, +splashing through the mire left by the rain, and reached a little +pathway, a delightful lovers' lane, as shady in summer as any arbour. For +some time he was able to follow it, concealed from observation, and with +his hopes reviving. But it led him to one of those broad, straight +avenues where carriages and bicycles, the whole afternoon pageant of +society, swept past under the mild and cloudy sky. So he returned to the +thickets, fell once more upon the keepers, lost all notion of the +direction he took, and even all power of thought, becoming a mere thing +carried along and thrown hither and thither by the chances of the pursuit +which pressed more and more closely upon him. Star-like crossways +followed one upon other, and at last he came to a broad lawn, where the +full light dazzled him. And there he suddenly felt the hot, panting +breath of his pursuers close in the rear. Eager, hungry breath it was, +like that of hounds seeking to devour him. Shouts rang out, one hand +almost caught hold of him, there was a rush of heavy feet, a scramble to +seize him. But with a supreme effort he leapt upon a bank, crawled to its +summit, rose again, and once more found himself alone, still running on +amid the fresh and quiet greenery. + +Nevertheless, this was the end. He almost fell flat upon the ground. His +aching feet could no longer carry him; blood was oozing from his ears, +and froth had come to his mouth. His heart beat with such violence that +it seemed likely to break his ribs. Water and perspiration streamed from +him, he was miry and haggard and tortured by hunger, conquered, in fact, +more by hunger than by fatigue. And through the mist which seemed to have +gathered before his wild eyes, he suddenly saw an open doorway, the +doorway of a coach-house in the rear of a kind of chalet, sequestered +among trees. Excepting a big white cat, which took to flight, there was +not a living creature in the place. Salvat plunged into it and rolled +over on a heap of straw, among some empty casks. He was scarcely hidden +there when he heard the chase sweep by, the detectives and the keepers +losing scent, passing the chalet and rushing in the direction of the +Paris ramparts. The noise of their heavy boots died away, and deep +silence fell, while the hunted man, who had carried both hands to his +heart to stay its beating, sank into the most complete prostration, with +big tears trickling from his closed eyes. + +Whilst all this was going on, Pierre and Guillaume, after a brief rest, +had resumed their walk, reaching the lake and proceeding towards the +crossway of the Cascades, in order to return to Neuilly by the road +beyond the water. However, a shower fell, compelling them to take shelter +under the big leafless branches of a chestnut-tree. Then, as the rain +came down more heavily and they could perceive a kind of chalet, a little +cafe-restaurant amid a clump of trees, they hastened thither for better +protection. In a side road, which they passed on their way, they saw a +cab standing, its driver waiting there in philosophical fashion under the +falling shower. Pierre, moreover, noticed a young man stepping out +briskly in front of them, a young man resembling Gerard de Quinsac, who, +whilst walking in the Bois, had no doubt been overtaken by the rain, and +like themselves was seeking shelter in the chalet. However, on entering +the latter's public room, the priest saw no sign of the gentleman, and +concluded that he must have been mistaken. This public room, which had a +kind of glazed verandah overlooking the Bois, contained a few chairs and +tables, the latter with marble tops. On the first floor there were four +or five private rooms reached by a narrow passage. Though the doors were +open the place had as yet scarcely emerged from its winter's rest. There +was nobody about, and on all sides one found the dampness common to +establishments which, from lack of custom, are compelled to close from +November until March. In the rear were some stables, a coach-house, and +various mossy, picturesque outbuildings, which painters and gardeners +would now soon embellish for the gay pleasure parties which the fine +weather would bring. + +"I really think that they haven't opened for the season yet," said +Guillaume as he entered the silent house. + +"At all events they will let us stay here till the rain stops," answered +Pierre, seating himself at one of the little tables. + +However, a waiter suddenly made his appearance seemingly in a great +hurry. He had come down from the first floor, and eagerly rummaged a +cupboard for a few dry biscuits, which he laid upon a plate. At last he +condescended to serve the brothers two glasses of Chartreuse. + +In one of the private rooms upstairs Baroness Duvillard, who had driven +to the chalet in a cab, had been awaiting her lover Gerard for nearly +half an hour. It was there that, during the charity bazaar, they had +given each other an appointment. For them the chalet had precious +memories: two years previously, on discovering that secluded nest, which +was so deserted in the early, hesitating days of chilly spring, they had +met there under circumstances which they could not forget. And the +Baroness, in choosing the house for the supreme assignation of their +dying passion, had certainly not been influenced merely by a fear that +she might be spied upon elsewhere. She had, indeed, thought of the first +kisses that had been showered on her there, and would fain have revived +them even if they should now prove the last that Gerard would bestow on +her. + +But she would also have liked to see some sunlight playing over the +youthful foliage. The ashen sky and threatening rain saddened her. And +when she entered the private room she did not recognise it, so cold and +dim it seemed with its faded furniture. Winter had tarried there, with +all the dampness and mouldy smell peculiar to rooms which have long +remained closed. Then, too, some of the wall paper which had come away +from the plaster hung down in shreds, dead flies were scattered over the +parquetry flooring; and in order to open the shutters the waiter had to +engage in a perfect fight with their fastenings. However, when he had +lighted a little gas-stove, which at once flamed up and diffused some +warmth, the room became more cosy. + +Eve had seated herself on a chair, without raising the thick veil which +hid her face. Gowned, gloved, and bonneted in black, as if she were +already in mourning for her last passion, she showed naught of her own +person save her superb fair hair, which glittered like a helm of tawny +gold. She had ordered tea for two, and when the waiter brought it with a +little plateful of dry biscuits, left, no doubt, from the previous +season, he found her in the same place, still veiled and motionless, +absorbed, it seemed, in a gloomy reverie. If she had reached the cafe +half an hour before the appointed time it was because she desired some +leisure and opportunity to overcome her despair and compose herself. She +resolved that of all things she would not weep, that she would remain +dignified and speak calmly, like one who, whatever rights she might +possess, preferred to appeal to reason only. And she was well pleased +with the courage that she found within her. Whilst thinking of what she +should say to dissuade Gerard from a marriage which to her mind would +prove both a calamity and a blunder, she fancied herself very calm, +indeed almost resigned to whatsoever might happen. + +But all at once she started and began to tremble. Gerard was entering the +room. + +"What! are you here the first, my dear?" he exclaimed. "I thought that I +myself was ten minutes before the time! And you've ordered some tea and +are waiting for me!" + +He forced a smile as he spoke, striving to display the same delight at +seeing her as he had shown in the early golden days of their passion. But +at heart he was much embarrassed, and he shuddered at the thought of the +awful scene which he could foresee. + +She had at last risen and raised her veil. And looking at him she +stammered: "Yes, I found myself at liberty earlier than I expected.... +I feared some impediment might arise... and so I came." + +Then, seeing how handsome and how affectionate he still looked, she could +not restrain her passion. All her skilful arguments, all her fine +resolutions, were swept away. Her flesh irresistibly impelled her towards +him; she loved him, she would keep him, she would never surrender him to +another. And she wildly flung her arms around his neck. + +"Oh! Gerard, Gerard! I suffer too cruelly; I cannot, I cannot bear it! +Tell me at once that you will not marry her, that you will never marry +her!" + +Her voice died away in a sob, tears started from her eyes. Ah! those +tears which she had sworn she would never shed! They gushed forth without +cessation, they streamed from her lovely eyes like a flood of the +bitterest grief. + +"My daughter, O God! What! you would marry my daughter! She, here, on +your neck where I am now! No, no, such torture is past endurance, it must +not be, I will not have it!" + +He shivered as he heard that cry of frantic jealousy raised by a mother +who now was but a woman, maddened by the thought of her rival's youth, +those five and twenty summers which she herself had left far behind. For +his part, on his way to the assignation, he had come to what he thought +the most sensible decision, resolving to break off the intercourse after +the fashion of a well-bred man, with all sorts of fine consolatory +speeches. But sternness was not in his nature. He was weak and +soft-hearted, and had never been able to withstand a woman's tears. +Nevertheless, he endeavoured to calm her, and in order to rid himself of +her embrace, he made her sit down upon the sofa. And there, beside her, +he replied: "Come, be reasonable, my dear. We came here to have a +friendly chat, did we not? I assure you that you are greatly exaggerating +matters." + +But she was determined to obtain a more positive answer from him. "No, +no!" she retorted, "I am suffering too dreadfully, I must know the truth +at once. Swear to me that you will never, never marry her!" + +He again endeavoured to avoid replying as she wished him to do. "Come, +come," he said, "you will do yourself harm by giving way to such grief as +this; you know that I love you dearly." + +"Then swear to me that you will never, never marry her." + +"But I tell you that I love you, that you are the only one I love." + +Then she again threw her arms around him, and kissed him passionately +upon the eyes. "Is it true?" she asked in a transport. "You love me, you +love no one else? Oh! tell me so again, and kiss me, and promise me that +you will never belong to her." + +Weak as he was he could not resist her ardent caresses and pressing +entreaties. There came a moment of supreme cowardice and passion; her +arms were around him and he forgot all but her, again and again repeating +that he loved none other, and would never, never marry her daughter. At +last he even sank so low as to pretend that he simply regarded that poor, +infirm creature with pity. His words of compassionate disdain for her +rival were like nectar to Eve, for they filled her with the blissful idea +that it was she herself who would ever remain beautiful in his eyes and +whom he would ever love.... + +At last silence fell between them, like an inevitable reaction after such +a tempest of despair and passion. It disturbed Gerard. "Won't you drink +some tea?" he asked. "It is almost cold already." + +She was not listening, however. To her the reaction had come in a +different form; and as though the inevitable explanation were only now +commencing, she began to speak in a sad and weary voice. "My dear Gerard, +you really cannot marry my daughter. In the first place it would be so +wrong, and then there is the question of your name, your position. +Forgive my frankness, but the fact is that everybody would say that you +had sold yourself--such a marriage would be a scandal for both your +family and mine." + +As she spoke she took hold of his hands, like a mother seeking to prevent +her big son from committing some terrible blunder. And he listened to +her, with bowed head and averted eyes. She now evinced no anger, no +jealous rage; all such feelings seemed to have departed with the rapture +of her passion. + +"Just think of what people would say," she continued. "I don't deceive +myself, I am fully aware that there is an abyss between your circle of +society and ours. It is all very well for us to be rich, but money simply +enlarges the gap. And it was all very fine for me to be converted, my +daughter is none the less 'the daughter of the Jewess,' as folks so often +say. Ah! my Gerard, I am so proud of you, that it would rend my heart to +see you lowered, degraded almost, by a marriage for money with a girl who +is deformed, who is unworthy of you and whom you could never love." + +He raised his eyes and looked at her entreatingly, anxious as he was to +be spared such painful talk. "But haven't I sworn to you, that you are +the only one I love?" he said. "Haven't I sworn that I would never marry +her! It's all over. Don't let us torture ourselves any longer." + +Their glances met and lingered on one another, instinct with all the +misery which they dared not express in words. Eve's face had suddenly +aged; her eyelids were red and swollen, and blotches marbled her +quivering cheeks, down which her tears again began to trickle. "My poor, +poor Gerard," said she, "how heavily I weigh on you. Oh! do not deny it! +I feel that I am an intolerable burden on your shoulders, an impediment +in your life, and that I shall bring irreparable disaster on you by my +obstinacy in wishing you to be mine alone." + +He tried to speak, but she silenced him. "No, no, all is over between us. +I am growing ugly, all is ended. And besides, I shut off the future from +you. I can be of no help to you, whereas you bestow all on me. And yet +the time has come for you to assure yourself a position. At your age you +can't continue living without any certainty of the morrow, without a home +and hearth of your own; and it would be cowardly and cruel of me to set +myself up as an obstacle, and prevent you from ending your life happily, +as I should do if I clung to you and dragged you down with me." + +Gazing at him through her tears she continued speaking in this fashion. +Like his mother she was well aware that he was weak and even sickly; and +she therefore dreamt of arranging a quiet life for him, a life of +tranquil happiness free from all fear of want. She loved him so fondly; +and possessed so much genuine kindness of heart that perhaps it might be +possible for her to rise even to renunciation and sacrifice. Moreover, +the very egotism born of her beauty suggested that it might be well for +her to think of retirement and not allow the autumn of her life to be +spoilt by torturing dramas. All this she said to him, treating him like a +child whose happiness she wished to ensure even at the price of her own; +and he, his eyes again lowered, listened without further protest, pleased +indeed to let her arrange a happy life for him. + +Examining the situation from every aspect, she at last began to +recapitulate the points in favour of that abominable marriage, the +thought of which had so intensely distressed her. "It is certain," she +said, "that Camille would bring you all that I should like you to have. +With her, I need hardly say it, would come plenty, affluence. And as for +the rest, well, I do not wish to excuse myself or you, but I could name +twenty households in which there have been worse things. Besides, I was +wrong when I said that money opened a gap between people. On the +contrary, it draws them nearer together, it secures forgiveness for every +fault; so nobody would dare to blame you, there would only be jealous +ones around you, dazzled by your good fortune." + +Gerard rose, apparently rebelling once more. "Surely," said he, "_you_ +don't insist on my marrying your daughter?" + +"Ah! no indeed! But I am sensible, and I tell you what I ought to tell +you. You must think it all over." + +"I have done so already. It is you that I have loved, and that I love +still. What you say is impossible." + +She smiled divinely, rose, and again embraced him. "How good and kind you +are, my Gerard. Ah! if you only knew how I love you, how I shall always +love you, whatever happens." + +Then she again began to weep, and even he shed tears. Their good faith +was absolute; tender of heart as they were, they sought to delay the +painful wrenching and tried to hope for further happiness. But they were +conscious that the marriage was virtually an accomplished fact. Only +tears and words were left them, while life and destiny were marching on. +And if their emotion was so acute it was probably because they felt that +this was the last time they would meet as lovers. Still they strove to +retain the illusion that they were not exchanging their last farewell, +that their lips would some day meet again in a kiss of rapture. + +Eve removed her arms from the young man's neck, and they both gazed round +the room, at the sofa, the table, the four chairs, and the little hissing +gas-stove. The moist, hot atmosphere was becoming quite oppressive. + +"And so," said Gerard, "you won't drink a cup of tea?" + +"No, it's so horrid here," she answered, while arranging her hair in +front of the looking-glass. + +At that parting moment the mournfulness of this place, where she had +hoped to find such delightful memories, filled her with distress, which +was turning to positive anguish, when she suddenly heard an uproar of +gruff voices and heavy feet. People were hastening along the passage and +knocking at the doors. And, on darting to the window, she perceived a +number of policemen surrounding the chalet. At this the wildest ideas +assailed her. Had her daughter employed somebody to follow her? Did her +husband wish to divorce her so as to marry Silviane? The scandal would be +awful, and all her plans must crumble! She waited in dismay, white like a +ghost; while Gerard, also paling and quivering, begged her to be calm. At +last, when loud blows were dealt upon the door and a Commissary of Police +enjoined them to open it, they were obliged to do so. Ah! what a moment, +and what dismay and shame! + +Meantime, for more than an hour, Pierre and Guillaume had been waiting +for the rain to cease. Seated in a corner of the glazed verandah they +talked in undertones of Barthes' painful affair, and ultimately decided +to ask Theophile Morin to dine with them on the following evening, and +inform his old friend that he must again go into exile. + +"That is the best course," repeated Guillaume. "Morin is very fond of him +and will know how to break the news. I have no doubt too that he will go +with him as far as the frontier." + +Pierre sadly looked at the falling rain. "Ah! what a choice," said he, +"to be ever driven to a foreign land under penalty of being thrust into +prison. Poor fellow! how awful it is to have never known a moment of +happiness and gaiety in one's life, to have devoted one's whole existence +to the idea of liberty, and to see it scoffed at and expire with +oneself!" + +Then the priest paused, for he saw several policemen and keepers approach +the cafe and prowl round it. Having lost scent of the man they were +hunting, they had retraced their steps with the conviction no doubt that +he had sought refuge in the chalet. And in order that he might not again +escape them, they now took every precaution, exerted all their skill in +surrounding the place before venturing on a minute search. Covert fear +came upon Pierre and Guillaume when they noticed these proceedings. It +seemed to them that it must all be connected with the chase which they +had caught a glimpse of some time previously. Still, as they happened to +be in the chalet they might be called upon to give their names and +addresses. At this thought they glanced at one another, and almost made +up their minds to go off under the rain. But they realised that anything +like flight might only compromise them the more. So they waited; and all +at once there came a diversion, for two fresh customers entered the +establishment. + +A victoria with its hood and apron raised had just drawn up outside the +door. The first to alight from it was a young, well-dressed man with a +bored expression of face. He was followed by a young woman who was +laughing merrily, as if much amused by the persistence of the downpour. +By way of jesting, indeed, she expressed her regret that she had not come +to the Bois on her bicycle, whereupon her companion retorted that to +drive about in a deluge appeared to him the height of idiocy. + +"But we were bound to go somewhere, my dear fellow," she gaily answered. +"Why didn't you take me to see the maskers?" + +"The maskers, indeed! No, no, my dear. I prefer the Bois, and even the +bottom of the lake, to them." + +Then, as the couple entered the chalet, Pierre saw that the young woman +who made merry over the rain was little Princess Rosemonde, while her +companion, who regarded the mid-Lent festivities as horrible, and +bicycling as an utterly unaesthetic amusement, was handsome Hyacinthe +Duvillard. On the previous evening, while they were taking a cup of tea +together on their return from the Chamber of Horrors, the young man had +responded to the Princess's blandishments by declaring that the only form +of attachment he believed in was a mystic union of intellects and souls. +And as such a union could only be fittingly arrived at amidst the cold, +chaste snow, they had decided that they would start for Christiania on +the following Monday. Their chief regret was that by the time they +reached the fiords the worst part of the northern winter would be over. + +They sat down in the cafe and ordered some kummel, but there was none, +said the waiter, so they had to content themselves with common anisette. +Then Hyacinthe, who had been a schoolfellow of Guillaume's sons, +recognised both him and Pierre; and leaning towards Rosemonde told her in +a whisper who the elder brother was. + +Thereupon, with sudden enthusiasm, she sprang to her feet: "Guillaume +Froment, indeed! the great chemist!" And stepping forward with arm +outstretched, she continued: "Ah! monsieur, you must excuse me, but I +really must shake hands with you. I have so much admiration for you! You +have done such wonderful work in connection with explosives!" Then, +noticing the chemist's astonishment, she again burst into a laugh: "I am +the Princess de Harn, your brother Abbe Froment knows me, and I ought to +have asked him to introduce me. However, we have mutual friends, you and +I; for instance, Monsieur Janzen, a very distinguished man, as you are +aware. He was to have taken me to see you, for I am a modest disciple of +yours. Yes, I have given some attention to chemistry, oh! from pure zeal +for truth and in the hope of helping good causes, not otherwise. So you +will let me call on you--won't you?--directly I come back from +Christiania, where I am going with my young friend here, just to acquire +some experience of unknown emotions." + +In this way she rattled on, never allowing the others an opportunity to +say a word. And she mingled one thing with another; her cosmopolitan +tastes, which had thrown her into Anarchism and the society of shady +adventurers; her new passion for mysticism and symbolism; her belief that +the ideal must triumph over base materialism; her taste for aesthetic +verse; and her dream of some unimagined rapture when Hyacinthe should +kiss her with his frigid lips in a realm of eternal snow. + +All at once, however, she stopped short and again began to laugh. "Dear +me!" she exclaimed. "What are those policemen looking for here? Have they +come to arrest us? How amusing it would be!" + +Police Commissary Dupot and detective Mondesir had just made up their +minds to search the cafe, as their men had hitherto failed to find Salvat +in any of the outbuildings. They were convinced that he was here. Dupot, +a thin, bald, short-sighted, spectacled little man, wore his usual +expression of boredom and weariness; but in reality he was very wide +awake and extremely courageous. He himself carried no weapons; but, as he +anticipated a most violent resistance, such as might be expected from a +trapped wolf, he advised Mondesir to have his revolver ready. From +considerations of hierarchical respect, however, the detective, who with +his snub nose and massive figure had much the appearance of a bull-dog, +was obliged to let his superior enter first. + +From behind his spectacles the Commissary of Police quickly scrutinized +the four customers whom he found in the cafe: the lady, the priest, and +the two other men. And passing them in a disdainful way, he at once made +for the stairs, intending to inspect the upper floor. Thereupon the +waiter, frightened by the sudden intrusion of the police, lost his head +and stammered: "But there's a lady and gentleman upstairs in one of the +private rooms." + +Dupot quietly pushed him aside. "A lady and gentleman, that's not what we +are looking for.... Come, make haste, open all the doors, you mustn't +leave a cupboard closed." + +Then climbing to the upper floor, he and Mondesir explored in turn every +apartment and corner till they at last reached the room where Eve and +Gerard were together. Here the waiter was unable to admit them, as the +door was bolted inside. "Open the door!" he called through the keyhole, +"it isn't you that they want!" + +At last the bolt was drawn back, and Dupot, without even venturing to +smile, allowed the trembling lady and gentleman to go downstairs, while +Mondesir, entering the room, looked under every article of furniture, and +even peeped into a little cupboard in order that no neglect might be +imputed to him. + +Meantime, in the public room which they had to cross after descending the +stairs, Eve and Gerard experienced fresh emotion; for people whom they +knew were there, brought together by an extraordinary freak of chance. +Although Eve's face was hidden by a thick veil, her eyes met her son's +glance and she felt sure that he recognised her. What a fatality! He had +so long a tongue and told his sister everything! Then, as the Count, in +despair at such a scandal, hurried off with the Baroness to conduct her +through the pouring rain to her cab, they both distinctly heard little +Princess Rosemonde exclaim: "Why, that was Count de Quinsac! Who was the +lady, do you know?" And as Hyacinthe, greatly put out, returned no +answer, she insisted, saying: "Come, you must surely know her. Who was +she, eh?" + +"Oh! nobody. Some woman or other," he ended by replying. + +Pierre, who had understood the truth, turned his eyes away to hide his +embarrassment. But all at once the scene changed. At the very moment when +Commissary Dupot and detective Mondesir came downstairs again, after +vainly exploring the upper floor, a loud shout was raised outside, +followed by a noise of running and scrambling. Then Gascogne, the Chief +of the Detective Force, who had remained in the rear of the chalet, +continuing the search through the outbuildings, made his appearance, +pushing before him a bundle of rags and mud, which two policemen held on +either side. And this bundle was the man, the hunted man, who had just +been discovered in the coach-house, inside a staved cask, covered with +hay. + +Ah! what a whoop of victory there was after that run of two hours' +duration, that frantic chase which had left them all breathless and +footsore! It had been the most exciting, the most savage of all sports--a +man hunt! They had caught the man at last, and they pushed him, they +dragged him, they belaboured him with blows. And he, the man, what a +sorry prey he looked! A wreck, wan and dirty from having spent the night +in a hole full of leaves, still soaked to his waist from having rushed +through a stream, drenched too by the rain, bespattered with mire, his +coat and trousers in tatters, his cap a mere shred, his legs and hands +bleeding from his terrible rush through thickets bristling with brambles +and nettles. There no longer seemed anything human about his face; his +hair stuck to his moist temples, his bloodshot eyes protruded from their +sockets; fright, rage, and suffering were all blended on his wasted, +contracted face. Still it was he, the man, the quarry, and they gave him +another push, and he sank on one of the tables of the little cafe, still +held and shaken, however, by the rough hands of the policemen. + +Then Guillaume shuddered as if thunderstruck, and caught hold of Pierre's +hand. At this the priest, who was looking on, suddenly understood the +truth and also quivered. Salvat! the man was Salvat! It was Salvat whom +they had seen rushing through the wood like a wild boar forced by the +hounds. And it was Salvat who was there, now conquered and simply a +filthy bundle. Then once more there came to Pierre, amidst his anguish, a +vision of the errand girl lying yonder at the entrance of the Duvillard +mansion, the pretty fair-haired girl whom the bomb had ripped and killed! + +Dupot and Mondesir made haste to participate in Gascogne's triumph. To +tell the truth, however, the man had offered no resistance; it was like a +lamb that he had let the police lay hold of him. And since he had been in +the cafe, still roughly handled, he had simply cast a weary and mournful +glance around him. + +At last he spoke, and the first words uttered by his hoarse, gasping +voice were these: "I am hungry." + +He was sinking with hunger and weariness. This was the third day that he +had eaten nothing. + +"Give him some bread," said Commissary Dupot to the waiter. "He can eat +it while a cab is being fetched." + +A policeman went off to find a vehicle. The rain had suddenly ceased +falling, the clear ring of a bicyclist's bell was heard in the distance, +some carriages drove by, and under the pale sunrays life again came back +to the Bois. + +Meantime, Salvat had fallen gluttonously upon the hunk of bread which had +been given him, and whilst he was devouring it with rapturous animal +satisfaction, he perceived the four customers seated around. He seemed +irritated by the sight of Hyacinthe and Rosemonde, whose faces expressed +the mingled anxiety and delight they felt at thus witnessing the arrest +of some bandit or other. But all at once his mournful, bloodshot eyes +wavered, for to his intense surprise he had recognised Pierre and +Guillaume. When he again looked at the latter it was with the submissive +affection of a grateful dog, and as if he were once more promising that +he would divulge nothing, whatever might happen. + +At last he again spoke, as if addressing himself like a man of courage, +both to Guillaume, from whom he had averted his eyes, and to others also, +his comrades who were not there: "It was silly of me to run," said he. "I +don't know why I did so. It's best that it should be all ended. I'm +ready." + + + + +V. THE GAME OF POLITICS + +ON reading the newspapers on the following morning Pierre and Guillaume +were greatly surprised at not finding in them the sensational accounts of +Salvat's arrest which they had expected. All they could discover was a +brief paragraph in a column of general news, setting forth that some +policemen on duty in the Bois de Boulogne had there arrested an +Anarchist, who was believed to have played a part in certain recent +occurrences. On the other hand, the papers gave a deal of space to the +questions raised by Sagnier's fresh denunciations. There were innumerable +articles on the African Railways scandal, and the great debate which +might be expected at the Chamber of Deputies, should Mege, the Socialist +member, really renew his interpellation, as he had announced his +intention of doing. + +As Guillaume's wrist was now fast healing, and nothing seemed to threaten +him, he had already, on the previous evening, decided that he would +return to Montmartre. The police had passed him by without apparently +suspecting any responsibility on his part; and he was convinced that +Salvat would keep silent. Pierre, however, begged him to wait a little +longer, at any rate until the prisoner should have been interrogated by +the investigating magistrate, by which time they would be able to judge +the situation more clearly. Pierre, moreover, during his long stay at the +Home Department on the previous morning, had caught a glimpse of certain +things and overheard certain words which made him suspect some dim +connection between Salvat's crime and the parliamentary crisis; and he +therefore desired a settlement of the latter before Guillaume returned to +his wonted life. + +"Just listen," he said to his brother. "I am going to Morin's to ask him +to come and dine here this evening, for it is absolutely necessary that +Barthes should be warned of the fresh blow which is falling on him. And +then I think I shall go to the Chamber, as I want to know what takes +place there. After that, since you desire it, I will let you go back to +your own home." + +It was not more than half-past one when Pierre reached the +Palais-Bourbon. It had occurred to him that Fonsegue would be able to +secure him admittance to the meeting-hall, but in the vestibule he met +General de Bozonnet, who happened to possess a couple of tickets. A +friend of his, who was to have accompanied him, had, at the last moment, +been unable to come. So widespread was the curiosity concerning the +debate now near at hand, and so general were the predictions that it +would prove a most exciting one, that the demand for tickets had been +extremely keen during the last twenty-four hours. In fact Pierre would +never have been able to obtain admittance if the General had not +good-naturedly offered to take him in. As a matter of fact the old +warrior was well pleased to have somebody to chat with. He explained that +he had simply come there to kill time, just as he might have killed it at +a concert or a charity bazaar. However, like the ex-Legitimist and +Bonapartist that he was, he had really come for the pleasure of feasting +his eyes on the shameful spectacle of parliamentary ignominy. + +When the General and Pierre had climbed the stairs, they were able to +secure two front seats in one of the public galleries. Little Massot, who +was already there, and who knew them both, placed one of them on his +right and the other on his left. "I couldn't find a decent seat left in +the press gallery," said he, "but I managed to get this place, from which +I shall be able to see things properly. It will certainly be a big +sitting. Just look at the number of people there are on every side!" + +The narrow and badly arranged galleries were packed to overflowing. There +were men of every age and a great many women too in the confused, serried +mass of spectators, amidst which one only distinguished a multiplicity of +pale white faces. The real scene, however, was down below in the +meeting-hall, which was as yet empty, and with its rows of seats disposed +in semi-circular fashion looked like the auditorium of a theatre. Under +the cold light which fell from the glazed roofing appeared the solemn, +shiny tribune, whence members address the Chamber, whilst behind it, on a +higher level, and running right along the rear wall, was what is called +the Bureau, with its various tables and seats, including the presidential +armchair. The Bureau, like the tribune, was still unoccupied. The only +persons one saw there were a couple of attendants who were laying out new +pens and filling inkstands. + +"The women," said Massot with a laugh, after another glance at the +galleries, "come here just as they might come to a menagerie, that is, in +the secret hope of seeing wild beasts devour one another. But, by the +way, did you read the article in the 'Voix du Peuple' this morning? What +a wonderful fellow that Sagnier is. When nobody else can find any filth +left, he manages to discover some. He apparently thinks it necessary to +add something new every day, in order to send his sales up. And of course +it all disturbs the public, and it's thanks to him that so many people +have come here in the hope of witnessing some horrid scene." + +Then he laughed again, as he asked Pierre if he had read an unsigned +article in the "Globe," which in very dignified but perfidious language +had called upon Barroux to give the full and frank explanations which the +country had a right to demand in that matter of the African Railways. +This paper had hitherto vigorously supported the President of the +Council, but in the article in question the coldness which precedes a +rupture was very apparent. Pierre replied that the article had much +surprised him, for he had imagined that Fonsegue and Barroux were linked +together by identity of views and long-standing personal friendship. + +Massot was still laughing. "Quite so," said he. "And you may be sure that +the governor's heart bled when he wrote that article. It has been much +noticed, and it will do the government a deal of harm. But the governor, +you see, knows better than anybody else what line he ought to follow to +save both his own position and the paper's." + +Then he related what extraordinary confusion and emotion reigned among +the deputies in the lobbies through which he had strolled before coming +upstairs to secure a seat. After an adjournment of a couple of days the +Chamber found itself confronted by this terrible scandal, which was like +one of those conflagrations which, at the moment when they are supposed +to be dying out, suddenly flare up again and devour everything. The +various figures given in Sagnier's list, the two hundred thousand francs +paid to Barroux, the eighty thousand handed to Monferrand, the fifty +thousand allotted to Fonsegue, the ten thousand pocketed by Duthil, and +the three thousand secured by Chaigneux, with all the other amounts +distributed among So-and-so and So-and-so, formed the general subject of +conversation. And at the same time some most extraordinary stories were +current; there was no end of tittle-tattle in which fact and falsehood +were so inextricably mingled that everybody was at sea as to the real +truth. Whilst many deputies turned pale and trembled as beneath a blast +of terror, others passed by purple with excitement, bursting with +delight, laughing with exultation at the thought of coming victory. For, +in point of fact, beneath all the assumed indignation, all the calls for +parliamentary cleanliness and morality, there simply lay a question of +persons--the question of ascertaining whether the government would be +overthrown, and in that event of whom the new administration would +consist. Barroux no doubt appeared to be in a bad way; but with things in +such a muddle one was bound to allow a margin for the unexpected. From +what was generally said it seemed certain that Mege would be extremely +violent. Barroux would answer him, and the Minister's friends declared +that he was determined to speak out in the most decisive manner. As for +Monferrand he would probably address the Chamber after his colleague, but +Vignon's intentions were somewhat doubtful, as, in spite of his delight, +he made a pretence of remaining in the back, ground. He had been seen +going from one to another of his partisans, advising them to keep calm, +in order that they might retain the cold, keen _coup d'oeil_ which in +warfare generally decides the victory. Briefly, such was the plotting and +intriguing that never had any witch's cauldron brimful of drugs and +nameless abominations been set to boil on a more hellish fire than that +of this parliamentary cook-shop. + +"Heaven only knows what they will end by serving us," said little Massot +by way of conclusion. + +General de Bozonnet for his part anticipated nothing but disaster. If +France had only possessed an army, said he, one might have swept away +that handful of bribe-taking parliamentarians who preyed upon the country +and rotted it. But there was no army left, there was merely an armed +nation, a very different thing. And thereupon, like a man of a past age +whom the present times distracted, he started on what had been his +favourite subject of complaint ever since he had been retired from the +service. + +"Here's an idea for an article if you want one," he said to Massot. +"Although France may have a million soldiers she hasn't got an army. I'll +give you some notes of mine, and you will be able to tell people the +truth." + +Warfare, he continued, ought to be purely and simply a caste occupation, +with commanders designated by divine right, leading mercenaries or +volunteers into action. By democratising warfare people had simply killed +it; a circumstance which he deeply regretted, like a born soldier who +regarded fighting as the only really noble occupation that life offered. +For, as soon as it became every man's duty to fight, none was willing to +do so; and thus compulsory military service--what was called "the nation +in arms"--would, at a more or less distant date, certainly bring about +the end of warfare. If France had not engaged in a European war since +1870 this was precisely due to the fact that everybody in France was +ready to fight. But rulers hesitated to throw a whole nation against +another nation, for the loss both in life and treasure would be +tremendous. And so the thought that all Europe was transformed into a +vast camp filled the General with anger and disgust. He sighed for the +old times when men fought for the pleasure of the thing, just as they +hunted; whereas nowadays people were convinced that they would +exterminate one another at the very first engagement. + +"But surely it wouldn't be an evil if war should disappear," Pierre +gently remarked. + +This somewhat angered the General. "Well, you'll have pretty nations if +people no longer fight," he answered, and then trying to show a practical +spirit, he added: "Never has the art of war cost more money than since +war itself has become an impossibility. The present-day defensive peace +is purely and simply ruining every country in Europe. One may be spared +defeat, but utter bankruptcy is certainly at the end of it all. And in +any case the profession of arms is done for. All faith in it is dying +out, and it will soon be forsaken, just as men have begun to forsake the +priesthood." + +Thereupon he made a gesture of mingled grief and anger, almost cursing +that parliament, that Republican legislature before him, as if he +considered it responsible for the future extinction of warfare. But +little Massot was wagging his head dubiously, for he regarded the subject +as rather too serious a one for him to write upon. And, all at once, in +order to turn the conversation into another channel, he exclaimed: "Ah! +there's Monseigneur Martha in the diplomatic gallery beside the Spanish +Ambassador. It's denied, you know, that he intends to come forward as a +candidate in Morbihan. He's far too shrewd to wish to be a deputy. He +already pulls the strings which set most of the Catholic deputies who +have 'rallied' to the Republican Government in motion." + +Pierre himself had just noticed Monseigneur Martha's smiling face. And, +somehow or other, however modest might be the prelate's demeanour, it +seemed to him that he really played an important part in what was going +on. He could hardly take his eyes from him. It was as if he expected that +he would suddenly order men hither and thither, and direct the whole +march of events. + +"Ah!" said Massot again. "Here comes Mege. It won't be long now before +the sitting begins." + +The hall, down below, was gradually filling. Deputies entered and +descended the narrow passages between the benches. Most of them remained +standing and chatting in a more or less excited way; but some seated +themselves and raised their grey, weary faces to the glazed roof. It was +a cloudy afternoon, and rain was doubtless threatening, for the light +became quite livid. If the hall was pompous it was also dismal with its +heavy columns, its cold allegorical statues, and its stretches of bare +marble and woodwork. The only brightness was that of the red velvet of +the benches and the gallery hand-rests. + +Every deputy of any consequence who entered was named by Massot to his +companions. Mege, on being stopped by another member of the little +Socialist group, began to fume and gesticulate. Then Vignon, detaching +himself from a group of friends and putting on an air of smiling +composure, descended the steps towards his seat. The occupants of the +galleries, however, gave most attention to the accused members, those +whose names figured in Sagnier's list. And these were interesting +studies. Some showed themselves quite sprightly, as if they were entirely +at their ease; but others had assumed a most grave and indignant +demeanour. Chaigneux staggered and hesitated as if beneath the weight of +some frightful act of injustice; whereas Duthil looked perfectly serene +save for an occasional twitch of his lips. The most admired, however, was +Fonsegue, who showed so candid a face, so open a glance, that his +colleagues as well as the spectators might well have declared him +innocent. Nobody indeed could have looked more like an honest man. + +"Ah! there's none like the governor," muttered Massot with enthusiasm. +"But be attentive, for here come the ministers. One mustn't miss Barroux' +meeting with Fonsegue, after this morning's article." + +Chance willed it that as Barroux came along with his head erect, his face +pale, and his whole demeanour aggressive, he was obliged to pass Fonsegue +in order to reach the ministerial bench. In doing so he did not speak to +him, but he gazed at him fixedly like one who is conscious of defection, +of a cowardly stab in the back on the part of a traitor. Fonsegue seemed +quite at ease, and went on shaking hands with one and another of his +colleagues as if he were altogether unconscious of Barroux' glance. Nor +did he even appear to see Monferrand, who walked by in the rear of the +Prime Minister, wearing a placid good-natured air, as if he knew nothing +of what was impending, but was simply coming to some ordinary humdrum +sitting. However, when he reached his seat, he raised his eyes and smiled +at Monseigneur Martha, who gently nodded to him. Then well pleased to +think that things were going as he wished them to go, he began to rub his +hands, as he often did by way of expressing his satisfaction. + +"Who is that grey-haired, mournful-looking gentleman on the ministerial +bench?" Pierre inquired of Massot. + +"Why, that's Taboureau, the Minister of Public Instruction, the excellent +gentleman who is said to have no prestige. One's always hearing of him, +and one never recognises him; he looks like an old, badly worn coin. Just +like Barroux he can't feel very well pleased with the governor this +afternoon, for to-day's 'Globe' contained an article pointing out his +thorough incapacity in everything concerning the fine arts. It was an +article in measured language, but all the more effective for that very +reason. It would surprise me if Taboureau should recover from it." + +Just then a low roll of drums announced the arrival of the President and +other officials of the Chamber. A door opened, and a little procession +passed by amidst an uproar of exclamations and hasty footsteps. Then, +standing at his table, the President rang his bell and declared the +sitting open. But few members remained silent, however, whilst one of the +secretaries, a dark, lanky young man with a harsh voice, read the minutes +of the previous sitting. When they had been adopted, various letters of +apology for non-attendance were read, and a short, unimportant bill was +passed without discussion. And then came the big affair, Mege's +interpellation, and at once the whole Chamber was in a flutter, while the +most passionate curiosity reigned in the galleries above. On the +Government consenting to the interpellation, the Chamber decided that the +debate should take place at once. And thereupon complete silence fell, +save that now and again a brief quiver sped by, in which one could detect +the various feelings, passions and appetites swaying the assembly. + +Mege began to speak with assumed moderation, carefully setting forth the +various points at issue. Tall and thin, gnarled and twisted like a +vine-stock, he rested his hands on the tribune as if to support his bent +figure, and his speech was often interrupted by the little dry cough +which came from the tuberculosis that was burning him. But his eyes +sparkled with passion behind his glasses, and little by little his voice +rose in piercing accents and he drew his lank figure erect and began to +gesticulate vehemently. He reminded the Chamber that some two months +previously, at the time of the first denunciations published by the "Voix +du Peuple," he had asked leave to interpellate the Government respecting +that deplorable affair of the African Railways; and he remarked, truly +enough, that if the Chamber had not yielded to certain considerations +which he did not wish to discuss, and had not adjourned his proposed +inquiries, full light would long since have been thrown on the whole +affair, in such wise that there would have been no revival, no increase +of the scandal, and no possible pretext for that abominable campaign of +denunciation which tortured and disgusted the country. However, it had at +last been understood that silence could be maintained no longer. It was +necessary that the two ministers who were so loudly accused of having +abused their trusts, should prove their innocence, throw full light upon +all they had done; apart from which the Chamber itself could not possibly +remain beneath the charge of wholesale venality. + +Then he recounted the whole history of the affair, beginning with the +grant of a concession for the African Lines to Baron Duvillard; and next +passing to the proposals for the issue of lottery stock, which proposals, +it was now said, had only been sanctioned by the Chamber after the most +shameful bargaining and buying of votes. At this point Mege became +extremely violent. Speaking of that mysterious individual Hunter, Baron +Duvillard's recruiter and go-between, he declared that the police had +allowed him to flee from France, much preferring to spend its time in +shadowing Socialist deputies. Then, hammering the tribune with his fist, +he summoned Barroux to give a categorical denial to the charges brought +against him, and to make it absolutely clear that he had never received a +single copper of the two hundred thousand francs specified in Hunter's +list. Forthwith certain members shouted to Mege that he ought to read the +whole list; but when he wished to do so others vociferated that it was +abominable, that such a mendacious and slanderous document ought not to +be accorded a place in the proceedings of the French legislature. Mege +went on still in frantic fashion, figuratively casting Sagnier into the +gutter, and protesting that there was nothing in common between himself +and such a base insulter. But at the same time he demanded that justice +and punishment should be meted out equally to one and all, and that if +indeed there were any bribe-takers among his colleagues, they should be +sent that very night to the prison of Mazas. + +Meantime the President, erect at his table, rang and rang his bell +without managing to quell the uproar. He was like a pilot who finds the +tempest too strong for him. Among all the men with purple faces and +barking mouths who were gathered in front of him, the ushers alone +maintained imperturbable gravity. At intervals between the bursts of +shouting, Mege's voice could still be heard. By some sudden transition he +had come to the question of a Collectivist organisation of society such +as he dreamt of, and he contrasted it with the criminal capitalist +society of the present day, which alone, said he, could produce such +scandals. And yielding more and more to his apostolic fervour, declaring +that there could be no salvation apart from Collectivism, he shouted that +the day of triumph would soon dawn. He awaited it with a smile of +confidence. In his opinion, indeed, he merely had to overthrow that +ministry and perhaps another one, and then he himself would at last take +the reins of power in hand, like a reformer who would know how to pacify +the nation. As outside Socialists often declared, it was evident that the +blood of a dictator flowed in that sectarian's veins. His feverish, +stubborn rhetoric ended by exhausting his interrupters, who were +compelled to listen to him. When he at last decided to leave the tribune, +loud applause arose from a few benches on the left. + +"Do you know," said Massot to the General, "I met Mege taking a walk with +his three little children in the Jardin des Plantes the other day. He +looked after them as carefully as an old nurse. I believe he's a very +worthy fellow at heart, and lives in a very modest way." + +But a quiver had now sped through the assembly. Barroux had quitted his +seat to ascend the tribune. He there drew himself erect, throwing his +head back after his usual fashion. There was a haughty, majestic, +slightly sorrowful expression on his handsome face, which would have been +perfect had his nose only been a little larger. He began to express his +sorrow and indignation in fine flowery language, which he punctuated with +theatrical gestures. His eloquence was that of a tribune of the romantic +school, and as one listened to him one could divine that in spite of all +his pomposity he was really a worthy, tender-hearted and somewhat foolish +man. That afternoon he was stirred by genuine emotion; his heart bled at +the thought of his disastrous destiny, he felt that a whole world was +crumbling with himself. Ah! what a cry of despair he stifled, the cry of +the man who is buffeted and thrown aside by the course of events on the +very day when he thinks that his civic devotion entitles him to triumph! +To have given himself and all he possessed to the cause of the Republic, +even in the dark days of the Second Empire; to have fought and struggled +and suffered persecution for that Republic's sake; to have established +that Republic amidst the battle of parties, after all the horrors of +national and civil war; and then, when the Republic at last triumphed and +became a living fact, secure from all attacks and intrigues, to suddenly +feel like a survival of some other age, to hear new comers speak a new +language, preach a new ideal, and behold the collapse of all he had +loved, all he had reverenced, all that had given him strength to fight +and conquer! The mighty artisans of the early hours were no more; it had +been meet that Gambetta should die. How bitter it all was for the last +lingering old ones to find themselves among the men of the new, +intelligent and shrewd generation, who gently smiled at them, deeming +their romanticism quite out of fashion! All crumbled since the ideal of +liberty collapsed, since liberty was no longer the one desideratum, the +very basis of the Republic whose existence had been so dearly purchased +after so long an effort! + +Erect and dignified Barroux made his confession. The Republic to him was +like the sacred ark of life; the very worst deeds became saintly if they +were employed to save her from peril. And in all simplicity he, told his +story, how he had found the great bulk of Baron Duvillard's money going +to the opposition newspapers as pretended payment for puffery and +advertising, whilst on the other hand the Republican organs received but +beggarly, trumpery amounts. He had been Minister of the Interior at the +time, and had therefore had charge of the press; so what would have been +said of him if he had not endeavoured to reestablish some equilibrium in +this distribution of funds in order that the adversaries of the +institutions of the country might not acquire a great increase of +strength by appropriating all the sinews of war? Hands had been stretched +out towards him on all sides, a score of newspapers, the most faithful, +the most meritorious, had claimed their legitimate share. And he had +ensured them that share by distributing among them the two hundred +thousand francs set down in the list against his name. Not a centime of +the money had gone into his own pocket, he would allow nobody to impugn +his personal honesty, on that point his word must suffice. At that moment +Barroux was really grand. All his emphatic pomposity disappeared; he +showed himself, as he really was--an honest man, quivering, his heart +bared, his conscience bleeding, in his bitter distress at having been +among those who had laboured and at now being denied reward. + +For, truth to tell, his words fell amidst icy silence. In his childish +simplicity he had anticipated an outburst of enthusiasm; a Republican +Chamber could but acclaim him for having saved the Republic; and now the +frigidity of one and all quite froze him. He suddenly felt that he was +all alone, done for, touched by the hand of death. Nevertheless, he +continued speaking amidst that terrible silence with the courage of one +who is committing suicide, and who, from his love of noble and eloquent +attitudes, is determined to die standing. He ended with a final +impressive gesture. However, as he came down from the tribune, the +general coldness seemed to increase, not a single member applauded. With +supreme clumsiness he had alluded to the secret scheming of Rome and the +clergy, whose one object, in his opinion, was to recover the predominant +position they had lost and restore monarchy in France at a more or less +distant date. + +"How silly of him! Ought a man ever to confess?" muttered Massot. "He's +done for, and the ministry too!" + +Then, amidst the general frigidity, Monferrand boldly ascended the +tribune stairs. The prevailing uneasiness was compounded of all the +secret fear which sincerity always causes, of all the distress of the +bribe-taking deputies who felt that they were rolling into an abyss, and +also of the embarrassment which the others felt at thought of the more or +less justifiable compromises of politics. Something like relief, +therefore, came when Monferrand started with the most emphatic denials, +protesting in the name of his outraged honour, and dealing blow after +blow on the tribune with one hand, while with the other he smote his +chest. Short and thick-set, with his face thrust forward, hiding his +shrewdness beneath an expression of indignant frankness, he was for a +moment really superb. He denied everything. He was not only ignorant of +what was meant by that sum of eighty thousand francs set down against his +name, but he defied the whole world to prove that he had even touched a +single copper of that money. He boiled over with indignation to such a +point that he did not simply deny bribe-taking on his own part, he denied +it on behalf of the whole assembly, of all present and past French +legislatures, as if, indeed, bribe-taking on the part of a representative +of the people was altogether too monstrous an idea, a crime that +surpassed possibility to such an extent that the mere notion of it was +absurd. And thereupon applause rang out; the Chamber, delivered from its +fears, thrilled by his words, acclaimed him. + +From the little Socialist group, however, some jeers arose, and voices +summoned Monferrand to explain himself on the subject of the African +Railways, reminding him that he had been at the head of the Public Works +Department at the time of the vote, and requiring of him that he should +state what he now meant to do, as Minister of the Interior, in order to +reassure the country. He juggled with this question, declaring that if +there were any guilty parties they would be punished, for he did not +require anybody to remind him of his duty. And then, all at once, with +incomparable maestria, he had recourse to the diversion which he had been +preparing since the previous day. His duty, said he, was a thing which he +never forgot; he discharged it like a faithful soldier of the nation hour +by hour, and with as much vigilance as prudence. He had been accused of +employing the police on he knew not what base spying work in such wise as +to allow the man Hunter to escape. Well, as for that much-slandered +police force, he would tell the Chamber on what work he had really +employed it the day before, and how zealously it had laboured for the +cause of law and order. In the Bois de Boulogne, on the previous +afternoon, it had arrested that terrible scoundrel, the perpetrator of +the crime in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, that Anarchist mechanician Salvat, +who for six weeks past had so cunningly contrived to elude capture. The +scoundrel had made a full confession during the evening, and the law +would now take its course with all despatch. Public morality was at last +avenged, Paris might now emerge in safety from its long spell of terror, +Anarchism would be struck down, annihilated. And that was what he, +Monferrand, had done as a Minister for the honour and safety of his +country, whilst villains were vainly seeking to dishonour him by +inscribing his name on a list of infamy, the outcome of the very basest +political intrigues. + +The Chamber listened agape and quivering. This story of Salvat's arrest, +which none of the morning papers had reported; the present which +Monferrand seemed to be making them of that terrible Anarchist whom many +had already begun to regard as a myth; the whole _mise-en-scene_ of the +Minister's speech transported the deputies as if they were suddenly +witnessing the finish of a long-interrupted drama. Stirred and flattered, +they prolonged their applause, while Monferrand went on celebrating his +act of energy, how he had saved society, how crime should be punished, +and how he himself would ever prove that he had a strong arm and could +answer for public order. He even won favour with the Conservatives and +Clericals on the Right by separating himself from Barroux, addressing a +few words of sympathy to those Catholics who had "rallied" to the +Republic, and appealing for concord among men of different beliefs in +order that they might fight the common enemy, that fierce, wild socialism +which talked of overthrowing everything! + +By the time Monferrand came down from the tribune, the trick was played, +he had virtually saved himself. Both the Right and Left of the Chamber* +applauded, drowning the protests of the few Socialists whose +vociferations only added to the triumphal tumult. Members eagerly +stretched out their hands to the Minister, who for a moment remained +standing there and smiling. But there was some anxiety in that smile of +his; his success was beginning to frighten him. Had he spoken too well, +and saved the entire Cabinet instead of merely saving himself? That would +mean the ruin of his plan. The Chamber ought not to vote under the effect +of that speech which had thrilled it so powerfully. Thus Monferrand, +though he still continued to smile, spent a few anxious moments in +waiting to see if anybody would rise to answer him. + + * Ever since the days of the Bourbon Restoration it has been + the practice in the French Chambers for the more conservative + members to seat themselves on the President's right, and for + the Radical ones to place themselves on his left. The central + seats of the semicircle in which the members' seats are + arranged in tiers are usually occupied by men of moderate views. + Generally speaking, such terms as Right Centre and Left Centre + are applied to groups of Moderates inclining in the first place + to Conservatism and in the latter to Radicalism. All this is of + course known to readers acquainted with French institutions, but + I give the explanation because others, after perusing French + news in some daily paper, have often asked me what was meant by + "a deputy of the Right," and so forth.--Trans. + +His success had been as great among the occupants of the galleries as +among the deputies themselves. Several ladies had been seen applauding, +and Monseigneur Martha had given unmistakable signs of the liveliest +satisfaction. "Ah, General!" said Massot to Bozonnet in a sneering way. +"Those are our fighting men of the present time. And he's a bold and +strong one, is Monferrand. Of course it is all what people style 'saving +one's bacon,' but none the less it's very clever work." + +Just then, however, Monferrand to his great satisfaction had seen Vignon +rise from his seat in response to the urging of his friends. And +thereupon all anxiety vanished from the Minister's smile, which became +one of malicious placidity. + +The very atmosphere of the Chamber seemed to change with Vignon in the +tribune. He was slim, with a fair and carefully tended beard, blue eyes +and all the suppleness of youth. He spoke, moreover, like a practical +man, in simple, straightforward language, which made the emptiness of the +other's declamatory style painfully conspicuous. His term of official +service as a prefect in the provinces had endowed him with keen insight; +and it was in an easy way that he propounded and unravelled the most +intricate questions. Active and courageous, confident in his own star, +too young and too shrewd to have compromised himself in anything so far, +he was steadily marching towards the future. He had already drawn up a +rather more advanced political programme than that of Barroux and +Monferrand, so that when opportunity offered there might be good reasons +for him to take their place. Moreover, he was quite capable of carrying +out his programme by attempting some of the long-promised reforms for +which the country was waiting. He had guessed that honesty, when it had +prudence and shrewdness as its allies, must some day secure an innings. +In a clear voice, and in a very quiet, deliberate way, he now said what +it was right to say on the subject under discussion, the things that +common sense dictated and that the Chamber itself secretly desired should +be said. He was certainly the first to rejoice over an arrest which would +reassure the country; but he failed to understand what connection there +could be between that arrest and the sad business that had been brought +before the Chamber. The two affairs were quite distinct and different, +and he begged his colleagues not to vote in the state of excitement in +which he saw them. Full light must be thrown on the African Railways +question, and this, one could not expect from the two incriminated +ministers. However, he was opposed to any suggestion of a committee of +inquiry. In his opinion the guilty parties, if such there were, ought to +be brought immediately before a court of law. And, like Barroux, he wound +up with a discreet allusion to the growing influence of the clergy, +declaring that he was against all unworthy compromises, and was equally +opposed to any state dictatorship and any revival of the ancient +theocratic spirit. + +Although there was but little applause when Vignon returned to his seat, +it was evident that the Chamber was again master of its emotions. And the +situation seemed so clear, and the overthrow of the ministry so certain, +that Mege, who had meant to reply to the others, wisely abstained from +doing so. Meantime people noticed the placid demeanour of Monferrand, who +had listened to Vignon with the utmost complacency, as if he were +rendering homage to an adversary's talent; whereas Barroux, ever since +the cold silence which had greeted his speech, had remained motionless in +his seat, bowed down and pale as a corpse. + +"Well, it's all over," resumed Massot, amidst the hubbub which arose as +the deputies prepared to vote; "the ministry's done for. Little Vignon +will go a long way, you know. People say that he dreams of the Elysee. At +all events everything points to him as our next prime minister." + +Then, as the journalist rose, intending to go off, the General detained +him: "Wait a moment, Monsieur Massot," said he. "How disgusting all that +parliamentary cooking is! You ought to point it out in an article, and +show people how the country is gradually being weakened and rotted to the +marrow by all such useless and degrading discussions. Why, a great battle +resulting in the loss of 50,000 men would exhaust us less than ten years +of this abominable parliamentary system. You must call on me some +morning. I will show you a scheme of military reform, in which I point +out the necessity of returning to the limited professional armies which +we used to have, for this present-day national army, as folks call it, +which is a semi-civilian affair and at best a mere herd of men, is like a +dead weight on us, and is bound to pull us down!" + +Pierre, for his part, had not spoken a word since the beginning of the +debate. He had listened to everything, at first influenced by the thought +of his brother's interests, and afterwards mastered by the feverishness +which gradually took possession of everybody present. He had become +convinced that there was nothing more for Guillaume to fear; but how +curiously did one event fit into another, and how loudly had Salvat's +arrest re-echoed in the Chamber! Looking down into the seething hall +below him, he had detected all the clash of rival passions and interests. +After watching the great struggle between Barroux, Monferrand and Vignon, +he had gazed upon the childish delight of that terrible Socialist Mege, +who was so pleased at having been able to stir up the depths of those +troubled waters, in which he always unwittingly angled for the benefit of +others. Then, too, Pierre had become interested in Fonsegue, who, knowing +what had been arranged between Monferrand, Duvillard and himself, evinced +perfect calmness and strove to reassure Duthil and Chaigneux, who, on +their side, were quite dismayed by the ministry's impending fall. Yet, +Pierre's eyes always came back to Monseigneur Martha. He had watched his +serene smiling face throughout the sitting, striving to detect his +impressions of the various incidents that had occurred, as if in his +opinion that dramatic parliamentary comedy had only been played as a step +towards the more or less distant triumph for which the prelate laboured. +And now, while awaiting the result of the vote, as Pierre turned towards +Massot and the General, he found that they were talking of nothing but +recruiting and tactics and the necessity of a bath of blood for the whole +of Europe. Ah! poor mankind, ever fighting and ever devouring one another +in parliaments as well as on battle-fields, when, thought Pierre, would +it decide to disarm once and for all, and live at peace according to the +laws of justice and reason! + +Then he again looked down into the hall, where the greatest confusion was +prevailing among the deputies with regard to the coming vote. There was +quite a rainfall of suggested "resolutions," from a very violent one +proposed by Mege, to another, which was merely severe, emanating from +Vignon. The ministry, however, would only accept the "Order of the day +pure and simple," a mere decision, that is, to pass to the next business, +as if Mege's interpellation had been unworthy of attention. And presently +the Government was defeated, Vignon's resolution being adopted by a +majority of twenty-five. Some portion of the Left had evidently joined +hands with the Right and the Socialist group. A prolonged hubbub followed +this result. + +"Well, so we are to have a Vignon Cabinet," said Massot, as he went off +with Pierre and the General. "All the same, though, Monferrand has saved +himself, and if I were in Vignon's place I should distrust him." + +That evening there was a very touching farewell scene at the little house +at Neuilly. When Pierre returned thither from the Chamber, saddened but +reassured with regard to the future, Guillaume at once made up his mind +to go home on the morrow. And as Nicholas Barthes was compelled to leave, +the little dwelling seemed on the point of relapsing into dreary quietude +once more. + +Theophile Morin, whom Pierre had informed of the painful alternative in +which Barthes was placed, duly came to dinner; but he did not have time +to speak to the old man before they all sat down to table at seven +o'clock. As usual Barthes had spent his day in marching, like a caged +lion, up and down the room in which he had accepted shelter after the +fashion of a big fearless child, who never worried with regard either to +his present circumstances or the troubles which the future might have in +store for him. His life had ever been one of unlimited hope, which +reality had ever shattered. Although all that he had loved, all that he +had hoped to secure by fifty years of imprisonment or exile,--liberty, +equality and a real brotherly republic,--had hitherto failed to come, +such as he had dreamt of them, he nevertheless retained the candid faith +of his youth, and was ever confident in the near future. He would smile +indulgently when new comers, men of violent ideas, derided him and called +him a poor old fellow. For his part, he could make neither head nor tail +of the many new sects. He simply felt indignant with their lack of human +feeling, and stubbornly adhered to his own idea of basing the world's +regeneration on the simple proposition that men were naturally good and +ought to be free and brotherly. + +That evening at dinner, feeling that he was with friends who cared for +him, Barthes proved extremely gay, and showed all his ingenuousness in +talking of his ideal, which would soon be realised, said he, in spite of +everything. He could tell a story well whenever he cared to chat, and on +that occasion he related some delightful anecdotes about the prisons +through which he had passed. He knew all the dungeons, Ste. Pelagie and +Mont St. Michel, Belle-Ile-en-Mer and Clairvaux, to say nothing of +temporary gaols and the evil-smelling hulks on board which political +prisoners are often confined. And he still laughed at certain +recollections, and related how in the direst circumstances he had always +been able to seek refuge in his conscience. The others listened to him +quite charmed by his conversation, but full of anguish at the thought +that this perpetual prisoner or exile must again rise and take his staff +to sally forth, driven from his native land once more. + +Pierre did not speak out until they were partaking of dessert. Then he +related how the Minister had written to him, and how in a brief interview +he had stated that Barthes must cross the frontier within forty-eight +hours if he did not wish to be arrested. Thereupon the old man gravely +rose, with his white fleece, his eagle beak and his bright eyes still +sparkling with the fire of youth. And he wished to go off at once. +"What!" said he, "you have known all this since yesterday, and have still +kept me here at the risk of my compromising you even more than I had done +already! You must forgive me, I did not think of the worry I might cause +you, I thought that everything would be satisfactorily arranged. I must +thank you both--yourself and Guillaume--for the few days of quietude that +you have procured to an old vagabond and madman like myself." + +Then, as they tried to prevail on him to remain until the following +morning, he would not listen to them. There would be a train for Brussels +about midnight, and he had ample time to take it. He refused to let Morin +accompany him. No, no, said he, Morin was not a rich man, and moreover he +had work to attend to. Why should he take him away from his duties, when +it was so easy, so simple, for him to go off alone? He was going back +into exile as into misery and grief which he had long known, like some +Wandering Jew of Liberty, ever driven onward through the world. + +When he took leave of the others at ten o'clock, in the little sleepy +street just outside the house, tears suddenly dimmed his eyes. "Ah! I'm +no longer a young man," he said; "it's all over this time. I shall never +come back again. My bones will rest in some corner over yonder." And yet, +after he had affectionately embraced Pierre and Guillaume, he drew +himself up like one who remained unconquered, and he raised a supreme cry +of hope. "But after all, who knows? Triumph may perhaps come to-morrow. +The future belongs to those who prepare it and wait for it!" + +Then he walked away, and long after he had disappeared his firm, sonorous +footsteps could be heard re-echoing in the quiet night. + + + + + +BOOK IV. + + + + +I. PIERRE AND MARIE + + +ON the mild March morning when Pierre left his little house at Neuilly to +accompany Guillaume to Montmartre, he was oppressed by the thought that +on returning home he would once more find himself alone with nothing to +prevent him from relapsing into negation and despair. The idea of this +had kept him from sleeping, and he still found it difficult to hide his +distress and force a smile. + +The sky was so clear and the atmosphere so mild that the brothers had +resolved to go to Montmartre on foot by way of the outer boulevards. Nine +o'clock was striking when they set out. Guillaume for his part was very +gay at the thought of the surprise he would give his family. It was as if +he were suddenly coming back from a long journey. He had not warned them +of his intentions; he had merely written to them now and again to tell +them that he was recovering, and they certainly had no idea that his +return was so near at hand. + +When Guillaume and Pierre had climbed the sunlit slopes of Montmartre, +and crossed the quiet countrified Place du Tertre, the former, by means +of a latch-key, quietly opened the door of his house, which seemed to be +asleep, so profound was the stillness both around and within it. Pierre +found it the same as on the occasion of his previous and only visit. +First came the narrow passage which ran through the ground-floor, +affording a view of all Paris at the further end. Next there was the +garden, reduced to a couple of plum-trees and a clump of lilac-bushes, +the leaves of which had now sprouted. And this time the priest perceived +three bicycles leaning against the trees. Beyond them stood the large +work-shop, so gay, and yet so peaceful, with its huge window overlooking +a sea of roofs. + +Guillaume had reached the work-shop without meeting anybody. With an +expression of much amusement he raised a finger to his lips. "Attention, +Pierre," he whispered; "you'll just see!" + +Then having noiselessly opened the door, they remained for a moment on +the threshold. + +The three sons alone were there. Near his forge stood Thomas working a +boring machine, with which he was making some holes in a small brass +plate. Then Francois and Antoine were seated on either side of their +large table, the former reading, and the latter finishing a block. The +bright sunshine streamed in, playing over all the seeming disorder of the +room, where so many callings and so many implements found place. A large +bunch of wallflowers bloomed on the women's work-table near the window; +and absorbed as the young men were in their respective tasks the only +sound was the slight hissing of the boring machine each time that the +eldest of them drilled another hole. + +However, although Guillaume did not stir, there suddenly came a quiver, +an awakening. His sons seemed to guess his presence, for they raised +their heads, each at the same moment. From each, too, came the same cry, +and a common impulse brought them first to their feet and then to his +arms. + +"Father!" + +Guillaume embraced them, feeling very happy. And that was all; there was +no long spell of emotion, no useless talk. It was as if he had merely +gone out the day before and, delayed by business, had now come back. +Still, he looked at them with his kindly smile, and they likewise smiled +with their eyes fixed on his. Those glances proclaimed everything, the +closest affection and complete self-bestowal for ever. + +"Come in, Pierre," called Guillaume; "shake hands with these young men." + +The priest had remained near the door, overcome by a singular feeling of +discomfort. When his nephews had vigorously shaken hands with him, he sat +down near the window apart from them, as if he felt out of his element +there. + +"Well, youngsters," said Guillaume, "where's Mere-Grand, and where's +Marie?" + +Their grandmother was upstairs in her room, they said; and Marie had +taken it into her head to go marketing. This, by the way, was one of her +delights. She asserted that she was the only one who knew how to buy +new-laid eggs and butter of a nutty odour. Moreover, she sometimes +brought some dainty or some flowers home, in her delight at proving +herself to be so good a housewife. + +"And so things are going on well?" resumed Guillaume. "You are all +satisfied, your work is progressing, eh?" + +He addressed brief questions to each of them, like one who, on his return +home, at once reverts to his usual habits. Thomas, with his rough face +beaming, explained in a couple of sentences that he was now sure of +perfecting his little motor; Francois, who was still preparing for his +examination, jestingly declared that he yet had to lodge a heap of +learning in his brain; and then Antoine produced the block which he was +finishing, and which depicted his little friend Lise, Jahan's sister, +reading in her garden amidst the sunshine. It was like a florescence of +that dear belated creature whose mind had been awakened by his affection. + +However, the three brothers speedily went back to their places, reverting +to their work with a natural impulse, for discipline had made them regard +work as life itself. Then Guillaume, who had glanced at what each was +doing, exclaimed: "Ah! youngsters, I schemed and prepared a lot of things +myself while I was laid up. I even made a good many notes. We walked here +from Neuilly, but my papers and the clothes which Mere-Grand sent me will +come in a cab by-and-by.... Ah! how pleased I am to find everything in +order here, and to be able to take up my task with you again! Ah! I shall +polish off some work now, and no mistake!" + +He had already gone to his own corner, the space reserved for him between +the window and the forge. He there had a chemical furnace, several glass +cases and shelves crowded with appliances, and a long table, one end of +which he used for writing purposes. And he once more took possession of +that little world. After glancing around with delight at seeing +everything in its place, he began to handle one object and another, eager +to be at work like his sons. + +All at once, however, Mere-Grand appeared, calm, grave and erect in her +black gown, at the top of the little staircase which conducted to the +bedrooms. "So it's you, Guillaume?" said she. "Will you come up for a +moment?" + +He immediately did so, understanding that she wished to speak to him +alone and tranquillise him. It was a question of the great secret between +them, that one thing of which his sons knew nothing, and which, after +Salvat's crime, had brought him much anguish, through his fear that it +might be divulged. When he reached Mere-Grand's room she at once took him +to the hiding-place near her bed, and showed him the cartridges of the +new explosive, and the plans of the terrible engine of warfare which he +had invented. He found them all as he had left them. Before anyone could +have reached them, she would have blown up the whole place at the risk of +perishing herself in the explosion. With her wonted air of quiet heroism, +she handed Guillaume the key which he had sent her by Pierre. + +"You were not anxious, I hope?" she said. + +He pressed her hands with a commingling of affection and respect. "My +only anxiety," he replied, "was that the police might come here and treat +you roughly.... You are the guardian of our secret, and it would be +for you to finish my work should I disappear." + +While Guillaume and Madame Leroi were thus engaged upstairs, Pierre, +still seated near the window below, felt his discomfort increasing. The +inmates of the house certainly regarded him with no other feeling than +one of affectionate sympathy; and so how came it that he considered them +hostile? The truth was that he asked himself what would become of him +among those workers, who were upheld by a faith of their own, whereas he +believed in nothing, and did not work. The sight of those young men, so +gaily and zealously toiling, ended by quite irritating him; and the +arrival of Marie brought his distress to a climax. + +Joyous and full of life, she came in without seeing him, a basket on her +arm. And she seemed to bring all the sunlight of the spring morning with +her, so bright was the sparkle of her youth. The whole of her pink face, +her delicate nose, her broad intelligent brow, her thick, kindly lips, +beamed beneath the heavy coils of her black hair. And her brown eyes ever +laughed with the joyousness which comes from health and strength. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, "I have brought such a lot of things, youngsters. +Just come and see them; I wouldn't unpack the basket in the kitchen." + +It became absolutely necessary for the brothers to draw round the basket +which she had laid upon the table. "First there's the butter!" said she; +"just smell if it hasn't a nice scent of nuts! It's churned especially +for me, you know. Then here are the eggs. They were laid only yesterday, +I'll answer for it. And, in fact, that one there is this morning's. And +look at the cutlets! They're wonderful, aren't they? The butcher cuts +them carefully when he sees me. And then here's a cream cheese, real +cream, you know, it will be delicious! Ah! and here's the surprise, +something dainty, some radishes, some pretty little pink radishes. Just +fancy! radishes in March, what a luxury!" + +She triumphed like the good little housewife she was, one who had +followed a whole course of cookery and home duties at the Lycee Fenelon. +The brothers, as merry as she herself, were obliged to compliment her. + +All at once, however, she caught sight of Pierre. "What! you are there, +Monsieur l'Abbe?" she exclaimed; "I beg your pardon, but I didn't see +you. How is Guillaume? Have you brought us some news of him?" + +"But father's come home," said Thomas; "he's upstairs with Mere-Grand." + +Quite thunderstruck, she hastily placed her purchases in the basket. +"Guillaume's come back, Guillaume's come back!" said she, "and you don't +tell me of it, you let me unpack everything! Well, it's nice of me, I +must say, to go on praising my butter and eggs when Guillaume's come +back." + +Guillaume, as it happened, was just coming down with Madame Leroi. Marie +gaily hastened to him and offered him her cheeks, on which he planted two +resounding kisses. Then she, resting her hands on his shoulders, gave him +a long look, while saying in a somewhat tremulous voice: "I am pleased, +very pleased to see you, Guillaume. I may confess it now, I thought I had +lost you, I was very anxious and very unhappy." + +Although she was still smiling, tears had gathered in her eyes, and he, +likewise moved, again kissed her, murmuring: "Dear Marie! How happy it +makes me to find you as beautiful and as affectionate as ever." + +Pierre, who was looking at them, deemed them cold. He had doubtless +expected more tears, and a more passionate embrace on the part of an +affianced pair, whom so grievous an accident had separated almost on the +eve of their wedding. Moreover, his feelings were hurt by the +disproportion of their respective ages. No doubt his brother still seemed +to him very sturdy and young, and his feeling of repulsion must have come +from that young woman whom, most decidedly, he did not like. Ever since +her arrival he had experienced increasing discomfort, a keener and keener +desire to go off and never return. + +So acute became his suffering at feeling like a stranger in his brother's +home, that he at last rose and sought to take his leave, under the +pretext that he had some urgent matters to attend to in town. + +"What! you won't stay to _dejeuner_ with us!" exclaimed Guillaume in +perfect stupefaction. "Why, it was agreed! You surely won't distress me +like that! This house is your own, remember!" + +Then, as with genuine affection they all protested and pressed him to +stay, he was obliged to do so. However, he soon relapsed into silence and +embarrassment, seated on the same chair as before, and listening moodily +to those people who, although they were his relatives, seemed to be far +removed from him. + +As it was barely eleven o'clock they resumed work, but every now and +again there was some merry talk. On one of the servants coming for the +provisions, Marie told the girl to call her as soon as it should be time +to boil the eggs, for she prided herself on boiling them to a nicety, in +such wise as to leave the whites like creamy milk. This gave an +opportunity for a few jests from Francois, who occasionally teased her +about all the fine things she had learnt at the Lycee Fenelon, where her +father had placed her when she was twelve years old. However, she was not +afraid of him, but gave him tit for tat by chaffing him about all the +hours which he lost at the Ecole Normale over a mass of pedagogic trash. + +"Ah! you big children!" she exclaimed, while still working at her +embroidery. "You are all very intelligent, and you all claim to have +broad minds, and yet--confess it now--it worries you a little that a girl +like me should have studied at college in the same way as yourselves. +It's a sexual quarrel, a question of rivalry and competition, isn't it?" + +They protested the contrary, declaring that they were in favour of girls +receiving as complete an education as possible. She was well aware of +this; however, she liked to tease them in return for the manner in which +they themselves plagued her. + +"But do you know," said she, "you are a great deal behind the times? I am +well aware of the reproaches which are levelled at girls' colleges by +so-called right-minded people. To begin, there is no religious element +whatever in the education one receives there, and this alarms many +families which consider religious education to be absolutely necessary +for girls, if only as a moral weapon of defence. Then, too, the education +at our Lycees is being democratised--girls of all positions come to them. +Thanks to the scholarships which are so liberally offered, the daughter +of the lady who rents a first floor flat often finds the daughter of her +door-keeper among her school-fellows, and some think this objectionable. +It is said also that the pupils free themselves too much from home +influence, and that too much opportunity is left for personal initiative. +As a matter of fact the extensiveness of the many courses of study, all +the learning that is required of pupils at the examinations, certainly +does tend to their emancipation, to the coming of the future woman and +future society, which you young men are all longing for, are you not?" + +"Of course we are!" exclaimed Francois; "we all agree on that point." + +She waved her hand in a pretty way, and then quietly continued: "I'm +jesting. My views are simple enough, as you well know, and I don't ask +for nearly as much as you do. As for woman's claims and rights, well, the +question is clear enough; woman is man's equal so far as nature allows +it. And the only point is to agree and love one another. At the same time +I'm well pleased to know what I do--oh! not from any spirit of pedantry +but simply because I think it has all done me good, and given me some +moral as well as physical health." + +It delighted her to recall the days she had spent at the Lycee Fenelon, +which of the five State colleges for girls opened in Paris was the only +one counting a large number of pupils. Most of these were the daughters +of officials or professors, who purposed entering the teaching +profession. In this case, they had to win their last diploma at the Ecole +Normale of Sevres, after leaving the Lycee. Marie, for her part, though +her studies had been brilliant, had felt no taste whatever for the +calling of teacher. Moreover, when Guillaume had taken charge of her +after her father's death, he had refused to let her run about giving +lessons. To provide herself with a little money, for she would accept +none as a gift, she worked at embroidery, an art in which she was most +accomplished. + +While she was talking to the young men Guillaume had listened to her +without interfering. If he had fallen in love with her it was largely on +account of her frankness and uprightness, the even balance of her nature, +which gave her so forcible a charm. She knew all; but if she lacked the +poetry of the shrinking, lamb-like girl who has been brought up in +ignorance, she had gained absolute rectitude of heart and mind, exempt +from all hypocrisy, all secret perversity such as is stimulated by what +may seem mysterious in life. And whatever she might know, she had +retained such child-like purity that in spite of her six-and-twenty +summers all the blood in her veins would occasionally rush to her cheeks +in fiery blushes, which drove her to despair. + +"My dear Marie," Guillaume now exclaimed, "you know very well that the +youngsters were simply joking. You are in the right, of course.... And +your boiled eggs cannot be matched in the whole world." + +He said this in so soft and affectionate a tone that the young woman +flushed purple. Then, becoming conscious of it, she coloured yet more +deeply, and as the three young men glanced at her maliciously she grew +angry with herself. "Isn't it ridiculous, Monsieur l'Abbe," she said, +turning towards Pierre, "for an old maid like myself to blush in that +fashion? People might think that I had committed a crime. It's simply to +make me blush, you know, that those children tease me. I do all I can to +prevent it, but it's stronger than my will." + +At this Mere-Grand raised her eyes from the shirt she was mending, and +remarked: "Oh! it's natural enough, my dear. It is your heart rising to +your cheeks in order that we may see it." + +The _dejeuner_ hour was now at hand; and they decided to lay the table in +the work-shop, as was occasionally done when they had a guest. The +simple, cordial meal proved very enjoyable in the bright sunlight. +Marie's boiled eggs, which she herself brought from the kitchen covered +with a napkin, were found delicious. Due honour was also done to the +butter and the radishes. The only dessert that followed the cutlets was +the cream cheese, but it was a cheese such as nobody else had ever +partaken of. And, meantime, while they ate and chatted all Paris lay +below them, stretching away to the horizon with its mighty rumbling. + +Pierre had made an effort to become cheerful, but he soon relapsed into +silence. Guillaume, however, was very talkative. Having noticed the three +bicycles in the garden, he inquired of Marie how far she had gone that +morning. She answered that Francois and Antoine had accompanied her in +the direction of Orgemont. The worry of their excursions was that each +time they returned to Montmartre they had to push their machines up the +height. From the general point of view, however, the young woman was +delighted with bicycling, which had many virtues, said she. Then, seeing +Pierre glance at her in amazement, she promised that she would some day +explain her opinions on the subject to him. After this bicycling became +the one topic of conversation until the end of the meal. Thomas gave an +account of the latest improvements introduced into Grandidier's machines; +and the others talked of the excursions they had made or meant to make, +with all the exuberant delight of school children eager for the open air. + +In the midst of the chatter, Mere-Grand, who presided at table with the +serene dignity of a queen-mother, leant towards Guillaume, who sat next +to her, and spoke to him in an undertone. Pierre understood that she was +referring to his marriage, which was to have taken place in April, but +must now necessarily be deferred. This sensible marriage, which seemed +likely to ensure the happiness of the entire household, was largely the +work of Mere-Grand and the three young men, for Guillaume would never +have yielded to his heart if she whom he proposed to make his wife had +not already been a well-loved member of the family. At the present time +the last week in June seemed, for all sorts of reasons, to be a +favourable date for the wedding. + +Marie, who heard the suggestion, turned gaily towards Mere-Grand. + +"The end of June will suit very well, will it not, my dear?" said the +latter. + +Pierre expected to see a deep flush rise to the young woman's cheeks, but +she remained very calm. She felt deep affection, blended with the most +tender gratitude, for Guillaume, and was convinced that in marrying him +she would be acting wisely and well both for herself and the others. + +"Certainly, the end of June," she repeated, "that will suit very well +indeed." + +Then the sons, who likewise had heard the proposal, nodded their heads by +way of assenting also. + +When they rose from table Pierre was absolutely determined to go off. The +cordial and simple meal, the sight of that family, which had been +rendered so happy by Guillaume's return, and of that young woman who +smiled so placidly at life, had brought him keen suffering, though why he +could not tell. However, it all irritated him beyond endurance; and he +therefore again pretended that he had a number of things to see to in +Paris. He shook hands in turn with the young men, Mere-Grand and Marie; +both of the women evincing great friendliness but also some surprise at +his haste to leave the house. Guillaume, who seemed saddened and anxious, +sought to detain him, and failing in this endeavour followed him into the +little garden, where he stopped him in order to have an explanation. + +"Come," said he, "what is the matter with you, Pierre? Why are you +running off like this?" + +"Oh! there's nothing the matter I assure you; but I have to attend to a +few urgent affairs." + +"Oh, Pierre, pray put all pretence aside. Nobody here has displeased you +or hurt your feelings, I hope. They also will soon love you as I do." + +"I have no doubt of it, and I complain of nobody excepting perhaps +myself." + +Guillaume's sorrow was increasing. "Ah! brother, little brother," he +resumed, "you distress me, for I can detect that you are hiding something +from me. Remember that new ties have linked us together and that we love +one another as in the old days when you were in your cradle and I used to +come to play with you. I know you well, remember. I know all your +tortures, since you have confessed them to me; and I won't have you +suffer, I want to cure you, I do!" + +Pierre's heart was full, and as he heard those words he could not +restrain his tears. "Oh! you must leave me to my sufferings," he +responded. "They are incurable. You can do nothing for me, I am beyond +the pale of nature, I am a monster." + +"What do you say! Can you not return within nature's pale even if you +_have_ gone beyond it? One thing that I will not allow is that you should +go and shut yourself up in that solitary little house of yours, where you +madden yourself by brooding over the fall of your faith. Come and spend +your time with us, so that we may again give you some taste for life." + +Ah! the empty little house which awaited him! Pierre shivered at the +thought of it, at the idea that he would now find himself all alone +there, bereft of the brother with whom he had lately spent so many happy +days. Into what solitude and torment must he not now relapse after that +companionship to which he had become accustomed? However, the very +thought of the latter increased his grief, and confession suddenly gushed +from his lips: "To spend my time here, live with you, oh! no, that is an +impossibility. Why do you compel me to speak out, and tell you things +that I am ashamed of and do not even understand. Ever since this morning +you must have seen that I have been suffering here. No doubt it is +because you and your people work, whereas I do nothing, because you love +one another and believe in your efforts, whereas I no longer know how to +love or believe. I feel out of my element. I'm embarrassed here, and I +embarrass you. In fact you all irritate me, and I might end by hating +you. There remains nothing healthy in me, all natural feelings have been +spoilt and destroyed, and only envy and hatred could sprout up from such +ruins. So let me go back to my accursed hole, where death will some day +come for me. Farewell, brother!" + +But Guillaume, full of affection and compassion, caught hold of his arms +and detained him. "You shall not go, I will not allow you to go, without +a positive promise that you will come back. I don't wish to lose you +again, especially now that I know all you are worth and how dreadfully +you suffer. I will save you, if need be, in spite of yourself. I will +cure you of your torturing doubts, oh! without catechising you, without +imposing any particular faith on you, but simply by allowing life to do +its work, for life alone can give you back health and hope. So I beg you, +brother, in the name of our affection, come back here, come as often as +you can to spend a day with us. You will then see that when folks have +allotted themselves a task and work together in unison, they escape +excessive unhappiness. A task of any kind--yes, that is what is wanted, +together with some great passion and frank acceptance of life, so that it +may be lived as it should be and loved." + +"But what would be the use of my living here?" Pierre muttered bitterly. +"I've no task left me, and I no longer know how to love." + +"Well, I will give you a task, and as for love, that will soon be +awakened by the breath of life. Come, brother, consent, consent!" + +Then, seeing that Pierre still remained gloomy and sorrowful, and +persisted in his determination to go away and bury himself, Guillaume +added, "Ah! I don't say that the things of this world are such as one +might wish them to be. I don't say that only joy and truth and justice +exist. For instance, the affair of that unhappy fellow Salvat fills me +with anger and revolt. Guilty he is, of course, and yet how many excuses +he had, and how I shall pity him if the crimes of all of us are laid at +his door, if the various political gangs bandy him from one to another, +and use him as a weapon in their sordid fight for power. The thought of +it all so exasperates me that at times I am as unreasonable as yourself. +But now, brother, just to please me, promise that you will come and spend +the day after to-morrow with us." + +Then, as Pierre still kept silent, Guillaume went on: "I will have it so. +It would grieve me too much to think that you were suffering from +martyrdom in your solitary nook. I want to cure and save you." + +Tears again rose to Pierre's eyes, and in a tone of infinite distress he +answered: "Don't compel me to promise.... All I can say is that I will +try to conquer myself." + +The week he then spent in his little, dark, empty home proved a terrible +one. Shutting himself up he brooded over his despair at having lost the +companionship of that elder brother whom he once more loved with his +whole soul. He had never before been so keenly conscious of his solitude; +and he was a score of times on the point of hastening to Montmartre, for +he vaguely felt that affection, truth and life were there. But on each +occasion he was held back by a return of the discomfort which he had +already experienced, discomfort compounded of shame and fear. Priest that +he was, cut off from love and the avocations of other men, he would +surely find nothing but hurt and suffering among creatures who were all +nature, freedom and health. While he pondered thus, however, there rose +before him the shades of his father and mother, those sad spirits that +seemed to wander through the deserted rooms lamenting and entreating him +to reconcile them in himself, as soon as he should find peace. What was +he to do,--deny their prayer, and remain weeping with them, or go yonder +in search of the cure which might at last lull them to sleep and bring +them happiness in death by the force of his own happiness in life? At +last a morning came when it seemed to him that his father enjoined him +with a smile to betake himself yonder, while his mother consented with a +glance of her big soft eyes, in which her sorrow at having made so bad a +priest of him yielded to her desire to restore him to the life of our +common humanity. + +Pierre did not argue with himself that day: he took a cab and gave +Guillaume's address to the driver for fear lest he should be overcome on +the way and wish to turn back. And when he again found himself, as in a +dream, in the large work-shop, where Guillaume and the young men welcomed +him in a delicately affectionate way, he witnessed an unexpected scene +which both impressed and relieved him. + +Marie, who had scarcely nodded to him as he entered, sat there with a +pale and frowning face. And Mere-Grand, who was also grave, said, after +glancing at her: "You must excuse her, Monsieur l'Abbe; but she isn't +reasonable. She is in a temper with all five of us." + +Guillaume began to laugh. "Ah! she's so stubborn!" he exclaimed. "You can +have no idea, Pierre, of what goes on in that little head of hers when +anybody says or does anything contrary to her ideas of justice. Such +absolute and lofty ideas they are, that they can descend to no +compromise. For instance, we were talking of that recent affair of a +father who was found guilty on his son's evidence; and she maintained +that the son had only done what was right in giving evidence against his +father, and that one ought invariably to tell the truth, no matter what +might happen. What a terrible public prosecutor she would make, eh?" + +Thereupon Marie, exasperated by Pierre's smile, which seemingly indicated +that he also thought her in the wrong, flew into quite a passion: "You +are cruel, Guillaume!" she cried; "I won't be laughed at like this." + +"But you are losing your senses, my dear," exclaimed Francois, while +Thomas and Antoine again grew merry. "We were only urging a question of +humanity, father and I, for we respect and love justice as much as you +do." + +"There's no question of humanity, but simply one of justice. What is just +and right is just and right, and you cannot alter it." + +Then, as Guillaume made a further attempt to state his views and win her +over to them, she rose trembling, in such a passion that she could +scarcely stammer: "No, no, you are all too cruel, you only want to grieve +me. I prefer to go up into my own room." + +At this Mere-Grand vainly sought to restrain her. "My child, my child!" +said she, "reflect a moment; this is very wrong, you will deeply regret +it." + +"No, no; you are not just, and I suffer too much." + +Then she wildly rushed upstairs to her room overhead. + +Consternation followed. Scenes of a similar character had occasionally +occurred before, but there had never been so serious a one. Guillaume +immediately admitted that he had done wrong in laughing at her, for she +could not bear irony. Then he told Pierre that in her childhood and youth +she had been subject to terrible attacks of passion whenever she +witnessed or heard of any act of injustice. As she herself explained, +these attacks would come upon her with irresistible force, transporting +her to such a point that she would sometimes fall upon the floor and +rave. Even nowadays she proved quarrelsome and obstinate whenever certain +subjects were touched upon. And she afterwards blushed for it all, fully +conscious that others must think her unbearable. + +Indeed, a quarter of an hour later, she came downstairs again of her own +accord, and bravely acknowledged her fault. "Wasn't it ridiculous of me?" +she said. "To think I accuse others of being unkind when I behave like +that! Monsieur l'Abbe must have a very bad opinion of me." Then, after +kissing Mere-Grand, she added: "You'll forgive me, won't you? Oh! +Francois may laugh now, and so may Thomas and Antoine. They are quite +right, our differences are merely laughing matters." + +"My poor Marie," replied Guillaume, in a tone of deep affection. "You see +what it is to surrender oneself to the absolute. If you are so healthy +and reasonable it's because you regard almost everything from the +relative point of view, and only ask life for such gifts as it can +bestow. But when your absolute ideas of justice come upon you, you lose +both equilibrium and reason. At the same time, I must say that we are all +liable to err in much the same manner." + +Marie, who was still very flushed, thereupon answered in a jesting way: +"Well, it at least proves that I'm not perfect." + +"Oh, certainly! And so much the better," said Guillaume, "for it makes me +love you the more." + +This was a sentiment which Pierre himself would willingly have re-echoed. +The scene had deeply stirred him. Had not his own frightful torments +originated with his desire for the absolute both in things and beings? He +had sought faith in its entirety, and despair had thrown him into +complete negation. Again, was there not some evil desire for the absolute +and some affectation of pride and voluntary blindness in the haughty +bearing which he had retained amidst the downfall of his belief, the +saintly reputation which he had accepted when he possessed no faith at +all? On hearing his brother praise Marie, because she only asked life for +such things as it could give, it had seemed to him that this was advice +for himself. It was as if a refreshing breath of nature had passed before +his face. At the same time his feelings in this respect were still vague, +and the only well-defined pleasure that he experienced came from the +young woman's fit of anger, that error of hers which brought her nearer +to him, by lowering her in some degree from her pedestal of serene +perfection. It was, perhaps, that seeming perfection which had made him +suffer; however, he was as yet unable to analyse his feelings. That day, +for the first time, he chatted with her for a little while, and when he +went off he thought her very good-hearted and very human. + +Two days later he again came to spend the afternoon in the large sunlit +work-shop overlooking Paris. Ever since he had become conscious of the +idle life he was leading, he had felt very bored when he was alone, and +only found relief among that gay, hardworking family. His brother scolded +him for not having come to _dejeuner_, and he promised to do so on the +morrow. By the time a week had elapsed, none of the discomfort and covert +hostility which had prevailed between him and Marie remained: they met +and chatted on a footing of good fellowship. Although he was a priest, +she was in no wise embarrassed by his presence. With her quiet atheism, +indeed, she had never imagined that a priest could be different from +other men. Thus her sisterly cordiality both astonished and delighted +Pierre. It was as if he wore the same garments and held the same ideas as +his big nephews, as if there were nothing whatever to distinguish him +from other men. He was still more surprised, however, by Marie's silence +on all religious questions. She seemed to live on quietly and happily, +without a thought of what might be beyond life, that terrifying realm of +mystery, which to him had brought such agony of mind. + +Now that he came every two or three days to Montmartre she noticed that +he was suffering. What could be the matter with him, she wondered. When +she questioned him in a friendly manner and only elicited evasive +replies, she guessed that he was ashamed of his sufferings, and that they +were aggravated, rendered well-nigh incurable, by the very secrecy in +which he buried them. Thereupon womanly compassion awoke within her, and +she felt increasing affection for that tall, pale fellow with feverish +eyes, who was consumed by grievous torments which he would confess to +none. No doubt she questioned Guillaume respecting her brother's sadness, +and he must have confided some of the truth to her in order that she +might help him to extricate Pierre from his sufferings, and give him back +some taste for life. The poor fellow always seemed so happy when she +treated him like a friend, a brother! + +At last, one evening, on seeing his eyes full of tears as he gazed upon +the dismal twilight falling over Paris, she herself pressed him to +confide his trouble to her. And thereupon he suddenly spoke out, +confessing all his torture and the horrible void which the loss of faith +had left within him. Ah! to be unable to believe, to be unable to love, +to be nothing but ashes, to know of nothing certain by which he might +replace the faith that had fled from him! She listened in stupefaction. +Why, he must be mad! And she plainly told him so, such was her +astonishment and revolt at hearing such a desperate cry of wretchedness. +To despair, indeed, and believe in nothing and love nothing, simply +because a religious hypothesis had crumbled! And this, too, when the +whole, vast world was spread before one, life with the duty of living it, +creatures and things to be loved and succoured, without counting the +universal labour, the task which one and all came to accomplish! +Assuredly he must be mad, mad with the gloomiest madness; still she vowed +she would cure him. + +From that time forward she felt the most compassionate affection for this +extraordinary young man, who had first embarrassed and afterwards +astonished her. She showed herself very gentle and gay with him; she +looked after him with the greatest skill and delicacy of heart and mind. +There had been certain similar features in their childhood; each had been +reared in the strictest religious views by a pious mother. But afterwards +how different had been their fates! Whilst he was struggling with his +doubts, bound by his priestly vows, she had grown up at the Lycee +Fenelon, where her father had placed her as soon as her mother died; and +there, far removed from all practice of religion, she had gradually +reached total forgetfulness of her early religious views. It was a +constant source of surprise for him to find that she had thus escaped all +distress of mind at the thought of what might come after death, whereas +that same thought had so deeply tortured him. When they chatted together +and he expressed his astonishment at it, she frankly laughed, saying that +she had never felt any fear of hell, for she was certain that no hell +existed. And she added that she lived in all quietude, without hope of +going to any heaven, her one thought being to comply in a reasonable way +with the requirements and necessities of earthly life. It was, perhaps, +in some measure a matter of temperament with her; but it was also a +matter of education. Yet, whatever that education had been, whatever +knowledge she had acquired, she had remained very womanly and very +loving. There was nothing stern or masculine about her. + +"Ah, my friend," she said one day to Pierre, "if you only knew how easy +it is for me to remain happy so long as I see those I love free from any +excessive suffering. For my own part I can always adapt myself to life. I +work and content myself no matter what may happen. Sorrow has only come +to me from others, for I can't help wishing that everybody should be +fairly happy, and there are some who won't.... I was for a long time +very poor, but I remained gay. I wish for nothing, except for things that +can't be purchased. Still, want is the great abomination which distresses +me. I can understand that you should have felt everything crumbling when +charity appeared to you so insufficient a remedy as to be contemptible. +Yet it does bring relief; and, moreover, it is so sweet to be able to +give. Some day, too, by dint of reason and toil, by the good and +efficient working of life itself, the reign of justice will surely come. +But now it's I that am preaching! Oh! I have little taste for it! It +would be ridiculous for me to try to heal you with big phrases. All the +same, I should like to cure you of your gloomy sufferings. To do so, all +that I ask of you is to spend as much time as you can with us. You know +that this is Guillaume's greatest desire. We will all love you so well, +you will see us all so affectionately united, and so gay over our common +work, that you will come back to truth by joining us in the school of our +good mother nature. You must live and work, and love and hope." + +Pierre smiled as he listened. He now came to Montmartre nearly every day. +She was so nice and affectionate when she preached to him in that way +with a pretty assumption of wisdom. As she had said too, life was so +delightful in that big workroom; it was so pleasant to be all together, +and to labour in common at the same work of health and truth. Ashamed as +Pierre was of doing nothing, anxious as he was to occupy his mind and +fingers, he had first taken an interest in Antoine's engraving, asking +why he should not try something of the kind himself. However, he felt +that he lacked the necessary gift for art. Then, too, he recoiled from +Francois' purely intellectual labour, for he himself had scarcely emerged +from the harrowing study of conflicting texts. Thus he was more inclined +for manual toil like that of Thomas. In mechanics he found precision and +clearness such as might help to quench his thirst for certainty. So he +placed himself at the young man's orders, pulled his bellows and held +pieces of mechanism for him. He also sometimes served as assistant to +Guillaume, tying a large blue apron over his cassock in order to help in +the experiments. From that time he formed part of the work-shop, which +simply counted a worker the more. + +One afternoon early in April, when they were all busily engaged there, +Marie, who sat embroidering at the table in front of Mere-Grand, raised +her eyes to the window and suddenly burst into a cry of admiration: "Oh! +look at Paris under that rain of sunlight!" + +Pierre drew near; the play of light was much the same as that which he +had witnessed at his first visit. The sun, sinking behind some slight +purple clouds, was throwing down a hail of rays and sparks which on all +sides rebounded and leapt over the endless stretch of roofs. It might +have been thought that some great sower, hidden amidst the glory of the +planet, was scattering handfuls of golden grain from one horizon to the +other. + +Pierre, at sight of it, put his fancy into words: "It is the sun sowing +Paris with grain for a future harvest," said he. "See how the expanse +looks like ploughed land; the brownish houses are like soil turned up, +and the streets are deep and straight like furrows." + +"Yes, yes, that's true," exclaimed Marie gaily. "The sun is sowing Paris +with grain. See how it casts the seed of light and health right away to +the distant suburbs! And yet, how singular! The rich districts on the +west seem steeped in a ruddy mist, whilst the good seed falls in golden +dust over the left bank and the populous districts eastward. It is there, +is it not, that the crop will spring up?" + +They had all drawn near, and were smiling at the symbol. As Marie had +said, it seemed indeed that while the sun slowly sank behind the lacework +of clouds, the sower of eternal life scattered his flaming seed with a +rhythmical swing of the arm, ever selecting the districts of toil and +effort. One dazzling handful of grain fell over yonder on the district of +the schools; and then yet another rained down to fertilise the district +of the factories and work-shops. + +"Ah! well," said Guillaume gaily. "May the crop soon sprout from the good +ground of our great Paris, which has been turned up by so many +revolutions, and enriched by the blood of so many workers! It is the only +ground in the world where Ideas can germinate and bloom. Yes, yes, Pierre +is quite right, it is the sun sowing Paris with the seed of the future +world, which can sprout only up here!" + +Then Thomas, Francois and Antoine, who stood behind their father in a +row, nodded as if to say that this was also their own conviction; whilst +Mere-Grand gazed afar with dreamy eyes as though she could already behold +the splendid future. + +"Ah! but it is only a dream; centuries must elapse. We shall never see +it!" murmured Pierre with a quiver. + +"But others will!" cried Marie. "And does not that suffice?" + +Those lofty words stirred Pierre to the depths of his being. And all at +once there came to him the memory of another Marie*--the adorable Marie +of his youth, that Marie de Guersaint who had been cured at Lourdes, and +the loss of whom had left such a void in his heart. Was that new Marie +who stood there smiling at him, so tranquil and so charming in her +strength, destined to heal that old-time wound? He felt that he was +beginning to live again since she had become his friend. + + * The heroine of M. Zola's "Lourdes." + +Meantime, there before them, the glorious sun, with the sweep of its +rays, was scattering living golden dust over Paris, still and ever sowing +the great future harvest of justice and of truth. + + + + +II. TOWARDS LIFE + +ONE evening, at the close of a good day's work, Pierre, who was helping +Thomas, suddenly caught his foot in the skirt of his cassock and narrowly +escaped falling. At this, Marie, after raising a faint cry of anxiety, +exclaimed: "Why don't you take it off?" + +There was no malice in her inquiry. She simply looked upon the priestly +robe as something too heavy and cumbersome, particularly when one had +certain work to perform. Nevertheless, her words deeply impressed Pierre, +and he could not forget them. When he was at home in the evening and +repeated them to himself they gradually threw him into feverish +agitation. Why, indeed, had he not divested himself of that cassock, +which weighed so heavily and painfully on his shoulders? Then a frightful +struggle began within him, and he spent a terrible, sleepless night, +again a prey to all his former torments. + +At first sight it seemed a very simple matter that he should cast his +priestly gown aside, for had he not ceased to discharge any priestly +office? He had not said mass for some time past, and this surely meant +renunciation of the priesthood. Nevertheless, so long as he retained his +gown it was possible that he might some day say mass again, whereas if he +cast it aside he would, as it were, strip himself, quit the priesthood +entirely, without possibility of return. It was a terrible step to take, +one that would prove irrevocable; and thus he paced his room for hours, +in great anguish of mind. + +He had formerly indulged in a superb dream. Whilst believing nothing +himself he had resolved to watch, in all loyalty, over the belief of +others. He would not so lower himself as to forswear his vows, he would +be no base renegade, but however great the torments of the void he felt +within him he would remain the minister of man's illusions respecting the +Divinity. And it was by reason of his conduct in this respect that he had +ended by being venerated as a saint--he who denied everything, who had +become a mere empty sepulchre. For a long time his falsehood had never +disturbed him, but it now brought him acute suffering. It seemed to him +that he would be acting in the vilest manner if he delayed placing his +life in accord with his opinions. The thought of it all quite rent his +heart. + +The question was a very clear one. By what right did he remain the +minister of a religion in which he no longer believed? Did not elementary +honesty require that he should quit a Church in which he denied the +presence of the Divinity? He regarded the dogmas of that Church as +puerile errors, and yet he persisted in teaching them as if they were +eternal truths. Base work it was, that alarmed his conscience. He vainly +sought the feverish glow of charity and martyrdom which had led him to +offer himself as a sacrifice, willing to suffer all the torture of doubt +and to find his own life lost and ravaged, provided that he might yet +afford the relief of hope to the lowly. Truth and nature, no doubt, had +already regained too much ascendancy over him for those feelings to +return. The thought of such a lying apostolate now wounded him; he no +longer had the hypocritical courage to call the Divinity down upon the +believers kneeling before him, when he was convinced that the Divinity +would not descend. Thus all the past was swept away; there remained +nothing of the sublime pastoral part he would once have liked to play, +that supreme gift of himself which lay in stubborn adherence to the rules +of the Church, and such devotion to faith as to endure in silence the +torture of having lost it. + +What must Marie think of his prolonged falsehood, he wondered, and +thereupon he seemed to hear her words again: "Why not take your cassock +off?" His conscience bled as if those words were a stab. What contempt +must she not feel for him, she who was so upright, so high-minded? Every +scattered blame, every covert criticism directed against his conduct, +seemed to find embodiment in her. It now sufficed that she should condemn +him, and he at once felt guilty. At the same time she had never voiced +her disapproval to him, in all probability because she did not think she +had any right to intervene in a struggle of conscience. The superb +calmness and healthiness which she displayed still astonished him. He +himself was ever haunted and tortured by thoughts of the unknown, of what +the morrow of death might have in store for one; but although he had +studied and watched her for days together, he had never seen her give a +sign of doubt or distress. This exemption from such sufferings as his own +was due, said she, to the fact that she gave all her gaiety, all her +energy, all her sense of duty, to the task of living, in such wise that +life itself proved a sufficiency, and no time was left for mere fancies +to terrify and stultify her. Well, then, since she with her air of quiet +strength had asked him why he did not take off his cassock, he would take +it off--yes, he would divest himself of that robe which seemed to burn +and weigh him down. + +He fancied himself calmed by this decision, and towards morning threw +himself upon his bed; but all at once a stifling sensation, a renewal of +his abominable anguish, brought him to his feet again. No, no, he could +not divest himself of that gown which clung so tightly to his flesh. His +skin would come away with his cloth, his whole being would be lacerated! +Is not the mark of priesthood an indelible one, does it not brand the +priest for ever, and differentiate him from the flock? Even should he +tear off his gown with his skin, he would remain a priest, an object of +scandal and shame, awkward and impotent, shut off from the life of other +men. And so why tear it off, since he would still and ever remain in +prison, and a fruitful life of work in the broad sunlight was no longer +within his reach? He, indeed, fancied himself irremediably stricken with +impotence. Thus he was unable to come to any decision, and when he +returned to Montmartre two days later he had again relapsed into a state +of torment. + +Feverishness, moreover, had come upon the happy home. Guillaume was +becoming more and more annoyed about Salvat's affair, not a day elapsing +without the newspapers fanning his irritation. He had at first been +deeply touched by the dignified and reticent bearing of Salvat, who had +declared that he had no accomplices whatever. Of course the inquiry into +the crime was what is called a secret one; but magistrate Amadieu, to +whom it had been entrusted, conducted it in a very noisy way. The +newspapers, which he in some degree took into his confidence, were full +of articles and paragraphs about him and his interviews with the +prisoner. Thanks to Salvat's quiet admissions, Amadieu had been able to +retrace the history of the crime hour by hour, his only remaining doubts +having reference to the nature of the powder which had been employed, and +the making of the bomb itself. It might after all be true that Salvat had +loaded the bomb at a friend's, as he indeed asserted was the case; but he +must be lying when he added that the only explosive used was dynamite, +derived from some stolen cartridges, for all the experts now declared +that dynamite would never have produced such effects as those which had +been witnessed. This, then, was the mysterious point which protracted the +investigations. And day by day the newspapers profited by it to circulate +the wildest stories under sensational headings, which were specially +devised for the purpose of sending up their sales. + +It was all the nonsense contained in these stories that fanned +Guillaume's irritation. In spite of his contempt for Sagnier he could not +keep from buying the "Voix du Peuple." Quivering with indignation, +growing more and more exasperated, he was somehow attracted by the mire +which he found in that scurrilous journal. Moreover, the other +newspapers, including even the "Globe," which was usually so dignified, +published all sorts of statements for which no proof could be supplied, +and drew from them remarks and conclusions which, though couched in +milder language than Sagnier's, were none the less abominably unjust. It +seemed indeed as if the whole press had set itself the task of covering +Salvat with mud, so as to be able to vilify Anarchism generally. +According to the journalists the prisoner's life had simply been one long +abomination. He had already earned his living by thievery in his +childhood at the time when he had roamed the streets, an unhappy, +forsaken vagrant; and later on he had proved a bad soldier and a bad +worker. He had been punished for insubordination whilst he was in the +army, and he had been dismissed from a dozen work-shops because he +incessantly disturbed them by his Anarchical propaganda. Later still, he +had fled his country and led a suspicious life of adventure in America, +where, it was alleged, he must have committed all sorts of unknown +crimes. Moreover there was his horrible immorality, his connection with +his sister-in-law, that Madame Theodore who had taken charge of his +forsaken child in his absence, and with whom he had cohabited since his +return to France. In this wise Salvat's failings and transgressions were +pitilessly denounced and magnified without any mention of the causes +which had induced them, or of the excuses which lay in the unhappy man's +degrading environment. And so Guillaume's feelings of humanity and +justice revolted, for he knew the real Salvat,--a man of tender heart and +dreamy mind, so liable to be impassioned by fancies,--a man cast into +life when a child without weapon of defence, ever trodden down or thrust +aside, then gradually exasperated by the perpetual onslaughts of want, +and at last dreaming of reviving the golden age by destroying the old, +corrupt world. + +Unfortunately for Salvat, everything had gone against him since he had +been shut up in strict confinement, at the mercy of the ambitious and +worldly Amadieu. Guillaume had learnt from his son, Thomas, that the +prisoner could count on no support whatever among his former mates at the +Grandidier works. These works were becoming prosperous once more, thanks +to their steady output of bicycles; and it was said that Grandidier was +only waiting for Thomas to perfect his little motor, in order to start +the manufacture of motor-cars on a large scale. However, the success +which he was now for the first time achieving, and which scarcely repaid +him for all his years of toil and battle, had in certain respects +rendered him prudent and even severe. He did not wish any suspicion to be +cast upon his business through the unpleasant affair of his former +workman Salvat, and so he had dismissed such of his workmen as held +Anarchist views. If he had kept the two Toussaints, one of whom was the +prisoner's brother-in-law, while the other was suspected of sympathy with +him, this was because they had belonged to the works for a score of +years, and he did not like to cast them adrift. Moreover, Toussaint, the +father, had declared that if he were called as a witness for the defence, +he should simply give such particulars of Salvat's career as related to +the prisoner's marriage with his sister. + +One evening when Thomas came home from the works, to which he returned +every now and then in order to try his little motor, he related that he +had that day seen Madame Grandidier, the poor young woman who had become +insane through an attack of puerperal fever following upon the death of a +child. Although most frightful attacks of madness occasionally came over +her, and although life beside her was extremely painful, even during the +intervals when she remained downcast and gentle as a child, her husband +had never been willing to send her to an asylum. He kept her with him in +a pavilion near the works, and as a rule the shutters of the windows +overlooking the yard remained closed. Thus Thomas had been greatly +surprised to see one of these windows open, and the young woman appear at +it amidst the bright sunshine of that early spring. True, she only +remained there for a moment, vision-like, fair and pretty, with smiling +face; for a servant who suddenly drew near closed the window, and the +pavilion then again sank into lifeless silence. At the same time it was +reported among the men employed at the works that the poor creature had +not experienced an attack for well-nigh a month past, and that this was +the reason why the "governor" looked so strong and pleased, and worked so +vigorously to help on the increasing prosperity of his business. + +"He isn't a bad fellow," added Thomas, "but with the terrible competition +that he has to encounter, he is bent on keeping his men under control. +Nowadays, says he, when so many capitalists and wage earners seem bent on +exterminating one another, the latter--if they don't want to +starve--ought to be well pleased when capital falls into the hands of an +active, fair-minded man.... If he shows no pity for Salvat, it is +because he really believes in the necessity of an example." + +That same day Thomas, after leaving the works and while threading his way +through the toilsome hive-like Marcadet district, had overtaken Madame +Theodore and little Celine, who were wandering on in great distress. It +appeared that they had just called upon Toussaint, who had been unable to +lend them even such a trifle as ten sous. Since Salvat's arrest, the +woman and the child had been forsaken and suspected by one and all. +Driven forth from their wretched lodging, they were without food and +wandered hither and thither dependent on chance alms. Never had greater +want and misery fallen on defenceless creatures. + +"I told them to come up here, father," said Thomas, "for I thought that +one might pay their landlord a month's rent, so that they might go home +again.... Ah! there's somebody coming now--it's they, no doubt." + +Guillaume had felt angry with himself whilst listening to his son, for he +had not thought of the poor creatures. It was the old story: the man +disappears, and the woman and the child find themselves in the streets, +starving. Whenever Justice strikes a man her blow travels beyond him, +fells innocent beings and kills them. + +Madame Theodore came in, humble and timid, scared like a luckless +creature whom life never wearies of persecuting. She was becoming almost +blind, and little Celine had to lead her. The girl's fair, thin face wore +its wonted expression of shrewd intelligence, and even now, however +woeful her rags, it was occasionally brightened by a childish smile. + +Pierre and Marie, who were both there, felt extremely touched. Near them +was Madame Mathis, young Victor's mother, who had come to help Mere-Grand +with the mending of some house-linen. She went out by the day in this +fashion among a few families, and was thus enabled to give her son an +occasional franc or two. Guillaume alone questioned Madame Theodore. + +"Ah! monsieur," she stammered, "who could ever have thought Salvat +capable of such a thing, he who's so good and so humane? Still it's true, +since he himself has admitted it to the magistrate.... For my part I +told everybody that he was in Belgium. I wasn't quite sure of it, still +I'm glad that he didn't come back to see us; for if he had been arrested +at our place I should have lost my senses.... Well, now that they have +him, they'll sentence him to death, that's certain." + +At this Celine, who had been looking around her with an air of interest, +piteously exclaimed: "Oh! no, oh! no, mamma, they won't hurt him!" + +Big tears appeared in the child's eyes as she raised this cry. Guillaume +kissed her, and then went on questioning Madame Theodore. + +"Well, monsieur," she answered, "the child's not old or big enough to +work as yet, and my eyes are done for, people won't even take me as a +charwoman. And so it's simple enough, we starve.... Oh! of course I'm +not without relations; I have a sister who married very well. Her husband +is a clerk, Monsieur Chretiennot, perhaps you know him. Unfortunately +he's rather proud, and as I don't want any scenes between him and my +sister, I no longer go to see her. Besides, she's in despair just now, +for she's expecting another baby, which is a terrible blow for a small +household, when one already has two girls.... That's why the only +person I can apply to is my brother Toussaint. His wife isn't a bad sort +by any means, but she's no longer the same since she's been living in +fear of her husband having another attack. The first one carried off all +her savings, and what would become of her if Toussaint should remain on +her hands, paralysed? Besides, she's threatened with another burden, for, +as you may know, her son Charles got keeping company with a servant at a +wine shop, who of course ran away after she had a baby, which she left +him to see to. So one can understand that the Toussaints themselves are +hard put. I don't complain of them. They've already lent me a little +money, and of course they can't go on lending for ever." + +She continued talking in this spiritless, resigned way, complaining only +on account of Celine; for, said she, it was enough to make one's heart +break to see such an intelligent child obliged to tramp the streets after +getting on so well at the Communal School. She could feel too that +everybody now kept aloof from them on account of Salvat. The Toussaints +didn't want to be compromised in any such business. There was only +Charles, who had said that he could well understand a man losing his head +and trying to blow up the _bourgeois_, because they really treated the +workers in a blackguard way. + +"For my part, monsieur," added Madame Theodore, "I say nothing, for I'm +only a woman. All the same, though, if you'd like to know what I think, +well, I think that it would have been better if Salvat hadn't done what +he did, for we two, the girl and I, are the real ones to suffer from it. +Ah! I can't get the idea into my head, that the little one should be the +daughter of a man condemned to death." + +Once more Celine interrupted her, flinging her arms around her neck: "Oh! +mamma, oh! mamma, don't say that, I beg you! It can't be true, it grieves +me too much!" + +At this Pierre and Marie exchanged compassionate glances, while +Mere-Grand rose from her chair, in order to go upstairs and search her +wardrobes for some articles of clothing which might be of use to the two +poor creatures. Guillaume, who, for his part, had been moved to tears, +and felt full of revolt against the social system which rendered such +distress possible, slipped some alms into the child's little hand, and +promised Madame Theodore that he would see her landlord so as to get her +back her room. + +"Ah! Monsieur Froment!" replied the unfortunate woman. "Salvat was quite +right when he said you were a real good man! And as you employed him here +for a few days you know too that he isn't a wicked one.... Now that +he's been put in prison everybody calls him a brigand, and it breaks my +heart to hear them." Then, turning towards Madame Mathis, who had +continued sewing in discreet silence, like a respectable woman whom none +of these things could concern, she went on: "I know you, madame, but I'm +better acquainted with your son, Monsieur Victor, who has often come to +chat at our place. Oh! you needn't be afraid, I shan't say it, I shall +never compromise anybody; but if Monsieur Victor were free to speak, he'd +be the man to explain Salvat's ideas properly." + +Madame Mathis looked at her in stupefaction. Ignorant as she was of her +son's real life and views, she experienced a vague dread at the idea of +any connection between him and Salvat's family. Moreover, she refused to +believe it possible. "Oh! you must be mistaken," she said. "Victor told +me that he now seldom came to Montmartre, as he was always going about in +search of work." + +By the anxious quiver of the widow's voice, Madame Theodore understood +that she ought not to have mixed her up in her troubles; and so in all +humility she at once beat a retreat: "I beg your pardon, madame, I didn't +think I should hurt your feelings. Perhaps, too, I'm mistaken, as you +say." + +Madame Mathis had again turned to her sewing as to the solitude in which +she lived, that nook of decent misery where she dwelt without +companionship and almost unknown, with scarcely sufficient bread to eat. +Ah! that dear son of hers, whom she loved so well; however much he might +neglect her, she had placed her only remaining hope in him: he was her +last dream, and would some day lavish all kinds of happiness upon her! + +At that moment Mere-Grand came downstairs again, laden with a bundle of +linen and woollen clothing, and Madame Theodore and little Celine +withdrew while pouring forth their thanks. For a long time after they had +gone Guillaume, unable to resume work, continued walking to and fro in +silence, with a frown upon his face. + +When Pierre, still hesitating and still tortured by conflicting feelings, +returned to Montmartre on the following day he witnessed with much +surprise a visit of a very different kind. There was a sudden gust of +wind, a whirl of skirts and a ring of laughter as little Princess +Rosemonde swept in, followed by young Hyacinthe Duvillard, who, on his +side, retained a very frigid bearing. + +"It's I, my dear master," exclaimed the Princess. "I promised you a +visit, you remember, for I am such a great admirer of your genius. And +our young friend here has been kind enough to bring me. We have only just +returned from Norway, and my very first visit is for you." + +She turned as she spoke, and bowed in an easy and gracious way to Pierre +and Marie, Francois and Antoine, who were also there. Then she resumed: +"Oh! my dear master, you have no idea how beautifully virginal Norway is! +We all ought to go and drink at that new source of the Ideal, and we +should return purified, rejuvenated and capable of great renunciations!" + +As a matter of fact she had been well-nigh bored to death there. To make +one's honeymoon journey to the land of the ice and snow, instead of to +Italy, the hot land of the sun, was doubtless a very refined idea, which +showed that no base materialism formed part of one's affections. It was +the soul alone that travelled, and naturally it was fit that only kisses +of the soul should be exchanged on the journey. Unfortunately, however, +Hyacinthe had carried his symbolism so far as to exasperate Rosemonde, +and on one occasion they had come to blows over it, and then to tears +when this lover's quarrel had ended as many such quarrels do. Briefly, +they had no longer deemed themselves pure enough for the companionship of +the swans and the lakes of dreamland, and had therefore taken the first +steamer that was sailing for France. + +As it was altogether unnecessary to confess to everybody what a failure +their journey had proved, the Princess abruptly brought her rapturous +references to Norway to an end, and then explained: "By the way, do you +know what I found awaiting me on my return? Why, I found my house +pillaged, oh! completely pillaged! And in such a filthy condition, too! +We at once recognised the mark of the beast, and thought of Bergaz's +young friends." + +Already on the previous day Guillaume had read in the newspapers that a +band of young Anarchists had entered the Princess's little house by +breaking a basement window. She had left it quite deserted, unprotected +even by a caretaker; and the robbers had not merely removed everything +from the premises--including even the larger articles of furniture, but +had lived there for a couple of days, bringing provisions in from +outside, drinking all the wine in the cellars, and leaving every room in +a most filthy and disgusting condition. On discovering all this, +Rosemonde had immediately remembered the evening she had spent at the +Chamber of Horrors in the company of Bergaz and his acolytes, Rossi and +Sanfaute, who had heard her speak of her intended trip to Norway. The two +young men had therefore been arrested, but Bergaz had so far escaped. The +Princess was not greatly astonished by it all, for she had already been +warned of the presence of dangerous characters among the mixed +cosmopolitan set with which she associated. Janzen had told her in +confidence of a number of villanous affairs which were attributed to +Bergaz and his band. And now the Anarchist leader openly declared that +Bergaz had sold himself to the police like Raphanel; and that the +burglary at the Princess's residence had been planned by the police +officials, who thereby hoped to cover the Anarchist cause with mire. If +proof was wanted of this, added Janzen, it could be found in the fact +that the police had allowed Bergaz to escape. + +"I fancied that the newspapers might have exaggerated matters," said +Guillaume, when the Princess had finished her story. "They are inventing +such abominable things just now, in order to blacken the case of that +poor devil Salvat." + +"Oh! they've exaggerated nothing!" Rosemonde gaily rejoined. "As a matter +of fact they have omitted a number of particulars which were too filthy +for publication.... For my part, I've merely had to go to an hotel. +I'm very comfortable there; I was beginning to feel bored in that house +of mine.... All the same, however, Anarchism is hardly a clean +business, and I no longer like to say that I have any connection with +it." + +She again laughed, and then passed to another subject, asking Guillaume +to tell her of his most recent researches, in order, no doubt, that she +might show she knew enough chemistry to understand him. He had been +rendered thoughtful, however, by the story of Bergaz and the burglary, +and would only answer her in a general way. + +Meantime, Hyacinthe was renewing his acquaintance with his +school-fellows, Francois and Antoine. He had accompanied the Princess to +Montmartre against his own inclinations; but since she had taken to +whipping him he had become afraid of her. The chemist's little home +filled him with disdain, particularly as the chemist was a man of +questionable reputation. Moreover, he thought it a duty to insist on his +own superiority in the presence of those old school-fellows of his, whom +he found toiling away in the common rut, like other people. + +"Ah! yes," said he to Francois, who was taking notes from a book spread +open before him, "you are at the Ecole Normale, I believe, and are +preparing for your licentiate. Well, for my part, you know, the idea of +being tied to anything horrifies me. I become quite stupid when there's +any question of examination or competition. The only possible road for +one to follow is that of the Infinite. And between ourselves what dupery +there is in science, how it narrows our horizon! It's just as well to +remain a child with eyes gazing into the invisible. A child knows more +than all your learned men." + +Francois, who occasionally indulged in irony, pretended to share his +opinion. "No doubt, no doubt," said he, "but one must have a natural +disposition to remain a child. For my part, unhappily, I'm consumed by a +desire to learn and know. It's deplorable, as I'm well aware, but I pass +my days racking my brain over books.... I shall never know very much, +that's certain; and perhaps that's the reason why I'm ever striving to +learn a little more. You must at all events grant that work, like +idleness, is a means of passing life, though of course it is a less +elegant and aesthetic one." + +"Less aesthetic, precisely," rejoined Hyacinthe. "Beauty lies solely in +the unexpressed, and life is simply degraded when one introduces anything +material into it." + +Simpleton though he was in spite of the enormity of his pretensions, he +doubtless detected that Francois had been speaking ironically. So he +turned to Antoine, who had remained seated in front of a block he was +engraving. It was the one which represented Lise reading in her garden, +for he was ever taking it in hand again and touching it up in his desire +to emphasise his indication of the girl's awakening to intelligence and +life. + +"So you engrave, I see," said Hyacinthe. "Well, since I renounced +versification--a little poem I had begun on the End of Woman--because +words seemed to me so gross and cumbersome, mere paving-stones as it +were, fit for labourers, I myself have had some idea of trying drawing, +and perhaps engraving too. But what drawing can portray the mystery which +lies beyond life, the only sphere that has any real existence and +importance for us? With what pencil and on what kind of plate could one +depict it? We should need something impalpable, something unheard of, +which would merely suggest the essence of things and beings." + +"But it's only by material means," Antoine somewhat roughly replied, +"that art can render the essence of things and beings, that is, their +full significance as we understand it. To transcribe life is my great +passion; and briefly life is the only mystery that there is in things and +beings. When it seems to me that an engraving of mine lives, I'm well +pleased, for I feel that I have created." + +Hyacinthe pouted by way of expressing his contempt of all fruitfulness. +Any fool might beget offspring. It was the sexless idea, existing by +itself, that was rare and exquisite. He tried to explain this, but became +confused, and fell back on the conviction which he had brought back from +Norway, that literature and art were done for in France, killed by +baseness and excess of production. + +"It's evident!" said Francois gaily by way of conclusion. "To do nothing +already shows that one has some talent!" + +Meantime, Pierre and Marie listened and gazed around them, somewhat +embarrassed by this strange visit which had set the usually grave and +peaceful workroom topsy-turvy. The little Princess, though, evinced much +amiability, and on drawing near to Marie admired the wonderful delicacy +of some embroidery she was finishing. Before leaving, moreover, Rosemonde +insisted upon Guillaume inscribing his autograph in an album which +Hyacinthe had to fetch from her carriage. The young man obeyed her with +evident boredom. It could be seen that they were already weary of one +another. Pending a fresh caprice, however, it amused Rosemonde to +terrorize her sorry victim. When she at length led him away, after +declaring to Guillaume that she should always regard that visit as a +memorable incident in her life, she made the whole household smile by +saying: "Oh! so your sons knew Hyacinthe at college. He's a good-natured +little fellow, isn't he? and he would really be quite nice if he would +only behave like other people." + +That same day Janzen and Bache came to spend the evening with Guillaume. +Once a week they now met at Montmartre, as they had formerly done at +Neuilly. Pierre, on these occasions, went home very late, for as soon as +Mere-Grand, Marie, and Guillaume's sons had retired for the night, there +were endless chats in the workroom, whence Paris could be seen spangled +with thousands of gas lights. Another visitor at these times was +Theophile Morin, but he did not arrive before ten o'clock, as he was +detained by the work of correcting his pupils' exercises or some other +wearisome labour pertaining to his profession. + +As soon as Guillaume had told the others of the Princess's visit that +afternoon, Janzen hastily exclaimed: "But she's mad, you know. When I +first met her I thought for a moment that I might perhaps utilise her for +the cause. She seemed so thoroughly convinced and bold! But I soon found +that she was the craziest of women, and simply hungered for new +emotions!" + +Janzen was at last emerging from his wonted frigidity and mysteriousness. +His cheeks were quite flushed. In all probability he had suffered from +his rupture with the woman whom he had once called 'the Queen of the +Anarchists,' and whose fortune and extensive circle of acquaintance had +seemed to him such powerful weapons of propaganda. + +"You know," said he, when he had calmed down, "it was the police who had +her house pillaged and turned into a pigstye. Yes, in view of Salvat's +trial, which is now near at hand, the idea was to damn Anarchism beyond +possibility of even the faintest sympathy on the part of the +_bourgeois_." + +"Yes, she told me so," replied Guillaume, who had become attentive. "But +I scarcely credit the story. If Bergaz had merely acted under such +influence as you suggest, he would have been arrested with the others, +just as Raphanel was taken with those whom he betrayed. Besides, I know +something of Bergaz; he's a freebooter." Guillaume made a sorrowful +gesture, and then in a saddened voice continued: "Oh, I can understand +all claims and all legitimate reprisals. But theft, cynical theft for the +purpose of profit and enjoyment, is beyond me! It lowers my hope of a +better and more equitable form of society. Yes, that burglary at the +Princess's house has greatly distressed me." + +An enigmatical smile, sharp like a knife, again played over Janzen's +lips. "Oh! it's a matter of heredity with you!" said he. "The centuries +of education and belief that lie behind you compel you to protest. All +the same, however, when people won't make restoration, things must be +taken from them. What worries me is that Bergaz should have sold himself +just now. The public prosecutor will use that farcical burglary as a +crushing argument when he asks the jury for Salvat's head." + +Such was Janzen's hatred of the police that he stubbornly clung to his +version of the affair. Perhaps, too, he had quarrelled with Bergaz, with +whom he had at one time freely associated. + +Guillaume, who understood that all discussion would be useless, contented +himself with replying: "Ah! yes, Salvat! Everything is against that +unhappy fellow, he is certain to be condemned. But you can't know, my +friends, what a passion that affair of his puts me into. All my ideas of +truth and justice revolt at the thought of it. He's a madman certainly; +but there are so many excuses to be urged for him. At bottom he is simply +a martyr who has followed the wrong track. And yet he has become the +scapegoat, laden with the crimes of the whole nation, condemned to pay +for one and all!" + +Bache and Morin nodded without replying. They both professed horror of +Anarchism; while Morin, forgetting that the word if not the thing dated +from his first master Proudhon, clung to his Comtist doctrines, in the +conviction that science alone would ensure the happiness and pacification +of the nations. Bache, for his part, old mystical humanitarian that he +was, claimed that the only solution would come from Fourier, who by +decreeing an alliance of talent, labour and capital, had mapped out the +future in a decisive manner. Nevertheless, both Bache and Morin were so +discontented with the slow-paced _bourgeoise_ Republic of the present +day, and so hurt by the thought that everything was going from bad to +worse through the flouting of their own particular ideas, that they were +quite willing to wax indignant at the manner in which the conflicting +parties of the time were striving to make use of Salvat in order to +retain or acquire power. + +"When one thinks," said Bache, "that this ministerial crisis of theirs +has now been lasting for nearly three weeks! Every appetite is openly +displayed, it's a most disgusting sight! Did you see in the papers this +morning that the President has again been obliged to summon Vignon to the +Elysee?" + +"Oh! the papers," muttered Morin in his weary way, "I no longer read +them! What's the use of doing so? They are so badly written, and they all +lie!" + +As Bache had said, the ministerial crisis was still dragging on. The +President of the Republic, taking as his guide the debate in the Chamber +of Deputies, by which the Barroux administration had been overthrown, had +very properly sent for Vignon, the victor on that occasion, and entrusted +him with the formation of a new ministry. It had seemed that this would +be an easy task, susceptible of accomplishment in two or three days at +the utmost, for the names of the friends whom the young leader of the +Radical party would bring to power with him had been freely mentioned for +months past. But all sorts of difficulties had suddenly arisen. For ten +days or so Vignon had struggled on amidst inextricable obstacles. Then, +disheartened and disgusted, fearing, too, that he might use himself up +and shut off the future if he persisted in his endeavours, he had been +obliged to tell the President that he renounced the task. Forthwith the +President had summoned other deputies, and questioned them until he had +found one brave enough to make an attempt on his own account; whereupon +incidents similar to those which had marked Vignon's endeavours had once +more occurred. At the outset a list was drawn up with every prospect of +being ratified within a few hours, but all at once hesitation arose, some +pulled one way, some another; every effort was slowly paralysed till +absolute failure resulted. It seemed as though the mysterious manoeuvres +which had hampered Vignon had begun again; it was as if some band of +invisible plotters was, for some unknown purpose, doing its utmost to +wreck every combination. A thousand hindrances arose with increasing +force from every side--jealousy, dislike, and even betrayal were secretly +prompted by expert agents, who employed every form of pressure, whether +threats or promises, besides fanning and casting rival passions and +interests into collision. Thus the President, greatly embarrassed by this +posture of affairs, had again found it necessary to summon Vignon, who, +after reflection and negotiation, now had an almost complete list in his +pocket, and seemed likely to perfect a new administration within the next +forty-eight hours. + +"Still it isn't settled," resumed Bache. "Well-informed people assert +that Vignon will fail again as he did the first time. For my part I can't +get rid of the idea that Duvillard's gang is pulling the strings, though +for whose benefit is a mystery. You may be quite sure, however, that its +chief purpose is to stifle the African Railways affair. If Monferrand +were not so badly compromised I should almost suspect some trick on his +part. Have you noticed that the 'Globe,' after throwing Barroux overboard +in all haste, now refers to Monferrand every day with the most respectful +sympathy? That's a grave sign; for it isn't Fonsegue's habit to show any +solicitude for the vanquished. But what can one expect from that wretched +Chamber! The only point certain is that something dirty is being plotted +there." + +"And that big dunderhead Mege who works for every party except his own!" +exclaimed Morin; "what a dupe he is with that idea that he need merely +overthrow first one cabinet and then another, in order to become the +leader of one himself!" + +The mention of Mege brought them all to agreement, for they unanimously +hated him. Bache, although his views coincided on many points with those +of the apostle of State Collectivism, judged each of his speeches, each +of his actions, with pitiless severity. Janzen, for his part, treated the +Collectivist leader as a mere reactionary _bourgeois_, who ought to be +swept away one of the first. This hatred of Mege was indeed the common +passion of Guillaume's friends. They could occasionally show some justice +for men who in no wise shared their ideas; but in their estimation it was +an unpardonable crime for anybody to hold much the same views as +themselves, without being absolutely in agreement with them on every +possible point. + +Their discussion continued, their various theories mingling or clashing +till they passed from politics to the press, and grew excited over the +denunciations which poured each morning from Sagnier's newspaper, like +filth from the mouth of a sewer. Thereupon Guillaume, who had become +absorbed in reverie while pacing to and fro according to his habit, +suddenly exclaimed: "Ah! what dirty work it is that Sagnier does! Before +long there won't be a single person, a single thing left on which he +hasn't vomited! You think he's on your side, and suddenly he splashes you +with mire!... By the way, he related yesterday that skeleton keys and +stolen purses were found on Salvat when he was arrested in the Bois de +Boulogne! It's always Salvat! He's the inexhaustible subject for +articles. The mere mention of him suffices to send up a paper's sales! +The bribe-takers of the African Railways shout 'Salvat!' to create a +diversion. And the battles which wreck ministers are waged round his +name. One and all set upon him and make use of him and beat him down!" + +With that cry of revolt and compassion, the friends separated for the +night. Pierre, who sat near the open window, overlooking the sparkling +immensity of Paris, had listened to the others without speaking a word. +He had once more been mastered by his doubts, the terrible struggle of +his heart and mind; and no solution, no appeasement had come to him from +all the contradictory views he had heard--the views of men who only +united in predicting the disappearance of the old world, and could make +no joint brotherly effort to rear the future world of truth and justice. +In that vast city of Paris stretching below him, spangled with stars, +glittering like the sky of a summer's night, Pierre also found a great +enigma. It was like chaos, like a dim expanse of ashes dotted with sparks +whence the coming aurora would arise. What future was being forged there, +he wondered, what decisive word of salvation and happiness would come +with the dawn, and wing its flight to every point of the horizon? + +When Pierre, in his turn, was about to retire, Guillaume laid his hands +upon his shoulders, and with much emotion gave him a long look. "Ah! my +poor fellow," said he, "you've been suffering too for some days past, I +have noticed it. But you are the master of your sufferings, for the +struggle you have to overcome is simply in yourself, and you can subdue +it; whereas one cannot subdue the world, when it is the world, its +cruelty and injustice that make one suffer! Good night, be brave, act as +your reason tells you, even if it makes you weep, and you will find peace +surely enough." + +Later on, when Pierre again found himself alone in his little house at +Neuilly, where none now visited him save the shades of his father and +mother, he was long kept awake by a supreme internal combat. He had never +before felt so disgusted with the falsehood of his life, that cassock +which he had persisted in wearing, though he was a priest in name only. +Perhaps it was all that he had beheld and heard at his brother's, the +want and wretchedness of some, the wild, futile agitation of others, the +need of improvement among mankind which remained paramount amidst every +contradiction and form of weakness, that had made him more deeply +conscious of the necessity of living in loyal and normal fashion in the +broad daylight. He could no longer think of his former dream of leading +the solitary life of a saintly priest when he was nothing of the kind, +without a shiver of shame at having lied so long. And now it was quite +decided, he would lie no longer, not even from feelings of compassion in +order that others might retain their religious illusions. And yet how +painful it was to have to divest himself of that gown which seemed to +cling to his skin, and how heartrending the thought that if he did remove +it he would be skinless, lacerated, infirm, unable, do what he might, to +become like other men! + +It was this recurring thought which again tortured him throughout that +terrible night. Would life yet allow him to enter its fold? Had he not +been branded with a mark which for ever condemned him to dwell apart? He +thought he could feel his priestly vows burning his very flesh like +red-hot iron. What use would it be for him to dress as men dress, if in +reality he was never to be a man? He had hitherto lived in such a +quivering state, in a sphere of renunciation and dreams! To know manhood +never, to be too late for it, that thought filled him with terror. And +when at last he made up his mind to fling aside his cassock, he did so +from a simple sense of rectitude, for all his anguish remained. + +When he returned to Montmartre on the following day, he wore a jacket and +trousers of a dark colour. Neither an exclamation nor a glance that might +have embarrassed him came from Mere-Grand or the three young men. Was not +the change a natural one? They greeted him therefore in the quiet way +that was usual with them; perhaps, with some increase of affection, as if +to set him the more at his ease. Guillaume, however, ventured to smile +good-naturedly. In that change he detected his own work. Cure was coming, +as he had hoped it would come, by him and in his own home, amid the full +sunlight, the life which ever streamed in through yonder window. + +Marie, who on her side raised her eyes and looked at Pierre, knew nothing +of the sufferings which he had endured through her simple and logical +inquiry: "Why not take your cassock off?" She merely felt that by +removing it he would be more at ease for his work. + +"Oh, Pierre, just come and look!" she suddenly exclaimed. "I have been +amusing myself with watching all the smoke which the wind is laying +yonder over Paris. One might take it to be a huge fleet of ships shining +in the sunlight. Yes, yes, golden ships, thousands of golden ships, +setting forth from the ocean of Paris to enlighten and pacify the world!" + + + + +III. THE DAWN OF LOVE + +A COUPLE of days afterwards, when Pierre was already growing accustomed +to his new attire, and no longer gave it a thought, it so happened that +on reaching Montmartre he encountered Abbe Rose outside the basilica of +the Sacred Heart. The old priest, who at first was quite thunderstruck +and scarcely able to recognise him, ended by taking hold of his hands and +giving him a long look. Then with his eyes full of tears he exclaimed: +"Oh! my son, so you have fallen into the awful state I feared! I never +mentioned it, but I felt that God had withdrawn from you. Ah! nothing +could wound my heart so cruelly as this." + +Then, still trembling, he began to lead Pierre away as if to hide such a +scandal from the few people who passed by; and at last, his strength +failing him, he sank upon a heap of bricks lying on the grass of one of +the adjoining work-yards. + +The sincere grief which his old and affectionate friend displayed upset +Pierre far more than any angry reproaches or curses would have done. +Tears had come to his own eyes, so acute was the suffering he experienced +at this meeting, which he ought, however, to have foreseen. There was yet +another wrenching, and one which made the best of their blood flow, in +that rupture between Pierre and the saintly man whose charitable dreams +and hopes of salvation he had so long shared. There had been so many +divine illusions, so many struggles for the relief of the masses, so much +renunciation and forgiveness practised in common between them in their +desire to hasten the harvest of the future! And now they were parting; +he, Pierre, still young in years, was returning to life, leaving his aged +companion to his vain waiting and his dreams. + +In his turn, taking hold of Abbe Rose's hands, he gave expression to his +sorrow. "Ah, my friend, my father," said he, "it is you alone that I +regret losing, now that I am leaving my frightful torments behind. I +thought that I was cured of them, but it has been sufficient for me to +meet you, and my heart is rent again.... Don't weep for me, I pray +you, don't reproach me for what I have done. It was necessary that I +should do it. If I had consulted you, you would yourself have told me +that it was better to renounce the priesthood than to remain a priest +without faith or honour." + +"Yes, yes," Abbe Rose gently responded, "you no longer had any faith +left. I suspected it. And your rigidity and saintliness of life, in which +I detected such great despair, made me anxious for you. How many hours +did I not spend at times in striving to calm you! And you must listen to +me again, you must still let me save you. I am not a sufficiently learned +theologian to lead you back by discussing texts and dogmas; but in the +name of Charity, my child, yes, in the name of Charity alone, reflect and +take up your task of consolation and hope once more." + +Pierre had sat down beside Abbe Rose, in that deserted nook, at the very +foot of the basilica. "Charity! charity!" he replied in passionate +accents; "why, it is its nothingness and bankruptcy that have killed the +priest there was in me. How can you believe that benevolence is +sufficient, when you have spent your whole life in practising it without +any other result than that of seeing want perpetuated and even increased, +and without any possibility of naming the day when such abomination shall +cease?... You think of the reward after death, do you not? The justice +that is to reign in heaven? But that is not justice, it is dupery--dupery +that has brought the world nothing but suffering for centuries past." + +Then he reminded the old priest of their life in the Charonne district, +when they had gone about together succouring children in the streets and +parents in their hovels; the whole of those admirable efforts which, so +far as Abbe Rose was concerned, had simply ended in blame from his +superiors, and removal from proximity to his poor, under penalty of more +severe punishment should he persist in compromising religion by the +practice of blind benevolence without reason or object. And now, was he +not, so to say, submerged beneath the ever-rising tide of want, aware +that he would never, never be able to give enough even should he dispose +of millions, and that he could only prolong the agony of the poor, who, +even should they eat today, would starve again on the morrow? Thus he was +powerless. The wound which he tried to dress and heal, immediately +reopened and spread, in such wise that all society would at last be +stricken and carried off by it. + +Quivering as he listened, and slowly shaking his white head, the old +priest ended by replying: "that does that matter, my child? what does +that matter? One must give, always give, give in spite of everything! +There is no other joy on earth.... If dogmas worry you, content +yourself with the Gospel, and even of that retain merely the promise of +salvation through charity." + +But at this Pierre's feelings revolted. He forgot that he was speaking to +one of simple mind, who was all love and nothing else, and could +therefore not follow him. "The trial has been made," he answered, "human +salvation cannot be effected by charity, nothing but justice can +accomplish it. That is the gathering cry which is going up from every +nation. For nearly two thousand years now the Gospel has proved a +failure. There has been no redemption; the sufferings of mankind are +every whit as great and unjust as they were when Jesus came. And thus the +Gospel is now but an abolished code, from which society can only draw +things that are troublous and hurtful. Men must free themselves from it." + +This was his final conviction. How strange the idea, thought he, of +choosing as the world's social legislator one who lived, as Jesus lived, +amidst a social system absolutely different from that of nowadays. The +age was different, the very world was different. And if it were merely a +question of retaining only such of the moral teaching of Jesus as seemed +human and eternal, was there not again a danger in applying immutable +principles to the society of every age? No society could live under the +strict law of the Gospel. Was not all order, all labour, all life +destroyed by the teaching of Jesus? Did He not deny woman, the earth, +eternal nature and the eternal fruitfulness of things and beings? +Moreover, Catholicism had reared upon His primitive teaching such a +frightful edifice of terror and oppression. The theory of original sin, +that terrible heredity reviving with each creature born into the world, +made no allowance as Science does for the corrective influences of +education, circumstances and environment. There could be no more +pessimist conception of man than this one which devotes him to the Devil +from the instant of his birth, and pictures him as struggling against +himself until the instant of his death. An impossible and absurd +struggle, for it is a question of changing man in his entirety, killing +the flesh, killing reason, destroying some guilty energy in each and +every passion, and of pursuing the Devil to the very depths of the +waters, mountains and forests, there to annihilate him with the very sap +of the world. If this theory is accepted the world is but sin, a mere +Hell of temptation and suffering, through which one must pass in order to +merit Heaven. Ah! what an admirable instrument for absolute despotism is +that religion of death, which the principle of charity alone has enabled +men to tolerate, but which the need of justice will perforce sweep away. +The poor man, who is the wretched dupe of it all, no longer believes in +Paradise, but requires that each and all should be rewarded according to +their deserts upon this earth; and thus eternal life becomes the good +goddess, and desire and labour the very laws of the world, while the +fruitfulness of woman is again honoured, and the idiotic nightmare of +Hell is replaced by glorious Nature whose travail knows no end. Leaning +upon modern Science, clear Latin reason sweeps away the ancient Semitic +conception of the Gospel. + +"For eighteen hundred years," concluded Pierre, "Christianity has been +hampering the march of mankind towards truth and justice. And mankind +will only resume its evolution on the day when it abolishes Christianity, +and places the Gospel among the works of the wise, without taking it any +longer as its absolute and final law." + +But Abbe Rose raised his trembling hands: "Be quiet, be quiet, my child!" +he cried; "you are blaspheming! I knew that doubt distracted you; but I +thought you so patient, so able to bear suffering, that I relied on your +spirit of renunciation and resignation. What can have happened to make +you leave the Church in this abrupt and violent fashion? I no longer +recognise you. Sudden passion has sprung up in you, an invincible force +seems to carry you away. What is it? Who has changed you, tell me?" + +Pierre listened in astonishment. "No," said he, "I assure you, I am such +as you have known me, and in all this there is but an inevitable result +and finish. Who could have influenced me, since nobody has entered my +life? What new feeling could transform me, since I find none in me? I am +the same as before, the same assuredly." + +Still there was a touch of hesitation in his voice. Was it really true +that there had been no change within him? He again questioned himself, +and there came no clear answer; decidedly, he would find nothing. It was +all but a delightful awakening, an overpowering desire for life, a +longing to open his arms widely enough to embrace everyone and +everything indeed, a breeze of joy seemed to raise him from the ground +and carry him along. + +Although Abbe Rose was too innocent of heart to understand things +clearly, he again shook his head and thought of the snares which the +Devil is ever setting for men. He was quite overwhelmed by Pierre's +defection. Continuing his efforts to win him back, he made the mistake of +advising him to consult Monseigneur Martha, for he hoped that a prelate +of such high authority would find the words necessary to restore him to +his faith. Pierre, however, boldly replied that if he was leaving the +Church it was partly because it comprised such a man as Martha, such an +artisan of deception and despotism, one who turned religion into corrupt +diplomacy, and dreamt of winning men back to God by dint of ruses. +Thereupon Abbe Rose, rising to his feet, could find no other argument in +his despair than that of pointing to the basilica which stood beside +them, square, huge and massive, and still waiting for its dome. + +"That is God's abode, my child," said he, "the edifice of expiation and +triumph, of penitence and forgiveness. You have said mass in it, and now +you are leaving it sacrilegiously and forswearing yourself!" + +But Pierre also had risen; and buoyed up by a sudden rush of health and +strength he answered: "No, no! I am leaving it willingly, as one leaves a +dark vault, to return into the open air and the broad sunlight. God does +not dwell there; the only purpose of that huge edifice is to defy reason, +truth and justice; it has been erected on the highest spot that could be +found, like a citadel of error that dominates, insults and threatens +Paris!" + +Then seeing that the old priest's eyes were again filling with tears, and +feeling on his own side so pained by their rupture that he began to sob, +Pierre wished to go away. "Farewell! farewell!" he stammered. + +But Abbe Rose caught him in his arms and kissed him, as if he were a +rebellious son who yet had remained the dearest. "No, not farewell, not +farewell, my child," he answered; "say rather till we meet again. Promise +me that we shall see each other again, at least among those who starve +and weep. It is all very well for you to think that charity has become +bankrupt, but shall we not always love one another in loving our poor?" + +Then they parted. + +On becoming the companion of his three big nephews, Pierre had in a few +lessons learnt from them how to ride a bicycle, in order that he might +occasionally accompany them on their morning excursions. He went twice +with them and Marie along the somewhat roughly paved roads in the +direction of the Lake of Enghien. Then one morning when the young woman +had promised to take him and Antoine as far as the forest of +Saint-Germain, it was found at the last moment that Antoine could not +come. Marie was already dressed in a chemisette of fawn-coloured silk, +and a little jacket and "rationals" of black serge, and it was such a +warm, bright April day that she was not inclined to renounce her trip. + +"Well, so much the worse!" she gaily said to Pierre, "I shall take you +with me, there will only be the pair of us. I really want you to see how +delightful it is to bowl over a good road between the beautiful trees." + +However, as Pierre was not yet a very expert rider, they decided that +they would take the train as far as Maisons-Laffitte, whence they would +proceed on their bicycles to the forest, cross it in the direction of +Saint-Germain, and afterwards return to Paris by train. + +"You will be here for _dejeuner_, won't you?" asked Guillaume, whom this +freak amused, and who looked with a smile at his brother. The latter, +like Marie, was in black: jacket, breeches and stockings all of the same +hue. + +"Oh, certainly!" replied Marie. "It's now barely eight o'clock, so we +have plenty of time. Still you need not wait for us, you know, we shall +always find our way back." + +It was a delightful morning. When they started, Pierre could fancy +himself with a friend of his own sex, so that this trip together through +the warm sunlight seemed quite natural. Doubtless their costumes, which +were so much alike, conduced to the gay brotherly feeling he experienced. +But beyond all this there was the healthfulness of the open air, the +delight which exercise brings, the pleasure of roaming in all freedom +through the midst of nature. + +On taking the train they found themselves alone in a compartment, and +Marie once more began to talk of her college days. "Ah! you've no idea," +said she, "what fine games at baseball we used to have at Fenelon! We +used to tie up our skirts with string so as to run the better, for we +were not allowed to wear rationals like I'm wearing now. And there were +shrieks, and rushes, and pushes, till our hair waved about and we were +quite red with exercise and excitement. Still that didn't prevent us from +working in the class-rooms. On the contrary! Directly we were at study we +fought again, each striving to learn the most and reach the top of the +class!" + +She laughed gaily as she thus recalled her school life, and Pierre +glanced at her with candid admiration, so pink and healthy did she look +under her little hat of black felt, which a long silver pin kept in +position. Her fine dark hair was caught up behind, showing her neck, +which looked as fresh and delicate as a child's. And never before had she +seemed to him so supple and so strong. + +"Ah," she continued in a jesting way, "there is nothing like rationals, +you know! To think that some women are foolish and obstinate enough to +wear skirts when they go out cycling!" + +Then, as he declared--just by way of speaking the truth, and without the +faintest idea of gallantry--that she looked very nice indeed in her +costume, she responded: "Oh! I don't count. I'm not a beauty. I simply +enjoy good health.... But can you understand it? To think that women +have an unique opportunity of putting themselves at their ease, and +releasing their limbs from prison, and yet they won't do so! If they +think that they look the prettier in short skirts like schoolgirls they +are vastly mistaken! And as for any question of modesty, well, it seems +to me that it is infinitely less objectionable for women to wear +rationals than to bare their bosoms at balls and theatres and dinners as +society ladies do." Then, with a gesture of girlish impulsiveness, she +added: "Besides, does one think of such things when one's rolling along? +... Yes, rationals are the only things, skirts are rank heresy!" + +In her turn, she was now looking at him, and was struck by the +extraordinary change which had come over him since the day when he had +first appeared to her, so sombre in his long cassock, with his face +emaciated, livid, almost distorted by anguish. It was like a +resurrection, for now his countenance was bright, his lofty brow had all +the serenity of hope, while his eyes and lips once more showed some of +the confident tenderness which sprang from his everlasting thirst for +love, self-bestowal and life. All mark of the priesthood had already left +him, save that where he had been tonsured his hair still remained rather +short. + +"Why are you looking at me?" he asked. + +"I was noticing how much good has been done you by work and the open +air," she frankly answered; "I much prefer you as you are. You used to +look so poorly. I thought you really ill." + +"So I was," said he. + +The train, however, was now stopping at Maisons-Laffitte. They alighted +from it, and at once took the road to the forest. This road rises gently +till it reaches the Maisons gate, and on market days it is often crowded +with carts. + +"I shall go first, eh?" said Marie gaily, "for vehicles still alarm you." + +Thereupon she started ahead, but every now and again she turned with a +smile to see if he were following her. And every time they overtook and +passed a cart she spoke to him of the merits of their machines, which +both came from the Grandidier works. They were "Lisettes," examples of +those popular bicycles which Thomas had helped to perfect, and which the +Bon Marche now sold in large numbers for 250 francs apiece. Perhaps they +were rather heavy in appearance, but on the other hand their strength was +beyond question. They were just the machines for a long journey, so Marie +declared. + +"Ah! here's the forest," she at last exclaimed. "We have now reached the +end of the rise; and you will see what splendid avenues there are. One +can bowl along them as on a velvet carpet." + +Pierre had already joined her, and they rode on side by side along the +broad straight avenue fringed with magnificent trees. + +"I am all right now," said Pierre; "your pupil will end by doing you +honour, I hope." + +"Oh! I've no doubt of it. You already have a very good seat, and before +long you'll leave me behind, for a woman is never a man's equal in a +matter like this. At the same time, however, what a capital education +cycling is for women!" + +In what way?" + +"Oh! I've certain ideas of my own on the subject; and if ever I have a +daughter I shall put her on a bicycle as soon as she's ten years old, +just to teach her how to conduct herself in life." + +"Education by experience, eh?" + +"Yes, why not? Look at the big girls who are brought up hanging to their +mothers' apron strings. Their parents frighten them with everything, they +are allowed no initiative, no exercise of judgment or decision, so that +at times they hardly know how to cross a street, to such a degree does +the traffic alarm them. Well, I say that a girl ought to be set on a +bicycle in her childhood, and allowed to follow the roads. She will then +learn to open her eyes, to look out for stones and avoid them, and to +turn in the right direction at every bend or crossway. If a vehicle comes +up at a gallop or any other danger presents itself, she'll have to make +up her mind on the instant, and steer her course firmly and properly if +she does not wish to lose a limb. Briefly, doesn't all this supply proper +apprenticeship for one's will, and teach one how to conduct and defend +oneself?" + +Pierre had begun to laugh. "You will all be too healthy," he remarked. + +"Oh, one must be healthy if one wants to be happy. But what I wish to +convey is that those who learn to avoid stones and to turn properly along +the highways will know how to overcome difficulties, and take the best +decisions in after life. The whole of education lies in knowledge and +energy." + +"So women are to be emancipated by cycling?" + +"Well, why not? It may seem a droll idea; but see what progress has been +made already. By wearing rationals women free their limbs from prison; +then the facilities which cycling affords people for going out together +tend to greater intercourse and equality between the sexes; the wife and +the children can follow the husband everywhere, and friends like +ourselves are at liberty to roam hither and thither without astonishing +anybody. In this lies the greatest advantage of all: one takes a bath of +air and sunshine, one goes back to nature, to the earth, our common +mother, from whom one derives fresh strength and gaiety of heart! Just +look how delightful this forest is. And how healthful the breeze that +inflates our lungs! Yes, it all purifies, calms and encourages one." + +The forest, which was quite deserted on week days, stretched out in +quietude on either hand, with sunlight filtering between its deep bands +of trees. At that hour the rays only illumined one side of the avenue, +there gilding the lofty drapery of verdure; on the other, the shady side, +the greenery seemed almost black. It was truly delightful to skim, +swallow-like, over that royal avenue in the fresh atmosphere, amidst the +waving of grass and foliage, whose powerful scent swept against one's +face. Pierre and Marie scarcely touched the soil: it was as if wings had +come to them, and were carrying them on with a regular flight, through +alternate patches of shade and sunshine, and all the scattered vitality +of the far-reaching, quivering forest, with its mosses, its sources, its +animal and its insect life. + +Marie would not stop