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diff --git a/old/scmsh10.txt b/old/scmsh10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eaa39e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/scmsh10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15857 @@ +*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Scaramouche, by Rafael Sabatini* +#2 in our series by Rafael Sabatini + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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THE HERITAGE + +V. THE LORD OF GAVRILLAC + +VI. THE WINDMILL + +VII. THE WIND + +VIII. OMNES OMNIBUS + +IX. THE AFTERMATH + + + BOOK II + + THE BUSKIN + + +I. THE TRESPASSERS + +II. THE SERVICE OF THESPIS + +III. THE COMIC MUSE + +IV. EXIT MONSIEUR PARVISSIMUS + +V. ENTER SCARAMOUCHE + +VI. CLIMENE + +VII. THE CONQUEST OF NANTES + +VIII. THE DREAM + +IX. THE AWAKENING + +X. CONTRITION + +XI. THE FRACAS AT THE THEATRE FEYDAU + + + + BOOK III + + THE SWORD + + +I. TRANSITION + +II. QUOS DEUS VULT PERDERE + +III. PRESIDENT LE CHAPELIER + +IV. AT MEUDON + +V. MADAME DE PLOUGASTEL + +VI. POLITICIANS + +VII. THE SPADASSINICIDES + +VIII. THE PALADIN OF THE THIRD + +IX. TORN PRIDE + +X. THE RETURNING CARRIAGE + +XI. INFERENCES + +XII. THE OVERWHELMING REASON + +XIII. SANCTUARY + +XIV. THE BARRIER + +XV. SAFE-CONDUCT + +XVI. SUNRISE + + + +SCARAMOUCHE + + + +BOOK I: THE ROBE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE REPUBLICAN + + +He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was +mad. And that was all his patrimony. His very paternity was +obscure, although the village of Gavrillac had long since dispelled +the cloud of mystery that hung about it. Those simple Brittany folk +were not so simple as to be deceived by a pretended relationship +which did not even possess the virtue of originality. When a +nobleman, for no apparent reason, announces himself the godfather of +an infant fetched no man knew whence, and thereafter cares for the +lad's rearing and education, the most unsophisticated of country +folk perfectly understand the situation. And so the good people of +Gavrillac permitted themselves no illusions on the score of the real +relationship between Andre-Louis Moreau - as the lad had been named + - and Quintin de Kercadiou, Lord of Gavrillac, who dwelt in the +big grey house that dominated from its eminence the village +clustering below. + +Andre-Louis had learnt his letters at the village school, lodged +the while with old Rabouillet, the attorney, who in the capacity of +fiscal intendant, looked after the affairs of M. de Kercadiou. +Thereafter, at the age of fifteen, he had been packed off to Paris, +to the Lycee of Louis Le Grand, to study the law which he was now +returned to practise in conjunction with Rabouillet. All this at +the charges of his godfather, M. de Kercadiou, who by placing him +once more under the tutelage of Rabouillet would seem thereby quite +clearly to be making provision for his future. + +Andre-Louis, on his side, had made the most of his opportunities. +You behold him at the age of four-and-twenty stuffed with learning +enough to produce an intellectual indigestion in an ordinary mind. +Out of his zestful study of Man, from Thucydides to the +Encyclopaedists, from Seneca to Rousseau, he had confirmed into an +unassailable conviction his earliest conscious impressions of the +general insanity of his own species. Nor can I discover that +anything in his eventful life ever afterwards caused him to waver +in that opinion. + +In body he was a slight wisp of a fellow, scarcely above middle +height, with a lean, astute countenance, prominent of nose and +cheek-bones, and with lank, black hair that reached almost to his +shoulders. His mouth was long, thin-lipped, and humorous. He was +only just redeemed from ugliness by the splendour of a pair of +ever-questing, luminous eyes, so dark as to be almost black. Of +the whimsical quality of his mind and his rare gift of graceful +expression, his writings - unfortunately but too scanty - and +particularly his Confessions, afford us very ample evidence. Of +his gift of oratory he was hardly conscious yet, although he had +already achieved a certain fame for it in the Literary Chamber of +Rennes - one of those clubs by now ubiquitous in the land, in +which the intellectual youth of France foregathered to study and +discuss the new philosophies that were permeating social life. +But the fame he had acquired there was hardly enviable. He was +too impish, too caustic, too much disposed - so thought his +colleagues - to ridicule their sublime theories for the regeneration +of mankind. Himself he protested that he merely held them up to the +mirror of truth, and that it was not his fault if when reflected +there they looked ridiculous. + +All that he achieved by this was to exasperate; and his expulsion +from a society grown mistrustful of him must already have followed +but for his friend, Philippe de Vilmorin, a divinity student of +Rennes, who, himself, was one of the most popular members of the +Literary Chamber. + +Coming to Gavrillac on a November morning, laden with news of the +political storms which were then gathering over France, Philippe +found in that sleepy Breton village matter to quicken his already +lively indignation. A peasant of Gavrillac, named Mabey, had been +shot dead that morning in the woods of Meupont, across the river, +by a gamekeeper of the Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr. The unfortunate +fellow had been caught in the act of taking a pheasant from a snare, +and the gamekeeper had acted under explicit orders from his master. + +Infuriated by an act of tyranny so absolute and merciless, M. de +Vilmorin proposed to lay the matter before M. de Kercadiou. Mabey +was a vassal of Gavrillac, and Vilmorin hoped to move the Lord of +Gavrillac to demand at least some measure of reparation for the +widow and the three orphans which that brutal deed had made. + +But because Andre-Louis was Philippe's dearest friend - indeed, his +almost brother - the young seminarist sought him out in the first +instance. He found him at breakfast alone in the long, low-ceilinged, +white-panelled dining-room at Rabouillet's - the only home that +Andre-Louis had ever known - and after embracing him, deafened him +with his denunciation of M. de La Tour d'Azyr. + +"I have heard of it already," said Andre-Louis. + +"You speak as if the thing had not surprised you," his friend +reproached him. + +"Nothing beastly can surprise me when done by a beast. And La Tour +d'Azyr is a beast, as all the world knows. The more fool Mabey for +stealing his pheasants. He should have stolen somebody else's." + +"Is that all you have to say about it?" + +"What more is there to say? I've a practical mind, I hope." + +"What more there is to say I propose to say to your godfather, M. +de Kercadiou. I shall appeal to him for justice." + +"Against M. de La Tour d'Azyr?" Andre-Louis raised his eyebrows. + +"Why not?" + +"My dear ingenuous Philippe, dog doesn't eat dog." + +"You are unjust to your godfather. He is a humane man." + +"Oh, as humane as you please. But this isn't a question +of humanity. It's a question of game-laws." + +M. de Vilmorin tossed his long arms to Heaven in disgust. He was +a tall, slender young gentleman, a year or two younger than +Andre-Louis. He was very soberly dressed in black, as became a +seminarist, with white bands at wrists and throat and silver +buckles to his shoes. His neatly clubbed brown hair was innocent +of powder. + +"You talk like a lawyer," he exploded. + +"Naturally. But don't waste anger on me on that account. Tell me +what you want me to do." + +"I want you to come to M. de Kercadiou with me, and to use your +influence to obtain justice. I suppose I am asking too much." + +"My dear Philippe, I exist to serve you. I warn you that it is a +futile quest; but give me leave to finish my breakfast, and I am +at your orders." + +M. de Vilmorin dropped into a winged armchair by the well-swept +hearth, on which a piled-up fire of pine logs was burning cheerily. +And whilst he waited now he gave his friend the latest news of the +events in Rennes. Young, ardent, enthusiastic, and inspired by +Utopian ideals, he passionately denounced the rebellious attitude +of the privileged. + +Andre-Louis, already fully aware of the trend of feeling in the +ranks of an order in whose deliberations he took part as the +representative of a nobleman, was not at all surprised by what he +heard. M. de Vilmorin found it exasperating that his friend should +apparently decline to share his own indignation. + +"Don't you see what it means?" he cried. "The nobles, by disobeying +the King, are striking at the very foundations of the throne. Don't +they perceive that their very existence depends upon it; that if the +throne falls over, it is they who stand nearest to it who will be +crushed? Don't they see that?" + +"Evidently not. They are just governing classes, and I never heard +of governing classes that had eyes for anything but their own profit." + +"That is our grievance. That is what we are going to change." + +"You are going to abolish governing classes? An interesting +experiment. I believe it was the original plan of creation, and it +might have succeeded but for Cain." + +"What we are going to do," said M. de Vilmorin, curbing his +exasperation, "is to transfer the government to other hands." + +"And you think that will make a difference?" + +"I know it will." + +"Ah! I take it that being now in minor orders, you already possess +the confidence of the Almighty. He will have confided to you His +intention of changing the pattern of mankind." + +M. de Vilmorin's fine ascetic face grew overcast. "You are profane, +Andre," he reproved his friend. + +"I assure you that I am quite serious. To do what you imply would +require nothing short of divine intervention. You must change man, +not systems. Can you and our vapouring friends of the Literary +Chamber of Rennes, or any other learned society of France, devise a +system of government that has never yet been tried? Surely not. +And can they say of any system tried that it proved other than a +failure in the end? My dear Philippe, the future is to be read +with certainty only in the past. Ab actu ad posse valet consecutio. +Man never changes. He is always greedy, always acquisitive, always +vile. I am speaking of Man in the bulk." + +"Do you pretend that it is impossible to ameliorate the lot of the +people?" M. de Vilmorin challenged him. + +"When you say the people you mean, of course, the populace. Will +you abolish it? That is the only way to ameliorate its lot, for as +long as it remains populace its lot will be damnation." + +"You argue, of course, for the side that employs you. That is +natural, I suppose." M. de Vilmorin spoke between sorrow and +indignation. + +"On the contrary, I seek to argue with absolute detachment. Let us +test these ideas of yours. To what form of government do you aspire? +A republic, it is to be inferred from what you have said. Well, you +have it already. France in reality is a republic to-day." + +Philippe stared at him. "You are being paradoxical, I think. What +of the King?" + +"The King? All the world knows there has been no king in France +since Louis XIV. There is an obese gentleman at Versailles who +wears the crown, but the very news you bring shows for how little +he really counts. It is the nobles and clergy who sit in the high +places, with the people of France harnessed under their feet, who +are the real rulers. That is why I say that France is a republic; +she is a republic built on the best pattern - the Roman pattern. +Then, as now, there were great patrician families in luxury, +preserving for themselves power and wealth, and what else is +accounted worth possessing; and there was the populace crushed and +groaning, sweating, bleeding, starving, and perishing in the Roman +kennels. That was a republic; the mightiest we have seen." + +Philippe strove with his impatience. "At least you will admit - you +have, in fact, admitted it - that we could not be worse governed +than we are?" + +"That is not the point. The point is should we be better governed +if we replaced the present ruling class by another? Without some +guarantee of that I should be the last to lift a finger to effect a +change. And what guarantees can you give? What is the class that +aims at government? I will tell you. The bourgeoisie." + +"What?" + +"That startles you, eh? Truth is so often disconcerting. You hadn't +thought of it? Well, think of it now. Look well into this Nantes +manifesto. Who are the authors of it?" + +"I can tell you who it was constrained the municipality of Nantes +to send it to the King. Some ten thousand workmen - shipwrights, +weavers, labourers, and artisans of every kind." + +"Stimulated to it, driven to it, by their employers, the wealthy +traders and shipowners of that city," Andre-Louis replied. "I have +a habit of observing things at close quarters, which is why our +colleagues of the Literary Chamber dislike me so cordially in debate. +Where I delve they but skim. Behind those labourers and artisans of +Nantes, counselling them, urging on these poor, stupid, ignorant +toilers to shed their blood in pursuit of the will o' the wisp of +freedom, are the sail-makers, the spinners, the ship-owners and the +slave-traders. The slave-traders! The men who live and grow rich +by a traffic in human flesh and blood in the colonies, are conducting +at home a campaign in the sacred name of liberty! Don't you see that +the whole movement is a movement of hucksters and traders and +peddling vassals swollen by wealth into envy of the power that lies +in birth alone? The money-changers in Paris who hold the bonds in +the national debt, seeing the parlous financial condition of the +State, tremble at the thought that it may lie in the power of a +single man to cancel the debt by bankruptcy. To secure themselves +they are burrowing underground to overthrow a state and build upon +its ruins a new one in which they shall be the masters. And to +accomplish this they inflame the people. Already in Dauphiny we +have seen blood run like water - the blood of the populace, always +the blood of the populace. Now in Brittany we may see the like. +And if in the end the new ideas prevail? if the seigneurial rule +is overthrown, what then? You will have exchanged an aristocracy +for a plutocracy. Is that worth while? Do you 'think that under +money-changers and slave-traders and men who have waxed rich in +other ways by the ignoble arts of buying and selling, the lot of +the people will be any better than under their priests and nobles? +Has it ever occurred to you, Philippe, what it is that makes the +rule of the nobles so intolerable? Acquisitiveness. Acquisitiveness +is the curse of mankind. And shall you expect less acquisitiveness +in men who have built themselves up by acquisitiveness? Oh, I am +ready to admit that the present government is execrable, unjust, +tyrannical - what you will; but I beg you to look ahead, and to see +that the government for which it is aimed at exchanging it may be +infinitely worse." + +Philippe sat thoughtful a moment. Then he returned to the attack. + +"You do not speak of the abuses, the horrible, intolerable abuses +of power under which we labour at present." + +"Where there is power there will always be the abuse of it." + +"Not if the tenure of power is dependent upon its equitable +administration." + +"The tenure of power is power. We cannot dictate to those who hold +it." + +"The people can - the people in its might." + +"Again I ask you, when you say the people do you mean the populace? +You do. What power can the populace wield? It can run wild. It +can burn and slay for a time. But enduring power it cannot wield, +because power demands qualities which the populace does not possess, +or it would not be populace. The inevitable, tragic corollary of +civilization is populace. For the rest, abuses can be corrected by +equity; and equity, if it is not found in the enlightened, is not +to be found at all. M. Necker is to set about correcting abuses, +and limiting privileges. That is decided. To that end the States +General are to assemble." + +"And a promising beginning we have made in Brittany, as Heaven hears +me!" cried Philippe. + +"Pooh! That is nothing. Naturally the nobles will not yield without +a struggle. It is a futile and ridiculous struggle - but then... it +is human nature, I suppose, to be futile and ridiculous." + +M. de Vilmorin became witheringly sarcastic. "Probably you will +also qualify the shooting of Mabey as futile and ridiculous. I +should even be prepared to hear you argue in defence of the Marquis +de La Tour d'Azyr that his gamekeeper was merciful in shooting +Mabey, since the alternative would have been a life-sentence to +the galleys." + +Andre-Louis drank the remainder of his chocolate; set down his cup, +and pushed back his chair, his breakfast done. + +"I confess that I have not your big charity, my dear Philippe. I +am touched by Mabey's fate. But, having conquered the shock of +this news to my emotions, I do not forget that, after all, Mabey +was thieving when he met his death." + +M. de Vilmorin heaved himself up in his indignation. + +"That is the point of view to be expected in one who is the assistant +fiscal intendant of a nobleman, and the delegate of a nobleman to +the States of Brittany." + +"Philippe, is that just? You are angry with me!" he cried, in real +solicitude. + +"I am hurt," Vilmorin admitted. "I am deeply hurt by your attitude. +And I am not alone in resenting your reactionary tendencies. Do +you know that the Literary Chamber is seriously considering your +expulsion?" + +Andre-Louis shrugged. "That neither surprises nor troubles me." + +M. de Vilmorin swept on, passionately: "Sometimes I think that you +have no heart. With you it is always the law, never equity. It +occurs to me, Andre, that I was mistaken in coming to you. You are +not likely to be of assistance to me in my interview with M. de +Kercadiou." He took up his hat, clearly with the intention of +departing. + +Andre-Louis sprang up and caught him by the arm. + +"I vow," said he, "that this is the last time ever I shall consent +to talk law or politics with you, Philippe. I love you too well +to quarrel with you over other men's affairs." + +"But I make them my own," Philippe insisted vehemently. + +"Of course you do, and I love you for it. It is right that you +should. You are to be a priest; and everybody's business is a +priest's business. Whereas I am a lawyer - the fiscal intendant +of a nobleman, as you say - and a lawyer's business is the business +of his client. That is the difference between us. Nevertheless, +you are not going to shake me off." + +"But I tell you frankly, now that I come to think of it, that I +should prefer you did not see M. de Kercadiou with me. Your duty +to your client cannot be a help to me." + +His wrath had passed; but his determination remained firm, based +upon the reason he gave. + +"Very well," said Andre-Louis. "It shall be as you please. But +nothing shall prevent me at least from walking with you as far as +the chateau, and waiting for you while you make your appeal to M. +de Kercadiou." + +And so they left the house good friends, for the sweetness of M. +de Vilmorin's nature did not admit of rancour, and together they +took their way up the steep main street of Gavrillac. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE ARISTOCRAT + + +The sleepy village of Gavrillac, a half-league removed from the main +road to Rennes, and therefore undisturbed by the world's traffic, +lay in a curve of the River Meu, at the foot, and straggling halfway +up the slope, of the shallow hill that was crowned by the squat manor. +By the time Gavrillac had paid tribute to its seigneur - partly in +money and partly in service - tithes to the Church, and imposts to +the King, it was hard put to it to keep body and soul together with +what remained. Yet, hard as conditions were in Gavrillac, they were +not so hard as in many other parts of France, not half so hard, for +instance, as with the wretched feudatories of the great Lord of La +Tour d'Azyr, whose vast possessions were at one point separated from +this little village by the waters of the Meu. + +The Chateau de Gavrillac owed such seigneurial airs as might be +claimed for it to its dominant position above the village rather +than to any feature of its own. Built of granite, like all the rest +of Gavrillac, though mellowed by some three centuries of existence, +it was a squat, flat-fronted edifice of two stories, each lighted by +four windows with external wooden shutters, and flanked at either end +by two square towers or pavilions under extinguisher roofs. Standing +well back in a garden, denuded now, but very pleasant in summer, and +immediately fronted by a fine sweep of balustraded terrace, it looked, +what indeed it was, and always had been, the residence of +unpretentious folk who found more interest in husbandry than in +adventure. + +Quintin de Kercadiou, Lord of Gavrillac - Seigneur de Gavrillac was +all the vague title that he bore, as his forefathers had borne before +him, derived no man knew whence or how - confirmed the impression +that his house conveyed. Rude as the granite itself, he had never +sought the experience of courts, had not even taken service in the +armies of his King. He left it to his younger brother, Etienne, to +represent the family in those exalted spheres. His own interests +from earliest years had been centred in his woods and pastures. He +hunted, and he cultivated his acres, and superficially he appeared +to be little better than any of his rustic metayers. He kept no +state, or at least no state commensurate with his position or with +the tastes of his niece Aline de Kercadiou. Aline, having spent +some two years in the court atmosphere of Versailles under the aegis +of her uncle Etienne, had ideas very different from those of her +uncle Quintin of what was befitting seigneurial dignity. But though +this only child of a third Kercadiou had exercised, ever since she +was left an orphan at the early age of four, a tyrannical rule over +the Lord of Gavrillac, who had been father and mother to her, she +had never yet succeeded in beating down his stubbornness on that +score. She did not yet despair - persistence being a dominant note +in her character - although she had been assiduously and fruitlessly +at work since her return from the great world of Versailles some +three months ago. + +She was walking on the terrace when Andre-Louis and M. de Vilmorin +arrived. Her slight body was wrapped against the chill air in a +white pelisse; her head was encased in a close-fitting bonnet, edged +with white fur. It was caught tight in a knot of pale-blue ribbon +on the right of her chin; on the left a long ringlet of corn-coloured +hair had been permitted to escape. The keen air had whipped so much +of her cheeks as was presented to it, and seemed to have added +sparkle to eyes that were of darkest blue. + +Andre-Louis and M. de Vilmorin had been known to her from childhood. +The three had been playmates once, and Andre-Louis - in view of his +spiritual relationship with her uncle - she called her cousin. The +cousinly relations had persisted between these two long after +Philippe de Vilmorin had outgrown the earlier intimacy, and had +become to her Monsieur de Vilmorin. + +She waved her hand to them in greeting as they advanced, and stood + - an entrancing picture, and fully conscious of it - to await them +at the end of the terrace nearest the short avenue by which they +approached. + +"If you come to see monsieur my uncle, you come inopportunely, +messieurs," she told them, a certain feverishness in her air. "He +is closely - oh, so very closely - engaged." + +"We will wait, mademoiselle," said M. de Vilmorin, bowing gallantly +over the hand she extended to him. "Indeed, who would haste to the +uncle that may tarry a moment with the niece?" + +"M. l'abbe," she teased him, "when you are in orders I shall take +you for my confessor. You have so ready and sympathetic an +understanding." + +"But no curiosity," said Andre-Louis. "You haven't thought of that." + +"I wonder what you mean, Cousin Andre." + +"Well you may," laughed Philippe. "For no one ever knows." And +then, his glance straying across the terrace settled upon a carriage +that was drawn up before the door of the chateau. It was a vehicle +such as was often to be seen in the streets of a great city, but +rarely in the country. It was a beautifully sprung two-horse +cabriolet of walnut, with a varnish upon it like a sheet of glass +and little pastoral scenes exquisitely painted on the panels of the +door. It was built to carry two persons, with a box in front for +the coachman, and a stand behind for the footman. This stand was +empty, but the footman paced before the door, and as he emerged now +from behind the vehicle into the range of M. de Vilmorin's vision, +he displayed the resplendent blue-and-gold livery of the Marquis de +La Tour d'Azyr. + +"Why!" he exclaimed. "Is it M. de La Tour d'Azyr who is with your +uncle?" + +"It is, monsieur," said she, a world of mystery in voice and eyes, +of which M. de Vilmorin observed nothing. + +"Ah, pardon!" he bowed low, hat in hand. "Serviteur, mademoiselle," +and he turned to depart towards the house. + +"Shall I come with you, Philippe?" Andre-Louis called after him. + +"It would be ungallant to assume that you would prefer it," said M. +de Vilmorin, with a glance at mademoiselle. "Nor do I think it +would serve. If you will wait... " + +M. de Vilmorin strode off. Mademoiselle, after a moment's blank +pause, laughed ripplingly. "Now where is he going in such a hurry?" + +"To see M. de La Tour d'Azyr as well as your uncle, I should say." + +"But he cannot. They cannot see him. Did I not say that they are +very closely engaged? You don't ask me why, Andre." There was an +arch mysteriousness about her, a latent something that may have +been elation or amusement, or perhaps both. Andre-Louis could not +determine it. + +"Since obviously you are all eagerness to tell, why should I ask?" +quoth he. + +"If you are caustic I shall not tell you even if you ask. Oh, yes, +I will. It will teach you to treat me with the respect that is my +due." + +"I hope I shall never fail in that." + +"Less than ever when you learn that I am very closely concerned in +the visit of M. de La Tour d'Azyr. I am the object of this visit." +And she looked at him with sparkling eyes and lips parted in +laughter. + +"The rest, you would seem to imply, is obvious. But I am a dolt, +if you please; for it is not obvious to me." + +"Why, stupid, he comes to ask my hand in marriage." + +"Good God!" said Andre-Louis, and stared at her, chapfallen. + +She drew back from him a little with a frown and an upward tilt of +her chin. "It surprises you?" + +"It disgusts me," said he, bluntly. "In fact, I don't believe it. +You are amusing yourself with me." + +For a moment she put aside her visible annoyance to remove his +doubts. "I am quite serious, monsieur. There came a formal letter +to my uncle this morning from M. de La Tour d'Azyr, announcing the +visit and its object. I will not say that it did not surprise us +a little... + +"Oh, I see," cried Andre-Louis, in relief. "I understand. For a +moment I had almost feared... " He broke off, looked at her, and +shrugged. + +"Why do you stop? You had almost feared that Versailles had been +wasted upon me. That I should permit the court-ship of me to be +conducted like that of any village wench. It was stupid of you. I +am being sought in proper form, at my uncle's hands." + +"Is his consent, then, all that matters, according to Versailles?" + +"What else?" + +"There is your own." + +She laughed. "I am a dutiful niece... when it suits me." + +"And will it suit you to be dutiful if your uncle accepts this +monstrous proposal?" + +"Monstrous!" She bridled. "And why monstrous, if you please?" + +"For a score of reasons," he answered irritably. + +"Give me one," she challenged him. + +"He is twice your age." + +"Hardly so much," said she. + +"He is forty-five, at least." + +"But he looks no more than thirty. He is very handsome - so much +you will admit; nor will you deny that he is very wealthy and very +powerful; the greatest nobleman in Brittany. He will make me a +great lady." + +"God made you that, Aline." + +"Come, that's better. Sometimes you can almost be polite." And she +moved along the terrace, Andre-Louis pacing beside her. + +"I can be more than that to show reason why you should not let this +beast befoul the beautiful thing that God has made." + +She frowned, and her lips tightened. "You are speaking of my future +husband," she reproved him. + +His lips tightened too; his pale face grew paler. + +"And is it so? It is settled, then? Your uncle is to agree? You +are to be sold thus, lovelessly, into bondage to a man you do not +know. I had dreamed of better things for you, Aline." + +"Better than to be Marquise de La Tour d'Azyr?" + +He made a gesture of exasperation. "Are men and women nothing more +than names? Do the souls of them count for nothing? Is there no +joy in life, no happiness, that wealth and pleasure and empty, +high-sounding titles are to be its only aims? I had set you high + - so high, Aline - a thing scarce earthly. There is joy in your +heart, intelligence in your mind; and, as I thought, the vision that +pierces husks and shams to claim the core of reality for its own. +Yet you will surrender all for a parcel of make-believe. You will +sell your soul and your body to be Marquise de La Tour d'Azyr." + +"You are indelicate," said she, and though she frowned her eyes +laughed. "And you go headlong to conclusions. My uncle will not +consent to more than to allow my consent to be sought. We understand +each other, my uncle and I. I am not to be bartered like a turnip." + +He stood still to face her, his eyes glowing, a flush creeping into +his pale cheeks. + +"You have been torturing me to amuse yourself!" he cried. "Ah, +well, I forgive you out of my relief." + +"Again you go too fast, Cousin Andre I have permitted my uncle to +consent that M. le Marquis shall make his court to me. I like the +look of the gentleman. I am flattered by his preference when I +consider his eminence. It is an eminence that I may find it +desirable to share. M. le Marquis does not look as if he were a +dullard. It should be interesting to be wooed by him. It may be +more interesting still to marry him, and I think, when all is +considered, that I shall probably - very probably - decide to do so." + +He looked at her, looked at the sweet, challenging loveliness of that +childlike face so tightly framed in the oval of white fur, and all +the life seemed to go out of his own countenance. + +"God help you, Aline!" he groaned. + +She stamped her foot. He was really very exasperating, and +something presumptuous too, she thought. + +"You are insolent, monsieur." + +"It is never insolent to pray, Aline. And I did no more than pray, +as I shall continue to do. You'll need my prayers, I think." + +"You are insufferable!" She was growing angry, as he saw by the +deepening frown, the heightened colour. + +"That is because I suffer. Oh, Aline, little cousin, think well of +what you do; think well of the realities you will be bartering for +these shams - the realities that you will never know, because these +cursed shams will block your way to them. When M. de La Tour d'Azyr +comes to make his court, study him well; consult your fine instincts; +leave your own noble nature free to judge this animal by its +intuitions. Consider that... " + +"I consider, monsieur, that you presume upon the kindness I have +always shown you. You abuse the position of toleration in which +you stand. Who are you? What are you, that you should have the +insolence to take this tone with me?" + +He bowed, instantly his cold, detached self again, and resumed the +mockery that was his natural habit. + +"My congratulations, mademoiselle, upon the readiness with which you +begin to adapt yourself to the great role you are to play." + +"Do you adapt yourself also, monsieur," she retorted angrily, and +turned her shoulder to him. + +"To be as the dust beneath the haughty feet of Madame la Marquise. +I hope I shall know my place in future." + +The phrase arrested her. She turned to him again, and he perceived +that her eyes were shining now suspiciously. In an instant the +mockery in him was quenched in contrition. + +"Lord, what a beast I am, Aline!" he cried, as he advanced. +"Forgive me if you can." + +Almost had she turned to sue forgiveness from him. But his contrition +removed the need. + +"I'll try," said she, "provided that you undertake not to offend +again. + +"But I shall," said he. "I am like that. I will fight to save you, +from yourself if need be, whether you forgive me or not." + +They were standing so, confronting each other a little breathlessly, +a little defiantly, when the others issued from the porch. + +First came the Marquis of La Tour d'Azyr, Count of Solz, Knight of +the Orders of the Holy Ghost and Saint Louis, and Brigadier in the +armies of the King. He was a tall, graceful man, upright and +soldierly of carriage, with his head disdainfully set upon his +shoulders. He was magnificently dressed in a full-skirted coat of +mulberry velvet that was laced with gold. His waistcoat, of velvet +too, was of a golden apricot colour; his breeches and stockings were +of black silk, and his lacquered, red-heeled shoes were buckled in +diamonds. His powdered hair was tied behind in a broad ribbon of +watered silk; he carried a little three-cornered hat under his arm, +and a gold-hilted slender dress-sword hung at his side. + +Considering him now in complete detachment, observing the +magnificence of him, the elegance of his movements, the great air, +blending in so extraordinary a manner disdain and graciousness, +Andre-Louis trembled for Aline. Here was a practised, irresistible +wooer, whose bonnes fortunes were become a by-word, a man who had +hitherto been the despair of dowagers with marriageable daughters, +and the desolation of husbands with attractive wives. + +He was immediately followed by M. de Kercadiou, in completest +contrast. On legs of the shortest, the Lord of Gavrillac carried +a body that at forty-five was beginning to incline to corpulence +and an enormous head containing an indifferent allotment of +intelligence. His countenance was pink and blotchy, liberally +branded by the smallpox which had almost extinguished him in youth. +In dress he was careless to the point of untidiness, and to this +and to the fact that he had never married - disregarding the first +duty of a gentleman to provide himself with an heir - he owed the +character of misogynist attributed to him by the countryside. + +After M. de Kercadiou came M. de Vilmorin, very pale and +self-contained, with tight lips and an overcast brow. + +To meet them, there stepped from the carriage a very elegant young +gentleman, the Chevalier de Chabrillane, M. de La Tour d'Azyr's +cousin, who whilst awaiting his return had watched with considerable +interest - his own presence unsuspected - the perambulations of +Andre-Louis and mademoiselle. + +Perceiving Aline, M. de La Tour d'Azyr detached himself from the +others, and lengthening his stride came straight across the terrace +to her. + +To Andre-Louis the Marquis inclined his head with that mixture of +courtliness and condescension which he used. Socially, the young +lawyer stood in a curious position. By virtue of the theory of his +birth, he ranked neither as noble nor as simple, but stood somewhere +between the two classes, and whilst claimed by neither he was used +familiarly by both. Coldly now he returned M. de La Tour d'Azyr's +greeting, and discreetly removed himself to go and join his friend. + +The Marquis took the hand that mademoiselle extended to him, and +bowing over it, bore it to his lips. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, looking into the blue depths of her eyes, +that met his gaze smiling and untroubled, "monsieur your uncle does +me the honour to permit that I pay my homage to you. Will you, +mademoiselle, do me the honour to receive me when I come to-morrow? +I shall have something of great importance for your ear." + +"Of importance, M. le Marquis? You almost frighten me." But there +was no fear on the serene little face in its furred hood. It was +not for nothing that she had graduated in the Versailles school of +artificialities. + +"That," said he, "is very far from my design." + +"But of importance to yourself, monsieur, or to me?" + +"To us both, I hope," he answered her, a world of meaning in his +fine, ardent eyes. + +"You whet my curiosity, monsieur; and, of course, I am a dutiful +niece. It follows that I shall be honoured to receive you." + +"Not honoured, mademoiselle; you will confer the honour. To-morrow +at this hour, then, I shall have the felicity to wait upon you." + +He bowed again; and again he bore her fingers to his lips, what time +she curtsied. Thereupon, with no more than this formal breaking of +the ice, they parted. + +She was a little breathless now, a little dazzled by the beauty of +the man, his princely air, and the confidence of power he seemed to +radiate. Involuntarily almost, she contrasted him with his critic + - the lean and impudent Andre-Louis in his plain brown coat and +steel-buckled shoes - and she felt guilty of an unpardonable offence +in having permitted even one word of that presumptuous criticism. +To-morrow M. le Marquis would come to offer her a great position, a +great rank. And already she had derogated from the increase of +dignity accruing to her from his very intention to translate her to +so great an eminence. Not again would she suffer it; not again +would she be so weak and childish as to permit Andre-Louis to utter +his ribald comments upon a man by comparison with whom he was no +better than a lackey. + +Thus argued vanity and ambition with her better self and to her vast +annoyance her better self would not admit entire conviction. + +Meanwhile, M. de La Tour d'Azyr was climbing into his carriage. He +had spoken a word of farewell to M. de Kercadiou, and he had also +had a word for M. de Vilmorin in reply to which M. de Vilmorin had +bowed in assenting silence. The carriage rolled away, the powdered +footman in blue-and-gold very stiff behind it, M. de La Tour d'Azyr +bowing to mademoiselle, who waved to him in answer. + +Then M. de Vilmorin put his arm through that of Andre Louis, and said +to him, "Come, Andre." + +"But you'll stay to dine, both of you!" cried the hospitable Lord +of Gavrillac. "We'll drink a certain toast," he added, winking an +eye that strayed towards mademoiselle, who was approaching. He had +no subtleties, good soul that he was. + +M. de Vilmorin deplored an appointment that prevented him doing +himself the honour. He was very stiff and formal. + +"And you, Andre?" + +"I? Oh, I share the appointment, godfather," he lied, "and I have +a superstition against toasts." He had no wish to remain. He was +angry with Aline for her smiling reception of M. de La Tour d'Azyr +and the sordid bargain he saw her set on making. He was suffering +from the loss of an illusion. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ELOQUENCE OF M. DE VILMORIN + + +As they walked down the hill together, it was now M. de Vilmorin +who was silent and preoccupied, Andre-Louis who was talkative. He +had chosen Woman as a subject for his present discourse. He claimed + - quite unjustifiably - to have discovered Woman that morning; and +the things he had to say of the sex were unflattering, and +occasionally almost gross. M. de Vilmorin, having ascertained the +subject, did not listen. Singular though it may seem in a young +French abbe of his day, M. de Vilmorin was not interested in Woman. +Poor Philippe was in several ways exceptional. Opposite the Breton +arme - the inn and posting-house at the entrance of the village of +Gavrillac - M. de Vilmorin interrupted his companion just as he was +soaring to the dizziest heights of caustic invective, and +Andre-Louis, restored thereby to actualities, observed the carriage +of M. de La Tour d'Azyr standing before the door of the hostelry. + +"I don't believe you've been listening to me," said he. + +"Had you been less interested in what you were saying, you might +have observed it sooner and spared your breath. The fact is, you +disappoint me, Andre. You seem to have forgotten what we went for. +I have an appointment here with M. le Marquis. He desires to hear +me further in the matter. Up there at Gavrillac I could accomplish +nothing. The time was ill-chosen as it happened. But I have hopes +of M. le Marquis." + +"Hopes of what?" + +"That he will make what reparation lies in his power. Provide for +the widow and the orphans. Why else should he desire to hear me +further?" + +"Unusual condescension," said Andre-Louis, and quoted "Timeo Danaos +et dona ferentes." + +"Why?" asked Philippe. + +"Let us go and discover - unless you consider that I shall be in +the way." + +Into a room on the right, rendered private to M. le Marquis for so +long as he should elect to honour it, the young men were ushered by +the host. A fire of logs was burning brightly at the room's far +end, and by this sat now M. de La Tour d'Azyr and his cousin, the +Chevalier de Chabrillane. Both rose as M. de Vilmorin came in. +Andre-Louis following, paused to close the door. + +"You oblige me by your prompt courtesy, M. de Vilmorin," said the +Marquis, but in a tone so cold as to belie the politeness of his +words. "A chair, I beg. Ah, Moreau?" The note was frigidly +interrogative. "He accompanies you, monsieur?" he asked. + +"If you please, M. le Marquis." + +"Why not? Find yourself a seat, Moreau." He spoke over his shoulder +as to a lackey. + +"It is good of you, monsieur," said Philippe, "to have offered me +this opportunity of continuing the subject that took me so +fruitlessly, as it happens, to Gavrillac." + +The Marquis crossed his legs, and held one of his fine hands to the +blaze. He replied, without troubling to turn to the young man, who +was slightly behind him. + +"The goodness of my request we will leave out of question for the +moment," said he, darkly, and M. de Chabrillane laughed. Andre-Louis +thought him easily moved to mirth, and almost envied him the faculty. + +"But I am grateful," Philippe insisted, "that you should condescend +to hear me plead their cause." + +The Marquis stared at him over his shoulder. "Whose cause?" quoth he. + +"Why, the cause of the widow and orphans of this unfortunate Mabey." + +The Marquis looked from Vilmorin to the Chevalier, and again the +Chevalier laughed, slapping his leg this time. + +"I think," said M. de La Tour d'Azyr, slowly, "that we are at +cross-purposes. I asked you to come here because the Chateau de +Gavrillac was hardly a suitable place in which to carry our +discussion further, and because I hesitated to incommode you by +suggesting that you should come all the way to Azyr. But my object +is connected with certain expressions that you let fall up there. +It is on the subject of those expressions, monsieur, that I would +hear you further - if you will honour me." + +Andre-Louis began to apprehend that there was something sinister in +the air. He was a man of quick intuitions, quicker far than those +of M. de Vilmorin, who evinced no more than a mild surprise. + +"I am at a loss, monsieur," said he. "To what expressions does +monsieur allude?" + +"It seems, monsieur, that I must refresh your memory." The Marquis +crossed his legs, and swung sideways on his chair, so that at last +he directly faced M. de Vilmorin. "You spoke, monsieur - and however +mistaken you may have been, you spoke very eloquently, too eloquently +almost, it seemed to me - of the infamy of such a deed as the act of +summary justice upon this thieving fellow Mabey, or whatever his name +may be. Infamy was the precise word you used. You did not retract +that word when I had the honour to inform you that it was by my orders +that my gamekeeper Benet proceeded as he did." + +"If," said M. de Vilmorin, "the deed was infamous, its infamy is not +modified by the rank, however exalted, of the person responsible. +Rather is it aggravated." + +"Ah!" said M. le Marquis, and drew a gold snuffbox from his pocket. +"You say, 'if the deed was infamous,' monsieur. Am I to understand +that you are no longer as convinced as you appeared to be of its +infamy?" + +M. de Vilmorin's fine face wore a look of perplexity. He did not +understand the drift of this. + +"It occurs to me, M. le Marquis, in view of your readiness to assume +responsibility, that you must believe justification for the deed +which is not apparent to myself." + +"That is better. That is distinctly better." The Marquis took +snuff delicately, dusting the fragments from the fine lace at his +throat. "You realize that with an imperfect understanding of these +matters, not being yourself a landowner, you may have rushed to +unjustifiable conclusions. That is indeed the case. May it be a +warning to you, monsieur. When I tell you that for months past I +have been annoyed by similar depredations, you will perhaps +understand that it had become necessary to employ a deterrent +sufficiently strong to put an end to them. Now that the risk is +known, I do not think there will be any more prowling in my coverts. +And there is more in it than that, M. de Vilmorin. It is not the +poaching that annoys me so much as the contempt for my absolute and +inviolable rights. There is, monsieur, as you cannot fail to have +observed, an evil spirit of insubordination in the air, and there +is one only way in which to meet it. To tolerate it, in however +slight a degree, to show leniency, however leniently disposed, would +entail having recourse to still harsher measures to-morrow. You +understand me, I am sure, and you will also, I am sure, appreciate +the condescension of what amounts to an explanation from me where I +cannot admit that any explanations were due. If anything in what I +have said is still obscure to you, I refer you to the game laws, which +your lawyer friend there will expound for you at need." + +With that the gentleman swung round again to face the fire. It +appeared to convey the intimation that the interview was at an end. +And yet this was not by any means the intimation that it conveyed +to the watchful, puzzled, vaguely uneasy Andre-Louis. It was, +thought he, a very curious, a very suspicious oration. It affected +to explain, with a politeness of terms and a calculated insolence +of tone; whilst in fact it could only serve to stimulate and goad +a man of M. de Vilmorin's opinions. And that is precisely what it +did. He rose. + +"Are there in the world no laws but game laws?" he demanded, angrily. +"Have you never by any chance heard of the laws of humanity?" + +The Marquis sighed wearily. "What have I to do with the laws of +humanity?" he wondered. + +M. de Vilmorin looked at him a moment in speechless amazement. + +"Nothing, M. le Marquis. That is - alas! - too obvious. I hope +you will remember it in the hour when you may wish to appeal to +those laws which you now deride." + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr threw back his head sharply, his high-bred face +imperious. + +"Now what precisely shall that mean? It is not the first time +to-day that you have made use of dark sayings that I could almost +believe to veil the presumption of a threat." + +"Not a threat, M. le Marquis - a warning. A warning that such deeds +as these against God's creatures... Oh, you may sneer, monsieur, +but they are God's creatures, even as you or I - neither more nor +less, deeply though the reflection may wound your pride, In His +eyes... " + +"Of your charity, spare me a sermon, M. l'abbe!" + +"You mock, monsieur. You laugh. Will you laugh, I wonder, when God +presents His reckoning to you for the blood and plunder with which +your hands are full?" + +"Monsieur!" The word, sharp as the crack of a whip, was from M. de +Chabrillane, who bounded to his feet. But instantly the Marquis +repressed him. + +"Sit down, Chevalier. You are interrupting M. l'abbe, and I should +like to hear him further. He interests me profoundly." + +In the background Andre-Louis, too, had risen, brought to his feet by +alarm, by the evil that he saw written on the handsome face of M. de +La Tour d'Azyr. He approached, and touched his friend upon the arm. + +"Better be going, Philippe," said he. + +But M. de Vilmorin, caught in the relentless grip of passions long +repressed, was being hurried by them recklessly along. + +"Oh, monsieur," said he, "consider what you are and what you will +be. Consider how you and your kind live by abuses, and consider the +harvest that abuses must ultimately bring." + +"Revolutionist!" said M. le Marquis, contemptuously. "You have the +effrontery to stand before my face and offer me this stinking cant +of your modern so-called intellectuals!" + +"Is it cant, monsieur? Do you think - do you believe in your soul + - that it is cant? Is it cant that the feudal grip is on all +things that live, crushing them like grapes in the press, to its +own profit? Does it not exercise its rights upon the waters of the +river, the fire that bakes the poor man's bread of grass and barley, +on the wind that turns the mill? The peasant cannot take a step +upon the road, cross a crazy bridge over a river, buy an ell of +cloth in the village market, without meeting feudal rapacity, +without being taxed in feudal dues. Is not that enough, M. le +Marquis? Must you also demand his wretched life in payment for the +least infringement of your sacred privileges, careless of what +widows or orphans you dedicate to woe? Will naught content you but +that your shadow must lie like a curse upon the land? And do you +think in your pride that France, this Job among the nations, will +suffer it forever?" + +He paused as if for a reply. But none came. The Marquis considered +him, strangely silent, a half smile of disdain at the corners of his +lips, an ominous hardness in his eyes. + +Again Andre-Louis tugged at his friend's sleeve. + +"Philippe." + +Philippe shook him off, and plunged on, fanatically. + +"Do you see nothing of the gathering clouds that herald the coming +of the storm? You imagine, perhaps, that these States General +summoned by M. Necker, and promised for next year, are to do nothing +but devise fresh means of extortion to liquidate the bankruptcy of +the State? You delude yourselves, as you shall find. The Third +Estate, which you despise, will prove itself the preponderating +force, and it will find a way to make an end of this canker of +privilege that is devouring the vitals of this unfortunate country." + +M. le Marquis shifted in his chair, and spoke at last. + +"You have, monsieur," said he, "a very dangerous gift of eloquence. +And it is of yourself rather than of your subject. For after all, +what do you offer me? A rechauffe of the dishes served to +out-at-elbow enthusiasts in the provincial literary chambers, +compounded of the effusions of your Voltaires and Jean-Jacques and +such dirty-fingered scribblers. You have not among all your +philosophers one with the wit to understand that we are an order +consecrated by antiquity, that for our rights and privileges we have +behind us the authority of centuries." + +"Humanity, monsieur," Philippe replied, "is more ancient than +nobility. Human rights are contemporary with man." + +The Marquis laughed and shrugged. + +"That is the answer I might have expected. It has the right note +of cant that distinguishes the philosophers." And then M. de +Chabrillane spoke. + +"You go a long way round," he criticized his cousin, on a note of +impatience. + +"But I am getting there," he was answered. "I desired to make quite +certain first." + +"Faith, you should have no doubt by now." + +"I have none." The Marquis rose, and turned again to M. de Vilmorin, +who had understood nothing of that brief exchange. "M. l'abbe," +said he once more, "you have a very dangerous gift of eloquence. I +can conceive of men being swayed by it. Had you been born a +gentleman, you would not so easily have acquired these false views +that you express." + +M. de Vilmorin stared blankly, uncomprehending. + +"Had I been born a gentleman, do you say?" quoth he, in a slow, +bewildered voice. "But I was born a gentleman. My race is as old, +my blood as good as yours, monsieur." + +From M. le Marquis there was a slight play of eyebrows, a vague, +indulgent smile. His dark, liquid eyes looked squarely into the +face of M. de Vilmorin. + +"You have been deceived in that, I fear." + +"Deceived?" + +"Your sentiments betray the indiscretion of which madame your mother +must have been guilty." + +The brutally affronting words were sped beyond recall, and the lips +that had uttered them, coldly, as if they had been the merest +commonplace, remained calm and faintly sneering. + +A dead silence followed. Andre-Louis' wits were numbed. He stood +aghast, all thought suspended in him, what time M. de Vilmorin's +eyes continued fixed upon M. de La Tour d'Azyr's, as if searching +there for a meaning that eluded him. Quite suddenly he understood +the vile affront. The blood leapt to his face, fire blazed in his +gentle eyes. A convulsive quiver shook him. Then, with an +inarticulate cry, he leaned forward, and with his open hand struck +M. le Marquis full and hard upon his sneering face. + +In a flash M. de Chabrillane was on his feet, between the two men. + +Too late Andre-Louis had seen the trap. La Tour d'Azyr's words +were but as a move in a game of chess, calculated to exasperate his +opponent into some such counter-move as this - a counter-move that +left him entirely at the other's mercy. + +M. le Marquis looked on, very white save where M. de Vilmorin's +finger-prints began slowly to colour his face; but he said nothing +more. Instead, it was M. de Chabrillane who now did the talking, +taking up his preconcerted part in this vile game. + +"You realize, monsieur, what you have done," said he, coldly, to +Philippe. "And you realize, of course, what must inevitably follow." + +M. de Vilmorin had realized nothing. The poor young man had acted +upon impulse, upon the instinct of decency and honour, never +counting the consequences. But he realized them now at the sinister +invitation of M. de Chabrillane, and if he desired to avoid these +consequences, it was out of respect for his priestly vocation, which +strictly forbade such adjustments of disputes as M. de Chabrillane +was clearly thrusting upon him. + +He drew back. "Let one affront wipe out the other," said he, in a +dull voice. "The balance is still in M. le Marquis's favour. Let +that content him." + +"Impossible." The Chevalier's lips came together tightly. +Thereafter he was suavity itself, but very firm. "A blow has been +struck, monsieur. I think I am correct in saying that such a thing +has never happened before to M. le Marquis in all his life. If you +felt yourself affronted, you had but to ask the satisfaction due +from one gentleman to another. Your action would seem to confirm +the assumption that you found so offensive. But it does not on that +account render you immune from the consequences." + +It was, you see, M. de Chabrillane's part to heap coals upon this +fire, to make quite sure that their victim should not escape them. + +"I desire no immunity," flashed back the young seminarist, stung by +this fresh goad. After all, he was nobly born, and the traditions +of his class were strong upon him - stronger far than the seminarist +schooling in humility. He owed it to himself, to his honour, to be +killed rather than avoid the consequences of the thing he had done. + +"But he does not wear a sword, messieurs!" cried Andre Louis, aghast. + +"That is easily amended. He may have the loan of mine." + +"I mean, messieurs," Andre-Louis insisted, between fear for his +friend and indignation, "that it is not his habit to wear a sword, +that he has never worn one, that he is untutored in its uses. He +is a seminarist - a postulant for holy orders, already half a priest, +and so forbidden from such an engagement as you propose." + +"All that he should have remembered before he struck a blow," said +M. de Chabrillane, politely. + +"The blow was deliberately provoked," raged Andre-Louis. Then he +recovered himself, though the other's haughty stare had no part in +that recovery. "O my God, I talk in vain! How is one to argue +against a purpose formed! Come away, Philippe. Don't you see the +trap... " + +M. de Vilmorin cut him short, and flung him off. "Be quiet, Andre. +M. le Marquis is entirely in the right." + +"M. le Marquis is in the right?" Andre-Louis let his arms fall +helplessly. This man he loved above all other living men was caught +in the snare of the world's insanity. He was baring his breast to +the knife for the sake of a vague, distorted sense of the honour due +to himself. It was not that he did not see the trap. It was that +his honour compelled him to disdain consideration of it. To +Andre-Louis in that moment he seemed a singularly tragic figure. +Noble, perhaps, but very pitiful. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE HERITAGE + + +It was M. de Vilmorin's desire that the matter should be settled +out of hand. In this he was at once objective and subjective. A +prey to emotions sadly at conflict with his priestly vocation, he +was above all in haste to have done, so that he might resume a frame +of mind more proper to it. Also he feared himself a little; by +which I mean that his honour feared his nature. The circumstances +of his education, and the goal that for some years now he had kept +in view, had robbed him of much of that spirited brutality that is +the birthright of the male. He had grown timid and gentle as a +woman. Aware of it, he feared that once the heat of his passion +was spent he might betray a dishonouring weakness, in the ordeal. + +M. le Marquis, on his side, was no less eager for an immediate +settlement; and since they had M. de Chabrillane to act for his +cousin, and Andre-Louis to serve as witness for M. de Vilmorin, +there was nothing to delay them. + +And so, within a few minutes, all arrangements were concluded, and +you behold that sinisterly intentioned little group of four +assembled in the afternoon sunshine on the bowling-green behind the +inn. They were entirely private, screened more or less from the +windows of the house by a ramage of trees, which, if leafless now, +was at least dense enough to provide an effective lattice. + +There were no formalities over measurements of blades or selection +of ground. M. le Marquis removed his sword-belt and scabbard, but +declined - not considering it worth while for the sake of so negligible +an opponent - to divest himself either of his shoes or his coat. +Tall, lithe, and athletic, he stood to face the no less tall, but +very delicate and frail, M. de Vilmorin. The latter also disdained +to make any of the usual preparations. Since he recognized that it +could avail him nothing to strip, he came on guard fully dressed, +two hectic spots above the cheek-bones burning on his otherwise grey +face. + +M. de Chabrillane, leaning upon a cane - for he had relinquished +his sword to M. de Vilmorin - looked on with quiet interest. Facing +him on the other side of the combatants stood Andre-Louis, the palest +of the four, staring from fevered eyes, twisting and untwisting +clammy hands. + +His every instinct was to fling himself between the antagonists, to +protest against and frustrate this meeting. That sane impulse was +curbed, however, by the consciousness of its futility. To calm him, +he clung to the conviction that the issue could not really be very +serious. If the obligations of Philippe's honour compelled him to +cross swords with the man he had struck, M. de La Tour d'Azyr's +birth compelled him no less to do no serious hurt to the unfledged +lad he had so grievously provoked. M. le Marquis, after all, was +a man of honour. He could intend no more than to administer a +lesson; sharp, perhaps, but one by which his opponent must live to +profit. Andre-Louis clung obstinately to that for comfort. + +Steel beat on steel, and the men engaged. The Marquis presented to +his opponent the narrow edge of his upright body, his knees +slightly flexed and converted into living springs, whilst M. de +Vilmorin stood squarely, a full target, his knees wooden. Honour +and the spirit of fair play alike cried out against such a match. + +The encounter was very short, of course. In youth, Philippe had +received the tutoring in sword-play that was given to every boy +born into his station of life. And so he knew at least the +rudiments of what was now expected of him. But what could rudiments +avail him here? Three disengages completed the exchanges, and then +without any haste the Marquis slid his right foot along the moist +turf, his long, graceful body extending itself in a lunge that went +under M. de Vilmorin's clumsy guard, and with the utmost deliberation +he drove his blade through the young man's vitals. + +Andre-Louis sprang forward just in time to catch his friend's body +under the armpits as it sank. Then, his own legs bending beneath +the weight of it, he went down with his burden until he was kneeling +on the damp turf. Philippe's limp head lay against Andre-Louis' +left shoulder; Philippe's relaxed arms trailed at his sides; the +blood welled and bubbled from the ghastly wound to saturate the poor +lad's garments. + +With white face and twitching lips, Andre-Louis looked up at M. de +La Tour d'Azyr, who stood surveying his work with a countenance of +grave but remorseless interest. + +"You have killed him!" cried Andre-Louis. + +"Of course." + +The Marquis ran a lace handkerchief along his blade to wipe it. As +he let the dainty fabric fall, he explained himself. "He had, as +I told him, a too dangerous gift of eloquence." + +And he turned away, leaving completest understanding with +Andre-Louis. Still supporting the limp, draining body, the young +man called to him. + +"Come back, you cowardly murderer, and make yourself quite safe by +killing me too!" + +The Marquis half turned, his face dark with anger. Then M. de +Chabrillane set a restraining hand upon his arm. Although a party +throughout to the deed, the Chevalier was a little appalled now +that it was done. He had not the high stomach of M. de La Tour +d'Azyr, and he was a good deal younger. + +"Come away," he said. "The lad is raving. They were friends." + +"You heard what he said?" quoth the Marquis. + +"Nor can he, or you, or any man deny it," flung back Andre-Louis. +"Yourself, monsieur, you made confession when you gave me now the +reason why you killed him. You did it because you feared him." + +"If that were true - what, then?" asked the great gentleman. + +"Do you ask? Do you understand of life and humanity nothing but +how to wear a coat and dress your hair - oh, yes, and to handle +weapons against boys and priests? Have you no mind to think, no +soul into which you can turn its vision? Must you be told that it +is a coward's part to kill the thing he fears, and doubly a coward's +part to kill in this way? Had you stabbed him in the back with a +knife, you would have shown the courage of your vileness. It would +have been a vileness undisguised. But you feared the consequences +of that, powerful as you are; and so you shelter your cowardice +under the pretext of a duel." + +The Marquis shook off his cousin's hand, and took a step forward, +holding now his sword like a whip. But again the Chevalier caught +and held him. + +"No, no, Gervais! Let be, in God's name!" + +"Let him come, monsieur," raved Andre-Louis, his voice thick and +concentrated. "Let him complete his coward's work on me, and thus +make himself safe from a coward's wages." + +M. de Chabrillane let his cousin go. He came white to the lips, +his eyes glaring at the lad who so recklessly insulted him. And +then he checked. It may be that he remembered suddenly the +relationship in which this young man was popularly believed to +stand to the Seigneur de Gavrillac, and the well-known affection +in which the Seigneur held him. And so he may have realized that +if he pushed this matter further, he might find himself upon the +horns of a dilemma. He would be confronted with the alternatives +of shedding more blood, and so embroiling himself with the Lord of +Gavrillac at a time when that gentleman's friendship was of the +first importance to him, or else of withdrawing with such hurt to +his dignity as must impair his authority in the countryside +hereafter. + +Be it so or otherwise, the fact remains that he stopped short; +then, with an incoherent ejaculation, between anger and contempt, +he tossed his arms, turned on his heel and strode off quickly with +his cousin. + +When the landlord and his people came, they found Andre-Louis, his +arms about the body of his dead friend, murmuring passionately into +the deaf ear that rested almost against his lips: + +"Philippe! Speak to me, Philippe! Philippe... Don't you hear me? +O God of Heaven! Philippe!" + +At a glance they saw that here neither priest nor doctor could avail. +The cheek that lay against Andre-Louis's was leaden-hued, the +half-open eyes were glazed, and there was a little froth of blood +upon the vacuously parted lips. + +Half blinded by tears Andre-Louis stumbled after them when they bore +the body into the inn. Upstairs in the little room to which they +conveyed it, he knelt by the bed, and holding the dead man's hand +in both his own, he swore to him out of his impotent rage that M. de +La Tour d'Azyr should pay a bitter price for this. + +"It was your eloquence he feared, Philippe," he said. "Then if I can +get no justice for this deed, at least it shall be fruitless to him. +The thing he feared in you, he shall fear in me. He feared that men +might be swayed by your eloquence to the undoing of such things as +himself. Men shall be swayed by it still. For your eloquence and +your arguments shall be my heritage from you. I will make them my +own. It matters nothing that I do not believe in your gospel of +freedom. I know it - every word of it; that is all that matters to +our purpose, yours and mine. If all else fails, your thoughts shall +find expression in my living tongue. Thus at least we shall have +frustrated his vile aim to still the voice he feared. It shall +profit him nothing to have your blood upon his soul. That voice in +you would never half so relentlessly have hounded him and his as it +shall in me - if all else fails." + +It was an exulting thought. It calmed him; it soothed his grief, +and he began very softly to pray. And then his heart trembled as +he considered that Philippe, a man of peace, almost a priest, an +apostle of Christianity, had gone to his Maker with the sin of anger +on his soul. It was horrible. Yet God would see the righteousness +of that anger. And in no case - be man's interpretation of Divinity +what it might - could that one sin outweigh the loving good that +Philippe had ever practised, the noble purity of his great heart. +God after all, reflected Andre-Louis, was not a grand-seigneur. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE LORD OF GAVRILLAC + + +For the second time that day Andre-Louis set out for the chateau, +walking briskly, and heeding not at all the curious eyes that +followed him through the village, and the whisperings that marked +his passage through the people, all agog by now with that day's +event in which he had been an actor. + +He was ushered by Benoit, the elderly body-servant, rather +grandiloquently called the seneschal, into the ground-floor room +known traditionally as the library. It still contained several +shelves of neglected volumes, from which it derived its title, but +implements of the chase - fowling-pieces, powder-horns, hunting-bags, +sheath-knives - obtruded far more prominently than those of study. +The furniture was massive, of oak richly carved, and belonging to +another age. Great massive oak beams crossed the rather lofty +whitewashed ceiling. + +Here the squat Seigneur de Gavrillac was restlessly pacing when +Andre-Louis was introduced. He was already informed, as he +announced at once, of what had taken place at the Breton arme. M. +de Chabrillane had just left him, and he confessed himself deeply +grieved and deeply perplexed. + +"The pity of it!" he said. "The pity of it!" He bowed his enormous +head. "So estimable a young man, and so full of promise. Ah, this +La Tour d'Azyr is a hard man, and he feels very strongly in these +matters. He may be right. I don't know. I have never killed a man +for holding different views from mine. In fact, I have never killed +a man at all. It isn't in my nature. I shouldn't sleep of nights if +I did. But men are differently made." + +"The question, monsieur my godfather," said Andre-Louis, "is what is +to be done." He was quite calm and self-possessed, but very white. + +M. de Kercadiou stared at him blankly out of his pale eyes. + +"Why, what the devil is there to do? From what I am told, Vilmorin +went so far as to strike M. le Marquis." + +"Under the very grossest provocation." + +"Which he himself provoked by his revolutionary language. The poor +lad's head was full of this encyclopaedist trash. It comes of too +much reading. I have never set much store by books, Andre; and I +have never known anything but trouble to come out of learning. It +unsettles a man. It complicates his views of life, destroys the +simplicity which makes for peace of mind and happiness. Let this +miserable affair be a warning to you, Andre. You are, yourself, +too prone to these new-fashioned speculations upon a different +constitution of the social order. You see what comes of it. A +fine, estimable young man, the only prop of his widowed mother too, +forgets himself, his position, his duty to that mother - everything; +and goes and gets himself killed like this. It is infernally sad. +On my soul it is sad." He produced a handkerchief, and blew his +nose with vehemence. + +Andre-Louis felt a tightening of his heart, a lessening of the +hopes, never too sanguine, which he had founded upon his godfather. + +"Your criticisms," he said, "are all for the conduct of the dead, +and none for that of the murderer. It does not seem possible that +you should be in sympathy with such a crime. + +"Crime?" shrilled M. de Kercadiou. "My God, boy, you are speaking +of M. de La Tour d'Azyr." + +"I am, and of the abominable murder he has committed... " + +"Stop!" M. de Kercadiou was very emphatic. "I cannot permit that +you apply such terms to him. I cannot permit it. M. le Marquis is +my friend, and is likely very soon to stand in a still closer +relationship." + +"Notwithstanding this?" asked Andre-Louis. + +M. de Kercadiou was frankly impatient. + +"Why, what has this to do with it? I may deplore it. But I have +no right to condemn it. It is a common way of adjusting differences +between gentlemen." + +"You really believe that?" + +"What the devil do you imply, Andre? Should I say a thing that I +don't believe? You begin to make me angry." + +"'Thou shalt not kill,' is the King's law as well as God's." + +"You are determined to quarrel with me, I think. It was a duel... " + +Andre-Louis interrupted him. "It is no more a duel than if it had +been fought with pistols of which only M. le Marquis's was loaded. +He invited Philippe to discuss the matter further, with the +deliberate intent of forcing a quarrel upon him and killing him. +Be patient with me, monsieur my god-father. I am not telling you +of what I imagine but what M. le Marquis himself admitted to me." + +Dominated a little by the young man's earnestness, M. de Kercadiou's +pale eyes fell away. He turned with a shrug, and sauntered over to +the window. + +"It would need a court of honour to decide such an issue. And we +have no courts of honour," he said. + +"But we have courts of justice." + +With returning testiness the seigneur swung round to face him again. +"And what court of justice, do you think, would listen to such a +plea as you appear to have in mind?" + +"There is the court of the King's Lieutenant at Rennes." + +"And do you think the King's Lieutenant would listen to you?" + +"Not to me, perhaps, Monsieur. But if you were to bring the +plaint... " + +"I bring the plaint?" M. de Kercadiou's pale eyes were wide with +horror of the suggestion. + +"The thing happened here on your domain." + +"I bring a plaint against M. de La Tour d'Azyr! You are out of your +senses, I think. Oh, you are mad; as mad as that poor friend of +yours who has come to this end through meddling in what did not +concern him. The language he used here to M. le Marquis on the +score of Mabey was of the most offensive. Perhaps you didn't know +that. It does not at all surprise me that the Marquis should have +desired satisfaction." + +"I see," said Andre-Louis, on a note of hopelessness. + +"You see? What the devil do you see?" + +"That I shall have to depend upon myself alone." + +"And what the devil do you propose to do, if you please?" + +"I shall go to Rennes, and lay the facts before the King's +Lieutenant." + +"He'll be too busy to see you." And M. de Kercadiou's mind swung +a trifle inconsequently, as weak minds will. "There is trouble +enough in Rennes already on the score of these crazy States General, +with which the wonderful M. Necker is to repair the finances of the +kingdom. As if a peddling Swiss bank-clerk, who is also a damned +Protestant, could succeed where such men as Calonne and Brienne have +failed." + +"Good-afternoon, monsieur my godfather," said Andre-Louis. + +"Where are you going?" was the querulous demand. + +"Home at present. To Rennes in the morning." + +"Wait, boy, wait!" The squat little man rolled forward, affectionate +concern on his great ugly face, and he set one of his podgy hands on +his godson's shoulder. "Now listen to me, Andre," he reasoned. "This +is sheer knight-errantry - moonshine, lunacy. You'll come to no good +by it if you persist. You've read 'Don Quixote,' and what happened +to him when he went tilting against windmills. It's what will happen +to you, neither more nor less. Leave things as they are, my boy. I +wouldn't have a mischief happen to you." + +Andre-Louis looked at him, smiling wanly. + +"I swore an oath to-day which it would damn my soul to break." + +"You mean that you'll go in spite of anything that I may say?" +Impetuous as he was inconsequent, M. de Kercadiou was bristling +again. "Very well, then, go... Go to the devil!" + +"I will begin with the King's Lieutenant." + +"And if you get into the trouble you are seeking, don't come +whimpering to me for assistance," the seigneur stormed. He was very +angry now. "Since you choose to disobey me, you can break your +empty head against the windmill, and be damned to you." + +Andre-Louis bowed with a touch of irony, and reached the door. + +"If the windmill should prove too formidable," said he, from the +threshold, "I may see what can be done with the wind. Good-bye, +monsieur my godfather." + +He was gone, and M. de Kercadiou was alone, purple in the face, +puzzling out that last cryptic utterance, and not at all happy in +his mind, either on the score of his godson or of M. de La Tour +d'Azyr. He was disposed to be angry with them both. He found +these headstrong, wilful men who relentlessly followed their own +impulses very disturbing and irritating. Himself he loved his ease, +and to be at peace with his neighbours; and that seemed to him so +obviously the supreme good of life that he was disposed to brand +them as fools who troubled to seek other things. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE WINDMILL + + +There was between Nantes and Rennes an established service of three +stage-coaches weekly in each direction, which for a sum of +twenty-four livres - roughly, the equivalent of an English guinea + - would carry you the seventy and odd miles of the journey in some +fourteen hours. Once a week one of the diligences going in each +direction would swerve aside from the highroad to call at Gavrillac, +to bring and take letters, newspapers, and sometimes passengers. It +was usually by this coach that Andre-Louis came and went when the +occasion offered. At present, however, he was too much in haste to +lose a day awaiting the passing of that diligence. So it was on a +horse hired from the Breton arme that he set out next morning; and +an hour's brisk ride under a grey wintry sky, by a half-ruined road +through ten miles of flat, uninteresting country, brought him to the +city of Rennes. + +He rode across the main bridge over the Vilaine, and so into the +upper and principal part of that important city of some thirty +thousand souls, most of whom, he opined from the seething, clamant +crowds that everywhere blocked his way, must on this day have taken +to the streets. Clearly Philippe had not overstated the excitement +prevailing there. + +He pushed on as best he could, and so came at last to the Place +Royale, where he found the crowd to be most dense. From the plinth +of the equestrian statue of Louis XV, a white-faced young man was +excitedly addressing the multitude. His youth and dress proclaimed +the student, and a group of his fellows, acting as a guard of honour +to him, kept the immediate precincts of the statue. + +Over the heads of the crowd Andre-Louis caught a few of the phrases +flung forth by that eager voice. + +"It was the promise of the King... It is the King's authority they +flout... They arrogate to themselves the whole sovereignty in +Brittany. The King has dissolved them... These insolent nobles +defying their sovereign and the people... " + +Had he not known already, from what Philippe had told him, of the +events which had brought the Third Estate to the point of active +revolt, those few phrases would fully have informed him. This popular +display of temper was most opportune to his need, he thought. And in +the hope that it might serve his turn by disposing to reasonableness +the mind of the King's Lieutenant, he pushed on up the wide and +well-paved Rue Royale, where the concourse of people began to diminish. +He put up his hired horse at the Come de Cerf, and set out again, on +foot, to the Palais de Justice. + +There was a brawling mob by the framework of poles and scaffoldings +about the building cathedral, upon which work had been commenced +a year ago. But he did not pause to ascertain the particular cause +of that gathering. He strode on, and thus came presently to the +handsome Italianate palace that was one of the few public edifices +hat had survived the devastating fire of sixty years ago. + +He won through with difficulty to the great hall, known as the Salle +des Pas Perdus, where he was left to cool his heels for a full +half-hour after he had found an usher so condescending as to inform +the god who presided over that shrine of Justice that a lawyer from +Gavrillac humbly begged an audience on an affair of gravity. + +That the god condescended to see him at all was probably due to the +grave complexion of the hour. At long length he was escorted up +the broad stone staircase, and ushered into a spacious, meagrely +furnished anteroom, to make one of a waiting crowd of clients, +mostly men. + +There he spent another half-hour, and employed the time in +considering exactly what he should say. This consideration made +him realize the weakness of the case he proposed to set before a +man whose views of law and morality were coloured by his social +rank. + +At last he was ushered through a narrow but very massive and richly +decorated door into a fine, well-lighted room furnished with enough +gilt and satin to have supplied the boudoir of a lady of fashion. + +It was a trivial setting for a King's Lieutenant, but about the +King's Lieutenant there was - at least to ordinary eyes - nothing +trivial. At the far end of the chamber, to the right of one of the +tall windows that looked out over the inner court, before a +goat-legged writing-table with Watteau panels, heavily encrusted +with ormolu, sat that exalted being. Above a scarlet coat with an +order flaming on its breast, and a billow of lace in which diamonds +sparkled like drops of water, sprouted the massive powdered head +of M. de Lesdiguieres. It was thrown back to scowl upon this +visitor with an expectant arrogance that made Andre-Louis wonder +almost was a genuflexion awaited from him. + +Perceiving a lean, lantern-jawed young man, with straight, lank +black hair, in a caped riding-coat of brown cloth, and yellow +buckskin breeches, his knee-boots splashed with mud, the scowl upon +that August visage deepened until it brought together the thick +black eyebrows above the great hooked nose. + +"You announce yourself as a lawyer of Gavrillac with an important +communication," he growled. It was a peremptory command to make +this communication without wasting the valuable time of a King's +Lieutenant, of whose immense importance it conveyed something more +than a hint. M. de Lesdiguieres accounted himself an imposing +personality, and he had every reason to do so, for in his time he +had seen many a poor devil scared out of all his senses by the +thunder of his voice. + +He waited now to see the same thing happen to this youthful lawyer +from Gavrillac. But he waited in vain. + +Andre-Louis found him ridiculous. He knew pretentiousness for the +mask of worthlessness and weakness. And here he beheld +pretentiousness incarnate. It was to be read in that arrogant +poise of the head, that scowling brow, the inflexion of that +reverberating voice. Even more difficult than it is for a man to +be a hero to his valet - who has witnessed the dispersal of the +parts that make up the imposing whole - is it for a man to be a +hero to the student of Man who has witnessed the same in a different +sense. + +Andre-Louis stood forward boldly - impudently, thought M. de +Lesdiguieres. + +"You are His Majesty's Lieutenant here in Brittany," he said - and +it almost seemed to the August lord of life and death that this +fellow had the incredible effrontery to address him as one man +speaking to another. "You are the dispenser of the King's high +justice in this province." + +Surprise spread on that handsome, sallow face under the heavily +powdered wig. + +"Is your business concerned with this infernal insubordination of +the canaille?" he asked. + +"It is not, monsieur." + +The black eyebrows rose. "Then what the devil do you mean by +intruding upon me at a time when all my attention is being claimed +by the obvious urgency of this disgraceful affair?" + +"The affair that brings me is no less disgraceful and no less urgent." + +"It will have to wait!" thundered the great man in a passion, and +tossing back a cloud of lace from his hand, he reached for the +little silver bell upon his table. + +"A moment, monsieur!" Andre-Louis' tone was peremptory. M. de +Lesdiguieres checked in sheer amazement at its impudence. "I can +state it very briefly... " + +"Haven't I said already... " + +"And when you have heard it," Andre-Louis went on, relentlessly, +interrupting the interruption, "you will agree with me as to its +character." + +M. de Lesdiguieres considered him very sternly. + +"What is your name?" he asked. + +"Andre-Louis Moreau." + +"Well, Andre-Louis Moreau, if you can state your plea briefly, I +will hear you. But I warn you that I shall be very angry if you +fail to justify the impertinence of this insistence at so +inopportune a moment." + +"You shall be the judge of that, monsieur," said Andre-Louis, and +he proceeded at once to state his case, beginning with the shooting +of Mabey, and passing thence to the killing of M. de Vilmorin. But +he withheld until the end the name of the great gentleman against +whom he demanded justice, persuaded that did he introduce it earlier +he would not be allowed to proceed. + +He had a gift of oratory of whose full powers he was himself hardly +conscious yet, though destined very soon to become so.. He told +his story well, without exaggeration, yet with a force of simple +appeal that was irresistible. Gradually the great man's face relaxed +from its forbidding severity. Interest, warming almost to sympathy, +came to be reflected on it. + +"And who, sir, is the man you charge with this?" + +"The Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr." + +The effect of that formidable name was immediate. Dismayed anger, +and an arrogance more utter than before, took the place of the +sympathy he had been betrayed into displaying. + +"Who?" he shouted, and without waiting for an answer, "Why, here's +impudence," he stormed on, "to come before me with such a charge +against a gentleman of M. de La Tour d'Azyr's eminence! How dare +you speak of him as a coward." + +"I speak of him as a murderer," the young man corrected. "And I +demand justice against him." + +"You demand it, do you? My God, what next?" + +"That is for you to say, monsieur." + +It surprised the great gentleman into a more or less successful +effort of self-control. + +"Let me warn you," said he, acidly, "that it is not wise to make +wild accusations against a nobleman. That, in itself, is a +punishable offence, as you may learn. Now listen to me. In this +matter of Mabey - assuming your statement of it to be exact - the +gamekeeper may have exceeded his duty; but by so little that it is +hardly worth comment. Consider, however, that in any case it is +not a matter for the King's Lieutenant, or for any court but the +seigneurial court of M. de La Tour d'Azyr himself. It is before +the magistrates of his own appointing that such a matter must be +laid, since it is matter strictly concerning his own seigneurial +jurisdiction. As a lawyer you should not need to be told so much." + +"As a lawyer, I am prepared to argue the point. But, as a lawyer +I also realize that if that case were prosecuted, it could only end +in the unjust punishment of a wretched gamekeeper, who did no more +than carry out his orders, but who none the less would now be made +a scapegoat, if scapegoat were necessary. I am not concerned to +hang Benet on the gallows earned by M. de La Tour d'Azyr." + +M. de Lesdiguieres smote the table violently. "My God!" he cried +out, to add more quietly, on a note of menace, "You are singularly +insolent, my man." + +"That is not my intention, sir, I assure you. I am a lawyer, +pleading a case - the case of M. de Vilmorin. It is for his +assassination that I have come to beg the King's justice." + +"But you yourself have said that it was a duel!" cried the +Lieutenant, between anger and bewilderment. + +"I have said that it was made to appear a duel. There is a +distinction, as I shall show, if you will condescend to hear me out." + +"Take your own time, sir!" said the ironical M. de Lesdiguieres, +whose tenure of office had never yet held anything that remotely +resembled this experience. + +Andre-Louis took him literally. "I thank you, sir," he answered, +solemnly, and submitted his argument. "It can be shown that M. de +Vilmorin never practised fencing in all his life, and it is notorious +that M. de La Tour d'Azyr is an exceptional swordsman. Is it a duel, +monsieur, where one of the combatants alone is armed? For it amounts +to that on a comparison of their measures of respective skill." + +"There has scarcely been a duel fought on which the same trumpery +argument might not be advanced." + +"But not always with equal justice. And in one case, at least, it +was advanced successfully." + +"Successfully? When was that?" + +"Ten years ago, in Dauphiny. I refer to the case of M. de Gesvres, +a gentleman of that province, who forced a duel upon M. de la Roche +Jeannine, and killed him. M. de Jeannine was a member of a powerful +family, which exerted itself to obtain justice. It put forward just +such arguments as now obtain against M. de La Tour d'Azyr. As you +will remember, the judges held that the provocation had proceeded +of intent from M. de Gesvres; they found him guilty of premeditated +murder, and he was hanged." + +M. de Lesdiguieres exploded yet again. "Death of my life!" he cried. +"Have you the effrontery to suggest that M. de La Tour d'Azyr should +be hanged? Have you?" + +"But why not, monsieur, if it is the law, and there is precedent +for it, as I have shown you, and if it can be established that what +I state is the truth - as established it can be without difficulty?" + +"Do you ask me, why not? Have you temerity to ask me that?" + +"I have, monsieur. Can you answer me? If you cannot, monsieur, I +shall understand that whilst it is possible for a powerful family +like that of La Roche Jeannine to set the law in motion, the law +must remain inert for the obscure and uninfluential, however +brutally wronged by a great nobleman." + +M. de Lesdiguieres perceived that in argument he would accomplish +nothing against this impassive, resolute young man. The menace of +him grew more fierce. + +"I should advise you to take yourself off at once, and to be +thankful for the opportunity to depart unscathed." + +"I am, then, to understand, monsieur, that there will be no inquiry +into this case? That nothing that I can say will move you?" + +"You are to understand that if you are still there in two minutes +it will be very much the worse for you." And M. de Lesdiguieres +tinkled the silver hand-bell upon his table. + +"I have informed you, monsieur, that a duel - so-called - has been +fought, and a man killed. It seems that I must remind you, the +administrator of the King's justice, that duels are against the law, +and that it is your duty to hold an inquiry. I come as the legal +representative of the bereaved mother of M. de Vilmorin to demand +of you the inquiry that is due." + +The door behind Andre-Louis opened softly. M. de Lesdiguieres, +pale with anger, contained himself with difficulty. + +"You seek to compel us, do you, you impudent rascal?" he growled. +"You think the King's justice is to be driven headlong by the voice +of any impudent roturier? I marvel at my own patience with you. +But I give you a last warning, master lawyer; keep a closer guard +over that insolent tongue of yours, or you will have cause very +bitterly to regret its glibness." He waved a jewelled, contemptuous +hand, and spoke to the usher standing behind Andre. "To the door!" +he said, shortly. + +Andre-Louis hesitated a second. Then with a shrug he turned. This +was the windmill, indeed, and he a poor knight of rueful countenance. +To attack it at closer quarters would mean being dashed to pieces. +Yet on the threshold he turned again. + +"M. de Lesdiguieres," said he, "may I recite to you an interesting +fact in natural history? The tiger is a great lord in the jungle, +and was for centuries the terror of lesser beasts, including the +wolf. The wolf, himself a hunter, wearied of being hunted. He +took to associating with other wolves, and then the wolves, driven +to form packs for self-protection, discovered the power of the pack, +and took to hunting the tiger, with disastrous results to him. You +should study Buffon, M. de Lesdiguieres." + +"I have studied a buffoon this morning, I think," was the punning +sneer with which M. de Lesdiguieres replied. But that he conceived +himself witty, it is probable he would not have condescended to +reply at all. "I don't understand you," he added. + +"But you will, M. de Lesdiguieres. You will," said Andre-Louis, +and so departed. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WIND + + +He had broken his futile lance with the windmill - the image +suggested by M. de Kercadiou persisted in his mind - and it was, he +perceived, by sheer good fortune that he had escaped without hurt. +There remained the wind itself - the whirlwind. And the events in +Rennes, reflex of the graver events in Nantes, had set that wind +blowing in his favour. + +He set out briskly to retrace his steps towards the Place Royale, +where the gathering of the populace was greatest, where, as he +judged, lay the heart and brain of this commotion that was exciting +the city. + +But the commotion that he had left there was as nothing to the +commotion which he found on his return. Then there had been a +comparative hush to listen to the voice of a speaker who denounced +the First and Second Estates from the pedestal of the statue of +Louis XV. Now the air was vibrant with the voice of the multitude +itself, raised in anger. Here and there men were fighting with +canes and fists; everywhere a fierce excitement raged, and the +gendarmes sent thither by the King's Lieutenant to restore and +maintain order were so much helpless flotsam in that tempestuous +human ocean. + +There were cries of "To the Palais! To the Palais! Down with the +assassins! Down with the nobles! To the Palais!" + +An artisan who stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the press +enlightened Andre-Louis on the score of the increased excitement. + +"They've shot him dead. His body is lying there where it fell at +the foot of the statue. And there was another student killed not +an hour ago over there by the cathedral works. Pardi! If they +can't prevail in one way they'll prevail in another." The man was +fiercely emphatic. "They'll stop at nothing. If they can't overawe +us, by God, they'll assassinate us. They are determined to conduct +these States of Brittany in their own way. No interests but their +own shall be considered." + +Andre-Louis left him still talking, and clove himself a way through +that human press. + +At the statue's base he came upon a little cluster of students about +the body of the murdered lad, all stricken with fear and helplessness. + +"You here, Moreau!" said a voice. + +He looked round to find himself confronted by a slight, swarthy man +of little more than thirty, firm of mouth and impertinent of nose, +who considered him with disapproval. It was Le Chapelier, a lawyer +of Rennes, a prominent member of the Literary Chamber of that city, +a forceful man, fertile in revolutionary ideas and of an exceptional +gift of eloquence. + +"Ah, it is you, Chapelier! Why don't you speak to them? Why don't +you tell them what to do? Up with you, man!" And he pointed to +the plinth. + +Le Chapelier's dark, restless eyes searched the other's impassive +face for some trace of the irony he suspected. They were as wide +asunder as the poles, these two, in their political views; and +mistrusted as Andre-Louis was by all his colleagues of the Literary +Chamber of Rennes, he was by none mistrusted so thoroughly as by +this vigorous republican. Indeed, had Le Chapelier been able to +prevail against the influence of the seminarist Vilmorin, +Andre-Louis would long since have found himself excluded from that +assembly of the intellectual youth of Rennes, which he exasperated +by his eternal mockery of their ideals. + +So now Le Chapelier suspected mockery in that invitation, suspected +it even when he failed to find traces of it on Andre-Louis' face, +for he had learnt by experience that it was a face not often to be +trusted for an indication of the real thoughts that moved behind it. + +"Your notions and mine on that score can hardly coincide," said he. + +"Can there be two opinions?" quoth Andre-Louis. + +"There are usually two opinions whenever you and I are together, +Moreau - more than ever now that you are the appointed delegate of +a nobleman. You see what your friends have done. No doubt you +approve their methods." He was coldly hostile. + +Andre-Louis looked at him without surprise. So invariably opposed +to each other in academic debates, how should Le Chapelier suspect +his present intentions? + +"If you won't tell them what is to be done, I will," said he. + +"Nom de Dieu! If you want to invite a bullet from the other side, +I shall not hinder you. It may help to square the account." + +Scarcely were the words out than he repented them; for as if in +answer to that challenge Andre-Louis sprang up on to the plinth. +Alarmed now, for he could only suppose it to be Andre-Louis' +intention to speak on behalf of Privilege, of which he was a +publicly appointed representative, Le Chapelier clutched him by the +leg to pull him down again. + +"Ah, that, no!" he was shouting. "Come down, you fool. Do you +think we will let you ruin everything by your clowning? Come down!" + +Andre-Louis, maintaining his position by clutching one of the legs +of the bronze horse, flung his voice like a bugle-note over the +heads of that seething mob. + +"Citizens of Rennes, the motherland is in danger!" + +The effect was electric. A stir ran, like a ripple over water, +across that froth of upturned human faces, and completest silence +followed. In that great silence they looked at this slim young man, +hatless, long wisps of his black hair fluttering in the breeze, his +neckcloth in disorder, his face white, his eyes on fire. + +Andre-Louis felt a sudden surge of exaltation as he realized by +instinct that at one grip he had seized that crowd, and that he held +it fast in the spell of his cry and his audacity. + +Even Le Chapelier, though still clinging to his ankle, had ceased +to tug. The reformer, though unshaken in his assumption of +Andre-Louis' intentions, was for a moment bewildered by the first +note of his appeal. + +And then, slowly, impressively, in a voice that travelled clear to +the ends of the square, the young lawyer of Gavrillac began to speak. + +"Shuddering in horror of the vile deed here perpetrated, my voice +demands to be heard by you. You have seen murder done under your +eyes - the murder of one who nobly, without any thought of self, +gave voice to the wrongs by which we are all oppressed. Fearing +that voice, shunning the truth as foul things shun the light, our +oppressors sent their agents to silence him in death." + +Le Chapelier released at last his hold of Andre-Louis' ankle, +staring up at him the while in sheer amazement. It seemed that the +fellow was in earnest; serious for once; and for once on the right +side. What had come to him? + +"Of assassins what shall you look for but assassination? I have a +tale to tell which will show that this is no new thing that you +have witnessed here to-day; it will reveal to you the forces with +which you have to deal. Yesterday... " + +There was an interruption. A voice in the crowd, some twenty paces, +perhaps, was raised to shout: + +"Yet another of them!" + +Immediately after the voice came a pistol-shot, and a bullet +flattened itself against the bronze figure just behind Andre-Louis. + +Instantly there was turmoil in the crowd, most intense about the +spot whence the shot had been fired. The assailant was one of a +considerable group of the opposition, a group that found itself at +once beset on every side, and hard put to it to defend him. + +From the foot of the plinth rang the voice of the students making +chorus to Le Chapelier, who was bidding Andre-Louis to seek shelter. + +"Come down! Come down at once! They'll murder you as they murdered +La Riviere." + +"Let them!" He flung wide his arms in a gesture supremely theatrical, +and laughed. "I stand here at their mercy. Let them, if they will, +add mine to the blood that will presently rise up to choke them. +Let them assassinate me. It is a trade they understand. But until +they do so, they shall not prevent me from speaking to you, from +telling you what is to be looked for in them." And again he laughed, +not merely in exaltation as they supposed who watched him from below, +but also in amusement. And his amusement had two sources. One was +to discover how glibly he uttered the phrases proper to whip up +the emotions of a crowd: the other was in the remembrance of how +the crafty Cardinal de Retz, for the purpose of inflaming popular +sympathy on his behalf, had been in the habit of hiring fellows +to fire upon his carriage. He was in just such case as that +arch-politician. True, he had not hired the fellow to fire that +pistol-shot; but he was none the less obliged to him, and ready to +derive the fullest, advantage from the act. + +The group that sought to protect that man was battling on, seeking +to hew a way out of that angry, heaving press. + +"Let them go!" Andre-Louis called down... "What matters one assassin +more or less? Let them go, and listen to me, my countrymen!" + +And presently, when some measure of order was restored, he began +his tale. In simple language now, yet with a vehemence and +directness that drove home every point, he tore their hearts with +the story of yesterday's happenings at Gavrillac. He drew tears +from them with the pathos of his picture of the bereaved widow +Mabey and her three starving, destitute children - "orphaned to +avenge the death of a pheasant" - and the bereaved mother of that +M. de Vilmorin, a student of Rennes, known here to many of them, +who had met his death in a noble endeavour to champion the cause of +an esurient member of their afflicted order. + +"The Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr said of him that he had too dangerous +a gift of eloquence. It was to silence his brave voice that he +killed him. But he has failed of his object. For I, poor Philippe +de Vilmorin's friend, have assumed the mantle of his apostleship, +and I speak to you with his voice to-day." + +It was a statement that helped Le Chapelier at last to understand, +at least in part, this bewildering change in Andre-Louis, which +rendered him faithless to the side that employed him. + +"I am not here," continued Andre-Louis, "merely to demand at your +hands vengeance upon Philippe de Vilmorin's murderers. I am here +to tell you the things he would to-day have told you had he lived." + +So far at least he was frank. But he did not add that they were +things he did not himself believe, things that he accounted the +cant by which an ambitious bourgeoisie - speaking through the mouths +of the lawyers, who were its articulate part - sought to overthrow +to its own advantage the present state of things. He left his +audience in the natural belief that the views he expressed were the +views he held. + +And now in a terrible voice, with an eloquence that amazed himself, +he denounced the inertia of the royal justice where the great are +the offenders. It was with bitter sarcasm that he spoke of their +King's Lieutenant, M. de Lesdiguieres. + +"Do you wonder," he asked them, "that M. de Lesdiguieres should +administer the law so that it shall ever be favourable to our great +nobles? Would it be just, would it be reasonable that he should +otherwise administer it?" He paused dramatically to let his sarcasm +sink in. It had the effect of reawakening Le Chapelier's doubts, +and checking his dawning conviction in Andre-Louis' sincerity. +Whither was he going now? + +He was not left long in doubt. Proceeding, Andre-Louis spoke as he +conceived that Philippe de Vilmorin would have spoken. He had so +often argued with him, so often attended the discussions of the +Literary Chamber, that he had all the rant of the reformers - that +was yet true in substance - at his fingers' ends. + +"Consider, after all, the composition of this France of ours. A +million of its inhabitants are members of the privileged classes. +They compose France. They are France. For surely you cannot +suppose the remainder to be anything that matters. It cannot be +pretended that twenty-four million souls are of any account, that +they can be representative of this great nation, or that they can +exist for any purpose but that of servitude to the million elect." + +Bitter laughter shook them now, as he desired it should. "Seeing +their privileges in danger of invasion by these twenty-four +millions - mostly canailles; possibly created by God, it is true, +but clearly so created to be the slaves of Privilege - does it +surprise you that the dispensing of royal justice should be placed +in the stout hands of these Lesdiguieres, men without brains to +think or hearts to be touched? Consider what it is that must be +defended against the assault of us others - canaille. Consider a +few of these feudal rights that are in danger of being swept away +should the Privileged yield even to the commands of their sovereign; +and admit the Third Estate to an equal vote with themselves. + +"What would become of the right of terrage on the land, of parciere +on the fruit-trees, of carpot on the vines? What of the corvees +by which they command forced labour, of the ban de vendage, which +gives them the first vintage, the banvin which enables them to +control to their own advantage the sale of wine? What of their +right of grinding the last liard of taxation out of the people to +maintain their own opulent estate; the cens, the lods-et-ventes, +which absorb a fifth of the value of the land, the blairee, which +must be paid before herds can feed on communal lands, the pulverage +to indemnify them for the dust raised on their roads by the herds +that go to market, the sextelage on everything offered for sale in +the public markets, the etalonnage, and all the rest? What of their +rights over men and animals for field labour, of ferries over rivers, +and of bridges over streams, of sinking wells, of warren, of dovecot, +and of fire, which last yields them a tax on every peasant hearth? +What of their exclusive rights of fishing and of hunting, the +violation of which is ranked as almost a capital offence? + +"And what of other rights, unspeakable, abominable, over the lives +and bodies of their people, rights which, if rarely exercised, have +never been rescinded. To this day if a noble returning from the +hunt were to slay two of his serfs to bathe and refresh his feet in +their blood, he could still claim in his sufficient defence that it +was his absolute feudal right to do so. + +"Rough-shod, these million Privileged ride over the souls and bodies +of twenty-four million contemptible canaille existing but for their +own pleasure. Woe betide him who so much as raises his voice in +protest in the name of humanity against an excess of these already +excessive abuses. I have told you of one remorselessly slain in +cold blood for doing no more than that. Your own eyes have witnessed +the assassination of another here upon this plinth, of yet another +over there by the cathedral works, and the attempt upon my own life. + +"Between them and the justice due to them in such cases stand these +Lesdiguieres, these King's Lieutenants; not instruments of justice, +but walls erected for the shelter of Privilege and Abuse whenever it +exceeds its grotesquely excessive rights. + +"Do you wonder that they will not yield an inch; that they will +resist the election of a Third Estate with the voting power to +sweep all these privileges away, to compel the Privileged to submit +themselves to a just equality in the eyes of the law with the +meanest of the canaille they trample underfoot, to provide that the +moneys necessary to save this state from the bankruptcy into which +they have all but plunged it shall be raised by taxation to be borne +by themselves in the same proportion as by others? + +"Sooner than yield to so much they prefer to resist even the royal +command." + +A phrase occurred to him used yesterday by Vilmorin, a phrase to +which he had refused to attach importance when uttered then. He +used it now. "In doing this they are striking at the very +foundations of the throne. These fools do not perceive that if +that throne falls over, it is they who stand nearest to it who will +be crushed." + +A terrific roar acclaimed that statement. Tense and quivering with +the excitement that was flowing through him, and from him out into +that great audience, he stood a moment smiling ironically. Then he +waved them into silence, and saw by their ready obedience how +completely he possessed them. For in the voice with which he spoke +each now recognized the voice of himself, giving at last expression +to the thoughts that for months and years had been inarticulately +stirring in each simple mind. + +Presently he resumed, speaking more quietly, that ironic smile about +the corner of his mouth growing more marked: + +"In taking my leave of M. de Lesdiguieres I gave him warning out of +a page of natural history. I told him that when the wolves, roaming +singly through the jungle, were weary of being hunted by the tiger, +they banded themselves into packs, and went a-hunting the tiger in +their turn. M. de Lesdiguieres contemptuously answered that he did +not understand me. But your wits are better than his. You +understand me, I think? Don't you?" + +Again a great roar, mingled now with some approving laughter, was +his answer. He had wrought them up to a pitch of dangerous passion, +and they were ripe for any violence to which he urged them. If he +had failed with the windmill, at least he was now master of the wind. + +"To the Palais!" they shouted, waving their hands, brandishing canes, +and - here and there - even a sword. "To the Palais! Down with M. +de Lesdiguieres! Death to the King's Lieutenant!" + +He was master of the wind, indeed. His dangerous gift of oratory + - a gift nowhere more powerful than in France, since nowhere else +are men's emotions so quick to respond to the appeal of eloquence + - had given him this mastery. At his bidding now the gale would +sweep away the windmill against which he had flung himself in vain. +But that, as he straightforwardly revealed it, was no part of his +intent. + +"Ah, wait!" he bade them. "Is this miserable instrument of a +corrupt system worth the attention of your noble indignation?" + +He hoped his words would be reported to M. de Lesdiguieres. He +thought it would be good for the soul of M. de Lesdiguieres to hear +the undiluted truth about himself for once. + +"It is the system itself you must attack and overthrow; not a mere +instrument - a miserable painted lath such as this. And precipitancy +will spoil everything. Above all, my children, no violence!" + +My children! Could his godfather have heard him! + +"You have seen often already the result of premature violence +elsewhere in Brittany, and you have heard of it elsewhere in France. +Violence on your part will call for violence on theirs. They will +welcome the chance to assert their mastery by a firmer grip than +heretofore. The military will be sent for. You will be faced by +the bayonets of mercenaries. Do not provoke that, I implore you. +Do not put it into their power, do not afford them the pretext they +would welcome to crush you down into the mud of your own blood." + +Out of the silence into which they had fallen anew broke now the +cry of + +"What else, then? What else?" + +"I will tell you," he answered them. "The wealth and strength of +Brittany lies in Nantes - a bourgeois city, one of the most +prosperous in this realm, rendered so by the energy of the +bourgeoisie and the toil of the people. It was in Nantes that +this movement had its beginning, and as a result of it the King +issued his order dissolving the States as now constituted - an +order which those who base their power on Privilege and Abuse do +not hesitate to thwart. Let Nantes be informed of the precise +situation, and let nothing be done here until Nantes shall have +given us the lead. She has the power - which we in Rennes have +not - to make her will prevail, as we have seen already. Let her +exert that power once more, and until she does so do you keep the +peace in Rennes. Thus shall you triumph. Thus shall the outrages +that are being perpetrated under your eyes be fully and finally +avenged." + +As abruptly as he had leapt upon the plinth did he now leap down +from it. He had finished. He had said all - perhaps more than +all - that could have been said by the dead friend with whose voice +he spoke. But it was not their will that he should thus extinguish +himself. The thunder of their acclamations rose deafeningly upon +the air. He had played upon their emotions - each in turn - as a +skilful harpist plays upon the strings of his instrument. And they +were vibrant with the passions he had aroused, and the high note of +hope on which he had brought his symphony to a close. + +A dozen students caught him as he leapt down, and swung him to their +shoulders, where again he came within view of all the acclaiming +crowd. + +The delicate Le Chapelier pressed alongside of him with flushed face +and shining eyes. + +"My lad," he said to him, "you have kindled a fire to-day that will +sweep the face of France in a blaze of liberty." And then to the +students he issued a sharp command. "To the Literary Chamber -at +once. We must concert measures upon the instant, a delegate must +be dispatched to Nantes forthwith, to convey to our friends there +the message of the people of Rennes." + +The crowd fell back, opening a lane through which the students bore +the hero of the hour. Waving his hands to them, he called upon +them to disperse to their homes, and await there in patience what +must follow very soon. + +"You have endured for centuries with a fortitude that is a pattern +to the world," he flattered them. "Endure a little longer yet. The +end, my friends, is well in sight at last." + +They carried him out of the square and up the Rue Royale to an old +house, one of the few old houses surviving in that city that had +risen from its ashes, where in an upper chamber lighted by +diamond-shaped panes of yellow glass the Literary Chamber usually +held its meetings. Thither in his wake the members of that chamber +came hurrying, summoned by the messages that Le Chapelier had issued +during their progress. + +Behind closed doors a flushed and excited group of some fifty men, +the majority of whom were young, ardent, and afire with the illusion +of liberty, hailed Andre-Louis as the strayed sheep who had returned +to the fold, and smothered him in congratulations and thanks. + +Then they settled down to deliberate upon immediate measures, whilst +the doors below were kept by a guard of honour that had improvised +itself from the masses. And very necessary was this. For no sooner +had the Chamber assembled than the house was assailed by the +gendarmerie of M. de Lesdiguieres, dispatched in haste to arrest the +firebrand who was inciting the people of Rennes to sedition. The +force consisted of fifty men. Five hundred would have been too few. +The mob broke their carbines, broke some of their heads, and would +indeed have torn them into pieces had they not beaten a timely and +well-advised retreat before a form of horseplay to which they were +not at all accustomed. + +And whilst that was taking place in the street below, in the room +abovestairs the eloquent Le Chapelier was addressing his colleagues +of the Literary Chamber. Here, with no bullets to fear, and no +one to report his words to the authorities, Le Chapelier could +permit his oratory a full, unintimidated flow. And that considerable +oratory was as direct and brutal as the man himself was delicate and +elegant. + +He praised the vigour and the greatness of the speech they had heard +from their colleague Moreau. Above all he praised its wisdom. +Moreau's words had come as a surprise to them. Hitherto they had +never known him as other than a bitter critic of their projects of +reform and regeneration; and quite lately they had heard, not without +misgivings, of his appointment as delegate for a nobleman in the +States of Brittany. But they held the explanation of his conversion. +The murder of their dear colleague Vilmorin had produced this change. +In that brutal deed Moreau had beheld at last in true proportions +the workings of that evil spirit which they were vowed to exorcise +from France. And to-day he had proven himself the stoutest apostle +among them of the new faith. He had pointed out to them the only +sane and useful course. The illustration he had borrowed from +natural history was most apt. Above all, let them pack like the +wolves, and to ensure this uniformity of action in the people of +all Brittany, let a delegate at once be sent to Nantes, which had +already proved itself the real seat of Brittany's power. It but +remained to appoint that delegate, and Le Chapelier invited them +to elect him. + +Andre-Louis, on a bench near the window, a prey now to some measure +of reaction, listened in bewilderment to that flood of eloquence. + +As the applause died down, he heard a voice exclaiming: + +"I propose to you that we appoint our leader here, Le Chapelier, to +be that delegate." + +Le Chapelier reared his elegantly dressed head, which had been bowed +in thought, and it was seen that his countenance was pale. Nervously +he fingered a gold spy-glass. + +"My friends," he said, slowly, "I am deeply sensible of the honour +that you do me. But in accepting it I should be usurping an honour +that rightly belongs elsewhere. Who could represent us better, who +more deserving to be our representative, to speak to our friends of +Nantes with the voice of Rennes, than the champion who once already +to-day has so incomparably given utterance to the voice of this +great city? Confer this honour of being your spokesman where it +belongs - upon Andre-Louis Moreau." + +Rising in response to the storm of applause that greeted the +proposal, Andre-Louis bowed and forthwith yielded. "Be it so," he +said, simply. "It is perhaps fitting that I should carry out what +I have begun, though I too am of the opinion that Le Chapelier would +have been a worthier representative. I will set out to-night." + +"You will set out at once, my lad," Le Chapelier informed him, and +now revealed what an uncharitable mind might account the true source +of his generosity. "It is not safe after what has happened for you +to linger an hour in Rennes. And you must go secretly. Let none +of you allow it to be known that he has gone. I would not have you +come to harm over this, Andre-Louis. But you must see the risks +you run, and if you are to be spared to help in this work of +salvation of our afflicted motherland, you must use caution, move +secretly, veil your identity even. Or else M. de Lesdiguieres will +have you laid by the heels, and it will be good-night for you." + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +OMNES OMNIBUS + + +Andre-Louis rode forth from Rennes committed to a deeper adventure +than he had dreamed of when he left the sleepy village of Gavrillac. +Lying the night at a roadside inn, and setting out again early in +the morning, he reached Nantes soon after noon of the following day. + +Through that long and lonely ride through the dull plains of +Brittany, now at their dreariest in their winter garb, he had ample +leisure in which to review his actions and his position. From one +who had taken hitherto a purely academic and by no means friendly +interest in the new philosophies of social life, exercising his wits +upon these new ideas merely as a fencer exercises his eye and wrist +with the foils, without ever suffering himself to be deluded into +supposing the issue a real one, he found himself suddenly converted +into a revolutionary firebrand, committed to revolutionary action +of the most desperate kind. The representative and delegate of a +nobleman in the States of Brittany, he found himself simultaneously +and incongruously the representative and delegate of the whole Third +Estate of Rennes. + +It is difficult to determine to what extent, in the heat of passion +and swept along by the torrent of his own oratory, he might +yesterday have succeeded in deceiving himself. But it is at least +certain that, looking back in cold blood now he had no single +delusion on the score of what he had done. Cynically he had +presented to his audience one side only of the great question that +he propounded. + +But since the established order of things in France was such as to +make a rampart for M. de La Tour d'Azyr, affording him complete +immunity for this and any other crimes that it pleased him to commit, +why, then the established order must take the consequences of its +wrong-doing. Therein he perceived his clear justification. + +And so it was without misgivings that he came on his errand of +sedition into that beautiful city of Nantes, rendered its spacious +streets and splendid port the rival in prosperity of Bordeaux and +Marseilles. + +He found an inn on the Quai La Fosse, where he put up his horse, +and where he dined in the embrasure of a window that looked out +over the tree-bordered quay and the broad bosom of the Loire, on +which argosies of all nations rode at anchor. The sun had again +broken through the clouds, and shed its pale wintry light over the +yellow waters and the tall-masted shipping. + +Along the quays there was a stir of life as great as that to be seen +on the quays of Paris. Foreign sailors in outlandish garments and +of harsh-sounding, outlandish speech, stalwart fishwives with baskets +of herrings on their heads, voluminous of petticoat above bare legs +and bare feet, calling their wares shrilly and almost inarticulately, +watermen in woollen caps and loose trousers rolled to the knees, +peasants in goatskin coats, their wooden shoes clattering on the +round kidney-stones, shipwrights and labourers from the dockyards, +bellows-menders, rat-catchers, water-carriers, ink-sellers, and other +itinerant pedlars. And, sprinkled through this proletariat mass that +came and went in constant movement, Andre-Louis beheld tradesmen in +sober garments, merchants in long, fur-lined coats; occasionally a +merchant-prince rolling along in his two-horse cabriolet to the +whip-crackings and shouts of "Gare!" from his coachman; occasionally +a dainty lady carried past in her sedan-chair, with perhaps a mincing +abbe from the episcopal court tripping along in attendance; +occasionally an officer in scarlet riding disdainfully; and once the +great carriage of a nobleman, with escutcheoned panels and a pair +of white-stockinged, powdered footmen in gorgeous liveries hanging +on behind. And there were Capuchins in brown and Benedictines in +black, and secular priests in plenty - for God was well served in +the sixteen parishes of Nantes - and by way of contrast there were +lean-jawed, out-at-elbow adventurers, and gendarmes in blue coats +and gaitered legs, sauntering guardians of the peace. + +Representatives of every class that went to make up the seventy +thousand inhabitants of that wealthy, industrious city were to be +seen in the human stream that ebbed and flowed beneath the window +from which Andre-Louis observed it. + +Of the waiter who ministered to his humble wants with soup and +bouilli, and a measure of vin gris, Andre-Louis enquired into the +state of public feeling in the city. The waiter, a staunch +supporter of the privileged orders, admitted regretfully that an +uneasiness prevailed. Much would depend upon what happened at +Rennes. If it was true that the King had dissolved the States of +Brittany, then all should be well, and the malcontents would have +no pretext for further disturbances. There had been trouble and +to spare in Nantes already. They wanted no repetition of it. All +manner of rumours were abroad, and since early morning there had +been crowds besieging the portals of the Chamber of Commerce for +definite news. But definite news was yet to come. It was not even +known for a fact that His Majesty actually had dissolved the States. + +It was striking two, the busiest hour of the day upon the Bourse, +when Andre-Louis reached the Place du Commerce. The square, +dominated by the imposing classical building of the Exchange, was +so crowded that he was compelled almost to fight his way through to +the steps of the magnificent Ionic porch. A word would have +sufficed to have opened a way for him at once. But guile moved him +to keep silent. He would come upon that waiting multitude as a +thunderclap, precisely as yesterday he had come upon the mob at +Rennes. He would lose nothing of the surprise effect of his +entrance. + +The precincts of that house of commerce were jealously kept by a +line of ushers armed with staves, a guard as hurriedly assembled by +the merchants as it was evidently necessary. One of these now +effectively barred the young lawyer's passage as he attempted to +mount the steps. + +Andre-Louis announced himself in a whisper. + +The stave was instantly raised from the horizontal, and he passed +and went up the steps in the wake of the usher. At the top, on the +threshold of the chamber, he paused, and stayed his guide. + +"I will wait here," he announced. "Bring the president to me." + +"Your name, monsieur?" + +Almost had Andre-Louis answered him when he remembered Le Chapelier's +warning of the danger with which his mission was fraught, and Le +Chapelier's parting admonition to conceal his identity. + +"My name is unknown to him; it matters nothing; I am the mouthpiece +of a people, no more. Go." + +The usher went, and in the shadow of that lofty, pillared portico +Andre-Louis waited, his eyes straying out ever and anon to survey +that spread of upturned faces immediately below him. + +Soon the president came, others following, crowding out into the +portico, jostling one another in their eagerness to hear the news. + +"You are a messenger from Rennes?" + +"I am the delegate sent by the Literary Chamber of that city to +inform you here in Nantes of what is taking place." + +"Your name?" + +Andre-Louis paused. "The less we mention names perhaps the better." + +The president's eyes grew big with gravity. He was a corpulent, +florid man, purse-proud, and self-sufficient. + +He hesitated a moment. Then - "Come into the Chamber," said he. + +"By your leave, monsieur, I will deliver my message from here - from +these steps." + +"From here?" The great merchant frowned. + +"My message is for the people of Nantes, and from here I can speak +at once to the greatest number of Nantais of all ranks, and it is +my desire - and the desire of those whom I represent - that as great +a number as possible should hear my message at first hand." + +"Tell me, sir, is it true that the King has dissolved the States?" + +Andre-Louis looked at him. He smiled apologetically, and waved a +hand towards the crowd, which by now was straining for a glimpse of +this slim young man who had brought forth the president and more +than half the numbers of the Chamber, guessing already, with that +curious instinct of crowds, that he was the awaited bearer of +tidings. + +"Summon the gentlemen of your Chamber, monsieur," said he, "and you +shall hear all." + +"So be it." + +A word, and forth they came to crowd upon the steps, but leaving +clear the topmost step and a half-moon space in the middle. + +To the spot so indicated, Andre-Louis now advanced very deliberately. +He took his stand there, dominating the entire assembly. He removed +his hat, and launched the opening bombshell of that address which +is historic, marking as it does one of the great stages of France's +progress towards revolution. + +"People of this great city of Nantes, I have come to summon you to +arms!" + +In the amazed and rather scared silence that followed he surveyed +them for a moment before resuming. + +"I am a delegate of the people of Rennes, charged to announce to +you what is taking place, and to invite you in this dreadful hour +of our country's peril to rise and march to her defence." + +"Name! Your name!" a voice shouted, and instantly the cry was taken +up by others, until the multitude rang with the question. + +He could not answer that excited mob as he had answered the +president. It was necessary to compromise, and he did so, happily. +"My name," said he, "is Omnes Omnibus - all for all. Let that +suffice you now. I am a herald, a mouthpiece, a voice; no more. I +come to announce to you that since the privileged orders, assembled +for the States of Brittany in Rennes, resisted your will - our will + - despite the King's plain hint to them, His Majesty has dissolved +the States." + +There was a burst of delirious applause. Men laughed and shouted, +and cries of "Vive le Roi!" rolled forth like thunder. Andre-Louis +waited, and gradually the preternatural gravity of his countenance +came to be observed, and to beget the suspicion that there might be +more to follow. Gradually silence was restored, and at last Andre +Louis was able to proceed. + +"You rejoice too soon. Unfortunately, the nobles, in their insolent +arrogance, have elected to ignore the royal dissolution, and in +despite of it persist in sitting and in conducting matters as seems +good to them." + +A silence of utter dismay greeted that disconcerting epilogue to the +announcement that had been so rapturously received. Andre-Louis +continued after a moment's pause: + +"So that these men who were already rebels against the people, +rebels, against justice and equity, rebels against humanity itself, +are now also rebels against their King. Sooner than yield an inch +of the unconscionable privileges by which too long already they have +flourished, to the misery of a whole nation, they will make a mock +of royal authority, hold up the King himself to contempt. They are +determined to prove that there is no real sovereignty in France but +the sovereignty of their own parasitic faineantise." + +There was a faint splutter of applause, but the majority of the +audience remained silent, waiting. + +"This is no new thing. Always has it been the same. No minister +in the last ten years, who, seeing the needs and perils of the State, +counselled the measures that we now demand as the only means of +arresting our motherland in its ever-quickening progress to the +abyss, but found himself as a consequence cast out of office by the +influence which Privilege brought to bear against him. Twice already +has M. Necker been called to the ministry, to be twice dismissed +when his insistent counsels of reform threatened the privileges of +clergy and nobility. For the third time now has he been called to +office, and at last it seems we are to have States General in spite +of Privilege. But what the privileged orders can no longer prevent, +they are determined to stultify. Since it is now a settled thing +that these States General are to meet, at least the nobles and the +clergy will see to it - unless we take measures to prevent them - by +packing the Third Estate with their own creatures, and denying it +all effective representation, that they convert the States General +into an instrument of their own will for the perpetuation of the +abuses by which they live. To achieve this end they will stop at +nothing. They have flouted the authority of the King, and they are +silencing by assassination those who raise their voices to condemn +them. Yesterday in Rennes two young men who addressed the people as +I am addressing you were done to death in the streets by assassins +at the instigation of the nobility. Their blood cries out for +vengeance." + +Beginning in a sullen mutter, the indignation that moved his hearers +swelled up to express itself in a roar of anger. + +"Citizens of Nantes, the motherland is in peril. Let us march to +her defence. Let us proclaim it to the world that we recognize +that the measures to liberate the Third Estate from the slavery in +which for centuries it has groaned find only obstacles in those +orders whose phrenetic egotism sees in the tears and suffering of +the unfortunate an odious tribute which they would pass on to their +generations still unborn. Realizing from the barbarity of the means +employed by our enemies to perpetuate our oppression that we have +everything to fear from the aristocracy they would set up as a +constitutional principle for the governing of France, let us declare +ourselves at once enfranchised from it. + +"The establishment of liberty and equality should be the aim of +every citizen member of the Third Estate; and to this end we should +stand indivisibly united, especially the young and vigorous, +especially those who have had the good fortune to be born late enough +to be able to gather for themselves the precious fruits of the +philosophy of this eighteenth century." + +Acclamations broke out unstintedly now. He had caught them in the +snare of his oratory. And he pressed his advantage instantly. + +"Let us all swear," he cried in a great voice, "to raise up in the +name of humanity and of liberty a rampart against our enemies, to +oppose to their bloodthirsty covetousness the calm perseverance of +men whose cause is just. And let us protest here and in advance +against any tyrannical decrees that should declare us seditious when +we have none but pure and just intentions. Let us make oath upon +the honour of our motherland that should any of us be seized by an +unjust tribunal, intending against us one of those acts termed of +political expediency - which are, in effect, but acts of despotism +- let us swear, I say, to give a full expression to the strength +that is in us and do that in self-defence which nature, courage, +and despair dictate to us." + +Loud and long rolled the applause that greeted his conclusion, and +he observed with satisfaction and even some inward grim amusement +that the wealthy merchants who had been congregated upon the steps, +and who now came crowding about him to shake him by the hand and to +acclaim him, were not merely participants in, but the actual leaders +of, this delirium of enthusiasm. + +It confirmed him, had he needed confirmation, in his conviction that +just as the philosophies upon which this new movement was based had +their source in thinkers extracted from the bourgeoisie, so the need +to adopt those philosophies to the practical purposes of life was +most acutely felt at present by those bourgeois who found themselves +debarred by Privilege from the expansion their wealth permitted them. +If it might be said of Andre-Louis that he had that day lighted the +torch of the Revolution in Nantes, it might with even greater truth +be said that the torch itself was supplied by the opulent bourgeoisie. + +I need not dwell at any length upon the sequel. It is a matter of +history how that oath which Omnes Omnibus administered to the +citizens of Nantes formed the backbone of the formal protest which +they drew up and signed in their thousands. Nor were the results of +that powerful protest - which, after all, might already be said to +harmonize with the expressed will of the sovereign himself - long +delayed. Who shall say how far it may have strengthened the hand of +Necker, when on the 27th of that same month of November he compelled +the Council to adopt the most significant and comprehensive of all +those measures to which clergy and nobility had refused their consent? +On that date was published the royal decree ordaining that the +deputies to be elected to the States General should number at least +one thousand, and that the deputies of the Third Estate should be +fully representative by numbering as many as the deputies of clergy +and nobility together. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE AFTERMATH + + +Dusk of the following day was falling when the homing Andre-Louis +approached Gavrillac. Realizing fully what a hue and cry there +would presently be for the apostle of revolution who had summoned +the people of Nantes to arms, he desired as far as possible to +conceal the fact that he had been in that maritime city. Therefore +he made a wide detour, crossing the river at Bruz, and recrossing +it a little above Chavagne, so as to approach Gavrillac from the +north, and create the impression that he was returning from Rennes, +whither he was known to have gone two days ago. + +Within a mile or so of the village he caught in the fading light +his first glimpse of a figure on horseback pacing slowly towards +him. But it was not until they had come within a few yards of each +other, and he observed that this cloaked figure was leaning forward +to peer at him, that he took much notice of it. And then he found +himself challenged almost at once by a woman's voice. + +"It is you, Andre - at last!" + +He drew rein, mildly surprised, to be assailed by another question, +impatiently, anxiously asked. + +"Where have you been?" + +"Where have I been, Cousin Aline? Oh... seeing the world." + +"I have been patrolling this road since noon to-day waiting for you." +She spoke breathlessly, in haste to explain. "A troop of the +marechaussee from Rennes descended upon Gavrillac this morning in +quest of you. They turned the chateau and the village inside out, +and at last discovered that you were due to return with a horse +hired from the Breton arme. So they have taken up their quarters +at the inn to wait for you. I have been here all the afternoon on +the lookout to warn you against walking into that trap." + +"My dear Aline! That I should have been the cause of so much +concern and trouble!" + +"Never mind that. It is not important." + +"On the contrary; it is the most important part of what you tell me. +It is the rest that is unimportant." + +"Do you realize that they have come to arrest you?" she asked him, +with increasing impatience. "You are wanted for sedition, and upon +a warrant from M. de Lesdiguieres." + +"Sedition?" quoth he, and his thoughts flew to that business at +Nantes. It was impossible they could have had news of it in Rennes +and acted upon it in so short a time. + +"Yes, sedition. The sedition of that wicked speech of yours at +Rennes on Wednesday." + +"Oh, that!" said he. "Pooh!" His note of relief might have told +her, had she been more attentive, that he had to fear the consequences +of a greater wickedness committed since. "Why, that was nothing." + +"Nothing?" + +"I almost suspect that the real intentions of these gentlemen of +the marechaussee have been misunderstood. Most probably they have +come to thank me on M. de Lesdiguieres' behalf. I restrained the +people when they would have burnt the Palais and himself inside it." + +"After you had first incited them to do it. I suppose you were +afraid of your work. You drew back at the last moment. But you +said things of M. de Lesdiguieres, if you are correctly reported, +which he will never forgive." + +"I see," said Andre-Louis, and he fell into thought. + +But Mlle. de Kercadiou had already done what thinking was necessary, +and her alert young mind had settled all that was to be done. + +"You must not go into Gavrillac," she told him, "and you must get +down from your horse, and let me take it. I will stable it at the +chateau to-night. And sometime to morrow afternoon, by when you +should be well away, I will return it to the Breton arme." + +"Oh, but that is impossible." + +"Impossible? Why?" + +"For several reasons. One of them is that you haven't considered +what will happen to you if you do such a thing." + +"To me? Do you suppose I am afraid of that pack of oafs sent by M. +Lesdiguieres? I have committed no sedition." + +"But it is almost as bad to give aid to one who is wanted for the +crime. That is the law." + +"What do I care for the law? Do you imagine that the law will +presume to touch me?" + +"Of course there is that. You are sheltered by one of the abuses I +complained of at Rennes. I was forgetting." + +"Complain of it as much as you please, but meanwhile profit by it. +Come, Andre, do as I tell you. Get down from your horse." And then, +as he still hesitated, she stretched out and caught him by the arm. +Her voice was vibrant with earnestness. "Andre, you don't realize +how serious is your position. If these people take you, it is almost +certain that you will be hanged. Don't you realize it? You must +not go to Gavrillac. You must go away at once, and lie completely +lost for a time until this blows over. Indeed, until my uncle can +bring influence to bear to obtain your pardon, you must keep in hiding." + +"That will be a long time, then," said Andre-Louis. M. de Kercadiou +has never cultivated friends at court." + +"There is M. de La Tour d'Azyr," she reminded him, to his +astonishment. + +"That man!" he cried, and then he laughed. "But it was chiefly +against him that I aroused the resentment of the people of Rennes. +I should have known that all my speech was not reported to you." + +"It was, and that part of it among the rest." + +"Ah! And yet you are concerned to save me, the man who seeks the +life of your future husband at the hands either of the law or of the +people? Or is it, perhaps, that since you have seen his true nature +revealed in the murder of poor Philippe, you have changed your views +on the subject of becoming Marquise de La Tour d'Azyr?" + +"You often show yourself without any faculty of deductive reasoning." + +"Perhaps. But hardly to the extent of imagining that M. de La Tour +d'Azyr will ever lift a finger to do as you suggest." + +"In which, as usual, you are wrong. He will certainly do so if I +ask him." + +"If you ask him?" Sheer horror rang in his voice. + +"Why, yes. You see, I have not yet said that I will be Marquise de +La Tour d'Azyr. I am still considering. It is a position that has +its advantages. One of them is that it ensures a suitor's complete +obedience." + +"So, so. I see the crooked logic of your mind. You might go so far +as to say to him: 'Refuse me this, and I shall refuse to be your +marquise.' You would go so far as that?" + +"At need, I might." + +"And do you not see the converse implication? Do you not see that +your hands would then be tied, that you would be wanting in honour +if afterwards you refused him? And do you think that I would +consent to anything that could so tie your hands? Do you think I +want to see you damned, Aline?" + +Her hand fell away from his arm. + +"Oh, you are mad!" she exclaimed, quite out of patience. + +"Possibly. But I like my madness. There is a thrill in it unknown +to such sanity as yours. By your leave, Aline, I think I will ride +on to Gavrillac." + +"Andre, you must not! It is death to you!" In her alarm she backed +her horse, and pulled it across the road to bar his way. + +It was almost completely night by now; but from behind the wrack of +clouds overhead a crescent moon sailed out to alleviate the darkness. + +"Come, now," she enjoined him. "Be reasonable. Do as I bid you. +See, there is a carriage coming up behind you. Do not let us be +found here together thus." + +He made up his mind quickly. He was not the man to be actuated by +false heroics about dying, and he had no fancy whatever for the +gallows of M. de Lesdiguieres' providing. The immediate task that +he had set himself might be accomplished. He had made heard - and +ringingly - the voice that M. de La Tour d'Azyr imagined he had +silenced. But he was very far from having done with life. + +"Aline, on one condition only." + +"And that?" + +"That you swear to me you will never seek the aid of M. de La Tour +d'Azyr on my behalf." + +"Since you insist, and as time presses, I consent. And now ride on +with me as far as the lane. There is that carriage coming up." + +The lane to which she referred was one that branched off the road +some three hundred yards nearer the village and led straight up the +hill to the chateau itself. In silence they rode together towards +it, and together they turned into that thickly hedged and narrow +bypath. At a depth of fifty yards she halted him. + +"Now!" she bade him. + +Obediently he swung down from his horse, and surrendered the reins +to her. + +"Aline," he said, "I haven't words in which to thank you." + +"It isn't necessary," said she. + +"But I shall hope to repay you some day." + +"Nor is that necessary. Could I do less than I am doing? I do not +want to hear of you hanged, Andre; nor does my uncle, though he is +very angry with you." + +"I suppose he is." + +"And you can hardly be surprised. You were his delegate, his +representative. He depended upon you, and you have turned your coat. +He is rightly indignant, calls you a traitor, and swears that he +will never speak to you again. But he doesn't want you hanged, +Andre." + +"Then we are agreed on that at least, for I don't want it myself." + +"I'll make your peace with him. And now - good-bye, Andre. Send me +a word when you are safe." + +She held out a hand that looked ghostly in the faint light. He took +it and bore it to his lips. + +"God bless you, Aline." + +She was gone, and he stood listening to the receding clopper-clop of +hooves until it grew faint in the distance. Then slowly, with +shoulders hunched and head sunk on his breast, he retraced his steps +to the main road, cogitating whither he should go. Quite suddenly +he checked, remembering with dismay that he was almost entirely +without money. In Brittany itself he knew of no dependable +hiding-place, and as long as he was in Brittany his peril must +remain imminent. Yet to leave the province, and to leave it as +quickly as prudence dictated, horses would be necessary. And how +was he to procure horses, having no money beyond a single louis +d'or and a few pieces of silver? + +There was also the fact that he was very weary. He had had little +sleep since Tuesday night, and not very much then; and much of the +time had been spent in the saddle, a wearing thing to one so little +accustomed to long rides. Worn as he was, it was unthinkable that +he should go far to-night. He might get as far as Chavagne, perhaps. +But there he must sup and sleep; and what, then, of to-morrow? + +Had he but thought of it before, perhaps Aline might have been able +to assist him with the loan of a few louis. His first impulse now +was to follow her to the chateau. But prudence dismissed the +notion. Before he could reach her, he must be seen by servants, +and word of his presence would go forth. + +There was no choice for him; he must tramp as far as Chavagne, find +a bed there, and leave to-morrow until it dawned. On the resolve +he set his face in the direction whence he had come. But again he +paused. Chavagne lay on the road to Rennes. To go that way was to +plunge further into danger. He would strike south again. At the +foot of some meadows on this side of the village there was a ferry +that would put him across the river. Thus he would avoid the +village; and by placing the river between himself and the immediate +danger, he would obtain an added sense of security. + +A lane, turning out of the highroad, a quarter of a mile this side +of Gavrillac, led down to that ferry. By this lane some twenty +minutes later came Andre-Louis with dragging feet. He avoided the +little cottage of the ferryman, whose window was alight, and in the +dark crept down to the boat, intending if possible to put himself +across. He felt for the chain by which the boat was moored, and +ran his fingers along this to the point where it was fastened. +Here to his dismay he found a padlock. + +He stood up in the gloom and laughed silently. Of course he might +have known it. The ferry was the property of M. de La Tour d'Azyr, +and not likely to be left unfastened so that poor devils might cheat +him of seigneurial dues. + +There being no possible alternative, he walked back to the cottage, +and rapped on the door. When it opened, he stood well back, and +aside, out of the shaft of light that issued thence. + +"Ferry!" he rapped out, laconically. + +The ferryman, a burly scoundrel well known to him, turned aside to +pick up a lantern, and came forth as he was bidden. As he stepped +from the little porch, he levelled the lantern so that its light +fell on the face of this traveller. + +"My God!" he ejaculated. + +"You realize, I see, that I am pressed," said Andre-Louis, his eyes +on the fellow's startled countenance. + +"And well you may be with the gallows waiting for you at Rennes," +growled the ferryman. "Since you've been so foolish as to come +back to Gavrillac, you had better go again as quickly as you can. +I will say nothing of having seen you." + +"I thank you, Fresnel. Your advice accords with my intention. That +is why I need the boat." + +"Ah, that, no," said Fresnel, with determination. "I'll hold my +peace, but it's as much as my skin is worth to help you. + +"You need not have seen my face. Forget that you have seen it." + +"I'll do that, monsieur. But that is all I will do. I cannot put +you across the river." + +"Then give me the key of the boat, and I will put myself across." + +"That is the same thing. I cannot. I'll hold my tongue, but I +will not - I dare not - help you." + +Andre-Louis looked a moment into that sullen, resolute face, and +understood. This man, living under the shadow of La Tour d'Azyr, +dared exercise no will that might be in conflict with the will of +his dread lord. + +"Fresnel," he said, quietly, "if, as you say, the gallows claim me, +the thing that has brought me to this extremity arises out of the +shooting of Mabey. Had not Mabey been murdered there would have +been no need for me to have raised my voice as I have done. Mabey +was your friend, I think. Will you for his sake lend me the little +help I need to save my neck?" + +The man kept his glance averted, and the cloud of sullenness +deepened on his face. + +"I would if I dared, but I dare not." Then, quite suddenly he became +angry. It was as if in anger he sought support. "Don't you +understand that I dare not? Would you have a poor man risk his life +for you? What have you or yours ever done for me that you should ask +that? You do not cross to-night in my ferry. Understand that, +monsieur, and go at once - go before I remember that it may be +dangerous even to have talked to you and not give information. Go!" + +He turned on his heel to reenter his cottage, and a wave of +hopelessness swept over Andre-Louis. + +But in a second it was gone. The man must be compelled, and he had +the means. He bethought him of a pistol pressed upon him by Le +Chapelier at the moment of his leaving Rennes, a gift which at the +time he had almost disdained. True, it was not loaded, and he had +no ammunition. But how was Fresnel to know that? + +He acted quickly. As with his right hand he pulled it from his +pocket, with his left he caught the ferryman by the shoulder, and +swung him round. + +"What do you want now?" Fresnel demanded angrily. "Haven't I told +you that I... " + +He broke off short. The muzzle of the pistol was within a foot of +his eyes. + +"I want the key of the boat. That is all, Fresnel. And you can +either give it me at once, or I'll take it after I have burnt your +brains. I should regret to kill you, but I shall not hesitate. It +is your life against mine, Fresnel; and you'll not find it strange +that if one of us must die I prefer that it shall be you." + +Fresnel dipped a hand into his pocket, and fetched thence a key. +He held it out to Andre-Louis in fingers that shook - more in anger +than in fear. + +"I yield to violence," he said, showing his teeth like a snarling +dog. "But don't imagine that it will greatly profit you." + +Andre-Louis took the key. His pistol remained levelled. + +"You threaten me, I think," he said. "It is not difficult to read +your threat. The moment I am gone, you will run to inform against +me. You will set the marechaussee on my heels to overtake me." + +"No, no!" cried the other. He perceived his peril. He read his +doom in the cold, sinister note on which Andre-Louis addressed him, +and grew afraid. "I swear to you, monsieur, that I have no such +intention." + +"I think I had better make quite sure of you." + +"O my God! Have mercy, monsieur!" The knave was in a palsy of +terror. "I mean you no harm - I swear to Heaven I mean you no harm. +I will not say a word. I will not... " + +"I would rather depend upon your silence than your assurances. +Still, you shall have your chance. I am a fool, perhaps, but I have +a reluctance to shed blood. Go into the house, Fresnel. Go, man. +I follow you." + +In the shabby main room of that dwelling, Andre-Louis halted him +again. "Get me a length of rope," he commanded, and was readily +obeyed. + +Five minutes later Fresnel was securely bound to a chair, and +effectively silenced by a very uncomfortable gag improvised out of +a block of wood and a muffler. + +On the threshold the departing Andre-Louis turned. + +"Good-night, Fresnel," he said. Fierce eyes glared mute hatred at +him. "It is unlikely that your ferry will be required again to-night. +But some one is sure to come to your relief quite early in the +morning. Until then bear your discomfort with what fortitude you +can, remembering that you have brought it entirely upon yourself by +your uncharitableness. If you spend the night considering that, the +lesson should not be lost upon you. By morning you may even have +grown so charitable as not to know who it was that tied you up. +Good-night." + +He stepped out and closed the door. + +To unlock the ferry, and pull himself across the swift-running +waters, on which the faint moonlight was making a silver ripple, +were matters that engaged not more than six or seven minutes. He +drove the nose of the boat through the decaying sedges that fringed +the southern bank of the stream, sprang ashore, and made the little +craft secure. Then, missing the footpath in the dark, he struck +out across a sodden meadow in quest of the road. + + + +BOOK II: + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TRESPASSERS + + +Coming presently upon the Redon road, Andre-Louis, obeying instinct +rather than reason, turned his face to the south, and plodded +wearily and mechanically forward. He had no clear idea of whither +he was going, or of whither he should go. All that imported at the +moment was to put as great a distance as possible between Gavrillac +and himself. + +He had a vague, half-formed notion of returning to Nantes; and +there, by employing the newly found weapon of his oratory, excite +the people into sheltering him as the first victim of the +persecution he had foreseen, and against which he had sworn them to +take up arms. But the idea was one which he entertained merely as +an indefinite possibility upon which he felt no real impulse to act. + +Meanwhile he chuckled at the thought of Fresnel as he had last seen +him, with his muffled face and glaring eyeballs. "For one who was +anything but a man of action," he writes, "I felt that I had +acquitted myself none so badly." It is a phrase that recurs at +intervals in his sketchy "Confessions." Constantly is he reminding +you that he is a man of mental and not physical activities, and +apologizing when dire necessity drives him into acts of violence. +I suspect this insistence upon his philosophic detachment - for +which I confess he had justification enough - to betray his +besetting vanity. + +With increasing fatigue came depression and self-criticism. He +had stupidly overshot his mark in insultingly denouncing M. de +Lesdiguieres. "It is much better," he says somewhere, "to be +wicked than to be stupid. Most of this world's misery is the fruit +not as priests tell us of wickedness, but of stupidity." And we +know that of all stupidities he considered anger the most deplorable. +Yet he had permitted himself to be angry with a creature like M. de +Lesdiguieres - a lackey, a fribble, a nothing, despite his +potentialities for evil. He could perfectly have discharged his +self-imposed mission without arousing the vindictive resentment of +the King's Lieutenant. + +He beheld himself vaguely launched upon life with the riding-suit +in which he stood, a single louis d'or and a few pieces of silver +for all capital, and a knowledge of law which had been inadequate +to preserve him from the consequences of infringing it. + +He had, in addition - but these things that were to be the real +salvation of him he did not reckon - his gift of laughter, sadly +repressed of late, and the philosophic outlook and mercurial +temperament which are the stock-in-trade of your adventurer in +all ages. + +Meanwhile he tramped mechanically on through the night, until he +felt that he could tramp no more. He had skirted the little +township of Guichen, and now within a half-mile of Guignen, and +with Gavrillac a good seven miles behind him, his legs refused to +carry him any farther. + +He was midway across the vast common to the north of Guignen when +he came to a halt. He had left the road, and taken heedlessly to +the footpath that struck across the waste of indifferent pasture +interspersed with clumps of gorse. A stone's throw away on his +right the common was bordered by a thorn hedge. Beyond this loomed +a tall building which he knew to be an open barn, standing on the +edge of a long stretch of meadowland. That dark, silent shadow it +may have been that had brought him to a standstill, suggesting +shelter to his subconsciousness. A moment he hesitated; then he +struck across towards a spot where a gap in the hedge was closed +by a five-barred gate. He pushed the gate open, went through the +gap, and stood now before the barn. It was as big as a house, yet +consisted of no more than a roof carried upon half a dozen tall, +brick pillars. But densely packed under that roof was a great +stack of hay that promised a warm couch on so cold a night. Stout +timbers had been built into the brick pillars, with projecting ends +to serve as ladders by which the labourer might climb to pack or +withdraw hay. With what little strength remained him, Andre-Louis +climbed by one of these and landed safely at the top, where he was +forced to kneel, for lack of room to stand upright. Arrived there, +he removed his coat and neckcloth, his sodden boots and stockings. +Next he cleared a trough for his body, and lying down in it, covered +himself to the neck with the hay he had removed. Within five minutes +he was lost to all worldly cares and soundly asleep. + +When next he awakened, the sun was already high in the heavens, from +which he concluded that the morning was well advanced; and this +before he realized quite where he was or how he came there. Then +to his awakening senses came a drone of voices close at hand, to +which at first he paid little heed. He was deliciously refreshed, +luxuriously drowsy and luxuriously warm. + +But as consciousness and memory grew more full, he raised his head +clear of the hay that he might free both ears to listen, his pulses +faintly quickened by the nascent fear that those voices might bode +him no good. Then he caught the reassuring accents of a woman, +musical and silvery, though laden with alarm. + +"Ah, mon Dieu, Leandre, let us separate at once. If it should be +my father... " + +And upon this a man's voice broke in, calm and reassuring: + +"No, no, Climene; you are mistaken. There is no one coming. We +are quite safe. Why do you start at shadows?" + +"Ah, Leandre, if he should find us here together! I tremble at the +very thought." + +More was not needed to reassure Andre-Louis. He had overheard +enough to know that this was but the case of a pair of lovers who, +with less to fear of life, were yet - after the manner of their +kind - more timid of heart than he. Curiosity drew him from his +warm trough to the edge of the hay. Lying prone, he advanced his +head and peered down. + +In the space of cropped meadow between the barn and the hedge stood +a man and a woman, both young. The man was a well-set-up, comely +fellow, with a fine head of chestnut hair tied in a queue by a +broad bow of black satin. He was dressed with certain tawdry +attempts at ostentatious embellishments, which did not prepossess +one at first glance in his favour. His coat of a fashionable cut +was of faded plum-coloured velvet edged with silver lace, whose +glory had long since departed. He affected ruffles, but for want +of starch they hung like weeping willows over hands that were fine +and delicate. His breeches were of plain black cloth, and his black +stockings were of cotton - matters entirely out of harmony with his +magnificent coat. His shoes, stout and serviceable, were decked +with buckles of cheap, lack-lustre paste. But for his engaging and +ingenuous countenance, Andre-Louis must have set him down as a +knight of that order which lives dishonestly by its wits. As it +was, he suspended judgment whilst pushing investigation further by +a study of the girl. At the outset, be it confessed that it was a +study that attracted him prodigiously. And this notwithstanding +the fact that, bookish and studious as were his ways, and in +despite of his years, it was far from his habit to waste +consideration on femininity. + +The child - she was no more than that, perhaps twenty at the most + - possessed, in addition to the allurements of face and shape that +went very near perfection, a sparkling vivacity and a grace of +movement the like of which Andre-Louis did not remember ever before +to have beheld assembled in one person. And her voice too - that +musical, silvery voice that had awakened him - possessed in its +exquisite modulations an allurement of its own that must have been +irresistible, he thought, in the ugliest of her sex. She wore a +hooded mantle of green cloth, and the hood being thrown back, her +dainty head was all revealed to him. There were glints of gold +struck by the morning sun from her light nut-brown hair that hung +in a cluster of curls about her oval face. Her complexion was of +a delicacy that he could compare only with a rose petal. He could +not at that distance discern the colour of her eyes, but he guessed +them blue, as he admired the sparkle of them under the fine, dark +line of eyebrows. + +He could not have told you why, but he was conscious that it +aggrieved him to find her so intimate with this pretty young fellow, +who was partly clad, as it appeared, in the cast-offs of a nobleman. +He could not guess her station, but the speech that reached him was +cultured in tone and word. He strained to listen. + +"I shall know no peace, Leandre, until we are safely wedded," she +was saying. "Not until then shall I count myself beyond his reach. +And yet if we marry without his consent, we but make trouble for +ourselves, and of gaining his consent I almost despair." + +Evidently, thought Andre-Louis, her father was a man of sense, who +saw through the shabby finery of M. Leandre, and was not to be +dazzled by cheap paste buckles. + +"My dear Climene," the young man was answering her, standing +squarely before her, and holding both her hands, "you are wrong to +despond. If I do not reveal to you all the stratagem that I have +prepared to win the consent of your unnatural parent, it is because +I am loath to rob you of the pleasure of the surprise that is in +store. But place your faith in me, and in that ingenious friend +of whom I have spoken, and who should be here at any moment." + +The stilted ass! Had he learnt that speech by heart in advance, or +was he by nature a pedantic idiot who expressed himself in this set +and formal manner? How came so sweet a blossom to waste her +perfumes on such a prig? And what a ridiculous name the creature +owned! + +Thus Andre-Louis to himself from his observatory. Meanwhile, she +was speaking. + +"That is what my heart desires, Leandre, but I am beset by fears +lest your stratagem should be too late. I am to marry this horrible +Marquis of Sbrufadelli this very day. He arrives by noon. He comes +to sign the contract - to make me the Marchioness of Sbrufadelli. +Oh!" It was a cry of pain from that tender young heart. "The very +name burns my lips. If it were mine I could never utter it - never! +The man is so detestable. Save me, Leandre. Save me! You are my +only hope." + +Andre-Louis was conscious of a pang of disappointment. She failed +to soar to the heights he had expected of her. She was evidently +infected by the stilted manner of her ridiculous lover. There was +an atrocious lack of sincerity about her words. They touched his +mind, but left his heart unmoved. Perhaps this was because of his +antipathy to M. Leandre and to the issue involved. + +So her father was marrying her to a marquis! That implied birth on +her side. And yet she was content to pair off with this dull young +adventurer in the tarnished lace! It was, he supposed, the sort of +thing to be expected of a sex that all philosophy had taught him to +regard as the maddest part of a mad species. + +"It shall never be!" M. Leandre was storming passionately. "Never! +I swear it!" And he shook his puny fist at the blue vault of heaven + - Ajax defying Jupiter. "Ah, but here comes our subtle friend... " +(Andre-Louis did not catch the name, M. Leandre having at that moment +turned to face the gap in the hedge.) "He will bring us news, I know." + +Andre-Louis looked also in the direction of the gap. Through it +emerged a lean, slight man in a rusty cloak and a three-cornered hat +worn well down over his nose so as to shade his face. And when +presently he doffed this hat and made a sweeping bow to the young +lovers, Andre-Louis confessed to himself that had he been cursed +with such a hangdog countenance he would have worn his hat in +precisely such a manner, so as to conceal as much of it as possible. +If M. Leandre appeared to be wearing, in part at least, the cast-offs +of nobleman, the newcomer appeared to be wearing the cast-offs of M. +Leandre. Yet despite his vile clothes and viler face, with its three +days' growth of beard, the fellow carried himself with a certain air; +he positively strutted as he advanced, and he made a leg in a manner +that was courtly and practised. + +"Monsieur," said he, with the air of a conspirator, "the time for +action has arrived, and so has the Marquis... That is why." + +The young lovers sprang apart in consternation; Climene with clasped +hands, parted lips, and a bosom that raced distractingly under its +white fichu-menteur; M. Leandre agape, the very picture of foolishness +and dismay. + +Meanwhile the newcomer rattled on. "I was at the inn an hour ago +when he descended there, and I studied him attentively whilst he was +at breakfast. Having done so, not a single doubt remains me of our +success. As for what he looks like, I could entertain you at length +upon the fashion in which nature has designed his gross fatuity. +But that is no matter. We are concerned with what he is, with the +wit of him. And I tell you confidently that I find him so dull and +stupid that you may be confident he will tumble headlong into each +and all of the traps I have so cunningly prepared for him." + +"Tell me, tell me! Speak!" Climene implored him, holding out her +hands in a supplication no man of sensibility could have resisted. +And then on the instant she caught her breath on a faint scream. +"My father!" she exclaimed, turning distractedly from one to the +other of those two. "He is coming! We are lost!" + +"You must fly, Climene!" said M. Leandre. + +"Too late!" she sobbed. "Too late! He is here." + +"Calm, mademoiselle, calm!" the subtle friend was urging her. "Keep +calm and trust to me. I promise you that all shall be well." + +"Oh!" cried M. Leandre, limply. "Say what you will, my friend, this +is ruin - the end of all our hopes. Your wits will never extricate +us from this. Never!" + +Through the gap strode now an enormous man with an inflamed moon +face and a great nose, decently dressed after the fashion of a solid +bourgeois. There was no mistaking his anger, but the expression +that it found was an amazement to Andre-Louis. + +"Leandre, you're an imbecile! Too much phlegm, too much phlegm! +Your words wouldn't convince a ploughboy! Have you considered what +they mean at all? Thus," he cried, and casting his round hat from +him in a broad gesture, he took his stand at M. Leandre's side, and +repeated the very words that Leandre had lately uttered, what time +the three observed him coolly and attentively. + +"Oh, say what you will, my friend, this is ruin - the end of all +our hopes. Your wits will never extricate us from this. Never!" + +A frenzy of despair vibrated in his accents. He swung again to face +M. Leandre. "Thus," he bade him contemptuously. "Let the passion +of your hopelessness express itself in your voice. Consider that you +are not asking Scaramouche here whether he has put a patch in your +breeches. You are a despairing lover expressing... " + +He checked abruptly, startled. Andre-Louis, suddenly realizing what +was afoot, and how duped he had been, had loosed his laughter. The +sound of it pealing and booming uncannily under the great roof that +so immediately confined him was startling to those below. + +The fat man was the first to recover, and he announced it after his +own fashion in one of the ready sarcasms in which he habitually dealt. + +"Hark!" he cried, "the very gods laugh at you, Leandre." Then he +addressed the roof of the barn and its invisible tenant. "Hi! You +there!" + +Andre-Louis revealed himself by a further protrusion of his tousled +head. + +"Good-morning," said he, pleasantly. Rising now on his knees, his +horizon was suddenly extended to include the broad common beyond +the hedge. He beheld there an enormous and very battered travelling +chaise, a cart piled up with timbers partly visible under the sheet +of oiled canvas that covered them, and a sort of house on wheels +equipped with a tin chimney, from which the smoke was slowly curling. +Three heavy Flemish horses and a couple of donkeys - all of them +hobbled - were contentedly cropping the grass in the neighbourhood +of these vehicles. These, had he perceived them sooner, must have +given him the clue to the queer scene that had been played under +his eyes. Beyond the hedge other figures were moving. Three at +that moment came crowding into the gap - a saucy-faced girl with a +tip-tilted nose, whom he supposed to be Columbine, the soubrette; +a lean, active youngster, who must be the lackey Harlequin;, and +another rather loutish youth who might be a zany or an apothecary. + +All this he took in at a comprehensive glance that consumed no more +time than it had taken him to say good-morning. To that +good-morning Pantaloon replied in a bellow: + +"What the devil are you doing up there?" + +"Precisely the same thing that you are doing down there," was the +answer. "I am trespassing." + +"Eh?" said Pantaloon, and looked at his companions, some of the +assurance beaten out of his big red face. Although the thing was +one that they did habitually, to hear it called by its proper name +was disconcerting. + +"Whose land is this?" he asked, with diminishing assurance. + +Andre-Louis answered, whilst drawing on his stockings. "I believe +it to be the property of the Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr." + +"That's a high-sounding name. Is the gentleman severe?" + +"The gentleman," said Andre-Louis, "is the devil; or rather, I +should prefer to say upon reflection, that the devil is a gentleman +by comparison. + +"And yet," interposed the villainous-looking fellow who played +Scaramouche, "by your own confessing you don't hesitate, yourself, +to trespass upon his property." + +"Ah, but then, you see, I am a lawyer. And lawyers are notoriously +unable to observe the law, just as actors are notoriously unable to +act. Moreover, sir, Nature imposes her limits upon us, and Nature +conquers respect for law as she conquers all else. Nature conquered +me last night when I had got as far as this. And so I slept here +without regard for the very high and puissant Marquis de La Tour +d'Azyr. At the same time, M. Scaramouche, you'll observe that I +did not flaunt my trespass quite as openly as you and your companions." + +Having donned his boots, Andre-Louis came nimbly to the ground in +his shirt-sleeves, his riding-coat over his arm. As he stood there +to don it, the little cunning eyes of the heavy father conned him in +detail. Observing that his clothes, if plain, were of a good fashion, +that his shirt was of fine cambric, and that he expressed himself +like a man of culture, such as he claimed to be, M. Pantaloon was +disposed to be civil. + +"I am very grateful to you for the warning, sir... " he was beginning. + +"Act upon it, my friend. The gardes-champetres of M. d'Azyr have +orders to fire on trespassers. Imitate me, and decamp." + +They followed him upon the instant through that gap in the hedge to +the encampment on the common. There Andre-Louis took his leave of +them. But as he was turning away he perceived a young man of the +company performing his morning toilet at a bucket placed upon one +of the wooden steps at the tail of the house on wheels. A moment +he hesitated, then he turned frankly to M. Pantaloon, who was still +at his elbow. + +"If it were not unconscionable to encroach so far upon your +hospitality, monsieur," said he, "I would beg leave to imitate that +very excellent young gentleman before I leave you." + +"But, my dear sir!" Good-nature oozed out of every pore of the fat +body of the master player. "It is nothing at all. But, by all +means. Rhodomont will provide what you require. He is the dandy +of the company in real life, though a fire-eater on the stage. Hi, +Rhodomont!" + +The young ablutionist straightened his long body from the right +angle in which it had been bent over the bucket, and looked out +through a foam of soapsuds. Pantaloon issued an order, and +Rhodomont, who was indeed as gentle and amiable off the stage as he +was formidable and terrible upon it, made the stranger free of the +bucket in the friendliest manner. + +So Andre-Louis once more removed his neckcloth and his coat, and +rolled up the sleeves of his fine shirt, whilst Rhodomont procured +him soap, a towel, and presently a broken comb, and even a greasy +hair-ribbon, in case the gentleman should have lost his own. This +last Andre-Louis declined, but the comb he gratefully accepted, and +having presently washed himself clean, stood, with the towel flung +over his left shoulder, restoring order to his dishevelled locks +before a broken piece of mirror affixed to the door of the +travelling house. + +He was standing thus, what time the gentle Rhodomont babbled +aimlessly at his side when his ears caught the sound of hooves. +He looked over his shoulder carelessly, and then stood frozen, with +uplifted comb and loosened mouth. Away across the common, on the +road that bordered it, he beheld a party of seven horsemen in the +blue coats with red facings of the marechaussee. + +Not for a moment did he doubt what was the quarry of this prowling +gendarmerie. It was as if the chill shadow of the gallows had +fallen suddenly upon him. + +And then the troop halted, abreast with them, and the sergeant +leading it sent his bawling voice across the common. + +"Hi, there! Hi!" His tone rang with menace. + +Every member of the company - and there were some twelve in all + - stood at gaze. Pantaloon advanced a step or two, stalking, his +head thrown back, his manner that of a King's Lieutenant. + +"Now, what the devil's this?" quoth he, but whether of Fate or +Heaven or the sergeant, was not clear. + +There was a brief colloquy among the horsemen, then they came +trotting across the common straight towards the players' encampment. + +Andre-Louis had remained standing at the tail of the travelling +house. He was still passing the comb through his straggling hair, +but mechanically and unconsciously. His mind was all intent upon +the advancing troop, his wits alert and gathered together for a leap +in whatever direction should be indicated. + +Still in the distance, but evidently impatient, the sergeant bawled +a question. + +"Who gave you leave to encamp here?" + +It was a question that reassured Andre-Louis not at all. He was +not deceived by it into supposing or even hoping that the business +of these men was merely to round up vagrants and trespassers. That +was no part of their real duty; it was something done in passing + - done, perhaps, in the hope of levying a tax of their own. It +was very long odds that they were from Rennes, and that their real +business was the hunting down of a young lawyer charged with +sedition. Meanwhile Pantaloon was shouting back. + +"Who gave us leave, do you say? What leave? This is communal land, +free to all." + +The sergeant laughed unpleasantly, and came on, his troop following. + +"There is," said a voice at Pantaloon's elbow, "no such thing as +communal land in the proper sense in all M. de La Tour d'Azyr's vast +domain. This is a terre censive, and his bailiffs collect his dues +from all who send their beasts to graze here." + +Pantaloon turned to behold at his side Andre-Louis in his +shirt-sleeves, and without a neckcloth, the towel still trailing +over his left shoulder, a comb in his hand, his hair half dressed. + +"God of God!" swore Pantaloon. "But it is an ogre, this Marquis +de La Tour d'Azyr!" + +"I have told you already what I think of him," said Andre-Louis. +"As for these fellows you had better let me deal with them. I have +experience of their kind." And without waiting for Pantaloon's +consent, Andre-Louis stepped forward to meet the advancing men of +the marechaussee. He had realized that here boldness alone could +save him. + +When a moment later the sergeant pulled up his horse alongside of +this half-dressed young man, Andre-Louis combed his hair what time +he looked up with a half smile, intended to be friendly, ingenuous, +and disarming. + +In spite of it the sergeant hailed him gruffly: "Are you the leader +of this troop of vagabonds?" + +"Yes... that is to say, my father, there, is really the leader." +And he jerked a thumb in the direction of M. Pantaloon, who stood +at gaze out of earshot in the background. "What is your pleasure, +captain?" + +"My pleasure is to tell you that you are very likely to be gaoled +for this, all the pack of you." His voice was loud and bullying. +It carried across the common to the ears of every member of the +company, and brought them all to stricken attention where they stood. +The lot of strolling players was hard enough without the addition +of gaolings. + +"But how so, my captain? This is communal land free to all." + +"It is nothing of the kind." + +"Where are the fences?" quoth Andre-Louis, waving the hand that +held the comb, as if to indicate the openness of the place. + +"Fences!" snorted the sergeant. "What have fences to do with the +matter? This is terre censive. There is no grazing here save by +payment of dues to the Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr." + +"But we are not grazing," quoth the innocent Andre-Louis. + +"To the devil with you, zany! You are not grazing! But your beasts +are grazing!" + +"They eat so little," Andre-Louis apologized, and again essayed his +ingratiating smile. + +The sergeant grew more terrible than ever. "That is not the point. +The point is that you are committing what amounts to a theft, and +there's the gaol for thieves." + +"Technically, I suppose you are right," sighed Andre-Louis, and +fell to combing his hair again, still looking up into the sergeant's +face. "But we have sinned in ignorance. We are grateful to you for +the warning." He passed the comb into his left hand, and with his +right fumbled in his breeches' pocket, whence there came a faint +jingle of coins. "We are desolated to have brought you out of your +way. Perhaps for their trouble your men would honour us by stopping +at the next inn to drink the health of... of this M. de La Tour d' +Azyr, or any other health that they think proper." + +Some of the clouds lifted from the sergeant's brow. But not yet all. + +"Well, well," said he, gruffly. "But you must decamp, you +understand." He leaned from the saddle to bring his recipient hand +to a convenient distance. Andre-Louis placed in it a three-livre +piece. + +"In half an hour," said Andre-Louis. + +"Why in half an hour? Why not at once?" + +"Oh, but time to break our fast." + +They looked at each other. The sergeant next considered the broad +piece of silver in his palm. Then at last his features relaxed from +their sternness. + +"After all," said he, "it is none of our business to play the +tipstaves for M. de La Tour d'Azyr. We are of the marechaussee +from Rennes." Andre-Louis' eyelids played him false by flickering. +"But if you linger, look out for the gardes-champetres of the +Marquis. You'll find them not at all accommodating. Well, well + - a good appetite to you, monsieur," said he, in valediction. + +"A pleasant ride, my captain," answered Andre-Louis. + +The sergeant wheeled his horse about, his troop wheeled with him. +They were starting off, when he reined up again. + +"You, monsieur!" he called over his shoulder. In a bound +Andre-Louis was beside his stirrup. "We are in quest of a scoundrel +named Andre-Louis Moreau, from Gavrillac, a fugitive from justice +wanted for the gallows on a matter of sedition. You've seen nothing, +I suppose, of a man whose movements seemed to you suspicious?" + +"Indeed, we have," said Andre-Louis, very boldly, his face eager +with consciousness of the ability to oblige. + +"You have?" cried the sergeant, in a ringing voice. "Where? When?" + +"Yesterday evening in the neighbourhood of Guignen... " + +"Yes, yes," the sergeant felt himself hot upon the trail. + +"There was a fellow who seemed very fearful of being recognized +... a man of fifty or thereabouts... " + +"Fifty!" cried the sergeant, and his face fell. "Bah! This man of +ours is no older than yourself, a thin wisp of a fellow of about +your own height and of black hair, just like your own, by the +description. Keep a lookout on your travels, master player. The +King's Lieutenant in Rennes has sent us word this morning that he +will pay ten louis to any one giving information that will lead to +this scoundrel's arrest. So there's ten louis to be earned by +keeping your eyes open, and sending word to the nearest justices. +It would be a fine windfall for you, that." + +"A fine windfall, indeed, captain," answered Andre-Louis, laughing. + +But the sergeant had touched his horse with the spur, and was +already trotting off in the wake of his men. Andre-Louis continued +to laugh, quite silently, as he sometimes did when the humour of a +jest was peculiarly keen. + +Then he turned slowly about, and came back towards Pantaloon and +the rest of the company, who were now all grouped together, at gaze. + +Pantaloon advanced to meet him with both hands out-held. For a +moment Andre-Louis thought he was about to be embraced. + +"We hail you our saviour!" the big man declaimed. "Already the +shadow of the gaol was creeping over us, chilling us to the very +marrow. For though we be poor, yet are we all honest folk and not +one of us has ever suffered the indignity of prison. Nor is there +one of us would survive it. But for you, my friend, it might have +happened. What magic did you work?" + +"The magic that is to be worked in France with a King's portrait. +The French are a very loyal nation, as you will have observed. They +love their King - and his portrait even better than himself, +especially when it is wrought in gold. But even in silver it is +respected. The sergeant was so overcome by the sight of that noble +visage - on a three-livre piece - that his anger vanished, and he +has gone his ways leaving us to depart in peace." + +"Ah, true! He said we must decamp. About it, my lads! Come, +come... " + +"But not until after breakfast," said Andre-Louis. "A half-hour +for breakfast was conceded us by that loyal fellow, so deeply was +he touched. True, he spoke of possible gardes-champetres. But he +knows as well as I do that they are not seriously to be feared, and +that if they came, again the King's portrait - wrought in copper +this time - would produce the same melting effect upon them. So, my +dear M. Pantaloon, break your fast at your ease. I can smell your +cooking from here, and from the smell I argue that there is no need +to wish you a good appetite." + +"My friend, my saviour!" Pantaloon flung a great arm about the young +man's shoulders. "You shall stay to breakfast with us." + +"I confess to a hope that you would ask me," said Andre-Louis. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE SERVICE OF THESPIS + + +They were, thought Andre-Louis, as he sat down to breakfast with +them behind the itinerant house, in the bright sunshine that +tempered the cold breath of that November morning, an odd and yet +an attractive crew. An air of gaiety pervaded them. They affected +to have no cares, and made merry over the trials and tribulations +of their nomadic life. They were curiously, yet amiably, artificial; +histrionic in their manner of discharging the most commonplace of +functions; exaggerated in their gestures; stilted and affected in +their speech. They seemed, indeed, to belong to a world apart, a +world of unreality which became real only on the planks of their +stage, in the glare of their footlights. Good-fellowship bound them +one to another; and Andre-Louis reflected cynically that this +harmony amongst them might be the cause of their apparent unreality. +In the real world, greedy striving and the emulation of +acquisitiveness preclude such amity as was present here. + +They numbered exactly eleven, three women and eight men; and they +addressed each other by their stage names: names which denoted their +several types, and never - or only very slightly - varied, no matter +what might be the play that they performed. + +"We are," Pantaloon informed him, "one of those few remaining +staunch bands of real players, who uphold the traditions of the old +Italian Commedia dell' Arte. Not for us to vex our memories and +stultify our wit with the stilted phrases that are the fruit of a +wretched author's lucubrations. Each of us is in detail his own +author in a measure as he develops the part assigned to him. We are +improvisers - improvisers of the old and noble Italian school." + +"I had guessed as much," said Andre-Louis, "when I discovered you +rehearsing your improvisations." + +Pantaloon frowned. + +"I have observed, young sir, that your humour inclines to the +pungent, not to say the acrid. It is very well. It is I suppose, +the humour that should go with such a countenance. But it may lead +you astray, as in this instance. That rehearsal - a most unusual +thing with us - was necessitated by the histrionic rawness of our +Leandre. We are seeking to inculcate into him by training an art +with which Nature neglected to endow him against his present needs. +Should he continue to fail in doing justice to our schooling... But +we will not disturb our present harmony with the unpleasant +anticipation of misfortunes which we still hope to avert. We love +our Leandre, for all his faults. Let me make you acquainted with +our company." + +And he proceeded to introduction in detail. He pointed out the +long and amiable Rhodomont, whom Andre-Louis already knew. + +"His length of limb and hooked nose were his superficial +qualifications to play roaring captains," Pantaloon explained. +"His lungs have justified our choice. You should hear him roar. +At first we called him Spavento or Epouvapte. But that was unworthy +of so great an artist. Not since the superb Mondor amazed the world +has so thrasonical a bully been seen upon the stage. So we +conferred upon him the name of Rhodomont that Mondor made famous; +and I give you my word, as an actor and a gentleman - for I am a +gentleman, monsieur, or was - that he has justified us." + +His little eyes beamed in his great swollen face as he turned their +gaze upon the object of his encomium. The terrible Rhodomont, +confused by so much praise, blushed like a schoolgirl as he met the +solemn scrutiny of Andre-Louis. + +"Then here we have Scaramouche, whom also you already know. +Sometimes he is Scapin and sometimes Coviello, but in the main +Scaramouche, to which let me tell you he is best suited - sometimes +too well suited, I think. For he is Scaramouche not only on the +stage, but also in the world. He has a gift of sly intrigue, an +art of setting folk by the ears, combined with an impudent +aggressiveness upon occasion when he considers himself safe from +reprisals. He is Scaramouche, the little skirmisher, to the very +life. I could say more. But I am by disposition charitable and +loving to all mankind." + +"As the priest said when he kissed the serving-wench," snarled +Scaramouche, and went on eating. + +"His humour, like your own, you will observe, is acrid," said +Pantaloon. He passed on. "Then that rascal with the lumpy nose +and the grinning bucolic countenance is, of course, Pierrot. Could +he be aught else?" + +"I could play lovers a deal better," said the rustic cherub. + +"That is the delusion proper to Pierrot," said Pantaloon, +contemptuously. "This heavy, beetle-browed ruffian, who has grown +old in sin, and whose appetite increases with his years, is +Polichinelle. Each one, as you perceive, is designed by Nature +for the part he plays. This nimble, freckled jackanapes is +Harlequin; not your spangled Harlequin into which modern degeneracy +has debased that first-born of Momus, but the genuine original zany +of the Commedia, ragged and patched, an impudent, cowardly, +blackguardly clown." + +"Each one of us, as you perceive," said Harlequin, mimicking the +leader of the troupe, "is designed by Nature for the part he plays." + +"Physically, my friend, physically only, else we should not have so +much trouble in teaching this beautiful Leandre to become a lover. +Then we have Pasquariel here, who is sometimes an apothecary, +sometimes a notary, sometimes a lackey - an amiable, accommodating +fellow. He is also an excellent cook, being a child of Italy, that +land of gluttons. And finally, you have myself, who as the father +of the company very properly play as Pantaloon the roles of father. +Sometimes, it is true, I am a deluded husband, and sometimes an +ignorant, self-sufficient doctor. But it is rarely that I find it +necessary to call myself other than Pantaloon. For the rest, I am +the only one who has a name - a real name. It is Binet, monsieur. + +"And now for the ladies... First in order of seniority we have +Madame there." He waved one of his great hands towards a buxom, +smiling blonde of five-and-forty, who was seated on the lowest of +the steps of the travelling house. "She is our Duegne, or Mother, +or Nurse, as the case requires. She is known quite simply and +royally as Madame. If she ever had a name in the world, she has +long since forgotten it, which is perhaps as well. Then we have +this pert jade with the tip-tilted nose and the wide mouth, who +is of course our soubrette Columbine, and lastly, my daughter +Climene, an amoureuse of talents not to be matched outside the +Comedie Francaise, of which she has the bad taste to aspire to +become a member." + +The lovely Climene - and lovely indeed she was - tossed her +nut-brown curls and laughed as she looked across at Andre-Louis. +Her eyes, he had perceived by now, were not blue, but hazel. + +"Do not believe him, monsieur. Here I am queen, and I prefer to +be queen here rather than a slave in Paris." + +"Mademoiselle," said Andre-Louis, quite solemnly, "will be queen +wherever she condescends to reign." + +Her only answer was a timid - timid and yet alluring - glance from +under fluttering lids. Meanwhile her father was bawling at the +comely young man who played lovers - "You hear, Leandre! That is +the sort of speech you should practise." + +Leandre raised languid eyebrows. "That?" quoth he, and shrugged. +"The merest commonplace." + +Andre-Louis laughed approval. "M. Leandre is of a readier wit than +you concede. There is subtlety in pronouncing it a commonplace to +call Mlle. Climene a queen." + +Some laughed, M. Binet amongst them, with good-humoured mockery. + +"You think he has the wit to mean it thus? Bah! His subtleties are +all unconscious." + +The conversation becoming general, Andre-Louis soon learnt what yet +there was to learn of this strolling band. They were on their way +to Guichen, where they hoped to prosper at the fair that was to open +on Monday next. They would make their triumphal entry into the town +at noon, and setting up their stage in the old market, they would +give their first performance that same Saturday night, in a new +canevas - or scenario - of M. Binet's own, which should set the +rustics gaping. And then M. Binet fetched a sigh, and addressed +himself to the elderly, swarthy, beetle-browed Polichinelle, who sat +on his left. + +"But we shall miss Felicien," said he. "Indeed, I do not know what +we shall do without him." + +"Oh, we shall contrive," said Polichinelle, with his mouth full. + +"So you always say, whatever happens, knowing that in any case the +contriving will not fall upon yourself." + +"He should not be difficult to replace," said Harlequin. + +"True, if we were in a civilized land. But where among the rustics +of Brittany are we to find a fellow of even his poor parts?" M. +Binet turned to Andre-Louis. "He was our property-man, our machinist, +our stage-carpenter, our man of affairs, and occasionally he acted." + +"The part of Figaro, I presume," said Andre-Louis, which elicited a +laugh. + +"So you are acquainted with Beaumarchais!" Binet eyed the young +man with fresh interest. + +"He is tolerably well known, I think." + +"In Paris, to be sure. But I had not dreamt his fame had reached +the wilds of Brittany." + +"But then I was some years in Paris - at the Lycee of Louis le +Grand. It was there I made acquaintance with his work." + +"A dangerous man," said Polichinelle, sententiously. + +"Indeed, and you are right," Pantaloon agreed. "Clever - I do not +deny him that, although myself I find little use for authors. But +of a sinister cleverness responsible for the dissemination of many +of these subversive new ideas. I think such writers should be +suppressed." + +"M. de La Tour d'Azyr would probably agree with you - the gentleman +who by the simple exertion of his will turns this communal land into +his own property." And Andre-Louis drained his cup, which had been +filled with the poor vin gris that was the players' drink. + +It was a remark that might have precipitated an argument had it not +also reminded M. Binet of the terms on which they were encamped +there, and of the fact that the half-hour was more than past. In a +moment he was on his feet, leaping up with an agility surprising in +so corpulent a man, issuing his commands like a marshal on a field +of battle. + +"Come, come, my lads! Are we to sit guzzling here all day? Time +flees, and there's a deal to be done if we are to make our entry +into Guichen at noon. Go, get you dressed. We strike camp in twenty +minutes. Bestir, ladies! To your chaise, and see that you contrive +to look your best. Soon the eyes of Guichen will be upon you, and +the condition of your interior to-morrow will depend upon the +impression made by your exterior to-day. Away! Away!" + +The implicit obedience this autocrat commanded set them in a whirl. +Baskets and boxes were dragged forth to receive the platters and +remains of their meagre feast. In an instant the ground was +cleared, and the three ladies had taken their departure to the +chaise, which was set apart for their use. The men were already +climbing into the house on wheels, when Binet turned to Andre-Louis. + +"We part here, sir," said he, dramatically, "the richer by your +acquaintance; your debtors and your friends." He put forth his +podgy hand. + +Slowly Andre-Louis took it in his own. He had been thinking swiftly +in the last few moments. And remembering the safety he had found +from his pursuers in the bosom of this company, it occurred to him +that nowhere could he be better hidden for the present, until the +quest for him should have died down. + +"Sir," he said, "the indebtedness is on my side. It is not every +day one has the felicity to sit down with so illustrious and +engaging a company." + +Binet's little eyes peered suspiciously at the young man, in quest +of irony. He found nothing but candour and simple good faith. + +"I part from you reluctantly," Andre-Louis continued. "The more +reluctantly since I do not perceive the absolute necessity for +parting." + +"How?" quoth Binet, frowning, and slowly withdrawing the hand which +the other had already retained rather longer than was necessary. + +"Thus," Andre-Louis explained himself. "You may set me down as a +sort of knight of rueful countenance in quest of adventure, with no +fixed purpose in life at present. You will not marvel that what I +have seen of yourself and your distinguished troupe should inspire +me to desire your better acquaintance. On your side you tell me +that you are in need of some one to replace your Figaro - your +Felicien, I think you called him. Whilst it may be presumptuous of +me to hope that I could discharge an office so varied and so +onerous... " + +"You are indulging that acrid humour of yours again, my friend," +Binet interrupted him. "Excepting for that," he added, slowly, +meditatively, his little eyes screwed up, "we might discuss this +proposal that you seem to be making." + +"Alas! we can except nothing. If you take me, you take me as I am. +What else is possible? As for this humour - such as it is - which +you decry, you might turn it to profitable account." + +"How so?" + +"In several ways. I might, for instance, teach Leandre to make +love." + +Pantaloon burst into laughter. "You do not lack confidence in your +powers. Modesty does not afflict you." + +"Therefore I evince the first quality necessary in an actor." + +"Can you act?" + +"Upon occasion, I think," said Andre-Louis, his thoughts upon his +performance at Rennes and Nantes, and wondering when in all his +histrionic career Pantaloon's improvisations had so rent the heart +of mobs. + +M. Binet was musing. "Do you know much of the theatre?" quoth he. + +"Everything," said Andre-Louis. + +"I said that modesty will prove no obstacle in your career." + +"But consider. I know the work of Beaumarchais, Eglantine, Mercier, +Chenier, and many others of our contemporaries. Then I have read, of +course, Moliere, Racine, Corneille, besides many other lesser French +writers. Of foreign authors, I am intimate with the works of Gozzi, +Goldoni, Guarini, Bibbiena, Machiavelli, Secchi, Tasso, Ariosto, and +Fedini. Whilst of those of antiquity I know most of the work of +Euripides, Aristophanes, Terence, Plautus... " + +"Enough!" roared Pantaloon. + +"I am not nearly through with my list," said Andre-Louis. + +"You may keep the rest for another day. In Heaven's name, what can +have induced you to read so many dramatic authors?" + +"In my humble way I am a student of man, and some years ago I made +the discovery that he is most intimately to be studied in the +reflections of him provided for the theatre." + +"That is a very original and profound discovery," said Pantaloon, +quite seriously. "It had never occurred to me. Yet is it true. +Sir, it is a truth that dignifies our art. You are a man of parts, +that is clear to me. It has been clear since first I met you. I +can read a man. I knew you from the moment that you said +'good-morning.' Tell me, now: Do you think you could assist me +upon occasion in the preparation of a scenario? My mind, fully +engaged as it is with a thousand details of organization, is not +always as clear as I would have it for such work. Could you assist +me there, do you think?" + +"I am quite sure I could." + +"Hum, yes. I was sure you would be. The other duties that were +Felicien's you would soon learn. Well, well, if you are willing, +you may come along with us. You'd want some salary, I suppose?" + +"If it is usual," said Andre-Louis. + +"What should you say to ten livres a month?" + +"I should say that it isn't exactly the riches of Peru." + +"I might go as far as fifteen," said Binet, reluctantly. "But times +are bad." + +"I'll make them better for you." + +"I've no doubt you believe it. Then we understand each other?" + +"Perfectly," said Andre-Louis, dryly, and was thus committed to the +service of Thespis. + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE COMIC MUSE + + +The company's entrance into the township of Guichen, if not exactly +triumphal, as Binet had expressed the desire that it should be, was +at least sufficiently startling and cacophonous to set the rustics +gaping. To them these fantastic creatures appeared - as indeed they +were - beings from another world. + +First went the great travelling chaise, creaking and groaning on its +way, drawn by two of the Flemish horses. It was Pantaloon who drove +it, an obese and massive Pantaloon in a tight-fitting suit of scarlet +under a long brown bed-gown, his countenance adorned by a colossal +cardboard nose. Beside him on the box sat Pierrot in a white smock, +with sleeves that completely covered his hands, loose white trousers, +and a black skull-cap. He had whitened his face with flour, and he +made hideous noises with a trumpet. + +On the roof of the coach were assembled Polichinelle, Scaramouche, +Harlequin, and Pasquariel. Polichinelle in black and white, his +doublet cut in the fashion of a century ago, with humps before and +behind, a white frill round his neck and a black mask upon the upper +half of his face, stood in the middle, his feet planted wide to +steady him, solemnly and viciously banging a big drum. The other +three were seated each at one of the corners of the roof, their legs +dangling over. Scaramouche, all in black in the Spanish fashion of +the seventeenth century, his face adorned with a pair of mostachios, +jangled a guitar discordantly. Harlequin, ragged and patched in +every colour of the rainbow, with his leather girdle and sword of +lath, the upper half of his face smeared in soot, clashed a pair of +cymbals intermittently. Pasquariel, as an apothecary in skull-cap +and white apron, excited the hilarity of the onlookers by his +enormous tin clyster, which emitted when pumped a dolorous squeak. + +Within the chaise itself, but showing themselves freely at the +windows, and exchanging quips with the townsfolk, sat the three +ladies of the company. Climene, the amoureuse, beautifully gowned +in flowered satin, her own clustering ringlets concealed under a +pumpkin-shaped wig, looked so much the lady of fashion that you +might have wondered what she was dong in that fantastic rabble. +Madame, as the mother, was also dressed with splendour, but +exaggerated to achieve the ridiculous. Her headdress was a +monstrous structure adorned with flowers, and superimposed by little +ostrich plumes. Columbine sat facing them, her back to the horses, +falsely demure, in milkmaid bonnet of white muslin, and a striped +gown of green and blue. + +The marvel was that the old chaise, which in its halcyon days may +have served to carry some dignitary of the Church, did not founder +instead of merely groaning under that excessive and ribald load. + +Next came the house on wheels, led by the long, lean Rhodomont, who +had daubed his face red, and increased the terror of it by a pair +of formidable mostachios. He was in long thigh-boots and leather +jerkin, trailing an enormous sword from a crimson baldrick. He wore +a broad felt hat with a draggled feather, and as he advanced he +raised his great voice and roared out defiance, and threats of +blood-curdling butchery to be performed upon all and sundry. On +the roof of this vehicle sat Leandre alone. He was in blue satin, +with ruffles, small sword, powdered hair, patches and spy-glass, and +red-heeled shoes: the complete courtier, looking very handsome. The +women of Guichen ogled him coquettishly. He took the ogling as a +proper tribute to his personal endowments, and returned it with +interest. Like Climene, he looked out of place amid the bandits who +composed the remainder of the company. + +Bringing up the rear came Andre-Louis leading the two donkeys that +dragged the property-cart. He had insisted upon assuming a false +nose, representing as for embellishment that which he intended for +disguise. For the rest, he had retained his own garments. No one +paid any attention to him as he trudged along beside his donkeys, +an insignificant rear guard, which he was well content to be. + +They made the tour of the town, in which the activity was already +above the normal in preparation for next week's fair. At intervals +they halted, the cacophony would cease abruptly, and Polichinelle +would announce in a stentorian voice that at five o'clock that +evening in the old market, M. Binet's famous company of improvisers +would perform a new comedy in four acts entitled, "The Heartless +Father." + +Thus at last they came to the old market, which was the groundfloor +of the town hall, and open to the four winds by two archways on each +side of its length, and one archway on each side of its breadth. +These archways, with two exceptions, had been boarded up. Through +those two, which gave admission to what presently would be the +theatre, the ragamuffins of the town, and the niggards who were +reluctant to spend the necessary sous to obtain proper admission, +might catch furtive glimpses of the performance. + +That afternoon was the most strenuous of Andre-Louis' life, +unaccustomed as he was to any sort of manual labour. It was spent +in erecting and preparing the stage at one end of the market-hall; +and he began to realize how hard-earned were to be his monthly +fifteen livres. At first there were four of them to the task - or +really three, for Pantaloon did no more than bawl directions. +Stripped of their finery, Rhodomont and Leandre assisted Andre-Louis +in that carpentering. Meanwhile the other four were at dinner with +the ladies. When a half-hour or so later they came to carry on the +work, Andre-Louis and his companions went to dine in their turn, +leaving Polichinelle to direct the operations as well as assist in +them. + +They crossed the square to the cheap little inn where they had +taken up their quarters. In the narrow passage Andre-Louis came +face to face with Climene, her fine feathers cast, and restored by +now to her normal appearance. + +"And how do you like it?" she asked him, pertly. + +He looked her in the eyes. "It has its compensations," quoth he, +in that curious cold tone of his that left one wondering whether he +meant or not what he seemed to mean. + +She knit her brows. "You... you feel the need of compensations +already?" + +"Faith, I felt it from the beginning," said he. "It was the +perception of them allured me." + +They were quite alone, the others having gone on into the room set +apart for them, where food was spread. Andre-Louis, who was as +unlearned in Woman as he was learned in Man, was not to know, upon +feeling himself suddenly extraordinarily aware of her femininity, +that it was she who in some subtle, imperceptible manner so rendered +him. + +"What," she asked him, with demurest innocence, "are these +compensations?" + +He caught himself upon the brink of the abyss. + +"Fifteen livres a month," said he, abruptly. + +A moment she stared at him bewildered. He was very disconcerting. +Then she recovered. + +"Oh, and bed and board," said she. "Don't be leaving that from +the reckoning, as you seem to be doing; for your dinner will be +going cold. Aren't you coming?" + +"Haven't you dined?" he cried, and she wondered had she caught a +note of eagerness. + +"No," she answered, over her shoulder. "I waited." + +"What for?" quoth his innocence, hopefully. + +"I had to change, of course, zany," she answered, rudely. Having +dragged him, as she imagined, to the chopping-block, she could not +refrain from chopping. But then he was of those who must be +chopping back. + +"And you left your manners upstairs with your grand-lady clothes, +mademoiselle. I understand." + +A scarlet flame suffused her face. "You are very insolent," she +said, lamely. + +"I've often been told so. But I don't believe it." He thrust open +the door for her, and bowing with an air which