when they reached the crossway of the Croix de +Noailles, a spot where people congregate on Sundays, for she was +acquainted with secluded nooks which were far more charming +resting-places. When they reached the slope going down towards Poissy, +she roused Pierre, and they let their machines rush on. Then came all the +joyous intoxication of speed, the rapturous feeling of darting along +breathlessly while the grey road flees beneath one, and the trees on +either hand turn like the opening folds of a fan. The breeze blows +tempestuously, and one fancies that one is journeying yonder towards the +horizon, the infinite, which ever and ever recedes. It is like boundless +hope, delivery from every shackle, absolute freedom of motion through +space. And nothing can inspirit one more gloriously--one's heart leaps as +if one were in the very heavens. + +"We are not going to Poissy, you know!" Marie suddenly cried; "we have to +turn to the left." + +They took the road from Acheres to the Loges, which ascends and +contracts, thus bringing one closer together in the shade. Gradually +slowing down, they began to exert themselves in order to make their way +up the incline. This road was not so good as the others, it had been +gullied by the recent heavy rains, and sand and gravel lay about. But +then is there not even a pleasure in effort? + +"You will get used to it," said Marie to Pierre; "it's amusing to +overcome obstacles. For my part I don't like roads which are invariably +smooth. A little ascent which does not try one's limbs too much rouses +and inspirits one. And it is so agreeable to find oneself strong, and +able to go on and on in spite of rain, or wind, or hills." + +Her bright humour and courage quite charmed Pierre. "And so," said he, +"we are off for a journey round France?" + +"No, no, we've arrived. You won't dislike a little rest, eh? And now, +tell me, wasn't it worth our while to come on here and rest in such a +nice fresh, quiet spot." + +She nimbly sprang off her machine and, bidding him follow her, turned +into a path, along which she went some fifty paces. They placed their +bicycles against some trees, and then found themselves in a little +clearing, the most exquisite, leafy nest that one could dream of. The +forest here assumed an aspect of secluded sovereign beauty. The +springtide had endowed it with youth, the foliage was light and virginal, +like delicate green lace flecked with gold by the sun-rays. And from the +herbage and the surrounding thickets arose a breath of life, laden with +all the powerful aroma of the earth. + +"It's not too warm as yet, fortunately," exclaimed Marie, as she seated +herself at the foot of a young oak-tree, against which she leant. "In +July ladies get rather red by the time they reach this spot, and all the +powder comes off their faces. However, one can't always be beautiful." + +"Well, I'm not cold by any means," replied Pierre, as he sat at her feet +wiping his forehead. + +She laughed, and answered that she had never before seen him with such a +colour. Then they began to talk like children, like two young friends, +finding a source of gaiety in the most puerile things. She was somewhat +anxious about his health, however, and would not allow him to remain in +the cool shade, as he felt so very warm. In order to tranquillise her, he +had to change his place and seat himself with his back to the sun. Then a +little later he saved her from a large black spider, which had caught +itself in the wavy hair on the nape of her neck. At this all her womanly +nature reappeared, and she shrieked with terror. "How stupid it was to be +afraid of a spider!" she exclaimed a moment afterwards; yet, in spite of +her efforts to master herself, she remained pale and trembling. + +Silence at last fell between them, and they looked at one another with a +smile. In the midst of that delicate greenery they felt drawn together by +frank affection--the affection of brother and sister, so it seemed to +them. It made Marie very happy to think that she had taken an interest in +Pierre, and that his return to health was largely her own work. However, +their eyes never fell, their hands never met, even as they sat there +toying with the grass, for they were as pure, as unconscious of all evil, +as were the lofty oaks around them. + +At last Marie noticed that time was flying. "You know that they expect us +back to lunch," she exclaimed. "We ought to be off." + +Thereupon they rose, wheeled their bicycles back to the highway, and +starting off again at a good pace passed the Loges and reached +Saint-Germain by the fine avenue which conducts to the chateau. It +charmed them to take their course again side by side, like birds of equal +flight. Their little bells jingled, their chains rustled lightly, and a +fresh breeze swept past them as they resumed their talk, quite at ease, +and so linked together by friendship that they seemed far removed from +all the rest of the world. + +They took the train from Saint-Germain to Paris, and on the journey +Pierre suddenly noticed that Marie's cheeks were purpling. There were two +ladies with them in the compartment. + +"Ah!" said he, "so you feel warm in your turn now?" + +But she protested the contrary, her face glowing more and more brightly +as she spoke, as if some sudden feeling of shame quite upset her. "No, +I'm not warm," said she; "just feel my hands.... But how ridiculous it +is to blush like this without any reason for it!" + +He understood her. This was one of those involuntary blushing fits which +so distressed her, and which, as Mere-Grand had remarked, brought her +heart to her very cheeks. There was no cause for it, as she herself said. +After slumbering in all innocence in the solitude of the forest her heart +had begun to beat, despite herself. + +Meantime, over yonder at Montmartre, Guillaume had spent his morning in +preparing some of that mysterious powder, the cartridges of which he +concealed upstairs in Mere-Grand's bedroom. Great danger attended this +manufacture. The slightest forgetfulness while he was manipulating the +ingredients, any delay, too, in turning off a tap, might lead to a +terrible explosion, which would annihilate the building and all who might +be in it. For this reason he preferred to work when he was alone, so that +on the one hand there might be no danger for others, and on the other +less likelihood of his own attention being diverted from his task. That +morning, as it happened, his three sons were working in the room, and +Mere-Grand sat sewing near the furnace. Truth to tell, she did not count, +for she scarcely ever left her place, feeling quite at ease there, +however great might be the peril. Indeed, she had become so well +acquainted with the various phases of Guillaume's delicate operations, +and their terrible possibilities, that she would occasionally give him a +helping hand. + +That morning, as she sat there mending some house linen,--her eyesight +still being so keen that in spite of her seventy years she wore no +spectacles,--she now and again glanced at Guillaume as if to make sure +that he forgot nothing. Then feeling satisfied, she would once more bend +over her work. She remained very strong and active. Her hair was only +just turning white, and she had kept all her teeth, while her face still +looked refined, though it was slowly withering with age and had acquired +an expression of some severity. As a rule she was a woman of few words; +her life was one of activity and good management. When she opened her +lips it was usually to give advice, to counsel reason, energy and +courage. For some time past she had been growing more taciturn than ever, +as if all her attention were claimed by the household matters which were +in her sole charge; still, her fine eyes would rest thoughtfully on those +about her, on the three young men, and on Guillaume, Marie and Pierre, +who all obeyed her as if she were their acknowledged queen. If she looked +at them in that pensive way, was it that she foresaw certain changes, and +noticed certain incidents of which the others remained unconscious? +Perhaps so. At all events she became even graver, and more attentive than +in the past. It was as if she were waiting for some hour to strike when +all her wisdom and authority would be required. + +"Be careful, Guillaume," she at last remarked, as she once more looked up +from her sewing. "You seem absent-minded this morning. Is anything +worrying you?" + +He glanced at her with a smile. "No, nothing, I assure you," he replied. +"But I was thinking of our dear Marie, who was so glad to go off to the +forest in this bright sunshine." + +Antoine, who heard the remark, raised his head, while his brothers +remained absorbed in their work. "What a pity it is that I had this block +to finish," said he; "I would willingly have gone with her." + +"Oh, no matter," his father quietly rejoined. "Pierre is with her, and he +is very cautious." + +For another moment Mere-Grand continued scrutinising Guillaume; then she +once more reverted to her sewing. + +If she exercised such sway over the home and all its inmates, it was by +reason of her long devotion, her intelligence, and the kindliness with +which she ruled. Uninfluenced by any religious faith, and disregarding +all social conventionalities, her guiding principle in everything was the +theory of human justice which she had arrived at after suffering so +grievously from the injustice that had killed her husband. She put her +views into practice with wonderful courage, knowing nothing of any +prejudices, but accomplishing her duty, such as she understood it, to the +very end. And in the same way as she had first devoted herself to her +husband, and next to her daughter Marguerite, so at present she devoted +herself to Guillaume and his sons. Pierre, whom she had first studied +with some anxiety, had now, too, become a member of her family, a dweller +in the little realm of happiness which she ruled. She had doubtless found +him worthy of admission into it, though she did not reveal the reason +why. After days and days of silence she had simply said, one evening, to +Guillaume, that he had done well in bringing his brother to live among +them. + +Time flew by as she sat sewing and thinking. Towards noon Guillaume, who +was still at work, suddenly remarked to her: "As Marie and Pierre haven't +come back, we had better let the lunch wait a little while. Besides, I +should like to finish what I'm about." + +Another quarter of an hour then elapsed. Finally, the three young men +rose from their work, and went to wash their hands at a tap in the +garden. + +"Marie is very late," now remarked Mere-Grand. "We must hope that nothing +has happened to her." + +"Oh! she rides so well," replied Guillaume. "I'm more anxious on account +of Pierre." + +At this the old lady again fixed her eyes on him, and said: "But Marie +will have guided Pierre; they already ride very well together." + +"No doubt; still I should be better pleased if they were back home." + +Then all at once, fancying that he heard the ring of a bicycle bell, he +called out: "There they are!" And forgetting everything else in his +satisfaction, he quitted his furnace and hastened into the garden in +order to meet them. + +Mere-Grand, left to herself, quietly continued sewing, without a thought +that the manufacture of Guillaume's powder was drawing to an end in an +apparatus near her. A couple of minutes later, however, when Guillaume +came back, saying that he had made a mistake, his eyes suddenly rested on +his furnace, and he turned quite livid. Brief as had been his absence the +exact moment when it was necessary to turn off a tap in order that no +danger might attend the preparation of his powder had already gone by; +and now, unless someone should dare to approach that terrible tap, and +boldly turn it, a fearful explosion might take place. Doubtless it was +too late already, and whoever might have the bravery to attempt the feat +would be blown to pieces. + +Guillaume himself had often run a similar risk of death with perfect +composure. But on this occasion he remained as if rooted to the floor, +unable to take a step, paralysed by the dread of annihilation. He +shuddered and stammered in momentary expectation of a catastrophe which +would hurl the work-shop to the heavens. + +"Mere-Grand, Mere-Grand," he stammered. "The apparatus, the tap... it +is all over, all over!" + +The old woman had raised her head without as yet understanding him. "Eh, +what?" said she; "what is the matter with you?" Then, on seeing how +distorted were his features, how he recoiled as if mad with terror, she +glanced at the furnace and realised the danger. "Well, but it's simple +enough," said she; "it's only necessary to turn off the tap, eh?" + +Thereupon, without any semblance of haste, in the most easy and natural +manner possible, she deposited her needlework on a little table, rose +from her chair, and turned off the tap with a light but firm hand. +"There! it's done," said she. "But why didn't you do it yourself, my +friend?" + +He had watched her in bewilderment, chilled to the bones, as if touched +by the hand of death. And when some colour at last returned to his +cheeks, and he found himself still alive in front of the apparatus whence +no harm could now come, he heaved a deep sigh and again shuddered. "Why +did I not turn it off?" he repeated. "It was because I felt afraid." + +At that very moment Marie and Pierre came into the work-shop all chatter +and laughter, delighted with their excursion, and bringing with them the +bright joyousness of the sunlight. The three brothers, Thomas, Francis +and Antoine, were jesting with them, and trying to make them confess that +Pierre had at least fought a battle with a cow on the high road, and +ridden into a cornfield. All at once, however, they became quite anxious, +for they noticed that their father looked terribly upset. + +"My lads," said he, "I've just been a coward. Ah! it's a curious feeling, +I had never experienced it before." + +Thereupon he recounted his fears of an accident, and how quietly +Mere-Grand had saved them all from certain death. She waved her hand, +however, as if to say that there was nothing particularly heroic in +turning off a tap. The young men's eyes nevertheless filled with tears, +and one after the other they went to kiss her with a fervour instinct +with all the gratitude and worship they felt for her. She had been +devoting herself to them ever since their infancy, she had now just given +them a new lease of life. Marie also threw herself into her arms, kissing +her with gratitude and emotion. Mere-Grand herself was the only one who +did not shed tears. She strove to calm them, begging them to exaggerate +nothing and to remain sensible. + +"Well, you must at all events let me kiss you as the others have done," +Guillaume said to her, as he recovered his self-possession. "I at least +owe you that. And Pierre, too, shall kiss you, for you are now as good +for him as you have always been for us." + +At table, when it was at last possible for them to lunch, he reverted to +that attack of fear which had left him both surprised and ashamed. He who +for years had never once thought of death had for some time past found +ideas of caution in his mind. On two occasions recently he had shuddered +at the possibility of a catastrophe. How was it that a longing for life +had come to him in his decline? Why was it that he now wished to live? At +last with a touch of tender affection in his gaiety, he remarked: "Do you +know, Marie, I think it is my thoughts of you that make me a coward. If +I've lost my bravery it's because I risk something precious when any +danger arises. Happiness has been entrusted to my charge. Just now when I +fancied that we were all going to die, I thought I could see you, and my +fear of losing you froze and paralysed me." + +Marie indulged in a pretty laugh. Allusions to her coming marriage were +seldom made; however, she invariably greeted them with an air of happy +affection. + +"Another six weeks!" she simply said. + +Thereupon Mere-Grand, who had been looking at them, turned her eyes +towards Pierre. He, however, like the others was listening with a smile. + +"That's true," said the old lady, "you are to be married in six weeks' +time. So I did right to prevent the house from being blown up." + +At this the young men made merry; and the repast came to an end in very +joyous fashion. + +During the afternoon, however, Pierre's heart gradually grew heavy. +Marie's words constantly returned to him: "Another six weeks!" Yes, it +was indeed true, she would then be married. But it seemed to him that he +had never previously known it, never for a moment thought of it. And +later on, in the evening, when he was alone in his room at Neuilly, his +heart-pain became intolerable. Those words tortured him. Why was it that +they had not caused him any suffering when they were spoken, why had he +greeted them with a smile? And why had such cruel anguish slowly +followed? All at once an idea sprang up in his mind, and became an +overwhelming certainty. He loved Marie, he loved her as a lover, with a +love so intense that he might die from it. + +With this sudden consciousness of his passion everything became clear and +plain. He had been going perforce towards that love ever since he had +first met Marie. The emotion into which the young woman had originally +thrown him had seemed to him a feeling of repulsion, but afterwards he +had been slowly conquered, all his torments and struggles ending in this +love for her. It was indeed through her that he had at last found +quietude. And the delightful morning which he had spent with her that +day, appeared to him like a betrothal morning, in the depths of the happy +forest. Nature had resumed her sway over him, delivered him from his +sufferings, made him strong and healthy once more, and given him to the +woman he adored. The quiver he had experienced, the happiness he had +felt, his communion with the trees, the heavens, and every living +creature--all those things which he had been unable to explain, now +acquired a clear meaning which transported him. In Marie alone lay his +cure, his hope, his conviction that he would be born anew and at last +find happiness. In her company he had already forgotten all those +distressing problems which had formerly haunted him and bowed him down. +For a week past he had not once thought of death, which had so long been +the companion of his every hour. All the conflict of faith and doubt, the +distress roused by the idea of nihility, the anger he had felt at the +unjust sufferings of mankind, had been swept away by her fresh cool +hands. She was so healthy herself, so glad to live, that she had imparted +a taste for life even to him. Yes, it was simply that: she was making him +a man, a worker, a lover once more. + +Then he suddenly remembered Abbe Rose and his painful conversation with +that saintly man. The old priest, whose heart was so ingenuous, and who +knew nothing of love and passion, was nevertheless the only one who had +understood the truth. He had told Pierre that he was changed, that there +was another man in him. And he, Pierre, had foolishly and stubbornly +declared that he was the same as he had always been; whereas Marie had +already transformed him, bringing all nature back to his breast--all +nature, with its sunlit countrysides, its fructifying breezes, and its +vast heavens, whose glow ripens its crops. That indeed was why he had +felt so exasperated with Catholicism, that religion of death; that was +why he had shouted that the Gospel was useless, and that the world +awaited another law--a law of terrestrial happiness, human justice and +living love and fruitfulness! + +Ah, but Guillaume? Then a vision of his brother rose before Pierre, that +brother who loved him so fondly, and who had carried him to his home of +toil, quietude and affection, in order to cure him of his sufferings. If +he knew Marie it was simply because Guillaume had chosen that he should +know her. And again Marie's words recurred to him: "Another six weeks!" +Yes, in six weeks his brother would marry the young woman. This thought +was like a stab in Pierre's heart. Still, he did not for one moment +hesitate: if he must die of his love, he would die of it, but none should +ever know it, he would conquer himself, he would flee to the ends of the +earth should he ever feel the faintest cowardice. Rather than bring a +moment's pain to that brother who had striven to resuscitate him, who was +the artisan of the passion now consuming him, who had given him his whole +heart and all he had--he would condemn himself to perpetual torture. And +indeed, torture was coming back; for in losing Marie he could but sink +into the distress born of the consciousness of his nothingness. As he lay +in bed, unable to sleep, he already experienced a return of his +abominable torments--the negation of everything, the feeling that +everything was useless, that the world had no significance, and that life +was only worthy of being cursed and denied. And then the shudder born of +the thought of death returned to him. Ah! to die, to die without even +having lived! + +The struggle was a frightful one. Until daybreak he sobbed in martyrdom. +Why had he taken off his cassock? He had done so at a word from Marie; +and now another word from her gave him the despairing idea of donning it +once more. One could not escape from so fast a prison. That black gown +still clung to his skin. He fancied that he had divested himself of it, +and yet it was still weighing on his shoulders, and his wisest course +would be to bury himself in it for ever. By donning it again he would at +least wear mourning for his manhood. + +All at once, however, a fresh thought upset him. Why should he struggle +in that fashion? Marie did not love him. There had been nothing between +them to indicate that she cared for him otherwise than as a charming, +tender-hearted sister. It was Guillaume that she loved, no doubt. Then he +pressed his face to his pillow to stifle his sobs, and once more swore +that he would conquer himself and turn a smiling face upon their +happiness. + + + + +IV. TRIAL AND SENTENCE + +HAVING returned to Montmartre on the morrow Pierre suffered so grievously +that he did not show himself there on the two following days. He +preferred to remain at home where there was nobody to notice his +feverishness. On the third morning, however, whilst he was still in bed, +strengthless and full of despair, he was both surprised and embarrassed +by a visit from Guillaume. + +"I must needs come to you," said the latter, "since you forsake us. I've +come to fetch you to attend Salvat's trial, which takes place to-day. I +had no end of trouble to secure two places. Come, get up, we'll have +_dejeuner_ in town, so as to reach the court early." + +Then, while Pierre was hastily dressing, Guillaume, who on his side +seemed thoughtful and worried that morning, began to question him: "Have +you anything to reproach us with?" he asked. + +"No, nothing. What an idea!" was Pierre's reply. + +"Then why have you been staying away? We had got into the habit of seeing +you every day, but all at once you disappear." + +Pierre vainly sought a falsehood, and all his composure fled. "I had some +work to do here," said he, "and then, too, my gloomy ideas cane back to +me, and I didn't want to go and sadden you all." + +At this Guillaume hastily waved his hand. "If you fancy that your absence +enlivens us you're mistaken," he replied. "Marie, who is usually so well +and happy, had such a bad headache on the day before yesterday that she +was obliged to keep her room. And she was ill at ease and nervous and +silent again yesterday. We spent a very unpleasant day." + +As he spoke Guillaume looked Pierre well in the face, his frank loyal +eyes clearly revealing the suspicions which had come to him, but which he +would not express in words. + +Pierre, quite dismayed by the news of Marie's indisposition, and +frightened by the idea of betraying his secret, thereupon managed to tell +a lie. "Yes, she wasn't very well on the day when we went cycling," he +quietly responded. "But I assure you that I have had a lot to do here. +When you came in just now I was about to get up and go to your house as +usual." + +Guillaume kept his eyes on him for a moment longer. Then, either +believing him or deciding to postpone his search for the truth to some +future time, he began speaking affectionately on other subjects. With his +keen brotherly love, however, there was blended such a quiver of +impending distress, of unconfessed sorrow, which possibly he did not yet +realise, that Pierre in his turn began to question him. "And you," said +he, "are you ill? You seem to me to have lost your usual serenity." + +"I? Oh! I'm not ill. Only I can't very well retain my composure; Salvat's +affair distresses me exceedingly, as you must know. They will all end by +driving me mad with the monstrous injustice they show towards that +unhappy fellow." + +Thenceforward Guillaume went on talking of Salvat in a stubborn +passionate way, as if he wished to find an explanation of all his pain +and unrest in that affair. While he and Pierre were partaking of +_dejeuner_ at a little restaurant on the Boulevard du Palais he related +how deeply touched he was by the silence which Salvat had preserved with +regard both to the nature of the explosive employed in the bomb and the +few days' work which he had once done at his house. It was, thanks to +this silence, that he, Guillaume, had not been worried or even summoned +as a witness. Then, in his emotion, he reverted to his invention, that +formidable engine which would ensure omnipotence to France, as the great +initiatory and liberative power of the world. The results of the +researches which had occupied him for ten years past were now out of +danger and in all readiness, so that if occasion required they might at +once be delivered to the French government. And, apart from certain +scruples which came to him at the thought of the unworthiness of French +financial and political society; he was simply delaying any further steps +in the matter until his marriage with Marie, in order that he might +associate her with the gift of universal peace which he imagined he was +about to bestow upon the world. + +It was through Bertheroy and with great difficulty that Guillaume had +managed to secure two seats in court for Salvat's trial. When he and +Pierre presented themselves for admission at eleven o'clock, they fancied +that they would never be able to enter. The large gates of the Palace of +Justice were kept closed, several passages were fenced off, and terror +seemed to reign in the deserted building, as if indeed the judges feared +some sudden invasion of bomb-laden Anarchists. Each door and barrier, +too, was guarded by soldiers, with whom the brothers had to parley. When +they at last entered the Assize Court they found it already crowded with +people, who were apparently quite willing to suffocate there for an hour +before the arrival of the judges, and to remain motionless for some seven +or eight hours afterwards, since it was reported that the authorities +wished to get the case over in a single sitting. In the small space +allotted to the standing public there was a serried mass of sightseers +who had come up from the streets, a few companions and friends of Salvat +having managed to slip in among them. In the other compartment, where +witnesses are generally huddled together on oak benches, were those +spectators who had been allowed admittance by favour, and these were so +numerous and so closely packed that here and there they almost sat upon +one another's knees. Then, in the well of the court and behind the bench, +were rows of chairs set out as for some theatrical performance, and +occupied by privileged members of society, politicians, leading +journalists, and ladies. And meantime a number of gowned advocates sought +refuge wherever chance offered, crowding into every vacant spot, every +available corner. + +Pierre had never before visited the Assize Court, and its appearance +surprised him. He had expected much pomp and majesty, whereas this temple +of human justice seemed to him small and dismal and of doubtful +cleanliness. The bench was so low that he could scarcely see the +armchairs of the presiding judge and his two assessors. Then he was +struck by the profusion of old oak panels, balustrades and benches, which +helped to darken the apartment, whose wall hangings were of olive green, +while a further display of oak panelling appeared on the ceiling above. +From the seven narrow and high-set windows with scanty little white +curtains there fell a pale light which sharply divided the court. On one +hand one saw the dock and the defending counsel's seat steeped in frigid +light, while, on the other, was the little, isolated jury box in the +shade. This contrast seemed symbolical of justice, impersonal and +uncertain, face to face with the accused, whom the light stripped bare, +probed as it were to his very soul. Then, through a kind of grey mist +above the bench, in the depths of the stern and gloomy scene, one could +vaguely distinguish the heavy painting of "Christ Crucified." A white +bust of the Republic alone showed forth clearly against the dark wall +above the dock where Salvat would presently appear. The only remaining +seats that Guillaume and Pierre could find were on the last bench of the +witnesses' compartment, against the partition which separated the latter +from the space allotted to the standing public. Just as Guillaume was +seating himself, he saw among the latter little Victor Mathis, who stood +there with his elbows leaning on the partition, while his chin rested on +his crossed hands. The young man's eyes were glowing in his pale face +with thin, compressed lips. Although they recognised one another, Victor +did not move, and Guillaume on his side understood that it was not safe +to exchange greetings in such a place. From that moment, however, he +remained conscious that Victor was there, just above him, never stirring, +but waiting silently, fiercely and with flaming eyes, for what was going +to happen. + +Pierre, meantime, had recognised that most amiable deputy Duthil, and +little Princess Rosemonde, seated just in front of him. Amidst the hubbub +of the throng which chatted and laughed to while away the time, their +voices were the gayest to be heard, and plainly showed how delighted they +were to find themselves at a spectacle to which so many desired +admittance. Duthil was explaining all the arrangements to Rosemonde, +telling her to whom or to what purpose each bench and wooden box was +allotted: there was the jury-box, the prisoner's dock, the seats assigned +to counsel for the defence, the public prosecutor, and the clerk of the +court, without forgetting the table on which material evidence was +deposited and the bar to which witnesses were summoned. There was nobody +as yet in any of these places; one merely saw an attendant giving a last +look round, and advocates passing rapidly. One might indeed have thought +oneself in a theatre, the stage of which remained deserted, while the +spectators crowded the auditorium waiting for the play to begin. To fill +up the interval the little Princess ended by looking about her for +persons of her acquaintance among the close-pressed crowd of sight-seers +whose eager faces were already reddening. + +"Oh! isn't that Monsieur Fonsegue over there behind the bench, near that +stout lady in yellow?" she exclaimed. "Our friend General de Bozonnet is +on the other side, I see. But isn't Baron Duvillard here?" + +"Oh! no," replied Duthil; "he could hardly come; it would look as if he +were here to ask for vengeance." Then, in his turn questioning Rosemonde, +the deputy went on: "Do you happen to have quarrelled with your handsome +friend Hyacinthe? Is that the reason why you've given me the pleasure of +acting as your escort to-day?" + +With a slight shrug of her shoulders, the Princess replied that poets +were beginning to bore her. A fresh caprice, indeed, was drawing her into +politics. For a week past she had found amusement in the surroundings of +the ministerial crisis, into which the young deputy for Angouleme had +initiated her. "They are all a little bit crazy at the Duvillards', my +dear fellow," said she. "It's decided, you know, that Gerard is to marry +Camille. The Baroness has resigned herself to it, and I've heard from a +most reliable quarter that Madame de Quinsac, the young man's mother, has +given her consent." + +At this Duthil became quite merry. He also seemed to be well informed on +the subject. "Yes, yes, I know," said he. "The wedding is to take place +shortly, at the Madeleine. It will be a magnificent affair, no doubt. And +after all, what would you have? There couldn't be a better finish to the +affair. The Baroness is really kindness personified, and I said all along +that she would sacrifice herself in order to ensure the happiness of her +daughter and Gerard. In point of fact that marriage will settle +everything, put everything in proper order again." + +"And what does the Baron say?" asked Rosemonde. + +"The Baron? Why, he's delighted," replied Duthil in a bantering way. "You +read no doubt this morning that Dauvergne is given the department of +Public Instruction in the new Ministry. This means that Silviane's +engagement at the Comedic is a certainty. Dauvergne was chosen simply on +that account." + +At this moment the conversation was interrupted by little Massot, who, +after a dispute with one of the ushers some distance away, had perceived +a vacant place by the side of the Princess. He thereupon made her a +questioning sign, and she beckoned to him to approach. + +"Ah!" said he, as he installed himself beside her, "I have not got here +without trouble. One's crushed to death on the press bench, and I've an +article to write. You are the kindest of women, Princess, to make a +little room for your faithful admirer, myself." Then, after shaking hands +with Duthil, he continued without any transition: "And so there's a new +ministry at last, Monsieur le Depute. You have all taken your time about +it, but it's really a very fine ministry, which everybody regards with +surprise and admiration." + +The decrees appointing the new ministers had appeared in the "Journal +Officiel" that very morning. After a long deadlock, after Vignon had for +the second time seen his plans fail through ever-recurring obstacles, +Monferrand, as a last resource, had suddenly been summoned to the Elysee, +and in four-and-twenty hours he had found the colleagues he wanted and +secured the acceptance of his list, in such wise that he now triumphantly +re-ascended to power after falling from it with Barroux in such wretched +fashion. He had also chosen a new post for himself, relinquishing the +department of the Interior for that of Finances, with the Presidency of +the Council, which had long been his secret ambition. His stealthy +labour, the masterly fashion in which he had saved himself while others +sank, now appeared in its full beauty. First had come Salvat's arrest, +and the use he had made of it, then the wonderful subterranean campaign +which he had carried on against Vignon, the thousand obstacles which he +had twice set across his path, and finally the sudden _denouement_ with +that list he held in readiness, that formation of a ministry in a single +day as soon as his services were solicited. + +"It is fine work, I must compliment you on it," added little Massot by +way of a jest. + +"But I've had nothing to do with it," Duthil modestly replied. + +"Nothing to do with it! Oh! yes you have, my dear sir, everybody says +so." + +The deputy felt flattered and smiled, while the other rattled on with his +insinuations, which were put in such a humorous way that nothing he said +could be resented. He talked of Monferrand's followers who had so +powerfully helped him on to victory. How heartily had Fonsegue finished +off his old friend Barroux in the "Globe"! Every morning for a month past +the paper had published an article belabouring Barroux, annihilating +Vignon, and preparing the public for the return of a saviour of society +who was not named. Then, too, Duvillard's millions had waged a secret +warfare, all the Baron's numerous creatures had fought like an army for +the good cause. Duthil himself had played the pipe and beaten the drum, +while Chaigneux resigned himself to the baser duties which others would +not undertake. And so the triumphant Monferrand would certainly begin by +stifling that scandalous and embarrassing affair of the African Railways, +and appointing a Committee of Inquiry to bury it. + +By this time Duthil had assumed an important air. "Well, my dear fellow," +said he, "at serious moments when society is in peril, certain +strong-handed men, real men of government, become absolutely necessary. +Monferrand had no need of our friendship, his presence in office was +imperiously required by the situation. His hand is the only one that can +save us!" + +"I know," replied Massot scoffingly. "I've even been told that if +everything was settled straight off so that the decrees might be +published this morning, it was in order to instil confidence into the +judges and jurymen here, in such wise that knowing Monferrand's fist to +be behind them they would have the courage to pronounce sentence of death +this evening." + +"Well, public safety requires a sentence of death, and those who have to +ensure that safety must not be left ignorant of the fact that the +government is with them, and will know how to protect them, if need be." + +At this moment a merry laugh from the Princess broke in upon the +conversation. "Oh! just look over there!" said she; "isn't that Silviane +who has just sat down beside Monsieur Fonsegue?" + +"The Silviane ministry!" muttered Massot in a jesting way. "Well, there +will be no boredom at Dauvergne's if he ingratiates himself with +actresses." + +Guillaume and Pierre heard this chatter, however little they cared to +listen to it. Such a deluge of society tittle-tattle and political +indiscretion brought the former a keen heart-pang. So Salvat was +sentenced to death even before he had appeared in court. He was to pay +for the transgressions of one and all, his crime was simply a favourable +opportunity for the triumph of a band of ambitious people bent on power +and enjoyment! Ah! what terrible social rottenness there was in it all; +money corrupting one and another, families sinking to filth, politics +turned into a mere treacherous struggle between individuals, and power +becoming the prey of the crafty and the impudent! Must not everything +surely crumble? Was not this solemn assize of human justice a derisive +parody, since all that one found there was an assembly of happy and +privileged people defending the shaky edifice which sheltered them, and +making use of all the forces they yet retained, to crush a fly--that +unhappy devil of uncertain sanity who had been led to that court by his +violent and cloudy dream of another, superior and avenging justice? + +Such were Guillaume's thoughts, when all at once everybody around him +started. Noon was now striking, and the jurymen trooped into court in +straggling fashion and took their seats in their box. Among them one saw +fat fellows clad in their Sunday best and with the faces of simpletons, +and thin fellows who had bright eyes and sly expressions. Some of them +were bearded and some were bald. However, they all remained rather +indistinct, as their side of the court was steeped in shade. After them +came the judges, headed by M. de Larombiere, one of the Vice-Presidents +of the Appeal Court, who in assuming the perilous honour of conducting +the trial had sought to increase the majesty of his long, slender, white +face, which looked the more austere as both his assessors, one dark and +the other fair, had highly coloured countenances. The public prosecutor's +seat was already occupied by one of the most skilful of the +advocates-general, M. Lehmann, a broad-shouldered Alsatian Israelite, +with cunning eyes, whose presence showed that the case was deemed +exceptionally important. At last, amidst the heavy tread of gendarmes, +Salvat was brought in, at once rousing such ardent curiosity that all the +spectators rose to look at him. He still wore the cap and loose overcoat +procured for him by Victor Mathis, and everybody was surprised to see his +emaciated, sorrowful, gentle face, crowned by scanty reddish hair, which +was turning grey. His soft, glowing, dreamy blue eyes glanced around, and +he smiled at someone whom he recognised, probably Victor, but perhaps +Guillaume. After that he remained quite motionless. + +The presiding judge waited for silence to fall, and then came the +formalities which attend the opening of a court of law, followed by the +perusal of the lengthy indictment, which a subordinate official read in a +shrill voice. The scene had now changed, and the spectators listened +wearily and somewhat impatiently, as, for weeks past, the newspapers had +related all that the indictment set forth. At present not a corner of the +court remained unoccupied, there was scarcely space enough for the +witnesses to stand in front of the bench. The closely packed throng was +one of divers hues, the light gowns of ladies alternating with the black +gowns of advocates, while the red robes of the judges disappeared from +view, the bench being so low that the presiding judge's long face +scarcely rose above the sea of heads. Many of those present became +interested in the jurors, and strove to scrutinise their shadowy +countenances. Others, who did not take their eyes off the prisoner, +marvelled at his apparent weariness and indifference, which were so great +that he scarcely answered the whispered questions of his counsel, a young +advocate with a wide-awake look, who was nervously awaiting the +opportunity to achieve fame. Most curiosity, however, centred in the +table set apart for the material evidence. Here were to be seen all sorts +of fragments, some of the woodwork torn away from the carriage-door of +the Duvillard mansion, some plaster that had fallen from the ceiling, a +paving-stone which the violence of the explosion had split in halves, and +other blackened remnants. The more moving sights, however, were the +milliner's bonnet-box, which had remained uninjured, and a glass jar in +which something white and vague was preserved in spirits of wine. This +was one of the poor errand girl's little hands, which had been severed at +the wrist. The authorities had been unable to place her poor ripped body +on the table, and so they had brought that hand! + +At last Salvat rose, and the presiding judge began to interrogate him. +The contrast in the aspect of the court then acquired tragic force: in +the shrouding shade upon one hand were the jurors, their minds already +made up beneath the pressure of public terror, while in the full, vivid +light on the other side was the prisoner, alone and woeful, charged with +all the crimes of his race. Four gendarmes watched over him. He was +addressed by M. de Larombiere in a tone of contempt and disgust. The +judge was not deficient in rectitude; he was indeed one of the last +representatives of the old, scrupulous, upright French magistracy; but he +understood nothing of the new times, and he treated prisoners with the +severity of a Biblical Jehovah. Moreover, the infirmity which was the +worry of his life, the childish lisp which, in his opinion, had alone +prevented him from shining as a public prosecutor, made him ferociously +ill-tempered, incapable of any intelligent indulgence. There were smiles, +which he divined, as soon as he raised his sharp, shrill little voice, to +ask his first questions. That droll voice of his took away whatever +majesty might have remained attached to these proceedings, in which a +man's life was being fought for in a hall full of inquisitive, stifling +and perspiring folks, who fanned themselves and jested. Salvat answered +the judge's earlier questions with his wonted weariness and politeness. +While the judge did everything to vilify him, harshly reproaching him +with his wretched childhood and youth, magnifying every stain and every +transgression in his career, referring to the promiscuity of his life +between Madame Theodore and little Celine as something bestial, he, the +prisoner, quietly said yes or no, like a man who has nothing to hide and +accepts the full responsibility of his actions. He had already made a +complete confession of his crime, and he calmly repeated it without +changing a word. He explained that if he had deposited his bomb at the +entrance of the Duvillard mansion it was to give his deed its true +significance, that of summoning the wealthy, the money-mongers who had so +scandalously enriched themselves by dint of theft and falsehood, to +restore that part of the common wealth which they had appropriated, to +the poor, the working classes, their children and their wives, who +perished of starvation. It was only at this moment that he grew excited; +all the misery that he had endured or witnessed rose to his clouded, +semi-educated brain, in which claims and theories and exasperated ideas +of absolute justice and universal happiness had gathered confusedly. And +from that moment he appeared such as he really was, a sentimentalist, a +dreamer transported by suffering, proud and stubborn, and bent on +changing the world in accordance with his sectarian logic. + +"But you fled!" cried the judge in a voice such as would have befitted a +grasshopper. "You must not say that you gave your life to your cause and +were ready for martyrdom!" + +Salvat's most poignant regret was that he had yielded in the Bois de +Boulogne to the dismay and rage which come upon a tracked and hunted man +and impel him to do all he can to escape capture. And on being thus +taunted by the judge he became quite angry. "I don't fear death, you'll +see that," he replied. "If all had the same courage as I have, your +rotten society would be swept away to-morrow, and happiness would at last +dawn." + +Then the interrogatory dealt at great length with the composition and +manufacture of the bomb. The judge, rightly enough, pointed out that this +was the only obscure point of the affair. "And so," he remarked, "you +persist in saying that dynamite was the explosive you employed? Well, you +will presently hear the experts, who, it is true, differ on certain +points, but are all of opinion that you employed some other explosive, +though they cannot say precisely what it was. Why not speak out on the +point, as you glory in saying everything?" + +Salvat, however, had suddenly calmed down, giving only cautious +monosyllabic replies. "Well, seek for whatever you like if you don't +believe me," he now answered. "I made my bomb by myself, and under +circumstances which I've already related a score of times. You surely +don't expect me to reveal names and compromise comrades?" + +From this declaration he would not depart. It was only towards the end of +the interrogatory that irresistible emotion overcame him on the judge +again referring to the unhappy victim of his crime, the little errand +girl, so pretty and fair and gentle, whom ferocious destiny had brought +to the spot to meet such an awful death. "It was one of your own class +whom you struck," said M. de Larombiere; "your victim was a work girl, a +poor child who, with the few pence she earned, helped to support her aged +grandmother." + +Salvat's voice became very husky as he answered: "That's really the only +thing I regret.... My bomb certainly wasn't meant for her; and may all +the workers, all the starvelings, remember that she gave her blood as I'm +going to give mine!" + +In this wise the interrogatory ended amidst profound agitation. Pierre +had felt Guillaume shuddering beside him, whilst the prisoner quietly and +obstinately refused to say a word respecting the explosive that had been +employed, preferring as he did to assume full responsibility for the deed +which was about to cost him his life. Moreover, Guillaume, on turning +round, in compliance with an irresistible impulse, had perceived Victor +Mathis still motionless behind him: his elbows ever leaning on the rail +of the partition, and his chin still resting on his hands, whilst he +listened with silent, concentrated passion. His face had become yet paler +than before, and his eyes glowed as with an avenging fire, whose flames +would never more be extinguished. + +The interrogatory of the prisoner was followed by a brief commotion in +court. + +"That Salvat looks quite nice, he has such soft eyes," declared the +Princess, whom the proceedings greatly amused. "Oh! don't speak ill of +him, my dear deputy. You know that I have Anarchist ideas myself." + +"I speak no ill of him," gaily replied Duthil. "Nor has our friend +Amadieu any right to speak ill of him. For you know that this affair has +set Amadieu on a pinnacle. He was never before talked about to such an +extent as he is now; and he delights in being talked about, you know! He +has become quite a social celebrity, the most illustrious of our +investigating magistrates, and will soon be able to do or become whatever +he pleases." + +Then Massot, with his sarcastic impudence, summed up the situation. "When +Anarchism flourishes, everything flourishes, eh? That bomb has helped on +the affairs of a good many fine fellows that I know. Do you think that my +governor Fonsegue, who's so attentive to Silviane yonder, complains of +it? And doesn't Sagnier, who's spreading himself out behind the presiding +judge, and whose proper place would be between the four +gendarmes--doesn't he owe a debt to Salvat for all the abominable +advertisements he has been able to give his paper by using the wretched +fellow's back as a big drum? And I need not mention the politicians or +the financiers or all those who fish in troubled waters." + +"But I say," interrupted Duthil, "it seems to me that you yourself made +good use of the affair. Your interview with the little girl Celine +brought you in a pot of money." + +Massot, as it happened, had been struck with the idea of ferreting out +Madame Theodore and the child, and of relating his visit to them in the +"Globe," with an abundance of curious and touching particulars. The +article had met with prodigious success, Celine's pretty answers +respecting her imprisoned father having such an effect on ladies with +sensitive hearts that they had driven to Montmartre in their carriages in +order to see the two poor creatures. Thus alms had come to them from all +sides; and strangely enough the very people who demanded the father's +head were the most eager to sympathise with the child. + +"Well, I don't complain of my little profits," said the journalist in +answer to Duthil. "We all earn what we can, you know." + +At this moment Rosemonde, while glancing round her, recognised Guillaume +and Pierre, but she was so amazed to see the latter in ordinary civilian +garb that she did not dare to speak to him. Leaning forward she +acquainted Duthil and Massot with her surprise, and they both turned +round to look. From motives of discretion, however, they pretended that +they did not recognise the Froments. + +The heat in court was now becoming quite unbearable, and one lady had +already fainted. At last the presiding judge again raised his lisping +voice, and managed to restore silence. Salvat, who had remained standing, +now held a few sheets of paper, and with some difficulty he made the +judge understand that he desired to complete his interrogatory by reading +a declaration, which he had drawn up in prison, and in which he explained +his reasons for his crime. For a moment M. de Larombiere hesitated, all +surprise and indignation at such a request; but he was aware that he +could not legally impose silence on the prisoner, and so he signified his +consent with a gesture of mingled irritation and disdain. Thereupon +Salvat began his perusal much after the fashion of a schoolboy, hemming +and hawing here and there, occasionally becoming confused, and then +bringing out certain words with wonderful emphasis, which evidently +pleased him. This declaration of his was the usual cry of suffering and +revolt already raised by so many disinherited ones. It referred to all +the frightful want of the lower spheres; the toiler unable to find a +livelihood in his toil; a whole class, the most numerous and worthy of +the classes, dying of starvation; whilst, on the other hand, were the +privileged ones, gorged with wealth, and wallowing in satiety, yet +refusing to part with even the crumbs from their tables, determined as +they were to restore nothing whatever of the wealth which they had +stolen. And so it became necessary to take everything away from them, to +rouse them from their egotism by terrible warnings, and to proclaim to +them even with the crash of bombs that the day of justice had come. The +unhappy man spoke that word "justice" in a ringing voice which seemed to +fill the whole court. But the emotion of those who heard him reached its +highest pitch when, after declaring that he laid down his life for the +cause, and expected nothing but a verdict of death from the jury, he +added, as if prophetically, that his blood would assuredly give birth to +other martyrs. They might send him to the scaffold, said he, but he knew +that his example would bear fruit. After him would come another avenger, +and yet another, and others still, until the old and rotten social system +should have crumbled away so as to make room for the society of justice +and happiness of which he was one of the apostles. + +The presiding judge, in his impatience and agitation, twice endeavoured +to interrupt Salvat. But the other read on and on with the imperturbable +conscientiousness of one who fears that he may not give proper utterance +to his most important words. He must have been thinking of that perusal +ever since he had been in prison. It was the decisive act of his suicide, +the act by which he proclaimed that he gave his life for the glory of +dying in the cause of mankind. And when he had finished he sat down +between the gendarmes with glowing eyes and flushed cheeks, as if he +inwardly experienced some deep joy. + +To destroy the effect which the declaration had produced--a commingling +of fear and compassion--the judge at once wished to proceed with the +hearing of the witnesses. Of these there was an interminable procession; +though little interest attached to their evidence, for none of them had +any revelations to make. Most attention perhaps was paid to the measured +statements of Grandidier, who had been obliged to dismiss Salvat from his +employ on account of the Anarchist propaganda he had carried on. Then the +prisoner's brother-in-law, Toussaint, the mechanician, also seemed a very +worthy fellow if one might judge him by the manner in which he strove to +put things favourably for Salvat, without in any way departing from the +truth. After Toussaint's evidence considerable time was taken up by the +discussions between the experts, who disagreed in public as much as they +had disagreed in their reports. Although they were all of opinion that +dynamite could not have been the explosive employed in the bomb, they +indulged in the most extraordinary and contradictory suppositions as to +this explosive's real nature. Eventually a written opinion given by the +illustrious _savant_ Bertheroy was read; and this, after clearly setting +forth the known facts, concluded that one found oneself in presence of a +new explosive of prodigious power, the formula of which he himself was +unable to specify. + +Then detective Mondesir and commissary Dupot came in turn to relate the +various phases of the man hunt in the Bois de Boulogne. In Mondesir +centred all the gaiety of the proceedings, thanks to the guardroom +sallies with which he enlivened his narrative. And in like way the +greatest grief, a perfect shudder of revolt and compassion, was roused by +the errand girl's grandmother, a poor, bent, withered old woman, whom the +prosecution had cruelly constrained to attend the court, and who wept and +looked quite dismayed, unable as she was to understand what was wanted of +her. When she had withdrawn, the only remaining witnesses were those for +the defence, a procession of foremen and comrades, who all declared that +they had known Salvat as a very worthy fellow, an intelligent and zealous +workman, who did not drink, but was extremely fond of his daughter, and +incapable of an act of dishonesty or cruelty. + +It was already four o'clock when the evidence of the witnesses came to an +end. The atmosphere in court was now quite stifling, feverish fatigue +flushed every face, and a kind of ruddy dust obscured the waning light +which fell from the windows. Women were fanning themselves and men were +mopping their foreheads. However, the passion roused by the scene still +brought a glow of cruel delight to every eye. And no one stirred. + +"Ah!" sighed Rosemonde all at once, "to think that I hoped to drink a cup +of tea at a friend's at five o'clock. I shall die of thirst and +starvation here." + +"We shall certainly be kept till seven," replied Massot. "I can't offer +to go and fetch you a roll, for I shouldn't be readmitted." + +Then Duthil, who had not ceased shrugging his shoulders while Salvat read +his declaration, exclaimed: "What childish things he said, didn't he? And +to think that the fool is going to die for all that! Rich and poor, +indeed! Why, there will always be rich and poor. And it's equally certain +that when a man is poor his one great desire is to become rich. If that +fellow is in the dock to-day it's simply because he failed to make +money." + +While the others were thus conversing, Pierre for his part was feeling +extremely anxious about his brother, who sat beside him in silence, pale +and utterly upset. Pierre sought his hand and covertly pressed it. Then +in a low voice he inquired: "Do you feel ill? Shall we go away?" + +Guillaume answered him by discreetly and affectionately returning his +handshake. He was all right, he would remain till the end, however much +he might be stirred by exasperation. + +It was now Monsieur Lehmann, the public prosecutor, who rose to address +the court. He had a large, stern mouth, and was squarely built, with a +stubborn Jewish face. Nevertheless he was known to be a man of dexterous, +supple nature, one who had a foot in every political camp, and invariably +contrived to be on good terms with the powers that were. This explained +his rapid rise in life, and the constant favour he enjoyed. In the very +first words he spoke he alluded to the new ministry gazetted that +morning, referring pointedly to the strong-handed man who had undertaken +the task of reassuring peaceable citizens and making evil-doers tremble. +Then he fell upon the wretched Salvat with extraordinary vehemence, +recounting the whole of his life, and exhibiting him as a bandit +expressly born for the perpetration of crime, a monster who was bound to +end by committing some abominable and cowardly outrage. Next he +flagellated Anarchism and its partisans. The Anarchists were a mere herd +of vagabonds and thieves, said he. That had been shown by the recent +robbery at the Princess de Harn's house. The ignoble gang that had been +arrested for that affair had given the apostles of the Anarchist doctrine +as their references! And that was what the application of Anarchist +theories resulted in--burglary and filth, pending a favourable hour for +wholesale pillage and murder! For nearly a couple of hours the public +prosecutor continued in this fashion, throwing truth and logic to the +winds, and exclusively striving to alarm his hearers. He made all +possible use of the terror which had reigned in Paris, and figuratively +brandished the corpse of the poor little victim, the pretty errand girl, +as if it were a blood-red flag, before pointing to the pale hand, +preserved in spirits of wine, with a gesture of compassionate horror +which sent a shudder through his audience. And he ended, as he had begun, +by inspiriting the jurors, and telling them that they might fearlessly do +their duty now that those at the head of the State were firmly resolved +to give no heed to threats. + +Then the young advocate entrusted with the defence in his turn spoke. And +he really said what there was to say with great clearness and precision. +He was of a different school from that of the public prosecutor: his +eloquence was very simple and smooth, his only passion seemed to be zeal +for truth. Moreover, it was sufficient for him to show Salvat's career in +its proper light, to depict him pursued by social fatalities since his +childhood, and to explain the final action of his career by all that he +had suffered and all that had sprung up in his dreamy brain. Was not his +crime the crime of one and all? Who was there that did not feel, if only +in a small degree, responsible for that bomb which a penniless, starving +workman had deposited on the threshold of a wealthy man's abode--a +wealthy man whose name bespoke the injustice of the social system: so +much enjoyment on the one hand and so much privation on the other! If one +of us happened to lose his head, and felt impelled to hasten the advent +of happiness by violence in such troublous times, when so many burning +problems claimed solution, ought he to be deprived of his life in the +name of justice, when none could swear that they had not in some measure +contributed to his madness? Following up this question, Salvat's counsel +dwelt at length on the period that witnessed the crime, a period of so +many scandals and collapses, when the old world was giving birth to a new +one amidst the most terrible struggles and pangs. And he concluded by +begging the jury to show themselves humane, to resist all passion and +terror, and to pacify the rival classes by a wise verdict, instead of +prolonging social warfare by giving the starvelings yet another martyr to +avenge. + +It was past six o'clock when M. de Larombiere began to sum up in a +partial and flowery fashion, in which one detected how grieved and angry +he was at having such a shrill little voice. Then the judges and the +jurors withdrew, and the prisoner was led away, leaving the spectators +waiting amidst an uproar of feverish impatience. Some more ladies had +fainted, and it had even been necessary to carry out a gentleman who had +been overcome by the cruel heat. However, the others stubbornly remained +there, not one of them quitting his place. + +"Ah! it won't take long now," said Massot. "The jurors brought their +verdict all ready in their pockets. I was looking at them while that +little advocate was telling them such sensible things. They all looked as +if they were comfortably asleep in the gloom." + +Then Duthil turned to the Princess and asked her, "Are you still hungry?" + +"Oh! I'm starving," she replied. "I shall never be able to wait till I +get home. You will have to take me to eat a biscuit somewhere.... All +the same, however, it's very exciting to see a man's life staked on a yes +or a no." + +Meantime Pierre, finding Guillaume still more feverish and grieved, had +once again taken hold of his hand. Neither of them spoke, so great was +the distress that they experienced for many reasons which they themselves +could not have precisely defined. It seemed to them, however, that all +human misery--inclusive of their own, the affections, the hopes, the +griefs which brought them suffering--was sobbing and quivering in that +buzzing hall. Twilight had gradually fallen there, but as the end was now +so near it had doubtless been thought unnecessary to light the +chandeliers. And thus large vague shadows, dimming and shrouding the +serried throng, now hovered about in the last gleams of the day. The +ladies in light gowns yonder, behind the bench, looked like pale phantoms +with all-devouring eyes, whilst the numerous groups of black-robed +advocates formed large sombre patches which gradually spread everywhere. +The greyish painting of the Christ had already vanished, and on the walls +one only saw the glaring white bust of the Republic, which resembled some +frigid death's head starting forth from the darkness. + +"Ah!" Massot once more exclaimed, "I knew that it wouldn't take long!" + +Indeed, the jurors were returning after less than a quarter of an hour's +absence. Then the judges likewise came back and took their seats. +Increased emotion stirred the throng, a great gust seemed to sweep +through the court, a gust of anxiety, which made every head sway. Some +people had risen to their feet, and others gave vent to involuntary +exclamations. The foreman of the jury, a gentleman with a broad red face, +had to wait a moment before speaking. At last in a sharp but somewhat +sputtering voice he declared: "On my honour and my conscience, before God +and before man, the verdict of the jury is: on the question of Murder, +yes, by a majority of votes."* + + * English readers may be reminded that in France the verdict of + a majority of the jury suffices for conviction or acquittal. + If the jury is evenly divided the prisoner is acquitted.--Trans. + +The night had almost completely fallen when Salvat was once more brought +in. In front of the jurors, who faded away in the gloom, he stood forth, +erect, with a last ray from the windows lighting up his face. The judges +themselves almost disappeared from view, their red robes seemed to have +turned black. And how phantom-like looked the prisoner's emaciated face +as he stood there listening, with dreamy eyes, while the clerk of the +court read the verdict to him. + +When silence fell and no mention was made of extenuating circumstances, +he understood everything. His face, which had retained a childish +expression, suddenly brightened. "That means death. Thank you, +gentlemen," he said. + +Then he turned towards the public, and amidst the growing darkness +searched for the friendly faces which he knew were there; and this time +Guillaume became fully conscious that he had recognised him, and was +again expressing affectionate and grateful thanks for the crust he had +received from him on a day of want. He must have also bidden farewell to +Victor Mathis, for as Guillaume glanced at the young man, who had not +moved, he saw that his eyes were staring wildly, and that a terrible +expression rested on his lips. + +As for the rest of the proceedings, the last questions addressed to the +jury and the counsel, the deliberations of the judges and the delivery of +sentence--these were all lost amidst the buzzing and surging of the +crowd. A little compassion was unconsciously manifested; and some stupor +was mingled with the satisfaction that greeted the sentence of death. + +No sooner had Salvat been condemned, however, than he drew himself up to +his full height, and as the guards led him away he shouted in a +stentorian voice: "Long live Anarchy!" + +Nobody seemed angered by the cry. The crowd went off quietly, as if +weariness had lulled all its passions. The proceedings had really lasted +too long and fatigued one too much. It was quite pleasant to inhale the +fresh air on emerging from such a nightmare. + +In the large waiting hall, Pierre and Guillaume passed Duthil and the +Princess, whom General de Bozonnet had stopped while chatting with +Fonsegue. All four of them were talking in very loud voices, complaining +of the heat and their hunger, and agreeing that the affair had not been a +particularly interesting one. Yet, all was well that ended well. As +Fonsegue remarked, the condemnation of Salvat to death was a political +and social necessity. + +When Pierre and Guillaume reached the Pont Neuf, the latter for a moment +rested his elbows on the parapet of the bridge. His brother, standing +beside him, also gazed at the grey waters of the Seine, which here and +there were fired by the reflections of the gas lamps. A fresh breeze +ascended from the river; it was the delightful hour when night steals +gently over resting Paris. Then, as the brothers stood there breathing +that atmosphere which usually brings relief and comfort, Pierre on his +side again became conscious of his heart-wound, and remembered his +promise to return to Montmartre, a promise that he must keep in spite of +the torture there awaiting him; whilst Guillaume on the other hand +experienced a revival of the suspicion and disquietude that had come to +him on seeing Marie so feverish, changed as it were by some new feeling, +of which she herself was ignorant. Were further sufferings, struggles, +and obstacles to happiness yet in store for those brothers who loved one +another so dearly? At all events their hearts bled once more with all the +sorrow into which they had been cast by the scene they had just +witnessed: that assize of justice at which a wretched man had been +condemned to pay with his head for the crimes of one and all. + +Then, as they turned along the quay, Guillaume recognised young Victor +going off alone in the gloom, just in front of them. The chemist stopped +him and spoke to him of his mother. But the young man did not hear; his +thin lips parted, and in a voice as trenchant as a knife-thrust he +exclaimed: "Ah! so it's blood they want. Well, they may cut off his head, +but he will be avenged!" + + + + +V. SACRIFICE + +THE days which followed Salvat's trial seemed gloomy ones up yonder in +Guillaume's workroom, which was usually so bright and gay. Sadness and +silence filled the place. The three young men were no longer there. +Thomas betook himself to the Grandidier works early every morning in +order to perfect his little motor; Francois was so busy preparing for his +examination that he scarcely left the Ecole Normale; while Antoine was +doing some work at Jahan's, where he delighted to linger and watch his +little friend Lise awakening to life. Thus Guillaume's sole companion was +Mere-Grand, who sat near the window busy with her needlework; for Marie +was ever going about the house, and only stayed in the workroom for any +length of time when Pierre happened to be there. + +Guillaume's gloom was generally attributed to the feelings of anger and +revolt into which the condemnation of Salvat had thrown him. He had flown +into a passion on his return from the Palace of Justice, declaring that +the execution of the unhappy man would simply be social murder, +deliberate provocation of class warfare. And the others had bowed on +hearing that pain-fraught violent cry, without attempting to discuss the +point. Guillaume's sons respectfully left him to the thoughts which kept +him silent for hours, with his face pale and a dreamy expression in his +eyes. His chemical furnace remained unlighted, and his only occupation +from morn till night was to examine the plans and documents connected +with his invention, that new explosive and that terrible engine of war, +which he had so long dreamt of presenting to France in order that she +might impose the reign of truth and justice upon all the nations. +However, during the long hours which he spent before the papers scattered +over his table, often without seeing them, for his eyes wandered far +away, a multitude of vague thoughts came to him--doubts respecting the +wisdom of his project, and fears lest his desire to pacify the nations +should simply throw them into an endless war of extermination. Although +he really believed that great city of Paris to be the world's brain, +entrusted with the task of preparing the future, he could not disguise +from himself that with all its folly and shame and injustice it still +presented a shocking spectacle. Was it really ripe enough for the work of +human salvation which he thought of entrusting to it? Then, on trying to +re-peruse his notes and verify his formulas, he only recovered his former +energetic determination on thinking of his marriage, whereupon the idea +came to him that it was now too late for him to upset his life by +changing such long-settled plans. + +His marriage! Was it not the thought of this which haunted Guillaume and +disturbed him far more powerfully than his scientific work or his +humanitarian passion? Beneath all the worries that he acknowledged, there +was another which he did not confess even to himself, and which filled +him with anguish. He repeated day by day that he would reveal his +invention to the Minister of War as soon as he should be married to +Marie, whom he wished to associate with his glory. Married to Marie! Each +time he thought of it, burning fever and secret disquietude came over +him. If he now remained so silent and had lost his quiet cheerfulness, it +was because he had felt new life, as it were, emanating from her. She was +certainly no longer the same woman as formerly; she was becoming more and +more changed and distant. He had watched her and Pierre when the latter +happened to be there, which was now but seldom. He, too, appeared +embarrassed, and different from what he had been. On the days when he +came, however, Marie seemed transformed; it was as if new life animated +the house. Certainly the intercourse between her and Pierre was quite +innocent, sisterly on the one hand, brotherly on the other. They simply +seemed to be a pair of good friends. And yet a radiance, a vibration, +emanated from them, something more subtle even than a sun-ray or a +perfume. After the lapse of a few days Guillaume found himself unable to +doubt the truth any longer. And his heart bled, he was utterly upset by +it. He had not found them in fault in any way, but he was convinced that +these two children, as he so paternally called them, really adored one +another. + +One lovely morning when he happened to be alone with Mere-Grand, face to +face with sunlit Paris, he fell into a yet more dolorous reverie than +usual. He seemed to be gazing fixedly at the old lady, as, seated in her +usual place, she continued sewing with an air of queenly serenity. +Perhaps, however, he did not see her. For her part she occasionally +raised her eyes and glanced at him, as if expecting a confession which +did not come. At last, finding such silence unbearable, she made up her +mind to address him: "What has been the matter with you, Guillaume, for +some time past? Why don't you tell me what you have to tell me?" + +He descended from the clouds, as it were, and answered in astonishment: +"What I have to tell you?" + +"Yes, I know it as well as you do, and I thought you would speak to me of +it, since it pleases you to do nothing here without consulting me." + +At this he turned very pale and shuddered. So he had not been mistaken in +the matter, even Mere-Grand knew all about it. To talk of it, however, +was to give shape to his suspicions, to transform what, hitherto, might +merely have been a fancy on his part into something real and definite. + +"It was inevitable, my dear son," said Mere-Grand. "I foresaw it from the +outset. And if I did not warn you of it, it was because I believed in +some deep design on your part. Since I have seen you suffering, however, +I have realised that I was mistaken." Then, as he still looked at her +quivering and distracted, she continued: "Yes, I fancied that you might +have wished it, that in bringing your brother here you wished to know if +Marie loved you otherwise than as a father. There was good reason for +testing her--for instance, the great difference between your ages, for +your life is drawing to a close, whilst hers is only beginning. And I +need not mention the question of your work, the mission which I have +always dreamt of for you." + +Thereupon, with his hands raised in prayerful fashion, Guillaume drew +near to the old lady and exclaimed: "Oh! speak out clearly, tell me what +you think. I don't understand, my poor heart is so lacerated; and yet I +should so much like to know everything, so as to be able to act and take +a decision. To think that you whom I love, you whom I venerate as much as +if you were my real mother, you whose profound good sense I know so well +that I have always followed your advice--to think that you should have +foreseen this frightful thing and have allowed it to happen at the risk +of its killing me!... Why have you done so, tell me, why?" + +Mere-Grand was not fond of talking. Absolute mistress of the house as she +was, managing everything, accountable to nobody for her actions, she +never gave expression to all that she thought or all that she desired. +Indeed, there was no occasion for it, as Guillaume, like the children, +relied upon her completely, with full confidence in her wisdom. And her +somewhat enigmatical ways even helped to raise her in their estimation. + +"What is the use of words, when things themselves speak?" she now gently +answered, while still plying her needle. "It is quite true that I +approved of the plan of a marriage between you and Marie, for I saw that +it was necessary that she should be married if she was to stay here. And +then, too, there were many other reasons which I needn't speak of. +However, Pierre's arrival here has changed everything, and placed things +in their natural order. Is not that preferable?" + +He still lacked the courage to understand her. "Preferable! When I'm in +agony? When my life is wrecked?" + +Thereupon she rose and came to him, tall and rigid in her thin black +gown, and with an expression of austerity and energy on her pale face. +"My son," she said, "you know that I love you, and that I wish you to be +very noble and lofty. Only the other morning, you had an attack of +fright, the house narrowly escaped being blown up. Then, for some days +now you have been sitting over those documents and plans in an +absent-minded, distracted state, like a man who feels weak, and doubts, +and no longer knows his way. Believe me, you are following a dangerous +path; it is better that Pierre should marry Marie, both for their sakes +and for your own." + +"For my sake? No, no! What will become of me!" + +"You will calm yourself and reflect, my son. You have such serious duties +before you. You are on the eve of making your invention known. It seems +to me that something has bedimmed your sight, and that you will perhaps +act wrongly in this respect, through failing to take due account of the +problem before you. Perhaps there is something better to be done.... +At all events, suffer if it be necessary, but remain faithful to your +ideal." + +Then, quitting him with a maternal smile, she sought to soften her +somewhat stern words by adding: "You have compelled me to speak +unnecessarily, for I am quite at ease; with your superior mind, whatever +be in question, you can but do the one right thing that none other would +do." + +On finding himself alone Guillaume fell into feverish uncertainty. What +was the meaning of Mere-Grand's enigmatical words? He knew that she was +on the side of whatever might be good, natural, and necessary. But she +seemed to be urging him to some lofty heroism; and indeed what she had +said threw a ray of light upon the unrest which had come to him in +connection with his old plan of going to confide his secret to some +Minister of War or other, whatever one might happen to be in office at +the time. Growing hesitation and repugnance stirred him as he fancied he +could again hear her saying that perhaps there might be some better +course, that would require search and reflection. But all at once a +vision of Marie rose before him, and his heart was rent by the thought +that he was asked to renounce her. To lose her, to give her to another! +No, no, that was beyond his strength. He would never have the frightful +courage that was needed to pass by the last promised raptures of love +with disdain! + +For a couple of days Guillaume struggled on. He seemed to be again living +the six years which the young woman had already spent beside him in that +happy little house. She had been at first like an adopted daughter there; +and later on, when the idea of their marriage had sprung up, he had +viewed it with quiet delight in the hope that it would ensure the +happiness of all around him. If he had previously abstained from marrying +again it was from the fear of placing a strange mother over his children; +and if he yielded to the charm of loving yet once more, and no longer +leading a solitary life, it was because he had found at his very hearth +one of such sensible views, who, in the flower of youth, was willing to +become his wife despite the difference in their ages. Then months had +gone by, and serious occurrences had compelled them to postpone the +wedding, though without undue suffering on his part. Indeed, the +certainty that she was waiting for him had sufficed him, for his life of +hard work had rendered him patient. Now, however, all at once, at the +threat of losing her, his hitherto tranquil heart ached and bled. He +would never have thought the tie so close a one. But he was now almost +fifty, and it was as if love and woman were being wrenched away from him, +the last woman that he could love and desire, one too who was the more +desirable, as she was the incarnation of youth from which he must ever be +severed, should he indeed lose her. Passionate desire, mingled with rage, +flared up within him at the thought that someone should have come to take +her from him. + +One night, alone in his room, he suffered perfect martyrdom. In order +that he might not rouse the house he buried his face in his pillow so as +to stifle his sobs. After all, it was a simple matter; Marie had given +him her promise, and he would compel her to keep it. She would be his, +and his alone, and none would be able to steal her from him. Then, +however, there rose before him a vision of his brother, the +long-forgotten one, whom, from feelings of affection, he had compelled to +join his family. But his sufferings were now so acute that he would have +driven that brother away had he been before him. He was enraged, +maddened, by the thought of him. His brother--his little brother! So all +their love was over; hatred and violence were about to poison their +lives. For hours Guillaume continued complaining deliriously, and seeking +how he might so rid himself of Pierre that what had happened should be +blotted out. Now and again, when he recovered self-control, he marvelled +at the tempest within him; for was he not a _savant_ guided by lofty +reason, a toiler to whom long experience had brought serenity? But the +truth was that this tempest had not sprung up in his mind, it was raging +in the child-like soul that he had retained, the nook of affection and +dreaminess which remained within him side by side with his principles of +pitiless logic and his belief in proven phenomena only. His very genius +came from the duality of his nature: behind the chemist was a social +dreamer, hungering for justice and capable of the greatest love. And now +passion was transporting him, and he was weeping for the loss of Marie as +he would have wept over the downfall of that dream of his, the +destruction of war _by_ war, that scheme for the salvation of mankind at +which he had been working for ten years past. + +At last, amidst his weariness, a sudden resolution calmed him. He began +to feel ashamed of despairing in this wise when he had no certain grounds +to go upon. He must know everything, he would question the young woman; +she was loyal enough to answer him frankly. Was not this a solution +worthy of them both? An explanation in all sincerity, after which they +would be able to take a decision. Then he fell asleep; and, tired though +he felt when he rose in the morning, he was calmer. It was as if some +secret work had gone on in his heart during his few hours of repose after +that terrible storm. + +As it happened Marie was very gay that morning. On the previous day she +had gone with Pierre and Antoine on a cycling excursion over frightful +roads in the direction of Montmorency, whence they had returned in a +state of mingled anger and delight. When Guillaume stopped her in the +little garden, he found her humming a song while returning bare-armed +from the scullery, where some washing was going on. + +"Do you want to speak to me?" she asked. + +"Yes, my dear child, it's necessary for us to talk of some serious +matters." + +She at once understood that their marriage was in question, and became +grave. She had formerly consented to that marriage because she regarded +it as the only sensible course she could take, and this with full +knowledge of the duties which she would assume. No doubt her husband +would be some twenty years older than herself, but this circumstance was +one of somewhat frequent occurrence, and as a rule such marriages turned +out well, rather than otherwise. Moreover, she was in love with nobody, +and was free to consent. And she had consented with an impulse of +gratitude and affection which seemed so sweet that she thought it the +sweetness of love itself. Everybody around her, too, appeared so pleased +at the prospect of this marriage, which would draw the family yet more +closely together. And, on her side, she had been as it were intoxicated +by the idea of making others happy. + +"What is the matter?" she now asked Guillaume in a somewhat anxious +voice. "No bad news, I hope?" + +"No, no," he answered. "I've simply something to say to you." + +Then he led her under the plum-trees to the only green nook left in the +garden. An old worm-eaten bench still stood there against the +lilac-bushes. And in front of them Paris spread out its sea of roofs, +looking light and fresh in the morning sunlight. + +They both sat down. But at the moment of speaking and questioning Marie, +Guillaume experienced sudden embarrassment, while his heart beat +violently at seeing her beside him, so young and adorable with her bare +arms. + +"Our wedding-day is drawing near," he ended by saying. And then as she +turned somewhat pale, perhaps unconsciously, he himself suddenly felt +cold. Had not her lips twitched as if with pain? Had not a shadow passed +over her fresh, clear eyes? + +"Oh! we still have some time before us," she replied. + +Then, slowly and very affectionately, he resumed: "No doubt; still it is +necessary to attend to the formalities. And it is as well, perhaps, that +I should speak of those worries to-day, so that I may not have to bother +you about them again." + +Then he gently went on telling her all that would have to be done, +keeping his eyes on her whilst he spoke, watching for such signs of +emotion as the thought of her promise's early fulfilment might bring to +her face. She sat there in silence, with her hands on her lap, and her +features quite still, thus giving no certain sign of any regret or +trouble. Still she seemed rather dejected, compliant, as it were, but in +no wise joyous. + +"You say nothing, my dear Marie," Guillaume at last exclaimed. "Does +anything of all this displease you?" + +"Displease me? Oh, no!" + +"You must speak out frankly, if it does, you know. We will wait a little +longer if you have any personal reasons for wishing to postpone the date +again." + +"But I've no reasons, my friend. What reasons could I have? I leave you +quite free to settle everything as you yourself may desire." + +Silence fell. While answering, she had looked him frankly in the face; +but a little quiver stirred her lips, and gloom, for which she could not +account, seemed to rise and darken her face, usually as bright and gay as +spring water. In former times would she not have laughed and sung at the +mere announcement of that coming wedding? + +Then Guillaume, with an effort which made his voice tremble, dared to +speak out: "You must forgive me for asking you a question, my dear Marie. +There is still time for you to cancel your promise. Are you quite certain +that you love me?" + +At this she looked at him in genuine stupefaction, utterly failing to +understand what he could be aiming at. And--as she seemed to be deferring +her reply, he added: "Consult your heart. Is it really your old friend or +is it another that you love?" + +"I? I, Guillaume? Why do you say that to me? What can I have done to give +you occasion to say such a thing!" + +All her frank nature revolted as she spoke, and her beautiful eyes, +glowing with sincerity, gazed fixedly on his. + +"I love Pierre! I do, I?... Well, yes, I love him, as I love you all; +I love him because he has become one of us, because he shares our life +and our joys! I'm happy when he's here, certainly; and I should like him +to be always here. I'm always pleased to see him and hear him and go out +with him. I was very much grieved recently when he seemed to be relapsing +into his gloomy ideas. But all that is natural, is it not? And I think +that I have only done what you desired I should do, and I cannot +understand how my affection for Pierre can in any way exercise an +influence respecting our marriage." + +These words, in her estimation, ought to have convinced Guillaume that +she was not in love with his brother; but in lieu thereof they brought +him painful enlightenment by the very ardour with which she denied the +love imputed to her. + +"But you unfortunate girl!" he cried. "You are betraying yourself without +knowing it.... It is quite certain you do not love me, you love my +brother!" + +He had caught hold of her wrists and was pressing them with despairing +affection as if to compel her to read her heart. And she continued +struggling. A most loving and tragic contest went on between them, he +seeking to convince her by the evidence of facts, and she resisting him, +stubbornly refusing to open her eyes. In vain did he recount what had +happened since the first day, explaining the feelings which had followed +one upon another in her heart and mind: first covert hostility, next +curiosity regarding that extraordinary young priest, and then sympathy +and affection when she had found him so wretched and had gradually cured +him of his sufferings. They were both young and mother Nature had done +the rest. However, at each fresh proof and certainty which he put before +her, Marie only experienced growing emotion, trembling at last from head +to foot, but still unwilling to question herself. + +"No, no," said she, "I do not love him. If I loved him I should know it +and would acknowledge it to you; for you are well aware that I cannot +tell an untruth." + +Guillaume, however, had the cruelty to insist on the point, like some +heroic surgeon cutting into his own flesh even more than into that of +others, in order that the truth might appear and everyone be saved. +"Marie," said he, "it is not I whom you love. All that you feel for me is +respect and gratitude and daughterly affection. Remember what your +feelings were at the time when our marriage was decided upon. You were +then in love with nobody, and you accepted the offer like a sensible +girl, feeling certain that I should render you happy, and that the union +was a right and satisfactory one.... But since then my brother has +come here; love has sprung up in your heart in quite a natural way; and +it is Pierre, Pierre alone, whom you love as a lover and a husband should +be loved." + +Exhausted though she was, utterly distracted, too, by the light which, +despite herself, was dawning within her, Marie still stubbornly and +desperately protested. + +"But why do you struggle like this against the truth, my child?" said +Guillaume; "I do not reproach you. It was I who chose that this should +happen, like the old madman I am. What was bound to come has come, and +doubtless it is for the best. I only wanted to learn the truth from you +in order that I might take a decision and act uprightly." + +These words vanquished her, and her tears gushed forth. It seemed as +though something had been rent asunder within her; and she felt quite +overcome, as if by the weight of a new truth of which she had hitherto +been ignorant. "Ah! it was cruel of you," she said, "to do me such +violence so as to make me read my heart. I swear to you again that I did +not know I loved Pierre in the way you say. But you have opened my heart, +and roused what was quietly slumbering in it.... And it is true, I do +love Pierre, I love him now as you have said. And so here we are, all +three of us supremely wretched through your doing!" + +She sobbed, and with a sudden feeling of modesty freed her wrists from +his grasp. He noticed, however, that no blush rose to her face. Truth to +tell, her virginal loyalty was not in question; she had no cause to +reproach herself with any betrayal; it was he alone, perforce, who had +awakened her to love. For a moment they looked at one another through +their tears: she so strong and healthy, her bosom heaving at each +heart-beat, and her white arms--arms that could both charm and +sustain--bare almost to her shoulders; and he still vigorous, with his +thick fleece of white hair and his black moustaches, which gave his +countenance such an expression of energetic youth. But it was all over, +the irreparable had swept by, and utterly changed their lives. + +"Marie," he nobly said, "you do not love me, I give you back your +promise." + +But with equal nobility she refused to take it back. "Never will I do +so," she replied. "I gave it to you frankly, freely and joyfully, and my +affection and admiration for you have never changed." + +Nevertheless, with more firmness in his hitherto broken voice, Guillaume +retorted: "You love Pierre, and it is Pierre whom you ought to marry." + +"No," she again insisted, "I belong to you. A tie which years have +tightened cannot be undone in an hour. Once again, if I love Pierre I +swear to you that I was ignorant of it this morning. And let us leave the +matter as it is; do not torture me any more, it would be too cruel of +you." + +Then, quivering like a woman who suddenly perceives that she is bare, in +a stranger's presence, she hastily pulled down her sleeves, and even drew +them over her hands as if to leave naught of her person visible. And +afterwards she rose and walked away without adding a single word. + +Guillaume remained alone on the bench in that leafy corner, in front of +Paris, to which the light morning sunshine lent the aspect of some +quivering, soaring city of dreamland. A great weight oppressed him, and +it seemed to him as if he would never be able to rise from the seat. That +which brought him most suffering was Marie's assurance that she had till +that morning been ignorant of the fact that she was in love with Pierre. +She had been ignorant of it, and it was he, Guillaume, who had brought it +to her knowledge, compelled her to confess it! He had now firmly planted +it in her heart, and perhaps increased it by revealing it to her. Ah! how +cruel the thought--to be the artisan of one's own torment! Of one thing +he was now quite certain: there would be no more love in his life. At the +idea of this, his poor, loving heart sank and bled. And yet amidst the +disaster, amidst his grief at realising that he was an old man, and that +renunciation was imperative, he experienced a bitter joy at having +brought the truth to light. This was very harsh consolation, fit only for +one of heroic soul, yet he found lofty satisfaction in it, and from that +moment the thought of sacrifice imposed itself upon him with +extraordinary force. He must marry his children; there lay the path of +duty, the only wise and just course, the only certain means of ensuring +the happiness of the household. And when his revolting heart yet leapt +and shrieked with anguish, he carried his vigorous hands to his chest in +order to still it. + +On the morrow came the supreme explanation between Guillaume and Pierre, +not in the little garden, however, but in the spacious workroom. And here +again one beheld the vast panorama of Paris, a nation as it were at work, +a huge vat in which the wine of the future was fermenting. Guillaume had +arranged things so that he might be alone with his brother; and no sooner +had the latter entered than he attacked him, going straight to the point +without any of the precautions which he had previously taken with Marie. + +"Haven't you something to say to me, Pierre?" he inquired. "Why won't you +confide in me?" + +The other immediately understood him, and began to tremble, unable to +find a word, but confessing everything by the distracted, entreating +expression of his face. + +"You love Marie," continued Guillaume, "why did you not loyally come and +tell me of your love?" + +At this Pierre recovered self-possession and defended himself vehemently: +"I love Marie, it's true, and I felt that I could not conceal it, that +you yourself would notice it at last. But there was no occasion for me to +tell you of it, for I was sure of myself, and would have fled rather than +have allowed a single word to cross my lips. I suffered in silence and +alone, and you cannot know how great my torture was! It is even cruel on +your part to speak to me of it; for now I am absolutely compelled to +leave you.... I have already, on several occasions, thought of doing +so. If I have come back here, it was doubtless through weakness, but also +on account of my affection for you all. And what mattered my presence +here? Marie ran no risk. She does not love me." + +"She does love you!" Guillaume answered. "I questioned her yesterday, and +she had to confess that she loved you." + +At this Pierre, utterly distracted, caught Guillaume by the shoulders and +gazed into his eyes. "Oh! brother, brother! what is this you say? Why say +a thing which would mean terrible misfortune for us all? Even if it were +true, my grief would far exceed my joy, for I will not have you suffer. +Marie belongs to you. To me she is as sacred as a sister. And if there be +only my madness to part you, it will pass by, I shall know how to conquer +it." + +"Marie loves you," repeated Guillaume in his gentle, obstinate way. "I +don't reproach you with anything. I well know that you have struggled, +and have never betrayed yourself to her either by word or glance. +Yesterday she herself was still ignorant that she loved you, and I had to +open her eyes.... What would you have? I simply state a fact: she +loves you." + +This time Pierre, still quivering, made a gesture of mingled rapture and +terror, as if some divine and long-desired blessing were falling upon him +from heaven and crushing him beneath its weight. + +"Well, then," he said, after a brief pause, "it is all over.... Let us +kiss one another for the last time, and then I'll go." + +"Go? Why? You must stay with us. Nothing could be more simple: you love +Marie and she loves you. I give her to you." + +A loud cry came from Pierre, who wildly raised his hands again with a +gesture of fright and rapture. "You give me Marie?" he replied. "You, who +adore her, who have been waiting for her for months? No, no, it would +overcome me, it would terrify me, as if you gave me your very heart after +tearing it from your breast. No, no! I will not accept your sacrifice!" + +"But as it is only gratitude and affection that Marie feels for me," said +Guillaume, "as it is you whom she really loves, am I to take a mean +advantage of the engagements which she entered into unconsciously, and +force her to a marriage when I know that she would never be wholly mine? +Besides, I have made a mistake, it isn't I who give her to you, she has +already given herself, and I do not consider that I have any right to +prevent her from doing so." + +"No, no! I will never accept, I will never bring such grief upon you... +Kiss me, brother, and let me go." + +Thereupon Guillaume caught hold of Pierre and compelled him to sit down +by his side on an old sofa near the window. And he began to scold him +almost angrily while still retaining a smile, in which suffering and +kindliness were blended. "Come," said he, "we are surely not going to +fight over it. You won't force me to tie you up so as to keep you here? I +know what I'm about. I thought it all over before I spoke to you. No +doubt, I can't tell you that it gladdens me. I thought at first that I +was going to die; I should have liked to hide myself in the very depths +of the earth. And then, well, it was necessary to be reasonable, and I +understood that things had arranged themselves for the best, in their +natural order." + +Pierre, unable to resist any further, had begun to weep with both hands +raised to his face. + +"Don't grieve, brother, either for yourself or for me," said Guillaume. +"Do you remember the happy days we lately spent together at Neuilly after +we had found one another again? All our old affection revived within us, +and we remained for hours, hand in hand, recalling the past and loving +one another. And what a terrible confession you made to me one night, the +confession of your loss of faith, your torture, the void in which you +were rolling! When I heard of it my one great wish was to cure you. I +advised you to work, love, and believe in life, convinced as I was that +life alone could restore you to peace and health.... And for that +reason I afterwards brought you here. You fought against it, and it was I +who forced you to come. I was so happy when I found that you again took +an interest in life, and had once more become a man and a worker! I would +have given some of my blood if necessary to complete your cure.... +Well, it's done now, I have given you all I had, since Marie herself has +become necessary to you, and she alone can save you." + +Then as Pierre again attempted to protest, he resumed: "Don't deny it. It +is so true indeed, that if she does not complete the work I have begun, +all my efforts will have been vain, you will fall back into your misery +and negation, into all the torments of a spoilt life. She is necessary to +you, I say. And do you think that I no longer know how to love you? Would +you have me refuse you the very breath of life that will truly make you a +man, after all my fervent wishes for your return to life? I have enough +affection for you both to consent to your loving one another.... +Besides, I repeat it, nature knows what she does. Instinct is a sure +guide, it always tends to what is useful and trite. I should have been a +sorry husband, and it is best that I should keep to my work as an old +_savant_; whereas you are young and represent the future, all fruitful +and happy life." + +Pierre shuddered as he heard this, for his old fears returned to him. Had +not the priesthood for ever cut him off from life, had not his long years +of chaste celibacy robbed him of his manhood? "Fruitful and happy life!" +he muttered, "ah! if you only knew how distressed I feel at the idea that +I do not perhaps deserve the gift you so lovingly offer me! You are worth +more than I am; you would have given her a larger heart, a firmer brain, +and perhaps, too, you are really a younger man than myself.... There +is still time, brother, keep her, if with you she is likely to be happier +and more truly and completely loved. For my part I am full of doubts. Her +happiness is the only thing of consequence. Let her belong to the one who +will love her best!" + +Indescribable emotion had now come over both men. As Guillaume heard his +brother's broken words, the cry of a love that trembled at the thought of +possible weakness, he did for a moment waver. With a dreadful heart-pang +he stammered despairingly: "Ah! Marie, whom I love so much! Marie, whom I +would have rendered so happy!" + +At this Pierre could not restrain himself; he rose and cried: "Ah! you +see that you love her still and cannot renounce her.... So let me go! +let me go!" + +But Guillaume had already caught him around the body, clasping him with +an intensity of brotherly love which was increased by the renunciation he +was resolved upon: "Stay!" said he. "It wasn't I that spoke, it was the +other man that was in me, he who is about to die, who is already dead! By +the memory of our mother and our father I swear to you that the sacrifice +is consummated, and that if you two refuse to accept happiness from me +you will but make me suffer." + +For a moment the weeping men remained in one another's arms. They had +often embraced before, but never had their hearts met and mingled as they +did now. It was a delightful moment, which seemed an eternity. All the +grief and misery of the world had disappeared from before them; there +remained naught save their glowing love, whence sprang an eternity of +love even as light comes from the sun. And that moment was compensation +for all their past and future tears, whilst yonder, on the horizon before +them, Paris still spread and rumbled, ever preparing the unknown future. + +Just then Marie herself came in. And the rest proved very simple. +Guillaume freed himself from his brother's clasp, led him forward and +compelled him and Marie to take each other by the hand. At first she made +yet another gesture of refusal in her stubborn resolve that she would not +take her promise back. But what could she say face to face with those two +tearful men, whom she had found in one another's arms, mingling together +in such close brotherliness? Did not those tears and that embrace sweep +away all ordinary reasons, all such arguments as she held in reserve? +Even the embarrassment of the situation disappeared, it seemed as if she +had already had a long explanation with Pierre, and that he and she were +of one mind to accept that gift of love which Guillaume offered them with +so much heroism. A gust of the sublime passed through the room, and +nothing could have appeared more natural to them than this extraordinary +scene. Nevertheless, Marie remained silent, she dared not give her +answer, but looked at them both with her big soft eyes, which, like their +own, were full of tears. + +And it was Guillaume who, with sudden inspiration, ran to the little +staircase conducting to the rooms overhead, and called: "Mere-Grand! +Mere-Grand! Come down at once, you are wanted." + +Then, as soon as she was there, looking slim and pale in her black gown, +and showing the wise air of a queen-mother whom all obeyed, he said: +"Tell these two children that they can do nothing better than marry one +another. Tell them that we have talked it over, you and I, and that it is +your desire, your will that they should do so." + +She quietly nodded her assent, and then said: "That is true, it will be +by far the most sensible course." + +Thereupon Marie flung herself into her arms, consenting, yielding to the +superior forces, the powers of life, that had thus changed the course of +her existence. Guillaume immediately desired that the date of the wedding +should be fixed, and accommodation provided for the young couple in the +rooms overhead. And as Pierre glanced at him with some remaining anxiety +and spoke of travelling, for he feared that his wound was not yet healed, +and that their presence might bring him suffering, Guillaume responded: +"No, no, I mean to keep you. If I'm marrying you, it is to have you both +here. Don't worry about me. I have so much work to do, I shall work." + +In the evening when Thomas and Francois came home and learnt the news, +they did not seem particularly surprised by it. They had doubtless felt +that things would end like this. And they bowed to the _denouement_, not +venturing to say a word, since it was their father himself who announced +the decision which had been taken, with his usual air of composure. As +for Antoine, who on his own side quivered with love for Lise, he gazed +with doubting, anxious eyes at his father, who had thus had the courage +to pluck out his heart. Could he really survive such a sacrifice, must it +not kill him? Then Antoine kissed his father passionately, and the elder +brothers in their turn embraced him with all their hearts. Guillaume +smiled and his eyes became moist. After his victory over his horrible +torments nothing could have been sweeter to him than the embraces of his +three big sons. + +There was, however, further emotion in store for him that evening. Just +as the daylight was departing, and he was sitting at his large table near +the window, again checking and classifying the documents and plans +connected with his invention, he was surprised to see his old master and +friend Bertheroy enter the workroom. The illustrious chemist called on +him in this fashion at long intervals, and Guillaume felt the honour thus +conferred on him by this old man to whom eminence and fame had brought so +many titles, offices and decorations. Moreover, Bertheroy, with his +position as an official _savant_ and member of the Institute, showed some +courage in thus venturing to call on one whom so-called respectable folks +regarded with contumely. And on this occasion, Guillaume at once +understood that it was some feeling of curiosity that had brought him. +And so he was greatly embarrassed, for he hardly dared to remove the +papers and plans which were lying on the table. + +"Oh, don't be frightened," gaily exclaimed Bertheroy, who, despite his +careless and abrupt ways, was really very shrewd. "I haven't come to pry +into your secrets.... Leave your papers there, I promise you that I +won't read anything." + +Then, in all frankness, he turned the conversation on the subject of +explosives, which he was still studying, he said, with passionate +interest. He had made some new discoveries which he did not conceal. +Incidentally, too, he spoke of the opinion he had given in Salvat's +affair. His dream was to discover some explosive of great power, which +one might attempt to domesticate and reduce to complete obedience. And +with a smile he pointedly concluded: "I don't know where that madman +found the formula of his powder. But if you should ever discover it, +remember that the future perhaps lies in the employment of explosives as +motive power." + +Then, all at once, he added: "By the way, that fellow Salvat will be +executed on the day after to-morrow. A friend of mine at the Ministry of +Justice has just told me so." + +Guillaume had hitherto listened to him with an air of mingled distrust +and amusement. But this announcement of Salvat's execution stirred him to +anger and revolt, though for some days past he had known it to be +inevitable, in spite of the sympathy which the condemned man was now +rousing in many quarters. + +"It will be a murder!" he cried vehemently. + +Bertheroy waved his hand: "What would you have?" he answered: "there's a +social system and it defends itself when it is attacked. Besides, those +Anarchists are really too foolish in imagining that they will transform +the world with their squibs and crackers! In my opinion, you know, +science is the only revolutionist. Science will not only bring us truth +but justice also, if indeed justice ever be possible on this earth. And +that is why I lead so calm a life and am so tolerant." + +Once again Bertheroy appeared to Guillaume as a revolutionist, one who +was convinced that he helped on the ruin of the ancient abominable +society of today, with its dogmas and laws, even whilst he was working in +the depths of his laboratory. He was, however, too desirous of repose, +and had too great a contempt for futilities to mingle with the events of +the day, and he preferred to live in quietude, liberally paid and +rewarded, and at peace with the government whatever it might be, whilst +at the same time foreseeing and preparing for the formidable parturition +of the future. + +He waved his hand towards Paris, over which a sun of victory was setting, +and then again spoke: "Do you hear the rumble? It is we who are the +stokers, we who are ever flinging fresh fuel under the boiler. Science +does not pause in her work for a single hour, and she is the artisan of +Paris, which--let us hope it--will be the artisan of the future. All the +rest is of no account." + +But Guillaume was no longer listening to him. He was thinking of Salvat +and the terrible engine of war he had invented, that engine which before +long would shatter cities. And a new idea was dawning and growing in his +mind. He had just freed himself of his last tie, he had created all the +happiness he could create around him. Ah! to recover his courage, to be +master of himself once more, and, at any rate, derive from the sacrifice +of his heart the lofty delight of being free, of being able to lay down +even his life, should he some day deem it necessary! + + + + + +BOOK V. + + + + +I. THE GUILLOTINE + + +FOR some reason of his own Guillaume was bent upon witnessing the +execution of Salvat. Pierre tried to dissuade him from doing so; and +finding his efforts vain, became somewhat anxious. He accordingly +resolved to spend the night at Montmartre, accompany his brother and +watch over him. In former times, when engaged with Abbe Rose in +charitable work in the Charonne district, he had learnt that the +guillotine could be seen from the house where Mege, the Socialist deputy, +resided at the corner of the Rue Merlin. He therefore offered himself as +a guide. As the execution was to take place as soon as it should legally +be daybreak, that is, about half-past four o'clock, the brothers did not +go to bed but sat up in the workroom, feeling somewhat drowsy, and +exchanging few words. Then as soon as two o'clock struck, they started +off. + +The night was beautifully serene and clear. The full moon, shining like a +silver lamp in the cloudless, far-stretching heavens, threw a calm, +dreamy light over the vague immensity of Paris, which was like some +spell-bound city of sleep, so overcome by fatigue that not a murmur arose +from it. It was as if beneath the soft radiance which spread over its +roofs, its panting labour and its cries of suffering were lulled to +repose until the dawn. Yet, in a far, out of the way district, dark work +was even now progressing, a knife was being raised on high in order that +a man might be killed. + +Pierre and Guillaume paused in the Rue St. Eleuthere, and gazed at the +vaporous, tremulous city spread out below then. And as they turned they +perceived the basilica of the Sacred Heart, still domeless but already +looking huge indeed in the moonbeams, whose clear white light accentuated +its outlines and brought them into sharp relief against a mass of +shadows. Under the pale nocturnal sky, the edifice showed like a colossal +monster, symbolical of provocation and sovereign dominion. Never before +had Guillaume found it so huge, never had it appeared to him to dominate +Paris, even in the latter's hours of slumber, with such stubborn and +overwhelming might. + +This wounded him so keenly in the state of mind in which he found +himself, that he could not help exclaiming: "Ah! they chose a good site +for it, and how stupid it was to let them do so! I know of nothing more +nonsensical; Paris crowned and dominated by that temple of idolatry! How +impudent it is, what a buffet for the cause of reason after so many +centuries of science, labour, and battle! And to think of it being reared +over Paris, the one city in the world which ought never to have been +soiled in this fashion! One can understand it at Lourdes and Rome; but +not in Paris, in the very field of intelligence which has been so deeply +ploughed, and whence the future is sprouting. It is a declaration of war, +an insolent proclamation that they hope to conquer Paris also!" + +Guillaume usually evinced all the tolerance of a _savant_, for whom +religions are simply social phenomena. He even willingly admitted the +grandeur or grace of certain Catholic legends. But Marie Alacoque's +famous vision, which has given rise to the cult of the Sacred Heart, +filled him with irritation and something like physical disgust. He +suffered at the mere idea of Christ's open, bleeding breast, and the +gigantic heart which the saint asserted she had seen beating in the +depths of the wound--the huge heart in which Jesus placed the woman's +little heart to restore it to her inflated and glowing with love. What +base and loathsome materialism there was in all this! What a display of +viscera, muscles and blood suggestive of a butcher's shop! And Guillaume +was particularly disgusted with the engraving which depicted this horror, +and which he found everywhere, crudely coloured with red and yellow and +blue, like some badly executed anatomical plate. + +Pierre on his side was also looking at the basilica as, white with +moonlight, it rose out of the darkness like a gigantic fortress raised to +crush and conquer the city slumbering beneath it. It had already brought +him suffering during the last days when he had said mass in it and was +struggling with his torments. "They call it the national votive +offering," he now exclaimed. "But the nation's longing is for health and +strength and restoration to its old position by work. That is a thing the +Church does not understand. It argues that if France was stricken with +defeat, it was because she deserved punishment. She was guilty, and so +to-day she ought to repent. Repent of what? Of the Revolution, of a +century of free examination and science, of the emancipation of her mind, +of her initiatory and liberative labour in all parts of the world? That +indeed is her real transgression; and it is as a punishment for all our +labour, search for truth, increase of knowledge and march towards justice +that they have reared that huge pile which Paris will see from all her +streets, and will never be able to see without feeling derided and +insulted in her labour and glory." + +With a wave of his hand he pointed to the city, slumbering in the +moonlight as beneath a sheet of silver, and then set off again with his +brother, down the slopes, towards the black and deserted streets. + +They did not meet a living soul until they reached the outer boulevard. +Here, however, no matter what the hour may be, life continues with +scarcely a pause. No sooner are the wine shops, music and dancing halls +closed, than vice and want, cast into the street, there resume their +nocturnal existence. Thus the brothers came upon all the homeless ones: +low prostitutes seeking a pallet, vagabonds stretched on the benches +under the trees, rogues who prowled hither and thither on the lookout for +a good stroke. Encouraged by their accomplice--night, all the mire and +woe of Paris had returned to the surface. The empty roadway now belonged +to the breadless, homeless starvelings, those for whom there was no place +in the sunlight, the vague, swarming, despairing herd which is only +espied at night-time. Ah! what spectres of destitution, what apparitions +of grief and fright there were! What a sob of agony passed by in Paris +that morning, when as soon as the dawn should rise, a man--a pauper, a +sufferer like the others--was to be guillotined! + +As Guillaume and Pierre were about to descend the Rue des Martyrs, the +former perceived an old man lying on a bench with his bare feet +protruding from his gaping, filthy shoes. Guillaume pointed to him in +silence. Then, a few steps farther on, Pierre in his turn pointed to a +ragged girl, crouching, asleep with open month, in the corner of a +doorway. There was no need for the brothers to express in words all the +compassion and anger which stirred their hearts. At long intervals +policemen, walking slowly two by two, shook the poor wretches and +compelled them to rise and walk on and on. Occasionally, if they found +them suspicious or refractory, they marched them off to the +police-station. And then rancour and the contagion of imprisonment often +transformed a mere vagabond into a thief or a murderer. + +In the Rue des Martyrs and the Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, the brothers +found night-birds of another kind, women who slunk past them, close to +the house-fronts, and men and hussies who belaboured one another with +blows. Then, upon the grand boulevards, on the thresholds of lofty black +houses, only one row of whose windows flared in the night, pale-faced +individuals, who had just come down from their clubs, stood lighting +cigars before going home. A lady with a ball wrap over her evening gown +went by accompanied by a servant. A few cabs, moreover, still jogged up +and down the roadway, while others, which had been waiting for hours, +stood on their ranks in rows, with drivers and horses alike asleep. And +as one boulevard after another was reached, the Boulevard Poissonniere, +the Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, the Boulevard St. Denis, and so forth, as +far as the Place de la Republique, there came fresh want and misery, more +forsaken and hungry ones, more and more of the human "waste" that is cast +into the streets and the darkness. And on the other hand, an army of +street-sweepers was now appearing to remove all the filth of the past +four and twenty hours, in order that Paris, spruce already at sunrise, +might not blush for having thrown up such a mass of dirt and +loathsomeness in the course of a single day. + +It was, however, more particularly after following the Boulevard +Voltaire, and drawing near to the districts of La Roquette and Charonne, +that the brothers felt they were returning to a sphere of labour where +there was often lack of food, and where life was but so much pain. Pierre +found himself at home here. In former days, accompanied by good Abbe +Rose, visiting despairing ones, distributing alms, picking up children +who had sunk to the gutter, he had a hundred times perambulated every one +of those long, densely populated streets. And thus a frightful vision +arose before his mind's eye; he recalled all the tragedies he had +witnessed, all the shrieks he had heard, all the tears and bloodshed he +had seen, all the fathers, mothers and children huddled together and +dying of want, dirt and abandonment: that social hell in which he had +ended by losing his last hopes, fleeing from it with a sob in the +conviction that charity was a mere amusement for the rich, and absolutely +futile as a remedy. It was this conviction which now returned to him as +he again cast eyes upon that want and grief stricken district which +seemed fated to everlasting destitution. That poor old man whom Abbe Rose +had revived one night in yonder hovel, had he not since died of +starvation? That little girl whom he had one morning brought in his arms +to the refuge after her parents' death, was it not she whom he had just +met, grown but fallen to the streets, and shrieking beneath the fist of a +bully? Ah! how great was the number of the wretched! Their name was +legion! There were those whom one could not save, those who were hourly +born to a life of woe and want, even as one may be born infirm, and +those, too, who from every side sank in the sea of human injustice, that +ocean which has ever been the same for centuries past, and which though +one may strive to drain it, still and for ever spreads. How heavy was the +silence, how dense the darkness in those working-class streets where +sleep seems to be the comrade of death! Yet hunger prowls, and misfortune +sobs; vague spectral forms slink by, and then are lost to view in the +depths of the night. + +As Pierre and Guillaume went along they became mixed with dark groups of +people, a whole flock of inquisitive folk, a promiscuous, passionate +tramp, tramp towards the guillotine. It came from all Paris, urged on by +brutish fever, a hankering for death and blood. In spite, however, of the +dull noise which came from this dim crowd, the mean streets that were +passed remained quite dark, not a light appeared at any of their windows; +nor could one hear the breathing of the weary toilers stretched on their +wretched pallets from which they would not rise before the morning +twilight. + +On seeing the jostling crowd which was already assembled on the Place +Voltaire, Pierre understood that it would be impossible for him and his +brother to ascend the Rue de la Roquette. Barriers, moreover, must +certainly have been thrown across that street. In order therefore to +reach the corner of the Rue Merlin, it occurred to him to take the Rue de +la Folie Regnault, which winds round in the rear of the prison, farther +on. + +Here indeed they found solitude and darkness again. + +The huge, massive prison with its great bare walls on which a moonray +fell, looked like some pile of cold stones, dead for centuries past. At +the end of the street they once more fell in with the crowd, a dim +restless mass of beings, whose pale faces alone could be distinguished. +The brothers had great difficulty in reaching the house in which Mege +resided at the corner of the Rue Merlin. All the shutters of the +fourth-floor flat occupied by the Socialist deputy were closed, though +every other window was wide open and crowded with surging sightseers. +Moreover, the wine shop down below and the first-floor room connected +with it flared with gas, and were already crowded with noisy customers, +waiting for the performance to begin. + +"I hardly like to go and knock at Mege's door," said Pierre. + +"No, no, you must not do so!" replied Guillaume. + +"Let us go into the wine shop. We may perhaps be able to see something +from the balcony." + +The first-floor room was provided with a very large balcony, which women +and gentlemen were already filling. The brothers nevertheless managed to +reach it, and for a few minutes remained there, peering into the darkness +before them. The sloping street grew broader between the two prisons, the +"great" and the "little" Roquette, in such wise as to form a sort of +square, which was shaded by four clumps of plane-trees, rising from the +footways. The low buildings and scrubby trees, all poor and ugly of +aspect, seemed almost to lie on a level with the ground, under a vast sky +in which stars were appearing, as the moon gradually declined. And the +square was quite empty save that on one spot yonder there seemed to be +some little stir. Two rows of guards prevented the crowd from advancing, +and even threw it back into the neighbouring streets. On the one hand, +the only lofty houses were far away, at the point where the Rue St. Maur +intersects the Rue de la Roquette; while, on the other, they stood at the +corners of the Rue Merlin and the Rue de la Folie Regnault, so that it +was almost impossible to distinguish anything of the execution even from +the best placed windows. As for the inquisitive folk on the pavement they +only saw the backs of the guards. Still this did not prevent a crush. The +human tide flowed on from all sides with increasing clamour. + +Guided by the remarks of some women who, leaning forward on the balcony, +had been watching the square for a long time already, the brothers were +at last able to perceive something. It was now half-past three, and the +guillotine was nearly ready. The little stir which one vaguely espied +yonder under the trees, was that of the headsman's assistants fixing the +knife in position. A lantern slowly came and went, and five or six +shadows danced over the ground. But nothing else could be distinguished, +the square was like a large black pit, around which ever broke the waves +of the noisy crowd which one could not see. And beyond the square one +could only identify the flaring wine shops, which showed forth like +lighthouses in the night. All the surrounding district of poverty and +toil was still asleep, not a gleam as yet came from workrooms or yards, +not a puff of smoke from the lofty factory chimneys. + +"We shall see nothing," Guillaume remarked. + +But Pierre silenced him, for he has just discovered that an elegantly +attired gentleman leaning over the balcony near him was none other than +the amiable deputy Duthil. He had at first fancied that a woman muffled +in wraps who stood close beside the deputy was the little Princess de +Harn, whom he had very likely brought to see the execution since he had +taken her to see the trial. On closer inspection, however, he had found +that this woman was Silviane, the perverse creature with the virginal +face. Truth to tell, she made no concealment of her presence, but talked +on in an extremely loud voice, as if intoxicated; and the brothers soon +learnt how it was that she happened to be there. Duvillard, Duthil, and +other friends had been supping with her at one o'clock in the morning, +when on learning that Salvat was about to be guillotined, the fancy of +seeing the execution had suddenly come upon her. Duvillard, after vainly +entreating her to do nothing of the kind, had gone off in a fury, for he +felt that it would be most unseemly on his part to attend the execution +of a man who had endeavoured to blow up his house. And thereupon Silviane +had turned to Duthil, whom her caprice greatly worried, for he held all +such loathsome spectacles in horror, and had already refused to act as +escort to the Princess. However, he was so infatuated with Silviane's +beauty, and she made him so many promises, that he had at last consented +to take her. + +"He can't understand people caring for amusement," she said, speaking of +the Baron. "And yet this is really a thing to see.... But no matter, +you'll find him at my feet again to-morrow." + +Duthil smiled and responded: "I suppose that peace has been signed and +ratified now that you have secured your engagement at the Comedie." + +"Peace? No!" she protested. "No, no. There will be no peace between us +until I have made my _debut_. After that, we'll see." + +They both laughed; and then Duthil, by way of paying his court, told her +how good-naturedly Dauvergne, the new Minister of Public Instruction and +Fine Arts, had adjusted the difficulties which had hitherto kept the +doors of the Comedie closed upon her. A really charming man was +Dauvergne, the embodiment of graciousness, the very flower of the +Monferrand ministry. His was the velvet hand in that administration whose +leader had a hand of iron. + +"He told me, my beauty," said Duthil, "that a pretty girl was in place +everywhere." And then as Silviane, as if flattered, pressed closely +beside him, the deputy added: "So that wonderful revival of 'Polyeucte,' +in which you are going to have such a triumph, is to take place on the +day after to-morrow. We shall all go to applaud you, remember." + +"Yes, on the evening of the day after to-morrow," said Silviane, "the +very same day when the wedding of the Baron's daughter will take place. +There'll be plenty of emotion that day!" + +"Ah! yes, of course!" retorted Duthil, "there'll be the wedding of our +friend Gerard with Mademoiselle Camille to begin with. We shall have a +crush at the Madeleine in the morning and another at the Comedie in the +evening. You are quite right, too; there will be several hearts throbbing +in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy." + +Thereupon they again became merry, and jested about the Duvillard +family--father, mother, lover and daughter--with the greatest possible +ferocity and crudity of language. Then, all at once Silviane exclaimed: +"Do you know, I'm feeling awfully bored here, my little Duthil. I can't +distinguish anything, and I should like to be quite near so as to see it +all plainly. You must take me over yonder, close to that machine of +theirs." + +This request threw Duthil into consternation, particularly as at that +same moment Silviane perceived Massot outside the wine shop, and began +calling and beckoning to him imperiously. A brief conversation then +ensued between the young woman and the journalist: "I say, Massot!" she +called, "hasn't a deputy the right to pass the guards and take a lady +wherever he likes?" + +"Not at all!" exclaimed Duthil. "Massot knows very well that a deputy +ought to be the very first to bow to the laws." + +This exclamation warned Massot that Duthil did not wish to leave the +balcony. "You ought to have secured a card of invitation, madame," said +he, in reply to Silviane. "They would then have found you room at one of +the windows of La Petite Roquette. Women are not allowed elsewhere.... +But you mustn't complain, you have a very good place up there." + +"But I can see nothing at all, my dear Massot." + +"Well, you will in any case see more than Princess de Harn will. Just now +I came upon her carriage in the Rue du Chemin Vert. The police would not +allow it to come any nearer." + +This news made Silviane merry again, whilst Duthil shuddered at the idea +of the danger he incurred, for Rosemonde would assuredly treat him to a +terrible scene should she see him with another woman. Then, an idea +occurring to him, he ordered a bottle of champagne and some little cakes +for his "beautiful friend," as he called Silviane. She had been +complaining of thirst, and was delighted with the opportunity of +perfecting her intoxication. When a waiter had managed to place a little +table near her, on the balcony itself, she found things very pleasant, +and indeed considered it quite brave to tipple and sup afresh, while +waiting for that man to be guillotined close by. + +It was impossible for Pierre and Guillaume to remain up there any longer. +All that they heard, all that they beheld filled them with disgust. The +boredom of waiting had turned all the inquisitive folks of the balcony +and the adjoining room into customers. The waiter could hardly manage to +serve the many glasses of beer, bottles of expensive wine, biscuits, and +plates of cold meat which were ordered of him. And yet the spectators +here were all _bourgeois_, rich gentlemen, people of society! On the +other hand, time has to be killed somehow when it hangs heavily on one's +hands; and thus there were bursts of laughter and paltry and horrible +jests, quite a feverish uproar arising amidst the clouds of smoke from +the men's cigars. When Pierre and Guillaume passed through the wine shop +on the ground-floor they there found a similar crush and similar tumult, +aggravated by the disorderly behaviour of the big fellows in blouses who +were drinking draught wine at the pewter bar which shone like silver. +There were people, too, at all the little tables, besides an incessant +coming and going of folks who entered the place for a "wet," by way of +calming their impatience. And what folks they were! All the scum, all the +vagabonds who had been dragging themselves about since daybreak on the +lookout for whatever chance might offer them, provided it were not work! + +On the pavement outside, Pierre and Guillaume felt yet a greater +heart-pang. In the throng which the guards kept back, one simply found so +much mire stirred up from the very depths of Paris life: prostitutes and +criminals, the murderers of to-morrow, who came to see how a man ought to +die. Loathsome, bareheaded harlots mingled with bands of prowlers or ran +through the crowd, howling obscene refrains. Bandits stood in groups +chatting and quarrelling about the more or less glorious manner in which +certain famous _guillotines_ had died. Among these was one with respect +to whom they all agreed, and of whom they spoke as of a great captain, a +hero whose marvellous courage was deserving of immortality. Then, as one +passed along, one caught snatches of horrible phrases, particulars about +the instrument of death, ignoble boasts, and filthy jests reeking with +blood. And over and above all else there was bestial fever, a lust for +death which made this multitude delirious, an eagerness to see life flow +forth fresh and ruddy beneath the knife, so that as it coursed over the +soil they might dip their feet in it. As this execution was not an +ordinary one, however, there were yet spectators of another kind; silent +men with glowing eyes who came and went all alone, and who were plainly +thrilled by their faith, intoxicated with the contagious madness which +incites one to vengeance or martyrdom. + +Guillaume was just thinking of Victor Mathis, when he fancied that he saw +him standing in the front row of sightseers whom the guards held in +check. It was indeed he, with his thin, beardless, pale, drawn face. +Short as he was, he had to raise himself on tiptoes in order to see +anything. Near him was a big, red-haired girl who gesticulated; but for +his part he never stirred or spoke. He was waiting motionless, gazing +yonder with the round, ardent, fixed eyes of a night-bird, seeking to +penetrate the darkness. At last a guard pushed him back in a somewhat +brutal way; but he soon returned to his previous position, ever patient +though full of hatred against the executioners, wishing indeed to see all +he could in order to increase his hate. + +Then Massot approached the brothers. This time, on seeing Pierre without +his cassock, he did not even make a sign of astonishment, but gaily +remarked: "So you felt curious to see this affair, Monsieur Froment?" + +"Yes, I came with my brother," Pierre replied. "But I very much fear that +we shan't see much." + +"You certainly won't if you stay here," rejoined Massot. And thereupon in +his usual good-natured way--glad, moreover, to show what power a +well-known journalist could wield--he inquired: "Would you like me to +pass you through? The inspector here happens to be a friend of mine." + +Then, without waiting for an answer, he stopped the inspector and hastily +whispered to him that he had brought a couple of colleagues, who wanted +to report the proceedings. At first the inspector hesitated, and seemed +inclined to refuse Massot's request; but after a moment, influenced by +the covert fear which the police always has of the press, he made a weary +gesture of consent. + +"Come, quick, then," said Massot, turning to the brothers, and taking +them along with him. + +A moment later, to the intense surprise of Pierre and Guillaume, the +guards opened their ranks to let them pass. They then found themselves in +the large open space which was kept clear. And on thus emerging from the +tumultuous throng they were quite impressed by the death-like silence and +solitude which reigned under the little plane-trees. The night was now +paling. A faint gleam of dawn was already falling from the sky. + +After leading his companions slantwise across the square, Massot stopped +them near the prison and resumed: "I'm going inside; I want to see the +prisoner roused and got ready. In the meantime, walk about here; nobody +will say anything to you. Besides, I'll come back to you in a moment." + +A hundred people or so, journalists and other privileged spectators, were +scattered about the dark square. Movable wooden barriers--such as are set +up at the doors of theatres when there is a press of people waiting for +admission--had been placed on either side of the pavement running from +the prison gate to the guillotine; and some sightseers were already +leaning over these barriers, in order to secure a close view of the +condemned man as he passed by. Others were walking slowly to and fro, and +conversing in undertones. The brothers, for their part, approached the +guillotine. + +It stood there under the branches of the trees, amidst the delicate +greenery of the fresh leaves of spring. A neighbouring gas-lamp, whose +light was turning yellow in the rising dawn, cast vague gleams upon it. +The work of fixing it in position--work performed as quietly as could be, +so that the only sound was the occasional thud of a mallet--had just been +finished; and the headsman's "valets" or assistants, in frock-coats and +tall silk hats, were waiting and strolling about in a patient way. But +the instrument itself, how base and shameful it looked, squatting on the +ground like some filthy beast, disgusted with the work it had to +accomplish! What! those few beams lying on the ground, and those others +barely nine feet high which rose from it, keeping the knife in position, +constituted the machine which avenged Society, the instrument which gave +a warning to evil-doers! Where was the big scaffold painted a bright red +and reached by a stairway of ten steps, the scaffold which raised high +bloody arms over the eager multitude, so that everybody might behold the +punishment of the law in all its horror! The beast had now been felled to +the ground, where it simply looked ignoble, crafty and cowardly. If on +the one hand there was no majesty in the manner in which human justice +condemned a man to death at its assizes: on the other, there was merely +horrid butchery with the help of the most barbarous and repulsive of +mechanical contrivances, on the terrible day when that man was executed. + +As Pierre and Guillaume gazed at the guillotine, a feeling of nausea came +over them. Daylight was now slowly breaking, and the surroundings were +appearing to view: first the square itself with its two low, grey +prisons, facing one another; then the distant houses, the taverns, the +marble workers' establishments, and the shops selling flowers and +wreaths, which are numerous hereabouts, as the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise +is so near. Before long one could plainly distinguish the black lines of +the spectators standing around in a circle, the heads leaning forward +from windows and balconies, and the people who had climbed to the very +house roofs. The prison of La Petite Roquette over the way had been +turned into a kind of tribune for guests; and mounted Gardes de Paris +went slowly to and fro across the intervening expanse. Then, as the sky +brightened, labour awoke throughout the district beyond the crowd, a +district of broad, endless streets lined with factories, work-shops and +work-yards. Engines began to snort, machinery and appliances were got +ready to start once more on their usual tasks, and smoke already curled +away from the forest of lofty brick chimneys which, on all sides, sprang +out of the gloom. + +It then seemed to Guillaume that the guillotine was really in its right +place in that district of want and toil. It stood in its own realm, like +a _terminus_ and a threat. Did not ignorance, poverty and woe lead to it? +And each time that it was set up amidst those toilsome streets, was it +not charged to overawe the disinherited ones, the starvelings, who, +exasperated by everlasting injustice, were always ready for revolt? It +was not seen in the districts where wealth and enjoyment reigned. It +would there have seemed purposeless, degrading and truly monstrous. And +it was a tragical and terrible coincidence that the bomb-thrower, driven +mad by want, should be guillotined there, in the very centre of want's +dominion. + +But daylight had come at last, for it was nearly half-past four. The +distant noisy crowd could feel that the expected moment was drawing nigh. +A shudder suddenly sped through the atmosphere. + +"He's coming," exclaimed little Massot, as he came back to Pierre and +Guillaume. "Ah! that Salvat is a brave fellow after all." + +Then he related how the prisoner had been awakened; how the governor of +the prison, magistrate Amadieu, the chaplain, and a few other persons had +entered the cell where Salvat lay fast asleep; and then how the condemned +man had understood the truth immediately upon opening his eyes. He had +risen, looking pale but quite composed. And he had dressed himself +without assistance, and had declined the nip of brandy and the cigarette +proffered by the good-hearted chaplain, in the same way as with a gentle +but stubborn gesture he had brushed the crucifix aside. Then had come the +"toilette" for death. With all rapidity and without a word being +exchanged, Salvat's hands had been tied behind his back, his legs had +been loosely secured with a cord, and the neckband of his shirt had been +cut away. He had smiled when the others exhorted him to be brave. He only +feared some nervous weakness, and had but one desire, to die like a hero, +to remain the martyr of the ardent faith in truth and justice for which +he was about to perish. + +"They are now drawing up the death certificate in the register," +continued Massot in his chattering way. "Come along, come along to the +barriers if you wish a good view.... I turned paler, you know, and +trembled far more than he did. I don't care a rap for anything as a rule; +but, all the same, an execution isn't a pleasant business.... You +can't imagine how many attempts were made to save Salvat's life. Even +some of the papers asked that he might be reprieved. But nothing +succeeded, the execution was regarded as inevitable, it seems, even by +those who consider it a blunder. Still, they had such a touching +opportunity to reprieve him, when his daughter, little Celine, wrote that +fine letter to the President of the Republic, which I was the first to +publish in the 'Globe.' Ah! that letter, it cost me a lot of running +about!" + +Pierre, who was already quite upset by this long wait for the horrible +scene, felt moved to tears by Massot's reference to Celine. He could +again see the child standing beside Madame Theodore in that bare, cold +room whither her father would never more return. It was thence that he +had set out on a day of desperation with his stomach empty and his brain +on fire, and it was here that he would end, between yonder beams, beneath +yonder knife. + +Massot, however, was still giving particulars. The doctors, said he, were +furious because they feared that the body would not be delivered to them +immediately after the execution. To this Guillaume did not listen. He +stood there with his elbows resting on the wooden barrier and his eyes +fixed on the prison gate, which still remained shut. His hands were +quivering, and there was an expression of anguish on his face as if it +were he himself who was about to be executed. The headsman had again just +left the prison. He was a little, insignificant-looking man, and seemed +annoyed, anxious to have done with it all. Then, among a group of +frock-coated gentlemen, some of the spectators pointed out Gascogne, the +Chief of the Detective Police, who wore a cold, official air, and +Amadieu, the investigating magistrate, who smiled and looked very spruce, +early though the hour was. He had come partly because it was his duty, +and partly because he wished to show himself now that the curtain was +about to fall on a wonderful tragedy of which he considered himself the +author. Guillaume glanced at him, and then as a growing uproar rose from +the distant crowd, he looked up for an instant, and again beheld the two +grey prisons, the plane-trees with their fresh young leaves, and the +houses swarming with people beneath the pale blue sky, in which the +triumphant sun was about to appear. + +"Look out, here he comes!" + +Who had spoken? A slight noise, that of the opening gate, made every +heart throb. Necks were outstretched, eyes gazed fixedly, there was +laboured breathing on all sides. Salvat stood on the threshold of the +prison. The chaplain, stepping backwards, had come out in advance of him, +in order to conceal the guillotine from his sight, but he had stopped +short, for he wished to see that instrument of death, make acquaintance +with it, as it were, before he walked towards it. And as he stood there, +his long, aged sunken face, on which life's hardships had left their +mark, seemed transformed by the wondrous brilliancy of his flaring, +dreamy eyes. Enthusiasm bore him up--he was going to his death in all the +splendour of his dream. When the executioner's assistants drew near to +support him he once more refused their help, and again set himself in +motion, advancing with short steps, but as quickly and as straightly as +the rope hampering his legs permitted. + +All at once Guillaume felt that Salvat's eyes were fixed upon him. +Drawing nearer and nearer the condemned man had perceived and recognised +his friend; and as he passed by, at a distance of no more than six or +seven feet, he smiled faintly and darted such a deep penetrating glance +at Guillaume, that ever afterwards the latter felt its smart. But what +last thought, what supreme legacy had Salvat left him to meditate upon, +perhaps to put into execution? It was all so poignant that Pierre feared +some involuntary call on his brother's part; and so he laid his hand upon +his arm to quiet him. + +"Long live Anarchy!" + +It was Salvat who had raised this cry. But in the deep silence his husky, +altered voice seemed to break. The few who were near at hand had turned +very pale; the distant crowd seemed bereft of life. The horse of one of +the Gardes de Paris was alone heard snorting in the centre of the space +which had been kept clear. + +Then came a loathsome scramble, a scene of nameless brutality and +ignominy. The headsman's helps rushed upon Salvat as he came up slowly +with brow erect. Two of them seized him by the head, but finding little +hair there, could only lower it by tugging at his neck. Next two others +grasped him by the legs and flung him violently upon a plank which tilted +over and rolled forward. Then, by dint of pushing and tugging, the head +was got into the "lunette," the upper part of which fell in such wise +that the neck was fixed as in a ship's port-hole--and all this was +accomplished amidst such confusion and with such savagery that one might +have thought that head some cumbrous thing which it was necessary to get +rid of with the greatest speed. But the knife fell with a dull, heavy, +forcible thud, and two long jets of blood spurted from the severed +arteries, while the dead man's feet moved convulsively. Nothing else +could be seen. The executioner rubbed his hands in a mechanical way, and +an assistant took the severed blood-streaming head from the little basket +into which it had fallen and placed it in the large basket into which the +body had already been turned. + +Ah! that dull, that heavy thud of the knife! It seemed to Guillaume that +he had heard it echoing far away all over that district of want and toil, +even in the squalid rooms where thousands of workmen were at that moment +rising to perform their day's hard task! And there the echo of that thud +acquired formidable significance; it spoke of man's exasperation with +injustice, of zeal for martyrdom, and of the dolorous hope that the blood +then spilt might hasten the victory of the disinherited. + +Pierre, for his part, at the sight of that loathsome butchery, the abject +cutthroat work of that killing machine, had suddenly felt his chilling +shudder become more violent; for before him arose a vision of another +corpse, that of the fair, pretty child ripped open by a bomb and +stretched yonder, at the entrance of the Duvillard mansion. Blood +streamed from her delicate flesh, just as it had streamed from that +decapitated neck. It was blood paying for blood; it was like payment for +mankind's debt of wretchedness, for which payment is everlastingly being +made, without man ever being able to free himself from suffering. + +Above the square and the crowd all was still silent in the clear sky. How +long had the abomination lasted? An eternity, perhaps, compressed into +two or three minutes. And now came an awakening: the spectators emerged +from their nightmare with quivering hands, livid faces, and eyes +expressive of compassion, disgust and fear. + +"That makes another one. I've now seen four executions," said Massot, who +felt ill at ease. "After all, I prefer to report weddings. Let us go off, +I have all I want for my article." + +Guillaume and Pierre followed him mechanically across the square, and +again reached the corner of the Rue Merlin. And here they saw little +Victor Mathis, with flaming eyes and white face, still standing in +silence on the spot where they had left him. He could have seen nothing +distinctly; but the thud of the knife was still echoing in his brain. A +policeman at last gave him a push, and told him to move on. At this he +looked the policeman in the face, stirred by sudden rage and ready to +strangle him. Then, however, he quietly walked away, ascending the Rue de +la Roquette, atop of which the lofty foliage of Pere-Lachaise could be +seen, beneath the rising sun. + +The brothers meantime fell upon a scene of explanations, which they heard +without wishing to do so. Now that the sight was over, the Princess de +Harn arrived, and she was the more furious as at the door of the wine +shop she could see her new friend Duthil accompanying a woman. + +"I say!" she exclaimed, "you are nice, you are, to have left me in the +lurch like this! It was impossible for my carriage to get near, so I've +had to come on foot through all those horrid people who have been +jostling and insulting me." + +Thereupon Duthil, with all promptitude, introduced Silviane to her, +adding, in an aside, that he had taken a friend's place as the actress's +escort. And then Rosemonde, who greatly wished to know Silviane, calmed +down as if by enchantment, and put on her most engaging ways. "It would +have delighted me, madame," said she, "to have seen this sight in the +company of an _artiste_ of your merit, one whom I admire so much, though +I have never before had an opportunity of telling her so." + +"Well, dear me, madame," replied Silviane, "you haven't lost much by +arriving late. We were on that balcony there, and all that I could see +were a few men pushing another one about.... It really isn't worth the +trouble of coming." + +"Well, now that we have become acquainted, madame," said the Princess, "I +really hope that you will allow me to be your friend." + +"Certainly, madame, my friend; and I shall be flattered and delighted to +be yours." + +Standing there, hand in hand, they smiled at one another. Silviane was +very drunk, but her virginal expression had returned to her face; whilst +Rosemonde seemed feverish with vicious curiosity. Duthil, whom the scene +amused, now had but one thought, that of seeing Silviane home; so calling +to Massot, who was approaching, he asked him where he should find a +cab-rank. Rosemonde, however, at once offered her carriage, which was +waiting in an adjacent street. + +She would set the actress down at her door, said she, and the deputy at +his; and such was her persistence in the matter that Duthil, greatly +vexed, was obliged to accept her offer. + +"Well, then, till to-morrow at the Madeleine," said Massot, again quite +sprightly, as he shook hands with the Princess. + +"Yes, till to-morrow, at the Madeleine and the Comedie." + +"Ah! yes, of course!" he repeated, taking Silviane's hand, which he +kissed. "The Madeleine in the morning and the Comedie in the evening... +. We shall all be there to applaud you." + +"Yes, I expect you to do so," said Silviane. "Till to-morrow, then!" + +"Till to-morrow!" + +The crowd was now wearily dispersing, to all appearance disappointed and +ill at ease. A few enthusiasts alone lingered in order to witness the +departure of the van in which Salvat's corpse would soon be removed; +while bands of prowlers and harlots, looking very wan in the daylight, +whistled or called to one another with some last filthy expression before +returning to their dens. The headsman's assistants were hastily taking +down the guillotine, and the square would soon be quite clear. + +Pierre for his part wished to lead his brother away. Since the fall of +the knife, Guillaume had remained as if stunned, without once opening his +lips. In vain had Pierre tried to rouse him by pointing to the shutters +of Mege's flat, which still remained closed, whereas every other window +of the lofty house was wide open. Although the Socialist deputy hated the +Anarchists, those shutters were doubtless closed as a protest against +capital punishment. Whilst the multitude had been rushing to that +frightful spectacle, Mege, still in bed, with his face turned to the +wall, had probably been dreaming of how he would some day compel mankind +to be happy beneath the rigid laws of Collectivism. Affectionate father +as he was, the recent death of one of his children had quite upset his +private life. His cough, too, had become a very bad one; but he ardently +wished to live, for as soon as that new Monferrand ministry should have +fallen beneath the interpellation which he already contemplated, his own +turn would surely come: he would take the reins of power in hand, abolish +the guillotine and decree justice and perfect felicity. + +"Do you see, Guillaume?" Pierre gently repeated. "Mege hasn't opened his +windows. He's a good fellow, after all; although our friends Bache and +Morin dislike him." Then, as his brother still refrained from answering, +Pierre added, "Come, let us go, we must get back home." + +They both turned into the Rue de la Folie Regnault, and reached the outer +Boulevards by way of the Rue du Chemin Vert. All the toilers of the +district were now at work. In the long streets edged with low buildings, +work-shops and factories, one heard engines snorting and machinery +rumbling, while up above, the smoke from the lofty chimneys was assuming +a rosy hue in the sunrise. Afterwards, when the brothers reached the +Boulevard de Menilmontant and the Boulevard de Belleville, which they +followed in turn at a leisurely pace, they witnessed the great rush of +the working classes into central Paris. The stream poured forth from +every side; from all the wretched streets of the faubourgs there was an +endless exodus of toilers, who, having risen at dawn, were now hurrying, +in the sharp morning air, to their daily labour. Some wore short jackets +and others blouses; some were in velveteen trousers, others in linen +overalls. Their thick shoes made their tramp a heavy one; their hanging +hands were often deformed by work. And they seemed half asleep, not a +smile was to be seen on any of those wan, weary faces turned yonder +towards the everlasting task--the task which was begun afresh each day, +and which--'twas their only chance--they hoped to be able to take up for +ever and ever. There was no end to that drove of toilers, that army of +various callings, that human flesh fated to manual labour, upon which +Paris preys in order that she may live in luxury and enjoyment. + +Then the procession continued across the Boulevard de la Villette, the +Boulevard de la Chapelle, and the Boulevard de Rochechouart, where one +reached the height of Montmartre. More and more workmen were ever coming +down from their bare cold rooms and plunging into the huge city, whence, +tired out, they would that evening merely bring back the bread of +rancour. And now, too, came a stream of work-girls, some of them in +bright skirts, some glancing at the passers-by; girls whose wages were so +paltry, so insufficient, that now and again pretty ones among them never +more turned their faces homewards, whilst the ugly ones wasted away, +condemned to mere bread and water. A little later, moreover, came the +_employes_, the clerks, the counter-jumpers, the whole world of +frock-coated penury--"gentlemen" who devoured a roll as they hastened +onward, worried the while by the dread of being unable to pay their rent, +or by the problem of providing food for wife and children until the end +of the month should come.* And now the sun was fast ascending on the +horizon, the whole army of ants was out and about, and the toilsome day +had begun with its ceaseless display of courage, energy and suffering. + + * In Paris nearly all clerks and shop-assistants receive + monthly salaries, while most workmen are paid once a + fortnight.--Trans. + +Never before had it been so plainly manifest to Pierre that work was a +necessity, that it healed and saved. On the occasion of his visit to the +Grandidier works, and later still, when he himself had felt the need of +occupation, there had cone to him the thought that work was really the +world's law. And after that hateful night, after that spilling of blood, +after the slaughter of that toiler maddened by his dreams, there was +consolation and hope in seeing the sun rise once more, and everlasting +labour take up its wonted task. However hard it might prove, however +unjustly it might be lotted out, was it not work which would some day +bring both justice and happiness to the world? + +All at once, as the brothers were climbing the steep hillside towards +Guillaume's house, they perceived before and above them the basilica of +the Sacred Heart rising majestically and triumphantly to the sky. This +was no sublunar apparition, no dreamy vision of Domination standing face +to face with nocturnal Paris. The sun now clothed the edifice with +splendour, it looked golden and proud and victorious, flaring with +immortal glory. + +Then Guillaume, still silent, still feeling Salvat's last glance upon +him, seemed to come to some sudden and final decision. He looked at the +basilica with glowing eyes, and pronounced sentence upon it. + + + + +II. IN VANITY FAIR + +THE wedding was to take place at noon, and for half an hour already +guests had been pouring into the magnificently decorated church, which +was leafy with evergreens and balmy with the scent of flowers. The high +altar in the rear glowed with countless candles, and through the great +doorway, which was wide open, one could see the peristyle decked with +shrubs, the steps covered with a broad carpet, and the inquisitive crowd +assembled on the square and even along the Rue Royale, under the bright +sun. + +After finding three more chairs for some ladies who had arrived rather +late, Duthil remarked to Massot, who was jotting down names in his +note-book: "Well, if any more come, they will have to remain standing." + +"Who were those three?" the journalist inquired. + +"The Duchess de Boisemont and her two daughters." + +"Indeed! All the titled people of France, as well as all the financiers +and politicians, are here! It's something more even than a swell Parisian +wedding." + +As a matter of fact all the spheres of "society" were gathered together +there, and some at first seemed rather embarrassed at finding themselves +beside others. Whilst Duvillard's name attracted all the princes of +finance and politicians in power, Madame de Quinsac and her son were +supported by the highest of the French aristocracy. The mere names of the +witnesses sufficed to indicate what an extraordinary medley there was. On +Gerard's side these witnesses were his uncle, General de Bozonnet, and +the Marquis de Morigny; whilst on Camille's they were the great banker +Louvard, and Monferrand, the President of the Council and Minister of +Finances. The quiet bravado which the latter displayed in thus supporting +the bride after being compromised in her father's financial intrigues +imparted a piquant touch of impudence to his triumph. And public +curiosity was further stimulated by the circumstance that the nuptial +blessing was to be given by Monseigneur Martha, Bishop of Persepolis, the +Pope's political agent in France, and the apostle of the endeavours to +win the Republic over to the Church by pretending to "rally" to it. + +"But, I was mistaken," now resumed Massot with a sneer. "I said a really +Parisian wedding, did I not? But in point of fact this wedding is a +symbol. It's the apotheosis of the _bourgeoisie_, my dear fellow--the old +nobility sacrificing one of its sons on the altar of the golden calf in +order that the Divinity and the gendarmes, being the masters of France +once more, may rid us of those scoundrelly Socialists!" + +Then, again correcting himself, he added: "But I was forgetting. There +are no more Socialists. Their head was cut off the other morning." + +Duthil found this very funny. Then in a confidential way he remarked: +"You know that the marriage wasn't settled without a good deal of +difficulty.... Have you read Sagnier's ignoble article this morning?" + +"Yes, yes; but I knew it all before, everybody knew it." + +Then in an undertone, understanding one another's slightest allusion, +they went on chatting. It was only amidst a flood of tears and after a +despairing struggle that Baroness Duvillard had consented to let her +lover marry her daughter. And in doing so she had yielded to the sole +desire of seeing Gerard rich and happy. She still regarded Camille with +all the hatred of a defeated rival. Then, an equally painful contest had +taken place at Madame de Quinsac's. The Countess had only overcome her +revolt and consented to the marriage in order to save her son from the +dangers which had threatened him since childhood; and the Marquis de +Morigny had been so affected by her maternal abnegation, that in spite of +all his anger he had resignedly agreed to be a witness, thus making a +supreme sacrifice, that of his conscience, to the woman whom he had ever +loved. And it was this frightful story that Sagnier--using transparent +nicknames--had related in the "Voix du Peuple" that morning. He had even +contrived to make it more horrid than it really was; for, as usual, he +was badly informed, and he was naturally inclined to falsehood and +invention, as by sending an ever thicker and more poisonous torrent from +his sewer, he might, day by day, increase his paper's sales. Since +Monferrand's victory had compelled him to leave the African Railways +scandal on one side, he had fallen back on scandals in private life, +stripping whole families bare and pelting them with mud. + +All at once Duthil and Massot were approached by Chaigneux, who, with his +shabby frock coat badly buttoned, wore both a melancholy and busy air. +"Well, Monsieur Massot," said he, "what about your article on Silviane? +Is it settled? Will it go in?" + +As Chaigneux was always for sale, always ready to serve as a valet, it +had occurred to Duvillard to make use of him to ensure Silviane's success +at the Comedie. He had handed this sorry deputy over to the young woman, +who entrusted him with all manner of dirty work, and sent him scouring +Paris in search of applauders and advertisements. His eldest daughter was +not yet married, and never had his four women folk weighed more heavily +on his hands. His life had become a perfect hell; they had ended by +beating him, if he did not bring a thousand-franc note home on the first +day of every month. + +"My article!" Massot replied; "no, it surely won't go in, my dear deputy. +Fonsegue says that it's written in too laudatory a style for the 'Globe.' +He asked me if I were having a joke with the paper." + +Chaigneux became livid. The article in question was one written in +advance, from the society point of view, on the success which Silviane +would achieve in "Polyeucte," that evening, at the Comedie. The +journalist, in the hope of pleasing her, had even shown her his "copy"; +and she, quite delighted, now relied upon finding the article in print in +the most sober and solemn organ of the Parisian press. + +"Good heavens! what will become of us?" murmured the wretched Chaigneux. +"It's absolutely necessary that the article should go in." + +"Well, I'm quite agreeable. But speak to the governor yourself. He's +standing yonder between Vignon and Dauvergne, the Minister of Public +Instruction." + +"Yes, I certainly will speak to him--but not here. By-and-by in the +sacristy, during the procession. And I must also try to speak to +Dauvergne, for our Silviane particularly wants him to be in the +ministerial box this evening. Monferrand will be there; he promised +Duvillard so." + +Massot began to laugh, repeating the expression which had circulated +through Paris directly after the actress's engagement: "The Silviane +ministry.... Well, Dauvergne certainly owes that much to his +godmother!" said he. + +Just then the little Princess de Harn, coming up like a gust of wind, +broke in upon the three men. "I've no seat, you know!" she cried. + +Duthil fancied that it was a question of finding her a well-placed chair +in the church. "You mustn't count on me," he answered. "I've just had no +end of trouble in stowing the Duchess de Boisemont away with her two +daughters." + +"Oh, but I'm talking of this evening's performance. Come, my dear Duthil, +you really must find me a little corner in somebody's box. I shall die, I +know I shall, if I can't applaud our delicious, our incomparable friend!" + +Ever since setting Silviane down at her door on the previous day, +Rosemonde had been overflowing with admiration for her. + +"Oh! you won't find a single remaining seat, madame," declared Chaigneux, +putting on an air of importance. "We have distributed everything. I have +just been offered three hundred francs for a stall." + +"That's true, there has been a fight even for the bracket seats, however +badly they might be placed," Duthil resumed. "I am very sorry, but you +must not count on me.... Duvillard is the only person who might take +you in his box. He told me that he would reserve me a seat there. And so +far, I think, there are only three of us, including his son.... Ask +Hyacinthe by-and-by to procure you an invitation." + +Rosemonde, whom Hyacinthe had so greatly bored that she had given him his +dismissal, felt the irony of Duthil's suggestion. Nevertheless, she +exclaimed with an air of delight: "Ah, yes! Hyacinthe can't refuse me +that. Thanks for your information, my dear Duthil. You are very nice, you +are; for you settle things gaily even when they are rather sad.... And +don't forget, mind, that you have promised to teach me politics. Ah! +politics, my dear fellow, I feel that nothing will ever impassion me as +politics do!" + +Then she left them, hustled several people, and in spite of the crush +ended by installing herself in the front row. + +"Ah! what a crank she is!" muttered Massot with an air of amusement. + +Then, as Chaigneux darted towards magistrate Amadieu to ask him in the +most obsequious way if he had received his ticket, the journalist said to +Duthil in a whisper: "By the way, my dear friend, is it true that +Duvillard is going to launch his famous scheme for a Trans-Saharan +railway? It would be a gigantic enterprise, a question of hundreds and +hundreds of millions this time.... At the 'Globe' office yesterday +evening, Fonsegue shrugged his shoulders and said it was madness, and +would never come off!" + +Duthil winked, and in a jesting way replied: "It's as good as done, my +dear boy. Fonsegue will be kissing the governor's feet before another +forty-eight hours are over." + +Then he gaily gave the other to understand that golden manna would +presently be raining down on the press and all faithful friends and +willing helpers. Birds shake their feathers when the storm is over, and +he, Duthil, was as spruce and lively, as joyous at the prospect of the +presents he now expected, as if there had never been any African Railways +scandal to upset him and make him turn pale with fright. + +"The deuce!" muttered Massot, who had become serious. "So this affair +here is more than a triumph: it's the promise of yet another harvest. +Well, I'm no longer surprised at the crush of people." + +At this moment the organs suddenly burst into a glorious hymn of +greeting. The marriage procession was entering the church. A loud clamour +had gone up from the crowd, which spread over the roadway of the Rue +Royale and impeded the traffic there, while the _cortege_ pompously +ascended the steps in the bright sunshine. And it was now entering the +edifice and advancing beneath the lofty, re-echoing vaults towards the +high altar which flared with candles, whilst on either hand crowded the +congregation, the men on the right and the women on the left. They had +all risen and stood there smiling, with necks outstretched and eyes +glowing with curiosity. + +First, in the rear of the magnificent beadle, came Camille, leaning on +the arm of her father, Baron Duvillard, who wore a proud expression +befitting a day of victory. Veiled with superb _point d'Alencon_ falling +from her diadem of orange blossom, gowned in pleated silk muslin over an +underskirt of white satin, the bride looked so extremely happy, so +radiant at having conquered, that she seemed almost pretty. Moreover, she +held herself so upright that one could scarcely detect that her left +shoulder was higher than her right. + +Next came Gerard, giving his arm to his mother, the Countess de +Quinsac,--he looking very handsome and courtly, as was proper, and she +displaying impassive dignity in her gown of peacock-blue silk embroidered +with gold and steel beads. But it was particularly Eve whom people wished +to see, and every neck was craned forward when she appeared on the arm of +General Bozonnet, the bridegroom's first witness and nearest male +relative. She was gowned in "old rose" taffetas trimmed with Valenciennes +of priceless value, and never had she looked younger, more deliciously +fair. Yet her eyes betrayed her emotion, though she strove to smile; and +her languid grace bespoke her widowhood, her compassionate surrender of +the man she loved. Monferrand, the Marquis de Morigny, and banker +Louvard, the three other witnesses, followed the Baroness and General +Bozonnet, each giving his arm to some lady of the family. A considerable +sensation was caused by the appearance of Monferrand, who seemed on +first-rate terms with himself, and jested familiarly with the lady he +accompanied, a little brunette with a giddy air. Another who was noticed +in the solemn, interminable procession was the bride's eccentric brother +Hyacinthe, whose dress coat was of a cut never previously seen, with its +tails broadly and symmetrically pleated. + +When the affianced pair had taken their places before the prayer-stools +awaiting them, and the members of both families and the witnesses had +installed themselves in the rear in large armchairs, all gilding and red +velvet, the ceremony was performed with extraordinary pomp. The cure of +the Madeleine officiated in person; and vocalists from the Grand Opera +reinforced the choir, which chanted the high mass to the accompaniment of +the organs, whence came a continuous hymn of glory. All possible luxury +and magnificence were displayed, as if to turn this wedding into some +public festivity, a great victory, an event marking the apogee of a +class. Even the impudent bravado attaching to the loathsome private drama +which lay behind it all, and which was known to everybody, added a touch +of abominable grandeur to the ceremony. But the truculent spirit of +superiority and domination which characterised the proceedings became +most manifest when Monseigneur Martha appeared in surplice and stole to +pronounce the blessing. Tall of stature, fresh of face, and faintly +smiling, he had his wonted air of amiable sovereignty, and it was with +august unction that he pronounced the sacramental words, like some +pontiff well pleased at reconciling the two great empires whose heirs he +united. His address to the newly married couple was awaited with +curiosity. It proved really marvellous, he himself triumphed in it. Was +it not in that same church that he had baptised the bride's mother, that +blond Eve, who was still so beautiful, that Jewess whom he himself had +converted to the Catholic faith amidst the tears of emotion shed by all +Paris society? Was it not there also that he had delivered his three +famous addresses on the New Spirit, whence dated, to his thinking, the +rout of science, the awakening of Christian spirituality, and that policy +of rallying to the Republic which was to lead to its conquest? + +So it was assuredly allowable for him to indulge in some delicate +allusions, by way of congratulating himself on his work, now that he was +marrying a poor scion of the old aristocracy to the five millions of that +_bourgeoise_ heiress, in whose person triumphed the class which had won +the victory in 1789, and was now master of the land. The fourth estate, +the duped, robbed people, alone had no place in those festivities. But by +uniting the affianced pair before him in the bonds of wedlock, +Monseigneur Martha sealed the new alliance, gave effect to the Pope's own +policy, that stealthy effort of Jesuitical Opportunism which would take +democracy, power and wealth to wife, in order to subdue and control them. +When the prelate reached his peroration he turned towards Monferrand, who +sat there smiling; and it was he, the Minister, whom he seemed to be +addressing while he expressed the hope that the newly married pair would +ever lead a truly Christian life of humility and obedience in all fear of +God, of whose iron hand he spoke as if it were that of some gendarme +charged with maintaining the peace of the world. Everybody was aware that +there was some diplomatic understanding between the Bishop and the +Minister, some secret pact or other whereby both satisfied their passion +for authority, their craving to insinuate themselves into everything and +reign supreme; and thus when the spectators saw Monferrand smiling in his +somewhat sly, jovial way, they also exchanged smiles. + +"Ah!" muttered Massot, who had remained near Duthil, "how amused old +Justus Steinberger would be, if he were here to see his granddaughter +marrying the last of the Quinsacs!" + +"But these marriages are quite the thing, quite the fashion, my dear +fellow," the deputy replied. "The Jews and the Christians, the +_bourgeois_ and the nobles, do quite right to come to an understanding, +so as to found a new aristocracy. An aristocracy is needed, you know, for +otherwise we should be swept away by the masses." + +None the less Massot continued sneering at the idea of what a grimace +Justus Steinberger would have made if he had heard Monseigneur Martha. It +was rumoured in Paris that although the old Jew banker had ceased all +intercourse with his daughter Eve since her conversion, he took a keen +interest in everything she was reported to do or say, as if he were more +than ever convinced that she would prove an avenging and dissolving agent +among those Christians, whose destruction was asserted to be the dream of +his race. If he had failed in his hope of overcoming Duvillard by giving +her to him as a wife, he doubtless now consoled himself with thinking of +the extraordinary fortune to which his blood had attained, by mingling +with that of the harsh, old-time masters of his race, to whose corruption +it gave a finishing touch. Therein perhaps lay that final Jewish conquest +of the world of which people sometimes talked. + +A last triumphal strain from the organ brought the ceremony to an end; +whereupon the two families and the witnesses passed into the sacristy, +where the acts were signed. And forthwith the great congratulatory +procession commenced. + +The bride and bridegroom at last stood side by side in the lofty but +rather dim room, panelled with oak. How radiant with delight was Camille +at the thought that it was all over, that she had triumphed and married +that handsome man of high lineage, after wresting him with so much +difficulty from one and all, her mother especially! She seemed to have +grown taller. Deformed, swarthy, and ugly though she was, she drew +herself up exultingly, whilst scores and scores of women, friends or +acquaintances, scrambled and rushed upon her, pressing her hands or +kissing her, and addressing her in words of ecstasy. Gerard, who rose +both head and shoulders above his bride, and looked all the nobler and +stronger beside one of such puny figure, shook hands and smiled like some +Prince Charming, who good-naturedly allowed himself to be loved. +Meanwhile, the relatives of the newly wedded pair, though they were drawn +up in one line, formed two distinct groups past which the crowd pushed +and surged with arms outstretched. Duvillard received the congratulations +offered him as if he were some king well pleased with his people; whilst +Eve, with a supreme effort, put on an enchanting mien, and answered one +and all with scarcely a sign of the sobs which she was forcing back. +Then, on the other side of the bridal pair, Madame de Quinsac stood +between General de Bozonnet and the Marquis de Morigny. Very dignified, +in fact almost haughty, she acknowledged most of the salutations +addressed to her with a mere nod, giving her little withered hand only to +those people with whom she was well acquainted. A sea of strange +countenances encompassed her, and now and again when some particularly +murky wave rolled by, a wave of men whose faces bespoke all the crimes of +money-mongering, she and the Marquis exchanged glances of deep sadness. +This tide continued sweeping by for nearly half an hour; and such was the +number of those who wanted to shake hands with the bridal pair and their +relatives, that the latter soon felt their arms ache. + +Meantime, some folks lingered in the sacristy; little groups collected, +and gay chatter rang out. Monferrand was immediately surrounded. Massot +pointed out to Duthil how eagerly Public Prosecutor Lehmann rushed upon +the Minister to pay him court. They were immediately joined by +investigating magistrate Amadieu. And even M. de Larombiere, the judge, +approached Monferrand, although he hated the Republic, and was an +intimate friend of the Quinsacs. But then obedience and obsequiousness +were necessary on the part of the magistracy, for it was dependent on +those in power, who alone could give advancement, and appoint even as +they dismissed. As for Lehmann, it was alleged that he had rendered +assistance to Monferrand by spiriting away certain documents connected +with the African Railways affair, whilst with regard to the smiling and +extremely Parisian Amadieu, was it not to him that the government was +indebted for Salvat's head? + +"You know," muttered Massot, "they've all come to be thanked for +guillotining that man yesterday. Monferrand owes that wretched fellow a +fine taper; for in the first place his bomb prolonged the life of the +Barroux ministry, and later on it made Monferrand prime minister, as a +strong-handed man was particularly needed to strangle Anarchism. What a +contest, eh? Monferrand on one side and Salvat on the other. It was all +bound to end in a head being cut off; one was wanted.... Ah! just +listen, they are talking of it." + +This was true. As the three functionaries of the law drew near to pay +their respects to the all-powerful Minister, they were questioned by lady +friends whose curiosity had been roused by what they had read in the +newspapers. Thereupon Amadieu, whom duty had taken to the execution, and +who was proud of his own importance, and determined to destroy what he +called "the legend of Salvat's heroic death," declared that the scoundrel +had shown no true courage at all. His pride alone had kept him on his +feet. Fright had so shaken and choked him that he had virtually been dead +before the fall of the knife. + +"Ah! that's true!" cried Duthil. "I was there myself." + +Massot, however, pulled him by the arm, quite indignant at such an +assertion, although as a rule he cared a rap for nothing. "You couldn't +see anything, my dear fellow," said he; "Salvat died very bravely. It's +really stupid to continue throwing mud at that poor devil even when he's +dead." + +However, the idea that Salvat had died like a coward was too pleasing a +one to be rejected. It was, so to say, a last sacrifice deposited at +Monferrand's feet with the object of propitiating him. He still smiled in +his peaceful way, like a good-natured man who is stern only when +necessity requires it. And he showed great amiability towards the three +judicial functionaries, and thanked them for the bravery with which they +had accomplished their painful duty to the very end. On the previous day, +after the execution, he had obtained a formidable majority in the Chamber +on a somewhat delicate matter of policy. Order reigned, said he, and all +was for the very best in France. Then, on seeing Vignon--who like a cool +gamester had made a point of attending the wedding in order to show +people that he was superior to fortune--the Minister detained him, and +made much of him, partly as a matter of tactics, for in spite of +everything he could not help fearing that the future might belong to that +young fellow, who showed himself so intelligent and cautious. When a +mutual friend informed them that Barroux' health was now so bad that the +doctors had given him up as lost, they both began to express their +compassion. Poor Barroux! He had never recovered from that vote of the +Chamber which had overthrown him. He had been sinking from day to day, +stricken to the heart by his country's ingratitude, dying of that +abominable charge of money-mongering and thieving; he who was so upright +and so loyal, who had devoted his whole life to the Republic! But then, +as Monferrand repeated, one should never confess. The public can't +understand such a thing. + +At this moment Duvillard, in some degree relinquishing his paternal +duties, came to join the others, and the Minister then had to share the +honours of triumph with him. For was not this banker the master? Was he +not money personified--money, which is the only stable, everlasting +force, far above all ephemeral tenure of power, such as attaches to those +ministerial portfolios which pass so rapidly from hand to hand? +Monferrand reigned, but he would pass away, and a like fate would some +day fall on Vignon, who had already had a warning that one could not +govern unless the millions of the financial world were on one's side. So +was not the only real triumpher himself, the Baron--he who laid out five +millions of francs on buying a scion of the aristocracy for his daughter, +he who was the personification of the sovereign _bourgeoisie_, who +controlled public fortune, and was determined to part with nothing, even +were he attacked with bombs? All these festivities really centred in +himself, he alone sat down to the banquet, leaving merely the crumbs from +his table to the lowly, those wretched toilers who had been so cleverly +duped at the time of the Revolution. + +That African Railways affair was already but so much ancient history, +buried, spirited away by a parliamentary commission. All who had been +compromised in it, the Duthils, the Chaigneux, the Fonsegues and others, +could now laugh merrily. They had been delivered from their nightmare by +Monferrand's strong fist, and raised by Duvillard's triumph. Even +Sagnier's ignoble article and miry revelations in the "Voix du Peuple" +were of no real account, and could be treated with a shrug of the +shoulders, for the public had been so saturated with denunciation and +slander that it was now utterly weary of all noisy scandal. The only +thing which aroused interest was the rumour that Duvillard's big affair +of the Trans-Saharan Railway was soon to be launched, that millions of +money would be handled, and that some of them would rain down upon +faithful friends. + +Whilst Duvillard was conversing in a friendly way with Monferrand and +Dauvergne, the Minister of Public Instruction, who had joined them, +Massot encountered Fonsegue, his editor, and said to him in an undertone: +"Duthil has just assured me that the Trans-Saharan business is ready, and +that they mean to chance it with the Chamber. They declare that they are +certain of success." + +Fonsegue, however, was sceptical on the point. "It's impossible," said +he; "they won't dare to begin again so soon." + +Although he spoke in this fashion, the news had made him grave. He had +lately had such a terrible fright through his imprudence in the African +Railways affair, that he had vowed he would take every precaution in +future. Still, this did not mean that he would refuse to participate in +matters of business. The best course was to wait and study them, and then +secure a share in all that seemed profitable. In the present instance he +felt somewhat worried. However, whilst he stood there watching the group +around Duvillard and the two ministers, he suddenly perceived Chaigneux, +who, flitting hither and thither, was still beating up applauders for +that evening's performance. He sang Silviane's praises in every key, +predicted a most tremendous success, and did his very best to stimulate +curiosity. At last he approached Dauvergne, and with his long figure bent +double exclaimed: "My dear Minister, I have a particular request to make +to you on the part of a very charming person, whose victory will not be +complete this evening if you do not condescend to favour her with your +vote." + +Dauvergne, a tall, fair, good-looking man, whose blue eyes smiled behind +his glasses, listened to Chaigneux with an affable air. He was proving a +great success at the Ministry of Public Instruction, although he knew +nothing of University matters. However, like a real Parisian of Dijon, as +people called him, he was possessed of some tact and skill, gave +entertainments at which his young and charming wife outshone all others, +and passed as being quite an enlightened friend of writers and artists. +Silviane's engagement at the Comedie, which so far was his most notable +achievement, and which would have shaken the position of any other +minister, had by a curious chance rendered him popular. It was regarded +as something original and amusing. + +On understanding that Chaigneux simply wished to make sure of his +presence at the Comedie that evening, he became yet more affable. "Why, +certainly, I shall be there, my dear deputy," he replied. "When one has +such a charming god-daughter one mustn't forsake her in a moment of +danger." + +At this Monferrand, who had been lending ear, turned round. "And tell +her," said he, "that I shall be there, too. She may therefore rely on +having two more friends in the house." + +Thereupon Duvillard, quite enraptured, his eyes glistening with emotion +and gratitude, bowed to the two ministers as if they had granted him some +never-to-be-forgotten favour. + +When Chaigneux, on his side also, had returned thanks with a low bow, he +happened to perceive Fonsegue, and forthwith he darted towards him and +led him aside. "Ah! my dear colleague," he declared, "it is absolutely +necessary that this matter should be settled. I regard it as of supreme +importance." + +"What are you speaking of?" inquired Fonsegue, much surprised. + +"Why, of Massot's article, which you won't insert." + +Thereupon, the director of the "Globe" plumply declared that he could not +insert the article. He talked of his paper's dignity and gravity; and +declared that the lavishing of such fulsome praise upon a hussy--yes, a +mere hussy, in a journal whose exemplary morality and austerity had cost +him so much labour, would seem monstrous and degrading. Personally, he +did not care a fig about it if Silviane chose to make an exhibition of +herself, well, he would be there to see; but the "Globe" was sacred. + +Disconcerted and almost tearful, Chaigneux nevertheless renewed his +attempt. "Come, my dear colleague," said he, "pray make a little effort +for my sake. If the article isn't inserted, Duvillard will think that it +is my fault. And you know that I really need his help. My eldest +daughter's marriage has again been postponed, and I hardly know where to +turn." Then perceiving that his own misfortunes in no wise touched +Fonsegue, he added: "And do it for your own sake, my dear colleague, your +own sake. For when all is said Duvillard knows what is in the article, +and it is precisely because it is so favourable a one that he wishes to +see it in the 'Globe.' Think it over; if the article isn't published, he +will certainly turn his back on you." + +For a moment Fonsegue remained silent. Was he thinking of the colossal +Trans-Saharan enterprise? Was he reflecting that it would be hard to +quarrel at such a moment and miss his own share in the coming +distribution of millions among faithful friends? Perhaps so; however, the +idea that it would be more prudent to await developments gained the day +with him. "No, no," he said, "I can't, it's a matter of conscience." + +In the mean time congratulations were still being tendered to the newly +wedded couple. It seemed as if all Paris were passing through the +sacristy; there were ever the same smiles and the same hand shakes. +Gerard, Camille and their relatives, however weary they might feel, were +forced to retain an air of delight while they stood there against the +wall, pent up by the crowd. The heat was now becoming unbearable, and a +cloud of dust arose as when some big flock goes by. + +All at once little Princess de Harn, who had hitherto lingered nobody +knew where, sprang out of the throng, flung her arms around Camille, +kissed even Eve, and then kept Gerard's hand in her own while paying him +extraordinary compliments. Then, on perceiving Hyacinthe, she took +possession of him and carried him off into a corner. "I say," she +exclaimed, "I have a favour to ask you." + +The young man was wonderfully silent that day. His sister's wedding +seemed to him a contemptible ceremony, the most vulgar that one could +imagine. So here, thought he, was another pair accepting the horrid +sexual law by which the absurdity of the world was perpetuated! For his +part, he had decided that he would witness the proceedings in rigid +silence, with a haughty air of disapproval. When Rosemonde spoke to him, +he looked at her rather nervously, for he was glad that she had forsaken +him for Duthil, and feared some fresh caprice on her part. At last, +opening his mouth for the first time that day, he replied: "Oh, as a +friend, you know, I will grant you whatever favour you like." + +Forthwith the Princess explained that she would surely die if she did not +witness the _debut_ of her dear friend Silviane, of whom she had become +such a passionate admirer. So she begged the young man to prevail on his +father to give her a seat in his box, as she knew that one was left +there. + +Hyacinthe smiled. "Oh, willingly, my dear," said he; "I'll warn papa, +there will be a seat for you." + +Then, as the procession of guests at last drew to an end and the vestry +began to empty, the bridal pair and their relatives were able to go off +through the chattering throng, which still lingered about to bow to them +and scrutinise them once more. + +Gerard and Camille were to leave for an estate which Duvillard possessed +in Normandy, directly after lunch. This repast, served at the princely +mansion of the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, provided an opportunity for fresh +display. The dining-room on the first floor had been transformed into a +buffet, where reigned the greatest abundance and the most wonderful +sumptuousness. Quite a reception too was held in the drawing-rooms, the +large red _salon_, the little blue and silver _salon_ and all the others, +whose doors stood wide open. Although it had been arranged that only +family friends should be invited, there were quite three hundred people +present. The ministers had excused themselves, alleging that the weighty +cares of public business required their presence elsewhere. But the +magistrates, the deputies and the leading journalists who had attended +the wedding were again assembled together. And in that throng of hungry +folks, longing for some of the spoils of Duvillard's new venture, the +people who felt most out of their element were Madame de Quinsac's few +guests, whom General de Bozonnet and the Marquis de Morigny had seated on +a sofa in the large red _salon_, which they did not quit. + +Eve, who for her part felt quite overcome, both her moral and physical +strength being exhausted, had seated herself in the little blue and +silver drawing-room, which, with her passion for flowers, she had +transformed into an arbour of roses. She would have fallen had she +remained standing, the very floor had seemed to sink beneath her feet. +Nevertheless, whenever a guest approached her she managed to force a +smile, and appear beautiful and charming. Unlooked-for help at last came +to her in the person of Monseigneur Martha, who had graciously honoured +the lunch with his presence. He took an armchair near her, and began to +talk to her in his amiable, caressing way. He was doubtless well aware of +the frightful anguish which wrung the poor woman's heart, for he showed +himself quite fatherly, eager to comfort her. She, however, talked on +like some inconsolable widow bent on renouncing the world for God, who +alone could bring her peace. Then, as the conversation turned on the +Asylum for the Invalids of Labour, she declared that she was resolved to +take her presidency very seriously, and, in fact, would exclusively +devote herself to it, in the future. + +"And as we are speaking of this, Monseigneur," said she, "I would even +ask you to give me some advice.... I shall need somebody to help me, +and I thought of securing the services of a priest whom I much admire, +Monsieur l'Abbe Pierre Froment." + +At this the Bishop became grave and embarrassed; but Princess Rosemonde, +who was passing by with Duthil, had overheard the Baroness, and drawing +near with her wonted impetuosity, she exclaimed: "Abbe Pierre Froment! +Oh! I forgot to tell you, my dear, that I met him going about in jacket +and trousers! And I've been told too that he cycles in the Bois with some +creature or other. Isn't it true, Duthil, that we met him?" + +The deputy bowed and smiled, whilst Eve clasped her hands in amazement. +"Is it possible! A priest who was all charitable fervour, who had the +faith and passion of an apostle!" + +Thereupon Monseigneur intervened: "Yes, yes, great sorrows occasionally +fall upon the Church. I heard of the madness of the unhappy man you speak +of. I even thought it my duty to write to him, but he left my letter +unanswered. I should so much have liked to stifle such a scandal! But +there are abominable forces which we cannot always overcome; and so a day +or two ago the archbishop was obliged to put him under interdict.... +You must choose somebody else, madame." + +It was quite a disaster. Eve gazed at Rosemonde and Duthil, without +daring to ask them for particulars, but wondering what creature could +have been so audacious as to turn a priest from the path of duty. She +must assuredly be some shameless demented woman! And it seemed to Eve as +if this crime gave a finishing touch to her own misfortune. With a wave +of the arm, which took in all the luxury around her, the roses steeping +her in perfume, and the crush of guests around the buffet, she murmured: +"Ah! decidedly there's nothing but corruption left; one can no longer +rely on anybody!" + +Whilst this was going on, Camille happened to be alone in her own room +getting ready to leave the house with Gerard. And all at once her brother +Hyacinthe joined her there. "Ah! it's you, youngster!" she exclaimed. +"Well, make haste if you want to kiss me, for I'm off now, thank +goodness!" + +He kissed her as she suggested, and then in a doctoral way replied: "I +thought you had more self-command. The delight you have been showing all +this morning quite disgusts me." + +A quiet glance of contempt was her only answer. However, he continued: +"You know very well that she'll take your Gerard from you again, directly +you come back to Paris." + +At this Camille's cheeks turned white and her eyes flared. She stepped +towards her brother with clenched fists: "She! you say that she will take +him from me!" + +The "she" they referred to was their own mother. + +"Listen, my boy! I'll kill her first!" continued Camille. "Ah, no! she +needn't hope for that. I shall know how to keep the man that belongs to +me.... And as for you, keep your spite to yourself, for I know you, +remember; you are a mere child and a fool!" + +He recoiled as if a viper were rearing its sharp, slender black head +before him; and having always feared her, he thought it best to beat a +retreat. + +While the last guests were rushing upon the buffet and finishing the +pillage there, the bridal pair took their leave, before driving off to +the railway station. General de Bozonnet had joined a group in order to +vent his usual complaints about compulsory military service, and the +Marquis de Morigny was obliged to fetch him at the moment when the +Countess de Quinsac was kissing her son and daughter-in-law. The old lady +trembled with so much emotion that the Marquis respectfully ventured to +sustain her. Meantime, Hyacinthe had started in search of his father, and +at last found him near a window with the tottering Chaigneux, whom he was +violently upbraiding, for Fonsegue's conscientious scruples had put him +in a fury. Indeed, if Massot's article should not be inserted in the +"Globe," Silviane might lay all the blame upon him, the Baron, and wreak +further punishment upon him. However, upon being summoned by his son he +had to don his triumphal air once more, kiss his daughter on the +forehead, shake hands with his son-in-law, jest and wish them both a +pleasant journey. Then Eve, near whom Monseigneur Martha had remained, +smiling, in her turn had to say farewell. In this she evinced touching +bravery; her determination to remain beautiful and charming until the +very end lent her sufficient strength to show herself both gay and +motherly. + +She took hold of the slightly quivering hand which Gerard proffered with +some embarrassment, and ventured to retain it for a moment in her own, in +a good-hearted, affectionate way, instinct with all the heroism of +renunciation. "Good by, Gerard," she said, "keep in good health, be +happy." Then turning to Camille she kissed her on both cheeks, while +Monseigneur Martha sat looking at them with an air of indulgent sympathy. +They wished each other "Au revoir," but their voices trembled, and their +eyes in meeting gleamed like swords; in the same way as beneath the +kisses they had exchanged they had felt each other's teeth. Ah! how it +enraged Camille to see her mother still so beautiful and fascinating in +spite of age and grief! And for Eve how great the torture of beholding +her daughter's youth, that youth which had overcome her, and was for ever +wresting love from within her reach! No forgiveness was possible between +them; they would still hate one another even in the family tomb, where +some day they would sleep side by side. + +All the same, that evening Baroness Duvillard excused herself from +attending the performance of "Polyeucte" at the Comedie Francaise. She +felt very tired and wished to go to bed early, said she. As a matter of +fact she wept on her pillow all night long. Thus the Baron's stage-box on +the first balcony tier contained only himself, Hyacinthe, Duthil, and +little Princess de Harn. + +At nine o'clock there was a full house, one of the brilliant chattering +houses peculiar to great dramatic solemnities. All the society people who +had marched through the sacristy of the Madeleine that morning were now +assembled at the theatre, again feverish with curiosity, and on the +lookout for the unexpected. One recognised the same faces and the sane +smiles; the women acknowledged one another's presence with little signs +of intelligence, the men understood each other at a word, a gesture. One +and all had kept the appointment, the ladies with bared shoulders, the +gentlemen with flowers in their button-holes. Fonsegue occupied the +"Globe's" box, with two friendly families. Little Massot had his +customary seat in the stalls. Amadieu, who was a faithful patron of the +Comedie, was also to be seen there, as well as General de Bozonnet and +Public Prosecutor Lehmann. The man who was most looked at, however, on +account of his scandalous article that morning, was Sagnier, the terrible +Sagnier, looking bloated and apoplectical. Then there was Chaigneux, who +had kept merely a modest bracket-seat for himself, and who scoured the +passages, and climbed to every tier, for the last time preaching +enthusiasm. Finally, the two ministers Monferrand and Dauvergne appeared +in the box facing Duvillard's; whereupon many knowing smiles were +exchanged, for everybody was aware that these personages had come to help +on the success of the _debutante_. + +On the latter point there had still been unfavourable rumours only the +previous day. Sagnier had declared that the _debut_ of such a notorious +harlot as Silviane at the Comedie Francaise, in such a part too as that +of "Pauline," which was one of so much moral loftiness, could only be +regarded as an impudent insult to public decency. The whole press, +moreover, had long been up in arms against the young woman's +extraordinary caprice. But then the affair had been talked of for six +months past, so that Paris had grown used to the idea of seeing Silviane +at the Comedie. And now it flocked thither with the one idea of being +entertained. Before the curtain rose one could tell by the very +atmosphere of the house that the audience was a jovial, good-humoured +one, bent on enjoying itself, and ready to applaud should it find itself +at all pleased. + +The performance really proved extraordinary. When Silviane, chastely +robed, made her appearance in the first act, the house was quite +astonished by her virginal face, her innocent-looking mouth, and her eyes +beaming with immaculate candour. Then, although the manner in which she +had understood her part at first amazed people, it ended by charming +them. From the moment of confiding in "Stratonice," from the moment of +relating her dream, she turned "Pauline" into a soaring mystical +creature, some saint, as it were, such as one sees in stained-glass +windows, carried along by a Wagnerian Brunhilda riding the clouds. It was +a thoroughly ridiculous conception of the part, contrary to reason and +truth alike. Still, it only seemed to interest people the more, partly on +account of mysticism being the fashion, and partly on account of the +contrast between Silviane's assumed candour and real depravity. Her +success increased from act to act, and some slight hissing which was +attributed to Sagnier only helped to make the victory more complete. +Monferrand and Dauvergne, as the newspapers afterwards related, gave the +signal for applause; and the whole house joined in it, partly from +amusement and partly perhaps in a spirit of irony. + +During the interval between the fourth and fifth acts there was quite a +procession of visitors to Duvillard's box, where the greatest excitement +prevailed. Duthil, however, after absenting himself for a moment, came +back to say: "You remember our influential critic, the one whom I brought +to dinner at the Cafe Anglais? Well, he's repeating to everybody that +'Pauline' is merely a little _bourgeoise_, and is not transformed by the +heavenly grace until the very finish of the piece. To turn her into a +holy virgin from the outset simply kills the part, says he." + +"Pooh!" repeated Duvillard, "let him argue if he likes, it will be all +the more advertisement.... The important point is to get Massot's +article inserted in the 'Globe' to-morrow morning." + +On this point, unfortunately, the news was by no means good. Chaigneux, +who had gone in search of Fonsegue, declared that the latter still +hesitated in the matter in spite of Silviane's success, which he declared +to be ridiculous. Thereupon, the Baron became quite angry. "Go and tell +Fonsegue," he exclaimed, "that I insist on it, and that I shall remember +what he does." + +Meantime Princess Rosemonde was becoming quite delirious with enthusiasm. +"My dear Hyacinthe," she pleaded, "please take me to Silviane's +dressing-room; I can't wait, I really must go and kiss her." + +"But we'll all go!" cried Duvillard, who heard her entreaty. + +The passages were crowded, and there were people even on the stage. +Moreover, when the party reached the door of Silviane's dressing-room, +they found it shut. When the Baron knocked at it, a dresser replied that +madame begged the gentlemen to wait a moment. + +"Oh! a woman may surely go in," replied Rosemonde, hastily slipping +through the doorway. "And you may come, Hyacinthe," she added; "there can +be no objection to you." + +Silviane was very hot, and a dresser was wiping her perspiring shoulders +when Rosemonde darted forward and kissed her. Then they chatted together +amidst the heat and glare from the gas and the intoxicating perfumes of +all the flowers which were heaped up in the little room. Finally, +Hyacinthe heard them promise to see one another after the performance, +Silviane even inviting Rosemonde to drink a cup of tea with her at her +house. At this the young man smiled complacently, and said to the +actress: "Your carriage is waiting for you at the corner of the Rue +Montpensier, is it not? Well, I'll take the Princess to it. That will be +the simpler plan, you can both go off together!" + +"Oh! how good of you," cried Rosemonde; "it's agreed." + +Just then the door was opened, and the men, being admitted, began to pour +forth their congratulations. However, they had to regain their seats in +all haste so as to witness the fifth act. This proved quite a triumph, +the whole house bursting into applause when Silviane spoke the famous +line, "I see, I know, I believe, I am undeceived," with the rapturous +enthusiasm of a holy martyr ascending to heaven. Nothing could have been +more soul-like, it was said. And so when the performers were called +before the curtain, Paris bestowed an ovation on that virgin of the +stage, who, as Sagnier put it, knew so well how to act depravity at home. + +Accompanied by Duthil, Duvillard at once went behind the scenes in order +to fetch Silviane, while Hyacinthe escorted Rosemonde to the brougham +waiting at the corner of the Rue Montpensier. Having helped her into it, +the young man stood by, waiting. And he seemed to grow quite merry when +his father came up with Silviane, and was stopped by her, just as, in his +turn, he wished to get into the carriage. + +"There's no room for you, my dear fellow," said she. "I've a friend with +me." + +Rosemonde's little smiling face then peered forth from the depths of the +brougham. And the Baron remained there open-mouthed while the vehicle +swiftly carried the two women away! + +"Well, what would you have, my dear fellow?" said Hyacinthe, by way of +explanation to Duthil, who also seemed somewhat amazed by what had +happened. "Rosemonde was worrying my life out, and so I got rid of her by +packing her off with Silviane." + +Duvillard was still standing on the pavement and still looking dazed when +Chaigneux, who was going home quite tired out, recognised him, and came +up to say that Fonsegue had thought the matter over, and that Massot's +article would be duly inserted. In the passages, too, there had been a +deal of talk about the famous Trans-Saharan project. + +Then Hyacinthe led his father away, trying to comfort him like a sensible +friend, who regarded woman as a base and impure creature. "Let's go home +to bed," said he. "As that article is to appear, you can take it to her +to-morrow. She will see you, sure enough." + +Thereupon they lighted cigars, and now and again exchanging a few words, +took their way up the Avenue de l'Opera, which at that hour was deserted +and dismal. Meantime, above the slumbering houses of Paris the breeze +wafted a prolonged sigh, the plaint, as it were, of an expiring world. + + + + +III. THE GOAL OF LABOUR + +EVER since the execution of Salvat, Guillaume had become extremely +taciturn. He seemed worried and absent-minded. He would work for hours at +the manufacture of that dangerous powder of which he alone knew the +formula, and the preparation of which was such a delicate matter that he +would allow none to assist him. Then, at other times he would go off, and +return tired out by some long solitary ramble. He remained very gentle at +home, and strove to smile there. But whenever anybody spoke to him he +started as if suddenly called back from dreamland. + +Pierre imagined his brother had relied too much upon his powers of +renunciation, and found the loss of Marie unbearable. Was it not some +thought of her that haunted him now that the date fixed for the marriage +drew nearer and nearer? One evening, therefore, Pierre ventured to speak +out, again offering to leave the house and disappear. + +But at the first words he uttered Guillaume stopped him, and +affectionately replied: "Marie? Oh! I love her, I love her too well to +regret what I have done. No, no! you only bring me happiness, I derive +all my strength and courage from you now that I know you are both happy. +... And I assure you that you are mistaken, there is nothing at all the +matter with me; my work absorbs me, perhaps, but that is all." + +That same evening he managed to cast his gloom aside, and displayed +delightful gaiety. During dinner he inquired if the upholsterer would +soon call to arrange the two little rooms which Marie was to occupy with +her husband over the workroom. The young woman, who since her marriage +with Pierre had been decided had remained waiting with smiling patience, +thereupon told Guillaume what it was she desired--first some hangings of +red cotton stuff, then some polished pine furniture which would enable +her to imagine she was in the country, and finally a carpet on the floor, +because a carpet seemed to her the height of luxury. She laughed as she +spoke, and Guillaume laughed with her in a gay and fatherly way. His good +spirits brought much relief to Pierre, who concluded that he must have +been mistaken in his surmises. + +On the very morrow, however, Guillaume relapsed into a dreamy state. And +so disquietude again came upon Pierre, particularly when he noticed that +Mere-Grand also seemed to be unusually grave and silent. Not daring to +address her, he tried to extract some information from his nephews, but +neither Thomas nor Francois nor Antoine knew anything. Each of them +quietly devoted his time to his work, respecting and worshipping his +father, but never questioning him about his plans or enterprises. +Whatever he might choose to do could only be right and good; and they, +his sons, were ready to do the same and help him at the very first call, +without pausing to inquire into his purpose. It was plain, however, that +he kept them apart from anything at all perilous, that he retained all +responsibility for himself, and that Mere-Grand alone was his +_confidante_, the one whom he consulted and to whom he perhaps listened. +Pierre therefore renounced his hope of learning anything from the sons, +and directed his attention to the old lady, whose rigid gravity worried +him the more as she and Guillaume frequently had private chats in the +room she occupied upstairs. They shut themselves up there all alone, and +remained together for hours without the faintest sound coming from the +seemingly lifeless chamber. + +One day, however, Pierre caught sight of Guillaume as he came out of it, +carrying a little valise which appeared to be very heavy. And Pierre +thereupon remembered both his brother's powder, one pound weight of which +would have sufficed to destroy a cathedral, and the destructive engine +which he had purposed bestowing upon France in order that she might be +victorious over all other nations, and become the one great initiatory +and liberative power. Pierre remembered too that the only person besides +himself who knew his brother's secret was Mere-Grand, who, at the time +when Guillaume was fearing some perquisition on the part of the police, +had long slept upon the cartridges of the terrible explosive. But now why +was Guillaume removing all the powder which he had been preparing for +some time past? As this question occurred to Pierre, a sudden suspicion, +a vague dread, came upon him, and gave him strength to ask his brother: +"Have you reason to fear anything, since you won't keep things here? If +they embarrass you, they can all be deposited at my house, nobody will +make a search there." + +Guillaume, whom these words astonished, gazed at Pierre fixedly, and then +replied: "Yes, I have learnt that the arrests and perquisitions have +begun afresh since that poor devil was guillotined; for they are in +terror at the thought that some despairing fellow may avenge him. +Moreover, it is hardly prudent to keep destructive agents of such great +power here. I prefer to deposit them in a safe place. But not at +Neuilly--oh! no indeed! they are not a present for you, brother." +Guillaume spoke with outward calmness; and if he had started with +surprise at the first moment, it had been scarcely perceptible. + +"So everything is ready?" Pierre resumed. "You will soon be handing your +engine of destruction over to the Minister of War, I presume?" + +A gleam of hesitation appeared in the depths of Guillaume's eyes, and he +was for a moment about to tell a falsehood. However, he ended by replying +"No, I have renounced that intention. I have another idea." + +He spoke these last words with so much energy and decision that Pierre +did not dare to question him further, to ask him, for instance, what that +other idea might be. From that moment, however, he quivered with anxious +expectancy. From hour to hour Mere-Grand's lofty silence and Guillaume's +rapt, energetic face seemed to tell him that some huge and terrifying +scheme had come into being, and was growing and threatening the whole of +Paris. + +One afternoon, just as Thomas was about to repair to the Grandidier +works, some one came to Guillaume's with the news that old Toussaint, the +workman, had been stricken with a fresh attack of paralysis. Thomas +thereupon decided that he would call upon the poor fellow on his way, for +he held him in esteem and wished to ascertain if he could render him any +help. Pierre expressed a desire to accompany his nephew, and they started +off together about four o'clock. + +On entering the one room which the Toussaints occupied, the room where +they ate and slept, the visitors found the mechanician seated on a low +chair near the table. He looked half dead, as if struck by lightning. It +was a case of hemiplegia, which had paralysed the whole of his right +side, his right leg and right arm, and had also spread to his face in +such wise that he could no longer speak. The only sound he could raise +was an incomprehensible guttural grunt. His mouth was drawn to the right, +and his once round, good-natured-looking face, with tanned skin and +bright eyes, had been twisted into a frightful mask of anguish. At fifty +years of age, the unhappy man was utterly done for. His unkempt beard was +as white as that of an octogenarian, and his knotty limbs, preyed upon by +toil, were henceforth dead. Only his eyes remained alive, and they +travelled around the room, going from one to another. By his side, eager +to do what she could for him, was his wife, who remained stout even when +she had little to eat, and still showed herself active and clear-headed, +however great her misfortunes. + +"It's a friendly visit, Toussaint," said she. "It's Monsieur Thomas who +has come to see you with Monsieur l'Abbe." Then quietly correcting +herself she added: "With Monsieur Pierre, his uncle. You see that you are +not yet forsaken." + +Toussaint wished to speak, but his fruitless efforts only brought two big +tears to his eyes. Then he gazed at his visitors with an expression of +indescribable woe, his jaws trembling convulsively. + +"Don't put yourself out," repeated his wife. "The doctor told you that it +would do you no good." + +At the moment of entering the room, Pierre had already noticed two +persons who had risen from their chairs and drawn somewhat on one side. +And now to his great surprise he recognised that they were Madame +Theodore and Celine, who were both decently clad, and looked as if they +led a life of comfort. On hearing of Toussaint's misfortune they had come +to see him, like good-hearted creatures, who, on their own side, had +experienced the most cruel suffering. Pierre, on noticing that they now +seemed to be beyond dire want, remembered what he had heard of the +wonderful sympathy lavished on the child after her father's execution, +the many presents and donations offered her, and the generous proposals +that had been made to adopt her. These last had ended in her being +adopted by a former friend of Salvat, who had sent her to school again, +pending the time when she might be apprenticed to some trade, while, on +the other hand, Madame Theodore had been placed as a nurse in a +convalescent home. In such wise both had been saved. + +When Pierre drew near to little Celine in order to kiss her, Madame +Theodore told her to thank Monsieur l'Abbe--for so she still respectfully +called him--for all that he had previously done for her. "It was you who +brought us happiness, Monsieur l'Abbe," said she. "And that's a thing one +can never forget. I'm always telling Celine to remember you in her +prayers." + +"And so, my child, you are now going to school again," said Pierre. + +"Oh yes, Monsieur l'Abbe, and I'm well pleased at it. Besides, we no +longer lack anything." Then, however, sudden emotion came over the girl, +and she stammered with a sob: "Ah! if poor papa could only see us!" + +Madame Theodore, meanwhile, had begun to take leave of Madame Toussaint. +"Well, good by, we must go," said she. "What has happened to you is very +sad, and we wanted to tell you how much it grieved us. The worry is that +when misfortune falls on one, courage isn't enough to set things right.. +.. Celine, come and kiss your uncle.... My poor brother, I hope +you'll get back the use of your legs as soon as possible." + +They kissed the paralysed man on the cheeks, and then went off. Toussaint +had looked at them with his keen and still intelligent eyes, as if he +longed to participate in the life and activity into which they were +returning. And a jealous thought came to his wife, who usually was so +placid and good-natured. "Ah! my poor old man!" said she, after propping +him up with a pillow, "those two are luckier than we are. Everything +succeeds with them since that madman, Salvat, had his head cut off. +They're provided for. They've plenty of bread on the shelf." + +Then, turning towards Pierre and Thomas, she continued: "We others are +done for, you know, we're down in the mud, with no hope of getting out of +it. But what would you have? My poor husband hasn't been guillotined, +he's done nothing but work his whole life long; and now, you see, that's +the end of him, he's like some old animal, no longer good for anything." + +Having made her visitors sit down she next answered their compassionate +questions. The doctor had called twice already, and had promised to +restore the unhappy man's power of speech, and perhaps enable him to +crawl round the room with the help of a stick. But as for ever being able +to resume real work that must not be expected. And so what was the use of +living on? Toussaint's eyes plainly declared that he would much rather +die at once. When a workman can no longer work and no longer provide for +his wife he is ripe for the grave. + +"Savings indeed!" Madame Toussaint resumed. "There are folks who ask if +we have any savings.... Well, we had nearly a thousand francs in the +Savings Bank when Toussaint had his first attack. And some people don't +know what a lot of prudence one needs to put by such a sum; for, after +all, we're not savages, we have to allow ourselves a little enjoyment now +and then, a good dish and a good bottle of wine.... Well, what with +five months of enforced idleness, and the medicines, and the underdone +meat that was ordered, we got to the end of our thousand francs; and now +that it's all begun again we're not likely to taste any more bottled wine +or roast mutton." + +Fond of good cheer as she had always been, this cry, far more than the +tears she was forcing back, revealed how much the future terrified her. +She was there erect and brave in spite of everything; but what a downfall +if she were no longer able to keep her room tidy, stew a piece of veal on +Sundays, and gossip with the neighbours while awaiting her husband's +return from work! Why, they might just as well be thrown into the gutter +and carried off in the scavenger's cart. + +However, Thomas intervened: "Isn't there an Asylum for the Invalids of +Labour, and couldn't your husband get admitted to it?" he asked. "It +seems to me that is just the place for him." + +"Oh dear, no," the woman answered. "People spoke to me of that place +before, and I got particulars of it. They don't take sick people there. +When you call they tell you that there are hospitals for those who are +ill." + +With a wave of his hand Pierre confirmed her statement: it was useless to +apply in that direction. He could again see himself scouring Paris, +hurrying from the Lady President, Baroness Duvillard, to Fonsegue, the +General Manager, and only securing a bed for Laveuve when the unhappy man +was dead. + +However, at that moment an infant was heard wailing, and to the amazement +of both visitors Madame Toussaint entered the little closet where her son +Charles had so long slept, and came out of it carrying a child, who +looked scarcely twenty months old. "Well, yes," she explained, "this is +Charles's boy. He was sleeping there in his father's old bed, and now you +hear him, he's woke up.... You see, only last Wednesday, the day +before Toussaint had his stroke, I went to fetch the little one at the +nurse's at St. Denis, because she had threatened to cast him adrift since +Charles had got into bad habits, and no longer paid her. I said to myself +at the time that work was looking up, and that my husband and I would +always be able to provide for a little mouth like that.... But just +afterwards everything collapsed! At the same time, as the child's here +now I can't go and leave him in the street." + +While speaking in this fashion she walked to and fro, rocking the baby in +her arms. And naturally enough she reverted to Charles's folly with the +girl, who had run away, leaving that infant behind her. Things might not +have been so very bad if Charles had still worked as steadily as he had +done before he went soldiering. In those days he had never lost an hour, +and had always brought all his pay home! But he had come back from the +army with much less taste for work. He argued, and had ideas of his own. +He certainly hadn't yet come to bomb-throwing like that madman Salvat, +but he spent half his time with Socialists and Anarchists, who put his +brain in a muddle. It was a real pity to see such a strong, good-hearted +young fellow turning out badly like that. But it was said in the +neighbourhood that many another was inclined the same way; that the best +and most intelligent of the younger men felt tired of want and +unremunerative labour, and would end by knocking everything to pieces +rather than go on toiling with no certainty of food in their old age. + +"Ah! yes," continued Madame Toussaint, "the sons are not like the fathers +were. These fine fellows won't be as patient as my poor husband has been, +letting hard work wear him away till he's become the sorry thing you see +there.... Do you know what Charles said the other evening when he +found his father on that chair, crippled like that, and unable to speak? +Why, he shouted to him that he'd been a stupid jackass all his life, +working himself to death for those _bourgeois_, who now wouldn't bring +him so much as a glass of water. Then, as he none the less has a good +heart, he began to cry his eyes out." + +The baby was no longer wailing, still the good woman continued walking to +and fro, rocking it in her arms and pressing it to her affectionate +heart. Her son Charles could do no more for them, she said; perhaps he +might be able to give them a five-franc piece now and again, but even +that wasn't certain. It was of no use for her to go back to her old +calling as a seamstress, she had lost all practice of it. And it would +even be difficult for her to earn anything as charwoman, for she had that +infant on her hands as well as her infirm husband--a big child, whom she +would have to wash and feed. And so what would become of the three of +them? She couldn't tell; but it made her shudder, however brave and +motherly she tried to be. + +For their part, Pierre and Thomas quivered with compassion, particularly +when they saw big tears coursing down the cheeks of the wretched, +stricken Toussaint, as he sat quite motionless in that little and still +cleanly home of toil and want. The poor man had listened to his wife, and +he looked at her and at the infant now sleeping in her arms. Voiceless, +unable to cry his woe aloud, he experienced the most awful anguish. What +dupery his long life of labour had been! how frightfully unjust it was +that all his efforts should end in such sufferings! how exasperating it +was to feel himself powerless, and to see those whom he loved and who +were as innocent as himself suffer and die by reason of his own suffering +and death! Ah! poor old man, cripple that he was, ending like some beast +of burden that has foundered by the roadside--that goal of labour! And it +was all so revolting and so monstrous that he tried to put it into words, +and his desperate grief ended in a frightful, raucous grunt. + +"Be quiet, don't do yourself harm!" concluded Madame Toussaint. "Things +are like that, and there's no mending them." + +Then she went to put the child to bed again, and on her return, just as +Thomas and Pierre were about to speak to her of Toussaint's employer, M. +Grandidier, a fresh visitor arrived. Thereupon the others decided to +wait. + +The new comer was Madame Chretiennot, Toussaint's other sister, eighteen +years younger than himself. Her husband, the little clerk, had compelled +her to break off almost all intercourse with her relatives, as he felt +ashamed of them; nevertheless, having heard of her brother's misfortune, +she had very properly come to condole with him. She wore a gown of cheap +flimsy silk, and a hat trimmed with red poppies, which she had freshened +up three times already; but in spite of this display her appearance +bespoke penury, and she did her best to hide her feet on account of the +shabbiness of her boots. Moreover, she was no longer the beautiful +Hortense. Since a recent miscarriage, all trace of her good looks had +disappeared. + +The lamentable appearance of her brother and the bareness of that home of +suffering chilled her directly she crossed the threshold. And as soon as +she had kissed Toussaint, and said how sorry she was to find him in such +a condition, she began to lament her own fate, and recount her troubles, +for fear lest she should be asked for any help. + +"Ah! my dear," she said to her sister-in-law, "you are certainly much to +be pitied! But if you only knew! We all have our troubles. Thus in my +case, obliged as I am to dress fairly well on account of my husband's +position, I have more trouble than you can imagine in making both ends +meet. One can't go far on a salary of three thousand francs a year, when +one has to pay seven hundred francs' rent out of it. You will perhaps say +that we might lodge ourselves in a more modest way; but we can't, my +dear, I must have a _salon_ on account of the visits I receive. So just +count!... Then there are my two girls. I've had to send them to +school; Lucienne has begun to learn the piano and Marcelle has some taste +for drawing.... By the way, I would have brought them with me, but I +feared it would upset them too much. You will excuse me, won't you?" + +Then she spoke of all the worries which she had had with her husband on +account of Salvat's ignominious death. Chretiennot, vain, quarrelsome +little fellow that he was, felt exasperated at now having a _guillotine_ +in his wife's family. And he had lately begun to treat the unfortunate +woman most harshly, charging her with having brought about all their +troubles, and even rendering her responsible for his own mediocrity, +embittered as he was more and more each day by a confined life of office +work. On some evenings they had downright quarrels; she stood up for +herself, and related that when she was at the confectionery shop in the +Rue des Martyrs she could have married a doctor had she only chosen, for +the doctor found her quite pretty enough. Now, however, she was becoming +plainer and plainer, and her husband felt that he was condemned to +everlasting penury; so that their life was becoming more and more dismal +and quarrelsome, and as unbearable--despite the pride of being +"gentleman" and "lady"--as was the destitution of the working classes. + +"All the same, my dear," at last said Madame Toussaint, weary of her +sister-in-law's endless narrative of worries, "you have had one piece of +luck. You won't have the trouble of bringing up a third child, now." + +"That's true," replied Hortense, with a sigh of relief. "How we should +have managed, I don't know.... Still, I was very ill, and I'm far from +being in good health now. The doctor says that I don't eat enough, and +that I ought to have good food." + +Then she rose for the purpose of giving her brother another kiss and +taking her departure; for she feared a scene on her husband's part should +he happen to come home and find her absent. Once on her feet, however, +she lingered there a moment longer, saying that she also had just seen +her sister, Madame Theodore, and little Celine, both of them comfortably +clad and looking happy. And with a touch of jealousy she added: "Well, my +husband contents himself with slaving away at his office every day. He'll +never do anything to get his head cut off; and it's quite certain that +nobody will think of leaving an income to Marcelle and Lucienne.... +Well, good by, my dear, you must be brave, one must always hope that +things will turn out for the best." + +When she had gone off, Pierre and Thomas inquired if M. Grandidier had +heard of Toussaint's misfortune and agreed to do anything for him. Madame +Toussaint answered that he had so far made only a vague promise; and on +learning this they resolved to speak to him as warmly as they could on +behalf of the old mechanician, who had spent as many as five and twenty +years at the works. The misfortune was that a scheme for establishing a +friendly society, and even a pension fund, which had been launched before +the crisis from which the works were now recovering, had collapsed +through a number of obstacles and complications. Had things turned out +otherwise, Thomas might have had a pittance assured him, even though he +was unable to work. But under the circumstances the only hope for the +poor stricken fellow lay in his employer's compassion, if not his sense +of justice. + +As the baby again began to cry, Madame Toussaint went to fetch it, and +she was once more carrying it to and fro, when Thomas pressed her +husband's sound hand between both his own. "We will come back," said the +young man; "we won't forsake you, Toussaint. You know very well that +people like you, for you've always been a good and steady workman. So +rely on us, we will do all we can." + +Then they left him tearful and overpowered, in that dismal room, while, +up and down beside him, his wife rocked the squealing infant--that other +luckless creature, who was now so heavy on the old folks' hands, and like +them was fated to die of want and unjust toil. + +Toil, manual toil, panting at every effort, this was what Pierre and +Thomas once more found at the works. From the slender pipes above the +roofs spurted rhythmical puffs of steam, which seemed like the very +breath of all that labour. And in the work-shops one found a continuous +rumbling, a whole army of men in motion, forging, filing, and piercing, +amidst the spinning of leather gearing and the trembling of machinery. +The day was ending with a final feverish effort to complete some task or +other before the bell should ring for departure. + +On inquiring for the master Thomas learnt that he had not been seen since +_dejeuner_, which was such an unusual occurrence that the young man at +once feared some terrible scene in the silent pavilion, whose shutters +were ever closed upon Grandidier's unhappy wife--that mad but beautiful +creature, whom he loved so passionately that he had never been willing to +part from her. The pavilion could be seen from the little glazed +work-shop which Thomas usually occupied, and as he and Pierre stood +waiting there, it looked very peaceful and pleasant amidst the big +lilac-bushes planted round about it. Surely, they thought, it ought to +have been brightened by the gay gown of a young woman and the laughter of +playful children. But all at once a loud, piercing shriek reached their +ears, followed by howls and moans, like those of an animal that is being +beaten or possibly slaughtered. Ah! those howls ringing out amidst all +the stir of the toiling works, punctuated it seemed by the rhythmical +puffing of the steam, accompanied too by the dull rumbling of the +machinery! The receipts of the business had been doubling and doubling +since the last stock-taking; there was increase of prosperity every +month, the bad times were over, far behind. Grandidier was realising a +large fortune with his famous bicycle for the million, the "Lisette"; and +the approaching vogue of motor-cars also promised huge gains, should he +again start making little motor-engines, as he meant to do, as soon as +Thomas's long-projected motor should be perfected. But what was wealth +when in that dismal pavilion, whose shutters were ever closed, those +frightful shrieks continued, proclaiming some terrible drama, which all +the stir and bustle of the prosperous works were unable to stifle? + +Pierre and Thomas looked at one another, pale and quivering. And all at +once, as the cries ceased and the pavilion sank into death-like silence +once more, the latter said in an undertone: "She is usually very gentle, +she will sometimes spend whole days sitting on a carpet like a little +child. He is fond of her when she is like that; he lays her down and +picks her up, caresses her and makes her laugh as if she were a baby. Ah! +how dreadfully sad it is! When an attack comes upon her she gets frantic, +tries to bite herself, and kill herself by throwing herself against the +walls. And then he has to struggle with her, for no one else is allowed +to touch her. He tries to restrain her, and holds her in his arms to calm +her.... But how terrible it was just now! Did you hear? I do not think +she has ever had such a frightful attack before." + +For a quarter of an hour longer profound silence prevailed. Then +Grandidier came out of the pavilion, bareheaded and still ghastly pale. +Passing the little glazed work-shop on his way, he perceived Thomas and +Pierre there, and at once came in. But he was obliged to lean against a +bench like a man who is dazed, haunted by a nightmare. His good-natured, +energetic face retained an expression of acute anguish; and his left ear +was scratched and bleeding. However, he at once wished to talk, overcome +his feelings, and return to his life of activity. "I am very pleased to +see you, my dear Thomas," said he, "I have been thinking over what you +told me about our little motor. We must go into the matter again." + +Seeing how distracted he was, it occurred to the young man that some +sudden diversion, such as the story of another's misfortunes, might +perhaps draw him from his haunting thoughts. "Of course I am at your +disposal," he replied; "but before talking of that matter I should like +to tell you that we have just seen Toussaint, that poor old fellow who +has been stricken with paralysis. His awful fate has quite distressed us. +He is in the greatest destitution, forsaken as it were by the roadside, +after all his years of labour." + +Thomas dwelt upon the quarter of a century which the old workman had +spent at the factory, and suggested that it would be only just to take +some account of his long efforts, the years of his life which he had +devoted to the establishment. And he asked that he might be assisted in +the name both of equity and compassion. + +"Ah! monsieur," Pierre in his turn ventured to say. "I should like to +take you for an instant into that bare room, and show you that poor, +aged, worn-out, stricken man, who no longer has even the power of speech +left him to tell people his sufferings. There can be no greater +wretchedness than to die in this fashion, despairing of all kindliness +and justice." + +Grandidier had listened to them in silence. But big tears had +irresistibly filled his eyes, and when he spoke it was in a very low and +tremulous voice: "The greatest wretchedness, who can tell what it is? Who +can speak of it if he has not known the wretchedness of others? Yes, yes, +it's sad undoubtedly that poor Toussaint should be reduced to that state +at his age, not knowing even if he will have food to eat on the morrow. +But I know sorrows that are just as crushing, abominations which poison +one's life in a still greater degree.... Ah! yes, food indeed! To +think that happiness will reign in the world when everybody has food to +eat! What an idiotic hope!" + +The whole grievous tragedy of his life was in the shudder which had come +over him. To be the employer, the master, the man who is making money, +who disposes of capital and is envied by his workmen, to own an +establishment to which prosperity has returned, whose machinery coins +gold, apparently leaving one no other trouble than that of pocketing +one's profits; and yet at the same time to be the most wretched of men, +to know no day exempt from anguish, to find each evening at one's hearth +no other reward or prop than the most atrocious torture of the heart! +Everything, even success, has to be paid for. And thus that triumpher, +that money-maker, whose pile was growing larger at each successive +inventory, was sobbing with bitter grief. + +However, he showed himself kindly disposed towards Toussaint, and +promised to assist him. As for a pension that was an idea which he could +not entertain, as it was the negation of the wage-system such as it +existed. He energetically defended his rights as an employer, repeating +that the strain of competition would compel him to avail himself of them +so long as the present system should endure. His part in it was to do +good business in an honest way. However, he regretted that his men had +never carried out the scheme of establishing a relief fund, and he said +that he would do his best to induce them to take it in hand again. + +Some colour had now come back to his checks; for on returning to the +interests of his life of battle he felt his energy restored. He again +reverted to the question of the little motor, and spoke of it for some +time with Thomas, while Pierre waited, feeling quite upset. Ah! he +thought, how universal was the thirst for happiness! Then, in spite of +the many technical terms that were used he caught a little of what the +others were saying. Small steam motors had been made at the works in +former times; but they had not proved successes. In point of fact a new +propelling force was needed. Electricity, though everyone foresaw its +future triumph, was so far out of the question on account of the weight +of the apparatus which its employment necessitated. So only petroleum +remained, and the inconvenience attaching to its use was so great that +victory and fortune would certainly rest with the manufacturer who should +be able to replace it by some other hitherto unknown agent. In the +discovery and adaptation of the latter lay the whole problem. + +"Yes, I am eager about it now," at last exclaimed Grandidier in an +animated way. "I allowed you to prosecute your experiments without +troubling you with any inquisitive questions. But a solution is becoming +imperative." + +Thomas smiled: "Well, you must remain patient just a little longer," said +he; "I believe that I am on the right road." + +Then Grandidier shook hands with him and Pierre, and went off to make his +usual round through his busy, bustling works, whilst near at hand, +awaiting his return, stood the closed pavilion, where every evening he +was fated to relapse into endless, incurable anguish. + +The daylight was already waning when Pierre and Thomas, after +re-ascending the height of Montmartre, walked towards the large work-shop +which Jahan, the sculptor, had set up among the many sheds whose erection +had been necessitated by the building of the Sacred Heart. There was here +a stretch of ground littered with materials, an extraordinary chaos of +building stone, beams and machinery; and pending the time when an army of +navvies would come to set the whole place in order, one could see gaping +trenches, rough flights of descending steps and fences, imperfectly +closing doorways which conducted to the substructures of the basilica. + +Halting in front of Jahan's work-shop, Thomas pointed to one of these +doorways by which one could reach the foundation works. "Have you never +had an idea of visiting the foundations?" he inquired of Pierre. "There's +quite a city down there on which millions of money have been spent. They +could only find firm soil at the very base of the height, and they had to +excavate more than eighty shafts, fill them with concrete, and then rear +their church on all those subterranean columns.... Yes, that is so. Of +course the columns cannot be seen, but it is they who hold that insulting +edifice aloft, right over Paris!" + +Having drawn near to the fence, Pierre was looking at an open doorway +beyond it, a sort of dark landing whence steps descended as if into the +bowels of the earth. And he thought of those invisible columns of +concrete, and of all the stubborn energy and desire for domination which +had set and kept the edifice erect. + +Thomas was at last obliged to call him. "Let us make haste," said he, +"the twilight will soon be here. We shan't be able to see much." + +They had arranged to meet Antoine at Jahan's, as the sculptor wished to +show them a new model he had prepared. When they entered the work-shop +they found the two assistants still working at the colossal angel which +had been ordered for the basilica. Standing on a scaffolding they were +rough-hewing its symmetrical wings, whilst Jahan, seated on a low chair, +with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and his hands soiled with clay, +was contemplating a figure some three feet high on which he had just been +working. + +"Ah! it's you," he exclaimed. "Antoine has been waiting more than half an +hour for you. He's gone outside with Lise to see the sun set over Paris, +I think. But they will soon be back." + +Then he relapsed into silence, with his eyes fixed on his work. + +This was a bare, erect, lofty female figure, of such august majesty, so +simple were its lines, that it suggested something gigantic. The figure's +abundant, outspread hair suggested rays around its face, which beamed +with sovereign beauty like the sun. And its only gesture was one of offer +and of greeting; its arms were thrown slightly forward, and its hands +were open for the grasp of all mankind. + +Still lingering in his dream Jahan began to speak slowly: "You remember +that I wanted a pendant for my figure of Fecundity. I had modelled a +Charity, but it pleased me so little and seemed so commonplace that I let +the clay dry and spoil.... And then the idea of a figure of Justice +came to me. But not a gowned figure with the sword and the scales! That +wasn't the Justice that inspired me. What haunted my mind was the other +Justice, the one that the lowly and the sufferers await, the one who +alone can some day set a little order and happiness among us. And I +pictured her like that, quite bare, quite simple, and very lofty. She is +the sun as it were, a sun all beauty, harmony and strength; for justice +is only to be found in the sun which shines in the heavens for one and +all, and bestows on poor and rich alike its magnificence and light and +warmth, which are the source of all life. And so my figure, you see, has +her hands outstretched as if she were offering herself to all mankind, +greeting it and granting it the gift of eternal life in eternal beauty. +Ah! to be beautiful and strong and just, one's whole dream lies in that." + +Jahan relighted his pipe and burst into a merry laugh. "Well, I think the +good woman carries herself upright.... What do you fellows say?" + +His visitors highly praised his work. Pierre for his part was much +affected at finding in this artistic conception the very idea that he had +so long been revolving in his mind--the idea of an era of Justice rising +from the ruins of the world, which Charity after centuries of trial had +failed to save. + +Then the sculptor gaily explained that he had prepared his model there +instead of at home, in order to console himself a little for his big +dummy of an angel, the prescribed triteness of which disgusted him. Some +fresh objections had been raised with respect to the folds of the robe, +which gave some prominence to the thighs, and in the end he had been +compelled to modify all of the drapery. + +"Oh! it's just as they like!" he cried; "it's no work of mine, you know; +it's simply an order which I'm executing just as a mason builds a wall. +There's no religious art left, it has been killed by stupidity and +disbelief. Ah! if social or human art could only revive, how glorious to +be one of the first to bear the tidings!" + +Then he paused. Where could the youngsters, Antoine and Lise, have got +to, he wondered. He threw the door wide open, and, a little distance +away, among the materials littering the waste ground, one could see +Antoine's tall figure and Lise's short slender form standing out against +the immensity of Paris, which was all golden amidst the sun's farewell. +The young man's strong arm supported Lise, who with this help walked +beside him without feeling any fatigue. Slender and graceful, like a girl +blossoming into womanhood, she raised her eyes to his with a smile of +infinite gratitude, which proclaimed that she belonged to him for +evermore. + +"Ah! they are coming back," said Jahan. "The miracle is now complete, you +know. I'm delighted at it. I did not know what to do with her; I had even +renounced all attempts to teach her to read; I left her for days together +in a corner, infirm and tongue-tied like a lack-wit.... But your +brother came and took her in hand somehow or other. She listened to him +and understood him, and began to read and write with him, and grow +intelligent and gay. Then, as her limbs still gained no suppleness, and +she remained infirm, ailing and puny, he began by carrying her here, and +then helped her to walk in such wise that she can now do so by herself. +In a few weeks' time she has positively grown and become quite charming. +Yes, I assure you, it is second birth, real creation. Just look at them!" + +Antoine and Lise were still slowly approaching. The evening breeze which +rose from the great city, where all was yet heat and sunshine, brought +them a bath of life. If the young man had chosen that spot, with its +splendid horizon, open to the full air which wafted all the germs of +life, it was doubtless because he felt that nowhere else could he instil +more vitality, more soul, more strength into her. And love had been +created by love. He had found her asleep, benumbed, without power of +motion or intellect, and he had awakened her, kindled life in her, loved +her, that he might be loved by her in return. She was his work, she was +part of himself. + +"So you no longer feel tired, little one?" said Jahan. + +She smiled divinely. "Oh! no, it's so pleasant, so beautiful, to walk +straight on like this.... All I desire is to go on for ever and ever +with Antoine." + +The others laughed, and Jahan exclaimed in his good-natured way: "Let us +hope that he won't take you so far. You've reached your destination now, +and I shan't be the one to prevent you from being happy." + +Antoine was already standing before the figure of Justice, to which the +falling twilight seemed to impart a quiver of life. "Oh! how divinely +simple, how divinely beautiful!" said he. + +For his own part he had lately finished a new wood engraving, which +depicted Lise holding a book in her hand, an engraving instinct with +truth and emotion, showing her awakened to intelligence and love. And +this time he had achieved his desire, making no preliminary drawing, but +tackling the block with his graver, straight away, in presence of his +model. And infinite hopefulness had come upon him, he was dreaming of +great original works in which the whole period that he belonged to would +live anew and for ever. + +Thomas now wished to return home. So they shook hands with Jahan, who, as +his day's work was over, put on his coat to take his sister back to the +Rue du Calvaire. + +"Till to-morrow, Lise," said Antoine, inclining his head to kiss her. + +She raised herself on tip-toes, and offered him her eyes, which he had +opened to life. "Till to-morrow, Antoine," said she. + +Outside, the twilight was falling. Pierre was the first to cross the +threshold, and as he did so, he saw so extraordinary a sight that for an +instant he felt stupefied. But it was certain enough: he could plainly +distinguish his brother Guillaume emerging from the gaping doorway which +conducted to the foundations of the basilica. And he saw him hastily +climb over the palings, and then pretend to be there by pure chance, as +though he had come up from the Rue Lamarck. When he accosted his two +sons, as if he were delighted to meet them, and began to say that he had +just come from Paris, Pierre asked himself if he had been dreaming. +However, an anxious glance which his brother cast at him convinced him +that he had been right. And then he not only felt ill at ease in presence +of that man whom he had never previously known to lie, but it seemed to +him that he was at last on the track of all he had feared, the formidable +mystery that he had for some time past felt brewing around him in the +little peaceful house. + +When Guillaume, his sons and his brother reached home and entered the +large workroom overlooking Paris, it was so dark that they fancied nobody +was there. + +"What! nobody in?" said Guillaume. + +But in a somewhat low, quiet voice Francois answered out of the gloom: +"Why, yes, I'm here." + +He had remained at his table, where he had worked the whole afternoon, +and as he could no longer read, he now sat in a dreamy mood with his head +resting on his hands, his eyes wandering over Paris, where night was +gradually falling. As his examination was now near at hand, he was living +in a state of severe mental strain. + +"What, you are still working there!" said his father. "Why didn't you ask +for a lamp?" + +"No, I wasn't working, I was looking at Paris," Francois slowly answered. +"It's singular how the night falls over it by degrees. The last district +that remained visible was the Montague Ste. Genevieve, the plateau of the +Pantheon, where all our knowledge and science have grown up. A sun-ray +still gilds the schools and libraries and laboratories, when the +low-lying districts of trade are already steeped in darkness. I won't say +that the planet has a particular partiality for us at the Ecole Normale, +but it's certain that its beams still linger on our roofs, when they are +to be seen nowhere else." + +He began to laugh at his jest. Still one could see how ardent was his +faith in mental effort, how entirely he gave himself to mental labour, +which, in his opinion, could alone bring truth, establish justice and +create happiness. + +Then came a short spell of silence. Paris sank more and more deeply into +the night, growing black and mysterious, till all at once sparks of light +began to appear. + +"The lamps are being lighted," resumed Francois; "work is being resumed on +all sides." + +Then Guillaume, who likewise had been dreaming, immersed in his fixed +idea, exclaimed: "Work, yes, no doubt! But for work to give a full +harvest it must be fertilised by will. There is something which is +superior to work." + +Thomas and Antoine had drawn near. And Francois, as much for them as for +himself, inquired: "What is that, father?" + +"Action." + +For a moment the three young men remained silent, impressed by the +solemnity of the hour, quivering too beneath the great waves of darkness +which rose from the vague ocean of the city. Then a young voice remarked, +though whose it was one could not tell: "Action is but work." + +And Pierre, who lacked the respectful quietude, the silent faith, of his +nephews, now felt his nervousness increasing. That huge and terrifying +mystery of which he was dimly conscious rose before him, while a great +quiver sped by in the darkness, over that black city where the lamps were +now being lighted for a whole passionate night of work. + + + + +IV. THE CRISIS + +A GREAT ceremony was to take place that day at the basilica of the Sacred +Heart. Ten thousand pilgrims were to be present there, at a solemn +consecration of the Holy Sacrament; and pending the arrival of four +o'clock, the hour fixed for the service, Montmartre would be invaded by +people. Its slopes would be black with swarming devotees, the shops where +religious emblems and pictures were sold would be besieged, the cafes and +taverns would be crowded to overflowing. It would all be like some huge +fair, and meantime the big bell of the basilica, "La Savoyarde," would be +ringing peal on peal over the holiday-making multitude. + +When Pierre entered the workroom in the morning he perceived Guillaume +and Mere-Grand alone there; and a remark which he heard the former make +caused him to stop short and listen from behind a tall-revolving +bookstand. Mere-Grand sat sewing in her usual place near the big window, +while Guillaume stood before her, speaking in a low voice. + +"Mother," said he, "everything is ready, it is for to-day." + +She let her work fall, and raised her eyes, looking very pale. "Ah!" she +said, "so you have made up your mind." + +"Yes, irrevocably. At four o'clock I shall be yonder, and it will all be +over." + +"'Tis well--you are the master." + +Silence fell, terrible silence. Guillaume's voice seemed to come from far +away, from somewhere beyond the world. It was evident that his resolution +was unshakable, that his tragic dream, his fixed idea of martyrdom, +wholly absorbed him. Mere-Grand looked at him with her pale eyes, like an +heroic woman who had grown old in relieving the sufferings of others, and +had ever shown all the abnegation and devotion of an intrepid heart, +which nothing but the idea of duty could influence. She knew Guillaume's +terrible scheme, and had helped him to regulate the pettiest details of +it; but if on the one hand, after all the iniquity she had seen and +endured, she admitted that fierce and exemplary punishment might seem +necessary, and that even the idea of purifying the world by the fire of a +volcano might be entertained, on the other hand, she believed too +strongly in the necessity of living one's life bravely to the very end, +to be able, under any circumstances, to regard death as either good or +profitable. + +"My son," she gently resumed, "I witnessed the growth of your scheme, and +it neither surprised nor angered me. I accepted it as one accepts +lightning, the very fire of the skies, something of sovereign purity and +power. And I have helped you through it all, and have taken upon myself +to act as the mouthpiece of your conscience.... But let me tell you +once more, one ought never to desert the cause of life." + +"It is useless to speak, mother," Guillaume replied: "I have resolved to +give my life and cannot take it back.... Are you now unwilling to +carry out my desires, remain here, and act as we have decided, when all +is over?" + +She did not answer this inquiry, but in her turn, speaking slowly and +gravely, put a question to him: "So it is useless for me to speak to you +of the children, myself and the house?" said she. "You have thought it +all over, you are quite determined?" And as he simply answered "Yes," she +added: "'Tis well, you are the master.... I will be the one who is to +remain behind and act. And you may be without fear, your bequest is in +good hands. All that we have decided together shall be done." + +Once more they became silent. Then she again inquired: "At four o'clock, +you say, at the moment of that consecration?" + +"Yes, at four o'clock." + +She was still looking at him with her pale eyes, and there seemed to be +something superhuman in her simplicity and grandeur as she sat there in +her thin black gown. Her glance, in which the greatest bravery and the +deepest sadness mingled, filled Guillaume with acute emotion. His hands +began to tremble, and he asked: "Will you let me kiss you, mother?" + +"Oh! right willingly, my son," she responded. "Your path of duty may not +be mine, but you see I respect your views and love you." + +They kissed one another, and when Pierre, whom the scene had chilled to +his heart, presented himself as if he were just arriving, Mere-Grand had +quietly taken up her needlework once more, while Guillaume was going to +and fro, setting one of his laboratory shelves in order with all his +wonted activity. + +At noon when lunch was ready, they found it necessary to wait for Thomas, +who had not yet come home. His brothers Francois and Antoine complained +in a jesting way, saying that they were dying of hunger, while for her +part Marie, who had made a _creme_, and was very proud of it, declared +that they would eat it all, and that those who came late would have to go +without tasting it. When Thomas eventually put in an appearance he was +greeted with jeers. + +"But it wasn't my fault," said he; "I stupidly came up the hill by way of +the Rue de la Barre, and you can have no notion what a crowd I fell upon. +Quite ten thousand pilgrims must have camped there last night. I am told +that as many as possible were huddled together in the St. Joseph Refuge. +The others no doubt had to sleep in the open air. And now they are busy +eating, here, there and everywhere, all over the patches of waste ground +and even on the pavements. One can scarcely set one foot before the other +without risk of treading on somebody." + +The meal proved a very gay one, though Pierre found the gaiety forced and +excessive. Yet the young people could surely know nothing of the +frightful, invisible thing which to Pierre ever seemed to be hovering +around in the bright sunlight of that splendid June day. Was it that the +dim presentiment which comes to loving hearts when mourning threatens +them, swept by during the short intervals of silence that followed the +joyous outbursts? Although Guillaume looked somewhat pale, and spoke with +unusual caressing softness, he retained his customary bright smile. But, +on the other hand, never had Mere-Grand been more silent or more grave. + +Marie's _creme_ proved a great success, and the others congratulated her +on it so fulsomely that they made her blush. Then, all at once, heavy +silence fell once more, a deathly chill seemed to sweep by, making every +face turn pale--even while they were still cleaning their plates with +their little spoons. + +"Ah! that bell," exclaimed Francois; "it is really intolerable. I can +feel my head splitting." + +He referred to "La Savoyarde," the big bell of the basilica, which had +now begun to toll, sending forth deep sonorous volumes of sound, which +ever and ever winged their flight over the immensity of Paris. In the +workroom they were all listening to the clang. + +"Will it keep on like that till four o'clock?" asked Marie. + +"Oh! at four o'clock," replied Thomas, "at the moment of the consecration +you will hear something much louder than that. The great peals of joy, +the song of triumph will then ring out." + +Guillaume was still smiling. "Yes, yes," said he, "those who don't want +to be deafened for life had better keep their windows closed. The worst +is, that Paris has to hear it whether it will or no, and even as far away +as the Pantheon, so I'm told." + +Meantime Mere-Grand remained silent and impassive. Antoine for his part +expressed his disgust with the horrible religious pictures for which the +pilgrims fought--pictures which in some respects suggested those on the +lids of sweetmeat boxes, although they depicted the Christ with His +breast ripped open and displaying His bleeding heart. There could be no +more repulsive materialism, no grosser or baser art, said Antoine. Then +they rose from table, talking at the top of their voices so as to make +themselves heard above the incessant din which came from the big bell. + +Immediately afterwards they all set to work again. Mere-Grand took her +everlasting needlework in hand once more, while Marie, sitting near her, +continued some embroidery. The young men also attended to their +respective tasks, and now and again raised their heads and exchanged a +few words. Guillaume, for his part, likewise seemed very busy; Pierre +alone coming and going in a state of anguish, beholding them all as in a +nightmare, and attributing some terrible meaning to the most innocent +remarks. During _dejeuner_, in order to explain the frightful discomfort +into which he was thrown by the gaiety of the meal, he had been obliged +to say that he felt poorly. And now he was looking and listening and +waiting with ever-growing anxiety. + +Shortly before three o'clock, Guillaume glanced at his watch and then +quietly took up his hat. "Well," said he, "I'm going out." + +His sons, Mere-Grand and Marie raised their heads. + +"I'm going out," he repeated, "_au revoir_." + +Still he did not go off. Pierre could divine that he was struggling, +stiffening himself against the frightful tempest which was raging within +him, striving to prevent either shudder or pallor from betraying his +awful secret. Ah! he must have suffered keenly; he dared not give his +sons a last kiss, for fear lest he might rouse some suspicion in their +minds, which would impel them to oppose him and prevent his death! At +last with supreme heroism he managed to overcome himself. + +"_Au revoir_, boys." + +"_Au revoir_, father. Will you be home early?" + +"Yes, yes.... Don't worry about me, do plenty of work." + +Mere-Grand, still majestically silent, kept her eyes fixed upon him. Her +he had ventured to kiss, and their glances met and mingled, instinct with +all that he had decided and that she had promised: their common dream of +truth and justice. + +"I say, Guillaume," exclaimed Marie gaily, "will you undertake a +commission for me if you are going down by way of the Rue des Martyrs?" + +"Why, certainly," he replied. + +"Well, then, please look in at my dressmaker's, and tell her that I +shan't go to try my gown on till to-morrow morning." + +It was a question of her wedding dress, a gown of light grey silk, the +stylishness of which she considered very amusing. Whenever she spoke of +it, both she and the others began to laugh. + +"It's understood, my dear," said Guillaume, likewise making merry over +it. "We know it's Cinderella's court robe, eh? The fairy brocade and lace +that are to make you very beautiful and for ever happy." + +However, the laughter ceased, and in the sudden silence which fell, it +again seemed as if death were passing by with a great flapping of wings +and an icy gust which chilled the hearts of everyone remaining there. + +"It's understood; so now I'm really off," resumed Guillaume. "_Au +revoir_, children." + +Then he sallied forth, without even turning round, and for a moment they +could hear the firm tread of his feet over the garden gravel. + +Pierre having invented a pretext was able to follow him a couple of +minutes afterwards. As a matter of fact there was no need for him to dog +Guillaume's heels, for he knew where his brother was going. He was +thoroughly convinced that he would find him at that doorway, conducting +to the foundations of the basilica, whence he had seen him emerge two +days before. And so he wasted no time in looking for him among the crowd +of pilgrims going to the church. His only thought was to hurry on and +reach Jahan's workshop. And in accordance with his expectation, just as +he arrived there, he perceived Guillaume slipping between the broken +palings. The crush and the confusion prevailing among the concourse of +believers favored Pierre as it had his brother, in such wise that he was +able to follow the latter and enter the doorway without being noticed. +Once there he had to pause and draw breath for a moment, so greatly did +the beating of his heart oppress him. + +A precipitous flight of steps, where all was steeped in darkness, +descended from the narrow entry. It was with infinite precaution that +Pierre ventured into the gloom, which ever grew denser and denser. He +lowered his feet gently so as to make no noise, and feeling the walls +with his hands, turned round and round as he went lower and lower into a +kind of well. However, the descent was not a very long one. As soon as he +found beaten ground beneath his feet he paused, no longer daring to stir +for fear of betraying his presence. The darkness was like ink, and there +was not a sound, a breath; the silence was complete. + +How should he find his way? he wondered. Which direction ought he to +take? He was still hesitating when some twenty paces away he suddenly saw +a bright spark, the gleam of a lucifer. Guillaume was lighting a candle. +Pierre recognised his broad shoulders, and from that moment he simply had +to follow the flickering light along a walled and vaulted subterranean +gallery. It seemed to be interminable and to run in a northerly +direction, towards the nave of the basilica. + +All at once the little light at last stopped, while Pierre, anxious to +see what would happen, continued to advance, treading as softly as he +could and remaining in the gloom. He found that Guillaume had stood his +candle upon the ground in the middle of a kind of low rotunda under the +crypt, and that he had knelt down and moved aside a long flagstone which +seemed to cover a cavity. They were here among the foundations of the +basilica; and one of the columns or piles of concrete poured into shafts +in order to support the building could be seen. The gap, which the stone +slab removed by Guillaume had covered, was by the very side of the +pillar; it was either some natural surface flaw, or a deep fissure caused +by some subsidence or settling of the soil. The heads of other pillars +could be descried around, and these the cleft seemed to be reaching, for +little slits branched out in all directions. Then, on seeing his brother +leaning forward, like one who is for the last time examining a mine he +has laid before applying a match to the fuse, Pierre suddenly understood +the whole terrifying business. Considerable quantities of the new +explosive had been brought to that spot. Guillaume had made the journey a +score of times at carefully selected hours, and all his powder had been +poured into the gap beside the pillar, spreading to the slightest rifts +below, saturating the soil at a great depth, and in this wise forming a +natural mine of incalculable force. And now the powder was flush with the +flagstone which Guillaume has just moved aside. It was only necessary to +throw a match there, and everything would be blown into the air! + +For a moment an acute chill of horror rooted Pierre to the spot. He could +neither have taken a step nor raised a cry. He pictured the swarming +throng above him, the ten thousand pilgrims crowding the lofty naves of +the basilica to witness the solemn consecration of the Host. Peal upon +peal flew from "La Savoyarde," incense smoked, and ten thousand voices +raised a hymn of magnificence and praise. And all at once came thunder +and earthquake, and a volcano opening and belching forth fire and smoke, +and swallowing up the whole church and its multitude of worshippers. +Breaking the concrete piles and rending the unsound soil, the explosion, +which was certain to be one of extraordinary violence, would doubtless +split the edifice atwain, and hurl one-half down the slopes descending +towards Paris, whilst the other on the side of the apse would crumble and +collapse upon the spot where it stood. And how fearful would be the +avalanche; a broken forest of scaffoldings, a hail of stonework, rushing +and bounding through the dust and smoke on to the roofs below; whilst the +violence of the shock would threaten the whole of Montmartre, which, it +seemed likely, must stagger and sink in one huge mass of ruins! + +However, Guillaume had again risen. The candle standing on the ground, +its flame shooting up, erect and slender, threw his huge shadow all over +the subterranean vault. Amidst the dense blackness the light looked like +some dismal stationary star. Guillaume drew near to it in order to see +what time it was by his watch. It proved to be five minutes past three. +So he had nearly another hour to wait. He was in no hurry, he wished to +carry out his design punctually, at the precise moment he had selected; +and he therefore sat down on a block of stone, and remained there without +moving, quiet and patient. The candle now cast its light upon his pale +face, upon his towering brow crowned with white hair, upon the whole of +his energetic countenance, which still looked handsome and young, thanks +to his bright eyes and dark moustaches. And not a muscle of his face +stirred; he simply gazed into the void. What thoughts could be passing +through his mind at that supreme moment? Who could tell? There was not a +quiver; heavy night, the deep eternal silence of the earth reigned all +around. + +Then Pierre, having quieted his palpitating heart, drew near. At the +sound of his footsteps Guillaume rose menacingly, but he immediately +recognised his brother, and did not seem astonished to see him. + +"Ah! it's you," he said, "you followed me.... I felt that you +possessed my secret. And it grieves me that you should have abused your +knowledge to join me here. You might have spared me this last sorrow." + +Pierre clasped his trembling hands, and at once tried to entreat him. +"Brother, brother," he began. + +"No, don't speak yet," said Guillaume, "if you absolutely wish it I will +listen to you by-and-by. We have nearly an hour before us, so we can +chat. But I want you to understand the futility of all you may think +needful to tell me. My resolution is unshakable; I was a long time coming +to it, and in carrying it out I shall simply be acting in accordance with +my reason and my conscience." + +Then he quietly related that having decided upon a great deed he had long +hesitated as to which edifice he should destroy. The opera-house had +momentarily tempted him, but he had reflected that there would be no +great significance in the whirlwind of anger and justice destroying a +little set of enjoyers. In fact, such a deed might savour of jealousy and +covetousness. Next he had thought of the Bourse, where he might strike a +blow at money, the great agent of corruption, and the capitalist society +in whose clutches the wage-earners groaned. Only, here again the blow +would fall upon a restricted circle. Then an idea of destroying the +Palace of Justice, particularly the assize court, had occurred to him. It +was a very tempting thought--to wreak justice upon human justice, to +sweep away the witnesses, the culprit, the public prosecutor who charges +the latter, the counsel who defends him, the judges who sentence him, and +the lounging public which comes to the spot as to the unfolding of some +sensational serial. And then too what fierce irony there would be in the +summary superior justice of the volcano swallowing up everything +indiscriminately without pausing to enter into details. However, the plan +over which he had most lingered was that of blowing up the Arc de +Triomphe. This he regarded as an odious monument which perpetuated +warfare, hatred among nations, and the false, dearly purchased, +sanguineous glory of conquerors. That colossus raised to the memory of so +much frightful slaughter which had uselessly put an end to so many human +lives, ought, he considered, to be slaughtered in its turn. Could he so +have arranged things that the earth should swallow it up, he might have +achieved the glory of causing no other death than his own, of dying +alone, struck down, crushed to pieces beneath that giant of stone. What a +tomb, and what a memory might he thus have left to the world! + +"But there was no means of approaching it," he continued, "no basement, +no cellar, so I had to give up the idea.... And then, although I'm +perfectly willing to die alone, I thought what a loftier and more +terrible lesson there would be in the unjust death of an innocent +multitude, of thousands of unknown people, of all those that might happen +to be passing. In the same way as human society by dint of injustice, +want and harsh regulations causes so many innocent victims, so must +punishment fall as the lightning falls, indiscriminately killing and +destroying whatever it may encounter in its course. When a man sets his +foot on an ant-hill, he gives no heed to all the lives which he stamps +out." + +Pierre, whom this theory rendered quite indignant, raised a cry of +protest: "Oh! brother, brother, is it you who are saying such things?" + +Yet, Guillaume did not pause: "If I have ended by choosing this basilica +of the Sacred Heart," he continued, "it is because I found it near at +hand and easy to destroy. But it is also because it haunts and +exasperates me, because I have long since condemned it.... As I have +often said to you, one cannot imagine anything more preposterous than +Paris, our great Paris, crowned and dominated by this temple raised to +the glorification of the absurd. Is it not outrageous that common sense +should receive such a smack after so many centuries of science, that Rome +should claim the right of triumphing in this insolent fashion, on our +loftiest height in the full sunlight? The priests want Paris to repent +and do penitence for its liberative work of truth and justice. But its +only right course is to sweep away all that hampers and insults it in its +march towards deliverance. And so may the temple fall with its deity of +falsehood and servitude! And may its ruins crush its worshippers, so that +like one of the old geological revolutions of the world, the catastrophe +may resound through the very entrails of mankind, and renew and change +it!" + +"Brother, brother!" again cried Pierre, quite beside himself, "is it you +who are talking? What! you, a great scientist, a man of great heart, you +have come to this! What madness is stirring you that you should think and +say such abominable things? On the evening when we confessed our secrets +one to the other, you told me of your proud and lofty dream of ideal +Anarchy. There would be free harmony in life, which left to its natural +forces would of itself create happiness. But you still rebelled against +the idea of theft and murder. You would not accept them as right or +necessary; you merely explained and excused them. What has happened then +that you, all brain and thought, should now have become the hateful hand +that acts?" + +"Salvat has been guillotined," said Guillaume simply, "and I read his +will and testament in his last glance. I am merely an executor.... And +what has happened, you ask? Why, all that has made me suffer for four +months past, the whole social evil which surrounds us, and which must be +brought to an end." + +Silence fell. The brothers looked at one another in the darkness. And +Pierre now understood things. He saw that Guillaume was changed, that the +terrible gust of revolutionary contagion sweeping over Paris had +transformed him. It had all come from the duality of his nature, the +presence of contradictory elements within him. On one side one found a +scientist whose whole creed lay in observation and experiment, who, in +dealing with nature, evinced the most cautious logic; while on the other +side was a social dreamer, haunted by ideas of fraternity, equality and +justice, and eager for universal happiness. Thence had first come the +theoretical anarchist that he had been, one in whom science and chimeras +were mingled, who dreamt of human society returning to the harmonious law +of the spheres, each man free, in a free association, regulated by love +alone. Neither Theophile Morin with the doctrines of Proudhon and Comte, +nor Bache with those of St. Simon and Fourier, had been able to satisfy +his desire for the absolute. All those systems had seemed to him +imperfect and chaotic, destructive of one another, and tending to the +same wretchedness of life. Janzen alone had occasionally satisfied him +with some of his curt phrases which shot over the horizon, like arrows +conquering the whole earth for the human family. And then in Guillaume's +big heart, which the idea of want, the unjust sufferings of the lowly and +the poor exasperated, Salvat's tragic adventure had suddenly found place, +fomenting supreme rebellion. For long weeks he had lived on with +trembling hands, with growing anguish clutching at his throat. First had +come that bomb and the explosion which still made him quiver, then the +vile cupidity of the newspapers howling for the poor wretch's head, then +the search for him and the hunt through the Bois de Boulogne, till he +fell into the hands of the police, covered with mud and dying of +starvation. And afterwards there had been the assize court, the judges, +the gendarmes, the witnesses, the whole of France arrayed against one man +and bent on making him pay for the universal crime. And finally, there +had come the guillotine, the monstrous, the filthy beast consummating +irreparable injustice in human justice's name. One sole idea now remained +to Guillaume, that idea of justice which maddened him, leaving naught in +his mind save the thought of the just, avenging flare by which he would +repair the evil and ensure that which was right for all time forward. +Salvat had looked at him, and contagion had done its work; he glowed with +a desire for death, a desire to give his own blood and set the blood of +others flowing, in order that mankind, amidst its fright and horror, +should decree the return of the golden age. + +Pierre understood the stubborn blindness of such insanity; and he felt +utterly upset by the fear that he should be unable to overcome it. "You +are mad, brother!" he exclaimed, "they have driven you mad! It is a gust +of violence passing; they were treated in a wrong way and too +relentlessly at the outset, and now that they are avenging one another, +it may be that blood will never cease to flow.... But, listen, +brother, throw off that nightmare. You can't be a Salvat who murders or a +Bergaz who steals! Remember the pillage of the Princess's house and +remember the fair-haired, pretty child whom we saw lying yonder, ripped +open.... You do not, you cannot belong to that set, brother--" + +With a wave of his hand, Guillaume brushed these vain reasons aside. Of +what consequence were a few lives, his own included? No change had ever +taken place in the world without millions and millions of existences +being stamped out. + +"But you had a great scheme in hand," cried Pierre, hoping to save him by +reviving his sense of duty. "It isn't allowable for you to go off like +this." + +Then he fervently strove to awaken his brother's scientific pride. He +spoke to him of his secret, of that great engine of warfare, which could +destroy armies and reduce cities to dust, and which he had intended to +offer to France, so that on emerging victorious from the approaching war, +she might afterwards become the deliverer of the world. And it was this +grand scheme that he had abandoned, preferring to employ his explosive in +killing innocent people and overthrowing a church, which would be built +afresh, whatever the cost, and become a sanctuary of martyrs! + +Guillaume smiled. "I have not relinquished my scheme," said he, "I have +simply modified it. Did I not tell you of my doubts, my anxious +perplexity? Ah! to believe that one holds the destiny of the world in +one's grasp, and to tremble and hesitate and wonder if the intelligence +and wisdom, that are needful for things to take the one wise course, will +be forthcoming! At sight of all the stains upon our great Paris, all the +errors and transgressions which we lately witnessed, I shuddered. I asked +myself if Paris were sufficiently calm and pure for one to entrust her +with omnipotence. How terrible would be the disaster if such an invention +as mine should fall into the hands of a demented nation, possibly a +dictator, some man of conquest, who would simply employ it to terrorize +other nations and reduce them to slavery.... Ah! no, I do not wish to +perpetuate warfare, I wish to kill it." + +Then in a clear firm voice he explained his new plan, in which Pierre was +surprised to find some of the ideas which General de Bozonnet had one day +laid before him in a very different spirit. Warfare was on the road to +extinction, threatened by its very excesses. In the old days of +mercenaries, and afterwards with conscripts, the percentage of soldiers +designated by chance, war had been a profession and a passion. But +nowadays, when everybody is called upon to fight, none care to do so. By +the logical force of things, the system of the whole nation in arms means +the coming end of armies. How much longer will the nations remain on a +footing of deadly peace, bowed down by ever increasing "estimates," +spending millions and millions on holding one another in respect? Ah! how +great the deliverance, what a cry of relief would go up on the day when +some formidable engine, capable of destroying armies and sweeping cities +away, should render war an impossibility and constrain every people to +disarm! Warfare would be dead, killed in her own turn, she who has killed +so many. This was Guillaume's dream, and he grew quite enthusiastic, so +strong was his conviction that he would presently bring it to pass. + +"Everything is settled," said he; "if I am about to die and disappear, it +is in order that my idea may triumph.... You have lately seen me spend +whole afternoons alone with Mere-Grand. Well, we were completing the +classification of the documents and making our final arrangements. She +has my orders, and will execute them even at the risk of her life, for +none has a braver, loftier soul.... As soon as I am dead, buried +beneath these stones, as soon as she has heard the explosion shake Paris +and proclaim the advent of the new era, she will forward a set of all the +documents I have confided to her--the formula of my explosive, the +drawings of the bomb and gun--to each of the great powers of the world. +In this wise I shall bestow on all the nations the terrible gift of +destruction and omnipotence which, at first, I wished to bestow on France +alone; and I do this in order that the nations, being one and all armed +with the thunderbolt, may at once disarm, for fear of being annihilated, +when seeking to annihilate others." + +Pierre listened to him, gaping, amazed at this extraordinary idea, in +which childishness was blended with genius. "Well," said he, "if you give +your secret to all the nations, why should you blow up this church, and +die yourself?" + +"Why! In order that I may be believed!" cried Guillaume with +extraordinary force of utterance. Then he added, "The edifice must lie on +the ground, and I must be under it. If the experiment is not made, if +universal horror does not attest and proclaim the amazing destructive +power of my explosive, people will consider me a mere schemer, a +visionary!... A lot of dead, a lot of blood, that is what is needed in +order that blood may for ever cease to flow!" Then, with a broad sweep of +his arm, he again declared that his action was necessary. "Besides," he +said, "Salvat left me the legacy of carrying out this deed of justice. If +I have given it greater scope and significance, utilising it as a means +of hastening the end of war, this is because I happen to be a man of +intellect. It would have been better possibly if my mind had been a +simple one, and if I had merely acted like some volcano which changes the +soil, leaving life the task of renewing humanity." + +Much of the candle had now burnt away, and Guillaume at last rose from +the block of stone. He had again consulted his watch, and found that he +had ten minutes left him. The little current of air created by his +gestures made the light flicker, while all around him the darkness seemed +to grow denser. And near at hand ever lay the threatening open mine which +a spark might at any moment fire. + +"It is nearly time," said Guillaume. "Come, brother, kiss me and go away. +You know how much I love you, what ardent affection for you has been +awakened in my old heart. So love me in like fashion, and find love +enough to let me die as I want to die, in carrying out my duty. Kiss me, +kiss me, and go away without turning your head." + +His deep affection for Pierre made his voice tremble, but he struggled +on, forced back his tears, and ended by conquering himself. It was as if +he were no longer of the world, no longer one of mankind. + +"No, brother, you have not convinced me," said Pierre, who on his side +did not seek to hide his tears, "and it is precisely because I love you +as you love me, with my whole being, my whole soul, that I cannot go +away. It is impossible! You cannot be the madman, the murderer you would +try to be." + +"Why not? Am I not free. I have rid my life of all responsibilities, all +ties.... I have brought up my sons, they have no further need of me. +But one heart-link remained--Marie, and I have given her to you." + +At this a disturbing argument occurred to Pierre, and he passionately +availed himself of it. "So you want to die because you have given me +Marie," said he. "You still love her, confess it!" + +"No!" cried Guillaume, "I no longer love her, I swear it. I gave her to +you. I love her no more." + +"So you fancied; but you can see now that you still love her, for here +you are, quite upset; whereas none of the terrifying things of which we +spoke just now could even move you.... Yes, if you wish to die it is +because you have lost Marie!" + +Guillaume quivered, shaken by what his brother said, and in low, broken +words he tried to question himself. "No, no, that any love pain should +have urged me to this terrible deed would be unworthy--unworthy of my +great design. No, no, I decided on it in the free exercise of my reason, +and I am accomplishing it from no personal motive, but in the name of +justice and for the benefit of humanity, in order that war and want may +cease." + +Then, in sudden anguish, he went on: "Ah! it is cruel of you, brother, +cruel of you to poison my delight at dying. I have created all the +happiness I could, I was going off well pleased at leaving you all happy, +and now you poison my death. No, no! question it how I may, my heart does +not ache; if I love Marie, it is simply in the same way as I love you." + +Nevertheless, he remained perturbed, as if fearing lest he might be lying +to himself; and by degrees gloomy anger came over him: "Listen, that is +enough, Pierre," he exclaimed, "time is flying.... For the last time, +go away! I order you to do so; I will have it!" + +"I will not obey you, Guillaume.... I will stay, and as all my +reasoning cannot save you from your insanity, fire your mine, and I will +die with you." + +"You? Die? But you have no right to do so, you are not free!" + +"Free, or not, I swear that I will die with you. And if it merely be a +question of flinging this candle into that hole, tell me so, and I will +take it and fling it there myself." + +He made a gesture at which his brother thought that he was about to carry +out his threat. So he caught him by the arm, crying: "Why should you die? +It would be absurd. That others should die may be necessary, but you, no! +Of what use could be this additional monstrosity? You are endeavouring to +soften me, you are torturing my heart!" Then all at once, imagining that +Pierre's offer had concealed another design, Guillaume thundered in a +fury: "You don't want to take the candle in order to throw it there. What +you want to do is to blow it out! And you think I shan't be able +then--ah! you bad brother!" + +In his turn Pierre exclaimed: "Oh! certainly, I'll use every means to +prevent you from accomplishing such a frightful and foolish deed!" + +"You'll prevent me!" + +"Yes, I'll cling to you, I'll fasten my arms to your shoulders, I'll hold +your hands if necessary." + +"Ah! you'll prevent me, you bad brother! You think you'll prevent me!" + +Choking and trembling with rage, Guillaume had already caught hold of +Pierre, pressing his ribs with his powerful muscular arms. They were +closely linked together, their eyes fixed upon one another, and their +breath mingling in that kind of subterranean dungeon, where their big +dancing shadows looked like ghosts. They seemed to be vanishing into the +night, the candle now showed merely like a little yellow tear in the +midst of the darkness; and at that moment, in those far depths, a quiver +sped through the silence of the earth which weighed so heavily upon them. +Distant but sonorous peals rang out, as if death itself were somewhere +ringing its invisible bell. + +"You hear," stammered Guillaume, "it's their bell up there. The time has +come. I have vowed to act, and you want to prevent me!" + +"Yes, I'll prevent you as long as I'm here alive." + +"As long as you are alive, you'll prevent me!" + +Guillaume could hear "La Savoyarde" pealing joyfully up yonder; he could +see the triumphant basilica, overflowing with its ten thousand pilgrims, +and blazing with the splendour of the Host amidst the smoke of incense; +and blind frenzy came over him at finding himself unable to act, at +finding an obstacle suddenly barring the road to his fixed idea. + +"As long as you are alive, as long as you are alive!" he repeated, beside +himself. "Well, then, die, you wretched brother!" + +A fratricidal gleam had darted from his blurred eyes. He hastily stooped, +picked up a large brick forgotten there, and raised it with both hands as +if it were a club. + +"Ah! I'm willing," cried Pierre. "Kill me, then; kill your own brother +before you kill the others!" + +The brick was already descending, but Guillaume's arms must have +deviated, for the weapon only grazed one of Pierre's shoulders. +Nevertheless, he sank upon his knees in the gloom. When Guillaume saw him +there he fancied he had dealt him a mortal blow. What was it that had +happened between them, what had he done? For a moment he remained +standing, haggard, his mouth open, his eyes dilating with terror. He +looked at his hands, fancying that blood was streaming from them. Then he +pressed them to his brow, which seemed to be bursting with pain, as if +his fixed idea had been torn from him, leaving his skull open. And he +himself suddenly sank upon the ground with a great sob. + +"Oh! brother, little brother, what have I done?" he called. "I am a +monster!" + +But Pierre had passionately caught him in his arms again. "It is nothing, +nothing, brother, I assure you," he replied. "Ah! you are weeping now. +How pleased I am! You are saved, I can feel it, since you are weeping. +And what a good thing it is that you flew into such a passion, for your +anger with me has dispelled your evil dream of violence." + +"I am horrified with myself," gasped Guillaume, "to think that I wanted +to kill you! Yes, I'm a brute beast that would kill his brother! And the +others, too, all the others up yonder.... Oh! I'm cold, I feel so +cold." + +His teeth were chattering, and he shivered. It was as if he had awakened, +half stupefied, from some evil dream. And in the new light which his +fratricidal deed cast upon things, the scheme which had haunted him and +goaded him to madness appeared like some act of criminal folly, projected +by another. + +"To kill you!" he repeated almost in a whisper. "I shall never forgive +myself. My life is ended, I shall never find courage enough to live." + +But Pierre clasped him yet more tightly. "What do you say?" he answered. +"Will there not rather be a fresh and stronger tie of affection between +us? Ah! yes, brother, let me save you as you saved me, and we shall be +yet more closely united! Don't you remember that evening at Neuilly, when +you consoled me and held me to your heart as I am holding you to mine? I +had confessed my torments to you, and you told me that I must live and +love!... And you did far more afterwards: you plucked your own love +from your breast and gave it to me. You wished to ensure my happiness at +the price of your own! And how delightful it is that, in my turn, I now +have an opportunity to console you, save you, and bring you back to +life!" + +"No, no, the bloodstain is there and it is ineffaceable. I can hope no +more!" + +"Yes, yes, you can. Hope in life as you bade me do! Hope in love and hope +in labour!" + +Still weeping and clasping one another, the brothers continued speaking +in low voices. The expiring candle suddenly went out unknown to them, and +in the inky night and deep silence their tears of redeeming affection +flowed freely. On the one hand, there was joy at being able to repay a +debt of brotherliness, and on the other, acute emotion at having been led +by a fanatical love of justice and mankind to the very verge of crime. +And there were yet other things in the depths of those tears which +cleansed and purified them; there were protests against suffering in +every form, and ardent wishes that the world might some day be relieved +of all its dreadful woe. + +At last, after pushing the flagstone over the cavity near the pillar, +Pierre groped his way out of the vault, leading Guillaume like a child. + +Meantime Mere-Grand, still seated near the window of the workroom, had +impassively continued sewing. Now and again, pending the arrival of four +o'clock, she had looked up at the timepiece hanging on the wall on her +left hand, or else had glanced out of the window towards the unfinished +pile of the basilica, which a gigantic framework of scaffoldings +encompassed. Slowly and steadily plying her needle, the old lady remained +very pale and silent, but full of heroic serenity. On the other hand, +Marie, who sat near her, embroidering, shifted her position a score of +times, broke her thread, and grew impatient, feeling strangely nervous, a +prey to unaccountable anxiety, which oppressed her heart. For their part, +the three young men could not keep in place at all; it was as if some +contagious fever disturbed them. Each had gone to his work: Thomas was +filing something at his bench; Francois and Antoine were on either side +of their table, the first trying to solve a mathematical problem, and the +other copying a bunch of poppies in a vase before him. It was in vain, +however, that they strove to be attentive. They quivered at the slightest +sound, raised their heads, and darted questioning glances at one another. +What could be the matter? What could possess them? What did they fear? +Now and again one or the other would rise, stretch himself, and then, +resume his place. However, they did not speak; it was as if they dared +not say anything, and thus the heavy silence grew more and more terrible. + +When it was a few minutes to four o'clock Mere-Grand felt weary, or else +desired to collect her thoughts. After another glance at the timepiece, +she let her needlework fall on her lap and turned towards the basilica. +It seemed to her that she had only enough strength left to wait; and she +remained with her eyes fixed on the huge walls and the forest of +scaffolding which rose over yonder with such triumphant pride under the +blue sky. Then all at once, however brave and firm she might be, she +could not restrain a start, for "La Savoyarde" had raised a joyful clang. +The consecration of the Host was now at hand, the ten thousand pilgrims +filled the church, four o'clock was about to strike. And thereupon an +irresistible impulse forced the old lady to her feet; she drew herself +up, quivering, her hands clasped, her eyes ever turned yonder, waiting in +mute dread. + +"What is the matter?" cried Thomas, who noticed her. "Why are you +trembling, Mere-Grand?" + +Francois and Antoine raised their heads, and in turn sprang forward. + +"Are you ill? Why are you turning so pale, you who are so courageous?" + +But she did not answer. Ah! might the force of the explosion rend the +earth asunder, reach the house and sweep it into the flaming crater of +the volcano! Might she and the three young men, might they all die with +the father, this was her one ardent wish in order that grief might be +spared them. And she remained waiting and waiting, quivering despite +herself, but with her brave, clear eyes ever gazing yonder. + +"Mere-Grand, Mere-Grand!" cried Marie in dismay; "you frighten us by +refusing to answer us, by looking over there as if some misfortune were +coming up at a gallop!" + +Then, prompted by the same anguish, the same cry suddenly came from +Thomas, Francois and Antoine: "Father is in peril--father is going to +die!" + +What did they know? Nothing precise, certainly. Thomas no doubt had been +astonished to see what a large quantity of the explosive his father had +recently prepared, and both Francois and Antoine were aware of the ideas +of revolt which he harboured in his mind. But, full of filial deference, +they never sought to know anything beyond what he might choose to confide +to them. They never questioned him; they bowed to whatever he might do. +And yet now a foreboding came to them, a conviction that their father was +going to die, that some most frightful catastrophe was impending. It must +have been that which had already sent such a quiver through the +atmosphere ever since the morning, making them shiver with fever, feel +ill at ease, and unable to work. + +"Father is going to die, father is going to die!" + +The three big fellows had drawn close together, distracted by one and the +same anguish, and furiously longing to know what the danger was, in order +that they might rush upon it and die with their father if they could not +save him. And amidst Mere-Grand's stubborn silence death once more +flitted through the room: there came a cold gust such as they had already +felt brushing past them during _dejeuner_. + +At last four o'clock began to strike, and Mere-Grand raised her white +hands with a gesture of supreme entreaty. It was then that she at last +spoke: "Father is going to die. Nothing but the duty of living can save +him." + +At this the three young men again wished to rush yonder, whither they +knew not; but they felt that they must throw down all obstacles and +conquer. Their powerlessness rent their hearts, they were both so frantic +and so woeful that their grandmother strove to calm them. "Father's own +wish was to die," said she, "and he is resolved to die alone." + +They shuddered as they heard her, and then, on their side, strove to be +heroic. But the minutes crept by, and it seemed as if the cold gust had +slowly passed away. Sometimes, at the twilight hour, a night-bird will +come in by the window like some messenger of misfortune, flit round the +darkened room, and then fly off again, carrying its sadness with it. And +it was much like that; the gust passed, the basilica remained standing, +the earth did not open to swallow it. Little by little the atrocious +anguish which wrung their hearts gave place to hope. And when at last +Guillaume appeared, followed by Pierre, a great cry of resurrection came +from one and all: "Father!" + +Their kisses, their tears, deprived him of his little remaining strength. +He was obliged to sit down. He had glanced round him as if he were +returning to life perforce. Mere-Grand, who understood what bitter +feelings must have followed the subjugation of his will, approached him +smiling, and took hold of both his hands as if to tell him that she was +well pleased at seeing him again, and at finding that he accepted his +task and was unwilling to desert the cause of life. For his part he +suffered dreadfully, the shock had been so great. The others spared him +any narrative of their feelings; and he, himself, related nothing. With a +gesture, a loving word, he simply indicated that it was Pierre who had +saved him. + +Thereupon, in a corner of the room, Marie flung her arms round the young +man's neck. "Ah! my good Pierre, I have never yet kissed you," said she; +"I want it to be for something serious the first time.... I love you, +my good Pierre, I love you with all my heart." + +Later that same evening, after night had fallen, Guillaume and Pierre +remained for a moment alone in the big workroom. The young men had gone +out, and Mere-Grand and Marie were upstairs sorting some house linen, +while Madame Mathis, who had brought some work back, sat patiently in a +dim corner waiting for another bundle of things which might require +mending. The brothers, steeped in the soft melancholy of the twilight +hour, and chatting in low tones, had quite forgotten her. + +But all at once the arrival of a visitor upset them. It was Janzen with +the fair, Christ-like face. He called very seldom nowadays; and one never +knew from what gloomy spot he had come or into what darkness he would +return when he took his departure. He disappeared, indeed, for months +together, and was then suddenly to be seen like some momentary passer-by +whose past and present life were alike unknown. + +"I am leaving to-night," he said in a voice sharp like a knife. + +"Are you going back to your home in Russia?" asked Guillaume. + +A faint, disdainful smile appeared on the Anarchist's lips. "Home!" said +he, "I am at home everywhere. To begin with, I am not a Russian, and then +I recognise no other country than the world." + +With a sweeping gesture he gave them to understand what manner of man he +was, one who had no fatherland of his own, but carried his gory dream of +fraternity hither and thither regardless of frontiers. From some words he +spoke the brothers fancied he was returning to Spain, where some +fellow-Anarchists awaited him. There was a deal of work to be done there, +it appeared. He had quietly seated himself, chatting on in his cold way, +when all at once he serenely added: "By the by, a bomb had just been +thrown into the Cafe de l'Univers on the Boulevard. Three _bourgeois_ +were killed." + +Pierre and Guillaume shuddered, and asked for particulars. Thereupon +Janzen related that he had happened to be there, had heard the explosion, +and seen the windows of the cafe shivered to atoms. Three customers were +lying on the floor blown to pieces. Two of them were gentlemen, who had +entered the place by chance and whose names were not known, while the +third was a regular customer, a petty cit of the neighbourhood, who came +every day to play a game at dominoes. And the whole place was wrecked; +the marble tables were broken, the chandeliers twisted out of shape, the +mirrors studded with projectiles. And how great the terror and the +indignation, and how frantic the rush of the crowd! The perpetrator of +the deed had been arrested immediately--in fact, just as he was turning +the corner of the Rue Caumartin. + +"I thought I would come and tell you of it," concluded Janzen; "it is +well you should know it." + +Then as Pierre, shuddering and already suspecting the truth, asked him if +he knew who the man was that had been arrested, he slowly replied: "The +worry is that you happen to know him--it was little Victor Mathis." + +Pierre tried to silence Janzen too late. He had suddenly remembered that +Victor's mother had been sitting in a dark corner behind them a short +time previously. Was she still there? Then he again pictured Victor, +slight and almost beardless, with a straight, stubborn brow, grey eyes +glittering with intelligence, a pointed nose and thin lips expressive of +stern will and unforgiving hatred. He was no simple and lowly one from +the ranks of the disinherited. He was an educated scion of the +_bourgeoisie_, and but for circumstances would have entered the Ecole +Normale. There was no excuse for his abominable deed, there was no +political passion, no humanitarian insanity, in it. He was the destroyer +pure and simple, the theoretician of destruction, the cold energetic man +of intellect who gave his cultivated mind to arguing the cause of murder, +in his desire to make murder an instrument of the social evolution. True, +he was also a poet, a visionary, but the most frightful of all +visionaries: a monster whose nature could only be explained by mad pride, +and who craved for the most awful immortality, dreaming that the coming +dawn would rise from the arms of the guillotine. Only one thing could +surpass him: the scythe of death which blindly mows the world. + +For a few seconds, amidst the growing darkness, cold horror reigned in +the workroom. "Ah!" muttered Guillaume, "he had the daring to do it, he +had." + +Pierre, however, lovingly pressed his arm. And he felt that he was as +distracted, as upset, as himself. Perhaps this last abomination had been +needed to ravage and cure him. + +Janzen no doubt had been an accomplice in the deed. He was relating that +Victor's purpose had been to avenge Salvat, when all at once a great sigh +of pain was heard in the darkness, followed by a heavy thud upon the +floor. It was Madame Mathis falling like a bundle, overwhelmed by the +news which chance had brought her. At that moment it so happened that +Mere-Grand came down with a lamp, which lighted up the room, and +thereupon they hurried to the help of the wretched woman, who lay there +as pale as a corpse in her flimsy black gown. + +And this again brought Pierre an indescribable heart-pang. Ah! the poor, +sad, suffering creature! He remembered her at Abbe Rose's, so discreet, +so shamefaced, in her poverty, scarce able to live upon the slender +resources which persistent misfortunes had left her. Hers had indeed been +a cruel lot: first, a home with wealthy parents in the provinces, a love +story and elopement with the man of her choice; next, ill-luck steadily +pursuing her, all sorts of home troubles, and at last her husband's +death. Then, in the retirement of her widowhood, after losing the best +part of the little income which had enabled her to bring up her son, +naught but this son had been left to her. He had been her Victor, her +sole affection, the only one in whom she had faith. She had ever striven +to believe that he was very busy, absorbed in work, and on the eve of +attaining to some superb position worthy of his merits. And now, all at +once, she had learnt that this fondly loved son was simply the most +odious of assassins, that he had flung a bomb into a cafe, and had there +killed three men. + +When Madame Mathis had recovered her senses, thanks to the careful +tending of Mere-Grand, she sobbed on without cessation, raising such a +continuous doleful wail, that Pierre's hand again sought Guillaume's, and +grasped it, whilst their hearts, distracted but healed, mingled lovingly +one with the other. + + + + +V. LIFE'S WORK AND PROMISE + +FIFTEEN months later, one fine golden day in September, Bache and +Theophile Morin were taking _dejeuner_ at Guillaume's, in the big +workroom overlooking the immensity of Paris. + +Near the table was a cradle with its little curtains drawn. Behind them +slept Jean, a fine boy four months old, the son of Pierre and Marie. The +latter, simply in order to protect the child's social rights, had been +married civilly at the town-hall of Montmartre. Then, by way of pleasing +Guillaume, who wished to keep them with him, and thus enlarge the family +circle, they had continued living in the little lodging over the +work-shop, leaving the sleepy house at Neuilly in the charge of Sophie, +Pierre's old servant. And life had been flowing on happily for the +fourteen months or so that they had now belonged to one another. + +There was simply peace, affection and work around the young couple. +Francois, who had left the Ecole Normale provided with every degree, +every diploma, was now about to start for a college in the west of +France, so as to serve his term of probation as a professor, intending to +resign his post afterwards and devote himself, if he pleased, to science +pure and simple. Then Antoine had lately achieved great success with a +series of engravings he had executed--some views and scenes of Paris +life; and it was settled that he was to marry Lise Jahan in the ensuing +spring, when she would have completed her seventeenth year. Of the three +sons, however, Thomas was the most triumphant, for he had at last devised +and constructed his little motor, thanks to a happy idea of his father's. +One morning, after the downfall of all his huge chimerical schemes, +Guillaume, remembering the terrible explosive which he had discovered and +hitherto failed to utilise, had suddenly thought of employing it as a +motive force, in the place of petroleum, in the motor which his eldest +son had so long been trying to construct for the Grandidier works. So he +had set to work with Thomas, devising a new mechanism, encountering +endless difficulties, and labouring for a whole year before reaching +success. But now the father and son had accomplished their task; the +marvel was created, and stood there riveted to an oak stand, and ready to +work as soon as its final toilet should have been performed. + +Amidst all the changes which had occurred, Mere-Grand, in spite of her +great age, continued exercising her active, silent sway over the +household, which was now again so gay and peaceful. Though she seldom +seemed to leave her chair in front of her work-table, she was really +here, there and everywhere. Since the birth of Jean, she had talked of +rearing the child in the same way as she had formerly reared Thomas, +Francois and Antoine. She was indeed full of the bravery of devotion, and +seemed to think that she was not at all likely to die so long as she +might have others to guide, love and save. Marie marvelled at it all. She +herself, though she was always gay and in good health, felt tired at +times now that she was suckling her infant. Little Jean indeed had two +vigilant mothers near his cradle; whilst his father, Pierre, who had +become Thomas's assistant, pulled the bellows, roughened out pieces of +metal, and generally completed his apprenticeship as a working +mechanician. + +On the particular day when Bache and Theophile Morin came to Montmartre, +the _dejeuner_ proved even gayer than usual, thanks perhaps to their +presence. The meal was over, the table had been cleared, and the coffee +was being served, when a little boy, the son of a doorkeeper in the Rue +Cortot, came to ask for Monsieur Pierre Froment. When they inquired his +business, he answered in a hesitating way that Monsieur l'Abbe Rose was +very ill, indeed dying, and that he had sent him to fetch Monsieur Pierre +Froment at once. + +Pierre followed the lad, feeling much affected; and on reaching the Rue +Cortot he there found Abbe Rose in a little damp ground-floor room +overlooking a strip of garden. The old priest was in bed, dying as the +boy had said, but he still retained the use of his faculties, and could +speak in his wonted slow and gentle voice. A Sister of Charity was +watching beside him, and she seemed so surprised and anxious at the +arrival of a visitor whom she did not know, that Pierre understood she +was there to guard the dying man and prevent him from having intercourse +with others. The old priest must have employed some stratagem in order to +send the doorkeeper's boy to fetch him. However, when Abbe Rose in his +grave and kindly way begged the Sister to leave them alone for a moment, +she dared not refuse this supreme request, but immediately left the room. + +"Ah! my dear child," said the old man, "how much I wanted to speak to +you! Sit down there, close to the bed, so that you may be able to hear +me, for this is the end; I shall no longer be here to-night. And I have +such a great service to ask of you." + +Quite upset at finding his friend so wasted, with his face white like a +sheet, and scarce a sign of life save the sparkle of his innocent, loving +eyes, Pierre responded: "But I would have come sooner if I had known you +were in need of me! Why did you not send for me before? Are people being +kept away from you?" + +A faint smile of shame and confession appeared on the old priest's +embarrassed face. "Well, my dear child," said he, "you must know that I +have again done some foolish things. Yes, I gave money to some people +who, it seems, were not deserving of it. In fact, there was quite a +scandal; they scolded me at the Archbishop's palace, and accused me of +compromising the interests of religion. And when they heard that I was +ill, they put that good Sister beside me, because they said that I should +die on the floor, and give the very sheets off my bed if I were not +prevented." + +He paused to draw breath, and then continued: "So you understand, that +good Sister--oh! she is a very saintly woman--is here to nurse me and +prevent me from still doing foolish things. To overcome her vigilance I +had to use a little deceit, for which God, I trust, will forgive me. As +it happens, it's precisely my poor who are in question; it was to speak +to you about them that I so particularly wished to see you." + +Tears had come to Pierre's eyes. "Tell me what you want me to do," he +answered; "I am yours, both heart and soul." + +"Yes, yes, I know it, my dear child. It was for that reason that I +thought of you--you alone. In spite of all that has happened, you are the +only one in whom I have any confidence, who can understand me, and give +me a promise which will enable me to die in peace." + +This was the only allusion he would venture to make to the cruel rupture +which had occurred after the young man had thrown off his cassock and +rebelled against the Church. He had since heard of Pierre's marriage, and +was aware that he had for ever severed all religious ties. But at that +supreme moment nothing of this seemed of any account to the old priest. +His knowledge of Pierre's loving heart sufficed him, for all that he now +desired was simply the help of that heart which he had seen glowing with +such passionate charity. + +"Well," he resumed, again finding sufficient strength to smile, "it is a +very simple matter. I want to make you my heir. Oh! it isn't a fine +legacy I am leaving you; it is the legacy of my poor, for I have nothing +else to bestow on you; I shall leave nothing behind me but my poor." + +Of these unhappy creatures, three in particular quite upset his heart. He +recoiled from the prospect of leaving them without chance of succour, +without even the crumbs which he had hitherto distributed among them, and +which had enabled them to live. One was the big Old'un, the aged +carpenter whom he and Pierre had vainly sought one night with the object +of sending him to the Asylum for the Invalids of Labour. He had been sent +there a little later, but he had fled three days afterwards, unwilling as +he was to submit to the regulations. Wild and violent, he had the most +detestable disposition. Nevertheless, he could not be left to starve. He +came to Abbe Rose's every Saturday, it seemed, and received a franc, +which sufficed him for the whole week. Then, too, there was a bedridden +old woman in a hovel in the Rue du Mont-Cenis. The baker, who every +morning took her the bread she needed, must be paid. And in particular +there was a poor young woman residing on the Place du Tertre, one who was +unmarried but a mother. She was dying of consumption, unable to work, and +tortured by the idea that when she should have gone, her daughter must +sink to the pavement like herself. And in this instance the legacy was +twofold: there was the mother to relieve until her death, which was near +at hand, and then the daughter to provide for until she could be placed +in some good household. + +"You must forgive me, my dear child, for leaving you all these worries," +added Abbe Rose. "I tried to get the good Sister, who is nursing me, to +take an interest in these poor people, but when I spoke to her of the big +Old'un, she was so alarmed that she made the sign of the cross. And it's +the same with my worthy friend Abbe Tavernier. I know nobody of more +upright mind. Still I shouldn't be at ease with him, he has ideas of his +own.... And so, my dear child, there is only you whom I can rely upon, +and you must accept my legacy if you wish me to depart in peace." + +Pierre was weeping. "Ah! certainly, with my whole soul," he answered. "I +shall regard your desires as sacred." + +"Good! I knew you would accept.... So it is agreed: a franc for the +big Old'un every Saturday, the bread for the bedridden woman, some help +for the poor young mother, and then a home for her little girl. Ah! if +you only knew what a weight it is off my heart! The end may come now, it +will be welcome to me." + +His kind white face had brightened as if with supreme joy. Holding +Pierre's hand within his own he detained him beside the bed, exchanging a +farewell full of serene affection. And his voice weakening, he expressed +his whole mind in faint, impressive accents: "Yes, I shall be pleased to +go off. I could do no more, I could do no more! Though I gave and gave, I +felt that it was ever necessary to give more and more. And how sad to +find charity powerless, to give without hope of ever being able to stamp +out want and suffering! I rebelled against that idea of yours, as you +will remember. I told you that we should always love one another in our +poor, and that was true, since you are here, so good and affectionate to +me and those whom I am leaving behind. But, all the same, I can do no +more, I can do no more; and I would rather go off, since the woes of +others rise higher and higher around me, and I have ended by doing the +most foolish things, scandalising the faithful and making my superiors +indignant with me, without even saving one single poor person from the +ever-growing torrent of want. Farewell, my dear child. My poor old heart +goes off aching, my old hands are weary and conquered." + +Pierre embraced him with his whole soul, and then departed. His eyes were +full of tears and indescribable emotion wrung his heart. Never had he +heard a more woeful cry than that confession of the impotence of charity, +on the part of that old candid child, whose heart was all simplicity and +sublime benevolence. Ah! what a disaster, that human kindness should be +futile, that the world should always display so much distress and +suffering in spite of all the compassionate tears that had been shed, in +spite of all the alms that had fallen from millions and millions of hands +for centuries and centuries! No wonder that it should bring desire for +death, no wonder that a Christian should feel pleased at escaping from +the abominations of this earth! + +When Pierre again reached the workroom he found that the table had long +since been cleared, and that Bache and Morin were chatting with +Guillaume, whilst the latter's sons had returned to their customary +occupations. Marie, also, had resumed her usual place at the work-table +in front of Mere-Grand; but from time to time she rose and went to look +at Jean, so as to make sure that he was sleeping peacefully, with his +little clenched fists pressed to his heart. And when Pierre, who kept his +emotion to himself, had likewise leant over the cradle beside the young +woman, whose hair he discreetly kissed, he went to put on an apron in +order that he might assist Thomas, who was now, for the last time, +regulating his motor. + +Then, as Pierre stood there awaiting an opportunity to help, the room +vanished from before his eyes; he ceased to see or hear the persons who +were there. The scent of Marie's hair alone lingered on his lips amidst +the acute emotion into which he had been thrown by his visit to Abbe +Rose. A recollection had come to him, that of the bitterly cold morning +when the old priest had stopped him outside the basilica of the Sacred +Heart, and had timidly asked him to take some alms to that old man +Laveuve, who soon afterwards had died of want, like a dog by the wayside. +How sad a morning it had been; what battle and torture had Pierre not +felt within him, and what a resurrection had come afterwards! He had that +day said one of his last masses, and he recalled with a shudder his +abominable anguish, his despairing doubts at the thought of nothingness. +Two experiments which he had previously made had failed most miserably. +First had come one at Lourdes, where the glorification of the absurd had +simply filled him with pity for any such attempt to revert to the +primitive faith of young nations, who bend beneath the terror born of +ignorance; and, secondly, there had been an experiment at Rome, which he +had found incapable of any renewal, and which he had seen staggering to +its death amidst its ruins, a mere great shadow, which would soon be of +no account, fast sinking, as it was, to the dust of dead religions. And, +in his own mind, Charity itself had become bankrupt; he no longer +believed that alms could cure the sufferings of mankind, he awaited +naught but a frightful catastrophe, fire and massacre, which would sweep +away the guilty, condemned world. His cassock, too, stifled him, a lie +alone kept it on his shoulders, the idea, unbelieving priest though he +was, that he could honestly and chastely watch over the belief of others. +The problem of a new religion, a new hope, such as was needful to ensure +the peace of the coming democracies tortured him, but between the +certainties of science and the need of the Divine, which seemed to +consume humanity, he could find no solution. If Christianity crumbled +with the principle of Charity, there could remain nothing else but +Justice, that cry which came from every breast, that battle of Justice +against Charity in which his heart must contend in that great city of +Paris. It was there that began his third and decisive experiment, the +experiment which was to make truth as plain to him as the sun itself, and +give him back health and strength and delight in life. + +At this point of his reverie Pierre was roused by Thomas, who asked him +to fetch a tool. As he did so he heard Bache remarking: "The ministry +resigned this morning. Vignon has had enough of it, he wants to reserve +his remaining strength." + +"Well, he has lasted more than a twelvemonth," replied Morin. "That's +already an achievement." + +After the crime of Victor Mathis, who had been tried and executed within +three weeks, Monferrand had suddenly fallen from power. What was the use +of having a strong-handed man at the head of the Government if bombs +still continued to terrify the country? Moreover, he had displeased the +Chamber by his voracious appetite, which had prevented him from allowing +others more than an infinitesimal share of all the good things. And this +time he had been succeeded by Vignon, although the latter's programme of +reforms had long made people tremble. He, Vignon, was honest certainly, +but of all these reforms he had only been able to carry out a few +insignificant ones, for he had found himself hampered by a thousand +obstacles. And thus he had resigned himself to ruling the country as +others had done; and people had discovered that after all there were but +faint shades of difference between him and Monferrand. + +"You know that Monferrand is being spoken of again?" said Guillaume. + +"Yes, and he has some chance of success. His creatures are bestirring +themselves tremendously," replied Bache, adding, in a bitter, jesting +way, that Mege, the Collectivist leader, played the part of a dupe in +overthrowing ministry after ministry. He simply gratified the ambition of +each coterie in turn, without any possible chance of attaining to power +himself. + +Thereupon Guillaume pronounced judgment. "Oh! well, let them devour one +another," said he. "Eager as they all are to reign and dispose of power +and wealth, they only fight over questions of persons. And nothing they +do can prevent the evolution from continuing. Ideas expand, and events +occur, and, over and above everything else, mankind is marching on." + +Pierre was greatly struck by these words, and he again recalled the past. +His dolorous Parisian experiment had begun, and he was once more roaming +through the city. Paris seemed to him to be a huge vat, in which a world +fermented, something of the best and something of the worst, a frightful +mixture such as sorceresses might have used; precious powders mingled +with filth, from all of which was to come the philter of love and eternal +youth. And in that vat Pierre first marked the scum of the political +world: Monferrand who strangled Barroux, who purchased the support of +hungry ones such as Fonsegue, Duthil and Chaigneux, who made use of those +who attained to mediocrity, such as Taboureau and Dauvergne; and who +employed even the sectarian passions of Mege and the intelligent ambition +of Vignon as his weapons. Next came money the poisoner, with that affair +of the African Railways, which had rotted the Parliament and turned +Duvillard, the triumphant _bourgeois_, into a public perverter, the very +cancer as it were of the financial world. Then as a just consequence of +all this there was Duvillard's own home infected by himself, that +frightful drama of Eve contending with her daughter Camille for the +possession of Gerard, then Camille stealing him from her mother, and +Hyacinthe, the son, passing his crazy mistress Rosemonde on to that +notorious harlot Silviane, with whom his father publicly exhibited +himself. Then there was the old expiring aristocracy, with the pale, sad +faces of Madame de Quinsac and the Marquis de Morigny; the old military +spirit whose funeral was conducted by General de Bozonnet; the magistracy +which slavishly served the powers of the day, Amadieu thrusting himself +into notoriety by means of sensational cases, Lehmann, the public +prosecutor, preparing his speeches in the private room of the Minister +whose policy he defended; and, finally, the mendacious and cupid Press +which lived upon scandal, the everlasting flood of denunciation and filth +which poured from Sagnier, and the gay impudence shown by the +unscrupulous and conscienceless Massot, who attacked all and defended +all, by profession and to order! And in the same way as insects, on +discovering one of their own kind dying, will often finish it off and +fatten upon it, so the whole swarm of appetites, interests and passions +had fallen upon a wretched madman, that unhappy Salvat, whose idiotic +crime had brought them all scrambling together, gluttonously eager to +derive some benefit from that starveling's emaciated carcass. And all +boiled in the huge vat of Paris; the desires, the deeds of violence, the +strivings of one and another man's will, the whole nameless medley of the +bitterest ferments, whence, in all purity, the wine of the future would +at last flow. + +Then Pierre became conscious of the prodigious work which went on in the +depths of the vat, beneath all the impurity and waste. As his brother had +just said, what mattered the stains, the egotism and greed of +politicians, if humanity were still on the march, ever slowly and +stubbornly stepping forward! What mattered, too, that corrupt and +emasculate _bourgeoisie_, nowadays as moribund as the aristocracy, whose +place it took, if behind it there ever came the inexhaustible reserve of +men who surged up from the masses of the country-sides and the towns! +What mattered the debauchery, the perversion arising from excess of +wealth and power, the luxuriousness and dissoluteness of life, since it +seemed a proven fact that the capitals that had been queens of the world +had never reigned without extreme civilisation, a cult of beauty and of +pleasure! And what mattered even the venality, the transgressions and the +folly of the press, if at the same time it remained an admirable +instrument for the diffusion of knowledge, the open conscience, so to +say, of the nation, a river which, though there might be horrors on its +surface, none the less flowed on, carrying all nations to the brotherly +ocean of the future centuries! The human lees ended by sinking to the +bottom of the vat, and it was not possible to expect that what was right +would triumph visibly every day; for it was often necessary that years +should elapse before the realisation of some hope could emerge from the +fermentation. Eternal matter is ever being cast afresh into the crucible +and ever coming from it improved. And if in the depths of pestilential +workshops and factories the slavery of ancient times subsists in the +wage-earning system, if such men as Toussaint still die of want on their +pallets like broken-down beasts of burden, it is nevertheless a fact that +once already, on a memorable day of tempest, Liberty sprang forth from +the vat to wing her flight throughout the world. And why in her turn +should not Justice spring from it, proceeding from those troubled +elements, freeing herself from all dross, flowing forth with dazzling +limpidity and regenerating the nations? + +However, the voices of Bache and Morin, rising in the course of their +chat with Guillaume, once more drew Pierre from his reverie. They were +now speaking of Janzen, who after being compromised in a fresh outrage at +Barcelona had fled from Spain. Bache fancied that he had recognised him +in the street only the previous day. To think that a man with so clear a +mind and such keen energy should waste his natural gifts in such a +hateful cause! + +"When I remember," said Morin slowly, "that Barthes lives in exile in a +shabby little room at Brussels, ever quivering with the hope that the +reign of liberty is at hand--he who has never had a drop of blood on his +hands and who has spent two-thirds of his life in prison in order that +the nations may be freed!" + +Bache gently shrugged his shoulders: "Liberty, liberty, of course," said +he; "only it is worth nothing if it is not organised." + +Thereupon their everlasting discussion began afresh, with Saint-Simon and +Fourier on one side and Proudhon and Auguste Comte on the other. Bache +gave a long account of the last commemoration which had taken place in +honour of Fourier's memory, how faithful disciples had brought wreaths +and made speeches, forming quite a meeting of apostles, who all +stubbornly clung to their faith, as confident in the future as if they +were the messengers of some new gospel. Afterwards Morin emptied his +pockets, which were always full of Positivist tracts and pamphlets, +manifestos, answers and so forth, in which Comte's doctrines were +extolled as furnishing the only possible basis for the new, awaited +religion. Pierre, who listened, thereupon remembered the disputes in his +little house at Neuilly when he himself, searching for certainty, had +endeavoured to draw up the century's balance-sheet. He had lost his +depth, in the end, amidst the contradictions and incoherency of the +various precursors. 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 inacceptable 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 at first seemed obscured and disfigured beyond recognition. Now, +however, that evolution had slowly transformed Pierre, those common +truths seemed to him as irrefutable, as clear as the sunlight itself. +Amidst the chaos of conflicting assertions which was to be found in the +gospels of those social messiahs, there were certain similar phrases and +principles which recurred again and again, the defence of the poor, the +idea of a new and just division of the riches of the world in accordance +with individual labour and merit, and particularly the search for a new +law of labour which would enable this fresh distribution to be made +equitably. Since all the precursory men of genius agreed so closely upon +those points, must they not be the very foundations of to-morrow's new +religion, the necessary faith which this century must bequeath to the +coming century, in order that the latter may make of it a human religion +of peace, solidarity and love? + +Then, all at once, there came a leap in Pierre's thoughts. He fancied +himself at the Madeleine once more, listening to the address on the New +Spirit delivered by Monseigneur Martha, who had predicted that Paris, now +reconverted to Christianity, would, thanks to the Sacred Heart, become +the ruler of the world. But no, but no! If Paris reigned, it was because +it was able to exercise its intelligence freely. To set the cross and the +mystic and repulsive symbolism of a bleeding heart above it was simply so +much falsehood. Although they might rear edifices of pride and domination +as if to crush Paris with their very weight, although they might try to +stop science in the name of a dead ideal and in the hope of setting their +clutches upon the coming century, these attempts would be of no avail. +Science will end by sweeping away all remnants of their ancient +sovereignty, their basilica will crumble beneath the breeze of Truth +without any necessity of raising a finger against it. The trial has been +made, the Gospel as a social code has fallen to pieces, and human wisdom +can only retain account of its moral maxims. Ancient Catholicism is on +all sides crumbling into dust, Catholic Rome is a mere field of ruins +from which the nations turn aside, anxious as they are for a religion +that shall not be a religion of death. In olden times the overburdened +slave, glowing with a new hope and seeking to escape from his gaol, +dreamt of a heaven where in return for his earthly misery he would be +rewarded with eternal enjoyment. But now that science has destroyed that +false idea of a heaven, and shown what dupery lies in reliance on the +morrow of death, the slave, the workman, weary of dying for happiness' +sake, demands that justice and happiness shall find place upon this +earth. Therein lies the new hope--Justice, after eighteen hundred years +of impotent Charity. Ah! in a thousand years from now, when Catholicism +will be naught but a very ancient superstition of the past, how amazed +men will be to think that their ancestors were able to endure that +religion of torture and nihility! How astonished they will feel on +finding that God was regarded as an executioner, that manhood was +threatened, maimed and chastised, that nature was accounted an enemy, +that life was looked upon as something accursed, and that death alone was +pronounced sweet and liberating! For well-nigh two thousand years the +onward march of mankind has been hampered by the odious idea of tearing +all that is human away from man: his desires, his passions, his free +intelligence, his will and right of action, his whole strength. And how +glorious will be the awakening when such virginity as is now honoured by +the Church is held in derision, when fruitfulness is again recognised as +a virtue, amidst the hosanna of all the freed forces of nature--man's +desires which will be honoured, his passions which will be utilised, his +labour which will be exalted, whilst life is loved and ever and ever +creates love afresh! + +A new religion! a new religion! Pierre remembered the cry which had +escaped him at Lourdes, and which he had repeated at Rome in presence of +the collapse of old Catholicism. But he no longer displayed the same +feverish eagerness as then--a puerile, sickly desire that a new Divinity +should at once reveal himself, an ideal come into being, complete in all +respects, with dogmas and form of worship. The Divine certainly seemed to +be as necessary to man as were bread and water; he had ever fallen back +upon it, hungering for the mysterious, seemingly having no other means of +consolation than that of annihilating himself in the unknown. But who can +say that science will not some day quench the thirst for what lies beyond +us? If the domain of science embraces the acquired truths, it also +embraces, and will ever do so, the truths that remain to be acquired. And +in front of it will there not ever remain a margin for the thirst of +knowledge, for the hypotheses which are but so much ideality? Besides, is +not the yearning for the divine simply a desire to behold the Divinity? +And if science should more and more content the yearning to know all and +be able to do all, will not that yearning be quieted and end by mingling +with the love of acquired truth? A religion grafted on science is the +indicated, certain, inevitable finish of man's long march towards +knowledge. He will come to it at last as to a natural haven, as to peace +in the midst of certainty, after passing every form of ignorance and +terror on his road. And is there not already some indication of such a +religion? Has not the idea of the duality of God and the Universe been +brushed aside, and is not the principle of unity, _monisme_, becoming +more and more evident--unity leading to solidarity, and the sole law of +life proceeding by evolution from the first point of the ether that +condensed to create the world? But if precursors, scientists and +philosophers--Darwin, Fourier and all the others--have sown the seed of +to-morrow's religion by casting the good word to the passing breeze, how +many centuries will doubtless be required to raise the crop! People +always forget that before Catholicism grew up and reigned in the +sunlight, it spent four centuries in germinating and sprouting from the +soil. Well, then, grant some centuries to this religion of science of +whose sprouting there are signs upon all sides, and by-and-by the +admirable ideas of some Fourier will be seen expanding and forming a new +gospel, with desire serving as the lever to raise the world, work +accepted by one and all, honoured and regulated as the very mechanism of +natural and social life, and the passions of man excited, contented and +utilised for human happiness! The universal cry of Justice, which rises +louder and louder, in a growing clamour from the once silent multitude, +the people that have so long been duped and preyed upon, is but a cry for +this happiness towards which human beings are tending, the happiness that +embodies the complete satisfaction of man's needs, and the principle of +life loved for its own sake, in the midst of peace and the expansion of +every force and every joy. The time will come when this Kingdom of God +will be set upon the earth; so why not close that other deceptive +paradise, even if the weak-minded must momentarily suffer from the +destruction of their illusions; for it is necessary to operate even with +cruelty on the blind if they are to be extricated from their misery, from +their long and frightful night of ignorance! + +All at once a feeling of deep joy came over Pierre. A child's faint cry, +the wakening cry of his son Jean had drawn him from his reverie. And he +had suddenly remembered that he himself was now saved, freed from +falsehood and fright, restored to good and healthy nature. How he +quivered as he recalled that he had once fancied himself lost, blotted +out of life, and that a prodigy of love had extricated him from his +nothingness, still strong and sound, since that dear child of his was +there, sturdy and smiling. Life had brought forth life; and truth had +burst forth, as dazzling as the sun. He had made his third experiment +with Paris, and this had been conclusive; it had been no wretched +miscarriage with increase of darkness and grief, like his other +experiments at Lourdes and Rome. In the first place, the law of labour +had been revealed to him, and he had imposed upon himself a task, as +humble a one as it was, that manual calling which he was learning so late +in life, but which was, nevertheless, a form of labour, and one in which +he would never fail, one too that would lend him the serenity which comes +from the accomplishment of duty, for life itself was but labour: it was +only by effort that the world existed. And then, moreover, he had loved; +and salvation had come to him from woman and from his child. Ah! what a +long and circuitous journey he had made to reach this finish at once so +natural and so simple! How he had suffered, how much error and anger he +had known before doing what all men ought to do! That eager, glowing love +which had contended against his reason, which had bled at sight of the +arrant absurdities of the miraculous grotto of Lourdes, which had bled +again too in presence of the haughty decline of the Vatican, had at last +found contentment now that he was husband and father, now that he had +confidence in work and believed in the just laws of life. And thence had +come the indisputable truth, the one solution--happiness in certainty. + +Whilst Pierre was thus plunged in thought, Bache and Morin had already +gone off with their customary handshakes and promises to come and chat +again some evening. And as Jean was now crying more loudly, Marie took +him in her arms and unhooked her dress-body to give him her breast. + +"Oh! the darling, it's his time, you know, and he doesn't forget it!" she +said. "Just look, Pierre, I believe he has got bigger since yesterday." + +She laughed; and Pierre, likewise laughing, drew near to kiss the child. +And afterwards he kissed his wife, mastered as he was by emotion at the +sight of that pink, gluttonous little creature imbibing life from that +lovely breast so full of milk. + +"Why! he'll eat you," he gaily said to Marie. "How he's pulling!" + +"Oh! he does bite me a little," she replied; "but I like that the better, +it shows that he profits by it." + +Then Mere-Grand, she who as a rule was so serious and silent, began to +talk with a smile lighting up her face: "I weighed him this morning," +said she, "he weighs nearly a quarter of a pound more than he did the +last time. And if you had only seen how good he was, the darling! He will +be a very intelligent and well-behaved little gentleman, such as I like. +When he's five years old, I shall teach him his alphabet, and when he's +fifteen, if he likes, I'll tell him how to be a man.... Don't you +agree with me, Thomas? And you, Antoine, and you, too, Francois?" + +Raising their heads, the three sons gaily nodded their approval, grateful +as they felt for the lessons in heroism which she had given them, and +apparently finding no reason why she might not live another twenty years +in order to give similar lessons to Jean. + +Pierre still remained in front of Marie, basking in all the rapture of +love, when he felt Guillaume lay his hands upon his shoulders from +behind. And on turning round he saw that his brother was also radiant, +like one who felt well pleased at seeing them so happy. "Ah! brother," +said Guillaume softly, "do you remember my telling you that you suffered +solely from the battle between your mind and your heart, and that you +would find quietude again when you loved what you could understand? It +was necessary that our father and mother, whose painful quarrel had +continued beyond the grave, should be reconciled in you. And now it's +done, they sleep in peace within you, since you yourself are pacified." + +These words filled Pierre with emotion. Joy beamed upon his face, which +was now so open and energetic. He still had the towering brow, that +impregnable fortress of reason, which he had derived from his father, and +he still had the gentle chin and affectionate eyes and mouth which his +mother had given him, but all was now blended together, instinct with +happy harmony and serene strength. Those two experiments of his which had +miscarried, were like crises of his maternal heredity, the tearful +tenderness which had come to him from his mother, and which for lack of +satisfaction had made him desperate; and his third experiment had only +ended in happiness because he had contented his ardent thirst for love in +accordance with sovereign reason, that paternal heredity which pleaded so +loudly within him. Reason remained the queen. And if his sufferings had +thus always come from the warfare which his reason had waged against his +heart, it was because he was man personified, ever struggling between his +intelligence and his passions. And how peaceful all seemed, now that he +had reconciled and satisfied them both, now that he felt healthy, perfect +and strong, like some lofty oak, which grows in all freedom, and whose +branches spread far away over the forest. + +"You have done good work in that respect," Guillaume affectionately +continued, "for yourself and for all of us, and even for our dear parents +whose shades, pacified and reconciled, now abide so peacefully in the +little home of our childhood. I often think of our dear house at Neuilly, +which old Sophie is taking care of for us; and although, out of egotism, +a desire to set happiness around me, I wished to keep you here, your Jean +must some day go and live there, so as to bring it fresh youth." + +Pierre had taken hold of his brother's hands, and looking into his eyes +he asked: "And you--are you happy?" + +"Yes, very happy, happier than I have ever been; happy at loving you as I +do, and happy at being loved by you as no one else will ever love me." + +Their hearts mingled in ardent brotherly affection, the most perfect and +heroic affection that can blend men together. And they embraced one +another whilst, with her babe on her breast, Marie, so gay, healthful and +loyal, looked at them and smiled, with big tears gathering in her eyes. + +Thomas, however, having finished his motor's last toilet, had just set it +in motion. It was a prodigy of lightness and strength, of no weight +whatever in comparison with the power it displayed. And it worked with +perfect smoothness, without noise or smell. The whole family was gathered +round it in delight, when there came a timely visit, one from the learned +and friendly Bertheroy, whom indeed Guillaume had asked to call, in order +that he might see the motor working. + +The great chemist at once expressed his admiration; and when he had +examined the mechanism and understood how the explosive was employed as +motive power--an idea which he had long recommended,--he tendered +enthusiastic congratulations to Guillaume and Thomas. "You have created a +little marvel," said he, "one which may have far-reaching effects both +socially and humanly. Yes, yes, pending the invention of the electrical +motor which we have not yet arrived at, here is an ideal one, a system of +mechanical traction for all sorts of vehicles. Even aerial navigation may +now become a possibility, and the problem of force at home is finally +solved. And what a grand step! What sudden progress! Distance again +diminished, all roads thrown open, and men able to fraternise! This is a +great boon, a splendid gift, my good friends, that you are bestowing on +the world." + +Then he began to jest about the new explosive, whose prodigious power he +had divined, and which he now found put to such a beneficent purpose. +"And to think, Guillaume," he said, "that I fancied you acted with so +much mysteriousness and hid the formula of your powder from me because +you had an idea of blowing up Paris!" + +At this Guillaume became grave and somewhat pale. And he confessed the +truth. "Well, I did for a moment think of it." + +However, Bertheroy went on laughing, as if he regarded this answer as +mere repartee, though truth to tell he had felt a slight chill sweep +through his hair. "Well, my friend," he said, "you have done far better +in offering the world this marvel, which by the way must have been both a +difficult and dangerous matter. So here is a powder which was intended to +exterminate people, and which in lieu thereof will now increase their +comfort and welfare. In the long run things always end well, as I'm quite +tired of saying." + +On beholding such lofty and tolerant good nature, Guillaume felt moved. +Bertheroy's words were true. What had been intended for purposes of +destruction served the cause of progress; the subjugated, domesticated +volcano became labour, peace and civilisation. Guillaume had even +relinquished all idea of his engine of battle and victory; he had found +sufficient satisfaction in this last invention of his, which would +relieve men of some measure of weariness, and help to reduce their labour +to just so much effort as there must always be. In this he detected some +little advance towards Justice; at all events it was all that he himself +could contribute to the cause. And when on turning towards the window he +caught sight of the basilica of the Sacred Heart, he could not explain +what insanity had at one moment cone over him, and set him dreaming of +idiotic and useless destruction. Some miasmal gust must have swept by, +something born of want that scattered germs of anger and vengeance. But +how blind it was to think that destruction and murder could ever bear +good fruit, ever sow the soil with plenty and happiness! Violence cannot +last, and all it does is to rouse man's feeling of solidarity even among +those on whose behalf one kills. The people, the great multitude, rebel +against the isolated individual who seeks to wreak justice. No one man +can take upon himself the part of the volcano; this is the whole +terrestrial crust, the whole multitude which internal fire impels to rise +and throw up either an Alpine chain or a better and freer society. And +whatever heroism there may be in their madness, however great and +contagious may be their thirst for martyrdom, murderers are never +anything but murderers, whose deeds simply sow the seeds of horror. And +if on the one hand Victor Mathis had avenged Salvat, he had also slain +him, so universal had been the cry of reprobation roused by the second +crime, which was yet more monstrous and more useless than the first. + +Guillaume, laughing in his turn, replied to Bertheroy in words which +showed how completely he was cured: "You are right," he said, "all ends +well since all contributes to truth and justice. Unfortunately, thousands +of years are sometimes needed for any progress to be accomplished.... +However, for my part, I am simply going to put my new explosive on the +market, so that those who secure the necessary authorisation may +manufacture it and grow rich. Henceforth it belongs to one and all.... +And I've renounced all idea of revolutionising the world." + +But Bertheroy protested. This great official scientist, this member of +the Institute laden with offices and honours, pointed to the little +motor, and replied with all the vigour of his seventy years: "But that is +revolution, the true, the only revolution. It is with things like that +and not with stupid bombs that one revolutionises the world! It is not by +destroying, but by creating, that you have just done the work of a +revolutionist. And how many times already have I not told you that +science alone is the world's revolutionary force, the only force which, +far above all paltry political incidents, the vain agitation of despots, +priests, sectarians and ambitious people of all kinds, works for the +benefit of those who will come after us, and prepares the triumph of +truth, justice and peace.... Ah, my dear child, if you wish to +overturn the world by striving to set a little more happiness in it, you +have only to remain in your laboratory here, for human happiness can +spring only from the furnace of the scientist." + +He spoke perhaps in a somewhat jesting way, but one could feel that he +was convinced of it all, that he held everything excepting science in +utter contempt. He had not even shown any surprise when Pierre had cast +his cassock aside; and on finding him there with his wife and child he +had not scrupled to show him as much affection as in the past. + +Meantime, however, the motor was travelling hither and thither, making no +more noise than a bluebottle buzzing in the sunshine. The whole happy +family was gathered about it, still laughing with delight at such a +victorious achievement. And all at once little Jean, Monsieur Jean, +having finished sucking, turned round, displaying his milk-smeared lips, +and perceived the machine, the pretty plaything which walked about by +itself. At sight of it, his eyes sparkled, dimples appeared on his plump +cheeks, and, stretching out his quivering chubby hands, he raised a crow +of delight. + +Marie, who was quietly fastening her dress, smiled at his glee and +brought him nearer, in order that he might have a better view of the toy. +"Ah! my darling, it's pretty, isn't it? It moves and it turns, and it's +strong; it's quite alive, you see." + +The others, standing around, were much amused by the amazed, enraptured +expression of the child, who would have liked to touch the machine, +perhaps in the hope of understanding it. + +"Yes," resumed Bertheroy, "it's alive and it's powerful like the sun, +like that great sun shining yonder over Paris, and ripening men and +things. And Paris too is a motor, a boiler in which the future is +boiling, while we scientists keep the eternal flame burning underneath. +Guillaume, my good fellow, you are one of the stokers, one of the +artisans of the future, with that little marvel of yours, which will +still further extend the influence of our great Paris over the whole +world." + +These words impressed Pierre, and he again thought of a gigantic vat +stretching yonder from one horizon to the other, a vat in which the +coming century would emerge from an extraordinary mixture of the +excellent and the vile. But now, over and above all passions, ambitions, +stains and waste, he was conscious of the colossal expenditure of labour +which marked the life of Paris, of the heroic manual efforts in +work-shops and factories, and the splendid striving of the young men of +intellect whom he knew to be hard at work, studying in silence, +relinquishing none of the conquests of their elders, but glowing with +desire to enlarge their domain. And in all this Paris was exalted, +together with the future that was being prepared within it, and which +would wing its flight over the world bright like the dawn of day. If +Rome, now so near its death, had ruled the ancient world, it was Paris +that reigned with sovereign sway over the modern era, and had for the +time become the great centre of the nations as they were carried on from +civilisation to civilisation, in a sunward course from east to west. +Paris was the world's brain. Its past so full of grandeur had prepared it +for the part of initiator, civiliser and liberator. Only yesterday it had +cast the cry of Liberty among the nations, and to-morrow it would bring +them the religion of Science, the new faith awaited by the democracies. +And Paris was also gaiety, kindness and gentleness, passion for knowledge +and generosity without limit. Among the workmen of its faubourgs and the +peasants of its country-sides there were endless reserves of men on whom +the future might freely draw. And the century ended with Paris, and the +new century would begin and spread with it. All the clamour of its +prodigious labour, all the light that came from it as from a beacon +overlooking the earth, all the thunder and tempest and triumphant +brightness that sprang from its entrails, were pregnant with that final +splendour, of which human happiness would be compounded. + +Marie raised a light cry of admiration as she pointed towards the city. +"Look! just look!" she exclaimed; "Paris is all golden, covered with a +harvest of gold!" + +They all re-echoed her admiration, for the effect was really one of +extraordinary magnificence. The declining sun was once more veiling the +immensity of Paris with golden dust. But this was no longer the city of +the sower, a chaos of roofs and edifices suggesting brown land turned up +by some huge plough, whilst the sun-rays streamed over it like golden +seed, falling upon every side. Nor was it the city whose divisions had +one day seemed so plain to Pierre: eastward, the districts of toil, misty +with the grey smoke of factories; southward, the districts of study, +serene and quiet; westward, the districts of wealth, bright and open; and +in the centre the districts of trade, with dark and busy streets. It now +seemed as if one and the same crop had sprung up on every side, imparting +harmony to everything, and making the entire expanse one sole, boundless +field, rich with the same fruitfulness. There was corn, corn everywhere, +an infinity of corn, whose golden wave rolled from one end of the horizon +to the other. Yes, the declining sun steeped all Paris in equal +splendour, and it was truly the crop, the harvest, after the sowing! + +"Look! just look," repeated Marie, "there is not a nook without its +sheaf; the humblest roofs are fruitful, and every blade is full-eared +wherever one may look. It is as if there were now but one and the same +soil, reconciled and fraternal. Ah! Jean, my little Jean, look! see how +beautiful it is!" + +Pierre, who was quivering, had drawn close beside her. And Mere-Grand and +Bertheroy smiled upon that promise of a future which they would not see, +whilst beside Guillaume, whom the sight filled with emotion, were his +three big sons, the three young giants, looking quite grave, they who +ever laboured and were ever hopeful. Then Marie, with a fine gesture of +enthusiasm, stretched out her arms and raised her child aloft, as if +offering it in gift to the huge city. + +"See, Jean! see, little one," she cried, "it's you who'll reap it all, +who'll store the whole crop in the barn!" + +And Paris flared--Paris, which the divine sun had sown with light, and +where in glory waved the great future harvest of Truth and of Justice. + +THE END + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Paris, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARIS *** + +***** This file should be named 9169.txt or 9169.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/1/6/9169/ + +Produced by David Widger and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!