imposed upon her, +although it was merely copied from Fleury of the Comedie Francaise, +so often visited in the Louis le Grand days, he waved her in. +"After you, ma demoiselle." For greater emphasis he deliberately +broke the word into its two component parts. + +"I thank you, monsieur," she answered, frostily, as near sneering +as was possible to so charming a person, and went in, nor addressed +him again throughout the meal. Instead, she devoted herself with +an unusual and devastating assiduity to the suspiring Leandre, that +poor devil who could not successfully play the lover with her on +the stage because of his longing to play it in reality. + +Andre-Louis ate his herrings and black bread with a good appetite +nevertheless. It was poor fare, but then poor fare was the common +lot of poor people in that winter of starvation, and since he had +cast in his fortunes with a company whose affairs were not +flourishing, he must accept the evils of the situation +philosophically. + +"Have you a name?" Binet asked him once in the course of that repast +and during a pause in the conversation. + +"It happens that I have," said he. "I think it is Parvissimus." + +"Parvissimus?" quoth Binet. "Is that a family name?" + +"In such a company, where only the leader enjoys the privilege of a +family name, the like would be unbecoming its least member. So I +take the name that best becomes in me. And I think it is Parvissimus + - the very least." + +Binet was amused. It was droll; it showed a ready fancy. Oh, to be +sure, they must get to work together on those scenarios. + +"I shall prefer it to carpentering," said Andre-Louis. Nevertheless +he had to go back to it that afternoon, and to labour strenuously +until four o'clock, when at last the autocratic Binet announced +himself satisfied with the preparations, and proceeded, again with +the help of Andre-Louis, to prepare the lights, which were supplied +partly by tallow candles and partly by lamps burning fish-oil. + +At five o'clock that evening the three knocks were sounded, and the +curtain rose on "The Heartless Father." + +Among the duties inherited by Andre-Louis from the departed Felicien +whom he replaced, was that of doorkeeper. This duty he discharged +dressed in a Polichinelle costume, and wearing a pasteboard nose. +It was an arrangement mutually agreeable to M. Binet and himself. M. +Binet - who had taken the further precaution of retaining Andre-Louis' +own garments - was thereby protected against the risk of his latest +recruit absconding with the takings. Andre-Louis, without illusions +on the score of Pantaloon's real object, agreed to it willingly +enough, since it protected him from the chance of recognition by any +acquaintance who might possibly be in Guichen. + +The performance was in every sense unexciting; the audience meagre +and unenthusiastic. The benches provided in the front half of the +market contained some twenty-seven persons: eleven at twenty sous +a head and sixteen at twelve. Behind these stood a rabble of some +thirty others at six sous apiece. Thus the gross takings were two +louis, ten livres, and two sous. By the time M. Binet had paid for +the use of the market, his lights, and the expenses of his company +at the inn over Sunday, there was not likely to be very much left +towards the wages of his players. It is not surprising, therefore, +that M. Binet's bonhomie should have been a trifle overcast that +evening. + +"And what do you think of it?" he asked Andre-Louis, as they were +walking back to the inn after the performance. + +"Possibly it could have been worse; probably it could not," said he. + +In sheer amazement M. Binet checked in his stride, and turned to +look at his companion. + +"Huh!" said he. "Dieu de Dien! But you are frank." + +"An unpopular form of service among fools, I know." + +"Well, I am not a fool," said Binet. + +"That is why I am frank. I pay you the compliment of assuming +intelligence in you, M. Binet." + +"Oh, you do?" quoth M. Binet. "And who the devil are you to assume +anything? Your assumptions are presumptuous, sir." And with that +he lapsed into silence and the gloomy business of mentally casting +up his accounts. + +But at table over supper a half-hour later he revived the topic. + +"Our latest recruit, this excellent M. Parvissimus," he announced, +"has the impudence to tell me that possibly our comedy could have +been worse, but that probably it could not." And he blew out his +great round cheeks to invite a laugh at the expense of that foolish +critic. + +"That's bad," said the swarthy and sardonic Polichinelle. He was +grave as Rhadamanthus pronouncing judgment. "That's bad. But what +is infinitely worse is that the audience had the impudence to be of +the same mind." + +"An ignorant pack of clods," sneered Leandre, with a toss of his +handsome head. + +"You are wrong," quoth Harlequin. "You were born for love, my dear, +not criticism." + +Leandre - a dull dog, as you will have conceived - looked +contemptuously down upon the little man. "And you, what were you +born for?" he wondered. + +"Nobody knows," was the candid admission. "Nor yet why. It is the +case of many of us, my dear, believe me." + +"But why" - M. Binet took him up, and thus spoilt the beginnings of +a very pretty quarrel - "why do you say that Leandre is wrong?" + +"To be general, because he is always wrong. To be particular, +because I judge the audience of Guichen to be too sophisticated +for 'The Heartless Father.'" + +"You would put it more happily," interposed Andre-Louis - who was +the cause of this discussion - "if you said that 'The Heartless +Father' is too unsophisticated for the audience of Guichen." + +"Why, what's the difference?" asked Leandre. + +"I didn't imply a difference. I merely suggested that it is a +happier way to express the fact." + +"The gentleman is being subtle," sneered Binet. + +"Why happier?" Harlequin demanded. + +"Because it is easier to bring 'The Heartless Father' to the +sophistication of the Guichen audience, than the Guichen audience +to the unsophistication of 'The Heartless Father.'" + +"Let me think it out," groaned Polichinelle, and he took his head +in his hands. + +But from the tail of the table Andre-Louis was challenged by Climene +who sat there between Columbine and Madame. + +"You would alter the comedy, would you, M. Parvissimus?" she cried. + +He turned to parry her malice. + +"I would suggest that it be altered," he corrected, inclining his +head. + +"And how would you alter it, monsieur?" + +"I? Oh, for the better." + +"But of course!" She was sleekest sarcasm. "And how would you do it?" + +"Aye, tell us that," roared M. Binet, and added: "Silence, I pray +you, gentlemen and ladies. Silence for M. Parvissimus." + +Andre-Louis looked from father to daughter, and smiled. "Pardi!" +said he. "I am between bludgeon and dagger. If I escape with my +life, I shall be fortunate. Why, then, since you pin me to the very +wall, I'll tell you what I should do. I should go back to the +original and help myself more freely from it." + +"The original?" questioned M. Binet - the author. + +"It is called, I believe, 'Monsieur de Pourceaugnac,' and was written +by Moliere." + +Somebody tittered, but that somebody was not M. Binet. He had been +touched on the raw, and the look in his little eyes betrayed the +fact that his bonhomme exterior covered anything but a bonhomme. + +"You charge me with plagiarism," he said at last; "with filching the +ideas of Moliere." + +"There is always, of course," said Andre-Louis, unruffled, "the +alternative possibility of two great minds working upon parallel +lines." + +M. Binet studied the young man attentively a moment. He found him +bland and inscrutable, and decided to pin him down. + +"Then you do not imply that I have been stealing from Moliere?" + +"I advise you to do so, monsieur," was the disconcerting reply. + +M. Binet was shocked. + +"You advise me to do so! You advise me, me, Antoine Binet, to turn +thief at my age!" + +"He is outrageous," said mademoiselle, indignantly. + +"Outrageous is the word. I thank you for it, my dear. I take you +on trust, sir. You sit at my table, you have the honour to be +included in my company, and to my face you have the audacity to +advise me to become a thief - the worst kind of thief that is +conceivable, a thief of spiritual things, a thief of ideas! It is +insufferable, intolerable! I have been, I fear, deeply mistaken +in you, monsieur; just as you appear to have been mistaken in me. +I am not the scoundrel you suppose me, sir, and I will not number +in my company a man who dares to suggest that I should become one. +Outrageous!" + +He was very angry. His voice boomed through the little room, and +the company sat hushed and something scared, their eyes upon +Andre-Louis, who was the only one entirely unmoved by this outburst +of virtuous indignation. + +"You realize, monsieur," he said, very quietly, "that you are +insulting the memory of the illustrious dead?" + +"Eh?" said Binet. + +Andre-Louis developed his sophistries. + +"You insult the memory of Moliere, the greatest ornament of our +stage, one of the greatest ornaments of our nation, when you suggest +that there is vileness in doing that which he never hesitated to do, +which no great author yet has hesitated to do. You cannot suppose +that Moliere ever troubled himself to be original in the matter of +ideas. You cannot suppose that the stories he tells in his plays +have never been told before. They were culled, as you very well +know - though you seem momentarily to have forgotten it, and it is +therefore necessary that I should remind you - they were culled, +many of them, from the Italian authors, who themselves had culled +them Heaven alone knows where. Moliere took those old stories and +retold them in his own language. That is precisely what I am +suggesting that you should do. Your company is a company of +improvisers. You supply the dialogue as you proceed, which is +rather more than Moliere ever attempted. You may, if you prefer it + - though it would seem to me to be yielding to an excess of scruple + - go straight to Boccaccio or Sacchetti. But even then you cannot +be sure that you have reached the sources." + +Andre-Louis came off with flying colours after that. You see what +a debater was lost in him; how nimble he was in the art of making +white look black. The company was impressed, and no one more that +M. Binet, who found himself supplied with a crushing argument +against those who in future might tax him with the impudent +plagiarisms which he undoubtedly perpetrated. He retired in the +best order he could from the position he had taken up at the outset. + +"So that you think," he said, at the end of a long outburst of +agreement, "you think that our story of 'The Heartless Father' +could be enriched by dipping into 'Monsieur de Pourceaugnac,' to +which I confess upon reflection that it may present certain +superficial resemblances?" + +"I do; most certainly I do - always provided that you do so +judiciously. Times have changed since Moliere." It was as a +consequence of this that Binet retired soon after, taking +Andre-Louis with him. The pair sat together late that night, and +were again in close communion throughout the whole of Sunday morning. + +After dinner M. Binet read to the assembled company the amended and +amplified canevas of "The Heartless Father," which, acting upon the +advice of M. Parvissimus, he had been at great pains to prepare. +The company had few doubts as to the real authorship before he began +to read; none at all when he had read. There was a verve, a grip +about this story; and, what was more, those of them who knew their +Moliere realized that far from approaching the original more closely, +this canevas had drawn farther away from it. Moliere's original +part - the title role - had dwindled into insignificance, to the +great disgust of Polichinelle, to whom it fell. But the other parts +had all been built up into importance, with the exception of Leandre, +who remained as before. The two great roles were now Scaramouche, +in the character of the intriguing Sbrigandini, and Pantaloon the +father. There was, too, a comical part for Rhodomont, as the +roaring bully hired by Polichinelle to cut Leandre into ribbons. +And in view of the importance now of Scaramouche, the play had been +rechristened "Figaro-Scaramouche." + +This last had not been without a deal of opposition from M. Binet. +But his relentless collaborator, who was in reality the real author + - drawing shamelessly, but practically at last upon his great store +of reading - had overborne him. + +"You must move with the times, monsieur. In Paris Beaumarchais is +the rage. 'Figaro' is known to-day throughout the world. Let us +borrow a little of his glory. It will draw the people in. They +will come to see half a 'Figaro' when they will not come to see a +dozen 'Heartless Fathers.' Therefore let us cast the mantle of +Figaro upon some one, and proclaim it in our title." + +"But as I am the head of the company... " began M. Binet, weakly. + +"If you will be blind to your interests, you will presently be a +head without a body. And what use is that? Can the shoulders of +Pantaloon carry the mantle of Figaro? You laugh. Of course you +laugh. The notion is absurd. The proper person for the mantle of +Figaro is Scaramouche, who is naturally Figaro's twin-brother." + +Thus tyrannized, the tyrant Binet gave way, comforted by the +reflection that if he understood anything at all about the theatre, +he had for fifteen livres a month acquired something that would +presently be earning him as many louis. + +The company's reception of the canevas now confirmed him, if we +except Polichinelle, who, annoyed at having lost half his part in +the alterations, declared the new scenario fatuous. + +"Ah! You call my work fatuous, do you?" M. Binet hectored him. + +"Your work?" said Polichinelle, to add with his tongue in his cheek: +"Ah, pardon. I had not realized that you were the author." + +"Then realize it now." + +"You were very close with M. Parvissimus over this authorship," said +Polichinelle, with impudent suggestiveness. + +"And what if I was? What do you imply?" + +"That you took him to cut quills for you, of course." + +"I'll cut your ears for you if you're not civil," stormed the +infuriated Binet. + +Polichinelle got up slowly, and stretched himself. + +"Dieu de Dieu!" said he. "If Pantaloon is to play Rhodomont, I +think I'll leave you. He is not amusing in the part." And he +swaggered out before M. Binet had recovered from his speechlessness. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +EXIT MONSIEUR PARVISSIMUS + +Ar four o'clock on Monday afternoon the curtain rose on +"Figaro-Scaramouche" to an audience that filled three quarters of +the market-hall. M. Binet attributed this good attendance to the +influx of people to Guichen for the fair, and to the magnificent +parade of his company through the streets of the township at the +busiest time of the day. Andre-Louis attributed it entirely to +the title. It was the "Figaro" touch that had fetched in the +better-class bourgeoisie, which filled more than half of the +twenty-sous places and three quarters of the twelve-sous seats. +The lure had drawn them. Whether it was to continue to do so would +depend upon the manner in which the canevas over which he had +laboured to the glory of Binet was interpreted by the company. Of +the merits of the canevas itself he had no doubt. The authors upon +whom he had drawn for the elements of it were sound, and he had +taken of their best, which he claimed to be no more than the +justice due to them. + +The company excelled itself. The audience followed with relish the +sly intriguings of Scaramouche, delighted in the beauty and +freshness of Climene, was moved almost to tears by the hard fate +which through four long acts kept her from the hungering arms of +the so beautiful Leandre, howled its delight over the ignominy of +Pantaloon, the buffooneries of his sprightly lackey Harlequin, and +the thrasonical strut and bellowing fierceness of the cowardly +Rhodomont. + +The success of the Binet troupe in Guichen was assured. That night +the company drank Burgundy at M. Binet's expense. The takings +reached the sum of eight louis, which was as good business as M. +Binet had ever done in all his career. He was very pleased. +Gratification rose like steam from his fat body. He even +condescended so far as to attribute a share of the credit for the +success to M. Parvissimus. + +"His suggestion," he was careful to say, by way of properly +delimiting that share, "was most valuable, as I perceived at the +time." + +"And his cutting of quills," growled Polichinelle. "Don't forget +that. It is most important to have by you a man who understands how +to cut a quill, as I shall remember when I turn author." + +But not even that gibe could stir M. Binet out of his lethargy of +content. + +On Tuesday the success was repeated artistically and augmented +financially. Ten louis and seven livres was the enormous sum that +Andre-Louis, the doorkeeper, counted over to M. Binet after the +performance. Never yet had M. Binet made so much money in one +evening - and a miserable little village like Guichen was certainly +the last place in which he would have expected this windfall. + +"Ah, but Guichen in time of fair," Andre-Louis reminded him. "There +are people here from as far as Nantes and Rennes to buy and sell. +To-morrow, being the last day of the fair, the crowds will be greater +than ever. We should better this evening's receipts." + +"Better them? I shall be quite satisfied if we do as well, my +friend." + +"You can depend upon that," Andre-Louis assured him. "Are we to +have Burgundy?" + +And then the tragedy occurred. It announced itself in a succession +of bumps and thuds, culminating in a crash outside the door that +brought them all to their feet in alarm. + +Pierrot sprang to open, and beheld the tumbled body of a man lying +at the foot of the stairs. It emitted groans, therefore it was +alive. Pierrot went forward to turn it over, and disclosed the fact +that the body wore the wizened face of Scaramouche, a grimacing, +groaning, twitching Scaramouche. + +The whole company, pressing after Pierrot, abandoned itself to +laughter. + +"I always said you should change parts with me," cried Harlequin. +"You're such an excellent tumbler. Have you been practising?" + +"Fool!" Scaramouche snapped. "Must you be laughing when I've all +but broken my neck?" + +"You are right. We ought to be weeping because you didn't break +it. Come, man, get up," and he held out a hand to the prostrate +rogue. + +Scaramouche took the hand, clutched it, heaved himself from the +ground, then with a scream dropped back again. + +"My foot!" he complained. + +Binet rolled through the group of players, scattering them to right +and left. Apprehension had been quick to seize him. Fate had +played him such tricks before. + +"What ails your foot?" quoth he, sourly. + +"It's broken, I think," Scaramouche complained. + +"Broken? Bah! Get up, man." He caught him under the armpits and +hauled him up. + +Scaramouche came howling to one foot; the other doubled under him +when he attempted to set it down, and he must have collapsed again +but that Binet supported him. He filled the place with his plaint, +whilst Binet swore amazingly and variedly. + +"Must you bellow like a calf, you fool? Be quiet. A chair here, +some one." + +A chair was thrust forward. He crushed Scaramouche down into it. + +"Let us look at this foot of yours." + +Heedless of Scaramouche's howls of pain, he swept away shoe and +stocking. + +"What ails it?" he asked, staring. "Nothing that I can see." He +seized it, heel in one hand, instep in the other, and gyrated it. +Scaramouche screamed in agony, until Climene caught Binet's arm and +made him stop. + +"My God, have you no feelings?" she reproved her father. "The lad +has hurt his foot. Must you torture him? Will that cure it?" + +"Hurt his foot!" said Binet. "I can see nothing the matter with his +foot - nothing to justify all this uproar. He has bruised it, +maybe... " + +"A man with a bruised foot doesn't scream like that," said Madame +over Climene's shoulder. "Perhaps he has dislocated it." + +"That is what I fear," whimpered Scaramouche. + +Binet heaved himself up in disgust. + +"Take him to bed," he bade them, "and fetch a doctor to see him." + +It was done, and the doctor came. Having seen the patient, he +reported that nothing very serious had happened, but that in falling +he had evidently sprained his foot a little. A few days' rest and +all would be well. + +"A few days!" cried Binet. "God of God! Do you mean that he can't +walk?" + +"It would be unwise, indeed impossible for more than a few steps." + +M. Binet paid the doctor's fee, and sat down to think. He filled +himself a glass of Burgundy, tossed it off without a word, and sat +thereafter staring into the empty glass. + +"It is of course the sort of thing that must always be happening to +me," he grumbled to no one in particular. The members of the company +were all standing in silence before him, sharing his dismay. "I +might have known that this - or something like it - would occur to +spoil the first vein of luck that I have found in years. Ah, well, +it is finished. To-morrow we pack and depart. The best day of the +fair, on the crest of the wave of our success - a good fifteen louis +to be taken, and this happens! God of God!" + +"Do you mean to abandon to-morrow's performance?" + +All turned to stare with Binet at Andre-Louis. + +"Are we to play 'Figaro-Scaramouche' without Scaramouche?" asked +Binet, sneering. + +"Of course not." Andre-Louis came forward. "But surely some +rearrangement of the parts is possible. For instance, there is a +fine actor in Polichinelle." + +Polichinelle swept him a bow. "Overwhelmed," said he, ever sardonic. + +"But he has a part of his own," objected Binet. + +"A small part, which Pasquariel could play." + +"And who will play Pasquariel?" + +"Nobody. We delete it. The play need not suffer." + +"He thinks of everything," sneered Polichinelle. "What a man!" + +But Binet was far from agreement. "Are you suggesting that +Polichinelle should play Scaramouche?" he asked, incredulously. + +"Why not? He is able enough!" + +"Overwhelmed again," interjected Polichinelle. + +"Play Scaramouche with that figure?" Binet heaved himself up to +point a denunciatory finger at Polichinelle's sturdy, thick-set +shortness. + +"For lack of a better," said Andre-Louis. + +"Overwhelmed more than ever." Polichinelle's bow was superb this +time. "Faith, I think I'll take the air to cool me after so much +blushing." + +"Go to the devil," Binet flung at him. + +"Better and better." Polichinelle made for the door. On the +threshold he halted and struck an attitude. "Understand me, Binet. +I do not now play Scaramouche in any circumstances whatever." And +he went out. On the whole, it was a very dignified exit. + +Andre-Louis shrugged, threw out his arms, and let them fall to his +sides again. "You have ruined everything," he told M. Binet. "The +matter could easily have been arranged. Well, well, it is you are +master here; and since you want us to pack and be off, that is what +we will do, I suppose." + +He went out, too. M. Binet stood in thought a moment, then followed +him, his little eyes very cunning. He caught him up in the doorway. +"Let us take a walk together, M. Parvissimus," said he, very affably. + +He thrust his arm through Andre-Louis', and led him out into the +street, where there was still considerable movement. Past the booths +that ranged about the market they went, and down the hill towards the +bridge. "I don't think we shall pack to-morrow," said M. Binet, +presently. "In fact, we shall play to-morrow night." + +"Not if I know Polichinelle. You have... " + +"I am not thinking of Polichinelle." + +"Of whom, then?" + +"Of yourself." + +"I am flattered, sir. And in what capacity are you thinking of me?" +There was something too sleek and oily in Binet's voice for +Andre-Louis' taste. + +"I am thinking of you in the part of Scaramouche." + +"Day-dreams," said Andre-Louis. "You are amusing yourself, of +course." + +"Not in the least. I am quite serious." + +"But I am not an actor." + +"You told me that you could be." + +"Oh, upon occasion... a small part, perhaps... " + +"Well, here is a big part - the chance to arrive at a single stride. +How many men have had such a chance?" + +"It is a chance I do not covet, M. Binet. Shall we change the +subject?" He was very frosty, as much perhaps because he scented +in M. Binet's manner something that was vaguely menacing as for any +other reason. + +"We'll change the subject when I please," said M. Binet, allowing a +glimpse of steel to glimmer through the silk of him. "To-morrow +night you play Scaramouche. You are ready enough in your wits, your +figure is ideal, and you have just the kind of mordant humour for +the part. You should be a great success." + +"It is much more likely that I should be an egregious failure." + +"That won't matter," said Binet, cynically, and explained himself. +"The failure will be personal to yourself. The receipts will be +safe by then." + +"Much obliged," said Andre-Louis. + +"We should take fifteen louis to-morrow night." + +"It is unfortunate that you are without a Scaramouche," said +Andre-Louis. + +"It is fortunate that I have one, M. Parvissimus." + +Andre-Louis disengaged his arm. "I begin to find you tiresome," +said he. "I think I will return." + +"A moment, M. Parvissimus. If I am to lose that fifteen louis... +you'll not take it amiss that I compensate myself in other ways?" + +"That is your own concern, M. Binet." + +"Pardon, M. Parvissimus. It may possibly be also yours." Binet +took his arm again. "Do me the kindness to step across the street +with me. Just as far as the post-office there. I have something +to show you." + +Andre-Louis went. Before they reached that sheet of paper nailed +upon the door, he knew exactly what it would say. And in effect it +was, as he had supposed, that twenty louis would be paid for +information leading to the apprehension of one Andre-Louis Moreau, +lawyer of Gavrillac, who was wanted by the King's Lieutenant in +Rennes upon a charge of sedition. + +M. Binet watched him whilst he read. Their arms were linked, and +Binet's grip was firm and powerful. + +"Now, my friend," said he, "will you be M. Parvissimus and play +Scaramouche to-morrow, or will you be Andre-Louis Moreau of Gavrillac +and go to Rennes to satisfy the King's Lieutenant?" + +"And if it should happen that you are mistaken?" quoth Andre-Louis, +his face a mask. + +"I'll take the risk of that," leered M. Binet. "You mentioned, I +think, that you were a lawyer. An indiscretion, my dear. It is +unlikely that two lawyers will be in hiding at the same time in the +same district. You see it is not really clever of me. Well, M. +Andre-Louis Moreau, lawyer of Gavrillac, what is it to be?" + +"We will talk it over as we walk back," said Andre-Louis. + +"What is there to talk over?" + +"One or two things, I think. I must know where I stand. Come, sir, +if you please." + +"Very well," said M. Binet, and they turned up the street again, but +M. Binet maintained a firm hold of his young friend's arm, and kept +himself on the alert for any tricks that the young gentleman might +be disposed to play. It was an unnecessary precaution. Andre-Louis +was not the man to waste his energy futilely. He knew that in bodily +strength he was no match at all for the heavy and powerful Pantaloon. + +"If I yield to your most eloquent and seductive persuasions, M. +Binet," said he, sweetly, "what guarantee do you give me that you +will not sell me for twenty louis after I shall have served your +turn?" + +"You have my word of honour for that." M. Binet was emphatic. + +Andre-Louis laughed. "Oh, we are to talk of honour, are we? Really, +M. Binet? It is clear you think me a fool." + +In the dark he did not see the flush that leapt to M. Binet's round +face. It was some moments before he replied. + +"Perhaps you are right," he growled. "What guarantee do you want?" + +"I do not know what guarantee you can possibly give." + +"I have said that I will keep faith with you." + +"Until you find it more profitable to sell me." + +"You have it in your power to make it more profitable always for me +to keep faith with you. It is due to you that we have done so well +in Guichen. Oh, I admit it frankly." + +"In private," said Andre-Louis. + +M. Binet left the sarcasm unheeded. + +"What you have done for us here with 'Figaro-Scaramouche,' you can +do elsewhere with other things. Naturally, I shall not want to lose +you. That is your guarantee." + +"Yet to-night you would sell me for twenty louis." + +"Because - name of God! - you enrage me by refusing me a service well +within your powers. Don't you think, had I been entirely the rogue +you think me, I could have sold you on Saturday last? I want you to +understand me, my dear Parvissimus." + +"I beg that you'll not apologize. You would be more tiresome than +ever." + +"Of course you will be gibing. You never miss a chance to gibe. +It'll bring you trouble before you're done with life. Come; here +we are back at the inn, and you have not yet given me your decision." + +Andre-Louis looked at him. "I must yield, of course. I can't help +myself." + +M. Binet released his arm at last, and slapped him heartily upon the +back. "Well declared, my lad. You'll never regret it. If I know +anything of the theatre, I know that you have made the great decision +of your life. To-morrow night you'll thank me." + +Andre-Louis shrugged, and stepped out ahead towards the inn. But M. +Binet called him back. + +"M. Parvissimus!" + +He turned. There stood the man's great bulk, the moonlight beating +down upon that round fat face of his, and he was holding out his hand. + +"M. Parvissimus, no rancour. It is a thing I do not admit into my +life. You will shake hands with me, and we will forget all this." + +Andre-Louis considered him a moment with disgust. He was growing +angry. Then, realizing this, he conceived himself ridiculous, almost +as ridiculous as that sly, scoundrelly Pantaloon. He laughed and +took the outstretched hand. "No rancour?" M. Binet insisted. + +"Oh, no rancour," said Andre-Louis. + + + +CHAPTER V + +ENTER SCARAMOUCHE + + +Dressed in the close-fitting suit of a bygone age, all black, from +flat velvet cap to rosetted shoes, his face whitened and a slight +up-curled moustache glued to his upper lip, a small-sword at his +side and a guitar slung behind him, Scaramouche surveyed himself +in a mirror, and was disposed to be sardonic - which was the proper +mood for the part. + +He reflected that his life, which until lately had been of a +stagnant, contemplative quality, had suddenly become excessively +active. In the course of one week he had been lawyer, mob-orator, +outlaw, property-man, and finally buffoon. Last Wednesday he had +been engaged in moving an audience of Rennes to anger; on this +Wednesday he was to move an audience of Guichen to mirth. Then he +had been concerned to draw tears; to-day it was his business to +provoke laughter. There was a difference, and yet there was a +parallel. Then as now he had been a comedian; and the part that he +had played then was, when you came to think of it, akin to the part +he was to play this evening. For what had he been at Rennes but a +sort of Scaramouche - the little skirmisher, the astute intriguer, +spattering the seed of trouble with a sly hand? The only difference +lay in the fact that to-day he went forth under the name that +properly described his type, whereas last week he had been disguised +as a respectable young provincial attorney. + +He bowed to his reflection in the mirror. + +"Buffoon!" he apostrophized it. "At last you have found yourself. +At last you have come into your heritage. You should be a great +success." + +Hearing his new name called out by M. Binet, he went below to find +the company assembled, and waiting in the entrance corridor of the +inn. + +He was, of course, an object of great interest to all the company. +Most critically was he conned by M. Binet and mademoiselle; by the +former with gravely searching eyes, by the latter with a curl of +scornful lip. + +"You'll do," M. Binet commended his make-up. "At least you look +the part." + +"Unfortunately men are not always what they look," said Climene, +acidly. + +"That is a truth that does not at present apply to me," said +Andre-Louis. "For it is the first time in my life that I look what +I am." + +Mademoiselle curled her lip a little further, and turned her shoulder +to him. But the others thought him very witty - probably because he +was obscure. Columbine encouraged him with a friendly smile that +displayed her large white teeth, and M. Binet swore yet once again +that he would be a great success, since he threw himself with such +spirit into the undertaking. Then in a voice that for the moment +he appeared to have borrowed from the roaring captain, M. Binet +marshalled them for the short parade across to the market-hall. + +The new Scaramouche fell into place beside Rhodomont. The old one, +hobbling on a crutch, had departed an hour ago to take the place of +doorkeeper, vacated of necessity by Andre-Louis. So that the +exchange between those two was a complete one. + +Headed by Polichinelle banging his great drum and Pierrot blowing +his trumpet, they set out, and were duly passed in review by the +ragamuffins drawn up in files to enjoy so much of the spectacle as +was to be obtained for nothing. + +Ten minutes later the three knocks sounded, and the curtains were +drawn aside to reveal a battered set that was partly garden, partly +forest, in which Climene feverishly looked for the coming of Leandre. +In the wings stood the beautiful, melancholy lover, awaiting his cue, +and immediately behind him the unfledged Scaramouche, who was anon +to follow him. + +Andre-Louis was assailed with nausea in that dread moment. He +attempted to take a lightning mental review of the first act of this +scenario of which he was himself the author-in-chief; but found his +mind a complete blank. With the perspiration starting from his skin, +he stepped back to the wall, where above a dim lantern was pasted a +sheet bearing the brief outline of the piece. He was still studying +it, when his arm was clutched, and he was pulled violently towards +the wings. He had a glimpse of Pantaloon's grotesque face, its eyes +blazing, and he caught a raucous growl: + +"Climene has spoken your cue three times already." + +Before he realized it, he had been bundled on to the stage, and +stood there foolishly, blinking in the glare of the footlights, with +their tin reflectors. So utterly foolish and bewildered did he look +that volley upon volley of laughter welcomed him from the audience, +which this evening packed the hall from end to end. Trembling a +little, his bewilderment at first increasing, he stood there to +receive that rolling tribute to his absurdity. Climene was eyeing +him with expectant mockery, savouring in advance his humiliation; +Leandre regarded him in consternation, whilst behind the scenes, M. +Binet was dancing in fury. + +"Name of a name," he groaned to the rather scared members of the +company assembled there, "what will happen when they discover that +he isn't acting?" + +But they never did discover it. Scaramouche's bewildered paralysis +lasted but a few seconds. He realized that he was being laughed at, +and remembered that his Scaramouche was a creature to be laughed +with, and not at. He must save the situation; twist it to his own +advantage as best he could. And now his real bewilderment and terror +was succeeded by acted bewilderment and terror far more marked, but +not quite so funny. He contrived to make it clearly appear that his +terror was of some one off the stage. He took cover behind a painted +shrub, and thence, the laughter at last beginning to subside, he +addressed himself to Climene and Leandre. + +"Forgive me, beautiful lady, if the abrupt manner of my entrance +startled you. The truth is that I have never been the same since +that last affair of mine with Almaviva. My heart is not what it +used to be. Down there at the end of the lane I came face to face +with an elderly gentleman carrying a heavy cudgel, and the horrible +thought entered my mind that it might be your father, and that our +little stratagem to get you safely married might already have been +betrayed to him. I think it was the cudgel put such notion in my +head. Not that I am afraid. I am not really afraid of anything. +But I could not help reflecting that, if it should really have been +your father, and he had broken my head with his cudgel, your hopes +would have perished with me. For without me, what should you have +done, my poor children?" + +A ripple of laughter from the audience had been steadily enheartening +him, and helping him to recover his natural impudence. It was clear +they found him comical. They were to find him far more comical than +ever he had intended, and this was largely due to a fortuitous +circumstance upon which he had insufficiently reckoned. The fear of +recognition by some one from Gavrillac or Rennes had been strong +upon him. His face was sufficiently made up to baffle recognition; +but there remained his voice. To dissemble this he had availed +himself of the fact that Figaro was a Spaniard. He had known a +Spaniard at Louis le Grand who spoke a fluent but most extraordinary +French, with a grotesque excess of sibilant sounds. It was an accent +that he had often imitated, as youths will imitate characteristics +that excite their mirth. Opportunely he had bethought him of that +Spanish student, and it was upon his speech that to-night he modelled +his own. The audience of Guichen found it as laughable on his lips +as he and his fellows had found it formerly on the lips of that +derided Spaniard. + +Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Binet - listening to that glib +impromptu of which the scenario gave no indication - had recovered +from his fears. + +"Dieu de Dieu!" he whispered, grinning. "Did he do it, then, on +purpose?" + +It seemed to him impossible that a man who had been so +terror-stricken as he had fancied Andre-Louis, could have recovered +his wits so quickly and completely. Yet the doubt remained. + +To resolve it after the curtain had fallen upon a first act that +had gone with a verve unrivalled until this hour in the annals of +the company, borne almost entirely upon the slim shoulders of the +new Scaramouche, M. Binet bluntly questioned him. + +They were standing in the space that did duty as green-room, the +company all assembled there, showering congratulations upon their +new recruit. Scaramouche, a little exalted at the moment by his +success, however trivial he might consider it to-morrow, took then +a full revenge upon Climene for the malicious satisfaction with +which she had regarded his momentary blank terror. + +"I do not wonder that you ask," said he. "Faith, I should have +warned you that I intended to do my best from the start to put the +audience in a good humour with me. Mademoiselle very nearly ruined +everything by refusing to reflect any of my terror. She was not +even startled. Another time, mademoiselle, I shall give you full +warning of my every intention." + +She crimsoned under her grease-paint. But before she could find an +answer of sufficient venom, her father was rating her soundly for +her stupidity - the more soundly because himself he had been deceived +by Scaramouche's supreme acting. + +Scaramouche's success in the first act was more than confirmed as +the performance proceeded. Completely master of himself by now, +and stimulated as only success can stimulate, he warmed to his work. +Impudent, alert, sly, graceful, he incarnated the very ideal of +Scaramouche, and he helped out his own native wit by many a +remembered line from Beaumarchais, thereby persuading the better +informed among the audience that here indeed was something of the +real Figaro, and bringing them, as it were, into touch with the +great world of the capital. + +When at last the curtain fell for the last time, it was Scaramouche +who shared with Climene the honours of the evening, his name that +was coupled with hers in the calls that summoned them before the +curtains. + +As they stepped back, and the curtains screened them again from the +departing audience, M. Binet approached them, rubbing his fat hands +softly together. This runagate young lawyer, whom chance had blown +into his company, had evidently been sent by Fate to make his fortune +for him. The sudden success at Guichen, hitherto unrivalled, should +be repeated and augmented elsewhere. There would be no more sleeping +under hedges and tightening of belts. Adversity was behind him. He +placed a hand upon Scaramouche's shoulder, and surveyed him with a +smile whose oiliness not even his red paint and colossal false nose +could dissemble. + +"And what have you to say to me now?" he asked him. "Was I wrong +when I assured you that you would succeed? Do you think I have +followed my fortunes in the theatre for a lifetime without knowing +a born actor when I see one? You are my discovery, Scaramouche. I +have discovered you to yourself. I have set your feet upon the road +to fame and fortune. I await your thanks." + +Scaramouche laughed at him, and his laugh was not altogether pleasant. + +"Always Pantaloon!" said he. + +The great countenance became overcast. "I see that you do not yet +forgive me the little stratagem by which I forced you to do justice +to yourself. Ungrateful dog! As if I could have had any purpose +but to make you; and I have done so. Continue as you have begun, +and you will end in Paris. You may yet tread the stage of the +Comedie Francaise, the rival of Talma, Fleury, and Dugazon. When +that happens to you perhaps you will feel the gratitude that is due +to old Binet, for you will owe it all to this soft-hearted old fool." + +"If you were as good an actor on the stage as you are in private," +said Scaramouche, "you would yourself have won to the Comedie +Francaise long since. But I bear no rancour, M. Binet." He laughed, +and put out his hand. + +Binet fell upon it and wrung it heartily. + +"That, at least, is something," he declared. "My boy, I have great +plans for you - for us. To-morrow we go to Maure; there is a fair +there to the end of this week. Then on Monday we take our chances +at Pipriac, and after that we must consider. It may be that I am +about to realize the dream of my life. There must have been upwards +of fifteen louis taken to-night. Where the devil is that rascal +Cordemais?" + +Cordemais was the name of the original Scaramouche, who had so +unfortunately twisted his ankle. That Binet should refer to him by +his secular designation was a sign that in the Binet company at +least he had fallen for ever from the lofty eminence of Scaramouche. + +"Let us go and find him, and then we'll away to the inn and crack a +bottle of the best Burgundy, perhaps two bottles." + +But Cordemais was not readily to be found. None of the company had +seen him since the close of the performance. M. Binet went round +to the entrance. Cordemais was not there. At first he was annoyed; +then as he continued in vain to bawl the fellow's name, he began to +grow uneasy; lastly, when Polichinelle, who was with them, +discovered Cordemais' crutch standing discarded behind the door, M. +Binet became alarmed. A dreadful suspicion entered his mind. He +grew visibly pale under his paint. + +"But this evening he couldn't walk without the crutch!" he exclaimed. +"How then does he come to leave it there and take himself off?" + +"Perhaps he has gone on to the inn," suggested some one. + +"But he couldn't walk without his crutch," M. Binet insisted. + +Nevertheless, since clearly he was not anywhere about the market-hall, +to the inn they all trooped, and deafened the landlady with their +inquiries. + +"Oh, yes, M. Cordemais came in some time ago." + +"Where is he now?" + +"He went away again at once. He just came for his bag." + +"For his bag!" Binet was on the point of an apoplexy. "How long +ago was that?" + +She glanced at the timepiece on the overmantel. "It would be about +half an hour ago. It was a few minutes before the Rennes diligence +passed through." + +"The Rennes diligence!" M. Binet was almost inarticulate. "Could +he... could he walk?" he asked, on a note of terrible anxiety. + +"Walk? He ran like a hare when he left the inn. I thought, myself, +that his agility was suspicious, seeing how lame he had been since +he fell downstairs yesterday. Is anything wrong?" + +M. Binet had collapsed into a chair. He took his head in his hands, +and groaned. + +"The scoundrel was shamming all the time!" exclaimed Climene. "His +fall downstairs was a trick. He was playing for this. He has +swindled us." + +"Fifteen louis at least - perhaps sixteen!" said M. Binet. "Oh, the +heartless blackguard! To swindle me who have been as a father to +him - and to swindle me in such a moment." + +From the ranks of the silent, awe-stricken company, each member of +which was wondering by how much of the loss his own meagre pay would +be mulcted, there came a splutter of laughter. + +M. Binet glared with blood-injected eyes. + +"Who laughs?" he roared. "What heartless wretch has the audacity +to laugh at my misfortune?" + +Andre-Louis, still in the sable glories of Scaramouche, stood +forward. He was laughing still. + +"It is you, is it? You may laugh on another note, my friend, if I +choose a way to recoup myself that I know of." + +"Dullard!" Scaramouche scorned him. "Rabbit-brained elephant! What +if Cordemais has gone with fifteen louis? Hasn't he left you +something worth twenty times as much?" + +M. Binet gaped uncomprehending. + +"You are between two wines, I think. You've been drinking," he +concluded. + +"So I have - at the fountain of Thalia. Oh, don't you see? Don't +you see the treasure that Cordemais has left behind him?" + +"What has he left?" + +"A unique idea for the groundwork of a scenario. It unfolds itself +all before me. I'll borrow part of the title from Moliere. We'll +call it 'Les Fourberies de Scaramouche,' and if we don't leave the +audiences of Maure and Pipriac with sides aching from laughter I'll +play the dullard Pantaloon in future." + +Polichinelle smacked fist into palm. "Superb!" he said, fiercely. +"To cull fortune from misfortune, to turn loss into profit, that +is to have genius." + +Scaramouche made a leg. "Polichinelle, you are a fellow after my +own heart. I love a man who can discern my merit. If Pantaloon had +half your wit, we should have Burgundy to-night in spite of the +flight of Cordemais." + +"Burgundy?" roared M. Binet, and before he could get farther +Harlequin had clapped his hands together. + +"That is the spirit, M. Binet. You heard him, landlady. He called +for Burgundy." + +"I called for nothing of the kind." + +"But you heard him, dear madame. We all heard him." + +The others made chorus, whilst Scaramouche smiled at him, and patted +his shoulder. + +"Up, man, a little courage. Did you not say that fortune awaits us? +And have we not now the wherewithal to constrain fortune? Burgundy, +then, to... to toast 'Les Fourberies de Scaramouche.'" + +And M. Binet, who was not blind to the force of the idea, yielded, +took courage, and got drunk with the rest. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CLIMENE + + +Diligent search among the many scenarios of the improvisers which +have survived their day, has failed to bring to light the scenario +of "Les Fourberies de Scaramouche," upon which we are told the +fortunes of the Binet troupe came to be soundly established. They +played it for the first time at Maure in the following week, with +Andre-Louis - who was known by now as Scaramouche to all the +company, and to the public alike - in the title-role. If he had +acquitted himself well as Figaro-Scaramouche, he excelled himself +in the new piece, the scenario of which would appear to be very +much the better of the two. + +After Maure came Pipriac, where four performances were given, two +of each of the scenarios that now formed the backbone of the Binet +repertoire. In both Scaramouche, who was beginning to find himself, +materially improved his performances. So smoothly now did the two +pieces run that Scaramouche actually suggested to Binet that after +Fougeray, which they were to visit in the following week, they +should tempt fortune in a real theatre in the important town of +Redon. The notion terrified Binet at first, but coming to think +of it, and his ambition being fanned by Andre-Louis, he ended by +allowing himself to succumb to the temptation. + +It seemed to Andre-Louis in those days that he had found his real +metier, and not only was he beginning to like it, but actually to +look forward to a career as actor-author that might indeed lead +him in the end to that Mecca of all comedians, the Comedie +Francaise. And there were other possibilities. From the writing +of skeleton scenarios for improvisers, he might presently pass to +writing plays of dialogue, plays in the proper sense of the word, +after the manner of Chenier, Eglantine, and Beaumarchais. + +The fact that he dreamed such dreams shows us how very kindly he +had taken to the profession into which Chance and M. Binet between +them had conspired to thrust him. That he had real talent both +as author and as actor I do not doubt, and I am persuaded that had +things fallen out differently he would have won for himself a +lasting place among French dramatists, and thus fully have realized +that dream of his. + +Now, dream though it was, he did not neglect the practical side +of it. + +"You realize," he told M. Binet, "that I have it in my power to +make your fortune for you." + +He and Binet were sitting alone together in the parlour of the inn +at Pipriac, drinking a very excellent bottle of Volnay. It was on +the night after the fourth and last performance there of "Les +Feurberies." The business in Pipriac had been as excellent as in +Maure and Guichen. You will have gathered this from the fact that +they drank Volnay. + +"I will concede it, my dear Scaramouche, so that I may hear the +sequel." + +"I am disposed to exercise this power if the inducement is +sufficient. You will realize that for fifteen livres a month a +man does not sell such exceptional gifts as mine. + +"There is an alternative," said M. Binet, darkly. + +"There is no alternative. Don't be a fool, Binet." + +Binet sat up as if he had been prodded. Members of his company +did not take this tone of direct rebuke with him. + +"Anyway, I make you a present of it," Scaramouche pursued, airily. +"Exercise it if you please. Step outside and inform the police that +they can lay hands upon one Andre-Louis Moreau. But that will be +the end of your fine dreams of going to Redon, and for the first +time in your life playing in a real theatre. Without me, you can't +do it, and you know it; and I am not going to Redon or anywhere +else, in fact I am not even going to Fougeray, until we have an +equitable arrangement." + +"But what heat!" complained Binet, "and all for what? Why must you +assume that I have the soul of a usurer? When our little arrangement +was made, I had no idea how could I? - that you would prove as +valuable to me as you are? You had but to remind me, my dear +Scaramouche. I am a just man. As from to-day you shall have thirty +livres a month. See, I double it at once. I am a generous man." + +"But you are not ambitious. Now listen to me, a moment." + +And he proceeded to unfold a scheme that filled Binet with a +paralyzing terror. + +"After Redon, Nantes," he said. "Nantes and the Theatre Feydau." + +M. Binet choked in the act of drinking. The Theatre Feydau was a +sort of provincial Comedie Francaise. The great Fleury had played +there to an audience as critical as any in France. The very thought +of Redon, cherished as it had come to be by M. Binet, gave him at +moments a cramp in the stomach, so dangerously ambitious did it +seem to him. And Redon was a puppet-show by comparison with Nantes. +Yet this raw lad whom he had picked up by chance three weeks ago, +and who in that time had blossomed from a country attorney into +author and actor, could talk of Nantes and the Theatre Feydau +without changing colour. + +"But why not Paris and the Comedie Francaise?" wondered M. Binet, +with sarcasm, when at last he had got his breath. + +"That may come later," says impudence. + +"Eh? You've been drinking, my friend." + +But Andre-Louis detailed the plan that had been forming in his mind. +Fougeray should be a training-ground for Redon, and Redon should be +a training-ground for Nantes. They would stay in Redon as long as +Redon would pay adequately to come and see them, working hard to +perfect themselves the while. They would add three or four new +players of talent to the company; he would write three or four fresh +scenarios, and these should be tested and perfected until the troupe +was in possession of at least half a dozen plays upon which they +could depend; they would lay out a portion of their profits on +better dresses and better scenery, and finally in a couple of months' +time, if all went well, they should be ready to make their real bid +for fortune at Nantes. It was quite true that distinction was +usually demanded of the companies appearing at the Feydau, but on +the other hand Nantes had not seen a troupe of improvisers for a +generation and longer. They would be supplying a novelty to which +all Nantes should flock provided that the work were really well done, +and Scaramouche undertook - pledged himself - that if matters were +left in his own hands, his projected revival of the Commedia dell' +Arte in all its glories would exceed whatever expectations the +public of Nantes might bring to the theatre. + +"We'll talk of Paris after Nantes," he finished, supremely +matter-of-fact, "just as we will definitely decide on Nantes +after Redon." + +The persuasiveness that could sway a mob ended by sweeping M. Binet +off his feet. The prospect which Scaramouche unfolded, if +terrifying, was also intoxicating, and as Scaramouche delivered a +crushing answer to each weakening objection in a measure as it was +advanced, Binet ended by promising to think the matter over. + +"Redon will point the way," said Andre-Louis, "and I don't doubt +which way Redon will point." + +Thus the great adventure of Redon dwindled to insignificance. +Instead of a terrifying undertaking in itself, it became merely a +rehearsal for something greater. In his momentary exaltation Binet +proposed another bottle of Volnay. Scaramouche waited until the +cork was drawn before he continued. + +"The thing remains possible," said he then, holding his glass to +the light, and speaking casually, "as long as I am with you." + +"Agreed, my dear Scaramouche, agreed. Our chance meeting was a +fortunate thing for both of us." + +"For both of us," said Scaramouche, with stress. "That is as I +would have it. So that I do not think you will surrender me just +yet to the police." + +"As if I could think of such a thing! My dear Scaramouche, you +amuse yourself. I beg that you will never, never allude to that +little joke of mine again." + +"It is forgotten," said Andre-Louis. "And now for the remainder of +my proposal. If I am to become the architect of your fortunes, if +I am to build them as I have planned them, I must also and in the +same degree become the architect of my own." + +"In the same degree?" M. Binet frowned. + +"In the same degree. From to-day, if you please, we will conduct +the affairs of this company in a proper manner, and we will keep +account-books." + +"I am an artist," said M. Binet, with pride. "I am not a merchant." + +"There is a business side to your art, and that shall be conducted +in the business manner. I have thought it all out for you. You +shall not be troubled with details that might hinder the due +exercise of your art. All that you have to do is to say yes or no +to my proposal." + +"Ah? And the proposal?" + +"Is that you constitute me your partner, with an equal share in the +profits of your company." + +Pantaloon's great countenance grew pale, his little eyes widened to +their fullest extent as he conned the face of his companion. Then +he exploded. + +"You are mad, of course, to make me a proposal so monstrous." + +"It has its injustices, I admit. But I have provided for them. It +would not, for instance, be fair that in addition to all that I am +proposing to do for you, I should also play Scaramouche and write +your scenarios without any reward outside of the half-profit which +would come to me as a partner. Thus before the profits come to be +divided, there is a salary to be paid me as actor, and a small sum +for each scenario with which I provide the company; that is a matter +for mutual agreement. Similarly, you shall be paid a salary as +Pantaloon. After those expenses are cleared up, as well as all the +other salaries and disbursements, the residue is the profit to be +divided equally between us." + +It was not, as you can imagine, a proposal that M. Binet would +swallow at a draught. He began with a point-blank refusal to +consider it. + +"In that case, my friend," said Scaramouche, "we part company at +once. To-morrow I shall bid you a reluctant farewell." + +Binet fell to raging. He spoke of ingratitude in feeling terms; he +even permitted himself another sly allusion to that little jest of +his concerning the police, which he had promised never again to +mention. + +"As to that, you may do as you please. Play the informer, by all +means. But consider that you will just as definitely be deprived +of my services, and that without me you are nothing - as you were +before I joined your company." + +M. Binet did not care what the consequences might be. A fig for +the consequences! He would teach this impudent young country +attorney that M. Binet was not the man to be imposed upon. + +Scaramouche rose. "Very well," said he, between indifference and +resignation. "As you wish. But before you act, sleep on the matter. +In the cold light of morning you may see our two proposals in their +proper proportions. Mine spells fortune for both of us. Yours +spells ruin for both of us. Good-night, M. Binet. Heaven help you +to a wise decision." + +The decision to which M. Binet finally came was, naturally, the only +one possible in the face of so firm a resolve as that of Andre-Louis, +who held the trumps. Of course there were further discussions, +before all was settled, and M. Binet was brought to an agreement +only after an infinity of haggling surprising in one who was an +artist and not a man of business. One or two concessions were made +by Andre-Louis; he consented, for instance, to waive his claim to +be paid for scenarios, and he also consented that M. Binet should +appoint himself a salary that was out of all proportion to his +deserts. + +Thus in the end the matter was settled, and the announcement duly +made to the assembled company. There were, of course, jealousies +and resentments. But these were not deep-seated, and they were +readily swallowed when it was discovered that under the new +arrangement the lot of the entire company was to be materially +improved from the point of view of salaries. This was a matter +that had met with considerable opposition from M. Binet. But the +irresistible Scaramouche swept away all objections. + +"If we are to play at the Feydau, you want a company of +self-respecting comedians, and not a pack of cringing starvelings. +The better we pay them in reason, the more they will earn for us." + +Thus was conquered the company's resentment of this too swift +promotion of its latest recruit. Cheerfully now - with one +exception - they accepted the dominance of Scaramouche, a dominance +soon to be so firmly established that M. Binet himself came under it. + +The one exception was Climene. Her failure to bring to heel this +interesting young stranger, who had almost literally dropped into +their midst that morning outside Guichen, had begotten in her a +malice which his persistent ignoring of her had been steadily +inflaming. She had remonstrated with her father when the new +partnership was first formed. She had lost her temper with him, +and called him a fool, whereupon M. Binet - in Pantaloon's best +manner - had lost his temper in his turn and boxed her ears. She +piled it up to the account of Scaramouche, and spied her opportunity +to pay off some of that ever-increasing score. But opportunities +were few. Scaramouche was too occupied just then. During the week +of preparation at Fougeray, he was hardly seen save at the +performances, whilst when once they were at Redon, he came and went +like the wind between the theatre and the inn. + +The Redon experiment had justified itself from the first. Stimulated +and encouraged by this, Andre-Louis worked day and night during the +month that they spent in that busy little town. The moment had been +well chosen, for the trade in chestnuts of which Redon is the centre +was just then at its height. And every afternoon the little theatre +was packed with spectators. The fame of the troupe had gone forth, +borne by the chestnut-growers of the district, who were bringing +their wares to Redon market, and the audiences were made up of people +from the surrounding country, and from neighbouring villages as far +out as Allaire, Saint-Perrieux and Saint-Nicholas. To keep the +business from slackening, Andre-Louis prepared a new scenario every +week. He wrote three in addition to those two with which he had +already supplied the company; these were "The Marriage of Pantaloon," +"The Shy Lover," and "The Terrible Captain." Of these the last was +the greatest success. It was based upon the "Miles Gloriosus" of +Plautus, with great opportunities for Rhodomont, and a good part +for Scaramouche as the roaring captain's sly lieutenant. Its +success was largely due to the fact that Andre-Louis amplified the +scenario to the extent of indicating very fully in places the +lines which the dialogue should follow, whilst here and there he +had gone so far as to supply some of the actual dialogue to be +spoken, without, however, making it obligatory upon the actors +to keep to the letter of it. + +And meanwhile as the business prospered, he became busy with +tailors, improving the wardrobe of the company, which was sorely +in need of improvement. He ran to earth a couple of needy artists, +lured them into the company to play small parts - apothecaries and +notaries - and set them to beguile their leisure in painting new +scenery, so as to be ready for what he called the conquest of Nantes, +which was to come in the new year. Never in his life had he worked +so hard; never in his life had he worked at all by comparison with +his activities now. His fund of energy and enthusiasm was +inexhaustible, like that of his good humour. He came and went, +acted, wrote, conceived, directed, planned, and executed, what time +M. Binet took his ease at last in comparative affluence, drank +Burgundy every night, ate white bread and other delicacies, and +began to congratulate himself upon his astuteness in having made +this industrious, tireless fellow his partner. Having discovered +how idle had been his fears of performing at Redon, he now began to +dismiss the terrors with which the notion of Nantes had haunted him. + +And his happiness was reflected throughout the ranks of his company, +with the single exception always of Climene. She had ceased to +sneer at Scaramouche, having realized at last that her sneers left +him untouched and recoiled upon herself. Thus her almost indefinable +resentment of him was increased by being stifled, until, at all costs, +an outlet for it must be found. + +One day she threw herself in his way as he was leaving the theatre +after the performance. The others had already gone, and she had +returned upon pretence of having forgotten something. + +"Will you tell me what I have done to you?" she asked him, +point-blank. + +"Done to me, mademoiselle?" He did not understand. + +She made a gesture of impatience. "Why do you hate me?" + +"Hate you, mademoiselle? I do not hate anybody. It is the most +stupid of all the emotions. I have never hated - not even my +enemies." + +"What Christian resignation!" + +"As for hating you, of all people! Why... I consider you adorable. +I envy Leandre every day of my life. I have seriously thought of +setting him to play Scaramouche, and playing lovers myself." + +"I don't think you would be a success," said she. + +"That is the only consideration that restrains me. And yet, given +the inspiration that is given Leandre, it is possible that I might +be convincing." + +"Why, what inspiration do you mean?" + +"The inspiration of playing to so adorable a Climene." + +Her lazy eyes were now alert to search that lean face of his. + +"You are laughing at me," said she, and swept past him into the +theatre on her pretended quest. There was nothing to be done with +such a fellow. He was utterly without feeling. He was not a man +at all. + +Yet when she came forth again at the end of some five minutes, she +found him still lingering at the door. + +"Not gone yet?" she asked him, superciliously. + +"I was waiting for you, mademoiselle. You will be walking to the +inn. If I might escort you... " + +"But what gallantry! What condescension!" + +"Perhaps you would prefer that I did not?" + +"How could I prefer that, M. Scaramouche? Besides, we are both +going the same way, and the streets are common to all. It is that +I am overwhelmed by the unusual honour." + +He looked into her piquant little face, and noted how obscured it +was by its cloud of dignity. He laughed. + +"Perhaps I feared that the honour was not sought." + +"Ah, now I understand," she cried. "It is for me to seek these +honours. I am to woo a man before he will pay me the homage of +civility. It must be so, since you, who clearly know everything, +have said so. It remains for me to beg your pardon for my ignorance." + +"It amuses you to be cruel," said Scaramouche. "No matter. Shall +we walk?" + +They set out together, stepping briskly to warm their blood against +the wintry evening air. Awhile they went in silence, yet each +furtively observing the other. + +"And so, you find me cruel?" she challenged him at length, thereby +betraying the fact that the accusation had struck home. + +He looked at her with a half smile. "Will you deny it?" + +"You are the first man that ever accused me of that." + +"I dare not suppose myself the first man to whom you have been cruel. +That were an assumption too flattering to myself. I must prefer to +think that the others suffered in silence." + +"Mon Dieu! Have you suffered?" She was between seriousness and +raillery. + +"I place the confession as an offering on the altar of your vanity." + +"I should never have suspected it." + +"How could you? Am I not what your father calls a natural actor? +I was an actor long before I became Scaramouche. Therefore I have +laughed. I often do when I am hurt. When you were pleased to be +disdainful, I acted disdain in my turn." + +"You acted very well," said she, without reflecting. + +"Of course. I am an excellent actor." + +"And why this sudden change?" + +"In response to the change in you. You have grown weary of your +part of cruel madam - a dull part, believe me, and unworthy of your +talents. Were I a woman and had I your loveliness and your grace, +Climene, I should disdain to use them as weapons of offence." + +"Loveliness and grace!" she echoed, feigning amused surprise. But +the vain baggage was mollified. "When was it that you discovered +this beauty and this grace, M. Scaramouche?" + +He looked at her a moment, considering the sprightly beauty of her, +the adorable femininity that from the first had so irresistibly +attracted him. + +"One morning when I beheld you rehearsing a love-scene with Leandre." + +He caught the surprise that leapt to her eyes, before she veiled +them under drooping lids from his too questing gaze. + +"Why, that was the first time you saw me." + +"I had no earlier occasion to remark your charms." + +"You ask me to believe too much," said she, but her tone was softer +than he had ever known it yet. + +"Then you'll refuse to believe me if I confess that it was this +grace and beauty that determined my destiny that day by urging me +to join your father's troupe." + +At that she became a little out of breath. There was no longer any +question of finding an outlet for resentment. Resentment was all +forgotten. + +"But why? With what object?" + +"With the object of asking you one day to be my wife." + +She halted under the shock of that, and swung round to face him. +Her glance met his own without, shyness now; there was a hardening +glitter in her eyes, a faint stir of colour in her cheeks. She +suspected him of an unpardonable mockery. + +"You go very fast, don't you?" she asked him, with heat. + +"I do. Haven't you observed it? I am a man of sudden impulses. +See what I have made of the