**** + + +Title: The Three Cities Trilogy: Paris, Complete + +Author: Emile Zola + +Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9169] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES: PARIS, COMPLETE *** + + + + +Produced by Dagny [dagnypg@yahoo.com] +and David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] + + + + + THE THREE CITIES + + + + PARIS + + + Complete + + + BY + + EMILE ZOLA + + + + TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY + + + + BOOK I + + + + TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE + +WITH the present work M. Zola completes the "Trilogy of the Three +Cities," which he began with "Lourdes" and continued with "Rome"; and +thus the adventures and experiences of Abbe Pierre Froment, the doubting +Catholic priest who failed to find faith at the miraculous grotto by the +Cave, and hope amidst the crumbling theocracy of the Vatican, are here +brought to what, from M. Zola's point of view, is their logical +conclusion. From the first pages of "Lourdes," many readers will have +divined that Abbe Froment was bound to finish as he does, for, frankly, +no other finish was possible from a writer of M. Zola's opinions. + +Taking the Trilogy as a whole, one will find that it is essentially +symbolical. Abbe Froment is Man, and his struggles are the struggles +between Religion, as personified by the Roman Catholic Church, on the one +hand, and Reason and Life on the other. In the Abbe's case the victory +ultimately rests with the latter; and we may take it as being M. Zola's +opinion that the same will eventually be the case with the great bulk of +mankind. English writers are often accused of treating subjects from an +insular point of view, and certainly there may be good ground for such a +charge. But they are not the only writers guilty of the practice. The +purview of French authors is often quite as limited: they regard French +opinion as the only good opinion, and judge the rest of the world by +their own standard. In the present case, if we leave the world and +mankind generally on one side, and apply M. Zola's facts and theories to +France alone, it will be found, I think, that he has made out a +remarkably good case for himself. For it is certain that Catholicism, I +may say Christianity, is fast crumbling in France. There may be revivals +in certain limited circles, efforts of the greatest energy to prop up the +tottering edifice by a "rallying" of believers to the democratic cause, +and by a kindling of the most bitter anti-Semitic warfare; but all these +revivals and efforts, although they are extremely well-advertised and +create no little stir, produce very little impression on the bulk of the +population. So far as France is concerned, the policy of Leo XIII. seems +to have come too late. The French masses regard Catholicism or +Christianity, whichever one pleases, as a religion of death,--a religion +which, taking its stand on the text "There shall always be poor among +you," condemns them to toil and moil in poverty and distress their whole +life long, with no other consolation than the promise of happiness in +heaven. And, on the other hand, they see the ministers of the Deity, +"whose kingdom is not of this world," supporting the wealthy and +powerful, and striving to secure wealth and power for themselves. Charity +exists, of course, but the masses declare that it is no remedy; they do +not ask for doles, they ask for Justice. It is largely by reason of all +this that Socialism and Anarchism have made such great strides in France +of recent years. Robespierre, as will be remembered, once tried to +suppress Christianity altogether, and for a time certainly there was a +virtually general cessation of religious observances in France. But no +such Reign of Terror prevails there to-day. Men are perfectly free to +believe if they are inclined to do so; and yet never were there fewer +religious marriages, fewer baptisms or smaller congregations in the +French churches. I refer not merely to Paris and other large cities, but +to the smaller towns, and even the little hamlets of many parts. Old +village priests, men practising what they teach and possessed of the most +loving, benevolent hearts, have told me with tears in their eyes of the +growing infidelity of their parishioners. + +I have been studying this matter for some years, and write without +prejudice, merely setting down what I believe to be the truth. Of course +we are all aware that the most stupendous efforts are being made by the +Catholic clergy and zealous believers to bring about a revival of the +faith, and certainly in some circles there has been a measure of success. +But the reconversion of a nation is the most formidable of tasks; and, in +my own opinion, as in M. Zola's, France as a whole is lost to the +Christian religion. On this proposition, combined with a second one, +namely, that even as France as a nation will be the first to discard +Christianity, so she will be the first to promulgate a new faith based on +reason, science and the teachings of life, is founded the whole argument +of M. Zola's Trilogy. + +Having thus dealt with the Trilogy's religious aspects, I would now speak +of "Paris," its concluding volume. This is very different from "Lourdes" +and "Rome." Whilst recounting the struggles and fate of Abbe Froment and +his brother Guillaume, and entering largely into the problem of Capital +and Labour, which problem has done so much to turn the masses away from +Christianity, it contains many an interesting and valuable picture of the +Parisian world at the close of the nineteenth century. It is no +guide-book to Paris; but it paints the city's social life, its rich and +poor, its scandals and crimes, its work and its pleasures. Among the +households to which the reader is introduced are those of a banker, an +aged Countess of the old /noblesse/, a cosmopolitan Princess, of a kind +that Paris knows only too well, a scientist, a manufacturer, a working +mechanician, a priest, an Anarchist, a petty clerk and an actress of a +class that so often dishonours the French stage. Science and art and +learning and religion, all have their representatives. Then, too, the +political world is well to the front. There are honest and unscrupulous +Ministers of State, upright and venal deputies, enthusiastic and cautious +candidates for power, together with social theoreticians of various +schools. And the /blase/, weak-minded man of fashion is here, as well as +the young "symbolist" of perverted, degraded mind. The women are of all +types, from the most loathsome to the most lovable. Then, too, the +journalists are portrayed in such life-like fashion that I might give +each of them his real name. And journalism, Parisian journalism, is +flagellated, shown as it really is,--if just a few well-conducted organs +be excepted,--that is, venal and impudent, mendacious and even petty. + +The actual scenes depicted are quite as kaleidoscopic as are the +characters in their variety. We enter the banker's gilded saloon and the +hovel of the pauper, the busy factory, the priest's retired home and the +laboratory of the scientist. We wait in the lobbies of the Chamber of +Deputies, and afterwards witness "a great debate"; we penetrate into the +private sanctum of a Minister of the Interior; we attend a fashionable +wedding at the Madeleine and a first performance at the Comedie +Francaise; we dine at the Cafe Anglais and listen to a notorious vocalist +in a low music hall at Montmartre; we pursue an Anarchist through the +Bois de Boulogne; we slip into the Assize Court and see that Anarchist +tried there; we afterwards gaze upon his execution by the guillotine; we +are also on the boulevards when the lamps are lighted for a long night of +revelry, and we stroll along the quiet streets in the small hours of the +morning, when crime and homeless want are prowling round. + +And ever the scene changes; the whole world of Paris passes before one. +Yet the book, to my thinking, is far less descriptive than analytical. +The souls of the principal characters are probed to their lowest depths. +Many of the scenes, too, are intensely dramatic, admirably adapted for +the stage; as, for instance, Baroness Duvillard's interview with her +daughter in the chapter which I have called "The Rivals." And side by +side with baseness there is heroism, while beauty of the flesh finds its +counterpart in beauty of the mind. M. Zola has often been reproached for +showing us the vileness of human nature; and no doubt such vileness may +be found in "Paris," but there are contrasting pictures. If some of M. +Zola's characters horrify the reader, there are others that the latter +can but admire. Life is compounded of good and evil, and unfortunately it +is usually the evil that makes the most noise and attracts the most +attention. Moreover, in M. Zola's case, it has always been his purpose to +expose the evils from which society suffers in the hope of directing +attention to them and thereby hastening a remedy, and thus, in the course +of his works, he could not do otherwise than drag the whole frightful +mass of human villany and degradation into the full light of day. But if +there are, again, black pages in "Paris," others, bright and comforting, +will be found near them. And the book ends in no pessimist strain. +Whatever may be thought of the writer's views on religion, most readers +will, I imagine, agree with his opinion that, despite much social +injustice, much crime, vice, cupidity and baseness, we are ever marching +on to better things. + +In the making of the coming, though still far-away, era of truth and +justice, Paris, he thinks, will play the leading part, for whatever the +stains upon her, they are but surface-deep; her heart remains good and +sound; she has genius and courage and energy and wit and fancy. She can +be generous, too, when she chooses, and more than once her ideas have +irradiated the world. Thus M. Zola hopes much from her, and who will +gainsay him? Not I, who can apply to her the words which Byron addressed +to the home of my own and M. Zola's forefathers:-- + + "I loved her from my boyhood; she to me + Was as a fairy city of the heart." + +Thus I can but hope that Paris, where I learnt the little I know, where I +struggled and found love and happiness, whose every woe and disaster and +triumph I have shared for over thirty years, may, however dark the clouds +that still pass over her, some day fully justify M. Zola's confidence, +and bring to pass his splendid dream of perfect truth and perfect +justice. + +E. A. V. + +MERTON, SURREY, ENGLAND, + +Feb. 5, 1898. + + + + PARIS + + + + BOOK I + + + +I + +THE PRIEST AND THE POOR + +THAT morning, one towards the end of January, Abbe Pierre Froment, who +had a mass to say at the Sacred Heart at Montmartre, was on the height, +in front of the basilica, already at eight o'clock. And before going in +he gazed for a moment upon the immensity of Paris spread out below him. + +After two months of bitter cold, ice and snow, the city was steeped in a +mournful, quivering thaw. From the far-spreading, leaden-hued heavens a +thick mist fell like a mourning shroud. All the eastern portion of the +city, the abodes of misery and toil, seemed submerged beneath ruddy +steam, amid which the panting of workshops and factories could be +divined; while westwards, towards the districts of wealth and enjoyment, +the fog broke and lightened, becoming but a fine and motionless veil of +vapour. The curved line of the horizon could scarcely be divined, the +expanse of houses, which nothing bounded, appeared like a chaos of stone, +studded with stagnant pools, which filled the hollows with pale steam; +whilst against them the summits of the edifices, the housetops of the +loftier streets, showed black like soot. It was a Paris of mystery, +shrouded by clouds, buried as it were beneath the ashes of some disaster, +already half-sunken in the suffering and the shame of that which its +immensity concealed. + +Thin and sombre in his flimsy cassock, Pierre was looking on when Abbe +Rose, who seemed to have sheltered himself behind a pillar of the porch +on purpose to watch for him, came forward: "Ah! it's you at last, my dear +child," said he, "I have something to ask you." + +He seemed embarrassed and anxious, and glanced round distrustfully to +make sure that nobody was near. Then, as if the solitude thereabouts did +not suffice to reassure him, he led Pierre some distance away, through +the icy, biting wind, which he himself did not seem to feel. "This is the +matter," he resumed, "I have been told that a poor fellow, a former +house-painter, an old man of seventy, who naturally can work no more, is +dying of hunger in a hovel in the Rue des Saules. So, my dear child, I +thought of you. I thought you would consent to take him these three +francs from me, so that he may at least have some bread to eat for a few +days." + +"But why don't you take him your alms yourself?" + +At this Abbe Rose again grew anxious, and cast vague, frightened glances +about him. "Oh, no, oh, no!" he said, "I can no longer do that after all +the worries that have befallen me. You know that I am watched, and should +get another scolding if I were caught giving alms like this, scarcely +knowing to whom I give them. It is true that I had to sell something to +get these three francs. But, my dear child, render me this service, I +pray you." + +Pierre, with heart oppressed, stood contemplating the old priest, whose +locks were quite white, whose full lips spoke of infinite kindliness, and +whose eyes shone clear and childlike in his round and smiling face. And +he bitterly recalled the story of that lover of the poor, the +semi-disgrace into which he had fallen through the sublime candour of his +charitable goodness. His little ground-floor of the Rue de Charonne, +which he had turned into a refuge where he offered shelter to all the +wretchedness of the streets, had ended by giving cause for scandal. His +/naivete/ and innocence had been abused; and abominable things had gone +on under his roof without his knowledge. Vice had turned the asylum into +a meeting-place; and at last, one night, the police had descended upon it +to arrest a young girl accused of infanticide. Greatly concerned by this +scandal, the diocesan authorities had forced Abbe Rose to close his +shelter, and had removed him from the church of Ste. Marguerite to that +of St. Pierre of Montmartre, where he now again acted as curate. Truth to +tell, it was not a disgrace but a removal to another spot. However, he +had been scolded and was watched, as he said; and he was much ashamed of +it, and very unhappy at being only able to give alms by stealth, much +like some harebrained prodigal who blushes for his faults. + +Pierre took the three francs. "I promise to execute your commission, my +friend, oh! with all my heart," he said. + +"You will go after your mass, won't you? His name is Laveuve, he lives in +the Rue des Saules in a house with a courtyard, just before reaching the +Rue Marcadet. You are sure to find it. And if you want to be very kind +you will tell me of your visit this evening at five o'clock, at the +Madeleine, where I am going to hear Monseigneur Martha's address. He has +been so good to me! Won't you also come to hear him?" + +Pierre made an evasive gesture. Monseigneur Martha, Bishop of Persepolis +and all powerful at the archiepiscopal palace, since, like the genial +propagandist he was, he had been devoting himself to increasing the +subscriptions for the basilica of the Sacred Heart, had indeed supported +Abbe Rose; in fact, it was by his influence that the abbe had been kept +in Paris, and placed once more at St. Pierre de Montmartre. + +"I don't know if I shall be able to hear the address," said Pierre, "but +in any case I will go there to meet you." + +The north wind was blowing, and the gloomy cold penetrated both of them +on that deserted summit amidst the fog which changed the vast city into a +misty ocean. However, some footsteps were heard, and Abbe Rose, again +mistrustful, saw a man go by, a tall and sturdy man, who wore clogs and +was bareheaded, showing his thick and closely-cut white hair. "Is not +that your brother?" asked the old priest. + +Pierre had not stirred. "Yes, it is my brother Guillaume," he quietly +responded. "I have found him again since I have been coming occasionally +to the Sacred Heart. He owns a house close by, where he has been living +for more than twenty years, I think. When we meet we shake hands, but I +have never even been to his house. Oh! all is quite dead between us, we +have nothing more in common, we are parted by worlds." + +Abbe Rose's tender smile again appeared, and he waved his hand as if to +say that one must never despair of love. Guillaume Froment, a savant of +lofty intelligence, a chemist who lived apart from others, like one who +rebelled against the social system, was now a parishioner of the abbe's, +and when the latter passed the house where Guillaume lived with his three +sons--a house all alive with work--he must often have dreamt of leading +him back to God. + +"But, my dear child," he resumed, "I am keeping you here in this dark +cold, and you are not warm. Go and say your mass. Till this evening, at +the Madeleine." Then, in entreating fashion, after again making sure that +none could hear them, he added, still with the air of a child at fault: +"And not a word to anybody about my little commission--it would again be +said that I don't know how to conduct myself." + +Pierre watched the old priest as he went off towards the Rue Cartot, +where he lived on a damp ground-floor, enlivened by a strip of garden. +The veil of disaster, which was submerging Paris, now seemed to grow +thicker under the gusts of the icy north wind. And at last Pierre entered +the basilica, his heart upset, overflowing with the bitterness stirred up +by the recollection of Abbe Rose's story--that bankruptcy of charity, the +frightful irony of a holy man punished for bestowing alms, and hiding +himself that he might still continue to bestow them. Nothing could calm +the smart of the wound reopened in Pierre's heart--neither the warm +peacefulness into which he entered, nor the silent solemnity of the +broad, deep fabric, whose new stonework was quite bare, without a single +painting or any kind of decoration; the nave being still half-barred by +the scaffoldings which blocked up the unfinished dome. At that early hour +the masses of entreaty had already been said at several altars, under the +grey light falling from the high and narrow windows, and the tapers of +entreaty were burning in the depths of the apse. So Pierre made haste to +go to the sacristy, there to assume his vestments in order that he might +say his mass in the chapel of St. Vincent de Paul. + +But the floodgates of memory had been opened, and he had no thought but +for his distress whilst, in mechanical fashion, he performed the rites +and made the customary gestures. Since his return from Rome three years +previously, he had been living in the very worst anguish that can fall on +man. At the outset, in order to recover his lost faith, he had essayed a +first experiment: he had gone to Lourdes, there to seek the innocent +belief of the child who kneels and prays, the primitive faith of young +nations bending beneath the terror born of ignorance; but he had rebelled +yet more than ever in presence of what he had witnessed at Lourdes: that +glorification of the absurd, that collapse of common sense; and was +convinced that salvation, the peace of men and nations nowadays, could +not lie in that puerile relinquishment of reason. And afterwards, again +yielding to the need of loving whilst yet allowing reason, so hard to +satisfy, her share in his intellect, he had staked his final peace on a +second experiment, and had gone to Rome to see if Catholicism could there +be renewed, could revert to the spirit of primitive Christianity and +become the religion of the democracy, the faith which the modern world, +upheaving and in danger of death, was awaiting in order to calm down and +live. And he had found there naught but ruins, the rotted trunk of a tree +that could never put forth another springtide; and he had heard there +naught but the supreme rending of the old social edifice, near to its +fall. Then it was, that, relapsing into boundless doubt, total negation, +he had been recalled to Paris by Abbe Rose, in the name of their poor, +and had returned thither that he might forget and immolate himself and +believe in them--the poor--since they and their frightful sufferings +alone remained certain. And then it was too, that for three years he came +into contact with that collapse, that very bankruptcy of goodness itself: +charity a derision, charity useless and flouted. + +Those three years had been lived by Pierre amidst ever-growing torments, +in which his whole being had ended by sinking. His faith was forever +dead; dead, too, even his hope of utilising the faith of the multitudes +for the general salvation. He denied everything, he anticipated nothing +but the final, inevitable catastrophe: revolt, massacre and +conflagration, which would sweep away a guilty and condemned world. +Unbelieving priest that he was, yet watching over the faith of others, +honestly, chastely discharging his duties, full of haughty sadness at the +thought that he had been unable to renounce his mind as he had renounced +his flesh and his dream of being a saviour of the nations, he withal +remained erect, full of fierce yet solitary grandeur. And this +despairing, denying priest, who had dived to the bottom of nothingness, +retained such a lofty and grave demeanour, perfumed by such pure +kindness, that in his parish of Neuilly he had acquired the reputation of +being a young saint, one beloved by Providence, whose prayers wrought +miracles. He was but a personification of the rules of the Church; of the +priest he retained only the gestures; he was like an empty sepulchre in +which not even the ashes of hope remained; yet grief-stricken weeping +women worshipped him and kissed his cassock; and it was a tortured mother +whose infant was in danger of death, who had implored him to come and ask +that infant's cure of Jesus, certain as she felt that Jesus would grant +her the boon in that sanctuary of Montmartre where blazed the prodigy of +His heart, all burning with love. + +Clad in his vestments, Pierre had reached the chapel of St. Vincent de +Paul. He there ascended the altar-step and began the mass; and when he +turned round with hands spread out to bless the worshippers he showed his +hollow cheeks, his gentle mouth contracted by bitterness, his loving eyes +darkened by suffering. He was no longer the young priest whose +countenance had glowed with tender fever on the road to Lourdes, whose +face had been illumined by apostolic fervour when he started for Rome. +The two hereditary influences which were ever at strife within him--that +of his father to whom he owed his impregnable, towering brow, that of his +mother who had given him his love-thirsting lips, were still waging war, +the whole human battle of sentiment and reason, in that now ravaged face +of his, whither in moments of forgetfulness ascended all the chaos of +internal suffering. The lips still confessed that unquenched thirst for +love, self-bestowal and life, which he well thought he could nevermore +content, whilst the solid brow, the citadel which made him suffer, +obstinately refused to capitulate, whatever might be the assaults of +error. But he stiffened himself, hid the horror of the void in which he +struggled, and showed himself superb, making each gesture, repeating each +word in sovereign fashion. And gazing at him through her tears, the +mother who was there among the few kneeling women, the mother who awaited +a supreme intercession from him, who thought him in communion with Jesus +for the salvation of her child, beheld him radiant with angelic beauty +like some messenger of the divine grace. + +When, after the offertory, Pierre uncovered the chalice he felt contempt +for himself. The shock had been too great, and he thought of those things +in spite of all. What puerility there had been in his two experiments at +Lourdes and Rome, the /naivete/ of a poor distracted being, consumed by +desire to love and believe. To have imagined that present-day science +would in his person accommodate itself to the faith of the year One +Thousand, and in particular to have foolishly believed that he, petty +priest that he was, would be able to indoctrinate the Pope and prevail on +him to become a saint and change the face of the world! It all filled him +with shame; how people must have laughed at him! Then, too, his idea of a +schism made him blush. He again beheld himself at Rome, dreaming of +writing a book by which he would violently sever himself from Catholicism +to preach the new religion of the democracies, the purified, human and +living Gospel. But what ridiculous folly! A schism? He had known in Paris +an abbe of great heart and mind who had attempted to bring about that +famous, predicted, awaited schism. Ah! the poor man, the sad, the +ludicrous labour in the midst of universal incredulity, the icy +indifference of some, the mockery and the reviling of others! If Luther +were to come to France in our days he would end, forgotten and dying of +hunger, on a Batignolles fifth-floor. A schism cannot succeed among a +people that no longer believes, that has ceased to take all interest in +the Church, and sets its hope elsewhere. And it was all Catholicism, in +fact all Christianity, that would be swept away, for, apart from certain +moral maxims, the Gospel no longer supplied a possible code for society. +And this conviction increased Pierre's torment on the days when his +cassock weighed more heavily on his shoulders, when he ended by feeling +contempt for himself at thus celebrating the divine mystery of the mass, +which for him had become but the formula of a dead religion. + +Having half filled the chalice with wine from the vase, Pierre washed his +hands and again perceived the mother with her face of ardent entreaty. +Then he thought it was for her that, with the charitable leanings of a +vow-bound man, he had remained a priest, a priest without belief, feeding +the belief of others with the bread of illusion. But this heroic conduct, +the haughty spirit of duty in which he imprisoned himself, was not +practised by him without growing anguish. Did not elementary probity +require that he should cast aside the cassock and return into the midst +of men? At certain times the falsity of his position filled him with +disgust for his useless heroism; and he asked himself if it were not +cowardly and dangerous to leave the masses in superstition. Certainly the +theory of a just and vigilant Providence, of a future paradise where all +these sufferings of the world would receive compensation, had long seemed +necessary to the wretchedness of mankind; but what a trap lay in it, what +a pretext for the tyrannical grinding down of nations; and how far more +virile it would be to undeceive the nations, however brutally, and give +them courage to live the real life, even if it were in tears. If they +were already turning aside from Christianity was not this because they +needed a more human ideal, a religion of health and joy which should not +be a religion of death? On the day when the idea of charity should +crumble, Christianity would crumble also, for it was built upon the idea +of divine charity correcting the injustice of fate, and offering future +rewards to those who might suffer in this life. And it was crumbling; for +the poor no longer believed in it, but grew angry at the thought of that +deceptive paradise, with the promise of which their patience had been +beguiled so long, and demanded that their share of happiness should not +always be put off until the morrow of death. A cry for justice arose from +every lip, for justice upon this earth, justice for those who hunger and +thirst, whom alms are weary of relieving after eighteen hundred years of +Gospel teaching, and who still and ever lack bread to eat. + +When Pierre, with his elbows on the altar, had emptied the chalice after +breaking the sacred wafer, he felt himself sinking into yet greater +distress. And so a third experiment was beginning for him, the supreme +battle of justice against charity, in which his heart and his mind would +struggle together in that great Paris, so full of terrible, unknown +things. The need for the divine still battled within him against +domineering intelligence. How among the masses would one ever be able to +content the thirst for the mysterious? Leaving the /elite/ on one side, +would science suffice to pacify desire, lull suffering, and satisfy the +dream? And what would become of himself in the bankruptcy of that same +charity, which for three years had alone kept him erect by occupying his +every hour, and giving him the illusion of self-devotion, of being useful +to others? It seemed, all at once, as if the ground sank beneath him, and +he heard nothing save the cry of the masses, silent so long, but now +demanding justice, growling and threatening to take their share, which +was withheld from them by force and ruse. Nothing more, it seemed, could +delay the inevitable catastrophe, the fratricidal class warfare that +would sweep away the olden world, which was condemned to disappear +beneath the mountain of its crimes. Every hour with frightful sadness he +expected the collapse, Paris steeped in blood, Paris in flames. And his +horror of all violence froze him; he knew not where to seek the new +belief which might dissipate the peril. Fully conscious, though he was, +that the social and religious problems are but one, and are alone in +question in the dreadful daily labour of Paris, he was too deeply +troubled himself, too far removed from ordinary things by his position as +a priest, and too sorely rent by doubt and powerlessness to tell as yet +where might be truth, and health, and life. Ah! to be healthy and to +live, to content at last both heart and reason in the peace, the certain, +simply honest labour, which man has come to accomplish upon this earth! + +The mass was finished, and Pierre descended from the altar, when the +weeping mother, near whom he passed, caught hold of a corner of the +chasuble with her trembling hands, and kissed it with wild fervour, as +one may kiss some relic of a saint from whom one expects salvation. She +thanked him for the miracle which he must have accomplished, certain as +she felt that she would find her child cured. And he was deeply stirred +by that love, that ardent faith of hers, in spite of the sudden and yet +keener distress which he felt at being in no wise the sovereign minister +that she thought him, the minister able to obtain a respite from Death. +But he dismissed her consoled and strengthened, and it was with an ardent +prayer that he entreated the unknown but conscious Power to succour the +poor creature. Then, when he had divested himself in the sacristy, and +found himself again out of doors before the basilica, lashed by the keen +wintry wind, a mortal shiver came upon him, and froze him, while through +the mist he looked to see if a whirlwind of anger and justice had not +swept Paris away: that catastrophe which must some day destroy it, +leaving under the leaden heavens only the pestilential quagmire of its +ruins. + +Pierre wished to fulfil Abbe Rose's commission immediately. He followed +the Rue des Norvins, on the crest of Montmartre; and, reaching the Rue +des Saules, descended by its steep slope, between mossy walls, to the +other side of Paris. The three francs which he was holding in his +cassock's pocket, filled him at once with gentle emotion and covert anger +against the futility of charity. But as he gradually descended by the +sharp declivities and interminable storeys of steps, the mournful nooks +of misery which he espied took possession of him, and infinite pity wrung +his heart. A whole new district was here being built alongside the broad +thoroughfares opened since the great works of the Sacred Heart had begun. +Lofty middle-class houses were already rising among ripped-up gardens and +plots of vacant land, still edged with palings. And these houses with +their substantial frontages, all new and white, lent a yet more sombre +and leprous aspect to such of the old shaky buildings as remained, the +low pot-houses with blood-coloured walls, the /cites/ of workmen's +dwellings, those abodes of suffering with black, soiled buildings in +which human cattle were piled. Under the low-hanging sky that day, the +pavement, dented by heavily-laden carts, was covered with mud; the thaw +soaked the walls with an icy dampness, whilst all the filth and +destitution brought terrible sadness to the heart. + +After going as far as the Rue Marcadet, Pierre retraced his steps; and in +the Rue des Saules, certain that he was not mistaken, he entered the +courtyard of a kind of barracks or hospital, encompassed by three +irregular buildings. This court was a quagmire, where filth must have +accumulated during the two months of terrible frost; and now all was +melting, and an abominable stench arose. The buildings were half falling, +the gaping vestibules looked like cellar holes, strips of paper streaked +the cracked and filthy window-panes, and vile rags hung about like flags +of death. Inside a shanty which served as the door-keeper's abode Pierre +only saw an infirm man rolled up in a tattered strip of what had once +been a horse-cloth. + +"You have an old workman named Laveuve here," said the priest. "Which +staircase is it, which floor?" + +The man did not answer, but opened his anxious eyes, like a scared idiot. +The door-keeper, no doubt, was in the neighbourhood. For a moment the +priest waited; then seeing a little girl on the other side of the +courtyard, he risked himself, crossed the quagmire on tip-toe, and asked: +"Do you know an old workman named Laveuve in the house, my child?" + +The little girl, who only had a ragged gown of pink cotton stuff about +her meagre figure, stood there shivering, her hands covered with +chilblains. She raised her delicate face, which looked pretty though +nipped by the cold: "Laveuve," said she, "no, don't know, don't know." +And with the unconscious gesture of a beggar child she put out one of her +poor, numbed and disfigured hands. Then, when the priest had given her a +little bit of silver, she began to prance through the mud like a joyful +goat, singing the while in a shrill voice: "Don't know, don't know." + +Pierre decided to follow her. She vanished into one of the gaping +vestibules, and, in her rear, he climbed a dark and fetid staircase, +whose steps were half-broken and so slippery, on account of the vegetable +parings strewn over them, that he had to avail himself of the greasy rope +by which the inmates hoisted themselves upwards. But every door was +closed; he vainly knocked at several of them, and only elicited, at the +last, a stifled growl, as though some despairing animal were confined +within. Returning to the yard, he hesitated, then made his way to another +staircase, where he was deafened by piercing cries, as of a child who is +being butchered. He climbed on hearing this noise and at last found +himself in front of an open room where an infant, who had been left +alone, tied in his little chair, in order that he might not fall, was +howling and howling without drawing breath. Then Pierre went down again, +upset, frozen by the sight of so much destitution and abandonment. + +But a woman was coming in, carrying three potatoes in her apron, and on +being questioned by him she gazed distrustfully at his cassock. "Laveuve, +Laveuve? I can't say," she replied. "If the door-keeper were there, she +might be able to tell you. There are five staircases, you see, and we +don't all know each other. Besides, there are so many changes. Still try +over there; at the far end." + +The staircase at the back of the yard was yet more abominable than the +others, its steps warped, its walls slimy, as if soaked with the sweat of +anguish. At each successive floor the drain-sinks exhaled a pestilential +stench, whilst from every lodging came moans, or a noise of quarrelling, +or some frightful sign of misery. A door swung open, and a man appeared +dragging a woman by the hair whilst three youngsters sobbed aloud. On the +next floor, Pierre caught a glimpse of a room where a young girl in her +teens, racked by coughing, was hastily carrying an infant to and fro to +quiet it, in despair that all the milk of her breast should be exhausted. +Then, in an adjoining lodging, came the poignant spectacle of three +beings, half clad in shreds, apparently sexless and ageless, who, amidst +the dire bareness of their room, were gluttonously eating from the same +earthen pan some pottage which even dogs would have refused. They barely +raised their heads to growl, and did not answer Pierre's questions. + +He was about to go down again, when right atop of the stairs, at the +entry of a passage, it occurred to him to make a last try by knocking at +the door. It was opened by a woman whose uncombed hair was already +getting grey, though she could not be more than forty; while her pale +lips, and dim eyes set in a yellow countenance, expressed utter +lassitude, the shrinking, the constant dread of one whom wretchedness has +pitilessly assailed. The sight of Pierre's cassock disturbed her, and she +stammered anxiously: "Come in, come in, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +However, a man whom Pierre had not at first seen--a workman also of some +forty years, tall, thin and bald, with scanty moustache and beard of a +washed-out reddish hue--made an angry gesture--a threat as it were--to +turn the priest out of doors. But he calmed himself, sat down near a +rickety table and pretended to turn his back. And as there was also a +child present--a fair-haired girl, eleven or twelve years old, with a +long and gentle face and that intelligent and somewhat aged expression +which great misery imparts to children--he called her to him, and held +her between his knees, doubtless to keep her away from the man in the +cassock. + +Pierre--whose heart was oppressed by his reception, and who realised the +utter destitution of this family by the sight of the bare, fireless room, +and the distressed mournfulness of its three inmates--decided all the +same to repeat his question: "Madame, do you know an old workman named +Laveuve in the house?" + +The woman--who now trembled at having admitted him, since it seemed to +displease her man--timidly tried to arrange matters. "Laveuve, Laveuve? +no, I don't. But Salvat, you hear? Do you know a Laveuve here?" + +Salvat merely shrugged his shoulders; but the little girl could not keep +her tongue still: "I say, mamma Theodore, it's p'raps the Philosopher." + +"A former house-painter," continued Pierre, "an old man who is ill and +past work." + +Madame Theodore was at once enlightened. "In that case it's him, it's +him. We call him the Philosopher, a nickname folks have given him in the +neighbourhood. But there's nothing to prevent his real name from being +Laveuve." + +With one of his fists raised towards the ceiling, Salvat seemed to be +protesting against the abomination of a world and a Providence that +allowed old toilers to die of hunger just like broken-down beasts. +However, he did not speak, but relapsed into the savage, heavy silence, +the bitter meditation in which he had been plunged when the priest +arrived. He was a journeyman engineer, and gazed obstinately at the table +where lay his little leather tool-bag, bulging with something it +contained--something, perhaps, which he had to take back to a work-shop. +He might have been thinking of a long, enforced spell of idleness, of a +vain search for any kind of work during the two previous months of that +terrible winter. Or perhaps it was the coming bloody reprisals of the +starvelings that occupied the fiery reverie which set his large, strange, +vague blue eyes aglow. All at once he noticed that his daughter had taken +up the tool-bag and was trying to open it to see what it might contain. +At this he quivered and at last spoke, his voice kindly, yet bitter with +sudden emotion, which made him turn pale. "Celine, you must leave that +alone. I forbade you to touch my tools," said he; then taking the bag, he +deposited it with great precaution against the wall behind him. + +"And so, madame," asked Pierre, "this man Laveuve lives on this floor?" + +Madame Theodore directed a timid, questioning glance at Salvat. She was +not in favour of hustling priests when they took the trouble to call, for +at times there was a little money to be got from them. And when she +realised that Salvat, who had once more relapsed into his black reverie, +left her free to act as she pleased, she at once tendered her services. +"If Monsieur l'Abbe is agreeable, I will conduct him. It's just at the +end of the passage. But one must know the way, for there are still some +steps to climb." + +Celine, finding a pastime in this visit, escaped from her father's knees +and likewise accompanied the priest. And Salvat remained alone in that +den of poverty and suffering, injustice and anger, without a fire, +without bread, haunted by his burning dream, his eyes again fixed upon +his bag, as if there, among his tools, he possessed the wherewithal to +heal the ailing world. + +It indeed proved necessary to climb a few more steps; and then, following +Madame Theodore and Celine, Pierre found himself in a kind of narrow +garret under the roof, a loft a few yards square, where one could not +stand erect. There was no window, only a skylight, and as the snow still +covered it one had to leave the door wide open in order that one might +see. And the thaw was entering the place, the melting snow was falling +drop by drop, and coming over the tiled floor. After long weeks of +intense cold, dark dampness rained quivering over all. And there, lacking +even a chair, even a plank, Laveuve lay in a corner on a little pile of +filthy rags spread upon the bare tiles; he looked like some animal dying +on a dung-heap. + +"There!" said Celine in her sing-song voice, "there he is, that's the +Philosopher!" + +Madame Theodore had bent down to ascertain if he still lived. "Yes, he +breathes; he's sleeping I think. Oh! if he only had something to eat +every day, he would be well enough. But what would you have? He has +nobody left him, and when one gets to seventy the best is to throw +oneself into the river. In the house-painting line it often happens that +a man has to give up working on ladders and scaffoldings at fifty. He at +first found some work to do on the ground level. Then he was lucky enough +to get a job as night watchman. But that's over, he's been turned away +from everywhere, and, for two months now, he's been lying in this nook +waiting to die. The landlord hasn't dared to fling him into the street as +yet, though not for want of any inclination that way. We others sometimes +bring him a little wine and a crust, of course; but when one has nothing +oneself, how can one give to others?" + +Pierre, terrified, gazed at that frightful remnant of humanity, that +remnant into which fifty years of toil, misery and social injustice had +turned a man. And he ended by distinguishing Laveuve's white, worn, +sunken, deformed head. Here, on a human face, appeared all the ruin +following upon hopeless labour. Laveuve's unkempt beard straggled over +his features, suggesting an old horse that is no longer cropped; his +toothless jaws were quite askew, his eyes were vitreous, and his nose +seemed to plunge into his mouth. But above all else one noticed his +resemblance to some beast of burden, deformed by hard toil, lamed, worn +to death, and now only good for the knackers. + +"Ah! the poor fellow," muttered the shuddering priest. "And he is left to +die of hunger, all alone, without any succour? And not a hospital, not an +asylum has given him shelter?" + +"Well," resumed Madame Theodore in her sad yet resigned voice, "the +hospitals are built for the sick, and he isn't sick, he's simply +finishing off, with his strength at an end. Besides he isn't always easy +to deal with. People came again only lately to put him in an asylum, but +he won't be shut up. And he speaks coarsely to those who question him, +not to mention that he has the reputation of liking drink and talking +badly about the gentle-folks. But, thank Heaven, he will now soon be +delivered." + +Pierre had leant forward on seeing Laveuve's eyes open, and he spoke to +him tenderly, telling him that he had come from a friend with a little +money to enable him to buy what he might most pressingly require. At +first, on seeing Pierre's cassock, the old man had growled some coarse +words; but, despite his extreme feebleness, he still retained the pert +chaffing spirit of the Parisian artisan: "Well, then, I'll willingly +drink a drop," he said distinctly, "and have a bit of bread with it, if +there's the needful; for I've lost taste of both for a couple of days +past." + +Celine offered her services, and Madame Theodore sent her to fetch a loaf +and a quart of wine with Abbe Rose's money. And in the interval she told +Pierre how Laveuve was at one moment to have entered the Asylum of the +Invalids of Labour, a charitable enterprise whose lady patronesses were +presided over by Baroness Duvillard. However, the usual regulation +inquiries had doubtless led to such an unfavourable report that matters +had gone no further. + +"Baroness Duvillard! but I know her, and will go to see her to-day!" +exclaimed Pierre, whose heart was bleeding. "It is impossible for a man +to be left in such circumstances any longer." + +Then, as Celine came back with the loaf and the wine, the three of them +tried to make Laveuve more comfortable, raised him on his heap of rags, +gave him to eat and to drink, and then left the remainder of the wine and +the loaf--a large four-pound loaf--near him, recommending him to wait +awhile before he finished the bread, as otherwise he might stifle. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe ought to give me his address in case I should have any +news to send him," said Madame Theodore when she again found herself at +her door. + +Pierre had no card with him, and so all three went into the room. But +Salvat was no longer alone there. He stood talking in a low voice very +quickly, and almost mouth to mouth, with a young fellow of twenty. The +latter, who was slim and dark, with a sprouting beard and hair cut in +brush fashion, had bright eyes, a straight nose and thin lips set in a +pale and slightly freckled face, betokening great intelligence. With +stern and stubborn brow, he stood shivering in his well-worn jacket. + +"Monsieur l'Abbe wants to leave me his address for the Philosopher's +affair," gently explained Madame Theodore, annoyed to find another there +with Salvat. + +The two men had glanced at the priest and then looked at one another, +each with terrible mien. And they suddenly ceased speaking in the bitter +cold which fell from the ceiling. Then, again with infinite precaution, +Salvat went to take his tool-bag from alongside the wall. + +"So you are going down, you are again going to look for work?" asked +Madame Theodore. + +He did not answer, but merely made an angry gesture, as if to say that he +would no longer have anything to do with work since work for so long a +time had not cared to have anything to do with him. + +"All the same," resumed the woman, "try to bring something back with you, +for you know there's nothing. At what time will you be back?" + +With another gesture he seemed to answer that he would come back when he +could, perhaps never. And tears rising, despite all his efforts, to his +vague, blue, glowing eyes he caught hold of his daughter Celine, kissed +her violently, distractedly, and then went off, with his bag under his +arm, followed by his young companion. + +"Celine," resumed Madame Theodore, "give Monsieur l'Abbe your pencil, +and, see, monsieur, seat yourself here, it will be better for writing." + +Then, when Pierre had installed himself at the table, on the chair +previously occupied by Salvat, she went on talking, seeking to excuse her +man for his scanty politeness: "He hasn't a bad heart, but he's had so +many worries in life that he has become a bit cracked. It's like that +young man whom you just saw here, Monsieur Victor Mathis. There's another +for you, who isn't happy, a young man who was well brought up, who has a +lot of learning, and whose mother, a widow, has only just got the +wherewithal to buy bread. So one can understand it, can't one? It all +upsets their heads, and they talk of blowing up everybody. For my part +those are not my notions, but I forgive them, oh! willingly enough." + +Perturbed, yet interested by all the mystery and vague horror which he +could divine around him, Pierre made no haste to write his address, but +lingered listening, as if inviting confidence. + +"If you only knew, Monsieur l'Abbe, that poor Salvat was a forsaken +child, without father or mother, and had to scour the roads and try every +trade at first to get a living. Then afterwards he became a mechanician, +and a very good workman, I assure you, very skilful and very painstaking. +But he already had those ideas of his, and quarrelled with people, and +tried to bring his mates over to his views; and so he was unable to stay +anywhere. At last, when he was thirty, he was stupid enough to go to +America with an inventor, who traded on him to such a point that after +six years of it he came back ill and penniless. I must tell you that he +had married my younger sister Leonie, and that she died before he went to +America, leaving him little Celine, who was then only a year old. I was +then living with my husband, Theodore Labitte, a mason; and it's not to +brag that I say it, but however much I wore out my eyes with needlework +he used to beat me till he left me half-dead on the floor. But he ended +by deserting me and going off with a young woman of twenty, which, after +all, caused me more pleasure than grief. And naturally when Salvat came +back he sought me out and found me alone with his little Celine, whom he +had left in my charge when he went away, and who called me mamma. And +we've all three been living together since then--" + +She became somewhat embarrassed, and then, as if to show that she did not +altogether lack some respectable family connections, she went on to say: +"For my part I've had no luck; but I've another sister, Hortense, who's +married to a clerk, Monsieur Chretiennot, and lives in a pretty lodging +on the Boulevard Rochechouart. There were three of us born of my father's +second marriage,--Hortense, who's the youngest, Leonie, who's dead, and +myself, Pauline, the eldest. And of my father's first marriage I've still +a brother Eugene Toussaint, who is ten years older than me and is an +engineer like Salvat, and has been working ever since the war in the same +establishment, the Grandidier factory, only a hundred steps away in the +Rue Marcadet. The misfortune is that he had a stroke lately. As for me, +my eyes are done for; I ruined them by working ten hours a day at fine +needlework. And now I can no longer even try to mend anything without my +eyes filling with water till I can't see at all. I've tried to find +charwoman's work, but I can't get any; bad luck always follows us. And so +we are in need of everything; we've nothing but black misery, two or +three days sometimes going by without a bite, so that it's like the +chance life of a dog that feeds on what it can find. And with these last +two months of bitter cold to freeze us, it's sometimes made us think that +one morning we should never wake up again. But what would you have? I've +never been happy, I was beaten to begin with, and now I'm done for, left +in a corner, living on, I really don't know why." + +Her voice had begun to tremble, her red eyes moistened, and Pierre could +realise that she thus wept through life, a good enough woman but one who +had no will, and was already blotted out, so to say, from existence. + +"Oh! I don't complain of Salvat," she went on. "He's a good fellow; he +only dreams of everybody's happiness, and he doesn't drink, and he works +when he can. Only it's certain that he'd work more if he didn't busy +himself with politics. One can't discuss things with comrades, and go to +public meetings and be at the workshop at the same time. In that he's at +fault, that's evident. But all the same he has good reason to complain, +for one can't imagine such misfortunes as have pursued him. Everything +has fallen on him, everything has beaten him down. Why, a saint even +would have gone mad, so that one can understand that a poor beggar who +has never had any luck should get quite wild. For the last two months he +has only met one good heart, a learned gentleman who lives up yonder on +the height, Monsieur Guillaume Froment, who has given him a little work, +just something to enable us to have some soup now and then." + +Much surprised by this mention of his brother, Pierre wished to ask +certain questions; but a singular feeling of uneasiness, in which fear +and discretion mingled, checked his tongue. He looked at Celine, who +stood before him, listening in silence with her grave, delicate air; and +Madame Theodore, seeing him smile at the child, indulged in a final +remark: "It's just the idea of that child," said she, "that throws Salvat +out of his wits. He adores her, and he'd kill everybody if he could, when +he sees her go supperless to bed. She's such a good girl, she was +learning so nicely at the Communal School! But now she hasn't even a +shift to go there in." + +Pierre, who had at last written his address, slipped a five-franc piece +into the little girl's hand, and, desirous as he was of curtailing any +thanks, he hastily said: "You will know now where to find me if you need +me for Laveuve. But I'm going to busy myself about him this very +afternoon, and I really hope that he will be fetched away this evening." + +Madame Theodore did not listen, but poured forth all possible blessings; +whilst Celine, thunderstruck at seeing five francs in her hand, murmured: +"Oh! that poor papa, who has gone to hunt for money! Shall I run after +him to tell him that we've got enough for to-day?" + +Then the priest, who was already in the passage, heard the woman answer: +"Oh! he's far away if he's still walking. He'll p'raps come back right +enough." + +However, as Pierre, with buzzing head and grief-stricken heart, hastily +escaped out of that frightful house of suffering, he perceived to his +astonishment Salvat and Victor Mathis standing erect in a corner of the +filthy courtyard, where the stench was so pestilential. They had come +downstairs, there to continue their interrupted colloquy. And again, they +were talking in very low tones, and very quickly, mouth to mouth, +absorbed in the violent thoughts which made their eyes flare. But they +heard the priest's footsteps, recognised him, and suddenly becoming cold +and calm, exchanged an energetic hand-shake without uttering another +word. Victor went up towards Montmartre, whilst Salvat hesitated like a +man who is consulting destiny. Then, as if trusting himself to stern +chance, drawing up his thin figure, the figure of a weary, hungry toiler, +he turned into the Rue Marcadet, and walked towards Paris, his tool-bag +still under his arm. + +For an instant Pierre felt a desire to run and call to him that his +little girl wished him to go back again. But the same feeling of +uneasiness as before came over the priest--a commingling of discretion +and fear, a covert conviction that nothing could stay destiny. And he +himself was no longer calm, no longer experienced the icy, despairing +distress of the early morning. On finding himself again in the street, +amidst the quivering fog, he felt the fever, the glow of charity which +the sight of such frightful wretchedness had ignited, once more within +him. No, no! such suffering was too much; he wished to struggle still, to +save Laveuve and restore a little joy to all those poor folk. The new +experiment presented itself with that city of Paris which he had seen +shrouded as with ashes, so mysterious and so perturbing beneath the +threat of inevitable justice. And he dreamed of a huge sun bringing +health and fruitfulness, which would make of the huge city the fertile +field where would sprout the better world of to-morrow. + + + +II + +WEALTH AND WORLDLINESS + +THAT same morning, as was the case nearly every day, some intimates were +expected to /dejeuner/ at the Duvillards', a few friends who more or less +invited themselves. And on that chilly day, all thaw and fog, the regal +mansion in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy near the Boulevard de la Madeleine +bloomed with the rarest flowers, for flowers were the greatest passion of +the Baroness, who transformed the lofty, sumptuous rooms, littered with +marvels, into warm and odoriferous conservatories, whither the gloomy, +livid light of Paris penetrated caressingly with infinite softness. + +The great reception rooms were on the ground-floor looking on to the +spacious courtyard, and preceded by a little winter garden, which served +as a vestibule where two footmen in liveries of dark green and gold were +invariably on duty. A famous gallery of paintings, valued at millions of +francs, occupied the whole of the northern side of the house. And the +grand staircase, of a sumptuousness which also was famous, conducted to +the apartments usually occupied by the family, a large red drawing-room, +a small blue and silver drawing-room, a study whose walls were hung with +old stamped leather, and a dining-room in pale green with English +furniture, not to mention the various bedchambers and dressing-rooms. +Built in the time of Louis XIV. the mansion retained an aspect of noble +grandeur, subordinated to the epicurean tastes of the triumphant +/bourgeoisie/, which for a century now had reigned by virtue of the +omnipotence of money. + +Noon had not yet struck, and Baron Duvillard, contrary to custom, found +himself the first in the little blue and silver /salon/. He was a man of +sixty, tall and sturdy, with a large nose, full cheeks, broad, fleshy +lips, and wolfish teeth, which had remained very fine. He had, however, +become bald at an early age, and dyed the little hair that was left him. +Moreover, since his beard had turned white, he had kept his face +clean-shaven. His grey eyes bespoke his audacity, and in his laugh there +was a ring of conquest, while the whole of his face expressed the fact +that this conquest was his own, that he wielded the sovereignty of an +unscrupulous master, who used and abused the power stolen and retained by +his caste. + +He took a few steps, and then halted in front of a basket of wonderful +orchids near the window. On the mantel-piece and table tufts of violets +sent forth their perfume, and in the warm, deep silence which seemed to +fall from the hangings, the Baron sat down and stretched himself in one +of the large armchairs, upholstered in blue satin striped with silver. He +had taken a newspaper from his pocket, and began to re-peruse an article +it contained, whilst all around him the entire mansion proclaimed his +immense fortune, his sovereign power, the whole history of the century +which had made him the master. His grandfather, Jerome Duvillard, son of +a petty advocate of Poitou, had come to Paris as a notary's clerk in +1788, when he was eighteen; and very keen, intelligent and hungry as he +was, he had gained the family's first three millions--at first in +trafficking with the /emigres'/ estates when they were confiscated and +sold as national property, and later, in contracting for supplies to the +imperial army. His father, Gregoire Duvillard, born in 1805, and the real +great man of the family--he who had first reigned in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy, after King Louis Philippe had granted him the title of +Baron--remained one of the recognized heroes of modern finance by reason +of the scandalous profits which he had made in every famous thieving +speculation of the July Monarchy and the Second Empire, such as mines, +railroads, and the Suez Canal. And he, the present Baron, Henri by name, +and born in 1836, had only seriously gone into business on Baron +Gregoire's death soon after the Franco-German War. However, he had done +so with such a rageful appetite, that in a quarter of a century he had +again doubled the family fortune. He rotted and devoured, corrupted, +swallowed everything that he touched; and he was also the tempter +personified--the man who bought all consciences that were for +sale--having fully understood the new times and its tendencies in +presence of the democracy, which in its turn had become hungry and +impatient. Inferior though he was both to his father and his grandfather, +being a man of enjoyment, caring less for the work of conquest than the +division of the spoil, he nevertheless remained a terrible fellow, a +sleek triumpher, whose operations were all certainties, who amassed +millions at each stroke, and treated with governments on a footing of +equality, able as he was to place, if not France, at least a ministry in +his pocket. In one century and three generations, royalty had become +embodied in him: a royalty already threatened, already shaken by the +tempest close ahead. And at times his figure grew and expanded till it +became, as it were, an incarnation of the whole /bourgeoisie/--that +/bourgeoisie/ which at the division of the spoils in 1789 appropriated +everything, and has since fattened on everything at the expense of the +masses, and refuses to restore anything whatever. + +The article which the Baron was re-perusing in a halfpenny newspaper +interested him. "La Voix du Peuple" was a noisy sheet which, under the +pretence of defending outraged justice and morality, set a fresh scandal +circulating every morning in the hope of thereby increasing its sales. +And that morning, in big type on its front page, this sub-title was +displayed: "The Affair of the African Railways. Five Millions spent in +Bribes: Two Ministers Bought, Thirty Deputies and Senators Compromised." +Then in an article of odious violence the paper's editor, the famous +Sagnier, announced that he possessed and intended to publish the list of +the thirty-two members of Parliament, whose support Baron Duvillard had +purchased at the time when the Chambers had voted the bill for the +African Railway Lines. Quite a romantic story was mingled with all this, +the adventures of a certain Hunter, whom the Baron had employed as his +go-between and who had now fled. The Baron, however, re-perused each +sentence and weighed each word of the article very calmly; and although +he was alone he shrugged his shoulders and spoke aloud with the tranquil +assurance of a man whose responsibility is covered and who is, moreover, +too powerful to be molested. + +"The idiot," he said, "he knows even less than he pretends." + +Just then, however, a first guest arrived, a man of barely four and +thirty, elegantly dressed, dark and good looking, with a delicately +shaped nose, and curly hair and beard. As a rule, too, he had laughing +eyes, and something giddy, flighty, bird-like in his demeanour; but that +morning he seemed nervous, anxious even, and smiled in a scared way. + +"Ah! it's you, Duthil," said the Baron, rising. "Have you read this?" And +he showed the new comer the "Voix du Peuple," which he was folding up to +replace it in his pocket. + +"Why yes, I've read it. It's amazing. How can Sagnier have got hold of +the list of names? Has there been some traitor?" + +The Baron looked at his companion quietly, amused by his secret anguish. +Duthil, the son of a notary of Angouleme, almost poor and very honest, +had been sent to Paris as deputy for that town whilst yet very young, +thanks to the high reputation of his father; and he there led a life of +pleasure and idleness, even as he had formerly done when a student. +However, his pleasant bachelor's quarters in the Rue de Suresnes, and his +success as a handsome man in the whirl of women among whom he lived, cost +him no little money; and gaily enough, devoid as he was of any moral +sense, he had already glided into all sorts of compromising and lowering +actions, like a light-headed, superior man, a charming, thoughtless +fellow, who attached no importance whatever to such trifles. + +"Bah!" said the Baron at last. "Has Sagnier even got a list? I doubt it, +for there was none; Hunter wasn't so foolish as to draw one up. And then, +too, it was merely an ordinary affair; nothing more was done than is +always done in such matters of business." + +Duthil, who for the first time in his life had felt anxious, listened +like one that needs to be reassured. "Quite so, eh?" he exclaimed. +"That's what I thought. There isn't a cat to be whipped in the whole +affair." + +He tried to laugh as usual, and no longer exactly knew how it was that he +had received some ten thousand francs in connection with the matter, +whether it were in the shape of a vague loan, or else under some pretext +of publicity, puffery, or advertising, for Hunter had acted with extreme +adroitness so as to give no offence to the susceptibilities of even the +least virginal consciences. + +"No, there's not a cat to be whipped," repeated Duvillard, who decidedly +seemed amused by the face which Duthil was pulling. "And besides, my dear +fellow, it's well known that cats always fall on their feet. But have you +seen Silviane?" + +"I just left her. I found her in a great rage with you. She learnt this +morning that her affair of the Comedie is off." + +A rush of anger suddenly reddened the Baron's face. He, who could scoff +so calmly at the threat of the African Railways scandal, lost his balance +and felt his blood boiling directly there was any question of Silviane, +the last, imperious passion of his sixtieth year. "What! off?" said he. +"But at the Ministry of Fine Arts they gave me almost a positive promise +only the day before yesterday." + +He referred to a stubborn caprice of Silviane d'Aulnay, who, although she +had hitherto only reaped a success of beauty on the stage, obstinately +sought to enter the Comedie Francaise and make her /debut/ there in the +part of "Pauline" in Corneille's "Polyeucte," which part she had been +studying desperately for several months past. Her idea seemed an insane +one, and all Paris laughed at it; but the young woman, with superb +assurance, kept herself well to the front, and imperiously demanded the +/role/, feeling sure that she would conquer. + +"It was the minister who wouldn't have it," explained Duthil. + +The Baron was choking. "The minister, the minister! Ah! well, I will soon +have that minister sent to the rightabout." + +However, he had to cease speaking, for at that moment Baroness Duvillard +came into the little drawing-room. At forty-six years of age she was +still very beautiful. Very fair and tall, having hitherto put on but +little superfluous fat, and retaining perfect arms and shoulders, with +speckless silky skin, it was only her face that was spoiling, colouring +slightly with reddish blotches. And these blemishes were her torment, her +hourly thought and worry. Her Jewish origin was revealed by her somewhat +long and strangely charming face, with blue and softly voluptuous eyes. +As indolent as an Oriental slave, disliking to have to move, walk, or +even speak, she seemed intended for a harem life, especially as she was +for ever tending her person. That day she was all in white, gowned in a +white silk toilette of delicious and lustrous simplicity. + +Duthil complimented her, and kissed her hand with an enraptured air. "Ah! +madame, you set a little springtide in my heart. Paris is so black and +muddy this morning." + +However, a second guest entered the room, a tall and handsome man of five +or six and thirty; and the Baron, still disturbed by his passion, +profited by this opportunity to make his escape. He carried Duthil away +into his study, saying, "Come here an instant, my dear fellow. I have a +few more words to say to you about the affair in question. Monsieur de +Quinsac will keep my wife company for a moment." + +The Baroness, as soon as she was alone with the new comer, who, like +Duthil, had most respectfully kissed her hand, gave him a long, silent +look, while her soft eyes filled with tears. Deep silence, tinged with +some slight embarrassment, had fallen, but she ended by saying in a very +low voice: "How happy I am, Gerard, to find myself alone with you for a +moment. For a month past I have not had that happiness." + +The circumstances in which Henri Duvillard had married the younger +daughter of Justus Steinberger, the great Jew banker, formed quite a +story which was often recalled. The Steinbergers--after the fashion of +the Rothschilds--were originally four brothers--Justus, residing in +Paris, and the three others at Berlin, Vienna, and London, a circumstance +which gave their secret association most formidable power in the +financial markets of Europe. Justus, however, was the least wealthy of +the four, and in Baron Gregoire Duvillard he had a redoubtable adversary +against whom he was compelled to struggle each time that any large prey +was in question. And it was after a terrible encounter between the pair, +after the eager sharing of the spoils, that the crafty idea had come to +Justus of giving his younger daughter Eve in marriage, by way of +/douceur/, to the Baron's son, Henri. So far the latter had only been +known as an amiable fellow, fond of horses and club life; and no doubt +Justus's idea was that, at the death of the redoubtable Baron, who was +already condemned by his physicians, he would be able to lay his hands on +the rival banking-house, particularly if he only had in front of him a +son-in-law whom it was easy to conquer. As it happened, Henri had been +mastered by a violent passion for Eve's blond beauty, which was then +dazzling. He wished to marry her, and his father, who knew him, +consented, in reality greatly amused to think that Justus was making an +execrably bad stroke of business. The enterprise became indeed disastrous +for Justus when Henri succeeded his father and the man of prey appeared +from beneath the man of pleasure and carved himself his own huge share in +exploiting the unbridled appetites of the middle-class democracy, which +had at last secured possession of power. Not only did Eve fail to devour +Henri, who in his turn had become Baron Duvillard, the all-powerful +banker, more and more master of the market; but it was the Baron who +devoured Eve, and this in less than four years' time. After she had borne +him a daughter and a son in turn, he suddenly drew away from her, +neglected her, as if she were a mere toy that he no longer cared for. She +was at first both surprised and distressed by the change, especially on +learning that he was resuming his bachelor's habits, and had set his +fickle if ardent affections elsewhere. Then, however, without any kind of +recrimination, any display of anger, or even any particular effort to +regain her ascendency over him, she, on her side, imitated his example. +She could not live without love, and assuredly she had only been born to +be beautiful, to fascinate and reap adoration. To the lover whom she +chose when she was five and twenty she remained faithful for more than +fifteen years, as faithful as she might have been to a husband; and when +he died her grief was intense, it was like real widowhood. Six months +later, however, having met Count Gerard de Quinsac she had again been +unable to resist her imperative need of adoration, and an intrigue had +followed. + +"Have you been ill, my dear Gerard?" she inquired, noticing the young +man's embarrassment. "Are you hiding some worry from me?" + +She was ten years older than he was; and she clung desperately to this +last passion of hers, revolting at the thought of growing old, and +resolved upon every effort to keep the young man beside her. + +"No, I am hiding nothing, I assure you," replied the Count. "But my +mother has had much need of me recently." + +She continued looking at him, however, with anxious passion, finding him +so tall and aristocratic of mien, with his regular features and dark hair +and moustaches which were always most carefully tended. He belonged to +one of the oldest families of France, and resided on a ground-floor in +the Rue St. Dominique with his widowed mother, who had been ruined by her +adventurously inclined husband, and had at most an income of some fifteen +thousand francs* to live upon. Gerard for his part had never done +anything; contenting himself with his one year of obligatory military +service, he had renounced the profession of arms in the same way as he +had renounced that of diplomacy, the only one that offered him an opening +of any dignity. He spent his days in that busy idleness common to all +young men who lead "Paris life." And his mother, haughtily severe though +she was, seemed to excuse this, as if in her opinion a man of his birth +was bound by way of protest to keep apart from official life under a +Republic. However, she no doubt had more intimate, more disturbing +reasons for indulgence. She had nearly lost him when he was only seven, +through an attack of brain fever. At eighteen he had complained of his +heart, and the doctors had recommended that he should be treated gently +in all respects. She knew, therefore, what a lie lurked behind his proud +demeanour, within his lofty figure, that haughty /facade/ of his race. He +was but dust, ever threatened with illness and collapse. In the depths of +his seeming virility there was merely girlish /abandon/; and he was +simply a weak, good-natured fellow, liable to every stumble. It was on +the occasion of a visit which he had paid with his mother to the Asylum +of the Invalids of Labour that he had first seen Eve, whom he continued +to meet; his mother, closing her eyes to this culpable connection in a +sphere of society which she treated with contempt, in the same way as she +had closed them to so many other acts of folly which she had forgiven +because she regarded them as the mere lapses of an ailing child. +Moreover, Eve had made a conquest of Madame de Quinsac, who was very +pious, by an action which had recently amazed society. It had been +suddenly learnt that she had allowed Monseigneur Martha to convert her to +the Roman Catholic faith. This thing, which she had refused to do when +solicited by her lawful husband, she had now done in the hope of ensuring +herself a lover's eternal affection. And all Paris was still stirred by +the magnificence exhibited at the Madeleine, on the occasion of the +baptism of this Jewess of five and forty, whose beauty and whose tears +had upset every heart. + + * About 3000 dollars. + +Gerard, on his side, was still flattered by the deep and touching +tenderness shown to him; but weariness was coming, and he had already +sought to break off the connection by avoiding any further assignations. +He well understood Eve's glances and her tears, and though he was moved +at sight of them he tried to excuse himself. "I assure you," said he, "my +mother has kept me so busy that I could not get away." But she, without a +word, still turned her tearful glance on him, and weak, like herself, in +despair that he should have been left alone with her in this fashion, he +yielded, unable to continue refusing. "Well, then," said he, "this +afternoon at four o'clock if you are free." + +He had lowered his voice in speaking, but a slight rustle made him turn +his head and start like one in fault. It was the Baroness's daughter +Camille entering the room. She had heard nothing; but by the smile which +the others had exchanged, by the very quiver of the air, she understood +everything; an assignation for that very day and at the very spot which +she suspected. Some slight embarrassment followed, an exchange of anxious +and evil glances. + +Camille, at three and twenty, was a very dark young woman, short of +stature and somewhat deformed, with her left shoulder higher than the +right. There seemed to be nothing of her father or mother in her. Her +case was one of those unforeseen accidents in family heredity which make +people wonder whence they can arise. Her only pride lay in her beautiful +black eyes and superb black hair, which, short as she was, would, said +she, have sufficed to clothe her. But her nose was long, her face +deviated to the left, and her chin was pointed. Her thin, witty, and +malicious lips bespoke all the rancour and perverse anger stored in the +heart of this uncomely creature, whom the thought of her uncomeliness +enraged. However, the one whom she most hated in the whole world was her +own mother, that /amorosa/ who was so little fitted to be a mother, who +had never loved her, never paid attention to her, but had abandoned her +to the care of servants from her very infancy. In this wise real hatred +had grown up between the two women, mute and frigid on the one side, and +active and passionate on the other. The daughter hated her mother because +she found her beautiful, because she had not been created in the same +image: beautiful with the beauty with which her mother crushed her. Day +by day she suffered at being sought by none, at realising that the +adoration of one and all still went to her mother. As she was amusing in +her maliciousness, people listened to her and laughed; however, the +glances of all the men--even and indeed especially the younger ones--soon +reverted to her triumphant mother, who seemingly defied old age. In part +for this reason Camille, with ferocious determination, had decided that +she would dispossess her mother of her last lover Gerard, and marry him +herself, conscious that such a loss would doubtless kill the Baroness. +Thanks to her promised dowry of five millions of francs, the young woman +did not lack suitors; but, little flattered by their advances, she was +accustomed to say, with her malicious laugh: "Oh! of course; why for five +millions they would take a wife from a mad-house." However, she, herself, +had really begun to love Gerard, who, good-natured as he was, evinced +much kindness towards this suffering young woman whom nature had treated +so harshly. It worried him to see her forsaken by everyone, and little by +little he yielded to the grateful tenderness which she displayed towards +him, happy, handsome man that he was, at being regarded as a demi-god and +having such a slave. Indeed, in his attempt to quit the mother there was +certainly a thought of allowing the daughter to marry him, which would be +an agreeable ending to it all, though he did not as yet acknowledge this, +ashamed as he felt and embarrassed by his illustrious name and all the +complications and tears which he foresaw. + +The silence continued. Camille with her piercing glance, as sharp as any +knife, had told her mother that she knew the truth; and then with another +and pain-fraught glance she had complained to Gerard. He, in order to +re-establish equilibrium, could only think of a compliment: "Good +morning, Camille. Ah! that havana-brown gown of yours looks nice! It's +astonishing how well rather sombre colours suit you." + +Camille glanced at her mother's white robe, and then at her own dark +gown, which scarcely allowed her neck and wrists to be seen. "Yes," she +replied laughing, "I only look passable when I don't dress as a young +girl." + +Eve, ill at ease, worried by the growth of a rivalry in which she did not +as yet wish to believe, changed the conversation. "Isn't your brother +there?" she asked. + +"Why yes, we came down together." + +Hyacinthe, who came in at that moment, shook hands with Gerard in a weary +way. He was twenty, and had inherited his mother's pale blond hair, and +her long face full of Oriental languor; while from his father he had +derived his grey eyes and thick lips, expressive of unscrupulous +appetites. A wretched scholar, regarding every profession with the same +contempt, he had decided to do nothing. Spoilt by his father, he took +some little interest in poetry and music, and lived in an extraordinary +circle of artists, low women, madmen and bandits; boasting himself of all +sorts of crimes and vices, professing the very worst philosophical and +social ideas, invariably going to extremes, becoming in turn a +Collectivist, an Individualist, an Anarchist, a Pessimist, a Symbolist, +and what not besides; without, however, ceasing to be a Catholic, as this +conjunction of Catholicity with something else seemed to him the supreme +/bon ton/. In reality he was simply empty and rather a fool. In four +generations the vigorous hungry blood of the Duvillards, after producing +three magnificent beasts of prey, had, as if exhausted by the contentment +of every passion, ended in this sorry emasculated creature, who was +incapable alike of great knavery or great debauchery. + +Camille, who was too intelligent not to realise her brother's +nothingness, was fond of teasing him; and looking at him as he stood +there, tightly buttoned in his long frock coat with pleated skirt--a +resurrection of the romantic period, which he carried to exaggeration, +she resumed: "Mamma has been asking for you, Hyacinthe. Come and show her +your gown. You are the one who would look nice dressed as a young girl." + +However, he eluded her without replying. He was covertly afraid of her, +though they lived together in great intimacy, frankly exchanging +confidences respecting their perverse views of life. And he directed a +glance of disdain at the wonderful basket of orchids which seemed to him +past the fashion, far too common nowadays. For his part he had left the +lilies of life behind him, and reached the ranunculus, the flower of +blood. + +The two last guests who were expected now arrived almost together. The +first was the investigating magistrate Amadieu, a little man of five and +forty, who was an intimate of the household and had been brought into +notoriety by a recent anarchist affair. Between a pair of fair, bushy +whiskers he displayed a flat, regular judicial face, to which he tried to +impart an expression of keenness by wearing a single eyeglass behind +which his glance sparkled. Very worldly, moreover, he belonged to the new +judicial school, being a distinguished psychologist and having written a +book in reply to the abuses of criminalist physiology. And he was also a +man of great, tenacious ambition, fond of notoriety and ever on the +lookout for those resounding legal affairs which bring glory. Behind him, +at last appeared General de Bozonnet, Gerard's uncle on the maternal +side, a tall, lean old man with a nose like an eagle's beak. Chronic +rheumatism had recently compelled him to retire from the service. Raised +to a colonelcy after the Franco-German War in reward for his gallant +conduct at St. Privat, he had, in spite of his extremely monarchical +connections, kept his sworn faith to Napoleon III. And he was excused in +his own sphere of society for this species of military Bonapartism, on +account of the bitterness with which he accused the Republic of having +ruined the army. Worthy fellow that he was, extremely fond of his sister, +Madame de Quinsac, it seemed as though he acted in accordance with some +secret desire of hers in accepting the invitations of Baroness Duvillard +by way of rendering Gerard's constant presence in her house more natural +and excusable. + +However, the Baron and Duthil now returned from the study, laughing +loudly in an exaggerated way, doubtless to make the others believe that +they were quite easy in mind. And one and all passed into the large +dining-room where a big wood fire was burning, its gay flames shining +like a ray of springtide amid the fine mahogany furniture of English make +laden with silver and crystal. The room, of a soft mossy green, had an +unassuming charm in the pale light, and the table which in the centre +displayed the richness of its covers and the immaculate whiteness of its +linen adorned with Venetian point, seemed to have flowered miraculously +with a wealth of large tea roses, most admirable blooms for the season, +and of delicious perfume. + +The Baroness seated the General on her right, and Amadieu on her left. +The Baron on his right placed Duthil, and on his left Gerard. Then the +young people installed themselves at either end, Camille between Gerard +and the General, and Hyacinthe between Duthil and Amadieu. And forthwith, +from the moment of starting on the scrambled eggs and truffles, +conversation began, the usual conversation of Parisian /dejeuners/, when +every event, great or little, of the morning or the day before is passed +in review: the truths and the falsehoods current in every social sphere, +the financial scandal, and the political adventure of the hour, the novel +that has just appeared, the play that has just been produced, the stories +which should only be retailed in whispers, but which are repeated aloud. +And beneath all the light wit which circulates, beneath all the laughter, +which often has a false ring, each retains his or her particular worry, +or distress of mind, at times so acute that it becomes perfect agony. + +With his quiet and wonted impudence, the Baron, bravely enough, was the +first to speak of the article in the "Voix du Peuple." "I say, have you +read Sagnier's article this morning? It's a good one; he has /verve/ you +know, but what a dangerous lunatic he is!" + +This set everybody at ease, for the article would certainly have weighed +upon the /dejeuner/ had no one mentioned it. + +"It's the 'Panama' dodge over again!" cried Duthil. "But no, no, we've +had quite enough of it!" + +"Why," resumed the Baron, "the affair of the African Railway Lines is as +clear as spring water! All those whom Sagnier threatens may sleep in +peace. The truth is that it's a scheme to upset Barroux's ministry. Leave +to interpellate will certainly be asked for this afternoon. You'll see +what a fine uproar there'll be in the Chamber." + +"That libellous, scandal-seeking press," said Amadieu gravely, "is a +dissolving agent which will bring France to ruin. We ought to have laws +against it." + +The General made an angry gesture: "Laws, what's the use of them, since +nobody has the courage to enforce them." + +Silence fell. With a light, discreet step the house-steward presented +some grilled mullet. So noiseless was the service amid the cheerful +perfumed warmth that not even the faintest clatter of crockery was heard. +Without anyone knowing how it had come about, however, the conversation +had suddenly changed; and somebody inquired: "So the revival of the piece +is postponed?" + +"Yes," said Gerard, "I heard this morning that 'Polyeucte' wouldn't get +its turn till April at the earliest." + +At this Camille, who had hitherto remained silent, watching the young +Count and seeking to win him back, turned her glittering eyes upon her +father and mother. It was a question of that revival in which Silviane +was so stubbornly determined to make her /debut/. However, the Baron and +the Baroness evinced perfect serenity, having long been acquainted with +all that concerned each other. Moreover Eve was too much occupied with +her own passion to think of anything else; and the Baron too busy with +the fresh application which he intended to make in tempestuous fashion at +the Ministry of Fine Arts, so as to wrest Silviane's engagement from +those in office. He contented himself with saying: "How would you have +them revive pieces at the Comedie! They have no actresses left there." + +"Oh, by the way," the Baroness on her side simply remarked, "yesterday, +in that play at the Vaudeville, Delphine Vignot wore such an exquisite +gown. She's the only one too who knows how to arrange her hair." + +Thereupon Duthil, in somewhat veiled language, began to relate a story +about Delphine and a well-known senator. And then came another scandal, +the sudden and almost suspicious death of a lady friend of the +Duvillards'; whereupon the General, without any transition, broke in to +relieve his bitter feelings by denouncing the idiotic manner in which the +army was nowadays organised. Meantime the old Bordeaux glittered like +ruby blood in the delicate crystal glasses. A truffled fillet of venison +had just cast its somewhat sharp scent amidst the dying perfume of the +roses, when some asparagus made its appearance, a /primeur/ which once +had been so rare but which no longer caused any astonishment. + +"Nowadays we get it all through the winter," said the Baron with a +gesture of disenchantment. + +"And so," asked Gerard at the same moment, "the Princess de Harn's +/matinee/ is for this afternoon?" + +Camille quickly intervened. "Yes, this afternoon. Shall you go?" + +"No, I don't think so, I shan't be able," replied the young man in +embarrassment. + +"Ah! that little Princess, she's really deranged you know," exclaimed +Duthil. "You are aware that she calls herself a widow? But the truth, it +seems, is that her husband, a real Prince, connected with a royal house +and very handsome, is travelling about the world in the company of a +singer. She with her vicious urchin-like face preferred to come and reign +in Paris, in that mansion of the Avenue Hoche, which is certainly the +most extraordinary Noah's ark imaginable, with its swarming of +cosmopolitan society indulging in every extravagance!" + +"Be quiet, you malicious fellow," the Baroness gently interrupted. "We, +here, are very fond of Rosemonde, who is a charming woman." + +"Oh! certainly," Camille again resumed. "She invited us; and we are going +to her place by-and-by, are we not, mamma?" + +To avoid replying, the Baroness pretended that she did not hear, whilst +Duthil, who seemed to be well-informed concerning the Princess, continued +to make merry over her intended /matinee/, at which she meant to produce +some Spanish dancing girls, whose performance was so very indecorous that +all Paris, forewarned of the circumstance, would certainly swarm to her +house. And he added: "You've heard that she has given up painting. Yes, +she busies herself with chemistry. Her /salon/ is full of Anarchists +now--and, by the way, it seemed to me that she had cast her eyes on you, +my dear Hyacinthe." + +Hyacinthe had hitherto held his tongue, as if he took no interest in +anything. "Oh! she bores me to death," he now condescended to reply. "If +I'm going to her /matinee/ it's simply in the hope of meeting my friend +young Lord George Eldrett, who wrote to me from London to give me an +appointment at the Princess's. And I admit that hers is the only /salon/ +where I find somebody to talk to." + +"And so," asked Amadieu in an ironical way, "you have now gone over to +Anarchism?" + +With his air of lofty elegance Hyacinthe imperturbably confessed his +creed: "But it seems to me, monsieur, that in these times of universal +baseness and ignominy, no man of any distinction can be other than an +Anarchist." + +A laugh ran round the table. Hyacinthe was very much spoilt, and +considered very entertaining. His father in particular was immensely +amused by the notion that he of all men should have an Anarchist for a +son. However, the General, in his rancorous moments, talked anarchically +enough of blowing up a society which was so stupid as to let itself be +led by half a dozen disreputable characters. And, indeed, the +investigating magistrate, who was gradually making a specialty of +Anarchist affairs, proved the only one who opposed the young man, +defending threatened civilisation and giving terrifying particulars +concerning what he called the army of devastation and massacre. The +others, while partaking of some delicious duck's-liver /pate/, which the +house-steward handed around, continued smiling. There was so much misery, +said they; one must take everything into account: things would surely end +by righting themselves. And the Baron himself declared, in a conciliatory +manner: "It's certain that one might do something, though nobody knows +exactly what. As for all sensible and moderate claims, oh! I agree to +them in advance. For instance, the lot of the working classes may be +ameliorated, charitable enterprises may be undertaken, such, for +instance, as our Asylum for the Invalids of Labour, which we have reason +to be proud of. But we must not be asked for impossibilities." + +With the dessert came a sudden spell of silence; it was as if, amidst the +restless fluttering of the conversation, and the dizziness born of the +copious meal, each one's worry or distress was again wringing the heart +and setting an expression of perturbation on the countenance. The nervous +unconscientiousness of Duthil, threatened with denunciation, was seen to +revive; so, too, the anxious anger of the Baron, who was meditating how +he might possibly manage to content Silviane. That woman was this sturdy, +powerful man's taint, the secret sore which would perhaps end by eating +him away and destroying him. But it was the frightful drama in which the +Baroness, Camille and Gerard were concerned that flitted by most visibly +across the faces of all three of them: that hateful rivalry of mother and +daughter, contending for the man they loved. And, meantime, the +silver-gilt blades of the dessert-knives were delicately peeling choice +fruit. And there were bunches of golden grapes looking beautifully fresh, +and a procession of sweetmeats, little cakes, an infinity of dainties, +over which the most satiated appetites lingered complacently. + +Then, just as the finger-glasses were being served, a footman came and +bent over the Baroness, who answered in an undertone, "Well, show him +into the /salon/, I will join him there." And aloud to the others she +added: "It's Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, who has called and asks most +particularly to see me. He won't be in our way; I think that almost all +of you know him. Oh! he's a genuine saint, and I have much sympathy for +him." + +For a few minutes longer they loitered round the table, and then at last +quitted the dining-room, which was full of the odours of viands, wines, +fruits and roses; quite warm, too, with the heat thrown out by the big +logs of firewood, which were falling into embers amidst the somewhat +jumbled brightness of all the crystal and silver, and the pale, delicate +light which fell upon the disorderly table. + +Pierre had remained standing in the centre of the little blue and silver +/salon/. Seeing a tray on which the coffee and the liqueurs were in +readiness, he regretted that he had insisted upon being received. And his +embarrassment increased when the company came in rather noisily, with +bright eyes and rosy cheeks. However, his charitable fervour had revived +so ardently within him that he overcame this embarrassment, and all that +remained to him of it was a slight feeling of discomfort at bringing the +whole frightful morning which he had just spent amid such scenes of +wretchedness, so much darkness and cold, so much filth and hunger, into +this bright, warm, perfumed affluence, where the useless and the +superfluous overflowed around those folks who seemed so gay at having +made a delightful meal. + +However, the Baroness at once came forward with Gerard, for it was +through the latter, whose mother he knew, that the priest had been +presented to the Duvillards at the time of the famous conversion. And as +he apologised for having called at such an inconvenient hour, the +Baroness responded: "But you are always welcome, Monsieur l'Abbe. You +will allow me just to attend to my guests, won't you? I will be with you +in an instant." + +She thereupon returned to the table on which the tray had been placed, in +order to serve the coffee and the liqueurs, with her daughter's +assistance. Gerard, however, remained with Pierre; and, it so chanced, +began to speak to him of the Asylum for the Invalids of Labour, where +they had met one another at the recent laying of the foundation-stone of +a new pavilion which was being erected, thanks to a handsome donation of +100,000 francs made by Baron Duvillard. So far, the enterprise only +comprised four pavilions out of the fourteen which it was proposed to +erect on the vast site given by the City of Paris on the peninsula of +Gennevilliers*; and so the subscription fund remained open, and, indeed, +no little noise was made over this charitable enterprise, which was +regarded as a complete and peremptory reply to the accusations of those +evilly disposed persons who charged the satiated /bourgeoisie/ with doing +nothing for the workers. But the truth was that a magnificent chapel, +erected in the centre of the site, had absorbed two-thirds of the funds +hitherto collected. Numerous lady patronesses, chosen from all the +"worlds" of Paris--the Baroness Duvillard, the Countess de Quinsac, the +Princess Rosemonde de Harn, and a score of others--were entrusted with +the task of keeping the enterprise alive by dint of collections and fancy +bazaars. But success had been chiefly obtained, thanks to the happy idea +of ridding the ladies of all the weighty cares of organisation, by +choosing as managing director a certain Fonsegue, who, besides being a +deputy and editor of the "Globe" newspaper, was a prodigious promoter of +all sorts of enterprises. And the "Globe" never paused in its propaganda, +but answered the attacks of the revolutionaries by extolling the +inexhaustible charity of the governing classes in such wise that, at the +last elections, the enterprise had served as a victorious electoral +weapon. + + * This so-called peninsula lies to the northwest of Paris, and + is formed by the windings of the Seine.--Trans. + +However, Camille was walking about with a steaming cup of coffee in her +hand: "Will you take some coffee, Monsieur l'Abbe?" she inquired. + +"No, thank you, mademoiselle." + +"A glass of Chartreuse then?" + +"No, thank you." + +Then everybody being served, the Baroness came back and said amiably: +"Come, Monsieur l'Abbe, what do you desire of me?" + +Pierre began to speak almost in an undertone, his throat contracting and +his heart beating with emotion. "I have come, madame, to appeal to your +great kindness of heart. This morning, in a frightful house, in the Rue +des Saules, behind Montmartre, I beheld a sight which utterly upset me. +You can have no idea what an abode of misery and suffering it was; its +inmates without fire or bread, the men reduced to idleness because there +is no work, the mothers having no more milk for their babes, the children +barely clad, coughing and shivering. And among all these horrors I saw +the worst, the most abominable of all, an old workman, laid on his back +by age, dying of hunger, huddled on a heap of rags, in a nook which a dog +would not even accept as kennel." + +He tried to recount things as discreetly as possible, frightened by the +very words he spoke, the horrors he had to relate in that sphere of +superlative luxury and enjoyment, before those happy ones who possessed +all the gifts of this world; for--to use a slang expression--he fully +realised that he sang out of tune, and in most uncourteous fashion. What +a strange idea of his to have called at the hour when one has just +finished /dejeuner/, when the aroma of hot coffee flatters happy +digestion. Nevertheless he went on, and even ended by raising his voice, +yielding to the feeling of revolt which gradually stirred him, going to +the end of his terrible narrative, naming Laveuve, insisting on the +unjust abandonment in which the old man was left, and asking for succour +in the name of human compassion. And the whole company approached to +listen to him; he could see the Baron and the General, and Duthil and +Amadieu, in front of him, sipping their coffee, in silence, without a +gesture. + +"Well, madame," he concluded, "it seemed to me that one could not leave +that old man an hour longer in such a frightful position, and that this +very evening you would have the extreme goodness to have him admitted +into the Asylum of the Invalids of Labour, which is, I think, the proper +and only place for him." + +Tears had moistened Eve's beautiful eyes. She was in consternation at so +sad a story coming to her to spoil her afternoon when she was looking +forward to her assignation with Gerard. Weak and indolent as she was, +lacking all initiative, too much occupied moreover with her own person, +she had only accepted the presidency of the Committee on the condition +that all administrative worries were to fall on Fonsegue. "Ah! Monsieur +l'Abbe," she murmured, "you rend my heart. But I can do nothing, nothing +at all, I assure you. Moreover, I believe that we have already inquired +into the affair of that man Laveuve. With us, you know, there must be the +most serious guarantees with regard to every admission. A reporter is +chosen who has to give us full information. Wasn't it you, Monsieur +Duthil, who was charged with this man Laveuve's affair?" + +The deputy was finishing a glass of Chartreuse. "Yes, it was I. That fine +fellow played you a comedy, Monsieur l'Abbe. He isn't at all ill, and if +you left him any money you may be sure he went down to drink it as soon +as you were gone. For he is always drunk; and, besides that, he has the +most hateful disposition imaginable, crying out from morning till evening +against the /bourgeois/, and saying that if he had any strength left in +his arms he would undertake to blow up the whole show. And, moreover, he +won't go into the asylum; he says that it's a real prison where one's +guarded by Beguins who force one to hear mass, a dirty convent where the +gates are shut at nine in the evening! And there are so many of them like +that, who rather than be succoured prefer their liberty, with cold and +hunger and death. Well then, let the Laveuves die in the street, since +they refuse to be with us, and be warm and eat in our asylums!" + +The General and Amadieu nodded their heads approvingly. But Duvillard +showed himself more generous. "No, no, indeed! A man's a man after all, +and should be succoured in spite of himself." + +Eve, however, in despair at the idea that she would be robbed of her +afternoon, struggled and sought for reasons. "I assure you that my hands +are altogether tied. Monsieur l'Abbe does not doubt my heart or my zeal. +But how call I possibly assemble the Committee without a few days' delay? +And I have particular reasons for coming to no decision, especially in an +affair which has already been inquired into and pronounced upon, without +the Committee's sanction." Then, all at once she found a solution: "What +I advise you to do, Monsieur l'Abbe, is to go at once to see Monsieur +Fonsegue, our managing director. He alone can act in an urgent case, for +he knows that the ladies have unlimited confidence in him and approve +everything he does." + +"You will find Fonsegue at the Chamber," added Duthil smiling, "only the +sitting will be a warm one, and I doubt whether you will be able to have +a comfortable chat with him." + +Pierre, whose heart had contracted yet more painfully, insisted on the +subject no further; but at once made up his mind to see Fonsegue, and in +any event obtain from him a promise that the wretched Laveuve should be +admitted to the Asylum that very evening. Then he lingered in the saloon +for a few minutes listening to Gerard, who obligingly pointed out to him +how he might best convince the deputy, which was by alleging how bad an +effect such a story could have, should it be brought to light by the +revolutionary newspapers. However, the guests were beginning to take +their leave. The General, as he went off, came to ask his nephew if he +should see him that afternoon at his mother's, Madame de Quinsac, whose +"day" it was: a question which the young man answered with an evasive +gesture when he noticed that both Eve and Camille were looking at him. +Then came the turn of Amadieu, who hurried off saying that a serious +affair required his presence at the Palace of Justice. And Duthil soon +followed him in order to repair to the Chamber. + +"I'll see you between four and five at Silviane's, eh?" said the Baron as +he conducted him to the door. "Come and tell me what occurs at the +Chamber in consequence of that odious article of Sagnier's. I must at all +events know. For my part I shall go to the Ministry of Fine Arts, to +settle that affair of the Comedie; and besides I've some calls to make, +some contractors to see, and a big launching and advertisement affair to +settle." + +"It's understood then, between four and five, at Silviane's," said the +deputy, who went off again mastered by his vague uneasiness, his anxiety +as to what turn that nasty affair of the African Railway Lines might +take. + +And all of them had forgotten Laveuve, the miserable wretch who lay at +death's door; and all of them were hastening away to their business or +their passions, caught in the toils, sinking under the grindstone and +whisked away by that rush of all Paris, whose fever bore them along, +throwing one against another in an ardent scramble, in which the sole +question was who should pass over the others and crush them. + +"And so, mamma," said Camille, who continued to scrutinise her mother and +Gerard, "you are going to take us to the Princess's /matinee/?" + +"By-and-by, yes. Only I shan't be able to stay there with you. I received +a telegram from Salmon about my corsage this morning, and I must +absolutely go to try it on at four o'clock." + +By the slight trembling of her mother's voice, the girl felt certain that +she was telling a falsehood. "Oh!" said she, "I thought you were only +going to try it on to-morrow? In that case I suppose we are to go and +call for you at Salmon's with the carriage on leaving the /matinee/?" + +"Oh! no my dear! One never knows when one will be free; and besides, if I +have a moment, I shall call at the /modiste's/." + +Camille's secret rage brought almost a murderous glare to her dark eyes. +The truth was evident. But however passionately she might desire to set +some obstacle across her mother's path, she could not, dared not, carry +matters any further. In vain had she attempted to implore Gerard with her +eyes. He was standing to take his leave, and turned away his eyes. +Pierre, who had become acquainted with many things since he had +frequented the house, noticed how all three of them quivered, and divined +thereby the mute and terrible drama. + +At this moment, however, Hyacinthe, stretched in an armchair, and +munching an ether capsule, the only liqueur in which he indulged, raised +his voice: "For my part, you know, I'm going to the Exposition du Lis. +All Paris is swarming there. There's one painting in particular, 'The +Rape of a Soul,' which it's absolutely necessary for one to have seen." + +"Well, but I don't refuse to drive you there," resumed the Baroness. +"Before going to the Princess's we can look in at that exhibition." + +"That's it, that's it," hastily exclaimed Camille, who, though she +harshly derided the symbolist painters as a rule, now doubtless desired +to delay her mother. Then, forcing herself to smile, she asked: "Won't +you risk a look-in at the Exposition du Lis with us, Monsieur Gerard?" + +"Well, no," replied the Count, "I want to walk. I shall go with Monsieur +l'Abbe Froment to the Chamber." + +Thereupon he took leave of mother and daughter, kissing the hand of each +in turn. It had just occurred to him that to while away his time he also +might call for a moment at Silviane's, where, like the others, he had his +/entrees/. On reaching the cold and solemn courtyard he said to the +priest, "Ah! it does one good to breathe a little cool air. They keep +their rooms too hot, and all those flowers, too, give one the headache." + +Pierre for his part was going off with his brain in a whirl, his hands +feverish, his senses oppressed by all the luxury which he left behind +him, like the dream of some glowing, perfumed paradise where only the +elect had their abode. At the same time his reviving thirst for charity +had become keener than ever, and without listening to the Count, who was +speaking very affectionately of his mother, he reflected as to how he +might obtain Laveuve's admission to the Asylum from Fonsegue. However, +when the door of the mansion had closed behind them and they had taken a +few steps along the street, it occurred to Pierre that a moment +previously a sudden vision had met his gaze. Had he not seen a workman +carrying a tool-bag, standing and waiting on the foot pavement across the +road, gazing at that monumental door, closed upon so much fabulous +wealth--a workman in whom he fancied he had recognised Salvat, that +hungry fellow who had gone off that morning in search of work? At this +thought Pierre hastily turned round. Such wretchedness in face of so much +affluence and enjoyment made him feel anxious. But the workman, disturbed +in his contemplation, and possibly fearing that he had been recognised, +was going off with dragging step. And now, getting only a back view of +him, Pierre hesitated, and ended by thinking that he must have been +mistaken. + + + +III + +RANTERS AND RULERS + +WHEN Abbe Froment was about to enter the Palais-Bourbon he remembered +that he had no card, and he was making up his mind that he would simply +ask for Fonsegue, though he was not known to him, when, on reaching the +vestibule, he perceived Mege, the Collectivist deputy, with whom he had +become acquainted in his days of militant charity in the poverty-stricken +Charonne district. + +"What, you here? You surely have not come to evangelise us?" said Mege. + +"No, I've come to see Monsieur Fonsegue on an urgent matter, about a poor +fellow who cannot wait." + +"Fonsegue? I don't know if he has arrived. Wait a moment." And stopping a +short, dark young fellow with a ferreting, mouse-like air, Mege said to +him: "Massot, here's Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, who wants to speak to your +governor at once." + +"The governor? But he isn't here. I left him at the office of the paper, +where he'll be detained for another quarter of an hour. However, if +Monsieur l'Abbe likes to wait he will surely see him here." + +Thereupon Mege ushered Pierre into the large waiting-hall, the Salle des +Pas Perdus, which in other moments looked so vast and cold with its +bronze Minerva and Laocoon, and its bare walls on which the pale mournful +winter light fell from the glass doors communicating with the garden. +Just then, however, it was crowded, and warmed, as it were, by the +feverish agitation of the many groups of men that had gathered here and +there, and the constant coming and going of those who hastened through +the throng. Most of these were deputies, but there were also numerous +journalists and inquisitive visitors. And a growing uproar prevailed: +colloquies now in undertones, now in loud voices, exclamations and bursts +of laughter, amidst a deal of passionate gesticulation, Mege's return +into the tumult seemed to fan it. He was tall, apostolically thin, and +somewhat neglectful of his person, looking already old and worn for his +age, which was but five and forty, though his eyes still glowed with +youth behind the glasses which never left his beak-like nose. And he had +a warm but grating voice, and had always been known to cough, living on +solely because he was bitterly intent on doing so in order to realise the +dream of social re-organisation which haunted him. The son of an +impoverished medical man of a northern town, he had come to Paris when +very young, living there during the Empire on petty newspaper and other +unknown work, and first making a reputation as an orator at the public +meetings of the time. Then, after the war, having become the chief of the +Collectivist party, thanks to his ardent faith and the extraordinary +activity of his fighting nature, he had at last managed to enter the +Chamber, where, brimful of information, he fought for his ideas with +fierce determination and obstinacy, like a /doctrinaire/ who has decided +in his own mind what the world ought to be, and who regulates in advance, +and bit by bit, the whole dogma of Collectivism. However, since he had +taken pay as a deputy, the outside Socialists had looked upon him as a +mere rhetorician, an aspiring dictator who only tried to cast society in +a new mould for the purpose of subordinating it to his personal views and +ruling it. + +"You know what is going on?" he said to Pierre. "This is another nice +affair, is it not? But what would you have? We are in mud to our very +ears." + +He had formerly conceived genuine sympathy for the priest, whom he had +found so gentle with all who suffered, and so desirous of social +regeneration. And the priest himself had ended by taking an interest in +this authoritarian dreamer, who was resolved to make men happy in spite +even of themselves. He knew that he was poor, and led a retired life with +his wife and four children, to whom he was devoted. + +"You can well understand that I am no ally of Sagnier's," Mege resumed. +"But as he chose to speak out this morning and threaten to publish the +names of all those who have taken bribes, we can't allow ourselves to +pass as accomplices any further. It has long been said that there was +some nasty jobbery in that suspicious affair of the African railways. And +the worst is that two members of the present Cabinet are in question, for +three years ago, when the Chambers dealt with Duvillard's emission, +Barroux was at the Home Department, and Monferrand at that of Public +Works. Now that they have come back again, Monferrand at the Home +Department, and Barroux at that of Finance, with the Presidency of the +Council, it isn't possible, is it, for us to do otherwise than compel +them to enlighten us, in their own interest even, about their former +goings-on? No, no, they can no longer keep silence, and I've announced +that I intend to interpellate them this very day." + +It was the announcement of Mege's interpellation, following the terrible +article of the "Voix du Peuple," which thus set the lobbies in an uproar. +And Pierre remained rather scared at this big political affair falling +into the midst of his scheme to save a wretched pauper from hunger and +death. Thus he listened without fully understanding the explanations +which the Socialist deputy was passionately giving him, while all around +them the uproar increased, and bursts of laughter rang out, testifying to +the astonishment which the others felt at seeing Mege in conversation +with a priest. + +"How stupid they are!" said Mege disdainfully. "Do they think then that I +eat a cassock for /dejeuner/ every morning? But I beg your pardon, my +dear Monsieur Froment. Come, take a place on that seat and wait for +Fonsegue." + +Then he himself plunged into all the turmoil, and Pierre realised that +his best course was to sit down and wait quietly. His surroundings began +to influence and interest him, and he gradually forgot Laveuve for the +passion of the Parliamentary crisis amidst which he found himself cast. +The frightful Panama adventure was scarcely over; he had followed the +progress of that tragedy with the anguish of a man who every night +expects to hear the tocsin sound the last hour of olden, agonising +society. And now a little Panama was beginning, a fresh cracking of the +social edifice, an affair such as had been frequent in all parliaments in +connection with big financial questions, but one which acquired mortal +gravity from the circumstances in which it came to the front. That story +of the African Railway Lines, that little patch of mud, stirred up and +exhaling a perturbing odour, and suddenly fomenting all that emotion, +fear, and anger in the Chamber, was after all but an opportunity for +political strife, a field on which the voracious appetites of the various +"groups" would take exercise and sharpen; and, at bottom, the sole +question was that of overthrowing the ministry and replacing it by +another. Only, behind all that lust of power, that continuous onslaught +of ambition, what a distressful prey was stirring--the whole people with +all its poverty and its sufferings! + +Pierre noticed that Massot, "little Massot," as he was generally called, +had just seated himself on the bench beside him. With his lively eye and +ready ear listening to everything and noting it, gliding everywhere with +his ferret-like air, Massot was not there in the capacity of a gallery +man, but had simply scented a stormy debate, and come to see if he could +not pick up material for some occasional "copy." And this priest lost in +the midst of the throng doubtless interested him. + +"Have a little patience, Monsieur l'Abbe," said he, with the amiable +gaiety of a young gentleman who makes fun of everything. "The governor +will certainly come, for he knows well enough that they are going to heat +the oven here. You are not one of his constituents from La Correze, are +you?" + +"No, no! I belong to Paris; I've come on account of a poor fellow whom I +wish to get admitted into the Asylum of the Invalids of Labour." + +"Oh! all right. Well, I'm a child of Paris, too." + +Then Massot laughed. And indeed he was a child of Paris, son of a chemist +of the St. Denis district, and an ex-dunce of the Lycee Charlemagne, +where he had not even finished his studies. He had failed entirely, and +at eighteen years of age had found himself cast into journalism with +barely sufficient knowledge of orthography for that calling. And for +twelve years now, as he often said, he had been a rolling stone wandering +through all spheres of society, confessing some and guessing at others. +He had seen everything, and become disgusted with everything, no longer +believing in the existence of great men, or of truth, but living +peacefully enough on universal malice and folly. He naturally had no +literary ambition, in fact he professed a deliberate contempt for +literature. Withal, he was not a fool, but wrote in accordance with no +matter what views in no matter what newspaper, having neither conviction +nor belief, but quietly claiming the right to say whatever he pleased to +the public on condition that he either amused or impassioned it. + +"And so," said he, "you know Mege, Monsieur l'Abbe? What a study in +character, eh? A big child, a dreamer of dreams in the skin of a terrible +sectarian! Oh! I have had a deal of intercourse with him, I know him +thoroughly. You are no doubt aware that he lives on with the everlasting +conviction that he will attain to power in six months' time, and that +between evening and morning he will have established that famous +Collectivist community which is to succeed capitalist society, just as +day follows night. And, by the way, as regards his interpellation to-day, +he is convinced that in overthrowing the Barroux ministry he'll be +hastening his own turn. His system is to use up his adversaries. How many +times haven't I heard him making his calculations: there's such a one to +be used up, then such a one, and then such a one, so that he himself may +at last reign. And it's always to come off in six months at the latest. +The misfortune is, however, that others are always springing up, and so +his turn never comes at all." + +Little Massot openly made merry over it. Then, slightly lowering his +voice, he asked: "And Sagnier, do you know him? No? Do you see that +red-haired man with the bull's neck--the one who looks like a butcher? +That one yonder who is talking in a little group of frayed frock-coats." + +Pierre at last perceived the man in question. He had broad red ears, a +hanging under-lip, a large nose, and big, projecting dull eyes. + +"I know that one thoroughly, as well," continued Massot; "I was on the +'Voix du Peuple' under him before I went on the 'Globe.' The one thing +that nobody is exactly aware of is whence Sagnier first came. He long +dragged out his life in the lower depths of journalism, doing nothing at +all brilliant, but wild with ambition and appetite. Perhaps you remember +the first hubbub he made, that rather dirty affair of a new Louis XVII. +which he tried to launch, and which made him the extraordinary Royalist +that he still is. Then it occurred to him to espouse the cause of the +masses, and he made a display of vengeful Catholic socialism, attacking +the Republic and all the abominations of the times in the name of justice +and morality, under the pretext of curing them. He began with a series of +sketches of financiers, a mass of dirty, uncontrolled, unproved +tittle-tattle, which ought to have led him to the dock, but which met, as +you know, with such wonderful success when gathered together in a volume. +And he goes on in the same style in the 'Voix du Peuple,' which he +himself made a success at the time of the Panama affair by dint of +denunciation and scandal, and which to-day is like a sewer-pipe pouring +forth all the filth of the times. And whenever the stream slackens, why, +he invents things just to satisfy his craving for that hubbub on which +both his pride and his pocket subsist." + +Little Massot spoke without bitterness; indeed, he had even begun to +laugh again. Beneath his thoughtless ferocity he really felt some respect +for Sagnier. "Oh! he's a bandit," he continued, "but a clever fellow all +the same. You can't imagine how full of vanity he is. Lately it occurred +to him to get himself acclaimed by the populace, for he pretends to be a +kind of King of the Markets, you know. Perhaps he has ended by taking his +fine judge-like airs in earnest, and really believes that he is saving +the people and helping the cause of virtue. What astonishes me is his +fertility in the arts of denunciation and scandalmongering. Never a +morning comes but he discovers some fresh horror, and delivers fresh +culprits over to the hatred of the masses. No! the stream of mud never +ceases; there is an incessant, unexpected spurt of infamy, an increase of +monstrous fancies each time that the disgusted public shows any sign of +weariness. And, do you know, there's genius in that, Monsieur l'Abbe; for +he is well aware that his circulation goes up as soon as he threatens to +speak out and publish a list of traitors and bribe-takers. His sales are +certain now for some days to come." + +Listening to Massot's gay, bantering voice, Pierre began to understand +certain things, the exact meaning of which had hitherto escaped him. He +ended by questioning the young journalist, surprised as he was that so +many deputies should be in the lobbies when the sitting was in progress. +Oh! the sitting indeed. The gravest matters, some bill of national +interest, might be under discussion, yet every member fled from it at the +sudden threat of an interpellation which might overturn the ministry. And +the passion stirring there was the restrained anger, the growing anxiety +of the present ministry's clients, who feared that they might have to +give place to others; and it was also the sudden hope, the eager hunger +of all who were waiting--the clients of the various possible ministries +of the morrow. + +Massot pointed to Barroux, the head of the Cabinet, who, though he was +out of his element in the Department of Finances, had taken it simply +because his generally recognised integrity was calculated to reassure +public opinion after the Panama crisis. Barroux was chatting in a corner +with the Minister of Public Instruction, Senator Taboureau, an old +university man with a shrinking, mournful air, who was extremely honest, +but totally ignorant of Paris, coming as he did from some far-away +provincial faculty. Barroux for his part was of decorative aspect, tall, +and with a handsome, clean-shaven face, which would have looked quite +noble had not his nose been rather too small. Although he was sixty, he +still had a profusion of curly snow-white hair completing the somewhat +theatrical majesty of his appearance, which he was wont to turn to +account when in the tribune. Coming of an old Parisian family, +well-to-do, an advocate by profession, then a Republican journalist under +the Empire, he had reached office with Gambetta, showing himself at once +honest and romantic, loud of speech, and somewhat stupid, but at the same +time very brave and very upright, and still clinging with ardent faith to +the principles of the great Revolution. However, his Jacobinism was +getting out of fashion, he was becoming an "ancestor," as it were, one of +the last props of the middle-class Republic, and the new comers, the +young politicians with long teeth, were beginning to smile at him. +Moreover, beneath the ostentation of his demeanour, and the pomp of his +eloquence, there was a man of hesitating, sentimental nature, a good +fellow who shed tears when re-perusing the verses of Lamartine. + +However, Monferrand, the minister for the Home Department, passed by and +drew Barroux aside to whisper a few words in his ear. He, Monferrand, was +fifty, short and fat, with a smiling, fatherly air; nevertheless a look +of keen intelligence appeared at times on his round and somewhat common +face fringed by a beard which was still dark. In him one divined a man of +government, with hands which were fitted for difficult tasks, and which +never released a prey. Formerly mayor of the town of Tulle, he came from +La Correze, where he owned a large estate. He was certainly a force in +motion, one whose constant rise was anxiously watched by keen observers. +He spoke in a simple quiet way, but with extraordinary power of +conviction. Having apparently no ambition, affecting indeed the greatest +disinterestedness, he nevertheless harboured the most ferocious +appetites. Sagnier had written that he was a thief and a murderer, having +strangled two of his aunts in order to inherit their property. But even +if he were a murderer, he was certainly not a vulgar one. + +Then, too, came another personage of the drama which was about to be +performed--deputy Vignon, whose arrival agitated the various groups. The +two ministers looked at him, whilst he, at once surrounded by his +friends, smiled at them from a distance. He was not yet thirty-six. Slim, +and of average height, very fair, with a fine blond beard of which he +took great care, a Parisian by birth, having rapidly made his way in the +government service, at one time Prefect at Bordeaux, he now represented +youth and the future in the Chamber. He had realised that new men were +needed in the direction of affairs in order to accomplish the more +urgent, indispensable reforms; and very ambitious and intelligent as he +was, knowing many things, he already had a programme, the application of +which he was quite capable of attempting, in part at any rate. However, +he evinced no haste, but was full of prudence and shrewdness, convinced +that his day would dawn, strong in the fact that he was as yet +compromised in nothing, but had all space before him. At bottom he was +merely a first-class administrator, clear and precise in speech, and his +programme only differed from Barroux's by the rejuvenation of its +formulas, although the advent of a Vignon ministry in place of a Barroux +ministry appeared an event of importance. And it was of Vignon that +Sagnier had written that he aimed at the Presidency of the Republic, even +should he have to march through blood to reach the Elysee Palace. + +"/Mon Dieu/!" Massot was explaining, "it's quite possible that Sagnier +isn't lying this time, and that he has really found a list of names in +some pocket-book of Hunter's that has fallen into his hands. I myself +have long known that Hunter was Duvillard's vote-recruiter in the affair +of the African Railways. But to understand matters one must first realise +what his mode of proceeding was, the skill and the kind of amiable +delicacy which he showed, which were far from the brutal corruption and +dirty trafficking that people imagine. One must be such a man as Sagnier +to picture a parliament as an open market, where every conscience is for +sale and is impudently knocked down to the highest bidder. Oh! things +happened in a very different way indeed; and they are explainable, and at +times even excusable. Thus the article is levelled in particular against +Barroux and Monferrand, who are designated in the clearest possible +manner although they are not named. You are no doubt aware that at the +time of the vote Barroux was at the Home Department and Monferrand at +that of Public Works, and so now they are accused of having betrayed +their trusts, the blackest of all social crimes. I don't know into what +political combinations Barroux may have entered, but I am ready to swear +that he put nothing in his pocket, for he is the most honest of men. As +for Monferrand, that's another matter; he's a man to carve himself his +share, only I should be much surprised if he had put himself in a bad +position. He's incapable of a blunder, particularly of a stupid blunder, +like that of taking money and leaving a receipt for it lying about." + +Massot paused, and with a jerk of his head called Pierre's attention to +Duthil, who, feverish, but nevertheless smiling, stood in a group which +had just collected around the two ministers. "There! do you see that +young man yonder, that dark handsome fellow whose beard looks so +triumphant?" + +"I know him," said Pierre. + +"Oh! you know Duthil. Well, he's one who most certainly took money. But +he's a mere bird. He came to us from Angouleme to lead the pleasantest of +lives here, and he has no more conscience, no more scruples, than the +pretty finches of his native part, who are ever love-making. Ah! for +Duthil, Hunter's money was like manna due to him, and he never even +paused to think that he was dirtying his fingers. You may be quite sure +he feels astonished that people should attach the slightest importance to +the matter." + +Then Massot designated another deputy in the same group, a man of fifty +or thereabouts, of slovenly aspect and lachrymose mien, lanky, too, like +a maypole, and somewhat bent by the weight of his head, which was long +and suggestive of a horse's. His scanty, straight, yellowish hair, his +drooping moustaches, in fact the whole of his distracted countenance, +expressed everlasting distress. + +"And Chaigneux, do you know him?" continued Massot, referring to the +deputy in question. "No? Well, look at him and ask yourself if it isn't +quite as natural that he, too, should have taken money. He came from +Arras. He was a solicitor there. When his division elected him he let +politics intoxicate him, and sold his practice to make his fortune in +Paris, where he installed himself with his wife and his three daughters. +And you can picture his bewilderment amidst those four women, terrible +women ever busy with finery, receiving and paying visits, and running +after marriageable men who flee away. It's ill-luck with a vengeance, the +daily defeat of a poor devil of mediocre attainments, who imagined that +his position as a deputy would facilitate money-making, and who is +drowning himself in it all. And so how can Chaigneux have done otherwise +than take money, he who is always hard up for a five-hundred-franc note! +I admit that originally he wasn't a dishonest man. But he's become one, +that's all." + +Massot was now fairly launched, and went on with his portraits, the +series which he had, at one moment, dreamt of writing under the title of +"Deputies for Sale." There were the simpletons who fell into the furnace, +the men whom ambition goaded to exasperation, the low minds that yielded +to the temptation of an open drawer, the company-promoters who grew +intoxicated and lost ground by dint of dealing with big figures. At the +same time, however, Massot admitted that these men were relatively few in +number, and that black sheep were to be found in every parliament of the +world. Then Sagnier's name cropped up again, and Massot remarked that +only Sagnier could regard the French Chambers as mere dens of thieves. + +Pierre, meantime, felt most interested in the tempest which the threat of +a ministerial crisis was stirring up before him. Not only the men like +Duthil and Chaigneux, pale at feeling the ground tremble beneath them, +and wondering whether they would not sleep at the Mazas prison that +night, were gathered round Barroux and Monferrand; all the latters' +clients were there, all who enjoyed influence or office through them, and +who would collapse and disappear should they happen to fall. And it was +something to see the anxious glances and the pale dread amidst all the +whispered chatter, the bits of information and tittle-tattle which were +carried hither and thither. Then, in a neighbouring group formed round +Vignon, who looked very calm and smiled, were the other clients, those +who awaited the moment to climb to the assault of power, in order that +they, in their turn, might at last possess influence or office. Eyes +glittered with covetousness, hopeful delight could be read in them, +pleasant surprise at the sudden opportunity now offered. Vignon avoided +replying to the over-direct questions of his friends, and simply +announced that he did not intend to intervene. Evidently enough his plan +was to let Mege interpellate and overthrow the ministry, for he did not +fear him, and in his own estimation would afterwards simply have to stoop +to pick up the fallen portfolios. + +"Ah! Monferrand now," little Massot was saying, "there's a rascal who +trims his sails! I knew him as an anti-clerical, a devourer of priests, +Monsieur l'Abbe, if you will allow me so to express myself; however, I +don't say this to be agreeable to you, but I think I may tell you for +certain that he has become reconciled to religion. At least, I have been +told that Monseigneur Martha, who is a great converter, now seldom leaves +him. This is calculated to please one in these new times, when science +has become bankrupt, and religion blooms afresh with delicious mysticism +on all sides, whether in art, literature, or society itself." + +Massot was jesting, according to his wont; but he spoke so amiably that +the priest could not do otherwise than bow. However, a great stir had set +in before them; it was announced that Mege was about to ascend the +tribune, and thereupon all the deputies hastened into the assembly hall, +leaving only the inquisitive visitors and a few journalists in the Salle +des Pas Perdus. + +"It's astonishing that Fonsegue hasn't yet arrived," resumed Massot; +"he's interested in what's going on. However, he's so cunning, that when +he doesn't behave as others do, one may be sure that he has his reasons +for it. Do you know him?" And as Pierre gave a negative answer, Massot +went on: "Oh! he's a man of brains and real power--I speak with all +freedom, you know, for I don't possess the bump of veneration; and, as +for my editors, well, they're the very puppets that I know the best and +pick to pieces with the most enjoyment. Fonsegue, also, is clearly +designated in Sagnier's article. Moreover, he's one of Duvillard's usual +clients. There can be no doubt that he took money, for he takes money in +everything. Only he always protects himself, and takes it for reasons +which may be acknowledged--as payment or commission on account of +advertising, and so forth. And if I left him just now, looking, as it +seemed to me, rather disturbed, and if he delays his arrival here to +establish, as it were, a moral alibi, the truth must be that he has +committed the first imprudent action in his life." + +Then Massot rattled on, telling all there was to tell about Fonsegue. He, +too, came from the department of La Correze, and had quarrelled for life +with Monferrand after some unknown underhand affairs. Formerly an +advocate at Tulle, his ambition had been to conquer Paris; and he had +really conquered it, thanks to his big morning newspaper, "Le Globe," of +which he was both founder and director. He now resided in a luxurious +mansion in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, and no enterprise was launched +but he carved himself a princely share in it. He had a genius for +"business," and employed his newspaper as a weapon to enable him to reign +over the market. But how very carefully he had behaved, what long and +skilful patience he had shown, before attaining to the reputation of a +really serious man, who guided authoritatively the most virtuous and +respected of the organs of the press! Though in reality he believed +neither in God nor in Devil, he had made this newspaper the supporter of +order, property, and family ties; and though he had become a Conservative +Republican, since it was to his interest to be such, he had remained +outwardly religious, affecting a Spiritualism which reassured the +/bourgeoisie/. And amidst all his accepted power, to which others bowed, +he nevertheless had one hand deep in every available money-bag. + +"Ah! Monsieur l'Abbe," said Massot, "see to what journalism may lead a +man. There you have Sagnier and Fonsegue: just compare them a bit. In +reality they are birds of the same feather: each has a quill and uses it. +But how different the systems and the results. Sagnier's print is really +a sewer which rolls him along and carries him to the cesspool; while the +other's paper is certainly an example of the best journalism one can +have, most carefully written, with a real literary flavour, a treat for +readers of delicate minds, and an honour to the man who directs it. But +at the bottom, good heavens! in both cases the farce is precisely the +same!" + +Massot burst out laughing, well pleased with this final thrust. Then all +at once: "Ah! here's Fonsegue at last!" said he. + +Quite at his ease, and still laughing, he forthwith introduced the +priest. "This is Monsieur l'Abbe Froment, my dear /patron/, who has been +waiting more than twenty minutes for you--I'm just going to see what is +happening inside. You know that Mege is interpellating the government." + +The new comer started slightly: "An interpellation!" said he. "All right, +all right, I'll go to it." + +Pierre was looking at him. He was about fifty years of age, short of +stature, thin and active, still looking young without a grey hair in his +black beard. He had sparkling eyes, too, but his mouth, said to be a +terrible one, was hidden by his moustaches. And withal he looked a +pleasant companion, full of wit to the tip of his little pointed nose, +the nose of a sporting dog that is ever scenting game. "What can I do for +you, Monsieur l'Abbe?" he inquired. + +Then Pierre briefly presented his request, recounting his visit to +Laveuve that morning, giving every heart-rending particular, and asking +for the poor wretch's immediate admittance to the Asylum. + +"Laveuve!" said the other, "but hasn't his affair been examined? Why, +Duthil drew up a report on it, and things appeared to us of such a nature +that we could not vote for the man's admittance." + +But the priest insisted: "I assure you, monsieur, that your heart would +have burst with compassion had you been with me this morning. It is +revolting that an old man should be left in such frightful abandonment +even for another hour. He must sleep at the Asylum to-night." + +Fonsegue began to protest. "To-night! But it's impossible, altogether +impossible! There are all sorts of indispensable formalities to be +observed. And besides I alone cannot take such responsibility. I haven't +the power. I am only the manager; all that I do is to execute the orders +of the committee of lady patronesses." + +"But it was precisely Baroness Duvillard who sent me to you, monsieur, +telling me that you alone had the necessary authority to grant immediate +admittance in an exceptional case." + +"Oh! it was the Baroness who sent you? Ah! that is just like her, +incapable of coming to any decision herself, and far too desirous of her +own quietude to accept any responsibility. Why is it that she wants me to +have the worries? No, no, Monsieur l'Abbe, I certainly won't go against +all our regulations; I won't give an order which would perhaps embroil me +with all those ladies. You don't know them, but they become positively +terrible directly they attend our meetings." + +He was growing lively, defending himself with a jocular air, whilst in +secret he was fully determined to do nothing. However, just then Duthil +abruptly reappeared, darting along bareheaded, hastening from lobby to +lobby to recruit absent members, particularly those who were interested +in the grave debate at that moment beginning. "What, Fonsegue!" he cried, +"are you still here? Go, go to your seat at once, it's serious!" And +thereupon he disappeared. + +His colleague evinced no haste, however. It was as if the suspicious +affair which was impassioning the Chamber had no concern for him. And he +still smiled, although a slight feverish quiver made him blink. "Excuse +me, Monsieur l'Abbe," he said at last. "You see that my friends have need +of me. I repeat to you that I can do absolutely nothing for your +/protege/." + +But Pierre would not accept this reply as a final one. "No, no, +monsieur," he rejoined, "go to your affairs, I will wait for you here. +Don't come to a decision without full reflection. You are wanted, and I +feel that your mind is not sufficiently at liberty for you to listen to +me properly. By-and-by, when you come back and give me your full +attention, I am sure that you will grant me what I ask." + +And, although Fonsegue, as he went off, repeated that he could not alter +his decision, the priest stubbornly resolved to make him do so, and sat +down on the bench again, prepared, if needful, to stay there till the +evening. The Salle des Pas Perdus was now almost quite empty, and looked +yet more frigid and mournful with its Laocoon and its Minerva, its bare +commonplace walls like those of a railway-station waiting-room, between +which all the scramble of the century passed, though apparently without +even warming the lofty ceiling. Never had paler and more callous light +entered by the large glazed doors, behind which one espied the little +slumberous garden with its meagre, wintry lawns. And not an echo of the +tempest of the sitting near at hand reached the spot; from the whole +heavy pile there fell but death-like silence, and a covert quiver of +distress that had come from far away, perhaps from the entire country. + +It was that which now haunted Pierre's reverie. The whole ancient, +envenomed sore spread out before his mind's eye, with its poison and +virulence. Parliamentary rottenness had slowly increased till it had +begun to attack society itself. Above all the low intrigues and the rush +of personal ambition there certainly remained the loftier struggle of the +contending principles, with history on the march, clearing the past away +and seeking to bring more truth, justice, and happiness in the future. +But in practice, if one only considered the horrid daily cuisine of the +sphere, what an unbridling of egotistical appetite one beheld, what an +absorbing passion to strangle one's neighbour and triumph oneself alone! +Among the various groups one found but an incessant battle for power and +the satisfactions that it gives. "Left," "Right," "Catholics," +"Republicans," "Socialists," the names given to the parties of twenty +different shades, were simply labels classifying forms of the one burning +thirst to rule and dominate. All questions could be reduced to a single +one, that of knowing whether this man, that man, or that other man should +hold France in his grasp, to enjoy it, and distribute its favours among +his creatures. And the worst was that the outcome of the great +parliamentary battles, the days and the weeks lost in setting this man in +the place of that man, and that other man in the place of this man, was +simply stagnation, for not one of the three men was better than his +fellows, and there were but vague points of difference between them; in +such wise that the new master bungled the very same work as the previous +one had bungled, forgetful, perforce, of programmes and promises as soon +as ever he began to reign. + +However, Pierre's thoughts invincibly reverted to Laveuve, whom he had +momentarily forgotten, but who now seized hold of him again with a quiver +as of anger and death. Ah! what could it matter to that poor old wretch, +dying of hunger on his bed of rags, whether Mege should overthrow +Barroux's ministry, and whether a Vignon ministry should ascend to power +or not! At that rate, a century, two centuries, would be needed before +there would be bread in the garrets where groan the lamed sons of labour, +the old, broken-down beasts of burden. And behind Laveuve there appeared +the whole army of misery, the whole multitude of the disinherited and the +poor, who agonised and asked for justice whilst the Chamber, sitting in +all pomp, grew furiously impassioned over the question as to whom the +nation should belong to, as to who should devour it. Mire was flowing on +in a broad stream, the hideous, bleeding, devouring sore displayed itself +in all impudence, like some cancer which preys upon an organ and spreads +to the heart. And what disgust, what nausea must such a spectacle +inspire; and what a longing for the vengeful knife that would bring +health and joy! + +Pierre could not have told for how long he had been plunged in this +reverie, when uproar again filled the hall. People were coming back, +gesticulating and gathering in groups. And suddenly he heard little +Massot exclaim near him: "Well, if it isn't down it's not much better +off. I wouldn't give four sous for its chance of surviving." + +He referred to the ministry, and began to recount the sitting to a fellow +journalist who had just arrived. Mege had spoken very eloquently, with +extraordinary fury of indignation against the rotten /bourgeoisie/, which +rotted everything it touched; but, as usual, he had gone much too far, +alarming the Chamber by his very violence. And so, when Barroux had +ascended the tribune to ask for a month's adjournment of the +interpellation, he had merely had occasion to wax indignant, in all +sincerity be it said, full of lofty anger that such infamous campaigns +should be carried on by a certain portion of the press. Were the shameful +Panama scandals about to be renewed? Were the national representatives +going to let themselves be intimidated by fresh threats of denunciation? +It was the Republic itself which its adversaries were seeking to submerge +beneath a flood of abominations. No, no, the hour had come for one to +collect one's thoughts, and work in quietude without allowing those who +hungered for scandal to disturb the public peace. And the Chamber, +impressed by these words, fearing, too, lest the electorate should at +last grow utterly weary of the continuous overflow of filth, had +adjourned the interpellation to that day month. However, although Vignon +had not personally intervened in the debate, the whole of his group had +voted against the ministry, with the result that the latter had merely +secured a majority of two votes--a mockery. + +"But in that case they will resign," said somebody to Massot. + +"Yes, so it's rumoured. But Barroux is very tenacious. At all events if +they show any obstinacy they will be down before a week is over, +particularly as Sagnier, who is quite furious, declares that he will +publish the list of names to-morrow." + +Just then, indeed, Barroux and Monferrand were seen to pass, hastening +along with thoughtful, busy mien, and followed by their anxious clients. +It was said that the whole Cabinet was about to assemble to consider the +position and come to a decision. And then Vignon, in his turn, reappeared +amidst a stream of friends. He, for his part, was radiant, with a joy +which he sought to conceal, calming his friends in his desire not to cry +victory too soon. However, the eyes of the band glittered, like those of +a pack of hounds when the moment draws near for the offal of the quarry +to be distributed. And even Mege also looked triumphant. He had all but +overthrown the ministry. That made another one that was worn out, and +by-and-by he would wear out Vignon's, and at last govern in his turn. + +"The devil!" muttered little Massot, "Chaigneux and Duthil look like +whipped dogs. And see, there's nobody who is worth the governor. Just +look at him, how superb he is, that Fonsegue! But good-by, I must now be +off!" + +Then he shook hands with his brother journalist unwilling as he was to +remain any longer, although the sitting still continued, some bill of +public importance again being debated before the rows of empty seats. + +Chaigneux, with his desolate mien, had gone to lean against the pedestal +of the high figure of Minerva; and never before had he been more bowed +down by his needy distress, the everlasting anguish of his ill-luck. On +the other hand, Duthil, in spite of everything, was perorating in the +centre of a group with an affectation of scoffing unconcern; nevertheless +nervous twitches made his nose pucker and distorted his mouth, while the +whole of his handsome face was becoming moist with fear. And even as +Massot had said, there really was only Fonsegue who showed composure and +bravery, ever the same with his restless little figure, and his eyes +beaming with wit, though at times they were just faintly clouded by a +shadow of uneasiness. + +Pierre had risen to renew his request; but Fonsegue forestalled him, +vivaciously exclaiming: "No, no, Monsieur l'Abbe, I repeat that I cannot +take on myself such an infraction of our rules. There was an inquiry, and +a decision was arrived at. How would you have me over-rule it?" + +"Monsieur," said the priest, in a tone of deep grief, "it is a question +of an old man who is hungry and cold, and in danger of death if he be not +succoured." + +With a despairing gesture, the director of "Le Globe" seemed to take the +very walls as witnesses of his powerlessness. No doubt he feared some +nasty affair for his newspaper, in which he had abused the Invalids of +Labour enterprise as an electoral weapon. Perhaps, too, the secret terror +into which the sitting of the Chamber had just thrown him was hardening +his heart. "I can do nothing," he repeated. "But naturally I don't ask +better than to have my hands forced by the ladies of the Committee. You +already have the support of the Baroness Duvillard, secure that of some +others." + +Pierre, who was determined to fight on to the very end, saw in this +suggestion a supreme chance. "I know the Countess de Quinsac," he said, +"I can go to see her at once." + +"Quite so! an excellent idea, the Countess de Quinsac! Take a cab and go +to see the Princess de Harn as well. She bestirs herself a great deal, +and is becoming very influential. Secure the approval of these ladies, go +back to the Baroness's at seven, get a letter from her to cover me, and +then call on me at the office of my paper. That done, your man shall +sleep at the Asylum at nine o'clock!" + +He evinced in speaking a kind of joyous good nature, as though he no +longer doubted of success now that he ran no risk of compromising +himself. And great hope again came back to the priest: "Ah! thank you, +monsieur," he said; "it is a work of salvation that you will accomplish." + +"But you surely know that I ask nothing better. Ah! if we could only cure +misery, prevent hunger and thirst by a mere word. However, make haste, +you have not a minute to lose." + +They shook hands, and Pierre at once tried to get out of the throng. +This, however, was no easy task, for the various groups had grown larger +as all the anger and anguish, roused by the recent debate, ebbed back +there amid a confused tumult. It was as when a stone, cast into a pool, +stirs the ooze below, and causes hidden, rotting things to rise once more +to the surface. And Pierre had to bring his elbows into play and force a +passage athwart the throng, betwixt the shivering cowardice of some, the +insolent audacity of others, and the smirchings which sullied the greater +number, given the contagion which inevitably prevailed. However, he +carried away a fresh hope, and it seemed to him that if he should save a +life, make but one man happy that day, it would be like a first +instalment of redemption, a sign that a little forgiveness would be +extended to the many follies and errors of that egotistical and +all-devouring political world. + +On reaching the vestibule a final incident detained him for a moment +longer. Some commotion prevailed there following upon a quarrel between a +man and an usher, the latter of whom had prevented the former from +entering on finding that the admission ticket which he tendered was an +old one, with its original date scratched out. The man, very rough at the +outset, had then refrained from insisting, as if indeed sudden timidity +had come upon him. And in this ill-dressed fellow Pierre was astonished +to recognise Salvat, the journeyman engineer, whom he had seen going off +in search of work that same morning. This time it was certainly he, tall, +thin and ravaged, with dreamy yet flaming eyes, which set his pale +starveling's face aglow. He no longer carried his tool-bag; his ragged +jacket was buttoned up and distended on the left side by something that +he carried in a pocket, doubtless some hunk of bread. And on being +repulsed by the ushers, he walked away, taking the Concorde bridge, +slowly, as if chancewise, like a man who knows not whither he is going. + + + +IV + +SOCIAL SIDELIGHTS + +IN her old faded drawing-room--a Louis Seize /salon/ with grey +woodwork--the Countess de Quinsac sat near the chimney-piece in her +accustomed place. She was singularly like her son, with a long and noble +face, her chin somewhat stern, but her eyes still beautiful beneath her +fine snowy hair, which was arranged in the antiquated style of her youth. +And whatever her haughty coldness, she knew how to be amiable, with +perfect, kindly graciousness. + +Slightly waving her hand after a long silence, she resumed, addressing +herself to the Marquis de Morigny, who sat on the other side of the +chimney, where for long years he had always taken the same armchair. "Ah! +you are right, my friend, Providence has left us here forgotten, in a +most abominable epoch." + +"Yes, we passed by the side of happiness and missed it," the Marquis +slowly replied, "and it was your fault, and doubtless mine as well." + +Smiling sadly, she stopped him with another wave of her hand. And the +silence fell once more; not a sound from the streets reached that gloomy +ground floor at the rear of the courtyard of an old mansion in the Rue +St. Dominique, almost at the corner of the Rue de Bourgogne. + +The Marquis was an old man of seventy-five, nine years older than the +Countess. Short and thin though he was, he none the less had a +distinguished air, with his clean-shaven face, furrowed by deep, +aristocratic wrinkles. He belonged to one of the most ancient families of +France, and remained one of the last hopeless Legitimists, of very pure +and lofty views, zealously keeping his faith to the dead monarchy amidst +the downfall of everything. His fortune, still estimated at several +millions of francs, remained, as it were, in a state of stagnation, +through his refusal to invest it in any of the enterprises of the +century. It was known that in all discretion he had loved the Countess, +even when M. de Quinsac was alive, and had, moreover, offered marriage +after the latter's death, at the time when the widow had sought a refuge +on that damp ground floor with merely an income of some 15,000 francs, +saved with great difficulty from the wreck of the family fortune. But +she, who adored her son Gerard, then in his tenth year, and of delicate +health, had sacrificed everything to the boy from a kind of maternal +chasteness and a superstitious fear that she might lose him should she +set another affection and another duty in her life. And the Marquis, +while bowing to her decision, had continued to worship her with his whole +soul, ever paying his court as on the first evening when he had seen her, +still gallant and faithful after a quarter of a century had passed. There +had never been anything between them, not even the exchange of a kiss. + +Seeing how sad she looked, he feared that he might have displeased her, +and so he asked: "I should have liked to render you happy, but I didn't +know how, and the fault can certainly only rest with me. Is Gerard giving +you any cause for anxiety?" + +She shook her head, and then replied: "As long as things remain as they +are we cannot complain of them, my friend, since we accepted them." + +She referred to her son's culpable connection with Baroness Duvillard. +She had ever shown much weakness with regard to that son whom she had had +so much trouble to rear, for she alone knew what exhaustion, what racial +collapse was hidden behind his proud bearing. She tolerated his idleness, +the apathetic disgust which, man of pleasure that he was, had turned him +from the profession of diplomacy as from that of arms. How many times had +she not repaired his acts of folly and paid his petty debts, keeping +silent concerning them, and refusing all pecuniary help from the Marquis, +who no longer dared offer his millions, so stubbornly intent she was on +living upon the remnants of her own fortune. And thus she had ended by +closing her eyes to her son's scandalous love intrigue, divining in some +measure how things had happened, through self-abandonment and lack of +conscience--the man weak, unable to resume possession of himself, and the +woman holding and retaining him. The Marquis, however, strangely enough, +had only forgiven the intrigue on the day when Eve had allowed herself to +be converted. + +"You know, my friend, how good-natured Gerard is," the Countess resumed. +"In that lie both his strength and weakness. How would you have me scold +him when he weeps over it all with me? He will tire of that woman." + +M. de Morigny wagged his head. "She is still very beautiful," said he. +"And then there's the daughter. It would be graver still if he were to +marry her--" + +"But the daughter's infirm?" + +"Yes, and you know what would be said: A Quinsac marrying a monster for +the sake of her millions." + +This was their mutual terror. They knew everything that went on at the +Duvillards, the affectionate friendship of the uncomely Camille and the +handsome Gerard, the seeming idyll beneath which lurked the most awful of +dramas. And they protested with all their indignation. "Oh! that, no, no, +never!" the Countess declared. "My son in that family, no, I will never +consent to it." + +Just at that moment General de Bozonnet entered. He was much attached to +his sister and came to keep her company on the days when she received, +for the old circle had gradually dwindled down till now only a few +faithful ones ventured into that grey gloomy /salon/, where one might +have fancied oneself at thousands of leagues from present-day Paris. And +forthwith, in order to enliven the room, he related that he had been to +/dejeuner/ at the Duvillards, and named the guests, Gerard among them. He +knew that he pleased his sister by going to the banker's house whence he +brought her news, a house, too, which he cleansed in some degree by +conferring on it the great honour of his presence. And he himself in no +wise felt bored there, for he had long been gained over to the century +and showed himself of a very accommodating disposition in everything that +did not pertain to military art. + +"That poor little Camille worships Gerard," said he; "she was devouring +him with her eyes at table." + +But M. de Morigny gravely intervened: "There lies the danger, a marriage +would be absolutely monstrous from every point of view." + +The General seemed astonished: "Why, pray? She isn't beautiful, but it's +not only the beauties who marry! And there are her millions. However, our +dear child would only have to put them to a good use. True, there is also +the mother; but, /mon Dieu/! such things are so common nowadays in Paris +society." + +This revolted the Marquis, who made a gesture of utter disgust. What was +the use of discussion when all collapsed? How could one answer a +Bozonnet, the last surviving representative of such an illustrious +family, when he reached such a point as to excuse the infamous morals +that prevailed under the Republic; after denying his king, too, and +serving the Empire, faithfully and passionately attaching himself to the +fortunes and memory of Caesar? However, the Countess also became +indignant: "Oh! what are you saying, brother? I will never authorize such +a scandal, I swore so only just now." + +"Don't swear, sister," exclaimed the General; "for my part I should like +to see our Gerard happy. That's all. And one must admit that he's not +good for much. I can understand that he didn't go into the Army, for that +profession is done for. But I do not so well understand why he did not +enter the diplomatic profession, or accept some other occupation. It is +very fine, no doubt, to run down the present times and declare that a man +of our sphere cannot possibly do any clean work in them. But, as a matter +of fact, it is only idle fellows who still say that. And Gerard has but +one excuse, his lack of aptitude, will and strength." + +Tears had risen to the mother's eyes. She even trembled, well knowing how +deceitful were appearances: a mere chill might carry her son off, however +tall and strong he might look. And was he not indeed a symbol of that +old-time aristocracy, still so lofty and proud in appearance, though at +bottom it is but dust? + +"Well," continued the General, "he's thirty-six now; he's constantly +hanging on your hands, and he must make an end of it all." + +However, the Countess silenced him and turned to the Marquis: "Let us put +our confidence in God, my friend," said she. "He cannot but come to my +help, for I have never willingly offended Him." + +"Never!" replied the Marquis, who in that one word set an expression of +all his grief, all his affection and worship for that woman whom he had +adored for so many years. + +But another faithful friend came in and the conversation changed. M. de +Larombiere, Vice-President of the Appeal Court, was an old man of +seventy-five, thin, bald and clean shaven but for a pair of little white +whiskers. And his grey eyes, compressed mouth and square and obstinate +chin lent an expression of great austerity to his long face. The grief of +his life was that, being afflicted with a somewhat childish lisp, he had +never been able to make his full merits known when a public prosecutor, +for he esteemed himself to be a great orator. And this secret worry +rendered him morose. In him appeared an incarnation of that old royalist +France which sulked and only served the Republic against its heart, that +old stern magistracy which closed itself to all evolution, to all new +views of things and beings. Of petty "gown" nobility, originally a +Legitimist but now supporting Orleanism, he believed himself to be the +one man of wisdom and logic in that /salon/, where he was very proud to +meet the Marquis. + +They talked of the last events; but with them political conversation was +soon exhausted, amounting as it did to a mere bitter condemnation of men +and occurrences, for all three were of one mind as to the abominations of +the Republican /regime/. They themselves, however, were only ruins, the +remnants of the old parties now all but utterly powerless. The Marquis +for his part soared on high, yielding in nothing, ever faithful to the +dead past; he was one of the last representatives of that lofty obstinate +/noblesse/ which dies when it finds itself without an effort to escape +its fate. The judge, who at least had a pretender living, relied on a +miracle, and demonstrated the necessity for one if France were not to +sink into the depths of misfortune and completely disappear. And as for +the General, all that he regretted of the two Empires was their great +wars; he left the faint hope of a Bonapartist restoration on one side to +declare that by not contenting itself with the Imperial military system, +and by substituting thereto obligatory service, the nation in arms, the +Republic had killed both warfare and the country. + +When the Countess's one man-servant came to ask her if she would consent +to receive Abbe Froment she seemed somewhat surprised. "What can he want +of me? Show him in," she said. + +She was very pious, and having met Pierre in connection with various +charitable enterprises, she had been touched by his zeal as well as by +the saintly reputation which he owed to his Neuilly parishioners. + +He, absorbed by his fever, felt intimidated directly he crossed the +threshold. He could at first distinguish nothing, but fancied he was +entering some place of mourning, a shadowy spot where human forms seemed +to melt away, and voices were never raised above a whisper. Then, on +perceiving the persons present, he felt yet more out of his element, for +they seemed so sad, so far removed from the world whence he had just +come, and whither he was about to return. And when the Countess had made +him sit down beside her in front of the chimney-piece, it was in a low +voice that he told her the lamentable story of Laveuve, and asked her +support to secure the man's admittance to the Asylum for the Invalids of +Labour. + +"Ah! yes," said she, "that enterprise which my son wished me to belong +to. But, Monsieur l'Abbe, I have never once attended the Committee +meetings. So how could I intervene, having assuredly no influence +whatever?" + +Again had the figures of Eve and Gerard arisen before her, for it was at +this asylum that the pair had first met. And influenced by her sorrowful +maternal love she was already weakening, although it was regretfully that +she had lent her name to one of those noisy charitable enterprises, which +people abused to further their selfish interests in a manner she +condemned. + +"But, madame," Pierre insisted, "it is a question of a poor starving old +man. I implore you to be compassionate." + +Although the priest had spoken in a low voice the General drew near. +"It's for your old revolutionary that you are running about, is it not," +said he. "Didn't you succeed with the manager, then? The fact is that +it's difficult to feel any pity for fellows who, if they were the +masters, would, as they themselves say, sweep us all away." + +M. de Larombiere jerked his chin approvingly. For some time past he had +been haunted by the Anarchist peril. But Pierre, distressed and +quivering, again began to plead his cause. He spoke of all the frightful +misery, the homes where there was no food, the women and children +shivering with cold, and the fathers scouring muddy, wintry Paris in +search of a bit of bread. All that he asked for was a line on a visiting +card, a kindly word from the Countess, which he would at once carry to +Baroness Duvillard to prevail on her to set the regulations aside. And +his words fell one by one, tremulous with stifled tears, in that mournful +/salon/, like sounds from afar, dying away in a dead world where there +was no echo left. + +Madame de Quinsac turned towards M. de Morigny, but he seemed to take no +interest in it all. He was gazing fixedly at the fire, with the haughty +air of a stranger who was indifferent to the things and beings in whose +midst an error of time compelled him to live. But feeling that the glance +of the woman he worshipped was fixed upon him he raised his head; and +then their eyes met for a moment with an expression of infinite +gentleness, the mournful gentleness of their heroic love. + +"/Mon Dieu/!" said she, "I know your merits, Monsieur l'Abbe, and I won't +refuse my help to one of your good works." + +Then she went off for a moment, and returned with a card on which she had +written that she supported with all her heart Monsieur l'Abbe Froment in +the steps he was taking. And he thanked her and went off delighted, as if +he carried yet a fresh hope of salvation from that drawing-room where, as +he retired, gloom and silence once more seemed to fall on that old lady +and her last faithful friends gathered around the fire, last relics of a +world that was soon to disappear. + +Once outside, Pierre joyfully climbed into his cab again, after giving +the Princess de Harn's address in the Avenue Kleber. If he could also +obtain her approval he would no longer doubt of success. However, there +was such a crush on the Concorde bridge, that the driver had to walk his +horse. And, on the foot-pavement, Pierre again saw Duthil, who, with a +cigar between his lips, was smiling at the crowd, with his amiable +bird-like heedlessness, happy as he felt at finding the pavement dry and +the sky blue on leaving that worrying sitting of the Chamber. Seeing how +gay and triumphant he looked, a sudden inspiration came to the priest, +who said to himself that he ought to win over this young man, whose +report had had such a disastrous effect. As it happened, the cab having +been compelled to stop altogether, the deputy had just recognized him and +was smiling at him. + +"Where are you going, Monsieur Duthil?" Pierre asked. + +"Close by, in the Champs Elysees." + +"I'm going that way, and, as I should much like to speak to you for a +moment, it would be very kind of you to take a seat beside me. I will set +you down wherever you like." + +"Willingly, Monsieur l'Abbe. It won't inconvenience you if I finish my +cigar?" + +"Oh! not at all." + +The cab found its way out of the crush, crossed the Place de la Concorde +and began to ascend the Champs Elysees. And Pierre, reflecting that he +had very few minutes before him, at once attacked Duthil, quite ready for +any effort to convince him. He remembered what a sortie the young deputy +had made against Laveuve at the Baron's; and thus he was astonished to +hear him interrupt and say quite pleasantly, enlivened as he seemed by +the bright sun which was again beginning to shine: "Ah, yes! your old +drunkard! So you didn't settle his business with Fonsegue? And what is it +you want? To have him admitted to-day? Well, you know I don't oppose it?" + +"But there's your report." + +"My report, oh, my report! But questions change according to the way one +looks at them. And if you are so anxious about your Laveuve I won't +refuse to help you." + +Pierre looked at him in astonishment, at bottom extremely well pleased. +And there was no further necessity even for him to speak. + +"You didn't take the matter in hand properly," continued Duthil, leaning +forward with a confidential air. "It's the Baron who's the master at +home, for reasons which you may divine, which you may very likely know. +The Baroness does all that he asks without even discussing the point; and +this morning,--instead of starting on a lot of useless visits, you only +had to gain his support, particularly as he seemed to be very well +disposed. And she would then have given way immediately." Duthil began to +laugh. "And so," he continued, "do you know what I'll do? Well, I'll gain +the Baron over to your cause. Yes, I am this moment going to a house +where he is, where one is certain to find him every day at this time." +Then he laughed more loudly. "And perhaps you are not ignorant of it, +Monsieur l'Abbe. When he is there you may be certain he never gives a +refusal. I promise you I'll make him swear that he will compel his wife +to grant your man admission this very evening. Only it will, perhaps, be +rather late." + +Then all at once, as if struck by a fresh idea, Duthil went on: "But why +shouldn't you come with me? You secure a line from the Baron, and +thereupon, without losing a minute, you go in search of the Baroness. Ah! +yes, the house embarrasses you a little, I understand it. Would you like +to see only the Baron there? You can wait for him in a little /salon/ +downstairs; I will bring him to you." + +This proposal made Duthil altogether merry, but Pierre, quite scared, +hesitated at the idea of thus going to Silviane d'Aulnay's. It was hardly +a place for him. However, to achieve his purpose, he would have descended +into the very dwelling of the fiend, and had already done so sometimes +with Abbe Rose, when there was hope of assuaging wretchedness. So he +turned to Duthil and consented to accompany him. + +Silviane d'Aulnay's little mansion, a very luxurious one, displaying, +too, so to say, the luxury of a temple, refined but suggestive of +gallantry, stood in the Avenue d'Antin, near the Champs Elysees. The +inmate of this sanctuary, where the orfrays of old dalmaticas glittered +in the mauve reflections from the windows of stained-glass, had just +completed her twenty-fifth year. Short and slim she was, of an adorable, +dark beauty, and all Paris was acquainted with her delicious, virginal +countenance of a gentle oval, her delicate nose, her little mouth, her +candid cheeks and artless chin, above all which she wore her black hair +in thick, heavy bands, which hid her low brow. Her notoriety was due +precisely to her pretty air of astonishment, the infinite purity of her +blue eyes, the whole expression of chaste innocence which she assumed +when it so pleased her, an expression which contrasted powerfully with +her true nature, shameless creature that she really was, of the most +monstrous, confessed, and openly-displayed perversity; such as, in fact, +often spring up from the rotting soil of great cities. Extraordinary +things were related about Silviane's tastes and fancies. Some said that +she was a door-keeper's, others a doctor's, daughter. In any case she had +managed to acquire instruction and manners, for when occasion required +she lacked neither wit, nor style, nor deportment. She had been rolling +through the theatres for ten years or so, applauded for her beauty's +sake, and she had even ended by obtaining some pretty little successes in +such parts as those of very pure young girls or loving and persecuted +young women. Since there had been a question, though, of her entering the +Comedie Francaise to play the /role/ of Pauline in "Polyeucte," some +people had waxed indignant and others had roared with laughter, so +ridiculous did the idea appear, so outrageous for the majesty of classic +tragedy. She, however, quiet and stubborn, wished this thing to be, was +resolved that it should be, certain as she was that she would secure it, +insolent like a creature to whom men had never yet been able to refuse +anything. + +That day, at three o'clock, Gerard de Quinsac, not knowing how to kill +the time pending the appointment he had given Eve in the Rue Matignon, +had thought of calling at Silviane's, which was in the neighbourhood. She +was an old caprice of his, and even nowadays he would sometimes linger at +the little mansion if its pretty mistress felt bored. But he had this +time found her in a fury; and, reclining in one of the deep armchairs of +the /salon/ where "old gold" formed the predominant colour, he was +listening to her complaints. She, standing in a white gown, white indeed +from head to foot like Eve herself at the /dejeuner/, was speaking +passionately, and fast convincing the young man, who, won over by so much +youth and beauty, unconsciously compared her to his other flame, weary +already of his coming assignation, and so mastered by supineness, both +moral and physical, that he would have preferred to remain all day in the +depths of that armchair. + +"You hear me, Gerard!" she at last exclaimed, "I'll have nothing whatever +to do with him, unless he brings me my nomination." + +Just then Baron Duvillard came in, and forthwith she changed to ice and +received him like some sorely offended young queen who awaits an +explanation; whilst he, who foresaw the storm and brought moreover +disastrous tidings, forced a smile, though very ill at ease. She was the +stain, the blemish attaching to that man who was yet so sturdy and so +powerful amidst the general decline of his race. And she was also the +beginning of justice and punishment, taking all his piled-up gold from +him by the handful, and by her cruelty avenging those who shivered and +who starved. And it was pitiful to see that feared and flattered man, +beneath whom states and governments trembled, here turn pale with +anxiety, bend low in all humility, and relapse into the senile, lisping +infancy of acute passion. + +"Ah! my dear friend," said he, "if you only knew how I have been rushing +about. I had a lot of worrying business, some contractors to see, a big +advertisement affair to settle, and I feared that I should never be able +to come and kiss your hand." + +He kissed it, but she let her arm fall, coldly, indifferently, contenting +herself with looking at him, waiting for what he might have to say to +her, and embarrassing him to such a point that he began to perspire and +stammer, unable to express himself. "Of course," he began, "I also +thought of you, and went to the Fine Arts Office, where I had received a +positive promise. Oh! they are still very much in your favour at the Fine +Arts Office! Only, just fancy, it's that idiot of a minister, that +Taboureau,* an old professor from the provinces who knows nothing about +our Paris, that has expressly opposed your nomination, saying that as +long as he is in office you shall not appear at the Comedie." + + * Taboureau is previously described as Minister of Public + Instruction. It should be pointed out, however, that + although under the present Republic the Ministries of + Public Instruction and Fine Arts have occasionally been + distinct departments, at other times they have been + united, one minister, as in Taboureau's case, having + charge of both.--Trans. + +Erect and rigid, she spoke but two words: "And then?" + +"And then--well, my dear, what would you have me do? One can't after all +overthrow a ministry to enable you to play the part of Pauline." + +"Why not?" + +He pretended to laugh, but his blood rushed to his face, and the whole of +his sturdy figure quivered with anguish. "Come, my little Silviane," said +he, "don't be obstinate. You can be so nice when you choose. Give up the +idea of that /debut/. You, yourself, would risk a great deal in it, for +what would be your worries if you were to fail? You would weep all the +tears in your body. And besides, you can ask me for so many other things +which I should be so happy to give you. Come now, at once, make a wish +and I will gratify it immediately." + +In a frolicsome way he sought to take her hand again. But she drew back +with an air of much dignity. "No, you hear me, my dear fellow, I will +have nothing whatever to do with you--nothing, so long as I don't play +Pauline." + +He understood her fully, and he knew her well enough to realise how +rigorously she would treat him. Only a kind of grunt came from his +contracted throat, though he still tried to treat the matter in a jesting +way. "Isn't she bad-tempered to-day!" he resumed at last, turning towards +Gerard. "What have you done to her that I find her in such a state?" + +But the young man, who kept very quiet for fear lest he himself might be +bespattered in the course of the dispute, continued to stretch himself +out in a languid way and gave no answer. + +But Silviane's anger burst forth. "What has he done to me? He has pitied +me for being at the mercy of such a man as you--so egotistical, so +insensible to the insults heaped upon me. Ought you not to be the first +to bound with indignation? Ought you not to have exacted my admittance to +the Comedie as a reparation for the insult? For, after all, it is a +defeat for you; if I'm considered unworthy, you are struck at the same +time as I am. And so I'm a drab, eh? Say at once that I'm a creature to +be driven away from all respectable houses." + +She went on in this style, coming at last to vile words, the abominable +words which, in moments of anger, always ended by returning to her +innocent-looking lips. The Baron, who well knew that a syllable from him +would only increase the foulness of the overflow, vainly turned an +imploring glance on the Count to solicit his intervention. Gerard, with +his keen desire for peace and quietness, often brought about a +reconciliation, but this time he did not stir, feeling too lazy and +sleepy to interfere. And Silviane all at once came to a finish, repeating +her trenchant, severing words: "Well, manage as you can, secure my +/debut/, or I'll have nothing more to do with you, nothing!" + +"All right! all right!" Duvillard at last murmured, sneering, but in +despair, "we'll arrange it all." + +However, at that moment a servant came in to say that M. Duthil was +downstairs and wished to speak to the Baron in the smoking-room. +Duvillard was astonished at this, for Duthil usually came up as though +the house were his own. Then he reflected that the deputy had doubtless +brought him some serious news from the Chamber which he wished to impart +to him confidentially at once. So he followed the servant, leaving Gerard +and Silviane together. + +In the smoking-room, an apartment communicating with the hall by a wide +bay, the curtain of which was drawn up, Pierre stood with his companion, +waiting and glancing curiously around him. What particularly struck him +was the almost religious solemnness of the entrance, the heavy hangings, +the mystic gleams of the stained-glass, the old furniture steeped in +chapel-like gloom amidst scattered perfumes of myrrh and incense. Duthil, +who was still very gay, tapped a low divan with his cane and said: "She +has a nicely-furnished house, eh? Oh! she knows how to look after her +interests." + +Then the Baron came in, still quite upset and anxious. And without even +perceiving the priest, desirous as he was of tidings, he began: "Well, +what did they do? Is there some very bad news, then?" + +"Mege interpellated and applied for a declaration of urgency so as to +overthrow Barroux. You can imagine what his speech was." + +"Yes, yes, against the /bourgeois/, against me, against you. It's always +the same thing--And then?" + +"Then--well, urgency wasn't voted, but, in spite of a very fine defence, +Barroux only secured a majority of two votes." + +"Two votes, the devil! Then he's down, and we shall have a Vignon +ministry next week." + +"That's what everybody said in the lobbies." + +The Baron frowned, as if he were estimating what good or evil might +result to the world from such a change. Then, with a gesture of +displeasure, he said: "A Vignon ministry! The devil! that would hardly be +any better. Those young democrats pretend to be virtuous, and a Vignon +ministry wouldn't admit Silviane to the Comedie." + +This, at first, was his only thought in presence of the crisis which made +the political world tremble. And so the deputy could not refrain from +referring to his own anxiety. "Well, and we others, what is our position +in it all?" + +This brought Duvillard back to the situation. With a fresh gesture, this +time a superbly proud one, he expressed his full and impudent confidence. +"We others, why we remain as we are; we've never been in peril, I +imagine. Oh! I am quite at ease. Sagnier can publish his famous list if +it amuses him to do so. If we haven't long since bought Sagnier and his +list, it's because Barroux is a thoroughly honest man, and for my part I +don't care to throw money out of the window--I repeat to you that we fear +nothing." + +Then, as he at last recognised Abbe Froment, who had remained in the +shade, Duthil explained what service the priest desired of him. And +Duvillard, in his state of emotion, his heart still rent by Silviane's +sternness, must have felt a covert hope that a good action might bring +him luck; so he at once consented to intervene in favour of Laveuve's +admission. Taking a card and a pencil from his pocket-book he drew near +to the window. "Oh! whatever you desire, Monsieur l'Abbe," he said, "I +shall be very happy to participate in this good work. Here, this is what +I have written: 'My dear, please do what M. l'Abbe Froment solicits in +favour of this unfortunate man, since our friend Fonsegue only awaits a +word from you to take proper steps.'" + +At this moment through the open bay Pierre caught sight of Gerard, whom +Silviane, calm once more, and inquisitive no doubt to know why Duthil had +called, was escorting into the hall. And the sight of the young woman +filled him with astonishment, so simple and gentle did she seem to him, +full of the immaculate candour of a virgin. Never had he dreamt of a lily +of more unobtrusive yet delicious bloom in the whole garden of innocence. + +"Now," continued Duvillard, "if you wish to hand this card to my wife at +once, you must go to the Princess de Harn's, where there is a +/matinee/--" + +"I was going there, Monsieur le Baron." + +"Very good. You will certainly find my wife there; she is to take the +children there." Then he paused, for he too had just seen Gerard; and he +called him: "I say, Gerard, my wife said that she was going to that +/matinee/, didn't she? You feel sure--don't you?--that Monsieur l'Abbe +will find her there?" + +Although the young man was then going to the Rue Matignon, there to wait +for Eve, it was in the most natural manner possible that he replied: "If +Monsieur l'Abbe makes haste, I think he will find her there, for she was +certainly going there before trying on a corsage at Salmon's." + +Then he kissed Silviane's hand, and went off with the air of a handsome, +indolent man, who knows no malice, and is even weary of pleasure. + +Pierre, feeling rather embarrassed, was obliged to let Duvillard +introduce him to the mistress of the house. He bowed in silence, whilst +she, likewise silent, returned his bow with modest reserve, the tact +appropriate to the occasion, such as no /ingenue/, even at the Comedie, +was then capable of. And while the Baron accompanied the priest to the +door, she returned to the /salon/ with Duthil, who was scarcely screened +by the door-curtain before he passed his arm round her waist. + +When Pierre, who at last felt confident of success, found himself, still +in his cab, in front of the Princess de Harn's mansion in the Avenue +Kleber, he suddenly relapsed into great embarrassment. The avenue was +crowded with carriages brought thither by the musical /matinee/, and such +a throng of arriving guests pressed round the entrance, decorated with a +kind of tent with scallopings of red velvet, that he deemed the house +unapproachable. How could he manage to get in? And how in his cassock +could he reach the Princess, and ask for a minute's conversation with +Baroness Duvillard? Amidst all his feverishness he had not thought of +these difficulties. However, he was approaching the door on foot, asking +himself how he might glide unperceived through the throng, when the sound +of a merry voice made him turn: "What, Monsieur l'Abbe! Is it possible! +So now I find you here!" + +It was little Massot who spoke. He went everywhere, witnessed ten sights +a day,--a parliamentary sitting, a funeral, a wedding, any festive or +mourning scene,--when he wanted a good subject for an article. "What! +Monsieur l'Abbe," he resumed, "and so you have come to our amiable +Princess's to see the Mauritanians dance!" + +He was jesting, for the so-called Mauritanians were simply six Spanish +dancing-girls, who by the sensuality of their performance were then +making all Paris rush to the Folies-Bergere. For drawing-room +entertainments these girls reserved yet more indecorous dances--dances of +such a character indeed that they would certainly not have been allowed +in a theatre. And the /beau monde/ rushed to see them at the houses of +the bolder lady-entertainers, the eccentric and foreign ones like the +Princess, who in order to draw society recoiled from no "attraction." + +But when Pierre had explained to little Massot that he was still running +about on the same business, the journalist obligingly offered to pilot +him. He knew the house, obtained admittance by a back door, and brought +Pierre along a passage into a corner of the hall, near the very entrance +of the grand drawing-room. Lofty green plants decorated this hall, and in +the spot selected Pierre was virtually hidden. "Don't stir, my dear +Abbe," said Massot, "I will try to ferret out the Princess for you. And +you shall know if Baroness Duvillard has already arrived." + +What surprised Pierre was that every window-shutter of the mansion was +closed, every chink stopped up so that daylight might not enter, and that +every room flared with electric lamps, an illumination of supernatural +intensity. The heat was already very great, the atmosphere heavy with a +violent perfume of flowers and /odore di femina/. And to Pierre, who felt +both blinded and stifled, it seemed as if he were entering one of those +luxurious, unearthly Dens of the Flesh such as the pleasure-world of +Paris conjures from dreamland. By rising on tiptoes, as the drawing-room +entrance was wide open, he could distinguish the backs of the women who +were already seated, rows of necks crowned with fair or dark hair. The +Mauritanians were doubtless executing their first dance. He did not see +them, but he could divine the lascivious passion of the dance from the +quiver of all those women's necks, which swayed as beneath a great gust +of wind. Then laughter arose and a tempest of bravos, quite a tumult of +enjoyment. + +"I can't put my hand on the Princess; you must wait a little," Massot +returned to say. "I met Janzen and he promised to bring her to me. Don't +you know Janzen?" + +Then, in part because his profession willed it, and in part for +pleasure's sake, he began to gossip. The Princess was a good friend of +his. He had described her first /soiree/ during the previous year, when +she had made her /debut/ at that mansion on her arrival in Paris. He knew +the real truth about her so far as it could be known. Rich? yes, perhaps +she was, for she spent enormous sums. Married she must have been, and to +a real prince, too; no doubt she was still married to him, in spite of +her story of widowhood. Indeed, it seemed certain that her husband, who +was as handsome as an archangel, was travelling about with a vocalist. As +for having a bee in her bonnet that was beyond discussion, as clear as +noonday. Whilst showing much intelligence, she constantly and suddenly +shifted. Incapable of any prolonged effort, she went from one thing that +had awakened her curiosity to another, never attaching herself anywhere. +After ardently busying herself with painting, she had lately become +impassioned for chemistry, and was now letting poetry master her. + +"And so you don't know Janzen," continued Massot. "It was he who threw +her into chemistry, into the study of explosives especially, for, as you +may imagine, the only interest in chemistry for her is its connection +with Anarchism. She, I think, is really an Austrian, though one must +always doubt anything she herself says. As for Janzen, he calls himself a +Russian, but he's probably German. Oh! he's the most unobtrusive, +enigmatical man in the world, without a home, perhaps without a name--a +terrible fellow with an unknown past. I myself hold proofs which make me +think that he took part in that frightful crime at Barcelona. At all +events, for nearly a year now I've been meeting him in Paris, where the +police no doubt are watching him. And nothing can rid me of the idea that +he merely consented to become our lunatic Princess's lover in order to +throw the detectives off the scent. He affects to live in the midst of +/fetes/, and he has introduced to the house some extraordinary people, +Anarchists of all nationalities and all colours--for instance, one +Raphanel, that fat, jovial little man yonder, a Frenchman he is, and his +companions would do well to mistrust him. Then there's a Bergaz, a +Spaniard, I think, an obscure jobber at the Bourse, whose sensual, +blobber-lipped mouth is so disquieting. And there are others and others, +adventurers and bandits from the four corners of the earth! . . . Ah! the +foreign colonies of our Parisian pleasure-world! There are a few spotless +fine names, a few real great fortunes among them, but as for the rest, +ah! what a herd!" + +Rosemonde's own drawing-room was summed up in those words: resounding +titles, real millionaires, then, down below, the most extravagant medley +of international imposture and turpitude. And Pierre thought of that +internationalism, that cosmopolitanism, that flight of foreigners which, +ever denser and denser, swooped down upon Paris. Most certainly it came +thither to enjoy it, as to a city of adventure and delight, and it helped +to rot it a little more. Was it then a necessary thing, that +decomposition of the great cities which have governed the world, that +affluxion of every passion, every desire, every gratification, that +accumulation of reeking soil from all parts of the world, there where, in +beauty and intelligence, blooms the flower of civilisation? + +However, Janzen appeared, a tall, thin fellow of about thirty, very fair +with grey, pale, harsh eyes, and a pointed beard and flowing curly hair +which elongated his livid, cloudy face. He spoke indifferent French in a +low voice and without a gesture. And he declared that the Princess could +not be found; he had looked for her everywhere. Possibly, if somebody had +displeased her, she had shut herself up in her room and gone to bed, +leaving her guests to amuse themselves in all freedom in whatever way +they might choose. + +"Why, but here she is!" suddenly said Massot. + +Rosemonde was indeed there, in the vestibule, watching the door as if she +expected somebody. Short, slight, and strange rather than pretty, with +her delicate face, her sea-green eyes, her small quivering nose, her +rather large and over-ruddy mouth, which was parted so that one could see +her superb teeth, she that day wore a sky-blue gown spangled with silver; +and she had silver bracelets on her arms and a silver circlet in her pale +brown hair, which rained down in curls and frizzy, straggling locks as +though waving in a perpetual breeze. + +"Oh! whatever you desire, Monsieur l'Abbe," she said to Pierre as soon as +she knew his business. "If they don't take your old man in at our asylum, +send him to me, I'll take him, I will; I will sleep him somewhere here." + +Still, she remained disturbed, and continually glanced towards the door. +And on the priest asking if Baroness Duvillard had yet arrived, "Why no!" +she cried, "and I am much surprised at it. She is to bring her son and +daughter. Yesterday, Hyacinthe positively promised me that he would +come." + +There lay her new caprice. If her passion for chemistry was giving way to +a budding taste for decadent, symbolical verse, it was because one +evening, whilst discussing Occultism with Hyacinthe, she had discovered +an extraordinary beauty in him: the astral beauty of Nero's wandering +soul! At least, said she, the signs of it were certain. + +And all at once she quitted Pierre: "Ah, at last!" she cried, feeling +relieved and happy. Then she darted forward: Hyacinthe was coming in with +his sister Camille. + +On the very threshold, however, he had just met the friend on whose +account he was there, young Lord George Eldrett, a pale and languid +stripling with the hair of a girl; and he scarcely condescended to notice +the tender greeting of Rosemonde, for he professed to regard woman as an +impure and degrading creature. Distressed by such coldness, she followed +the two young men, returning in their rear into the reeking, blinding +furnace of the drawing-room. + +Massot, however, had been obliging enough to stop Camille and bring her +to Pierre, who at the first words they exchanged relapsed into despair. +"What, mademoiselle, has not madame your mother accompanied you here?" + +The girl, clad according to her wont in a dark gown, this time of +peacock-blue, was nervous, with wicked eyes and sibilant voice. And as +she ragefully drew up her little figure, her deformity, her left shoulder +higher than the right one, became more apparent than ever. "No," she +rejoined, "she was unable. She had something to try on at her +dressmaker's. We stopped too long at the Exposition du Lis, and she +requested us to set her down at Salmon's door on our way here." + +It was Camille herself who had skilfully prolonged the visit to the art +show, still hoping to prevent her mother from meeting Gerard. And her +rage arose from the ease with which her mother had got rid of her, thanks +to that falsehood of having something to try on. + +"But," ingenuously said Pierre, "if I went at once to this person Salmon, +I might perhaps be able to send up my card." + +Camille gave a shrill laugh, so funny did the idea appear to her. Then +she retorted: "Oh! who knows if you would still find her there? She had +another pressing appointment, and is no doubt already keeping it!" + +"Well, then, I will wait for her here. She will surely come to fetch you, +will she not?" + +"Fetch us? Oh no! since I tell you that she has other important affairs +to attend to. The carriage will take us home alone, my brother and I." + +Increasing bitterness was infecting the girl's pain-fraught irony. Did he +not understand her then, that priest who asked such naive questions which +were like dagger-thrusts in her heart? Yet he must know, since everybody +knew the truth. + +"Ah! how worried I am," Pierre resumed, so grieved indeed that tears +almost came to his eyes. "It's still on account of that poor man about +whom I have been busying myself since this morning. I have a line from +your father, and Monsieur Gerard told me--" But at this point he paused +in confusion, and amidst all his thoughtlessness of the world, absorbed +as he was in the one passion of charity, he suddenly divined the truth. +"Yes," he added mechanically, "I just now saw your father again with +Monsieur de Quinsac." + +"I know, I know," replied Camille, with the suffering yet scoffing air of +a girl who is ignorant of nothing. "Well, Monsieur l'Abbe, if you have a +line from papa for mamma, you must wait till mamma has finished her +business. You might come to the house about six o'clock, but I doubt if +you'll find her there, as she may well be detained." + +While Camille thus spoke, her murderous eyes glistened, and each word she +uttered, simple as it seemed, became instinct with ferocity, as if it +were a knife, which she would have liked to plunge into her mother's +breast. In all certainty she had never before hated her mother to such a +point as this in her envy of her beauty and her happiness in being loved. +And the irony which poured from the girl's virgin lips, before that +simple priest, was like a flood of mire with which she sought to submerge +her rival. + +Just then, however, Rosemonde came back again, feverish and flurried as +usual. And she led Camille away: "Ah, my dear, make haste. They are +extraordinary, delightful, intoxicating!" + +Janzen and little Massot also followed the Princess. All the men hastened +from the adjoining rooms, scrambled and plunged into the /salon/ at the +news that the Mauritanians had again begun to dance. That time it must +have been the frantic, lascivious gallop that Paris whispered about, for +Pierre saw the rows of necks and heads, now fair, now dark, wave and +quiver as beneath a violent wind. With every window-shutter closed, the +conflagration of the electric lamps turned the place into a perfect +brazier, reeking with human effluvia. And there came a spell of rapture, +fresh laughter and bravos, all the delight of an overflowing orgy. + +When Pierre again found himself on the footwalk, he remained for a moment +bewildered, blinking, astonished to be in broad daylight once more. +Half-past four would soon strike, but he had nearly two hours to wait +before calling at the house in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy. What should he +do? He paid his driver; preferring to descend the Champs Elysees on foot, +since he had some time to lose. A walk, moreover, might calm the fever +which was burning his hands, in the passion of charity which ever since +the morning had been mastering him more and more, in proportion as he +encountered fresh and fresh obstacles. He now had but one pressing +desire, to complete his good work, since success henceforth seemed +certain. And he tried to restrain his steps and walk leisurely down the +magnificent avenue, which had now been dried by the bright sun, and was +enlivened by a concourse of people, while overhead the sky was again +blue, lightly blue, as in springtime. + +Nearly two hours to lose while, yonder, the wretched Laveuve lay with +life ebbing from him on his bed of rags, in his icy den. Sudden feelings +of revolt, of well-nigh irresistible impatience ascended from Pierre's +heart, making him quiver with desire to run off and at once find Baroness +Duvillard so as to obtain from her the all-saving order. He felt sure +that she was somewhere near, in one of those quiet neighbouring streets, +and great was his perturbation, his grief-fraught anger at having to wait +in this wise to save a human life until she should have attended to those +affairs of hers, of which her daughter spoke with such murderous glances! +He seemed to hear a formidable cracking, the family life of the +/bourgeoisie/ was collapsing: the father was at a hussy's house, the +mother with a lover, the son and daughter knew everything; the former +gliding to idiotic perversity, the latter enraged and dreaming of +stealing her mother's lover to make a husband of him. And meantime the +splendid equipages descended the triumphal avenue, and the crowd with its +luxury flowed along the sidewalks, one and all joyous and superb, +seemingly with no idea that somewhere at the far end there was a gaping +abyss wherein everyone of them would fall and be annihilated! + +When Pierre got as far as the Summer Circus he was much surprised at +again seeing Salvat, the journeyman engineer, on one of the avenue seats. +He must have sunk down there, overcome by weariness and hunger, after +many a vain search. However, his jacket was still distended by something +he carried in or under it, some bit of bread, no doubt, which he meant to +take home with him. And leaning back, with his arms hanging listlessly, +he was watching with dreamy eyes the play of some very little children, +who, with the help of their wooden spades, were laboriously raising +mounds of sand, and then destroying them by dint of kicks. As he looked +at them his red eyelids moistened, and a very gentle smile appeared on +his poor discoloured lips. This time Pierre, penetrated by disquietude, +wished to approach and question him. But Salvat distrustfully rose and +went off towards the Circus, where a concert was drawing to a close; and +he prowled around the entrance of that festive edifice in which two +thousand happy people were heaped up together listening to music. + + + +V + +FROM RELIGION TO ANARCHY + +AS Pierre was reaching the Place de la Concorde he suddenly remembered +the appointment which Abbe Rose had given him for five o'clock at the +Madeleine, and which he was forgetting in the feverishness born of his +repeated steps to save Laveuve. And at thought of it he hastened on, well +pleased at having this appointment to occupy and keep him patient. + +When he entered the church he was surprised to find it so dark. There +were only a few candles burning, huge shadows were flooding the nave, and +amidst the semi-obscurity a very loud, clear voice spoke on with a +ceaseless streaming of words. All that one could at first distinguish of +the numerous congregation was a pale, vague mass of heads, motionless +with extreme attention. In the pulpit stood Monseigneur Martha, finishing +his third address on the New Spirit. The two former ones had re-echoed +far and wide, and so what is called "all Paris" was there--women of +society, politicians, and writers, who were captivated by the speaker's +artistic oratory, his warm, skilful language, and his broad, easy +gestures, worthy of a great actor. + +Pierre did not wish to disturb the solemn attention, the quivering +silence above which the prelate's voice alone rang out. Accordingly he +resolved to wait before seeking Abbe Rose, and remained standing near a +pillar. A parting gleam of daylight fell obliquely on Monseigneur Martha, +who looked tall and sturdy in his white surplice, and scarcely showed a +grey hair, although he was more than fifty. He had handsome features: +black, keen eyes, a commanding nose, a mouth and chin of the greatest +firmness of contour. What more particularly struck one, however, what +gained the heart of every listener, was the expression of extreme +amiability and anxious sympathy which ever softened the imperious +haughtiness of the prelate's face. + +Pierre had formerly known him as Cure, or parish priest, of Ste. +Clotilde. He was doubtless of Italian origin, but he had been born in +Paris, and had quitted the seminary of St. Sulpice with the best possible +record. Very intelligent and very ambitious, he had evinced an activity +which even made his superiors anxious. Then, on being appointed Bishop of +Persepolis, he had disappeared, gone to Rome, where he had spent five +years engaged in work of which very little was known. However, since his +return he had been astonishing Paris by his brilliant propaganda, busying +himself with the most varied affairs, and becoming much appreciated and +very powerful at the archiepiscopal residence. He devoted himself in +particular, and with wonderful results, to the task of increasing the +subscriptions for the completion of the basilica of the Sacred Heart. He +recoiled from nothing, neither from journeys, nor lectures, nor +collections, nor applications to Government, nor even endeavours among +Israelites and Freemasons. And at last, again enlarging his sphere of +action, he had undertaken to reconcile Science with Catholicism, and to +bring all Christian France to the Republic, on all sides expounding the +policy of Pope Leo XIII., in order that the Church might finally triumph. + +However, in spite of the advances of this influential and amiable man, +Pierre scarcely liked him. He only felt grateful to him for one thing, +the appointment of good Abbe Rose as curate at St. Pierre de Montmartre, +which appointment he had secured for him no doubt in order to prevent +such a scandal as the punishment of an old priest for showing himself too +charitable. On thus finding and hearing the prelate speak in that +renowned pulpit of the Madeleine, still and ever pursuing his work of +conquest, Pierre remembered how he had seen him at the Duvillards' during +the previous spring, when, with his usual /maestria/, he had achieved his +greatest triumph--the conversion of Eve to Catholicism. That church, too, +had witnessed her baptism, a wonderfully pompous ceremony, a perfect gala +offered to the public which figures in all the great events of Parisian +life. Gerard had knelt down, moved to tears, whilst the Baron triumphed +like a good-natured husband who was happy to find religion establishing +perfect harmony in his household. It was related among the spectators +that Eve's family, and particularly old Justus Steinberger, her father, +was not in reality much displeased by the affair. The old man sneeringly +remarked, indeed, that he knew his daughter well enough to wish her to +belong to his worst enemy. In the banking business there is a class of +security which one is pleased to see discounted by one's rivals. With the +stubborn hope of triumph peculiar to his race, Justus, consoling himself +for the failure of his first scheme, doubtless considered that Eve would +prove a powerful dissolving agent in the Christian family which she had +entered, and thus help to make all wealth and power fall into the hands +of the Jews. + +However, Pierre's vision faded. Monseigneur Martha's voice was rising +with increase of volume, celebrating, amidst the quivering of the +congregation, the benefits that would accrue from the New Spirit, which +was at last about to pacify France and restore her to her due rank and +power. Were there not certain signs of this resurrection on every hand? +The New Spirit was the revival of the Ideal, the protest of the soul +against degrading materialism, the triumph of spirituality over filthy +literature; and it was also Science accepted, but set in its proper +place, reconciled with Faith, since it no longer pretended to encroach on +the latter's sacred domain; and it was further the Democracy welcomed in +fatherly fashion, the Republic legitimated, recognised in her turn as +Eldest Daughter of the Church. A breath of poetry passed by. The Church +opened her heart to all her children, there would henceforth be but +concord and delight if the masses, obedient to the New Spirit, would give +themselves to the Master of love as they had given themselves to their +kings, recognising that the Divinity was the one unique power, absolute +sovereign of both body and soul. + +Pierre was now listening attentively, wondering where it was that he had +previously heard almost identical words. And suddenly he remembered; and +could fancy that he was again at Rome, listening to the last words of +Monsignor Nani, the Assessor of the Holy Office. Here, again, he found +the dream of a democratic Pope, ceasing to support the compromised +monarchies, and seeking to subdue the masses. Since Caesar was down, or +nearly so, might not the Pope realise the ancient ambition of his +forerunners and become both emperor and pontiff, the sovereign, universal +divinity on earth? This, too, was the dream in which Pierre himself, with +apostolic naivete, had indulged when writing his book, "New Rome": a +dream from which the sight of the real Rome had so roughly roused him. At +bottom it was merely a policy of hypocritical falsehood, the priestly +policy which relies on time, and is ever tenacious, carrying on the work +of conquest with extraordinary suppleness, resolved to profit by +everything. And what an evolution it was, the Church of Rome making +advances to Science, to the Democracy, to the Republican /regimes/, +convinced that it would be able to devour them if only it were allowed +the time! Ah! yes, the New Spirit was simply the Old Spirit of +Domination, incessantly reviving and hungering to conquer and possess the +world. + +Pierre thought that he recognised among the congregation certain deputies +whom he had seen at the Chamber. Wasn't that tall gentleman with the fair +beard, who listened so devoutly, one of Monferrand's creatures? It was +said that Monferrand, once a devourer of priests, was now smilingly +coquetting with the clergy. Quite an underhand evolution was beginning in +the sacristies, orders from Rome flitted hither and thither; it was a +question of accepting the new form of government, and absorbing it by +dint of invasion. France was still the Eldest Daughter of the Church, the +only great nation which had sufficient health and strength to place the +Pope in possession of his temporal power once more. So France must be +won; it was well worth one's while to espouse her, even if she were +Republican. In the eager struggle of ambition the bishop made use of the +minister, who thought it to his interest to lean upon the bishop. But +which of the two would end by devouring the other? And to what a /role/ +had religion sunk: an electoral weapon, an element in a parliamentary +majority, a decisive, secret reason for obtaining or retaining a +ministerial portfolio! Of divine charity, the basis of religion, there +was no thought, and Pierre's heart filled with bitterness as he +remembered the recent death of Cardinal Bergerot, the last of the great +saints and pure minds of the French episcopacy, among which there now +seemed to be merely a set of intriguers and fools. + +However, the address was drawing to a close. In a glowing peroration, +which evoked the basilica of the Sacred Heart dominating Paris with the +saving symbol of the Cross from the sacred Mount of the Martyrs,* +Monseigneur Martha showed that great city of Paris Christian once more +and master of the world, thanks to the moral omnipotence conferred upon +it by the divine breath of the New Spirit. Unable to applaud, the +congregation gave utterance to a murmur of approving rapture, delighted +as it was with this miraculous finish which reassured both pocket and +conscience. Then Monseigneur Martha quitted the pulpit with a noble step, +whilst a loud noise of chairs broke upon the dark peacefulness of the +church, where the few lighted candles glittered like the first stars in +the evening sky. A long stream of men, vague, whispering shadows, glided +away. The women alone remained, praying on their knees. + + * Montmartre. + +Pierre, still in the same spot, was rising on tip-toes, looking for Abbe +Rose, when a hand touched him. It was that of the old priest, who had +seen him from a distance. "I was yonder near the pulpit," said he, "and I +saw you plainly, my dear child. Only I preferred to wait so as to disturb +nobody. What a beautiful address dear Monseigneur delivered!" + +He seemed, indeed, much moved. But there was deep sadness about his +kindly mouth and clear childlike eyes, whose smile as a rule illumined +his good, round white face. "I was afraid you might go off without seeing +me," he resumed, "for I have something to tell you. You know that poor +old man to whom I sent you this morning and in whom I asked you to +interest yourself? Well, on getting home I found a lady there, who +sometimes brings me a little money for my poor. Then I thought to myself +that the three francs I gave you were really too small a sum, and as the +thought worried me like a kind of remorse, I couldn't resist the impulse, +but went this afternoon to the Rue des Saules myself." + +He lowered his voice from a feeling of respect, in order not to disturb +the deep, sepulchral silence of the church. Covert shame, moreover, +impeded his utterance, shame at having again relapsed into the sin of +blind, imprudent charity, as his superiors reproachfully said. And, +quivering, he concluded in a very low voice indeed: "And so, my child, +picture my grief. I had five francs more to give the poor old man, and I +found him dead." + +Pierre suddenly shuddered. But he was unwilling to understand: "What, +dead!" he cried. "That old man dead! Laveuve dead?" + +"Yes, I found him dead--ah! amidst what frightful wretchedness, like an +old animal that has laid itself down for the finish on a heap of rags in +the depths of a hole. No neighbours had assisted him in his last moments; +he had simply turned himself towards the wall. And ah! how bare and cold +and deserted it was! And what a pang for a poor creature to go off like +that without a word, a caress. Ah! my heart bounded within me and it is +still bleeding!" + +Pierre in his utter amazement at first made but a gesture of revolt +against imbecile social cruelty. Had the bread left near the unfortunate +wretch, and devoured too eagerly, perhaps, after long days of abstinence, +been the cause of his death? Or was not this rather the fatal +/denouement/ of an ended life, worn away by labour and privation? +However, what did the cause signify? Death had come and delivered the +poor man. "It isn't he that I pity," Pierre muttered at last; "it is +we--we who witness all that, we who are guilty of these abominations." + +But good Abbe Rose was already becoming resigned, and would only think of +forgiveness and hope. "No, no, my child, rebellion is evil. If we are all +guilty we can only implore Providence to forget our faults. I had given +you an appointment here hoping for good news; and it's I who come to tell +you of that frightful thing. Let us be penitent and pray." + +Then he knelt upon the flagstones near the pillar, in the rear of the +praying women, who looked black and vague in the gloom. And he inclined +his white head, and for a long time remained in a posture of humility. + +But Pierre was unable to pray, so powerfully did revolt stir him. He did +not even bend his knees, but remained erect and quivering. His heart +seemed to have been crushed; not a tear came to his ardent eyes. So +Laveuve had died yonder, stretched on his litter of rags, his hands +clenched in his obstinate desire to cling to his life of torture, whilst +he, Pierre, again glowing with the flame of charity, consumed by +apostolic zeal, was scouring Paris to find him for the evening a clean +bed on which he might be saved. Ah! the atrocious irony of it all! He +must have been at the Duvillards' in the warm /salon/, all blue and +silver, whilst the old man was expiring; and it was for a wretched corpse +that he had then hastened to the Chamber of Deputies, to the Countess de +Quinsac's, to that creature Silviane's, and to that creature Rosemonde's. +And it was for that corpse, freed from life, escaped from misery as from +prison, that he had worried people, broken in upon their egotism, +disturbed the peace of some, threatened the pleasures of others! What was +the use of hastening from the parliamentary den to the cold /salon/ where +the dust of the past was congealing; of going from the sphere of +middle-class debauchery to that of cosmopolitan extravagance, since one +always arrived too late, and saved people when they were already dead? +How ridiculous to have allowed himself to be fired once more by that +blaze of charity, that final conflagration, only the ashes of which he +now felt within him? This time he thought he was dead himself; he was +naught but an empty sepulchre. + +And all the frightful void and chaos which he had felt that morning at +the basilica of the Sacred Heart after his mass became yet deeper, +henceforth unfathomable. If charity were illusory and useless the Gospel +crumbled, the end of the Book was nigh. After centuries of stubborn +efforts, Redemption through Christianity failed, and another means of +salvation was needed by the world in presence of the exasperated thirst +for justice which came from the duped and wretched nations. They would +have no more of that deceptive paradise, the promise of which had so long +served to prop up social iniquity; they demanded that the question of +happiness should be decided upon this earth. But how? By means of what +new religion, what combination between the sentiment of the Divine and +the necessity for honouring life in its sovereignty and its fruitfulness? +Therein lay the grievous, torturing problem, into the midst of which +Pierre was sinking; he, a priest, severed by vows of chastity and +superstition from the rest of mankind. + +He had ceased to believe in the efficacy of alms; it was not sufficient +that one should be charitable, henceforth one must be just. Given +justice, indeed, horrid misery would disappear, and no such thing as +charity would be needed. Most certainly there was no lack of +compassionate hearts in that grievous city of Paris; charitable +foundations sprouted forth there like green leaves at the first warmth of +springtide. There were some for every age, every peril, every misfortune. +Through the concern shown for mothers, children were succoured even +before they were born; then came the infant and orphan asylums lavishly +provided for all sorts of classes; and, afterwards, man was followed +through his life, help was tendered on all sides, particularly as he grew +old, by a multiplicity of asylums, almshouses, and refuges. And there +were all the hands stretched out to the forsaken ones, the disinherited +ones, even the criminals, all sorts of associations to protect the weak, +societies for the prevention of crime, homes that offered hospitality to +those who repented. Whether as regards the propagation of good deeds, the +support of the young, the saving of life, the bestowal of pecuniary help, +or the promotion of guilds, pages and pages would have been needed merely +to particularise the extraordinary vegetation of charity that sprouted +between the paving-stones of Paris with so fine a vigour, in which +goodness of soul was mingled with social vanity. Still that could not +matter, since charity redeemed and purified all. But how terrible the +proposition that this charity was a useless mockery! What! after so many +centuries of Christian charity not a sore had healed. Misery had only +grown and spread, irritated even to rage. Incessantly aggravated, the +evil was reaching the point when it would be impossible to tolerate it +for another day, since social injustice was neither arrested nor even +diminished thereby. And besides, if only one single old man died of cold +and hunger, did not the social edifice, raised on the theory of charity, +collapse? But one victim, and society was condemned, thought Pierre. + +He now felt such bitterness of heart that he could remain no longer in +that church where the shadows ever slowly fell, blurring the sanctuaries +and the large pale images of Christ nailed upon the Cross. All was about +to sink into darkness, and he could hear nothing beyond an expiring +murmur of prayers, a plaint from the women who were praying on their +knees, in the depths of the shrouding gloom. + +At the same time he hardly liked to go off without saying a word to Abbe +Rose, who in his entreaties born of simple faith left the happiness and +peace of mankind to the good pleasure of the Invisible. However, fearing +that he might disturb him, Pierre was making up his mind to retire, when +the old priest of his own accord raised his head. "Ah, my child," said +he, "how difficult it is to be good in a reasonable manner. Monseigneur +Martha has scolded me again, and but for the forgiveness of God I should +fear for my salvation." + +For a moment Pierre paused under the porticus of the Madeleine, on the +summit of the great flight of steps which, rising above the railings, +dominates the Place. Before him was the Rue Royale dipping down to the +expanse of the Place de la Concorde, where rose the obelisk and the pair +of plashing fountains. And, farther yet, the paling colonnade of the +Chamber of Deputies bounded the horizon. It was a vista of sovereign +grandeur under that pale sky over which twilight was slowly stealing, and +which seemed to broaden the thoroughfares, throw back the edifices, and +lend them the quivering, soaring aspect of the palaces of dreamland. No +other capital in the world could boast a scene of such aerial pomp, such +grandiose magnificence, at that hour of vagueness, when falling night +imparts to cities a dreamy semblance, the infinite of human immensity. + +Motionless and hesitating in presence of the opening expanse, Pierre +distressfully pondered as to whither he should go now that all which he +had so passionately sought to achieve since the morning had suddenly +crumbled away. Was he still bound for the Duvillard mansion in the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy? He no longer knew. Then the exasperating remembrance, +with its cruel irony, returned to him. Since Laveuve was dead, of what +use was it for him to kill time and perambulate the pavements pending the +arrival of six o'clock? The idea that he had a home, and that the most +simple course would be to return to it, did not even occur to him. He +felt as if there were something of importance left for him to do, though +he could not possibly tell what it might be. It seemed to him to be +everywhere and yet very far away, to be so vague and so difficult of +accomplishment that he would certainly never be in time or have +sufficient power to do it. However, with heavy feet and tumultuous brain +he descended the steps and, yielding to some obstinate impulse, began to +walk through the flower-market, a late winter market where the first +azaleas were opening with a little shiver. Some women were purchasing +Nice roses and violets; and Pierre looked at them as if he were +interested in all that soft, delicate, perfumed luxury. But suddenly he +felt a horror of it and went off, starting along the Boulevards. + +He walked straight before him without knowing why or whither. The falling +darkness surprised him as if it were an unexpected phenomenon. Raising +his eyes to the sky he felt astonished at seeing its azure gently pale +between the slender black streaks of the chimney funnels. And the huge +golden letters by which names or trades were advertised on every balcony +also seemed to him singular in the last gleams of the daylight. Never +before had he paid attention to the motley tints seen on the +house-fronts, the painted mirrors, the blinds, the coats of arms, the +posters of violent hues, the magnificent shops, like drawing-rooms and +boudoirs open to the full light. And then, both in the roadway and along +the foot-pavements, between the blue, red or yellow columns and kiosks, +what mighty traffic there was, what an extraordinary crowd! The vehicles +rolled along in a thundering stream: on all sides billows of cabs were +parted by the ponderous tacking of huge omnibuses, which suggested lofty, +bright-hued battle-ships. And on either hand, and farther and farther, +and even among the wheels, the flood of passengers rushed on incessantly, +with the conquering haste of ants in a state of revolution. Whence came +all those people, and whither were all those vehicles going? How +stupefying and torturing it all was. + +Pierre was still walking straight ahead, mechanically, carried on by his +gloomy reverie. Night was coming, the first gas-burners were being +lighted; it was the dusk of Paris, the hour when real darkness has not +yet come, when the electric lights flame in the dying day. Lamps shone +forth on all sides, the shop-fronts were being illumined. Soon, moreover, +right along the Boulevards the vehicles would carry their vivid starry +lights, like a milky way on the march betwixt the foot-pavements all +glowing with lanterns and cordons and girandoles, a dazzling profusion of +radiance akin to sunlight. And the shouts of the drivers and the jostling +of the foot passengers re-echoed the parting haste of the Paris which is +all business or passion, which is absorbed in the merciless struggle for +love and for money. The hard day was over, and now the Paris of Pleasure +was lighting up for its night of /fete/. The cafes, the wine shops, the +restaurants, flared and displayed their bright metal bars, and their +little white tables behind their clear and lofty windows, whilst near +their doors, by way of temptation, were oysters and choice fruits. And +the Paris which was thus awaking with the first flashes of the gas was +already full of the gaiety of enjoyment, already yielding to an unbridled +appetite for whatsoever may be purchased. + +However, Pierre had a narrow escape from being knocked down. A flock of +newspaper hawkers came out of a side street, and darted through the crowd +shouting the titles of the evening journals. A fresh edition of the "Voix +du Peuple" gave rise, in particular, to a deafening clamour, which rose +above all the rumbling of wheels. At regular intervals hoarse voices +raised and repeated the cry: "Ask for the 'Voix du Peuple'--the new +scandal of the African Railway Lines, the repulse of the ministry, the +thirty-two bribe-takers of the Chamber and the Senate!" And these +announcements, set in huge type, could be read on the copies of the +paper, which the hawkers flourished like banners. Accustomed as it was to +such filth, saturated with infamy, the crowd continued on its way without +paying much attention. Still a few men paused and bought the paper, while +painted women, who had come down to the Boulevards in search of a dinner, +trailed their skirts and waited for some chance lover, glancing +interrogatively at the outside customers of the cafes. And meantime the +dishonouring shout of the newspaper hawkers, that cry in which there was +both smirch and buffet, seemed like the last knell of the day, ringing +the nation's funeral at the outset of the night of pleasure which was +beginning. + +Then Pierre once more remembered his morning and that frightful house in +the Rue des Saules, where so much want and suffering were heaped up. He +again saw the yard filthy like a quagmire, the evil-smelling staircases, +the sordid, bare, icy rooms, the families fighting for messes which even +stray dogs would not have eaten; the mothers, with exhausted breasts, +carrying screaming children to and fro; the old men who fell in corners +like brute beasts, and died of hunger amidst filth. And then came his +other hours with the magnificence or the quietude or the gaiety of the +/salons/ through which he had passed, the whole insolent display of +financial Paris, and political Paris, and society Paris. And at last he +came to the dusk, and to that Paris-Sodom and Paris-Gomorrah before him, +which was lighting itself up for the night, for the abominations of that +accomplice night which, like fine dust, was little by little submerging +the expanse of roofs. And the hateful monstrosity of it all howled aloud +under the pale sky where the first pure, twinkling stars were gleaming. + +A great shudder came upon Pierre as he thought of all that mass of +iniquity and suffering, of all that went on below amid want and crime, +and all that went on above amid wealth and vice. The /bourgeoisie/, +wielding power, would relinquish naught of the sovereignty which it had +conquered, wholly stolen, while the people, the eternal dupe, silent so +long, clenched its fists and growled, claiming its legitimate share. And +it was that frightful injustice which filled the growing gloom with +anger. From what dark-breasted cloud would the thunderbolt fall? For +years he had been waiting for that thunderbolt which low rumbles +announced on all points of the horizon. And if he had written a book full +of candour and hope, if he had gone in all innocence to Rome, it was to +avert that thunderbolt and its frightful consequences. But all hope of +the kind was dead within him; he felt that the thunderbolt was +inevitable, that nothing henceforth could stay the catastrophe. And never +before had he felt it to be so near, amidst the happy impudence of some, +and the exasperated distress of others. And it was gathering, and it +would surely fall over that Paris, all lust and bravado, which, when +evening came, thus stirred up its furnace. + +Tired out and distracted, Pierre raised his eyes as he reached the Place +de l'Opera. Where was he then? The heart of the great city seemed to beat +on this spot, in that vast expanse where met so many thoroughfares, as if +from every point the blood of distant districts flowed thither along +triumphal avenues. Right away to the horizon stretched the great gaps of +the Avenue de l'Opera, the Rue du Quatre-Septembre, and the Rue de la +Paix, still showing clearly in a final glimpse of daylight, but already +starred with swarming sparks. The torrent of the Boulevard traffic poured +across the Place, where clashed, too, all that from the neighbouring +streets, with a constant turning and eddying which made the spot the most +dangerous of whirlpools. In vain did the police seek to impose some +little prudence, the stream of pedestrians still overflowed, wheels +became entangled and horses reared amidst all the uproar of the human +tide, which was as loud, as incessant, as the tempest voice of an ocean. +Then there was the detached mass of the opera-house, slowly steeped in +gloom, and rising huge and mysterious like a symbol, its lyre-bearing +figure of Apollo, right aloft, showing a last reflection of daylight +amidst the livid sky. And all the windows of the house-fronts began to +shine, gaiety sprang from those thousands of lamps which coruscated one +by one, a universal longing for ease and free gratification of each +desire spread with the increasing darkness; whilst, at long intervals, +the large globes of the electric lights shone as brightly as the moons of +the city's cloudless nights. + +But why was he, Pierre, there, he asked himself, irritated and wondering. +Since Laveuve was dead he had but to go home, bury himself in his nook, +and close up door and windows, like one who was henceforth useless, who +had neither belief nor hope, and awaited naught save annihilation. It was +a long journey from the Place de l'Opera to his little house at Neuilly. +Still, however great his weariness, he would not take a cab, but retraced +his steps, turning towards the Madeleine again, and plunging into the +scramble of the pavements, amidst the deafening uproar from the roadway, +with a bitter desire to aggravate his wound and saturate himself with +revolt and anger. Was it not yonder at the corner of that street, at the +end of that Boulevard, that he would find the expected abyss into which +that rotten world, whose old society he could hear rending at each step, +must soon assuredly topple? + +However, when Pierre wished to cross the Rue Scribe a block in the +traffic made him halt. In front of a luxurious cafe two tall, +shabbily-clad and very dirty fellows were alternately offering the "Voix +du Peuple" with its account of the scandals and the bribe-takers of the +Chamber and the Senate, in voices so suggestive of cracked brass that +passers-by clustered around them. And here, in a hesitating, wandering +man, who after listening drew near to the large cafe and peered through +its windows, Pierre was once again amazed to recognise Salvat. This time +the meeting struck him forcibly, filled him with suspicion to such a +point that he also stopped and resolved to watch the journeyman engineer. +He did not expect that one of such wretched aspect, with what seemed to +be a hunk of bread distending his old ragged jacket, would enter and seat +himself at one of the cafe's little tables amidst the warm gaiety of the +lamps. However, he waited for a moment, and then saw him wander away with +slow and broken steps as if the cafe, which was nearly empty, did not +suit him. What could he have been seeking, whither had he been going, +since the morning, ever on a wild, solitary chase through the Paris of +wealth and enjoyment while hunger dogged his steps? It was only with +difficulty that he now dragged himself along, his will and energy seemed +to be exhausted. As if quite overcome, he drew near to a kiosk, and for a +moment leant against it. Then, however, he drew himself up again, and +walked on further, still as it were in search of something. + +And now came an incident which brought Pierre's emotion to a climax. A +tall sturdy man on turning out of the Rue Caumartin caught sight of +Salvat, and approached him. And just as the new comer without false pride +was shaking the workman's hand, Pierre recognised him as his brother +Guillaume. Yes, it was indeed he, with his thick bushy hair already white +like snow, though he was but seven and forty. However, his heavy +moustaches had remained quite dark without one silver thread, thus +lending an expression of vigorous life to his full face with its lofty +towering brow. It was from his father that he had inherited that brow of +impregnable logic and reason, similar to that which Pierre himself +possessed. But the lower part of the elder brother's countenance was +fuller than that of his junior; his nose was larger, his chin was square, +and his mouth broad and firm of contour. A pale scar, the mark of an old +wound, streaked his left temple. And his physiognomy, though it might at +first seem very grave, rough, and unexpansive, beamed with masculine +kindliness whenever a smile revealed his teeth, which had remained +extremely white. + +While looking at his brother, Pierre remembered what Madame Theodore had +told him that morning. Guillaume, touched by Salvat's dire want, had +arranged to give him a few days' employment. And this explained the air +of interest with which he now seemed to be questioning him, while the +engineer, whom the meeting disturbed, stamped about as if eager to resume +his mournful ramble. For a moment Guillaume appeared to notice the +other's perturbation, by the embarrassed answers which he obtained from +him. Still, they at last parted as if each were going his way. Then, +however, almost immediately, Guillaume turned round again and watched the +other, as with harassed stubborn mien he went off through the crowd. And +the thoughts which had come to Guillaume must have been very serious and +very pressing, for he all at once began to retrace his steps and follow +the workman from a distance, as if to ascertain for certain what +direction he would take. + +Pierre had watched the scene with growing disquietude. His nervous +apprehension of some great unknown calamity, the suspicions born of his +frequent and inexplicable meetings with Salvat, his surprise at now +seeing his brother mingled with the affair, all helped to fill him with a +pressing desire to know, witness, and perhaps prevent. So he did not +hesitate, but began to follow the others in a prudent way. + +Fresh perturbation came upon him when first Salvat and then Guillaume +suddenly turned into the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy. What destiny was thus +bringing him back to that street whither a little time previously he had +wished to return in feverish haste, and whence only the death of Laveuve +had kept him? And his consternation increased yet further when, after +losing sight of Salvat for a moment, he saw him standing in front of the +Duvillard mansion, on the same spot where he had fancied he recognised +him that morning. As it happened the carriage entrance of the mansion was +wide open. Some repairs had been made to the paving of the porch, and +although the workmen had now gone off, the doorway remained gaping, full +of the falling night. The narrow street, running from the glittering +Boulevard, was steeped in bluish gloom, starred at long intervals by a +few gas-lamps. Some women went by, compelling Salvat to step off the +foot-pavement. But he returned to it again, lighted the stump of a cigar, +some remnant which he had found under a table outside a cafe, and then +resumed his watch, patient and motionless, in front of the mansion. + +Disturbed by his dim conjectures, Pierre gradually grew frightened, and +asked himself if he ought not to approach that man. The chief thing that +detained him was the presence of his brother, whom he had seen disappear +into a neighbouring doorway, whence he also was observing the engineer, +ready to intervene. And so Pierre contented himself with not losing sight +of Salvat, who was still waiting and watching, merely taking his eyes +from the mansion in order to glance towards the Boulevard as though he +expected someone or something which would come from that direction. And +at last, indeed, the Duvillards' landau appeared, with coachman and +footman in livery of green and gold--a closed landau to which a pair of +tall horses of superb build were harnessed in stylish fashion. + +Contrary to custom, however, the carriage, which at that hour usually +brought the father and mother home, was only occupied that evening by the +son and daughter, Hyacinthe and Camille. Returning from the Princess de +Harn's /matinee/, they were chatting freely, with that calm immodesty by +which they sought to astonish one another. Hyacinthe, influenced by his +perverted ideas, was attacking women, whilst Camille openly counselled +him to respond to the Princess's advances. However, she was visibly +irritated and feverish that evening, and, suddenly changing the subject, +she began to speak of their mother and Gerard de Quinsac. + +"But what can it matter to you?" quietly retorted Hyacinthe; and, seeing +that she almost bounded from the seat at this remark, he continued: "Are +you still in love with him, then? Do you still want to marry him?" + +"Yes, I do, and I will!" she cried with all the jealous rage of an +uncomely girl, who suffered so acutely at seeing herself spurned whilst +her yet beautiful mother stole from her the man she wanted. + +"You will, you will!" resumed Hyacinthe, well pleased to have an +opportunity of teasing his sister, whom he somewhat feared. "But you +won't unless /he/ is willing--And he doesn't care for you." + +"He does!" retorted Camille in a fury. "He's kind and pleasant with me, +and that's enough." + +Her brother felt afraid as he noticed the blackness of her glance, and +the clenching of her weak little hands, whose fingers bent like claws. +And after a pause he asked: "And papa, what does he say about it?" + +"Oh, papa! All that he cares about is the other one." + +Then Hyacinthe began to laugh. + +But the landau, with its tall horses trotting on sonorously, had turned +into the street and was approaching the house, when a slim fair-haired +girl of sixteen or seventeen, a modiste's errand girl with a large +bandbox on her arm, hastily crossed the road in order to enter the arched +doorway before the carriage. She was bringing a bonnet for the Baroness, +and had come all along the Boulevard musing, with her soft blue eyes, her +pinky nose, and her mouth which ever laughed in the most adorable little +face that one could see. And it was at this same moment that Salvat, +after another glance at the landau, sprang forward and entered the +doorway. An instant afterwards he reappeared, flung his lighted cigar +stump into the gutter; and without undue haste went off, slinking into +the depths of the vague gloom of the street. + +And then what happened? Pierre, later on, remembered that a dray of the +Western Railway Company in coming up stopped and delayed the landau for a +moment, whilst the young errand girl entered the doorway. And with a +heart-pang beyond description he saw his brother Guillaume in his turn +spring forward and rush into the mansion as though impelled to do so by +some revelation, some sudden certainty. He, Pierre, though he understood +nothing clearly, could divine the approach of some frightful horror. But +when he would have run, when he would have shouted, he found himself as +if nailed to the pavement, and felt his throat clutched as by a hand of +lead. Then suddenly came a thunderous roar, a formidable explosion, as if +the earth was opening, and the lightning-struck mansion was being +annihilated. Every window-pane of the neighbouring houses was shivered, +the glass raining down with the loud clatter of hail. For a moment a +hellish flame fired the street, and the dust and the smoke were such that +the few passers-by were blinded and howled with affright, aghast at +toppling, as they thought, into that fiery furnace. + +And that dazzling flare brought Pierre enlightenment. He once more saw +the bomb distending the tool-bag, which lack of work had emptied and +rendered useless. He once more saw it under the ragged jacket, a +protuberance caused, he had fancied, by some hunk of bread, picked up in +a corner and treasured that it might be carried home to wife and child. +After wandering and threatening all happy Paris, it was there that it had +flared, there that it had burst with a thunder-clap, there on the +threshold of the sovereign /bourgeoisie/ to whom all wealth belonged. He, +however, at that moment thought only of his brother Guillaume, and flung +himself into that porch where a volcanic crater seemed to have opened. +And at first he distinguished nothing, the acrid smoke streamed over all. +Then he perceived the walls split, the upper floor rent open, the paving +broken up, strewn with fragments. Outside, the landau which had been on +the point of entering, had escaped all injury; neither of the horses had +been touched, nor was there even a scratch on any panel of the vehicle. +But the young girl, the pretty, slim, fair-haired errand girl, lay there +on her back, her stomach ripped open, whilst her delicate face remained +intact, her eyes clear, her smile full of astonishment, so swiftly and +lightning-like had come the catastrophe. And near her, from the fallen +bandbox, whose lid had merely come unfastened, had rolled the bonnet, a +very fragile pink bonnet, which still looked charming in its flowery +freshness. + +By a prodigy Guillaume was alive and already on his legs again. His left +hand alone streamed with blood, a projectile seemed to have broken his +wrist. His moustaches moreover had been burnt, and the explosion by +throwing him to the ground had so shaken and bruised him that he shivered +from head to feet as with intense cold. Nevertheless, he recognised his +brother without even feeling astonished to see him there, as indeed often +happens after great disasters, when the unexplained becomes providential. +That brother, of whom he had so long lost sight, was there, naturally +enough, because it was necessary that he should be there. And Guillaume, +amidst the wild quivers by which he was shaken, at once cried to him +"Take me away! take me away! To your house at Neuilly, oh! take me away!" + +Then, for sole explanation, and referring to Salvat, he stammered: "I +suspected that he had stolen a cartridge from me; only one, most +fortunately, for otherwise the whole district would have been blown to +pieces. Ah! the wretched fellow! I wasn't in time to set my foot upon the +match." + +With perfect lucidity of mind, such as danger sometimes imparts, Pierre, +neither speaking nor losing a moment, remembered that the mansion had a +back entrance fronting the Rue Vignon. He had just realised in what +serious peril his brother would be if he were found mixed up in that +affair. And with all speed, when he had led him into the gloom of the Rue +Vignon, he tied his handkerchief round his wrist, which he bade him press +to his chest, under his coat, as that would conceal it. + +But Guillaume, still shivering and haunted by the horror he had +witnessed, repeated: "Take me away--to your place at Neuilly--not to my +home." + +"Of course, of course, be easy. Come, wait here a second, I will stop a +cab." + +In his eagerness to procure a conveyance, Pierre had brought his brother +down to the Boulevard again. But the terrible thunderclap of the +explosion had upset the whole neighbourhood, horses were still rearing, +and people were running demented, hither and thither. And numerous +policemen had hastened up, and a rushing crowd was already blocking the +lower part of the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, which was now as black as a pit, +every light in it having been extinguished; whilst on the Boulevard a +hawker of the "Voix du Peuple" still stubbornly vociferated: "The new +scandal of the African Railway Lines! The thirty-two bribe-takers of the +Chamber and the Senate! The approaching fall of the ministry!" + +Pierre was at last managing to stop a cab when he heard a person who ran +by say to another, "The ministry? Ah, well! that bomb will mend it right +enough!" + +Then the brothers seated themselves in the cab, which carried them away. +And now, over the whole of rumbling Paris black night had gathered, an +unforgiving night, in which the stars foundered amidst the mist of crime +and anger that had risen from the house-roofs. The great cry of justice +swept by amidst the same terrifying flapping of wings which Sodom and +Gomorrah once heard bearing down upon them from all the black clouds of +the horizon. + + + + + + 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. + + + + + + THE THREE CITIES + + + + PARIS + + + + BY + + EMILE ZOLA + + + + TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY + + + + BOOK III + + + +I + +THE RIVALS + +ON the Wednesday preceding the mid-Lent Thursday, a great charity bazaar +was held at the Duvillard mansion, for the benefit of the Asylum of the +Invalids of Labour. The ground-floor reception rooms, three spacious +Louis Seize /salons/, whose windows overlooked the bare and solemn +courtyard, were given up to the swarm of purchasers, five thousand +admission cards having been distributed among all sections of Parisian +society. And the opening of the bombarded mansion in this wise to +thousands of visitors was regarded as quite an event, a real +manifestation, although some people whispered that the Rue +Godot-de-Mauroy and the adjacent streets were guarded by quite an army of +police agents. + +The idea of the bazaar had come from Duvillard himself, and at his +bidding his wife had resigned herself to all this worry for the benefit +of the enterprise over which she presided with such distinguished +nonchalance. On the previous day the "Globe" newspaper, inspired by its +director Fonsegue, who was also the general manager of the asylum, had +published a very fine article, announcing the bazaar, and pointing out +how noble, and touching, and generous was the initiative of the Baroness, +who still gave her time, her money, and even her home to charity, in +spite of the abominable crime which had almost reduced that home to +ashes. Was not this the magnanimous answer of the spheres above to the +hateful passions of the spheres below? And was it not also a peremptory +answer to those who accused the capitalists of doing nothing for the +wage-earners, the disabled and broken-down sons of toil? + +The drawing-room doors were to be opened at two o'clock, and would only +close at seven, so that there would be five full hours for the sales. And +at noon, when nothing was as yet ready downstairs, when workmen and women +were still decorating the stalls, and sorting the goods amidst a final +scramble, there was, as usual, a little friendly /dejeuner/, to which a +few guests had been invited, in the private rooms on the first floor. +However, a scarcely expected incident had given a finishing touch to the +general excitement of the house: that very morning Sagnier had resumed +his campaign of denunciation in the matter of the African Railway Lines. +In a virulent article in the "Voix du Peuple," he had inquired if it were +the intention of the authorities to beguile the public much longer with +the story of that bomb and that Anarchist whom the police did not arrest. +And this time, while undertaking to publish the names of the thirty-two +corrupt senators and deputies in a very early issue, he had boldly named +Minister Barroux as one who had pocketed a sum of 200,000 francs. Mege +would therefore certainly revive his interpellation, which might become +dangerous, now that Paris had been thrown into such a distracted state by +terror of the Anarchists. At the same time it was said that Vignon and +his party had resolved to turn circumstances to account, with the object +of overthrowing the ministry. Thus a redoubtable crisis was inevitably at +hand. Fortunately, the Chamber did not meet that Wednesday; in fact, it +had adjourned until the Friday, with the view of making mid-Lent a +holiday. And so forty-eight hours were left one to prepare for the +onslaught. + +Eve, that morning, seemed more gentle and languid than ever, rather pale +too, with an expression of sorrowful anxiety in the depths of her +beautiful eyes. She set it all down to the very great fatigue which the +preparations for the bazaar had entailed on her. But the truth was that +Gerard de Quinsac, after shunning any further assignation, had for five +days past avoided her in an embarrassed way. Still she was convinced that +she would see him that morning, and so she had again ventured to wear the +white silk gown which made her look so much younger than she really was. +At the same time, beautiful as she had remained, with her delicate skin, +superb figure and noble and charming countenance, her six and forty years +were asserting themselves in her blotchy complexion and the little +creases which were appearing about her lips, eyelids and temples. + +Camille, for her part, though her position as daughter of the house made +it certain that she would attract much custom as a saleswoman, had +obstinately persisted in wearing one of her usual dresses, a dark +"carmelite" gown, an old woman's frock, as she herself called it with a +cutting laugh. However, her long and wicked-looking face beamed with some +secret delight; such an expression of wit and intelligence wreathing her +thin lips and shining in her big eyes that one lost sight of her +deformity and thought her almost pretty. + +Eve experienced a first deception in the little blue and silver +sitting-room, where, accompanied by her daughter, she awaited the arrival +of her guests. General de Bozonnet, whom Gerard was to have brought with +him, came in alone, explaining that Madame de Quinsac had felt rather +poorly that morning, and that Gerard, like a good and dutiful son, had +wished to remain with her. Still he would come to the bazaar directly +after /dejeuner/. While the Baroness listened to the General, striving to +hide her disappointment and her fear that she would now be unable to +obtain any explanation from Gerard that day, Camille looked at her with +eager, devouring eyes. And a certain covert instinct of the misfortune +threatening her must at that moment have come to Eve, for in her turn she +glanced at her daughter and turned pale as if with anxiety. + +Then Princess Rosemonde de Harn swept in like a whirlwind. She also was +to be one of the saleswomen at the stall chosen by the Baroness, who +liked her for her very turbulence, the sudden gaiety which she generally +brought with her. Gowned in fire-hued satin (red shot with yellow), +looking very eccentric with her curly hair and thin boyish figure, she +laughed and talked of an accident by which her carriage had almost been +cut in halves. Then, as Baron Duvillard and Hyacinthe came in from their +rooms, late as usual, she took possession of the young man and scolded +him, for on the previous evening she had vainly waited for him till ten +o'clock in the expectation that he would keep his promise to escort her +to a tavern at Montmartre, where some horrible things were said to occur. +Hyacinthe, looking very bored, quietly replied that he had been detained +at a seance given by some adepts in the New Magic, in the course of which +the soul of St. Theresa had descended from heaven to recite a love +sonnet. + +However, Fonsegue was now coming in with his wife, a tall, thin, silent +and generally insignificant woman, whom he seldom took about with him. On +this occasion he had been obliged to bring her, as she was one of the +lady-patronesses of the asylum, and he himself was coming to lunch with +the Duvillards in his capacity as general manager. To the superficial +observer he looked quite as gay as usual; but he blinked nervously, and +his first glance was a questioning one in the direction of Duvillard, as +if he wished to know how the latter bore the fresh thrust directed at him +by Sagnier. And when he saw the banker looking perfectly composed, as +superb, as rubicund as usual, and chatting in a bantering way with +Rosemonde, he also put on an easy air, like a gamester who had never lost +but had always known how to compel good luck, even in hours of treachery. +And by way of showing his unconstraint of mind he at once addressed the +Baroness on managerial matters: "Have you now succeeded in seeing M. +l'Abbe Froment for the affair of that old man Laveuve, whom he so warmly +recommended to us? All the formalities have been gone through, you know, +and he can be brought to us at once, as we have had a bed vacant for +three days past." + +"Yes, I know," replied Eve; "but I can't imagine what has become of Abbe +Froment, for he hasn't given us a sign of life for a month past. However, +I made up my mind to write to him yesterday, and beg him to come to the +bazaar to-day. In this manner I shall be able to acquaint him with the +good news myself." + +"It was to leave you the pleasure of doing so," said Fonsegue, "that I +refrained from sending him any official communication. He's a charming +priest, is he not?" + +"Oh! charming, we are very fond of him." + +However, Duvillard now intervened to say that they need not wait for +Duthil, as he had received a telegram from him stating that he was +detained by sudden business. At this Fonsegue's anxiety returned, and he +once more questioned the Baron with his eyes. Duvillard smiled, however, +and reassured him in an undertone: "It's nothing serious. Merely a +commission for me, about which he'll only be able to bring me an answer +by-and-by." Then, taking Fonsegue on one side, he added: "By the way, +don't forget to insert the paragraph I told you of." + +"What paragraph? Oh! yes, the one about that /soiree/ at which Silviane +recited a piece of verse. Well, I wanted to speak to you about it. It +worries me a little, on account of the excessive praise it contains." + +Duvillard, but a moment before so full of serenity, with his lofty, +conquering, disdainful mien, now suddenly became pale and agitated. "But +I absolutely want it to be inserted, my dear fellow! You would place me +in the greatest embarrassment if it were not to appear, for I promised +Silviane that it should." + +As he spoke his lips trembled, and a scared look came into his eyes, +plainly revealing his dismay. + +"All right, all right," said Fonsegue, secretly amused, and well pleased +at this complicity. "As it's so serious the paragraph shall go in, I +promise you." + +The whole company was now present, since neither Gerard nor Duthil was to +be expected. So they went into the dining-room amidst a final noise of +hammering in the sale-rooms below. The meal proved somewhat of a +scramble, and was on three occasions disturbed by female attendants, who +came to explain difficulties and ask for orders. Doors were constantly +slamming, and the very walls seemed to shake with the unusual bustle +which filled the house. And feverish as they all were in the dining-room, +they talked in desultory, haphazard fashion on all sorts of subjects, +passing from a ball given at the Ministry of the Interior on the previous +night, to the popular mid-Lent festival which would take place on the +morrow, and ever reverting to the bazaar, the prices that had been given +for the goods which would be on sale, the prices at which they might be +sold, and the probable figure of the full receipts, all this being +interspersed with strange anecdotes, witticisms and bursts of laughter. +On the General mentioning magistrate Amadieu, Eve declared that she no +longer dared to invite him to /dejeuner/, knowing how busy he was at the +Palace of Justice. Still, she certainly hoped that he would come to the +bazaar and contribute something. Then Fonsegue amused himself with +teasing Princess Rosemonde about her fire-hued gown, in which, said he, +she must already feel roasted by the flames of hell; a suggestion which +secretly delighted her, as Satanism had now become her momentary passion. +Meantime, Duvillard lavished the most gallant politeness on that silent +creature, Madame Fonsegue, while Hyacinthe, in order to astonish even the +Princess, explained in a few words how the New Magic could transform a +chaste young man into a real angel. And Camille, who seemed very happy +and very excited, from time to time darted a hot glance at her mother, +whose anxiety and sadness increased as she found the other more and more +aggressive, and apparently resolved upon open and merciless warfare. + +At last, just as the dessert was coming to an end, the Baroness heard her +daughter exclaim in a piercing, defiant voice: "Oh! don't talk to me of +the old ladies who still seem to be playing with dolls, and paint +themselves, and dress as if they were about to be confirmed! All such +ogresses ought to retire from the scene! I hold them in horror!" + +At this, Eve nervously rose from her seat, and exclaimed apologetically: +"You must forgive me for hurrying you like this. But I'm afraid that we +shan't have time to drink our coffee in peace." + +The coffee was served in the little blue and silver sitting-room, where +bloomed some lovely yellow roses, testifying to the Baroness's keen +passion for flowers, which made the house an abode of perpetual spring. +Duvillard and Fonsegue, however, carrying their cups of steaming coffee +with them, at once went into the former's private room to smoke a cigar +there and chat in freedom. As the door remained wide open, one could +hear their gruff voices more or less distinctly. Meantime, General de +Bozonnet, delighted to find in Madame Fonsegue a serious, submissive +person, who listened without interrupting, began to tell her a very long +story of an officer's wife who had followed her husband through every +battle of the war of 1870. Then Hyacinthe, who took no coffee-- +contemptuously declaring it to be a beverage only fit for door-keepers-- +managed to rid himself of Rosemonde, who was sipping some kummel, in +order to come and whisper to his sister: "I say, it was very stupid of +you to taunt mamma in the way you did just now. I don't care a rap about +it myself. But it ends by being noticed, and, I warn you candidly, it +shows ill breeding." + +Camille gazed at him fixedly with her black eyes. "Pray don't /you/ +meddle with my affairs," said she. + +At this he felt frightened, scented a storm, and decided to take +Rosemonde into the adjoining red drawing-room in order to show her a +picture which his father had just purchased. And the General, on being +called by him, likewise conducted Madame Fonsegue thither. + +The mother and daughter then suddenly found themselves alone and face to +face. Eve was leaning on a pier-table, as if overcome; and indeed, the +least sorrow bore her down, so weak at heart she was, ever ready to weep +in her naive and perfect egotism. Why was it that her daughter thus hated +her, and did her utmost to disturb that last happy spell of love in which +her heart lingered? She looked at Camille, grieved rather than irritated; +and the unfortunate idea came to her of making a remark about her dress +at the very moment when the girl was on the point of following the others +into the larger drawing-room. + +"It's quite wrong of you, my dear," said she, "to persist in dressing +like an old woman. It doesn't improve you a bit." + +As Eve spoke, her soft eyes, those of a courted and worshipped handsome +woman, clearly expressed the compassion she felt for that ugly, deformed +girl, whom she had never been able to regard as a daughter. Was it +possible that she, with her sovereign beauty, that beauty which she +herself had ever adored and nursed, making it her one care, her one +religion--was it possible that she had given birth to such a graceless +creature, with a dark, goatish profile, one shoulder higher than the +other, and a pair of endless arms such as hunchbacks often have? All her +grief and all her shame at having had such a child became apparent in the +quivering of her voice. + +Camille, however, had stopped short, as if struck in the face with a +whip. Then she came back to her mother and the horrible explanation began +with these simple words spoken in an undertone: "You consider that I +dress badly? Well, you ought to have paid some attention to me, have seen +that my gowns suited your taste, and have taught me your secret of +looking beautiful!" + +Eve, with her dislike of all painful feeling, all quarrelling and bitter +words, was already regretting her attack. So she sought to make a +retreat, particularly as time was flying and they would soon be expected +downstairs: "Come, be quiet, and don't show your bad temper when all +those people can hear us. I have loved you--" + +But with a quiet yet terrible laugh Camille interrupted her. "You've +loved me! Oh! my poor mamma, what a comical thing to say! Have you ever +loved /anybody/? You want others to love /you/, but that's another +matter. As for your child, any child, do you even know how it ought to be +loved? You have always neglected me, thrust me on one side, deeming me so +ugly, so unworthy of you! And besides, you have not had days and nights +enough to love yourself! Oh! don't deny it, my poor mamma; but even now +you're looking at me as if I were some loathsome monster that's in your +way." + +From that moment the abominable scene was bound to continue to the end. +With their teeth set, their faces close together, the two women went on +speaking in feverish whispers. + +"Be quiet, Camille, I tell you! I will not allow such language!" + +"But I won't be quiet when you do all you can to wound me. If it's wrong +of me to dress like an old woman, perhaps another is rather ridiculous in +dressing like a girl, like a bride." + +"Like a bride? I don't understand you." + +"Oh! yes, you do. However, I would have you know that everybody doesn't +find me so ugly as you try to make them believe." + +"If you look amiss, it is because you don't dress properly; that is all I +said." + +"I dress as I please, and no doubt I do so well enough, since I'm loved +as I am." + +"What, really! Does someone love you? Well, let him inform us of it and +marry you." + +"Yes--certainly, certainly! It will be a good riddance, won't it? And +you'll have the pleasure of seeing me as a bride!" + +Their voices were rising in spite of their efforts to restrain them. +However, Camille paused and drew breath before hissing out the words: +"Gerard is coming here to ask for my hand in a day or two." + +Eve, livid, with wildly staring eyes, did not seem to understand. +"Gerard? why do you tell me that?" + +"Why, because it's Gerard who loves me and who is going to marry me! You +drive me to extremities; you're for ever repeating that I'm ugly; you +treat me like a monster whom nobody will ever care for. So I'm forced to +defend myself and tell you the truth in order to prove to you that +everybody is not of your opinion." + +Silence fell; the frightful thing which had risen between them seemed to +have arrested the quarrel. But there was neither mother nor daughter left +there. They were simply two suffering, defiant rivals. Eve in her turn +drew a long breath and glanced anxiously towards the adjoining room to +ascertain if anyone were coming in or listening to them. And then in a +tone of resolution she made answer: + +"You cannot marry Gerard." + +"Pray, why not?" + +"Because I won't have it; because it's impossible." + +"That isn't a reason; give me a reason." + +"The reason is that the marriage is impossible that is all." + +"No, no, I'll tell you the reason since you force me to it. The reason is +that Gerard is your lover! But what does that matter, since I know it and +am willing to take him all the same?" + +And to this retort Camille's flaming eyes added the words: "And it is +particularly on that account that I want him." All the long torture born +of her infirmities, all her rage at having always seen her mother +beautiful, courted and adored, was now stirring her and seeking vengeance +in cruel triumph. At last then she was snatching from her rival the lover +of whom she had so long been jealous! + +"You wretched girl!" stammered Eve, wounded in the heart and almost +sinking to the floor. "You don't know what you say or what you make me +suffer." + +However, she again had to pause, draw herself erect and smile; for +Rosemonde hastened in from the adjoining room with the news that she was +wanted downstairs. The doors were about to be opened, and it was +necessary she should be at her stall. Yes, Eve answered, she would be +down in another moment. Still, even as she spoke she leant more heavily +on the pier-table behind her in order that she might not fall. + +Hyacinthe had drawn near to his sister: "You know," said he, "it's simply +idiotic to quarrel like that. You would do much better to come +downstairs." + +But Camille harshly dismissed him: "Just /you/ go off, and take the +others with you. It's quite as well that they shouldn't be about our +ears." + +Hyacinthe glanced at his mother, like one who knew the truth and +considered the whole affair ridiculous. And then, vexed at seeing her so +deficient in energy in dealing with that little pest, his sister, he +shrugged his shoulders, and leaving them to their folly, conducted the +others away. One could hear Rosemonde laughing as she went off below, +while the General began to tell Madame Fonsegue another story as they +descended the stairs together. However, at the moment when the mother and +daughter at last fancied themselves alone once more, other voices reached +their ears, those of Duvillard and Fonsegue, who were still near at hand. +The Baron from his room might well overhear the dispute. + +Eve felt that she ought to have gone off. But she had lacked the strength +to do so; it had been a sheer impossibility for her after those words +which had smote her like a buffet amidst her distress at the thought of +losing her lover. + +"Gerard cannot marry you," she said; "he does not love you." + +"He does." + +"You fancy it because he has good-naturedly shown some kindness to you, +on seeing others pay you such little attention. But he does not love +you." + +"He does. He loves me first because I'm not such a fool as many others +are, and particularly because I'm young." + +This was a fresh wound for the Baroness; one inflicted with mocking +cruelty in which rang out all the daughter's triumphant delight at seeing +her mother's beauty at last ripening and waning. "Ah! my poor mamma, you +no longer know what it is to be young. If I'm not beautiful, at all +events I'm young; my eyes are clear and my lips are fresh. And my hair's +so long too, and I've so much of it that it would suffice to gown me if I +chose. You see, one's never ugly when one's young. Whereas, my poor +mamma, everything is ended when one gets old. It's all very well for a +woman to have been beautiful, and to strive to keep so, but in reality +there's only ruin left, and shame and disgust." + +She spoke these words in such a sharp, ferocious voice that each of them +entered her mother's heart like a knife. Tears rose to the eyes of the +wretched woman, again stricken in her bleeding wound. Ah! it was true, +she remained without weapons against youth. And all her anguish came from +the consciousness that she was growing old, from the feeling that love +was departing from her now, that like a fruit she had ripened and fallen +from the tree. + +"But Gerard's mother will never let him marry you," she said. + +"He will prevail on her; that's his concern. I've a dowry of two +millions, and two millions can settle many things." + +"Do you now want to libel him, and say that he's marrying you for your +money?" + +"No, indeed! Gerard's a very nice and honest fellow. He loves me and he's +marrying me for myself. But, after all, he isn't rich; he still has no +assured position, although he's thirty-six; and there may well be some +advantage in a wife who brings you wealth as well as happiness. For, you +hear, mamma, it's happiness I'm bringing him, real happiness, love that's +shared and is certain of the future." + +Once again their faces drew close together. The hateful scene, +interrupted by sounds around them, postponed, and then resumed, was +dragging on, becoming a perfect drama full of murderous violence, +although they never shouted, but still spoke on in low and gasping +voices. Neither gave way to the other, though at every moment they were +liable to some surprise; for not only were all the doors open, so that +the servants might come in, but the Baron's voice still rang out gaily, +close at hand. + +"He loves you, he loves you"--continued Eve. "That's what you say. But +/he/ never told you so." + +"He has told me so twenty times; he repeats it every time that we are +alone together!" + +"Yes, just as one says it to a little girl by way of amusing her. But he +has never told you that he meant to marry you." + +"He told it me the last time he came. And it's settled. I'm simply +waiting for him to get his mother's consent and make his formal offer." + +"You lie, you lie, you wretched girl! You simply want to make me suffer, +and you lie, you lie!" + +Eve's grief at last burst forth in that cry of protest. She no longer +knew that she was a mother, and was speaking to her daughter. The woman, +the /amorosa/, alone remained in her, outraged and exasperated by a +rival. And with a sob she confessed the truth: "It is I he loves! Only +the last time I spoke to him, he swore to me--you hear me?--he swore upon +his honour that he did not love you, and that he would never marry you!" + +A faint, sharp laugh came from Camille. Then, with an air of derisive +compassion, she replied: "Ah! my poor mamma, you really make me sorry for +you! What a child you are! Yes, really, you are the child, not I. What! +you who ought to have so much experience, you still allow yourself to be +duped by a man's protests! That one really has no malice; and, indeed, +that's why he swears whatever you want him to swear, just to please and +quiet you, for at heart he's a bit of a coward." + +"You lie, you lie!" + +"But just think matters over. If he no longer comes here, if he didn't +come to /dejeuner/ this morning, it is simply because he's had enough of +you. He has left you for good; just have the courage to realise it. Of +course he's still polite and amiable, because he's a well-bred man, and +doesn't know how to break off. The fact is that he takes pity on you." + +"You lie, you lie!" + +"Well, question him then. Have a frank explanation with him. Ask him his +intentions in a friendly way. And then show some good nature yourself, +and realise that if you care for him you ought to give him me at once in +his own interest. Give him back his liberty, and you will soon see that +I'm the one he loves." + +"You lie, you lie! You wretched child, you only want to torture and kill +me!" + +Then, in her fury and distress, Eve remembered that she was the mother, +and that it was for her to chastise that unworthy daughter. There was no +stick near her, but from a basket of the yellow roses, whose powerful +scent intoxicated both of them, she plucked a handful of blooms, with +long and spiny stalks, and smote Camille across the face. A drop of blood +appeared on the girl's left temple, near her eyelid. + +But she sprang forward, flushed and maddened by this correction, with her +hand raised and ready to strike back. "Take care, mother! I swear I'd +beat you like a gipsy! And now just put this into your head: I mean to +marry Gerard, and I will; and I'll take him from you, even if I have to +raise a scandal, should you refuse to give him to me with good grace." + +Eve, after her one act of angry vigour, had sunk into an armchair, +overcome, distracted. And all the horror of quarrels, which sprang from +her egotistical desire to be happy, caressed, flattered and adored, was +returning to her. But Camille, still threatening, still unsatiated, +showed her heart as it really was, her stern, black, unforgiving heart, +intoxicated with cruelty. There came a moment of supreme silence, while +Duvillard's gay voice again rang out in the adjoining room. + +The mother was gently weeping, when Hyacinthe, coming upstairs at a run, +swept into the little /salon/. He looked at the two women, and made a +gesture of indulgent contempt. "Ah! you're no doubt satisfied now! But +what did I tell you? It would have been much better for you to have come +downstairs at once! Everybody is asking for you. It's all idiotic. I've +come to fetch you." + +Eve and Camille would not yet have followed him, perhaps, if Duvillard +and Fonsegue had not at that moment come out of the former's room. Having +finished their cigars they also spoke of going downstairs. And Eve had to +rise and smile and show dry eyes, while Camille, standing before a +looking-glass, arranged her hair, and stanched the little drop of blood +that had gathered on her temple. + +There was already quite a number of people below, in the three huge +saloons adorned with tapestry and plants. The stalls had been draped with +red silk, which set a gay, bright glow around the goods. And no ordinary +bazaar could have put forth such a show, for there was something of +everything among the articles of a thousand different kinds, from +sketches by recognised masters, and the autographs of famous writers, +down to socks and slippers and combs. The haphazard way in which things +were laid out was in itself an attraction; and, in addition, there was a +buffet, where the whitest of beautiful hands poured out champagne, and +two lotteries, one for an organ and another for a pony-drawn village +cart, the tickets for which were sold by a bevy of charming girls, who +had scattered through the throng. As Duvillard had expected, however, the +great success of the bazaar lay in the delightful little shiver which the +beautiful ladies experienced as they passed through the entrance where +the bomb had exploded. The rougher repairing work was finished, the walls +and ceilings had been doctored, in part re-constructed. However, the +painters had not yet come, and here and there the whiter stone and +plaster work showed like fresh scars left by all the terrible gashes. It +was with mingled anxiety and rapture that pretty heads emerged from the +carriages which, arriving in a continuous stream, made the flagstones of +the court re-echo. And in the three saloons, beside the stalls, there was +no end to the lively chatter: "Ah! my dear, did you see all those marks? +How frightful, how frightful! The whole house was almost blown up. And to +think it might begin again while we are here! One really needs some +courage to come, but then, that asylum is such a deserving institution, +and money is badly wanted to build a new wing. And besides, those +monsters will see that we are not frightened, whatever they do." + +When the Baroness at last came down to her stall with Camille she found +the saleswomen feverishly at work already under the direction of Princess +Rosemonde, who on occasions of this kind evinced the greatest cunning and +rapacity, robbing the customers in the most impudent fashion. "Ah! here +you are," she exclaimed. "Beware of a number of higglers who have come to +secure bargains. I know them! They watch for their opportunities, turn +everything topsy-turvy and wait for us to lose our heads and forget +prices, so as to pay even less than they would in a real shop. But I'll +get good prices from them, you shall see!" + +At this, Eve, who for her own part was a most incapable saleswoman, had +to laugh with the others. And in a gentle voice she made a pretence of +addressing certain recommendations to Camille, who listened with a +smiling and most submissive air. In point of fact the wretched mother was +sinking with emotion, particularly at the thought that she would have to +remain there till seven o'clock, and suffer in secret before all those +people, without possibility of relief. And thus it was almost like a +respite when she suddenly perceived Abbe Froment sitting and waiting for +her on a settee, covered with red velvet, near her stall. Her legs were +failing her, so she took a place beside him. + +"You received my letter then, Monsieur l'Abbe. I am glad that you have +come, for I have some good news to give you, and wished to leave you the +pleasure of imparting it to your /protege/, that man Laveuve, whom you so +warmly recommended to me. Every formality has now been fulfilled, and you +can bring him to the asylum to-morrow." + +Pierre gazed at her in stupefaction. "Laveuve? Why, he is dead!" + +In her turn she became astonished. "What, dead! But you never informed me +of it! If I told you of all the trouble that has been taken, of all that +had to be undone and done again, and the discussions and the papers and +the writing! Are you quite sure that he is dead?" + +"Oh! yes, he is dead. He has been dead a month." + +"Dead a month! Well, we could not know; you yourself gave us no sign of +life. Ah! /mon Dieu/! what a worry that he should be dead. We shall now +be obliged to undo everything again!" + +"He is dead, madame. It is true that I ought to have informed you of it. +But that doesn't alter the fact--he is dead." + +Dead! that word which kept on returning, the thought too, that for a +month past she had been busying herself for a corpse, quite froze her, +brought her to the very depths of despair, like an omen of the cold death +into which she herself must soon descend, in the shroud of her last +passion. And, meantime, Pierre, despite himself, smiled bitterly at the +atrocious irony of it all. Ah! that lame and halting Charity, which +proffers help when men are dead! + +The priest still lingered on the settee when the Baroness rose. She had +seen magistrate Amadieu hurriedly enter like one who just wished to show +himself, purchase some trifle, and then return to the Palace of Justice. +However, he was also perceived by little Massot, the "Globe" reporter, +who was prowling round the stalls, and who at once bore down upon him, +eager for information. And he hemmed him in and forthwith interviewed him +respecting the affair of that mechanician Salvat, who was accused of +having deposited the bomb at the entrance of the house. Was this simply +an invention of the police, as some newspapers pretended? Or was it +really correct? And if so, would Salvat soon be arrested? In self-defence +Amadieu answered correctly enough that the affair did not as yet concern +him, and would only come within his attributions, if Salvat should be +arrested and the investigation placed in his hands. At the same time, +however, the magistrate's pompous and affectedly shrewd manner suggested +that he already knew everything to the smallest details, and that, had he +chosen, he could have promised some great events for the morrow. A circle +of ladies had gathered round him as he spoke, quite a number of pretty +women feverish with curiosity, who jostled one another in their eagerness +to hear that brigand tale which sent a little shiver coursing under their +skins. However, Amadieu managed to slip off after paying Rosemonde twenty +francs for a cigarette case, which was perhaps worth thirty sous. + +Massot, on recognising Pierre, came up to shake hands with him. "Don't +you agree with me, Monsieur l'Abbe, that Salvat must be a long way off by +now if he's got good legs? Ah! the police will always make me laugh!" + +However, Rosemonde brought Hyacinthe up to the journalist. "Monsieur +Massot," said she, "you who go everywhere, I want you to be judge. That +Chamber of Horrors at Montmartre, that tavern where Legras sings the +'Flowers of the Streets'--" + +"Oh! a delightful spot, madame," interrupted Massot, "I wouldn't take +even a gendarme there." + +"No, don't jest, Monsieur Massot, I'm talking seriously. Isn't it quite +allowable for a respectable woman to go there when she's accompanied by a +gentleman?" And, without allowing the journalist time to answer her, she +turned towards Hyacinthe: "There! you see that Monsieur Massot doesn't +say no! You've got to take me there this evening, it's sworn, it's +sworn." + +Then she darted away to sell a packet of pins to an old lady, while the +young man contented himself with remarking, in the voice of one who has +no illusions left: "She's quite idiotic with her Chamber of Horrors!" + +Massot philosophically shrugged his shoulders. It was only natural that a +woman should want to amuse herself. And when Hyacinthe had gone off, +passing with perverse contempt beside the lovely girls who were selling +lottery tickets, the journalist ventured to murmur: "All the same, it +would do that youngster good if a woman were to take him in hand." + +Then, again addressing Pierre, he resumed: "Why, here comes Duthil! What +did Sagnier mean this morning by saying that Duthil would sleep at Mazas +to-night?" + +In a great hurry apparently, and all smiles, Duthil was cutting his way +through the crowd in order to join Duvillard and Fonsegue, who still +stood talking near the Baroness's stall. And he waved his hand to them in +a victorious way, to imply that he had succeeded in the delicate mission +entrusted to him. This was nothing less than a bold manoeuvre to hasten +Silviane's admission to the Comedie Francaise. The idea had occurred to +her of making the Baron give a dinner at the Cafe Anglais in order that +she might meet at it an influential critic, who, according to her +statements, would compel the authorities to throw the doors wide open for +her as soon as he should know her. However, it did not seem easy to +secure the critic's presence, as he was noted for his sternness and +grumbling disposition. And, indeed, after a first repulse, Duthil had for +three days past been obliged to exert all his powers of diplomacy, and +bring even the remotest influence into play. But he was radiant now, for +he had conquered. + +"It's for this evening, my dear Baron, at half-past seven," he exclaimed. +"Ah! dash it all, I've had more trouble than I should have had to secure +a concession vote!" Then he laughed with the pretty impudence of a man of +pleasure, whom political conscientiousness did not trouble. And, indeed, +his allusion to the fresh denunciations of the "Voix du Peuple" hugely +amused him. + +"Don't jest," muttered Fonsegue, who for his part wished to amuse himself +by frightening the young deputy. "Things are going very badly!" + +Duthil turned pale, and a vision of the police and Mazas rose before his +eyes. In this wise sheer funk came over him from time to time. However, +with his lack of all moral sense, he soon felt reassured and began to +laugh. "Bah!" he retorted gaily, winking towards Duvillard, "the +governor's there to pilot the barque!" + +The Baron, who was extremely pleased, had pressed his hands, thanked him, +and called him an obliging fellow. And now turning towards Fonsegue, he +exclaimed: "I say, you must make one of us this evening. Oh! it's +necessary. I want something imposing round Silviane. Duthil will +represent the Chamber, you journalism, and I finance--" But he suddenly +paused on seeing Gerard, who, with a somewhat grave expression, was +leisurely picking his way through the sea of skirts. "Gerard, my friend," +said the Baron, after beckoning to him, "I want you to do me a service." +And forthwith he told him what was in question; how the influential +critic had been prevailed upon to attend a dinner which would decide +Silviane's future; and how it was the duty of all her friends to rally +round her. + +"But I can't," the young man answered in embarrassment. "I have to dine +at home with my mother, who was rather poorly this morning." + +"Oh! a sensible woman like your mother will readily understand that there +are matters of exceptional importance. Go home and excuse yourself. Tell +her some story, tell her that a friend's happiness is in question." And +as Gerard began to weaken, Duvillard added: "The fact is, that I really +want you, my dear fellow; I must have a society man. Society, you know, +is a great force in theatrical matters; and if Silviane has society with +her, her triumph is certain." + +Gerard promised, and then chatted for a moment with his uncle, General de +Bozonnet, who was quite enlivened by that throng of women, among whom he +had been carried hither and thither like an old rudderless ship. After +acknowledging the amiability with which Madame Fonsegue had listened to +his stories, by purchasing an autograph of Monseigneur Martha from her +for a hundred francs, he had quite lost himself amid the bevy of girls +who had passed him on, one to another. And now, on his return from them, +he had his hands full of lottery tickets: "Ah! my fine fellow," said he, +"I don't advise you to venture among all those young persons. You would +have to part with your last copper. But, just look! there's Mademoiselle +Camille beckoning to you!" + +Camille, indeed, from the moment she had perceived Gerard, had been +smiling at him and awaiting his approach. And when their glances met he +was obliged to go to her, although, at the same moment, he felt that +Eve's despairing and entreating eyes were fixed upon him. The girl, who +fully realised that her mother was watching her, at once made a marked +display of amiability, profiting by the license which charitable fervour +authorised, to slip a variety of little articles into the young man's +pockets, and then place others in his hands, which she pressed within her +own, showing the while all the sparkle of youth, indulging in fresh, +merry laughter, which fairly tortured her rival. + +So extreme was Eve's suffering, that she wished to intervene and part +them. But it so chanced that Pierre barred her way, for he wished to +submit an idea to her before leaving the bazaar. "Madame," said he, +"since that man Laveuve is dead, and you have taken so much trouble with +regard to the bed which you now have vacant, will you be so good as to +keep it vacant until I have seen our venerable friend, Abbe Rose? I am to +see him this evening, and he knows so many cases of want, and would be so +glad to relieve one of them, and bring you some poor /protege/ of his." + +"Yes, certainly," stammered the Baroness, "I shall be very happy,--I will +wait a little, as you desire,--of course, of course, Monsieur l'Abbe." + +She was trembling all over; she no longer knew what she was saying; and, +unable to conquer her passion, she turned aside from the priest, unaware +even that he was still there, when Gerard, yielding to the dolorous +entreaty of her eyes, at last managed to escape from Camille and join +her. + +"What a stranger you are becoming, my friend!" she said aloud, with a +forced smile. "One never sees you now." + +"Why, I have been poorly," he replied, in his amiable way. "Yes, I assure +you I have been ailing a little." + +He, ailing! She looked at him with maternal anxiety, quite upset. And, +indeed, however proud and lofty his figure, his handsome regular face did +seem to her paler than usual. It was as if the nobility of the facade +had, in some degree, ceased to hide the irreparable dilapidation within. +And given his real good nature, it must be true that he +suffered--suffered by reason of his useless, wasted life, by reason of +all the money he cost his impoverished mother, and of the needs that were +at last driving him to marry that wealthy deformed girl, whom at first he +had simply pitied. And so weak did he seem to Eve, so like a piece of +wreckage tossed hither and thither by a tempest, that, at the risk of +being overheard by the throng, she let her heart flow forth in a low but +ardent, entreating murmur: "If you suffer, ah! what sufferings are +mine!--Gerard, we must see one another, I will have it so." + +"No, I beg you, let us wait," he stammered in embarrassment. + +"It must be, Gerard; Camille has told me your plans. You cannot refuse to +see me. I insist on it." + +He made yet another attempt to escape the cruel explanation. "But it's +impossible at the usual place," he answered, quivering. "The address is +known." + +"Then to-morrow, at four o'clock, at that little restaurant in the Bois +where we have met before." + +He had to promise, and they parted. Camille had just turned her head and +was looking at them. Moreover, quite a number of women had besieged the +stall; and the Baroness began to attend to them with the air of a ripe +and nonchalant goddess, while Gerard rejoined Duvillard, Fonsegue and +Duthil, who were quite excited at the prospect of their dinner that +evening. + +Pierre had heard a part of the conversation between Gerard and the +Baroness. He knew what skeletons the house concealed, what physiological +and moral torture and wretchedness lay beneath all the dazzling wealth +and power. There was here an envenomed, bleeding sore, ever spreading, a +cancer eating into father, mother, daughter and son, who one and all had +thrown social bonds aside. However, the priest made his way out of the +/salons/, half stifling amidst the throng of lady-purchasers who were +making quite a triumph of the bazaar. And yonder, in the depths of the +gloom, he could picture Salvat still running and running on; while the +corpse of Laveuve seemed to him like a buffet of atrocious irony dealt to +noisy and delusive charity. + + + +II + +SPIRIT AND FLESH + +How delightful was the quietude of the little ground-floor overlooking a +strip of garden in the Rue Cortot, where good Abbe Rose resided! +Hereabouts there was not even a rumble of wheels, or an echo of the +panting breath of Paris, which one heard on the other side of the height +of Montmartre. The deep silence and sleepy peacefulness were suggestive +of some distant provincial town. + +Seven o'clock had struck, the dusk had gathered slowly, and Pierre was in +the humble dining-room, waiting for the /femme-de-menage/ to place the +soup upon the table. Abbe Rose, anxious at having seen so little of him +for a month past, had written, asking him to come to dinner, in order +that they might have a quiet chat concerning their affairs. From time to +time Pierre still gave his friend money for charitable purposes; in fact, +ever since the days of the asylum in the Rue de Charonne, they had had +accounts together, which they periodically liquidated. So that evening +after dinner they were to talk of it all, and see if they could not do +even more than they had hitherto done. The good old priest was quite +radiant at the thought of the peaceful evening which he was about to +spend in attending to the affairs of his beloved poor; for therein lay +his only amusement, the sole pleasure to which he persistently and +passionately returned, in spite of all the worries that his inconsiderate +charity had already so often brought him. + +Glad to be able to procure his friend this pleasure, Pierre, on his side, +grew calmer, and found relief and momentary repose in sharing the other's +simple repast and yielding to all the kindliness around him, far from his +usual worries. He remembered the vacant bed at the Asylum, which Baroness +Duvillard had promised to keep in reserve until he should have asked Abbe +Rose if he knew of any case of destitution particularly worthy of +interest; and so before sitting down to table he spoke of the matter. + +"Destitution worthy of interest!" replied Abbe Rose, "ah! my dear child, +every case is worthy of interest. And when it's a question of old toilers +without work the only trouble is that of selection, the anguish of +choosing one and leaving so many others in distress." Nevertheless, +painful though his scruples were, he strove to think and come to some +decision. "I know the case which will suit you," he said at last. "It's +certainly one of the greatest suffering and wretchedness; and, so humble +a one, too--an old carpenter of seventy-five, who has been living on +public charity during the eight or ten years that he has been unable to +find work. I don't know his name, everybody calls him 'the big Old'un.' +There are times when he does not come to my Saturday distributions for +weeks together. We shall have to look for him at once. I think that he +sleeps at the Night Refuge in the Rue d'Orsel when lack of room there +doesn't force him to spend the night crouching behind some palings. Shall +we go down the Rue d'Orsel this evening?" + +Abbe Rose's eyes beamed brightly as he spoke, for this proposal of his +signified a great debauch, the tasting of forbidden fruit. He had been +reproached so often and so roughly with his visits to those who had +fallen to the deepest want and misery, that in spite of his overflowing, +apostolic compassion, he now scarcely dared to go near them. However, he +continued: "Is it agreed, my child? Only this once? Besides, it is our +only means of finding the big Old'un. You won't have to stop with me +later than eleven. And I should so like to show you all that! You will +see what terrible sufferings there are! And perhaps we may be fortunate +enough to relieve some poor creature or other." + +Pierre smiled at the juvenile ardour displayed by this old man with snowy +hair. "It's agreed, my dear Abbe," he responded, "I shall be very pleased +to spend my whole evening with you, for I feel it will do me good to +follow you once more on one of those rambles which used to fill our +hearts with grief and joy." + +At this moment the servant brought in the soup; however, just as the two +priests were taking their seats a discreet ring was heard, and when Abbe +Rose learnt that the visitor was a neighbour, Madame Mathis, who had come +for an answer, he gave orders that she should be shown in. + +"This poor woman," he explained to Pierre, "needed an advance of ten +francs to get a mattress out of pawn; and I didn't have the money by me +at the time. But I've since procured it. She lives in the house, you +know, in silent poverty, on so small an income that it hardly keeps her +in bread." + +"But hasn't she a big son of twenty?" asked Pierre, suddenly remembering +the young man he had seen at Salvat's. + +"Yes, yes. Her parents, I believe, were rich people in the provinces. +I've been told that she married a music master, who gave her lessons, at +Nantes; and who ran away with her and brought her to Paris, where he +died. It was quite a doleful love-story. By selling the furniture and +realising every little thing she possessed, she scraped together an +income of about two thousand francs a year, with which she was able to +send her son to college and live decently herself. But a fresh blow fell +on her: she lost the greater part of her little fortune, which was +invested in doubtful securities. So now her income amounts at the utmost +to eight hundred francs; two hundred of which she has to expend in rent. +For all her other wants she has to be content with fifty francs a month. +About eighteen months ago her son left her so as not to be a burden on +her, and he is trying to earn his living somewhere, but without success, +I believe." + +Madame Mathis, a short, dark woman, with a sad, gentle, retiring face, +came in. Invariably clad in the same black gown, she showed all the +anxious timidity of a poor creature whom the storms of life perpetually +assailed. When Abbe Rose had handed her the ten francs discreetly wrapped +in paper, she blushed and thanked him, promising to pay him back as soon +as she received her month's money, for she was not a beggar and did not +wish to encroach on the share of those who starved. + +"And your son, Victor, has he found any employment?" asked the old +priest. + +She hesitated, ignorant as she was of what her son might be doing, for +now she did not see him for weeks together. And finally, she contented +herself with answering: "He has a good heart, he is very fond of me. It +is a great misfortune that we should have been ruined before he could +enter the Ecole Normale. It was impossible for him to prepare for the +examination. But at the Lycee he was such a diligent and intelligent +pupil!" + +"You lost your husband when your son was ten years old, did you not?" +said Abbe Rose. + +At this she blushed again, thinking that her husband's story was known to +the two priests. "Yes, my poor husband never had any luck," she said. +"His difficulties embittered and excited his mind, and he died in prison. +He was sent there through a disturbance at a public meeting, when he had +the misfortune to wound a police officer. He had also fought at the time +of the Commune. And yet he was a very gentle man and extremely fond of +me." + +Tears had risen to her eyes; and Abbe Rose, much touched, dismissed her: +"Well, let us hope that your son will give you satisfaction, and be able +to repay you for all you have done for him." + +With a gesture of infinite sorrow, Madame Mathis discreetly withdrew. She +was quite ignorant of her son's doings, but fate had pursued her so +relentlessly that she ever trembled. + +"I don't think that the poor woman has much to expect from her son," said +Pierre, when she had gone. "I only saw him once, but the gleam in his +eyes was as harsh and trenchant as that of a knife." + +"Do you think so?" the old priest exclaimed, with his kindly /naivete/. +"Well, he seemed to me very polite, perhaps a trifle eager to enjoy life; +but then, all the young folks are impatient nowadays. Come, let us sit +down to table, for the soup will be cold." + +Almost at the same hour, on the other side of Paris, night had in like +fashion slowly fallen in the drawing-room of the Countess de Quinsac, on +the dismal, silent ground-floor of an old mansion in the Rue St. +Dominique. The Countess was there, alone with her faithful friend, the +Marquis de Morigny, she on one side, and he on the other side of the +chimney-piece, where the last embers of the wood fire were dying out. The +servant had not yet brought the lamp, and the Countess refrained from +ringing, finding some relief from her anxiety in the falling darkness, +which hid from view all the unconfessed thoughts that she was afraid of +showing on her weary face. And it was only now, before that dim hearth, +and in that black room, where never a sound of wheels disturbed the +silence of the slumberous past, that she dared to speak. + +"Yes, my friend," she said, "I am not satisfied with Gerard's health. You +will see him yourself, for he promised to come home early and dine with +me. Oh! I'm well aware that he looks big and strong; but to know him +properly one must have nursed and watched him as I have done! What +trouble I had to rear him! In reality he is at the mercy of any petty +ailment. His slightest complaint becomes serious illness. And the life he +leads does not conduce to good health." + +She paused and sighed, hesitating to carry her confession further. + +"He leads the life he can," slowly responded the Marquis de Morigny, of +whose delicate profile, and lofty yet loving bearing, little could be +seen in the gloom. "As he was unable to endure military life, and as even +the fatigues of diplomacy frighten you, what would you have him do? He +can only live apart pending the final collapse, while this abominable +Republic is dragging France to the grave." + +"No doubt, my friend. And yet it is just that idle life which frightens +me. He is losing in it all that was good and healthy in him. I don't +refer merely to the /liaisons/ which we have had to tolerate. The last +one, which I found so much difficulty in countenancing at the outset, so +contrary did it seem to all my ideas and beliefs, has since seemed to me +to exercise almost a good influence. Only he is now entering his +thirty-sixth year, and can he continue living in this fashion without +object or duties? If he is ailing it is perhaps precisely because he does +nothing, holds no position, and serves no purpose." Her voice again +quavered. "And then, my friend, since you force me to tell you +everything, I must own that I am not in good health myself. I have had +several fainting fits of late, and have consulted a doctor. The truth is, +that I may go off at any moment." + +With a quiver, Morigny leant forward in the still deepening gloom, and +wished to take hold of her hands. "You! what, am I to lose you, my last +affection!" he faltered, "I who have seen the old world I belong to +crumble away, I who only live in the hope that you at all events will +still be here to close my eyes!" + +But she begged him not to increase her grief: "No, no, don't take my +hands, don't kiss them! Remain there in the shade, where I can scarcely +see you. . . . We have loved one another so long without aught to cause +shame or regret; and that will prove our strength--our divine +strength--till we reach the grave. . . . And if you were to touch me, if +I were to feel you too near me I could not finish, for I have not done so +yet." + +As soon as he had relapsed into silence and immobility, she continued: +"If I were to die to-morrow, Gerard would not even find here the little +fortune which he still fancies is in my hands. The dear child has often +cost me large sums of money without apparently being conscious of it. I +ought to have been more severe, more prudent. But what would you have? +Ruin is at hand. I have always been too weak a mother. And do you now +understand in what anguish I live? I ever have the thought that if I die +Gerard will not even possess enough to live on, for he is incapable of +effecting the miracle which I renew each day, in order to keep the house +up on a decent footing. . . . Ah! I know him, so supine, so sickly, in +spite of his proud bearing, unable to do anything, even conduct himself. +And so what will become of him; will he not fall into the most dire +distress?" + +Then her tears flowed freely, her heart opened and bled, for she foresaw +what must happen after her death: the collapse of her race and of a whole +world in the person of that big child. And the Marquis, still motionless +but distracted, feeling that he had no title to offer his own fortune, +suddenly understood her, foresaw in what disgrace this fresh disaster +would culminate. + +"Ah! my poor friend!" he said at last in a voice trembling with revolt +and grief. "So you have agreed to that marriage--yes, that abominable +marriage with that woman's daughter! Yet you swore it should never be! +You would rather witness the collapse of everything, you said. And now +you are consenting, I can feel it!" + +She still wept on in that black, silent drawing-room before the +chimney-piece where the fire had died out. Did not Gerard's marriage to +Camille mean a happy ending for herself, a certainty of leaving her son +wealthy, loved, and seated at the banquet of life? However, a last +feeling of rebellion arose within her. + +"No, no," she exclaimed, "I don't consent, I swear to you that I don't +consent as yet. I am fighting with my whole strength, waging an incessant +battle, the torture of which you cannot imagine." + +Then, in all sincerity, she foresaw the likelihood of defeat. "If I +should some day give way, my friend, at all events believe that I feel, +as fully as you do, how abominable such a marriage must be. It will be +the end of our race and our honour!" + +This cry profoundly stirred the Marquis, and he was unable to add a word. +Haughty and uncompromising Catholic and Royalist that he was, he, on his +side also, expected nothing but the supreme collapse. Yet how +heartrending was the thought that this noble woman, so dearly and so +purely loved, would prove one of the most mournful victims of the +catastrophe! And in the shrouding gloom he found courage to kneel before +her, take her hand, and kiss it. + +Just as the servant was at last bringing a lighted lamp Gerard made his +appearance. The past-century charm of the old Louis XVI. drawing-room, +with its pale woodwork, again became apparent in the soft light. In order +that his mother might not be over-saddened by his failure to dine with +her that evening the young man had put on an air of brisk gaiety; and +when he had explained that some friends were waiting for him, she at once +released him from his promise, happy as she felt at seeing him so merry. + +"Go, go, my dear boy," said she, "but mind you do not tire yourself too +much. . . . I am going to keep Morigny; and the General and Larombiere +are coming at nine o'clock. So be easy, I shall have someone with me to +keep me from fretting and feeling lonely." + +In this wise Gerard after sitting down for a moment and chatting with the +Marquis was able to slip away, dress, and betake himself to the Cafe +Anglais. + +When he reached it women in fur cloaks were already climbing the stairs, +fashionable and merry parties were filling the private rooms, the +electric lights shone brilliantly, and the walls were already vibrating +with the stir of pleasure and debauchery. In the room which Baron +Duvillard had engaged the young man found an extraordinary display, the +most superb flowers, and a profusion of plate and crystal as for a royal +gala. The pomp with which the six covers were laid called forth a smile; +while the bill of fare and the wine list promised marvels, all the rarest +and most expensive things that could be selected. + +"It's stylish, isn't it?" exclaimed Silviane, who was already there with +Duvillard, Fonsegue and Duthil. "I just wanted to make your influential +critic open his eyes a little! When one treats a journalist to such a +dinner as this, he has got to be amiable, hasn't he?" + +In her desire to conquer, it had occurred to the young woman to array +herself in the most amazing fashion. Her gown of yellow satin, covered +with old Alencon lace, was cut low at the neck; and she had put on all +her diamonds, a necklace, a diadem, shoulder-knots, bracelets and rings. +With her candid, girlish face, she looked like some Virgin in a missal, a +Queen-Virgin, laden with the offerings of all Christendom. + +"Well, well, you look so pretty," said Gerard, who sometimes jested with +her, "that I think it will do all the same." + +"Ah!" she replied with equanimity. "You consider me a /bourgeoise/, I +see. Your opinion is that a simple little dinner and a modest gown would +have shown better taste. But ah! my dear fellow, you don't know the way +to get round men!" + +Duvillard signified his approval, for he was delighted to be able to show +her in all her glory, adorned like an idol. Fonsegue, for his part, +talked of diamonds, saying that they were now doubtful investments, as +the day when they would become articles of current manufacture was fast +approaching, thanks to the electrical furnace and other inventions. +Meantime Duthil, with an air of ecstasy and the dainty gestures of a +lady's maid, hovered around the young woman, either smoothing a +rebellious bow or arranging some fold of her lace. + +"But I say," resumed Silviane, "your critic seems to be an ill-bred man, +for he's keeping us waiting." + +Indeed, the critic arrived a quarter of an hour late, and while +apologising, he expressed his regret that he should be obliged to leave +at half-past nine, for he was absolutely compelled to put in an +appearance at a little theatre in the Rue Pigalle. He was a big fellow of +fifty with broad shoulders and a full, bearded face. His most +disagreeable characteristic was the narrow dogmatic pedantry which he had +acquired at the Ecole Normale, and had never since been able to shake +off. All his herculean efforts to be sceptical and frivolous, and the +twenty years he had spent in Paris mingling with every section of +society, had failed to rid him of it. /Magister/ he was, and /magister/ +he remained, even in his most strenuous flights of imagination and +audacity. From the moment of his arrival he tried to show himself +enraptured with Silviane. Naturally enough, he already knew her by sight, +and had even criticised her on one occasion in five or six contemptuous +lines. However, the sight of her there, in full beauty, clad like a +queen, and presented by four influential protectors, filled him with +emotion; and he was struck with the idea that nothing would be more +Parisian and less pedantic than to assert she had some talent and give +her his support. + +They had seated themselves at table, and the repast proved a magnificent +one, the service ever prompt and assiduous, an attendant being allotted +to each diner. While the flowers scattered their perfumes through the +room, and the plate and crystal glittered on the snowy cloth, an +abundance of delicious and unexpected dishes were handed round--a +sturgeon from Russia, prohibited game, truffles as big as eggs, and +hothouse vegetables and fruit as full of flavour as if they had been +naturally matured. It was money flung out of window, simply for the +pleasure of wasting more than other people, and eating what they could +not procure. The influential critic, though he displayed the ease of a +man accustomed to every sort of festivity, really felt astonished at it +all, and became servile, promising his support, and pledging himself far +more than he really wished to. Moreover, he showed himself very gay, +found some witty remarks to repeat, and even some rather ribald jests. +But when the champagne appeared after the roast and the grand burgundies, +his over-excitement brought him back perforce to his real nature. The +conversation had now turned on Corneille's "Polyeucte" and the part of +"Pauline," in which Silviane wished to make her /debut/ at the Comedie +Francaise. This extraordinary caprice, which had quite revolted the +influential critic a week previously, now seemed to him simply a bold +enterprise in which the young woman might even prove victorious if she +consented to listen to his advice. And, once started, he delivered quite +a lecture on the past, asserting that no actress had ever yet understood +it properly, for at the outset Pauline was simply a well-meaning little +creature of the middle classes, and the beauty of her conversion at the +finish arose from the working of a miracle, a stroke of heavenly grace +which endowed her with something divine. This was not the opinion of +Silviane, who from the first lines regarded Pauline as the ideal heroine +of some symbolical legend. However, as the critic talked on and on, she +had to feign approval; and he was delighted at finding her so beautiful +and docile beneath his ferule. At last, as ten o'clock was striking, he +rose and tore out of the hot and reeking room in order to do his work. + +"Ah! my dears," cried Silviane, "he's a nice bore is that critic of +yours! What a fool he is with his idea of Pauline being a little +/bourgeoise/! I would have given him a fine dressing if it weren't for +the fact that I have some need of him. Ah! no, it's too idiotic! Pour me +out a glass of champagne. I want something to set me right after all +that!" + +The /fete/ then took quite an intimate turn between the four men who +remained and that bare-armed, bare-breasted girl, covered with diamonds; +while from the neighbouring passages and rooms came bursts of laughter +and sounds of kissing, all the stir and mirth of the debauchery now +filling the house. And beneath the windows torrents of vehicles and +pedestrians streamed along the Boulevards where reigned the wild fever of +pleasure and harlotry. + +"No, don't open it, or I shall catch cold!" resumed Silviane, addressing +Fonsegue as he stepped towards the window. "Are you so very warm, then? +I'm just comfortable. . . . But, Duvillard, my good fellow, please order +some more champagne. It's wonderful what a thirst your critic has given +me!" + +Amidst the blinding glare of the lamps and the perfume of the flowers and +wines, one almost stifled in the room. And Silviane was seized with an +irresistible desire for a spree, a desire to tipple and amuse herself in +some vulgar fashion, as in her bygone days. A few glasses of champagne +brought her to full pitch, and she showed the boldest and giddiest +gaiety. The others, who had never before seen her so lively, began on +their own side to feel amused. As Fonsegue was obliged to go to his +office she embraced him "like a daughter," as she expressed it. However, +on remaining alone with the others she indulged in great freedom of +speech, which became more and more marked as her intoxication increased. +And to the class of men with whom she consorted her great attraction, as +she was well aware, lay in the circumstance that with her virginal +countenance and her air of ideal purity was coupled the most monstrous +perversity ever displayed by any shameless woman. Despite her innocent +blue eyes and lily-like candour, she would give rein, particularly when +she was drunk, to the most diabolical of fancies. + +Duvillard let her drink on, but she guessed his thoughts, like she +guessed those of the others, and simply smiled while concocting +impossible stories and descanting fantastically in the language of the +gutter. And seeing her there in her dazzling gown fit for a queenly +virgin, and hearing her pour forth the vilest words, they thought her +most wonderfully droll. However, when she had drunk as much champagne as +she cared for and was half crazy, a novel idea suddenly occurred to her. + +"I say, my children," she exclaimed, "we are surely not going to stop +here. It's so precious slow! You shall take me to the Chamber of +Horrors--eh? just to finish the evening. I want to hear Legras sing 'La +Chemise,' that song which all Paris is running to hear him sing." + +But Duvillard indignantly rebelled: "Oh! no," said he; "most certainly +not. It's a vile song and I'll never take you to such an abominable +place." + +But she did not appear to hear him. She had already staggered to her feet +and was arranging her hair before a looking-glass. "I used to live at +Montmartre," she said, "and it'll amuse me to go back there. And, +besides, I want to know if this Legras is a Legras that I knew, oh! ever +so long ago! Come, up you get, and let us be off!" + +"But, my dear girl," pleaded Duvillard, "we can't take you into that den +dressed as you are! Just fancy your entering that place in a low-necked +gown and covered with diamonds! Why everyone would jeer at us! Come, +Gerard, just tell her to be a little reasonable." + +Gerard, equally offended by the idea of such a freak, was quite willing +to intervene. But she closed his mouth with her gloved hand and repeated +with the gay obstinacy of intoxication: "Pooh, it will be all the more +amusing if they do jeer at us! Come, let us be off, let us be off, +quick!" + +Thereupon Duthil, who had been listening with a smile and the air of a +man of pleasure whom nothing astonishes or displeases, gallantly took her +part. "But, my dear Baron, everybody goes to the Chamber of Horrors," +said he. "Why, I myself have taken the noblest ladies there, and +precisely to hear that song of Legras, which is no worse than anything +else." + +"Ah! you hear what Duthil says!" cried Silviane. "He's a deputy, he is, +and he wouldn't go there if he thought it would compromise his +honorability!" + +Then, as Duvillard still struggled on in despair at the idea of +exhibiting himself with her in such a scandalous place, she became all +the merrier: "Well, my dear fellow, please yourself. I don't need you. +You and Gerard can go home if you like. But I'm going to Montmartre with +Duthil. You'll take charge of me, won't you, Duthil, eh?" + +Still, the Baron was in no wise disposed to let the evening finish in +that fashion. The mere idea of it gave him a shock, and he had to resign +himself to the girl's stubborn caprice. The only consolation he could +think of was to secure Gerard's presence, for the young man, with some +lingering sense of decorum, still obstinately refused to make one of the +party. So the Baron took his hands and detained him, repeating in urgent +tones that he begged him to come as an essential mark of friendship. And +at last the wife's lover and daughter's suitor had to give way to the man +who was the former's husband and the latter's father. + +Silviane was immensely amused by it all, and, indiscreetly thee-ing and +thou-ing Gerard, suggested that he at least owed the Baron some little +compliance with his wishes. + +Duvillard pretended not to hear her. He was listening to Duthil, who told +him that there was a sort of box in a corner of the Chamber of Horrors, +in which one could in some measure conceal oneself. And then, as +Silviane's carriage--a large closed landau, whose coachman, a sturdy, +handsome fellow, sat waiting impassively on his box--was down below, they +started off. + +The Chamber of Horrors was installed in premises on the Boulevard de +Rochechouart, formerly occupied by a cafe whose proprietor had become +bankrupt.* It was a suffocating place, narrow, irregular, with all sorts +of twists, turns, and secluded nooks, and a low and smoky ceiling. And +nothing could have been more rudimentary than its decorations. The walls +had simply been placarded with posters of violent hues, some of the +crudest character, showing the barest of female figures. Behind a piano +at one end there was a little platform reached by a curtained doorway. +For the rest, one simply found a number of bare wooden forms set +alongside the veriest pot-house tables, on which the glasses containing +various beverages left round and sticky marks. There was no luxury, no +artistic feature, no cleanliness even. Globeless gas burners flared +freely, heating a dense mist compounded of tobacco smoke and human +breath. Perspiring, apoplectical faces could be perceived through this +veil, and an acrid odour increased the intoxication of the assembly, +which excited itself with louder and louder shouts at each fresh song. It +had been sufficient for an enterprising fellow to set up these boards, +bring out Legras, accompanied by two or three girls, make him sing his +frantic and abominable songs, and in two or three evenings overwhelming +success had come, all Paris being enticed and flocking to the place, +which for ten years or so had failed to pay as a mere cafe, where by way +of amusement petty cits had been simply allowed their daily games at +dominoes. + + * Those who know Paris will identify the site selected by M. Zola + as that where 'Colonel' Lisbonne of the Commune installed his + den the 'Bagne' some years ago. Nevertheless, such places as the + 'Chamber of Horrors' now abound in the neighbourhood of + Montmartre, and it must be admitted that whilst they are + frequented by certain classes of Frenchmen they owe much of + their success in a pecuniary sense to the patronage of + foreigners. Among the latter, Englishmen are particularly + conspicuous.--Trans. + +And the change had been caused by the passion for filth, the irresistible +attraction exercised by all that brought opprobrium and disgust. The +Paris of enjoyment, the /bourgeoisie/ which held all wealth and power, +which would relinquish naught of either, though it was surfeited and +gradually wearying of both, simply hastened to the place in order that +obscenity and insult might be flung in its face. Hypnotised, as it were, +while staggering to its fall, it felt a need of being spat upon. And what +a frightful symptom there lay in it all: those condemned ones rushing +upon dirt of their own accord, voluntarily hastening their own +decomposition by that unquenchable thirst for the vile, which attracted +men, reputed to be grave and upright, and lovely women of the most +perfect grace and luxury, to all the beastliness of that low den! + +At one of the tables nearest the stage sat little Princess Rosemonde de +Harn, with wild eyes and quivering nostrils, delighted as she felt at now +being able to satisfy her curiosity regarding the depths of Paris life. +Young Hyacinthe had resigned himself to the task of bringing her, and, +correctly buttoned up in his long frock-coat, he was indulgent enough to +refrain from any marked expression of boredom. At a neighbouring table +they had found a shadowy Spaniard of their acquaintance, a so-called +Bourse jobber, Bergaz, who had been introduced to the Princess by Janzen, +and usually attended her entertainments. They virtually knew nothing +about him, not even if he really earned at the Bourse all the money which +he sometimes spent so lavishly, and which enabled him to dress with +affected elegance. His slim, lofty figure was not without a certain air +of distinction, but his red lips spoke of strong passions and his bright +eyes were those of a beast of prey. That evening he had two young fellows +with him, one Rossi, a short, swarthy Italian, who had come to Paris as a +painter's model, and had soon glided into the lazy life of certain +disreputable callings, and the other, Sanfaute, a born Parisian +blackguard, a pale, beardless, vicious and impudent stripling of La +Chapelle, whose long curly hair fell down upon either side of his bony +cheeks. + +"Oh! pray now!" feverishly said Rosemonde to Bergaz; "as you seem to know +all these horrid people, just show me some of the celebrities. Aren't +there some thieves and murderers among them?" + +He laughed shrilly, and in a bantering way replied: "But you know these +people well enough, madame. That pretty, pink, delicate-looking woman +over yonder is an American lady, the wife of a consul, whom, I believe, +you receive at your house. That other on the right, that tall brunette +who shows such queenly dignity, is a Countess, whose carriage passes +yours every day in the Bois. And the thin one yonder, whose eyes glitter +like those of a she-wolf, is the particular friend of a high official, +who is well known for his reputation of austerity." + +But she stopped him, in vexation: "I know, I know. But the others, those +of the lower classes, those whom one comes to see." + +Then she went on asking questions, and seeking for terrifying and +mysterious countenances. At last, two men seated in a corner ended by +attracting her attention; one of them a very young fellow with a pale, +pinched face, and the other an ageless individual who, besides being +buttoned up to his neck in an old coat, had pulled his cap so low over +his eyes, that one saw little of his face beyond the beard which fringed +it. Before these two stood a couple of mugs of beer, which they drank +slowly and in silence. + +"You are making a great mistake, my dear," said Hyacinthe with a frank +laugh, "if you are looking for brigands in disguise. That poor fellow +with the pale face, who surely doesn't have food to eat every day, was my +schoolfellow at Condorcet!" + +Bergaz expressed his amazement. "What! you knew Mathis at Condorcet! +After all, though, you're right, he received a college education. Ah! and +so you knew him. A very remarkable young man he is, though want is +throttling him. But, I say, the other one, his companion, you don't know +him?" + +Hyacinthe, after looking at the man with the cap-hidden face, was already +shaking his head, when Bergaz suddenly gave him a nudge as a signal to +keep quiet, and by way of explanation he muttered: "Hush! Here's +Raphanel. I've been distrusting him for some time past. Whenever he +appears anywhere, the police is not far off." + +Raphanel was another of the vague, mysterious Anarchists whom Janzen had +presented to the Princess by way of satisfying her momentary passion for +revolutionism. This one, though he was a fat, gay, little man, with a +doll-like face and childish nose, which almost disappeared between his +puffy cheeks, had the reputation of being a thorough desperado; and at +public meetings he certainly shouted for fire and murder with all his +lungs. Still, although he had already been compromised in various +affairs, he had invariably managed to save his own bacon, whilst his +companions were kept under lock and key; and this they were now beginning +to think somewhat singular. + +He at once shook hands with the Princess in a jovial way, took a seat +near her without being invited, and forthwith denounced the dirty +/bourgeoisie/ which came to wallow in places of ill fame. Rosemonde was +delighted, and encouraged him, but others near by began to get angry, and +Bergaz examined him with his piercing eyes, like a man of energy who +acts, and lets others talk. Now and then, too, he exchanged quick glances +of intelligence with his silent lieutenants, Sanfaute and Rossi, who +plainly belonged to him, both body and soul. They were the ones who found +their profit in Anarchy, practising it to its logical conclusions, +whether in crime or in vice. + +Meantime, pending the arrival of Legras with his "Flowers of the +Pavement," two female vocalists had followed one another on the stage, +the first fat and the second thin, one chirruping some silly love songs +with an under-current of dirt, and the other shouting the coarsest of +refrains, in a most violent, fighting voice. She had just finished amidst +a storm of bravos, when the assembly, stirred to merriment and eager for +a laugh, suddenly exploded once more. Silviane was entering the little +box at one end of the hall. When she appeared erect in the full light, +with bare arms and shoulders, looking like a planet in her gown of yellow +satin and her blazing diamonds, there arose a formidable uproar, shouts, +jeers, hisses, laughing and growling, mingled with ferocious applause. +And the scandal increased, and the vilest expressions flew about as soon +as Duvillard, Gerard and Duthil also showed themselves, looking very +serious and dignified with their white ties and spreading shirt fronts. + +"We told you so!" muttered Duvillard, who was much annoyed with the +affair, while Gerard tried to conceal himself in a dim corner. + +She, however, smiling and enchanted, faced the public, accepting the +storm with the candid bearing of a foolish virgin, much as one inhales +the vivifying air of the open when it bears down upon one in a squall. +And, indeed, she herself had sprung from the sphere before her, its +atmosphere was her native air. + +"Well, what of it?" she said replying to the Baron who wanted her to sit +down. "They are merry. It's very nice. Oh! I'm really amusing myself!" + +"Why, yes, it's very nice," declared Duthil, who in like fashion set +himself at his ease. "Silviane is right, people naturally like a laugh +now and then!" + +Amidst the uproar, which did not cease, little Princess Rosemonde rose +enthusiastically to get a better view. "Why, it's your father who's with +that woman Silviane," she said to Hyacinthe. "Just look at them! Well, he +certainly has plenty of bounce to show himself here with her!" + +Hyacinthe, however, refused to look. It didn't interest him, his father +was an idiot, only a child would lose his head over a girl in that +fashion. And with his contempt for woman the young man became positively +insulting. + +"You try my nerves, my dear fellow," said Rosemonde as she sat down. "You +are the child with your silly ideas about us. And as for your father, he +does quite right to love that girl. I find her very pretty indeed, quite +adorable!" + +Then all at once the uproar ceased, those who had risen resumed their +seats, and the only sound was that of the feverish throb which coursed +through the assembly. Legras had just appeared on the platform. He was a +pale sturdy fellow with a round and carefully shaven face, stern eyes, +and the powerful jaws of a man who compels the adoration of women by +terrorising them. He was not deficient in talent, he sang true, and his +ringing voice was one of extraordinary penetration and pathetic power. +And his /repertoire/, his "Flowers of the Pavement," completed the +explanation of his success; for all the foulness and suffering of the +lower spheres, the whole abominable sore of the social hell created by +the rich, shrieked aloud in these songs in words of filth and fire and +blood. + +A prelude was played on the piano, and Legras standing there in his +velvet jacket sang "La Chemise," the horrible song which brought all +Paris to hear him. All the lust and vice that crowd the streets of the +great city appeared with their filth and their poison; and amid the +picture of Woman stripped, degraded, ill-treated, dragged through the +mire and cast into a cesspool, there rang out the crime of the +/bourgeoisie/. But the scorching insult of it all was less in the words +themselves than in the manner in which Legras cast them in the faces of +the rich, the happy, the beautiful ladies who came to listen to him. +Under the low ceiling, amidst the smoke from the pipes, in the blinding +glare of the gas, he sent his lines flying through the assembly like +expectorations, projected by a whirlwind of furious contempt. And when he +had finished there came delirium; the beautiful ladies did not even think +of wiping away the many affronts they had received, but applauded +frantically. The whole assembly stamped and shouted, and wallowed, +distracted, in its ignominy. + +"Bravo! bravo!" the little Princess repeated in her shrill voice. "It's +astonishing, astonishing, prodigious!" + +And Silviane, whose intoxication seemed to have increased since she had +been there, in the depths of that fiery furnace, made herself +particularly conspicuous by the manner in which she clapped her hands and +shouted: "It's he, it's my Legras! I really must kiss him, he's pleased +me so much!" + +Duvillard, now fairly exasperated, wished to take her off by force. But +she clung to the hand-rest of the box, and shouted yet more loudly, +though without any show of temper. It became necessary to parley with +her. Yes, she was willing to go off and let them drive her home; but, +first of all, she must embrace Legras, who was an old friend of hers. "Go +and wait for me in the carriage!" she said, "I will be with you in a +moment." + +Just as the assembly was at last becoming calmer, Rosemonde perceived +that the box was emptying; and her own curiosity being satisfied, she +thought of prevailing on Hyacinthe to see her home. He, who had listened +to Legras in a languid way without even applauding, was now talking of +Norway with Bergaz, who pretended that he had travelled in the North. Oh! +the fiords! oh! the ice-bound lakes! oh! the pure lily-white, chaste +coldness of the eternal winter! It was only amid such surroundings, said +Hyacinthe, that he could understand woman and love, like a kiss of the +very snow itself. + +"Shall we go off there to-morrow?" exclaimed the Princess with her +vivacious effrontery. "I'll shut up my house and slip the key under the +door." + +Then she added that she was jesting, of course. But Bergaz knew her to be +quite capable of such a freak; and at the idea that she might shut up her +little mansion and perhaps leave it unprotected he exchanged a quick +glance with Sanfaute and Rossi, who still smiled in silence. Ah! what an +opportunity for a fine stroke! What an opportunity to get back some of +the wealth of the community appropriated by the blackguard /bourgeoisie/! + +Meantime Raphanel, after applauding Legras, was looking all round the +place with his little grey, sharp eyes. And at last young Mathis and his +companion, the ill-clad individual, of whose face only a scrap of beard +could be seen, attracted his attention. They had neither laughed nor +applauded; they seemed to be simply a couple of tired fellows who were +resting, and in whose opinion one is best hidden in the midst of a crowd. + +All at once, though, Raphanel turned towards Bergaz: "That's surely +little Mathis over yonder. But who's that with him?" + +Bergaz made an evasive gesture; he did not know. Still, he no longer took +his eyes from Raphanel. And he saw the other feign indifference at what +followed, and finish his beer and take his leave, with the jesting remark +that he had an appointment with a lady at a neighbouring omnibus office. +No sooner had he gone than Bergaz rose, sprang over some of the forms and +jostled people in order to reach little Mathis, into whose ear he +whispered a few words. And the young man at once left his table, taking +his companion and pushing him outside through an occasional exit. It was +all so rapidly accomplished that none of the general public paid +attention to the flight. + +"What is it?" said the Princess to Bergaz, when he had quietly resumed +his seat between Rossi and Sanfaute. + +"Oh! nothing, I merely wished to shake hands with Mathis as he was going +off." + +Thereupon Rosemonde announced that she meant to do the same. +Nevertheless, she lingered a moment longer and again spoke of Norway on +perceiving that nothing could impassion Hyacinthe except the idea of the +eternal snow, the intense, purifying cold of the polar regions. In his +poem on the "End of Woman," a composition of some thirty lines, which he +hoped he should never finish, he thought of introducing a forest of +frozen pines by way of final scene. Now the Princess had risen and was +gaily reverting to her jest, declaring that she meant to take him home to +drink a cup of tea and arrange their trip to the Pole, when an +involuntary exclamation fell from Bergaz, who, while listening, had kept +his eyes on the doorway. + +"Mondesir! I was sure of it!" + +There had appeared at the entrance a short, sinewy, broad-backed little +man, about whose round face, bumpy forehead, and snub nose there was +considerable military roughness. One might have thought him a +non-commissioned officer in civilian attire. He gazed over the whole +room, and seemed at once dismayed and disappointed. + +Bergaz, however, wishing to account for his exclamation, resumed in an +easy way: "Ah! I said there was a smell of the police about the place! +You see that fellow--he's a detective, a very clever one, named Mondesir, +who had some trouble when he was in the army. Just look at him, sniffing +like a dog that has lost scent! Well, well, my brave fellow, if you've +been told of any game you may look and look for it, the bird's flown +already!" + +Once outside, when Rosemonde had prevailed on Hyacinthe to see her home, +they hastened to get into the brougham, which was waiting for them, for +near at hand they perceived Silviane's landau, with the majestic coachman +motionless on his box, while Duvillard, Gerard, and Duthil still stood +waiting on the curbstone. They had been there for nearly twenty minutes +already, in the semi-darkness of that outer boulevard, where all the +vices of the poor districts of Paris were on the prowl. They had been +jostled by drunkards; and shadowy women brushed against them as they went +by whispering beneath the oaths and blows of bullies. And there were +couples seeking the darkness under the trees, and lingering on the +benches there; while all around were low taverns and dirty lodging-houses +and places of ill-fame. All the human degradation which till break of day +swarms in the black mud of this part of Paris, enveloped the three men, +giving them the horrors, and yet neither the Baron nor Gerard nor Duthil +was willing to go off. Each hoped that he would tire out the others, and +take Silviane home when she should at last appear. + +But after a time the Baron grew impatient, and said to the coachman: +"Jules, go and see why madame doesn't come." + +"But the horses, Monsieur le Baron?" + +"Oh! they will be all right, we are here." + +A fine drizzle had begun to fall; and the wait went on again as if it +would never finish. But an unexpected meeting gave them momentary +occupation. A shadowy form, something which seemed to be a thin, +black-skirted woman, brushed against them. And all of a sudden they were +surprised to find it was a priest. + +"What, is it you, Monsieur l'Abbe Froment?" exclaimed Gerard. "At this +time of night? And in this part of Paris?" + +Thereupon Pierre, without venturing either to express his own +astonishment at finding them there themselves, or to ask them what they +were doing, explained that he had been belated through accompanying Abbe +Rose on a visit to a night refuge. Ah! to think of all the frightful want +which at last drifted to those pestilential dormitories where the stench +had almost made him faint! To think of all the weariness and despair +which there sank into the slumber of utter prostration, like that of +beasts falling to the ground to sleep off the abominations of life! No +name could be given to the promiscuity; poverty and suffering were there +in heaps, children and men, young and old, beggars in sordid rags, beside +the shameful poor in threadbare frock-coats, all the waifs and strays of +the daily shipwrecks of Paris life, all the laziness and vice, and +ill-luck and injustice which the torrent rolls on, and throws off like +scum. Some slept on, quite annihilated, with the faces of corpses. +Others, lying on their backs with mouths agape, snored loudly as if still +venting the plaint of their sorry life. And others tossed restlessly, +still struggling in their slumber against fatigue and cold and hunger, +which pursued them like nightmares of monstrous shape. And from all those +human beings, stretched there like wounded after a battle, from all that +ambulance of life reeking with a stench of rottenness and death, there +ascended a nausea born of revolt, the vengeance-prompting thought of all +the happy chambers where, at that same hour, the wealthy loved or rested +in fine linen and costly lace.* + + * Even the oldest Paris night refuges, which are the outcome + of private philanthropy--L'Oeuvre de l'Hospitalite de Nuit-- + have only been in existence some fourteen or fifteen years. + Before that time, and from the period of the great Revolution + forward, there was absolutely no place, either refuge, asylum, + or workhouse, in the whole of that great city of wealth and + pleasure, where the houseless poor could crave a night's + shelter. The various royalist, imperialist and republican + governments and municipalities of modern France have often + been described as 'paternal,' but no governments and + municipalities in the whole civilised world have done less for + the very poor. The official Poor Relief Board--L'Assistance + Publique--has for fifty years been a by-word, a mockery and a + sham, in spite of its large revenue. And this neglect of the + very poor has been an important factor in every French + revolution. Each of these--even that of 1870--had its purely + economic side, though many superficial historians are content + to ascribe economic causes to the one Revolution of 1789, and + to pass them by in all other instances.--Trans. + +In vain had Pierre and Abbe Rose passed all the poor wretches in review +while seeking the big Old'un, the former carpenter, so as to rescue him +from the cesspool of misery, and send him to the Asylum on the very +morrow. He had presented himself at the refuge that evening, but there +was no room left, for, horrible to say, even the shelter of that hell +could only be granted to early comers. And so he must now be leaning +against a wall, or lying behind some palings. This had greatly distressed +poor Abbe Rose and Pierre, but it was impossible for them to search every +dark, suspicious corner; and so the former had returned to the Rue +Cortot, while the latter was seeking a cab to convey him back to Neuilly. + +The fine drizzling rain was still falling and becoming almost icy, when +Silviane's coachman, Jules, at last reappeared and interrupted the +priest, who was telling the Baron and the others how his visit to the +refuge still made him shudder. + +"Well, Jules--and madame?" asked Duvillard, quite anxious at seeing the +coachman return alone. + +Impassive and respectful, with no other sign of irony than a slight +involuntary twist of the lips, Jules answered: "Madame sends word that +she is not going home; and she places her carriage at the gentlemen's +disposal if they will allow me to drive them home." + +This was the last straw, and the Baron flew into a passion. To have +allowed her to drag him to that vile den, to have waited there hopefully +so long, and to be treated in this fashion for the sake of a Legras! No, +no, he, the Baron, had had enough of it, and she should pay dearly for +her abominable conduct! Then he stopped a passing cab and pushed Gerard +inside it saying, "You can set me down at my door." + +"But she's left us the carriage!" shouted Duthil, who was already +consoled, and inwardly laughed at the termination of it all. "Come here, +there's plenty of room for three. No? you prefer the cab? Well, just as +you like, you know." + +For his part he gaily climbed into the landau and drove off lounging on +the cushions, while the Baron, in the jolting old cab, vented his rage +without a word of interruption from Gerard, whose face was hidden by the +darkness. To think of it! that she, whom he had overwhelmed with gifts, +who had already cost him two millions of francs, should in this fashion +insult him, the master who could dispose both of fortunes and of men! +Well, she had chosen to do it, and he was delivered! Then Duvillard drew +a long breath like a man released from the galleys. + +For a moment Pierre watched the two vehicles go off; and then took his +own way under the trees, so as to shelter himself from the rain until a +vacant cab should pass. Full of distress and battling thoughts he had +begun to feel icy cold. The whole monstrous night of Paris, all the +debauchery and woe that sobbed around him made him shiver. Phantom-like +women who, when young, had led lives of infamy in wealth, and who now, +old and faded, led lives of infamy in poverty, were still and ever +wandering past him in search of bread, when suddenly a shadowy form +grazed him, and a voice murmured in his ear: "Warn your brother, the +police are on Salvat's track, he may be arrested at any moment." + +The shadowy figure was already going its way, and as a gas ray fell upon +it, Pierre thought that he recognised the pale, pinched face of Victor +Mathis. And at the same time, yonder in Abbe Rose's peaceful dining-room, +he fancied he could again see the gentle face of Madame Mathis, so sad +and so resigned, living on solely by the force of the last trembling hope +which she had unhappily set in her son. + + + +III + +PLOT AND COUNTERPLOT + +ALREADY at eight o'clock on that holiday-making mid-Lent Thursday, when +all the offices of the Home Department were empty, Monferrand, the +Minister, sat alone in his private room. A single usher guarded his door, +and in the first ante-chamber there were only a couple of messengers. + +The Minister had experienced, on awaking, the most unpleasant of +emotions. The "Voix du Peuple," which on the previous day had revived the +African Railway scandal, by accusing Barroux of having pocketed 20,000 +francs, had that morning published its long-promised list of the +bribe-taking senators and deputies. And at the head of this list +Monferrand had found his own name set down against a sum of 80,000 +francs, while Fonsegue was credited with 50,000. Then a fifth of the +latter amount was said to have been Duthil's share, and Chaigneux had +contented himself with the beggarly sum of 3,000 francs--the lowest price +paid for any one vote, the cost of each of the others ranging from 5 to +20,000. + +It must be said that there was no anger in Monferrand's emotion. Only he +had never thought that Sagnier would carry his passion for uproar and +scandal so far as to publish this list--a page which was said to have +been torn from a memorandum book belonging to Duvillard's agent, Hunter, +and which was covered with incomprehensible hieroglyphics that ought to +have been discussed and explained, if, indeed, the real truth was to be +arrived at. Personally, Monferrand felt quite at ease, for he had written +nothing, signed nothing, and knew that one could always extricate oneself +from a mess by showing some audacity, and never confessing. Nevertheless, +what a commotion it would all cause in the parliamentary duck-pond. He at +once realised the inevitable consequences, the ministry overthrown and +swept away by this fresh whirlwind of denunciation and tittle-tattle. +Mege would renew his interpellation on the morrow, and Vignon and his +friends would at once lay siege to the posts they coveted. And he, +Monferrand, could picture himself driven out of that ministerial sanctum +where, for eight months past, he had been taking his ease, not with any +foolish vainglory, but with the pleasure of feeling that he was in his +proper place as a born ruler, who believed he could tame and lead the +multitude. + +Having thrown the newspapers aside with a disdainful gesture, he rose and +stretched himself, growling the while like a plagued lion. And then he +began to walk up and down the spacious room, which showed all the faded +official luxury of mahogany furniture and green damask hangings. Stepping +to and fro, with his hands behind his back, he no longer wore his usual +fatherly, good-natured air. He appeared as he really was, a born +wrestler, short, but broad shouldered, with sensual mouth, fleshy nose +and stern eyes, that all proclaimed him to be unscrupulous, of iron will +and fit for the greatest tasks. Still, in this case, in what direction +lay his best course? Must he let himself be dragged down with Barroux? +Perhaps his personal position was not absolutely compromised? And yet how +could he part company from the others, swim ashore, and save himself +while they were being drowned? It was a grave problem, and with his +frantic desire to retain power, he made desperate endeavours to devise +some suitable manoeuvre. + +But he could think of nothing, and began to swear at the virtuous fits of +that silly Republic, which, in his opinion, rendered all government +impossible. To think of such foolish fiddle-faddle stopping a man of his +acumen and strength! How on earth can one govern men if one is denied the +use of money, that sovereign means of sway? And he laughed bitterly; for +the idea of an idyllic country where all great enterprises would be +carried out in an absolutely honest manner seemed to him the height of +absurdity. + +At last, however, unable as he was to come to a determination, it +occurred to him to confer with Baron Duvillard, whom he had long known, +and whom he regretted not having seen sooner so as to urge him to +purchase Sagnier's silence. At first he thought of sending the Baron a +brief note by a messenger; but he disliked committing anything to paper, +for the veriest scrap of writing may prove dangerous; so he preferred to +employ the telephone which had been installed for his private use near +his writing-table. + +"It is Baron Duvillard who is speaking to me? . . . Quite so. It's I, the +Minister, Monsieur Monferrand. I shall be much obliged if you will come +to see me at once. . . . Quite so, quite so, I will wait for you." + +Then again he walked to and fro and meditated. That fellow Duvillard was +as clever a man as himself, and might be able to give him an idea. And he +was still laboriously trying to devise some scheme, when the usher +entered saying that Monsieur Gascogne, the Chief of the Detective Police, +particularly wished to speak to him. Monferrand's first thought was that +the Prefecture of Police desired to know his views respecting the steps +which ought to be taken to ensure public order that day; for two mid-Lent +processions--one of the Washerwomen and the other of the Students--were +to march through Paris, whose streets would certainly be crowded. + +"Show Monsieur Gascogne in," he said. + +A tall, slim, dark man, looking like an artisan in his Sunday best, then +stepped into the ministerial sanctum. Fully acquainted with the +under-currents of Paris life, this Chief of the Detective Force had a +cold dispassionate nature and a clear and methodical mind. +Professionalism slightly spoilt him, however: he would have possessed +more intelligence if he had not credited himself with so much. + +He began by apologising for his superior the Prefect, who would certainly +have called in person had he not been suffering from indisposition. +However, it was perhaps best that he, Gascogne, should acquaint Monsieur +le Ministre with the grave affair which brought him, for he knew every +detail of it. Then he revealed what the grave affair was. + +"I believe, Monsieur le Ministre, that we at last hold the perpetrator of +the crime in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy." + +At this, Monferrand, who had been listening impatiently, became quite +impassioned. The fruitless searches of the police, the attacks and the +jeers of the newspapers, were a source of daily worry to him. "Ah!--Well, +so much the better for you Monsieur Gascogne," he replied with brutal +frankness. "You would have ended by losing your post. The man is +arrested?" + +"Not yet, Monsieur le Ministre; but he cannot escape, and it is merely an +affair of a few hours." + +Then the Chief of the Detective Force told the whole story: how Detective +Mondesir, on being warned by a secret agent that the Anarchist Salvat was +in a tavern at Montmartre, had reached it just as the bird had flown; +then how chance had again set him in presence of Salvat at a hundred +paces or so from the tavern, the rascal having foolishly loitered there +to watch the establishment; and afterwards how Salvat had been stealthily +shadowed in the hope that they might catch him in his hiding-place with +his accomplices. And, in this wise, he had been tracked to the +Porte-Maillot, where, realising, no doubt, that he was pursued, he had +suddenly bolted into the Bois de Boulogne. It was there that he had been +hiding since two o'clock in the morning in the drizzle which had not +ceased to fall. They had waited for daylight in order to organise a +/battue/ and hunt him down like some animal, whose weariness must +necessarily ensure capture. And so, from one moment to another, he would +be caught. + +"I know the great interest you take in the arrest, Monsieur le Ministre," +added Gascogne, "and it occurred to me to ask your orders. Detective +Mondesir is over there, directing the hunt. He regrets that he did not +apprehend the man on the Boulevard de Rochechouart; but, all the same, +the idea of following him was a capital one, and one can only reproach +Mondesir with having forgotten the Bois de Boulogne in his calculations." + +Salvat arrested! That fellow Salvat whose name had filled the newspapers +for three weeks past. This was a most fortunate stroke which would be +talked of far and wide! In the depths of Monferrand's fixed eyes one +could divine a world of thoughts and a sudden determination to turn this +incident which chance had brought him to his own personal advantage. In +his own mind a link was already forming between this arrest and that +African Railways interpellation which was likely to overthrow the +ministry on the morrow. The first outlines of a scheme already rose +before him. Was it not his good star that had sent him what he had been +seeking--a means of fishing himself out of the troubled waters of the +approaching crisis? + +"But tell me, Monsieur Gascogne," said he, "are you quite sure that this +man Salvat committed the crime?" + +"Oh! perfectly sure, Monsieur le Ministre. He'll confess everything in +the cab before he reaches the Prefecture." + +Monferrand again walked to and fro with a pensive air, and ideas came to +him as he spoke on in a slow, meditative fashion. "My orders! well, my +orders, they are, first, that you must act with the very greatest +prudence. Yes, don't gather a mob of promenaders together. Try to arrange +things so that the arrest may pass unperceived--and if you secure a +confession keep it to yourself, don't communicate it to the newspapers. +Yes, I particularly recommend that point to you, don't take the +newspapers into your confidence at all--and finally, come and tell me +everything, and observe secrecy, absolute secrecy, with everybody else." + +Gascogne bowed and would have withdrawn, but Monferrand detained him to +say that not a day passed without his friend Monsieur Lehmann, the Public +Prosecutor, receiving letters from Anarchists who threatened to blow him +up with his family; in such wise that, although he was by no means a +coward, he wished his house to be guarded by plain-clothes officers. A +similar watch was already kept upon the house where investigating +magistrate Amadieu resided. And if the latter's life was precious, that +of Public Prosecutor Lehmann was equally so, for he was one of those +political magistrates, one of those shrewd talented Israelites, who make +their way in very honest fashion by invariably taking the part of the +Government in office. + +Then Gascogne in his turn remarked: "There is also the Barthes affair, +Monsieur le Ministre--we are still waiting. Are we to arrest Barthes at +that little house at Neuilly?" + +One of those chances which sometimes come to the help of detectives and +make people think the latter to be men of genius had revealed to him the +circumstance that Barthes had found a refuge with Abbe Pierre Froment. +Ever since the Anarchist terror had thrown Paris into dismay a warrant +had been out against the old man, not for any precise offence, but simply +because he was a suspicious character and might, therefore, have had some +intercourse with the Revolutionists. However, it had been repugnant to +Gascogne to arrest him at the house of a priest whom the whole district +venerated as a saint; and the Minister, whom he had consulted on the +point, had warmly approved of his reserve, since a member of the clergy +was in question, and had undertaken to settle the affair himself. + +"No, Monsieur Gascogne," he now replied, "don't move in the matter. You +know what my feelings are, that we ought to have the priests with us and +not against us--I have had a letter written to Abbe Froment in order that +he may call here this morning, as I shall have no other visitors. I will +speak to him myself, and you may take it that the affair no longer +concerns you." + +Then he was about to dismiss him when the usher came back saying that the +President of the Council was in the ante-room.* + + * The title of President of the Council is given to the French + prime minister.--Trans. + +"Barroux!--Ah! dash it, then, Monsieur Gascogne, you had better go out +this way. It is as well that nobody should meet you, as I wish you to +keep silent respecting Salvat's arrest. It's fully understood, is it not? +I alone am to know everything; and you will communicate with me here +direct, by the telephone, if any serious incident should arise." + +The Chief of the Detective Police had scarcely gone off, by way of an +adjoining /salon/, when the usher reopened the door communicating with +the ante-room: "Monsieur le President du Conseil." + +With a nicely adjusted show of deference and cordiality, Monferrand +stepped forward, his hands outstretched: "Ah! my dear President, why did +you put yourself out to come here? I would have called on you if I had +known that you wished to see me." + +But with an impatient gesture Barroux brushed aside all question of +etiquette. "No, no! I was taking my usual stroll in the Champs Elysees, +and the worries of the situation impressed me so keenly that I preferred +to come here at once. You yourself must realise that we can't put up with +what is taking place. And pending to-morrow morning's council, when we +shall have to arrange a plan of defence, I felt that there was good +reason for us to talk things over." + +He took an armchair, and Monferrand on his side rolled another forward so +as to seat himself with his back to the light. Whilst Barroux, the elder +of the pair by ten years, blanched and solemn, with a handsome face, +snowy whiskers, clean-shaven chin and upper-lip, retained all the dignity +of power, the bearing of a Conventionnel of romantic views, who sought to +magnify the simple loyalty of a rather foolish but good-hearted +/bourgeois/ nature into something great; the other, beneath his heavy +common countenance and feigned frankness and simplicity, concealed +unknown depths, the unfathomable soul of a shrewd enjoyer and despot who +was alike pitiless and unscrupulous in attaining his ends. + +For a moment Barroux drew breath, for in reality he was greatly moved, +his blood rising to his head, and his heart beating with indignation and +anger at the thought of all the vulgar insults which the "Voix du Peuple" +had poured upon him again that morning. "Come, my dear colleague," said +he, "one must stop that scandalous campaign. Moreover, you can realise +what awaits us at the Chamber to-morrow. Now that the famous list has +been published we shall have every malcontent up in arms. Vignon is +bestirring himself already--" + +"Ah! you have news of Vignon?" exclaimed Monferrand, becoming very +attentive. + +"Well, as I passed his door just now, I saw a string of cabs waiting +there. All his creatures have been on the move since yesterday, and at +least twenty persons have told me that the band is already dividing the +spoils. For, as you must know, the fierce and ingenuous Mege is again +going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for others. Briefly, we are +dead, and the others claim that they are going to bury us in mud before +they fight over our leavings." With his arm outstretched Barroux made a +theatrical gesture, and his voice resounded as if he were in the tribune. +Nevertheless, his emotion was real, tears even were coming to his eyes. +"To think that I who have given my whole life to the Republic, I who +founded it, who saved it, should be covered with insults in this fashion, +and obliged to defend myself against abominable charges! To say that I +abused my trust! That I sold myself and took 200,000 francs from that man +Hunter, simply to slip them into my pocket! Well, certainly there /was/ a +question of 200,000 francs between us. But how and under what +circumstances? They were doubtless the same as in your case, with regard +to the 80,000 francs that he is said to have handed you--" + +But Monferrand interrupted his colleague in a clear trenchant voice: "He +never handed me a centime." + +The other looked at him in astonishment, but could only see his big, +rough head, whose features were steeped in shadow: "Ah! But I thought you +had business relations with him, and knew him particularly well." + +"No, I simply knew Hunter as everyone knew him. I was not even aware that +he was Baron Duvillard's agent in the African Railways matter; and there +was never any question of that affair between us." + +This was so improbable, so contrary to everything Barroux knew of the +business, that for a moment he felt quite scared. Then he waved his hand +as if to say that others might as well look after their own affairs, and +reverted to himself. "Oh! as for me," he said, "Hunter called on me more +than ten times, and made me quite sick with his talk of the African +Railways. It was at the time when the Chamber was asked to authorise the +issue of lottery stock.* And, by the way, my dear fellow, I was then here +at the Home Department, while you had just taken that of Public Works. I +can remember sitting at that very writing-table, while Hunter was in the +same armchair that I now occupy. That day he wanted to consult me about +the employment of the large sum which Duvillard's house proposed to spend +in advertising; and on seeing what big amounts were set down against the +Royalist journals, I became quite angry, for I realised with perfect +accuracy that this money would simply be used to wage war against the +Republic. And so, yielding to Hunter's entreaties, I also drew up a list +allotting 200,000 francs among the friendly Republican newspapers, which +were paid through me, I admit it. And that's the whole story."** + + * This kind of stock is common enough in France. A part of it is + extinguished annually at a public "drawing," when all such + shares or bonds that are drawn become entitled to redemption + at "par," a percentage of them also securing prizes of various + amounts. City of Paris Bonds issued on this system are very + popular among French people with small savings; but, on the + other hand, many ventures, whose lottery stock has been + authorised by the Legislature, have come to grief and ruined + investors.--Trans. + + ** All who are acquainted with recent French history will be + aware that Barroux' narrative is simply a passage from the + life of the late M. Floquet, slightly modified to suit the + requirements of M. Zola's story.--Trans. + +Then he sprang to his feet and struck his chest, whilst his voice again +rose: "Well, I've had more than enough of all that calumny and falsehood! +And I shall simply tell the Chamber my story to-morrow. It will be my +only defence. An honest man does not fear the truth!" + +But Monferrand, in his turn, had sprung up with a cry which was a +complete confession of his principles: "It's ridiculous, one never +confesses; you surely won't do such a thing!" + +"I shall," retorted Barroux with superb obstinacy. "And we shall see if +the Chamber won't absolve me by acclamation." + +"No, you will fall beneath an explosion of hisses, and drag all of us +down with you." + +"What does it matter? We shall fall with dignity, like honest men!" + +Monferrand made a gesture of furious anger, and then suddenly became +calm. Amidst all the anxious confusion in which he had been struggling +since daybreak, a gleam now dawned upon him. The vague ideas suggested by +Salvat's approaching arrest took shape, and expanded into an audacious +scheme. Why should he prevent the fall of that big ninny Barroux? The +only thing of importance was that he, Monferrand, should not fall with +him, or at any rate that he should rise again. So he protested no +further, but merely mumbled a few words, in which his rebellious feeling +seemingly died out. And at last, putting on his good-natured air once +more, he said: "Well, after all you are perhaps right. One must be brave. +Besides, you are our head, my dear President, and we will follow you." + +They had now again sat down face to face, and their conversation +continued till they came to a cordial agreement respecting the course +which the Government should adopt in view of the inevitable +interpellation on the morrow. + +Meantime, Baron Duvillard was on his way to the ministry. He had scarcely +slept that night. When on the return from Montmartre Gerard had set him +down at his door in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, he had at once gone to bed, +like a man who is determined to compel sleep, so that he may forget his +worries and recover self-control. But slumber would not come; for hours +and hours he vainly sought it. The manner in which he had been insulted +by that creature Silviane was so monstrous! To think that she, whom he +had enriched, whose every desire he had contented, should have cast such +mud at him, the master, who flattered himself that he held Paris and the +Republic in his hands, since he bought up and controlled consciences just +as others might make corners in wool or leather for the purposes of +Bourse speculation. And the dim consciousness that Silviane was the +avenging sore, the cancer preying on him who preyed on others, completed +his exasperation. In vain did he try to drive away his haunting thoughts, +remember his business affairs, his appointments for the morrow, his +millions which were working in every quarter of the world, the financial +omnipotence which placed the fate of nations in his grasp. Ever, and in +spite of all, Silviane rose up before him, splashing him with mud. In +despair he tried to fix his mind on a great enterprise which he had been +planning for months past, a Trans-Saharan railway, a colossal venture +which would set millions of money at work, and revolutionise the trade of +the world. And yet Silviane appeared once more, and smacked him on both +cheeks with her dainty little hand, which she had dipped in the gutter. +It was only towards daybreak that he at last dozed off, while vowing in a +fury that he would never see her again, that he would spurn her, and +order her away, even should she come and drag herself at his feet. + +However, when he awoke at seven, still tired and aching, his first +thought was for her, and he almost yielded to a fit of weakness. The idea +came to him to ascertain if she had returned home, and if so make his +peace. But he jumped out of bed, and after his ablutions he recovered all +his bravery. She was a wretch, and he this time thought himself for ever +cured of his passion. To tell the truth, he forgot it as soon as he +opened the morning newspapers. The publication of the list of +bribe-takers in the "Voix du Peuple" quite upset him, for he had hitherto +thought it unlikely that Sagnier held any such list. However, he judged +the document at a glance, at once separating the few truths it contained +from a mass of foolishness and falsehood. And this time also he did not +consider himself personally in danger. There was only one thing that he +really feared: the arrest of his intermediary, Hunter, whose trial might +have drawn him into the affair. As matters stood, and as he did not cease +to repeat with a calm and smiling air, he had merely done what every +banking-house does when it issues stock, that is, pay the press for +advertisements and puffery, employ brokers, and reward services +discreetly rendered to the enterprise. It was all a business matter, and +for him that expression summed up everything. Moreover, he played the +game of life bravely, and spoke with indignant contempt of a banker who, +distracted and driven to extremities by blackmailing, had imagined that +he would bring a recent scandal to an end by killing himself: a pitiful +tragedy, from all the mire and blood of which the scandal had sprouted +afresh with the most luxuriant and indestructible vegetation. No, no! +suicide was not the course to follow: a man ought to remain erect, and +struggle on to his very last copper, and the very end of his energy. + +At about nine o'clock a ringing brought Duvillard to the telephone +installed in his private room. And then his folly took possession of him +once more: it must be Silviane who wished to speak to him. She often +amused herself by thus disturbing him amidst his greatest cares. No doubt +she had just returned home, realising that she had carried things too far +on the previous evening and desiring to be forgiven. However, when he +found that the call was from Monferrand, who wished him to go to the +ministry, he shivered slightly, like a man saved from the abyss beside +which he is travelling. And forthwith he called for his hat and stick, +desirous as he was of walking and reflecting in the open air. And again +he became absorbed in the intricacies of the scandalous business which +was about to stir all Paris and the legislature. Kill himself! ah, no, +that would be foolish and cowardly. A gust of terror might be sweeping +past; nevertheless, for his part he felt quite firm, superior to events, +and resolved to defend himself without relinquishing aught of his power. + +As soon as he entered the ante-rooms of the ministry he realised that the +gust of terror was becoming a tempest. The publication of the terrible +list in the "Voix du Peuple" had chilled the guilty ones to the heart; +and, pale and distracted, feeling the ground give way beneath them, they +had come to take counsel of Monferrand, who, they hoped, might save them. +The first whom Duvillard perceived was Duthil, looking extremely +feverish, biting his moustaches, and constantly making grimaces in his +efforts to force a smile. The banker scolded him for coming, saying that +it was a great mistake to have done so, particularly with such a scared +face. The deputy, however, his spirits already cheered by these rough +words, began to defend himself, declaring that he had not even read +Sagnier's article, and had simply come to recommend a lady friend to the +Minister. Thereupon the Baron undertook this business for him and sent +him away with the wish that he might spend a merry mid-Lent. However, the +one who most roused Duvillard's pity was Chaigneux, whose figure swayed +about as if bent by the weight of his long equine head, and who looked so +shabby and untidy that one might have taken him for an old pauper. On +recognising the banker he darted forward, and bowed to him with +obsequious eagerness. + +"Ah! Monsieur le Baron," said he, "how wicked some men must be! They are +killing me, I shall die of it all; and what will become of my wife, what +will become of my three daughters, who have none but me to help them?" + +The whole of his woeful story lay in that lament. A victim of politics, +he had been foolish enough to quit Arras and his business there as a +solicitor, in order to seek triumph in Paris with his wife and daughters, +whose menial he had then become--a menial dismayed by the constant +rebuffs and failures which his mediocrity brought upon him. An honest +deputy! ah, good heavens! yes, he would have liked to be one; but was he +not perpetually "hard-up," ever in search of a hundred-franc note, and +thus, perforce, a deputy for sale? And withal he led such a pitiable +life, so badgered by the women folk about him, that to satisfy their +demands he would have picked up money no matter where or how. + +"Just fancy, Monsieur le Baron, I have at last found a husband for my +eldest girl. It is the first bit of luck that I have ever had; there will +only be three women left on my hands if it comes off. But you can imagine +what a disastrous impression such an article as that of this morning must +create in the young man's family. So I have come to see the Minister to +beg him to give my future son-in-law a prefectoral secretaryship. I have +already promised him the post, and if I can secure it things may yet be +arranged." + +He looked so terribly shabby and spoke in such a doleful voice that it +occurred to Duvillard to do one of those good actions on which he +ventured at times when they were likely to prove remunerative +investments. It is, indeed, an excellent plan to give a crust of bread to +some poor devil whom one can turn, if necessary, into a valet or an +accomplice. So the banker dismissed Chaigneux, undertaking to do his +business for him in the same way as he had undertaken to do Duthil's. And +he added that he would be pleased to see him on the morrow, and have a +chat with him, as he might be able to help him in the matter of his +daughter's marriage. + +At this Chaigneux, scenting a loan, collapsed into the most lavish +thanks. "Ah! Monsieur le Baron, my life will not be long enough to enable +me to repay such a debt of gratitude." + +As Duvillard turned round he was surprised to see Abbe Froment waiting in +a corner of the ante-room. Surely that one could not belong to the batch +of /suspects/, although by the manner in which he was pretending to read +a newspaper it seemed as if he were trying to hide some keen anxiety. At +last the Baron stepped forward, shook hands, and spoke to him cordially. +And Pierre thereupon related that he had received a letter requesting him +to call on the Minister that day. Why, he could not tell; in fact, he was +greatly surprised, he said, putting on a smile in order to conceal his +disquietude. He had been waiting a long time already, and hoped that he +would not be forgotten on that bench. + +Just then the usher appeared, and hastened up to the banker. "The +Minister," said he, "was at that moment engaged with the President of the +Council; but he had orders to admit the Baron as soon as the President +withdrew." Almost immediately afterwards Barroux came out, and as +Duvillard was about to enter he recognised and detained him. And he spoke +of the denunciations very bitterly, like one indignant with all the +slander. Would not he, Duvillard, should occasion require it, testify +that he, Barroux, had never taken a centime for himself? Then, forgetting +that he was speaking to a banker, and that he was Minister of Finances, +he proceeded to express all his disgust of money. Ah! what poisonous, +murky, and defiling waters were those in which money-making went on! +However, he repeated that he would chastise his insulters, and that a +statement of the truth would suffice for the purpose. + +Duvillard listened and looked at him. And all at once the thought of +Silviane came back, and took possession of the Baron, without any attempt +on his part to drive it away. He reflected that if Barroux had chosen to +give him a helping hand when he had asked for it, Silviane would now have +been at the Comedie Francaise, in which case the deplorable affair of the +previous night would not have occurred; for he was beginning to regard +himself as guilty in the matter; if he had only contented Silviane's whim +she would never have dismissed him in so vile a fashion. + +"You know, I owe you a grudge," he said, interrupting Barroux. + +The other looked at him in astonishment. "And why, pray?" he asked. + +"Why, because you never helped me in the matter of that friend of mine +who wishes to make her /debut/ in 'Polyeucte.'" + +Barroux smiled, and with amiable condescension replied: "Ah! yes, +Silviane d'Aulnay! But, my dear sir, it was Taboureau who put spokes in +the wheel. The Fine Arts are his department, and the question was +entirely one for him. And I could do nothing; for that very worthy and +honest gentleman, who came to us from a provincial faculty, was full of +scruples. For my own part I'm an old Parisian, I can understand anything, +and I should have been delighted to please you." + +At this fresh resistance offered to his passion Duvillard once more +became excited, eager to obtain that which was denied him. "Taboureau, +Taboureau!" said he, "he's a nice deadweight for you to load yourself +with! Honest! isn't everybody honest? Come, my dear Minister, there's +still time, get Silviane admitted, it will bring you good luck for +to-morrow." + +This time Barroux burst into a frank laugh: "No, no, I can't cast +Taboureau adrift at this moment--people would make too much sport of +it--a ministry wrecked or saved by a Silviane question!" + +Then he offered his hand before going off. The Baron pressed it, and for +a moment retained it in his own, whilst saying very gravely and with a +somewhat pale face: "You do wrong to laugh, my dear Minister. Governments +have fallen or set themselves erect again through smaller matters than +that. And should you fall to-morrow I trust that you will never have +occasion to regret it." + +Wounded to the heart by the other's jesting air, exasperated by the idea +that there was something he could not achieve, Duvillard watched Barroux +as he withdrew. Most certainly the Baron did not desire a reconciliation +with Silviane, but he vowed that he would overturn everything if +necessary in order to send her a signed engagement for the Comedie, and +this simply by way of vengeance, as a slap, so to say,--yes, a slap which +would make her tingle! That moment spent with Barroux had been a decisive +one. + +However, whilst still following Barroux with his eyes, Duvillard was +surprised to see Fonsegue arrive and manoeuvre in such a way as to escape +the Prime Minister's notice. He succeeded in doing so, and then entered +the ante-room with an appearance of dismay about the whole of his little +figure, which was, as a rule, so sprightly. It was the gust of terror, +still blowing, that had brought him thither. + +"Didn't you see your friend Barroux?" the Baron asked him, somewhat +puzzled. + +"Barroux? No!" + +This quiet lie was equivalent to a confession of everything. Fonsegue was +so intimate with Barroux that he thee'd and thou'd him, and for ten years +had been supporting him in his newspaper, having precisely the same +views, the same political religion. But with a smash-up threatening, he +doubtless realised, thanks to his wonderfully keen scent, that he must +change his friendships if he did not wish to remain under the ruins +himself. If he had, for long years, shown so much prudence and diplomatic +virtue in order to firmly establish the most dignified and respected of +Parisian newspapers, it was not for the purpose of letting that newspaper +be compromised by some foolish blunder on the part of an honest man. + +"I thought you were on bad terms with Monferrand," resumed Duvillard. +"What have you come here for?" + +"Oh! my dear Baron, the director of a leading newspaper is never on bad +terms with anybody. He's at the country's service." + +In spite of his emotion, Duvillard could not help smiling. "You are +right," he responded. "Besides, Monferrand is really an able man, whom +one can support without fear." + +At this Fonsegue began to wonder whether his anguish of mind was visible. +He, who usually played the game of life so well, with his own hand under +thorough control, had been terrified by the article in the "Voix du +Peuple." For the first time in his career he had perpetrated a blunder, +and felt that he was at the mercy of some denunciation, for with +unpardonable imprudence he had written a very brief but compromising +note. He was not anxious concerning the 50,000 francs which Barroux had +handed him out of the 200,000 destined for the Republican press. But he +trembled lest another affair should be discovered, that of a sum of money +which he had received as a present. It was only on feeling the Baron's +keen glance upon him that he was able to recover some self-possession. +How silly it was to lose the knack of lying and to confess things simply +by one's demeanour! + +But the usher drew near and repeated that the Minister was now waiting +for the Baron; and Fonsegue went to sit down beside Abbe Froment, whom he +also was astonished to find there. Pierre repeated that he had received a +letter, but had no notion what the Minister might wish to say to him. And +the quiver of his hands again revealed how feverishly impatient he was to +know what it might be. However, he could only wait, since Monferrand was +still busy discussing such grave affairs. + +On seeing Duvillard enter, the Minister had stepped forward, offering his +hand. However much the blast of terror might shake others, he had +retained his calmness and good-natured smile. "What an affair, eh, my +dear Baron!" he exclaimed. + +"It's idiotic!" plainly declared the other, with a shrug of his +shoulders. Then he sat down in the armchair vacated by Barroux, while the +Minister installed himself in front of him. These two were made to +understand one another, and they indulged in the same despairing gestures +and furious complaints, declaring that government, like business, would +no longer be possible if men were required to show such virtue as they +did not possess. At all times, and under every /regime/, when a decision +of the Chambers had been required in connection with some great +enterprise, had not the natural and legitimate tactics been for one to do +what might be needful to secure that decision? It was absolutely +necessary that one should obtain influential and sympathetic support, in +a word, make sure of votes. Well, everything had to be paid for, men like +other things, some with fine words, others with favours or money, +presents made in a more or less disguised manner. And even admitting +that, in the present cases, one had gone rather far in the purchasing, +that some of the bartering had been conducted in an imprudent way, was it +wise to make such an uproar over it? Would not a strong government have +begun by stifling the scandal, from motives of patriotism, a mere sense +of cleanliness even? + +"Why, of course! You are right, a thousand times right!" exclaimed +Monferrand. "Ah! if I were the master you would see what a fine +first-class funeral I would give it all!" Then, as Duvillard looked at +him fixedly, struck by these last words, he added with his expressive +smile: "Unfortunately I'm not the master, and it was to talk to you of +the situation that I ventured to disturb you. Barroux, who was here just +now, seemed to me in a regrettable frame of mind." + +"Yes, I saw him, he has such singular ideas at times--" Then, breaking +off, the Baron added: "Do you know that Fonsegue is in the ante-room? As +he wishes to make his peace with you, why not send for him? He won't be +in the way, in fact, he's a man of good counsel, and the support of his +newspaper often suffices to give one the victory." + +"What, is Fonsegue there!" cried Monferrand. "Why, I don't ask better +than to shake hands with him. There were some old affairs between us that +don't concern anybody! But, good heavens! if you only knew what little +spite I harbour!" + +When the usher had admitted Fonsegue the reconciliation took place in the +simplest fashion. They had been great friends at college in their native +Correze, but had not spoken together for ten years past in consequence of +some abominable affair the particulars of which were not exactly known. +However, it becomes necessary to clear away all corpses when one wishes +to have the arena free for a fresh battle. + +"It's very good of you to come back the first," said Monferrand. "So it's +all over, you no longer bear me any grudge?" + +"No, indeed!" replied Fonsegue. "Why should people devour one another +when it would be to their interest to come to an understanding?" + +Then, without further explanations, they passed to the great affair, and +the conference began. And when Monferrand had announced Barroux' +determination to confess and explain his conduct, the others loudly +protested. That meant certain downfall, they would prevent him, he surely +would not be guilty of such folly. Forthwith they discussed every +imaginable plan by which the Ministry might be saved, for that must +certainly be Monferrand's sole desire. He himself with all eagerness +pretended to seek some means of extricating his colleagues and himself +from the mess in which they were. However, a faint smile, still played +around his lips, and at last as if vanquished he sought no further. +"There's no help for it," said he, "the ministry's down." + +The others exchanged glances, full of anxiety at the thought of another +Cabinet dealing with the African Railways affair. A Vignon Cabinet would +doubtless plume itself on behaving honestly. + +"Well, then, what shall we do?" + +But just then the telephone rang, and Monferrand rose to respond to the +summons: "Allow me." + +He listened for a moment and then spoke into the tube, nothing that he +said giving the others any inkling of the information which had reached +him. This had come from the Chief of the Detective Police, and was to the +effect that Salvat's whereabouts in the Bois de Boulogne had been +discovered, and that he would be hunted down with all speed. "Very good! +And don't forget my orders," replied Monferrand. + +Now that Salvat's arrest was certain, the Minister determined to follow +the plan which had gradually taken shape in his mind; and returning to +the middle of the room he slowly walked to and fro, while saying with his +wonted familiarity: "But what would you have, my friends? It would be +necessary for me to be the master. Ah! if I were the master! A Commission +of Inquiry, yes! that's the proper form for a first-class funeral to take +in a big affair like this, so full of nasty things. For my part, I should +confess nothing, and I should have a Commission appointed. And then you +would see the storm subside." + +Duvillard and Fonsegue began to laugh. The latter, however, thanks to his +intimate knowledge of Monferrand, almost guessed the truth. "Just +listen!" said he; "even if the ministry falls it doesn't necessarily +follow that you must be on the ground with it. Besides, a ministry can be +mended when there are good pieces of it left." + +Somewhat anxious at finding his thoughts guessed, Monferrand protested: +"No, no, my dear fellow, I don't play that game. We are jointly +responsible, we've got to keep together, dash it all!" + +"Keep together! Pooh! Not when simpletons purposely drown themselves! +And, besides, if we others have need of you, we have a right to save you +in spite of yourself! Isn't that so, my dear Baron?" + +Then, as Monferrand sat down, no longer protesting but waiting, +Duvillard, who was again thinking of his passion, full of anger at the +recollection of Barroux' refusal, rose in his turn, and exclaimed: "Why, +certainly! If the ministry's condemned let it fall! What good can you get +out of a ministry which includes such a man as Taboureau! There you have +an old, worn-out professor without any prestige, who comes to Paris from +Grenoble, and has never set foot in a theatre in his life! Yet the +control of the theatres is handed over to him, and naturally he's ever +doing the most stupid things!" + +Monferrand, who was well informed on the Silviane question, remained +grave, and for a moment amused himself by trying to excite the Baron. +"Taboureau," said he, "is a somewhat dull and old-fashioned University +man, but at the department of Public Instruction he's in his proper +element." + +"Oh! don't talk like that, my dear fellow! You are more intelligent than +that, you are not going to defend Taboureau as Barroux did. It's quite +true that I should very much like to see Silviane at the Comedie. She's a +very good girl at heart, and she has an amazing lot of talent. Would you +stand in her way if you were in Taboureau's place?" + +"I? Good heavens, no! A pretty girl on the stage, why, it would please +everybody, I'm sure. Only it would be necessary to have a man of the same +views as were at the department of Instruction and Fine Arts." + +His sly smile had returned to his face. The securing of that girl's +/debut/ was certainly not a high price to pay for all the influence of +Duvillard's millions. Monferrand therefore turned towards Fonsegue as if +to consult him. The other, who fully understood the importance of the +affair, was meditating in all seriousness: "A senator is the proper man +for Public Instruction," said he. "But I can think of none, none at all, +such as would be wanted. A man of broad mind, a real Parisian, and yet +one whose presence at the head of the University wouldn't cause too much +astonishment--there's perhaps Dauvergne--" + +"Dauvergne! Who's he?" exclaimed Monferrand in surprise. "Ah! yes, +Dauvergne the senator for Dijon--but he's altogether ignorant of +University matters, he hasn't the slightest qualification." + +"Well, as for that," resumed Fonsegue, "I'm trying to think. Dauvergne is +certainly a good-looking fellow, tall and fair and decorative. Besides, +he's immensely rich, has a most charming young wife--which does no harm, +on the contrary--and he gives real /fetes/ at his place on the Boulevard +St. Germain." + +It was only with hesitation that Fonsegue himself had ventured to suggest +Dauvergne. But by degrees his selection appeared to him a real "find." +"Wait a bit! I recollect now that in his young days Dauvergne wrote a +comedy, a one act comedy in verse, and had it performed at Dijon. And +Dijon's a literary town, you know, so that piece of his sets a little +perfume of 'Belles-Lettres' around him. And then, too, he left Dijon +twenty years ago, and is a most determined Parisian, frequenting every +sphere of society. Dauvergne will do whatever one desires. He's the man +for us, I tell you." + +Duvillard thereupon declared that he knew him, and considered him a very +decent fellow. Besides, he or another, it mattered nothing! + +"Dauvergne, Dauvergne," repeated Monferrand. "/Mon Dieu/, yes! After all, +why not? He'll perhaps make a very good minister. Let us say Dauvergne." +Then suddenly bursting into a hearty laugh: "And so we are reconstructing +the Cabinet in order that that charming young woman may join the Comedie! +The Silviane cabinet--well, and what about the other departments?" + +He jested, well knowing that gaiety often hastens difficult solutions. +And, indeed, they merrily continued settling what should be done if the +ministry were defeated on the morrow. Although they had not plainly said +so the plan was to let Barroux sink, even help him to do so, and then +fish Monferrand out of the troubled waters. The latter engaged himself +with the two others, because he had need of them, the Baron on account of +his financial sovereignty, and the director of "Le Globe" on account of +the press campaign which he could carry on in his favour. And in the same +way the others, quite apart from the Silviane business, had need of +Monferrand, the strong-handed man of government, who undertook to bury +the African Railways scandal by bringing about a Commission of Inquiry, +all the strings of which would be pulled by himself. There was soon a +perfect understanding between the three men, for nothing draws people +more closely together than common interest, fear and need. Accordingly, +when Duvillard spoke of Duthil's business, the young lady whom he wished +to recommend, the Minister declared that it was settled. A very nice +fellow was Duthil, they needed a good many like him. And it was also +agreed that Chaigneux' future son-in-law should have his secretaryship. +Poor Chaigneux! He was so devoted, always ready to undertake any +commission, and his four women folk led him such a hard life! + +"Well, then, it's understood." And Monferrand, Duvillard and Fonsegue +vigorously shook hands. + +However, when the first accompanied the others to the door, he noticed a +prelate, in a cassock of fine material, edged with violet, speaking to a +priest in the ante-room. Thereupon he, the Minister, hastened forward, +looking much distressed. "Ah! you were waiting, Monseigneur Martha! Come +in, come in quick!" + +But with perfect urbanity the Bishop refused. "No, no, Monsieur l'Abbe +Froment was here before me. Pray receive him first." + +Monferrand had to give way; he admitted the priest, and speedily dealt +with him. He who usually employed the most diplomatic reserve when he was +in presence of a member of the clergy plumply unfolded the Barthes +business. Pierre had experienced the keenest anguish during the two hours +that he had been waiting there, for he could only explain the letter he +had received by a surmise that the police had discovered his brother's +presence in his house. And so when he heard the Minister simply speak of +Barthes, and declare that the government would rather see him go into +exile than be obliged to imprison him once more, he remained for a moment +quite disconcerted. As the police had been able to discover the old +conspirator in the little house at Neuilly, how was it that they seemed +altogether ignorant of Guillaume's presence there? It was, however, the +usual gap in the genius of great detectives. + +"Pray what do you desire of me, Monsieur le Ministre?" said Pierre at +last; "I don't quite understand." + +"Why, Monsieur l'Abbe, I leave all this to your sense of prudence. If +that man were still at your house in forty-eight hours from now, we +should be obliged to arrest him there, which would be a source of grief +to us, for we are aware that your residence is the abode of every virtue. +So advise him to leave France. If he does that we shall not trouble him." + +Then Monferrand hastily brought Pierre back to the ante-room; and, +smiling and bending low, he said: "Monseigneur, I am entirely at your +disposal. Come in, come in, I beg you." + +The prelate, who was gaily chatting with Duvillard and Fonsegue, shook +hands with them, and then with Pierre. In his desire to win all hearts, +he that morning displayed the most perfect graciousness. His bright, +black eyes were all smiles, the whole of his handsome face wore a +caressing expression, and he entered the ministerial sanctum leisurely +and gracefully, with an easy air of conquest. + +And now only Monferrand and Monseigneur Martha were left, talking on and +on in the deserted building. Some people had thought that the prelate +wished to become a deputy. But he played a far more useful and lofty part +in governing behind the scenes, in acting as the directing mind of the +Vatican's policy in France. Was not France still the Eldest Daughter of +the Church, the only great nation which might some day restore +omnipotence to the Papacy? For that reason he had accepted the Republic, +preached the duty of "rallying" to it, and inspired the new Catholic +group in the Chamber. And Monferrand, on his side, struck by the progress +of the New Spirit, that reaction of mysticism which flattered itself that +it would bury science, showed the prelate much amiability, like a +strong-handed man who, to ensure his own victory, utilised every force +that was offered him. + + + +IV + +THE MAN HUNT + +ON the afternoon of that same day such a keen desire for space and the +open air came upon Guillaume, that Pierre consented to accompany him on a +long walk in the Bois de Boulogne. The priest, upon returning from his +interview with Monferrand, had informed his brother that the government +once more wished to get rid of Nicholas Barthes. However, they were so +perplexed as to how they should impart these tidings to the old man, that +they resolved to postpone the matter until the evening. During their walk +they might devise some means of breaking the news in a gentle way. As for +the walk, this seemed to offer no danger; to all appearance Guillaume was +in no wise threatened, so why should he continue hiding? Thus the +brothers sallied forth and entered the Bois by the Sablons gate, which +was the nearest to them. + +The last days of March had now come, and the trees were beginning to show +some greenery, so soft and light, however, that one might have thought it +was pale moss or delicate lace hanging between the stems and boughs. +Although the sky remained of an ashen grey, the rain, after falling +throughout the night and morning, had ceased; and exquisite freshness +pervaded that wood now awakening to life once more, with its foliage +dripping in the mild and peaceful atmosphere. The mid-Lent rejoicings had +apparently attracted the populace to the centre of Paris, for in the +avenues one found only the fashionable folks of select days, the people +of society who come thither when the multitude stops away. There were +carriages and gentlemen on horseback; beautiful aristocratic ladies who +had alighted from their broughams or landaus; and wet-nurses with +streaming ribbons, who carried infants wearing the most costly lace. Of +the middle-classes, however, one found only a few matrons living in the +neighbourhood, who sat here and there on the benches busy with embroidery +or watching their children play. + +Pierre and Guillaume followed the Allee de Longchamp as far as the road +going from Madrid to the lakes. Then they took their way under the trees, +alongside the little Longchamp rivulet. They wished to reach the lakes, +pass round them, and return home by way of the Maillot gate. But so +charming and peaceful was the deserted plantation through which they +passed, that they yielded to a desire to sit down and taste the delight +of resting amidst all the budding springtide around them. A fallen tree +served them as a bench, and it was possible for them to fancy themselves +far away from Paris, in the depths of some real forest. It was, too, of a +real forest that Guillaume began to think on thus emerging from his long, +voluntary imprisonment. Ah! for the space; and for the health-bringing +air which courses between that forest's branches, that forest of the +world which by right should be man's inalienable domain! However, the +name of Barthes, the perpetual prisoner, came back to Guillaume's lips, +and he sighed mournfully. The thought that there should be even a single +man whose liberty was thus ever assailed, sufficed to poison the pure +atmosphere he breathed. + +"What will you say to Barthes?" he asked his brother. "The poor fellow +must necessarily be warned. Exile is at any rate preferable to +imprisonment." + +Pierre sadly waved his hand. "Yes, of course, I must warn him. But what a +painful task it is!" + +Guillaume made no rejoinder, for at that very moment, in that remote, +deserted nook, where they could fancy themselves at the world's end, a +most extraordinary spectacle was presented to their view. Something or +rather someone leapt out of a thicket and bounded past them. It was +assuredly a man, but one who was so unrecognisable, so miry, so woeful +and so frightful, that he might have been taken for an animal, a boar +that hounds had tracked and forced from his retreat. On seeing the +rivulet, he hesitated for a moment, and then followed its course. But, +all at once, as a sound of footsteps and panting breath drew nearer, he +sprang into the water, which reached his thighs, bounded on to the +further bank, and vanished from sight behind a clump of pines. A moment +afterwards some keepers and policemen rushed by, skirting the rivulet, +and in their turn disappearing. It was a man hunt that had gone past, a +fierce, secret hunt with no display of scarlet or blast of horns athwart +the soft, sprouting foliage. + +"Some rascal or other," muttered Pierre. "Ah! the wretched fellow!" + +Guillaume made a gesture of discouragement. "Gendarmes and prison!" said +he. "They still constitute society's only schooling system!" + +Meantime the man was still running on, farther and farther away. + +When, on the previous night, Salvat had suddenly escaped from the +detectives by bounding into the Bois de Boulogne, it had occurred to him +to slip round to the Dauphine gate and there descend into the deep ditch* +of the city ramparts. He remembered days of enforced idleness which he +had spent there, in nooks where, for his own part, he had never met a +living soul. Nowhere, indeed, could one find more secret places of +retreat, hedged round by thicker bushes, or concealed from view by +loftier herbage. Some corners of the ditch, at certain angles of the +massive bastions, are favourite dens or nests for thieves and lovers. +Salvat, as he made his way through the thickest of the brambles, nettles +and ivy, was lucky enough to find a cavity full of dry leaves, in which +he buried himself to the chin. The rain had already drenched him, and +after slipping down the muddy slope, he had frequently been obliged to +grope his way upon all fours. So those dry leaves proved a boon such as +he had not dared to hope for. They dried him somewhat, serving as a +blanket in which he coiled himself after his wild race through the dank +darkness. The rain still fell, but he now only felt it on his head, and, +weary as he was, he gradually sank into deep slumber beneath the +continuous drizzle. When he opened his eyes again, the dawn was breaking, +and it was probably about six o'clock. During his sleep the rain had +ended by soaking the leaves, so that he was now immersed in a kind of +chilly bath. Still he remained in it, feeling that he was there sheltered +from the police, who must now surely be searching for him. None of those +bloodhounds would guess his presence in that hole, for his body was quite +buried, and briers almost completely hid his head. So he did not stir, +but watched the rise of the dawn. + + * This ditch or dry moat is about 30 feet deep and 50 feet wide. + The counterscarp by which one may descend into it has an angle + of 45 degrees.