Binet troupe in less than a couple of +months. Another might have laboured for a year and not achieved +the half of it. Shall I be slower in love than in work? Would it +be reasonable to expect it? I have curbed and repressed myself not +to scare you by precipitancy. In that I have done violence to my +feelings, and more than all in using the same cold aloofness with +which you chose to treat me. I have waited - oh! so patiently - +until you should tire of that mood of cruelty." + +"You are an amazing man," said she, quite colourlessly. + +"I am," he agreed with her. "It is only the conviction that I am +not commonplace that has permitted me to hope as I have hoped." + +Mechanically, and as if by tacit consent, they resumed their walk. + +"And I ask you to observe," he said, "when you complain that I go +very fast, that, after all, I have so far asked you for nothing." + +"How?" quoth she, frowning. + +"I have merely told you of my hopes. I am not so rash as to ask at +once whether I may realize them." + +"My faith, but that is prudent," said she, tartly. + +"Of course." + +It was his self-possession that exasperated her; for after that she +walked the short remainder of the way in silence, and so, for the +moment, the matter was left just there. + +But that night, after they had supped, it chanced that when Climene +was about to retire, he and she were alone together in the room +abovestairs that her father kept exclusively for his company. The +Binet Troupe, you see, was rising in the world. + +As Climene now rose to withdraw for the night, Scaramouche rose +with her to light her candle. Holding it in her left hand, she +offered him her right, a long, tapering, white hand at the end of +a softly rounded arm that was bare to the elbow. + +"Good-night, Scaramouche," she said, but so softly, so tenderly, +that he caught his breath, and stood conning her, his dark eyes +aglow. + +Thus a moment, then he took the tips of her fingers in his grasp, +and bowing over the hand, pressed his lips upon it. Then he looked +at her again. The intense femininity of her lured him on, invited +him, surrendered to him. Her face was pale, there was a glitter in +her eyes, a curious smile upon her parted lips, and under its +fichu-menteur her bosom rose and fell to complete the betrayal of her. + +By the hand he continued to hold, he drew her towards him. She came +unresisting. He took the candle from her, and set it down on the +sideboard by which she stood. The next moment her slight, lithe +body was in his arms, and he was kissing her, murmuring her name as +if it were a prayer. + +"Am I cruel now?" she asked him, panting. He kissed her again for +only answer. "You made me cruel because you would not see," she +told him next in a whisper. + +And then the door opened, and M. Binet came in to have his paternal +eyes regaled by this highly indecorous behaviour of his daughter. + +He stood at gaze, whilst they quite leisurely, and in a +self-possession too complete to be natural, detached each from +the other. + +"And what may be the meaning of this?" demanded M. Binet, bewildered +and profoundly shocked. + +"Does it require explaining?" asked Scaramouche. "Doesn't it speak +for itself - eloquently? It means that Climene and I have taken it +into our heads to be married." + +"And doesn't it matter what I may take into my head?" + +"Of course. But you could have neither the bad taste nor the bad +heart to offer any obstacle." + +"You take that for granted? Aye, that is your way, to be sure - to +take things for granted. But my daughter is not to be taken for +granted. I have very definite views for my daughter. You have done +an unworthy thing, Scaramouche. You have betrayed my trust in you. +I am very angry with you." + +He rolled forward with his ponderous yet curiously noiseless gait. +Scaramouche turned to her, smiling, and handed her the candle. + +"If you will leave us, Climene, I will ask your hand of your father +in proper form." + +She vanished, a little fluttered, lovelier than ever in her mixture +of confusion and timidity. Scaramouche closed the door and faced the +enraged M. Binet, who had flung himself into an armchair at the head +of the short table, faced him with the avowed purpose of asking for +Climene's hand in proper form. And this was how he did it: + +"Father-in-law," said he, "I congratulate you. This will certainly +mean the Comedie Francaise for Climene, and that before long, and +you shall shine in the glory she will reflect. As the father of +Madame Scaramouche you may yet be famous." + +Binet, his face slowly empurpling, glared at him in speechless +stupefaction. His rage was the more utter from his humiliating +conviction that whatever he might say or do, this irresistible +fellow would bend him to his will. At last speech came to him. + +"You're a damned corsair," he cried, thickly, banging his ham-like +fist upon the table. "A corsair! First you sail in and plunder me +of half my legitimate gains; and now you want to carry off my +daughter. But I'll be damned if I'll give her to a graceless, +nameless scoundrel like you, for whom the gallows are waiting +already." + +Scaramouche pulled the bell-rope, not at all discomposed. He smiled. +There was a flush on his cheeks and a gleam in his eyes. He was +very pleased with the world that night. He really owed a great debt +to M. de Lesdiguieres. + +"Binet," said he, "forget for once that you are Pantaloon, and behave +as a nice, amiable father-in-law should behave when he has secured a +son-in-law of exceptionable merits. We are going to have a bottle of +Burgundy at my expense, and it shall be the best bottle of Burgundy +to be found in Redon. Compose yourself to do fitting honour to it. +Excitations of the bile invariably impair the fine sensitiveness of +the palate." + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CONQUEST OF NANTES + + +The Binet Troupe opened in Nantes - as you may discover in surviving +copies of the "Courrier Nantais" - on the Feast of the Purification +with "Les Fourberies de Scaramouche." But they did not come to +Nantes as hitherto they had gone to little country villages and +townships, unheralded and depending entirely upon the parade of +their entrance to attract attention to themselves. Andre-Louis +had borrowed from the business methods of the Comedie Francaise. +Carrying matters with a high hand entirely in his own fashion, he +had ordered at Redon the printing of playbills, and four days before +the company's descent upon Nantes, these bills were pasted outside +the Theatre Feydau and elsewhere about the town, and had attracted + - being still sufficiently unusual announcements at the time - +considerable attention. He had entrusted the matter to one of the +company's latest recruits, an intelligent young man named Basque, +sending him on ahead of the company for the purpose. + +You may see for yourself one of these playbills in the Carnavalet +Museum. It details the players by their stage names only, with the +exception of M. Binet and his daughter, and leaving out of account +that he who plays Trivelin in one piece appears as Tabarin in +another, it makes the company appear to be at least half as numerous +again as it really was. It announces that they will open with "Les +Fourberies de Scaramouche," to be followed by five other plays of +which it gives the titles, and by others not named, which shall also +be added should the patronage to be received in the distinguished +and enlightened city of Nantes encourage the Binet Troupe to prolong +its sojourn at the Theatre Feydau. It lays great stress upon the +fact that this is a company of improvisers in the old Italian manner, +the like of which has not been seen in France for half a century, +and it exhorts the public of Nantes not to miss this opportunity of +witnessing these distinguished mimes who are reviving for them the +glories of the Comedie de l'Art. Their visit to Nantes - the +announcement proceeds - is preliminary to their visit to Paris, +where they intend to throw down the glove to the actors of the +Comedie Francaise, and to show the world how superior is the art of +the improviser to that of the actor who depends upon an author for +what he shall say, and who consequently says always the same thing +every time that he plays in the same piece. + +It is an audacious bill, and its audacity had scared M. Binet out +of the little sense left him by the Burgundy which in these days he +could afford to abuse. He had offered the most vehement opposition. +Part of this Andre-Louis had swept aside; part he had disregarded. + +"I admit that it is audacious," said Scaramouche. "But at your time +of life you should have learnt that in this world nothing succeeds +like audacity." + +"I forbid it; I absolutely forbid it," M. Binet insisted. + +"I knew you would. Just as I know that you'll be very grateful to +me presently for not obeying you." + +"You are inviting a catastrophe." + +"I am inviting fortune. The worst catastrophe that can overtake +you is to be back in the market-halls of the country villages from +which I rescued you. I'll have you in Paris yet in spite of +yourself. Leave this to me." + +And he went out to attend to the printing. Nor did his preparations +end there. He wrote a piquant article on the glories of the Comedie +de l'Art, and its resurrection by the improvising troupe of the +great mime Florimond Binet. Binet's name was not Florimond; it was +just Pierre. But Andre-Louis had a great sense of the theatre. That +article was an amplification of the stimulating matter contained in +the playbills; and he persuaded Basque, who had relations in Nantes, +to use all the influence he could command, and all the bribery they +could afford, to get that article printed in the "Courrier Nantais" +a couple of days before the arrival of the Binet Troupe. + +Basque had succeeded, and, considering the undoubted literary merits +and intrinsic interest of the article, this is not at all surprising. + +And so it was upon an already expectant city that Binet and his +company descended in that first week of February. M. Binet would +have made his entrance in the usual manner - a full-dress parade with +banging drums and crashing cymbals. But to this Andre-Louis offered +the most relentless opposition. + +"We should but discover our poverty," said he. "Instead, we will +creep into the city unobserved, and leave ourselves to the imagination +of the public." + +He had his way, of course. M. Binet, worn already with battling +against the strong waters of this young man's will, was altogether +unequal to the contest now that he found Climene in alliance with +Scaramouche, adding her insistence to his, and joining with him +in reprobation of her father's sluggish and reactionary wits. +Metaphorically, M. Binet threw up his arms, and cursing the day on +which he had taken this young man into his troupe, he allowed the +current to carry him whither it would. He was persuaded that he +would be drowned in the end. Meanwhile he would drown his vexation +in Burgundy. At least there was abundance of Burgundy. Never in +his life had he found Burgundy so plentiful. Perhaps things were +not as bad as he imagined, after all. He reflected that, when all +was said, he had to thank Scaramouche for the Burgundy. Whilst +fearing the worst, he would hope for the best. + +And it was very much the worst that he feared as he waited in the +wings when the curtain rose on that first performance of theirs at +the Theatre Feydau to a house that was tolerably filled by a public +whose curiosity the preliminary announcements had thoroughly +stimulated. + +Although the scenario of "Lee Fourberies de Scaramouche" has not +apparently survived, yet we know from Andre-Louis' "Confessions" +that it is opened by Polichinelle in the character of an arrogant +and fiercely jealous lover shown in the act of beguiling the +waiting-maid, Columbine, to play the spy upon her mistress, Climene. +Beginning with cajolery, but failing in this with the saucy +Columbine, who likes cajolers to be at least attractive and to pay +a due deference to her own very piquant charms, the fierce humpbacked +scoundrel passes on to threats of the terrible vengeance he will +wreak upon her if she betrays him or neglects to obey him implicitly; +failing here, likewise, he finally has recourse to bribery, and +after he has bled himself freely to the very expectant Columbine, he +succeeds by these means in obtaining her consent to spy upon Climene, +and to report to him upon her lady's conduct. + +The pair played the scene well together, stimulated, perhaps, by +their very nervousness at finding themselves before so imposing an +audience. Polichinelle was everything that is fierce, contemptuous, +and insistent. Columbine was the essence of pert indifference +under his cajolery, saucily mocking under his threats, and finely +sly in extorting the very maximum when it came to accepting a bribe. +Laughter rippled through the audience and promised well. But M. +Binet, standing trembling in the wings, missed the great guffaws of +the rustic spectators to whom they had played hitherto, and his +fears steadily mounted. + +Then, scarcely has Polichinelle departed by the door than Scaramouche +bounds in through the window. It was an effective entrance, usually +performed with a broad comic effect that set the people in a roar. +Not so on this occasion. Meditating in bed that morning, Scaramouche +had decided to present himself in a totally different aspect. He +would cut out all the broad play, all the usual clowning which had +delighted their past rude audiences, and he would obtain his effects +by subtlety instead. He would present a slyly humorous rogue, +restrained, and of a certain dignity, wearing a countenance of +complete solemnity, speaking his lines drily, as if unconscious of +the humour with which he intended to invest them. Thus, though it +might take the audience longer to understand and discover him, they +would like him all the better in the end. + +True to that resolve, he now played his part as the friend and hired +ally of the lovesick Leandre, on whose behalf he came for news of +Climene, seizing the opportunity to further his own amour with +Columbine and his designs upon the money-bags of Pantaloon. Also he +had taken certain liberties with the traditional costume of +Scaramouche; he had caused the black doublet and breeches to be +slashed with red, and the doublet to be cut more to a peak, a la +Henri III. The conventional black velvet cap he had replaced by a +conical hat with a turned-up brim, and a tuft of feathers on the +left, and he had discarded the guitar. + +M. Binet listened desperately for the roar of laughter that usually +greeted the entrance of Scaramouche, and his dismay increased when +it did not come. And then he became conscious of something +alarmingly unusual in Scaramouche's manner. The sibilant foreign +accent was there, but none of the broad boisterousness their +audiences had loved. + +He wrung his hands in despair. "It is all over!" he said. "The +fellow has ruined us! It serves me right for being a fool, and +allowing him to take control of everything!" + +But he was profoundly mistaken. He began to have an inkling of this +when presently himself he took the stage, and found the public +attentive, remarked a grin of quiet appreciation on every upturned +face. It was not, however, until the thunders of applause greeted +the fall of the curtain on the first act that he felt quite sure +they would be allowed to escape with their lives. + +Had the part of Pantaloon in "Les Fourberies" been other than that +of a blundering, timid old idiot, Binet would have ruined it by his +apprehensions. As it was, those very apprehensions, magnifying as +they did the hesitancy and bewilderment that were the essence of +his part, contributed to the success. And a success it proved that +more than justified all the heralding of which Scaramouche had been +guilty. + +For Scaramouche himself this success was not confined to the public. +At the end of the play a great reception awaited him from his +companions assembled in the green-room of the theatre. His talent, +resource, and energy had raised them in a few weeks from a pack of +vagrant mountebanks to a self-respecting company of first-rate +players. They acknowledged it generously in a speech entrusted to +Polichinelle, adding the tribute to his genius that, as they had +conquered Nantes, so would they conquer the world under his guidance. + +In their enthusiasm they were a little neglectful of the feelings +of M. Binet. Irritated enough had he been already by the overriding +of his every wish, by the consciousness of his weakness when opposed +to Scaramouche. And, although he had suffered the gradual process +of usurpation of authority because its every step had been attended +by his own greater profit, deep down in him the resentment abode to +stifle every spark of that gratitude due from him to his partner. +To-night his nerves had been on the rack, and he had suffered agonies +of apprehension, for all of which he blamed Scaramouche so bitterly +that not even the ultimate success - almost miraculous when all the +elements are considered - could justify his partner in his eyes. + +And now, to find himself, in addition, ignored by this company - his +own company, which he had so laboriously and slowly assembled and +selected among the men of ability whom he had found here and there +in the dregs of cities was something that stirred his bile, and +aroused the malevolence that never did more than slumber in him. But +deeply though his rage was moved, it did not blind him to the folly +of betraying it. Yet that he should assert himself in this hour was +imperative unless he were for ever to become a thing of no account +in this troupe over which he had lorded it for long months before +this interloper came amongst them to fill his purse and destroy his +authority. + +So he stepped forward now when Polichinelle had done. His make-up +assisting him to mask his bitter feelings, he professed to add his +own to Polichinelle's acclamations of his dear partner. But he did +it in such a manner as to make it clear that what Scaramouche had +done, he had done by M. Binet's favour, and that in all M. Binet's +had been the guiding hand. In associating himself with Polichinelle, +he desired to thank Scaramouche, much in the manner of a lord +rendering thanks to his steward for services diligently rendered and +orders scrupulously carried out. + +It neither deceived the troupe nor mollified himself. Indeed, his +consciousness of the mockery of it but increased his bitterness. +But at least it saved his face and rescued him from nullity - he who +was their chief. + +To say, as I have said, that it did not deceive them, is perhaps to +say too much, for it deceived them at least on the score of his +feelings. They believed, after discounting the insinuations in +which he took all credit to himself, that at heart he was filled +with gratitude, as they were. That belief was shared by Andre-Louis +himself, who in his brief, grateful answer was very generous to M. +Binet, more than endorsing the claims that M. Binet had made. + +And then followed from him the announcement that their success in +Nantes was the sweeter to him because it rendered almost immediately +attainable the dearest wish of his heart, which was to make Climene +his wife. It was a felicity of which he was the first to acknowledge +his utter unworthiness. It was to bring him into still closer +relations with his good friend M. Binet, to whom he owed all that he +had achieved for himself and for them. The announcement was joyously +received, for the world of the theatre loves a lover as dearly as +does the greater world. So they acclaimed the happy pair, with the +exception of poor Leandre, whose eyes were more melancholy than ever. + +They were a happy family that night in the upstairs room of their +inn on the Quai La Fosse - the same inn from which Andre-Louis had +set out some weeks ago to play a vastly different role before an +audience of Nantes. Yet was it so different, he wondered? Had he +not then been a sort of Scaramouche - an intriguer, glib and +specious, deceiving folk, cynically misleading them with opinions +that were not really his own? Was it at all surprising that he +should have made so rapid and signal a success as a mime? Was not +this really all that he had ever been, the thing for which Nature +had designed him? + +On the following night they played "The Shy Lover" to a full house, +the fame of their debut having gone abroad, and the success of +Monday was confirmed. On Wednesday they gave "Figaro-Scaramouche," +and on Thursday morning the "Courrier Nantais" came out with an +article of more than a column of praise of these brilliant +improvisers, for whom it claimed that they utterly put to shame the +mere reciters of memorized parts. + +Andre-Louis, reading the sheet at breakfast, and having no delusions +on the score of the falseness of that statement, laughed inwardly. +The novelty of the thing, and the pretentiousness in which he had +swaddled it, had deceived them finely. He turned to greet Binet and +Climene, who entered at that moment. He waved the sheet above his +head. + +"It is settled," he announced, "we stay in Nantes until Easter." + +"Do we?" said Binet, sourly. "You settle everything, my friend." + +"Read for yourself." And he handed him the paper. + +Moodily M. Binet read. He set the sheet down in silence, and turned +his attention to his breakfast. + +"Was I justified or not?" quoth Andre-Louis, who found M. Binet's +behaviour a thought intriguing. + +"In what?" + +"In coming to Nantes?" + +"If I had not thought so, we should not have come," said Binet, and +he began to eat. + +Andre-Louis dropped the subject, wondering. + +After breakfast he and Climene sallied forth to take the air upon +the quays. It was a day of brilliant sunshine and less cold than +it had lately been. Columbine tactlessly joined them as they were +setting out, though in this respect matters were improved a little +when Harlequin came running after them, and attached himself to +Columbine. + +Andre-Louis, stepping out ahead with Climene, spoke of the thing +that was uppermost in his mind at the moment. + +"Your father is behaving very oddly towards me," said he. "It is +almost as if he had suddenly become hostile." + +"You imagine it," said she. "My father is very grateful to you, +as we all are." + +"He is anything but grateful. He is infuriated against me; and I +think I know the reason. Don't you? Can't you guess?" + +"I can't, indeed." + +"If you were my daughter, Climene, which God be thanked you are +not, I should feel aggrieved against the man who carried you away +from me. Poor old Pantaloon! He called me a corsair when I told +him that I intend to marry you." + +"He was right. You are a bold robber, Scaramouche." + +"It is in the character," said he. "Your father believes in having +his mimes play upon the stage the parts that suit their natural +temperaments." + +"Yes, you take everything you want, don't you?" She looked up at +him, half adoringly, half shyly. + +"If it is possible," said he. "I took his consent to our marriage +by main force from him. I never waited for him to give it. When, in +fact, he refused it, I just snatched it from him, and I'll defy him +now to win it back from me. I think that is what he most resents." + +She laughed, and launched upon an animated answer. But he did not +hear a word of it. Through the bustle of traffic on the quay a +cabriolet, the upper half of which was almost entirely made of glass, +had approached them. It was drawn by two magnificent bay horses and +driven by a superbly livened coachman. + +In the cabriolet alone sat a slight young girl wrapped in a lynx-fur +pelisse, her face of a delicate loveliness. She was leaning forward, +her lips parted, her eyes devouring Scaramouche until they drew his +gaze. When that happened, the shock of it brought him abruptly to a +dumfounded halt. + +Climene, checking in the middle of a sentence, arrested by his own +sudden stopping, plucked at his sleeve. + +"What is it, Scaramouche?" + +But he made no attempt to answer her, and at that moment the +coachman, to whom the little lady had already signalled, brought +the carriage to a standstill beside them. Seen in the gorgeous +setting of that coach with its escutcheoned panels, its portly +coachman and its white-stockinged footman - who swung instantly +to earth as the vehicle stopped - its dainty occupant seemed to +Climene a princess out of a fairy-tale. And this princess leaned +forward, with eyes aglow and cheeks aflush, stretching out a +choicely gloved hand to Scaramouche. + +"Andre-Louis!" she called him. + +And Scaramouche took the hand of that exalted being, just as he +might have taken the hand of Climene herself, and with eyes that +reflected the gladness of her own, in a voice that echoed the joyous +surprise of hers, he addressed her familiarly by name, just as she +had addressed him. + +"Aline!" + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DREAM + + +"The door," Aline commanded her footman, and "Mount here beside me," +she commanded Andre-Louis, in the same breath. + +"A moment, Aline." + +He turned to his companion, who was all amazement, and to Harlequin +and Columbine, who had that moment come up to share it. "You permit +me, Climene?" said he, breathlessly. But it was more a statement +than a question. "Fortunately you are not alone. Harlequin will +take care of you. Au revoir, at dinner." + +With that he sprang into the cabriolet without waiting for a reply. +The footman closed the door, the coachman cracked his whip, and the +regal equipage rolled away along the quay, leaving the three +comedians staring after it, open-mouthed... Then Harlequin laughed. + +"A prince in disguise, our Scaramouche!" said he. + +Columbine clapped her hands and flashed her strong teeth. "But what +a romance for you, Climene! How wonderful!" + +The frown melted from Climene's brow. Resentment changed to +bewilderment. + +"But who is she?" + +"His sister, of course," said Harlequin, quite definitely. + +"His sister? How do you know?" + +"I know what he will tell you on his return." + +"But why?" + +"Because you wouldn't believe him if he said she was his mother." + +Following the carriage with their glance, they wandered on in the +direction it had taken. And in the carriage Aline was considering +Andre-Louis with grave eyes, lips slightly compressed, and a tiny +frown between her finely drawn eyebrows. + +"You have taken to queer company, Andre," was the first thing she +said to him. "Or else I am mistaken in thinking that your companion +was Mlle. Binet of the Theatre Feydau." + +"You are not mistaken. But I had not imagined Mlle. Binet so famous +already." + +"Oh, as to that... " mademoiselle shrugged, her tone quietly +scornful. And she explained. "It is simply that I was at the play +last night. I thought I recognized her." + +"You were at the Feydau last night? And I never saw you!" + +"Were you there, too?" + +"Was I there!" he cried. Then he checked, and abruptly changed his +tone. "Oh, yes, I was there," he said, as commonplace as he could, +beset by a sudden reluctance to avow that he had so willingly +descended to depths that she must account unworthy, and grateful +that his disguise of face and voice should have proved impenetrable +even to one who knew him so very well. + +"I understand," said she, and compressed her lips a little more +tightly. + +"But what do you understand?" + +"The rare attractions of Mlle. Binet. Naturally you would be at +the theatre. Your tone conveyed it very clearly. Do you know that +you disappoint me, Andre? It is stupid of me, perhaps; it betrays, +I suppose, my imperfect knowledge of your sex. I am aware that +most young men of fashion find an irresistible attraction for +creatures who parade themselves upon the stage. But I did not +expect you to ape the ways of a man of fashion. I was foolish +enough to imagine you to be different; rather above such trivial +pursuits. I conceived you something of an idealist." + +"Sheer flattery." + +"So I perceive. But you misled me. You talked so much morality of +a kind, you made philosophy so readily, that I came to be deceived. +In fact, your hypocrisy was so consummate that I never suspected it. +With your gift of acting I wonder that you haven't joined Mlle. +Binet's troupe." + +"I have," said he. + +It had really become necessary to tell her, making choice of the +lesser of the two evils with which she confronted him. + +He saw first incredulity, then consternation, and lastly disgust +overspread her face. + +"Of course," said she, after a long pause, "that would have the +advantage of bringing you closer to your charmer." + +"That was only one of the inducements. There was another. Finding +myself forced to choose between the stage and the gallows, I had the +incredible weakness to prefer the former. It was utterly unworthy +of a man of my lofty ideals, but - what would you? Like other +ideologists, I find it easier to preach than to practise. Shall I +stop the carriage and remove the contamination of my disgusting +person? Or shall I tell you how it happened?" + +"Tell me how it happened first. Then we will decide." + +He told her how he met the Binet Troupe, and how the men of the +marechaussee forced upon him the discovery that in its bosom he could +lie safely lost until the hue and cry had died down. The explanation +dissolved her iciness. + +"My poor Andre, why didn't you tell me this at first?" + +"For one thing, you didn't give me time; for another, I feared to +shock you with the spectacle of my degradation." + +She took him seriously. "But where was the need of it? And why did +you not send us word as I required you of your whereabouts?" + +"I was thinking of it only yesterday. I have hesitated for several +reasons." + +"You thought it would offend us to know what you were doing?" + +"I think that I preferred to surprise you by the magnitude of my +ultimate achievements." + +"Oh, you are to become a great actor?" She was frankly scornful. + +"That is not impossible. But I am more concerned to become a great +author. There is no reason why you should sniff. The calling is an +honourable one. All the world is proud to know such men as +Beaumarchais and Chenier." + +"And you hope to equal them?" + +"I hope to surpass them, whilst acknowledging that it was they who +taught me how to walk. What did you think of the play last night?" + +"It was amusing and well conceived." + +"Let me present you to the author." + +"You? But the company is one of the improvisers." + +"Even improvisers require an author to write their scenarios. That +is all I write at present. Soon I shall be writing plays in the +modern manner." + +"You deceive yourself, my poor Andre. The piece last night would +have been nothing without the players. You are fortunate in your +Scaramouche." + +"In confidence - I present you to him." + +"You - Scaramouche? You?" She turned to regard him fully. He +smiled his close-lipped smile that made wrinkles like gashes in +his cheeks. He nodded. "And I didn't recognize you!" + +"I thank you for the tribute. You imagined, of course, that I was +a scene-shifter. And now that you know all about me, what of +Gavrillac? What of my godfather?" + +He was well, she told him, and still profoundly indignant with +Andre-Louis for his defection, whilst secretly concerned on his +behalf. + +"I shall write to him to-day that I have seen you." + +"Do so. Tell him that I am well and prospering. But say no more. +Do not tell him what I am doing. He has his prejudices too. +Besides, it might not be prudent. And now the question I have been +burning to ask ever since I entered your carriage. Why are you in +Nantes, Aline?" + +"I am on a visit to my aunt, Mme. de Sautron. It was with her that +I came to the play yesterday. We have been dull at the chateau; but +it will be different now. Madame my aunt is receiving several guests +to-day. M. de La Tour d'Azyr is to be one of them." + +Andre-Louis frowned and sighed. "Did you ever hear, Aline, how poor +Philippe de Vilmorin came by his end?" + +"Yes; I was told, first by my uncle; then by M. de La Tour d'Azyr, +himself." + +"Did not that help you to decide this marriage question?" + +"How could it? You forget that I am but a woman. You don't expect +me to judge between men in matters such as these?" + +"Why not? You are well able to do so. The more since you have +heard two sides. For my godfather would tell you the truth. If +you cannot judge, it is that you do not wish to judge." His tone +became harsh. "Wilfully you close your eyes to justice that might +check the course of your unhealthy, unnatural ambition." + +"Excellent!" she exclaimed, and considered him with amusement and +something else. "Do you know that you are almost droll? You rise +unblushing from the dregs of life in which I find you, and shake +off the arm of that theatre girl, to come and preach to me." + +"If these were the dregs of life I might still speak from them to +counsel you out of my respect and devotion Aline." He was very, +stiff and stern. "But they are not the dregs of life. Honour and +virtue are possible to a theatre girl; they are impossible to a +lady who sells herself to gratify ambition; who for position, riches, +and a great title barters herself in marriage." + +She looked at him breathlessly. Anger turned her pale. She reached +for the cord. + +"I think I had better let you alight so that you may go back to +practise virtue and honour with your theatre wench." + +"You shall not speak so of her, Aline." + +"Faith, now we are to have heat on her behalf. You think I am too +delicate? You think I should speak of her as a... " + +"If you must speak of her at all," he interrupted, hotly, "you'll +speak of her as my wife." + +Amazement smothered her anger. Her pallor deepened. "My God!" she +said, and looked at him in horror. And in horror she asked him +presently: "You are married - married to that - ?" + +"Not yet. But I shall be, soon. And let me tell you that this +girl whom you visit with your ignorant contempt is as good and pure +as you are, Aline. She has wit and talent which have placed her +where she is and shall carry her a deal farther. And she has the +womanliness to be guided by natural instincts in the selection of +her mate." + +She was trembling with passion. She tugged the cord. + +"You will descend this instant!" she told him fiercely. "That you +should dare to make a comparison between me and that... " + +"And my wife-to-be," he interrupted, before she could speak the +infamous word. He opened the door for himself without waiting for +the footman, and leapt down. "My compliments," said he, furiously, +"to the assassin you are to marry." He slammed the door. "Drive +on," he bade the coachman. + +The carriage rolled away up the Faubourg Gigan, leaving him standing +where he had alighted, quivering with rage. Gradually, as he walked +back to the inn, his anger cooled. Gradually, as he cooled, he +perceived her point of view, and in the end forgave her. It was not +her fault that she thought as she thought. Her rearing had been such +as to make her look upon every actress as a trull, just as it had +qualified her calmly to consider the monstrous marriage of convenience +into which she was invited. + +He got back to the inn to find the company at table. Silence fell +when he entered, so suddenly that of necessity it must be supposed he +was himself the subject of the conversation. Harlequin and Columbine +had spread the tale of this prince in disguise caught up into the +chariot of a princess and carried off by her; and it was a tale that +had lost nothing in the telling. + +Climene had been silent and thoughtful, pondering what Columbine had +called this romance of hers. Clearly her Scaramouche must be vastly +other than he had hitherto appeared, or else that great lady and he +would never have used such familiarity with each other. Imagining him +no better than he was, Climene had made him her own. And now she was +to receive the reward of disinterested affection. + +Even old Binet's secret hostility towards Andre-Louis melted before +this astounding revelation. He had pinched his daughter's ear quite +playfully. "Ah, ah, trust you to have penetrated his disguise, my +child!" + +She shrank resentfully from that implication. + +"But I did not. I took him for what he seemed." + +Her father winked at her very solemnly and laughed. "To be sure, +you did. But like your father, who was once a gentleman, and knows +the ways of gentlemen, you detected in him a subtle something +different from those with whom misfortune has compelled you hitherto +to herd. You knew as well as I did that he never caught that trick +of haughtiness, that grand air of command, in a lawyer's musty +office, and that his speech had hardly the ring or his thoughts the +complexion of the bourgeois that he pretended to be. And it was +shrewd of you to have made him yours. Do you know that I shall be +very proud of you yet, Climene?" + +She moved away without answering. Her father's oiliness offended +her. Scaramouche was clearly a great gentleman, an eccentric if you +please, but a man born. And she was to be his lady. Her father +must learn to treat her differently. + +She looked shyly - with a new shyness - at her lover when he came +into the room where they were dining. She observed for the first +time that proud carriage of the head, with the chin thrust forward, +that was a trick of his, and she noticed with what a grace he moved + - the grace of one who in youth has had his dancing-masters and +fencing-masters. + +It almost hurt her when he flung himself into a chair and exchanged +a quip with Harlequin in the usual manner as with an equal, and it +offended her still more that Harlequin, knowing what he now knew, +should use him with the same unbecoming familiarity. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE AWAKENING + + +"Do you know," said Climene, "that I am waiting for the explanation +which I think you owe me?" + +They were alone together, lingering still at the table to which +Andre-Louis had come belatedly, and Andre-Louis was loading himself +a pipe. Of late - since joining the Binet Troupe - he had acquired +the habit of smoking. The others had gone, some to take the air +and others, like Binet and Madame, because they felt that it were +discreet to leave those two to the explanations that must pass. It +was a feeling that Andre-Louis did not share. He kindled a light +and leisurely applied it to his pipe. A frown came to settle on +his brow. + +"Explanation?" he questioned presently, and looked at her. "But on +what score?" + +"On the score of the deception you have practised on us - on me." + +"I have practised none," he assured her. + +"You mean that you have simply kept your own counsel, and that in +silence there is no deception. But it is deceitful to withhold +facts concerning yourself and your true station from your future +wife. You should not have pretended to be a simple country lawyer, +which, of course, any one could see that you are not. It may have +been very romantic, but... Enfin, will you explain?" + +"I see," he said, and pulled at his pipe. "But you are wrong, +Climene. I have practised no deception. If there are things about +me that I have not told you, it is that I did not account them of +much importance. But I have never deceived you by pretending to be +other than I am. I am neither more nor less than I have +represented myself." + +This persistence began to annoy her, and the annoyance showed on her +winsome face, coloured her voice. + +"Ha! And that fine lady of the nobility with whom you are so +intimate, who carried you off in her cabriolet with so little +ceremony towards myself? What is she to you?" + +"A sort of sister," said he. + +"A sort of sister!" She was indignant. "Harlequin foretold that +you would say so; but he was amusing himself. It was not very +funny. It is less funny still from you. She has a name, I suppose, +this sort of sister?" + +"Certainly she has a name. She is Mlle. Aline de Kercadiou, the +niece of Quintin de Kercadiou, Lord of Gavrillac." + +"Oho! That's a sufficiently fine name for your sort of sister. +What sort of sister, my friend?" + +For the first time in their relationship he observed and deplored +the taint of vulgarity, of shrewishness, in her manner. + +"It would have been more accurate in me to have said a sort of +reputed left-handed cousin." + +"A reputed left-handed cousin! And what sort of relationship may +that be? Faith, you dazzle me with your lucidity." + +"It requires to be explained." + +"That is what I have been telling you. But you seem very reluctant +with your explanations." + +"Oh, no. It is only that they are so unimportant. But be you the +judge. Her uncle, M. de Kercadiou, is my godfather, and she and I +have been playmates from infancy as a consequence. It is popularly +believed in Gavrillac that M. de Kercadiou is my father. He has +certainly cared for my rearing from my tenderest years, and it is +entirely owing to him that I was educated at Louis le Grand. I owe +to him everything that I have - or, rather, everything that I had; +for of my own free will I have cut myself adrift, and to-day I +possess nothing save what I can earn for myself in the theatre or +elsewhere." + +She sat stunned and pale under that cruel blow to her swelling pride. +Had he told her this but yesterday, it would have made no impression +upon her, it would have mattered not at all; the event of to-day +coming as a sequel would but have enhanced him in her eyes. But +coming now, after her imagination had woven for him so magnificent a +background, after the rashly assumed discovery of his splendid +identity had made her the envied of all the company, after having +been in her own eyes and theirs enshrined by marriage with him as a +great lady, this disclosure crushed and humiliated her. Her prince +in disguise was merely the outcast bastard of a country gentleman! +She would be the laughing-stock of every member of her father's +troupe, of all those who had so lately envied her this romantic good +fortune. + +"You should have told me this before," she said, in a dull voice +that she strove to render steady. + +"Perhaps I should. But does it really matter?" + +"Matter?" She suppressed her fury to ask another question. "You +say that this M. de Kercadiou is popularly believed to be your +father. What precisely do you mean?" + +"Just that. It is a belief that I do not share. It is a matter of +instinct, perhaps, with me. Moreover, once I asked M. de Kercadiou +point-blank, and I received from him a denial. It is not, perhaps, +a denial to which one would attach too much importance in all the +circumstances. Yet I have never known M de Kercadiou for other than +a man of strictest honour, and I should hesitate to disbelieve him + - particularly when his statement leaps with my own instincts. He +assured me that he did not know who my father was." + +"And your mother, was she equally ignorant?" She was sneering, but +he did not remark it. Her back was to the light. + +"He would not disclose her name to me. He confessed her to be a +dear friend of his." + +She startled him by laughing, and her laugh was not pleasant. + +"A very dear friend, you may be sure, you simpleton. What name do +you bear?" + +He restrained his own rising indignation to answer her question +calmly: "Moreau. It was given me, so I am told, from the Brittany +village in which I was born. But I have no claim to it. In fact +I have no name, unless it be Scaramouche, to which I have earned a +title. So that you see, my dear," he ended with a smile, "I have +practised no deception whatever." + +"No, no. I see that now." She laughed without mirth, then drew a +deep breath and rose. "I am very tired," she said. + +He was on his feet in an instant, all solicitude. But she waved +him wearily back. + +"I think I will rest until it is time to go to the theatre." She +moved towards the door, dragging her feet a little. He sprang to +open it, and she passed out without looking at him. + +Her so brief romantic dream was ended. The glorious world of fancy +which in the last hour she had built with such elaborate detail, +over which it should be her exalted destiny to rule, lay shattered +about her feet, its debris so many stumbling-blocks that prevented +her from winning back to her erstwhile content in Scaramouche as he +really was. + +Andre-Louis sat in the window embrasure, smoking and looking idly +out across the river. He was intrigued and meditative. He had +shocked her. The fact was clear; not so the reason. That he should +confess himself nameless should not particularly injure him in the +eyes of a girl reared amid the surroundings that had been Climene's. +And yet that his confession had so injured him was fully apparent. + +There, still at his brooding, the returning Columbine discovered +him a half-hour later. + +"All alone, my prince!" was her laughing greeting, which suddenly +threw light upon his mental darkness. Climene had been disappointed +of hopes that the wild imagination of these players had suddenly +erected upon the incident of his meeting with Aline. Poor child! +He smiled whimsically at Columbine. + +"I am likely to be so for some little time," said he, "until it +becomes a commonplace that I am not, after all, a prince. + +"Not a prince? Oh, but a duke, then - at least a marquis." + +"Not even a chevalier, unless it be of the order of fortune. I +am just Scaramouche. My castles are all in Spain." + +Disappointment clouded the lively, good-natured face. + +"And I had imagined you... " + +"I know," he interrupted. "That is the mischief." He might have +gauged the extent of that mischief by Climene's conduct that evening +towards the gentlemen of fashion who clustered now in the green-room +between the acts to pay their homage to the incomparable amoureuse. +Hitherto she had received them with a circumspection compelling +respect. To-night she was recklessly gay, impudent, almost wanton. + +He spoke of it gently to her as they walked home together, +counselling more prudence in the future. + +"We are not married yet," she told him, tartly. "Wait until then +before you criticize my conduct." + +"I trust that there will be no occasion then," said he. + +"You trust? Ah, yes. You are very trusting." + +"Climene, I have offended you. I am sorry." + +"It is nothing," said she. "You are what you are." Still was he not +concerned. He perceived the source of her ill-humour; understood, +whilst deploring it; and, because he understood, forgave. He +perceived also that her ill-humour was shared by her father, and by +this he was frankly amused. Towards M. Binet a tolerant contempt +was the only feeling that complete acquaintance could beget. As for +the rest of the company, they were disposed to be very kindly towards +Scaramouche. It was almost as if in reality he had fallen from the +high estate to which their own imaginations had raised him; or +possibly it was because they saw the effect which that fall from his +temporary and fictitious elevation had produced upon Climene. + +Leandre alone made himself an exception. His habitual melancholy +seemed to be dispelled at last, and his eyes gleamed now with +malicious satisfaction when they rested upon Scaramouche, whom +occasionally he continued to address with sly mockery as "mon +prince." + +On the morrow Andre-Louis saw but little of Climene. This was not +in itself extraordinary, for he was very hard at work again, with +preparations now for "Figaro-Scaramouche" which was to be played +on Saturday. Also, in addition to his manifold theatrical +occupations, he now devoted an hour every morning to the study of +fencing in an academy of arms. This was done not only to repair +an omission in his education, but also, and chiefly, to give him +added grace and poise upon the stage. He found his mind that +morning distracted by thoughts of both Climene and Aline. And +oddly enough it was Aline who provided the deeper perturbation. +Climene's attitude he regarded as a passing phase which need not +seriously engage him. But the thought of Aline's conduct towards +him kept rankling, and still more deeply rankled the thought of +her possible betrothal to M. de La Tour d'Azyr. + +This it was that brought forcibly to his mind the self-imposed but +by now half-forgotten mission that he had made his own. He had +boasted that he would make the voice which M. de La Tour d'Azyr had +sought to silence ring through the length and breadth of the land. +And what had he done of all this that he had boasted? He had +incited the mob of Rennes and the mob of Nantes in such terms as +poor Philippe might have employed, and then because of a hue and +cry he had fled like a cur and taken shelter in the first kennel +that offered, there to lie quiet and devote himself to other +things - self-seeking things. What a fine contrast between the +promise and the fulfilment! + +Thus Andre-Louis to himself in his self-contempt. And whilst he +trifled away his time and played Scaramouche, and centred all his +hopes in presently becoming the rival of such men as Chenier and +Mercier, M. de La Tour d'Azyr went his proud ways unchallenged +and wrought his will. It was idle to tell himself that the seed +he had sown was bearing fruit. That the demands he had voiced in +Nantes for the Third Estate had been granted by M. Necker, thanks +largely to the commotion which his anonymous speech had made. That +was not his concern or his mission. It was no part of his concern +to set about the regeneration of mankind, or even the regeneration +of the social structure of France. His concern was to see that M. +de La Tour d'Azyr paid to the uttermost liard for the brutal wrong +he had done Philippe de Vilmorin. And it did not increase his +self-respect to find that the danger in which Aline stood of being +married to the Marquis was the real spur to his rancour and to +remembrance of his vow. He was - too unjustly, perhaps - disposed +to dismiss as mere sophistries his own arguments that there was +nothing he could do; that, in fact, he had but to show his head to +find himself going to Rennes under arrest and making his final exit +from the world's stage by way of the gallows. + +It is impossible to read that part of his "Confessions" without +feeling a certain pity for him. You realize what must have been +his state of mind. You realize what a prey he was to emotions so +conflicting, and if you have the imagination that will enable you +to put yourself in his place, you will also realize how impossible +was any decision save the one to which he says he came, that he +would move, at the first moment that he perceived in what direction +it would serve his real aims to move. + +It happened that the first person he saw when he took the stage on +that Thursday evening was Aline; the second was the Marquis de La +Tour d'Azyr. They occupied a box on the right of, and immediately +above, the stage. There were others with them - notably a thin, +elderly, resplendent lady whom Andre-Louis supposed to be Madame +la Comtesse de Sautron. But at the time he had no eyes for any but +those two, who of late had so haunted his thoughts. The sight of +either of them would have been sufficiently disconcerting. The +sight of both together very nearly made him forget the purpose for +which he had come upon the stage. Then he pulled himself together, +and played. He played, he says, with an unusual nerve, and never +in all that brief but eventful career of his was he more applauded. + +That was the evening's first shock. The next came after the second +act. Entering the green-room he found it more thronged than usual, +and at the far end with Climene, over whom he was bending from his +fine height, his eyes intent upon her face, what time his smiling +lips moved in talk, M. de La Tour d'Azyr. He had her entirely to +himself, a privilege none of the men of fashion who were in the +habit of visiting the coulisse had yet enjoyed. Those lesser +gentlemen had all withdrawn before the Marquis, as jackals withdraw +before the lion. + +Andre-Louis stared a moment, stricken. Then recovering from his +surprise he became critical in his study of the Marquis. He +considered the beauty and grace and splendour of him, his courtly +air, his complete and unshakable self-possession. But more than +all he considered the expression of the dark eyes that were devouring +Climene's lovely face, and his own lips tightened. + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr never heeded him or his stare; nor, had he done +so, would he have known who it was that looked at him from behind +the make-up of Scaramouche; nor, again, had he known, would he have +been in the least troubled or concerned. + +Andre-Louis sat down apart, his mind in turmoil. Presently he found +a mincing young gentleman addressing him, and made shift to answer +as was expected. Climene having been thus sequestered, and Columbine +being already thickly besieged by gallants, the lesser visitors had +to content themselves with Madame and the male members of the troupe. +M. Binet, indeed, was the centre of a gay cluster that shook with +laughter at his sallies. He seemed of a sudden to have emerged from +the gloom of the last two days into high good-humour, and Scaramouche +observed how persistently his eyes kept flickering upon his daughter +and her splendid courtier. + +That night there, were high words between Andre-Louis and Climene, +the high words proceeding from Climene. When Andre-Louis again, +and more insistently, enjoined prudence upon his betrothed, and +begged her to beware how far she encouraged the advances of such +a man as M. de La Tour d'Azyr, she became roundly abusive. She +shocked and stunned him by her virulently shrewish tone, and her +still more unexpected force of invective. + +He sought to reason with her, and finally she came to certain +terms with him. + +"If you have become betrothed to me simply to stand as an obstacle +in my path, the sooner we make an end the better." + +"You do not love me then, Climene?" + +"Love has nothing to do with it. I'll not tolerate your insensate +jealousy. A girl in the theatre must make it her business to accept +homage from all." + +"Agreed; and there is no harm, provided she gives nothing in +exchange." + +White-faced, with flaming eyes she turned on him at that. + +"Now, what exactly do you mean?" + +"My meaning is clear. A girl in your position may receive all the +homage that is offered, provided she receives it with a dignified +aloofness implying clearly that she has no favours to bestow in +return beyond the favour of her smile. If she is wise she will +see to it that the homage is always offered collectively by her +admirers, and that no single one amongst them shall ever have the +privilege of approaching her alone. If she is wise she will give +no encouragement, nourish no hopes that it may afterwards be beyond +her power to deny realization." + +"How? You dare?" + +"I know my world. And I know M. de La Tour d'Azyr," he answered her. +"He is a man without charity, without humanity almost; a man who +takes what he wants wherever he finds it and whether it is given +willingly or not; a man who reckons nothing of the misery he +scatters on his self-indulgent way; a man whose only law is force. +Ponder it, Climene, and ask yourself if I do you less than honour in +warning you." + +He went out on that, feeling a degradation in continuing the subject. + +The days that followed were unhappy days for him, and for at least +one other. That other was Leandre, who was cast into the profoundest +dejection by M. de La Tour d'Azyr's assiduous attendance upon Climene. +The Marquis was to be seen at every performance; a box was perpetually +reserved for him, and invariably he came either alone or else with his +cousin M. de Chabrillane. + +On Tuesday of the following week, Andre-Louis went out alone early +in the morning. He was out of temper, fretted by an overwhelming +sense of humiliation, and he hoped to clear his mind by walking. +In turning the corner of the Place du Bouffay he ran into a slightly +built, sallow-complexioned gentleman very neatly dressed in black, +wearing a tie-wig under a round hat. The man fell back at sight of +him, levelling a spy-glass, then hailed him in a voice that rang +with amazement. + +"Moreau! Where the devil have you been hiding your-self these months?" + +It was Le Chapelier, the lawyer, the leader of the Literary Chamber +of Rennes. + +"Behind the skirts of Thespis," said Scaramouche. + +"I don't understand." + +"I didn't intend that you should. What of yourself, Isaac? And +what of the world which seems to have been standing still of late?" + +"Standing still!" Le Chapelier laughed. "But where have you been, +then? Standing still!" He pointed across the square to a café +under the shadow of the gloomy prison. "Let us go and drink a +bavaroise. You are of all men the man we want, the man we have +been seeking everywhere, and - behold! - you drop from the skies +into my path." + +They crossed the square and entered the café. + +"So you think the world has been standing still! Dieu de Dieu! I +suppose you haven't heard of the royal order for the convocation of +the States General, or the terms of them - that we are to have what +we demanded, what you demanded for us here in Nantes! You haven't +heard that the order has gone forth for the primary elections - the +elections of the electors. You haven't heard of the fresh uproar +in Rennes, last month. The order was that the three estates should +sit together at the States General of the bailliages, but in the +bailliage of Rennes the nobles must ever be recalcitrant. They took +up arms actually - six hundred of them with their valetaille, headed +by your old friend M. de La Tour d'Azyr, and they were for slashing +us - the members of the Third Estate - into ribbons so as to put an +end to our insolence." He laughed delicately. "But, by God, we +showed them that we, too, could take up arms. It was what you +yourself advocated here in Nantes, last November. We fought them +a pitched battle in the streets, under the leadership of your +namesake Moreau, the provost, and we so peppered them that they were +glad to take shelter in the Cordelier Convent. That is the end of +their resistance to the royal authority and the people's will." + +He ran on at great speed detailing the events that had taken place, +and finally came to the matter which had, he announced, been causing +him to hunt for Andre-Louis until he had all but despaired of +finding him. + +Nantes was sending fifty delegates to the assembly of Rennes which +was to select the deputies to the Third Estate and edit their cahier +of grievances. Rennes itself was being as fully represented, whilst +such villages as Gavrillac were sending two delegates for every two +hundred hearths or less. Each of these three had clamoured that +Andre-Louis Moreau should be one of its delegates. Gavrillac wanted +him because he belonged to the village, and it was known there what +sacrifices he had made in the popular cause; Rennes wanted him +because it had heard his spirited address on the day of the shooting +of the students; and Nantes - to whom his identity was unknown - +asked for him as the speaker who had addressed them under the name +of Omnes Omnibus and who had framed for them the memorial that was +believed so largely to have influenced M. Necker in formulating the +terms of the convocation. + +Since he could not be found, the delegations had been made up +without him. But now it happened that one or two vacancies had +occurred in the Nantes representation; and it was the business of +filling these vacancies that had brought Le Chapelier to Nantes. + +Andre-Louis firmly shook his head in answer to Le Chapelier's +proposal. + +"You refuse?" the other cried. "Are you mad? Refuse, when you are +demanded from so many sides? Do you realize that it is more than +probable you will be elected one of the deputies, that you will be +sent to the States General at Versailles to represent us in this +work of saving France?" + +But Andre-Louis, we know, was not concerned to save France. At the +moment he was concerned to save two women, both of whom he loved, +though in vastly different ways, from a man he had vowed to ruin. +He stood firm in his refusal until Le Chapelier dejectedly abandoned +the attempt to persuade him. + +"It is odd," said Andre-Louis, "that I should have been so deeply +immersed in trifles as never to have perceived that Nantes is being +politically active." + +"Active! My friend, it is a seething cauldron of political emotions. +It is kept quiet on the surface only by the persuasion that all goes +well. At a hint to the contrary it would boil over." + +"Would it so?" said Scaramouche, thoughtfully. "The knowledge may +be useful." And then he changed the subject. "You know that La +Tour d'Azyr is here?" + +"In Nantes? He has courage if he shows himself. They are not a +docile people, these Nantais, and they know his record and the part +he played in the rising at Rennes. I marvel they haven't stoned +him. But they will, sooner or later. It only needs that some one +should suggest it." + +"That is very likely," said Andre-Louis, and smiled. "He doesn't +show himself much; not in the streets, at least. So that he has +not the courage you suppose; nor any kind of courage, as I told +him once. He has only insolence." + +At parting Le Chapelier again exhorted him to give thought to what +he proposed. "Send me word if you change your mind. I am lodged +at the Cerf, and I shall be here until the day after to-morrow. If +you have ambition, this is your moment." + +"I have no ambition, I suppose," said Andre-Louis, and went his way. + +That night at the theatre he had a mischievous impulse to test what +Le Chapelier had told him of the state of public feeling in the +city. They were playing "The Terrible Captain," in the last act of +which the empty cowardice of the bullying braggart Rhodomont is +revealed by Scaramouche. + +After the laughter which the exposure of the roaring captain +invariably produced, it remained for Scaramouche contemptuously to +dismiss him in a phrase that varied nightly, according to the +inspiration of the moment. This time he chose to give his phrase +a political complexion: + +"Thus, O thrasonical coward, is your emptiness exposed. Because +of your long length and the great sword you carry and the angle at +which you cock your hat, people have gone in fear of you, have +believed in you, have imagined you to be as terrible and as formidable +as you insolently make yourself appear. But at the first touch of +true spirit you crumple up, you tremble, you whine pitifully, and +the great sword remains in your scabbard. You remind me of the +Privileged Orders when confronted by the Third Estate." + +It was audacious of him, and he was prepared for anything - a laugh, +applause, indignation, or all together. But he was not prepared for +what came. And it came so suddenly and spontaneously from the +groundlings and the body of those in the amphitheatre that he was +almost scared by it - as a boy may be scared who has held a match +to a sun-scorched hayrick. It was a hurricane of furious applause. +Men leapt to their feet, sprang up on to the benches, waving their +hats in the air, deafening him with the terrific uproar of their +acclamations. And it rolled on and on, nor ceased until the curtain +fell. + +Scaramouche stood meditatively smiling with tight lips. At the +last moment he had caught a glimpse of M. de La Tour d'Azyr's face +thrust farther forward than usual from the shadows of his box, and +it was a face set in anger, with eyes on fire. + +"Mon Dieu!" laughed Rhodomont, recovering from the real scare that +had succeeded his histrionic terror, "but you have a great trick +of tickling them in the right place, Scaramouche." + +Scaramouche looked up at him and smiled. "It can be useful upon +occasion," said he, and went off to his dressing-room to change. + +But a reprimand awaited him. He was delayed at the theatre by +matters concerned with the scenery of the new piece they were to +mount upon the morrow. By the time he was rid of the business the +rest of the company had long since left. He called a chair and +had himself carried back to the inn in solitary state. It was one +of many minor luxuries his comparatively affluent present +circumstances permitted. + +Coming into that upstairs room that was common to all the troupe, +he found M. Binet talking loudly and vehemently. He had caught +sounds of his voice whilst yet upon the stairs. As he entered Binet +broke off short, and wheeled to face him. + +"You are here at last!" It was so odd a greeting that Andre-Louis +did no more than look his mild surprise. "I await your explanations +of the disgraceful scene you provoked to-night." + +"Disgraceful? Is it disgraceful that the public should applaud me?" + +"The public? The rabble, you mean. Do you want to deprive us of +the patronage of all gentlefolk by vulgar appeals to the low passions +of the mob?" + +Andre-Louis stepped past M. Binet and forward to the table. He +shrugged contemptuously. The man offended him, after all. + +"You exaggerate grossly - as usual." + +"I do not exaggerate. And I am the master in my own theatre. This +is the Binet Troupe, and it shall be conducted in the Binet way." + +"Who are the gentlefolk the loss of whose patronage to the Feydau +will be so poignantly felt?" asked Andre-Louis. + +"You imply that there are none? See how wrong you are. After the +play to-night M. le Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr came to me, and spoke +to me in the severest terms about your scandalous outburst. I was +forced to apologize, and... " + +"The more fool you," said Andre-Louis. "A man who respected himself +would have shown that gentleman the door." M. Binet's face began +to empurple. "You call yourself the head of the Binet Troupe, you +boast that you will be master in your own theatre, and you stand +like a lackey to take the orders of the first insolent fellow who +comes to your green-room to tell you that he does not like a line +spoken by one of your company! I say again that had you really +respected yourself you would have turned him out." + +There was a murmur of approval from several members of the company, +who, having heard the arrogant tone assumed by the Marquis, were +filled with resentment against the slur cast upon them all. + +"And I say further," Andre-Louis went on, "that a man who respects +himself, on quite other grounds, would have been only too glad to +have seized this pretext to show M. de La Tour d'Azyr the door." + +"What do you mean by that?" There was a rumble of thunder in the +question. + +Andre-Louis' eyes swept round the company assembled at the +supper-table. "Where is Climene?" he asked, sharply. + +Leandre leapt up to answer him, white in the face, tense and +quivering with excitement. + +"She left the theatre in the Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr's carriage +immediately after the performance. We heard him offer to drive +her to this inn." + +Andre-Louis glanced at the timepiece on the overmantel. He seemed +unnaturally calm. + +"That would be an hour ago - rather more. And she has not yet +arrived?" + +His eyes sought M. Binet's. M. Binet's eyes eluded his glance. +Again it was Leandre who answered him. + +"Not yet." + +"Ah!" Andre-Louis sat down, and poured himself wine. There was +an oppressive silence in the room. Leandre watched him expectantly, +Columbine commiseratingly. Even M. Binet appeared to be waiting +for a cue from Scaramouche. But Scaramouche disappointed him. +"Have you left me anything to eat?" he asked. + +Platters were pushed towards him. He helped himself calmly to food, +and ate in silence, apparently with a good appetite. M. Binet sat +down, poured himself wine, and drank. Presently he attempted to +make conversation with one and another. He was answered curtly, in +monosyllables. M. Binet did not appear to be in favour with his +troupe that night. + +At long length came a rumble of wheels below and a rattle of halting +hooves. Then voices, the high, trilling laugh of Climene floating +upwards. Andre-Louis went on eating unconcernedly. + +"What an actor!" said Harlequin under his breath to Polichinelle, +and Polichinelle nodded gloomily. + +She came in, a leading lady taking the stage, head high, chin thrust +forward, eyes dancing with laughter; she expressed triumph and +arrogance. Her cheeks were flushed, and there was some disorder in +the mass of nut-brown hair that crowned her head. In her left hand +she carried an enormous bouquet of white camellias. On its middle +finger a diamond of great price drew almost at once by its effulgence +the eyes of all. + +Her father sprang to meet her with an unusual display of paternal +tenderness. "At last, my child!" + +He conducted her to the table. She sank into a chair, a little +wearily, a little nervelessly, but the smile did not leave her face, +not even when she glanced across at