--Trans. + +When at eight o'clock some policemen and keepers came by, searching the +ditch, they did not perceive him. As he had anticipated, the hunt had +begun at the first glimmer of light. For a time his heart beat violently; +however, nobody else passed, nothing whatever stirred the grass. The only +sounds that reached him were faint ones from the Bois de Boulogne, the +ring of a bicyclist's bell, the thud of a horse's hoofs, the rumble of +carriage wheels. And time went by, nine o'clock came, and then ten +o'clock. Since the rain had ceased falling, Salvat had not suffered so +much from the cold, for he was wearing a thick overcoat which little +Mathis had given him. But, on the other hand, hunger was coming back; +there was a burning sensation in his stomach, and leaden hoops seemed to +be pressing against his ribs. He had eaten nothing for two days; he had +been starving already on the previous evening, when he had accepted a +glass of beer at that tavern at Montmartre. Nevertheless, his plan was to +remain in the ditch until nightfall, and then slip away in the direction +of the village of Boulogne, where he knew of a means of egress from the +wood. He was not caught yet, he repeated, he might still manage to +escape. Then he tried to get to sleep again, but failed, so painful had +his sufferings become. By the time it was eleven, everything swam before +his eyes. He once nearly fainted, and thought that he was going to die. +Then rage gradually mastered him, and, all at once, he sprang out of his +leafy hiding-place, desperately hungering for food, unable to remain +there any longer, and determined to find something to eat, even should it +cost him his liberty and life. It was then noon. + +On leaving the ditch he found the spreading lawns of the chateau of La +Muette before him. He crossed them at a run, like a madman, instinctively +going towards Boulogne, with the one idea that his only means of escape +lay in that direction. It seemed miraculous that nobody paid attention to +his helter-skelter flight. However, when he had reached the cover of some +trees he became conscious of his imprudence, and almost regretted the +sudden madness which had borne him along, eager for escape. Trembling +nervously, he bent low among some furze bushes, and waited for a few +minutes to ascertain if the police were behind him. Then with watchful +eye and ready ear, wonderful instinct and scent of danger, he slowly went +his way again. He hoped to pass between the upper lake and the Auteuil +race-course; but there were few trees in that part, and they formed a +broad avenue. He therefore had to exert all his skill in order to avoid +observation, availing himself of the slenderest stems, the smallest +bushes, as screens, and only venturing onward after a lengthy inspection +of his surroundings. Before long the sight of a guard in the distance +revived his fears and detained him, stretched on the ground behind some +brambles, for a full quarter of an hour. Then the approach first of a +cab, whose driver had lost his way, and afterwards of a strolling +pedestrian, in turn sufficed to stop him. He breathed once more, however, +when, after passing the Mortemart hillock, he was able to enter the +thickets lying between the two roads which lead to Boulogne and St. +Cloud. The coppices thereabouts were dense, and he merely had to follow +them, screened from view, in order to reach the outlet he knew of, which +was now near at hand. So he was surely saved. + +But all at once, at a distance of some five and thirty yards, he saw a +keeper, erect and motionless, barring his way. He turned slightly to the +left and there perceived another keeper, who also seemed to be awaiting +him. And there were more and more of them; at every fifty paces or so +stood a fresh one, the whole forming a /cordon/, the meshes as it were of +a huge net. The worst was that he must have been perceived, for a light +cry, like the clear call of an owl, rang out, and was repeated farther +and farther off. The hunters were at last on the right scent, prudence +had become superfluous, and it was only by flight that the quarry might +now hope to escape. Salvat understood this so well that he suddenly began +to run, leaping over all obstacles and darting between the trees, +careless whether he were seen or heard. A few bounds carried him across +the Avenue de St. Cloud into the plantations stretching to the Allee de +la Reine Marguerite. There the undergrowth was very dense; in the whole +Bois there are no more closely set thickets. In summer they become one +vast entanglement of verdure, amidst which, had it been the leafy season, +Salvat might well have managed to secrete himself. For a moment he did +find himself alone, and thereupon he halted to listen. He could neither +see nor hear the keepers now. Had they lost his track, then? Profound +quietude reigned under the fresh young foliage. But the light, owlish cry +arose once more, branches cracked, and he resumed his wild flight, +hurrying straight before him. Unluckily he found the Allee de la Reine +Marguerite guarded by policemen, so that he could not cross over, but had +to skirt it without quitting the thickets. And now his back was turned +towards Boulogne; he was retracing his steps towards Paris. However, a +last idea came to his bewildered mind: it was to run on in this wise as +far as the shady spots around Madrid, and then, by stealing from copse to +copse, attempt to reach the Seine. To proceed thither across the bare +expanse of the race-course and training ground was not for a moment to be +thought of. + +So Salvat still ran on and on. But on reaching the Allee de Longchamp he +found it guarded like the other roads, and therefore had to relinquish +his plan of escaping by way of Madrid and the river-bank. While he was +perforce making a bend alongside the Pre Catelan, he became aware that +the keepers, led by detectives, were drawing yet nearer to him, confining +his movements to a smaller and smaller area. And his race soon acquired +all the frenzy of despair. Haggard and breathless he leapt mounds, rushed +past multitudinous obstacles. He forced a passage through brambles, broke +down palings, thrice caught his feet in wire work which he had not seen, +and fell among nettles, yet picked himself up went on again, spurred by +the stinging of his hands and face. It was then Guillaume and Pierre saw +him pass, unrecognisable and frightful, taking to the muddy water of the +rivulet like a stag which seeks to set a last obstacle between itself and +the hounds. There came to him a wild idea of getting to the lake, and +swimming, unperceived, to the island in the centre of it. That, he madly +thought, would be a safe retreat, where he might burrow and hide himself +without possibility of discovery. And so he still ran on. But once again +the sight of some guards made him retrace his steps, and he was compelled +to go back and back in the direction of Paris, chased, forced towards the +very fortifications whence he had started that morning. It was now nearly +three in the afternoon. For more than two hours and a half he had been +running. + +At last he saw a soft, sandy ride for horsemen before him. He crossed it, +splashing through the mire left by the rain, and reached a little +pathway, a delightful lovers' lane, as shady in summer as any arbour. For +some time he was able to follow it, concealed from observation, and with +his hopes reviving. But it led him to one of those broad, straight +avenues where carriages and bicycles, the whole afternoon pageant of +society, swept past under the mild and cloudy sky. So he returned to the +thickets, fell once more upon the keepers, lost all notion of the +direction he took, and even all power of thought, becoming a mere thing +carried along and thrown hither and thither by the chances of the pursuit +which pressed more and more closely upon him. Star-like crossways +followed one upon other, and at last he came to a broad lawn, where the +full light dazzled him. And there he suddenly felt the hot, panting +breath of his pursuers close in the rear. Eager, hungry breath it was, +like that of hounds seeking to devour him. Shouts rang out, one hand +almost caught hold of him, there was a rush of heavy feet, a scramble to +seize him. But with a supreme effort he leapt upon a bank, crawled to its +summit, rose again, and once more found himself alone, still running on +amid the fresh and quiet greenery. + +Nevertheless, this was the end. He almost fell flat upon the ground. His +aching feet could no longer carry him; blood was oozing from his ears, +and froth had come to his mouth. His heart beat with such violence that +it seemed likely to break his ribs. Water and perspiration streamed from +him, he was miry and haggard and tortured by hunger, conquered, in fact, +more by hunger than by fatigue. And through the mist which seemed to have +gathered before his wild eyes, he suddenly saw an open doorway, the +doorway of a coach-house in the rear of a kind of chalet, sequestered +among trees. Excepting a big white cat, which took to flight, there was +not a living creature in the place. Salvat plunged into it and rolled +over on a heap of straw, among some empty casks. He was scarcely hidden +there when he heard the chase sweep by, the detectives and the keepers +losing scent, passing the chalet and rushing in the direction of the +Paris ramparts. The noise of their heavy boots died away, and deep +silence fell, while the hunted man, who had carried both hands to his +heart to stay its beating, sank into the most complete prostration, with +big tears trickling from his closed eyes. + +Whilst all this was going on, Pierre and Guillaume, after a brief rest, +had resumed their walk, reaching the lake and proceeding towards the +crossway of the Cascades, in order to return to Neuilly by the road +beyond the water. However, a shower fell, compelling them to take shelter +under the big leafless branches of a chestnut-tree. Then, as the rain +came down more heavily and they could perceive a kind of chalet, a little +cafe-restaurant amid a clump of trees, they hastened thither for better +protection. In a side road, which they passed on their way, they saw a +cab standing, its driver waiting there in philosophical fashion under the +falling shower. Pierre, moreover, noticed a young man stepping out +briskly in front of them, a young man resembling Gerard de Quinsac, who, +whilst walking in the Bois, had no doubt been overtaken by the rain, and +like themselves was seeking shelter in the chalet. However, on entering +the latter's public room, the priest saw no sign of the gentleman, and +concluded that he must have been mistaken. This public room, which had a +kind of glazed verandah overlooking the Bois, contained a few chairs and +tables, the latter with marble tops. On the first floor there were four +or five private rooms reached by a narrow passage. Though the doors were +open the place had as yet scarcely emerged from its winter's rest. There +was nobody about, and on all sides one found the dampness common to +establishments which, from lack of custom, are compelled to close from +November until March. In the rear were some stables, a coach-house, and +various mossy, picturesque outbuildings, which painters and gardeners +would now soon embellish for the gay pleasure parties which the fine +weather would bring. + +"I really think that they haven't opened for the season yet," said +Guillaume as he entered the silent house. + +"At all events they will let us stay here till the rain stops," answered +Pierre, seating himself at one of the little tables. + +However, a waiter suddenly made his appearance seemingly in a great +hurry. He had come down from the first floor, and eagerly rummaged a +cupboard for a few dry biscuits, which he laid upon a plate. At last he +condescended to serve the brothers two glasses of Chartreuse. + +In one of the private rooms upstairs Baroness Duvillard, who had driven +to the chalet in a cab, had been awaiting her lover Gerard for nearly +half an hour. It was there that, during the charity bazaar, they had +given each other an appointment. For them the chalet had precious +memories: two years previously, on discovering that secluded nest, which +was so deserted in the early, hesitating days of chilly spring, they had +met there under circumstances which they could not forget. And the +Baroness, in choosing the house for the supreme assignation of their +dying passion, had certainly not been influenced merely by a fear that +she might be spied upon elsewhere. She had, indeed, thought of the first +kisses that had been showered on her there, and would fain have revived +them even if they should now prove the last that Gerard would bestow on +her. + +But she would also have liked to see some sunlight playing over the +youthful foliage. The ashen sky and threatening rain saddened her. And +when she entered the private room she did not recognise it, so cold and +dim it seemed with its faded furniture. Winter had tarried there, with +all the dampness and mouldy smell peculiar to rooms which have long +remained closed. Then, too, some of the wall paper which had come away +from the plaster hung down in shreds, dead flies were scattered over the +parquetry flooring; and in order to open the shutters the waiter had to +engage in a perfect fight with their fastenings. However, when he had +lighted a little gas-stove, which at once flamed up and diffused some +warmth, the room became more cosy. + +Eve had seated herself on a chair, without raising the thick veil which +hid her face. Gowned, gloved, and bonneted in black, as if she were +already in mourning for her last passion, she showed naught of her own +person save her superb fair hair, which glittered like a helm of tawny +gold. She had ordered tea for two, and when the waiter brought it with a +little plateful of dry biscuits, left, no doubt, from the previous +season, he found her in the same place, still veiled and motionless, +absorbed, it seemed, in a gloomy reverie. If she had reached the cafe +half an hour before the appointed time it was because she desired some +leisure and opportunity to overcome her despair and compose herself. She +resolved that of all things she would not weep, that she would remain +dignified and speak calmly, like one who, whatever rights she might +possess, preferred to appeal to reason only. And she was well pleased +with the courage that she found within her. Whilst thinking of what she +should say to dissuade Gerard from a marriage which to her mind would +prove both a calamity and a blunder, she fancied herself very calm, +indeed almost resigned to whatsoever might happen. + +But all at once she started and began to tremble. Gerard was entering the +room. + +"What! are you here the first, my dear?" he exclaimed. "I thought that I +myself was ten minutes before the time! And you've ordered some tea and +are waiting for me!" + +He forced a smile as he spoke, striving to display the same delight at +seeing her as he had shown in the early golden days of their passion. But +at heart he was much embarrassed, and he shuddered at the thought of the +awful scene which he could foresee. + +She had at last risen and raised her veil. And looking at him she +stammered: "Yes, I found myself at liberty earlier than I expected. . . . +I feared some impediment might arise . . . and so I came." + +Then, seeing how handsome and how affectionate he still looked, she could +not restrain her passion. All her skilful arguments, all her fine +resolutions, were swept away. Her flesh irresistibly impelled her towards +him; she loved him, she would keep him, she would never surrender him to +another. And she wildly flung her arms around his neck. + +"Oh! Gerard, Gerard! I suffer too cruelly; I cannot, I cannot bear it! +Tell me at once that you will not marry her, that you will never marry +her!" + +Her voice died away in a sob, tears started from her eyes. Ah! those +tears which she had sworn she would never shed! They gushed forth without +cessation, they streamed from her lovely eyes like a flood of the +bitterest grief. + +"My daughter, O God! What! you would marry my daughter! She, here, on +your neck where I am now! No, no, such torture is past endurance, it must +not be, I will not have it!" + +He shivered as he heard that cry of frantic jealousy raised by a mother +who now was but a woman, maddened by the thought of her rival's youth, +those five and twenty summers which she herself had left far behind. For +his part, on his way to the assignation, he had come to what he thought +the most sensible decision, resolving to break off the intercourse after +the fashion of a well-bred man, with all sorts of fine consolatory +speeches. But sternness was not in his nature. He was weak and +soft-hearted, and had never been able to withstand a woman's tears. +Nevertheless, he endeavoured to calm her, and in order to rid himself of +her embrace, he made her sit down upon the sofa. And there, beside her, +he replied: "Come, be reasonable, my dear. We came here to have a +friendly chat, did we not? I assure you that you are greatly exaggerating +matters." + +But she was determined to obtain a more positive answer from him. "No, +no!" she retorted, "I am suffering too dreadfully, I must know the truth +at once. Swear to me that you will never, never marry her!" + +He again endeavoured to avoid replying as she wished him to do. "Come, +come," he said, "you will do yourself harm by giving way to such grief as +this; you know that I love you dearly." + +"Then swear to me that you will never, never marry her." + +"But I tell you that I love you, that you are the only one I love." + +Then she again threw her arms around him, and kissed him passionately +upon the eyes. "Is it true?" she asked in a transport. "You love me, you +love no one else? Oh! tell me so again, and kiss me, and promise me that +you will never belong to her." + +Weak as he was he could not resist her ardent caresses and pressing +entreaties. There came a moment of supreme cowardice and passion; her +arms were around him and he forgot all but her, again and again repeating +that he loved none other, and would never, never marry her daughter. At +last he even sank so low as to pretend that he simply regarded that poor, +infirm creature with pity. His words of compassionate disdain for her +rival were like nectar to Eve, for they filled her with the blissful idea +that it was she herself who would ever remain beautiful in his eyes and +whom he would ever love. . . . + +At last silence fell between them, like an inevitable reaction after such +a tempest of despair and passion. It disturbed Gerard. "Won't you drink +some tea?" he asked. "It is almost cold already." + +She was not listening, however. To her the reaction had come in a +different form; and as though the inevitable explanation were only now +commencing, she began to speak in a sad and weary voice. "My dear Gerard, +you really cannot marry my daughter. In the first place it would be so +wrong, and then there is the question of your name, your position. +Forgive my frankness, but the fact is that everybody would say that you +had sold yourself--such a marriage would be a scandal for both your +family and mine." + +As she spoke she took hold of his hands, like a mother seeking to prevent +her big son from committing some terrible blunder. And he listened to +her, with bowed head and averted eyes. She now evinced no anger, no +jealous rage; all such feelings seemed to have departed with the rapture +of her passion. + +"Just think of what people would say," she continued. "I don't deceive +myself, I am fully aware that there is an abyss between your circle of +society and ours. It is all very well for us to be rich, but money simply +enlarges the gap. And it was all very fine for me to be converted, my +daughter is none the less 'the daughter of the Jewess,' as folks so often +say. Ah! my Gerard, I am so proud of you, that it would rend my heart to +see you lowered, degraded almost, by a marriage for money with a girl who +is deformed, who is unworthy of you and whom you could never love." + +He raised his eyes and looked at her entreatingly, anxious as he was to +be spared such painful talk. "But haven't I sworn to you, that you are +the only one I love?" he said. "Haven't I sworn that I would never marry +her! It's all over. Don't let us torture ourselves any longer." + +Their glances met and lingered on one another, instinct with all the +misery which they dared not express in words. Eve's face had suddenly +aged; her eyelids were red and swollen, and blotches marbled her +quivering cheeks, down which her tears again began to trickle. "My poor, +poor Gerard," said she, "how heavily I weigh on you. Oh! do not deny it! +I feel that I am an intolerable burden on your shoulders, an impediment +in your life, and that I shall bring irreparable disaster on you by my +obstinacy in wishing you to be mine alone." + +He tried to speak, but she silenced him. "No, no, all is over between us. +I am growing ugly, all is ended. And besides, I shut off the future from +you. I can be of no help to you, whereas you bestow all on me. And yet +the time has come for you to assure yourself a position. At your age you +can't continue living without any certainty of the morrow, without a home +and hearth of your own; and it would be cowardly and cruel of me to set +myself up as an obstacle, and prevent you from ending your life happily, +as I should do if I clung to you and dragged you down with me." + +Gazing at him through her tears she continued speaking in this fashion. +Like his mother she was well aware that he was weak and even sickly; and +she therefore dreamt of arranging a quiet life for him, a life of +tranquil happiness free from all fear of want. She loved him so fondly; +and possessed so much genuine kindness of heart that perhaps it might be +possible for her to rise even to renunciation and sacrifice. Moreover, +the very egotism born of her beauty suggested that it might be well for +her to think of retirement and not allow the autumn of her life to be +spoilt by torturing dramas. All this she said to him, treating him like a +child whose happiness she wished to ensure even at the price of her own; +and he, his eyes again lowered, listened without further protest, pleased +indeed to let her arrange a happy life for him. + +Examining the situation from every aspect, she at last began to +recapitulate the points in favour of that abominable marriage, the +thought of which had so intensely distressed her. "It is certain," she +said, "that Camille would bring you all that I should like you to have. +With her, I need hardly say it, would come plenty, affluence. And as for +the rest, well, I do not wish to excuse myself or you, but I could name +twenty households in which there have been worse things. Besides, I was +wrong when I said that money opened a gap between people. On the +contrary, it draws them nearer together, it secures forgiveness for every +fault; so nobody would dare to blame you, there would only be jealous +ones around you, dazzled by your good fortune." + +Gerard rose, apparently rebelling once more. "Surely," said he, "/you/ +don't insist on my marrying your daughter?" + +"Ah! no indeed! But I am sensible, and I tell you what I ought to tell +you. You must think it all over." + +"I have done so already. It is you that I have loved, and that I love +still. What you say is impossible." + +She smiled divinely, rose, and again embraced him. "How good and kind you +are, my Gerard. Ah! if you only knew how I love you, how I shall always +love you, whatever happens." + +Then she again began to weep, and even he shed tears. Their good faith +was absolute; tender of heart as they were, they sought to delay the +painful wrenching and tried to hope for further happiness. But they were +conscious that the marriage was virtually an accomplished fact. Only +tears and words were left them, while life and destiny were marching on. +And if their emotion was so acute it was probably because they felt that +this was the last time they would meet as lovers. Still they strove to +retain the illusion that they were not exchanging their last farewell, +that their lips would some day meet again in a kiss of rapture. + +Eve removed her arms from the young man's neck, and they both gazed round +the room, at the sofa, the table, the four chairs, and the little hissing +gas-stove. The moist, hot atmosphere was becoming quite oppressive. + +"And so," said Gerard, "you won't drink a cup of tea?" + +"No, it's so horrid here," she answered, while arranging her hair in +front of the looking-glass. + +At that parting moment the mournfulness of this place, where she had +hoped to find such delightful memories, filled her with distress, which +was turning to positive anguish, when she suddenly heard an uproar of +gruff voices and heavy feet. People were hastening along the passage and +knocking at the doors. And, on darting to the window, she perceived a +number of policemen surrounding the chalet. At this the wildest ideas +assailed her. Had her daughter employed somebody to follow her? Did her +husband wish to divorce her so as to marry Silviane? The scandal would be +awful, and all her plans must crumble! She waited in dismay, white like a +ghost; while Gerard, also paling and quivering, begged her to be calm. At +last, when loud blows were dealt upon the door and a Commissary of Police +enjoined them to open it, they were obliged to do so. Ah! what a moment, +and what dismay and shame! + +Meantime, for more than an hour, Pierre and Guillaume had been waiting +for the rain to cease. Seated in a corner of the glazed verandah they +talked in undertones of Barthes' painful affair, and ultimately decided +to ask Theophile Morin to dine with them on the following evening, and +inform his old friend that he must again go into exile. + +"That is the best course," repeated Guillaume. "Morin is very fond of him +and will know how to break the news. I have no doubt too that he will go +with him as far as the frontier." + +Pierre sadly looked at the falling rain. "Ah! what a choice," said he, +"to be ever driven to a foreign land under penalty of being thrust into +prison. Poor fellow! how awful it is to have never known a moment of +happiness and gaiety in one's life, to have devoted one's whole existence +to the idea of liberty, and to see it scoffed at and expire with +oneself!" + +Then the priest paused, for he saw several policemen and keepers approach +the cafe and prowl round it. Having lost scent of the man they were +hunting, they had retraced their steps with the conviction no doubt that +he had sought refuge in the chalet. And in order that he might not again +escape them, they now took every precaution, exerted all their skill in +surrounding the place before venturing on a minute search. Covert fear +came upon Pierre and Guillaume when they noticed these proceedings. It +seemed to them that it must all be connected with the chase which they +had caught a glimpse of some time previously. Still, as they happened to +be in the chalet they might be called upon to give their names and +addresses. At this thought they glanced at one another, and almost made +up their minds to go off under the rain. But they realised that anything +like flight might only compromise them the more. So they waited; and all +at once there came a diversion, for two fresh customers entered the +establishment. + +A victoria with its hood and apron raised had just drawn up outside the +door. The first to alight from it was a young, well-dressed man with a +bored expression of face. He was followed by a young woman who was +laughing merrily, as if much amused by the persistence of the downpour. +By way of jesting, indeed, she expressed her regret that she had not come +to the Bois on her bicycle, whereupon her companion retorted that to +drive about in a deluge appeared to him the height of idiocy. + +"But we were bound to go somewhere, my dear fellow," she gaily answered. +"Why didn't you take me to see the maskers?" + +"The maskers, indeed! No, no, my dear. I prefer the Bois, and even the +bottom of the lake, to them." + +Then, as the couple entered the chalet, Pierre saw that the young woman +who made merry over the rain was little Princess Rosemonde, while her +companion, who regarded the mid-Lent festivities as horrible, and +bicycling as an utterly unaesthetic amusement, was handsome Hyacinthe +Duvillard. On the previous evening, while they were taking a cup of tea +together on their return from the Chamber of Horrors, the young man had +responded to the Princess's blandishments by declaring that the only form +of attachment he believed in was a mystic union of intellects and souls. +And as such a union could only be fittingly arrived at amidst the cold, +chaste snow, they had decided that they would start for Christiania on +the following Monday. Their chief regret was that by the time they +reached the fiords the worst part of the northern winter would be over. + +They sat down in the cafe and ordered some kummel, but there was none, +said the waiter, so they had to content themselves with common anisette. +Then Hyacinthe, who had been a schoolfellow of Guillaume's sons, +recognised both him and Pierre; and leaning towards Rosemonde told her in +a whisper who the elder brother was. + +Thereupon, with sudden enthusiasm, she sprang to her feet: "Guillaume +Froment, indeed! the great chemist!" And stepping forward with arm +outstretched, she continued: "Ah! monsieur, you must excuse me, but I +really must shake hands with you. I have so much admiration for you! You +have done such wonderful work in connection with explosives!" Then, +noticing the chemist's astonishment, she again burst into a laugh: "I am +the Princess de Harn, your brother Abbe Froment knows me, and I ought to +have asked him to introduce me. However, we have mutual friends, you and +I; for instance, Monsieur Janzen, a very distinguished man, as you are +aware. He was to have taken me to see you, for I am a modest disciple of +yours. Yes, I have given some attention to chemistry, oh! from pure zeal +for truth and in the hope of helping good causes, not otherwise. So you +will let me call on you--won't you?--directly I come back from +Christiania, where I am going with my young friend here, just to acquire +some experience of unknown emotions." + +In this way she rattled on, never allowing the others an opportunity to +say a word. And she mingled one thing with another; her cosmopolitan +tastes, which had thrown her into Anarchism and the society of shady +adventurers; her new passion for mysticism and symbolism; her belief that +the ideal must triumph over base materialism; her taste for aesthetic +verse; and her dream of some unimagined rapture when Hyacinthe should +kiss her with his frigid lips in a realm of eternal snow. + +All at once, however, she stopped short and again began to laugh. "Dear +me!" she exclaimed. "What are those policemen looking for here? Have they +come to arrest us? How amusing it would be!" + +Police Commissary Dupot and detective Mondesir had just made up their +minds to search the cafe, as their men had hitherto failed to find Salvat +in any of the outbuildings. They were convinced that he was here. Dupot, +a thin, bald, short-sighted, spectacled little man, wore his usual +expression of boredom and weariness; but in reality he was very wide +awake and extremely courageous. He himself carried no weapons; but, as he +anticipated a most violent resistance, such as might be expected from a +trapped wolf, he advised Mondesir to have his revolver ready. From +considerations of hierarchical respect, however, the detective, who with +his snub nose and massive figure had much the appearance of a bull-dog, +was obliged to let his superior enter first. + +From behind his spectacles the Commissary of Police quickly scrutinized +the four customers whom he found in the cafe: the lady, the priest, and +the two other men. And passing them in a disdainful way, he at once made +for the stairs, intending to inspect the upper floor. Thereupon the +waiter, frightened by the sudden intrusion of the police, lost his head +and stammered: "But there's a lady and gentleman upstairs in one of the +private rooms." + +Dupot quietly pushed him aside. "A lady and gentleman, that's not what we +are looking for. . . . Come, make haste, open all the doors, you mustn't +leave a cupboard closed." + +Then climbing to the upper floor, he and Mondesir explored in turn every +apartment and corner till they at last reached the room where Eve and +Gerard were together. Here the waiter was unable to admit them, as the +door was bolted inside. "Open the door!" he called through the keyhole, +"it isn't you that they want!" + +At last the bolt was drawn back, and Dupot, without even venturing to +smile, allowed the trembling lady and gentleman to go downstairs, while +Mondesir, entering the room, looked under every article of furniture, and +even peeped into a little cupboard in order that no neglect might be +imputed to him. + +Meantime, in the public room which they had to cross after descending the +stairs, Eve and Gerard experienced fresh emotion; for people whom they +knew were there, brought together by an extraordinary freak of chance. +Although Eve's face was hidden by a thick veil, her eyes met her son's +glance and she felt sure that he recognised her. What a fatality! He had +so long a tongue and told his sister everything! Then, as the Count, in +despair at such a scandal, hurried off with the Baroness to conduct her +through the pouring rain to her cab, they both distinctly heard little +Princess Rosemonde exclaim: "Why, that was Count de Quinsac! Who was the +lady, do you know?" And as Hyacinthe, greatly put out, returned no +answer, she insisted, saying: "Come, you must surely know her. Who was +she, eh?" + +"Oh! nobody. Some woman or other," he ended by replying. + +Pierre, who had understood the truth, turned his eyes away to hide his +embarrassment. But all at once the scene changed. At the very moment when +Commissary Dupot and detective Mondesir came downstairs again, after +vainly exploring the upper floor, a loud shout was raised outside, +followed by a noise of running and scrambling. Then Gascogne, the Chief +of the Detective Force, who had remained in the rear of the chalet, +continuing the search through the outbuildings, made his appearance, +pushing before him a bundle of rags and mud, which two policemen held on +either side. And this bundle was the man, the hunted man, who had just +been discovered in the coach-house, inside a staved cask, covered with +hay. + +Ah! what a whoop of victory there was after that run of two hours' +duration, that frantic chase which had left them all breathless and +footsore! It had been the most exciting, the most savage of all sports--a +man hunt! They had caught the man at last, and they pushed him, they +dragged him, they belaboured him with blows. And he, the man, what a +sorry prey he looked! A wreck, wan and dirty from having spent the night +in a hole full of leaves, still soaked to his waist from having rushed +through a stream, drenched too by the rain, bespattered with mire, his +coat and trousers in tatters, his cap a mere shred, his legs and hands +bleeding from his terrible rush through thickets bristling with brambles +and nettles. There no longer seemed anything human about his face; his +hair stuck to his moist temples, his bloodshot eyes protruded from their +sockets; fright, rage, and suffering were all blended on his wasted, +contracted face. Still it was he, the man, the quarry, and they gave him +another push, and he sank on one of the tables of the little cafe, still +held and shaken, however, by the rough hands of the policemen. + +Then Guillaume shuddered as if thunderstruck, and caught hold of Pierre's +hand. At this the priest, who was looking on, suddenly understood the +truth and also quivered. Salvat! the man was Salvat! It was Salvat whom +they had seen rushing through the wood like a wild boar forced by the +hounds. And it was Salvat who was there, now conquered and simply a +filthy bundle. Then once more there came to Pierre, amidst his anguish, a +vision of the errand girl lying yonder at the entrance of the Duvillard +mansion, the pretty fair-haired girl whom the bomb had ripped and killed! + +Dupot and Mondesir made haste to participate in Gascogne's triumph. To +tell the truth, however, the man had offered no resistance; it was like a +lamb that he had let the police lay hold of him. And since he had been in +the cafe, still roughly handled, he had simply cast a weary and mournful +glance around him. + +At last he spoke, and the first words uttered by his hoarse, gasping +voice were these: "I am hungry." + +He was sinking with hunger and weariness. This was the third day that he +had eaten nothing. + +"Give him some bread," said Commissary Dupot to the waiter. "He can eat +it while a cab is being fetched." + +A policeman went off to find a vehicle. The rain had suddenly ceased +falling, the clear ring of a bicyclist's bell was heard in the distance, +some carriages drove by, and under the pale sunrays life again came back +to the Bois. + +Meantime, Salvat had fallen gluttonously upon the hunk of bread which had +been given him, and whilst he was devouring it with rapturous animal +satisfaction, he perceived the four customers seated around. He seemed +irritated by the sight of Hyacinthe and Rosemonde, whose faces expressed +the mingled anxiety and delight they felt at thus witnessing the arrest +of some bandit or other. But all at once his mournful, bloodshot eyes +wavered, for to his intense surprise he had recognised Pierre and +Guillaume. When he again looked at the latter it was with the submissive +affection of a grateful dog, and as if he were once more promising that +he would divulge nothing, whatever might happen. + +At last he again spoke, as if addressing himself like a man of courage, +both to Guillaume, from whom he had averted his eyes, and to others also, +his comrades who were not there: "It was silly of me to run," said he. "I +don't know why I did so. It's best that it should be all ended. I'm +ready." + + + +V + +THE GAME OF POLITICS + +ON reading the newspapers on the following morning Pierre and Guillaume +were greatly surprised at not finding in them the sensational accounts of +Salvat's arrest which they had expected. All they could discover was a +brief paragraph in a column of general news, setting forth that some +policemen on duty in the Bois de Boulogne had there arrested an +Anarchist, who was believed to have played a part in certain recent +occurrences. On the other hand, the papers gave a deal of space to the +questions raised by Sagnier's fresh denunciations. There were innumerable +articles on the African Railways scandal, and the great debate which +might be expected at the Chamber of Deputies, should Mege, the Socialist +member, really renew his interpellation, as he had announced his +intention of doing. + +As Guillaume's wrist was now fast healing, and nothing seemed to threaten +him, he had already, on the previous evening, decided that he would +return to Montmartre. The police had passed him by without apparently +suspecting any responsibility on his part; and he was convinced that +Salvat would keep silent. Pierre, however, begged him to wait a little +longer, at any rate until the prisoner should have been interrogated by +the investigating magistrate, by which time they would be able to judge +the situation more clearly. Pierre, moreover, during his long stay at the +Home Department on the previous morning, had caught a glimpse of certain +things and overheard certain words which made him suspect some dim +connection between Salvat's crime and the parliamentary crisis; and he +therefore desired a settlement of the latter before Guillaume returned to +his wonted life. + +"Just listen," he said to his brother. "I am going to Morin's to ask him +to come and dine here this evening, for it is absolutely necessary that +Barthes should be warned of the fresh blow which is falling on him. And +then I think I shall go to the Chamber, as I want to know what takes +place there. After that, since you desire it, I will let you go back to +your own home." + +It was not more than half-past one when Pierre reached the +Palais-Bourbon. It had occurred to him that Fonsegue would be able to +secure him admittance to the meeting-hall, but in the vestibule he met +General de Bozonnet, who happened to possess a couple of tickets. A +friend of his, who was to have accompanied him, had, at the last moment, +been unable to come. So widespread was the curiosity concerning the +debate now near at hand, and so general were the predictions that it +would prove a most exciting one, that the demand for tickets had been +extremely keen during the last twenty-four hours. In fact Pierre would +never have been able to obtain admittance if the General had not +good-naturedly offered to take him in. As a matter of fact the old +warrior was well pleased to have somebody to chat with. He explained that +he had simply come there to kill time, just as he might have killed it at +a concert or a charity bazaar. However, like the ex-Legitimist and +Bonapartist that he was, he had really come for the pleasure of feasting +his eyes on the shameful spectacle of parliamentary ignominy. + +When the General and Pierre had climbed the stairs, they were able to +secure two front seats in one of the public galleries. Little Massot, who +was already there, and who knew them both, placed one of them on his +right and the other on his left. "I couldn't find a decent seat left in +the press gallery," said he, "but I managed to get this place, from which +I shall be able to see things properly. It will certainly be a big +sitting. Just look at the number of people there are on every side!" + +The narrow and badly arranged galleries were packed to overflowing. There +were men of every age and a great many women too in the confused, serried +mass of spectators, amidst which one only distinguished a multiplicity of +pale white faces. The real scene, however, was down below in the +meeting-hall, which was as yet empty, and with its rows of seats disposed +in semi-circular fashion looked like the auditorium of a theatre. Under +the cold light which fell from the glazed roofing appeared the solemn, +shiny tribune, whence members address the Chamber, whilst behind it, on a +higher level, and running right along the rear wall, was what is called +the Bureau, with its various tables and seats, including the presidential +armchair. The Bureau, like the tribune, was still unoccupied. The only +persons one saw there were a couple of attendants who were laying out new +pens and filling inkstands. + +"The women," said Massot with a laugh, after another glance at the +galleries, "come here just as they might come to a menagerie, that is, in +the secret hope of seeing wild beasts devour one another. But, by the +way, did you read the article in the 'Voix du Peuple' this morning? What +a wonderful fellow that Sagnier is. When nobody else can find any filth +left, he manages to discover some. He apparently thinks it necessary to +add something new every day, in order to send his sales up. And of course +it all disturbs the public, and it's thanks to him that so many people +have come here in the hope of witnessing some horrid scene." + +Then he laughed again, as he asked Pierre if he had read an unsigned +article in the "Globe," which in very dignified but perfidious language +had called upon Barroux to give the full and frank explanations which the +country had a right to demand in that matter of the African Railways. +This paper had hitherto vigorously supported the President of the +Council, but in the article in question the coldness which precedes a +rupture was very apparent. Pierre replied that the article had much +surprised him, for he had imagined that Fonsegue and Barroux were linked +together by identity of views and long-standing personal friendship. + +Massot was still laughing. "Quite so," said he. "And you may be sure that +the governor's heart bled when he wrote that article. It has been much +noticed, and it will do the government a deal of harm. But the governor, +you see, knows better than anybody else what line he ought to follow to +save both his own position and the paper's." + +Then he related what extraordinary confusion and emotion reigned among +the deputies in the lobbies through which he had strolled before coming +upstairs to secure a seat. After an adjournment of a couple of days the +Chamber found itself confronted by this terrible scandal, which was like +one of those conflagrations which, at the moment when they are supposed +to be dying out, suddenly flare up again and devour everything. The +various figures given in Sagnier's list, the two hundred thousand francs +paid to Barroux, the eighty thousand handed to Monferrand, the fifty +thousand allotted to Fonsegue, the ten thousand pocketed by Duthil, and +the three thousand secured by Chaigneux, with all the other amounts +distributed among So-and-so and So-and-so, formed the general subject of +conversation. And at the same time some most extraordinary stories were +current; there was no end of tittle-tattle in which fact and falsehood +were so inextricably mingled that everybody was at sea as to the real +truth. Whilst many deputies turned pale and trembled as beneath a blast +of terror, others passed by purple with excitement, bursting with +delight, laughing with exultation at the thought of coming victory. For, +in point of fact, beneath all the assumed indignation, all the calls for +parliamentary cleanliness and morality, there simply lay a question of +persons--the question of ascertaining whether the government would be +overthrown, and in that event of whom the new administration would +consist. Barroux no doubt appeared to be in a bad way; but with things in +such a muddle one was bound to allow a margin for the unexpected. From +what was generally said it seemed certain that Mege would be extremely +violent. Barroux would answer him, and the Minister's friends declared +that he was determined to speak out in the most decisive manner. As for +Monferrand he would probably address the Chamber after his colleague, but +Vignon's intentions were somewhat doubtful, as, in spite of his delight, +he made a pretence of remaining in the back, ground. He had been seen +going from one to another of his partisans, advising them to keep calm, +in order that they might retain the cold, keen /coup d'oeil/ which in +warfare generally decides the victory. Briefly, such was the plotting and +intriguing that never had any witch's cauldron brimful of drugs and +nameless abominations been set to boil on a more hellish fire than that +of this parliamentary cook-shop. + +"Heaven only knows what they will end by serving us," said little Massot +by way of conclusion. + +General de Bozonnet for his part anticipated nothing but disaster. If +France had only possessed an army, said he, one might have swept away +that handful of bribe-taking parliamentarians who preyed upon the country +and rotted it. But there was no army left, there was merely an armed +nation, a very different thing. And thereupon, like a man of a past age +whom the present times distracted, he started on what had been his +favourite subject of complaint ever since he had been retired from the +service. + +"Here's an idea for an article if you want one," he said to Massot. +"Although France may have a million soldiers she hasn't got an army. I'll +give you some notes of mine, and you will be able to tell people the +truth." + +Warfare, he continued, ought to be purely and simply a caste occupation, +with commanders designated by divine right, leading mercenaries or +volunteers into action. By democratising warfare people had simply killed +it; a circumstance which he deeply regretted, like a born soldier who +regarded fighting as the only really noble occupation that life offered. +For, as soon as it became every man's duty to fight, none was willing to +do so; and thus compulsory military service--what was called "the nation +in arms"--would, at a more or less distant date, certainly bring about +the end of warfare. If France had not engaged in a European war since +1870 this was precisely due to the fact that everybody in France was +ready to fight. But rulers hesitated to throw a whole nation against +another nation, for the loss both in life and treasure would be +tremendous. And so the thought that all Europe was transformed into a +vast camp filled the General with anger and disgust. He sighed for the +old times when men fought for the pleasure of the thing, just as they +hunted; whereas nowadays people were convinced that they would +exterminate one another at the very first engagement. + +"But surely it wouldn't be an evil if war should disappear," Pierre +gently remarked. + +This somewhat angered the General. "Well, you'll have pretty nations if +people no longer fight," he answered, and then trying to show a practical +spirit, he added: "Never has the art of war cost more money than since +war itself has become an impossibility. The present-day defensive peace +is purely and simply ruining every country in Europe. One may be spared +defeat, but utter bankruptcy is certainly at the end of it all. And in +any case the profession of arms is done for. All faith in it is dying +out, and it will soon be forsaken, just as men have begun to forsake the +priesthood." + +Thereupon he made a gesture of mingled grief and anger, almost cursing +that parliament, that Republican legislature before him, as if he +considered it responsible for the future extinction of warfare. But +little Massot was wagging his head dubiously, for he regarded the subject +as rather too serious a one for him to write upon. And, all at once, in +order to turn the conversation into another channel, he exclaimed: "Ah! +there's Monseigneur Martha in the diplomatic gallery beside the Spanish +Ambassador. It's denied, you know, that he intends to come forward as a +candidate in Morbihan. He's far too shrewd to wish to be a deputy. He +already pulls the strings which set most of the Catholic deputies who +have 'rallied' to the Republican Government in motion." + +Pierre himself had just noticed Monseigneur Martha's smiling face. And, +somehow or other, however modest might be the prelate's demeanour, it +seemed to him that he really played an important part in what was going +on. He could hardly take his eyes from him. It was as if he expected that +he would suddenly order men hither and thither, and direct the whole +march of events. + +"Ah!" said Massot again. "Here comes Mege. It won't be long now before +the sitting begins." + +The hall, down below, was gradually filling. Deputies entered and +descended the narrow passages between the benches. Most of them remained +standing and chatting in a more or less excited way; but some seated +themselves and raised their grey, weary faces to the glazed roof. It was +a cloudy afternoon, and rain was doubtless threatening, for the light +became quite livid. If the hall was pompous it was also dismal with its +heavy columns, its cold allegorical statues, and its stretches of bare +marble and woodwork. The only brightness was that of the red velvet of +the benches and the gallery hand-rests. + +Every deputy of any consequence who entered was named by Massot to his +companions. Mege, on being stopped by another member of the little +Socialist group, began to fume and gesticulate. Then Vignon, detaching +himself from a group of friends and putting on an air of smiling +composure, descended the steps towards his seat. The occupants of the +galleries, however, gave most attention to the accused members, those +whose names figured in Sagnier's list. And these were interesting +studies. Some showed themselves quite sprightly, as if they were entirely +at their ease; but others had assumed a most grave and indignant +demeanour. Chaigneux staggered and hesitated as if beneath the weight of +some frightful act of injustice; whereas Duthil looked perfectly serene +save for an occasional twitch of his lips. The most admired, however, was +Fonsegue, who showed so candid a face, so open a glance, that his +colleagues as well as the spectators might well have declared him +innocent. Nobody indeed could have looked more like an honest man. + +"Ah! there's none like the governor," muttered Massot with enthusiasm. +"But be attentive, for here come the ministers. One mustn't miss Barroux' +meeting with Fonsegue, after this morning's article." + +Chance willed it that as Barroux came along with his head erect, his face +pale, and his whole demeanour aggressive, he was obliged to pass Fonsegue +in order to reach the ministerial bench. In doing so he did not speak to +him, but he gazed at him fixedly like one who is conscious of defection, +of a cowardly stab in the back on the part of a traitor. Fonsegue seemed +quite at ease, and went on shaking hands with one and another of his +colleagues as if he were altogether unconscious of Barroux' glance. Nor +did he even appear to see Monferrand, who walked by in the rear of the +Prime Minister, wearing a placid good-natured air, as if he knew nothing +of what was impending, but was simply coming to some ordinary humdrum +sitting. However, when he reached his seat, he raised his eyes and smiled +at Monseigneur Martha, who gently nodded to him. Then well pleased to +think that things were going as he wished them to go, he began to rub his +hands, as he often did by way of expressing his satisfaction. + +"Who is that grey-haired, mournful-looking gentleman on the ministerial +bench?" Pierre inquired of Massot. + +"Why, that's Taboureau, the Minister of Public Instruction, the excellent +gentleman who is said to have no prestige. One's always hearing of him, +and one never recognises him; he looks like an old, badly worn coin. Just +like Barroux he can't feel very well pleased with the governor this +afternoon, for to-day's 'Globe' contained an article pointing out his +thorough incapacity in everything concerning the fine arts. It was an +article in measured language, but all the more effective for that very +reason. It would surprise me if Taboureau should recover from it." + +Just then a low roll of drums announced the arrival of the President and +other officials of the Chamber. A door opened, and a little procession +passed by amidst an uproar of exclamations and hasty footsteps. Then, +standing at his table, the President rang his bell and declared the +sitting open. But few members remained silent, however, whilst one of the +secretaries, a dark, lanky young man with a harsh voice, read the minutes +of the previous sitting. When they had been adopted, various letters of +apology for non-attendance were read, and a short, unimportant bill was +passed without discussion. And then came the big affair, Mege's +interpellation, and at once the whole Chamber was in a flutter, while the +most passionate curiosity reigned in the galleries above. On the +Government consenting to the interpellation, the Chamber decided that the +debate should take place at once. And thereupon complete silence fell, +save that now and again a brief quiver sped by, in which one could detect +the various feelings, passions and appetites swaying the assembly. + +Mege began to speak with assumed moderation, carefully setting forth the +various points at issue. Tall and thin, gnarled and twisted like a +vine-stock, he rested his hands on the tribune as if to support his bent +figure, and his speech was often interrupted by the little dry cough +which came from the tuberculosis that was burning him. But his eyes +sparkled with passion behind his glasses, and little by little his voice +rose in piercing accents and he drew his lank figure erect and began to +gesticulate vehemently. He reminded the Chamber that some two months +previously, at the time of the first denunciations published by the "Voix +du Peuple," he had asked leave to interpellate the Government respecting +that deplorable affair of the African Railways; and he remarked, truly +enough, that if the Chamber had not yielded to certain considerations +which he did not wish to discuss, and had not adjourned his proposed +inquiries, full light would long since have been thrown on the whole +affair, in such wise that there would have been no revival, no increase +of the scandal, and no possible pretext for that abominable campaign of +denunciation which tortured and disgusted the country. However, it had at +last been understood that silence could be maintained no longer. It was +necessary that the two ministers who were so loudly accused of having +abused their trusts, should prove their innocence, throw full light upon +all they had done; apart from which the Chamber itself could not possibly +remain beneath the charge of wholesale venality. + +Then he recounted the whole history of the affair, beginning with the +grant of a concession for the African Lines to Baron Duvillard; and next +passing to the proposals for the issue of lottery stock, which proposals, +it was now said, had only been sanctioned by the Chamber after the most +shameful bargaining and buying of votes. At this point Mege became +extremely violent. Speaking of that mysterious individual Hunter, Baron +Duvillard's recruiter and go-between, he declared that the police had +allowed him to flee from France, much preferring to spend its time in +shadowing Socialist deputies. Then, hammering the tribune with his fist, +he summoned Barroux to give a categorical denial to the charges brought +against him, and to make it absolutely clear that he had never received a +single copper of the two hundred thousand francs specified in Hunter's +list. Forthwith certain members shouted to Mege that he ought to read the +whole list; but when he wished to do so others vociferated that it was +abominable, that such a mendacious and slanderous document ought not to +be accorded a place in the proceedings of the French legislature. Mege +went on still in frantic fashion, figuratively casting Sagnier into the +gutter, and protesting that there was nothing in common between himself +and such a base insulter. But at the same time he demanded that justice +and punishment should be meted out equally to one and all, and that if +indeed there were any bribe-takers among his colleagues, they should be +sent that very night to the prison of Mazas. + +Meantime the President, erect at his table, rang and rang his bell +without managing to quell the uproar. He was like a pilot who finds the +tempest too strong for him. Among all the men with purple faces and +barking mouths who were gathered in front of him, the ushers alone +maintained imperturbable gravity. At intervals between the bursts of +shouting, Mege's voice could still be heard. By some sudden transition he +had come to the question of a Collectivist organisation of society such +as he dreamt of, and he contrasted it with the criminal capitalist +society of the present day, which alone, said he, could produce such +scandals. And yielding more and more to his apostolic fervour, declaring +that there could be no salvation apart from Collectivism, he shouted that +the day of triumph would soon dawn. He awaited it with a smile of +confidence. In his opinion, indeed, he merely had to overthrow that +ministry and perhaps another one, and then he himself would at last take +the reins of power in hand, like a reformer who would know how to pacify +the nation. As outside Socialists often declared, it was evident that the +blood of a dictator flowed in that sectarian's veins. His feverish, +stubborn rhetoric ended by exhausting his interrupters, who were +compelled to listen to him. When he at last decided to leave the tribune, +loud applause arose from a few benches on the left. + +"Do you know," said Massot to the General, "I met Mege taking a walk with +his three little children in the Jardin des Plantes the other day. He +looked after them as carefully as an old nurse. I believe he's a very +worthy fellow at heart, and lives in a very modest way." + +But a quiver had now sped through the assembly. Barroux had quitted his +seat to ascend the tribune. He there drew himself erect, throwing his +head back after his usual fashion. There was a haughty, majestic, +slightly sorrowful expression on his handsome face, which would have been +perfect had his nose only been a little larger. He began to express his +sorrow and indignation in fine flowery language, which he punctuated with +theatrical gestures. His eloquence was that of a tribune of the romantic +school, and as one listened to him one could divine that in spite of all +his pomposity he was really a worthy, tender-hearted and somewhat foolish +man. That afternoon he was stirred by genuine emotion; his heart bled at +the thought of his disastrous destiny, he felt that a whole world was +crumbling with himself. Ah! what a cry of despair he stifled, the cry of +the man who is buffeted and thrown aside by the course of events on the +very day when he thinks that his civic devotion entitles him to triumph! +To have given himself and all he possessed to the cause of the Republic, +even in the dark days of the Second Empire; to have fought and struggled +and suffered persecution for that Republic's sake; to have established +that Republic amidst the battle of parties, after all the horrors of +national and civil war; and then, when the Republic at last triumphed and +became a living fact, secure from all attacks and intrigues, to suddenly +feel like a survival of some other age, to hear new comers speak a new +language, preach a new ideal, and behold the collapse of all he had +loved, all he had reverenced, all that had given him strength to fight +and conquer! The mighty artisans of the early hours were no more; it had +been meet that Gambetta should die. How bitter it all was for the last +lingering old ones to find themselves among the men of the new, +intelligent and shrewd generation, who gently smiled at them, deeming +their romanticism quite out of fashion! All crumbled since the ideal of +liberty collapsed, since liberty was no longer the one desideratum, the +very basis of the Republic whose existence had been so dearly purchased +after so long an effort! + +Erect and dignified Barroux made his confession. The Republic to him was +like the sacred ark of life; the very worst deeds became saintly if they +were employed to save her from peril. And in all simplicity he, told his +story, how he had found the great bulk of Baron Duvillard's money going +to the opposition newspapers as pretended payment for puffery and +advertising, whilst on the other hand the Republican organs received but +beggarly, trumpery amounts. He had been Minister of the Interior at the +time, and had therefore had charge of the press; so what would have been +said of him if he had not endeavoured to reestablish some equilibrium in +this distribution of funds in order that the adversaries of the +institutions of the country might not acquire a great increase of +strength by appropriating all the sinews of war? Hands had been stretched +out towards him on all sides, a score of newspapers, the most faithful, +the most meritorious, had claimed their legitimate share. And he had +ensured them that share by distributing among them the two hundred +thousand francs set down in the list against his name. Not a centime of +the money had gone into his own pocket, he would allow nobody to impugn +his personal honesty, on that point his word must suffice. At that moment +Barroux was really grand. All his emphatic pomposity disappeared; he +showed himself, as he really was--an honest man, quivering, his heart +bared, his conscience bleeding, in his bitter distress at having been +among those who had laboured and at now being denied reward. + +For, truth to tell, his words fell amidst icy silence. In his childish +simplicity he had anticipated an outburst of enthusiasm; a Republican +Chamber could but acclaim him for having saved the Republic; and now the +frigidity of one and all quite froze him. He suddenly felt that he was +all alone, done for, touched by the hand of death. Nevertheless, he +continued speaking amidst that terrible silence with the courage of one +who is committing suicide, and who, from his love of noble and eloquent +attitudes, is determined to die standing. He ended with a final +impressive gesture. However, as he came down from the tribune, the +general coldness seemed to increase, not a single member applauded. With +supreme clumsiness he had alluded to the secret scheming of Rome and the +clergy, whose one object, in his opinion, was to recover the predominant +position they had lost and restore monarchy in France at a more or less +distant date. + +"How silly of him! Ought a man ever to confess?" muttered Massot. "He's +done for, and the ministry too!" + +Then, amidst the general frigidity, Monferrand boldly ascended the +tribune stairs. The prevailing uneasiness was compounded of all the +secret fear which sincerity always causes, of all the distress of the +bribe-taking deputies who felt that they were rolling into an abyss, and +also of the embarrassment which the others felt at thought of the more or +less justifiable compromises of politics. Something like relief, +therefore, came when Monferrand started with the most emphatic denials, +protesting in the name of his outraged honour, and dealing blow after +blow on the tribune with one hand, while with the other he smote his +chest. Short and thick-set, with his face thrust forward, hiding his +shrewdness beneath an expression of indignant frankness, he was for a +moment really superb. He denied everything. He was not only ignorant of +what was meant by that sum of eighty thousand francs set down against his +name, but he defied the whole world to prove that he had even touched a +single copper of that money. He boiled over with indignation to such a +point that he did not simply deny bribe-taking on his own part, he denied +it on behalf of the whole assembly, of all present and past French +legislatures, as if, indeed, bribe-taking on the part of a representative +of the people was altogether too monstrous an idea, a crime that +surpassed possibility to such an extent that the mere notion of it was +absurd. And thereupon applause rang out; the Chamber, delivered from its +fears, thrilled by his words, acclaimed him. + +From the little Socialist group, however, some jeers arose, and voices +summoned Monferrand to explain himself on the subject of the African +Railways, reminding him that he had been at the head of the Public Works +Department at the time of the vote, and requiring of him that he should +state what he now meant to do, as Minister of the Interior, in order to +reassure the country. He juggled with this question, declaring that if +there were any guilty parties they would be punished, for he did not +require anybody to remind him of his duty. And then, all at once, with +incomparable maestria, he had recourse to the diversion which he had been +preparing since the previous day. His duty, said he, was a thing which he +never forgot; he discharged it like a faithful soldier of the nation hour +by hour, and with as much vigilance as prudence. He had been accused of +employing the police on he knew not what base spying work in such wise as +to allow the man Hunter to escape. Well, as for that much-slandered +police force, he would tell the Chamber on what work he had really +employed it the day before, and how zealously it had laboured for the +cause of law and order. In the Bois de Boulogne, on the previous +afternoon, it had arrested that terrible scoundrel, the perpetrator of +the crime in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, that Anarchist mechanician Salvat, +who for six weeks past had so cunningly contrived to elude capture. The +scoundrel had made a full confession during the evening, and the law +would now take its course with all despatch. Public morality was at last +avenged, Paris might now emerge in safety from its long spell of terror, +Anarchism would be struck down, annihilated. And that was what he, +Monferrand, had done as a Minister for the honour and safety of his +country, whilst villains were vainly seeking to dishonour him by +inscribing his name on a list of infamy, the outcome of the very basest +political intrigues. + +The Chamber listened agape and quivering. This story of Salvat's arrest, +which none of the morning papers had reported; the present which +Monferrand seemed to be making them of that terrible Anarchist whom many +had already begun to regard as a myth; the whole /mise-en-scene/ of the +Minister's speech transported the deputies as if they were suddenly +witnessing the finish of a long-interrupted drama. Stirred and flattered, +they prolonged their applause, while Monferrand went on celebrating his +act of energy, how he had saved society, how crime should be punished, +and how he himself would ever prove that he had a strong arm and could +answer for public order. He even won favour with the Conservatives and +Clericals on the Right by separating himself from Barroux, addressing a +few words of sympathy to those Catholics who had "rallied" to the +Republic, and appealing for concord among men of different beliefs in +order that they might fight the common enemy, that fierce, wild socialism +which talked of overthrowing everything! + +By the time Monferrand came down from the tribune, the trick was played, +he had virtually saved himself. Both the Right and Left of the Chamber* +applauded, drowning the protests of the few Socialists whose +vociferations only added to the triumphal tumult. Members eagerly +stretched out their hands to the Minister, who for a moment remained +standing there and smiling. But there was some anxiety in that smile of +his; his success was beginning to frighten him. Had he spoken too well, +and saved the entire Cabinet instead of merely saving himself? That would +mean the ruin of his plan. The Chamber ought not to vote under the effect +of that speech which had thrilled it so powerfully. Thus Monferrand, +though he still continued to smile, spent a few anxious moments in +waiting to see if anybody would rise to answer him. + + * Ever since the days of the Bourbon Restoration it has been + the practice in the French Chambers for the more conservative + members to seat themselves on the President's right, and for + the Radical ones to place themselves on his left. The central + seats of the semicircle in which the members' seats are + arranged in tiers are usually occupied by men of moderate views. + Generally speaking, such terms as Right Centre and Left Centre + are applied to groups of Moderates inclining in the first place + to Conservatism and in the latter to Radicalism. All this is of + course known to readers acquainted with French institutions, but + I give the explanation because others, after perusing French + news in some daily paper, have often asked me what was meant by + "a deputy of the Right," and so forth.--Trans. + +His success had been as great among the occupants of the galleries as +among the deputies themselves. Several ladies had been seen applauding, +and Monseigneur Martha had given unmistakable signs of the liveliest +satisfaction. "Ah, General!" said Massot to Bozonnet in a sneering way. +"Those are our fighting men of the present time. And he's a bold and +strong one, is Monferrand. Of course it is all what people style 'saving +one's bacon,' but none the less it's very clever work." + +Just then, however, Monferrand to his great satisfaction had seen Vignon +rise from his seat in response to the urging of his friends. And +thereupon all anxiety vanished from the Minister's smile, which became +one of malicious placidity. + +The very atmosphere of the Chamber seemed to change with Vignon in the +tribune. He was slim, with a fair and carefully tended beard, blue eyes +and all the suppleness of youth. He spoke, moreover, like a practical +man, in simple, straightforward language, which made the emptiness of the +other's declamatory style painfully conspicuous. His term of official +service as a prefect in the provinces had endowed him with keen insight; +and it was in an easy way that he propounded and unravelled the most +intricate questions. Active and courageous, confident in his own star, +too young and too shrewd to have compromised himself in anything so far, +he was steadily marching towards the future. He had already drawn up a +rather more advanced political programme than that of Barroux and +Monferrand, so that when opportunity offered there might be good reasons +for him to take their place. Moreover, he was quite capable of carrying +out his programme by attempting some of the long-promised reforms for +which the country was waiting. He had guessed that honesty, when it had +prudence and shrewdness as its allies, must some day secure an innings. +In a clear voice, and in a very quiet, deliberate way, he now said what +it was right to say on the subject under discussion, the things that +common sense dictated and that the Chamber itself secretly desired should +be said. He was certainly the first to rejoice over an arrest which would +reassure the country; but he failed to understand what connection there +could be between that arrest and the sad business that had been brought +before the Chamber. The two affairs were quite distinct and different, +and he begged his colleagues not to vote in the state of excitement in +which he saw them. Full light must be thrown on the African Railways +question, and this, one could not expect from the two incriminated +ministers. However, he was opposed to any suggestion of a committee of +inquiry. In his opinion the guilty parties, if such there were, ought to +be brought immediately before a court of law. And, like Barroux, he wound +up with a discreet allusion to the growing influence of the clergy, +declaring that he was against all unworthy compromises, and was equally +opposed to any state dictatorship and any revival of the ancient +theocratic spirit. + +Although there was but little applause when Vignon returned to his seat, +it was evident that the Chamber was again master of its emotions. And the +situation seemed so clear, and the overthrow of the ministry so certain, +that Mege, who had meant to reply to the others, wisely abstained from +doing so. Meantime people noticed the placid demeanour of Monferrand, who +had listened to Vignon with the utmost complacency, as if he were +rendering homage to an adversary's talent; whereas Barroux, ever since +the cold silence which had greeted his speech, had remained motionless in +his seat, bowed down and pale as a corpse. + +"Well, it's all over," resumed Massot, amidst the hubbub which arose as +the deputies prepared to vote; "the ministry's done for. Little Vignon +will go a long way, you know. People say that he dreams of the Elysee. At +all events everything points to him as our next prime minister." + +Then, as the journalist rose, intending to go off, the General detained +him: "Wait a moment, Monsieur Massot," said he. "How disgusting all that +parliamentary cooking is! You ought to point it out in an article, and +show people how the country is gradually being weakened and rotted to the +marrow by all such useless and degrading discussions. Why, a great battle +resulting in the loss of 50,000 men would exhaust us less than ten years +of this abominable parliamentary system. You must call on me some +morning. I will show you a scheme of military reform, in which I point +out the necessity of returning to the limited professional armies which +we used to have, for this present-day national army, as folks call it, +which is a semi-civilian affair and at best a mere herd of men, is like a +dead weight on us, and is bound to pull us down!" + +Pierre, for his part, had not spoken a word since the beginning of the +debate. He had listened to everything, at first influenced by the thought +of his brother's interests, and afterwards mastered by the feverishness +which gradually took possession of everybody present. He had become +convinced that there was nothing more for Guillaume to fear; but how +curiously did one event fit into another, and how loudly had Salvat's +arrest re-echoed in the Chamber! Looking down into the seething hall +below him, he had detected all the clash of rival passions and interests. +After watching the great struggle between Barroux, Monferrand and Vignon, +he had gazed upon the childish delight of that terrible Socialist Mege, +who was so pleased at having been able to stir up the depths of those +troubled waters, in which he always unwittingly angled for the benefit of +others. Then, too, Pierre had become interested in Fonsegue, who, knowing +what had been arranged between Monferrand, Duvillard and himself, evinced +perfect calmness and strove to reassure Duthil and Chaigneux, who, on +their side, were quite dismayed by the ministry's impending fall. Yet, +Pierre's eyes always came back to Monseigneur Martha. He had watched his +serene smiling face throughout the sitting, striving to detect his +impressions of the various incidents that had occurred, as if in his +opinion that dramatic parliamentary comedy had only been played as a step +towards the more or less distant triumph for which the prelate laboured. +And now, while awaiting the result of the vote, as Pierre turned towards +Massot and the General, he found that they were talking of nothing but +recruiting and tactics and the necessity of a bath of blood for the whole +of Europe. Ah! poor mankind, ever fighting and ever devouring one another +in parliaments as well as on battle-fields, when, thought Pierre, would +it decide to disarm once and for all, and live at peace according to the +laws of justice and reason! + +Then he again looked down into the hall, where the greatest confusion was +prevailing among the deputies with regard to the coming vote. There was +quite a rainfall of suggested "resolutions," from a very violent one +proposed by Mege, to another, which was merely severe, emanating from +Vignon. The ministry, however, would only accept the "Order of the day +pure and simple," a mere decision, that is, to pass to the next business, +as if Mege's interpellation had been unworthy of attention. And presently +the Government was defeated, Vignon's resolution being adopted by a +majority of twenty-five. Some portion of the Left had evidently joined +hands with the Right and the Socialist group. A prolonged hubbub followed +this result. + +"Well, so we are to have a Vignon Cabinet," said Massot, as he went off +with Pierre and the General. "All the same, though, Monferrand has saved +himself, and if I were in Vignon's place I should distrust him." + +That evening there was a very touching farewell scene at the little house +at Neuilly. When Pierre returned thither from the Chamber, saddened but +reassured with regard to the future, Guillaume at once made up his mind +to go home on the morrow. And as Nicholas Barthes was compelled to leave, +the little dwelling seemed on the point of relapsing into dreary quietude +once more. + +Theophile Morin, whom Pierre had informed of the painful alternative in +which Barthes was placed, duly came to dinner; but he did not have time +to speak to the old man before they all sat down to table at seven +o'clock. As usual Barthes had spent his day in marching, like a caged +lion, up and down the room in which he had accepted shelter after the +fashion of a big fearless child, who never worried with regard either to +his present circumstances or the troubles which the future might have in +store for him. His life had ever been one of unlimited hope, which +reality had ever shattered. Although all that he had loved, all that he +had hoped to secure by fifty years of imprisonment or exile,--liberty, +equality and a real brotherly republic,--had hitherto failed to come, +such as he had dreamt of them, he nevertheless retained the candid faith +of his youth, and was ever confident in the near future. He would smile +indulgently when new comers, men of violent ideas, derided him and called +him a poor old fellow. For his part, he could make neither head nor tail +of the many new sects. He simply felt indignant with their lack of human +feeling, and stubbornly adhered to his own idea of basing the world's +regeneration on the simple proposition that men were naturally good and +ought to be free and brotherly. + +That evening at dinner, feeling that he was with friends who cared for +him, Barthes proved extremely gay, and showed all his ingenuousness in +talking of his ideal, which would soon be realised, said he, in spite of +everything. He could tell a story well whenever he cared to chat, and on +that occasion he related some delightful anecdotes about the prisons +through which he had passed. He knew all the dungeons, Ste. Pelagie and +Mont St. Michel, Belle-Ile-en-Mer and Clairvaux, to say nothing of +temporary gaols and the evil-smelling hulks on board which political +prisoners are often confined. And he still laughed at certain +recollections, and related how in the direst circumstances he had always +been able to seek refuge in his conscience. The others listened to him +quite charmed by his conversation, but full of anguish at the thought +that this perpetual prisoner or exile must again rise and take his staff +to sally forth, driven from his native land once more. + +Pierre did not speak out until they were partaking of dessert. Then he +related how the Minister had written to him, and how in a brief interview +he had stated that Barthes must cross the frontier within forty-eight +hours if he did not wish to be arrested. Thereupon the old man gravely +rose, with his white fleece, his eagle beak and his bright eyes still +sparkling with the fire of youth. And he wished to go off at once. +"What!" said he, "you have known all this since yesterday, and have still +kept me here at the risk of my compromising you even more than I had done +already! You must forgive me, I did not think of the worry I might cause +you, I thought that everything would be satisfactorily arranged. I must +thank you both--yourself and Guillaume--for the few days of quietude that +you have procured to an old vagabond and madman like myself." + +Then, as they tried to prevail on him to remain until the following +morning, he would not listen to them. There would be a train for Brussels +about midnight, and he had ample time to take it. He refused to let Morin +accompany him. No, no, said he, Morin was not a rich man, and moreover he +had work to attend to. Why should he take him away from his duties, when +it was so easy, so simple, for him to go off alone? He was going back +into exile as into misery and grief which he had long known, like some +Wandering Jew of Liberty, ever driven onward through the world. + +When he took leave of the others at ten o'clock, in the little sleepy +street just outside the house, tears suddenly dimmed his eyes. "Ah! I'm +no longer a young man," he said; "it's all over this time. I shall never +come back again. My bones will rest in some corner over yonder." And yet, +after he had affectionately embraced Pierre and Guillaume, he drew +himself up like one who remained unconquered, and he raised a supreme cry +of hope. "But after all, who knows? Triumph may perhaps come to-morrow. +The future belongs to those who prepare it and wait for it!" + +Then he walked away, and long after he had disappeared his firm, sonorous +footsteps could be heard re-echoing in the quiet night. + + + + + + THE THREE CITIES + + + + PARIS + + + + BY + + EMILE ZOLA + + + + TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY + + + + BOOK IV + + + +I + +PIERRE AND MARIE + +ON the mild March morning when Pierre left his little house at Neuilly to +accompany Guillaume to Montmartre, he was oppressed by the thought that +on returning home he would once more find himself alone with nothing to +prevent him from relapsing into negation and despair. The idea of this +had kept him from sleeping, and he still found it difficult to hide his +distress and force a smile. + +The sky was so clear and the atmosphere so mild that the brothers had +resolved to go to Montmartre on foot by way of the outer boulevards. Nine +o'clock was striking when they set out. Guillaume for his part was very +gay at the thought of the surprise he would give his family. It was as if +he were suddenly coming back from a long journey. He had not warned them +of his intentions; he had merely written to them now and again to tell +them that he was recovering, and they certainly had no idea that his +return was so near at hand. + +When Guillaume and Pierre had climbed the sunlit slopes of Montmartre, +and crossed the quiet countrified Place du Tertre, the former, by means +of a latch-key, quietly opened the door of his house, which seemed to be +asleep, so profound was the stillness both around and within it. Pierre +found it the same as on the occasion of his previous and only visit. +First came the narrow passage which ran through the ground-floor, +affording a view of all Paris at the further end. Next there was the +garden, reduced to a couple of plum-trees and a clump of lilac-bushes, +the leaves of which had now sprouted. And this time the priest perceived +three bicycles leaning against the trees. Beyond them stood the large +work-shop, so gay, and yet so peaceful, with its huge window overlooking +a sea of roofs. + +Guillaume had reached the work-shop without meeting anybody. With an +expression of much amusement he raised a finger to his lips. "Attention, +Pierre," he whispered; "you'll just see!" + +Then having noiselessly opened the door, they remained for a moment on +the threshold. + +The three sons alone were there. Near his forge stood Thomas working a +boring machine, with which he was making some holes in a small brass +plate. Then Francois and Antoine were seated on either side of their +large table, the former reading, and the latter finishing a block. The +bright sunshine streamed in, playing over all the seeming disorder of the +room, where so many callings and so many implements found place. A large +bunch of wallflowers bloomed on the women's work-table near the window; +and absorbed as the young men were in their respective tasks the only +sound was the slight hissing of the boring machine each time that the +eldest of them drilled another hole. + +However, although Guillaume did not stir, there suddenly came a quiver, +an awakening. His sons seemed to guess his presence, for they raised +their heads, each at the same moment. From each, too, came the same cry, +and a common impulse brought them first to their feet and then to his +arms. + +"Father!" + +Guillaume embraced them, feeling very happy. And that was all; there was +no long spell of emotion, no useless talk. It was as if he had merely +gone out the day before and, delayed by business, had now come back. +Still, he looked at them with his kindly smile, and they likewise smiled +with their eyes fixed on his. Those glances proclaimed everything, the +closest affection and complete self-bestowal for ever. + +"Come in, Pierre," called Guillaume; "shake hands with these young men." + +The priest had remained near the door, overcome by a singular feeling of +discomfort. When his nephews had vigorously shaken hands with him, he sat +down near the window apart from them, as if he felt out of his element +there. + +"Well, youngsters," said Guillaume, "where's Mere-Grand, and where's +Marie?" + +Their grandmother was upstairs in her room, they said; and Marie had +taken it into her head to go marketing. This, by the way, was one of her +delights. She asserted that she was the only one who knew how to buy +new-laid eggs and butter of a nutty odour. Moreover, she sometimes +brought some dainty or some flowers home, in her delight at proving +herself to be so good a housewife. + +"And so things are going on well?" resumed Guillaume. "You are all +satisfied, your work is progressing, eh?" + +He addressed brief questions to each of them, like one who, on his return +home, at once reverts to his usual habits. Thomas, with his rough face +beaming, explained in a couple of sentences that he was now sure of +perfecting his little motor; Francois, who was still preparing for his +examination, jestingly declared that he yet had to lodge a heap of +learning in his brain; and then Antoine produced the block which he was +finishing, and which depicted his little friend Lise, Jahan's sister, +reading in her garden amidst the sunshine. It was like a florescence of +that dear belated creature whose mind had been awakened by his affection. + +However, the three brothers speedily went back to their places, reverting +to their work with a natural impulse, for discipline had made them regard +work as life itself. Then Guillaume, who had glanced at what each was +doing, exclaimed: "Ah! youngsters, I schemed and prepared a lot of things +myself while I was laid up. I even made a good many notes. We walked here +from Neuilly, but my papers and the clothes which Mere-Grand sent me will +come in a cab by-and-by. . . . Ah! how pleased I am to find everything in +order here, and to be able to take up my task with you again! Ah! I shall +polish off some work now, and no mistake!" + +He had already gone to his own corner, the space reserved for him between +the window and the forge. He there had a chemical furnace, several glass +cases and shelves crowded with appliances, and a long table, one end of +which he used for writing purposes. And he once more took possession of +that little world. After glancing around with delight at seeing +everything in its place, he began to handle one object and another, eager +to be at work like his sons. + +All at once, however, Mere-Grand appeared, calm, grave and erect in her +black gown, at the top of the little staircase which conducted to the +bedrooms. "So it's you, Guillaume?" said she. "Will you come up for a +moment?" + +He immediately did so, understanding that she wished to speak to him +alone and tranquillise him. It was a question of the great secret between +them, that one thing of which his sons knew nothing, and which, after +Salvat's crime, had brought him much anguish, through his fear that it +might be divulged. When he reached Mere-Grand's room she at once took him +to the hiding-place near her bed, and showed him the cartridges of the +new explosive, and the plans of the terrible engine of warfare which he +had invented. He found them all as he had left them. Before anyone could +have reached them, she would have blown up the whole place at the risk of +perishing herself in the explosion. With her wonted air of quiet heroism, +she handed Guillaume the key which he had sent her by Pierre. + +"You were not anxious, I hope?" she said. + +He pressed her hands with a commingling of affection and respect. "My +only anxiety," he replied, "was that the police might come here and treat +you roughly. . . . You are the guardian of our secret, and it would be +for you to finish my work should I disappear." + +While Guillaume and Madame Leroi were thus engaged upstairs, Pierre, +still seated near the window below, felt his discomfort increasing. The +inmates of the house certainly regarded him with no other feeling than +one of affectionate sympathy; and so how came it that he considered them +hostile? The truth was that he asked himself what would become of him +among those workers, who were upheld by a faith of their own, whereas he +believed in nothing, and did not work. The sight of those young men, so +gaily and zealously toiling, ended by quite irritating him; and the +arrival of Marie brought his distress to a climax. + +Joyous and full of life, she came in without seeing him, a basket on her +arm. And she seemed to bring all the sunlight of the spring morning with +her, so bright was the sparkle of her youth. The whole of her pink face, +her delicate nose, her broad intelligent brow, her thick, kindly lips, +beamed beneath the heavy coils of her black hair. And her brown eyes ever +laughed with the joyousness which comes from health and strength. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, "I have brought such a lot of things, youngsters. +Just come and see them; I wouldn't unpack the basket in the kitchen." + +It became absolutely necessary for the brothers to draw round the basket +which she had laid upon the table. "First there's the butter!" said she; +"just smell if it hasn't a nice scent of nuts! It's churned especially +for me, you know. Then here are the eggs. They were laid only yesterday, +I'll answer for it. And, in fact, that one there is this morning's. And +look at the cutlets! They're wonderful, aren't they? The butcher cuts +them carefully when he sees me. And then here's a cream cheese, real +cream, you know, it will be delicious! Ah! and here's the surprise, +something dainty, some radishes, some pretty little pink radishes. Just +fancy! radishes in March, what a luxury!" + +She triumphed like the good little housewife she was, one who had +followed a whole course of cookery and home duties at the Lycee Fenelon. +The brothers, as merry as she herself, were obliged to compliment her. + +All at once, however, she caught sight of Pierre. "What! you are there, +Monsieur l'Abbe?" she exclaimed; "I beg your pardon, but I didn't see +you. How is Guillaume? Have you brought us some news of him?" + +"But father's come home," said Thomas; "he's upstairs with Mere-Grand." + +Quite thunderstruck, she hastily placed her purchases in the basket. +"Guillaume's come back, Guillaume's come back!" said she, "and you don't +tell me of it, you let me unpack everything! Well, it's nice of me, I +must say, to go on praising my butter and eggs when Guillaume's come +back." + +Guillaume, as it happened, was just coming down with Madame Leroi. Marie +gaily hastened to him and offered him her cheeks, on which he planted two +resounding kisses. Then she, resting her hands on his shoulders, gave him +a long look, while saying in a somewhat tremulous voice: "I am pleased, +very pleased to see you, Guillaume. I may confess it now, I thought I had +lost you, I was very anxious and very unhappy." + +Although she was still smiling, tears had gathered in her eyes, and he, +likewise moved, again kissed her, murmuring: "Dear Marie! How happy it +makes me to find you as beautiful and as affectionate as ever." + +Pierre, who was looking at them, deemed them cold. He had doubtless +expected more tears, and a more passionate embrace on the part of an +affianced pair, whom so grievous an accident had separated almost on the +eve of their wedding. Moreover, his feelings were hurt by the +disproportion of their respective ages. No doubt his brother still seemed +to him very sturdy and young, and his feeling of repulsion must have come +from that young woman whom, most decidedly, he did not like. Ever since +her arrival he had experienced increasing discomfort, a keener and keener +desire to go off and never return. + +So acute became his suffering at feeling like a stranger in his brother's +home, that he at last rose and sought to take his leave, under the +pretext that he had some urgent matters to attend to in town. + +"What! you won't stay to /dejeuner/ with us!" exclaimed Guillaume in +perfect stupefaction. "Why, it was agreed! You surely won't distress me +like that! This house is your own, remember!" + +Then, as with genuine affection they all protested and pressed him to +stay, he was obliged to do so. However, he soon relapsed into silence and +embarrassment, seated on the same chair as before, and listening moodily +to those people who, although they were his relatives, seemed to be far +removed from him. + +As it was barely eleven o'clock they resumed work, but every now and +again there was some merry talk. On one of the servants coming for the +provisions, Marie told the girl to call her as soon as it should be time +to boil the eggs, for she prided herself on boiling them to a nicety, in +such wise as to leave the whites like creamy milk. This gave an +opportunity for a few jests from Francois, who occasionally teased her +about all the fine things she had learnt at the Lycee Fenelon, where her +father had placed her when she was twelve years old. However, she was not +afraid of him, but gave him tit for tat by chaffing him about all the +hours which he lost at the Ecole Normale over a mass of pedagogic trash. + +"Ah! you big children!" she exclaimed, while still working at her +embroidery. "You are all very intelligent, and you all claim to have +broad minds, and yet--confess it now--it worries you a little that a girl +like me should have studied at college in the same way as yourselves. +It's a sexual quarrel, a question of rivalry and competition, isn't it?" + +They protested the contrary, declaring that they were in favour of girls +receiving as complete an education as possible. She was well aware of +this; however, she liked to tease them in return for the manner in which +they themselves plagued her. + +"But do you know," said she, "you are a great deal behind the times? I am +well aware of the reproaches which are levelled at girls' colleges by +so-called right-minded people. To begin, there is no religious element +whatever in the education one receives there, and this alarms many +families which consider religious education to be absolutely necessary +for girls, if only as a moral weapon of defence. Then, too, the education +at our Lycees is being democratised--girls of all positions come to them. +Thanks to the scholarships which are so liberally offered, the daughter +of the lady who rents a first floor flat often finds the daughter of her +door-keeper among her school-fellows, and some think this objectionable. +It is said also that the pupils free themselves too much from home +influence, and that too much opportunity is left for personal initiative. +As a matter of fact the extensiveness of the many courses of study, all +the learning that is required of pupils at the examinations, certainly +does tend to their emancipation, to the coming of the future woman and +future society, which you young men are all longing for, are you not?" + +"Of course we are!" exclaimed Francois; "we all agree on that point." + +She waved her hand in a pretty way, and then quietly continued: "I'm +jesting. My views are simple enough, as you well know, and I don't ask +for nearly as much as you do. As for woman's claims and rights, well, the +question is clear enough; woman is man's equal so far as nature allows +it. And the only point is to agree and love one another. At the same time +I'm well pleased to know what I do--oh! not from any spirit of pedantry +but simply because I think it has all done me good, and given me some +moral as well as physical health." + +It delighted her to recall the days she had spent at the Lycee Fenelon, +which of the five State colleges for girls opened in Paris was the only +one counting a large number of pupils. Most of these were the daughters +of officials or professors, who purposed entering the teaching +profession. In this case, they had to win their last diploma at the Ecole +Normale of Sevres, after leaving the Lycee. Marie, for her part, though +her studies had been brilliant, had felt no taste whatever for the +calling of teacher. Moreover, when Guillaume had taken charge of her +after her father's death, he had refused to let her run about giving +lessons. To provide herself with a little money, for she would accept +none as a gift, she worked at embroidery, an art in which she was most +accomplished. + +While she was talking to the young men Guillaume had listened to her +without interfering. If he had fallen in love with her it was largely on +account of her frankness and uprightness, the even balance of her nature, +which gave her so forcible a charm. She knew all; but if she lacked the +poetry of the shrinking, lamb-like girl who has been brought up in +ignorance, she had gained absolute rectitude of heart and mind, exempt +from all hypocrisy, all secret perversity such as is stimulated by what +may seem mysterious in life. And whatever she might know, she had +retained such child-like purity that in spite of her six-and-twenty +summers all the blood in her veins would occasionally rush to her cheeks +in fiery blushes, which drove her to despair. + +"My dear Marie," Guillaume now exclaimed, "you know very well that the +youngsters were simply joking. You are in the right, of course. . . . And +your boiled eggs cannot be matched in the whole world." + +He said this in so soft and affectionate a tone that the young woman +flushed purple. Then, becoming conscious of it, she coloured yet more +deeply, and as the three young men glanced at her maliciously she grew +angry with herself. "Isn't it ridiculous, Monsieur l'Abbe," she said, +turning towards Pierre, "for an old maid like myself to blush in that +fashion? People might think that I had committed a crime. It's simply to +make me blush, you know, that those children tease me. I do all I can to +prevent it, but it's stronger than my will." + +At this Mere-Grand raised her eyes from the shirt she was mending, and +remarked: "Oh! it's natural enough, my dear. It is your heart rising to +your cheeks in order that we may see it." + +The /dejeuner/ hour was now at hand; and they decided to lay the table in +the work-shop, as was occasionally done when they had a guest. The +simple, cordial meal proved very enjoyable in the bright sunlight. +Marie's boiled eggs, which she herself brought from the kitchen covered +with a napkin, were found delicious. Due honour was also done to the +butter and the radishes. The only dessert that followed the cutlets was +the cream cheese, but it was a cheese such as nobody else had ever +partaken of. And, meantime, while they ate and chatted all Paris lay +below them, stretching away to the horizon with its mighty rumbling. + +Pierre had made an effort to become cheerful, but he soon relapsed into +silence. Guillaume, however, was very talkative. Having noticed the three +bicycles in the garden, he inquired of Marie how far she had gone that +morning. She answered that Francois and Antoine had accompanied her in +the direction of Orgemont. The worry of their excursions was that each +time they returned to Montmartre they had to push their machines up the +height. From the general point of view, however, the young woman was +delighted with bicycling, which had many virtues, said she. Then, seeing +Pierre glance at her in amazement, she promised that she would some day +explain her opinions on the subject to him. After this bicycling became +the one topic of conversation until the end of the meal. Thomas gave an +account of the latest improvements introduced into Grandidier's machines; +and the others talked of the excursions they had made or meant to make, +with all the exuberant delight of school children eager for the open air. + +In the midst of the chatter, Mere-Grand, who presided at table with the +serene dignity of a queen-mother, leant towards Guillaume, who sat next +to her, and spoke to him in an undertone. Pierre understood that she was +referring to his marriage, which was to have taken place in April, but +must now necessarily be deferred. This sensible marriage, which seemed +likely to ensure the happiness of the entire household, was largely the +work of Mere-Grand and the three young men, for Guillaume would never +have yielded to his heart if she whom he proposed to make his wife had +not already been a well-loved member of the family. At the present time +the last week in June seemed, for all sorts of reasons, to be a +favourable date for the wedding. + +Marie, who heard the suggestion, turned gaily towards Mere-Grand. + +"The end of June will suit very well, will it not, my dear?" said the +latter. + +Pierre expected to see a deep flush rise to the young woman's cheeks, but +she remained very calm. She felt deep affection, blended with the most +tender gratitude, for Guillaume, and was convinced that in marrying him +she would be acting wisely and well both for herself and the others. + +"Certainly, the end of June," she repeated, "that will suit very well +indeed." + +Then the sons, who likewise had heard the proposal, nodded their heads by +way of assenting also. + +When they rose from table Pierre was absolutely determined to go off. The +cordial and simple meal, the sight of that family, which had been +rendered so happy by Guillaume's return, and of that young woman who +smiled so placidly at life, had brought him keen suffering, though why he +could not tell. However, it all irritated him beyond endurance; and he +therefore again pretended that he had a number of things to see to in +Paris. He shook hands in turn with the young men, Mere-Grand and Marie; +both of the women evincing great friendliness but also some surprise at +his haste to leave the house. Guillaume, who seemed saddened and anxious, +sought to detain him, and failing in this endeavour followed him into the +little garden, where he stopped him in order to have an explanation. + +"Come," said he, "what is the matter with you, Pierre? Why are you +running off like this?" + +"Oh! there's nothing the matter I assure you; but I have to attend to a +few urgent affairs." + +"Oh, Pierre, pray put all pretence aside. Nobody here has displeased you +or hurt your feelings, I hope. They also will soon love you as I do." + +"I have no doubt of it, and I complain of nobody excepting perhaps +myself." + +Guillaume's sorrow was increasing. "Ah! brother, little brother," he +resumed, "you distress me, for I can detect that you are hiding something +from me. Remember that new ties have linked us together and that we love +one another as in the old days when you were in your cradle and I used to +come to play with you. I know you well, remember. I know all your +tortures, since you have confessed them to me; and I won't have you +suffer, I want to cure you, I do!" + +Pierre's heart was full, and as he heard those words he could not +restrain his tears. "Oh! you must leave me to my sufferings," he +responded. "They are incurable. You can do nothing for me, I am beyond +the pale of nature, I am a monster." + +"What do you say! Can you not return within nature's pale even if you +/have/ gone beyond it? One thing that I will not allow is that you should +go and shut yourself up in that solitary little house of yours, where you +madden yourself by brooding over the fall of your faith. Come and spend +your time with us, so that we may again give you some taste for life." + +Ah! the empty little house which awaited him! Pierre shivered at the +thought of it, at the idea that he would now find himself all alone +there, bereft of the brother with whom he had lately spent so many happy +days. Into what solitude and torment must he not now relapse after that +companionship to which he had become accustomed? However, the very +thought of the latter increased his grief, and confession suddenly gushed +from his lips: "To spend my time here, live with you, oh! no, that is an +impossibility. Why do you compel me to speak out, and tell you things +that I am ashamed of and do not even understand. Ever since this morning +you must have seen that I have been suffering here. No doubt it is +because you and your people work, whereas I do nothing, because you love +one another and believe in your efforts, whereas I no longer know how to +love or believe. I feel out of my element. I'm embarrassed here, and I +embarrass you. In fact you all irritate me, and I might end by hating +you. There remains nothing healthy in me, all natural feelings have been +spoilt and destroyed, and only envy and hatred could sprout up from such +ruins. So let me go back to my accursed hole, where death will some day +come for me. Farewell, brother!" + +But Guillaume, full of affection and compassion, caught hold of his arms +and detained him. "You shall not go, I will not allow you to go, without +a positive promise that you will come back. I don't wish to lose you +again, especially now that I know all you are worth and how dreadfully +you suffer. I will save you, if need be, in spite of yourself. I will +cure you of your torturing doubts, oh! without catechising you, without +imposing any particular faith on you, but simply by allowing life to do +its work, for life alone can give you back health and hope. So I beg you, +brother, in the name of our affection, come back here, come as often as +you can to spend a day with us. You will then see that when folks have +allotted themselves a task and work together in unison, they escape +excessive unhappiness. A task of any kind--yes, that is what is wanted, +together with some great passion and frank acceptance of life, so that it +may be lived as it should be and loved." + +"But what would be the use of my living here?" Pierre muttered bitterly. +"I've no task left me, and I no longer know how to love." + +"Well, I will give you a task, and as for love, that will soon be +awakened by the breath of life. Come, brother, consent, consent!" + +Then, seeing that Pierre still remained gloomy and sorrowful, and +persisted in his determination to go away and bury himself, Guillaume +added, "Ah! I don't say that the things of this world are such as one +might wish them to be. I don't say that only joy and truth and justice +exist. For instance, the affair of that unhappy fellow Salvat fills me +with anger and revolt. Guilty he is, of course, and yet how many excuses +he had, and how I shall pity him if the crimes of all of us are laid at +his door, if the various political gangs bandy him from one to another, +and use him as a weapon in their sordid fight for power. The thought of +it all so exasperates me that at times I am as unreasonable as yourself. +But now, brother, just to please me, promise that you will come and spend +the day after to-morrow with us." + +Then, as Pierre still kept silent, Guillaume went on: "I will have it so. +It would grieve me too much to think that you were suffering from +martyrdom in your solitary nook. I want to cure and save you." + +Tears again rose to Pierre's eyes, and in a tone of infinite distress he +answered: "Don't compel me to promise. . . . All I can say is that I will +try to conquer myself." + +The week he then spent in his little, dark, empty home proved a terrible +one. Shutting himself up he brooded over his despair at having lost the +companionship of that elder brother whom he once more loved with his +whole soul. He had never before been so keenly conscious of his solitude; +and he was a score of times on the point of hastening to Montmartre, for +he vaguely felt that affection, truth and life were there. But on each +occasion he was held back by a return of the discomfort which he had +already experienced, discomfort compounded of shame and fear. Priest that +he was, cut off from love and the avocations of other men, he would +surely find nothing but hurt and suffering among creatures who were all +nature, freedom and health. While he pondered thus, however, there rose +before him the shades of his father and mother, those sad spirits that +seemed to wander through the deserted rooms lamenting and entreating him +to reconcile them in himself, as soon as he should find peace. What was +he to do,--deny their prayer, and remain weeping with them, or go yonder +in search of the cure which might at last lull them to sleep and bring +them happiness in death by the force of his own happiness in life? At +last a morning came when it seemed to him that his father enjoined him +with a smile to betake himself yonder, while his mother consented with a +glance of her big soft eyes, in which her sorrow at having made so bad a +priest of him yielded to her desire to restore him to the life of our +common humanity. + +Pierre did not argue with himself that day: he took a cab and gave +Guillaume's address to the driver for fear lest he should be overcome on +the way and wish to turn back. And when he again found himself, as in a +dream, in the large work-shop, where Guillaume and the young men welcomed +him in a delicately affectionate way, he witnessed an unexpected scene +which both impressed and relieved him. + +Marie, who had scarcely nodded to him as he entered, sat there with a +pale and frowning face. And Mere-Grand, who was also grave, said, after +glancing at her: "You must excuse her, Monsieur l'Abbe; but she isn't +reasonable. She is in a temper with all five of us." + +Guillaume began to laugh. "Ah! she's so stubborn!" he exclaimed. "You can +have no idea, Pierre, of what goes on in that little head of hers when +anybody says or does anything contrary to her ideas of justice. Such +absolute and lofty ideas they are, that they can descend to no +compromise. For instance, we were talking of that recent affair of a +father who was found guilty on his son's evidence; and she maintained +that the son had only done what was right in giving evidence against his +father, and that one ought invariably to tell the truth, no matter what +might happen. What a terrible public prosecutor she would make, eh?" + +Thereupon Marie, exasperated by Pierre's smile, which seemingly indicated +that he also thought her in the wrong, flew into quite a passion: "You +are cruel, Guillaume!" she cried; "I won't be laughed at like this." + +"But you are losing your senses, my dear," exclaimed Francois, while +Thomas and Antoine again grew merry. "We were only urging a question of +humanity, father and I, for we respect and love justice as much as you +do." + +"There's no question of humanity, but simply one of justice. What is just +and right is just and right, and you cannot alter it." + +Then, as Guillaume made a further attempt to state his views and win her +over to them, she rose trembling, in such a passion that she could +scarcely stammer: "No, no, you are all too cruel, you only want to grieve +me. I prefer to go up into my own room." + +At this Mere-Grand vainly sought to restrain her. "My child, my child!" +said she, "reflect a moment; this is very wrong, you will deeply regret +it." + +"No, no; you are not just, and I suffer too much." + +Then she wildly rushed upstairs to her room overhead. + +Consternation followed. Scenes of a similar character had occasionally +occurred before, but there had never been so serious a one. Guillaume +immediately admitted that he had done wrong in laughing at her, for she +could not bear irony. Then he told Pierre that in her childhood and youth +she had been subject to terrible attacks of passion whenever she +witnessed or heard of any act of injustice. As she herself explained, +these attacks would come upon her with irresistible force, transporting +her to such a point that she would sometimes fall upon the floor and +rave. Even nowadays she proved quarrelsome and obstinate whenever certain +subjects were touched upon. And she afterwards blushed for it all, fully +conscious that others must think her unbearable. + +Indeed, a quarter of an hour later, she came downstairs again of her own +accord, and bravely acknowledged her fault. "Wasn't it ridiculous of me?" +she said. "To think I accuse others of being unkind when I behave like +that! Monsieur l'Abbe must have a very bad opinion of me." Then, after +kissing Mere-Grand, she added: "You'll forgive me, won't you? Oh! +Francois may laugh now, and so may Thomas and Antoine. They are quite +right, our differences are merely laughing matters." + +"My poor Marie," replied Guillaume, in a tone of deep affection. "You see +what it is to surrender oneself to the absolute. If you are so healthy +and reasonable it's because you regard almost everything from the +relative point of view, and only ask life for such gifts as it can +bestow. But when your absolute ideas of justice come upon you, you lose +both equilibrium and reason. At the same time, I must say that we are all +liable to err in much the same manner." + +Marie, who was still very flushed, thereupon answered in a jesting way: +"Well, it at least proves that I'm not perfect." + +"Oh, certainly! And so much the better," said Guillaume, "for it makes me +love you the more." + +This was a sentiment which Pierre himself would willingly have re-echoed. +The scene had deeply stirred him. Had not his own frightful torments +originated with his desire for the absolute both in things and beings? He +had sought faith in its entirety, and despair had thrown him into +complete negation. Again, was there not some evil desire for the absolute +and some affectation of pride and voluntary blindness in the haughty +bearing which he had retained amidst the downfall of his belief, the +saintly reputation which he had accepted when he possessed no faith at +all? On hearing his brother praise Marie, because she only asked life for +such things as it could give, it had seemed to him that this was advice +for himself. It was as if a refreshing breath of nature had passed before +his face. At the same time his feelings in this respect were still vague, +and the only well-defined pleasure that he experienced came from the +young woman's fit of anger, that error of hers which brought her nearer +to him, by lowering her in some degree from her pedestal of serene +perfection. It was, perhaps, that seeming perfection which had made him +suffer; however, he was as yet unable to analyse his feelings. That day, +for the first time, he chatted with her for a little while, and when he +went off he thought her very good-hearted and very human. + +Two days later he again came to spend the afternoon in the large sunlit +work-shop overlooking Paris. Ever since he had become conscious of the +idle life he was leading, he had felt very bored when he was alone, and +only found relief among that gay, hardworking family. His brother scolded +him for not having come to /dejeuner/, and he promised to do so on the +morrow. By the time a week had elapsed, none of the discomfort and covert +hostility which had prevailed between him and Marie remained: they met +and chatted on a footing of good fellowship. Although he was a priest, +she was in no wise embarrassed by his presence. With her quiet atheism, +indeed, she had never imagined that a priest could be different from +other men. Thus her sisterly cordiality both astonished and delighted +Pierre. It was as if he wore the same garments and held the same ideas as +his big nephews, as if there were nothing whatever to distinguish him +from other men. He was still more surprised, however, by Marie's silence +on all religious questions. She seemed to live on quietly and happily, +without a thought of what might be beyond life, that terrifying realm of +mystery, which to him had brought such agony of mind. + +Now that he came every two or three days to Montmartre she noticed that +he was suffering. What could be the matter with him, she wondered. When +she questioned him in a friendly manner and only elicited evasive +replies, she guessed that he was ashamed of his sufferings, and that they +were aggravated, rendered well-nigh incurable, by the very secrecy in +which he buried them. Thereupon womanly compassion awoke within her, and +she felt increasing affection for that tall, pale fellow with feverish +eyes, who was consumed by grievous torments which he would confess to +none. No doubt she questioned Guillaume respecting her brother's sadness, +and he must have confided some of the truth to her in order that she +might help him to extricate Pierre from his sufferings, and give him back +some taste for life. The poor fellow always seemed so happy when she +treated him like a friend, a brother! + +At last, one evening, on seeing his eyes full of tears as he gazed upon +the dismal twilight falling over Paris, she herself pressed him to +confide his trouble to her. And thereupon he suddenly spoke out, +confessing all his torture and the horrible void which the loss of faith +had left within him. Ah! to be unable to believe, to be unable to love, +to be nothing but ashes, to know of nothing certain by which he might +replace the faith that had fled from him! She listened in stupefaction. +Why, he must be mad! And she plainly told him so, such was her +astonishment and revolt at hearing such a desperate cry of wretchedness. +To despair, indeed, and believe in nothing and love nothing, simply +because a religious hypothesis had crumbled! And this, too, when the +whole, vast world was spread before one, life with the duty of living it, +creatures and things to be loved and succoured, without counting the +universal labour, the task which one and all came to accomplish! +Assuredly he must be mad, mad with the gloomiest madness; still she vowed +she would cure him. + +From that time forward she felt the most compassionate affection for this +extraordinary young man, who had first embarrassed and afterwards +astonished her. She showed herself very gentle and gay with him; she +looked after him with the greatest skill and delicacy of heart and mind. +There had been certain similar features in their childhood; each had been +reared in the strictest religious views by a pious mother. But afterwards +how different had been their fates! Whilst he was struggling with his +doubts, bound by his priestly vows, she had grown up at the Lycee +Fenelon, where her father had placed her as soon as her mother died; and +there, far removed from all practice of religion, she had gradually +reached total forgetfulness of her early religious views. It was a +constant source of surprise for him to find that she had thus escaped all +distress of mind at the thought of what might come after death, whereas +that same thought had so deeply tortured him. When they chatted together +and he expressed his astonishment at it, she frankly laughed, saying that +she had never felt any fear of hell, for she was certain that no hell +existed. And she added that she lived in all quietude, without hope of +going to any heaven, her one thought being to comply in a reasonable way +with the requirements and necessities of earthly life. It was, perhaps, +in some measure a matter of temperament with her; but it was also a +matter of education. Yet, whatever that education had been, whatever +knowledge she had acquired, she had remained very womanly and very +loving. There was nothing stern or masculine about her. + +"Ah, my friend," she said one day to Pierre, "if you only knew how easy +it is for me to remain happy so long as I see those I love free from any +excessive suffering. For my own part I can always adapt myself to life. I +work and content myself no matter what may happen. Sorrow has only come +to me from others, for I can't help wishing that everybody should be +fairly happy, and there are some who won't. . . . I was for a long time +very poor, but I remained gay. I wish for nothing, except for things that +can't be purchased. Still, want is the great abomination which distresses +me. I can understand that you should have felt everything crumbling when +charity appeared to you so insufficient a remedy as to be contemptible. +Yet it does bring relief; and, moreover, it is so sweet to be able to +give. Some day, too, by dint of reason and toil, by the good and +efficient working of life itself, the reign of justice will surely come. +But now it's I that am preaching! Oh! I have little taste for it! It +would be ridiculous for me to try to heal you with big phrases. All the +same, I should like to cure you of your gloomy sufferings. To do so, all +that I ask of you is to spend as much time as you can with us. You know +that this is Guillaume's greatest desire. We will all love you so well, +you will see us all so affectionately united, and so gay over our common +work, that you will come back to truth by joining us in the school of our +good mother nature. You must live and work, and love and hope." + +Pierre smiled as he listened. He now came to Montmartre nearly every day. +She was so nice and affectionate when she preached to him in that way +with a pretty assumption of wisdom. As she had said too, life was so +delightful in that big workroom; it was so pleasant to be all together, +and to labour in common at the same work of health and truth. Ashamed as +Pierre was of doing nothing, anxious as he was to occupy his mind and +fingers, he had first taken an interest in Antoine's engraving, asking +why he should not try something of the kind himself. However, he felt +that he lacked the necessary gift for art. Then, too, he recoiled from +Francois' purely intellectual labour, for he himself had scarcely emerged +from the harrowing study of conflicting texts. Thus he was more inclined +for manual toil like that of Thomas. In mechanics he found precision and +clearness such as might help to quench his thirst for certainty. So he +placed himself at the young man's orders, pulled his bellows and held +pieces of mechanism for him. He also sometimes served as assistant to +Guillaume, tying a large blue apron over his cassock in order to help in +the experiments. From that time he formed part of the work-shop, which +simply counted a worker the more. + +One afternoon early in April, when they were all busily engaged there, +Marie, who sat embroidering at the table in front of Mere-Grand, raised +her eyes to the window and suddenly burst into a cry of admiration: "Oh! +look at Paris under that rain of sunlight!" + +Pierre drew near; the play of light was much the same as that which he +had witnessed at his first visit. The sun, sinking behind some slight +purple clouds, was throwing down a hail of rays and sparks which on all +sides rebounded and leapt over the endless stretch of roofs. It might +have been thought that some great sower, hidden amidst the glory of the +planet, was scattering handfuls of golden grain from one horizon to the +other. + +Pierre, at sight of it, put his fancy into words: "It is the sun sowing +Paris with grain for a future harvest," said he. "See how the expanse +looks like ploughed land; the brownish houses are like soil turned up, +and the streets are deep and straight like furrows." + +"Yes, yes, that's true," exclaimed Marie gaily. "The sun is sowing Paris +with grain. See how it casts the seed of light and health right away to +the distant suburbs! And yet, how singular! The rich districts on the +west seem steeped in a ruddy mist, whilst the good seed falls in golden +dust over the left bank and the populous districts eastward. It is there, +is it not, that the crop will spring up?" + +They had all drawn near, and were smiling at the symbol. As Marie had +said, it seemed indeed that while the sun slowly sank behind the lacework +of clouds, the sower of eternal life scattered his flaming seed with a +rhythmical swing of the arm, ever selecting the districts of toil and +effort. One dazzling handful of grain fell over yonder on the district of +the schools; and then yet another rained down to fertilise the district +of the factories and work-shops. + +"Ah! well," said Guillaume gaily. "May the crop soon sprout from the good +ground of our great Paris, which has been turned up by so many +revolutions, and enriched by the blood of so many workers! It is the only +ground in the world where Ideas can germinate and bloom. Yes, yes, Pierre +is quite right, it is the sun sowing Paris with the seed of the future +world, which can sprout only up here!" + +Then Thomas, Francois and Antoine, who stood behind their father in a +row, nodded as if to say that this was also their own conviction; whilst +Mere-Grand gazed afar with dreamy eyes as though she could already behold +the splendid future. + +"Ah! but it is only a dream; centuries must elapse. We shall never see +it!" murmured Pierre with a quiver. + +"But others will!" cried Marie. "And does not that suffice?" + +Those lofty words stirred Pierre to the depths of his being. And all at +once there came to him the memory of another Marie*--the adorable Marie +of his youth, that Marie de Guersaint who had been cured at Lourdes, and +the loss of whom had left such a void in his heart. Was that new Marie +who stood there smiling at him, so tranquil and so charming in her +strength, destined to heal that old-time wound? He felt that he was +beginning to live again since she had become his friend. + + * The heroine of M. Zola's "Lourdes." + +Meantime, there before them, the glorious sun, with the sweep of its +rays, was scattering living golden dust over Paris, still and ever sowing +the great future harvest of justice and of truth. + + + +II + +TOWARDS LIFE + +ONE evening, at the close of a good day's work, Pierre, who was helping +Thomas, suddenly caught his foot in the skirt of his cassock and narrowly +escaped falling. At this, Marie, after raising a faint cry of anxiety, +exclaimed: "Why don't you take it off?" + +There was no malice in her inquiry. She simply looked upon the priestly +robe as something too heavy and cumbersome, particularly when one had +certain work to perform. Nevertheless, her words deeply impressed Pierre, +and he could not forget them. When he was at home in the evening and +repeated them to himself they gradually threw him into feverish +agitation. Why, indeed, had he not divested himself of that cassock, +which weighed so heavily and painfully on his shoulders? Then a frightful +struggle began within him, and he spent a terrible, sleepless night, +again a prey to all his former torments. + +At first sight it seemed a very simple matter that he should cast his +priestly gown aside, for had he not ceased to discharge any priestly +office? He had not said mass for some time past, and this surely meant +renunciation of the priesthood. Nevertheless, so long as he retained his +gown it was possible that he might some day say mass again, whereas if he +cast it aside he would, as it were, strip himself, quit the priesthood +entirely, without possibility of return. It was a terrible step to take, +one that would prove irrevocable; and thus he paced his room for hours, +in great anguish of mind. + +He had formerly indulged in a superb dream. Whilst believing nothing +himself he had resolved to watch, in all loyalty, over the belief of +others. He would not so lower himself as to forswear his vows, he would +be no base renegade, but however great the torments of the void he felt +within him he would remain the minister of man's illusions respecting the +Divinity. And it was by reason of his conduct in this respect that he had +ended by being venerated as a saint--he who denied everything, who had +become a mere empty sepulchre. For a long time his falsehood had never +disturbed him, but it now brought him acute suffering. It seemed to him +that he would be acting in the vilest manner if he delayed placing his +life in accord with his opinions. The thought of it all quite rent his +heart. + +The question was a very clear one. By what right did he remain the +minister of a religion in which he no longer believed? Did not elementary +honesty require that he should quit a Church in which he denied the +presence of the Divinity? He regarded the dogmas of that Church as +puerile errors, and yet he persisted in teaching them as if they were +eternal truths. Base work it was, that alarmed his conscience. He vainly +sought the feverish glow of charity and martyrdom which had led him to +offer himself as a sacrifice, willing to suffer all the torture of doubt +and to find his own life lost and ravaged, provided that he might yet +afford the relief of hope to the lowly. Truth and nature, no doubt, had +already regained too much ascendancy over him for those feelings to +return. The thought of such a lying apostolate now wounded him; he no +longer had the hypocritical courage to call the Divinity down upon the +believers kneeling before him, when he was convinced that the Divinity +would not descend. Thus all the past was swept away; there remained +nothing of the sublime pastoral part he would once have liked to play, +that supreme gift of himself which lay in stubborn adherence to the rules +of the Church, and such devotion to faith as to endure in silence the +torture of having lost it. + +What must Marie think of his prolonged falsehood, he wondered, and +thereupon he seemed to hear her words again: "Why not take your cassock +off?" His conscience bled as if those words were a stab. What contempt +must she not feel for him, she who was so upright, so high-minded? Every +scattered blame, every covert criticism directed against his conduct, +seemed to find embodiment in her. It now sufficed that she should condemn +him, and he at once felt guilty. At the same time she had never voiced +her disapproval to him, in all probability because she did not think she +had any right to intervene in a struggle of conscience. The superb +calmness and healthiness which she displayed still astonished him. He +himself was ever haunted and tortured by thoughts of the unknown, of what +the morrow of death might have in store for one; but although he had +studied and watched her for days together, he had never seen her give a +sign of doubt or distress. This exemption from such sufferings as his own +was due, said she, to the fact that she gave all her gaiety, all her +energy, all her sense of duty, to the task of living, in such wise that +life itself proved a sufficiency, and no time was left for mere fancies +to terrify and stultify her. Well, then, since she with her air of quiet +strength had asked him why he did not take off his cassock, he would take +it off--yes, he would divest himself of that robe which seemed to burn +and weigh him down. + +He fancied himself calmed by this decision, and towards morning threw +himself upon his bed; but all at once a stifling sensation, a renewal of +his abominable anguish, brought him to his feet again. No, no, he could +not divest himself of that gown which clung so tightly to his flesh. His +skin would come away with his cloth, his whole being would be lacerated! +Is not the mark of priesthood an indelible one, does it not brand the +priest for ever, and differentiate him from the flock? Even should he +tear off his gown with his skin, he would remain a priest, an object of +scandal and shame, awkward and impotent, shut off from the life of other +men. And so why tear it off, since he would still and ever remain in +prison, and a fruitful life of work in the broad sunlight was no longer +within his reach? He, indeed, fancied himself irremediably stricken with +impotence. Thus he was unable to come to any decision, and when he +returned to Montmartre two days later he had again relapsed into a state +of torment. + +Feverishness, moreover, had come upon the happy home. Guillaume was +becoming more and more annoyed about Salvat's affair, not a day elapsing +without the newspapers fanning his irritation. He had at first been +deeply touched by the dignified and reticent bearing of Salvat, who had +declared that he had no accomplices whatever. Of course the inquiry into +the crime was what is called a secret one; but magistrate Amadieu, to +whom it had been entrusted, conducted it in a very noisy way. The +newspapers, which he in some degree took into his confidence, were full +of articles and paragraphs about him and his interviews with the +prisoner. Thanks to Salvat's quiet admissions, Amadieu had been able to +retrace the history of the crime hour by hour, his only remaining doubts +having reference to the nature of the powder which had been employed, and +the making of the bomb itself. It might after all be true that Salvat had +loaded the bomb at a friend's, as he indeed asserted was the case; but he +must be lying when he added that the only explosive used was dynamite, +derived from some stolen cartridges, for all the experts now declared +that dynamite would never have produced such effects as those which had +been witnessed. This, then, was the mysterious point which protracted the +investigations. And day by day the newspapers profited by it to circulate +the wildest stories under sensational headings, which were specially +devised for the purpose of sending up their sales. + +It was all the nonsense contained in these stories that fanned +Guillaume's irritation. In spite of his contempt for Sagnier he could not +keep from buying the "Voix du Peuple." Quivering with indignation, +growing more and more exasperated, he was somehow attracted by the mire +which he found in that scurrilous journal. Moreover, the other +newspapers, including even the "Globe," which was usually so dignified, +published all sorts of statements for which no proof could be supplied, +and drew from them remarks and conclusions which, though couched in +milder language than Sagnier's, were none the less abominably unjust. It +seemed indeed as if the whole press had set itself the task of covering +Salvat with mud, so as to be able to vilify Anarchism generally. +According to the journalists the prisoner's life had simply been one long +abomination. He had already earned his living by thievery in his +childhood at the time when he had roamed the streets, an unhappy, +forsaken vagrant; and later on he had proved a bad soldier and a bad +worker. He had been punished for insubordination whilst he was in the +army, and he had been dismissed from a dozen work-shops because he +incessantly disturbed them by his Anarchical propaganda. Later still, he +had fled his country and led a suspicious life of adventure in America, +where, it was alleged, he must have committed all sorts of unknown +crimes. Moreover there was his horrible immorality, his connection with +his sister-in-law, that Madame Theodore who had taken charge of his +forsaken child in his absence, and with whom he had cohabited since his +return to France. In this wise Salvat's failings and transgressions were +pitilessly denounced and magnified without any mention of the causes +which had induced them, or of the excuses which lay in the unhappy man's +degrading environment. And so Guillaume's feelings of humanity and +justice revolted, for he knew the real Salvat,--a man of tender heart and +dreamy mind, so liable to be impassioned by fancies,--a man cast into +life when a child without weapon of defence, ever trodden down or thrust +aside, then gradually exasperated by the perpetual onslaughts of want, +and at last dreaming of reviving the golden age by destroying the old, +corrupt world. + +Unfortunately for Salvat, everything had gone against him since he had +been shut up in strict confinement, at the mercy of the ambitious and +worldly Amadieu. Guillaume had learnt from his son, Thomas, that the +prisoner could count on no support whatever among his former mates at the +Grandidier works. These works were becoming prosperous once more, thanks +to their steady output of bicycles; and it was said that Grandidier was +only waiting for Thomas to perfect his little motor, in order to start +the manufacture of motor-cars on a large scale. However, the success +which he was now for the first time achieving, and which scarcely repaid +him for all his years of toil and battle, had in certain respects +rendered him prudent and even severe. He did not wish any suspicion to be +cast upon his business through the unpleasant affair of his former +workman Salvat, and so he had dismissed such of his workmen as held +Anarchist views. If he had kept the two Toussaints, one of whom was the +prisoner's brother-in-law, while the other was suspected of sympathy with +him, this was because they had belonged to the works for a score of +years, and he did not like to cast them adrift. Moreover, Toussaint, the +father, had declared that if he were called as a witness for the defence, +he should simply give such particulars of Salvat's career as related to +the prisoner's marriage with his sister. + +One evening when Thomas came home from the works, to which he returned +every now and then in order to try his little motor, he related that he +had that day seen Madame Grandidier, the poor young woman who had become +insane through an attack of puerperal fever following upon the death of a +child. Although most frightful attacks of madness occasionally came over +her, and although life beside her was extremely painful, even during the +intervals when she remained downcast and gentle as a child, her husband +had never been willing to send her to an asylum. He kept her with him in +a pavilion near the works, and as a rule the shutters of the windows +overlooking the yard remained closed. Thus Thomas had been greatly +surprised to see one of these windows open, and the young woman appear at +it amidst the bright sunshine of that early spring. True, she only +remained there for a moment, vision-like, fair and pretty, with smiling +face; for a servant who suddenly drew near closed the window, and the +pavilion then again sank into lifeless silence. At the same time it was +reported among the men employed at the works that the poor creature had +not experienced an attack for well-nigh a month past, and that this was +the reason why the "governor" looked so strong and pleased, and worked so +vigorously to help on the increasing prosperity of his business. + +"He isn't a bad fellow," added Thomas, "but with the terrible competition +that he has to encounter, he is bent on keeping his men under control. +Nowadays, says he, when so many capitalists and wage earners seem bent on +exterminating one another, the latter--if they don't want to +starve--ought to be well pleased when capital falls into the hands of an +active, fair-minded man. . . . If he shows no pity for Salvat, it is +because he really believes in the necessity of an example." + +That same day Thomas, after leaving the works and while threading his way +through the toilsome hive-like Marcadet district, had overtaken Madame +Theodore and little Celine, who were wandering on in great distress. It +appeared that they had just called upon Toussaint, who had been unable to +lend them even such a trifle as ten sous. Since Salvat's arrest, the +woman and the child had been forsaken and suspected by one and all. +Driven forth from their wretched lodging, they were without food and +wandered hither and thither dependent on chance alms. Never had greater +want and misery fallen on defenceless creatures. + +"I told them to come up here, father," said Thomas, "for I thought that +one might pay their landlord a month's rent, so that they might go home +again. . . . Ah! there's somebody coming now--it's they, no doubt." + +Guillaume had felt angry with himself whilst listening to his son, for he +had not thought of the poor creatures. It was the old story: the man +disappears, and the woman and the child find themselves in the streets, +starving. Whenever Justice strikes a man her blow travels beyond him, +fells innocent beings and kills them. + +Madame Theodore came in, humble and timid, scared like a luckless +creature whom life never wearies of persecuting. She was becoming almost +blind, and little Celine had to lead her. The girl's fair, thin face wore +its wonted expression of shrewd intelligence, and even now, however +woeful her rags, it was occasionally brightened by a childish smile. + +Pierre and Marie, who were both there, felt extremely touched. Near them +was Madame Mathis, young Victor's mother, who had come to help Mere-Grand +with the mending of some house-linen. She went out by the day in this +fashion among a few families, and was thus enabled to give her son an +occasional franc or two. Guillaume alone questioned Madame Theodore. + +"Ah! monsieur," she stammered, "who could ever have thought Salvat +capable of such a thing, he who's so good and so humane? Still it's true, +since he himself has admitted it to the magistrate. . . . For my part I +told everybody that he was in Belgium. I wasn't quite sure of it, still +I'm glad that he didn't come back to see us; for if he had been arrested +at our place I should have lost my senses. . . . Well, now that they have +him, they'll sentence him to death, that's certain." + +At this Celine, who had been looking around her with an air of interest, +piteously exclaimed: "Oh! no, oh! no, mamma, they won't hurt him!" + +Big tears appeared in the child's eyes as she raised this cry. Guillaume +kissed her, and then went on questioning Madame Theodore. + +"Well, monsieur," she answered, "the child's not old or big enough to +work as yet, and my eyes are done for, people won't even take me as a +charwoman. And so it's simple enough, we starve. . . . Oh! of course I'm +not without relations; I have a sister who married very well. Her husband +is a clerk, Monsieur Chretiennot, perhaps you know him. Unfortunately +he's rather proud, and as I don't want any scenes between him and my +sister, I no longer go to see her. Besides, she's in despair just now, +for she's expecting another baby, which is a terrible blow for a small +household, when one already has two girls. . . . That's why the only +person I can apply to is my brother Toussaint. His wife isn't a bad sort +by any means, but she's no longer the same since she's been living in +fear of her husband having another attack. The first one carried off all +her savings, and what would become of her if Toussaint should remain on +her hands, paralysed? Besides, she's threatened with another burden, for, +as you may know, her son Charles got keeping company with a servant at a +wine shop, who of course ran away after she had a baby, which she left +him to see to. So one can understand that the Toussaints themselves are +hard put. I don't complain of them. They've already lent me a little +money, and of course they can't go on lending for ever." + +She continued talking in this spiritless, resigned way, complaining only +on account of Celine; for, said she, it was enough to make one's heart +break to see such an intelligent child obliged to tramp the streets after +getting on so well at the Communal School. She could feel too that +everybody now kept aloof from them on account of Salvat. The Toussaints +didn't want to be compromised in any such business. There was only +Charles, who had said that he could well understand a man losing his head +and trying to blow up the /bourgeois/, because they really treated the +workers in a blackguard way. + +"For my part, monsieur," added Madame Theodore, "I say nothing, for I'm +only a woman. All the same, though, if you'd like to know what I think, +well, I think that it would have been better if Salvat hadn't done what +he did, for we two, the girl and I, are the real ones to suffer from it. +Ah! I can't get the idea into my head, that the little one should be the +daughter of a man condemned to death." + +Once more Celine interrupted her, flinging her arms around her neck: "Oh! +mamma, oh! mamma, don't say that, I beg you! It can't be true, it grieves +me too much!" + +At this Pierre and Marie exchanged compassionate glances, while +Mere-Grand rose from her chair, in order to go upstairs and search her +wardrobes for some articles of clothing which might be of use to the two +poor creatures. Guillaume, who, for his part, had been moved to tears, +and felt full of revolt against the social system which rendered such +distress possible, slipped some alms into the child's little hand, and +promised Madame Theodore that he would see her landlord so as to get her +back her room. + +"Ah! Monsieur Froment!" replied the unfortunate woman. "Salvat was quite +right when he said you were a real good man! And as you employed him here +for a few days you know too that he isn't a wicked one. . . . Now that +he's been put in prison everybody calls him a brigand, and it breaks my +heart to hear them." Then, turning towards Madame Mathis, who had +continued sewing in discreet silence, like a respectable woman whom none +of these things could concern, she went on: "I know you, madame, but I'm +better acquainted with your son, Monsieur Victor, who has often come to +chat at our place. Oh! you needn't be afraid, I shan't say it, I shall +never compromise anybody; but if Monsieur Victor were free to speak, he'd +be the man to explain Salvat's ideas properly." + +Madame Mathis looked at her in stupefaction. Ignorant as she was of her +son's real life and views, she experienced a vague dread at the idea of +any connection between him and Salvat's family. Moreover, she refused to +believe it possible. "Oh! you must be mistaken," she said. "Victor told +me that he now seldom came to Montmartre, as he was always going about in +search of work." + +By the anxious quiver of the widow's voice, Madame Theodore understood +that she ought not to have mixed her up in her troubles; and so in all +humility she at once beat a retreat: "I beg your pardon, madame, I didn't +think I should hurt your feelings. Perhaps, too, I'm mistaken, as you +say." + +Madame Mathis had again turned to her sewing as to the solitude in which +she lived, that nook of decent misery where she dwelt without +companionship and almost unknown, with scarcely sufficient bread to eat. +Ah! that dear son of hers, whom she loved so well; however much he might +neglect her, she had placed her only remaining hope in him: he was her +last dream, and would some day lavish all kinds of happiness upon her! + +At that moment Mere-Grand came downstairs again, laden with a bundle of +linen and woollen clothing, and Madame Theodore and little Celine +withdrew while pouring forth their thanks. For a long time after they had +gone Guillaume, unable to resume work, continued walking to and fro in +silence, with a frown upon his face. + +When Pierre, still hesitating and still tortured by conflicting feelings, +returned to Montmartre on the following day he witnessed with much +surprise a visit of a very different kind. There was a sudden gust of +wind, a whirl of skirts and a ring of laughter as little Princess +Rosemonde swept in, followed by young Hyacinthe Duvillard, who, on his +side, retained a very frigid bearing. + +"It's I, my dear master," exclaimed the Princess. "I promised you a +visit, you remember, for I am such a great admirer of your genius. And +our young friend here has been kind enough to bring me. We have only just +returned from Norway, and my very first visit is for you." + +She turned as she spoke, and bowed in an easy and gracious way to Pierre +and Marie, Francois and Antoine, who were also there. Then she resumed: +"Oh! my dear master, you have no idea how beautifully virginal Norway is! +We all ought to go and drink at that new source of the Ideal, and we +should return purified, rejuvenated and capable of great renunciations!" + +As a matter of fact she had been well-nigh bored to death there. To make +one's honeymoon journey to the land of the ice and snow, instead of to +Italy, the hot land of the sun, was doubtless a very refined idea, which +showed that no base materialism formed part of one's affections. It was +the soul alone that travelled, and naturally it was fit that only kisses +of the soul should be exchanged on the journey. Unfortunately, however, +Hyacinthe had carried his symbolism so far as to exasperate Rosemonde, +and on one occasion they had come to blows over it, and then to tears +when this lover's quarrel had ended as many such quarrels do. Briefly, +they had no longer deemed themselves pure enough for the companionship of +the swans and the lakes of dreamland, and had therefore taken the first +steamer that was sailing for France. + +As it was altogether unnecessary to confess to everybody what a failure +their journey had proved, the Princess abruptly brought her rapturous +references to Norway to an end, and then explained: "By the way, do you +know what I found awaiting me on my return? Why, I found my house +pillaged, oh! completely pillaged! And in such a filthy condition, too! +We at once recognised the mark of the beast, and thought of Bergaz's +young friends." + +Already on the previous day Guillaume had read in the newspapers that a +band of young Anarchists had entered the Princess's little house by +breaking a basement window. She had left it quite deserted, unprotected +even by a caretaker; and the robbers had not merely removed everything +from the premises--including even the larger articles of furniture, but +had lived there for a couple of days, bringing provisions in from +outside, drinking all the wine in the cellars, and leaving every room in +a most filthy and disgusting condition. On discovering all this, +Rosemonde had immediately remembered the evening she had spent at the +Chamber of Horrors in the company of Bergaz and his acolytes, Rossi and +Sanfaute, who had heard her speak of her intended trip to Norway. The two +young men had therefore been arrested, but Bergaz had so far escaped. The +Princess was not greatly astonished by it all, for she had already been +warned of the presence of dangerous characters among the mixed +cosmopolitan set with which she associated. Janzen had told her in +confidence of a number of villanous affairs which were attributed to +Bergaz and his band. And now the Anarchist leader openly declared that +Bergaz had sold himself to the police like Raphanel; and that the +burglary at the Princess's residence had been planned by the police +officials, who thereby hoped to cover the Anarchist cause with mire. If +proof was wanted of this, added Janzen, it could be found in the fact +that the police had allowed Bergaz to escape. + +"I fancied that the newspapers might have exaggerated matters," said +Guillaume, when the Princess had finished her story. "They are inventing +such abominable things just now, in order to blacken the case of that +poor devil Salvat." + +"Oh! they've exaggerated nothing!" Rosemonde gaily rejoined. "As a matter +of fact they have omitted a number of particulars which were too filthy +for publication. . . . For my part, I've merely had to go to an hotel. +I'm very comfortable there; I was beginning to feel bored in that house +of mine. . . . All the same, however, Anarchism is hardly a clean +business, and I no longer like to say that I have any connection with +it." + +She again laughed, and then passed to another subject, asking Guillaume +to tell her of his most recent researches, in order, no doubt, that she +might show she knew enough chemistry to understand him. He had been +rendered thoughtful, however, by the story of Bergaz and the burglary, +and would only answer her in a general way. + +Meantime, Hyacinthe was renewing his acquaintance with his +school-fellows, Francois and Antoine. He had accompanied the Princess to +Montmartre against his own inclinations; but since she had taken to +whipping him he had become afraid of her. The chemist's little home +filled him with disdain, particularly as the chemist was a man of +questionable reputation. Moreover, he thought it a duty to insist on his +own superiority in the presence of those old school-fellows of his, whom +he found toiling away in the common rut, like other people. + +"Ah! yes," said he to Francois, who was taking notes from a book spread +open before him, "you are at the Ecole Normale, I believe, and are +preparing for your licentiate. Well, for my part, you know, the idea of +being tied to anything horrifies me. I become quite stupid when there's +any question of examination or competition. The only possible road for +one to follow is that of the Infinite. And between ourselves what dupery +there is in science, how it narrows our horizon! It's just as well to +remain a child with eyes gazing into the invisible. A child knows more +than all your learned men." + +Francois, who occasionally indulged in irony, pretended to share his +opinion. "No doubt, no doubt," said he, "but one must have a natural +disposition to remain a child. For my part, unhappily, I'm consumed by a +desire to learn and know. It's deplorable, as I'm well aware, but I pass +my days racking my brain over books. . . . I shall never know very much, +that's certain; and perhaps that's the reason why I'm ever striving to +learn a little more. You must at all events grant that work, like +idleness, is a means of passing life, though of course it is a less +elegant and aesthetic one." + +"Less aesthetic, precisely," rejoined Hyacinthe. "Beauty lies solely in +the unexpressed, and life is simply degraded when one introduces anything +material into it." + +Simpleton though he was in spite of the enormity of his pretensions, he +doubtless detected that Francois had been speaking ironically. So he +turned to Antoine, who had remained seated in front of a block he was +engraving. It was the one which represented Lise reading in her garden, +for he was ever taking it in hand again and touching it up in his desire +to emphasise his indication of the girl's awakening to intelligence and +life. + +"So you engrave, I see," said Hyacinthe. "Well, since I renounced +versification--a little poem I had begun on the End of Woman--because +words seemed to me so gross and cumbersome, mere paving-stones as it +were, fit for labourers, I myself have had some idea of trying drawing, +and perhaps engraving too. But what drawing can portray the mystery which +lies beyond life, the only sphere that has any real existence and +importance for us? With what pencil and on what kind of plate could one +depict it? We should need something impalpable, something unheard of, +which would merely suggest the essence of things and beings." + +"But it's only by material means," Antoine somewhat roughly replied, +"that art can render the essence of things and beings, that is, their +full significance as we understand it. To transcribe life is my great +passion; and briefly life is the only mystery that there is in things and +beings. When it seems to me that an engraving of mine lives, I'm well +pleased, for I feel that I have created." + +Hyacinthe pouted by way of expressing his contempt of all fruitfulness. +Any fool might beget offspring. It was the sexless idea, existing by +itself, that was rare and exquisite. He tried to explain this, but became +confused, and fell back on the conviction which he had brought back from +Norway, that literature and art were done for in France, killed by +baseness and excess of production. + +"It's evident!" said Francois gaily by way of conclusion. "To do nothing +already shows that one has some talent!" + +Meantime, Pierre and Marie listened and gazed around them, somewhat +embarrassed by this strange visit which had set the usually grave and +peaceful workroom topsy-turvy. The little Princess, though, evinced much +amiability, and on drawing near to Marie admired the wonderful delicacy +of some embroidery she was finishing. Before leaving, moreover, Rosemonde +insisted upon Guillaume inscribing his autograph in an album which +Hyacinthe had to fetch from her carriage. The young man obeyed her with +evident boredom. It could be seen that they were already weary of one +another. Pending a fresh caprice, however, it amused Rosemonde to +terrorize her sorry victim. When she at length led him away, after +declaring to Guillaume that she should always regard that visit as a +memorable incident in her life, she made the whole household smile by +saying: "Oh! so your sons knew Hyacinthe at college. He's a good-natured +little fellow, isn't he? and he would really be quite nice if he would +only behave like other people." + +That same day Janzen and Bache came to spend the evening with Guillaume. +Once a week they now met at Montmartre, as they had formerly done at +Neuilly. Pierre, on these occasions, went home very late, for as soon as +Mere-Grand, Marie, and Guillaume's sons had retired for the night, there +were endless chats in the workroom, whence Paris could be seen spangled +with thousands of gas lights. Another visitor at these times was +Theophile Morin, but he did not arrive before ten o'clock, as he was +detained by the work of correcting his pupils' exercises or some other +wearisome labour pertaining to his profession. + +As soon as Guillaume had told the others of the Princess's visit that +afternoon, Janzen hastily exclaimed: "But she's mad, you know. When I +first met her I thought for a moment that I might perhaps utilise her for +the cause. She seemed so thoroughly convinced and bold! But I soon found +that she was the craziest of women, and simply hungered for new +emotions!" + +Janzen was at last emerging from his wonted frigidity and mysteriousness. +His cheeks were quite flushed. In all probability he had suffered from +his rupture with the woman whom he had once called 'the Queen of the +Anarchists,' and whose fortune and extensive circle of acquaintance had +seemed to him such powerful weapons of propaganda. + +"You know," said he, when he had calmed down, "it was the police who had +her house pillaged and turned into a pigstye. Yes, in view of Salvat's +trial, which is now near at hand, the idea was to damn Anarchism beyond +possibility of even the faintest sympathy on the part of the +/bourgeois/." + +"Yes, she told me so," replied Guillaume, who had become attentive. "But +I scarcely credit the story. If Bergaz had merely acted under such +influence as you suggest, he would have been arrested with the others, +just as Raphanel was taken with those whom he betrayed. Besides, I know +something of Bergaz; he's a freebooter." Guillaume made a sorrowful +gesture, and then in a saddened voice continued: "Oh, I can understand +all claims and all legitimate reprisals. But theft, cynical theft for the +purpose of profit and enjoyment, is beyond me! It lowers my hope of a +better and more equitable form of society. Yes, that burglary at the +Princess's house has greatly distressed me." + +An enigmatical smile, sharp like a knife, again played over Janzen's +lips. "Oh! it's a matter of heredity with you!" said he. "The centuries +of education and belief that lie behind you compel you to protest. All +the same, however, when people won't make restoration, things must be +taken from them. What worries me is that Bergaz should have sold himself +just now. The public prosecutor will use that farcical burglary as a +crushing argument when he asks the jury for Salvat's head." + +Such was Janzen's hatred of the police that he stubbornly clung to his +version of the affair. Perhaps, too, he had quarrelled with Bergaz, with +whom he had at one time freely associated. + +Guillaume, who understood that all discussion would be useless, contented +himself with replying: "Ah! yes, Salvat! Everything is against that +unhappy fellow, he is certain to be condemned. But you can't know, my +friends, what a passion that affair of his puts me into. All my ideas of +truth and justice revolt at the thought of it. He's a madman certainly; +but there are so many excuses to be urged for him. At bottom he is simply +a martyr who has followed the wrong track. And yet he has become the +scapegoat, laden with the crimes of the whole nation, condemned to pay +for one and all!" + +Bache and Morin nodded without replying. They both professed horror of +Anarchism; while Morin, forgetting that the word if not the thing dated +from his first master Proudhon, clung to his Comtist doctrines, in the +conviction that science alone would ensure the happiness and pacification +of the nations. Bache, for his part, old mystical humanitarian that he +was, claimed that the only solution would come from Fourier, who by +decreeing an alliance of talent, labour and capital, had mapped out the +future in a decisive manner. Nevertheless, both Bache and Morin were so +discontented with the slow-paced /bourgeoise/ Republic of the present +day, and so hurt by the thought that everything was going from bad to +worse through the flouting of their own particular ideas, that they were +quite willing to wax indignant at the manner in which the conflicting +parties of the time were striving to make use of Salvat in order to +retain or acquire power. + +"When one thinks," said Bache, "that this ministerial crisis of theirs +has now been lasting for nearly three weeks! Every appetite is openly +displayed, it's a most disgusting sight! Did you see in the papers this +morning that the President has again been obliged to summon Vignon to the +Elysee?" + +"Oh! the papers," muttered Morin in his weary way, "I no longer read +them! What's the use of doing so? They are so badly written, and they all +lie!" + +As Bache had said, the ministerial crisis was still dragging on. The +President of the Republic, taking as his guide the debate in the Chamber +of Deputies, by which the Barroux administration had been overthrown, had +very properly sent for Vignon, the victor on that occasion, and entrusted +him with the formation of a new ministry. It had seemed that this would +be an easy task, susceptible of accomplishment in two or three days at +the utmost, for the names of the friends whom the young leader of the +Radical party would bring to power with him had been freely mentioned for +months past. But all sorts of difficulties had suddenly arisen. For ten +days or so Vignon had struggled on amidst inextricable obstacles. Then, +disheartened and disgusted, fearing, too, that he might use himself up +and shut off the future if he persisted in his endeavours, he had been +obliged to tell the President that he renounced the task. Forthwith the +President had summoned other deputies, and questioned them until he had +found one brave enough to make an attempt on his own account; whereupon +incidents similar to those which had marked Vignon's endeavours had once +more occurred. At the outset a list was drawn up with every prospect of +being ratified within a few hours, but all at once hesitation arose, some +pulled one way, some another; every effort was slowly paralysed till +absolute failure resulted. It seemed as though the mysterious manoeuvres +which had hampered Vignon had begun again; it was as if some band of +invisible plotters was, for some unknown purpose, doing its utmost to +wreck every combination. A thousand hindrances arose with increasing +force from every side--jealousy, dislike, and even betrayal were secretly +prompted by expert agents, who employed every form of pressure, whether +threats or promises, besides fanning and casting rival passions and +interests into collision. Thus the President, greatly embarrassed by this +posture of affairs, had again found it necessary to summon Vignon, who, +after reflection and negotiation, now had an almost complete list in his +pocket, and seemed likely to perfect a new administration within the next +forty-eight hours. + +"Still it isn't settled," resumed Bache. "Well-informed people assert +that Vignon will fail again as he did the first time. For my part I can't +get rid of the idea that Duvillard's gang is pulling the strings, though +for whose benefit is a mystery. You may be quite sure, however, that its +chief purpose is to stifle the African Railways affair. If Monferrand +were not so badly compromised I should almost suspect some trick on his +part. Have you noticed that the 'Globe,' after throwing Barroux overboard +in all haste, now refers to Monferrand every day with the most respectful +sympathy? That's a grave sign; for it isn't Fonsegue's habit to show any +solicitude for the vanquished. But what can one expect from that wretched +Chamber! The only point certain is that something dirty is being plotted +there." + +"And that big dunderhead Mege who works for every party except his own!" +exclaimed Morin; "what a dupe he is with that idea that he need merely +overthrow first one cabinet and then another, in order to become the +leader of one himself!" + +The mention of Mege brought them all to agreement, for they unanimously +hated him. Bache, although his views coincided on many points with those +of the apostle of State Collectivism, judged each of his speeches, each +of his actions, with pitiless severity. Janzen, for his part, treated the +Collectivist leader as a mere reactionary /bourgeois/, who ought to be +swept away one of the first. This hatred of Mege was indeed the common +passion of Guillaume's friends. They could occasionally show some justice +for men who in no wise shared their ideas; but in their estimation it was +an unpardonable crime for anybody to hold much the same views as +themselves, without being absolutely in agreement with them on every +possible point. + +Their discussion continued, their various theories mingling or clashing +till they passed from politics to the press, and grew excited over the +denunciations which poured each morning from Sagnier's newspaper, like +filth from the mouth of a sewer. Thereupon Guillaume, who had become +absorbed in reverie while pacing to and fro according to his habit, +suddenly exclaimed: "Ah! what dirty work it is that Sagnier does! Before +long there won't be a single person, a single thing left on which he +hasn't vomited! You think he's on your side, and suddenly he splashes you +with mire! . . . By the way, he related yesterday that skeleton keys and +stolen purses were found on Salvat when he was arrested in the Bois de +Boulogne! It's always Salvat! He's the inexhaustible subject for +articles. The mere mention of him suffices to send up a paper's sales! +The bribe-takers of the African Railways shout 'Salvat!' to create a +diversion. And the battles which wreck ministers are waged round his +name. One and all set upon him and make use of him and beat him down!" + +With that cry of revolt and compassion, the friends separated for the +night. Pierre, who sat near the open window, overlooking the sparkling +immensity of Paris, had listened to the others without speaking a word. +He had once more been mastered by his doubts, the terrible struggle of +his heart and mind; and no solution, no appeasement had come to him from +all the contradictory views he had heard--the views of men who only +united in predicting the disappearance of the old world, and could make +no joint brotherly effort to rear the future world of truth and justice. +In that vast city of Paris stretching below him, spangled with stars, +glittering like the sky of a summer's night, Pierre also found a great +enigma. It was like chaos, like a dim expanse of ashes dotted with sparks +whence the coming aurora would arise. What future was being forged there, +he wondered, what decisive word of salvation and happiness would come +with the dawn, and wing its flight to every point of the horizon? + +When Pierre, in his turn, was about to retire, Guillaume laid his hands +upon his shoulders, and with much emotion gave him a long look. "Ah! my +poor fellow," said he, "you've been suffering too for some days past, I +have noticed it. But you are the master of your sufferings, for the +struggle you have to overcome is simply in yourself, and you can subdue +it; whereas one cannot subdue the world, when it is the world, its +cruelty and injustice that make one suffer! Good night, be brave, act as +your reason tells you, even if it makes you weep, and you will find peace +surely enough." + +Later on, when Pierre again found himself alone in his little house at +Neuilly, where none now visited him save the shades of his father and +mother, he was long kept awake by a supreme internal combat. He had never +before felt so disgusted with the falsehood of his life, that cassock +which he had persisted in wearing, though he was a priest in name only. +Perhaps it was all that he had beheld and heard at his brother's, the +want and wretchedness of some, the wild, futile agitation of others, the +need of improvement among mankind which remained paramount amidst every +contradiction and form of weakness, that had made him more deeply +conscious of the necessity of living in loyal and normal fashion in the +broad daylight. He could no longer think of his former dream of leading +the solitary life of a saintly priest when he was nothing of the kind, +without a shiver of shame at having lied so long. And now it was quite +decided, he would lie no longer, not even from feelings of compassion in +order that others might retain their religious illusions. And yet how +painful it was to have to divest himself of that gown which seemed to +cling to his skin, and how heartrending the thought that if he did remove +it he would be skinless, lacerated, infirm, unable, do what he might, to +become like other men! + +It was this recurring thought which again tortured him throughout that +terrible night. Would life yet allow him to enter its fold? Had he not +been branded with a mark which for ever condemned him to dwell apart? He +thought he could feel his priestly vows burning his very flesh like +red-hot iron. What use would it be for him to dress as men dress, if in +reality he was never to be a man? He had hitherto lived in such a +quivering state, in a sphere of renunciation and dreams! To know manhood +never, to be too late for it, that thought filled him with terror. And +when at last he made up his mind to fling aside his cassock, he did so +from a simple sense of rectitude, for all his anguish remained. + +When he returned to Montmartre on the following day, he wore a jacket and +trousers of a dark colour. Neither an exclamation nor a glance that might +have embarrassed him came from Mere-Grand or the three young men. Was not +the change a natural one? They greeted him therefore in the quiet way +that was usual with them; perhaps, with some increase of affection, as if +to set him the more at his ease. Guillaume, however, ventured to smile +good-naturedly. In that change he detected his own work. Cure was coming, +as he had hoped it would come, by him and in his own home, amid the full +sunlight, the life which ever streamed in through yonder window. + +Marie, who on her side raised her eyes and looked at Pierre, knew nothing +of the sufferings which he had endured through her simple and logical +inquiry: "Why not take your cassock off?" She merely felt that by +removing it he would be more at ease for his work. + +"Oh, Pierre, just come and look!" she suddenly exclaimed. "I have been +amusing myself with watching all the smoke which the wind is laying +yonder over Paris. One might take it to be a huge fleet of ships shining +in the sunlight. Yes, yes, golden ships, thousands of golden ships, +setting forth from the ocean of Paris to enlighten and pacify the world!" + + + +III + +THE DAWN OF LOVE + +A COUPLE of days afterwards, when Pierre was already growing accustomed +to his new attire, and no longer gave it a thought, it so happened that +on reaching Montmartre he encountered Abbe Rose outside the basilica of +the Sacred Heart. The old priest, who at first was quite thunderstruck +and scarcely able to recognise him, ended by taking hold of his hands and +giving him a long look. Then with his eyes full of tears he exclaimed: +"Oh! my son, so you have fallen into the awful state I feared! I never +mentioned it, but I felt that God had withdrawn from you. Ah! nothing +could wound my heart so cruelly as this." + +Then, still trembling, he began to lead Pierre away as if to hide such a +scandal from the few people who passed by; and at last, his strength +failing him, he sank upon a heap of bricks lying on the grass of one of +the adjoining work-yards. + +The sincere grief which his old and affectionate friend displayed upset +Pierre far more than any angry reproaches or curses would have done. +Tears had come to his own eyes, so acute was the suffering he experienced +at this meeting, which he ought, however, to have foreseen. There was yet +another wrenching, and one which made the best of their blood flow, in +that rupture between Pierre and the saintly man whose charitable dreams +and hopes of salvation he had so long shared. There had been so many +divine illusions, so many struggles for the relief of the masses, so much +renunciation and forgiveness practised in common between them in their +desire to hasten the harvest of the future! And now they were parting; +he, Pierre, still young in years, was returning to life, leaving his aged +companion to his vain waiting and his dreams. + +In his turn, taking hold of Abbe Rose's hands, he gave expression to his +sorrow. "Ah, my friend, my father," said he, "it is you alone that I +regret losing, now that I am leaving my frightful torments behind. I +thought that I was cured of them, but it has been sufficient for me to +meet you, and my heart is rent again. . . . Don't weep for me, I pray +you, don't reproach me for what I have done. It was necessary that I +should do it. If I had consulted you, you would yourself have told me +that it was better to renounce the priesthood than to remain a priest +without faith or honour." + +"Yes, yes," Abbe Rose gently responded, "you no longer had any faith +left. I suspected it. And your rigidity and saintliness of life, in which +I detected such great despair, made me anxious for you. How many hours +did I not spend at times in striving to calm you! And you must listen to +me again, you must still let me save you. I am not a sufficiently learned +theologian to lead you back by discussing texts and dogmas; but in the +name of Charity, my child, yes, in the name of Charity alone, reflect and +take up your task of consolation and hope once more." + +Pierre had sat down beside Abbe Rose, in that deserted nook, at the very +foot of the basilica. "Charity! charity!" he replied in passionate +accents; "why, it is its nothingness and bankruptcy that have killed the +priest there was in me. How can you believe that benevolence is +sufficient, when you have spent your whole life in practising it without +any other result than that of seeing want perpetuated and even increased, +and without any possibility of naming the day when such abomination shall +cease? . . . You think of the reward after death, do you not? The justice +that is to reign in heaven? But that is not justice, it is dupery--dupery +that has brought the world nothing but suffering for centuries past." + +Then he reminded the old priest of their life in the Charonne district, +when they had gone about together succouring children in the streets and +parents in their hovels; the whole of those admirable efforts which, so +far as Abbe Rose was concerned, had simply ended in blame from his +superiors, and removal from proximity to his poor, under penalty of more +severe punishment should he persist in compromising religion by the +practice of blind benevolence without reason or object. And now, was he +not, so to say, submerged beneath the ever-rising tide of want, aware +that he would never, never be able to give enough even should he dispose +of millions, and that he could only prolong the agony of the poor, who, +even should they eat today, would starve again on the morrow? Thus he was +powerless. The wound which he tried to dress and heal, immediately +reopened and spread, in such wise that all society would at last be +stricken and carried off by it. + +Quivering as he listened, and slowly shaking his white head, the old +priest ended by replying: "that does that matter, my child? what does +that matter? One must give, always give, give in spite of everything! +There is no other joy on earth. . . . If dogmas worry you, content +yourself with the Gospel, and even of that retain merely the promise of +salvation through charity." + +But at this Pierre's feelings revolted. He forgot that he was speaking to +one of simple mind, who was all love and nothing else, and could +therefore not follow him. "The trial has been made," he answered, "human +salvation cannot be effected by charity, nothing but justice can +accomplish it. That is the gathering cry which is going up from every +nation. For nearly two thousand years now the Gospel has proved a +failure. There has been no redemption; the sufferings of mankind are +every whit as great and unjust as they were when Jesus came. And thus the +Gospel is now but an abolished code, from which society can only draw +things that are troublous and hurtful. Men must free themselves from it." + +This was his final conviction. How strange the idea, thought he, of +choosing as the world's social legislator one who lived, as Jesus lived, +amidst a social system absolutely different from that of nowadays. The +age was different, the very world was different. And if it were merely a +question of retaining only such of the moral teaching of Jesus as seemed +human and eternal, was there not again a danger in applying immutable +principles to the society of every age? No society could live under the +strict law of the Gospel. Was not all order, all labour, all life +destroyed by the