Scaramouche. It was only +Leandre, observing her closely, with hungry, scowling stare, who +detected something as of fear in the hazel eyes momentarily seen +between the fluttering of her lids. + +Andre-Louis, however, still went on eating stolidly, without so +much as a look in her direction. Gradually the company came to +realize that just as surely as a scene was brooding, just so +surely would there be no scene as long as they remained. It was +Polichinelle, at last, who gave the signal by rising and withdrawing, +and within two minutes none remained in the room but M. Binet, his +daughter, and Andre-Louis. And then, at last, Andre-Louis set down +knife and fork, washed his throat with a draught of Burgundy, and +sat back in his chair to consider Climene. + +"I trust," said he, "that you had a pleasant ride, mademoiselle." + +"Most pleasant, monsieur." Impudently she strove to emulate his +coolness, but did not completely succeed. + +"And not unprofitable, if I may judge that jewel at this distance. +It should be worth at least a couple of hundred louis, and that +is a formidable sum even to so wealthy a nobleman as M. de La Tour +d'Azyr. Would it be impertinent in one who has had some notion +of becoming your husband, to ask you, mademoiselle, what you have +given him in return?" + +M. Binet uttered a gross laugh, a queer mixture of cynicism and +contempt. + +"I have given nothing," said Climene, indignantly. + +"Ah! Then the jewel is in the nature of a payment in advance." + +"My God, man, you're not decent!" M. Binet protested. + +"Decent?" Andre-Louis' smouldering eyes turned to discharge upon +M. Binet such a fulmination of contempt that the old scoundrel +shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Did you mention decency, +Binet? Almost you make me lose my temper, which is a thing that +I detest above all others!" Slowly his glance returned to Climene, +who sat with elbows on the table, her chin cupped in her palms, +regarding him with something between scorn and defiance. +"Mademoiselle," he said, slowly, "I desire you purely in your own +interests to consider whither you are going." + +"I am well able to consider it for myself, and to decide without +advice from you, monsieur." + +"And now you've got your answer," chuckled Binet. "I hope you +like it." + +Andre-Louis had paled a little; there was incredulity in his great +sombre eyes as they continued steadily to regard her. Of M. Binet +he took no notice. + +"Surely, mademoiselle, you cannot mean that willingly, with open +eyes and a full understanding of what you do, you would exchange +an honourable wifehood for... for the thing that such men as M. de +La Tour d'Azyr may have in store for you?" + +M. Binet made a wide gesture, and swung to his daughter. "You hear +him, the mealy-mouthed prude! Perhaps you'll believe at last that +marriage with him would be the ruin of you. He would always be +there the inconvenient husband - to mar your every chance, my girl." + +She tossed her lovely head in agreement with her father "I begin to +find him tiresome with his silly jealousies," she confessed. "As a +husband I am afraid he would be impossible." + +Andre-Louis felt a constriction of the heart. But - always the +actor - he showed nothing of it. He laughed a little, not very +pleasantly, and rose. + +"I bow to your choice, mademoiselle. I pray that you may not +regret it." + +"Regret it?" cried M. Binet. He was laughing, relieved to see his +daughter at last rid of this suitor of whom he had never approved, +if we except those few hours when he really believed him to be an +eccentric of distinction. "And what shall she regret? That she +accepted the protection of a nobleman so powerful and wealthy that +as a mere trinket he gives her a jewel worth as much as an actress +earns in a year at the Comedie Francaise?" He got up, and advanced +towards Andre-Louis. His mood became conciliatory. "Come, come, +my friend, no rancour now. What the devil! You wouldn't stand in +the girl's way? You can't really blame her for making this choice? +Have you thought what it means to her? Have you thought that under +the protection of such a gentleman there are no heights which she +may not reach? Don't you see the wonderful luck of it? Surely, if +you're fond of her, particularly being of a jealous temperament, +you wouldn't wish it otherwise?" + +Andre-Louis looked at him in silence for a long moment. Then he +laughed again. "Oh, you are fantastic," he said. "You are not real." +He turned on his heel and strode to the door. + +The action, and more the contempt of his look, laugh, and words stung +M. Binet to passion, drove out the conciliatoriness of his mood. + +"Fantastic, are we?" he cried, turning to follow the departing +Scaramouche with his little eyes that now were inexpressibly evil. +"Fantastic that we should prefer the powerful protection of this +great nobleman to marriage with beggarly, nameless bastard. Oh, we +are fantastic!" + +Andre-Louis turned, his hand upon the door-handle. "No," he said, +"I was mistaken. You are not fantastic. You are just vile - both +of you." And he went out. + + + +CHAPTER X + +CONTRITION + + +Mlle. de Kercadiou walked with her aunt in the bright morning +sunshine of a Sunday in March on the broad terrace of the Chateau +de Sautron. + +For one of her natural sweetness of disposition she had been oddly +irritable of late, manifesting signs of a cynical worldliness, which +convinced Mme. de Sautron more than ever that her brother Quintin +had scandalously conducted the child's education. She appeared to +be instructed in all the things of which a girl is better ignorant, +and ignorant of all the things that a girl should know. That at +least was the point of view of Mme. de Sautron. + +"Tell me, madame," quoth Aline, "are all men beasts?" Unlike her +brother, Madame la Comtesse was tall and majestically built. In +the days before her marriage with M. de Sautron, ill-natured folk +described her as the only man in the family. She looked down now +from her noble height upon her little niece with startled eyes. + +"Really, Aline, you have a trick of asking the most disconcerting +and improper questions." + +"Perhaps it is because I find life disconcerting and improper." + +"Life? A young girl should not discuss life." + +"Why not, since I am alive? You do not suggest that it is an +impropriety to be alive?" + +"It is an impropriety for a young unmarried girl to seek to know +too much about life. As for your absurd question about men, when +I remind you that man is the noblest work of God, perhaps you will +consider yourself answered." + +Mme. de Sautron did not invite a pursuance of the subject. But Mlle. +de Kercadiou's outrageous rearing had made her headstrong. + +"That being so," said she, "will you tell me why they find such an +overwhelming attraction in the immodest of our sex?" + +Madame stood still and raised shocked hands. Then she looked down +her handsome, high-bridged nose. + +"Sometimes - often, in fact, my dear Aline - you pass all +understanding. I shall write to Quintin that the sooner you are +married the better it will be for all." + +"Uncle Quintin has left that matter to my own deciding," Aline +reminded her. + +"That," said madame with complete conviction, "is the last and most +outrageous of his errors. Who ever heard of a girl being left to +decide the matter of her own marriage? It is... indelicate almost +to expose her to thoughts of such things." Mme. de Sautron +shuddered. "Quintin is a boor. His conduct is unheard of. That +M. de La Tour d'Azyr should parade himself before you so that you +may make up your mind whether he is the proper man for you!" Again +she shuddered. "It is of a grossness, of... of a prurience almost... +Mon Dieu! When I married your uncle, all this was arranged between +our parents. I first saw him when he came to sign the contract. +I should have died of shame had it been otherwise. And that is how +these affairs should be conducted." + +"You are no doubt right, madame. But since that is not how my own +case is being conducted, you will forgive me if I deal with it apart +from others. M. de La Tour d'Azyr desires to marry me. He has been +permitted to pay his court. I should be glad to have him informed +that he may cease to do so." + +Mme. de Sautron stood still, petrified by amazement. Her long face +turned white; she seemed to breathe with difficulty. + +"But... but... what are you saying?" she gasped. + +Quietly Aline repeated her statement. + +"But this is outrageous! You cannot be permitted to play +fast-and-loose with a gentleman of M. le Marquis' quality! Why, it +is little more than a week since you permitted him to be informed +that you would become his wife!" + +"I did so in a moment of... rashness. Since then M. le Marquis' +own conduct has convinced me of my error." + +"But - mon Dieu!" cried the Countess. "Are you blind to the great +honour that is being paid you? M. le Marquis will make you the +first lady in Brittany. Yet, little fool that you are, and greater +fool that Quintin is, you trifle with this extraordinary good +fortune! Let me warn you." She raised an admonitory forefinger. +"If you continue in this stupid humour M. de La Tour d'Azyr may +definitely withdraw his offer and depart in justified mortification." + +"That, madame, as I am endeavouring to convey to you, is what I +most desire." + +"Oh, you are mad." + +"It may be, madame, that I am sane in preferring to be guided by my +instincts. It may be even that I am justified in resenting that +the man who aspires to become my husband should at the same time +be paying such assiduous homage to a wretched theatre girl at the +Feydau." + +"Aline!" + +"Is it not true? Or perhaps you do not find it strange that M. de +La Tour d'Azyr should so conduct himself at such a time?" + +"Aline, you are so extraordinary a mixture. At moments you shock +me by the indecency of your expressions; at others you amaze me by +the excess of your prudery. You have been brought up like a little +bourgeoise, I think. Yes, that is it - a little bourgeoise. +Quintin was always something of a shopkeeper at heart." + +"I was asking your opinion on the conduct of M. de La Tour d'Azyr, +madame. Not on my own." + +"But it is an indelicacy in you to observe such things. You should +be ignorant of them, and I can't think who is so... so unfeeling as +to inform you. But since you are informed, at least you should be +modestly blind to things that take place outside the... orbit of a +properly conducted demoiselle." + +"Will they still be outside my orbit when I am married?" + +"If you are wise. You should remain without knowledge of them. +It... it deflowers your innocence. I would not for the world that +M. de La Tour d'Azyr should know you so extraordinarily instructed. +Had you been properly reared in a convent this would never have +happened to you." + +"But you do not answer me, madame!" cried Aline in despair. "It is +not my chastity that is in question; but that of M. de La Tour d'Azyr." + +"Chastity!" Madame's lips trembled with horror. Horror overspread +her face. "Wherever did you learn that dreadful, that so improper +word?" + +And then Mme. de Sautron did violence to her feelings. She realized +that here great calm and prudence were required. "My child, since +you know so much that you ought not to know, there can be no harm in +my adding that a gentleman must have these little distractions." + +"But why, madame? Why is it so?" + +"Ah, mon Dieu, you are asking me riddles of nature. It is so +because it is so. Because men are like that." + +"Because men are beasts, you mean - which is what I began by asking +you." + +"You are incorrigibly stupid, Aline." + +"You mean that I do not see things as you do, madame. I am not +over-expectant as you appear to think; yet surely I have the right +to expect that whilst M. de La Tour d'Azyr is wooing me, he shall +not be wooing at the same time a drab of the theatre. I feel that +in this there is a subtle association of myself with that +unspeakable creature which soils and insults me. The Marquis is a +dullard whose wooing takes the form at best of stilted compliments, +stupid and unoriginal. They gain nothing when they fall from lips +still warm from the contamination of that woman's kisses." + +So utterly scandalized was madame that for a moment she remained +speechless. Then - + +"Mon Dieu!" she exclaimed. "I should never have suspected you of +so indelicate an imagination." + +"I cannot help it, madame. Each time his lips touch my fingers I +find myself thinking of the last object that they touched. I at +once retire to wash my hands. Next time, madame, unless you are +good enough to convey my message to him, I shall call for water and +wash them in his presence." + +"But what am I to tell him? How... in what words can I convey such +a message?" Madame was aghast. + +"Be frank with him, madame. It is easiest in the end. Tell him +that however impure may have been his life in the past, however +impure he intend that it shall be in the future, he must at least +study purity whilst approaching with a view to marriage a virgin +who is herself pure and without stain." + +Madame recoiled, and put her hands to her ears, horror stamped on +her handsome face. Her massive bosom heaved. + +"Oh, how can you?" she panted. "How can you make use of such +terrible expressions? Wherever have you learnt them?" + +"In church," said Aline. + +"Ah, but in church many things are said that... that one would not +dream of saying in the world. My dear child, how could I possibly +say such a thing to M. le Marquis? How could I possibly?" + +"Shall I say it?" + +"Aline!" + +"Well, there it is," said Aline. "Something must be done to +shelter me from insult. I am utterly disgusted with M. le Marquis + - a disgusting man. And however fine a thing it may be to become +Marquise de La Tour d'Azyr, why, frankly, I'd sooner marry a +cobbler who practised decency." + +Such was her vehemence and obvious determination that Mme. de Sautron +fetched herself out of her despair to attempt persuasion. Aline was +her niece, and such a marriage in the family would be to the credit +of the whole of it. At all costs nothing must frustrate it. + +"Listen, my dear," she said. "Let us reason. M. le Marquis is away +and will not be back until to-morrow." + +"True. And I know where he has gone - or at least whom he has gone +with. Mon Dieu, and the drab has a father and a lout of a fellow +who intends to make her his wife, and neither of them chooses to do +anything. I suppose they agree with you, madame, that a great +gentleman must have his little distractions." Her contempt was as +scorching as a thing of fire. "However, madame, you were about to +say?" + +"That on the day after to-morrow you are returning to Gavrillac. +M. de La Tour d'Azyr will most likely follow at his leisure." + +"You mean when this dirty candle is burnt out?" + +"Call it what you will." Madame, you see, despaired by now of +controlling the impropriety of her niece's expressions. "At +Gavrillac there will be no Mlle. Binet. This thing will be in the +past. It is unfortunate that he should have met her at such a +moment. The chit is very attractive, after all. You cannot deny +that. And you must make allowances." + +"M. le Marquis formally proposed to me a week ago. Partly to +satisfy the wishes of the family, and partly... " She broke off, +hesitating a moment, to resume on a note of dull pain, "Partly +because it does not seem greatly to matter whom I marry, I gave +him my consent. That consent, for the reasons I have given you, +madame, I desire now definitely to withdraw." + +Madame fell into agitation of the wildest. "Aline, I should never +forgive you! Your uncle Quintin would be in despair. You do not +know what you are saying, what a wonderful thing you are refusing. +Have you no sense of your position, of the station into which you +were born?" + +"If I had not, madame, I should have made an end long since. If I +have tolerated this suit for a single moment, it is because I +realize the importance of a suitable marriage in the worldly sense. +But I ask of marriage something more; and Uncle Quintin has placed +the decision in my hands." + +"God forgive him!" said madame. And then she hurried on: "Leave +this to me now, Aline. Be guided by me - oh, be guided by me!" +Her tone was beseeching. "I will take counsel with your uncle +Charles. But do not definitely decide until this unfortunate affair +has blown over. Charles will know how to arrange it. M. le Marquis +shall do penance, child, since your tyranny demands it; but not in +sackcloth and ashes. You'll not ask so much?" + +Aline shrugged. "I ask nothing at all," she said, which was neither +assent nor dissent. + +So Mme. de Sautron interviewed her husband, a slight, middle-aged +man, very aristocratic in appearance and gifted with a certain +shrewd sense. She took with him precisely the tone that Aline +had taken with herself and which in Aline she had found so +disconcertingly indelicate. She even borrowed several of Aline's +phrases. + +The result was that on the Monday afternoon when at last M. de La +Tour d'Azyr's returning berline drove up to the chateau, he was met +by M. le Comte de Sautron who desired a word with him even before +he changed. + +"Gervais, you're a fool," was the excellent opening made by M. le +Comte. + +"Charles, you give me no news," answered M. le Marquis. "Of what +particular folly do you take the trouble to complain?" + +He flung himself wearily upon a sofa, and his long graceful body +sprawling there he looked up at his friend with a tired smile on +that nobly handsome pale face that seemed to defy the onslaught of +age. + +"Of your last. This Binet girl." + +"That! Pooh! An incident; hardly a folly." + +"A folly - at such a time," Sautron insisted. The Marquis looked +a question. The Count answered it. "Aline," said he, pregnantly. +"She knows. How she knows I can't tell you, but she knows, and she +is deeply offended." + +The smile perished on the Marquis' face. He gathered himself up. + +"Offended?" said he, and his voice was anxious. + +"But yes. You know what she is. You know the ideals she has +formed. It wounds her that at such a time - whilst you are here +for the purpose of wooing her - you should at the same time be +pursuing this affair with that chit of a Binet girl." + +"How do you know?" asked La Tour d'Azyr. + +"She has confided in her aunt. And the poor child seems to have +some reason. She says she will not tolerate that you should come +to kiss her hand with lips that are still contaminated from... Oh, +you understand. You appreciate the impression of such a thing +upon a pure, sensitive girl such as Aline. She said - I had better +tell you - that the next time you kiss her hand, she will call for +water and wash it in your presence." + +The Marquis' face flamed scarlet. He rose. Knowing his violent, +intolerant spirit, M. de Sautron was prepared for an outburst. But +no outburst came. The Marquis turned away from him, and paced +slowly to the window, his head bowed, his hands behind his back. +Halted there he spoke, without turning, his voice was at once +scornful and wistful. + +"You are right, Charles, I am a fool - a wicked fool! I have just +enough sense left to perceive it. It is the way I have lived, I +suppose. I have never known the need to deny myself anything I +wanted." Then suddenly he swung round, and the outburst came. +"But, my God, I want Aline as I have never wanted anything yet! I +think I should kill myself in rage if through my folly I should +have lost her." He struck his brow with his hand. "I am a beast!" +he said. "I should have known that if that sweet saint got word of +these petty devilries of mine she would despise me; and I tell you, +Charles, I'd go through fire to regain her respect." + +"I hope it is to be regained on easier terms," said Charles; and +then to ease the situation which began to irk him by its solemnity, +he made a feeble joke. "It is merely asked of you that you refrain +from going through certain fires that are not accounted by +mademoiselle of too purifying a nature." + +"As to that Binet girl, it is finished - finished," said the Marquis. + +"I congratulate you. When did you make that decision?" + +"This moment. I would to God I had made it twenty-four hours ago. +As it is-" he shrugged - "why, twenty-four hours of her have been +enough for me as they would have been for any man - a mercenary, +self-seeking little baggage with the soul of a trull. Bah!" He +shuddered in disgust of himself and her. + +"Ah! That makes it easier for you," said M. de Sautron, cynically. + +"Don't say it, Charles. It is not so. Had you been less of a fool, +you would have warned me sooner." + +"I may prove to have warned you soon enough if you'll profit by +the warning." + +"There is no penance I will not do. I will prostrate myself at her +feet. I will abase myself before her. I will make confession in +the proper spirit of contrition, and Heaven helping me, I'll keep +to my purpose of amendment for her sweet sake." He was tragically +in earnest. + +To M. de Sautron, who had never seen him other than self-contained, +supercilious, and mocking, this was an amazing revelation. He +shrank from it almost; it gave him the feeling of prying, of peeping +through a keyhole. He slapped his friend's shoulder. + +"My dear Gervais, here is a magnificently romantic mood. Enough +said. Keep to it, and I promise you that all will presently be well. +I will be your ambassador, and you shall have no cause to complain." + +"But may I not go to her myself?" + +"If you are wise you will at once efface yourself. Write to her if +you will - make your act of contrition by letter. I will explain +why you have gone without seeing her. I will tell her that you did +so upon my advice, and I will do it tactfully. I am a good diplomat, +Gervais. Trust me." + +M. le Marquis raised his head, and showed a face that pain was +searing. He held out his hand. "Very well, Charles. Serve me in +this, and count me your friend in all things." + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE FRACAS AT THE THEATRE FEYDAU + + +Leaving his host to act as his plenipotentiary with Mademoiselle de +Kercadiou, and to explain to her that it was his profound contrition +that compelled him to depart without taking formal leave of her, the +Marquis rolled away from Sautron in a cloud of gloom. Twenty-four +hours with La Binet had been more than enough for a man of his +fastidious and discerning taste. He looked back upon the episode +with nausea - the inevitable psychological reaction - marvelling +at himself that until yesterday he should have found her so +desirable, and cursing himself that for the sake of that ephemeral +and worthless gratification he should seriously have imperilled his +chances of winning Mademoiselle de Kercadiou to wife. There is, +after all, nothing very extraordinary in his frame of mind, so that +I need not elaborate it further. It resulted from the conflict +between the beast and the angel that go to make up the composition +of every man. + +The Chevalier de Chabrillane - who in reality occupied towards the +Marquis a position akin to that of gentleman-in-waiting - sat +opposite to him in the enormous travelling berline. A small folding +table had been erected between them, and the Chevalier suggested +piquet. But M. le Marquis was in no humour for cards. His thoughts +absorbed him. As they were rattling over the cobbles of Nantes' +streets, he remembered a promise to La Binet to witness her +performance that night in "The Faithless Lover." And now he was +running away from her. The thought was repugnant to him on two +scores. He was breaking his pledged word, and he was acting like a +coward. And there was more than that. He had led the mercenary +little strumpet - it was thus he thought of her at present, and +with some justice - to expect favours from him in addition to the +lavish awards which already he had made her. The baggage had almost +sought to drive a bargain with him as to her future. He was to take +her to Paris, put her into her own furniture - as the expression +ran, and still runs - and under the shadow of his powerful +protection see that the doors of the great theatres of the capital +should be opened to her talents. He had not - he was thankful to +reflect - exactly committed himself. But neither had he definitely +refused her. It became necessary now to come to an understanding, +since he was compelled to choose between his trivial passion for +her - a passion quenched already - and his deep, almost spiritual +devotion to Mademoiselle de Kercadiou. + +His honour, he considered, demanded of him that he should at once +deliver himself from a false position. La Binet would make a scene, +of course; but he knew the proper specific to apply to hysteria of +that nature. Money, after all, has its uses. + +He pulled the cord. The carriage rolled to a standstill; a footman +appeared at the door. + +"To the Theatre Feydau," said he. + +The footman vanished and the berline rolled on. M. de Chabrillane +laughed cynically. + +"I'll trouble you not to be amused," snapped the Marquis. "You +don't understand." Thereafter he explained himself. It was a rare +condescension in him. But, then, he could not bear to be +misunderstood in such a matter. Chabrillane grew serious in +reflection of the Marquis' extreme seriousness. + +"Why not write?" he suggested. "Myself, I confess that I should +find it easier." + +Nothing could better have revealed M. le Marquis' state of mind +than his answer. + +"Letters are liable both to miscarriage and to misconstruction. +Two risks I will not run. If she did not answer, I should never +know which had been incurred. And I shall have no peace of mind +until I know that I have set a term to this affair. The berline +can wait while we are at the theatre. We will go on afterwards. +We will travel all night if necessary." + +"Peste!" said M. de Chabrillane with a grimace. But that was all. + +The great travelling carriage drew up at the lighted portals of the +Feydau, and M. le Marquis stepped out. He entered the theatre with +Chabrillane, all unconsciously to deliver himself into the hands of +Andre-Louis. + +Andre-Louis was in a state of exasperation produced by Climene's +long absence from Nantes in the company of M. le Marquis, and fed +by the unspeakable complacency with which M. Binet regarded that +event of quite unmistakable import. + +However much he might affect the frame of mind of the stoics, and +seek to judge with a complete detachment, in the heart and soul of +him Andre-Louis was tormented and revolted. It was not Climene he +blamed. He had been mistaken in her. She was just a poor weak +vessel driven helplessly by the first breath, however foul, that +promised her advancement. She suffered from the plague of greed; +and he congratulated himself upon having discovered it before +making her his wife. He felt for her now nothing but a deal of +pity and some contempt. The pity was begotten of the love she had +lately inspired in him. It might be likened to the dregs of love, +all that remained after the potent wine of it had been drained off. +His anger he reserved for her father and her seducer. + +The thoughts that were stirring in him on that Monday morning, when +it was discovered that Climene had not yet returned from her +excursion of the previous day in the coach of M. le Marquis, were +already wicked enough without the spurring they received from the +distraught Leandre. + +Hitherto the attitude of each of these men towards the other had +been one of mutual contempt. The phenomenon has frequently been +observed in like cases. Now, what appeared to be a common +misfortune brought them into a sort of alliance. So, at least, it +seemed to Leandre when he went in quest of Andre-Louis, who with +apparent unconcern was smoking a pipe upon the quay immediately +facing the inn. + +"Name of a pig!" said Leandre. "How can you take your ease and +smoke at such a time?" + +Scaramouche surveyed the sky. "I do not find it too cold," said +he. "The sun is shining. I am very well here." + +"Do I talk of the weather?" Leandre was very excited. + +"Of what, then?" + +"Of Climene, of course." + +"Oh! The lady has ceased to interest me," he lied. + +Leandre stood squarely in front of him, a handsome figure handsomely +dressed in these days, his hair well powdered, his stockings of silk. +His face was pale, his large eyes looked larger than usual. + +"Ceased to interest you? Are you not to marry her?" + +Andre-Louis expelled a cloud of smoke. "You cannot wish to be +offensive. Yet you almost suggest that I live on other men's leavings." + +"My God!" said Leandre, overcome, and he stared awhile. Then he +burst out afresh. "Are you quite heartless? Are you always +Scaramouche?" + +"What do you expect me to do?" asked Andre-Louis, evincing surprise +in his own turn, but faintly. + +"I do not expect you to let her go without a struggle." + +"But she has gone already." Andre-Louis pulled at his pipe a +moment, what time Leandre clenched and unclenched his hands in +impotent rage. "And to what purpose struggle against the +inevitable? Did you struggle when I took her from you?" + +"She was not mine to be taken from me. I but aspired, and you won +the race. But even had it been otherwise where is the comparison? +That was a thing in honour; this - this is hell." + +His emotion moved Andre-Louis. He took Leandre's arm. "You're a +good fellow, Leandre. I am glad I intervened to save you from +your fate." + +"Oh, you don't love her!" cried the other, passionately. "You never +did. You don't know what it means to love, or you'd not talk like +this. My God! if she had been my affianced wife and this had +happened, I should have killed the man - killed him! Do you hear +me? But you... Oh, you, you come out here and smoke, and take the +air, and talk of her as another man's leavings. I wonder I didn't +strike you for the word." + +He tore his arm from the other's grip, and looked almost as if he +would strike him now. + +"You should have done it," said Andre-Louis. "It's in your part." + +With an imprecation Leandre turned on his heel to go. Andre-Louis +arrested his departure. + +"A moment, my friend. Test me by yourself. Would you marry her +now?" + +"Would I?" The young man's eyes blazed with passion. "Would I? +Let her say that she will marry me, and I am her slave." + +"Slave is the right word - a slave in hell." + +"It would never be hell to me where she was, whatever she had done. +I love her, man, I am not like you. I love her, do you hear me?" + +"I have known, it for some time," said Andre-Louis. "Though I +didn't suspect your attack of the disease to be quite so violent. +Well, God knows I loved her, too, quite enough to share your thirst +for killing. For myself, the blue blood of La Tour d'Azyr would +hardly quench this thirst. I should like to add to it the dirty +fluid that flows in the veins of the unspeakable Binet." + +For a second his emotion had been out of hand, and he revealed to +Leandre in the mordant tone of those last words something of the +fires that burned under his icy exterior. The young man caught +him by the hand. + +"I knew you were acting," said he. "You feel - you feel as I do." + +"Behold us, fellows in viciousness. I have betrayed myself, it +seems. Well, and what now? Do you want to see this pretty Marquis +torn limb from limb? I might afford you the spectacle." + +"What?" Leandre stared, wondering was this another of Scaramouche's +cynicisms. + +"It isn't really difficult provided I have aid. I require only a +little. Will you lend it me?" + +"Anything you ask," Leandre exploded. "My life if you require it." + +Andre-Louis took his arm again. "Let us walk," he said. "I will +instruct you." + +When they came back the company was already at dinner. Mademoiselle +had not yet returned. Sullenness presided at the table. Columbine +and Madame wore anxious expressions. The fact was that relations +between Binet and his troupe were daily growing more strained. + +Andre-Louis and Leandre went each to his accustomed place. Binet's +little eyes followed them with a malicious gleam, his thick lips +pouted into a crooked smile. + +"You two are grown very friendly of a sudden," he mocked. + +"You are a man of discernment, Binet," said Scaramouche, the cold +loathing of his voice itself an insult. "Perhaps you discern the +reason?" + +"It is readily discerned." + +"Regale the company with it!" he begged; and waited. "What? You +hesitate? Is it possible that there are limits to your +shamelessness?" + +Binet reared his great head. "Do you want to quarrel with me, +Scaramouche?" Thunder was rumbling in his deep, voice. + +"Quarrel? You want to laugh. A man doesn't quarrel with creatures +like you. We all know the place held in the public esteem by +complacent husbands. But, in God's name, what place is there at +all for complacent fathers?" + +Binet heaved himself up, a great towering mass of manhood. Violently +he shook off the restraining hand of Pierrot who sat on his left. + +"A thousand devils!" he roared; "if you take that tone with me, I'll +break every bone in your filthy body." + +"If you were to lay a finger on me, Binet, you would give me the +only provocation I still need to kill you." Andre-Louis was as +calm as ever, and therefore the more menacing. Alarm stirred the +company. He protruded from his pocket the butt of a pistol - newly +purchased. "I go armed, Binet. It is only fair to give you warning. +Provoke me as you have suggested, and I'll kill you with no more +compunction than I should kill a slug, which after all is the thing +you most resemble - a slug, Binet; a fat, slimy body; foulness +without soul and without intelligence. When I come to think of it +I can't suffer to sit at table with you. It turns my stomach." + +He pushed away his platter and got up. "I'll go and eat at the +ordinary below stairs." + +Thereupon up jumped Columbine. + +"And I'll come with you, Scaramouche!" cried she. + +It acted like a signal. Had the thing been concerted it couldn't +have fallen out more uniformly. Binet, in fact, was persuaded of +a conspiracy. For in the wake of Columbine went Leandre, in the +wake of Leandre, Polichinelle and then all the rest together, until +Binet found himself sitting alone at the head of an empty table in +an empty room - a badly shaken man whose rage could afford him no +support against the dread by which he was suddenly invaded. + +He sat down to think things out, and he was still at that melancholy +occupation when perhaps a half-hour later his daughter entered the +room, returned at last from her excursion. + +She looked pale, even a little scared - in reality excessively +self-conscious now that the ordeal of facing all the company awaited +her. + +Seeing no one but her father in the room, she checked on the +threshold. + +"Where is everybody?" she asked, in a voice rendered natural by +effort. + +M. Binet reared his great head and turned upon her eyes that were +blood-injected. He scowled, blew out his thick lips and made harsh +noises in his throat. Yet he took stock of her, so graceful and +comely and looking so completely the lady of fashion in her long +fur-trimmed travelling coat of bottle green, her muff and her broad +hat adorned by a sparkling Rhinestone buckle above her adorably +coiffed brown hair. No need to fear the future whilst he owned +such a daughter, let Scaramouche play what tricks he would. + +He expressed, however, none of these comforting reflections. + +"So you're back at last, little fool," he growled in greeting. "I +was beginning to ask myself if we should perform this evening. It +wouldn't greatly have surprised me if you had not returned in time. +Indeed, since you have chosen to play the fine hand you held in +your own way and scorning my advice, nothing can surprise me." + +She crossed the room to the table, and leaning against it, looked +down upon him almost disdainfully. + +"I have nothing to regret," she said. + +"So every fool says at first. Nor would you admit it if you had. +You are like that. You go your own way in spite of advice from +older heads. Death of my life, girl, what do you know of men?" + +"I am not complaining," she reminded him. + +"No, but you may be presently, when you discover that you would have +done better to have been guided by your old father. So long as your +Marquis languished for you, there was nothing you could not have +done with the fool. So long as you let him have no more than your +fingertips to kiss... ah, name of a name! that was the time to +build your future. If you live to be a thousand you'll never have +such a chance again, and you've squandered it, for what?" + +Mademoiselle sat down.- "You're sordid," she said, with disgust. + +"Sordid, am I?" His thick lips curled again. "I have had enough of +the dregs of life, and so I should have thought have you. You held +a hand on which to have won a fortune if you had played it as I +bade you. Well, you've played it, and where's the fortune? We can +whistle for that as a sailor whistles for wind. And, by Heaven, +we'll need to whistle presently if the weather in the troupe +continues as it's set in. That scoundrel Scaramouche has been at +his ape's tricks with them. They've suddenly turned moral. They +won't sit at table with me any more." He was spluttering between +anger and sardonic mirth. "It was your friend Scaramouche set them +the example of that. He threatened my life actually. Threatened my +life! Called me... Oh, but what does that matter? What matters is +that the next thing to happen to us will be that the Binet Troupe +will discover it can manage without M. Binet and his daughter. +This scoundrelly bastard I've befriended has little by little +robbed me of everything. It's in his power to-day to rob me of my +troupe, and the knave's ungrateful enough and vile enough to make +use of his power. + +"Let him," said mademoiselle contemptuously. + +"Let him?" He was aghast. "And what's to become of us?" + +"In no case will the Binet Troupe interest me much longer," said +she. "I shall be going to Paris soon. There are better theatres +there than the Feydau. There's Mlle. Montansier's theatre in the +Palais Royal; there's the Ambigu Comique; there's the Comedie +Francaise; there's even a possibility I may have a theatre of my +own." + +His eyes grew big for once. He stretched out a fat hand, and +placed it on one of hers. She noticed that it trembled. + +"Has he promised that? Has he promised?" + +She looked at him with her head on one side, eyes sly and a queer +little smile on her perfect lips. + +"He did not refuse me when I asked it," she answered, with +conviction that all was as she desired it. + +"Bah!" He withdrew his hand, and heaved himself up. There was +disgust on his face. "He did not refuse!" he mocked her; and then +with passion: "Had you acted as I advised you, he would have +consented to anything that you asked, and what is more he would +have provided anything that you asked - anything that lay within +his means, and they are inexhaustible. You have changed a +certainty into a possibility, and I hate possibilities - God of +God! I have lived on possibilities, and infernally near starved +on them." + +Had she known of the interview taking place at that moment at the +Chateau de Sautron she would have laughed less confidently at her +father's gloomy forebodings. But she was destined never to know, +which indeed was the cruellest punishment of all. She was to +attribute all the evil that of a sudden overwhelmed her, the +shattering of all the future hopes she had founded upon the Marquis +and the sudden disintegration of the Binet Troupe, to the wicked +interference of that villain Scaramouche. + +She had this much justification that possibly, without the warning +from M. de Sautron, the Marquis would have found in the events of +that evening at the Theatre Feydau a sufficient reason for ending +an entanglement that was fraught with too much unpleasant excitement, +whilst the breaking-up of the Binet Troupe was most certainly the +result of Andre-Louis' work. But it was not a result that he +intended or even foresaw. + +So much was this the case that in the interval after the second act, +he sought the dressing-room shared by Polichinelle and Rhodomont. +Polichinelle was in the act of changing. + +"I shouldn't trouble to change," he said. "The piece isn't likely +to go beyond my opening scene of the next act with Leandre." + +"What do you mean?" + +"You'll see." He put a paper on Polichinelle's table amid the +grease-paints. "Cast your eye over that. It's a sort of last will +and testament in favour of the troupe. I was a lawyer once; the +document is in order. I relinquish to all of you the share produced +by my partnership in the company." + +"But you don't mean that you are leaving us?" cried Polichinelle in +alarm, whilst Rhodomont's sudden stare asked the same question. + +Scaramouche's shrug was eloquent. Polichinelle ran on gloomily: +"Of course it was to have been foreseen. But why should you be the +one to go? It is you who have made us; and it is you who are the +real head and brains of the troupe; it is you who have raised it +into a real theatrical company. If any one must go, let it be +Binet - Binet and his infernal daughter. Or if you go, name of a +name! we all go with you!" + +"Aye," added Rhodomont, "we've had enough of that fat scoundrel." + +"I had thought of it, of course," said Andre-Louis. "It was not +vanity, for once; it was trust in your friendship. After to-night +we may consider it again, if I survive." + +"If you survive?" both cried. + +Polichinelle got up. "Now, what madness have you in mind?" he +asked. + +"For one thing I think I am indulging Leandre; for another I am +pursuing an old quarrel." + +The three knocks sounded as he spoke. + +"There, I must go. Keep that paper, Polichinelle. After all, it +may not be necessary." + +He was gone. Rhodomont stared at Polichinelle. Polichinelle +stared at Rhodomont. + +"What the devil is he thinking of?" quoth the latter. + +"That is most readily ascertained by going to see," replied +Polichinelle. He completed changing in haste, and despite what +Scaramouche had said; and then followed with Rhodomont. + +As they approached the wings a roar of applause met them coming from +the audience. It was applause and something else; applause on an +unusual note. As it faded away they heard the voice of Scaramouche +ringing clear as a bell: + +"And so you see, my dear M. Leandre, that when you speak of the +Third Estate, it is necessary to be more explicit. What precisely +is the Third Estate?" + +"Nothing," said Leandre. + +There was a gasp from the audience, audible in the wings, and then +swiftly followed Scaramouche's next question: + +"True. Alas! But what should it be?" + +"Everything," said Leandre. + +The audience roared its acclamations, the more violent because of +the unexpectedness of that reply. + +"True again," said Scaramouche. "And what is more, that is what it +will be; that is what it already is. Do you doubt it?" + +"I hope it," said the schooled Leandre. + +"You may believe it," said Scaramouche, and again the acclamations +rolled into thunder. + +Polichinelle and Rhodomont exchanged glances: indeed, the former +winked, not without mirth. + +"Sacred name!" growled a voice behind them. "Is the scoundrel at +his political tricks again?" + +They turned to confront M. Binet. Moving with that noiseless tread +of his, he had come up unheard behind them, and there he stood now +in his scarlet suit of Pantaloon under a trailing bedgown, his little +eyes glaring from either side of his false nose. But their attention +was held by the voice of Scaramouche. He had stepped to the front +of the stage. + +"He doubts it," he was telling the audience. "But then this M. +Leandre is himself akin to those who worship the worm-eaten idol of +Privilege, and so he is a little afraid to believe a truth that is +becoming apparent to all the world. Shall I convince him? Shall I +tell him how a company of noblemen backed by their servants under +arms - six hundred men in all - sought to dictate to the Third +Estate of Rennes a few short weeks ago? Must I remind him of the +martial front shown on that occasion by the Third Estate, and how +they swept the streets clean of that rabble of nobles - cette +canaille noble... " + +Applause interrupted him. The phrase had struck home and caught. +Those who had writhed under that infamous designation from their +betters leapt at this turning of it against the nobles themselves. + +"But let me tell you of their leader - le pins noble de cette +canaille, on bien le plus canaille de ces nobles! You know him + - that one. He fears many things, but the voice of truth he fears +most. With such as him the eloquent truth eloquently spoken is a +thing instantly to be silenced. So he marshalled his peers and +their valetailles, and led them out to slaughter these miserable +bourgeois who dared to raise a voice. But these same miserable +bourgeois did not choose to be slaughtered in the streets of Rennes. +It occurred to them that since the nobles decreed that blood should +flow, it might as well be the blood of the nobles. They marshalled +themselves too - this noble rabble against the rabble of nobles - +and they marshalled themselves so well that they drove M. de La +Tour d'Azyr and his warlike following from the field with broken +heads and shattered delusions. They sought shelter at the hands +of the Cordeliers; and the shavelings gave them sanctuary in their +convent - those who survived, among whom was their proud leader, +M. de La Tour d'Azyr. You have heard of this valiant Marquis, this +great lord of life and death?" + +The pit was in an uproar a moment. It quieted again as Scaramouche +continued: + +"Oh, it was a fine spectacle to see this mighty hunter scuttling to +cover like a hare, going to earth in the Cordelier Convent. Rennes +has not seen him since. Rennes would like to see him again. But +if he is valorous, he is also discreet. And where do you think he +has taken refuge, this great nobleman who wanted to see the streets +of Rennes washed in the blood of its citizens, this man who would +have butchered old and young of the contemptible canaille to silence +the voice of reason and of liberty that presumes to ring through +France to-day? Where do you think he hides himself? Why, here in +Nantes." + +Again there was uproar. + +"What do you say? Impossible? Why, my friends, at this moment he +is here in this theatre - skulking up there in that box. He is too +shy to show himself - oh, a very modest gentleman. But there he is +behind the curtains. Will you not show yourself to your friends, +M. de La Tour d'Azyr, Monsieur le Marquis who considers eloquence +so very dangerous a gift? See, they would like a word with you; +they do not believe me when I tell them that you are here." + +Now, whatever he may have been, and whatever the views held on the +subject by Andre-Louis, M. de La Tour d'Azyr was certainly not a +coward. To say that he was hiding in Nantes was not true. He came +and went there openly and unabashed. It happened, however, that the +Nantais were ignorant until this moment of his presence among them. +But then he would have disdained to have informed them of it just as +he would have disdained to have concealed it from them. + +Challenged thus, however, and despite the ominous manner in which +the bourgeois element in the audience had responded to Scaramouche's +appeal to its passions, despite the attempts made by Chabrillane to +restrain him, the Marquis swept aside the curtain at the side of the +box, and suddenly showed himself, pale but self-contained and +scornful as he surveyed first the daring Scaramouche and then those +others who at sight of him had given tongue to their hostility. + +Hoots and yells assailed him, fists were shaken at him, canes were +brandished menacingly. + +"Assassin! Scoundrel! Coward! Traitor!" + +But he braved the storm, smiling upon them his ineffable contempt. +He was waiting for the noise to cease; waiting to address them in +his turn. But he waited in vain, as he very soon perceived. + +The contempt he did not trouble to dissemble served but to goad +them on. + +In the pit pandemonium was already raging. Blows were being freely +exchanged; there were scuffling groups, and here and there swords +were being drawn, but fortunately the press was too dense to permit +of their being used effectively. Those who had women with them and +the timid by nature were making haste to leave a house that looked +like becoming a cockpit, where chairs were being smashed to provide +weapons, and parts of chandeliers were already being used as missiles. + +One of these hurled by the hand of a gentleman in one of the boxes +narrowly missed Scaramouche where he stood, looking down in a sort +of grim triumph upon the havoc which his words had wrought. Knowing +of what inflammable material the audience was composed, he had +deliberately flung down amongst them the lighted torch of discord, +to produce this conflagration. + +He saw men falling quickly into groups representative of one side +or the other of this great quarrel that already was beginning to +agitate the whole of France. Their rallying cries were ringing +through the theatre. + +"Down with the canaille!" from some. + +"Down with the privileged!" from others. + +And then above the general din one cry rang out sharply and +insistently: + +"To the box! Death to the butcher of Rennes! Death to La Tour +d'Azyr who makes war upon the people!" + +There was a rush for one of the doors of the pit that opened upon +the staircase leading to the boxes. + +And now, whilst battle and confusion spread with the speed of fire, +overflowing from the theatre into the street itself, La Tour +d'Azyr's box, which had become the main object of the attack of the +bourgeoisie, had also become the rallying ground for such gentlemen +as were present in the theatre and for those who, without being men +of birth themselves, were nevertheless attached to the party of the +nobles. + +La Tour d'Azyr had quitted the front of the box to meet those who +came to join him. And now in the pit one group of infuriated +gentlemen, in attempting to reach the stage across the empty +orchestra, so that they might deal with the audacious comedian who +was responsible for this explosion, found themselves opposed and +held back by another group composed of men to whose feelings +Andre-Louis had given expression. + +Perceiving this, and remembering the chandelier, he turned to +Leandre, who had remained beside him. + +"I think it is time to be going," said he. + +Leandre, looking ghastly under his paint, appalled by the storm +which exceeded by far anything that his unimaginative brain could +have conjectured, gurgled an inarticulate agreement. But it looked +as if already they were too late, for in that moment they were +assailed from behind. + +M. Binet had succeeded at last in breaking past Polichinelle and +Rhodomont, who in view of his murderous rage had been endeavouring +to restrain him. Half a dozen gentlemen, habitues of the green-room, +had come round to the stage to disembowel the knave who had created +this riot, and it was they who had flung aside those two comedians +who hung upon Binet. After him they came now, their swords out; but +after them again came Polichinelle, Rhodomont, Harlequin, Pierrot, +Pasquariel, and Basque the artist, armed with such implements as +they could hastily snatch up, and intent upon saving the man with +whom they sympathized in spite of all, and in whom now all their +hopes were centred. + +Well ahead rolled Binet, moving faster than any had ever seen him +move, and swinging the long cane from which Pantaloon is inseparable. + +"Infamous scoundrel!" he roared. "You have ruined me! But, name +of a name, you shall pay!" + +Andre-Louis turned to face him. "You confuse cause with effect," +said he. But he got no farther... Binet's cane, viciously driven, +descended and broke upon his shoulder. Had he not moved swiftly +aside as the blow fell it must have taken him across the head, and +possibly stunned him. As he moved, he dropped his hand to his +pocket, and swift upon the cracking of Binet's breaking cane came +the crack of the pistol with which Andre-Louis replied. + +"You had your warning, you filthy pander!" he cried. And on the +word he shot him through the body. + +Binet went down screaming, whilst the fierce Polichinelle, fiercer +than ever in that moment of fierce reality, spoke quickly into +Andre-Louis' ear: + +"Fool! So much was not necessary! Away with you now, or you'll +leave your skin here! Away with you!" + +Andre-Louis thought it good advice, and took it. The gentlemen who +had followed Binet in that punitive rush upon the stage, partly +held in check by the improvised weapons of the players, partly +intimidated by the second pistol that Scaramouche presented, let +him go. He gained the wings, and here found himself faced by a +couple of sergeants of the watch, part of the police that was +already invading the theatre with a view to restoring order. The +sight of them reminded him unpleasantly of how he must stand +towards the law for this night's work, and more particularly for +that bullet lodged somewhere in Binet's obese body. He flourished +his pistol. + +"Make way, or I'll burn your brains!" he threatened them, and +intimidated, themselves without firearms, they fell back and let +him pass. He slipped by the door of the green-room, where the +ladies of the company had shut themselves in until the storm should +be over, and so gained the street behind the theatre. It was +deserted. Down this he went at a run, intent on reaching the inn +for clothes and money, since it was impossible that he should take +the road in the garb of Scaramouche. + + + +BOOK III: THE SWORD + + +CHAPTER I + +TRANSITION + + +"You may agree," wrote Andre-Louis from Paris to Le Chapelier, in +a letter which survives, "that it is to be regretted I should +definitely have discarded the livery of Scaramouche, since clearly +there could be no livery fitter for my wear. It seems to be my +part always to stir up strife and then to slip away before I am +caught in the crash of the warring elements I have aroused. It is +a humiliating reflection. I seek consolation in the reminder of +Epictetus (do you ever read Epictetus?) that we are but actors in +a play of such a part as it may please the Director to assign us. +It does not, however, console me to have been cast for a part so +contemptible, to find myself excelling ever in the art of running +away. But if I am not brave, at least I am prudent; so that where +I lack one virtue I may lay claim to possessing another almost to +excess. On a previous occasion they wanted to hang me for sedition. +Should I have stayed to be hanged? This time they may want to +hang me for several things, including murder; for I do not know +whether that scoundrel Binet be alive or dead from the dose of +lead I pumped into his fat paunch. Nor can I say that I very +greatly care. If I have a hope at all in the matter it is that he +is dead - and damned. But I am really indifferent. My own concerns +are troubling me enough. I have all but spent the little money that +I contrived to conceal about me before I fled from Nantes on that +dreadful night; and both of the only two professions of which I can +claim to know anything - the law and the stage - are closed to me, +since I cannot find employment in either without revealing myself +as a fellow who is urgently wanted by the hangman. As things are +it is very possible that I may die of hunger, especially considering +the present price of victuals in this ravenous city. Again I have +recourse to Epictetus for comfort. 'It is better,' he says, 'to die +of hunger having lived without grief and fear, than to live with a +troubled spirit amid abundance.' I seem likely to perish in the +estate that he accounts so enviable. That it does not seem exactly +enviable to me merely proves that as a Stoic I am not a success." + +There is also another letter of his written at about the same time +to the Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr - a letter since published by M. +Emile Quersac in his "Undercurrents of the Revolution in Brittany," +unearthed by him from the archives of Rennes, to which it had been +consigned by M. de Lesdiguieres, who had received it for justiciary +purposes from the Marquis. + +"The Paris newspapers," he writes in this, "which have reported in +considerable detail the fracas at the Theatre Feydau and disclosed +the true identity of the Scaramouche who provoked it, inform me also +that you have escaped the fate I had intended for you when I raised +that storm of public opinion and public indignation. I would not +have you take satisfaction in the thought that I regret your escape. +I do not. I rejoice in it. To deal justice by death has this +disadvantage that the victim has no knowledge that justice has +overtaken him. Had you died, had you been torn limb from limb that +night, I should now repine in the thought of your eternal and +untroubled slumber. Not in euthanasia, but in torment of mind +should the guilty atone. You see, I am not sure that hell hereafter +is a certainty, whilst I am quite sure that it can be a certainty in +this life; and I desire you to continue to live yet awhile that you +may taste something of its bitterness. + +"You murdered Philippe de Vilmorin because you feared what you +described as his very dangerous gift of eloquence, I took an oath +that day that your evil deed should be fruitless; that I would +render it so; that the voice you had done murder to stifle should +in spite of that ring like a trumpet through the land. That was +my conception of revenge. Do you realize how I have been fulfilling +it, how I shall continue to fulfil it as occasion offers? In the +speech with which I fired the people of Rennes on the very morrow +of that deed, did you not hear the voice of Philippe de Vilmorin +uttering the ideas that were his with a fire and a passion greater +than he could have commanded because Nemesis lent me her inflaming +aid? In the voice of Omnes Omnibus at Nantes my voice again - +demanding the petition that sounded the knell of your hopes of +coercing the Third Estate, did you not hear again the voice of +Philippe de Vilmorin? Did you not reflect that it was the mind of +the man you had murdered, resurrected in me his surviving friend, +which made necessary your futile attempt under arms last January, +wherein your order, finally beaten, was driven to seek sanctuary +in the Cordelier Convent? And that night when from the stage of +the Feydau you were denounced to the people, did you not hear yet +again, in the voice of Scaramouche, the voice of Philippe de +Vilmorin, using that dangerous gift of eloquence which you so +foolishly imagined you could silence with a sword-thrust? It is +becoming a persecution - is it not? - this voice from the grave +that insists upon making itself heard, that will not rest until +you have been cast into the pit. You will be regretting by now +that you did not kill me too, as I invited you on that occasion. +I can picture to myself the bitterness of this regret, and I +contemplate it with satisfaction. Regret of neglected opportunity +is the worst hell that a living soul can inhabit, particularly +such a soul as yours. It is because of this that I am glad to +know that you survived the riot at the Feydau, although at the time +it was no part of my intention that you should. Because of this I +am content that you should live to enrage and suffer in the shadow +of your evil deed, knowing at last - since you had not hitherto the +wit to discern it for yourself - that the voice of Philippe de +Vilmorin will follow you to denounce you ever more loudly, ever more +insistently, until having lived in dread you shall go down in blood +under the just rage which your victim's dangerous gift of eloquence +is kindling against you." + +I find it odd that he should have omitted from this letter all +mention of Mlle. Binet, and I am disposed to account it at least a +partial insincerity that he should have assigned entirely to his +self-imposed mission, and not at all to his lacerated feelings in +the matter of Climene, the action which he had taken at the Feydau. + +Those two letters, both written in April of that year 1789, had for +only immediate effect to increase the activity with which Andre-Louis +Moreau was being sought. + +Le Chapelier would have found him so as to lend him assistance, to +urge upon him once again that he should take up a political career. +The electors of Nantes would have found him - at least, they would +have found Omnes Omnibus, of whose identity with himself they were +still in ignorance - on each of the several occasions when a vacancy +occurred in their body. And the Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr and M. +de Lesdiguieres would have found him that they might send him to +the gallows. + +With a purpose no less vindictive was he being sought by M. Binet, +now unhappily recovered from his wound to face completest ruin. His +troupe had deserted him during his illness, and reconstituted under +the direction of Polichinelle it was now striving with tolerable +success to continue upon the lines which Andre-Louis had laid down. +M. le Marquis, prevented by the riot from expressing in person to +Mlle. Binet his purpose of making an end of their relations, had +been constrained to write to her to that effect from Azyr a few days +later. He tempered the blow by enclosing in discharge of all +liabilities a bill on the Caisse d'Escompte for a hundred louis. +Nevertheless it almost crushed the unfortunate and it enabled her +father when he recovered to enrage her by pointing out that she owed +this turn of events to the premature surrender she had made in +defiance of his sound worldly advice. Father and daughter alike +were left to assign the Marquis' desertion, naturally enough, to +the riot at the Feydau. They laid that with the rest to the account +of Scaramouche, and were forced in bitterness to admit that the +scoundrel had taken a superlative revenge. Climene may even have +come to consider that it would have paid her better to have run a +straight course with Scaramouche and by marrying him to have trusted +to his undoubted talents to place her on the summit to which her +ambition urged her, and to which it was now futile for her to aspire. +If so, that reflection must have been her sufficient punishment. +For, as Andre-Louis so truly says, there is no worse hell than that +provided by the regrets for wasted opportunities. + +Meanwhile the fiercely sought Andre-Louis Moreau had gone to earth +completely for the present. And the brisk police of Paris, urged +on by the King's Lieutenant from Rennes, hunted for him in vain. +Yet he might have been found in a house in the Rue du Hasard within +a stone's throw of the Palais Royal, whither purest chance had +conducted him. + +That which in his letter to Le Chapelier he represents as a +contingency of the near future was, in fact, the case in which +already he found himself. He was destitute. His money was +exhausted, including that procured by the sale of such articles of +adornment as were not of absolute necessity. + +So desperate was his case that strolling one gusty April morning +down the Rue du Hasard with his nose in the wind looking for what +might be picked up, he stopped to read a notice outside the door +of a house on the left side of the street as you approach the Rue +de Richelieu. There was no reason why he should have gone down +the Rue du Hasard. Perhaps its name attracted him, as appropriate +to his case. + +The notice written in a big round hand announced that a young man +of good address with some knowledge of swordsmanship was required +by M. Bertrand des Amis on the second floor. Above this notice +was a black oblong board, and on this a shield, which in vulgar +terms may be described as red charged with two swords crossed and +four fleurs de lys, one in each angle of the saltire. Under the +shield, in letters of gold, ran the legend: + + BERTRAND DES AMIS + + Maitre en fait d'Armes des Academies du Roi + +Andre-Louis stood considering. He could claim, he thought, to +possess the qualifications demanded. He was certainly young and +he believed of tolerable address, whilst the fencing-lessons he had +received in Nantes had given him at least an elementary knowledge +of swordsmanship. The notice looked as if it had been pinned there +some days ago, suggesting that applicants for the post were not very +numerous. In that case perhaps M. Bertrand des Amis would not be too +exigent. And anyway, Andre-Louis had not eaten for four-and-twenty +hours, and whilst the employment here offered - the precise nature +of which he was yet to ascertain - did not appear to be such as +Andre-Louis would deliberately have chosen, he was in no case now to +be fastidious. + +Then, too, he liked the name of Bertrand des Amis. It felicitously +combined suggestions of chivalry and friendliness. Also the man's +profession being of a kind that is flavoured with romance it was +possible that M. Bertrand des Amis would not ask too many questions. + +In the end he climbed to the second floor. On the landing he paused +outside a door, on which was written "Academy of M. Bertrand des +Amis." He pushed this open, and found himself in a sparsely +furnished, untenanted antechamber. From a room beyond, the door of +which was closed, came the stamping of feet, the click and slither +of steel upon steel, and dominating these sounds a vibrant sonorous +voice speaking a language that was certainly French; but such +French as is never heard outside a fencing-school. + +"Coulez! Mais, coulez donc!.... So! Now the flanconnade - en +carte.... And here is the riposte.... Let us begin again. Come! +The ward of fierce.... Make the coupe, and then the quinte par dessus +les armes.... O, mais allongez! Allongez! Allez au fond!" the voice +cried in expostulation. "Come, that was better." The blades ceased. + +"Remember: the hand in pronation, the elbow not too far out. That +will do for to-day. On Wednesday we shall see you tirer au mur. +It is more deliberate. Speed will follow when the mechanism of the +movements is more assured." + +Another voice murmured in answer. The steps moved aside. The +lesson was at an end. Andre-Louis tapped on the door. + +It was opened by a tall, slender, gracefully proportioned man of +perhaps forty. Black silk breeches and stockings ending in light +shoes clothed him from the waist down. Above he was encased to the +chin in a closely fitting plastron of leather, His face was aquiline +and swarthy, his eyes full and dark, his mouth firm and his clubbed +hair was of a lustrous black with here and there a thread of silver +showing. + +in the crook of his left arm he carried a fencing-mask, a thing of +leather with a wire grating to protect the eyes. His keen glance +played over Andre-Louis from head to foot. + +"Monsieur?" he inquired, politely. + +It was clear that he mistook Andre-Louis' quality, which is not +surprising, for despite his sadly reduced fortunes, his exterior was +irreproachable, and M. des Amis was not to guess that he carried +upon his back the whole of his possessions. + +"You have a notice below, monsieur," he said, and from the swift +lighting of the fencing-master's eyes he saw that he had been +correct in his assumption that applicants for the position had not +been jostling one another on his threshold. And then that flash of +satisfaction was followed by a look of surprise. + +"You are come in regard to that?" + +Andre-Louis shrugged and half smiled. "One must live," said he. + +"But come in. Sit down there. I shall be at your.... I shall be +free to attend to you in a moment." + +Andre-Louis took a seat on the bench ranged against one of the +whitewashed walls. The room was long and low, its floor entirely +bare. Plain wooden forms such as that which he occupied were placed +here and there against the wall. These last were plastered with +fencing trophies, masks, crossed foils, stuffed plastrons, and a +variety of swords, daggers, and targets, belonging to a variety of +ages and countries. There was also a portrait of an obese, big-nosed +gentleman in an elaborately curled wig, wearing the blue ribbon of +the Saint Esprit, in whom Andre-Louis recognized the King. And there +was a framed parchment - M. des Amis' certificate from the King's +Academy. A bookcase occupied one corner, and near this, facing the +last of the four windows that abundantly lighted the long room, there +was a small writing-table and an armchair. A plump and beautifully +dressed young gentleman stood by this table in the act of resuming +coat and wig. M. des Amis sauntered over to him - moving, thought +Andre-Louis, with extraordinary grace and elasticity - and stood in +talk with him whilst also assisting him to complete his toilet. + +At last the young gentleman took his departure, mopping himself with +a fine kerchief that left a trail of perfume on the