teaching of Jesus? Did He not deny woman, the earth, +eternal nature and the eternal fruitfulness of things and beings? +Moreover, Catholicism had reared upon His primitive teaching such a +frightful edifice of terror and oppression. The theory of original sin, +that terrible heredity reviving with each creature born into the world, +made no allowance as Science does for the corrective influences of +education, circumstances and environment. There could be no more +pessimist conception of man than this one which devotes him to the Devil +from the instant of his birth, and pictures him as struggling against +himself until the instant of his death. An impossible and absurd +struggle, for it is a question of changing man in his entirety, killing +the flesh, killing reason, destroying some guilty energy in each and +every passion, and of pursuing the Devil to the very depths of the +waters, mountains and forests, there to annihilate him with the very sap +of the world. If this theory is accepted the world is but sin, a mere +Hell of temptation and suffering, through which one must pass in order to +merit Heaven. Ah! what an admirable instrument for absolute despotism is +that religion of death, which the principle of charity alone has enabled +men to tolerate, but which the need of justice will perforce sweep away. +The poor man, who is the wretched dupe of it all, no longer believes in +Paradise, but requires that each and all should be rewarded according to +their deserts upon this earth; and thus eternal life becomes the good +goddess, and desire and labour the very laws of the world, while the +fruitfulness of woman is again honoured, and the idiotic nightmare of +Hell is replaced by glorious Nature whose travail knows no end. Leaning +upon modern Science, clear Latin reason sweeps away the ancient Semitic +conception of the Gospel. + +"For eighteen hundred years," concluded Pierre, "Christianity has been +hampering the march of mankind towards truth and justice. And mankind +will only resume its evolution on the day when it abolishes Christianity, +and places the Gospel among the works of the wise, without taking it any +longer as its absolute and final law." + +But Abbe Rose raised his trembling hands: "Be quiet, be quiet, my child!" +he cried; "you are blaspheming! I knew that doubt distracted you; but I +thought you so patient, so able to bear suffering, that I relied on your +spirit of renunciation and resignation. What can have happened to make +you leave the Church in this abrupt and violent fashion? I no longer +recognise you. Sudden passion has sprung up in you, an invincible force +seems to carry you away. What is it? Who has changed you, tell me?" + +Pierre listened in astonishment. "No," said he, "I assure you, I am such +as you have known me, and in all this there is but an inevitable result +and finish. Who could have influenced me, since nobody has entered my +life? What new feeling could transform me, since I find none in me? I am +the same as before, the same assuredly." + +Still there was a touch of hesitation in his voice. Was it really true +that there had been no change within him? He again questioned himself, +and there came no clear answer; decidedly, he would find nothing. It was +all but a delightful awakening, an overpowering desire for life, a +longing to open his arms widely enough to embrace everyone and +everything indeed, a breeze of joy seemed to raise him from the ground +and carry him along. + +Although Abbe Rose was too innocent of heart to understand things +clearly, he again shook his head and thought of the snares which the +Devil is ever setting for men. He was quite overwhelmed by Pierre's +defection. Continuing his efforts to win him back, he made the mistake of +advising him to consult Monseigneur Martha, for he hoped that a prelate +of such high authority would find the words necessary to restore him to +his faith. Pierre, however, boldly replied that if he was leaving the +Church it was partly because it comprised such a man as Martha, such an +artisan of deception and despotism, one who turned religion into corrupt +diplomacy, and dreamt of winning men back to God by dint of ruses. +Thereupon Abbe Rose, rising to his feet, could find no other argument in +his despair than that of pointing to the basilica which stood beside +them, square, huge and massive, and still waiting for its dome. + +"That is God's abode, my child," said he, "the edifice of expiation and +triumph, of penitence and forgiveness. You have said mass in it, and now +you are leaving it sacrilegiously and forswearing yourself!" + +But Pierre also had risen; and buoyed up by a sudden rush of health and +strength he answered: "No, no! I am leaving it willingly, as one leaves a +dark vault, to return into the open air and the broad sunlight. God does +not dwell there; the only purpose of that huge edifice is to defy reason, +truth and justice; it has been erected on the highest spot that could be +found, like a citadel of error that dominates, insults and threatens +Paris!" + +Then seeing that the old priest's eyes were again filling with tears, and +feeling on his own side so pained by their rupture that he began to sob, +Pierre wished to go away. "Farewell! farewell!" he stammered. + +But Abbe Rose caught him in his arms and kissed him, as if he were a +rebellious son who yet had remained the dearest. "No, not farewell, not +farewell, my child," he answered; "say rather till we meet again. Promise +me that we shall see each other again, at least among those who starve +and weep. It is all very well for you to think that charity has become +bankrupt, but shall we not always love one another in loving our poor?" + +Then they parted. + +On becoming the companion of his three big nephews, Pierre had in a few +lessons learnt from them how to ride a bicycle, in order that he might +occasionally accompany them on their morning excursions. He went twice +with them and Marie along the somewhat roughly paved roads in the +direction of the Lake of Enghien. Then one morning when the young woman +had promised to take him and Antoine as far as the forest of +Saint-Germain, it was found at the last moment that Antoine could not +come. Marie was already dressed in a chemisette of fawn-coloured silk, +and a little jacket and "rationals" of black serge, and it was such a +warm, bright April day that she was not inclined to renounce her trip. + +"Well, so much the worse!" she gaily said to Pierre, "I shall take you +with me, there will only be the pair of us. I really want you to see how +delightful it is to bowl over a good road between the beautiful trees." + +However, as Pierre was not yet a very expert rider, they decided that +they would take the train as far as Maisons-Laffitte, whence they would +proceed on their bicycles to the forest, cross it in the direction of +Saint-Germain, and afterwards return to Paris by train. + +"You will be here for /dejeuner/, won't you?" asked Guillaume, whom this +freak amused, and who looked with a smile at his brother. The latter, +like Marie, was in black: jacket, breeches and stockings all of the same +hue. + +"Oh, certainly!" replied Marie. "It's now barely eight o'clock, so we +have plenty of time. Still you need not wait for us, you know, we shall +always find our way back." + +It was a delightful morning. When they started, Pierre could fancy +himself with a friend of his own sex, so that this trip together through +the warm sunlight seemed quite natural. Doubtless their costumes, which +were so much alike, conduced to the gay brotherly feeling he experienced. +But beyond all this there was the healthfulness of the open air, the +delight which exercise brings, the pleasure of roaming in all freedom +through the midst of nature. + +On taking the train they found themselves alone in a compartment, and +Marie once more began to talk of her college days. "Ah! you've no idea," +said she, "what fine games at baseball we used to have at Fenelon! We +used to tie up our skirts with string so as to run the better, for we +were not allowed to wear rationals like I'm wearing now. And there were +shrieks, and rushes, and pushes, till our hair waved about and we were +quite red with exercise and excitement. Still that didn't prevent us from +working in the class-rooms. On the contrary! Directly we were at study we +fought again, each striving to learn the most and reach the top of the +class!" + +She laughed gaily as she thus recalled her school life, and Pierre +glanced at her with candid admiration, so pink and healthy did she look +under her little hat of black felt, which a long silver pin kept in +position. Her fine dark hair was caught up behind, showing her neck, +which looked as fresh and delicate as a child's. And never before had she +seemed to him so supple and so strong. + +"Ah," she continued in a jesting way, "there is nothing like rationals, +you know! To think that some women are foolish and obstinate enough to +wear skirts when they go out cycling!" + +Then, as he declared--just by way of speaking the truth, and without the +faintest idea of gallantry--that she looked very nice indeed in her +costume, she responded: "Oh! I don't count. I'm not a beauty. I simply +enjoy good health. . . . But can you understand it? To think that women +have an unique opportunity of putting themselves at their ease, and +releasing their limbs from prison, and yet they won't do so! If they +think that they look the prettier in short skirts like schoolgirls they +are vastly mistaken! And as for any question of modesty, well, it seems +to me that it is infinitely less objectionable for women to wear +rationals than to bare their bosoms at balls and theatres and dinners as +society ladies do." Then, with a gesture of girlish impulsiveness, she +added: "Besides, does one think of such things when one's rolling along? +. . . Yes, rationals are the only things, skirts are rank heresy!" + +In her turn, she was now looking at him, and was struck by the +extraordinary change which had come over him since the day when he had +first appeared to her, so sombre in his long cassock, with his face +emaciated, livid, almost distorted by anguish. It was like a +resurrection, for now his countenance was bright, his lofty brow had all +the serenity of hope, while his eyes and lips once more showed some of +the confident tenderness which sprang from his everlasting thirst for +love, self-bestowal and life. All mark of the priesthood had already left +him, save that where he had been tonsured his hair still remained rather +short. + +"Why are you looking at me?" he asked. + +"I was noticing how much good has been done you by work and the open +air," she frankly answered; "I much prefer you as you are. You used to +look so poorly. I thought you really ill." + +"So I was," said he. + +The train, however, was now stopping at Maisons-Laffitte. They alighted +from it, and at once took the road to the forest. This road rises gently +till it reaches the Maisons gate, and on market days it is often crowded +with carts. + +"I shall go first, eh?" said Marie gaily, "for vehicles still alarm you." + +Thereupon she started ahead, but every now and again she turned with a +smile to see if he were following her. And every time they overtook and +passed a cart she spoke to him of the merits of their machines, which +both came from the Grandidier works. They were "Lisettes," examples of +those popular bicycles which Thomas had helped to perfect, and which the +Bon Marche now sold in large numbers for 250 francs apiece. Perhaps they +were rather heavy in appearance, but on the other hand their strength was +beyond question. They were just the machines for a long journey, so Marie +declared. + +"Ah! here's the forest," she at last exclaimed. "We have now reached the +end of the rise; and you will see what splendid avenues there are. One +can bowl along them as on a velvet carpet." + +Pierre had already joined her, and they rode on side by side along the +broad straight avenue fringed with magnificent trees. + +"I am all right now," said Pierre; "your pupil will end by doing you +honour, I hope." + +"Oh! I've no doubt of it. You already have a very good seat, and before +long you'll leave me behind, for a woman is never a man's equal in a +matter like this. At the same time, however, what a capital education +cycling is for women!" + +In what way?" + +"Oh! I've certain ideas of my own on the subject; and if ever I have a +daughter I shall put her on a bicycle as soon as she's ten years old, +just to teach her how to conduct herself in life." + +"Education by experience, eh?" + +"Yes, why not? Look at the big girls who are brought up hanging to their +mothers' apron strings. Their parents frighten them with everything, they +are allowed no initiative, no exercise of judgment or decision, so that +at times they hardly know how to cross a street, to such a degree does +the traffic alarm them. Well, I say that a girl ought to be set on a +bicycle in her childhood, and allowed to follow the roads. She will then +learn to open her eyes, to look out for stones and avoid them, and to +turn in the right direction at every bend or crossway. If a vehicle comes +up at a gallop or any other danger presents itself, she'll have to make +up her mind on the instant, and steer her course firmly and properly if +she does not wish to lose a limb. Briefly, doesn't all this supply proper +apprenticeship for one's will, and teach one how to conduct and defend +oneself?" + +Pierre had begun to laugh. "You will all be too healthy," he remarked. + +"Oh, one must be healthy if one wants to be happy. But what I wish to +convey is that those who learn to avoid stones and to turn properly along +the highways will know how to overcome difficulties, and take the best +decisions in after life. The whole of education lies in knowledge and +energy." + +"So women are to be emancipated by cycling?" + +"Well, why not? It may seem a droll idea; but see what progress has been +made already. By wearing rationals women free their limbs from prison; +then the facilities which cycling affords people for going out together +tend to greater intercourse and equality between the sexes; the wife and +the children can follow the husband everywhere, and friends like +ourselves are at liberty to roam hither and thither without astonishing +anybody. In this lies the greatest advantage of all: one takes a bath of +air and sunshine, one goes back to nature, to the earth, our common +mother, from whom one derives fresh strength and gaiety of heart! Just +look how delightful this forest is. And how healthful the breeze that +inflates our lungs! Yes, it all purifies, calms and encourages one." + +The forest, which was quite deserted on week days, stretched out in +quietude on either hand, with sunlight filtering between its deep bands +of trees. At that hour the rays only illumined one side of the avenue, +there gilding the lofty drapery of verdure; on the other, the shady side, +the greenery seemed almost black. It was truly delightful to skim, +swallow-like, over that royal avenue in the fresh atmosphere, amidst the +waving of grass and foliage, whose powerful scent swept against one's +face. Pierre and Marie scarcely touched the soil: it was as if wings had +come to them, and were carrying them on with a regular flight, through +alternate patches of shade and sunshine, and all the scattered vitality +of the far-reaching, quivering forest, with its mosses, its sources, its +animal and its insect life. + +Marie would not stop when they reached the crossway of the Croix de +Noailles, a spot where people congregate on Sundays, for she was +acquainted with secluded nooks which were far more charming +resting-places. When they reached the slope going down towards Poissy, +she roused Pierre, and they let their machines rush on. Then came all the +joyous intoxication of speed, the rapturous feeling of darting along +breathlessly while the grey road flees beneath one, and the trees on +either hand turn like the opening folds of a fan. The breeze blows +tempestuously, and one fancies that one is journeying yonder towards the +horizon, the infinite, which ever and ever recedes. It is like boundless +hope, delivery from every shackle, absolute freedom of motion through +space. And nothing can inspirit one more gloriously--one's heart leaps as +if one were in the very heavens. + +"We are not going to Poissy, you know!" Marie suddenly cried; "we have to +turn to the left." + +They took the road from Acheres to the Loges, which ascends and +contracts, thus bringing one closer together in the shade. Gradually +slowing down, they began to exert themselves in order to make their way +up the incline. This road was not so good as the others, it had been +gullied by the recent heavy rains, and sand and gravel lay about. But +then is there not even a pleasure in effort? + +"You will get used to it," said Marie to Pierre; "it's amusing to +overcome obstacles. For my part I don't like roads which are invariably +smooth. A little ascent which does not try one's limbs too much rouses +and inspirits one. And it is so agreeable to find oneself strong, and +able to go on and on in spite of rain, or wind, or hills." + +Her bright humour and courage quite charmed Pierre. "And so," said he, +"we are off for a journey round France?" + +"No, no, we've arrived. You won't dislike a little rest, eh? And now, +tell me, wasn't it worth our while to come on here and rest in such a +nice fresh, quiet spot." + +She nimbly sprang off her machine and, bidding him follow her, turned +into a path, along which she went some fifty paces. They placed their +bicycles against some trees, and then found themselves in a little +clearing, the most exquisite, leafy nest that one could dream of. The +forest here assumed an aspect of secluded sovereign beauty. The +springtide had endowed it with youth, the foliage was light and virginal, +like delicate green lace flecked with gold by the sun-rays. And from the +herbage and the surrounding thickets arose a breath of life, laden with +all the powerful aroma of the earth. + +"It's not too warm as yet, fortunately," exclaimed Marie, as she seated +herself at the foot of a young oak-tree, against which she leant. "In +July ladies get rather red by the time they reach this spot, and all the +powder comes off their faces. However, one can't always be beautiful." + +"Well, I'm not cold by any means," replied Pierre, as he sat at her feet +wiping his forehead. + +She laughed, and answered that she had never before seen him with such a +colour. Then they began to talk like children, like two young friends, +finding a source of gaiety in the most puerile things. She was somewhat +anxious about his health, however, and would not allow him to remain in +the cool shade, as he felt so very warm. In order to tranquillise her, he +had to change his place and seat himself with his back to the sun. Then a +little later he saved her from a large black spider, which had caught +itself in the wavy hair on the nape of her neck. At this all her womanly +nature reappeared, and she shrieked with terror. "How stupid it was to be +afraid of a spider!" she exclaimed a moment afterwards; yet, in spite of +her efforts to master herself, she remained pale and trembling. + +Silence at last fell between them, and they looked at one another with a +smile. In the midst of that delicate greenery they felt drawn together by +frank affection--the affection of brother and sister, so it seemed to +them. It made Marie very happy to think that she had taken an interest in +Pierre, and that his return to health was largely her own work. However, +their eyes never fell, their hands never met, even as they sat there +toying with the grass, for they were as pure, as unconscious of all evil, +as were the lofty oaks around them. + +At last Marie noticed that time was flying. "You know that they expect us +back to lunch," she exclaimed. "We ought to be off." + +Thereupon they rose, wheeled their bicycles back to the highway, and +starting off again at a good pace passed the Loges and reached +Saint-Germain by the fine avenue which conducts to the chateau. It +charmed them to take their course again side by side, like birds of equal +flight. Their little bells jingled, their chains rustled lightly, and a +fresh breeze swept past them as they resumed their talk, quite at ease, +and so linked together by friendship that they seemed far removed from +all the rest of the world. + +They took the train from Saint-Germain to Paris, and on the journey +Pierre suddenly noticed that Marie's cheeks were purpling. There were two +ladies with them in the compartment. + +"Ah!" said he, "so you feel warm in your turn now?" + +But she protested the contrary, her face glowing more and more brightly +as she spoke, as if some sudden feeling of shame quite upset her. "No, +I'm not warm," said she; "just feel my hands. . . . But how ridiculous it +is to blush like this without any reason for it!" + +He understood her. This was one of those involuntary blushing fits which +so distressed her, and which, as Mere-Grand had remarked, brought her +heart to her very cheeks. There was no cause for it, as she herself said. +After slumbering in all innocence in the solitude of the forest her heart +had begun to beat, despite herself. + +Meantime, over yonder at Montmartre, Guillaume had spent his morning in +preparing some of that mysterious powder, the cartridges of which he +concealed upstairs in Mere-Grand's bedroom. Great danger attended this +manufacture. The slightest forgetfulness while he was manipulating the +ingredients, any delay, too, in turning off a tap, might lead to a +terrible explosion, which would annihilate the building and all who might +be in it. For this reason he preferred to work when he was alone, so that +on the one hand there might be no danger for others, and on the other +less likelihood of his own attention being diverted from his task. That +morning, as it happened, his three sons were working in the room, and +Mere-Grand sat sewing near the furnace. Truth to tell, she did not count, +for she scarcely ever left her place, feeling quite at ease there, +however great might be the peril. Indeed, she had become so well +acquainted with the various phases of Guillaume's delicate operations, +and their terrible possibilities, that she would occasionally give him a +helping hand. + +That morning, as she sat there mending some house linen,--her eyesight +still being so keen that in spite of her seventy years she wore no +spectacles,--she now and again glanced at Guillaume as if to make sure +that he forgot nothing. Then feeling satisfied, she would once more bend +over her work. She remained very strong and active. Her hair was only +just turning white, and she had kept all her teeth, while her face still +looked refined, though it was slowly withering with age and had acquired +an expression of some severity. As a rule she was a woman of few words; +her life was one of activity and good management. When she opened her +lips it was usually to give advice, to counsel reason, energy and +courage. For some time past she had been growing more taciturn than ever, +as if all her attention were claimed by the household matters which were +in her sole charge; still, her fine eyes would rest thoughtfully on those +about her, on the three young men, and on Guillaume, Marie and Pierre, +who all obeyed her as if she were their acknowledged queen. If she looked +at them in that pensive way, was it that she foresaw certain changes, and +noticed certain incidents of which the others remained unconscious? +Perhaps so. At all events she became even graver, and more attentive than +in the past. It was as if she were waiting for some hour to strike when +all her wisdom and authority would be required. + +"Be careful, Guillaume," she at last remarked, as she once more looked up +from her sewing. "You seem absent-minded this morning. Is anything +worrying you?" + +He glanced at her with a smile. "No, nothing, I assure you," he replied. +"But I was thinking of our dear Marie, who was so glad to go off to the +forest in this bright sunshine." + +Antoine, who heard the remark, raised his head, while his brothers +remained absorbed in their work. "What a pity it is that I had this block +to finish," said he; "I would willingly have gone with her." + +"Oh, no matter," his father quietly rejoined. "Pierre is with her, and he +is very cautious." + +For another moment Mere-Grand continued scrutinising Guillaume; then she +once more reverted to her sewing. + +If she exercised such sway over the home and all its inmates, it was by +reason of her long devotion, her intelligence, and the kindliness with +which she ruled. Uninfluenced by any religious faith, and disregarding +all social conventionalities, her guiding principle in everything was the +theory of human justice which she had arrived at after suffering so +grievously from the injustice that had killed her husband. She put her +views into practice with wonderful courage, knowing nothing of any +prejudices, but accomplishing her duty, such as she understood it, to the +very end. And in the same way as she had first devoted herself to her +husband, and next to her daughter Marguerite, so at present she devoted +herself to Guillaume and his sons. Pierre, whom she had first studied +with some anxiety, had now, too, become a member of her family, a dweller +in the little realm of happiness which she ruled. She had doubtless found +him worthy of admission into it, though she did not reveal the reason +why. After days and days of silence she had simply said, one evening, to +Guillaume, that he had done well in bringing his brother to live among +them. + +Time flew by as she sat sewing and thinking. Towards noon Guillaume, who +was still at work, suddenly remarked to her: "As Marie and Pierre haven't +come back, we had better let the lunch wait a little while. Besides, I +should like to finish what I'm about." + +Another quarter of an hour then elapsed. Finally, the three young men +rose from their work, and went to wash their hands at a tap in the +garden. + +"Marie is very late," now remarked Mere-Grand. "We must hope that nothing +has happened to her." + +"Oh! she rides so well," replied Guillaume. "I'm more anxious on account +of Pierre." + +At this the old lady again fixed her eyes on him, and said: "But Marie +will have guided Pierre; they already ride very well together." + +"No doubt; still I should be better pleased if they were back home." + +Then all at once, fancying that he heard the ring of a bicycle bell, he +called out: "There they are!" And forgetting everything else in his +satisfaction, he quitted his furnace and hastened into the garden in +order to meet them. + +Mere-Grand, left to herself, quietly continued sewing, without a thought +that the manufacture of Guillaume's powder was drawing to an end in an +apparatus near her. A couple of minutes later, however, when Guillaume +came back, saying that he had made a mistake, his eyes suddenly rested on +his furnace, and he turned quite livid. Brief as had been his absence the +exact moment when it was necessary to turn off a tap in order that no +danger might attend the preparation of his powder had already gone by; +and now, unless someone should dare to approach that terrible tap, and +boldly turn it, a fearful explosion might take place. Doubtless it was +too late already, and whoever might have the bravery to attempt the feat +would be blown to pieces. + +Guillaume himself had often run a similar risk of death with perfect +composure. But on this occasion he remained as if rooted to the floor, +unable to take a step, paralysed by the dread of annihilation. He +shuddered and stammered in momentary expectation of a catastrophe which +would hurl the work-shop to the heavens. + +"Mere-Grand, Mere-Grand," he stammered. "The apparatus, the tap . . . it +is all over, all over!" + +The old woman had raised her head without as yet understanding him. "Eh, +what?" said she; "what is the matter with you?" Then, on seeing how +distorted were his features, how he recoiled as if mad with terror, she +glanced at the furnace and realised the danger. "Well, but it's simple +enough," said she; "it's only necessary to turn off the tap, eh?" + +Thereupon, without any semblance of haste, in the most easy and natural +manner possible, she deposited her needlework on a little table, rose +from her chair, and turned off the tap with a light but firm hand. +"There! it's done," said she. "But why didn't you do it yourself, my +friend?" + +He had watched her in bewilderment, chilled to the bones, as if touched +by the hand of death. And when some colour at last returned to his +cheeks, and he found himself still alive in front of the apparatus whence +no harm could now come, he heaved a deep sigh and again shuddered. "Why +did I not turn it off?" he repeated. "It was because I felt afraid." + +At that very moment Marie and Pierre came into the work-shop all chatter +and laughter, delighted with their excursion, and bringing with them the +bright joyousness of the sunlight. The three brothers, Thomas, Francis +and Antoine, were jesting with them, and trying to make them confess that +Pierre had at least fought a battle with a cow on the high road, and +ridden into a cornfield. All at once, however, they became quite anxious, +for they noticed that their father looked terribly upset. + +"My lads," said he, "I've just been a coward. Ah! it's a curious feeling, +I had never experienced it before." + +Thereupon he recounted his fears of an accident, and how quietly +Mere-Grand had saved them all from certain death. She waved her hand, +however, as if to say that there was nothing particularly heroic in +turning off a tap. The young men's eyes nevertheless filled with tears, +and one after the other they went to kiss her with a fervour instinct +with all the gratitude and worship they felt for her. She had been +devoting herself to them ever since their infancy, she had now just given +them a new lease of life. Marie also threw herself into her arms, kissing +her with gratitude and emotion. Mere-Grand herself was the only one who +did not shed tears. She strove to calm them, begging them to exaggerate +nothing and to remain sensible. + +"Well, you must at all events let me kiss you as the others have done," +Guillaume said to her, as he recovered his self-possession. "I at least +owe you that. And Pierre, too, shall kiss you, for you are now as good +for him as you have always been for us." + +At table, when it was at last possible for them to lunch, he reverted to +that attack of fear which had left him both surprised and ashamed. He who +for years had never once thought of death had for some time past found +ideas of caution in his mind. On two occasions recently he had shuddered +at the possibility of a catastrophe. How was it that a longing for life +had come to him in his decline? Why was it that he now wished to live? At +last with a touch of tender affection in his gaiety, he remarked: "Do you +know, Marie, I think it is my thoughts of you that make me a coward. If +I've lost my bravery it's because I risk something precious when any +danger arises. Happiness has been entrusted to my charge. Just now when I +fancied that we were all going to die, I thought I could see you, and my +fear of losing you froze and paralysed me." + +Marie indulged in a pretty laugh. Allusions to her coming marriage were +seldom made; however, she invariably greeted them with an air of happy +affection. + +"Another six weeks!" she simply said. + +Thereupon Mere-Grand, who had been looking at them, turned her eyes +towards Pierre. He, however, like the others was listening with a smile. + +"That's true," said the old lady, "you are to be married in six weeks' +time. So I did right to prevent the house from being blown up." + +At this the young men made merry; and the repast came to an end in very +joyous fashion. + +During the afternoon, however, Pierre's heart gradually grew heavy. +Marie's words constantly returned to him: "Another six weeks!" Yes, it +was indeed true, she would then be married. But it seemed to him that he +had never previously known it, never for a moment thought of it. And +later on, in the evening, when he was alone in his room at Neuilly, his +heart-pain became intolerable. Those words tortured him. Why was it that +they had not caused him any suffering when they were spoken, why had he +greeted them with a smile? And why had such cruel anguish slowly +followed? All at once an idea sprang up in his mind, and became an +overwhelming certainty. He loved Marie, he loved her as a lover, with a +love so intense that he might die from it. + +With this sudden consciousness of his passion everything became clear and +plain. He had been going perforce towards that love ever since he had +first met Marie. The emotion into which the young woman had originally +thrown him had seemed to him a feeling of repulsion, but afterwards he +had been slowly conquered, all his torments and struggles ending in this +love for her. It was indeed through her that he had at last found +quietude. And the delightful morning which he had spent with her that +day, appeared to him like a betrothal morning, in the depths of the happy +forest. Nature had resumed her sway over him, delivered him from his +sufferings, made him strong and healthy once more, and given him to the +woman he adored. The quiver he had experienced, the happiness he had +felt, his communion with the trees, the heavens, and every living +creature--all those things which he had been unable to explain, now +acquired a clear meaning which transported him. In Marie alone lay his +cure, his hope, his conviction that he would be born anew and at last +find happiness. In her company he had already forgotten all those +distressing problems which had formerly haunted him and bowed him down. +For a week past he had not once thought of death, which had so long been +the companion of his every hour. All the conflict of faith and doubt, the +distress roused by the idea of nihility, the anger he had felt at the +unjust sufferings of mankind, had been swept away by her fresh cool +hands. She was so healthy herself, so glad to live, that she had imparted +a taste for life even to him. Yes, it was simply that: she was making him +a man, a worker, a lover once more. + +Then he suddenly remembered Abbe Rose and his painful conversation with +that saintly man. The old priest, whose heart was so ingenuous, and who +knew nothing of love and passion, was nevertheless the only one who had +understood the truth. He had told Pierre that he was changed, that there +was another man in him. And he, Pierre, had foolishly and stubbornly +declared that he was the same as he had always been; whereas Marie had +already transformed him, bringing all nature back to his breast--all +nature, with its sunlit countrysides, its fructifying breezes, and its +vast heavens, whose glow ripens its crops. That indeed was why he had +felt so exasperated with Catholicism, that religion of death; that was +why he had shouted that the Gospel was useless, and that the world +awaited another law--a law of terrestrial happiness, human justice and +living love and fruitfulness! + +Ah, but Guillaume? Then a vision of his brother rose before Pierre, that +brother who loved him so fondly, and who had carried him to his home of +toil, quietude and affection, in order to cure him of his sufferings. If +he knew Marie it was simply because Guillaume had chosen that he should +know her. And again Marie's words recurred to him: "Another six weeks!" +Yes, in six weeks his brother would marry the young woman. This thought +was like a stab in Pierre's heart. Still, he did not for one moment +hesitate: if he must die of his love, he would die of it, but none should +ever know it, he would conquer himself, he would flee to the ends of the +earth should he ever feel the faintest cowardice. Rather than bring a +moment's pain to that brother who had striven to resuscitate him, who was +the artisan of the passion now consuming him, who had given him his whole +heart and all he had--he would condemn himself to perpetual torture. And +indeed, torture was coming back; for in losing Marie he could but sink +into the distress born of the consciousness of his nothingness. As he lay +in bed, unable to sleep, he already experienced a return of his +abominable torments--the negation of everything, the feeling that +everything was useless, that the world had no significance, and that life +was only worthy of being cursed and denied. And then the shudder born of +the thought of death returned to him. Ah! to die, to die without even +having lived! + +The struggle was a frightful one. Until daybreak he sobbed in martyrdom. +Why had he taken off his cassock? He had done so at a word from Marie; +and now another word from her gave him the despairing idea of donning it +once more. One could not escape from so fast a prison. That black gown +still clung to his skin. He fancied that he had divested himself of it, +and yet it was still weighing on his shoulders, and his wisest course +would be to bury himself in it for ever. By donning it again he would at +least wear mourning for his manhood. + +All at once, however, a fresh thought upset him. Why should he struggle +in that fashion? Marie did not love him. There had been nothing between +them to indicate that she cared for him otherwise than as a charming, +tender-hearted sister. It was Guillaume that she loved, no doubt. Then he +pressed his face to his pillow to stifle his sobs, and once more swore +that he would conquer himself and turn a smiling face upon their +happiness. + + + +IV + +TRIAL AND SENTENCE + +HAVING returned to Montmartre on the morrow Pierre suffered so grievously +that he did not show himself there on the two following days. He +preferred to remain at home where there was nobody to notice his +feverishness. On the third morning, however, whilst he was still in bed, +strengthless and full of despair, he was both surprised and embarrassed +by a visit from Guillaume. + +"I must needs come to you," said the latter, "since you forsake us. I've +come to fetch you to attend Salvat's trial, which takes place to-day. I +had no end of trouble to secure two places. Come, get up, we'll have +/dejeuner/ in town, so as to reach the court early." + +Then, while Pierre was hastily dressing, Guillaume, who on his side +seemed thoughtful and worried that morning, began to question him: "Have +you anything to reproach us with?" he asked. + +"No, nothing. What an idea!" was Pierre's reply. + +"Then why have you been staying away? We had got into the habit of seeing +you every day, but all at once you disappear." + +Pierre vainly sought a falsehood, and all his composure fled. "I had some +work to do here," said he, "and then, too, my gloomy ideas cane back to +me, and I didn't want to go and sadden you all." + +At this Guillaume hastily waved his hand. "If you fancy that your absence +enlivens us you're mistaken," he replied. "Marie, who is usually so well +and happy, had such a bad headache on the day before yesterday that she +was obliged to keep her room. And she was ill at ease and nervous and +silent again yesterday. We spent a very unpleasant day." + +As he spoke Guillaume looked Pierre well in the face, his frank loyal +eyes clearly revealing the suspicions which had come to him, but which he +would not express in words. + +Pierre, quite dismayed by the news of Marie's indisposition, and +frightened by the idea of betraying his secret, thereupon managed to tell +a lie. "Yes, she wasn't very well on the day when we went cycling," he +quietly responded. "But I assure you that I have had a lot to do here. +When you came in just now I was about to get up and go to your house as +usual." + +Guillaume kept his eyes on him for a moment longer. Then, either +believing him or deciding to postpone his search for the truth to some +future time, he began speaking affectionately on other subjects. With his +keen brotherly love, however, there was blended such a quiver of +impending distress, of unconfessed sorrow, which possibly he did not yet +realise, that Pierre in his turn began to question him. "And you," said +he, "are you ill? You seem to me to have lost your usual serenity." + +"I? Oh! I'm not ill. Only I can't very well retain my composure; Salvat's +affair distresses me exceedingly, as you must know. They will all end by +driving me mad with the monstrous injustice they show towards that +unhappy fellow." + +Thenceforward Guillaume went on talking of Salvat in a stubborn +passionate way, as if he wished to find an explanation of all his pain +and unrest in that affair. While he and Pierre were partaking of +/dejeuner/ at a little restaurant on the Boulevard du Palais he related +how deeply touched he was by the silence which Salvat had preserved with +regard both to the nature of the explosive employed in the bomb and the +few days' work which he had once done at his house. It was, thanks to +this silence, that he, Guillaume, had not been worried or even summoned +as a witness. Then, in his emotion, he reverted to his invention, that +formidable engine which would ensure omnipotence to France, as the great +initiatory and liberative power of the world. The results of the +researches which had occupied him for ten years past were now out of +danger and in all readiness, so that if occasion required they might at +once be delivered to the French government. And, apart from certain +scruples which came to him at the thought of the unworthiness of French +financial and political society; he was simply delaying any further steps +in the matter until his marriage with Marie, in order that he might +associate her with the gift of universal peace which he imagined he was +about to bestow upon the world. + +It was through Bertheroy and with great difficulty that Guillaume had +managed to secure two seats in court for Salvat's trial. When he and +Pierre presented themselves for admission at eleven o'clock, they fancied +that they would never be able to enter. The large gates of the Palace of +Justice were kept closed, several passages were fenced off, and terror +seemed to reign in the deserted building, as if indeed the judges feared +some sudden invasion of bomb-laden Anarchists. Each door and barrier, +too, was guarded by soldiers, with whom the brothers had to parley. When +they at last entered the Assize Court they found it already crowded with +people, who were apparently quite willing to suffocate there for an hour +before the arrival of the judges, and to remain motionless for some seven +or eight hours afterwards, since it was reported that the authorities +wished to get the case over in a single sitting. In the small space +allotted to the standing public there was a serried mass of sightseers +who had come up from the streets, a few companions and friends of Salvat +having managed to slip in among them. In the other compartment, where +witnesses are generally huddled together on oak benches, were those +spectators who had been allowed admittance by favour, and these were so +numerous and so closely packed that here and there they almost sat upon +one another's knees. Then, in the well of the court and behind the bench, +were rows of chairs set out as for some theatrical performance, and +occupied by privileged members of society, politicians, leading +journalists, and ladies. And meantime a number of gowned advocates sought +refuge wherever chance offered, crowding into every vacant spot, every +available corner. + +Pierre had never before visited the Assize Court, and its appearance +surprised him. He had expected much pomp and majesty, whereas this temple +of human justice seemed to him small and dismal and of doubtful +cleanliness. The bench was so low that he could scarcely see the +armchairs of the presiding judge and his two assessors. Then he was +struck by the profusion of old oak panels, balustrades and benches, which +helped to darken the apartment, whose wall hangings were of olive green, +while a further display of oak panelling appeared on the ceiling above. +From the seven narrow and high-set windows with scanty little white +curtains there fell a pale light which sharply divided the court. On one +hand one saw the dock and the defending counsel's seat steeped in frigid +light, while, on the other, was the little, isolated jury box in the +shade. This contrast seemed symbolical of justice, impersonal and +uncertain, face to face with the accused, whom the light stripped bare, +probed as it were to his very soul. Then, through a kind of grey mist +above the bench, in the depths of the stern and gloomy scene, one could +vaguely distinguish the heavy painting of "Christ Crucified." A white +bust of the Republic alone showed forth clearly against the dark wall +above the dock where Salvat would presently appear. The only remaining +seats that Guillaume and Pierre could find were on the last bench of the +witnesses' compartment, against the partition which separated the latter +from the space allotted to the standing public. Just as Guillaume was +seating himself, he saw among the latter little Victor Mathis, who stood +there with his elbows leaning on the partition, while his chin rested on +his crossed hands. The young man's eyes were glowing in his pale face +with thin, compressed lips. Although they recognised one another, Victor +did not move, and Guillaume on his side understood that it was not safe +to exchange greetings in such a place. From that moment, however, he +remained conscious that Victor was there, just above him, never stirring, +but waiting silently, fiercely and with flaming eyes, for what was going +to happen. + +Pierre, meantime, had recognised that most amiable deputy Duthil, and +little Princess Rosemonde, seated just in front of him. Amidst the hubbub +of the throng which chatted and laughed to while away the time, their +voices were the gayest to be heard, and plainly showed how delighted they +were to find themselves at a spectacle to which so many desired +admittance. Duthil was explaining all the arrangements to Rosemonde, +telling her to whom or to what purpose each bench and wooden box was +allotted: there was the jury-box, the prisoner's dock, the seats assigned +to counsel for the defence, the public prosecutor, and the clerk of the +court, without forgetting the table on which material evidence was +deposited and the bar to which witnesses were summoned. There was nobody +as yet in any of these places; one merely saw an attendant giving a last +look round, and advocates passing rapidly. One might indeed have thought +oneself in a theatre, the stage of which remained deserted, while the +spectators crowded the auditorium waiting for the play to begin. To fill +up the interval the little Princess ended by looking about her for +persons of her acquaintance among the close-pressed crowd of sight-seers +whose eager faces were already reddening. + +"Oh! isn't that Monsieur Fonsegue over there behind the bench, near that +stout lady in yellow?" she exclaimed. "Our friend General de Bozonnet is +on the other side, I see. But isn't Baron Duvillard here?" + +"Oh! no," replied Duthil; "he could hardly come; it would look as if he +were here to ask for vengeance." Then, in his turn questioning Rosemonde, +the deputy went on: "Do you happen to have quarrelled with your handsome +friend Hyacinthe? Is that the reason why you've given me the pleasure of +acting as your escort to-day?" + +With a slight shrug of her shoulders, the Princess replied that poets +were beginning to bore her. A fresh caprice, indeed, was drawing her into +politics. For a week past she had found amusement in the surroundings of +the ministerial crisis, into which the young deputy for Angouleme had +initiated her. "They are all a little bit crazy at the Duvillards', my +dear fellow," said she. "It's decided, you know, that Gerard is to marry +Camille. The Baroness has resigned herself to it, and I've heard from a +most reliable quarter that Madame de Quinsac, the young man's mother, has +given her consent." + +At this Duthil became quite merry. He also seemed to be well informed on +the subject. "Yes, yes, I know," said he. "The wedding is to take place +shortly, at the Madeleine. It will be a magnificent affair, no doubt. And +after all, what would you have? There couldn't be a better finish to the +affair. The Baroness is really kindness personified, and I said all along +that she would sacrifice herself in order to ensure the happiness of her +daughter and Gerard. In point of fact that marriage will settle +everything, put everything in proper order again." + +"And what does the Baron say?" asked Rosemonde. + +"The Baron? Why, he's delighted," replied Duthil in a bantering way. "You +read no doubt this morning that Dauvergne is given the department of +Public Instruction in the new Ministry. This means that Silviane's +engagement at the Comedic is a certainty. Dauvergne was chosen simply on +that account." + +At this moment the conversation was interrupted by little Massot, who, +after a dispute with one of the ushers some distance away, had perceived +a vacant place by the side of the Princess. He thereupon made her a +questioning sign, and she beckoned to him to approach. + +"Ah!" said he, as he installed himself beside her, "I have not got here +without trouble. One's crushed to death on the press bench, and I've an +article to write. You are the kindest of women, Princess, to make a +little room for your faithful admirer, myself." Then, after shaking hands +with Duthil, he continued without any transition: "And so there's a new +ministry at last, Monsieur le Depute. You have all taken your time about +it, but it's really a very fine ministry, which everybody regards with +surprise and admiration." + +The decrees appointing the new ministers had appeared in the "Journal +Officiel" that very morning. After a long deadlock, after Vignon had for +the second time seen his plans fail through ever-recurring obstacles, +Monferrand, as a last resource, had suddenly been summoned to the Elysee, +and in four-and-twenty hours he had found the colleagues he wanted and +secured the acceptance of his list, in such wise that he now triumphantly +re-ascended to power after falling from it with Barroux in such wretched +fashion. He had also chosen a new post for himself, relinquishing the +department of the Interior for that of Finances, with the Presidency of +the Council, which had long been his secret ambition. His stealthy +labour, the masterly fashion in which he had saved himself while others +sank, now appeared in its full beauty. First had come Salvat's arrest, +and the use he had made of it, then the wonderful subterranean campaign +which he had carried on against Vignon, the thousand obstacles which he +had twice set across his path, and finally the sudden /denouement/ with +that list he held in readiness, that formation of a ministry in a single +day as soon as his services were solicited. + +"It is fine work, I must compliment you on it," added little Massot by +way of a jest. + +"But I've had nothing to do with it," Duthil modestly replied. + +"Nothing to do with it! Oh! yes you have, my dear sir, everybody says +so." + +The deputy felt flattered and smiled, while the other rattled on with his +insinuations, which were put in such a humorous way that nothing he said +could be resented. He talked of Monferrand's followers who had so +powerfully helped him on to victory. How heartily had Fonsegue finished +off his old friend Barroux in the "Globe"! Every morning for a month past +the paper had published an article belabouring Barroux, annihilating +Vignon, and preparing the public for the return of a saviour of society +who was not named. Then, too, Duvillard's millions had waged a secret +warfare, all the Baron's numerous creatures had fought like an army for +the good cause. Duthil himself had played the pipe and beaten the drum, +while Chaigneux resigned himself to the baser duties which others would +not undertake. And so the triumphant Monferrand would certainly begin by +stifling that scandalous and embarrassing affair of the African Railways, +and appointing a Committee of Inquiry to bury it. + +By this time Duthil had assumed an important air. "Well, my dear fellow," +said he, "at serious moments when society is in peril, certain +strong-handed men, real men of government, become absolutely necessary. +Monferrand had no need of our friendship, his presence in office was +imperiously required by the situation. His hand is the only one that can +save us!" + +"I know," replied Massot scoffingly. "I've even been told that if +everything was settled straight off so that the decrees might be +published this morning, it was in order to instil confidence into the +judges and jurymen here, in such wise that knowing Monferrand's fist to +be behind them they would have the courage to pronounce sentence of death +this evening." + +"Well, public safety requires a sentence of death, and those who have to +ensure that safety must not be left ignorant of the fact that the +government is with them, and will know how to protect them, if need be." + +At this moment a merry laugh from the Princess broke in upon the +conversation. "Oh! just look over there!" said she; "isn't that Silviane +who has just sat down beside Monsieur Fonsegue?" + +"The Silviane ministry!" muttered Massot in a jesting way. "Well, there +will be no boredom at Dauvergne's if he ingratiates himself with +actresses." + +Guillaume and Pierre heard this chatter, however little they cared to +listen to it. Such a deluge of society tittle-tattle and political +indiscretion brought the former a keen heart-pang. So Salvat was +sentenced to death even before he had appeared in court. He was to pay +for the transgressions of one and all, his crime was simply a favourable +opportunity for the triumph of a band of ambitious people bent on power +and enjoyment! Ah! what terrible social rottenness there was in it all; +money corrupting one and another, families sinking to filth, politics +turned into a mere treacherous struggle between individuals, and power +becoming the prey of the crafty and the impudent! Must not everything +surely crumble? Was not this solemn assize of human justice a derisive +parody, since all that one found there was an assembly of happy and +privileged people defending the shaky edifice which sheltered them, and +making use of all the forces they yet retained, to crush a fly--that +unhappy devil of uncertain sanity who had been led to that court by his +violent and cloudy dream of another, superior and avenging justice? + +Such were Guillaume's thoughts, when all at once everybody around him +started. Noon was now striking, and the jurymen trooped into court in +straggling fashion and took their seats in their box. Among them one saw +fat fellows clad in their Sunday best and with the faces of simpletons, +and thin fellows who had bright eyes and sly expressions. Some of them +were bearded and some were bald. However, they all remained rather +indistinct, as their side of the court was steeped in shade. After them +came the judges, headed by M. de Larombiere, one of the Vice-Presidents +of the Appeal Court, who in assuming the perilous honour of conducting +the trial had sought to increase the majesty of his long, slender, white +face, which looked the more austere as both his assessors, one dark and +the other fair, had highly coloured countenances. The public prosecutor's +seat was already occupied by one of the most skilful of the +advocates-general, M. Lehmann, a broad-shouldered Alsatian Israelite, +with cunning eyes, whose presence showed that the case was deemed +exceptionally important. At last, amidst the heavy tread of gendarmes, +Salvat was brought in, at once rousing such ardent curiosity that all the +spectators rose to look at him. He still wore the cap and loose overcoat +procured for him by Victor Mathis, and everybody was surprised to see his +emaciated, sorrowful, gentle face, crowned by scanty reddish hair, which +was turning grey. His soft, glowing, dreamy blue eyes glanced around, and +he smiled at someone whom he recognised, probably Victor, but perhaps +Guillaume. After that he remained quite motionless. + +The presiding judge waited for silence to fall, and then came the +formalities which attend the opening of a court of law, followed by the +perusal of the lengthy indictment, which a subordinate official read in a +shrill voice. The scene had now changed, and the spectators listened +wearily and somewhat impatiently, as, for weeks past, the newspapers had +related all that the indictment set forth. At present not a corner of the +court remained unoccupied, there was scarcely space enough for the +witnesses to stand in front of the bench. The closely packed throng was +one of divers hues, the light gowns of ladies alternating with the black +gowns of advocates, while the red robes of the judges disappeared from +view, the bench being so low that the presiding judge's long face +scarcely rose above the sea of heads. Many of those present became +interested in the jurors, and strove to scrutinise their shadowy +countenances. Others, who did not take their eyes off the prisoner, +marvelled at his apparent weariness and indifference, which were so great +that he scarcely answered the whispered questions of his counsel, a young +advocate with a wide-awake look, who was nervously awaiting the +opportunity to achieve fame. Most curiosity, however, centred in the +table set apart for the material evidence. Here were to be seen all sorts +of fragments, some of the woodwork torn away from the carriage-door of +the Duvillard mansion, some plaster that had fallen from the ceiling, a +paving-stone which the violence of the explosion had split in halves, and +other blackened remnants. The more moving sights, however, were the +milliner's bonnet-box, which had remained uninjured, and a glass jar in +which something white and vague was preserved in spirits of wine. This +was one of the poor errand girl's little hands, which had been severed at +the wrist. The authorities had been unable to place her poor ripped body +on the table, and so they had brought that hand! + +At last Salvat rose, and the presiding judge began to interrogate him. +The contrast in the aspect of the court then acquired tragic force: in +the shrouding shade upon one hand were the jurors, their minds already +made up beneath the pressure of public terror, while in the full, vivid +light on the other side was the prisoner, alone and woeful, charged with +all the crimes of his race. Four gendarmes watched over him. He was +addressed by M. de Larombiere in a tone of contempt and disgust. The +judge was not deficient in rectitude; he was indeed one of the last +representatives of the old, scrupulous, upright French magistracy; but he +understood nothing of the new times, and he treated prisoners with the +severity of a Biblical Jehovah. Moreover, the infirmity which was the +worry of his life, the childish lisp which, in his opinion, had alone +prevented him from shining as a public prosecutor, made him ferociously +ill-tempered, incapable of any intelligent indulgence. There were smiles, +which he divined, as soon as he raised his sharp, shrill little voice, to +ask his first questions. That droll voice of his took away whatever +majesty might have remained attached to these proceedings, in which a +man's life was being fought for in a hall full of inquisitive, stifling +and perspiring folks, who fanned themselves and jested. Salvat answered +the judge's earlier questions with his wonted weariness and politeness. +While the judge did everything to vilify him, harshly reproaching him +with his wretched childhood and youth, magnifying every stain and every +transgression in his career, referring to the promiscuity of his life +between Madame Theodore and little Celine as something bestial, he, the +prisoner, quietly said yes or no, like a man who has nothing to hide and +accepts the full responsibility of his actions. He had already made a +complete confession of his crime, and he calmly repeated it without +changing a word. He explained that if he had deposited his bomb at the +entrance of the Duvillard mansion it was to give his deed its true +significance, that of summoning the wealthy, the money-mongers who had so +scandalously enriched themselves by dint of theft and falsehood, to +restore that part of the common wealth which they had appropriated, to +the poor, the working classes, their children and their wives, who +perished of starvation. It was only at this moment that he grew excited; +all the misery that he had endured or witnessed rose to his clouded, +semi-educated brain, in which claims and theories and exasperated ideas +of absolute justice and universal happiness had gathered confusedly. And +from that moment he appeared such as he really was, a sentimentalist, a +dreamer transported by suffering, proud and stubborn, and bent on +changing the world in accordance with his sectarian logic. + +"But you fled!" cried the judge in a voice such as would have befitted a +grasshopper. "You must not say that you gave your life to your cause and +were ready for martyrdom!" + +Salvat's most poignant regret was that he had yielded in the Bois de +Boulogne to the dismay and rage which come upon a tracked and hunted man +and impel him to do all he can to escape capture. And on being thus +taunted by the judge he became quite angry. "I don't fear death, you'll +see that," he replied. "If all had the same courage as I have, your +rotten society would be swept away to-morrow, and happiness would at last +dawn." + +Then the interrogatory dealt at great length with the composition and +manufacture of the bomb. The judge, rightly enough, pointed out that this +was the only obscure point of the affair. "And so," he remarked, "you +persist in saying that dynamite was the explosive you employed? Well, you +will presently hear the experts, who, it is true, differ on certain +points, but are all of opinion that you employed some other explosive, +though they cannot say precisely what it was. Why not speak out on the +point, as you glory in saying everything?" + +Salvat, however, had suddenly calmed down, giving only cautious +monosyllabic replies. "Well, seek for whatever you like if you don't +believe me," he now answered. "I made my bomb by myself, and under +circumstances which I've already related a score of times. You surely +don't expect me to reveal names and compromise comrades?" + +From this declaration he would not depart. It was only towards the end of +the interrogatory that irresistible emotion overcame him on the judge +again referring to the unhappy victim of his crime, the little errand +girl, so pretty and fair and gentle, whom ferocious destiny had brought +to the spot to meet such an awful death. "It was one of your own class +whom you struck," said M. de Larombiere; "your victim was a work girl, a +poor child who, with the few pence she earned, helped to support her aged +grandmother." + +Salvat's voice became very husky as he answered: "That's really the only +thing I regret. . . . My bomb certainly wasn't meant for her; and may all +the workers, all the starvelings, remember that she gave her blood as I'm +going to give mine!" + +In this wise the interrogatory ended amidst profound agitation. Pierre +had felt Guillaume shuddering beside him, whilst the prisoner quietly and +obstinately refused to say a word respecting the explosive that had been +employed, preferring as he did to assume full responsibility for the deed +which was about to cost him his life. Moreover, Guillaume, on turning +round, in compliance with an irresistible impulse, had perceived Victor +Mathis still motionless behind him: his elbows ever leaning on the rail +of the partition, and his chin still resting on his hands, whilst he +listened with silent, concentrated passion. His face had become yet paler +than before, and his eyes glowed as with an avenging fire, whose flames +would never more be extinguished. + +The interrogatory of the prisoner was followed by a brief commotion in +court. + +"That Salvat looks quite nice, he has such soft eyes," declared the +Princess, whom the proceedings greatly amused. "Oh! don't speak ill of +him, my dear deputy. You know that I have Anarchist ideas myself." + +"I speak no ill of him," gaily replied Duthil. "Nor has our friend +Amadieu any right to speak ill of him. For you know that this affair has +set Amadieu on a pinnacle. He was never before talked about to such an +extent as he is now; and he delights in being talked about, you know! He +has become quite a social celebrity, the most illustrious of our +investigating magistrates, and will soon be able to do or become whatever +he pleases." + +Then Massot, with his sarcastic impudence, summed up the situation. "When +Anarchism flourishes, everything flourishes, eh? That bomb has helped on +the affairs of a good many fine fellows that I know. Do you think that my +governor Fonsegue, who's so attentive to Silviane yonder, complains of +it? And doesn't Sagnier, who's spreading himself out behind the presiding +judge, and whose proper place would be between the four +gendarmes--doesn't he owe a debt to Salvat for all the abominable +advertisements he has been able to give his paper by using the wretched +fellow's back as a big drum? And I need not mention the politicians or +the financiers or all those who fish in troubled waters." + +"But I say," interrupted Duthil, "it seems to me that you yourself made +good use of the affair. Your interview with the little girl Celine +brought you in a pot of money." + +Massot, as it happened, had been struck with the idea of ferreting out +Madame Theodore and the child, and of relating his visit to them in the +"Globe," with an abundance of curious and touching particulars. The +article had met with prodigious success, Celine's pretty answers +respecting her imprisoned father having such an effect on ladies with +sensitive hearts that they had driven to Montmartre in their carriages in +order to see the two poor creatures. Thus alms had come to them from all +sides; and strangely enough the very people who demanded the father's +head were the most eager to sympathise with the child. + +"Well, I don't complain of my little profits," said the journalist in +answer to Duthil. "We all earn what we can, you know." + +At this moment Rosemonde, while glancing round her, recognised Guillaume +and Pierre, but she was so amazed to see the latter in ordinary civilian +garb that she did not dare to speak to him. Leaning forward she +acquainted Duthil and Massot with her surprise, and they both turned +round to look. From motives of discretion, however, they pretended that +they did not recognise the Froments. + +The heat in court was now becoming quite unbearable, and one lady had +already fainted. At last the presiding judge again raised his lisping +voice, and managed to restore silence. Salvat, who had remained standing, +now held a few sheets of paper, and with some difficulty he made the +judge understand that he desired to complete his interrogatory by reading +a declaration, which he had drawn up in prison, and in which he explained +his reasons for his crime. For a moment M. de Larombiere hesitated, all +surprise and indignation at such a request; but he was aware that he +could not legally impose silence on the prisoner, and so he signified his +consent with a gesture of mingled irritation and disdain. Thereupon +Salvat began his perusal much after the fashion of a schoolboy, hemming +and hawing here and there, occasionally becoming confused, and then +bringing out certain words with wonderful emphasis, which evidently +pleased him. This declaration of his was the usual cry of suffering and +revolt already raised by so many disinherited ones. It referred to all +the frightful want of the lower spheres; the toiler unable to find a +livelihood in his toil; a whole class, the most numerous and worthy of +the classes, dying of starvation; whilst, on the other hand, were the +privileged ones, gorged with wealth, and wallowing in satiety, yet +refusing to part with even the crumbs from their tables, determined as +they were to restore nothing whatever of the wealth which they had +stolen. And so it became necessary to take everything away from them, to +rouse them from their egotism by terrible warnings, and to proclaim to +them even with the crash of bombs that the day of justice had come. The +unhappy man spoke that word "justice" in a ringing voice which seemed to +fill the whole court. But the emotion of those who heard him reached its +highest pitch when, after declaring that he laid down his life for the +cause, and expected nothing but a verdict of death from the jury, he +added, as if prophetically, that his blood would assuredly give birth to +other martyrs. They might send him to the scaffold, said he, but he knew +that his example would bear fruit. After him would come another avenger, +and yet another, and others still, until the old and rotten social system +should have crumbled away so as to make room for the society of justice +and happiness of which he was one of the apostles. + +The presiding judge, in his impatience and agitation, twice endeavoured +to interrupt Salvat. But the other read on and on with the imperturbable +conscientiousness of one who fears that he may not give proper utterance +to his most important words. He must have been thinking of that perusal +ever since he had been in prison. It was the decisive act of his suicide, +the act by which he proclaimed that he gave his life for the glory of +dying in the cause of mankind. And when he had finished he sat down +between the gendarmes with glowing eyes and flushed cheeks, as if he +inwardly experienced some deep joy. + +To destroy the effect which the declaration had produced--a commingling +of fear and compassion--the judge at once wished to proceed with the +hearing of the witnesses. Of these there was an interminable procession; +though little interest attached to their evidence, for none of them had +any revelations to make. Most attention perhaps was paid to the measured +statements of Grandidier, who had been obliged to dismiss Salvat from his +employ on account of the Anarchist propaganda he had carried on. Then the +prisoner's brother-in-law, Toussaint, the mechanician, also seemed a very +worthy fellow if one might judge him by the manner in which he strove to +put things favourably for Salvat, without in any way departing from the +truth. After Toussaint's evidence considerable time was taken up by the +discussions between the experts, who disagreed in public as much as they +had disagreed in their reports. Although they were all of opinion that +dynamite could not have been the explosive employed in the bomb, they +indulged in the most extraordinary and contradictory suppositions as to +this explosive's real nature. Eventually a written opinion given by the +illustrious /savant/ Bertheroy was read; and this, after clearly setting +forth the known facts, concluded that one found oneself in presence of a +new explosive of prodigious power, the formula of which he himself was +unable to specify. + +Then detective Mondesir and commissary Dupot came in turn to relate the +various phases of the man hunt in the Bois de Boulogne. In Mondesir +centred all the gaiety of the proceedings, thanks to the guardroom +sallies with which he enlivened his narrative. And in like way the +greatest grief, a perfect shudder of revolt and compassion, was roused by +the errand girl's grandmother, a poor, bent, withered old woman, whom the +prosecution had cruelly constrained to attend the court, and who wept and +looked quite dismayed, unable as she was to understand what was wanted of +her. When she had withdrawn, the only remaining witnesses were those for +the defence, a procession of foremen and comrades, who all declared that +they had known Salvat as a very worthy fellow, an intelligent and zealous +workman, who did not drink, but was extremely fond of his daughter, and +incapable of an act of dishonesty or cruelty. + +It was already four o'clock when the evidence of the witnesses came to an +end. The atmosphere in court was now quite stifling, feverish fatigue +flushed every face, and a kind of ruddy dust obscured the waning light +which fell from the windows. Women were fanning themselves and men were +mopping their foreheads. However, the passion roused by the scene still +brought a glow of cruel delight to every eye. And no one stirred. + +"Ah!" sighed Rosemonde all at once, "to think that I hoped to drink a cup +of tea at a friend's at five o'clock. I shall die of thirst and +starvation here." + +"We shall certainly be kept till seven," replied Massot. "I can't offer +to go and fetch you a roll, for I shouldn't be readmitted." + +Then Duthil, who had not ceased shrugging his shoulders while Salvat read +his declaration, exclaimed: "What childish things he said, didn't he? And +to think that the fool is going to die for all that! Rich and poor, +indeed! Why, there will always be rich and poor. And it's equally certain +that when a man is poor his one great desire is to become rich. If that +fellow is in the dock to-day it's simply because he failed to make +money." + +While the others were thus conversing, Pierre for his part was feeling +extremely anxious about his brother, who sat beside him in silence, pale +and utterly upset. Pierre sought his hand and covertly pressed it. Then +in a low voice he inquired: "Do you feel ill? Shall we go away?" + +Guillaume answered him by discreetly and affectionately returning his +handshake. He was all right, he would remain till the end, however much +he might be stirred by exasperation. + +It was now Monsieur Lehmann, the public prosecutor, who rose to address +the court. He had a large, stern mouth, and was squarely built, with a +stubborn Jewish face. Nevertheless he was known to be a man of dexterous, +supple nature, one who had a foot in every political camp, and invariably +contrived to be on good terms with the powers that were. This explained +his rapid rise in life, and the constant favour he enjoyed. In the very +first words he spoke he alluded to the new ministry gazetted that +morning, referring pointedly to the strong-handed man who had undertaken +the task of reassuring peaceable citizens and making evil-doers tremble. +Then he fell upon the wretched Salvat with extraordinary vehemence, +recounting the whole of his life, and exhibiting him as a bandit +expressly born for the perpetration of crime, a monster who was bound to +end by committing some abominable and cowardly outrage. Next he +flagellated Anarchism and its partisans. The Anarchists were a mere herd +of vagabonds and thieves, said he. That had been shown by the recent +robbery at the Princess de Harn's house. The ignoble gang that had been +arrested for that affair had given the apostles of the Anarchist doctrine +as their references! And that was what the application of Anarchist +theories resulted in--burglary and filth, pending a favourable hour for +wholesale pillage and murder! For nearly a couple of hours the public +prosecutor continued in this fashion, throwing truth and logic to the +winds, and exclusively striving to alarm his hearers. He made all +possible use of the terror which had reigned in Paris, and figuratively +brandished the corpse of the poor little victim, the pretty errand girl, +as if it were a blood-red flag, before pointing to the pale hand, +preserved in spirits of wine, with a gesture of compassionate horror +which sent a shudder through his audience. And he ended, as he had begun, +by inspiriting the jurors, and telling them that they might fearlessly do +their duty now that those at the head of the State were firmly resolved +to give no heed to threats. + +Then the young advocate entrusted with the defence in his turn spoke. And +he really said what there was to say with great clearness and precision. +He was of a different school from that of the public prosecutor: his +eloquence was very simple and smooth, his only passion seemed to be zeal +for truth. Moreover, it was sufficient for him to show Salvat's career in +its proper light, to depict him pursued by social fatalities since his +childhood, and to explain the final action of his career by all that he +had suffered and all that had sprung up in his dreamy brain. Was not his +crime the crime of one and all? Who was there that did not feel, if only +in a small degree, responsible for that bomb which a penniless, starving +workman had deposited on the threshold of a wealthy man's abode--a +wealthy man whose name bespoke the injustice of the social system: so +much enjoyment on the one hand and so much privation on the other! If one +of us happened to lose his head, and felt impelled to hasten the advent +of happiness by violence in such troublous times, when so many burning +problems claimed solution, ought he to be deprived of his life in the +name of justice, when none could swear that they had not in some measure +contributed to his madness? Following up this question, Salvat's counsel +dwelt at length on the period that witnessed the crime, a period of so +many scandals and collapses, when the old world was giving birth to a new +one amidst the most terrible struggles and pangs. And he concluded by +begging the jury to show themselves humane, to resist all passion and +terror, and to pacify the rival classes by a wise verdict, instead of +prolonging social warfare by giving the starvelings yet another martyr to +avenge. + +It was past six o'clock when M. de Larombiere began to sum up in a +partial and flowery fashion, in which one detected how grieved and angry +he was at having such a shrill little voice. Then the judges and the +jurors withdrew, and the prisoner was led away, leaving the spectators +waiting amidst an uproar of feverish impatience. Some more ladies had +fainted, and it had even been necessary to carry out a gentleman who had +been overcome by the cruel heat. However, the others stubbornly remained +there, not one of them quitting his place. + +"Ah! it won't take long now," said Massot. "The jurors brought their +verdict all ready in their pockets. I was looking at them while that +little advocate was telling them such sensible things. They all looked as +if they were comfortably asleep in the gloom." + +Then Duthil turned to the Princess and asked her, "Are you still hungry?" + +"Oh! I'm starving," she replied. "I shall never be able to wait till I +get home. You will have to take me to eat a biscuit somewhere. . . . All +the same, however, it's very exciting to see a man's life staked on a yes +or a no." + +Meantime Pierre, finding Guillaume still more feverish and grieved, had +once again taken hold of his hand. Neither of them spoke, so great was +the distress that they experienced for many reasons which they themselves +could not have precisely defined. It seemed to them, however, that all +human misery--inclusive of their own, the affections, the hopes, the +griefs which brought them suffering--was sobbing and quivering in that +buzzing hall. Twilight had gradually fallen there, but as the end was now +so near it had doubtless been thought unnecessary to light the +chandeliers. And thus large vague shadows, dimming and shrouding the +serried throng, now hovered about in the last gleams of the day. The +ladies in light gowns yonder, behind the bench, looked like pale phantoms +with all-devouring eyes, whilst the numerous groups of black-robed +advocates formed large sombre patches which gradually spread everywhere. +The greyish painting of the Christ had already vanished, and on the walls +one only saw the glaring white bust of the Republic, which resembled some +frigid death's head starting forth from the darkness. + +"Ah!" Massot once more exclaimed, "I knew that it wouldn't take long!" + +Indeed, the jurors were returning after less than a quarter of an hour's +absence. Then the judges likewise came back and took their seats. +Increased emotion stirred the throng, a great gust seemed to sweep +through the court, a gust of anxiety, which made every head sway. Some +people had risen to their feet, and others gave vent to involuntary +exclamations. The foreman of the jury, a gentleman with a broad red face, +had to wait a moment before speaking. At last in a sharp but somewhat +sputtering voice he declared: "On my honour and my conscience, before God +and before man, the verdict of the jury is: on the question of Murder, +yes, by a majority of votes."* + + * English readers may be reminded that in France the verdict of + a majority of the jury suffices for conviction or acquittal. + If the jury is evenly divided the prisoner is acquitted.--Trans. + +The night had almost completely fallen when Salvat was once more brought +in. In front of the jurors, who faded away in the gloom, he stood forth, +erect, with a last ray from the windows lighting up his face. The judges +themselves almost disappeared from view, their red robes seemed to have +turned black. And how phantom-like looked the prisoner's emaciated face +as he stood there listening, with dreamy eyes, while the clerk of the +court read the verdict to him. + +When silence fell and no mention was made of extenuating circumstances, +he understood everything. His face, which had retained a childish +expression, suddenly brightened. "That means death. Thank you, +gentlemen," he said. + +Then he turned towards the public, and amidst the growing darkness +searched for the friendly faces which he knew were there; and this time +Guillaume became fully conscious that he had recognised him, and was +again expressing affectionate and grateful thanks for the crust he had +received from him on a day of want. He must have also bidden farewell to +Victor Mathis, for as Guillaume glanced at the young man, who had not +moved, he saw that his eyes were staring wildly, and that a terrible +expression rested on his lips. + +As for the rest of the proceedings, the last questions addressed to the +jury and the counsel, the deliberations of the judges and the delivery of +sentence--these were all lost amidst the buzzing and surging of the +crowd. A little compassion was unconsciously manifested; and some stupor +was mingled with the satisfaction that greeted the sentence of death. + +No sooner had Salvat been condemned, however, than he drew himself up to +his full height, and as the guards led him away he shouted in a +stentorian voice: "Long live Anarchy!" + +Nobody seemed angered by the cry. The crowd went off quietly, as if +weariness had lulled all its passions. The proceedings had really lasted +too long and fatigued one too much. It was quite pleasant to inhale the +fresh air on emerging from such a nightmare. + +In the large waiting hall, Pierre and Guillaume passed Duthil and the +Princess, whom General de Bozonnet had stopped while chatting with +Fonsegue. All four of them were talking in very loud voices, complaining +of the heat and their hunger, and agreeing that the affair had not been a +particularly interesting one. Yet, all was well that ended well. As +Fonsegue remarked, the condemnation of Salvat to death was a political +and social necessity. + +When Pierre and Guillaume reached the Pont Neuf, the latter for a moment +rested his elbows on the parapet of the bridge. His brother, standing +beside him, also gazed at the grey waters of the Seine, which here and +there were fired by the reflections of the gas lamps. A fresh breeze +ascended from the river; it was the delightful hour when night steals +gently over resting Paris. Then, as the brothers stood there breathing +that atmosphere which usually brings relief and comfort, Pierre on his +side again became conscious of his heart-wound, and remembered his +promise to return to Montmartre, a promise that he must keep in spite of +the torture there awaiting him; whilst Guillaume on the other hand +experienced a revival of the suspicion and disquietude that had come to +him on seeing Marie so feverish, changed as it were by some new feeling, +of which she herself was ignorant. Were further sufferings, struggles, +and obstacles to happiness yet in store for those brothers who loved one +another so dearly? At all events their hearts bled once more with all the +sorrow into which they had been cast by the scene they had just +witnessed: that assize of justice at which a wretched man had been +condemned to pay with his head for the crimes of one and all. + +Then, as they turned along the quay, Guillaume recognised young Victor +going off alone in the gloom, just in front of them. The chemist stopped +him and spoke to him of his mother. But the young man did not hear; his +thin lips parted, and in a voice as trenchant as a knife-thrust he +exclaimed: "Ah! so it's blood they want. Well, they may cut off his head, +but he will be avenged!" + + + +V + +SACRIFICE + +THE days which followed Salvat's trial seemed gloomy ones up yonder in +Guillaume's workroom, which was usually so bright and gay. Sadness and +silence filled the place. The three young men were no longer there. +Thomas betook himself to the Grandidier works early every morning in +order to perfect his little motor; Francois was so busy preparing for his +examination that he scarcely left the Ecole Normale; while Antoine was +doing some work at Jahan's, where he delighted to linger and watch his +little friend Lise awakening to life. Thus Guillaume's sole companion was +Mere-Grand, who sat near the window busy with her needlework; for Marie +was ever going about the house, and only stayed in the workroom for any +length of time when Pierre happened to be there. + +Guillaume's gloom was generally attributed to the feelings of anger and +revolt into which the condemnation of Salvat had thrown him. He had flown +into a passion on his return from the Palace of Justice, declaring that +the execution of the unhappy man would simply be social murder, +deliberate provocation of class warfare. And the others had bowed on +hearing that pain-fraught violent cry, without attempting to discuss the +point. Guillaume's sons respectfully left him to the thoughts which kept +him silent for hours, with his face pale and a dreamy expression in his +eyes. His chemical furnace remained unlighted, and his only occupation +from morn till night was to examine the plans and documents connected +with his invention, that new explosive and that terrible engine of war, +which he had so long dreamt of presenting to France in order that she +might impose the reign of truth and justice upon all the nations. +However, during the long hours which he spent before the papers scattered +over his table, often without seeing them, for his eyes wandered far +away, a multitude of vague thoughts came to him--doubts respecting the +wisdom of his project, and fears lest his desire to pacify the nations +should simply throw them into an endless war of extermination. Although +he really believed that great city of Paris to be the world's brain, +entrusted with the task of preparing the future, he could not disguise +from himself that with all its folly and shame and injustice it still +presented a shocking spectacle. Was it really ripe enough for the work of +human salvation which he thought of entrusting to it? Then, on trying to +re-peruse his notes and verify his formulas, he only recovered his former +energetic determination on thinking of his marriage, whereupon the idea +came to him that it was now too late for him to upset his life by +changing such long-settled plans. + +His marriage! Was it not the thought of this which haunted Guillaume and +disturbed him far more powerfully than his scientific work or his +humanitarian passion? Beneath all the worries that he acknowledged, there +was another which he did not confess even to himself, and which filled +him with anguish. He repeated day by day that he would reveal his +invention to the Minister of War as soon as he should be married to +Marie, whom he wished to associate with his glory. Married to Marie! Each +time he thought of it, burning fever and secret disquietude came over +him. If he now remained so silent and had lost his quiet cheerfulness, it +was because he had felt new life, as it were, emanating from her. She was +certainly no longer the same woman as formerly; she was becoming more and +more changed and distant. He had watched her and Pierre when the latter +happened to be there, which was now but seldom. He, too, appeared +embarrassed, and different from what he had been. On the days when he +came, however, Marie seemed transformed; it was as if new life animated +the house. Certainly the intercourse between her and Pierre was quite +innocent, sisterly on the one hand, brotherly on the other. They simply +seemed to be a pair of good friends. And yet a radiance, a vibration, +emanated from them, something more subtle even than a sun-ray or a +perfume. After the lapse of a few days Guillaume found himself unable to +doubt the truth any longer. And his heart bled, he was utterly upset by +it. He had not found them in fault in any way, but he was convinced that +these two children, as he so paternally called them, really adored one +another. + +One lovely morning when he happened to be alone with Mere-Grand, face to +face with sunlit Paris, he fell into a yet more dolorous reverie than +usual. He seemed to be gazing fixedly at the old lady, as, seated in her +usual place, she continued sewing with an air of queenly serenity. +Perhaps, however, he did not see her. For her part she occasionally +raised her eyes and glanced at him, as if expecting a confession which +did not come. At last, finding such silence unbearable, she made up her +mind to address him: "What has been the matter with you, Guillaume, for +some time past? Why don't you tell me what you have to tell me?" + +He descended from the clouds, as it were, and answered in astonishment: +"What I have to tell you?" + +"Yes, I know it as well as you do, and I thought you would speak to me of +it, since it pleases you to do nothing here without consulting me." + +At this he turned very pale and shuddered. So he had not been mistaken in +the matter, even Mere-Grand knew all about it. To talk of it, however, +was to give shape to his suspicions, to transform what, hitherto, might +merely have been a fancy on his part into something real and definite. + +"It was inevitable, my dear son," said Mere-Grand. "I foresaw it from the +outset. And if I did not warn you of it, it was because I believed in +some deep design on your part. Since I have seen you suffering, however, +I have realised that I was mistaken." Then, as he still looked at her +quivering and distracted, she continued: "Yes, I fancied that you might +have wished it, that in bringing your brother here you wished to know if +Marie loved you otherwise than as a father. There was good reason for +testing her--for instance, the great difference between your ages, for +your life is drawing to a close, whilst hers is only beginning. And I +need not mention the question of your work, the mission which I have +always dreamt of for you." + +Thereupon, with his hands raised in prayerful fashion, Guillaume drew +near to the old lady and exclaimed: "Oh! speak out clearly, tell me what +you think. I don't understand, my poor heart is so lacerated; and yet I +should so much like to know everything, so as to be able to act and take +a decision. To think that you whom I love, you whom I venerate as much as +if you were my real mother, you whose profound good sense I know so well +that I have always followed your advice--to think that you should have +foreseen this frightful thing and have allowed it to happen at the risk +of its killing me! . . . Why have you done so, tell me, why?" + +Mere-Grand was not fond of talking. Absolute mistress of the house as she +was, managing everything, accountable to nobody for her actions, she +never gave expression to all that she thought or all that she desired. +Indeed, there was no occasion for it, as Guillaume, like the children, +relied upon her completely, with full confidence in her wisdom. And her +somewhat enigmatical ways even helped to raise her in their estimation. + +"What is the use of words, when things themselves speak?" she now gently +answered, while still plying her needle. "It is quite true that I +approved of the plan of a marriage between you and Marie, for I saw that +it was necessary that she should be married if she was to stay here. And +then, too, there were many other reasons which I needn't speak of. +However, Pierre's arrival here has changed everything, and placed things +in their natural order. Is not that preferable?" + +He still lacked the courage to understand her. "Preferable! When I'm in +agony? When my life is wrecked?" + +Thereupon she rose and came to him, tall and rigid in her thin black +gown, and with an expression of austerity and energy on her pale face. +"My son," she said, "you know that I love you, and that I wish you to be +very noble and lofty. Only the other morning, you had an attack of +fright, the house narrowly escaped being blown up. Then, for some days +now you have been sitting over those documents and plans in an +absent-minded, distracted state, like a man who feels weak, and doubts, +and no longer knows his way. Believe me, you are following a dangerous +path; it is better that Pierre should marry Marie, both for their sakes +and for your own." + +"For my sake? No, no! What will become of me!" + +"You will calm yourself and reflect, my son. You have such serious duties +before you. You are on the eve of making your invention known. It seems +to me that something has bedimmed your sight, and that you will perhaps +act wrongly in this respect, through failing to take due account of the +problem before you. Perhaps there is something better to be done. . . . +At all events, suffer if it be necessary, but remain faithful to your +ideal." + +Then, quitting him with a maternal smile, she sought to soften her +somewhat stern words by adding: "You have compelled me to speak +unnecessarily, for I am quite at ease; with your superior mind, whatever +be in question, you can but do the one right thing that none other would +do." + +On finding himself alone Guillaume fell into feverish uncertainty. What +was the meaning of Mere-Grand's enigmatical words? He knew that she was +on the side of whatever might be good, natural, and necessary. But she +seemed to be urging him to some lofty heroism; and indeed what she had +said threw a ray of light upon the unrest which had come to him in +connection with his old plan of going to confide his secret to some +Minister of War or other, whatever one might happen to be in office at +the time. Growing hesitation and repugnance stirred him as he fancied he +could again hear her saying that perhaps there might be some better +course, that would require search and reflection. But all at once a +vision of Marie rose before him, and his heart was rent by the thought +that he was asked to renounce her. To lose her, to give her to another! +No, no, that was beyond his strength. He would never have the frightful +courage that was needed to pass by the last promised raptures of love +with disdain! + +For a couple of days Guillaume struggled on. He seemed to be again living +the six years which the young woman had already spent beside him in that +happy little house. She had been at first like an adopted daughter there; +and later on, when the idea of their marriage had sprung up, he had +viewed it with quiet delight in the hope that it would ensure the +happiness of all around him. If he had previously abstained from marrying +again it was from the fear of placing a strange mother over his children; +and if he yielded to the charm of loving yet once more, and no longer +leading a solitary life, it was because he had found at his very hearth +one of such sensible views, who, in the flower of youth, was willing to +become his wife despite the difference in their ages. Then months had +gone by, and serious occurrences had compelled them to postpone the +wedding, though without undue suffering on his part. Indeed, the +certainty that she was waiting for him had sufficed him, for his life of +hard work had rendered him patient. Now, however, all at once, at the +threat of losing her, his hitherto tranquil heart ached and bled. He +would never have thought the tie so close a one. But he was now almost +fifty, and it was as if love and woman were being wrenched away from him, +the last woman that he could love and desire, one too who was the more +desirable, as she was the incarnation of youth from which he must ever be +severed, should he indeed lose her. Passionate desire, mingled with rage, +flared up within him at the thought that someone should have come to take +her from him. + +One night, alone in his room, he suffered perfect martyrdom. In order +that he might not rouse the house he buried his face in his pillow so as +to stifle his sobs. After all, it was a simple matter; Marie had given +him her promise, and he would compel her to keep it. She would be his, +and his alone, and none would be able to steal her from him. Then, +however, there rose before him a vision of his brother, the +long-forgotten one, whom, from feelings of affection, he had compelled to +join his family. But his sufferings were now so acute that he would have +driven that brother away had he been before him. He was enraged, +maddened, by the thought of him. His brother--his little brother! So all +their love was over; hatred and violence were about to poison their +lives. For hours Guillaume continued complaining deliriously, and seeking +how he might so rid himself of Pierre that what had happened should be +blotted out. Now and again, when he recovered self-control, he marvelled +at the tempest within him; for was he not a /savant/ guided by lofty +reason, a toiler to whom long experience had brought serenity? But the +truth was that this tempest had not sprung up in his mind, it was raging +in the child-like soul that he had retained, the nook of affection and +dreaminess which remained within him side by side with his principles of +pitiless logic and his belief in proven phenomena only. His very genius +came from the duality of his nature: behind the chemist was a social +dreamer, hungering for justice and capable of the greatest love. And now +passion was transporting him, and he was weeping for the loss of Marie as +he would have wept over the downfall of that dream of his, the +destruction of war /by/ war, that scheme for the salvation of mankind at +which he had been working for ten years past. + +At last, amidst his weariness, a sudden resolution calmed him. He began +to feel ashamed of despairing in this wise when he had no certain grounds +to go upon. He must know everything, he would question the young woman; +she was loyal enough to answer him frankly. Was not this a solution +worthy of them both? An explanation in all sincerity, after which they +would be able to take a decision. Then he fell asleep; and, tired though +he felt when he rose in the morning, he was calmer. It was as if some +secret work had gone on in his heart during his few hours of repose after +that terrible storm. + +As it happened Marie was very gay that morning. On the previous day she +had gone with Pierre and Antoine on a cycling excursion over frightful +roads in the direction of Montmorency, whence they had returned in a +state of mingled anger and delight. When Guillaume stopped her in the +little garden, he found her humming a song while returning bare-armed +from the scullery, where some washing was going on. + +"Do you want to speak to me?" she asked. + +"Yes, my dear child, it's necessary for us to talk of some serious +matters." + +She at once understood that their marriage was in question, and became +grave. She had formerly consented to that marriage because she regarded +it as the only sensible course she could take, and this with full +knowledge of the duties which she would assume. No doubt her husband +would be some twenty years older than herself, but this circumstance was +one of somewhat frequent occurrence, and as a rule such marriages turned +out well, rather than otherwise. Moreover, she was in love with nobody, +and was free to consent. And she had consented with an impulse of +gratitude and affection which seemed so sweet that she thought it the +sweetness of love itself. Everybody around her, too, appeared so pleased +at the prospect of this marriage, which would draw the family yet more +closely together. And, on her side, she had been as it were intoxicated +by the idea of making others happy. + +"What is the matter?" she now asked Guillaume in a somewhat anxious +voice. "No bad news, I hope?" + +"No, no," he answered. "I've simply something to say to you." + +Then he led her under the plum-trees to the only green nook left in the +garden. An old worm-eaten bench still stood there against the +lilac-bushes. And in front of them Paris spread out its sea of roofs, +looking light and fresh in the morning sunlight. + +They both sat down. But at the moment of speaking and questioning Marie, +Guillaume experienced sudden embarrassment, while his heart beat +violently at seeing her beside him, so young and adorable with her bare +arms. + +"Our wedding-day is drawing near," he ended by saying. And then as she +turned somewhat pale, perhaps unconsciously, he himself suddenly felt +cold. Had not her lips twitched as if with pain? Had not a shadow passed +over her fresh, clear eyes? + +"Oh! we still have some time before us," she replied. + +Then, slowly and very affectionately, he resumed: "No doubt; still it is +necessary to attend to the formalities. And it is as well, perhaps, that +I should speak of those worries to-day, so that I may not have to bother +you about them again." + +Then he gently went on telling her all that would have to be done, +keeping his eyes on her whilst he spoke, watching for such signs of +emotion as the thought of her promise's early fulfilment might bring to +her face. She sat there in silence, with her hands on her lap, and her +features quite still, thus giving no certain sign of any regret or +trouble. Still she seemed rather dejected, compliant, as it were, but in +no wise joyous. + +"You say nothing, my dear Marie," Guillaume at last exclaimed. "Does +anything of all this displease you?" + +"Displease me? Oh, no!" + +"You must speak out frankly, if it does, you know. We will wait a little +longer if you have any personal reasons for wishing to postpone the date +again." + +"But I've no reasons, my friend. What reasons could I have? I leave you +quite free to settle everything as you yourself may desire." + +Silence fell. While answering, she had looked him frankly in the face; +but a little quiver stirred her lips, and gloom, for which she could not +account, seemed to rise and darken her face, usually as bright and gay as +spring water. In former times would she not have laughed and sung at the +mere announcement of that coming wedding? + +Then Guillaume, with an effort which made his voice tremble, dared to +speak out: "You must forgive me for asking you a question, my dear Marie. +There is still time for you to cancel your promise. Are you quite certain +that you love me?" + +At this she looked at him in genuine stupefaction, utterly failing to +understand what he could be aiming at. And--as she seemed to be deferring +her reply, he added: "Consult your heart. Is it really your old friend or +is it another that you love?" + +"I? I, Guillaume? Why do you say that to me? What can I have done to give +you occasion to say such a thing!" + +All her frank nature revolted as she spoke, and her beautiful eyes, +glowing with sincerity, gazed fixedly on his. + +"I love Pierre! I do, I? . . . Well, yes, I love him, as I love you all; +I love him because he has become one of us, because he shares our life +and our joys! I'm happy when he's here, certainly; and I should like him +to be always here. I'm always pleased to see him and hear him and go out +with him. I was very much grieved recently when he seemed to be relapsing +into his gloomy ideas. But all that is natural, is it not? And I think +that I have only done what you desired I should do, and I cannot +understand how my affection for Pierre can in any way exercise an +influence respecting our marriage." + +These words, in her estimation, ought to have convinced Guillaume that +she was not in love with his brother; but in lieu thereof they brought +him painful enlightenment by the very ardour with which she denied the +love imputed to her. + +"But you unfortunate girl!" he cried. "You are betraying yourself without +knowing it. . . . It is quite certain you do not love me, you love my +brother!" + +He had caught hold of her wrists and was pressing them with despairing +affection as if to compel her to read her heart. And she continued +struggling. A most loving and tragic contest went on between them, he +seeking to convince her by the evidence of facts, and she resisting him, +stubbornly refusing to open her eyes. In vain did he recount what had +happened since the first day, explaining the feelings which had followed +one upon another in her heart and mind: first covert hostility, next +curiosity regarding that extraordinary young priest, and then sympathy +and affection when she had found him so wretched and had gradually cured +him of his sufferings. They were both young and mother Nature had done +the rest. However, at each fresh proof and certainty which he put before +her, Marie only experienced growing emotion, trembling at last from head +to foot, but still unwilling to question herself. + +"No, no," said she, "I do not love him. If I loved him I should know it +and would acknowledge it to you; for you are well aware that I cannot +tell an untruth." + +Guillaume, however, had the cruelty to insist on the point, like some +heroic surgeon cutting into his own flesh even more than into that of +others, in order that the truth might appear and everyone be saved. +"Marie," said he, "it is not I whom you love. All that you feel for me is +respect and gratitude and daughterly affection. Remember what your +feelings were at the time when our marriage was decided upon. You were +then in love with nobody, and you accepted the offer like a sensible +girl, feeling certain that I should render you happy, and that the union +was a right and satisfactory one. . . . But since then my brother has +come here; love has sprung up in your heart in quite a natural way; and +it is Pierre, Pierre alone, whom you love as a lover and a husband should +be loved." + +Exhausted though she was, utterly distracted, too, by the light which, +despite herself, was dawning within her, Marie still stubbornly and +desperately protested. + +"But why do you struggle like this against the truth, my child?" said +Guillaume; "I do not reproach you. It was I who chose that this should +happen, like the old madman I am. What was bound to come has come, and +doubtless it is for the best. I only wanted to learn the truth from you +in order that I might take a decision and act uprightly." + +These words vanquished her, and her tears gushed forth. It seemed as +though something had been rent asunder within her; and she felt quite +overcome, as if by the weight of a new truth of which she had hitherto +been ignorant. "Ah! it was cruel of you," she said, "to do me such +violence so as to make me read my heart. I swear to you again that I did +not know I loved Pierre in the way you say. But you have opened my heart, +and roused what was quietly slumbering in it. . . . And it is true, I do +love Pierre, I love him now as you have said. And so here we are, all +three of us supremely wretched through your doing!" + +She sobbed, and with a sudden feeling of modesty freed her wrists from +his grasp. He noticed, however, that no blush rose to her face. Truth to +tell, her virginal loyalty was not in question; she had no cause to +reproach herself with any betrayal; it was he alone, perforce, who had +awakened her to love. For a moment they looked at one another through +their tears: she so strong and healthy, her bosom heaving at each +heart-beat, and her white arms--arms that could both charm and +sustain--bare almost to her shoulders; and he still vigorous, with his +thick fleece of white hair and his black moustaches, which gave his +countenance such an expression of energetic youth. But it was all over, +the irreparable had swept by, and utterly changed their lives. + +"Marie," he nobly said, "you do not love me, I give you back your +promise." + +But with equal nobility she refused to take it back. "Never will I do +so," she replied. "I gave it to you frankly, freely and joyfully, and my +affection and admiration for you have never changed." + +Nevertheless, with more firmness in his hitherto broken voice, Guillaume +retorted: "You love Pierre, and it is Pierre whom you ought to marry." + +"No," she again insisted, "I belong to you. A tie which years have +tightened cannot be undone in an hour. Once again, if I love Pierre I +swear to you that I was ignorant of it this morning. And let us leave the +matter as it is; do not torture me any more, it would be too cruel of +you." + +Then, quivering like a woman who suddenly perceives that she is bare, in +a stranger's presence, she hastily pulled down her sleeves, and even drew +them over her hands as if to leave naught of her person visible. And +afterwards she rose and walked away without adding a single word. + +Guillaume remained alone on the bench in that leafy corner, in front of +Paris, to which the light morning sunshine lent the aspect of some +quivering, soaring city of dreamland. A great weight oppressed him, and +it seemed to him as if he would never be able to rise from the seat. That +which brought him most suffering was Marie's assurance that she had till +that morning been ignorant of the fact that she was in love with Pierre. +She had been ignorant of it, and it was he, Guillaume, who had brought it +to her knowledge, compelled her to confess it! He had now firmly planted +it in her heart, and perhaps increased it by revealing it to her. Ah! how +cruel the thought--to be the artisan of one's own torment! Of one thing +he was now quite certain: there would be no more love in his life. At the +idea of this, his poor, loving heart sank and bled. And yet amidst the +disaster, amidst his grief at realising that he was an old man, and that +renunciation was imperative, he experienced a bitter joy at having +brought the truth to light. This was very harsh consolation, fit only for +one of heroic soul, yet he found lofty satisfaction in it, and from that +moment the thought of sacrifice imposed itself upon him with +extraordinary force. He must marry his children; there lay the path of +duty, the only wise and just course, the only certain means of ensuring +the happiness of the household. And when his revolting heart yet leapt +and shrieked with anguish, he carried his vigorous hands to his chest in +order to still it. + +On the morrow came the supreme explanation between Guillaume and Pierre, +not in the little garden, however, but in the spacious workroom. And here +again one beheld the vast panorama of Paris, a nation as it were at work, +a huge vat in which the wine of the future was fermenting. Guillaume had +arranged things so that he might be alone with his brother; and no sooner +had the latter entered than he attacked him, going straight to the point +without any of the precautions which he had previously taken with Marie. + +"Haven't you something to say to me, Pierre?" he inquired. "Why won't you +confide in me?" + +The other immediately understood him, and began to tremble, unable to +find a word, but confessing everything by the distracted, entreating +expression of his face. + +"You love Marie," continued Guillaume, "why did you not loyally come and +tell me of your love?" + +At this Pierre recovered self-possession and defended himself vehemently: +"I love Marie, it's true, and I felt that I could not conceal it, that +you yourself would notice it at last. But there was no occasion for me to +tell you of it, for I was sure of myself, and would have fled rather than +have allowed a single word to cross my lips. I suffered in silence and +alone, and you cannot know how great my torture was! It is even cruel on +your part to speak to me of it; for now I am absolutely compelled to +leave you. . . . I have already, on several occasions, thought of doing +so. If I have come back here, it was doubtless through weakness, but also +on account of my affection for you all. And what mattered my presence +here? Marie ran no risk. She does not love me." + +"She does love you!" Guillaume answered. "I questioned her yesterday, and +she had to confess that she loved you." + +At this Pierre, utterly distracted, caught Guillaume by the shoulders and +gazed into his eyes. "Oh! brother, brother! what is this you say? Why say +a thing which would mean terrible misfortune for us all? Even if it were +true, my grief would far exceed my joy, for I will not have you suffer. +Marie belongs to you. To me she is as sacred as a sister. And if there be +only my madness to part you, it will pass by, I shall know how to conquer +it." + +"Marie loves you," repeated Guillaume in his gentle, obstinate way. "I +don't reproach you with anything. I well know that you have struggled, +and have never betrayed yourself to her either by word or glance. +Yesterday she herself was still ignorant that she loved you, and I had to +open her eyes. . . . What would you have? I simply state a fact: she +loves you." + +This time Pierre, still quivering, made a gesture of mingled rapture and +terror, as if some divine and long-desired blessing were falling upon him +from heaven and crushing him beneath its weight. + +"Well, then," he said, after a brief pause, "it is all over. . . . Let us +kiss one another for the last time, and then I'll go." + +"Go? Why? You must stay with us. Nothing could be more simple: you love +Marie and she loves you. I give her to you." + +A loud cry came from Pierre, who wildly raised his hands again with a +gesture of fright and rapture. "You give me Marie?" he replied. "You, who +adore her, who have been waiting for her for months? No, no, it would +overcome me, it would terrify me, as if you gave me your very heart after +tearing it from your breast. No, no! I will not accept your sacrifice!" + +"But as it is only gratitude and affection that Marie feels for me," said +Guillaume, "as it is you whom she really loves, am I to take a mean +advantage of the engagements which she entered into unconsciously, and +force her to a marriage when I know that she would never be wholly mine? +Besides, I have made a mistake, it isn't I who give her to you, she has +already given herself, and I do not consider that I have any right to +prevent her from doing so." + +"No, no! I will never accept, I will never bring such grief upon you. . . +Kiss me, brother, and let me go." + +Thereupon Guillaume caught hold of Pierre and compelled him to sit down +by his side on an old sofa near the window. And he began to scold him +almost angrily while still retaining a smile, in which suffering and +kindliness were blended. "Come," said he, "we are surely not going to +fight over it. You won't force me to tie you up so as to keep you here? I +know what I'm about. I thought it all over before I spoke to you. No +doubt, I can't tell you that it gladdens me. I thought at first that I +was going to die; I should have liked to hide myself in the very depths +of the earth. And then, well, it was necessary to be reasonable, and I +understood that things had arranged themselves for the best, in their +natural order." + +Pierre, unable to resist any further, had begun to weep with both hands +raised to his face. + +"Don't grieve, brother, either for yourself or for me," said Guillaume. +"Do you remember the happy days we lately spent together at Neuilly after +we had found one another again? All our old affection revived within us, +and we remained for hours, hand in hand, recalling the past and loving +one another. And what a terrible confession you made to me one night, the +confession of your loss of faith, your torture, the void in which you +were rolling! When I heard of it my one great wish was to cure you. I +advised you to work, love, and believe in life, convinced as I was that +life alone could restore you to peace and health. . . . And for that +reason I afterwards brought you here. You fought against it, and it was I +who forced you to come. I was so happy when I found that you again took +an interest in life, and had once more become a man and a worker! I would +have given some of my blood if necessary to complete your cure. . . . +Well, it's done now, I have given you all I had, since Marie herself has +become necessary to you, and she alone can save you." + +Then as Pierre again attempted to protest, he resumed: "Don't deny it. It +is so true indeed, that if she does not complete the work I have begun, +all my efforts will have been vain, you will fall back into your misery +and negation, into all the torments of a spoilt life. She is necessary to +you, I say. And do you think that I no longer know how to love you? Would +you have me refuse you the very breath of life that will truly make you a +man, after all my fervent wishes for your return to life? I have enough +affection for you both to consent to your loving one another. . . . +Besides, I repeat it, nature knows what she does. Instinct is a sure +guide, it always tends to what is useful and trite. I should have been a +sorry husband, and it is best that I should keep to my work as an old +/savant/; whereas you are young and represent the future, all fruitful +and happy life." + +Pierre shuddered as he heard this, for his old fears returned to him. Had +not the priesthood for ever cut him off from life, had not his long years +of chaste celibacy robbed him of his manhood? "Fruitful and happy life!" +he muttered, "ah! if you only knew how distressed I feel at the idea that +I do not perhaps deserve the gift you so lovingly offer me! You are worth +more than I am; you would have given her a larger heart, a firmer brain, +and perhaps, too, you are really a younger man than myself. . . . There +is still time, brother, keep her, if with you she is likely to be happier +and more truly and completely loved. For my part I am full of doubts. Her +happiness is the only thing of consequence. Let her belong to the one who +will love her best!" + +Indescribable emotion had now come over both men. As Guillaume heard his +brother's broken words, the cry of a love that trembled at the thought of +possible weakness, he did for a moment waver. With a dreadful heart-pang +he stammered despairingly: "Ah! Marie, whom I love so much! Marie, whom I +would have rendered so happy!" + +At this Pierre could not restrain himself; he rose and cried: "Ah! you +see that you love her still and cannot renounce her. . . . So let me go! +let me go!" + +But Guillaume had already caught him around the body, clasping him with +an intensity of brotherly love which was increased by the renunciation he +was resolved upon: "Stay!" said he. "It wasn't I that spoke, it was the +other man that was in me, he who is about to die, who is already dead! By +the memory of our mother and our father I swear to you that the sacrifice +is consummated, and that if you two refuse to accept happiness from me +you will but make me suffer." + +For a moment the weeping men remained in one another's arms. They had +often embraced before, but never had their hearts met and mingled as they +did now. It was a delightful moment, which seemed an eternity. All the +grief and misery of the world had disappeared from before them; there +remained naught save their glowing love, whence sprang an eternity of +love even as light comes from the sun. And that moment was compensation +for all their past and future tears, whilst yonder, on the horizon before +them, Paris still spread and rumbled, ever preparing the unknown future. + +Just then Marie herself came in. And the rest proved very simple. +Guillaume freed himself from his brother's clasp, led him forward and +compelled him and Marie to take each other by the hand. At first she made +yet another gesture of refusal in her stubborn resolve that she would not +take her promise back. But what could she say face to face with those two +tearful men, whom she had found in one another's arms, mingling together +in such close brotherliness? Did not those tears and that embrace sweep +away all ordinary reasons, all such arguments as she held in reserve? +Even the embarrassment of the situation disappeared, it seemed as if she +had already had a long explanation with Pierre, and that he and she were +of one mind to accept that gift of love which Guillaume offered them with +so much heroism. A gust of the sublime passed through the room, and +nothing could have appeared more natural to them than this extraordinary +scene. Nevertheless, Marie remained silent, she dared not give her +answer, but looked at them both with her big soft eyes, which, like their +own, were full of tears. + +And it was Guillaume who, with sudden inspiration, ran to the little +staircase conducting to the rooms overhead, and called: "Mere-Grand! +Mere-Grand! Come down at once, you are wanted." + +Then, as soon as she was there, looking slim and pale in her black gown, +and showing the wise air of a queen-mother whom all obeyed, he said: +"Tell these two children that they can do nothing better than marry one +another. Tell them that we have talked it over, you and I, and that it is +your desire, your will that they should do so." + +She quietly nodded her assent, and then said: "That is true, it will be +by far the most sensible course." + +Thereupon Marie flung herself into her arms, consenting, yielding to the +superior forces, the powers of life, that had thus changed the course of +her existence. Guillaume immediately desired that the date of the wedding +should be fixed, and accommodation provided for the young couple in the +rooms overhead. And as Pierre glanced at him with some remaining anxiety +and spoke of travelling, for he feared that his wound was not yet healed, +and that their presence might bring him suffering, Guillaume responded: +"No, no, I mean to keep you. If I'm marrying you, it is to have you both +here. Don't worry about me. I have so much work to do, I shall work." + +In the evening when Thomas and Francois came home and learnt the news, +they did not seem particularly surprised by it. They had doubtless felt +that things would end like this. And they bowed to the /denouement/, not +venturing to say a word, since it was their father himself who announced +the decision which had been taken, with his usual air of composure. As +for Antoine, who on his own side quivered with love for Lise, he gazed +with doubting, anxious eyes at his father, who had thus had the courage +to pluck out his heart. Could he really survive such a sacrifice, must it +not kill him? Then Antoine kissed his father passionately, and the elder +brothers in their turn embraced him with all their hearts. Guillaume +smiled and his eyes became moist. After his victory over his horrible +torments nothing could have been sweeter to him than the embraces of his +three big sons. + +There was, however, further emotion in store for him that evening. Just +as the daylight was departing, and he was sitting at his large table near +the window, again checking and classifying the documents and plans +connected with his invention, he was surprised to see his old master and +friend Bertheroy enter the workroom. The illustrious chemist called on +him in this fashion at long intervals, and Guillaume felt the honour thus +conferred on him by this old man to whom eminence and fame had brought so +many titles, offices and decorations. Moreover, Bertheroy, with his +position as an official /savant/ and member of the Institute, showed some +courage in thus venturing to call on one whom so-called respectable folks +regarded with contumely. And on this occasion, Guillaume at once +understood that it was some feeling of curiosity that had brought him. +And so he was greatly embarrassed, for he hardly dared to remove the +papers and plans which were lying on the table. + +"Oh, don't be frightened," gaily exclaimed Bertheroy, who, despite his +careless and abrupt ways, was really very shrewd. "I haven't come to pry +into your secrets. . . . Leave your papers there, I promise you that I +won't read anything." + +Then, in all frankness, he turned the conversation on the subject of +explosives, which he was still studying, he said, with passionate +interest. He had made some new discoveries which he did not conceal. +Incidentally, too, he spoke of the opinion he had given in Salvat's +affair. His dream was to discover some explosive of great power, which +one might attempt to domesticate and reduce to complete obedience. And +with a smile he pointedly concluded: "I don't know where that madman +found the formula of his powder. But if you should ever discover it, +remember that the future perhaps lies in the employment of explosives as +motive power." + +Then, all at once, he added: "By the way, that fellow Salvat will be +executed on the day after to-morrow. A friend of mine at the Ministry of +Justice has just told me so." + +Guillaume had hitherto listened to him with an air of mingled distrust +and amusement. But this announcement of Salvat's execution stirred him to +anger and revolt, though for some days past he had known it to be +inevitable, in spite of the sympathy which the condemned man was now +rousing in many quarters. + +"It will be a murder!" he cried vehemently. + +Bertheroy waved his hand: "What would you have?" he answered: "there's a +social system and it defends itself when it is attacked. Besides, those +Anarchists are really too foolish in imagining that they will transform +the world with their squibs and crackers! In my opinion, you know, +science is the only revolutionist. Science will not only bring us truth +but justice also, if indeed justice ever be possible on this earth. And +that is why I lead so calm a life and am so tolerant." + +Once again Bertheroy appeared to Guillaume as a revolutionist, one who +was convinced that he helped on the ruin of the ancient abominable +society of today, with its dogmas and laws, even whilst he was working in +the depths of his laboratory. He was, however, too desirous of repose, +and had too great a contempt for futilities to mingle with the events of +the day, and he preferred to live in quietude, liberally paid and +rewarded, and at peace with the government whatever it might be, whilst +at the same time foreseeing and preparing for the formidable parturition +of the future. + +He waved his hand towards Paris, over which a sun of victory was setting, +and then again spoke: "Do you hear the rumble? It is we who are the +stokers, we who are ever flinging fresh fuel under the boiler. Science +does not pause in her work for a single hour, and she is the artisan of +Paris, which--let us hope it--will be the artisan of the future. All the +rest is of no account." + +But Guillaume was no longer listening to him. He was thinking of Salvat +and the terrible engine of war he had invented, that engine which before +long would shatter cities. And a new idea was dawning and growing in his +mind. He had just freed himself of his last tie, he had created all the +happiness he could create around him. Ah! to recover his courage, to be +master of himself once more, and, at any rate, derive from the sacrifice +of his heart the lofty delight of being free, of being able to lay down +even his life, should he some day deem it necessary! + + + + + + THE THREE CITIES + + + + PARIS + + + + BY + + EMILE ZOLA + + + + TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY + + + + BOOK V + + + +I + +THE GUILLOTINE + +FOR some reason of his own Guillaume was bent upon witnessing the +execution of Salvat. Pierre tried to dissuade him from doing so; and +finding his efforts vain, became somewhat anxious. He accordingly +resolved to spend the night at Montmartre, accompany his brother and +watch over him. In former times, when engaged with Abbe Rose in +charitable work in the Charonne district, he had learnt that the +guillotine could be seen from the house where Mege, the Socialist deputy, +resided at the corner of the Rue Merlin. He therefore offered himself as +a guide. As the execution was to take place as soon as it should legally +be daybreak, that is, about half-past four o'clock, the brothers did not +go to bed but sat up in the workroom, feeling somewhat drowsy, and +exchanging few words. Then as soon as two o'clock struck, they started +off. + +The night was beautifully serene and clear. The full moon, shining like a +silver lamp in the cloudless, far-stretching heavens, threw a calm, +dreamy light over the vague immensity of Paris, which was like some +spell-bound city of sleep, so overcome by fatigue that not a murmur arose +from it. It was as if beneath the soft radiance which spread over its +roofs, its panting labour and its cries of suffering were lulled to +repose until the dawn. Yet, in a far, out of the way district, dark work +was even now progressing, a knife was being raised on high in order that +a man might be killed. + +Pierre and Guillaume paused in the Rue St. Eleuthere, and gazed at the +vaporous, tremulous city spread out below then. And as they turned they +perceived the basilica of the Sacred Heart, still domeless but already +looking huge indeed in the moonbeams, whose clear white light accentuated +its outlines and brought them into sharp relief against a mass of +shadows. Under the pale nocturnal sky, the edifice showed like a colossal +monster, symbolical of provocation and sovereign dominion. Never before +had Guillaume found it so huge, never had it appeared to him to dominate +Paris, even in the latter's hours of slumber, with such stubborn and +overwhelming might. + +This wounded him so keenly in the state of mind in which he found +himself, that he could not help exclaiming: "Ah! they chose a good site +for it, and how stupid it was to let them do so! I know of nothing more +nonsensical; Paris crowned and dominated by that temple of idolatry! How +impudent it is, what a buffet for the cause of reason after so many +centuries of science, labour, and battle! And to think of it being reared +over Paris, the one city in the world which ought never to have been +soiled in this fashion! One can understand it at Lourdes and Rome; but +not in Paris, in the very field of intelligence which has been so deeply +ploughed, and whence the future is sprouting. It is a declaration of war, +an insolent proclamation that they hope to conquer Paris also!" + +Guillaume usually evinced all the tolerance of a /savant/, for whom +religions are simply social phenomena. He even willingly admitted the +grandeur or grace of certain Catholic legends. But Marie Alacoque's +famous vision, which has given rise to the cult of the Sacred Heart, +filled him with irritation and something like physical disgust. He +suffered at the mere idea of Christ's open, bleeding breast, and the +gigantic heart which the saint asserted she had seen beating in the +depths of the wound--the huge heart in which Jesus placed the woman's +little heart to restore it to her inflated and glowing with love. What +base and loathsome materialism there was in all this! What a display of +viscera, muscles and blood suggestive of a butcher's shop! And Guillaume +was particularly disgusted with the engraving which depicted this horror, +and which he found everywhere, crudely coloured with red and yellow and +blue, like some badly executed anatomical plate. + +Pierre on his side was also looking at the basilica as, white with +moonlight, it rose out of the darkness like a gigantic fortress raised to +crush and conquer the city slumbering beneath it. It had already brought +him suffering during the last days when he had said mass in it and was +struggling with his torments. "They call it the national votive +offering," he now exclaimed. "But the nation's longing is for health and +strength and restoration to its old position by work. That is a thing the +Church does not understand. It argues that if France was stricken with +defeat, it was because she deserved punishment. She was guilty, and so +to-day she ought to repent. Repent of what? Of the Revolution, of a +century of free examination and science, of the emancipation of her mind, +of her initiatory and liberative labour in all parts of the world? That +indeed is her real transgression; and it is as a punishment for all our +labour, search for truth, increase of knowledge and march towards justice +that they have reared that huge pile which Paris will see from all her +streets, and will never be able to see without feeling derided and +insulted in her labour and glory." + +With a wave of his hand he pointed to the city, slumbering in the +moonlight as beneath a sheet of silver, and then set off again with his +brother, down the slopes, towards the black and deserted streets. + +They did not meet a living soul until they reached the outer boulevard. +Here, however, no matter what the hour may be, life continues with +scarcely a pause. No sooner are the wine shops, music and dancing halls +closed, than vice and want, cast into the street, there resume their +nocturnal existence. Thus the brothers came upon all the homeless ones: +low prostitutes seeking a pallet, vagabonds stretched on the benches +under the trees, rogues who prowled hither and thither on the lookout for +a good stroke. Encouraged by their accomplice--night, all the mire and +woe of Paris had returned to the surface. The empty roadway now belonged +to the breadless, homeless starvelings, those for whom there was no place +in the sunlight, the vague, swarming, despairing herd which is only +espied at night-time. Ah! what spectres of destitution, what apparitions +of grief and fright there were! What a sob of agony passed by in Paris +that morning, when as soon as the dawn should rise, a man--a pauper, a +sufferer like the others--was to be guillotined! + +As Guillaume and Pierre were about to descend the Rue des Martyrs, the +former perceived an old man lying on a bench with his bare feet +protruding from his gaping, filthy shoes. Guillaume pointed to him in +silence. Then, a few steps farther on, Pierre in his turn pointed to a +ragged girl, crouching, asleep with open month, in the corner of a +doorway. There was no need for the brothers to express in words all the +compassion and anger which stirred their hearts. At long intervals +policemen, walking slowly two by two, shook the poor wretches and +compelled them to rise and walk on and on. Occasionally, if they found +them suspicious or refractory, they marched them off to the +police-station. And then rancour and the contagion of imprisonment often +transformed a mere vagabond into a thief or a murderer. + +In the Rue des Martyrs and the Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, the brothers +found night-birds of another kind, women who slunk past them, close to +the house-fronts, and men and hussies who belaboured one another with +blows. Then, upon the grand boulevards, on the thresholds of lofty black +houses, only one row of whose windows flared in the night, pale-faced +individuals, who had just come down from their clubs, stood lighting +cigars before going home. A lady with a ball wrap over her evening gown +went by accompanied by a servant. A few cabs, moreover, still jogged up +and down the roadway, while others, which had been waiting for hours, +stood on their ranks in rows, with drivers and horses alike asleep. And +as one boulevard after another was reached, the Boulevard Poissonniere, +the Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, the Boulevard St. Denis, and so forth, as +far as the Place de la Republique, there came fresh want and misery, more +forsaken and hungry ones, more and more of the human "waste" that is cast +into the streets and the darkness. And on the other hand, an army of +street-sweepers was now appearing to remove all the filth of the past +four and twenty hours, in order that Paris, spruce already at sunrise, +might not blush for having thrown up such a mass of dirt and +loathsomeness in the course of a single day. + +It was, however, more particularly after following the Boulevard +Voltaire, and drawing near to the districts of La Roquette and Charonne, +that the brothers felt they were returning to a sphere of labour where +there was often lack of food, and where life was but so much pain. Pierre +found himself at home here. In former days, accompanied by good Abbe +Rose, visiting despairing ones, distributing alms, picking up children +who had sunk to the gutter, he had a hundred times perambulated every one +of those long, densely populated streets. And thus a frightful vision +arose before his mind's eye; he recalled all the tragedies he had +witnessed, all the shrieks he had heard, all the tears and bloodshed he +had seen, all the fathers, mothers and children huddled together and +dying of want, dirt and abandonment: that social hell in which he had +ended by losing his last hopes, fleeing from it with a sob in the +conviction that charity was a mere amusement for the rich, and absolutely +futile as a remedy. It was this conviction which now returned to him as +he again cast eyes upon that want and grief stricken district which +seemed fated to everlasting destitution. That poor old man whom Abbe Rose +had revived one night in yonder hovel, had he not since died of +starvation? That little girl whom he had one morning brought in his arms +to the refuge after her parents' death, was it not she whom he had just +met, grown but fallen to the streets, and shrieking beneath the fist of a +bully? Ah! how great was the number of the wretched! Their name was +legion! There were those whom one could not save, those who were hourly +born to a life of woe and want, even as one may be born infirm, and +those, too, who from every side sank in the sea of human injustice, that +ocean which has ever been the same for centuries past, and which though +one may strive to drain it, still and for ever spreads. How heavy was the +silence, how dense the darkness in those working-class streets where +sleep seems to be the comrade of death! Yet hunger prowls, and misfortune +sobs; vague spectral forms slink by, and then are lost to view in the +depths of the night. + +As Pierre and Guillaume went along they became mixed with dark groups of +people, a whole flock of inquisitive folk, a promiscuous, passionate +tramp, tramp towards the guillotine. It came from all Paris, urged on by +brutish fever, a hankering for death and blood. In spite, however, of the +dull noise which came from this dim crowd, the mean streets that were +passed remained quite dark, not a light appeared at any of their windows; +nor could one hear the breathing of the weary toilers stretched on their +wretched pallets from which they would not rise before the morning +twilight. + +On seeing the jostling crowd which was already assembled on the Place +Voltaire, Pierre understood that it would be impossible for him and his +brother to ascend the Rue de la Roquette. Barriers, moreover, must +certainly have been thrown across that street. In order therefore to +reach the corner of the Rue Merlin, it occurred to him to take the Rue de +la Folie Regnault, which winds round in the rear of the prison, farther +on. + +Here indeed they found solitude and darkness again. + +The huge, massive prison with its great bare walls on which a moonray +fell, looked like some pile of cold stones, dead for centuries past. At +the end of the street they once more fell in with the crowd, a dim +restless mass of beings, whose pale faces alone could be distinguished. +The brothers had great difficulty in reaching the house in which Mege +resided at the corner of the Rue Merlin. All the shutters of the +fourth-floor flat occupied by the Socialist deputy were closed, though +every other window was wide open and crowded with surging sightseers. +Moreover, the wine shop down below and the first-floor room connected +with it flared with gas, and were already crowded with noisy customers, +waiting for the performance to begin. + +"I hardly like to go and knock at Mege's door," said Pierre. + +"No, no, you must not do so!" replied Guillaume. + +"Let us go into the wine shop. We may perhaps be able to see something +from the balcony." + +The first-floor room was provided with a very large balcony, which women +and gentlemen were already filling. The brothers nevertheless managed to +reach it, and for a few minutes remained there, peering into the darkness +before them. The sloping street grew broader between the two prisons, the +"great" and the "little" Roquette, in such wise as to form a sort of +square, which was shaded by four clumps of plane-trees, rising from the +footways. The low buildings and scrubby trees, all poor and ugly of +aspect, seemed almost to lie on a level with the ground, under a vast sky +in which stars were appearing, as the moon gradually declined. And the +square was quite empty save that on one spot yonder there seemed to be +some little stir. Two rows of guards prevented the crowd from advancing, +and even threw it back into the neighbouring streets. On the one hand, +the only lofty houses were far away, at the point where the Rue St. Maur +intersects the Rue de la Roquette; while, on the other, they stood at the +corners of the Rue Merlin and the Rue de la Folie Regnault, so that it +was almost impossible to distinguish anything of the execution even from +the best placed windows. As for the inquisitive folk on the pavement they +only saw the backs of the guards. Still this did not prevent a crush. The +human tide flowed on from all sides with increasing clamour. + +Guided by the remarks of some women who, leaning forward on the balcony, +had been watching the square for a long time already, the brothers were +at last able to perceive something. It was now half-past three, and the +guillotine was nearly ready. The little stir which one vaguely espied +yonder under the trees, was that of the headsman's assistants fixing the +knife in position. A lantern slowly came and went, and five or six +shadows danced over the ground. But nothing else could be distinguished, +the square was like a large black pit, around which ever broke the waves +of the noisy crowd which one could not see. And beyond the square one +could only identify the flaring wine shops, which showed forth like +lighthouses in the night. All the surrounding district of poverty and +toil was still asleep, not a gleam as yet came from workrooms or yards, +not a puff of smoke from the lofty factory chimneys. + +"We shall see nothing," Guillaume remarked. + +But Pierre silenced him, for he has just discovered that an elegantly +attired gentleman leaning over the balcony near him was none other than +the amiable deputy Duthil. He had at first fancied that a woman muffled +in wraps who stood close beside the deputy was the little Princess de +Harn, whom he had very likely brought to see the execution since he had +taken her to see the trial. On closer inspection, however, he had found +that this woman was Silviane, the perverse creature with the virginal +face. Truth to tell, she made no concealment of her presence, but talked +on in an extremely loud voice, as if intoxicated; and the brothers soon +learnt how it was that she happened to be there. Duvillard, Duthil, and +other friends had been supping with her at one o'clock in the morning, +when on learning that Salvat was about to be guillotined, the fancy of +seeing the execution had suddenly come upon her. Duvillard, after vainly +entreating her to do nothing of the kind, had gone off in a fury, for he +felt that it would be most unseemly on his part to attend the execution +of a man who had endeavoured to blow up his house. And thereupon Silviane +had turned to Duthil, whom her caprice greatly worried, for he held all +such loathsome spectacles in horror, and had already refused to act as +escort to the Princess. However, he was so infatuated with Silviane's +beauty, and she made him so many promises, that he had at last consented +to take her. + +"He can't understand people caring for amusement," she said, speaking of +the Baron. "And yet this is really a thing to see. . . . But no matter, +you'll find him at my feet again to-morrow." + +Duthil smiled and responded: "I suppose that peace has been signed and +ratified now that you have secured your engagement at the Comedie." + +"Peace? No!" she protested. "No, no. There will be no peace between us +until I have made my /debut/. After that, we'll see." + +They both laughed; and then Duthil, by way of paying his court, told her +how good-naturedly Dauvergne, the new Minister of Public Instruction and +Fine Arts, had adjusted the difficulties which had hitherto kept the +doors of the Comedie closed upon her. A really charming man was +Dauvergne, the embodiment of graciousness, the very flower of the +Monferrand ministry. His was the velvet hand in that administration whose +leader had a hand of iron. + +"He told me, my beauty," said Duthil, "that a pretty girl was in place +everywhere." And then as Silviane, as if flattered, pressed closely +beside him, the deputy added: "So that wonderful revival of 'Polyeucte,' +in which you are going to have such a triumph, is to take place on the +day after to-morrow. We shall all go to applaud you, remember." + +"Yes, on the evening of the day after to-morrow," said Silviane, "the +very same day when the wedding of the Baron's daughter will take place. +There'll be plenty of emotion that day!" + +"Ah! yes, of course!" retorted Duthil, "there'll be the wedding of our +friend Gerard with Mademoiselle Camille to begin with. We shall have a +crush at the Madeleine in the morning and another at the Comedie in the +evening. You are quite right, too; there will be several hearts throbbing +in the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy." + +Thereupon they again became merry, and jested about the Duvillard +family--father, mother, lover and daughter--with the greatest possible +ferocity and crudity of language. Then, all at once Silviane exclaimed: +"Do you know, I'm feeling awfully bored here, my little Duthil. I can't +distinguish anything, and I should like to be quite near so as to see it +all plainly. You must take me over yonder, close to that machine of +theirs." + +This request threw Duthil into consternation, particularly as at that +same moment Silviane perceived Massot outside the wine shop, and began +calling and beckoning to him imperiously. A brief conversation then +ensued between the young woman and the journalist: "I say, Massot!" she +called, "hasn't a deputy the right to pass the guards and take a lady +wherever he likes?" + +"Not at all!" exclaimed Duthil. "Massot knows very well that a deputy +ought to be the very first to bow to the laws." + +This exclamation warned Massot that Duthil did not wish to leave the +balcony. "You ought to have secured a card of invitation, madame," said +he, in reply to Silviane. "They would then have found you room at one of +the windows of La Petite Roquette. Women are not allowed elsewhere. . . . +But you mustn't complain, you have a very good place up there." + +"But I can see nothing at all, my dear Massot." + +"Well, you will in any case see more than Princess de Harn will. Just now +I came upon her carriage in the Rue du Chemin Vert. The police would not +allow it to come any nearer." + +This news made Silviane merry again, whilst Duthil shuddered at the idea +of the danger he incurred, for Rosemonde would assuredly treat him to a +terrible scene should she see him with another woman. Then, an idea +occurring to him, he ordered a bottle of champagne and some little cakes +for his "beautiful friend," as he called Silviane. She had been +complaining of thirst, and was delighted with the opportunity of +perfecting her intoxication. When a waiter had managed to place a little +table near her, on the balcony itself, she found things very pleasant, +and indeed considered it quite brave to tipple and sup afresh, while +waiting for that man to be guillotined close by. + +It was impossible for Pierre and Guillaume to remain up there any longer. +All that they heard, all that they beheld filled them with disgust. The +boredom of waiting had turned all the inquisitive folks of the balcony +and the adjoining room into customers. The waiter could hardly manage to +serve the many glasses of beer, bottles of expensive wine, biscuits, and +plates of cold meat which were ordered of him. And yet the spectators +here were all /bourgeois/, rich gentlemen, people of society! On the +other hand, time has to be killed somehow when it hangs heavily on one's +hands; and thus there were bursts of laughter and paltry and horrible +jests, quite a feverish uproar arising amidst the clouds of smoke from +the men's cigars. When Pierre and Guillaume passed through the wine shop +on the ground-floor they there found a similar crush and similar tumult, +aggravated by the disorderly behaviour of the big fellows in blouses who +were drinking draught wine at the pewter bar which shone like silver. +There were people, too, at all the little tables, besides an incessant +coming and going of folks who entered the place for a "wet," by way of +calming their impatience. And what folks they were! All the scum, all the +vagabonds who had been dragging themselves about since daybreak on the +lookout for whatever chance might offer them, provided it were not work! + +On the pavement outside, Pierre and Guillaume felt yet a greater +heart-pang. In the throng which the guards kept back, one simply found so +much mire stirred up from the very depths of Paris life: prostitutes and +criminals, the murderers of to-morrow, who came to see how a man ought to +die. Loathsome, bareheaded harlots mingled with bands of prowlers or ran +through the crowd, howling obscene refrains. Bandits stood in groups +chatting and quarrelling about the more or less glorious manner in which +certain famous /guillotines/ had died. Among these was one with respect +to whom they all agreed, and of whom they spoke as of a great captain, a +hero whose marvellous courage was deserving of immortality. Then, as one +passed along, one caught snatches of horrible phrases, particulars about +the instrument of death, ignoble boasts, and filthy jests reeking with +blood. And over and above all else there was bestial fever, a lust for +death which made this multitude delirious, an eagerness to see life flow +forth fresh and ruddy beneath the knife, so that as it coursed over the +soil they might dip their feet in it. As this execution was not an +ordinary one, however, there were yet spectators of another kind; silent +men with glowing eyes who came and went all alone, and who were plainly +thrilled by their faith, intoxicated with the contagious madness which +incites one to vengeance or martyrdom. + +Guillaume was just thinking of Victor Mathis, when he fancied that he saw +him standing in the front row of sightseers whom the guards held in +check. It was indeed he, with his thin, beardless, pale, drawn face. +Short as he was, he had to raise himself on tiptoes in order to see +anything. Near him was a big, red-haired girl who gesticulated; but for +his part he never stirred or spoke. He was waiting motionless, gazing +yonder with the round, ardent, fixed eyes of a night-bird, seeking to +penetrate the darkness. At last a guard pushed him back in a somewhat +brutal way; but he soon returned to his previous position, ever patient +though full of hatred against the executioners, wishing indeed to see all +he could in order to increase his hate. + +Then Massot approached the brothers. This time, on seeing Pierre without +his cassock, he did not even make a sign of astonishment, but gaily +remarked: "So you felt curious to see this affair, Monsieur Froment?" + +"Yes, I came with my brother," Pierre replied. "But I very much fear that +we shan't see much." + +"You certainly won't if you stay here," rejoined Massot. And thereupon in +his usual good-natured way--glad, moreover, to show what power a +well-known journalist could wield--he inquired: "Would you like me to +pass you through? The inspector here happens to be a friend of mine." + +Then, without waiting for an answer, he stopped the inspector and hastily +whispered to him that he had brought a couple of colleagues, who wanted +to report the proceedings. At first the inspector hesitated, and seemed +inclined to refuse Massot's request; but after a moment, influenced by +the covert fear which the police always has of the press, he made a weary +gesture of consent. + +"Come, quick, then," said Massot, turning to the brothers, and taking +them along with him. + +A moment later, to the intense surprise of Pierre and Guillaume, the +guards opened their ranks to let them pass. They then found themselves in +the large open space which was kept clear. And on thus emerging from the +tumultuous throng they were quite impressed by the death-like silence and +solitude which reigned under the little plane-trees. The night was now +paling. A faint gleam of dawn was already falling from the sky. + +After leading his companions slantwise across the square, Massot stopped +them near the prison and resumed: "I'm going inside; I want to see the +prisoner roused and got ready. In the meantime, walk about here; nobody +will say anything to you. Besides, I'll come back to you in a moment." + +A hundred people or so, journalists and other privileged spectators, were +scattered about the dark square. Movable wooden barriers--such as are set +up at the doors of theatres when there is a press of people waiting for +admission--had been placed on either side of the pavement running from +the prison gate to the guillotine; and some sightseers were already +leaning over these barriers, in order to secure a close view of the +condemned man as he passed by. Others were walking slowly to and fro, and +conversing in undertones. The brothers, for their part, approached the +guillotine. + +It stood there under the branches of the trees, amidst the delicate +greenery of the fresh leaves of spring. A neighbouring gas-lamp, whose +light was turning yellow in the rising dawn, cast vague gleams upon it. +The work of fixing it in position--work performed as quietly as could be, +so that the only sound was the occasional thud of a mallet--had just been +finished; and the headsman's "valets" or assistants, in frock-coats and +tall silk hats, were waiting and strolling about in a patient way. But +the instrument itself, how base and shameful it looked, squatting on the +ground like some filthy beast, disgusted with the work it had to +accomplish! What! those few beams lying on the ground, and those others +barely nine feet high which rose from it, keeping the knife in position, +constituted the machine which avenged Society, the instrument which gave +a warning to evil-doers! Where was the big scaffold painted a bright red +and reached by a stairway of ten steps, the scaffold which raised high +bloody arms over the eager multitude, so that everybody might behold the +punishment of the law in all its horror! The beast had now been felled to +the ground, where it simply looked ignoble, crafty and cowardly. If on +the one hand there was no majesty in the manner in which human justice +condemned a man to death at its assizes: on the other, there was merely +horrid butchery with the help of the most barbarous and repulsive of +mechanical contrivances, on the terrible day when that man was executed. + +As Pierre and Guillaume gazed at the guillotine, a feeling of nausea came +over them. Daylight was now slowly breaking, and the surroundings were +appearing to view: first the square itself with its two low, grey +prisons, facing one another; then the distant houses, the taverns, the +marble workers' establishments, and the shops selling flowers and +wreaths, which are numerous hereabouts, as the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise +is so near. Before long one could plainly distinguish the black lines of +the spectators standing around in a circle, the heads leaning forward +from windows and balconies, and the people who had climbed to the very +house roofs. The prison of La Petite Roquette over the way had been +turned into a kind of tribune for guests; and mounted Gardes de Paris +went slowly to and fro across the intervening expanse. Then, as the sky +brightened, labour awoke throughout the district beyond the crowd, a +district of broad, endless streets lined with factories, work-shops and +work-yards. Engines began to snort, machinery and appliances were got +ready to start once more on their usual tasks, and smoke already curled +away from the forest of lofty brick chimneys which, on all sides, sprang +out of the gloom. + +It then seemed to Guillaume that the guillotine was really in its right +place in that district of want and toil. It stood in its own realm, like +a /terminus/ and a threat. Did not ignorance, poverty and woe lead to it? +And each time that it was set up amidst those toilsome streets, was it +not charged to overawe the disinherited ones, the starvelings, who, +exasperated by everlasting injustice, were always ready for revolt? It +was not seen in the districts where wealth and enjoyment reigned. It +would there have seemed purposeless, degrading and truly monstrous. And +it was a tragical and terrible coincidence that the bomb-thrower, driven +mad by want, should be guillotined there, in the very centre of want's +dominion. + +But daylight had come at last, for it was nearly half-past four. The +distant noisy crowd could feel that the expected moment was drawing nigh. +A shudder suddenly sped through the atmosphere. + +"He's coming," exclaimed little Massot, as he came back to Pierre and +Guillaume. "Ah! that Salvat is a brave fellow after all." + +Then he related how the prisoner had been awakened; how the governor of +the prison, magistrate Amadieu, the chaplain, and a few other persons had +entered the cell where Salvat lay fast asleep; and then how the condemned +man had understood the truth immediately upon opening his eyes. He had +risen, looking pale but quite composed. And he had dressed himself +without assistance, and had declined the nip of brandy and the cigarette +proffered by the good-hearted chaplain, in the same way as with a gentle +but stubborn gesture he had brushed the crucifix aside. Then had come the +"toilette" for death. With all rapidity and without a word being +exchanged, Salvat's hands had been tied behind his back, his legs had +been loosely secured with a cord, and the neckband of his shirt had been +cut away. He had smiled when the others exhorted him to be brave. He only +feared some nervous weakness, and had but one desire, to die like a hero, +to remain the martyr of the ardent faith in truth and justice for which +he was about to perish. + +"They are now drawing up the death certificate in the register," +continued Massot in his chattering way. "Come along, come along to the +barriers if you wish a good view. . . . I turned paler, you know, and +trembled far more than he did. I don't care a rap for anything as a rule; +but, all the same, an execution isn't a pleasant business. . . . You +can't imagine how many attempts were made to save Salvat's life. Even +some of the papers asked that he might be reprieved. But nothing +succeeded, the execution was regarded as inevitable, it seems, even by +those who consider it a blunder. Still, they had such a touching +opportunity to reprieve him, when his daughter, little Celine, wrote that +fine letter to the President of the Republic, which I was the first to +publish in the 'Globe.' Ah! that letter, it cost me a lot of running +about!" + +Pierre, who was already quite upset by this long wait for the horrible +scene, felt moved to tears by Massot's reference to Celine. He could +again see the child standing beside Madame Theodore in that bare, cold +room whither her father would never more return. It was thence that he +had set out on a day of desperation with his stomach empty and his brain +on fire, and it was here that he would end, between yonder beams, beneath +yonder knife. + +Massot, however, was still giving particulars. The doctors, said he, were +furious because they feared that the body would not be delivered to them +immediately after the execution. To this Guillaume did not listen. He +stood there with his elbows resting on the wooden barrier and his eyes +fixed on the prison gate, which still remained shut. His hands were +quivering, and there was an expression of anguish on his face as if it +were he himself who was about to be executed. The headsman had again just +left the prison. He was a little, insignificant-looking man, and seemed +annoyed, anxious to have done with it all. Then, among a group of +frock-coated gentlemen, some of the spectators pointed out Gascogne, the +Chief of the Detective Police, who wore a cold, official air, and +Amadieu, the investigating magistrate, who smiled and looked very spruce, +early though the hour was. He had come partly because it was his duty, +and partly because he wished to show himself now that the curtain was +about to fall on a wonderful tragedy of which he considered himself the +author. Guillaume glanced at him, and then as a growing uproar rose from +the distant crowd, he looked up for an instant, and again beheld the two +grey prisons, the plane-trees with their fresh young leaves, and the +houses swarming with people beneath the pale blue sky, in which the +triumphant sun was about to appear. + +"Look out, here he comes!" + +Who had spoken? A slight noise, that of the opening gate, made every +heart throb. Necks were outstretched, eyes gazed fixedly, there was +laboured breathing on all sides. Salvat stood on the threshold of the +prison. The chaplain, stepping backwards, had come out in advance of him, +in order to conceal the guillotine from his sight, but he had stopped +short, for he wished to see that instrument of death, make acquaintance +with it, as it were, before he walked towards it. And as he stood there, +his long, aged sunken face, on which life's hardships had left their +mark, seemed transformed by the wondrous brilliancy of his flaring, +dreamy eyes. Enthusiasm bore him up--he was going to his death in all the +splendour of his dream. When the executioner's assistants drew near to +support him he once more refused their help, and again set himself in +motion, advancing with short steps, but as quickly and as straightly as +the rope hampering his legs permitted. + +All at once Guillaume felt that Salvat's eyes were fixed upon him. +Drawing nearer and nearer the condemned man had perceived and recognised +his friend; and as he passed by, at a distance of no more than six or +seven feet, he smiled faintly and darted such a deep penetrating glance +at Guillaume, that ever afterwards the latter felt its smart. But what +last thought, what supreme legacy had Salvat left him to meditate upon, +perhaps to put into execution? It was all so poignant that Pierre feared +some involuntary call on his brother's part; and so he laid his hand upon +his arm to quiet him. + +"Long live Anarchy!" + +It was Salvat who had raised this cry. But in the deep silence his husky, +altered voice seemed to break. The few who were near at hand had turned +very pale; the distant crowd seemed bereft of life. The horse of one of +the Gardes de Paris was alone heard snorting in the centre of the space +which had been kept clear. + +Then came a loathsome scramble, a scene of nameless brutality and +ignominy. The headsman's helps rushed upon Salvat as he came up slowly +with brow erect. Two of them seized him by the head, but finding little +hair there, could only lower it by tugging at his neck. Next two others +grasped him by the legs and flung him violently upon a plank which tilted +over and rolled forward. Then, by dint of pushing and tugging, the head +was got into the "lunette," the upper part of which fell in such wise +that the neck was fixed as in a ship's port-hole--and all this was +accomplished amidst such confusion and with such savagery that one might +have thought that head some cumbrous thing which it was necessary to get +rid of with the greatest speed. But the knife fell with a dull, heavy, +forcible thud, and two long jets of blood spurted from the severed +arteries, while the dead man's feet moved convulsively. Nothing else +could be seen. The executioner rubbed his hands in a mechanical way, and +an assistant took the severed blood-streaming head from the little basket +into which it had fallen and placed it in the large basket into which the +body had already been turned. + +Ah! that dull, that heavy thud of the knife! It seemed to Guillaume that +he had heard it echoing far away all over that district of want and toil, +even in the squalid rooms where thousands of workmen were at that moment +rising to perform their day's hard task! And there the echo of that thud +acquired formidable significance; it spoke of man's exasperation with +injustice, of zeal for martyrdom, and of the dolorous hope that the blood +then spilt might hasten the victory of the disinherited. + +Pierre, for his part, at the sight of that loathsome butchery, the abject +cutthroat work of that killing machine, had suddenly felt his chilling +shudder become more violent; for before him arose a vision of another +corpse, that of the fair, pretty child ripped open by a bomb and +stretched yonder, at the entrance of the Duvillard mansion. Blood +streamed from her delicate flesh, just as it had streamed from that +decapitated neck. It was blood paying for blood; it was like payment for +mankind's debt of wretchedness, for which payment is everlastingly being +made, without man ever being able to free himself from suffering. + +Above the square and the crowd all was still silent in the clear sky. How +long had the abomination lasted? An eternity, perhaps, compressed into +two or three minutes. And now came an awakening: the spectators emerged +from their nightmare with quivering hands, livid faces, and eyes +expressive of compassion, disgust and fear. + +"That makes another one. I've now seen four executions," said Massot, who +felt ill at ease. "After all, I prefer to report weddings. Let us go off, +I have all I want for my article." + +Guillaume and Pierre followed him mechanically across the square, and +again reached the corner of the Rue Merlin. And here they saw little +Victor Mathis, with flaming eyes and white face, still standing in +silence on the spot where they had left him. He could have seen nothing +distinctly; but the thud of the knife was still echoing in his brain. A +policeman at last gave him a push, and told him to move on. At this he +looked the policeman in the face, stirred by sudden rage and ready to +strangle him. Then, however, he quietly walked away, ascending the Rue de +la Roquette, atop of which the lofty foliage of Pere-Lachaise could be +seen, beneath the rising sun. + +The brothers meantime fell upon a scene of explanations, which they heard +without wishing to do so. Now that the sight was over, the Princess de +Harn arrived, and she was the more furious as at the door of the wine +shop she could see her new friend Duthil accompanying a woman. + +"I say!" she exclaimed, "you are nice, you are, to have left me in the +lurch like this! It was impossible for my carriage to get near, so I've +had to come on foot through all those horrid people who have been +jostling and insulting me." + +Thereupon Duthil, with all promptitude, introduced Silviane to her, +adding, in an aside, that he had taken a friend's place as the actress's +escort. And then Rosemonde, who greatly wished to know Silviane, calmed +down as if by enchantment, and put on her most engaging ways. "It would +have delighted me, madame," said she, "to have seen this sight in the +company of an /artiste/ of your merit, one whom I admire so much, though +I have never before had an opportunity of telling her so." + +"Well, dear me, madame," replied Silviane, "you haven't lost much by +arriving late. We were on that balcony there, and all that I could see +were a few men pushing another one about. . . . It really isn't worth the +trouble of coming." + +"Well, now that we have become acquainted, madame," said the Princess, "I +really hope that you will allow me to be your friend." + +"Certainly, madame, my friend; and I shall be flattered and delighted to +be yours." + +Standing there, hand in hand, they smiled at one another. Silviane was +very drunk, but her virginal expression had returned to her face; whilst +Rosemonde seemed feverish with vicious curiosity. Duthil, whom the scene +amused, now had but one thought, that of seeing Silviane home; so calling +to Massot, who was approaching, he asked him where he should find a +cab-rank. Rosemonde, however, at once offered her carriage, which was +waiting in an adjacent street. + +She would set the actress down at her door, said she, and the deputy at +his; and such was her persistence in the matter that Duthil, greatly +vexed, was obliged to accept her offer. + +"Well, then, till to-morrow at the Madeleine," said Massot, again quite +sprightly, as he shook hands with the Princess. + +"Yes, till to-morrow, at the Madeleine and the Comedie." + +"Ah! yes, of course!" he repeated, taking Silviane's hand, which he +kissed. "The Madeleine in the morning and the Comedie in the evening. . . +. We shall all be there to applaud you." + +"Yes, I expect you to do so," said Silviane. "Till to-morrow, then!" + +"Till to-morrow!" + +The crowd was now wearily dispersing, to all appearance disappointed and +ill at ease. A few enthusiasts alone lingered in order to witness the +departure of the van in which Salvat's corpse would soon be removed; +while bands of prowlers and harlots, looking very wan in the daylight, +whistled or called to one another with some last filthy expression before +returning to their dens. The headsman's assistants were hastily taking +down the guillotine, and the square would soon be quite clear. + +Pierre for his part wished to lead his brother away. Since the fall of +the knife, Guillaume had remained as if stunned, without once opening his +lips. In vain had Pierre tried to rouse him by pointing to the shutters +of Mege's flat, which still remained closed, whereas every other window +of the lofty house was wide open. Although the Socialist deputy hated the +Anarchists, those shutters were doubtless closed as a protest against +capital punishment. Whilst the multitude had been rushing to that +frightful spectacle, Mege, still in bed, with his face turned to the +wall, had probably been dreaming of how he would some day compel mankind +to be happy beneath the rigid laws of Collectivism. Affectionate father +as he was, the recent death of one of his children had quite upset his +private life. His cough, too, had become a very bad one; but he ardently +wished to live, for as soon as that new Monferrand ministry should have +fallen beneath the interpellation which he already contemplated, his own +turn would surely come: he would take the reins of power in hand, abolish +the guillotine and decree justice and perfect felicity. + +"Do you see, Guillaume?" Pierre gently repeated. "Mege hasn't opened his +windows. He's a good fellow, after all; although our friends Bache and +Morin dislike him." Then, as his brother still refrained from answering, +Pierre added, "Come, let us go, we must get back home." + +They both turned into the Rue de la Folie Regnault, and reached the outer +Boulevards by way of the Rue du Chemin Vert. All the toilers of the +district were now at work. In the long streets edged with low buildings, +work-shops and factories, one heard engines snorting and machinery +rumbling, while up above, the smoke from the lofty chimneys was assuming +a rosy hue in the sunrise. Afterwards, when the brothers reached the +Boulevard de Menilmontant and the Boulevard de Belleville, which they +followed in turn at a leisurely pace, they witnessed the great rush of +the working classes into central Paris. The stream poured forth from +every side; from all the wretched streets of the faubourgs there was an +endless exodus of toilers, who, having risen at dawn, were now hurrying, +in the sharp morning air, to their daily labour. Some wore short jackets +and others blouses; some were in velveteen trousers, others in linen +overalls. Their thick shoes made their tramp a heavy one; their hanging +hands were often deformed by work. And they seemed half asleep, not a +smile was to be seen on any of those wan, weary faces turned yonder +towards the everlasting task--the task which was begun afresh each day, +and which--'twas their only chance--they hoped to be able to take up for +ever and ever. There was no end to that drove of toilers, that army of +various callings, that human flesh fated to manual labour, upon which +Paris preys in order that she may live in luxury and enjoyment. + +Then the procession continued across the Boulevard de la Villette, the +Boulevard de la Chapelle, and the Boulevard de Rochechouart, where one +reached the height of Montmartre. More and more workmen were ever coming +down from their bare cold rooms and plunging into the huge city, whence, +tired out, they would that evening merely bring back the bread of +rancour. And now, too, came a stream of work-girls, some of them in +bright skirts, some glancing at the passers-by; girls whose wages were so +paltry, so insufficient, that now and again pretty ones among them never +more turned their faces homewards, whilst the ugly ones wasted away, +condemned to mere bread and water. A little later, moreover, came the +/employes/, the clerks, the counter-jumpers, the whole world of +frock-coated penury--"gentlemen" who devoured a roll as they hastened +onward, worried the while by the dread of being unable to pay their rent, +or by the problem of providing food for wife and children until the end +of the month should come.* And now the sun was fast ascending on the +horizon, the whole army of ants was out and about, and the toilsome day +had begun with its ceaseless display of courage, energy and suffering. + + * In Paris nearly all clerks and shop-assistants receive + monthly salaries, while most workmen are paid once a + fortnight.--Trans. + +Never before had it been so plainly manifest to Pierre that work was a +necessity, that it healed and saved. On the occasion of his visit to the +Grandidier works, and later still, when he himself had felt the need of +occupation, there had cone to him the thought that work was really the +world's law. And after that hateful night, after that spilling of blood, +after the slaughter of that toiler maddened by his dreams, there was +consolation and hope in seeing the sun rise once more, and everlasting +labour take up its wonted task. However hard it might prove, however +unjustly it might be lotted out, was it not work which would some day +bring both justice and happiness to the world? + +All at once, as the brothers were climbing the steep hillside towards +Guillaume's house, they perceived before and above them the basilica of +the Sacred Heart rising majestically and triumphantly to the sky. This +was no sublunar apparition, no dreamy vision of Domination standing face +to face with nocturnal Paris. The sun now clothed the edifice with +splendour, it looked golden and proud and victorious, flaring with +immortal glory. + +Then Guillaume, still silent, still feeling Salvat's last glance upon +him, seemed to come to some sudden and final decision. He looked at the +basilica with glowing eyes, and pronounced sentence upon it. + + + +II + +IN VANITY FAIR + +THE wedding was to take place at noon, and for half an hour already +guests had been pouring into the magnificently decorated church, which +was leafy with evergreens and balmy with the scent of flowers. The high +altar in the rear glowed with countless candles, and through the great +doorway, which was wide open, one could see the peristyle decked with +shrubs, the steps covered with a broad carpet, and the inquisitive crowd +assembled on the square and even along the Rue Royale, under the bright +sun. + +After finding three more chairs for some ladies who had arrived rather +late, Duthil remarked to Massot, who was jotting down names in his +note-book: "Well, if any more come, they will have to remain standing." + +"Who were those three?" the journalist inquired. + +"The Duchess de Boisemont and her two daughters." + +"Indeed! All the titled people of France, as well as all the financiers +and politicians, are here! It's something more even than a swell Parisian +wedding." + +As a matter of fact all the spheres of "society" were gathered together +there, and some at first seemed rather embarrassed at finding themselves +beside others. Whilst Duvillard's name attracted all the princes of +finance and politicians in power, Madame de Quinsac and her son were +supported by the highest of the French aristocracy. The mere names of the +witnesses sufficed to indicate what an extraordinary medley there was. On +Gerard's side these witnesses were his uncle, General de Bozonnet, and +the Marquis de Morigny; whilst on Camille's they were the great banker +Louvard, and Monferrand, the President of the Council and Minister of +Finances. The quiet bravado which the latter displayed in thus supporting +the bride after being compromised in her father's financial intrigues +imparted a piquant touch of impudence to his triumph. And public +curiosity was further stimulated by the circumstance that the nuptial +blessing was to be given by Monseigneur Martha, Bishop of Persepolis, the +Pope's political agent in France, and the apostle of the endeavours to +win the Republic over to the Church by pretending to "rally" to it. + +"But, I was mistaken," now resumed Massot with a sneer. "I said a really +Parisian wedding, did I not? But in point of fact this wedding is a +symbol. It's the apotheosis of the /bourgeoisie/, my dear fellow--the old +nobility sacrificing one of its sons on the altar of the golden calf in +order that the Divinity and the gendarmes, being the masters of France +once more, may rid us of those scoundrelly Socialists!" + +Then, again correcting himself, he added: "But I was forgetting. There +are no more Socialists. Their head was cut off the other morning." + +Duthil found this very funny. Then in a confidential way he remarked: +"You know that the marriage wasn't settled without a good deal of +difficulty. . . . Have you read Sagnier's ignoble article this morning?" + +"Yes, yes; but I knew it all before, everybody knew it." + +Then in an undertone, understanding one another's slightest allusion, +they went on chatting. It was only amidst a flood of tears and after a +despairing struggle that Baroness Duvillard had consented to let her +lover marry her daughter. And in doing so she had yielded to the sole +desire of seeing Gerard rich and happy. She still regarded Camille with +all the hatred of a defeated rival. Then, an equally painful contest had +taken place at Madame de Quinsac's. The Countess had only overcome her +revolt and consented to the marriage in order to save her son from the +dangers which had threatened him since childhood; and the Marquis de +Morigny had been so affected by her maternal abnegation, that in spite of +all his anger he had resignedly agreed to be a witness, thus making a +supreme sacrifice, that of his conscience, to the woman whom he had ever +loved. And it was this frightful story that Sagnier--using transparent +nicknames--had related in the "Voix du Peuple" that morning. He had even +contrived to make it more horrid than it really was; for, as usual, he +was badly informed, and he was naturally inclined to falsehood and +invention, as by sending an ever thicker and more poisonous torrent from +his sewer, he might, day by day, increase his paper's sales. Since +Monferrand's victory had compelled him to leave the African Railways +scandal on one side, he had fallen back on scandals in private life, +stripping whole families bare and pelting them with mud. + +All at once Duthil and Massot were approached by Chaigneux, who, with his +shabby frock coat badly buttoned, wore both a melancholy and busy air. +"Well, Monsieur Massot," said he, "what about your article on Silviane? +Is it settled? Will it go in?" + +As Chaigneux was always for sale, always ready to serve as a valet, it +had occurred to Duvillard to make use of him to ensure Silviane's success +at the Comedie. He had handed this sorry deputy over to the young woman, +who entrusted him with all manner of dirty work, and sent him scouring +Paris in search of applauders and advertisements. His eldest daughter was +not yet married, and never had his four women folk weighed more heavily +on his hands. His life had become a perfect hell; they had ended by +beating him, if he did not bring a thousand-franc note home on the first +day of every month. + +"My article!" Massot replied; "no, it surely won't go in, my dear deputy. +Fonsegue says that it's written in too laudatory a style for the 'Globe.' +He asked me if I were having a joke with the paper." + +Chaigneux became livid. The article in question was one written in +advance, from the society point of view, on the success which Silviane +would achieve in "Polyeucte," that evening, at the Comedie. The +journalist, in the hope of pleasing her, had even shown her his "copy"; +and she, quite delighted, now relied upon finding the article in print in +the most sober and solemn organ of the Parisian press. + +"Good heavens! what will become of us?" murmured the wretched Chaigneux. +"It's absolutely necessary that the article should go in." + +"Well, I'm quite agreeable. But speak to the governor yourself. He's +standing yonder between Vignon and Dauvergne, the Minister of Public +Instruction." + +"Yes, I certainly will speak to him--but not here. By-and-by in the +sacristy, during the procession. And I must also try to speak to +Dauvergne, for our Silviane particularly wants him to be in the +ministerial box this evening. Monferrand will be there; he promised +Duvillard so." + +Massot began to laugh, repeating the expression which had circulated +through Paris directly after the actress's engagement: "The Silviane +ministry. . . . Well, Dauvergne certainly owes that much to his +godmother!" said he. + +Just then the little Princess de Harn, coming up like a gust of wind, +broke in upon the three men. "I've no seat, you know!" she cried. + +Duthil fancied that it was a question of finding her a well-placed chair +in the church. "You mustn't count on me," he answered. "I've just had no +end of trouble in stowing the Duchess de Boisemont away with her two +daughters." + +"Oh, but I'm talking of this evening's performance. Come, my dear Duthil, +you really must find me a little corner in somebody's box. I shall die, I +know I shall, if I can't applaud our delicious, our incomparable friend!" + +Ever since setting Silviane down at her door on the previous day, +Rosemonde had been overflowing with admiration for her. + +"Oh! you won't find a single remaining seat, madame," declared Chaigneux, +putting on an air of importance. "We have distributed everything. I have +just been offered three hundred francs for a stall." + +"That's true, there has been a fight even for the bracket seats, however +badly they might be placed," Duthil resumed. "I am very sorry, but you +must not count on me. . . . Duvillard is the only person who might take +you in his box. He told me that he would reserve me a seat there. And so +far, I think, there are only three of us, including his son. . . . Ask +Hyacinthe by-and-by to procure you an invitation." + +Rosemonde, whom Hyacinthe had so greatly bored that she had given him his +dismissal, felt the irony of Duthil's suggestion. Nevertheless, she +exclaimed with an air of delight: "Ah, yes! Hyacinthe can't refuse me +that. Thanks for your information, my dear Duthil. You are very nice, you +are; for you settle things gaily even when they are rather sad. . . . And +don't forget, mind, that you have promised to teach me politics. Ah! +politics, my dear fellow, I feel that nothing will ever impassion me as +politics do!" + +Then she left them, hustled several people, and in spite of the crush +ended by installing herself in the front row. + +"Ah! what a crank she is!" muttered Massot with an air of amusement. + +Then, as Chaigneux darted towards magistrate Amadieu to ask him in the +most obsequious way if he had received his ticket, the journalist said to +Duthil in a whisper: "By the way, my dear friend, is it true that +Duvillard is going to launch his famous scheme for a Trans-Saharan +railway? It would be a gigantic enterprise, a question of hundreds and +hundreds of millions this time. . . . At the 'Globe' office yesterday +evening, Fonsegue shrugged his shoulders and said it was madness, and +would never come off!" + +Duthil winked, and in a jesting way replied: "It's as good as done, my +dear boy. Fonsegue will be kissing the governor's feet before another +forty-eight hours are over." + +Then he gaily gave the other to understand that golden manna would +presently be raining down on the press and all faithful friends and +willing helpers. Birds shake their feathers when the storm is over, and +he, Duthil, was as spruce and lively, as joyous at the prospect of the +presents he now expected, as if there had never been any African Railways +scandal to upset him and make him turn pale with fright. + +"The deuce!" muttered Massot, who had become serious. "So this affair +here is more than a triumph: it's the promise of yet another harvest. +Well, I'm no longer surprised at the crush of people." + +At this moment the organs suddenly burst into a glorious hymn of +greeting. The marriage procession was entering the church. A loud clamour +had gone up from the crowd, which spread over the roadway of the Rue +Royale and impeded the traffic there, while the /cortege/ pompously +ascended the steps in the bright sunshine. And it was now entering the +edifice and advancing beneath the lofty, re-echoing vaults towards the +high altar which flared with candles, whilst on either hand crowded the +congregation, the men on the right and the women on the left. They had +all risen and stood there smiling, with necks outstretched and eyes +glowing with curiosity. + +First, in the rear of the magnificent beadle, came Camille, leaning on +the arm of her father, Baron Duvillard, who wore a proud expression +befitting a day of victory. Veiled with superb /point d'Alencon/ falling +from her diadem of orange blossom, gowned in pleated silk muslin over an +underskirt of white satin, the bride looked so extremely happy, so +radiant at having conquered, that she seemed almost pretty. Moreover, she +held herself so upright that one could scarcely detect that her left +shoulder was higher than her right. + +Next came Gerard, giving his arm to his mother, the Countess de +Quinsac,--he looking very handsome and courtly, as was proper, and she +displaying impassive dignity in her gown of peacock-blue silk embroidered +with gold and steel beads. But it was particularly Eve whom people wished +to see, and every neck was craned forward when she appeared on the arm of +General Bozonnet, the bridegroom's first witness and nearest male +relative. She was gowned in "old rose" taffetas trimmed with Valenciennes +of priceless value, and never had she looked younger, more deliciously +fair. Yet her eyes betrayed her emotion, though she strove to smile; and +her languid grace bespoke her widowhood, her compassionate surrender of +the man she loved. Monferrand, the Marquis de Morigny, and banker +Louvard, the three other witnesses, followed the Baroness and General +Bozonnet, each giving his arm to some lady of the family. A considerable +sensation was caused by the appearance of Monferrand, who seemed on +first-rate terms with himself, and jested familiarly with the lady he +accompanied, a little brunette with a giddy air. Another who was noticed +in the solemn, interminable procession was the bride's eccentric brother +Hyacinthe, whose dress coat was of a cut never previously seen, with its +tails broadly and symmetrically pleated. + +When the affianced pair had taken their places before the prayer-stools +awaiting them, and the members of both families and the witnesses had +installed themselves in the rear in large armchairs, all gilding and red +velvet, the ceremony was performed with extraordinary pomp. The cure of +the Madeleine officiated in person; and vocalists from the Grand Opera +reinforced the choir, which chanted the high mass to the accompaniment of +the organs, whence came a continuous hymn of glory. All possible luxury +and magnificence were displayed, as if to turn this wedding into some +public festivity, a great victory, an event marking the apogee of a +class. Even the impudent bravado attaching to the loathsome private drama +which lay behind it all, and which was known to everybody, added a touch +of abominable grandeur to the ceremony. But the truculent spirit of +superiority and domination which characterised the proceedings became +most manifest when Monseigneur Martha appeared in surplice and stole to +pronounce the blessing. Tall of stature, fresh of face, and faintly +smiling, he had his wonted air of amiable sovereignty, and it was with +august unction that he pronounced the sacramental words, like some +pontiff well pleased at reconciling the two great empires whose heirs he +united. His address to the newly married couple was awaited with +curiosity. It proved really marvellous, he himself triumphed in it. Was +it not in that same church that he had baptised the bride's mother, that +blond Eve, who was still so beautiful, that Jewess whom he himself had +converted to the Catholic faith amidst the tears of emotion shed by all +Paris society? Was it not there also that he had delivered his three +famous addresses on the New Spirit, whence dated, to his thinking, the +rout of science, the awakening of Christian spirituality, and that policy +of rallying to the Republic which was to lead to its conquest? + +So it was assuredly allowable for him to indulge in some delicate +allusions, by way of congratulating himself on his work, now that he was +marrying a poor scion of the old aristocracy to the five millions of that +/bourgeoise/ heiress, in whose person triumphed the class which had won +the victory in 1789, and was now master of the land. The fourth estate, +the duped, robbed people, alone had no place in those festivities. But by +uniting the affianced pair before him in the bonds of wedlock, +Monseigneur Martha sealed the new alliance, gave effect to the Pope's own +policy, that stealthy effort of Jesuitical Opportunism which would take +democracy, power and wealth to wife, in order to subdue and control them. +When the prelate reached his peroration he turned towards Monferrand, who +sat there smiling; and it was he, the Minister, whom he seemed to be +addressing while he expressed the hope that the newly married pair would +ever lead a truly Christian life of humility and obedience in all fear of +God, of whose iron hand he spoke as if it were that of some gendarme +charged with maintaining the peace of the world. Everybody was aware that +there was some diplomatic understanding between the Bishop and the +Minister, some secret pact or other whereby both satisfied their passion +for authority, their craving to insinuate themselves into everything and +reign supreme; and thus when the spectators saw Monferrand smiling in his +somewhat sly, jovial way, they also exchanged smiles. + +"Ah!" muttered Massot, who had remained near Duthil, "how amused old +Justus Steinberger would be, if he were here to see his granddaughter +marrying the last of the Quinsacs!" + +"But these marriages are quite the thing, quite the fashion, my dear +fellow," the deputy replied. "The Jews and the Christians, the +/bourgeois/ and the nobles, do quite right to come to an understanding, +so as to found a new aristocracy. An aristocracy is needed, you know, for +otherwise we should be swept away by the masses." + +None the less Massot continued sneering at the idea of what a grimace +Justus Steinberger would have made if he had heard Monseigneur Martha. It +was rumoured in Paris that although the old Jew banker had ceased all +intercourse with his daughter Eve since her conversion, he took a keen +interest in everything she was reported to do or say, as if he were more +than ever convinced that she would prove an avenging and dissolving agent +among those Christians, whose destruction was asserted to be the dream of +his race. If he had failed in his hope of overcoming Duvillard by giving +her to him as a wife, he doubtless now consoled himself with thinking of +the extraordinary fortune to which his blood had attained, by mingling +with that of the harsh, old-time masters of his race, to whose corruption +it gave a finishing touch. Therein perhaps lay that final Jewish conquest +of the world of which people sometimes talked. + +A last triumphal strain from the organ brought the ceremony to an end; +whereupon the two families and the witnesses passed into the sacristy, +where the acts were signed. And forthwith the great congratulatory +procession commenced. + +The bride and bridegroom at last stood side by side in the lofty but +rather dim room, panelled with oak. How radiant with delight was Camille +at the thought that it was all over, that she had triumphed and married +that handsome man of high lineage, after wresting him with so much +difficulty from one and all, her mother especially! She seemed to have +grown taller. Deformed, swarthy, and ugly though she was, she drew +herself up exultingly, whilst scores and scores of women, friends or +acquaintances, scrambled and rushed upon her, pressing her hands or +kissing her, and addressing her in words of ecstasy. Gerard, who rose +both head and shoulders above his bride, and looked all the nobler and +stronger beside one of such puny figure, shook hands and smiled like some +Prince Charming, who good-naturedly allowed himself to be loved. +Meanwhile, the relatives of the newly wedded pair, though they were drawn +up in one line, formed two distinct groups past which the crowd pushed +and surged with arms outstretched. Duvillard received the congratulations +offered him as if he were some king well pleased with his people; whilst +Eve, with a supreme effort, put on an enchanting mien, and answered one +and all with scarcely a sign of the sobs which she was forcing back. +Then, on the other side of the bridal pair, Madame de Quinsac stood +between General de Bozonnet and the Marquis de Morigny. Very dignified, +in fact almost haughty, she acknowledged most of the salutations +addressed to her with a mere nod, giving her little withered hand only to +those people with whom she was well acquainted. A sea of strange +countenances encompassed her, and now and again when some particularly +murky wave rolled by, a wave of men whose faces bespoke all the crimes of +money-mongering, she and the Marquis exchanged glances of deep sadness. +This tide continued sweeping by for nearly half an hour; and such was the +number of those who wanted to shake hands with the bridal pair and their +relatives, that the latter soon felt their arms ache. + +Meantime, some folks lingered in the sacristy; little groups collected, +and gay chatter rang out. Monferrand was immediately surrounded. Massot +pointed out to Duthil how eagerly Public Prosecutor Lehmann rushed upon +the Minister to pay him court. They were immediately joined by +investigating magistrate Amadieu. And even M. de Larombiere, the judge, +approached Monferrand, although he hated the Republic, and was an +intimate friend of the Quinsacs. But then obedience and obsequiousness +were necessary on the part of the magistracy, for it was dependent on +those in power, who alone could give advancement, and appoint even as +they dismissed. As for Lehmann, it was alleged that he had rendered +assistance to Monferrand by spiriting away certain documents connected +with the African Railways affair, whilst with regard to the smiling and +extremely Parisian Amadieu, was it not to him that the government was +indebted for Salvat's head? + +"You know," muttered Massot, "they've all come to be thanked for +guillotining that man yesterday. Monferrand owes that wretched fellow a +fine taper; for in the first place his bomb prolonged the life of the +Barroux ministry, and later on it made Monferrand prime minister, as a +strong-handed man was particularly needed to strangle Anarchism. What a +contest, eh? Monferrand on one side and Salvat on the other. It was all +bound to end in a head being cut off; one was wanted. . . . Ah! just +listen, they are talking of it." + +This was true. As the three functionaries of the law drew near to pay +their respects to the all-powerful Minister, they were questioned by lady +friends whose curiosity had been roused by what they had read in the +newspapers. Thereupon Amadieu, whom duty had taken to the execution, and +who was proud of his own importance, and determined to destroy what he +called "the legend of Salvat's heroic death," declared that the scoundrel +had shown no true courage at all. His pride alone had kept him on his +feet. Fright had so shaken and choked him that he had virtually been dead +before the fall of the knife. + +"Ah! that's true!" cried Duthil. "I was there myself." + +Massot, however, pulled him by the arm, quite indignant at such an +assertion, although as a rule he cared a rap for nothing. "You couldn't +see anything, my dear fellow," said he; "Salvat died very bravely. It's +really stupid to continue throwing mud at that poor devil even when he's +dead." + +However, the idea that Salvat had died like a coward was too pleasing a +one to be rejected. It was, so to say, a last sacrifice deposited at +Monferrand's feet with the object of propitiating him. He still smiled in +his peaceful way, like a good-natured man who is stern only when +necessity requires it. And he showed great amiability towards the three +judicial functionaries, and thanked them for the bravery with which they +had accomplished their painful duty to the very end. On the previous day, +after the execution, he had obtained a formidable majority in the Chamber +on a somewhat delicate matter of policy. Order reigned, said he, and all +was for the very best in France. Then, on seeing Vignon--who like a cool +gamester had made a point of attending the wedding in order to show +people that he was superior to fortune--the Minister detained him, and +made much of him, partly as a matter of tactics, for in spite of +everything he could not help fearing that the future might belong to that +young fellow, who showed himself so intelligent and cautious. When a +mutual friend informed them that Barroux' health was now so bad that the +doctors had given him up as lost, they both began to express their +compassion. Poor Barroux! He had never recovered from that vote of the +Chamber which had overthrown him. He had been sinking from day to day, +stricken to the heart by his country's ingratitude, dying of that +abominable charge of money-mongering and thieving; he who was so upright +and so loyal, who had devoted his whole life to the Republic! But then, +as Monferrand repeated, one should never confess. The public can't +understand such a thing. + +At this moment Duvillard, in some degree relinquishing his paternal +duties, came to join the others, and the Minister then had to share the +honours of triumph with him. For was not this banker the master? Was he +not money personified--money, which is the only stable, everlasting +force, far above all ephemeral tenure of power, such as attaches to those +ministerial portfolios which pass so rapidly from hand to hand? +Monferrand reigned, but he would pass away, and a like fate would some +day fall on Vignon, who had already had a warning that one could not +govern unless the millions of the financial world were on one's side. So +was not the only real triumpher himself, the Baron--he who laid out five +millions of francs on buying a scion of the aristocracy for his daughter, +he who was the personification of the sovereign /bourgeoisie/, who +controlled public fortune, and was determined to part with nothing, even +were he attacked with bombs? All these festivities really centred in +himself, he alone sat down to the banquet, leaving merely the crumbs from +his table to the lowly, those wretched toilers who had been so cleverly +duped at the time of the Revolution. + +That African Railways affair was already but so much ancient history, +buried, spirited away by a parliamentary commission. All who had been +compromised in it, the Duthils, the Chaigneux, the Fonsegues and others, +could now laugh merrily. They had been delivered from their nightmare by +Monferrand's strong fist, and raised by Duvillard's triumph. Even +Sagnier's ignoble article and miry revelations in the "Voix du Peuple" +were of no real account, and could be treated with a shrug of the +shoulders, for the public had been so saturated with denunciation and +slander that it was now utterly weary of all noisy scandal. The only +thing which aroused interest was the rumour that Duvillard's big affair +of the Trans-Saharan Railway was soon to be launched, that millions of +money would be handled, and that some of them would rain down upon +faithful friends. + +Whilst Duvillard was conversing in a friendly way with Monferrand and +Dauvergne, the Minister of Public Instruction, who had joined them, +Massot encountered Fonsegue, his editor, and said to him in an undertone: +"Duthil has just assured me that the Trans-Saharan business is ready, and +that they mean to chance it with the Chamber. They declare that they are +certain of success." + +Fonsegue, however, was sceptical on the point. "It's impossible," said +he; "they won't dare to begin again so soon." + +Although he spoke in this fashion, the news had made him grave. He had +lately had such a terrible fright through his imprudence in the African +Railways affair, that he had vowed he would take every precaution in +future. Still, this did not mean that he would refuse to participate in +matters of business. The best course was to wait and study them, and then +secure a share in all that seemed profitable. In the present instance he +felt somewhat worried. However, whilst he stood there watching the group +around Duvillard and the two ministers, he suddenly perceived Chaigneux, +who, flitting hither and thither, was still beating up applauders for +that evening's performance. He sang Silviane's praises in every key, +predicted a most tremendous success, and did his very best to stimulate +curiosity. At last he approached Dauvergne, and with his long figure bent +double exclaimed: "My dear Minister, I have a particular request to make +to you on the part of a very charming person, whose victory will not be +complete this evening if you do not condescend to favour her with your +vote." + +Dauvergne, a tall, fair, good-looking man, whose blue eyes smiled behind +his glasses, listened to Chaigneux with an affable air. He was proving a +great success at the Ministry of Public Instruction, although he knew +nothing of University matters. However, like a real Parisian of Dijon, as +people called him, he was possessed of some tact and skill, gave +entertainments at which his young and charming wife outshone all others, +and passed as being quite an enlightened friend of writers and artists. +Silviane's engagement at the Comedie, which so far was his most notable +achievement, and which would have shaken the position of any other +minister, had by a curious chance rendered him popular. It was regarded +as something original and amusing. + +On understanding that Chaigneux simply wished to make sure of his +presence at the Comedie that evening, he became yet more affable. "Why, +certainly, I shall be there, my dear deputy," he replied. "When one has +such a charming god-daughter one mustn't forsake her in a moment of +danger." + +At this Monferrand, who had been lending ear, turned round. "And tell +her," said he, "that I shall be there, too. She may therefore rely on +having two more friends in the house." + +Thereupon Duvillard, quite enraptured, his eyes glistening with emotion +and gratitude, bowed to the two ministers as if they had granted him some +never-to-be-forgotten favour. + +When Chaigneux, on his side also, had returned thanks with a low bow, he +happened to perceive Fonsegue, and forthwith he darted towards him and +led him aside. "Ah! my dear colleague," he declared, "it is absolutely +necessary that this matter should be settled. I regard it as of supreme +importance." + +"What are you speaking of?" inquired Fonsegue, much surprised. + +"Why, of Massot's article, which you won't insert." + +Thereupon, the director of the "Globe" plumply declared that he could not +insert the article. He talked of his paper's dignity and gravity; and +declared that the lavishing of such fulsome praise upon a hussy--yes, a +mere hussy, in a journal whose exemplary morality and austerity had cost +him so much labour, would seem monstrous and degrading. Personally, he +did not care a fig about it if Silviane chose to make an exhibition of +herself, well, he would be there to see; but the "Globe" was sacred. + +Disconcerted and almost tearful, Chaigneux nevertheless renewed his +attempt. "Come, my dear colleague," said he, "pray make a little effort +for my sake. If the article isn't inserted, Duvillard will think that it +is my fault. And you know that I really need his help. My eldest +daughter's marriage has again been postponed, and I hardly know where to +turn." Then perceiving that his own misfortunes in no wise touched +Fonsegue, he added: "And do it for your own sake, my dear colleague, your +own sake. For when all is said Duvillard knows what is in the article, +and it is precisely because it is so favourable a one that he wishes to +see it in the 'Globe.' Think it over; if the article isn't published, he +will certainly turn his back on you." + +For a moment Fonsegue remained silent. Was he thinking of the colossal +Trans-Saharan enterprise? Was he reflecting that it would be hard to +quarrel at such a moment and miss his own share in the coming +distribution of millions among faithful friends? Perhaps so; however, the +idea that it would be more prudent to await developments gained the day +with him. "No, no," he said, "I can't, it's a matter of conscience." + +In the mean time congratulations were still being tendered to the newly +wedded couple. It seemed as if all Paris were passing through the +sacristy; there were ever the same smiles and the same hand shakes. +Gerard, Camille and their relatives, however weary they might feel, were +forced to retain an air of delight while they stood there against the +wall, pent up by the crowd. The heat was now becoming unbearable, and a +cloud of dust arose as when some big flock goes by. + +All at once little Princess de Harn, who had hitherto lingered nobody +knew where, sprang out of the throng, flung her arms around Camille, +kissed even Eve, and then kept Gerard's hand in her own while paying him +extraordinary compliments. Then, on perceiving Hyacinthe, she took +possession of him and carried him off into a corner. "I say," she +exclaimed, "I have a favour to ask you." + +The young man was wonderfully silent that day. His sister's wedding +seemed to him a contemptible ceremony, the most vulgar that one could +imagine. So here, thought he, was another pair accepting the horrid +sexual law by which the absurdity of the world was perpetuated! For his +part, he had decided that he would witness the proceedings in rigid +silence, with a haughty air of disapproval. When Rosemonde spoke to him, +he looked at her rather nervously, for he was glad that she had forsaken +him for Duthil, and feared some fresh caprice on her part. At last, +opening his mouth for the first time that day, he replied: "Oh, as a +friend, you know, I will grant you whatever favour you like." + +Forthwith the Princess explained that she would surely die if she did not +witness the /debut/ of her dear friend Silviane, of whom she had become +such a passionate admirer. So she begged the young man to prevail on his +father to give her a seat in his box, as she knew that one was left +there. + +Hyacinthe smiled. "Oh, willingly, my dear," said he; "I'll warn papa, +there will be a seat for you." + +Then, as the procession of guests at last drew to an end and the vestry +began to empty, the bridal pair and their relatives were able to go off +through the chattering throng, which still lingered about to bow to them +and scrutinise them once more. + +Gerard and Camille were to leave for an estate which Duvillard possessed +in Normandy, directly after lunch. This repast, served at the princely +mansion of the Rue Godot-de-Mauroy, provided an opportunity for fresh +display. The dining-room on the first floor had been transformed into a +buffet, where reigned the greatest abundance and the most wonderful +sumptuousness. Quite a reception too was held in the drawing-rooms, the +large red /salon/, the little blue and silver /salon/ and all the others, +whose doors stood wide open. Although it had been arranged that only +family friends should be invited, there were quite three hundred people +present. The ministers had excused themselves, alleging that the weighty +cares of public business required their presence elsewhere. But the +magistrates, the deputies and the leading journalists who had attended +the wedding were again assembled together. And in that throng of hungry +folks, longing for some of the spoils of Duvillard's new venture, the +people who felt most out of their element were Madame de Quinsac's few +guests, whom General de Bozonnet and the Marquis de Morigny had seated on +a sofa in the large red /salon/, which they did not quit. + +Eve, who for her part felt quite overcome, both her moral and physical +strength being exhausted, had seated herself in the little blue and +silver drawing-room, which, with her passion for flowers, she had +transformed into an arbour of roses. She would have fallen had she +remained standing, the very floor had seemed to sink beneath her feet. +Nevertheless, whenever a guest approached her she managed to force a +smile, and appear beautiful and charming. Unlooked-for help at last came +to her in the person of Monseigneur Martha, who had graciously honoured +the lunch with his presence. He took an armchair near her, and began to +talk to her in his amiable, caressing way. He was doubtless well aware of +the frightful anguish which wrung the poor woman's heart, for he showed +himself quite fatherly, eager to comfort her. She, however, talked on +like some inconsolable widow bent on renouncing the world for God, who +alone could bring her peace. Then, as the conversation turned on the +Asylum for the Invalids of Labour, she declared that she was resolved to +take her presidency very seriously, and, in fact, would exclusively +devote herself to it, in the future. + +"And as we are speaking of this, Monseigneur," said she, "I would even +ask you to give me some advice. . . . I shall need somebody to help me, +and I thought of securing the services of a priest whom I much admire, +Monsieur l'Abbe Pierre Froment." + +At this the Bishop became grave and embarrassed; but Princess Rosemonde, +who was passing by with Duthil, had overheard the Baroness, and drawing +near with her wonted impetuosity, she exclaimed: "Abbe Pierre Froment! +Oh! I forgot to tell you, my dear, that I met him going about in jacket +and trousers! And I've been told too that he cycles in the Bois with some +creature or other. Isn't it true, Duthil, that we met him?" + +The deputy bowed and smiled, whilst Eve clasped her hands in amazement. +"Is it possible! A priest who was all charitable fervour, who had the +faith and passion of an apostle!" + +Thereupon Monseigneur intervened: "Yes, yes, great sorrows occasionally +fall upon the Church. I heard of the madness of the unhappy man you speak +of. I even thought it my duty to write to him, but he left my letter +unanswered. I should so much have liked to stifle such a scandal! But +there are abominable forces which we cannot always overcome; and so a day +or two ago the archbishop was obliged to put him under interdict. . . . +You must choose somebody else, madame." + +It was quite a disaster. Eve gazed at Rosemonde and Duthil, without +daring to ask them for particulars, but wondering what creature could +have been so audacious as to turn a priest from the path of duty. She +must assuredly be some shameless demented woman! And it seemed to Eve as +if this crime gave a finishing touch to her own misfortune. With a wave +of the arm, which took in all the luxury around her, the roses steeping +her in perfume, and the crush of guests around the buffet, she murmured: +"Ah! decidedly there's nothing but corruption left; one can no longer +rely on anybody!" + +Whilst this was going on, Camille happened to be alone in her own room +getting ready to leave the house with Gerard. And all at once her brother +Hyacinthe joined her there. "Ah! it's you, youngster!" she exclaimed. +"Well, make haste if you want to kiss me, for I'm off now, thank +goodness!" + +He kissed her as she suggested, and then in a doctoral way replied: "I +thought you had more self-command. The delight you have been showing all +this morning quite disgusts me." + +A quiet glance of contempt was her only answer. However, he continued: +"You know very well that she'll take your Gerard from you again, directly +you come back to Paris." + +At this Camille's cheeks turned white and her eyes flared. She stepped +towards her brother with clenched fists: "She! you say that she will take +him from me!" + +The "she" they referred to was their own mother. + +"Listen, my boy! I'll kill her first!" continued Camille. "Ah, no! she +needn't hope for that. I shall know how to keep the man that belongs to +me. . . . And as for you, keep your spite to yourself, for I know you, +remember; you are a mere child and a fool!" + +He recoiled as if a viper were rearing its sharp, slender black head +before him; and having always feared her, he thought it best to beat a +retreat. + +While the last guests were rushing upon the buffet and finishing the +pillage there, the bridal pair took their leave, before driving off to +the railway station. General de Bozonnet had joined a group in order to +vent his usual complaints about compulsory military service, and the +Marquis de Morigny was obliged to fetch him at the moment when the +Countess de Quinsac was kissing her son and daughter-in-law. The old lady +trembled with so much emotion that the Marquis respectfully ventured to +sustain her. Meantime, Hyacinthe had started in search of his father, and +at last found him near a window with the tottering Chaigneux, whom he was +violently upbraiding, for Fonsegue's conscientious scruples had put him +in a fury. Indeed, if Massot's article should not be inserted in the +"Globe," Silviane might lay all the blame upon him, the Baron, and wreak +further punishment upon him. However, upon being summoned by his son he +had to don his triumphal air once more, kiss his daughter on the +forehead, shake hands with his son-in-law, jest and wish them both a +pleasant journey. Then Eve, near whom Monseigneur Martha had remained, +smiling, in her turn had to say farewell. In this she evinced touching +bravery; her determination to remain beautiful and charming until the +very end lent her sufficient strength to show herself both gay and +motherly. + +She took hold of the slightly quivering hand which Gerard proffered with +some embarrassment, and ventured to retain it for a moment in her own, in +a good-hearted, affectionate way, instinct with all the heroism of +renunciation. "Good by, Gerard," she said, "keep in good health, be +happy." Then turning to Camille she kissed her on both cheeks, while +Monseigneur Martha sat looking at them with an air of indulgent sympathy. +They wished each other "Au revoir," but their voices trembled, and their +eyes in meeting gleamed like swords; in the same way as beneath the +kisses they had exchanged they had felt each other's teeth. Ah! how it +enraged Camille to see her mother still so beautiful and fascinating in +spite of age and grief! And for Eve how great the torture of beholding +her daughter's youth, that youth which had overcome her, and was for ever +wresting love from within her reach! No forgiveness was possible between +them; they would still hate one another even in the family tomb, where +some day they would sleep side by side. + +All the same, that evening Baroness Duvillard excused herself from +attending the performance of "Polyeucte" at the Comedie Francaise. She +felt very tired and wished to go to bed early, said she. As a matter of +fact she wept on her pillow all night long. Thus the Baron's stage-box on +the first balcony tier contained only himself, Hyacinthe, Duthil, and +little Princess de Harn. + +At nine o'clock there was a full house, one of the brilliant chattering +houses peculiar to great dramatic solemnities. All the society people who +had marched through the sacristy of the Madeleine that morning were now +assembled at the theatre, again feverish with curiosity, and on the +lookout for the unexpected. One recognised the same faces and the sane +smiles; the women acknowledged one another's presence with little signs +of intelligence, the men understood each other at a word, a gesture. One +and all had kept the appointment, the ladies with bared shoulders, the +gentlemen with flowers in their button-holes. Fonsegue occupied the +"Globe's" box, with two friendly families. Little Massot had his +customary seat in the stalls. Amadieu, who was a faithful patron of the +Comedie, was also to be seen there, as well as General de Bozonnet and +Public Prosecutor Lehmann. The man who was most looked at, however, on +account of his scandalous article that morning, was Sagnier, the terrible +Sagnier, looking bloated and apoplectical. Then there was Chaigneux, who +had kept merely a modest bracket-seat for himself, and who scoured the +passages, and climbed to every tier, for the last time preaching +enthusiasm. Finally, the two ministers Monferrand and Dauvergne appeared +in the box facing Duvillard's; whereupon many knowing smiles were +exchanged, for everybody was aware that these personages had come to help +on the success of the /debutante/. + +On the latter point there had still been unfavourable rumours only the +previous day. Sagnier had declared that the /debut/ of such a notorious +harlot as Silviane at the Comedie Francaise, in such a part too as that +of "Pauline," which was one of so much moral loftiness, could only be +regarded as an impudent insult to public decency. The whole press, +moreover, had long been up in arms against the young woman's +extraordinary caprice. But then the affair had been talked of for six +months past, so that Paris had grown used to the idea of seeing Silviane +at the Comedie. And now it flocked thither with the one idea of being +entertained. Before the curtain rose one could tell by the very +atmosphere of the house that the audience was a jovial, good-humoured +one, bent on enjoying itself, and ready to applaud should it find itself +at all pleased. + +The performance really proved extraordinary. When Silviane, chastely +robed, made her appearance in the first act, the house was quite +astonished by her virginal face, her innocent-looking mouth, and her eyes +beaming with immaculate candour. Then, although the manner in which she +had understood her part at first amazed people, it ended by charming +them. From the moment of confiding in "Stratonice," from the moment of +relating her dream, she turned "Pauline" into a soaring mystical +creature, some saint, as it were, such as one sees in stained-glass +windows, carried along by a Wagnerian Brunhilda riding the clouds. It was +a thoroughly ridiculous conception of the part, contrary to reason and +truth alike. Still, it only seemed to interest people the more, partly on +account of mysticism being the fashion, and partly on account of the +contrast between Silviane's assumed candour and real depravity. Her +success increased from act to act, and some slight hissing which was +attributed to Sagnier only helped to make the victory more complete. +Monferrand and Dauvergne, as the newspapers afterwards related, gave the +signal for applause; and the whole house joined in it, partly from +amusement and partly perhaps in a spirit of irony. + +During the interval between the fourth and fifth acts there was quite a +procession of visitors to Duvillard's box, where the greatest excitement +prevailed. Duthil, however, after absenting himself for a moment, came +back to say: "You remember our influential critic, the one whom I brought +to dinner at the Cafe Anglais? Well, he's repeating to everybody that +'Pauline' is merely a little /bourgeoise/, and is not transformed by the +heavenly grace until the very finish of the piece. To turn her into a +holy virgin from the outset simply kills the part, says he." + +"Pooh!" repeated Duvillard, "let him argue if he likes, it will be all +the more advertisement. . . . The important point is to get Massot's +article inserted in the 'Globe' to-morrow morning." + +On this point, unfortunately, the news was by no means good. Chaigneux, +who had gone in search of Fonsegue, declared that the latter still +hesitated in the matter in spite of Silviane's success, which he declared +to be ridiculous. Thereupon, the Baron became quite angry. "Go and tell +Fonsegue," he exclaimed, "that I insist on it, and that I shall remember +what he does." + +Meantime Princess Rosemonde was becoming quite delirious with enthusiasm. +"My dear Hyacinthe," she pleaded, "please take me to Silviane's +dressing-room; I can't wait, I really must go and kiss her." + +"But we'll all go!" cried Duvillard, who heard her entreaty. + +The passages were crowded, and there were people even on the stage. +Moreover, when the party reached the door of Silviane's dressing-room, +they found it shut. When the Baron knocked at it, a dresser replied that +madame begged the gentlemen to wait a moment. + +"Oh! a woman may surely go in," replied Rosemonde, hastily slipping +through the doorway. "And you may come, Hyacinthe," she added; "there can +be no objection to you." + +Silviane was very hot, and a dresser was wiping her perspiring shoulders +when Rosemonde darted forward and kissed her. Then they chatted together +amidst the heat and glare from the gas and the intoxicating perfumes of +all the flowers which were heaped up in the little room. Finally, +Hyacinthe heard them promise to see one another after the performance, +Silviane even inviting Rosemonde to drink a cup of tea with her at her +house. At this the young man smiled complacently, and said to the +actress: "Your carriage is waiting for you at the corner of the Rue +Montpensier, is it not? Well, I'll take the Princess to it. That will be +the simpler plan, you can both go off together!" + +"Oh! how good of you," cried Rosemonde; "it's agreed." + +Just then the door was opened, and the men, being admitted, began to pour +forth their congratulations. However, they had to regain their seats in +all haste so as to witness the fifth act. This proved quite a triumph, +the whole house bursting into applause when Silviane spoke the famous +line, "I see, I know, I believe, I am undeceived," with the rapturous +enthusiasm of a holy martyr ascending to heaven. Nothing could have been +more soul-like, it was said. And so when the performers were called +before the curtain, Paris bestowed an ovation on that virgin of the +stage, who, as Sagnier put it, knew so well how to act depravity at home. + +Accompanied by Duthil, Duvillard at once went behind the scenes in order +to fetch Silviane, while Hyacinthe escorted Rosemonde to the brougham +waiting at the corner of the Rue Montpensier. Having helped her into it, +the young man stood by, waiting. And he seemed to grow quite merry when +his father came up with Silviane, and was stopped by her, just as, in his +turn, he wished to get into the carriage. + +"There's no room for you, my dear fellow," said she. "I've a friend with +me." + +Rosemonde's little smiling face then peered forth from the depths of the +brougham. And the Baron remained there open-mouthed while the vehicle +swiftly carried the two women away! + +"Well, what would you have, my dear fellow?" said Hyacinthe, by way of +explanation to Duthil, who also seemed somewhat amazed by what had +happened. "Rosemonde was worrying my life out, and so I got rid of her by +packing her off with Silviane." + +Duvillard was still standing on the pavement and still looking dazed when +Chaigneux, who was going home quite tired out, recognised him, and came +up to say that Fonsegue had thought the matter over, and that Massot's +article would be duly inserted. In the passages, too, there had been a +deal of talk about the famous Trans-Saharan project. + +Then Hyacinthe led his father away, trying to comfort him like a sensible +friend, who regarded woman as a base and impure creature. "Let's go home +to bed," said he. "As that article is to appear, you can take it to her +to-morrow. She will see you, sure enough." + +Thereupon they lighted cigars, and now and again exchanging a few words, +took their way up the Avenue de l'Opera, which at that hour was deserted +and dismal. Meantime, above the slumbering houses of Paris the breeze +wafted a prolonged sigh, the plaint, as it were, of an expiring world. + + + +III + +THE GOAL OF LABOUR + +EVER since the execution of Salvat, Guillaume had become extremely +taciturn. He seemed worried and absent-minded. He would work for hours at +the manufacture of that dangerous powder of which he alone knew the +formula, and the preparation of which was such a delicate matter that he +would allow none to assist him. Then, at other times he would go off, and +return tired out by some long solitary ramble. He remained very gentle at +home, and strove to smile there. But whenever anybody spoke to him he +started as if suddenly called back from dreamland. + +Pierre imagined his brother had relied too much upon his powers of +renunciation, and found the loss of Marie unbearable. Was it not some +thought of her that haunted him now that the date fixed for the marriage +drew nearer and nearer? One evening, therefore, Pierre ventured to speak +out, again offering to leave the house and disappear. + +But at the first words he uttered Guillaume stopped him, and +affectionately replied: "Marie? Oh! I love her, I love her too well to +regret what I have done. No, no! you only bring me happiness, I derive +all my strength and courage from you now that I know you are both happy. +. . . And I assure you that you are mistaken, there is nothing at all the +matter with me; my work absorbs me, perhaps, but that is all." + +That same evening he managed to cast his gloom aside, and displayed +delightful gaiety. During dinner he inquired if the upholsterer would +soon call to arrange the two little rooms which Marie was to occupy with +her husband over the workroom. The young woman, who since her marriage +with Pierre had been decided had remained waiting with smiling patience, +thereupon told Guillaume what it was she desired--first some hangings of +red cotton stuff, then some polished pine furniture which would enable +her to imagine she was in the country, and finally a carpet on the floor, +because a carpet seemed to her the height of luxury. She laughed as she +spoke, and Guillaume laughed with her in a gay and fatherly way. His good +spirits brought much relief to Pierre, who concluded that he must have +been mistaken in his surmises. + +On the very morrow, however, Guillaume relapsed into a dreamy state. And +so disquietude again came upon Pierre, particularly when he noticed that +Mere-Grand also seemed to be unusually grave and silent. Not daring to +address her, he tried to extract some information from his nephews, but +neither Thomas nor Francois nor Antoine knew anything. Each of them +quietly devoted his time to his work, respecting and worshipping his +father, but never questioning him about his plans or enterprises. +Whatever he might choose to do could only be right and good; and they, +his sons, were ready to do the same and help him at the very first call, +without pausing to inquire into his purpose. It was plain, however, that +he kept them apart from anything at all perilous, that he retained all +responsibility for himself, and that Mere-Grand alone was his +/confidante/, the one whom he consulted and to whom he perhaps listened. +Pierre therefore renounced his hope of learning anything from the sons, +and directed his attention to the old lady, whose rigid gravity worried +him the more as she and Guillaume frequently had private chats in the +room she occupied upstairs. They shut themselves up there all alone, and +remained together for hours without the faintest sound coming from the +seemingly lifeless chamber. + +One day, however, Pierre caught sight of Guillaume as he came out of it, +carrying a little valise which appeared to be very heavy. And Pierre +thereupon remembered both his brother's powder, one pound weight of which +would have sufficed to destroy a cathedral, and the destructive engine +which he had purposed bestowing upon France in order that she might be +victorious over all other nations, and become the one great initiatory +and liberative power. Pierre remembered too that the only person besides +himself who knew his brother's secret was Mere-Grand, who, at the time +when Guillaume was fearing some perquisition on the part of the police, +had long slept upon the cartridges of the terrible explosive. But now why +was Guillaume removing all the powder which he had been preparing for +some time past? As this question occurred to Pierre, a sudden suspicion, +a vague dread, came upon him, and gave him strength to ask his brother: +"Have you reason to fear anything, since you won't keep things here? If +they embarrass you, they can all be deposited at my house, nobody will +make a search there." + +Guillaume, whom these words astonished, gazed at Pierre fixedly, and then +replied: "Yes, I have learnt that the arrests and perquisitions have +begun afresh since that poor devil was guillotined; for they are in +terror at the thought that some despairing fellow may avenge him. +Moreover, it is hardly prudent to keep destructive agents of such great +power here. I prefer to deposit them in a safe place. But not at +Neuilly--oh! no indeed! they are not a present for you, brother." +Guillaume spoke with outward calmness; and if he had started with +surprise at the first moment, it had been scarcely perceptible. + +"So everything is ready?" Pierre resumed. "You will soon be handing your +engine of destruction over to the Minister of War, I presume?" + +A gleam of hesitation appeared in the depths of Guillaume's eyes, and he +was for a moment about to tell a falsehood. However, he ended by replying +"No, I have renounced that intention. I have another idea." + +He spoke these last words with so much energy and decision that Pierre +did not dare to question him further, to ask him, for instance, what that +other idea might be. From that moment, however, he quivered with anxious +expectancy. From hour to hour Mere-Grand's lofty silence and Guillaume's +rapt, energetic face seemed to tell him that some huge and terrifying +scheme had come into being, and was growing and threatening the whole of +Paris. + +One afternoon, just as Thomas was about to repair to the Grandidier +works, some one came to Guillaume's with the news that old Toussaint, the +workman, had been stricken with a fresh attack of paralysis. Thomas +thereupon decided that he would call upon the poor fellow on his way, for +he held him in esteem and wished to ascertain if he could render him any +help. Pierre expressed a desire to accompany his nephew, and they started +off together about four o'clock. + +On entering the one room which the Toussaints occupied, the room where +they ate and slept, the visitors found the mechanician seated on a low +chair near the table. He looked half dead, as if struck by lightning. It +was a case of hemiplegia, which had paralysed the whole of his right +side, his right leg and right arm, and had also spread to his face in +such wise that he could no longer speak. The only sound he could raise +was an incomprehensible guttural grunt. His mouth was drawn to the right, +and his once round, good-natured-looking face, with tanned skin and +bright eyes, had been twisted into a frightful mask of anguish. At fifty +years of age, the unhappy man was utterly done for. His unkempt beard was +as white as that of an octogenarian, and his knotty limbs, preyed upon by +toil, were henceforth dead. Only his eyes remained alive, and they +travelled around the room, going from one to another. By his side, eager +to do what she could for him, was his wife, who remained stout even when +she had little to eat, and still showed herself active and clear-headed, +however great her misfortunes. + +"It's a friendly visit, Toussaint," said she. "It's Monsieur Thomas who +has come to see you with Monsieur l'Abbe." Then quietly correcting +herself she added: "With Monsieur Pierre, his uncle. You see that you are +not yet forsaken." + +Toussaint wished to speak, but his fruitless efforts only brought two big +tears to his eyes. Then he gazed at his visitors with an expression of +indescribable woe, his jaws trembling convulsively. + +"Don't put yourself out," repeated his wife. "The doctor told you that it +would do you no good." + +At the moment of entering the room, Pierre had already noticed two +persons who had risen from their chairs and drawn somewhat on one side. +And now to his great surprise he recognised that they were Madame +Theodore and Celine, who were both decently clad, and looked as if they +led a life of comfort. On hearing of Toussaint's misfortune they had come +to see him, like good-hearted creatures, who, on their own side, had +experienced the most cruel suffering. Pierre, on noticing that they now +seemed to be beyond dire want, remembered what he had heard of the +wonderful sympathy lavished on the child after her father's execution, +the many presents and donations offered her, and the generous proposals +that had been made to adopt her. These last had ended in her being +adopted by a former friend of Salvat, who had sent her to school again, +pending the time when she might be apprenticed to some trade, while, on +the other hand, Madame Theodore had been placed as a nurse in a +convalescent home. In such wise both had been saved. + +When Pierre drew near to little Celine in order to kiss her, Madame +Theodore told her to thank Monsieur l'Abbe--for so she still respectfully +called him--for all that he had previously done for her. "It was you who +brought us happiness, Monsieur l'Abbe," said she. "And that's a thing one +can never forget. I'm always telling Celine to remember you in her +prayers." + +"And so, my child, you are now going to school again," said Pierre. + +"Oh yes, Monsieur l'Abbe, and I'm well pleased at it. Besides, we no +longer lack anything." Then, however, sudden emotion came over the girl, +and she stammered with a sob: "Ah! if poor papa could only see us!" + +Madame Theodore, meanwhile, had begun to take leave of Madame Toussaint. +"Well, good by, we must go," said she. "What has happened to you is very +sad, and we wanted to tell you how much it grieved us. The worry is that +when misfortune falls on one, courage isn't enough to set things right. . +. . Celine, come and kiss your uncle. . . . My poor brother, I hope +you'll get back the use of your legs as soon as possible." + +They kissed the paralysed man on the cheeks, and then went off. Toussaint +had looked at them with his keen and still intelligent eyes, as if he +longed to participate in the life and activity into which they were +returning. And a jealous thought came to his wife, who usually was so +placid and good-natured. "Ah! my poor old man!" said she, after propping +him up with a pillow, "those two are luckier than we are. Everything +succeeds with them since that madman, Salvat, had his head cut off. +They're provided for. They've plenty of bread on the shelf." + +Then, turning towards Pierre and Thomas, she continued: "We others are +done for, you know, we're down in the mud, with no hope of getting out of +it. But what would you have? My poor husband hasn't been guillotined, +he's done nothing but work his whole life long; and now, you see, that's +the end of him, he's like some old animal, no longer good for anything." + +Having made her visitors sit down she next answered their compassionate +questions. The doctor had called twice already, and had promised to +restore the unhappy man's power of speech, and perhaps enable him to +crawl round the room with the help of a stick. But as for ever being able +to resume real work that must not be expected. And so what was the use of +living on? Toussaint's eyes plainly declared that he would much rather +die at once. When a workman can no longer work and no longer provide for +his wife he is ripe for the grave. + +"Savings indeed!" Madame Toussaint resumed. "There are folks who ask if +we have any savings. . . . Well, we had nearly a thousand francs in the +Savings Bank when Toussaint had his first attack. And some people don't +know what a lot of prudence one needs to put by such a sum; for, after +all, we're not savages, we have to allow ourselves a little enjoyment now +and then, a good dish and a good bottle of wine. . . . Well, what with +five months of enforced idleness, and the medicines, and the underdone +meat that was ordered, we got to the end of our thousand francs; and now +that it's all begun again we're not likely to taste any more bottled wine +or roast mutton." + +Fond of good cheer as she had always been, this cry, far more than the +tears she was forcing back, revealed how much the future terrified her. +She was there erect and brave in spite of everything; but what a downfall +if she were no longer able to keep her room tidy, stew a piece of veal on +Sundays, and gossip with the neighbours while awaiting her husband's +return from work! Why, they might just as well be thrown into the gutter +and carried off in the scavenger's cart. + +However, Thomas intervened: "Isn't there an Asylum for the Invalids of +Labour, and couldn't your husband get admitted to it?" he asked. "It +seems to me that is just the place for him." + +"Oh dear, no," the woman answered. "People spoke to me of that place +before, and I got particulars of it. They don't take sick people there. +When you call they tell you that there are hospitals for those who are +ill." + +With a wave of his hand Pierre confirmed her statement: it was useless to +apply in that direction. He could again see himself scouring Paris, +hurrying from the Lady President, Baroness Duvillard, to Fonsegue, the +General Manager, and only securing a bed for Laveuve when the unhappy man +was dead. + +However, at that moment an infant was heard wailing, and to the amazement +of both visitors Madame Toussaint entered the little closet where her son +Charles had so long slept, and came out of it carrying a child, who +looked scarcely twenty months old. "Well, yes," she explained, "this is +Charles's boy. He was sleeping there in his father's old bed, and now you +hear him, he's woke up. . . . You see, only last Wednesday, the day +before Toussaint had his stroke, I went to fetch the little one at the +nurse's at St. Denis, because she had threatened to cast him adrift since +Charles had got into bad habits, and no longer paid her. I said to myself +at the time that work was looking up, and that my husband and I would +always be able to provide for a little mouth like that. . . . But just +afterwards everything collapsed! At the same time, as the child's here +now I can't go and leave him in the street." + +While speaking in this fashion she walked to and fro, rocking the baby in +her arms. And naturally enough she reverted to Charles's folly with the +girl, who had run away, leaving that infant behind her. Things might not +have been so very bad if Charles had still worked as steadily as he had +done before he went soldiering. In those days he had never lost an hour, +and had always brought all his pay home! But he had come back from the +army with much less taste for work. He argued, and had ideas of his own. +He certainly hadn't yet come to bomb-throwing like that madman Salvat, +but he spent half his time with Socialists and Anarchists, who put his +brain in a muddle. It was a real pity to see such a strong, good-hearted +young fellow turning out badly like that. But it was said in the +neighbourhood that many another was inclined the same way; that the best +and most intelligent of the younger men felt tired of want and +unremunerative labour, and would end by knocking everything to pieces +rather than go on toiling with no certainty of food in their old age. + +"Ah! yes," continued Madame Toussaint, "the sons are not like the fathers +were. These fine fellows won't be as patient as my poor husband has been, +letting hard work wear him away till he's become the sorry thing you see +there. . . . Do you know what Charles said the other evening when he +found his father on that chair, crippled like that, and unable to speak? +Why, he shouted to him that he'd been a stupid jackass all his life, +working himself to death for those /bourgeois/, who now wouldn't bring +him so much as a glass of water. Then, as he none the less has a good +heart, he began to cry his eyes out." + +The baby was no longer wailing, still the good woman continued walking to +and fro, rocking it in her arms and pressing it to her affectionate +heart. Her son Charles could do no more for them, she said; perhaps he +might be able to give them a five-franc piece now and again, but even +that wasn't certain. It was of no use for her to go back to her old +calling as a seamstress, she had lost all practice of it. And it would +even be difficult for her to earn anything as charwoman, for she had that +infant on her hands as well as her infirm husband--a big child, whom she +would have to wash and feed. And so what would become of the three of +them? She couldn't tell; but it made her shudder, however brave and +motherly she tried to be. + +For their part, Pierre and Thomas quivered with compassion, particularly +when they saw big tears coursing down the cheeks of the wretched, +stricken Toussaint, as he sat quite motionless in that little and still +cleanly home of toil and want. The poor man had listened to his wife, and +he looked at her and at the infant now sleeping in her arms. Voiceless, +unable to cry his woe aloud, he experienced the most awful anguish. What +dupery his long life of labour had been! how frightfully unjust it was +that all his efforts should end in such sufferings! how exasperating it +was to feel himself powerless, and to see those whom he loved and who +were as innocent as himself suffer and die by reason of his own suffering +and death! Ah! poor old man, cripple that he was, ending like some beast +of burden that has foundered by the roadside--that goal of labour! And it +was all so revolting and so monstrous that he tried to put it into words, +and his desperate grief ended in a frightful, raucous grunt. + +"Be quiet, don't do yourself harm!" concluded Madame Toussaint. "Things +are like that, and there's no mending them." + +Then she went to put the child to bed again, and on her return, just as +Thomas and Pierre were about to speak to her of Toussaint's employer, M. +Grandidier, a fresh visitor arrived. Thereupon the others decided to +wait. + +The new comer was Madame Chretiennot, Toussaint's other sister, eighteen +years younger than himself. Her husband, the little clerk, had compelled +her to break off almost all intercourse with her relatives, as he felt +ashamed of them; nevertheless, having heard of her brother's misfortune, +she had very properly come to condole with him. She wore a gown of cheap +flimsy silk, and a hat trimmed with red poppies, which she had freshened +up three times already; but in spite of this display her appearance +bespoke penury, and she did her best to hide her feet on account of the +shabbiness of her boots. Moreover, she was no longer the beautiful +Hortense. Since a recent miscarriage, all trace of her good looks had +disappeared. + +The lamentable appearance of her brother and the bareness of that home of +suffering chilled her directly she crossed the threshold. And as soon as +she had kissed Toussaint, and said how sorry she was to find him in such +a condition, she began to lament her own fate, and recount her troubles, +for fear lest she should be asked for any help. + +"Ah! my dear," she said to her sister-in-law, "you are certainly much to +be pitied! But if you only knew! We all have our troubles. Thus in my +case, obliged as I am to dress fairly well on account of my husband's +position, I have more trouble than you can imagine in making both ends +meet. One can't go far on a salary of three thousand francs a year, when +one has to pay seven hundred francs' rent out of it. You will perhaps say +that we might lodge ourselves in a more modest way; but we can't, my +dear, I must have a /salon/ on account of the visits I receive. So just +count! . . . Then there are my two girls. I've had to send them to +school; Lucienne has begun to learn the piano and Marcelle has some taste +for drawing. . . . By the way, I would have brought them with me, but I +feared it would upset them too much. You will excuse me, won't you?" + +Then she spoke of all the worries which she had had with her husband on +account of Salvat's ignominious death. Chretiennot, vain, quarrelsome +little fellow that he was, felt exasperated at now having a /guillotine/ +in his wife's family. And he had lately begun to treat the unfortunate +woman most harshly, charging her with having brought about all their +troubles, and even rendering her responsible for his own mediocrity, +embittered as he was more and more each day by a confined life of office +work. On some evenings they had downright quarrels; she stood up for +herself, and related that when she was at the confectionery shop in the +Rue des Martyrs she could have married a doctor had she only chosen, for +the doctor found her quite pretty enough. Now, however, she was becoming +plainer and plainer, and her husband felt that he was condemned to +everlasting penury; so that their life was becoming more and more dismal +and quarrelsome, and as unbearable--despite the pride of being +"gentleman" and "lady"--as was the destitution of the working classes. + +"All the same, my dear," at last said Madame Toussaint, weary of her +sister-in-law's endless narrative of worries, "you have had one piece of +luck. You won't have the trouble of bringing up a third child, now." + +"That's true," replied Hortense, with a sigh of relief. "How we should +have managed, I don't know. . . . Still, I was very ill, and I'm far from +being in good health now. The doctor says that I don't eat enough, and +that I ought to have good food." + +Then she rose for the purpose of giving her brother another kiss and +taking her departure; for she feared a scene on her husband's part should +he happen to come home and find her absent. Once on her feet, however, +she lingered there a moment longer, saying that she also had just seen +her sister, Madame Theodore, and little Celine, both of them comfortably +clad and looking happy. And with a touch of jealousy she added: "Well, my +husband contents himself with slaving away at his office every day. He'll +never do anything to get his head cut off; and it's quite certain that +nobody will think of leaving an income to Marcelle and Lucienne. . . . +Well, good by, my dear, you must be brave, one must always hope that +things will turn out for the best." + +When she had gone off, Pierre and Thomas inquired if M. Grandidier had +heard of Toussaint's misfortune and agreed to do anything for him. Madame +Toussaint answered that he had so far made only a vague promise; and on +learning this they resolved to speak to him as warmly as they could on +behalf of the old mechanician, who had spent as many as five and twenty +years at the works. The misfortune was that a scheme for establishing a +friendly society, and even a pension fund, which had been launched before +the crisis from which the works were now recovering, had collapsed +through a number of obstacles and complications. Had things turned out +otherwise, Thomas might have had a pittance assured him, even though he +was unable to work. But under the circumstances the only hope for the +poor stricken fellow lay in his employer's compassion, if not his sense +of justice. + +As the baby again began to cry, Madame Toussaint went to fetch it, and +she was once more carrying it to and fro, when Thomas pressed her +husband's sound hand between both his own. "We will come back," said the +young man; "we won't forsake you, Toussaint. You know very well that +people like you, for you've always been a good and steady workman. So +rely on us, we will do all we can." + +Then they left him tearful and overpowered, in that dismal room, while, +up and down beside him, his wife rocked the squealing infant--that other +luckless creature, who was now so heavy on the old folks' hands, and like +them was fated to die of want and unjust toil. + +Toil, manual toil, panting at every effort, this was what Pierre and +Thomas once more found at the works. From the slender pipes above the +roofs spurted rhythmical puffs of steam, which seemed like the very +breath of all that labour. And in the work-shops one found a continuous +rumbling, a whole army of men in motion, forging, filing, and piercing, +amidst the spinning of leather gearing and the trembling of machinery. +The day was ending with a final feverish effort to complete some task or +other before the bell should ring for departure. + +On inquiring for the master Thomas learnt that he had not been seen since +/dejeuner/, which was such an unusual occurrence that the young man at +once feared some terrible scene in the silent pavilion, whose shutters +were ever closed upon Grandidier's unhappy wife--that mad but beautiful +creature, whom he loved so passionately that he had never been willing to +part from her. The pavilion could be seen from the little glazed +work-shop which Thomas usually occupied, and as he and Pierre stood +waiting there, it looked very peaceful and pleasant amidst the big +lilac-bushes planted round about it. Surely, they thought, it ought to +have been brightened by the gay gown of a young woman and the laughter of +playful children. But all at once a loud, piercing shriek reached their +ears, followed by howls and moans, like those of an animal that is being +beaten or possibly slaughtered. Ah! those howls ringing out amidst all +the stir of the toiling works, punctuated it seemed by the rhythmical +puffing of the steam, accompanied too by the dull rumbling of the +machinery! The receipts of the business had been doubling and doubling +since the last stock-taking; there was increase of prosperity every +month, the bad times were over, far behind. Grandidier was realising a +large fortune with his famous bicycle for the million, the "Lisette"; and +the approaching vogue of motor-cars also promised huge gains, should he +again start making little motor-engines, as he meant to do, as soon as +Thomas's long-projected motor should be perfected. But what was wealth +when in that dismal pavilion, whose shutters were ever closed, those +frightful shrieks continued, proclaiming some terrible drama, which all +the stir and bustle of the prosperous works were unable to stifle? + +Pierre and Thomas looked at one another, pale and quivering. And all at +once, as the cries ceased and the pavilion sank into death-like silence +once more, the latter said in an undertone: "She is usually very gentle, +she will sometimes spend whole days sitting on a carpet like a little +child. He is fond of her when she is like that; he lays her down and +picks her up, caresses her and makes her laugh as if she were a baby. Ah! +how dreadfully sad it is! When an attack comes upon her she gets frantic, +tries to bite herself, and kill herself by throwing herself against the +walls. And then he has to struggle with her, for no one else is allowed +to touch her. He tries to restrain her, and holds her in his arms to calm +her. . . . But how terrible it was just now! Did you hear? I do not think +she has ever had such a frightful attack before." + +For a quarter of an hour longer profound silence prevailed. Then +Grandidier came out of the pavilion, bareheaded and still ghastly pale. +Passing the little glazed work-shop on his way, he perceived Thomas and +Pierre there, and at once came in. But he was obliged to lean against a +bench like a man who is dazed, haunted by a nightmare. His good-natured, +energetic face retained an expression of acute anguish; and his left ear +was scratched and bleeding. However, he at once wished to talk, overcome +his feelings, and return to his life of activity. "I am very pleased to +see you, my dear Thomas," said he, "I have been thinking over what you +told me about our little motor. We must go into the matter again." + +Seeing how distracted he was, it occurred to the young man that some +sudden diversion, such as the story of another's misfortunes, might +perhaps draw him from his haunting thoughts. "Of course I am at your +disposal," he replied; "but before talking of that matter I should like +to tell you that we have just seen Toussaint, that poor old fellow who +has been stricken with paralysis. His awful fate has quite distressed us. +He is in the greatest destitution, forsaken as it were by the roadside, +after all his years of labour." + +Thomas dwelt upon the quarter of a century which the old workman had +spent at the factory, and suggested that it would be only just to take +some account of his long efforts, the years of his life which he had +devoted to the establishment. And he asked that he might be assisted in +the name both of equity and compassion. + +"Ah! monsieur," Pierre in his turn ventured to say. "I should like to +take you for an instant into that bare room, and show you that poor, +aged, worn-out, stricken man, who no longer has even the power of speech +left him to tell people his sufferings. There can be no greater +wretchedness than to die in this fashion, despairing of all kindliness +and justice." + +Grandidier had listened to them in silence. But big tears had +irresistibly filled his eyes, and when he spoke it was in a very low and +tremulous voice: "The greatest wretchedness, who can tell what it is? Who +can speak of it if he has not known the wretchedness of others? Yes, yes, +it's sad undoubtedly that poor Toussaint should be reduced to that state +at his age, not knowing even if he will have food to eat on the morrow. +But I know sorrows that are just as crushing, abominations which poison +one's life in a still greater degree. . . . Ah! yes, food indeed! To +think that happiness will reign in the world when everybody has food to +eat! What an idiotic hope!" + +The whole grievous tragedy of his life was in the shudder which had come +over him. To be the employer, the master, the man who is making money, +who disposes of capital and is envied by his workmen, to own an +establishment to which prosperity has returned, whose machinery coins +gold, apparently leaving one no other trouble than that of pocketing +one's profits; and yet at the same time to be the most wretched of men, +to know no day exempt from anguish, to find each evening at one's hearth +no other reward or prop than the most atrocious torture of the heart! +Everything, even success, has to be paid for. And thus that triumpher, +that money-maker, whose pile was growing larger at each successive +inventory, was sobbing with bitter grief. + +However, he showed himself kindly disposed towards Toussaint, and +promised to assist him. As for a pension that was an idea which he could +not entertain, as it was the negation of the wage-system such as it +existed. He energetically defended his rights as an employer, repeating +that the strain of competition would compel him to avail himself of them +so long as the present system should endure. His part in it was to do +good business in an honest way. However, he regretted that his men had +never carried out the scheme of establishing a relief fund, and he said +that he would do his best to induce them to take it in hand again. + +Some colour had now come back to his checks; for on returning to the +interests of his life of battle he felt his energy restored. He again +reverted to the question of the little motor, and spoke of it for some +time with Thomas, while Pierre waited, feeling quite upset. Ah! he +thought, how universal was the thirst for happiness! Then, in spite of +the many technical terms that were used he caught a little of what the +others were saying. Small steam motors had been made at the works in +former times; but they had not proved successes. In point of fact a new +propelling force was needed. Electricity, though everyone foresaw its +future triumph, was so far out of the question on account of the weight +of the apparatus which its employment necessitated. So only petroleum +remained, and the inconvenience attaching to its use was so great that +victory and fortune would certainly rest with the manufacturer who should +be able to replace it by some other hitherto unknown agent. In the +discovery and adaptation of the latter lay the whole problem. + +"Yes, I am eager about it now," at last exclaimed Grandidier in an +animated way. "I allowed you to prosecute your experiments without +troubling you with any inquisitive questions. But a solution is becoming +imperative." + +Thomas smiled: "Well, you must remain patient just a little longer," said +he; "I believe that I am on the right road." + +Then Grandidier shook hands with him and Pierre, and went off to make his +usual round through his busy, bustling works, whilst near at hand, +awaiting his return, stood the closed pavilion, where every evening he +was fated to relapse into endless, incurable anguish. + +The daylight was already waning when Pierre and Thomas, after +re-ascending the height of Montmartre, walked towards the large work-shop +which Jahan, the sculptor, had set up among the many sheds whose erection +had been necessitated by the building of the Sacred Heart. There was here +a stretch of ground littered with materials, an extraordinary chaos of +building stone, beams and machinery; and pending the time when an army of +navvies would come to set the whole place in order, one could see gaping +trenches, rough flights of descending steps and fences, imperfectly +closing doorways which conducted to the substructures of the basilica. + +Halting in front of Jahan's work-shop, Thomas pointed to one of these +doorways by which one could reach the foundation works. "Have you never +had an idea of visiting the foundations?" he inquired of Pierre. "There's +quite a city down there on which millions of money have been spent. They +could only find firm soil at the very base of the height, and they had to +excavate more than eighty shafts, fill them with concrete, and then rear +their church on all those subterranean columns. . . . Yes, that is so. Of +course the columns cannot be seen, but it is they who hold that insulting +edifice aloft, right over Paris!" + +Having drawn near to the fence, Pierre was looking at an open doorway +beyond it, a sort of dark landing whence steps descended as if into the +bowels of the earth. And he thought of those invisible columns of +concrete, and of all the stubborn energy and desire for domination which +had set and kept the edifice erect. + +Thomas was at last obliged to call him. "Let us make haste," said he, +"the twilight will soon be here. We shan't be able to see much." + +They had arranged to meet Antoine at Jahan's, as the sculptor wished to +show them a new model he had prepared. When they entered the work-shop +they found the two assistants still working at the colossal angel which +had been ordered for the basilica. Standing on a scaffolding they were +rough-hewing its symmetrical wings, whilst Jahan, seated on a low chair, +with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and his hands soiled with clay, +was contemplating a figure some three feet high on which he had just been +working. + +"Ah! it's you," he exclaimed. "Antoine has been waiting more than half an +hour for you. He's gone outside with Lise to see the sun set over Paris, +I think. But they will soon be back." + +Then he relapsed into silence, with his eyes fixed on his work. + +This was a bare, erect, lofty female figure, of such august majesty, so +simple were its lines, that it suggested something gigantic. The figure's +abundant, outspread hair suggested rays around its face, which beamed +with sovereign beauty like the sun. And its only gesture was one of offer +and of greeting; its arms were thrown slightly forward, and its hands +were open for the grasp of all mankind. + +Still lingering in his dream Jahan began to speak slowly: "You remember +that I wanted a pendant for my figure of Fecundity. I had modelled a +Charity, but it pleased me so little and seemed so commonplace that I let +the clay dry and spoil. . . . And then the idea of a figure of Justice +came to me. But not a gowned figure with the sword and the scales! That +wasn't the Justice that inspired me. What haunted my mind was the other +Justice, the one that the lowly and the sufferers await, the one who +alone can some day set a little order and happiness among us. And I +pictured her like that, quite bare, quite simple, and very lofty. She is +the sun as it were, a sun all beauty, harmony and strength; for justice +is only to be found in the sun which shines in the heavens for one and +all, and bestows on poor and rich alike its magnificence and light and +warmth, which are the source of all life. And so my figure, you see, has +her hands outstretched as if she were offering herself to all mankind, +greeting it and granting it the gift of eternal life in eternal beauty. +Ah! to be beautiful and strong and just, one's whole dream lies in that." + +Jahan relighted his pipe and burst into a merry laugh. "Well, I think the +good woman carries herself upright. . . . What do you fellows say?" + +His visitors highly praised his work. Pierre for his part was much +affected at finding in this artistic conception the very idea that he had +so long been revolving in his mind--the idea of an era of Justice rising +from the ruins of the world, which Charity after centuries of trial had +failed to save. + +Then the sculptor gaily explained that he had prepared his model there +instead of at home, in order to console himself a little for his big +dummy of an angel, the prescribed triteness of which disgusted him. Some +fresh objections had been raised with respect to the folds of the robe, +which gave some prominence to the thighs, and in the end he had been +compelled to modify all of the drapery. + +"Oh! it's just as they like!" he cried; "it's no work of mine, you know; +it's simply an order which I'm executing just as a mason builds a wall. +There's no religious art left, it has been killed by stupidity and +disbelief. Ah! if social or human art could only revive, how glorious to +be one of the first to bear the tidings!" + +Then he paused. Where could the youngsters, Antoine and Lise, have got +to, he wondered. He threw the door wide open, and, a little distance +away, among the materials littering the waste ground, one could see +Antoine's tall figure and Lise's short slender form standing out against +the immensity of Paris, which was all golden amidst the sun's farewell. +The young man's strong arm supported Lise, who with this help walked +beside him without feeling any fatigue. Slender and graceful, like a girl +blossoming into womanhood, she raised her eyes to his with a smile of +infinite gratitude, which proclaimed that she belonged to him for +evermore. + +"Ah! they are coming back," said Jahan. "The miracle is now complete, you +know. I'm delighted at it. I did not know what to do with her; I had even +renounced all attempts to teach her to read; I left her for days together +in a corner, infirm and tongue-tied like a lack-wit. . . . But your +brother came and took her in hand somehow or other. She listened to him +and understood him, and began to read and write with him, and grow +intelligent and gay. Then, as her limbs still gained no suppleness, and +she remained infirm, ailing and puny, he began by carrying her here, and +then helped her to walk in such wise that she can now do so by herself. +In a few weeks' time she has positively grown and become quite charming. +Yes, I assure you, it is second birth, real creation. Just look at them!" + +Antoine and Lise were still slowly approaching. The evening breeze which +rose from the great city, where all was yet heat and sunshine, brought +them a bath of life. If the young man had chosen that spot, with its +splendid horizon, open to the full air which wafted all the germs of +life, it was doubtless because he felt that nowhere else could he instil +more vitality, more soul, more strength into her. And love had been +created by love. He had found her asleep, benumbed, without power of +motion or intellect, and he had awakened her, kindled life in her, loved +her, that he might be loved by her in return. She was his work, she was +part of himself. + +"So you no longer feel tired, little one?" said Jahan. + +She smiled divinely. "Oh! no, it's so pleasant, so beautiful, to walk +straight on like this. . . . All I desire is to go on for ever and ever +with Antoine." + +The others laughed, and Jahan exclaimed in his good-natured way: "Let us +hope that he won't take you so far. You've reached your destination now, +and I shan't be the one to prevent you from being happy." + +Antoine was already standing before the figure of Justice, to which the +falling twilight seemed to impart a quiver of life. "Oh! how divinely +simple, how divinely beautiful!" said he. + +For his own part he had lately finished a new wood engraving, which +depicted Lise holding a book in her hand, an engraving instinct with +truth and emotion, showing her awakened to intelligence and love. And +this time he had achieved his desire, making no preliminary drawing, but +tackling the block with his graver, straight away, in presence of his +model. And infinite hopefulness had come upon him, he was dreaming of +great original works in which the whole period that he belonged to would +live anew and for ever. + +Thomas now wished to return home. So they shook hands with Jahan, who, as +his day's work was over, put on his coat to take his sister back to the +Rue du Calvaire. + +"Till to-morrow, Lise," said Antoine, inclining his head to kiss her. + +She raised herself on tip-toes, and offered him her eyes, which he had +opened to life. "Till to-morrow, Antoine," said she. + +Outside, the twilight was falling. Pierre was the first to cross the +threshold, and as he did so, he saw so extraordinary a sight that for an +instant he felt stupefied. But it was certain enough: he could plainly +distinguish his brother Guillaume emerging from the gaping doorway which +conducted to the foundations of the basilica. And he saw him hastily +climb over the palings, and then pretend to be there by pure chance, as +though he had come up from the Rue Lamarck. When he accosted his two +sons, as if he were delighted to meet them, and began to say that he had +just come from Paris, Pierre asked himself if he had been dreaming. +However, an anxious glance which his brother cast at him convinced him +that he had been right. And then he not only felt ill at ease in presence +of that man whom he had never previously known to lie, but it seemed to +him that he was at last on the track of all he had feared, the formidable +mystery that he had for some time past felt brewing around him in the +little peaceful house. + +When Guillaume, his sons and his brother reached home and entered the +large workroom overlooking Paris, it was so dark that they fancied nobody +was there. + +"What! nobody in?" said Guillaume. + +But in a somewhat low, quiet voice Francois answered out of the gloom: +"Why, yes, I'm here." + +He had remained at his table, where he had worked the whole afternoon, +and as he could no longer read, he now sat in a dreamy mood with his head +resting on his hands, his eyes wandering over Paris, where night was +gradually falling. As his examination was now near at hand, he was living +in a state of severe mental strain. + +"What, you are still working there!" said his father. "Why didn't you ask +for a lamp?" + +"No, I wasn't working, I was looking at Paris," Francois slowly answered. +"It's singular how the night falls over it by degrees. The last district +that remained visible was the Montague Ste. Genevieve, the plateau of the +Pantheon, where all our knowledge and science have grown up. A sun-ray +still gilds the schools and libraries and laboratories, when the +low-lying districts of trade are already steeped in darkness. I won't say +that the planet has a particular partiality for us at the Ecole Normale, +but it's certain that its beams still linger on our roofs, when they are +to be seen nowhere else." + +He began to laugh at his jest. Still one could see how ardent was his +faith in mental effort, how entirely he gave himself to mental labour, +which, in his opinion, could alone bring truth, establish justice and +create happiness. + +Then came a short spell of silence. Paris sank more and more deeply into +the night, growing black and mysterious, till all at once sparks of light +began to appear. + +"The lamps are being lighted," resumed Francois; "work is being resumed on +all sides." + +Then Guillaume, who likewise had been dreaming, immersed in his fixed +idea, exclaimed: "Work, yes, no doubt! But for work to give a full +harvest it must be fertilised by will. There is something which is +superior to work." + +Thomas and Antoine had drawn near. And Francois, as much for them as for +himself, inquired: "What is that, father?" + +"Action." + +For a moment the three young men remained silent, impressed by the +solemnity of the hour, quivering too beneath the great waves of darkness +which rose from the vague ocean of the city. Then a young voice remarked, +though whose it was one could not tell: "Action is but work." + +And Pierre, who lacked the respectful quietude, the silent faith, of his +nephews, now felt his nervousness increasing. That huge and terrifying +mystery of which he was dimly conscious rose before him, while a great +quiver sped by in the darkness, over that black city where the lamps were +now being lighted for a whole passionate night of work. + + + +IV + +THE CRISIS + +A GREAT ceremony was to take place that day at the basilica of the Sacred +Heart. Ten thousand pilgrims were to be present there, at a solemn +consecration of the Holy Sacrament; and pending the arrival of four +o'clock, the hour fixed for the service, Montmartre would be invaded by +people. Its slopes would be black with swarming devotees, the shops where +religious emblems and pictures were sold would be besieged, the cafes and +taverns would be crowded to overflowing. It would all be like some huge +fair, and meantime the big bell of the basilica, "La Savoyarde," would be +ringing peal on peal over the holiday-making multitude. + +When Pierre entered the workroom in the morning he perceived Guillaume +and Mere-Grand alone there; and a remark which he heard the former make +caused him to stop short and listen from behind a tall-revolving +bookstand. Mere-Grand sat sewing in her usual place near the big window, +while Guillaume stood before her, speaking in a low voice. + +"Mother," said he, "everything is ready, it is for to-day." + +She let her work fall, and raised her eyes, looking very pale. "Ah!" she +said, "so you have made up your mind." + +"Yes, irrevocably. At four o'clock I shall be yonder, and it will all be +over." + +"'Tis well--you are the master." + +Silence fell, terrible silence. Guillaume's voice seemed to come from far +away, from somewhere beyond the world. It was evident that his resolution +was unshakable, that his tragic dream, his fixed idea of martyrdom, +wholly absorbed him. Mere-Grand looked at him with her pale eyes, like an +heroic woman who had grown old in relieving the sufferings of others, and +had ever shown all the abnegation and devotion of an intrepid heart, +which nothing but the idea of duty could influence. She knew Guillaume's +terrible scheme, and had helped him to regulate the pettiest details of +it; but if on the one hand, after all the iniquity she had seen and +endured, she admitted that fierce and exemplary punishment might seem +necessary, and that even the idea of purifying the world by the fire of a +volcano might be entertained, on the other hand, she believed too +strongly in the necessity of living one's life bravely to the very end, +to be able, under any circumstances, to regard death as either good or +profitable. + +"My son," she gently resumed, "I witnessed the growth of your scheme, and +it neither surprised nor angered me. I accepted it as one accepts +lightning, the very fire of the skies, something of sovereign purity and +power. And I have helped you through it all, and have taken upon myself +to act as the mouthpiece of your conscience. . . . But let me tell you +once more, one ought never to desert the cause of life." + +"It is useless to speak, mother," Guillaume replied: "I have resolved to +give my life and cannot take it back. . . . Are you now unwilling to +carry out my desires, remain here, and act as we have decided, when all +is over?" + +She did not answer this inquiry, but in her turn, speaking slowly and +gravely, put a question to him: "So it is useless for me to speak to you +of the children, myself and the house?" said she. "You have thought it +all over, you are quite determined?" And as he simply answered "Yes," she +added: "'Tis well, you are the master. . . . I will be the one who is to +remain behind and act. And you may be without fear, your bequest is in +good hands. All that we have decided together shall be done." + +Once more they became silent. Then she again inquired: "At four o'clock, +you say, at the moment of that consecration?" + +"Yes, at four o'clock." + +She was still looking at him with her pale eyes, and there seemed to be +something superhuman in her simplicity and grandeur as she sat there in +her thin black gown. Her glance, in which the greatest bravery and the +deepest sadness mingled, filled Guillaume with acute emotion. His hands +began to tremble, and he asked: "Will you let me kiss you, mother?" + +"Oh! right willingly, my son," she responded. "Your path of duty may not +be mine, but you see I respect your views and love you." + +They kissed one another, and when Pierre, whom the scene had chilled to +his heart, presented himself as if he were just arriving, Mere-Grand had +quietly taken up her needlework once more, while Guillaume was going to +and fro, setting one of his laboratory shelves in order with all his +wonted activity. + +At noon when lunch was ready, they found it necessary to wait for Thomas, +who had not yet come home. His brothers Francois and Antoine complained +in a jesting way, saying that they were dying of hunger, while for her +part Marie, who had made a /creme/, and was very proud of it, declared +that they would eat it all, and that those who came late would have to go +without tasting it. When Thomas eventually put in an appearance he was +greeted with jeers. + +"But it wasn't my fault," said he; "I stupidly came up the hill by way of +the Rue de la Barre, and you can have no notion what a crowd I fell upon. +Quite ten thousand pilgrims must have camped there last night. I am told +that as many as possible were huddled together in the St. Joseph Refuge. +The others no doubt had to sleep in the open air. And now they are busy +eating, here, there and everywhere, all over the patches of waste ground +and even on the pavements. One can scarcely set one foot before the other +without risk of treading on somebody." + +The meal proved a very gay one, though Pierre found the gaiety forced and +excessive. Yet the young people could surely know nothing of the +frightful, invisible thing which to Pierre ever seemed to be hovering +around in the bright sunlight of that splendid June day. Was it that the +dim presentiment which comes to loving hearts when mourning threatens +them, swept by during the short intervals of silence that followed the +joyous outbursts? Although Guillaume looked somewhat pale, and spoke with +unusual caressing softness, he retained his customary bright smile. But, +on the other hand, never had Mere-Grand been more silent or more grave. + +Marie's /creme/ proved a great success, and the others congratulated her +on it so fulsomely that they made her blush. Then, all at once, heavy +silence fell once more, a deathly chill seemed to sweep by, making every +face turn pale--even while they were still cleaning their plates with +their little spoons. + +"Ah! that bell," exclaimed Francois; "it is really intolerable. I can +feel my head splitting." + +He referred to "La Savoyarde," the big bell of the basilica, which had +now begun to toll, sending forth deep sonorous volumes of sound, which +ever and ever winged their flight over the immensity of Paris. In the +workroom they were all listening to the clang. + +"Will it keep on like that till four o'clock?" asked Marie. + +"Oh! at four o'clock," replied Thomas, "at the moment of the consecration +you will hear something much louder than that. The great peals of joy, +the song of triumph will then ring out." + +Guillaume was still smiling. "Yes, yes," said he, "those who don't want +to be deafened for life had better keep their windows closed. The worst +is, that Paris has to hear it whether it will or no, and even as far away +as the Pantheon, so I'm told." + +Meantime Mere-Grand remained silent and impassive. Antoine for his part +expressed his disgust with the horrible religious pictures for which the +pilgrims fought--pictures which in some respects suggested those on the +lids of sweetmeat boxes, although they depicted the Christ with His +breast ripped open and displaying His bleeding heart. There could be no +more repulsive materialism, no grosser or baser art, said Antoine. Then +they rose from table, talking at the top of their voices so as to make +themselves heard above the incessant din which came from the big bell. + +Immediately afterwards they all set to work again. Mere-Grand took her +everlasting needlework in hand once more, while Marie, sitting near her, +continued some embroidery. The young men also attended to their +respective tasks, and now and again raised their heads and exchanged a +few words. Guillaume, for his part, likewise seemed very busy; Pierre +alone coming and going in a state of anguish, beholding them all as in a +nightmare, and attributing some terrible meaning to the most innocent +remarks. During /dejeuner/, in order to explain the frightful discomfort +into which he was thrown by the gaiety of the meal, he had been obliged +to say that he felt poorly. And now he was looking and listening and +waiting with ever-growing anxiety. + +Shortly before three o'clock, Guillaume glanced at his watch and then +quietly took up his hat. "Well," said he, "I'm going out." + +His sons, Mere-Grand and Marie raised their heads. + +"I'm going out," he repeated, "/au revoir/." + +Still he did not go off. Pierre could divine that he was struggling, +stiffening himself against the frightful tempest which was raging within +him, striving to prevent either shudder or pallor from betraying his +awful secret. Ah! he must have suffered keenly; he dared not give his +sons a last kiss, for fear lest he might rouse some suspicion in their +minds, which would impel them to oppose him and prevent his death! At +last with supreme heroism he managed to overcome himself. + +"/Au revoir/, boys." + +"/Au revoir/, father. Will you be home early?" + +"Yes, yes. . . . Don't worry about me, do plenty of work." + +Mere-Grand, still majestically silent, kept her eyes fixed upon him. Her +he had ventured to kiss, and their glances met and mingled, instinct with +all that he had decided and that she had promised: their common dream of +truth and justice. + +"I say, Guillaume," exclaimed Marie gaily, "will you undertake a +commission for me if you are going down by way of the Rue des Martyrs?" + +"Why, certainly," he replied. + +"Well, then, please look in at my dressmaker's, and tell her that I +shan't go to try my gown on till to-morrow morning." + +It was a question of her wedding dress, a gown of light grey silk, the +stylishness of which she considered very amusing. Whenever she spoke of +it, both she and the others began to laugh. + +"It's understood, my dear," said Guillaume, likewise making merry over +it. "We know it's Cinderella's court robe, eh? The fairy brocade and lace +that are to make you very beautiful and for ever happy." + +However, the laughter ceased, and in the sudden silence which fell, it +again seemed as if death were passing by with a great flapping of wings +and an icy gust which chilled the hearts of everyone remaining there. + +"It's understood; so now I'm really off," resumed Guillaume. "/Au +revoir/, children." + +Then he sallied forth, without even turning round, and for a moment they +could hear the firm tread of his feet over the garden gravel. + +Pierre having invented a pretext was able to follow him a couple of +minutes afterwards. As a matter of fact there was no need for him to dog +Guillaume's heels, for he knew where his brother was going. He was +thoroughly convinced that he would find him at that doorway, conducting +to the foundations of the basilica, whence he had seen him emerge two +days before. And so he wasted no time in looking for him among the crowd +of pilgrims going to the church. His only thought was to hurry on and +reach Jahan's workshop. And in accordance with his expectation, just as +he arrived there, he perceived Guillaume slipping between the broken +palings. The crush and the confusion prevailing among the concourse of +believers favored Pierre as it had his brother, in such wise that he was +able to follow the latter and enter the doorway without being noticed. +Once there he had to pause and draw breath for a moment, so greatly did +the beating of his heart oppress him. + +A precipitous flight of steps, where all was steeped in darkness, +descended from the narrow entry. It was with infinite precaution that +Pierre ventured into the gloom, which ever grew denser and denser. He +lowered his feet gently so as to make no noise, and feeling the walls +with his hands, turned round and round as he went lower and lower into a +kind of well. However, the descent was not a very long one. As soon as he +found beaten ground beneath his feet he paused, no longer daring to stir +for fear of betraying his presence. The darkness was like ink, and there +was not a sound, a breath; the silence was complete. + +How should he find his way? he wondered. Which direction ought he to +take? He was still hesitating when some twenty paces away he suddenly saw +a bright spark, the gleam of a lucifer. Guillaume was lighting a candle. +Pierre recognised his broad shoulders, and from that moment he simply had +to follow the flickering light along a walled and vaulted subterranean +gallery. It seemed to be interminable and to run in a northerly +direction, towards the nave of the basilica. + +All at once the little light at last stopped, while Pierre, anxious to +see what would happen, continued to advance, treading as softly as he +could and remaining in the gloom. He found that Guillaume had stood his +candle upon the ground in the middle of a kind of low rotunda under the +crypt, and that he had knelt down and moved aside a long flagstone which +seemed to cover a cavity. They were here among the foundations of the +basilica; and one of the columns or piles of concrete poured into shafts +in order to support the building could be seen. The gap, which the stone +slab removed by Guillaume had covered, was by the very side of the +pillar; it was either some natural surface flaw, or a deep fissure caused +by some subsidence or settling of the soil. The heads of other pillars +could be descried around, and these the cleft seemed to be reaching, for +little slits branched out in all directions. Then, on seeing his brother +leaning forward, like one who is for the last time examining a mine he +has laid before applying a match to the fuse, Pierre suddenly understood +the whole terrifying business. Considerable quantities of the new +explosive had been brought to that spot. Guillaume had made the journey a +score of times at carefully selected hours, and all his powder had been +poured into the gap beside the pillar, spreading to the slightest rifts +below, saturating the soil at a great depth, and in this wise forming a +natural mine of incalculable force. And now the powder was flush with the +flagstone which Guillaume has just moved aside. It was only necessary to +throw a match there, and everything would be blown into the air! + +For a moment an acute chill of horror rooted Pierre to the spot. He could +neither have taken a step nor raised a cry. He pictured the swarming +throng above him, the ten thousand pilgrims crowding the lofty naves of +the basilica to witness the solemn consecration of the Host. Peal upon +peal flew from "La Savoyarde," incense smoked, and ten thousand voices +raised a hymn of magnificence and praise. And all at once came thunder +and earthquake, and a volcano opening and belching forth fire and smoke, +and swallowing up the whole church and its multitude of worshippers. +Breaking the concrete piles and rending the unsound soil, the explosion, +which was certain to be one of extraordinary violence, would doubtless +split the edifice atwain, and hurl one-half down the slopes descending +towards Paris, whilst the other on the side of the apse would crumble and +collapse upon the spot where it stood. And how fearful would be the +avalanche; a broken forest of scaffoldings, a hail of stonework, rushing +and bounding through the dust and smoke on to the roofs below; whilst the +violence of the shock would threaten the whole of Montmartre, which, it +seemed likely, must stagger and sink in one huge mass of ruins! + +However, Guillaume had again risen. The candle standing on the ground, +its flame shooting up, erect and slender, threw his huge shadow all over +the subterranean vault. Amidst the dense blackness the light looked like +some dismal stationary star. Guillaume drew near to it in order to see +what time it was by his watch. It proved to be five minutes past three. +So he had nearly another hour to wait. He was in no hurry, he wished to +carry out his design punctually, at the precise moment he had selected; +and he therefore sat down on a block of stone, and remained there without +moving, quiet and patient. The candle now cast its light upon his pale +face, upon his towering brow crowned with white hair, upon the whole of +his energetic countenance, which still looked handsome and young, thanks +to his bright eyes and dark moustaches. And not a muscle of his face +stirred; he simply gazed into the void. What thoughts could be passing +through his mind at that supreme moment? Who could tell? There was not a +quiver; heavy night, the deep eternal silence of the earth reigned all +around. + +Then Pierre, having quieted his palpitating heart, drew near. At the +sound of his footsteps Guillaume rose menacingly, but he immediately +recognised his brother, and did not seem astonished to see him. + +"Ah! it's you," he said, "you followed me. . . . I felt that you +possessed my secret. And it grieves me that you should have abused your +knowledge to join me here. You might have spared me this last sorrow." + +Pierre clasped his trembling hands, and at once tried to entreat him. +"Brother, brother," he began. + +"No, don't speak yet," said Guillaume, "if you absolutely wish it I will +listen to you by-and-by. We have nearly an hour before us, so we can +chat. But I want you to understand the futility of all you may think +needful to tell me. My resolution is unshakable; I was a long time coming +to it, and in carrying it out I shall simply be acting in accordance with +my reason and my conscience." + +Then he quietly related that having decided upon a great deed he had long +hesitated as to which edifice he should destroy. The opera-house had +momentarily tempted him, but he had reflected that there would be no +great significance in the whirlwind of anger and justice destroying a +little set of enjoyers. In fact, such a deed might savour of jealousy and +covetousness. Next he had thought of the Bourse, where he might strike a +blow at money, the great agent of corruption, and the capitalist society +in whose clutches the wage-earners groaned. Only, here again the blow +would fall upon a restricted circle. Then an idea of destroying the +Palace of Justice, particularly the assize court, had occurred to him. It +was a very tempting thought--to wreak justice upon human justice, to +sweep away the witnesses, the culprit, the public prosecutor who charges +the latter, the counsel who defends him, the judges who sentence him, and +the lounging public which comes to the spot as to the unfolding of some +sensational serial. And then too what fierce irony there would be in the +summary superior justice of the volcano swallowing up everything +indiscriminately without pausing to enter into details. However, the plan +over which he had most lingered was that of blowing up the Arc de +Triomphe. This he regarded as an odious monument which perpetuated +warfare, hatred among nations, and the false, dearly purchased, +sanguineous glory of conquerors. That colossus raised to the memory of so +much frightful slaughter which had uselessly put an end to so many human +lives, ought, he considered, to be slaughtered in its turn. Could he so +have arranged things that the earth should swallow it up, he might have +achieved the glory of causing no other death than his own, of dying +alone, struck down, crushed to pieces beneath that giant of stone. What a +tomb, and what a memory might he thus have left to the world! + +"But there was no means of approaching it," he continued, "no basement, +no cellar, so I had to give up the idea. . . . And then, although I'm +perfectly willing to die alone, I thought what a loftier and more +terrible lesson there would be in the unjust death of an innocent +multitude, of thousands of unknown people, of all those that might happen +to be passing. In the same way as human society by dint of injustice, +want and harsh regulations causes so many innocent victims, so must +punishment fall as the lightning falls, indiscriminately killing and +destroying whatever it may encounter in its course. When a man sets his +foot on an ant-hill, he gives no heed to all the lives which he stamps +out." + +Pierre, whom this theory rendered quite indignant, raised a cry of +protest: "Oh! brother, brother, is it you who are saying such things?" + +Yet, Guillaume did not pause: "If I have ended by choosing this basilica +of the Sacred Heart," he continued, "it is because I found it near at +hand and easy to destroy. But it is also because it haunts and +exasperates me, because I have long since condemned it. . . . As I have +often said to you, one cannot imagine anything more preposterous than +Paris, our great Paris, crowned and dominated by this temple raised to +the glorification of the absurd. Is it not outrageous that common sense +should receive such a smack after so many centuries of science, that Rome +should claim the right of triumphing in this insolent fashion, on our +loftiest height in the full sunlight? The priests want Paris to repent +and do penitence for its liberative work of truth and justice. But its +only right course is to sweep away all that hampers and insults it in its +march towards deliverance. And so may the temple fall with its deity of +falsehood and servitude! And may its ruins crush its worshippers, so that +like one of the old geological revolutions of the world, the catastrophe +may resound through the very entrails of mankind, and renew and change +it!" + +"Brother, brother!" again cried Pierre, quite beside himself, "is it you +who are talking? What! you, a great scientist, a man of great heart, you +have come to this! What madness is stirring you that you should think and +say such abominable things? On the evening when we confessed our secrets +one to the other, you told me of your proud and lofty dream of ideal +Anarchy. There would be free harmony in life, which left to its natural +forces would of itself create happiness. But you still rebelled against +the idea of theft and murder. You would not accept them as right or +necessary; you merely explained and excused them. What has happened then +that you, all brain and thought, should now have become the hateful hand +that acts?" + +"Salvat has been guillotined," said Guillaume simply, "and I read his +will and testament in his last glance. I am merely an executor. . . . And +what has happened, you ask? Why, all that has made me suffer for four +months past, the whole social evil which surrounds us, and which must be +brought to an end." + +Silence fell. The brothers looked at one another in the darkness. And +Pierre now understood things. He saw that Guillaume was changed, that the +terrible gust of revolutionary contagion sweeping over Paris had +transformed him. It had all come from the duality of his nature, the +presence of contradictory elements within him. On one side one found a +scientist whose whole creed lay in observation and experiment, who, in +dealing with nature, evinced the most cautious logic; while on the other +side was a social dreamer, haunted by ideas of fraternity, equality and +justice, and eager for universal happiness. Thence had first come the +theoretical anarchist that he had been, one in whom science and chimeras +were mingled, who dreamt of human society returning to the harmonious law +of the spheres, each man free, in a free association, regulated by love +alone. Neither Theophile Morin with the doctrines of Proudhon and Comte, +nor Bache with those of St. Simon and Fourier, had been able to satisfy +his desire for the absolute. All those systems had seemed to him +imperfect and chaotic, destructive of one another, and tending to the +same wretchedness of life. Janzen alone had occasionally satisfied him +with some of his curt phrases which shot over the horizon, like arrows +conquering the whole earth for the human family. And then in Guillaume's +big heart, which the idea of want, the unjust sufferings of the lowly and +the poor exasperated, Salvat's tragic adventure had suddenly found place, +fomenting supreme rebellion. For long weeks he had lived on with +trembling hands, with growing anguish clutching at his throat. First had +come that bomb and the explosion which still made him quiver, then the +vile cupidity of the newspapers howling for the poor wretch's head, then +the search for him and the hunt through the Bois de Boulogne, till he +fell into the hands of the police, covered with mud and dying of +starvation. And afterwards there had been the assize court, the judges, +the gendarmes, the witnesses, the whole of France arrayed against one man +and bent on making him pay for the universal crime. And finally, there +had come the guillotine, the monstrous, the filthy beast consummating +irreparable injustice in human justice's name. One sole idea now remained +to Guillaume, that idea of justice which maddened him, leaving naught in +his mind save the thought of the just, avenging flare by which he would +repair the evil and ensure that which was right for all time forward. +Salvat had looked at him, and contagion had done its work; he glowed with +a desire for death, a desire to give his own blood and set the blood of +others flowing, in order that mankind, amidst its fright and horror, +should decree the return of the golden age. + +Pierre understood the stubborn blindness of such insanity; and he felt +utterly upset by the fear that he should be unable to overcome it. "You +are mad, brother!" he exclaimed, "they have driven you mad! It is a gust +of violence passing; they were treated in a wrong way and too +relentlessly at the outset, and now that they are avenging one another, +it may be that blood will never cease to flow. . . . But, listen, +brother, throw off that nightmare. You can't be a Salvat who murders or a +Bergaz who steals! Remember the pillage of the Princess's house and +remember the fair-haired, pretty child whom we saw lying yonder, ripped +open. . . . You do not, you cannot belong to that set, brother--" + +With a wave of his hand, Guillaume brushed these vain reasons aside. Of +what consequence were a few lives, his own included? No change had ever +taken place in the world without millions and millions of existences +being stamped out. + +"But you had a great scheme in hand," cried Pierre, hoping to save him by +reviving his sense of duty. "It isn't allowable for you to go off like +this." + +Then he fervently strove to awaken his brother's scientific pride. He +spoke to him of his secret, of that great engine of warfare, which could +destroy armies and reduce cities to dust, and which he had intended to +offer to France, so that on emerging victorious from the approaching war, +she might afterwards become the deliverer of the world. And it was this +grand scheme that he had abandoned, preferring to employ his explosive in +killing innocent people and overthrowing a church, which would be built +afresh, whatever the cost, and become a sanctuary of martyrs! + +Guillaume smiled. "I have not relinquished my scheme," said he, "I have +simply modified it. Did I not tell you of my doubts, my anxious +perplexity? Ah! to believe that one holds the destiny of the world in +one's grasp, and to tremble and hesitate and wonder if the intelligence +and wisdom, that are needful for things to take the one wise course, will +be forthcoming! At sight of all the stains upon our great Paris, all the +errors and transgressions which we lately witnessed, I shuddered. I asked +myself if Paris were sufficiently calm and pure for one to entrust her +with omnipotence. How terrible would be the disaster if such an invention +as mine should fall into the hands of a demented nation, possibly a +dictator, some man of conquest, who would simply employ it to terrorize +other nations and reduce them to slavery. . . . Ah! no, I do not wish to +perpetuate warfare, I wish to kill it." + +Then in a clear firm voice he explained his new plan, in which Pierre was +surprised to find some of the ideas which General de Bozonnet had one day +laid before him in a very different spirit. Warfare was on the road to +extinction, threatened by its very excesses. In the old days of +mercenaries, and afterwards with conscripts, the percentage of soldiers +designated by chance, war had been a profession and a passion. But +nowadays, when everybody is called upon to fight, none care to do so. By +the logical force of things, the system of the whole nation in arms means +the coming end of armies. How much longer will the nations remain on a +footing of deadly peace, bowed down by ever increasing "estimates," +spending millions and millions on holding one another in respect? Ah! how +great the deliverance, what a cry of relief would go up on the day when +some formidable engine, capable of destroying armies and sweeping cities +away, should render war an impossibility and constrain every people to +disarm! Warfare would be dead, killed in her own turn, she who has killed +so many. This was Guillaume's dream, and he grew quite enthusiastic, so +strong was his conviction that he would presently bring it to pass. + +"Everything is settled," said he; "if I am about to die and disappear, it +is in order that my idea may triumph. . . . You have lately seen me spend +whole afternoons alone with Mere-Grand. Well, we were completing the +classification of the documents and making our final arrangements. She +has my orders, and will execute them even at the risk of her life, for +none has a braver, loftier soul. . . . As soon as I am dead, buried +beneath these stones, as soon as she has heard the explosion shake Paris +and proclaim the advent of the new era, she will forward a set of all the +documents I have confided to her--the formula of my explosive, the +drawings of the bomb and gun--to each of the great powers of the world. +In this wise I shall bestow on all the nations the terrible gift of +destruction and omnipotence which, at first, I wished to bestow on France +alone; and I do this in order that the nations, being one and all armed +with the thunderbolt, may at once disarm, for fear of being annihilated, +when seeking to annihilate others." + +Pierre listened to him, gaping, amazed at this extraordinary idea, in +which childishness was blended with genius. "Well," said he, "if you give +your secret to all the nations, why should you blow up this church, and +die yourself?" + +"Why! In order that I may be believed!" cried Guillaume with +extraordinary force of utterance. Then he added, "The edifice must lie on +the ground, and I must be under it. If the experiment is not made, if +universal horror does not attest and proclaim the amazing destructive +power of my explosive, people will consider me a mere schemer, a +visionary! . . . A lot of dead, a lot of blood, that is what is needed in +order that blood may for ever cease to flow!" Then, with a broad sweep of +his arm, he again declared that his action was necessary. "Besides," he +said, "Salvat left me the legacy of carrying out this deed of justice. If +I have given it greater scope and significance, utilising it as a means +of hastening the end of war, this is because I happen to be a man of +intellect. It would have been better possibly if my mind had been a +simple one, and if I had merely acted like some volcano which changes the +soil, leaving life the task of renewing humanity." + +Much of the candle had now burnt away, and Guillaume at last rose from +the block of stone. He had again consulted his watch, and found that he +had ten minutes left him. The little current of air created by his +gestures made the light flicker, while all around him the darkness seemed +to grow denser. And near at hand ever lay the threatening open mine which +a spark might at any moment fire. + +"It is nearly time," said Guillaume. "Come, brother, kiss me and go away. +You know how much I love you, what ardent affection for you has been +awakened in my old heart. So love me in like fashion, and find love +enough to let me die as I want to die, in carrying out my duty. Kiss me, +kiss me, and go away without turning your head." + +His deep affection for Pierre made his voice tremble, but he struggled +on, forced back his tears, and ended by conquering himself. It was as if +he were no longer of the world, no longer one of mankind. + +"No, brother, you have not convinced me," said Pierre, who on his side +did not seek to hide his tears, "and it is precisely because I love you +as you love me, with my whole being, my whole soul, that I cannot go +away. It is impossible! You cannot be the madman, the murderer you would +try to be." + +"Why not? Am I not free. I have rid my life of all responsibilities, all +ties. . . . I have brought up my sons, they have no further need of me. +But one heart-link remained--Marie, and I have given her to you." + +At this a disturbing argument occurred to Pierre, and he passionately +availed himself of it. "So you want to die because you have given me +Marie," said he. "You still love her, confess it!" + +"No!" cried Guillaume, "I no longer love her, I swear it. I gave her to +you. I love her no more." + +"So you fancied; but you can see now that you still love her, for here +you are, quite upset; whereas none of the terrifying things of which we +spoke just now could even move you. . . . Yes, if you wish to die it is +because you have lost Marie!" + +Guillaume quivered, shaken by what his brother said, and in low, broken +words he tried to question himself. "No, no, that any love pain should +have urged me to this terrible deed would be unworthy--unworthy of my +great design. No, no, I decided on it in the free exercise of my reason, +and I am accomplishing it from no personal motive, but in the name of +justice and for the benefit of humanity, in order that war and want may +cease." + +Then, in sudden anguish, he went on: "Ah! it is cruel of you, brother, +cruel of you to poison my delight at dying. I have created all the +happiness I could, I was going off well pleased at leaving you all happy, +and now you poison my death. No, no! question it how I may, my heart does +not ache; if I love Marie, it is simply in the same way as I love you." + +Nevertheless, he remained perturbed, as if fearing lest he might be lying +to himself; and by degrees gloomy anger came over him: "Listen, that is +enough, Pierre," he exclaimed, "time is flying. . . . For the last time, +go away! I order you to do so; I will have it!" + +"I will not obey you, Guillaume. . . . I will stay, and as all my +reasoning cannot save you from your insanity, fire your mine, and I will +die with you." + +"You? Die? But you have no right to do so, you are not free!" + +"Free, or not, I swear that I will die with you. And if it merely be a +question of flinging this candle into that hole, tell me so, and I will +take it and fling it there myself." + +He made a gesture at which his brother thought that he was about to carry +out his threat. So he caught him by the arm, crying: "Why should you die? +It would be absurd. That others should die may be necessary, but you, no! +Of what use could be this additional monstrosity? You are endeavouring to +soften me, you are torturing my heart!" Then all at once, imagining that +Pierre's offer had concealed another design, Guillaume thundered in a +fury: "You don't want to take the candle in order to throw it there. What +you want to do is to blow it out! And you think I shan't be able +then--ah! you bad brother!" + +In his turn Pierre exclaimed: "Oh! certainly, I'll use every means to +prevent you from accomplishing such a frightful and foolish deed!" + +"You'll prevent me!" + +"Yes, I'll cling to you, I'll fasten my arms to your shoulders, I'll hold +your hands if necessary." + +"Ah! you'll prevent me, you bad brother! You think you'll prevent me!" + +Choking and trembling with rage, Guillaume had already caught hold of +Pierre, pressing his ribs with his powerful muscular arms. They were +closely linked together, their eyes fixed upon one another, and their +breath mingling in that kind of subterranean dungeon, where their big +dancing shadows looked like ghosts. They seemed to be vanishing into the +night, the candle now showed merely like a little yellow tear in the +midst of the darkness; and at that moment, in those far depths, a quiver +sped through the silence of the earth which weighed so heavily upon them. +Distant but sonorous peals rang out, as if death itself were somewhere +ringing its invisible bell. + +"You hear," stammered Guillaume, "it's their bell up there. The time has +come. I have vowed to act, and you want to prevent me!" + +"Yes, I'll prevent you as long as I'm here alive." + +"As long as you are alive, you'll prevent me!" + +Guillaume could hear "La Savoyarde" pealing joyfully up yonder; he could +see the triumphant basilica, overflowing with its ten thousand pilgrims, +and blazing with the splendour of the Host amidst the smoke of incense; +and blind frenzy came over him at finding himself unable to act, at +finding an obstacle suddenly barring the road to his fixed idea. + +"As long as you are alive, as long as you are alive!" he repeated, beside +himself. "Well, then, die, you wretched brother!" + +A fratricidal gleam had darted from his blurred eyes. He hastily stooped, +picked up a large brick forgotten there, and raised it with both hands as +if it were a club. + +"Ah! I'm willing," cried Pierre. "Kill me, then; kill your own brother +before you kill the others!" + +The brick was already descending, but Guillaume's arms must have +deviated, for the weapon only grazed one of Pierre's shoulders. +Nevertheless, he sank upon his knees in the gloom. When Guillaume saw him +there he fancied he had dealt him a mortal blow. What was it that had +happened between them, what had he done? For a moment he remained +standing, haggard, his mouth open, his eyes dilating with terror. He +looked at his hands, fancying that blood was streaming from them. Then he +pressed them to his brow, which seemed to be bursting with pain, as if +his fixed idea had been torn from him, leaving his skull open. And he +himself suddenly sank upon the ground with a great sob. + +"Oh! brother, little brother, what have I done?" he called. "I am a +monster!" + +But Pierre had passionately caught him in his arms again. "It is nothing, +nothing, brother, I assure you," he replied. "Ah! you are weeping now. +How pleased I am! You are saved, I can feel it, since you are weeping. +And what a good thing it is that you flew into such a passion, for your +anger with me has dispelled your evil dream of violence." + +"I am horrified with myself," gasped Guillaume, "to think that I wanted +to kill you! Yes, I'm a brute beast that would kill his brother! And the +others, too, all the others up yonder. . . . Oh! I'm cold, I feel so +cold." + +His teeth were chattering, and he shivered. It was as if he had awakened, +half stupefied, from some evil dream. And in the new light which his +fratricidal deed cast upon things, the scheme which had haunted him and +goaded him to madness appeared like some act of criminal folly, projected +by another. + +"To kill you!" he repeated almost in a whisper. "I shall never forgive +myself. My life is ended, I shall never find courage enough to live." + +But Pierre clasped him yet more tightly. "What do you say?" he answered. +"Will there not rather be a fresh and stronger tie of affection between +us? Ah! yes, brother, let me save you as you saved me, and we shall be +yet more closely united! Don't you remember that evening at Neuilly, when +you consoled me and held me to your heart as I am holding you to mine? I +had confessed my torments to you, and you told me that I must live and +love! . . . And you did far more afterwards: you plucked your own love +from your breast and gave it to me. You wished to ensure my happiness at +the price of your own! And how delightful it is that, in my turn, I now +have an opportunity to console you, save you, and bring you back to +life!" + +"No, no, the bloodstain is there and it is ineffaceable. I can hope no +more!" + +"Yes, yes, you can. Hope in life as you bade me do! Hope in love and hope +in labour!" + +Still weeping and clasping one another, the brothers continued speaking +in low voices. The expiring candle suddenly went out unknown to them, and +in the inky night and deep silence their tears of redeeming affection +flowed freely. On the one hand, there was joy at being able to repay a +debt of brotherliness, and on the other, acute emotion at having been led +by a fanatical love of justice and mankind to the very verge of crime. +And there were yet other things in the depths of those tears which +cleansed and purified them; there were protests against suffering in +every form, and ardent wishes that the world might some day be relieved +of all its dreadful woe. + +At last, after pushing the flagstone over the cavity near the pillar, +Pierre groped his way out of the vault, leading Guillaume like a child. + +Meantime Mere-Grand, still seated near the window of the workroom, had +impassively continued sewing. Now and again, pending the arrival of four +o'clock, she had looked up at the timepiece hanging on the wall on her +left hand, or else had glanced out of the window towards the unfinished +pile of the basilica, which a gigantic framework of scaffoldings +encompassed. Slowly and steadily plying her needle, the old lady remained +very pale and silent, but full of heroic serenity. On the other hand, +Marie, who sat near her, embroidering, shifted her position a score of +times, broke her thread, and grew impatient, feeling strangely nervous, a +prey to unaccountable anxiety, which oppressed her heart. For their part, +the three young men could not keep in place at all; it was as if some +contagious fever disturbed them. Each had gone to his work: Thomas was +filing something at his bench; Francois and Antoine were on either side +of their table, the first trying to solve a mathematical problem, and the +other copying a bunch of poppies in a vase before him. It was in vain, +however, that they strove to be attentive. They quivered at the slightest +sound, raised their heads, and darted questioning glances at one another. +What could be the matter? What could possess them? What did they fear? +Now and again one or the other would rise, stretch himself, and then, +resume his place. However, they did not speak; it was as if they dared +not say anything, and thus the heavy silence grew more and more terrible. + +When it was a few minutes to four o'clock Mere-Grand felt weary, or else +desired to collect her thoughts. After another glance at the timepiece, +she let her needlework fall on her lap and turned towards the basilica. +It seemed to her that she had only enough strength left to wait; and she +remained with her eyes fixed on the huge walls and the forest of +scaffolding which rose over yonder with such triumphant pride under the +blue sky. Then all at once, however brave and firm she might be, she +could not restrain a start, for "La Savoyarde" had raised a joyful clang. +The consecration of the Host was now at hand, the ten thousand pilgrims +filled the church, four o'clock was about to strike. And thereupon an +irresistible impulse forced the old lady to her feet; she drew herself +up, quivering, her hands clasped, her eyes ever turned yonder, waiting in +mute dread. + +"What is the matter?" cried Thomas, who noticed her. "Why are you +trembling, Mere-Grand?" + +Francois and Antoine raised their heads, and in turn sprang forward. + +"Are you ill? Why are you turning so pale, you who are so courageous?" + +But she did not answer. Ah! might the force of the explosion rend the +earth asunder, reach the house and sweep it into the flaming crater of +the volcano! Might she and the three young men, might they all die with +the father, this was her one ardent wish in order that grief might be +spared them. And she remained waiting and waiting, quivering despite +herself, but with her brave, clear eyes ever gazing yonder. + +"Mere-Grand, Mere-Grand!" cried Marie in dismay; "you frighten us by +refusing to answer us, by looking over there as if some misfortune were +coming up at a gallop!" + +Then, prompted by the same anguish, the same cry suddenly came from +Thomas, Francois and Antoine: "Father is in peril--father is going to +die!" + +What did they know? Nothing precise, certainly. Thomas no doubt had been +astonished to see what a large quantity of the explosive his father had +recently prepared, and both Francois and Antoine were aware of the ideas +of revolt which he harboured in his mind. But, full of filial deference, +they never sought to know anything beyond what he might choose to confide +to them. They never questioned him; they bowed to whatever he might do. +And yet now a foreboding came to them, a conviction that their father was +going to die, that some most frightful catastrophe was impending. It must +have been that which had already sent such a quiver through the +atmosphere ever since the morning, making them shiver with fever, feel +ill at ease, and unable to work. + +"Father is going to die, father is going to die!" + +The three big fellows had drawn close together, distracted by one and the +same anguish, and furiously longing to know what the danger was, in order +that they might rush upon it and die with their father if they could not +save him. And amidst Mere-Grand's stubborn silence death once more +flitted through the room: there came a cold gust such as they had already +felt brushing past them during /dejeuner/. + +At last four o'clock began to strike, and Mere-Grand raised her white +hands with a gesture of supreme entreaty. It was then that she at last +spoke: "Father is going to die. Nothing but the duty of living can save +him." + +At this the three young men again wished to rush yonder, whither they +knew not; but they felt that they must throw down all obstacles and +conquer. Their powerlessness rent their hearts, they were both so frantic +and so woeful that their grandmother strove to calm them. "Father's own +wish was to die," said she, "and he is resolved to die alone." + +They shuddered as they heard her, and then, on their side, strove to be +heroic. But the minutes crept by, and it seemed as if the cold gust had +slowly passed away. Sometimes, at the twilight hour, a night-bird will +come in by the window like some messenger of misfortune, flit round the +darkened room, and then fly off again, carrying its sadness with it. And +it was much like that; the gust passed, the basilica remained standing, +the earth did not open to swallow it. Little by little the atrocious +anguish which wrung their hearts gave place to hope. And when at last +Guillaume appeared, followed by Pierre, a great cry of resurrection came +from one and all: "Father!" + +Their kisses, their tears, deprived him of his little remaining strength. +He was obliged to sit down. He had glanced round him as if he were +returning to life perforce. Mere-Grand, who understood what bitter +feelings must have followed the subjugation of his will, approached him +smiling, and took hold of both his hands as if to tell him that she was +well pleased at seeing him again, and at finding that he accepted his +task and was unwilling to desert the cause of life. For his part he +suffered dreadfully, the shock had been so great. The others spared him +any narrative of their feelings; and he, himself, related nothing. With a +gesture, a loving word, he simply indicated that it was Pierre who had +saved him. + +Thereupon, in a corner of the room, Marie flung her arms round the young +man's neck. "Ah! my good Pierre, I have never yet kissed you," said she; +"I want it to be for something serious the first time. . . . I love you, +my good Pierre, I love you with all my heart." + +Later that same evening, after night had fallen, Guillaume and Pierre +remained for a moment alone in the big workroom. The young men had gone +out, and Mere-Grand and Marie were upstairs sorting some house linen, +while Madame Mathis, who had brought some work back, sat patiently in a +dim corner waiting for another bundle of things which might require +mending. The brothers, steeped in the soft melancholy of the twilight +hour, and chatting in low tones, had quite forgotten her. + +But all at once the arrival of a visitor upset them. It was Janzen with +the fair, Christ-like face. He called very seldom nowadays; and one never +knew from what gloomy spot he had come or into what darkness he would +return when he took his departure. He disappeared, indeed, for months +together, and was then suddenly to be seen like some momentary passer-by +whose past and present life were alike unknown. + +"I am leaving to-night," he said in a voice sharp like a knife. + +"Are you going back to your home in Russia?" asked Guillaume. + +A faint, disdainful smile appeared on the Anarchist's lips. "Home!" said +he, "I am at home everywhere. To begin with, I am not a Russian, and then +I recognise no other country than the world." + +With a sweeping gesture he gave them to understand what manner of man he +was, one who had no fatherland of his own, but carried his gory dream of +fraternity hither and thither regardless of frontiers. From some words he +spoke the brothers fancied he was returning to Spain, where some +fellow-Anarchists awaited him. There was a deal of work to be done there, +it appeared. He had quietly seated himself, chatting on in his cold way, +when all at once he serenely added: "By the by, a bomb had just been +thrown into the Cafe de l'Univers on the Boulevard. Three /bourgeois/ +were killed." + +Pierre and Guillaume shuddered, and asked for particulars. Thereupon +Janzen related that he had happened to be there, had heard the explosion, +and seen the windows of the cafe shivered to atoms. Three customers were +lying on the floor blown to pieces. Two of them were gentlemen, who had +entered the place by chance and whose names were not known, while the +third was a regular customer, a petty cit of the neighbourhood, who came +every day to play a game at dominoes. And the whole place was wrecked; +the marble tables were broken, the chandeliers twisted out of shape, the +mirrors studded with projectiles. And how great the terror and the +indignation, and how frantic the rush of the crowd! The perpetrator of +the deed had been arrested immediately--in fact, just as he was turning +the corner of the Rue Caumartin. + +"I thought I would come and tell you of it," concluded Janzen; "it is +well you should know it." + +Then as Pierre, shuddering and already suspecting the truth, asked him if +he knew who the man was that had been arrested, he slowly replied: "The +worry is that you happen to know him--it was little Victor Mathis." + +Pierre tried to silence Janzen too late. He had suddenly remembered that +Victor's mother had been sitting in a dark corner behind them a short +time previously. Was she still there? Then he again pictured Victor, +slight and almost beardless, with a straight, stubborn brow, grey eyes +glittering with intelligence, a pointed nose and thin lips expressive of +stern will and unforgiving hatred. He was no simple and lowly one from +the ranks of the disinherited. He was an educated scion of the +/bourgeoisie/, and but for circumstances would have entered the Ecole +Normale. There was no excuse for his abominable deed, there was no +political passion, no humanitarian insanity, in it. He was the destroyer +pure and simple, the theoretician of destruction, the cold energetic man +of intellect who gave his cultivated mind to arguing the cause of murder, +in his desire to make murder an instrument of the social evolution. True, +he was also a poet, a visionary, but the most frightful of all +visionaries: a monster whose nature could only be explained by mad pride, +and who craved for the most awful immortality, dreaming that the coming +dawn would rise from the arms of the guillotine. Only one thing could +surpass him: the scythe of death which blindly mows the world. + +For a few seconds, amidst the growing darkness, cold horror reigned in +the workroom. "Ah!" muttered Guillaume, "he had the daring to do it, he +had." + +Pierre, however, lovingly pressed his arm. And he felt that he was as +distracted, as upset, as himself. Perhaps this last abomination had been +needed to ravage and cure him. + +Janzen no doubt had been an accomplice in the deed. He was relating that +Victor's purpose had been to avenge Salvat, when all at once a great sigh +of pain was heard in the darkness, followed by a heavy thud upon the +floor. It was Madame Mathis falling like a bundle, overwhelmed by the +news which chance had brought her. At that moment it so happened that +Mere-Grand came down with a lamp, which lighted up the room, and +thereupon they hurried to the help of the wretched woman, who lay there +as pale as a corpse in her flimsy black gown. + +And this again brought Pierre an indescribable heart-pang. Ah! the poor, +sad, suffering creature! He remembered her at Abbe Rose's, so discreet, +so shamefaced, in her poverty, scarce able to live upon the slender +resources which persistent misfortunes had left her. Hers had indeed been +a cruel lot: first, a home with wealthy parents in the provinces, a love +story and elopement with the man of her choice; next, ill-luck steadily +pursuing her, all sorts of home troubles, and at last her husband's +death. Then, in the retirement of her widowhood, after losing the best +part of the little income which had enabled her to bring up her son, +naught but this son had been left to her. He had been her Victor, her +sole affection, the only one in whom she had faith. She had ever striven +to believe that he was very busy, absorbed in work, and on the eve of +attaining to some superb position worthy of his merits. And now, all at +once, she had learnt that this fondly loved son was simply the most +odious of assassins, that he had flung a bomb into a cafe, and had there +killed three men. + +When Madame Mathis had recovered her senses, thanks to the careful +tending of Mere-Grand, she sobbed on without cessation, raising such a +continuous doleful wail, that Pierre's hand again sought Guillaume's, and +grasped it, whilst their hearts, distracted but healed, mingled lovingly +one with the other. + + + +V + +LIFE'S WORK AND PROMISE + +FIFTEEN months later, one fine golden day in September, Bache and +Theophile Morin were taking /dejeuner/ at Guillaume's, in the big +workroom overlooking the immensity of Paris. + +Near the table was a cradle with its little curtains drawn. Behind them +slept Jean, a fine boy four months old, the son of Pierre and Marie. The +latter, simply in order to protect the child's social rights, had been +married civilly at the town-hall of Montmartre. Then, by way of pleasing +Guillaume, who wished to keep them with him, and thus enlarge the family +circle, they had continued living in the little lodging over the +work-shop, leaving the sleepy house at Neuilly in the charge of Sophie, +Pierre's old servant. And life had been flowing on happily for the +fourteen months or so that they had now belonged to one another. + +There was simply peace, affection and work around the young couple. +Francois, who had left the Ecole Normale provided with every degree, +every diploma, was now about to start for a college in the west of +France, so as to serve his term of probation as a professor, intending to +resign his post afterwards and devote himself, if he pleased, to science +pure and simple. Then Antoine had lately achieved great success with a +series of engravings he had executed--some views and scenes of Paris +life; and it was settled that he was to marry Lise Jahan in the ensuing +spring, when she would have completed her seventeenth year. Of the three +sons, however, Thomas was the most triumphant, for he had at last devised +and constructed his little motor, thanks to a happy idea of his father's. +One morning, after the downfall of all his huge chimerical schemes, +Guillaume, remembering the terrible explosive which he had discovered and +hitherto failed to utilise, had suddenly thought of employing it as a +motive force, in the place of petroleum, in the motor which his eldest +son had so long been trying to construct for the Grandidier works. So he +had set to work with Thomas, devising a new mechanism, encountering +endless difficulties, and labouring for a whole year before reaching +success. But now the father and son had accomplished their task; the +marvel was created, and stood there riveted to an oak stand, and ready to +work as soon as its final toilet should have been performed. + +Amidst all the changes which had occurred, Mere-Grand, in spite of her +great age, continued exercising her active, silent sway over the +household, which was now again so gay and peaceful. Though she seldom +seemed to leave her chair in front of her work-table, she was really +here, there and everywhere. Since the birth of Jean, she had talked of +rearing the child in the same way as she had formerly reared Thomas, +Francois and Antoine. She was indeed full of the bravery of devotion, and +seemed to think that she was not at all likely to die so long as she +might have others to guide, love and save. Marie marvelled at it all. She +herself, though she was always gay and in good health, felt tired at +times now that she was suckling her infant. Little Jean indeed had two +vigilant mothers near his cradle; whilst his father, Pierre, who had +become Thomas's assistant, pulled the bellows, roughened out pieces of +metal, and generally completed his apprenticeship as a working +mechanician. + +On the particular day when Bache and Theophile Morin came to Montmartre, +the /dejeuner/ proved even gayer than usual, thanks perhaps to their +presence. The meal was over, the table had been cleared, and the coffee +was being served, when a little boy, the son of a doorkeeper in the Rue +Cortot, came to ask for Monsieur Pierre Froment. When they inquired his +business, he answered in a hesitating way that Monsieur l'Abbe Rose was +very ill, indeed dying, and that he had sent him to fetch Monsieur Pierre +Froment at once. + +Pierre followed the lad, feeling much affected; and on reaching the Rue +Cortot he there found Abbe Rose in a little damp ground-floor room +overlooking a strip of garden. The old priest was in bed, dying as the +boy had said, but he still retained the use of his faculties, and could +speak in his wonted slow and gentle voice. A Sister of Charity was +watching beside him, and she seemed so surprised and anxious at the +arrival of a visitor whom she did not know, that Pierre understood she +was there to guard the dying man and prevent him from having intercourse +with others. The old priest must have employed some stratagem in order to +send the doorkeeper's boy to fetch him. However, when Abbe Rose in his +grave and kindly way begged the Sister to leave them alone for a moment, +she dared not refuse this supreme request, but immediately left the room. + +"Ah! my dear child," said the old man, "how much I wanted to speak to +you! Sit down there, close to the bed, so that you may be able to hear +me, for this is the end; I shall no longer be here to-night. And I have +such a great service to ask of you." + +Quite upset at finding his friend so wasted, with his face white like a +sheet, and scarce a sign of life save the sparkle of his innocent, loving +eyes, Pierre responded: "But I would have come sooner if I had known you +were in need of me! Why did you not send for me before? Are people being +kept away from you?" + +A faint smile of shame and confession appeared on the old priest's +embarrassed face. "Well, my dear child," said he, "you must know that I +have again done some foolish things. Yes, I gave money to some people +who, it seems, were not deserving of it. In fact, there was quite a +scandal; they scolded me at the Archbishop's palace, and accused me of +compromising the interests of religion. And when they heard that I was +ill, they put that good Sister beside me, because they said that I should +die on the floor, and give the very sheets off my bed if I were not +prevented." + +He paused to draw breath, and then continued: "So you understand, that +good Sister--oh! she is a very saintly woman--is here to nurse me and +prevent me from still doing foolish things. To overcome her vigilance I +had to use a little deceit, for which God, I trust, will forgive me. As +it happens, it's precisely my poor who are in question; it was to speak +to you about them that I so particularly wished to see you." + +Tears had come to Pierre's eyes. "Tell me what you want me to do," he +answered; "I am yours, both heart and soul." + +"Yes, yes, I know it, my dear child. It was for that reason that I +thought of you--you alone. In spite of all that has happened, you are the +only one in whom I have any confidence, who can understand me, and give +me a promise which will enable me to die in peace." + +This was the only allusion he would venture to make to the cruel rupture +which had occurred after the young man had thrown off his cassock and +rebelled against the Church. He had since heard of Pierre's marriage, and +was aware that he had for ever severed all religious ties. But at that +supreme moment nothing of this seemed of any account to the old priest. +His knowledge of Pierre's loving heart sufficed him, for all that he now +desired was simply the help of that heart which he had seen glowing with +such passionate charity. + +"Well," he resumed, again finding sufficient strength to smile, "it is a +very simple matter. I want to make you my heir. Oh! it isn't a fine +legacy I am leaving you; it is the legacy of my poor, for I have nothing +else to bestow on you; I shall leave nothing behind me but my poor." + +Of these unhappy creatures, three in particular quite upset his heart. He +recoiled from the prospect of leaving them without chance of succour, +without even the crumbs which he had hitherto distributed among them, and +which had enabled them to live. One was the big Old'un, the aged +carpenter whom he and Pierre had vainly sought one night with the object +of sending him to the Asylum for the Invalids of Labour. He had been sent +there a little later, but he had fled three days afterwards, unwilling as +he was to submit to the regulations. Wild and violent, he had the most +detestable disposition. Nevertheless, he could not be left to starve. He +came to Abbe Rose's every Saturday, it seemed, and received a franc, +which sufficed him for the whole week. Then, too, there was a bedridden +old woman in a hovel in the Rue du Mont-Cenis. The baker, who every +morning took her the bread she needed, must be paid. And in particular +there was a poor young woman residing on the Place du Tertre, one who was +unmarried but a mother. She was dying of consumption, unable to work, and +tortured by the idea that when she should have gone, her daughter must +sink to the pavement like herself. And in this instance the legacy was +twofold: there was the mother to relieve until her death, which was near +at hand, and then the daughter to provide for until she could be placed +in some good household. + +"You must forgive me, my dear child, for leaving you all these worries," +added Abbe Rose. "I tried to get the good Sister, who is nursing me, to +take an interest in these poor people, but when I spoke to her of the big +Old'un, she was so alarmed that she made the sign of the cross. And it's +the same with my worthy friend Abbe Tavernier. I know nobody of more +upright mind. Still I shouldn't be at ease with him, he has ideas of his +own. . . . And so, my dear child, there is only you whom I can rely upon, +and you must accept my legacy if you wish me to depart in peace." + +Pierre was weeping. "Ah! certainly, with my whole soul," he answered. "I +shall regard your desires as sacred." + +"Good! I knew you would accept. . . . So it is agreed: a franc for the +big Old'un every Saturday, the bread for the bedridden woman, some help +for the poor young mother, and then a home for her little girl. Ah! if +you only knew what a weight it is off my heart! The end may come now, it +will be welcome to me." + +His kind white face had brightened as if with supreme joy. Holding +Pierre's hand within his own he detained him beside the bed, exchanging a +farewell full of serene affection. And his voice weakening, he expressed +his whole mind in faint, impressive accents: "Yes, I shall be pleased to +go off. I could do no more, I could do no more! Though I gave and gave, I +felt that it was ever necessary to give more and more. And how sad to +find charity powerless, to give without hope of ever being able to stamp +out want and suffering! I rebelled against that idea of yours, as you +will remember. I told you that we should always love one another in our +poor, and that was true, since you are here, so good and affectionate to +me and those whom I am leaving behind. But, all the same, I can do no +more, I can do no more; and I would rather go off, since the woes of +others rise higher and higher around me, and I have ended by doing the +most foolish things, scandalising the faithful and making my superiors +indignant with me, without even saving one single poor person from the +ever-growing torrent of want. Farewell, my dear child. My poor old heart +goes off aching, my old hands are weary and conquered." + +Pierre embraced him with his whole soul, and then departed. His eyes were +full of tears and indescribable emotion wrung his heart. Never had he +heard a more woeful cry than that confession of the impotence of charity, +on the part of that old candid child, whose heart was all simplicity and +sublime benevolence. Ah! what a disaster, that human kindness should be +futile, that the world should always display so much distress and +suffering in spite of all the compassionate tears that had been shed, in +spite of all the alms that had fallen from millions and millions of hands +for centuries and centuries! No wonder that it should bring desire for +death, no wonder that a Christian should feel pleased at escaping from +the abominations of this earth! + +When Pierre again reached the workroom he found that the table had long +since been cleared, and that Bache and Morin were chatting with +Guillaume, whilst the latter's sons had returned to their customary +occupations. Marie, also, had resumed her usual place at the work-table +in front of Mere-Grand; but from time to time she rose and went to look +at Jean, so as to make sure that he was sleeping peacefully, with his +little clenched fists pressed to his heart. And when Pierre, who kept his +emotion to himself, had likewise leant over the cradle beside the young +woman, whose hair he discreetly kissed, he went to put on an apron in +order that he might assist Thomas, who was now, for the last time, +regulating his motor. + +Then, as Pierre stood there awaiting an opportunity to help, the room +vanished from before his eyes; he ceased to see or hear the persons who +were there. The scent of Marie's hair alone lingered on his lips amidst +the acute emotion into which he had been thrown by his visit to Abbe +Rose. A recollection had come to him, that of the bitterly cold morning +when the old priest had stopped him outside the basilica of the Sacred +Heart, and had timidly asked him to take some alms to that old man +Laveuve, who soon afterwards had died of want, like a dog by the wayside. +How sad a morning it had been; what battle and torture had Pierre not +felt within him, and what a resurrection had come afterwards! He had that +day said one of his last masses, and he recalled with a shudder his +abominable anguish, his despairing doubts at the thought of nothingness. +Two experiments which he had previously made had failed most miserably. +First had come one at Lourdes, where the glorification of the absurd had +simply filled him with pity for any such attempt to revert to the +primitive faith of young nations, who bend beneath the terror born of +ignorance; and, secondly, there had been an experiment at Rome, which he +had found incapable of any renewal, and which he had seen staggering to +its death amidst its ruins, a mere great shadow, which would soon be of +no account, fast sinking, as it was, to the dust of dead religions. And, +in his own mind, Charity itself had become bankrupt; he no longer +believed that alms could cure the sufferings of mankind, he awaited +naught but a frightful catastrophe, fire and massacre, which would sweep +away the guilty, condemned world. His cassock, too, stifled him, a lie +alone kept it on his shoulders, the idea, unbelieving priest though he +was, that he could honestly and chastely watch over the belief of others. +The problem of a new religion, a new hope, such as was needful to ensure +the peace of the coming democracies tortured him, but between the +certainties of science and the need of the Divine, which seemed to +consume humanity, he could find no solution. If Christianity crumbled +with the principle of Charity, there could remain nothing else but +Justice, that cry which came from every breast, that battle of Justice +against Charity in which his heart must contend in that great city of +Paris. It was there that began his third and decisive experiment, the +experiment which was to make truth as plain to him as the sun itself, and +give him back health and strength and delight in life. + +At this point of his reverie Pierre was roused by Thomas, who asked him +to fetch a tool. As he did so he heard Bache remarking: "The ministry +resigned this morning. Vignon has had enough of it, he wants to reserve +his remaining strength." + +"Well, he has lasted more than a twelvemonth," replied Morin. "That's +already an achievement." + +After the crime of Victor Mathis, who had been tried and executed within +three weeks, Monferrand had suddenly fallen from power. What was the use +of having a strong-handed man at the head of the Government if bombs +still continued to terrify the country? Moreover, he had displeased the +Chamber by his voracious appetite, which had prevented him from allowing +others more than an infinitesimal share of all the good things. And this +time he had been succeeded by Vignon, although the latter's programme of +reforms had long made people tremble. He, Vignon, was honest certainly, +but of all these reforms he had only been able to carry out a few +insignificant ones, for he had found himself hampered by a thousand +obstacles. And thus he had resigned himself to ruling the country as +others had done; and people had discovered that after all there were but +faint shades of difference between him and Monferrand. + +"You know that Monferrand is being spoken of again?" said Guillaume. + +"Yes, and he has some chance of success. His creatures are bestirring +themselves tremendously," replied Bache, adding, in a bitter, jesting +way, that Mege, the Collectivist leader, played the part of a dupe in +overthrowing ministry after ministry. He simply gratified the ambition of +each coterie in turn, without any possible chance of attaining to power +himself. + +Thereupon Guillaume pronounced judgment. "Oh! well, let them devour one +another," said he. "Eager as they all are to reign and dispose of power +and wealth, they only fight over questions of persons. And nothing they +do can prevent the evolution from continuing. Ideas expand, and events +occur, and, over and above everything else, mankind is marching on." + +Pierre was greatly struck by these words, and he again recalled the past. +His dolorous Parisian experiment had begun, and he was once more roaming +through the city. Paris seemed to him to be a huge vat, in which a world +fermented, something of the best and something of the worst, a frightful +mixture such as sorceresses might have used; precious powders mingled +with filth, from all of which was to come the philter of love and eternal +youth. And in that vat Pierre first marked the scum of the political +world: Monferrand who strangled Barroux, who purchased the support of +hungry ones such as Fonsegue, Duthil and Chaigneux, who made use of those +who attained to mediocrity, such as Taboureau and Dauvergne; and who +employed even the sectarian passions of Mege and the intelligent ambition +of Vignon as his weapons. Next came money the poisoner, with that affair +of the African Railways, which had rotted the Parliament and turned +Duvillard, the triumphant /bourgeois/, into a public perverter, the very +cancer as it were of the financial world. Then as a just consequence of +all this there was Duvillard's own home infected by himself, that +frightful drama of Eve contending with her daughter Camille for the +possession of Gerard, then Camille stealing him from her mother, and +Hyacinthe, the son, passing his crazy mistress Rosemonde on to that +notorious harlot Silviane, with whom his father publicly exhibited +himself. Then there was the old expiring aristocracy, with the pale, sad +faces of Madame de Quinsac and the Marquis de Morigny; the old military +spirit whose funeral was conducted by General de Bozonnet; the magistracy +which slavishly served the powers of the day, Amadieu thrusting himself +into notoriety by means of sensational cases, Lehmann, the public +prosecutor, preparing his speeches in the private room of the Minister +whose policy he defended; and, finally, the mendacious and cupid Press +which lived upon scandal, the everlasting flood of denunciation and filth +which poured from Sagnier, and the gay impudence shown by the +unscrupulous and conscienceless Massot, who attacked all and defended +all, by profession and to order! And in the same way as insects, on +discovering one of their own kind dying, will often finish it off and +fatten upon it, so the whole swarm of appetites, interests and passions +had fallen upon a wretched madman, that unhappy Salvat, whose idiotic +crime had brought them all scrambling together, gluttonously eager to +derive some benefit from that starveling's emaciated carcass. And all +boiled in the huge vat of Paris; the desires, the deeds of violence, the +strivings of one and another man's will, the whole nameless medley of the +bitterest ferments, whence, in all purity, the wine of the future would +at last flow. + +Then Pierre became conscious of the prodigious work which went on in the +depths of the vat, beneath all the impurity and waste. As his brother had +just said, what mattered the stains, the egotism and greed of +politicians, if humanity were still on the march, ever slowly and +stubbornly stepping forward! What mattered, too, that corrupt and +emasculate /bourgeoisie/, nowadays as moribund as the aristocracy, whose +place it took, if behind it there ever came the inexhaustible reserve of +men who surged up from the masses of the country-sides and the towns! +What mattered the debauchery, the perversion arising from excess of +wealth and power, the luxuriousness and dissoluteness of life, since it +seemed a proven fact that the capitals that had been queens of the world +had never reigned without extreme civilisation, a cult of beauty and of +pleasure! And what mattered even the venality, the transgressions and the +folly of the press, if at the same time it remained an admirable +instrument for the diffusion of knowledge, the open conscience, so to +say, of the nation, a river which, though there might be horrors on its +surface, none the less flowed on, carrying all nations to the brotherly +ocean of the future centuries! The human lees ended by sinking to the +bottom of the vat, and it was not possible to expect that what was right +would triumph visibly every day; for it was often necessary that years +should elapse before the realisation of some hope could emerge from the +fermentation. Eternal matter is ever being cast afresh into the crucible +and ever coming from it improved. And if in the depths of pestilential +workshops and factories the slavery of ancient times subsists in the +wage-earning system, if such men as Toussaint still die of want on their +pallets like broken-down beasts of burden, it is nevertheless a fact that +once already, on a memorable day of tempest, Liberty sprang forth from +the vat to wing her flight throughout the world. And why in her turn +should not Justice spring from it, proceeding from those troubled +elements, freeing herself from all dross, flowing forth with dazzling +limpidity and regenerating the nations? + +However, the voices of Bache and Morin, rising in the course of their +chat with Guillaume, once more drew Pierre from his reverie. They were +now speaking of Janzen, who after being compromised in a fresh outrage at +Barcelona had fled from Spain. Bache fancied that he had recognised him +in the street only the previous day. To think that a man with so clear a +mind and such keen energy should waste his natural gifts in such a +hateful cause! + +"When I remember," said Morin slowly, "that Barthes lives in exile in a +shabby little room at Brussels, ever quivering with the hope that the +reign of liberty is at hand--he who has never had a drop of blood on his +hands and who has spent two-thirds of his life in prison in order that +the nations may be freed!" + +Bache gently shrugged his shoulders: "Liberty, liberty, of course," said +he; "only it is worth nothing if it is not organised." + +Thereupon their everlasting discussion began afresh, with Saint-Simon and +Fourier on one side and Proudhon and Auguste Comte on the other. Bache +gave a long account of the last commemoration which had taken place in +honour of Fourier's memory, how faithful disciples had brought wreaths +and made speeches, forming quite a meeting of apostles, who all +stubbornly clung to their faith, as confident in the future as if they +were the messengers of some new gospel. Afterwards Morin emptied his +pockets, which were always full of Positivist tracts and pamphlets, +manifestos, answers and so forth, in which Comte's doctrines were +extolled as furnishing the only possible basis for the new, awaited +religion. Pierre, who listened, thereupon remembered the disputes in his +little house at Neuilly when he himself, searching for certainty, had +endeavoured to draw up the century's balance-sheet. He had lost his +depth, in the end, amidst the contradictions and incoherency of the +various precursors. 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 inacceptable 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 at first seemed obscured and disfigured beyond recognition. Now, +however, that evolution had slowly transformed Pierre, those common +truths seemed to him as irrefutable, as clear as the sunlight itself. +Amidst the chaos of conflicting assertions which was to be found in the +gospels of those social messiahs, there were certain similar phrases and +principles which recurred again and again, the defence of the poor, the +idea of a new and just division of the riches of the world in accordance +with individual labour and merit, and particularly the search for a new +law of labour which would enable this fresh distribution to be made +equitably. Since all the precursory men of genius agreed so closely upon +those points, must they not be the very foundations of to-morrow's new +religion, the necessary faith which this century must bequeath to the +coming century, in order that the latter may make of it a human religion +of peace, solidarity and love? + +Then, all at once, there came a leap in Pierre's thoughts. He fancied +himself at the Madeleine once more, listening to the address on the New +Spirit delivered by Monseigneur Martha, who had predicted that Paris, now +reconverted to Christianity, would, thanks to the Sacred Heart, become +the ruler of the world. But no, but no! If Paris reigned, it was because +it was able to exercise its intelligence freely. To set the cross and the +mystic and repulsive symbolism of a bleeding heart above it was simply so +much falsehood. Although they might rear edifices of pride and domination +as if to crush Paris with their very weight, although they might try to +stop science in the name of a dead ideal and in the hope of setting their +clutches upon the coming century, these attempts would be of no avail. +Science will end by sweeping away all remnants of their ancient +sovereignty, their basilica will crumble beneath the breeze of Truth +without any necessity of raising a finger against it. The trial has been +made, the Gospel as a social code has fallen to pieces, and human wisdom +can only retain account of its moral maxims. Ancient Catholicism is on +all sides crumbling into dust, Catholic Rome is a mere field of ruins +from which the nations turn aside, anxious as they are for a religion +that shall not be a religion of death. In olden times the overburdened +slave, glowing with a new hope and seeking to escape from his gaol, +dreamt of a heaven where in return for his earthly misery he would be +rewarded with eternal enjoyment. But now that science has destroyed that +false idea of a heaven, and shown what dupery lies in reliance on the +morrow of death, the slave, the workman, weary of dying for happiness' +sake, demands that justice and happiness shall find place upon this +earth. Therein lies the new hope--Justice, after eighteen hundred years +of impotent Charity. Ah! in a thousand years from now, when Catholicism +will be naught but a very ancient superstition of the past, how amazed +men will be to think that their ancestors were able to endure that +religion of torture and nihility! How astonished they will feel on +finding that God was regarded as an executioner, that manhood was +threatened, maimed and chastised, that nature was accounted an enemy, +that life was looked upon as something accursed, and that death alone was +pronounced sweet and liberating! For well-nigh two thousand years the +onward march of mankind has been hampered by the odious idea of tearing +all that is human away from man: his desires, his passions, his free +intelligence, his will and right of action, his whole strength. And how +glorious will be the awakening when such virginity as is now honoured by +the Church is held in derision, when fruitfulness is again recognised as +a virtue, amidst the hosanna of all the freed forces of nature--man's +desires which will be honoured, his passions which will be utilised, his +labour which will be exalted, whilst life is loved and ever and ever +creates love afresh! + +A new religion! a new religion! Pierre remembered the cry which had +escaped him at Lourdes, and which he had repeated at Rome in presence of +the collapse of old Catholicism. But he no longer displayed the same +feverish eagerness as then--a puerile, sickly desire that a new Divinity +should at once reveal himself, an ideal come into being, complete in all +respects, with dogmas and form of worship. The Divine certainly seemed to +be as necessary to man as were bread and water; he had ever fallen back +upon it, hungering for the mysterious, seemingly having no other means of +consolation than that of annihilating himself in the unknown. But who can +say that science will not some day quench the thirst for what lies beyond +us? If the domain of science embraces the acquired truths, it also +embraces, and will ever do so, the truths that remain to be acquired. And +in front of it will there not ever remain a margin for the thirst of +knowledge, for the hypotheses which are but so much ideality? Besides, is +not the yearning for the divine simply a desire to behold the Divinity? +And if science should more and more content the yearning to know all and +be able to do all, will not that yearning be quieted and end by mingling +with the love of acquired truth? A religion grafted on science is the +indicated, certain, inevitable finish of man's long march towards +knowledge. He will come to it at last as to a natural haven, as to peace +in the midst of certainty, after passing every form of ignorance and +terror on his road. And is there not already some indication of such a +religion? Has not the idea of the duality of God and the Universe been +brushed aside, and is not the principle of unity, /monisme/, becoming +more and more evident--unity leading to solidarity, and the sole law of +life proceeding by evolution from the first point of the ether that +condensed to create the world? But if precursors, scientists and +philosophers--Darwin, Fourier and all the others--have sown the seed of +to-morrow's religion by casting the good word to the passing breeze, how +many centuries will doubtless be required to raise the crop! People +always forget that before Catholicism grew up and reigned in the +sunlight, it spent four centuries in germinating and sprouting from the +soil. Well, then, grant some centuries to this religion of science of +whose sprouting there are signs upon all sides, and by-and-by the +admirable ideas of some Fourier will be seen expanding and forming a new +gospel, with desire serving as the lever to raise the world, work +accepted by one and all, honoured and regulated as the very mechanism of +natural and social life, and the passions of man excited, contented and +utilised for human happiness! The universal cry of Justice, which rises +louder and louder, in a growing clamour from the once silent multitude, +the people that have so long been duped and preyed upon, is but a cry for +this happiness towards which human beings are tending, the happiness that +embodies the complete satisfaction of man's needs, and the principle of +life loved for its own sake, in the midst of peace and the expansion of +every force and every joy. The time will come when this Kingdom of God +will be set upon the earth; so why not close that other deceptive +paradise, even if the weak-minded must momentarily suffer from the +destruction of their illusions; for it is necessary to operate even with +cruelty on the blind if they are to be extricated from their misery, from +their long and frightful night of ignorance! + +All at once a feeling of deep joy came over Pierre. A child's faint cry, +the wakening cry of his son Jean had drawn him from his reverie. And he +had suddenly remembered that he himself was now saved, freed from +falsehood and fright, restored to good and healthy nature. How he +quivered as he recalled that he had once fancied himself lost, blotted +out of life, and that a prodigy of love had extricated him from his +nothingness, still strong and sound, since that dear child of his was +there, sturdy and smiling. Life had brought forth life; and truth had +burst forth, as dazzling as the sun. He had made his third experiment +with Paris, and this had been conclusive; it had been no wretched +miscarriage with increase of darkness and grief, like his other +experiments at Lourdes and Rome. In the first place, the law of labour +had been revealed to him, and he had imposed upon himself a task, as +humble a one as it was, that manual calling which he was learning so late +in life, but which was, nevertheless, a form of labour, and one in which +he would never fail, one too that would lend him the serenity which comes +from the accomplishment of duty, for life itself was but labour: it was +only by effort that the world existed. And then, moreover, he had loved; +and salvation had come to him from woman and from his child. Ah! what a +long and circuitous journey he had made to reach this finish at once so +natural and so simple! How he had suffered, how much error and anger he +had known before doing what all men ought to do! That eager, glowing love +which had contended against his reason, which had bled at sight of the +arrant absurdities of the miraculous grotto of Lourdes, which had bled +again too in presence of the haughty decline of the Vatican, had at last +found contentment now that he was husband and father, now that he had +confidence in work and believed in the just laws of life. And thence had +come the indisputable truth, the one solution--happiness in certainty. + +Whilst Pierre was thus plunged in thought, Bache and Morin had already +gone off with their customary handshakes and promises to come and chat +again some evening. And as Jean was now crying more loudly, Marie took +him in her arms and unhooked her dress-body to give him her breast. + +"Oh! the darling, it's his time, you know, and he doesn't forget it!" she +said. "Just look, Pierre, I believe he has got bigger since yesterday." + +She laughed; and Pierre, likewise laughing, drew near to kiss the child. +And afterwards he kissed his wife, mastered as he was by emotion at the +sight of that pink, gluttonous little creature imbibing life from that +lovely breast so full of milk. + +"Why! he'll eat you," he gaily said to Marie. "How he's pulling!" + +"Oh! he does bite me a little," she replied; "but I like that the better, +it shows that he profits by it." + +Then Mere-Grand, she who as a rule was so serious and silent, began to +talk with a smile lighting up her face: "I weighed him this morning," +said she, "he weighs nearly a quarter of a pound more than he did the +last time. And if you had only seen how good he was, the darling! He will +be a very intelligent and well-behaved little gentleman, such as I like. +When he's five years old, I shall teach him his alphabet, and when he's +fifteen, if he likes, I'll tell him how to be a man. . . . Don't you +agree with me, Thomas? And you, Antoine, and you, too, Francois?" + +Raising their heads, the three sons gaily nodded their approval, grateful +as they felt for the lessons in heroism which she had given them, and +apparently finding no reason why she might not live another twenty years +in order to give similar lessons to Jean. + +Pierre still remained in front of Marie, basking in all the rapture of +love, when he felt Guillaume lay his hands upon his shoulders from +behind. And on turning round he saw that his brother was also radiant, +like one who felt well pleased at seeing them so happy. "Ah! brother," +said Guillaume softly, "do you remember my telling you that you suffered +solely from the battle between your mind and your heart, and that you +would find quietude again when you loved what you could understand? It +was necessary that our father and mother, whose painful quarrel had +continued beyond the grave, should be reconciled in you. And now it's +done, they sleep in peace within you, since you yourself are pacified." + +These words filled Pierre with emotion. Joy beamed upon his face, which +was now so open and energetic. He still had the towering brow, that +impregnable fortress of reason, which he had derived from his father, and +he still had the gentle chin and affectionate eyes and mouth which his +mother had given him, but all was now blended together, instinct with +happy harmony and serene strength. Those two experiments of his which had +miscarried, were like crises of his maternal heredity, the tearful +tenderness which had come to him from his mother, and which for lack of +satisfaction had made him desperate; and his third experiment had only +ended in happiness because he had contented his ardent thirst for love in +accordance with sovereign reason, that paternal heredity which pleaded so +loudly within him. Reason remained the queen. And if his sufferings had +thus always come from the warfare which his reason had waged against his +heart, it was because he was man personified, ever struggling between his +intelligence and his passions. And how peaceful all seemed, now that he +had reconciled and satisfied them both, now that he felt healthy, perfect +and strong, like some lofty oak, which grows in all freedom, and whose +branches spread far away over the forest. + +"You have done good work in that respect," Guillaume affectionately +continued, "for yourself and for all of us, and even for our dear parents +whose shades, pacified and reconciled, now abide so peacefully in the +little home of our childhood. I often think of our dear house at Neuilly, +which old Sophie is taking care of for us; and although, out of egotism, +a desire to set happiness around me, I wished to keep you here, your Jean +must some day go and live there, so as to bring it fresh youth." + +Pierre had taken hold of his brother's hands, and looking into his eyes +he asked: "And you--are you happy?" + +"Yes, very happy, happier than I have ever been; happy at loving you as I +do, and happy at being loved by you as no one else will ever love me." + +Their hearts mingled in ardent brotherly affection, the most perfect and +heroic affection that can blend men together. And they embraced one +another whilst, with her babe on her breast, Marie, so gay, healthful and +loyal, looked at them and smiled, with big tears gathering in her eyes. + +Thomas, however, having finished his motor's last toilet, had just set it +in motion. It was a prodigy of lightness and strength, of no weight +whatever in comparison with the power it displayed. And it worked with +perfect smoothness, without noise or smell. The whole family was gathered +round it in delight, when there came a timely visit, one from the learned +and friendly Bertheroy, whom indeed Guillaume had asked to call, in order +that he might see the motor working. + +The great chemist at once expressed his admiration; and when he had +examined the mechanism and understood how the explosive was employed as +motive power--an idea which he had long recommended,--he tendered +enthusiastic congratulations to Guillaume and Thomas. "You have created a +little marvel," said he, "one which may have far-reaching effects both +socially and humanly. Yes, yes, pending the invention of the electrical +motor which we have not yet arrived at, here is an ideal one, a system of +mechanical traction for all sorts of vehicles. Even aerial navigation may +now become a possibility, and the problem of force at home is finally +solved. And what a grand step! What sudden progress! Distance again +diminished, all roads thrown open, and men able to fraternise! This is a +great boon, a splendid gift, my good friends, that you are bestowing on +the world." + +Then he began to jest about the new explosive, whose prodigious power he +had divined, and which he now found put to such a beneficent purpose. +"And to think, Guillaume," he said, "that I fancied you acted with so +much mysteriousness and hid the formula of your powder from me because +you had an idea of blowing up Paris!" + +At this Guillaume became grave and somewhat pale. And he confessed the +truth. "Well, I did for a moment think of it." + +However, Bertheroy went on laughing, as if he regarded this answer as +mere repartee, though truth to tell he had felt a slight chill sweep +through his hair. "Well, my friend," he said, "you have done far better +in offering the world this marvel, which by the way must have been both a +difficult and dangerous matter. So here is a powder which was intended to +exterminate people, and which in lieu thereof will now increase their +comfort and welfare. In the long run things always end well, as I'm quite +tired of saying." + +On beholding such lofty and tolerant good nature, Guillaume felt moved. +Bertheroy's words were true. What had been intended for purposes of +destruction served the cause of progress; the subjugated, domesticated +volcano became labour, peace and civilisation. Guillaume had even +relinquished all idea of his engine of battle and victory; he had found +sufficient satisfaction in this last invention of his, which would +relieve men of some measure of weariness, and help to reduce their labour +to just so much effort as there must always be. In this he detected some +little advance towards Justice; at all events it was all that he himself +could contribute to the cause. And when on turning towards the window he +caught sight of the basilica of the Sacred Heart, he could not explain +what insanity had at one moment cone over him, and set him dreaming of +idiotic and useless destruction. Some miasmal gust must have swept by, +something born of want that scattered germs of anger and vengeance. But +how blind it was to think that destruction and murder could ever bear +good fruit, ever sow the soil with plenty and happiness! Violence cannot +last, and all it does is to rouse man's feeling of solidarity even among +those on whose behalf one kills. The people, the great multitude, rebel +against the isolated individual who seeks to wreak justice. No one man +can take upon himself the part of the volcano; this is the whole +terrestrial crust, the whole multitude which internal fire impels to rise +and throw up either an Alpine chain or a better and freer society. And +whatever heroism there may be in their madness, however great and +contagious may be their thirst for martyrdom, murderers are never +anything but murderers, whose deeds simply sow the seeds of horror. And +if on the one hand Victor Mathis had avenged Salvat, he had also slain +him, so universal had been the cry of reprobation roused by the second +crime, which was yet more monstrous and more useless than the first. + +Guillaume, laughing in his turn, replied to Bertheroy in words which +showed how completely he was cured: "You are right," he said, "all ends +well since all contributes to truth and justice. Unfortunately, thousands +of years are sometimes needed for any progress to be accomplished. . . . +However, for my part, I am simply going to put my new explosive on the +market, so that those who secure the necessary authorisation may +manufacture it and grow rich. Henceforth it belongs to one and all. . . . +And I've renounced all idea of revolutionising the world." + +But Bertheroy protested. This great official scientist, this member of +the Institute laden with offices and honours, pointed to the little +motor, and replied with all the vigour of his seventy years: "But that is +revolution, the true, the only revolution. It is with things like that +and not with stupid bombs that one revolutionises the world! It is not by +destroying, but by creating, that you have just done the work of a +revolutionist. And how many times already have I not told you that +science alone is the world's revolutionary force, the only force which, +far above all paltry political incidents, the vain agitation of despots, +priests, sectarians and ambitious people of all kinds, works for the +benefit of those who will come after us, and prepares the triumph of +truth, justice and peace. . . . Ah, my dear child, if you wish to +overturn the world by striving to set a little more happiness in it, you +have only to remain in your laboratory here, for human happiness can +spring only from the furnace of the scientist." + +He spoke perhaps in a somewhat jesting way, but one could feel that he +was convinced of it all, that he held everything excepting science in +utter contempt. He had not even shown any surprise when Pierre had cast +his cassock aside; and on finding him there with his wife and child he +had not scrupled to show him as much affection as in the past. + +Meantime, however, the motor was travelling hither and thither, making no +more noise than a bluebottle buzzing in the sunshine. The whole happy +family was gathered about it, still laughing with delight at such a +victorious achievement. And all at once little Jean, Monsieur Jean, +having finished sucking, turned round, displaying his milk-smeared lips, +and perceived the machine, the pretty plaything which walked about by +itself. At sight of it, his eyes sparkled, dimples appeared on his plump +cheeks, and, stretching out his quivering chubby hands, he raised a crow +of delight. + +Marie, who was quietly fastening her dress, smiled at his glee and +brought him nearer, in order that he might have a better view of the toy. +"Ah! my darling, it's pretty, isn't it? It moves and it turns, and it's +strong; it's quite alive, you see." + +The others, standing around, were much amused by the amazed, enraptured +expression of the child, who would have liked to touch the machine, +perhaps in the hope of understanding it. + +"Yes," resumed Bertheroy, "it's alive and it's powerful like the sun, +like that great sun shining yonder over Paris, and ripening men and +things. And Paris too is a motor, a boiler in which the future is +boiling, while we scientists keep the eternal flame burning underneath. +Guillaume, my good fellow, you are one of the stokers, one of the +artisans of the future, with that little marvel of yours, which will +still further extend the influence of our great Paris over the whole +world." + +These words impressed Pierre, and he again thought of a gigantic vat +stretching yonder from one horizon to the other, a vat in which the +coming century would emerge from an extraordinary mixture of the +excellent and the vile. But now, over and above all passions, ambitions, +stains and waste, he was conscious of the colossal expenditure of labour +which marked the life of Paris, of the heroic manual efforts in +work-shops and factories, and the splendid striving of the young men of +intellect whom he knew to be hard at work, studying in silence, +relinquishing none of the conquests of their elders, but glowing with +desire to enlarge their domain. And in all this Paris was exalted, +together with the future that was being prepared within it, and which +would wing its flight over the world bright like the dawn of day. If +Rome, now so near its death, had ruled the ancient world, it was Paris +that reigned with sovereign sway over the modern era, and had for the +time become the great centre of the nations as they were carried on from +civilisation to civilisation, in a sunward course from east to west. +Paris was the world's brain. Its past so full of grandeur had prepared it +for the part of initiator, civiliser and liberator. Only yesterday it had +cast the cry of Liberty among the nations, and to-morrow it would bring +them the religion of Science, the new faith awaited by the democracies. +And Paris was also gaiety, kindness and gentleness, passion for knowledge +and generosity without limit. Among the workmen of its faubourgs and the +peasants of its country-sides there were endless reserves of men on whom +the future might freely draw. And the century ended with Paris, and the +new century would begin and spread with it. All the clamour of its +prodigious labour, all the light that came from it as from a beacon +overlooking the earth, all the thunder and tempest and triumphant +brightness that sprang from its entrails, were pregnant with that final +splendour, of which human happiness would be compounded. + +Marie raised a light cry of admiration as she pointed towards the city. +"Look! just look!" she exclaimed; "Paris is all golden, covered with a +harvest of gold!" + +They all re-echoed her admiration, for the effect was really one of +extraordinary magnificence. The declining sun was once more veiling the +immensity of Paris with golden dust. But this was no longer the city of +the sower, a chaos of roofs and edifices suggesting brown land turned up +by some huge plough, whilst the sun-rays streamed over it like golden +seed, falling upon every side. Nor was it the city whose divisions had +one day seemed so plain to Pierre: eastward, the districts of toil, misty +with the grey smoke of factories; southward, the districts of study, +serene and quiet; westward, the districts of wealth, bright and open; and +in the centre the districts of trade, with dark and busy streets. It now +seemed as if one and the same crop had sprung up on every side, imparting +harmony to everything, and making the entire expanse one sole, boundless +field, rich with the same fruitfulness. There was corn, corn everywhere, +an infinity of corn, whose golden wave rolled from one end of the horizon +to the other. Yes, the declining sun steeped all Paris in equal +splendour, and it was truly the crop, the harvest, after the sowing! + +"Look! just look," repeated Marie, "there is not a nook without its +sheaf; the humblest roofs are fruitful, and every blade is full-eared +wherever one may look. It is as if there were now but one and the same +soil, reconciled and fraternal. Ah! Jean, my little Jean, look! see how +beautiful it is!" + +Pierre, who was quivering, had drawn close beside her. And Mere-Grand and +Bertheroy smiled upon that promise of a future which they would not see, +whilst beside Guillaume, whom the sight filled with emotion, were his +three big sons, the three young giants, looking quite grave, they who +ever laboured and were ever hopeful. Then Marie, with a fine gesture of +enthusiasm, stretched out her arms and raised her child aloft, as if +offering it in gift to the huge city. + +"See, Jean! see, little one," she cried, "it's you who'll reap it all, +who'll store the whole crop in the barn!" + +And Paris flared--Paris, which the divine sun had sown with light, and +where in glory waved the great future harvest of Truth and of Justice. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Cities Trilogy: Paris, +Complete, by Emile Zola + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE CITIES: PARIS, COMPLETE *** + +This file should be named pari610.txt or pari610.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, pari611.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, pari610a.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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