air. M. des +Amis closed the door, and turned to the applicant, who rose at once. + +"Where have you studied?" quoth the fencing-master abruptly. + +"Studied?" Andre-Louis was taken aback by the question. "Oh, at +Louis Le Grand." + +M. des Amis frowned, looking up sharply as if to see whether his +applicant was taking the liberty of amusing himself. + +"In Heaven's name! I am not asking you where you did your +humanities, but in what academy you studied fencing." + +"Oh - fencing!" It had hardly ever occurred to Andre-Louis that +the sword ranked seriously as a study. "I never studied it very +much. I had some lessons in... in the country once." + +The master's eyebrows went up. "But then?" he cried. "Why trouble +to come up two flights of stairs?" He was impatient. + +"The notice does not demand a high degree of proficiency. If I am +not proficient enough, yet knowing the rudiments I can easily +improve. I learn most things readily," Andre-Louis commended himself. +"For the rest: I possess the other qualifications. I am young, as +you observe: and I leave you to judge whether I am wrong in assuming +that my address is good. I am by profession a man of the robe, +though I realize that the motto here is cedat toga armis." + +M. des Amis smiled approvingly. Undoubtedly the young man had a +good address, and a certain readiness of wit, it would appear. He +ran a critical eye over his physical points. "What is your name?" +he asked. + +Andre-Louis hesitated a moment. "Andre-Louis," he said. + +The dark, keen eyes conned him more searchingly. + +"Well? Andre-Louis what?" + +"Just Andre-Louis. Louis is my surname." + +"Oh! An odd surname. You come from Brittany by your accent. Why +did you leave it?" + +"To save my skin," he answered, without reflecting. And then made +haste to cover the blunder. "I have an enemy," he explained. + +M. des Amis frowned, stroking his square chin. "You ran away?" + +"You may say so. + +"A coward, eh?" + +"I don't think so." And then he lied romantically. Surely a man +who lived by the sword should have a weakness for the romantic. +"You see, my enemy is a swordsman of great strength - the best blade +in the province, if not the best blade in France. That is his +repute. I thought I would come to Paris to learn something of the +art, and then go back and kill him. That, to be frank, is why your +notice attracted me. You see, I have not the means to take lessons +otherwise. I thought to find work here in the law. But I have +failed. There are too many lawyers in Paris as it is, and whilst +waiting I have consumed the little money that I had, so that... so +that, enfin, your notice seemed to me something to which a special +providence had directed me." + +M. des Amis gripped him by the shoulders, and looked into his face. + +"Is this true, my friend?" he asked. + +"Not a word of it," said Andre-Louis, wrecking his chances on an +irresistible impulse to say the unexpected. But he didn't wreck +them. M. des Amis burst into laughter; and having laughed his fill, +confessed himself charmed by his applicant's fundamental honesty. + +"Take off your coat," he said, "and let us see what you can do. +Nature, at least, designed you for a swordsman. You are light, +active, and supple, with a good length of arm, and you seem +intelligent. I may make something of you, teach you enough for my +purpose, which is that you should give the elements of the art to +new pupils before I take them in hand to finish them. Let us try. +Take that mask and foil, and come over here." + +He led him to the end of the room, where the bare floor was scored +with lines of chalk to guide the beginner in the management of his +feet. + +At the end of a ten minutes' bout, M. des Amis offered him the +situation, and explained it. In addition to imparting the rudiments +of the art to beginners, he was to brush out the fencing-room every +morning, keep the foils furbished, assist the gentlemen who came for +lessons to dress and undress, and make himself generally useful. +His wages for the present were to be forty livres a month, and he +might sleep in an alcove behind the fencing-room if he had no other +lodging. + +The position, you see, had its humiliations. But, if Andre-Louis +would hope to dine, he must begin by eating his pride as an hors +d'oeuvre. + +"And so," he said, controlling a grimace, "the robe yields not only +to the sword, but to the broom as well. Be it so. I stay." + +It is characteristic of him that, having made that choice, he should +have thrown himself into the work with enthusiasm. It was ever his +way to do whatever he did with all the resources of his mind and +energies of his body. When he was not instructing very young +gentlemen in the elements of the art, showing them the elaborate and +intricate salute - which with a few days' hard practice he had +mastered to perfection - and the eight guards, he was himself hard +at work on those same guards, exercising eye, wrist, and knees. + +Perceiving his enthusiasm, and seeing the obvious possibilities it +opened out of turning him into a really effective assistant, M. +des Amis presently took him more seriously in hand. + +"Your application and zeal, my friend, are deserving of more than +forty livres a month," the master informed him at the end of a week. +"For the present, however, I will make up what else I consider due +to you by imparting to you secrets of this noble art. Your future +depends upon how you profit by your exceptional good fortune in +receiving instruction from me." + +Thereafter every morning before the opening of the academy, the +master would fence for half an hour with his new assistant. Under +this really excellent tuition Andre-Louis improved at a rate that +both astounded and flattered M. des Amis. He would have been less +flattered and more astounded had he known that at least half the +secret of Andre-Louis' amazing progress lay in the fact that he was +devouring the contents of the master's library, which was made up +of a dozen or so treatises on fencing by such great masters as La +Bessiere, Danet, and the syndic of the King's Academy, Augustin +Rousseau. To M. des Amis, whose swordsmanship was all based on +practice and not at all on theory, who was indeed no theorist or +student in any sense, that little library was merely a suitable +adjunct to a fencing-academy, a proper piece of decorative furniture. +The books themselves meant nothing to him in any other sense. He +had not the type of mind that could have read them with profit nor +could he understand that another should do so. Andre-Louis, on the +contrary, a man with the habit of study, with the acquired faculty +of learning from books, read those works with enormous profit, kept +their precepts in mind, critically set off those of one master +against those of another, and made for himself a choice which he +proceeded to put into practice. + +At the end of a month it suddenly dawned upon M. des Amis that his +assistant had developed into a fencer of very considerable force, +a man in a bout with whom it became necessary to exert himself if +he were to escape defeat. + +"I said from the first," he told him one day, "that Nature designed +you for a swordsman. See how justified I was, and see also how well +I have known how to mould the material with which Nature has +equipped you." + +"To the master be the glory," said Andre-Louis. + +His relations with M. des Amis had meanwhile become of the +friendliest, and he was now beginning to receive from him other +pupils than mere beginners. In fact Andre-Louis was becoming an +assistant in a much fuller sense of the word. M. des Amis, a +chivalrous, open-handed fellow, far from taking advantage of what +he had guessed to be the young man's difficulties, rewarded his +zeal by increasing his wages to four louis a month. + +From the' earnest and thoughtful study of the theories of others, +it followed now - as not uncommonly happens - that Andre-Louis came +to develop theories of his own. He lay one June morning on his +little truckle bed in the alcove behind the academy, considering a +passage that he had read last night in Danet on double and triple +feints. It had seemed to him when reading it that Danet had stopped +short on the threshold of a great discovery in the art of fencing. +Essentially a theorist, Andre-Louis perceived the theory suggested, +which Danet himself in suggesting it had not perceived. He lay now +on his back, surveying the cracks in the ceiling and considering +this matter further with the lucidity that early morning often +brings to an acute intelligence. You are to remember that for close +upon two months now the sword had been Andre-Louis' daily exercise +and almost hourly thought. Protracted concentration upon the subject +was giving him an extraordinary penetration of vision. Swordsmanship +as he learnt and taught and saw it daily practised consisted of a +series of attacks and parries, a series of disengages from one line +into another. But always a limited series. A half-dozen disengages +on either side was, strictly speaking, usually as far as any +engagement went. Then one recommenced. But even so, these +disengages were fortuitous. What if from first to last they should +be calculated? + +That was part of the thought - one of the two legs on which his +theory was to stand; the other was: what would happen if one so +elaborated Danet's ideas on the triple feint as to merge them into +a series of actual calculated disengages to culminate at the fourth +or fifth or even sixth disengage? That is to say, if one were to +make a series of attacks inviting ripostes again to be countered, +each of which was not intended to go home, but simply to play the +opponent's blade into a line that must open him ultimately, and as +predetermined, for an irresistible lunge. Each counter of the +opponent's would have to be preconsidered in this widening of his +guard, a widening so gradual that he should himself be unconscious +of it, and throughout intent upon getting home his own point on +one of those counters. + +Andre-Louis had been in his time a chess-player of some force, and +at chess he had excelled by virtue of his capacity for thinking +ahead. That virtue applied to fencing should all but revolutionize +the art. It was so applied already, of course, but only in an +elementary and very limited fashion, in mere feints, single, double, +or triple. But even the triple feint should be a clumsy device +compared with this method upon which he theorized. + +He considered further, and the conviction grew that he held the key +of a discovery. He was impatient to put his theory to the test. + +That morning he was given a pupil of some force, against whom +usually he was hard put to it to defend himself. Coming on guard, +he made up his mind to hit him on the fourth disengage, +predetermining the four passes that should lead up to it. They +engaged in tierce, and Andre-Louis led the attack by a beat and a +straightening of the arm. Came the demi-contre he expected, which +he promptly countered by a thrust in quinte; this being countered +again, he reentered still lower, and being again correctly parried, +as he had calculated, he lunged swirling his point into carte, and +got home full upon his opponent's breast. The ease of it surprised +him. + +They began again. This time he resolved to go in on the fifth +disengage, and in on that he went with the same ease. Then, +complicating the matter further, he decided to try the sixth, and +worked out in his mind the combination of the five preliminary +engages. Yet again he succeeded as easily as before. + +The young gentleman opposed to him laughed with just a tinge of +mortification in his voice. + +"I am all to pieces this morning," he said. + +"You are not of your usual force," Andre-Louis politely agreed. +And then greatly daring, always to test that theory of his to the +uttermost: "So much so," he added, "that I could almost be sure +of hitting you as and when I declare." + +The capable pupil looked at him with a half-sneer. "Ah, that, no," +said he. + +"Let us try. On the fourth disengage I shall touch you. Allons! +En garde!" + +And as he promised, so it happened. + +The young gentleman who, hitherto, had held no great opinion of +Andre-Louis' swordsmanship, accounting him well enough for purposes +of practice when the master was otherwise engaged, opened wide his +eyes. In a burst of mingled generosity and intoxication, Andre-Louis +was almost for disclosing his method - a method which a little later +was to become a commonplace of the fencing-rooms. Betimes he checked +himself. To reveal his secret would be to destroy the prestige that +must accrue to him from exercising it. + +At noon, the academy being empty, M. des Amis called Andre-Louis to +one of the occasional lessons which he still received. And for the +first time in all his experience with Andre-Louis, M. des Amis +received from him a full hit in the course of the first bout. He +laughed, well pleased, like the generous fellow he was. + +"Aha! You are improving very fast, my friend." He still laughed, +though not so well pleased, when he was hit in the second bout. +After that he settled down to fight in earnest with the result that +Andre-Louis was hit three times in succession. The speed and +accuracy of the fencing-master when fully exerting himself +disconcerted Andre-Louis' theory, which for want of being exercised +in practice still demanded too much consideration. + +But that his theory was sound he accounted fully established, and +with that, for the moment, he was content. It remained only to +perfect by practice the application of it. To this he now devoted +himself with the passionate enthusiasm of the discoverer. He +confined himself to a half-dozen combinations, which he practised +assiduously until each had become almost automatic. And he proved +their infallibility upon the best among M. des Amis' pupils. + +Finally, a week or so after that last bout of his with des Amis, +the master called him once more to practice. + +Hit again in the first bout, the master set himself to exert all +his skill against his assistant. But to-day it availed him nothing +before Andre-Louis' impetuous attacks. + +After the third hit, M. des Amis stepped back and pulled off his +mask. + +"What's this?" he asked. He was pale, and his dark brows were +contracted in a frown. Not in years had he been so wounded in his +self-love. "Have you been taught a secret botte?" + +He had always boasted that he knew too much about the sword to +believe any nonsense about secret bottes; but this performance of +Andre-Louis' had shaken his convictions on that score. + +"No," said Andre-Louis. "I have been working hard; and it happens +that I fence with my brains." + +"So I perceive. Well, well, I think I have taught you enough, my +friend. I have no intention of having an assistant who is superior +to myself." + +"Little danger of that," said Andre-Louis, smiling pleasantly. +"You have been fencing hard all morning, and you are tired, whilst +I, having done little, am entirely fresh. That is the only secret +of my momentary success." + +His tact and the fundamental good-nature of M. des Amis prevented +the matter from going farther along the road it was almost +threatening to take. And thereafter, when they fenced together, +Andre-Louis, who continued daily to perfect his theory into an +almost infallible system, saw to it that M. des Amis always scored +against him at least two hits for every one of his own. So much +he would grant to discretion, but no more. He desired that M. des +Amis should be conscious of his strength, without, however, +discovering so much of its real extent as would have excited in +him an unnecessary degree of jealousy. + +And so well did he contrive that whilst he became ever of greater +assistance to the master - for his style and general fencing, too, +had materially improved - he was also a source of pride to him as +the most brilliant of all the pupils that had ever passed through +his academy. Never did Andre-Louis disillusion him by revealing +the fact that his skill was due far more to M. des Amis' library +and his own mother wit than to any lessons received. + + + +CHAPTER II + +QUOS DEUS VULT PERDERE + + +Once again, precisely as he had done when he joined the Binet troupe, +did Andre-Louis now settle down whole-heartedly to the new profession +into which necessity had driven him, and in which he found effective +concealment from those who might seek him to his hurt. This +profession might - although in fact it did not - have brought him +to consider himself at last as a man of action. He had not, however, +on that account ceased to be a man of thought, and the events of the +spring and summer months of that year 1789 in Paris provided him +with abundant matter for reflection. He read there in the raw what +is perhaps the most amazing page in the history of human development, +and in the end he was forced to the conclusion that all his early +preconceptions had been at fault, and that it was such exalted, +passionate enthusiasts as Vilmorin who had been right. + +I suspect him of actually taking pride in the fact that he had been +mistaken, complacently attributing his error to the circumstance +that he had been, himself, of too sane and logical a mind to gauge +the depths of human insanity now revealed. + +He watched the growth of hunger, the increasing poverty and distress +of Paris during that spring, and assigned it to its proper cause, +together with the patience with which the people bore it. The world +of France was in a state of hushed, of paralyzed expectancy, waiting +for the States General to assemble and for centuries of tyranny to +end. And because of this expectancy, industry had come to a +standstill, the stream of trade had dwindled to a trickle. Men would +not buy or sell until they clearly saw the means by which the genius +of the Swiss banker, M. Necker, was to deliver them from this morass. +And because of this paralysis of affairs the men of the people were +thrown out of work and left to starve with their wives and children. + +Looking on, Andre-Louis smiled grimly. So far he was right. The +sufferers were ever the proletariat. The men who sought to make +this revolution, the electors - here in Paris as elsewhere - were +men of substance, notable bourgeois, wealthy traders. And whilst +these, despising the canaille, and envying the privileged, talked +largely of equality - by which they meant an ascending equality +that should confuse themselves with the gentry - the proletariat +perished of want in its kennels. + +At last with the month of May the deputies arrived, Andre-Louis' +friend Le Chapelier prominent amongst them, and the States General +were inaugurated at Versailles. It was then that affairs began to +become interesting, then that Andre-Louis began seriously to doubt +the soundness of the views he had held hitherto. + +When the royal proclamation had gone forth decreeing that the +deputies of the Third Estate should number twice as many as those +of the other two orders together, Andre-Louis had believed that +the preponderance of votes thus assured to the Third Estate rendered +inevitable the reforms to which they had pledged themselves. + +But he had reckoned without the power of the privileged orders over +the proud Austrian queen, and her power over the obese, phlegmatic, +irresolute monarch. That the privileged orders should deliver battle +in defence of their privileges, Andre-Louis could understand. Man +being what he is, and labouring under his curse of acquisitiveness, +will never willingly surrender possessions, whether they be justly +or unjustly held. But what surprised Andre-Louis was the unutterable +crassness of the methods by which the Privileged ranged themselves +for battle. They opposed brute force to reason and philosophy, and +battalions of foreign mercenaries to ideas. As if ideas were to be +impaled on bayonets! + +The war between the Privileged and the Court on one side, and the +Assembly and the People on the other had begun. + +The Third Estate contained itself, and waited; waited with the +patience of nature; waited a month whilst, with the paralysis of +business now complete, the skeleton hand of famine took a firmer +grip of Paris; waited a month whilst Privilege gradually assembled +an army in Versailles to intimidate it - an army of fifteen +regiments, nine of which were Swiss and German - and mounted a park +of artillery before the building in which the deputies sat. But +the deputies refused to be intimidated; they refused to see the guns +and foreign uniforms; they refused to see anything but the purpose +for which they had been brought together by royal proclamation. + +Thus until the 10th of June, when that great thinker and +metaphysician, the Abbe Sieyes, gave the signal: "It is time," said +he, "to cut the cable." + +And the opportunity came soon, at the very beginning of July. M. du +Chatelet, a harsh, haughty disciplinarian, proposed to transfer the +eleven French Guards placed under arrest from the military gaol of +the Abbaye to the filthy prison of Bicetre reserved for thieves and +felons of the lowest order. Word of that intention going forth, the +people at last met violence with violence. A mob four thousand +strong broke into the Abbaye, and delivered thence not only the +eleven guardsmen, but all the other prisoners, with the exception of +one whom they discovered to be a thief, and whom they put back again; + +That was open revolt at last, and with revolt Privilege knew how to +deal. It would strangle this mutinous Paris in the iron grip of the +foreign regiments. Measures were quickly concerted. Old Marechal +de Broglie, a veteran of the Seven Years' War, imbued with a +soldier's contempt for civilians, conceiving that the sight of a +uniform would be enough to restore peace and order, took control +with Besenval as his second-in-command. The foreign regiments were +stationed in the environs of Paris, regiments whose very names were +an irritation to the Parisians, regiments of Reisbach, of Diesbach, +of Nassau, Esterhazy, and Roehmer. Reenforcements of Swiss were +sent to the Bastille between whose crenels already since the 30th +of June were to be seen the menacing mouths of loaded cannon. + +On the 10th of July the electors once more addressed the King to +request the withdrawal of the troops. They were answered next day +that the troops served the purpose of defending the liberties of +the Assembly! And on the next day to that, which was a Sunday, the +philanthropist Dr. Guillotin - whose philanthropic engine of painless +death was before very long to find a deal of work, came from the +Assembly, of which he was a member, to assure the electors of Paris +that all was well, appearances notwithstanding, since Necker was +more firmly in the saddle than ever. He did not know that at the +very moment in which he was speaking so confidently, the +oft-dismissed and oft-recalled M. Necker had just been dismissed +yet again by the hostile cabal about the Queen. Privilege wanted +conclusive measures, and conclusive measures it would have - +conclusive to itself. + +And at the same time yet another philanthropist, also a doctor, one +Jean-Paul Mara, of Italian extraction - better known as Marat, the +gallicized form of name he adopted - a man of letters, too, who had +spent some years in England, and there published several works on +sociology, was writing: + +"Have a care! Consider what would be the fatal effect of a seditious +movement. If you should have the misfortune to give way to that, you +will be treated as people in revolt, and blood will flow." + +Andre-Louis was in the gardens of the Palais Royal, that place of +shops and puppet-shows, of circus and cafes, of gaming houses and +brothels, that universal rendezvous, on that Sunday morning when +the news of Necker's dismissal spread, carrying with it dismay and +fury. Into Necker's dismissal the people read the triumph of the +party hostile to themselves. It sounded the knell of all hope of +redress of their wrongs. + +He beheld a slight young man with a pock-marked face, redeemed +from utter ugliness by a pair of magnificent eyes, leap to a table +outside the Café de Foy, a drawn sword in his hand, crying, "To +arms!" And then upon the silence of astonishment that cry imposed, +this young man poured a flood of inflammatory eloquence, delivered +in a voice marred at moments by a stutter. He told the people that +the Germans on the Champ de Mars would enter Paris that night to +butcher the inhabitants. "Let us mount a cockade!" he cried, and +tore a leaf from a tree to serve his purpose - the green cockade of +hope. + +Enthusiasm swept the crowd, a motley crowd made up of men and women +of every class, from vagabond to nobleman, from harlot to lady of +fashion. Trees were despoiled of their leaves, and the green +cockade was flaunted from almost every head. + +"You are caught between two fires," the incendiary's stuttering +voice raved on. "Between the Germans on the Champ de Mars and the +Swiss in the Bastille. To arms, then! To arms!" + +Excitement boiled up and over. From a neighbouring waxworks show +came the bust of Necker, and presently a bust of that comedian the +Duke of Orleans, who had a party and who was as ready as any other +of the budding opportunists of those days to take advantage of the +moment for his own aggrandizement. The bust of Necker was draped +with crepe. + +Andre-Louis looked on, and grew afraid. Marat's pamphlet had +impressed him. It had expressed what himself he had expressed more +than half a year ago to the mob at Rennes. This crowd, he felt +must be restrained. That hot-headed, irresponsible stutterer would +have the town in a blaze by night unless something were done. The +young man, a causeless advocate of the Palais named Camille +Desmoulins, later to become famous, leapt down from his table still +waving his sword, still shouting, "To arms! Follow me!" +Andre-Louis advanced to occupy the improvised rostrum, which the +stutterer had just vacated, to make an effort at counteracting that +inflammatory performance. He thrust through the crowd, and came +suddenly face to face with a tall man beautifully dressed, whose +handsome countenance was sternly set, whose great sombre eyes +mouldered as if with suppressed anger. + +Thus face to face, each looking into the eyes of the other, they +stood for a long moment, the jostling crowd streaming past them, +unheeded. Then Andre-Louis laughed. + +"That fellow, too, has a very dangerous gift of eloquence, M. le +Marquis," he said. "In fact there are a number of such in France +to-day. They grow from the soil, which you and yours have irrigated +with the blood of the martyrs of liberty. Soon it may be your blood +instead. The soil is parched, and thirsty for it." + +"Gallows-bird!" he was answered. "The police will do your affair +for you. I shall tell the Lieutenant-General that you are to be +found in Paris." + +"My God, man!" cried Andre-Louis, "will you never get sense? Will +you talk like that of Lieutenant-Generals when Paris itself is +likely to tumble about your ears or take fire under your feet? +Raise your voice, M. le Marquis. Denounce me here, to these. You +will make a hero of me in such an hour as this. Or shall I denounce +you? I think I will. I think it is high time you received your +wages. Hi! You others, listen to me! Let me present you to... " + +A rush of men hurtled against him, swept him along with them, do +what he would, separating him from M. de La Tour d'Azyr, so oddly +met. He sought to breast that human torrent; the Marquis, caught +in an eddy of it, remained where he had been, and Andre-Louis' last +glimpse of him was of a man smiling with tight lips, an ugly smile. + +Meanwhile the gardens were emptying in the wake of that stuttering +firebrand who had mounted the green cockade. The human torrent +poured out into the Rue de Richelieu, and Andre-Louis perforce must +suffer himself to be borne along by it, at least as far as the Rue +du Hasard. There he sidled out of it, and having no wish to be +crushed to death or to take further part in the madness that was +afoot, he slipped down the street, and so got home to the deserted +academy. For there were no pupils to-day, and even M. des Amis, +like Andre-Louis, had gone out to seek for news of what was +happening at Versailles. + +This was no normal state of things at the Academy of Bertrand des +Amis. Whatever else in Paris might have been at a standstill lately, +the fencing academy had flourished as never hitherto. Usually both +the master and his assistant were busy from morning until dusk, and +already Andre-Louis was being paid now by the lessons that he gave, +the master allowing him one half of the fee in each case for himself, +an arrangement which the assistant found profitable. On Sundays the +academy made half-holiday; but on this Sunday such had been the +state of suspense and ferment in the city that no one having +appeared by eleven o'clock both des Amis and Andre-Louis had gone +out. Little they thought as they lightly took leave of each other + - they were very good friends by now - that they were never to +meet again in this world. + +Bloodshed there was that day in Paris. On the Place Vendome a +detachment of dragoons awaited the crowd out of which Andre-Louis +had slipped. The horsemen swept down upon the mob, dispersed it, +smashed the waxen effigy of M. Necker, and killed one man on the +spot - an unfortunate French Guard who stood his ground. That was +a beginning. As a consequence Besenval brought up his Swiss from +the Champ de Mars and marshalled them in battle order on the Champs +Elysees with four pieces of artillery. His dragoons he stationed +in the Place Louis XV. That evening an enormous crowd, streaming +along the Champs Elysees and the Tuileries Gardens, considered with +eyes of alarm that warlike preparation. Some insults were cast +upon those foreign mercenaries and some stones were flung. Besenval, +losing his head, or acting under orders, sent for his dragoons and +ordered them to disperse the crowd, But that crowd was too dense to +be dispersed in this fashion; so dense that it was impossible for +the horsemen to move without crushing some one. There were several +crushed, and as a consequence when the dragoons, led by the Prince +de Lambesc, advanced into the Tuileries Gardens, the outraged crowd +met them with a fusillade of stones and bottles. Lambesc gave the +order to fire. There was a stampede. Pouring forth from the +Tuileries through the city went those indignant people with their +story of German cavalry trampling upon women and children, and +uttering now in grimmest earnest the call to arms, raised at noon +by Desmoulins in the Palais Royal. + +The victims were taken up and borne thence, and amongst them was +Bertrand des Amis, himself - like all who lived by the sword - an +ardent upholder of the noblesse, trampled to death under hooves of +foreign horsemen launched by the noblesse and led by a nobleman. + +To Andre-Louis, waiting that evening on the second floor of No. 13 +Rue du Hasard for the return of his friend and master, four men of +the people brought that broken body of one of the earliest victims +of the Revolution that was now launched in earnest. + + + +CHAPTER III + +PRESIDENT LE CHAPELIER + + +The ferment of Paris which, during the two following days, resembled +an armed camp rather than a city, delayed the burial of Bertrand +des Amis until the Wednesday of that eventful week. Amid events +that were shaking a nation to its foundations the death of a +fencing-master passed almost unnoticed even among his pupils, most +of whom did not come to the academy during the two days that his +body lay there. Some few, however, did come, and these conveyed the +news to others, with the result that the master was followed to Pere +Lachaise by a score of young men at the head of whom as chief mourner +walked Andre-Louis. + +There were no relatives to be advised so far as Andre-Louis was +aware, although within a week of M. des Amis' death a sister turned +up from Passy to claim his heritage. This was considerable, for the +master had prospered and saved money, most of which was invested in +the Compagnie des Eaux and the National Debt. Andre-Louis consigned +her to the lawyers, and saw her no more. + +The death of des Amis left him with so profound a sense of loneliness +and desolation that he had no thought or care for the sudden access +of fortune which it automatically procured him. To the master's +sister might fall such wealth as he had amassed, but Andre-Louis +succeeded to the mine itself from which that wealth had been +extracted, the fencing-school in which by now he was himself so well +established as an instructor that its numerous pupils looked to him +to carry it forward successfully as its chief. And never was there +a season in which fencing-academies knew such prosperity as in these +troubled days, when every man was sharpening his sword and schooling +himself in the uses of it. + +It was not until a couple of weeks later that Andre-Louis realized +what had really happened to him, and he found himself at the same +time an exhausted man, for during that fortnight he had been doing +the work of two. If he had not hit upon the happy expedient of +pairing-off his more advanced pupils to fence with each other, +himself standing by to criticize, correct and otherwise instruct, +he must have found the task utterly beyond his strength. Even so, +it was necessary for him to fence some six hours daily, and every +day he brought arrears of lassitude from yesterday until he was in +danger of succumbing under the increasing burden of fatigue. In +the end he took an assistant to deal with beginners, who gave the +hardest work. He found him readily enough by good fortune in one +of his own pupils named Le Duc. As the summer advanced, and the +concourse of pupils steadily increased, it became necessary for him +to take yet another assistant - an able young instructor named +Galoche - and another room on the floor above. + +They were strenuous days for Andre-Louis, more strenuous than he +had ever known, even when he had been at work to build up the Binet +Company; but it follows that they were days of extraordinary +prosperity. He comments regretfully upon the fact that Bertrand des +Amis should have died by ill-chance on the very eve of so profitable +a vogue of sword-play. + +The arms of the Academie du Roi, to which Andre-Louis had no title, +still continued to be displayed outside his door. He had overcome +the difficulty in a manner worthy of Scaramouche. He left the +escutcheon and the legend "Academie de Bertrand des Amis, Maitre en +fait d'Armes des Academies du Roi," appending to it the further +legend: "Conducted by Andre-Louis." + +With little time now in which to go abroad it was from his pupils +and the newspapers - of which a flood had risen in Paris with the +establishment of the freedom of the Press - that he learnt of the +revolutionary processes around him, following upon, as a measure +of anticlimax, the fall of the Bastille. That had happened whilst +M. des Amis lay dead, on the day before they buried him, and was +indeed the chief reason of the delay in his burial. It was an +event that had its inspiration in that ill-considered charge of +Prince Lambesc in which the fencing-master had been killed. + +The outraged people had besieged the electors in the Hotel de Ville, +demanding arms with which to defend their lives from these foreign +murderers hired by despotism. And in the end the electors had +consented to give them arms, or, rather - for arms it had none to +give - to permit them to arm themselves. Also it had given them a +cockade, of red and blue, the colours of Paris. Because these +colours were also those of the liveries of the Duke of Orleans, +white was added to them - the white of the ancient standard of +France - and thus was the tricolour born. Further, a permanent +committee of electors was appointed to watch over public order. + +Thus empowered the people went to work with such good effect that +within thirty-six hours sixty thousand pikes had been forged. At +nine o'clock on Tuesday morning thirty thousand men were before the +Invalides. By eleven o'clock they had ravished it of its store of +arms amounting to some thirty thousand muskets, whilst others had +seized the Arsenal and possessed themselves of powder. + +Thus they prepared to resist the attack that from seven points was +to be launched that evening upon the city. But Paris did not wait +for the attack. It took the initiative. Mad with enthusiasm it +conceived the insane project of taking that terrible menacing +fortress, the Bastille, and, what is more, it succeeded, as you +know, before five o'clock that night, aided in the enterprise by +the French Guards with cannon. + +The news of it, borne to Versailles by Lambesc in flight with his +dragoons before the vast armed force that had sprouted from the +paving-stones of Paris, gave the Court pause. The people were in +possession of the guns captured from the Bastille. They were +erecting barricades in the streets, and mounting these guns upon +them. The attack had been too long delayed. It must be abandoned +since now it could lead only to fruitless slaughter that must +further shake the already sorely shaken prestige of Royalty. + +And so the Court, growing momentarily wise again under the spur of +fear, preferred to temporize. Necker should be brought back yet +once again, the three orders should sit united as the National +Assembly demanded. It was the completest surrender of force to +force, the only argument. The King went alone to inform the +National Assembly of that eleventh-hour resolve, to the great +comfort of its members, who viewed with pain and alarm the dreadful +state of things in Paris. "No force but the force of reason and +argument" was their watchword, and it was so to continue for two +years yet, with a patience and fortitude in the face of ceaseless +provocation to which insufficient justice has been done. + +As the King was leaving the Assembly, a woman, embracing his knees, +gave tongue to what might well be the question of all France: + +"Ah, sire, are you really sincere? Are you sure they will not +make you change your mind?" + +Yet no such question was asked when a couple of days later the King, +alone and unguarded save by the representatives of the Nation, came +to Paris to complete the peacemaking, the surrender of Privilege. +The Court was filled with terror by the adventure. Were they not +the "enemy," these mutinous Parisians? And should a King go thus +among his enemies? If he shared some of that fear, as the gloom of +him might lead us to suppose, he must have found it idle. What if +two hundred thousand men under arms - men without uniforms and with +the most extraordinary motley of weapons ever seen - awaited him? +They awaited him as a guard of honour. + +Mayor Bailly at the barrier presented him with the keys of the city. +"These are the same keys that were presented to Henri IV. He had +reconquered his people. Now the people have reconquered their King." + +At the Hotel de Ville Mayor Bailly offered him the new cockade, the +tricoloured symbol of constitutional France, and when he had given +his royal confirmation to the formation of the Garde Bourgeoise and +to the appointments of Bailly and Lafayette, he departed again for +Versailles amid the shouts of "Vive le Roi!" from his loyal people. + +And now you see Privilege - before the cannon's mouth, as it were + - submitting at last, where had they submitted sooner they might +have saved oceans of blood - chiefly their own. They come, nobles +and clergy, to join the National Assembly, to labour with it upon +this constitution that is to regenerate France. But the reunion +is a mockery - as much a mockery as that of the Archbishop of Paris +singing the Te Deum for the fall of the Bastille - most grotesque +and incredible of all these grotesque and incredible events. All +that has happened to the National Assembly is that it has introduced +five or six hundred enemies to hamper and hinder its deliberations. + +But all this is an oft-told tale, to be read in detail elsewhere. +I give you here just so much of it as I have found in Andre-Louis' +own writings, almost in his own words, reflecting the changes that +were operated in his mind. Silent now, he came fully to believe +in those things in which he had not believed when earlier he had +preached them. + +Meanwhile together with the change in his fortune had come a change +in his position towards the law, a change brought about by the +other changes wrought around him. No longer need he hide himself. +Who in these days would prefer against him the grotesque charge of +sedition for what he had done in Brittany? What court would dare +to send him to the gallows for having said in advance what all +France was saying now? As for that other possible charge of murder, +who should concern himself with the death of the miserable Binet +killed by him - if, indeed, he had killed him, as he hoped - in +self-defence. + +And so one fine day in early August, Andre-Louis gave himself a +holiday from the academy, which was now working smoothly under his +assistants, hired a chaise and drove out to Versailles to the Café +d'Amaury, which he knew for the meeting-place of the Club Breton, +the seed from which was to spring that Society of the Friends of +the Constitution better known as the Jacobins. He went to seek +Le Chapelier, who had been one of the founders of the club, a man +of great prominence now, president of the Assembly in this important +season when it was deliberating upon the Declaration of the Rights +of Man. + +Le Chapelier's importance was reflected in the sudden servility of +the shirt-sleeved, white-aproned waiter of whom Andre-Louis inquired +for the representative. + +M. Le Chapelier was above-stairs with friends. The waiter desired +to serve the gentleman, but hesitated to break in upon the assembly +in which M. le Depute found himself. + +Andre-Louis gave him a piece of silver to encourage him to make the +attempt. Then he sat down at a marble-topped table by the window +looking out over the wide tree-encircled square. There, in that +common-room of the café, deserted at this hour of mid-afternoon, the +great man came to him. Less than a year ago he had yielded precedence +to Andre-Louis in a matter of delicate leadership; to-day he stood +on the heights, one of the great leaders of the Nation in travail, +and Andre-Louis was deep down in the shadows of the general mass. + +The thought was in the minds of both as they scanned each other, +each noting in the other the marked change that a few months had +wrought. In Le Chapelier, Andre-Louis observed certain heightened +refinements of dress that went with certain subtler refinements of +countenance. He was thinner than of old, his face was pale and +there was a weariness in the eyes that considered his visitor +through a gold-rimmed spy-glass. In Andre-Louis those jaded but +quick-moving eyes of the Breton deputy noted changes even more +marked. The almost constant swordmanship of these last months had +given Andre-Louis a grace of movement, a poise, and a curious, +indefinable air of dignity, of command. He seemed taller by virtue +of this, and he was dressed with an elegance which if quiet was +none the less rich. He wore a small silver-hilted sword, and wore +it as if used to it, and his black hair that Le Chapelier had never +seen other than fluttering lank about his bony cheeks was glossy +now and gathered into a club. Almost he had the air of a +petit-maitre. + +In both, however, the changes were purely superficial, as each was +soon to reveal to the other. Le Chapelier was ever the same direct +and downright Breton, abrupt of manner and of speech. He stood +smiling a moment in mingled surprise and pleasure; then opened wide +his arms. They embraced under the awe-stricken gaze of the waiter, +who at once effaced himself. + +"Andre-Louis, my friend! Whence do you drop?" + +"We drop from above. I come from below to survey at close quarters +one who is on the heights." + +"On the heights! But that you willed it so, it is yourself might +now be standing in my place." + +"I have a poor head for heights, and I find the atmosphere too +rarefied. Indeed, you look none too well on it yourself, Isaac. +You are pale." + +"The Assembly was in session all last night. That is all. These +damned Privileged multiply our difficulties. They will do so until +we decree their abolition." + +They sat down. "Abolition! You contemplate so much? Not that you +surprise me. You have always been an extremist." + +"I contemplate it that I may save them. I seek to abolish them +officially, so as to save them from abolition of another kind at +the hands of a people they exasperate." + +"I see. And the King?" + +"The King is the incarnation of the Nation. We shall deliver him +together with the Nation from the bondage of Privilege. Our +constitution will accomplish it. You agree?" + +Andre-Louis shrugged. "Does it matter? I am a dreamer in politics, +not a man of action. Until lately I have been very moderate; more +moderate than you think. But now almost I am a republican. I have +been watching, and I have perceived that this King is - just nothing, +a puppet who dances according to the hand that pulls the string." + +"This King, you say? What other king is possible? You are surely +not of those who weave dreams about Orleans? He has a sort of +party, a following largely recruited by the popular hatred of the +Queen and the known fact that she hates him. There are some who +have thought of making him regent, some even more; Robespierre is +of the number." + +"Who?" asked Andre-Louis, to whom the name was unknown. + +"Robespierre - a preposterous little lawyer who represents Arras, +a shabby, clumsy, timid dullard, who will make speeches through +his nose to which nobody listens - an ultra-royalist whom the +royalists and the Orleanists are using for their own ends. He +has pertinacity, and he insists upon being heard. He may be +listened to some day. But that he, or the others, will ever make +anything of Orleans... pish! Orleans himself may desire it, but +the man is a eunuch in crime; he would, but he can't. The phrase +is Mirabeau's." + +He broke off to demand Andre-Louis' news of himself. + +"You did not treat me as a friend when you wrote to me," he +complained. "You gave me no clue to your whereabouts; you +represented yourself as on the verge of destitution and withheld +from me the means to come to your assistance. I have been troubled +in mind about you, Andre. Yet to judge by your appearance I might +have spared myself that. You seem prosperous, assured. Tell me +of it." + +Andre-Louis told him frankly all that there was to tell. "Do you +know that you are an amazement to me?" said the deputy. "From the +robe to the buskin, and now from the buskin to the sword! What +will be the end of you, I wonder?" + +"The gallows, probably." + +"Pish! Be serious. Why not the toga of the senator in senatorial +France? It might be yours now if you had willed it so." + +"The surest way to the gallows of all," laughed Andre-Louis. + +At the moment Le Chapelier manifested impatience. I wonder did the +phrase cross his mind that day four years later when himself he rode +in the death-cart to the Greve. + +"We are sixty-six Breton deputies in the Assembly. Should a vacancy +occur, will you act as suppleant? A word from me together with the +influence of your name in Rennes and Nantes, and the thing is done." + +Andre-Louis laughed outright. "Do you know, Isaac, that I never +meet you but you seek to thrust me into politics?" + +"Because you have a gift for politics. You were born for politics." + +"Ah, yes - Scaramouche in real life. I've played it on the stage. +Let that suffice. Tell me, Isaac, what news of my old friend, La +Tour d'Azyr?" + +"He is here in Versailles, damn him - a thorn in the flesh of +the Assembly. They've burnt his chateau at La Tour d'Azyr. +Unfortunately he wasn't in it at the time. The flames haven't even +singed his insolence. He dreams that when this philosophic +aberration is at an end, there will be serfs to rebuild it for him." + +"So there has been trouble in Brittany?" Andre-Louis had become +suddenly grave, his thoughts swinging to Gavrillac. + +"An abundance of it, and elsewhere too. Can you wonder? These +delays at such a time, with famine in the land? Chateaux have been +going up in smoke during the last fortnight. The peasants took +their cue from the Parisians, and treated every castle as a Bastille. +Order is being restored, there as here, and they are quieter now." + +"What of Gavrillac? Do you know?" + +"I believe all to be well. M. de Kercadiou was not a Marquis de La +Tour d'Azyr. He was in sympathy with his people. It is not likely +that they would injure Gavrillac. But don't you correspond with +your godfather?" + +"In the circumstances - no. What you tell me would make it now more +difficult than ever, for he must account me one of those who helped +to light the torch that has set fire to so much belonging to his +class. Ascertain for me that all is well, and let me know." + +"I will, at once." + +At parting, when Andre-Louis was on the point of stepping into his +cabriolet to return to Paris, he sought information on another +matter. + +"Do you happen to know if M. de La Tour d'Azyr has married?" he +asked. + +"I don't; which really means that he hasn't. One would have heard +of it in the case of that exalted Privileged." + +"To be sure." Andre-Louis spoke indifferently. "Au revoir, Isaac! +You'll come and see me - 13 Rue du Hasard. Come soon." + +"As soon and as often as my duties will allow. They keep me chained +here at present." + +"Poor slave of duty with your gospel of liberty!" + +"True! And because of that I will come. I have a duty to Brittany: +to make Omnes Omnibus one of her representatives in the National +Assembly." + +"That is a duty you will oblige me by neglecting," laughed +Andre-Louis, and drove away. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AT MEUDON + + +Later in the week he received a visit from Le Chapelier just before +noon. + +"I have news for you, Andre. Your godfather is at Meudon. He +arrived there two days ago. Had you heard?" + +"But no. How should I hear? Why is he at Meudon?" He was conscious +of a faint excitement, which he could hardly have explained. + +"I don't know. There have been fresh disturbances in Brittany. It +may be due to that." + +"And so he has come for shelter to his brother?" asked Andre-Louis. + +"To his brother's house, yes; but not to his brother. Where do you +live at all, Andre? Do you never hear any of the news? Etienne de +Gavrillac emigrated years ago. He was of the household of M. +d'Artois, and he crossed the frontier with him. By now, no doubt, +he is in Germany with him, conspiring against France. For that is +what the emigres are doing. That Austrian woman at the Tuileries +will end by destroying the monarchy." + +"Yes, yes," said Andre-Louis impatiently. Politics interested him +not at all this morning. "But about Gavrillac?" + +"Why, haven't I told you that Gavrillac is at Meudon, installed in +the house his brother has left? Dieu de Dieu! Don't I speak French +or don't you understand the language? I believe that Rabouillet, +his intendant, is in charge of Gavrillac. I have brought you the +news the moment I received it. I thought you would probably wish to +go out to Meudon." + +"Of course. I will go at once - that is, as soon as I can. I can't +to-day, nor yet to-morrow. I am too busy here." He waved a hand +towards the inner room, whence proceeded the click-click of blades, +the quick moving of feet, and the voice of the instructor, Le Duc. + +"Well, well, that is your own affair. You are busy. I leave you now. +Let us dine this evening at the Café de Foy. Kersain will be of the +party." + +"A moment!" Andre-Louis' voice arrested him on the threshold. "Is +Mlle. de Kercadiou with her uncle?" + +"How the devil should I know? Go and find out." + +He was gone, and Andre-Louis stood there a moment deep in thought. +Then he turned and went back to resume with his pupil, the Vicomte +de Villeniort, the interrupted exposition of the demi-contre of +Danet, illustrating with a small-sword the advantages to be derived +from its adoption. + +Thereafter he fenced with the Vicomte, who was perhaps the ablest +of his pupils at the time, and all the while his thoughts were on +the heights of Meudon, his mind casting up the lessons he had to +give that afternoon and on the morrow, and wondering which of these +he might postpone without deranging the academy. When having touched +the Vicomte three times in succession, he paused and wrenched himself +back to the present, it was to marvel at the precision to be gained +by purely mechanical action. Without bestowing a thought upon what +he was doing, his wrist and arm and knees had automatically performed +their work, like the accurate fighting engine into which constant +practice for a year and more had combined them. + +Not until Sunday was Andre-Louis able to satisfy a wish which the +impatience of the intervening days had converted into a yearning. +Dressed with more than ordinary care, his head elegantly coiffed + - by one of those hairdressers to the nobility of whom so many +were being thrown out of employment by the stream of emigration +which was now flowing freely - Andre-Louis mounted his hired +carriage, and drove out to Meudon. + +The house of the younger Kercadiou no more resembled that of the +head of the family than did his person. A man of the Court, where +his brother was essentially a man of the soil, an officer of the +household of M. le Comte d'Artois, he had built for himself and his +family an imposing villa on the heights of Meudon in a miniature +park, conveniently situated for him midway between Versailles and +Paris, and easily accessible from either. M. d'Artois - the royal +tennis-player - had been amongst the very first to emigrate. +Together with the Condes, the Contis, the Polignacs, and others of +the Queen's intimate council, old Marshal de Broglie and the Prince +de Lambesc, who realized that their very names had become odious to +the people, he had quitted France immediately after the fall of the +Bastille. He had gone to play tennis beyond the frontier - and +there consummate the work of ruining the French monarchy upon which +he and those others had been engaged in France. With him, amongst +several members of his household went Etienne de Kercadiou, and with +Etienne de Kercadiou went his family, a wife and four children. +Thus it was that the Seigneur de Gavrillac, glad to escape from a +province so peculiarly disturbed as that of Brittany - where the +nobles had shown themselves the most intransigent of all France +- had come to occupy in his brother's absence the courtier's +handsome villa at Meudon. + +That he was quite happy there is not to be supposed. A man of his +almost Spartan habits, accustomed to plain fare and self-help, was +a little uneasy in this sybaritic abode, with its soft carpets, +profusion of gilding, and battalion of sleek, silent-footed servants + - for Kercadiou the younger had left his entire household behind. +Time, which at Gavrillac he had kept so fully employed in agrarian +concerns, here hung heavily upon his hands. In self-defence he +slept a great deal, and but for Aline, who made no attempt to +conceal her delight at this proximity to Paris and the heart of +things, it is possible that he would have beat a retreat almost at +once from surroundings that sorted so ill with his habits. Later +on, perhaps, he would accustom himself and grow resigned to this +luxurious inactivity. In the meantime the novelty of it fretted +him, and it was into the presence of a peevish and rather somnolent +M. de Kercadiou that Andre-Louis was ushered in the early hours of +the afternoon of that Sunday in June. He was unannounced, as had +ever been the custom at Gavrillac. This because Benoit, M. de +Kercadiou's old seneschal, had accompanied his seigneur upon this +soft adventure, and was installed - to the ceaseless and but +half-concealed hilarity of the impertinent valetaille that M. +Etienne had left - as his maitre d'hotel here at Meudon. + +Benoit had welcomed M. Andre with incoherencies of delight; almost +had he gambolled about him like some faithful dog, whilst conducting +him to the salon and the presence of the Lord of Gavrillac, who +would - in the words of Benoit - be ravished to see M. Andre again. + +"Monseigneur! Monseigneur!" he cried in a quavering voice, entering +a pace or two in advance of the visitor. "It is M. Andre... M. +Andre, your godson, who comes to kiss your hand. He is here... and +so fine that you would hardly know him. Here he is, monseigneur! Is +he not beautiful?" + +And the old servant rubbed his hands in conviction of the delight +that he believed he was conveying to his master. + +Andre-Louis crossed the threshold of that great room, soft-carpeted +to the foot, dazzling to the eye. It was immensely lofty, and its +festooned ceiling was carried on fluted pillars with gilded capitals. +The door by which he entered, and the windows that opened upon the +garden, were of an enormous height - almost, indeed, the full height +of the room itself. It was a room overwhelmingly gilded, with an +abundance of ormolu encrustations on the furniture, in which it +nowise differed from what was customary in the dwellings of people +of birth and wealth. Never, indeed, was there a time in which so +much gold was employed decoratively as in this age when coined gold +was almost unprocurable, and paper money had been put into +circulation to supply the lack. It was a saying of Andre-Louis' +that if these people could only have been induced to put the paper +on their walls and the gold into their pockets, the finances of the +kingdom might soon have been in better case. + +The Seigneur - furbished and beruffled to harmonize with his +surroundings - had risen, startled by this exuberant invasion on +the part of Benoit, who had been almost as forlorn as himself since +their coming to Meudon. + +"What is it? Eh?" His pale, short-sighted eyes peered at the +visitor. "Andre!" said he, between surprise and sternness; and the +colour deepened in his great pink face. + +Benoit, with his back to his master, deliberately winked and grinned +at Andre-Louis to encourage him not to be put off by any apparent +hostility on the part of his godfather. That done, the intelligent +old fellow discreetly effaced himself. + +"What do you want here?" growled M. de Kercadiou. + +"No more than to kiss your hand, as Benoit has told you, monsieur my +godfather," said Andre-Louis submissively, bowing his sleek black head. + +"You have contrived without kissing it for two years." + +"Do not, monsieur, reproach me with my misfortune." + +The little man stood very stiffly erect, his disproportionately large +head thrown back, his pale prominent eyes very stern. + +"Did you think to make your outrageous offence any better by vanishing +in that heartless manner, by leaving us without knowledge of whether +you were alive or dead?" + +"At first it was dangerous - dangerous to my life - to disclose my +whereabouts. Then for a time I was in need, almost destitute, and +my pride forbade me, after what I had done and the view you must +take of it, to appeal to you for help. Later... " + +"Destitute?" The Seigneur interrupted. For a moment his lip +trembled. Then he steadied himself, and the frown deepened as he +surveyed this very changed and elegant godson of his, noted the +quiet richness of his apparel, the paste buckles and red heels to +his shoes, the sword hilted in mother-o'-pearl and silver, and the +carefully dressed hair that he had always seen hanging in wisps +about his face. "At least you do not look destitute now," he +sneered. + +"I am not. I have prospered since. In that, monsieur, I differ +from the ordinary prodigal, who returns only when he needs +assistance. I return solely because I love you, monsieur - to tell +you so. I have come at the very first moment after hearing of your +presence here." He advanced. "Monsieur my godfather!" he said, +and held out his hand. + +But M. de Kercadiou remained unbending, wrapped in his cold dignity +and resentment. + +"Whatever tribulations you may have suffered or consider that you +may have suffered, they are far less than your disgraceful conduct +deserved, and I observe that they have nothing abated your impudence. +You think that you have but to come here and say, 'Monsieur my +godfather!' and everything is to be forgiven and forgotten. That +is your error. You have committed too great a wrong; you have +offended against everything by which I hold, and against myself +personally, by your betrayal of my trust in you. You are one of +those unspeakable scoundrels who are responsible for this revolution." + +"Alas, monsieur, I see that you share the common delusion. These +unspeakable scoundrels but demanded a constitution, as was promised +them from the throne. They were not to know that the promise was +insincere, or that its fulfilment would be baulked by the privileged +orders. The men who have precipitated this revolution, monsieur, +are the nobles and the prelates." + +"You dare - and at such a time as this - stand there and tell me +such abominable lies! You dare to say that the nobles have made +the revolution, when scores of them, following the example of M. le +Duc d'Aiguillon, have flung their privileges, even their title-deeds, +into the lap of the people! Or perhaps you deny it?" + +"Oh, no. Having wantonly set fire to their house, they now try to +put it out by throwing water on it; and where they fail they put the +entire blame on the flames." + +"I see that you have come here to talk politics." + +"Far from it. I have come, if possible, to explain myself. To +understand is always to forgive. That is a great saying of +Montaigne's. If I could make you understand... " + +"You can't. You'll never make me understand how you came to render +yourself so odiously notorious in Brittany." + +"Ah, not odiously, monsieur!" + +"Certainly, odiously - among those that matter. It is said even +that you were Omnes Omnibus, though that I cannot, will not believe." + +"Yet it is true." + +M. de Kercadiou choked. "And you confess it? You dare to confess +it?" + +"What a man dares to do, he should dare to confess - unless he is +a coward." + +"Oh, and to be sure you were very brave, running away each time +after you had done the mischief, turning comedian to hide yourself, +doing more mischief as a comedian, provoking a riot in Nantes, and +then running away again, to become God knows what - something +dishonest by the affluent look of you. My God, man, I tell you that +in these past two years I have hoped that you were dead, and you +profoundly disappoint me that you are not!" He beat his hands +together, and raised his shrill voice to call - "Benoit!" He strode +away towards the fireplace, scarlet in the face, shaking with the +passion into which he had worked himself. "Dead, I might have +forgiven you, as one who had paid for his evil, and his folly. +Living, I never can forgive you. You have gone too far. God alone +knows where it will end. + +"Benoit, the door. M. Andre-Louis Moreau to the door!" The tone +argued an irrevocable determination. Pale and self-contained, but +with a queer pain at his heart, Andre-Louis heard that dismissal, +saw Benoit's white, scared face and shaking hands half-raised as +if he were about to expostulate with his master. And then another +voice, a crisp, boyish voice, cut in. + +"Uncle!" it cried, a world of indignation and surprise in its pitch, +and then: "Andre!" And this time a note almost of gladness, +certainly of welcome, was blended with the surprise that still +remained. + +Both turned, half the room between them at the moment, and beheld +Aline in one of the long, open windows, arrested there in the act +of entering from the garden, Aline in a milk-maid bonnet of the +latest mode, though without any of the tricolour embellishments +that were so commonly to be seen upon them. + +The thin lips of Andre's long mouth twisted into a queer smile. +Into his mind had flashed the memory of their last parting. He +saw himself again, standing burning with indignation upon the +pavement of Nantes, looking after her carriage as it receded down +the Avenue de Gigan. + +She was coming towards him now with outstretched hands, a heightened +colour in her cheeks, a smile of welcome on her lips. He bowed low +and kissed her hand in silence. + +Then with a glance and a gesture she dismissed Benoit, and in her +imperious fashion constituted herself Andre's advocate against that +harsh dismissal which she had overheard. + +"Uncle," she said, leaving Andre and crossing to M. de Kercadiou, +"you make me ashamed of you! To allow a feeling of peevishness to +overwhelm all your affection for Andre!" + +"I have no affection for him. I had once. He chose to extinguish +it. He can go to the devil; and please observe that I don't permit +you to interfere." + +"But if he confesses that he has done wrong... " + +"He confesses nothing of the kind. He comes here to argue with me +about these infernal Rights of Man. He proclaims himself +unrepentant. He announces himself with pride to have been, as all +Brittany says, the scoundrel who hid himself under the sobriquet +of Omnes Omnibus. Is that to be condoned?" + +She turned to look at Andre across the wide space that now separated +them. + +"But is this really so? Don't you repent, Andre - now that you see +all the harm that has come?" + +It was a clear invitation to him, a pleading to him to say that he +repented, to make his peace with his godfather. For a moment it +almost moved him. Then, considering the subterfuge unworthy, he +answered truthfully, though the pain he was suffering rang in his +voice. + +"To confess repentance," he said slowly, "would be to confess to a +monstrous crime. Don't you see that? Oh, monsieur, have patience +with me; let me explain myself a little. You say that I am in part +responsible for something of all this that has happened. My +exhortations of the people at Rennes and twice afterwards at Nantes +are said to have had their share in what followed there. It may be +so. It would be beyond my power positively to deny it. Revolution +followed and bloodshed. More may yet come. To repent implies a +recognition that I have done wrong. How shall I say that I have +done wrong, and thus take a share of the responsibility for all +that blood upon my soul? I will be quite frank with you to show +you how far, indeed, I am from repentance. What I did, I actually +did against all my convictions at the time. Because there was no +justice in France to move against the murderer of Philippe de +Vilmorin, I moved in the only way that I imagined could make the +evil done recoil upon the hand that did it, and those other hands +that had the power but not the spirit to punish. Since then I +have come to see that I was wrong, and that Philippe de Vilmorin +and those who thought with him were in the right. + +"You must realize, monsieur, that it is with sincerest thankfulness +that I find I have done nothing calling for repentance; that, on +the contrary, when France is given the inestimable boon of a +constitution, as will shortly happen, I may take pride in having +played my part in bringing about the conditions that have made this +possible." + +There was a pause. M. de Kercadiou's face turned from pink to +purple. + +"You have quite finished?" he said harshly. + +"If you have understood me, monsieur." + +"Oh, I have understood you, and... and I beg that you will go." + +Andre-Louis shrugged his shoulders and hung his head. He had come +there so joyously, in such yearning, merely to receive a final +dismissal. He looked at Aline. Her face was pale and troubled; +but her wit failed to show her how she could come to his assistance. +His excessive honesty had burnt all his boats. + +"Very well, monsieur. Yet this I would ask you to remember after I +am gone. I have not come to you as one seeking assistance, as one +driven to you by need. I am no returning prodigal, as I have said. +I am one who, needing nothing, asking nothing, master of his own +destinies, has come to you driven by affection only, urged by the +love and gratitude he bears you and will continue to bear you." + +"Ah, yes!" cried Aline, turning now to her uncle. Here at least +was an argument in Andre's favour, thought she. "That is true. +Surely that..." + +Inarticulately he hissed her into silence, exasperated. + +"Hereafter perhaps that will help you to think of me more kindly, +monsieur. + +"I see no occasion, sir, to think of you at all. Again, I beg +that you will go." + +Andre-Louis looked at Aline an instant, as if still hesitating. + +She answered him by a glance at her furious uncle, a faint shrug, +and a lift of the eyebrows, dejection the while in her countenance. + +It was as if she said: "You see his mood. There is nothing to be +done." + +He bowed with that singular grace the fencing-room had given him +and went out by the door. + +"Oh, it is cruel!" cried Aline, in a stifled voice, her hands +clenched, and she sprang to the window. + +"Aline!" her uncle's voice arrested her. "Where are you going?" + +"But we do not know where he is to be found." + +"Who wants to find the scoundrel?" + +"We may never see him again." + +"That is most fervently to be desired." + +Aline said "Ouf!" and went out by the window. + +He called after her, imperiously commanding her return. But Aline + - dutiful child - closed her ears lest she must disobey him, and +sped light-footed across the lawn to the avenue there to intercept +the departing Andre-Louis. + +As he came forth wrapped in gloom, she stepped from the bordering +trees into his path. + +"Aline!" he cried, joyously almost. + +"I did not want you to go like this. I couldn't let you," she +explained herself. "I know him better than you do, and I know that +his great soft heart will presently melt. He will be filled with +regret. He will want to send for you, and he will not know where +to send." + +"You think that?" + +"Oh, I know it! You arrive in a bad moment. He is peevish and +cross-grained, poor man, since he came here. These soft +surroundings are all so strange to him. He wearies himself away +from his beloved Gavrillac, his hunting and tillage, and the truth +is that in his mind he very largely blames you for what has happened + - for the necessity, or at least, the wisdom, of this change. +Brittany, you must know, was becoming too unsafe. The chateau of +La Tour d'Azyr, amongst others, was burnt to the ground some months +ago. At any moment, given a fresh excitement, it may be the turn +of Gavrillac. And for this and his present discomfort he blames +you and your friends. But he will come round presently. He will +be sorry that he sent you away like this - for I know that he loves +you, Andre, in spite of all. I shall reason with him when the time +comes. And then we shall want to know where to find you." + +"At number 13, Rue du Hasard. The number is unlucky, the name of +the street appropriate. Therefore both are easy to remember." + +She nodded. "I will walk with you to the gates." And side by +side now they proceeded at a leisurely pace down the long avenue +in the June sunshine dappled by the shadows of the bordering trees. +"You are looking well, Andre; and do you know that you have changed +a deal? I am glad that you have prospered." And then, abruptly +changing the subject before he had time to answer her, she came to +the matter uppermost in her mind. + +"I have so wanted to see you in all these months, Andre. You were +the only one who could help me; the only one who could tell me the +truth, and I was angry with you for never having written to say +where you were to be found." + +"Of course you encouraged me to do so when last we met in Nantes." + +"What? Still resentful?" + +"I am never resentful. You should know that." He expressed one of +his vanities. He loved to think himself a Stoic. "But I still bear +the scar of a wound that would be the better for the balm of your +retraction." + +"Why, then, I retract, Andre. And now tell me." + +"Yes, a self-seeking retraction," said he. "You give me something +that you may obtain something." He laughed quite pleasantly. +"Well, well; command me." + +"Tell me, Andre." She paused, as if in some difficulty, and then +went on, her eyes upon the ground: "Tell me - the truth of that +event at the Feydau." + +The request fetched a frown to his brow. He suspected at once the +thought that prompted it. Quite simply and briefly he gave her +his version of the affair. + +She listened very attentively. When he had done she sighed; her +face was very thoughtful. + +"That is much what I was told," she said. "But it was added that +M. de La Tour d'Azyr had gone to the theatre expressly for the +purpose of breaking finally with La Binet. Do you know if that +was so?" + +"I don't; nor of any reason why it should be so. La Binet +provided him the sort of amusement that he and his kind are forever +craving... " + +"Oh, there was a reason," she interrupted him. "I was the reason. +I spoke to Mme. de Sautron. I told her that I would not continue +to receive one who came to me contaminated in that fashion." She +spoke of it with obvious difficulty, her colour rising as he +watched her half-averted face. + +"Had you listened to me... " he was beginning, when again she +interrupted him. + +"M. de Sautron conveyed my decision to him, and afterwards +represented him to me as a man in despair, repentant, ready to +give proofs - any proofs - of his sincerity and devotion to me. He +told me that M. de La Tour d'Azyr had sworn to him that he would +cut short that affair, that he would see La Binet no more. And +then, on the very next day I heard of his having all but lost his +life in that riot at the theatre. He had gone straight from that +interview with M. de Sautron, straight from those protestations of +future wisdom, to La Binet. I was indignant. I pronounced myself +finally. I stated definitely that I would not in any circumstances +receive M. de La Tour d'Azyr again! And then they pressed this +explanation upon me. For a long time I would not believe it." + +"So that you believe it now," said Andre quickly. "Why?" + +"I have not said that I believe it now. But... but... neither can +I disbelieve. Since we came to Meudon M. de La Tour d'Azyr has been +here, and himself he has sworn to me that it was so." + +"Oh, if M. de La Tour d'Azyr has sworn... " Andre-Louis was +laughing on a bitter note of sarcasm. + +"Have you ever known him lie?" she cut in sharply. That checked +him. "M. de La Tour d'Azyr is, after all, a man of honour, and men +of honour never deal in falsehood. Have you ever known him do so, +that you should sneer as you have done?" + +"No," he confessed. Common justice demanded that he should admit +that virtue at least in his enemy. "I have not known him lie, it +is true. His kind is too arrogant, too self-confident to have +recourse to untruth. But I have known him do things as vile... " + +"Nothing is as vile," she interrupted, speaking from the code by +which she had been reared. "It is for liars only - who are first +cousin to thieves - that there is no hope. It is in falsehood only +that there is real loss of honour." + +"You are defending that satyr, I think," he said frostily. + +"I desire to be just." + +"Justice may seem to you a different matter when at last you shall +have resolved yourself to become Marquise de La Tour d'Azyr." He +spoke bitterly. + +"I don't think that I shall ever take that resolve." + +"But you are still not sure - in spite of everything." + +"Can one ever be sure of anything in this world?" + +"Yes. One can be sure of being foolish." + +Either she did not hear or did not heed him. + +"You do not of your own knowledge know that it was not as M. de La +Tour d'Azyr asserts - that he went to the Feydau that night?" + +"I don't," he admitted. "It is of course possible. But does it +matter?" + +"It might matter. Tell me; what became of La Binet after all?" + +"I don't know." + +"You don't know?" She turned to consider him. "And you can say +it with that indifference! I thought... I thought you loved her, +Andre." + +"So did I, for a little while. I was mistaken. It required a La +Tour d'Azyr to disclose the truth to me. They have their uses, +these gentlemen. They help stupid fellows like myself to perceive +important truths. I was fortunate that revelation in my case +preceded marriage. I can now look back upon the episode with +equanimity and thankfulness for my near escape from the consequences +of what was no more than an aberration of the senses. It is a +thing commonly confused with love. The experience, as you see, was +very instructive." + +She looked at him in frank surprise. + +"Do you know, Andre, I sometimes think that you have no heart." + +"Presumably because I sometimes betray intelligence. And what of +yourself, Aline? What of your own attitude from the outset where +M. de La Tour d'Azyr is concerned? Does that show heart? If I +were to tell you what it really shows, we should end by +quarrelling again, and God knows I can't afford to quarrel with +you now. I... I shall take another way." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Why, nothing at the moment, for you are not in any danger of +marrying that animal." + +"And if I were?" + +"Ah! In that case affection for you would discover to me some +means of preventing it - unless..." He paused. + +"Unless?" she demanded, challengingly, drawn to the full of her +sort height, her eyes imperious. + +"Unless you could also tell me that you loved him," said he simply, +whereat she was as suddenly and most oddly softened. And then he +added, shaking his head: "But that of course is impossible." + +"Why?" she asked him, quite gently now. + +"Because you are what you are, Aline - utterly good and pure and +adorable. Angels do not mate with devils. His wife you might +become, but never his mate, Aline - never." + +They had reached the wrought-iron gates at the end of the avenue. +Through these they beheld the waiting yellow chaise which had +brought Andre-Louis. From near at hand came the creak of other +wheels, the beat of other hooves, and now another vehicle came in +sight, and drew to a stand-still beside the yellow chaise - a +handsome equipage with polished mahogany panels on which the gold +and azure of armorial bearings flashed brilliantly in the sunlight. +A footman swung to earth to throw wide the gates; but in that moment +the lady who occupied the carriage, perceiving Aline, waved to her +and issued a command. + + + +CHAPTER V + +MADAME DE PLOUGASTEL + + +The postilion drew rein, and the footman opened the door, letting +down the steps and proffering his arm to his mistress to assist her +to alight, since that was the wish she had expressed. Then he +opened one wing of the iron gates, and held it for her. She was a +woman of something more than forty, who once must have been very +lovely, who was very lovely still with the refining quality that +age brings to some women. Her dress and carriage alike advertised +great rank. + +"I take my leave here, since you have a visitor," said Andre-Louis. + +"But it is an old acquaintance of your own, Andre. You remember +Mme. la Comtesse de Plougastel?" + +He looked at the approaching lady, whom Aline was now hastening +forward to meet, and because she was named to him he recognized her. +He must, he thought, had he but looked, have recognized her without +prompting anywhere at any time, and this although it was some +sixteen years since last he had seen her. The sight of her now +brought it all back to him - a treasured memory that had never +permitted itself to be entirely overlaid by subsequent events. + +When he was a boy of ten, on the eve of being sent to school at +Rennes, she had come on a visit to his godfather, who was her +cousin. It happened that at the time he was taken by Rabouillet +to the Manor of Gavrillac, and there he had been presented to Mme. +de Plougastel. The great lady, in all the glory then of her +youthful beauty, with her gentle, cultured voice - so cultured +that she had seemed to speak a language almost unknown to the +little Breton lad - and her majestic air of the great world, had +scared him a little at first. Very gently had she allayed those +fears of his, and by some mysterious enchantment she had completely +enslaved his regard. He recalled now the terror in which he had +gone to the embrace to which he was bidden, and the subsequent +reluctance with which he had left those soft round arms. He +remembered, too, how sweetly she had smelled and the very perfume +she had used, a perfume as of lilac - for memory is singularly +tenacious in these matters. + +For three days whilst she had been at Gavrillac, he had gone daily +to the manor, and so had spent hours in her company. A childless +woman with the maternal instinct strong within her, she had taken +this precociously intelligent, wide-eyed lad to her heart. + +"Give him to me, Cousin Quintin," he remembered her saying on the +last of those days to his godfather. "Let me take him back with +me to Versailles as my adopted child." + +But the Seigneur had gravely shaken his head in silent refusal, and +there had been no further question of such a thing. And then, when +she said good-bye to him - the thing came flooding back to him now + - there had been tears in her eyes. + +"Think of me sometimes, Andre-Louis," had been her last words. + +He remembered how flattered he had been to have won within so short +a time the affection of this great lady. The thing had given him a +sense of importance that had endured for months thereafter, finally +to fade into oblivion. + +But all was vividly remembered now upon beholding her again, after +sixteen years, profoundly changed and matured, the girl - for she +had been no more in those old days - sunk in this worldly woman +with the air of calm dignity and complete self-possession. Yet, he +insisted, he must have known her anywhere again. + +Aline embraced her affectionately, and then answering the questioning +glance with faintly raised eyebrows that madame was directing towards +Aline's companion - + +"This is Andre-Louis," she said. "You remember Andre-Louis, madame?" + +Madame checked. Andre-Louis saw the surprise ripple over her face, +taking with it some of her colour, leaving her for a moment +breathless. + +And then the voice - the well-remembered rich, musical voice - richer +and deeper now than of yore, repeated his name: + +"Andre-Louis!" + +Her manner of uttering it suggested that it awakened memories, +memories perhaps of the departed youth with which it was associated. +And she paused a long moment, considering him, a little wide-eyed, +what time he bowed before her. + +"But of course I remember him," she said at last, and came towards +him, putting out her hand. He kissed it dutifully, submissively, +instinctively. "And this is what you have grown into?" She +appraised him, and he flushed with pride at the satisfaction in +her tone. He seemed to have gone back sixteen years, and to be +again the little Breton lad at Gavrillac. She turned to Aline. +"How mistaken Quintin was in his assumptions. He was pleased to +see him again, was he not?" + +"So pleased, madame, that he has shown me the door," said +Andre-Louis. + +"Ah!" She frowned, conning him still with those dark, wistful eyes +of hers. "We must change that, Aline. He is of course very angry +with you. But it is not the way to make converts. I will plead +for you, Andre-Louis. I am a good advocate." + +He thanked her and took his leave. + +"I leave my case in your hands with gratitude. My homage, madame." + +And so it happened that in spite of his godfather's forbidding +reception of him, the fragment of a song was on his lips as his +yellow chaise whirled him back to Paris and the Rue du Hasard. +That meeting with Mme. de Plougastel had enheartened him; her +promise to plead his case in alliance with Aline gave him assurance +that all would be well. + +That he was justified of this was proved when on the following +Thursday towards noon his academy was invaded by M. de Kercadiou. +Gilles, the boy, brought him word of it, and breaking off at once +the lesson upon which he was engaged, he pulled off his mask, and +went as he was - in a chamois waistcoat buttoned to the chin and +with his foil under his arm to the modest salon below, where his +godfather awaited him. + +The florid little Lord of Gavrillac stood almost defiantly to +receive him. + +"I have been over-persuaded to forgive you," he announced +aggressively, seeming thereby to imply that he consented to this +merely so as to put an end to tiresome importunities. + +Andre-Louis was not misled. He detected a pretence adopted by the +Seigneur so as to enable him to retreat in good order. + +"My blessings on the persuaders, whoever they may have been. You +restore me my happiness, monsieur my godfather." + +He took the hand that was proffered and kissed it, yielding to the +impulse of the unfailing habit of his boyish days. It was an act +symbolical of his complete submission, reestablishing between +himself and his godfather the bond of protected and protector, with +all the mutual claims and duties that it carries. No mere words +could more completely have made his peace with this man who loved +him. + +M. de Kercadiou's face flushed a deeper pink, his lip trembled, and +there was a huskiness in the voice that murmured "My dear boy!" +Then he recollected himself, threw back his great head and frowned. +His voice resumed its habitual shrillness. "You realize, I hope, +that you have behaved damnably... damnably, and with the utmost +ingratitude?" + +"Does not that depend upon the point of view?" quoth Andre-Louis, +but his tone was studiously conciliatory. + +"It depends upon a fact, and not upon any point of view. Since I +have been persuaded to overlook it, I trust that at least you have +some intention of reforming." + +"I... I will abstain from politics," said Andre-Louis, that being +the utmost he could say with truth. + +"That is something, at least." His godfather permitted himself to +be mollified, now that a concession - or a seeming concession - had +been made to his just resentment. + +"A chair, monsieur." + +"No, no. I have come to carry you off to pay a visit with me. You +owe it entirely to Mme. de Plougastel that I consent to receive you +again. I desire that you come with me to thank her." + +"I have my engagements here... " began Andre-Louis, and then broke +off. "No matter! I will arrange it. A moment." And he was +turning away to reenter the academy. + +"What are your engagements? You are not by chance a +fencing-instructor?" M. de Kercadiou had observed the leather +waistcoat and the foil tucked under Andre-Louis' arm. + +"I am the master of this academy - the academy of the late Bertrand +des Amis, the most flourishing school of arms in Paris to-day." + +M. de Kercadiou's brows went up. + +"And you are master of it?" + +"Maitre en fait d'Armes. I succeeded to the academy upon the death +of des Amis." + +He left M. Kercadiou to think it over, and went to make his +arrangements and effect the necessary changes in his toilet. + +"So that is why you have taken to wearing a sword," said M. de +Kercadiou, as they climbed into his waiting carriage. + +"That and the need to guard one's self in these times." + +"And do you mean to tell me that a man who lives by what is after +all an honourable profession, a profession mainly supported by the +nobility, can at the same time associate himself with these +peddling attorneys and low pamphleteers who are spreading dissension +and insubordination?" + +"You forget that I am a peddling attorney myself, made so by your +own wishes, monsieur." + +M. de Kercadiou grunted, and took snuff. "You say the academy +flourishes?" he asked presently. + +"It does. I have two assistant instructors. I could employ a third. +It is hard work." + +"That should mean that your circumstances are affluent." + +"I have reason to be satisfied. I have far more than I need." + +"Then you'll be able to do your share in paying off this national +debt," growled the nobleman, well content that as he conceived it + - some of the evil Andre-Louis had helped to sow should recoil +upon him. + +Then the talk veered to Mme. de Plougastel. M. de Kercadiou, +Andre-Louis gathered, but not the reason for it, disapproved most +strongly of this visit. But then Madame la Comtesse was a headstrong +woman whom there was no denying, whom all the world obeyed. M. de +Plougastel was at present absent in Germany, but would shortly be +returning. It was an indiscreet admission from which it was easy +to infer that M. de Plougastel was one of those intriguing emissaries +who came and went between the Queen of France and her brother, the +Emperor of Austria. + +The carriage drew up before a handsome hotel in the Faubourg +Saint-Denis, at the corner of the Rue Paradis, and they were ushered +by a sleek servant into a little boudoir, all gilt and brocade, that +opened upon a terrace above a garden that was a park in miniature. +Here madame awaited them. She rose, dismissing the young person who +had been reading to her, and came forward with both hands outheld to +greet her cousin Kercadiou. + +"I almost feared you would not keep your word," she said. "It was +unjust. But then I hardly hoped that you would succeed in bringing +him." And her glance, gentle, and smiling welcome upon him, +indicated Andre-Louis. + +The young man made answer with formal gallantry. + +"The memory of you, madame, is too deeply imprinted on my heart for +any persuasions to have been necessary." + +"Ah, the courtier!" said madame, and abandoned him her hand. "We +are to have a little talk, Andre-Louis," she informed him, with a +gravity that left him vaguely ill at ease. + +They sat down, and for a while the conversation was of general +matters, chiefly concerned, however, with Andre-Louis, his +occupations and his views. And all the while madame was studying +him attentively with those gentle, wistful eyes, until again that +sense of uneasiness began to pervade him. He realized instinctively +that he had been brought here for some purpose deeper than that +which had been avowed. + +At last, as if the thing were concerted - and the clumsy Lord of +Gavrillac was the last man in the world to cover his tracks - his +godfather rose and, upon a pretext of desiring to survey the garden, +sauntered through the windows on to the terrace, over whose white +stone balustrade the geraniums trailed in a scarlet riot. Thence +he vanished among the foliage below. + +"Now we can talk more intimately," said madame. "Come here, and +sit beside me." She indicated the empty half of the settee she +occupied. + +Andre-Louis went obediently, but a little uncomfortably. "You +know," she said gently, placing a hand upon his arm, "that you have +behaved very ill, that your godfather's resentment is very justly +founded?" + +"Madame, if I knew that, I should be the most unhappy, the most +despairing of men." And he explained himself, as he had explained +himself on Sunday to his godfather. "What I did, I did because it +was the only means to my hand in a country in which justice was +paralyzed by Privilege to make war upon an infamous scoundrel who +had killed my best friend - a wanton, brutal act of murder, which +there was no law to punish. And as if that were not enough - +forgive me if I speak with the utmost frankness, madame - he +afterwards debauched the woman I was to have married." + +"Ah, mon Dieu!" she cried out. + +"Forgive me. I know that it is horrible. You perceive, perhaps, +what I suffered, how I came to be driven. That last affair of which +I am guilty - the riot that began in the Feydau Theatre and +afterwards enveloped the whole city of Nantes - was provoked by +this." + +"Who was she, this girl?" + +It was like a woman, he thought, to fasten upon the unessential. + +"Oh, a theatre girl, a poor fool of whom I have no regrets. La +Binet was her name. I was a player at the time in her father's +troupe. That was after the Rennes business, when it was necessary +to hide from such justice as exists in France - the gallows' +justice for unfortunates who are not 'born.' This added wrong +led me to provoke a riot in the theatre." + +"Poor boy," she said tenderly. "Only a woman's heart can realize +what you must have suffered; and because of that I can so readily +forgive you. But now... " + +"Ah, but you don't understand, madame. If to-day I thought that I +had none but personal grounds for having lent a hand in the holy +work of abolishing Privilege, I think I should cut my throat. My +true justification lies in the insincerity of those who intended +that the convocation of the States General should be a sham, mere +dust in the eyes of the nation." + +"Was it not, perhaps, wise to have been insincere in such a matter?" + +He looked at her blankly. + +"Can it ever be wise, madame, to be insincere?" + +"Oh, indeed it can; believe me, who am twice your age, and know my +world." + +"I should say, madame, that nothing is wise that complicates +existence; and I know of nothing that so complicates it as +insincerity. Consider a moment the complications that have arisen +out of this." + +"But surely, Andre-Louis, your views have not been so perverted +that you do not see that a governing class is a necessity in any +country?" + +"Why, of course. But not necessarily a hereditary one." + +"What else?" + +He answered her with an epigram. "Man, madame, is the child of his +own work. Let there be no inheriting of rights but from such a +parent. Thus a nation's best will always predominate, and such a +nation will achieve greatly." + +"But do you account birth of no importance?" + +"Of none, madame - or else my own might trouble me." From the deep +flush that stained her face, he feared that he had offended by what +was almost an indelicacy. But the reproof that he was expecting +did not come. Instead - + +"And does it not?" she asked. "Never, Andre?" + +"Never, madame. I am content." + +"You have never... never regretted your lack of parents' care?" + +He laughed, sweeping aside her sweet charitable concern that was so +superfluous. "On the contrary, madame, I tremble to think what +they might have made of me, and I am grateful to have had the +fashioning of myself." + +She looked at him for a moment very sadly, and then, smiling, gently +shook her head. + +"You do not want self-satisfaction... Yet I could wish that you +saw things differently, Andre. It is a moment of great +opportunities for a young man of talent and spirit. I could help +you; I could help you, perhaps, to go very far if you would permit +yourself to be helped after my fashion." + +"Yes," he thought, "help me to a halter by sending me on treasonable +missions to Austria on the Queen's behalf, like M. de Plougastel. +That would certainly end in a high position for me." + +Aloud he answered more as politeness prompted. "I am grateful, +madame. But you will see that, holding the ideals I have expressed, +I could not serve any cause that is opposed to their realization." + +"You are misled by prejudice, Andre-Louis, by personal grievances. +Will you allow them to stand in the way of your advancement?" + +"If what I call ideals were really prejudices, would it be honest +of me to run counter to them whilst holding them?" + +"If I could convince you that you are mistaken! I could help you +so much to find a worthy employment for the talents you possess. +In the service of the King you would prosper quickly. Will you +think of it, Andre-Louis, and let us talk of this again?" + +He answered her with formal, chill politeness. + +"I fear that it would be idle, madame. Yet your interest in me is +very flattering, and I thank you. It is unfortunate for me that I +am so headstrong." + +"And now who deals in insincerity?" she asked him. + +"Ah, but you see, madame, it is an insincerity that does not +mislead." + +And then M. de Kercadiou came in through the window again, and +announced fussily that he must be getting back to Meudon, and that +he would take his godson with him and set him down at the Rue du +Hasard. + +"You must bring him again, Quintin," the Countess said, as they +took their leave of her. + +"Some day, perhaps," said M. de Kercadiou vaguely, and swept his +godson out. + +In the carriage he asked him bluntly of what madame had talked. + +"She was very kind - a sweet woman," said Andre-Louis pensively. + +"Devil take you, I didn't ask you the opinion that you presume +to have formed of her. I asked you what she said to you." + +"She strove to point out to me the error of my ways. She spoke of +great things that I might do - to which she would very kindly help +me - if I were to come to my senses. But as miracles do not happen, +I gave her little encouragement to hope." + +"I see. I see. Did she say anything else?" + +He was so peremptory that Andre-Louis turned to look at him. + +"What else did you expect her to say, monsieur my godfather?" + +"Oh, nothing." + +"Then she fulfilled your expectations." + +"Eh? Oh, a thousand devils, why can't you express yourself in a +sensible manner that a plain man can understand without having to +think about it?" + +He sulked after that most of the way to the Rue du Hasard, or so +it seemed to Andre-Louis. At least he sat silent, gloomily +thoughtful to judge by his expression. + +"You may come and see us soon again at Meudon," he told +Andre-Louis at parting. "But please remember - no revolutionary +politics in future, if we are to remain friends." + + + +CHAPTER VI + +POLITICIANS + + +One morning in August the academy in the Rue du Hasard was invaded +by Le Chapelier accompanied by a man of remarkable appearance, whose +herculean stature and disfigured countenance seemed vaguely familiar +to Andre-Louis. He was a man of little, if anything, over thirty, +with small bright eyes buried in an enormous face. His cheek-bones +were prominent, his nose awry, as if it had been broken by a blow, +and his mouth was rendered almost shapeless by the scars of another +injury. (A bull had horned him in the face when he was but a lad.) +As if that were not enough to render his appearance terrible, his +cheeks were deeply pock-marked. He was dressed untidily in a long +scarlet coat that descended almost to his ankles, soiled buckskin +breeches and boots with reversed tops. His shirt, none too clean, +was open at the throat, the collar hanging limply over an unknotted +cravat, displaying fully the muscular neck that rose like a pillar +from his massive shoulders. He swung a cane that was almost a club +in his left hand, and there was a cockade in his biscuit-coloured, +conical hat. He carried himself with an aggressive, masterful air, +that great head of his thrown back as if he were eternally at +defiance. + +Le Chapelier, whose manner was very grave, named him to Andre-Louis. + +"This is M. Danton, a brother-lawyer, President of the Cordeliers, +of whom you will have heard." + +Of course Andre-Louis had heard of him. Who had not, by then? + +Looking at him now with interest, Andre-Louis wondered how it came +that all, or nearly all the leading innovators, were pock-marked. +Mirabeau, the journalist Desmoulins, the philanthropist Marat, +Robespierre the little lawyer from Arras, this formidable fellow +Danton, and several others he could call to mind all bore upon +them the scars of smallpox. Almost he began to wonder was there +any connection between the two. Did an attack of smallpox produce +certain moral results which found expression in this way? + +He dismissed the idle speculation, or rather it was shattered by +the startling thunder of Danton's voice. + +"This -- Chapelier has told me of you. He says that you are a +patriotic --." + +More than by the tone was Andre-Louis startled by the obscenities +with which the Colossus did not hesitate to interlard his first +speech to a total stranger. He laughed outright. There was nothing +else to do. + +"If he has told you that, he has told you more than the truth! I +am a patriot. The rest my modesty compels me to disavow." + +"You're a joker too, it seems," roared the other, but he laughed +nevertheless, and the volume of it shook the windows. "There's no +offence in me. I am like that." + +"What a pity," said Andre-Louis. + +It disconcerted the king of the markets. "Eh? what's this, +Chapelier? Does he give himself airs, your friend here?" + +The spruce Breton, a very petit-maitre in appearance by contrast +with his companion, but nevertheless of a down-right manner quite +equal to Danton's in brutality, though dispensing with the emphasis +of foulness, shrugged as he answered him: + +"It is merely that he doesn't like your manners, which is not at all +surprising. They are execrable." + +"Ah, bah! You are all like that, you -- Bretons. Let's come to +business. You'll have heard what took place in the Assembly +yesterday? You haven't? My God, where do you live? Have you heard +that this scoundrel who calls himself King of France gave passage +across French soil the other day to Austrian troops going to crush +those who fight for liberty in Belgium? Have you heard that, by +any chance?" + +"Yes," said Andre-Louis coldly, masking his irritation before the +other's hectoring manner. "I have heard that." + +"Oh! And what do you think of it?" arms akimbo, the Colossus +towered above him. + +Andre-Louis turned aside to Le Chapelier. + +"I don't think I understand. Have you brought this gentleman here +to examine my conscience?" + +"Name of a name! He's prickly as a - porcupine!" Danton protested. + +"No, no." Le Chapelier was conciliatory, seeking to provide an +antidote to the irritant administered by his companion. "We require +your help, Andre. Danton here thinks that you are the very man for +us. Listen now... " + +"That's it. You tell him," Danton agreed. "You both talk the same +mincing - sort of French. He'll probably understand you." + +Le Chapelier went on without heeding the interruption. "This +violation by the King of the obvious rights of a country engaged +in framing a constitution that shall make it free has shattered +every philanthropic illusion we still cherished. There are those +who go so far as to proclaim the King the vowed enemy of France. +But that, of course, is excessive." + +"Who says so?" blazed Danton, and swore horribly by way of +conveying his total disagreement. + +Le Chapelier waved him into silence, and proceeded. + +"Anyhow, the matter has been more than enough, added to all the +rest, to set us by the ears again in the Assembly. It is open +war between the Third Estate and the Privileged." + +"Was it ever anything else?" + +"Perhaps not; but it has assumed a new character. You'll have +heard of the duel between Lameth and the Duc de Castries?" + +"A trifling affair." + +"In its results. But it might have been far other. Mirabeau is +challenged and insulted now at every sitting. But he goes his +way, cold-bloodedly wise. Others are not so circumspect; they +meet insult with insult, blow with blow, and blood is being shed +in private duels. The thing is reduced by these swordsmen of +the nobility to a system." + +Andre-Louis nodded. He was thinking of Philippe de Vilmorin. +"Yes," he said, "it is an old trick of theirs. It is so simple and +direct - like themselves. I wonder only that they didn't hit upon +this system sooner. In the early days of the States General, at +Versailles, it might have had a better effect. Now, it comes a +little late." + +"But they mean to make up for lost time - sacred name!" cried +Danton. "Challenges are flying right and left between these +bully-swordsmen, these spadassinicides, and poor devils of the robe +who have never learnt to fence with anything but a quill. It's +just -- murder. Yet if I were to go amongst messieurs les nobles +and crunch an addled head or two with this stick of mine, snap a +few aristocratic necks between these fingers which the good God has +given me for the purpose, the law would send me to atone upon the +gallows. This in a land that is striving after liberty. Why, Dieu +me damne! I am not even allowed to keep my hat on in the theatre. +But they - these --s!" + +"He is right," said Le Chapelier. "The thing has become unendurable, +insufferable. Two days ago M. d'Ambly threatened Mirabeau with his +cane before the whole Assembly. Yesterday M. de Faussigny leapt up +and harangued his order by inviting murder. 'Why don't we fall on +these scoundrels, sword in hand?' he asked. Those were his very +words: 'Why don't we fall on these scoundrels, sword in hand.'" + +"It is so much simpler than lawmaking," said Andre-Louis. + +"Lagron, the deputy from Ancenis in the Loire, said something that +we did not hear in answer. As he was leaving the Manege one of +these bullies grossly insulted him. Lagron no more than used his +elbow to push past when the fellow cried out that he had been +struck, and issued his challenge. They fought this morning early +in the Champs Elysees, and Lagron was killed, run through the +stomach deliberately by a man who fought like a fencing-master, +and poor Lagron did not even own a sword. He had to borrow one to +go to the assignation." + +Andre-Louis - his mind ever on Vilmorin, whose case was here +repeated, even to the details - was swept by a gust of passion. +He clenched his hands, and his jaws set. Danton's little eyes +observed him keenly. + +"Well? And what do you think of that? Noblesse oblige, eh? The +thing is we must oblige them too, these --s. We must pay them back +in the same coin; meet them with the same weapons. Abolish them; +tumble these assassinateurs into the abyss of nothingness by the +same means." + +"But how?" + +"How? Name of God! haven't I said it?" + +"That is where we require your help," Le Chapelier put in. "There +must be men of patriotic feeling among the more advanced of your +pupils. M. Danton's idea is that a little band of these - say a +half-dozen, with yourself at their head - might read these bullies +a sharp lesson." + +Andre-Louis frowned. + +"And how, precisely, had M. Danton thought that this might be done?" + +M. Danton spoke for himself, vehemently. + +"Why, thus: We post you in the Manege, at the hour when the Assembly +is rising. We point out the six leading phlebotomists, and let you +loose to insult them before they have time to insult any of the +representatives. Then to-morrow morning, six -- phlebotomists +themselves phlebotomized secundum artem. That will give the others +something to think about. It will give them a great deal to think +about, by --! If necessary the dose may be repeated to ensure a +cure. If you kill the --s, so much the better." + +He paused, his sallow face flushed with the enthusiasm of his idea. +Andre-Louis stared at him inscrutably. + +"Well, what do you say to that?" + +"That it is most ingenious." And Andre-Louis turned aside to look +out of the window. + +"And is that all you think of it?" + +"I will not tell you what else I think of it because you probably +would not understand. For you, M. Danton, there is at least this +excuse that you did not know me. But you, Isaac - to bring this +gentleman here with such a proposal!" + +Le Chapelier was overwhelmed in confusion. "I confess I hesitated," +he apologized. "But M. Danton would not take my word for it that +the proposal might not be to your taste." + +"I would not!" Danton broke in, bellowing. He swung upon Le +Chapelier, brandishing his great arms. "You told me monsieur was +a patriot. Patriotism knows no scruples. You call this mincing +dancing-master a patriot?" + +"Would you, monsieur, out of patriotism consent to become an +assassin?" + +"Of course I would. Haven't I told you so? Haven't I told you +that I would gladly go among them with my club, and crack them +like so many -- fleas?" + +"Why not, then?" + +"Why not? Because I should get myself hanged. Haven't I said so?" + +"But what of that - being a patriot? Why not, like another Curtius, +jump into the gulf, since you believe that your country would +benefit by your death?" + +M. Danton showed signs of exasperation. "Because my country will +benefit more by my life." + +"Permit me, monsieur, to suffer from a similar vanity." + +"You? But where would be the danger to you? You would do your +work under the cloak of duelling - as they do." + +"Have you reflected, monsieur, that the law will hardly regard a +fencing-master who kills his opponent as an ordinary combatant, +particularly if it can be shown that the fencing-master himself +provoked the attack?" + +"So! Name of a name!" M. Danton blew out his cheeks and delivered +himself with withering scorn. "It comes to this, then: you are +afraid!" + +"You may think so if you choose - that I am afraid to do slyly and +treacherously that which a thrasonical patriot like yourself is +afraid of doing frankly and openly. I have other reasons. But that +one should suffice you." + +Danton gasped. Then he swore more amazingly and variedly than ever. + +"By --! you are right," he admitted, to Andre-Louis' amazement. +"You are right, and I am wrong. I am as bad a patriot as you are, +and I am a coward as well." And he invoked the whole Pantheon to +witness his self-denunciation. "Only, you see, I count for +something: and if they take me and hang me, why, there it is! +Monsieur, we must find some other way. Forgive the intrusion. +Adieu!" He held out his enormous hand.. + +Le Chapelier stood hesitating, crestfallen. + +"You understand, Andre? I am sorry that... " + +"Say no more, please. Come and see me soon again. I would press +you to remain, but it is striking nine, and the first of my pupils +is about to arrive." + +"Nor would I permit it," said Danton. "Between us we must resolve +the riddle of how to extinguish M. de La Tour d'Azyr and his friends." + +"Who?" + +Sharp as a pistol-shot came that question, as Danton was turning +away. The tone of it brought him up short. He turned again, Le +Chapelier with him. + +"I said M. de La Tour d'Azyr." + +"What has he to do with the proposal you were making me?" + +"He? Why, he is the phlebotomist in chief." + +And Le Chapelier added. "It is he who killed Lagron." + +"Not a friend of yours, is he?" wondered Danton. + +"And it is La Tour d'Azyr you desire me to kill?" asked Andre-Louis +very slowly, after the manner of one whose thoughts are meanwhile +pondering the subject. + +"That's it," said Danton. "And not a job for a prentice hand, I +can assure you. + +"Ah, but this alters things," said Andre-Louis, thinking aloud. +"It offers a great temptation." + +"Why, then... ?" The Colossus took a step towards him again. + +"Wait!" He put up his hand. Then with chin sunk on his breast, +he paced away to the window, musing. + +Le Chapelier and Danton exchanged glances, then watched him, +waiting, what time he considered. + +At first he almost wondered why he should not of his own accord +have decided upon some such course as this to settle that +long-standing account of M. de La Tour d'Azyr. What was the use +of this great skill in fence that he had come to acquire, unless +he could turn it to account to avenge Vilmorin, and to make Aline +safe from the lure of her own ambition? It would be an easy thing +to seek out La Tour d'Azyr, put a mortal affront upon him, and +thus bring him to the point. To-day this would be murder, murder +as treacherous as that which La Tour d'Azyr had done upon Philippe +de Vilmorin; for to-day the old positions were reversed, and it +was Andre-Louis who might go to such an assignation without a doubt +of the issue. It was a moral obstacle of which he made short work. +But there remained the legal obstacle he had expounded to Danton. +There was still a law in France; the same law which he had found it +impossible to move against La Tour d'Azyr, but which would move +briskly enough against himself in like case. And then, suddenly, +as if by inspiration, he saw the way - a way which if adopted would +probably bring La Tour d'Azyr to a poetic justice, bring him, +insolent, confident, to thrust himself upon Andre-Louis' sword, +with all the odium of provocation on his own side. + +He turned to them again, and they saw that he was very pale, that +his great dark eyes glowed oddly. + +"There will probably be some difficulty in finding a suppleant for +this poor Lagron," he said. "Our fellow-countrymen will be none so +eager to offer themselves to the swords of Privilege." + +"True enough," said Le Chapelier gloomily; and then, as if suddenly +leaping to the thing in Andre-Louis' mind: "Andre!" he cried. +"Would you... " + +"It is what I was considering. It would give me a legitimate place +in the Assembly. If your Tour d'Azyrs choose to seek me out then, +why, their blood be upon their own heads. I shall certainly do +nothing to discourage them." He smiled curiously. "I am just a +rascal who tries to be honest - Scaramouche always, in fact; a +creature of sophistries. Do you think that Ancenis would have me +for its representative?" + +"Will it have Omnes Omnibus for its representative?" Le Chapelier +was laughing, his countenance eager. "Ancenis will be convulsed +with pride. It is not Rennes or Nantes, as it might have been had +you wished it. But it gives you a voice for Brittany." + +"I should have to go to Ancenis... " + +"No need at all. A letter from me to the Municipality, and the +Municipality will confirm you at once. No need to move from here. +In a fortnight at most the thing can be accomplished. It is +settled, then?" + +Andre-Louis considered yet a moment. There was his academy. But +he could make arrangements with Le Duc and Galoche to carry it on +for him whilst himself directing and advising. Le Duc, after all, +was become a thoroughly efficient master, and he was a trustworthy +fellow. At need a third assistant could be engaged. + +"Be it so," he said at last. + +Le Chapelier clasped hands with him and became congratulatorily +voluble, until interrupted by the red-coated giant at the door. + +"What exactly does it mean to our business, anyway?" he asked. +"Does it mean that when you are a representative you will not +scruple to skewer M. le Marquis?" + +"If M. le Marquis should offer himself to be skewered, as he no +doubt will." + +"I perceive the distinction," said M. Danton, and sneered. "You've +an ingenious mind." He turned to Le Chapelier. "What did you say +he was to begin with - a lawyer, wasn't it?" + +"Yes, I was a lawyer, and afterwards a mountebank." + +"And this is the result!" + +"As you say. And do you know that we are after all not so +dissimilar, you and I?" + +"What?" + +"Once like you I went about inciting other people to go and kill +the man I wanted dead. You'll say I was a coward, of course." + +Le Chapelier prepared to slip between them as the clouds gathered +on the giant's brow. Then these were dispelled again, and the +great laugh vibrated through the long room. + +"You've touched me for the second time, and in the same place. Oh, +you can fence, my lad. We should be friends. Rue des Cordeliers +is my address. Any -- scoundrel will tell you where Danton lodges. +Desmoulins lives underneath. Come and visit us one evening. There's +always a bottle for a friend." + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE SPADASSINICIDES + + +After an absence of rather more than a week, M. le Marquis de La +Tour d'Azyr was back in his place on the Cote Droit of the National +Assembly. Properly speaking, we should already at this date allude +to him as the ci-devant Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr, for the time was +September of 1790, two months after the passing - on the motion of +that downright Breton leveller, Le Chapelier - of the decree that +nobility should no more be hereditary than infamy; that just as +the brand of the gallows must not defile the possibly worthy +descendants of one who had been convicted of evil, neither should +the blazon advertising achievement glorify the possibly unworthy +descendants of one who had proved himself good. And so the decree +had been passed abolishing hereditary nobility and consigning +family escutcheons to the rubbish-heap of things no longer to be +tolerated by an enlightened generation of philosophers. M. le +Comte de Lafayette, who had supported the motion, left the Assembly +as plain M. Motier, the great tribune Count Mirabeau became plain +M. Riquetti, and M. le Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr just simple M. +Lesarques. The thing was done in one of those exaltations produced +by the approach of the great National Festival of the Champ de +Mars, and no doubt it was thoroughly repented on the morrow by +those who had lent themselves to it. Thus, although law by now, +it was a law that no one troubled just yet to enforce. + +That, however, is by the way. The time, as I have said, was +September, the day dull and showery, and some of the damp and gloom +of it seemed to have penetrated the long Hall of the Manege, where +on their eight rows of green benches elliptically arranged in +ascending tiers about the space known as La Piste, sat some eight +or nine hundred of the representatives of the three orders that +composed the nation. + +The matter under debate by the constitution-builders was whether +the deliberating body to succeed the Constituent Assembly should +work in conjunction with the King, whether it should be periodic +or permanent, whether it should govern by two chambers or by one. + +The Abbe Maury, son of a cobbler, and therefore in these days of +antitheses orator-in-chief of the party of the Right - the Blacks, +as those who fought Privilege's losing battles were known - was in +the tribune. He appeared to be urging the adoption of a +two-chambers system framed on the English model. He was, if +anything, more long-winded and prosy even than his habit; his +arguments assumed more and more the form of a sermon; the tribune +of the National Assembly became more and more like a pulpit; but +the members, conversely, less and less like a congregation. They +grew restive under that steady flow of pompous verbiage, and it +was in vain that the four ushers in black satin breeches and +carefully powdered heads, chain of office on their breasts, gilded +sword at their sides, circulated in the Piste, clapping their +hands, and hissing + +"Silence! En place!" + +Equally vain was the intermittent ringing of the bell by the +president at his green-covered table facing the tribune. The Abbe +Maury had talked too long, and for some time had failed to interest +the members. Realizing it at last, he ceased, whereupon the hum +of conversation became general. And then it fell abruptly. +There was a silence of expectancy, and a turning of heads, a +craning of necks. Even the group of secretaries at the round table +below the president's dais roused themselves from their usual +apathy to consider this young man who was mounting the tribune of +the Assembly for the first time. + +"M. Andre-Louis Moreau, deputy suppleant, vice Emmanuel Lagron, +deceased, for Ancenis in the Department of the Loire." + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr shook himself out of the gloomy abstraction in +which he had sat. The successor of the deputy he had slain must, +in any event, be an object of grim interest to him. You conceive +how that interest was heightened when he heard him named, when, +looking across, he recognized indeed in this Andre-Louis Moreau +the young scoundrel who was continually crossing his path, +continually exerting against him a deep-moving, sinister influence +to make him regret that he should have spared his life that day at +Gavrillac two years ago. That he should thus have stepped into +the shoes of Lagron seemed to M. de La Tour d'Azyr too apt for +mere coincidence, a direct challenge in itself. + +He looked at the young man in wonder rather than in anger, and +looking at him he was filled by a vague, almost a premonitory, +uneasiness. + +At the very outset, the presence which in itself he conceived to +be a challenge was to demonstrate itself for this in no equivocal +terms. + +"I come before you," Andre-Louis began, "as a deputy-suppleant +to fill the place of one who was murdered some three weeks ago." + +It was a challenging opening that instantly provoked an indignant +outcry from the Blacks. Andre-Louis paused, and looked at them, +smiling a little, a singularly self-confident young man. + +"The gentlemen of the Right, M. le President, do not appear to like +my words. But that is not surprising. The gentlemen of the Right +notoriously do not like the truth." + +This time there was uproar. The members of the Left roared with +laughter, those of the Right thundered menacingly. The ushers +circulated at a pace beyond their usual, agitated themselves, +clapped their hands, and called in vain for silence. + +The President rang his bell. + +Above the general din came the voice of La Tour d'Azyr, who had +half-risen from his seat: "Mountebank! This is not the theatre!" + +"No, monsieur, it is becoming a hunting-ground for bully-swordsmen," +was the answer, and the uproar grew. + +The deputy-suppleant looked round and waited. Near at hand he met +the encouraging grin of Le Chapelier, and the quiet, approving smile +of Kersain, another Breton deputy of his acquaintance. A little +farther off he saw the great head of Mirabeau thrown back, the great +eyes regarding him from under a frown in a sort of wonder, and +yonder, among all that moving sea of faces, the sallow countenance +of the Arras' lawyer Robespierre - or de Robespierre, as the little +snob now called himself, having assumed the aristocratic particle +as the prerogative of a man of his distinction in the councils of +his country. With his tip-tilted nose in the air, his carefully +curled head on one side, the deputy for Arras was observing +Andre-Louis attentively. The horn-rimmed spectacles he used for +reading were thrust up on to his pale forehead, and it was through a +levelled spy-glass that he considered the speaker, his thin-lipped +mouth stretched a little in that tiger-cat smile that was afterwards +to become so famous and so feared. + +Gradually the uproar wore itself out, and diminished so that at last +the President could make himself heard. Leaning forward, he gravely +addressed the young man in the tribune: + +"Monsieur, if you wish to be heard, let me beg of you not to be +provocative in your language." And then to the others: "Messieurs, +if we are to proceed, I beg that you will restrain your feelings +until the deputy-suppleant has concluded his discourse." + +"I shall endeavour to obey, M. le President, leaving provocation to +the gentlemen of the Right. If the few words I have used so far +have been provocative, I regret it. But it was necessary that I +should refer to the distinguished deputy whose place I come so +unworthily to fill, and it was unavoidable that I should refer to +the event which has procured us this sad necessity. The deputy +Lagron was a man of singular nobility of mind, a selfless, dutiful, +zealous man, inflamed by the high purpose of doing his duty by his +electors and by this Assembly. He possessed what his opponents +would call a dangerous gift of eloquence." + +La Tour d'Azyr writhed at the well-known phrase - his own phrase + - the phrase that he had used to explain his action in the matter +of Philippe de Vilmorin, the phrase that from time to time had been +cast in his teeth with such vindictive menace. + +And then the crisp voice of the witty Canales, that very rapier of +the Privileged party, cut sharply into the speaker's momentary pause. + +"M. le President," he asked with great solemnity, "has the +deputy-suppleant mounted the tribune for the purpose of taking part +in the debate on the constitution of the legislative assemblies, +or for the purpose of pronouncing a funeral oration upon the +departed deputy Lagron?" + +This time it was the Blacks who gave way to mirth, until checked +by the deputy-suppleant. + +"That laughter is obscene!" In this truly Gallic fashion he flung +his glove into the face of Privilege, determined, you see, upon no +half measures; and the rippling laughter perished on the instant +quenched in speechless fury. + +Solemnly he proceeded. + +"You all know how Lagron died. To refer to his death at all +requires courage, to laugh in referring to it requires something +that I will not attempt to qualify. If I have alluded to his +decease, it is because my own appearance among you seemed to render +some such allusion necessary. It is mine to take up the burden +which he set down. I do not pretend that I have the strength, the +courage, or the wisdom of Lagron; but with every ounce of such +strength and courage and wisdom as I possess that burden will I +bear. And I trust, for the sake of those who might attempt it, +that the means taken to impose silence upon that eloquent voice +will not be taken to impose silence upon mine." + +There was a faint murmur of applause from the Left, splutter of +contemptuous laughter from the Right. + +"Rhodomont!" a voice called to him. + +He looked in the direction of that voice, proceeding from the group +of spadassins amid the Blacks across the Piste, and he smiled. +Inaudibly his lips answered: + +"No, my friend - Scaramouche; Scaramouche, the subtle, dangerous +fellow who goes tortuously to his ends." Aloud, he resumed: "M. +le President, there are those who will not understand that the +purpose for which we are assembled here is the making of laws by +which France may be equitably governed, by which France may be +lifted out of the morass of bankruptcy into which she is in danger +of sinking. For there are some who want, it seems, not laws, but +blood; I solemnly warn them that this blood will end by choking +them, if they do not learn in time to discard force and allow reason +to prevail." + +Again in that phrase there was something that stirred a memory in +La Tour d'Azyr. He turned in the fresh uproar to speak to his +cousin Chabrillane who sat beside him. + +"A daring rogue, this bastard of Gavrillac's," said he. + +Chabrillane looked at him with gleaming eyes, his face white with +anger. + +"Let him talk himself out. I don't think he will be heard again +after to-day. Leave this to me." + +Hardly could La Tour have told you why, but he sank back in his seat +with a sense of relief. He had been telling himself that here was +matter demanding action, a challenge that he must take up. But +despite his rage he felt a singular unwillingness. This fellow had +a trick of reminding him, he supposed, too unpleasantly of that +young abbe done to death in the garden behind the Breton arme at +Gavrillac. Not that the death of Philippe de Vilmorin lay heavily +upon M. de La Tour d'Azyr's conscience. He had accounted himself +fully justified of his action. It was that the whole thing as his +memory revived it for him made an unpleasant picture: that +distraught boy kneeling over the bleeding body of the friend he +had loved, and almost begging to be slain with him, dubbing the +Marquis murderer and coward to incite him. + +Meanwhile, leaving now the subject of the death of Lagron, the +deputy-suppleant had at last brought himself into order, and was +speaking upon the question under debate. He contributed nothing +of value to it; he urged nothing definite. His speech on the +subject was very brief - that being the pretext and not the purpose +for which he had ascended the tribune. + +When later he was leaving the hall at the end of the sitting, with +Le Chapelier at his side, he found himself densely surrounded by +deputies as by a body-guard. Most of them were Bretons, who aimed +at screening him from the provocations which his own provocative +words in the Assembly could not fail to bring down upon his head. +For a moment the massive form of Mirabeau brought up alongside of +him. + +"Felicitations, M. Moreau," said the great man. "You acquitted +yourself very well. They will want your blood, no doubt. But be +discreet, monsieur, if I may presume to advise you, and do not +allow yourself to be misled by any false sense of quixotry. +Ignore their challenges. I do so myself. I place each challenger +upon my list. There are some fifty there already, and there they +will remain. Refuse them what they are pleased to call satisfaction, +and all will be well." Andre-Louis smiled and sighed. + +"It requires courage," said the hypocrite. + +"Of course it does. But you would appear to have plenty." + +"Hardly enough, perhaps. But I shall do my best." + +They had come through the vestibule, and although this was lined +with eager Blacks waiting for the young man who had insulted them +so flagrantly from the rostrum, Andre-Louis' body-guard had +prevented any of them from reaching him. + +Emerging now into the open, under the great awning at the head of +the Carriere, erected to enable carriages to reach the door under +cover, those in front of him dispersed a little, and there was a +moment as he reached the limit of the awning when his front was +entirely uncovered. Outside the rain was falling heavily, churning +the ground into thick mud, and for a moment Andre-Louis, with Le +Chapelier ever at his side, stood hesitating to step out into the +deluge. + +The watchful Chabrillane had seen his chance, and by a detour that +took him momentarily out into the rain, he came face to face with +the too-daring young Breton. Rudely, violently, he thrust +Andre-Louis back, as if to make room for himself under the shelter. + +Not for a second was Andre-Louis under any delusion as to the man's +deliberate purpose, nor were those who stood near him, who made a +belated and ineffectual attempt to close about him. He was grievously +disappointed. It was not Chabrillane he had been expecting. His +disappointment was reflected on his countenance, to be mistaken for +something very different by the arrogant Chevalier. + +But if Chabrillane was the man appointed to deal with him, he would +make the best of it. + +"I think you are pushing against me, monsieur," he said, very +civilly, and with elbow and shoulder he thrust M. de Chabrillane +back into the rain. + +"I desire to take shelter, monsieur," the Chevalier hectored. + +"You may do so without standing on my feet. I have a prejudice +against any one standing on my feet. My feet are very tender. +Perhaps you did not know it, monsieur. Please say no more." + +"Why, I wasn't speaking, you lout!" exclaimed the Chevalier, +slightly discomposed. + +"Were you not? I thought perhaps you were about to apologize." + +"Apologize?" Chabrillane laughed. "To you! Do you know that you +are amusing?" He stepped under the awning for the second time, +and again in view of all thrust Andre-Louis rudely back. + +"Ah!" cried Andre-Louis, with a grimace. "You hurt me, monsieur. +I have told you not to push against me." He raised his voice that +all might hear him, and once more impelled M. de Chabrillane back +into the rain. + +Now, for all his slenderness, his assiduous daily sword-practice +had given Andre-Louis an arm of iron. Also he threw his weight +into the thrust. His assailant reeled backwards a few steps, and +then his heel struck a baulk of timber left on the ground by some +workmen that morning, and he sat down suddenly in the mud. + +A roar of laughter rose from all who witnessed the fine gentleman's +downfall. He rose, mud-bespattered, in a fury, and in that fury +sprang at Andre-Louis. + +Andre-Louis had made him ridiculous, which was altogether +unforgivable. + +"You shall meet me for this!" he spluttered. "I shall kill you +for it." + +His inflamed face was within a foot of Andre-Louis'. Andre-Louis +laughed. In the silence everybody heard the laugh and the words +that followed. + +"Oh, is that what you wanted? But why didn't you say so before? +You would have spared me the trouble of knocking you down. I +thought gentlemen of your profession invariably conducted these +affairs with decency, decorum, and a certain grace. Had you done +so, you might have saved your breeches." + +"How soon shall we settle this?" snapped Chabrillane, livid with +very real fury. + +"Whenever you please, monsieur. It is for you to say when it will +suit your convenience to kill me. I think that was the intention +you announced, was it not?" Andre-Louis was suavity itself. + +"To-morrow morning, in the Bois. Perhaps you will bring a friend." + +"Certainly, monsieur. To-morrow morning, then. I hope we shall +have fine weather. I detest the rain." + +Chabrillane looked at him almost with amazement Andre-Louis smiled +pleasantly. + +"Don't let me detain you now, monsieur. We quite understand each +other. I shall be in the Bois at nine o'clock to-morrow morning." + +"That is too late for me, monsieur." + +"Any other hour would be too early for me. I do not like to have +my habits disturbed. Nine o'clock or not at all, as you please." + +"But I must be at the Assembly at nine, for the morning session." + +"I am afraid, monsieur, you will have to kill me first, and I +have a prejudice against being killed before nine o'clock." + +Now this was too complete a subversion of the usual procedure for +M. de Chabrillane's stomach. Here was a rustic deputy assuming +with him precisely the tone of sinister mockery which his class +usually dealt out to their victims of the Third Estate. And to +heighten the irritation, Andre-Louis - the actor, Scaramouche +always - produced his snuffbox, and proffered it with a steady +hand to Le Chapelier before helping himself. + +Chabrillane, it seemed, after all that he had suffered, was not +even to be allowed to make a good exit. + +"Very well, monsieur," he said. "Nine o'clock, then; and we'll see +if you'll talk as pertly afterwards." + +On that he flung away, before the jeers of the provincial deputies. +Nor did it soothe his rage to be laughed at by urchins all the way +down the Rue Dauphine because of the mud and filth that dripped +from his satin breeches and the tails of his elegant, striped coat. + +But though the members of the Third had jeered on the surface, they +trembled underneath with fear and indignation. It was too much. +Lagron killed by one of these bullies, and now his successor +challenged, and about to be killed by another of them on the very +first day of his appearance to take the dead man's place. Several +came now to implore Andre-Louis not to go to the Bois, to ignore +the challenge and the whole affair, which was but a deliberate +attempt to put him out of the way. He listened seriously, shook +his head gloomily, and promised at last to think it over. + +He was in his seat again for the afternoon session as if nothing +disturbed him. + +But in the morning, when the Assembly met, his place was vacant, +and so was M. de Chabrillane's. Gloom and resentment sat upon the +members of the Third, and brought a more than usually acrid note +into their debates. They disapproved of the rashness of the new +recruit to their body. Some openly condemned his lack of +circumspection. Very few - and those only the little group in Le +Chapelier's confidence - ever expected to see him again. + +It was, therefore, as much in amazement as in relief that at a few +minutes after ten they saw him enter, calm, composed, and bland, +and thread his way to his seat. The speaker occupying the rostrum +at that moment - a member of the Privileged - stopped short to stare +in incredulous dismay. Here was something that he could not +understand at all. Then from somewhere, to satisfy the amazement +on both sides of the assembly, a voice explained the phenomenon +contemptuously. + +"They haven't met. He has shirked it at the last moment." + +It must be so, thought all; the mystification ceased, and men were +settling back into their seats. But now, having reached his place, +having heard the voice that explained the matter to the universal +satisfaction, Andre-Louis paused before taking his seat. He felt +it incumbent upon him to reveal the true fact. + +"M. le President, my excuses for my late arrival." There was no +necessity for this. It was a mere piece of theatricality, such as +it was not in Scaramouche's nature to forgo. "I have been detained +by an engagement of a pressing nature. I bring you also the excuses +of M. de Chabrillane. He, unfortunately, will be permanently absent +from this Assembly in future." + +The silence was complete. Andre-Louis sat down. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PALADIN OF THE THIRD + + +M. Le Chevalier de Chabrillane had been closely connected, you will +remember, with the iniquitous affair in which Philippe de Vilmorin +had lost his life. We know enough to justify a surmise that he had +not merely been La Tour d'Azyr's second in the encounter, but +actually an instigator of the business. Andre-Louis may therefore +have felt a justifiable satisfaction in offering up the Chevalier's +life to the Manes of his murdered friend. He may have viewed it as +an act of common justice not to be procured by any other means. +Also it is to be remembered that Chabrillane had gone confidently +to the meeting, conceiving that he, a practised ferailleur, had to +deal with a bourgeois utterly unskilled in swordsmanship. Morally, +then, he was little better than a murderer, and that he should have +tumbled into the pit he conceived that he dug for Andre-Louis was +a poetic retribution. Yet, notwithstanding all this, I should find +the cynical note on which Andre-Louis announced the issue to the +Assembly utterly detestable did I believe it sincere. It would +justify Aline of the expressed opinion, which she held in common +with so many others who had come into close contact with him, that +Andre-Louis was quite heartless. + +You have seen something of the same heartlessness in his conduct +when he discovered the faithlessness of La Binet although that is +belied by the measures he took to avenge himself. His subsequent +contempt of the woman I account to be born of the affection in which +for a time he held her. That this affection was as deep as he first +imagined, I do not believe; but that it was as shallow as he would +almost be at pains to make it appear by the completeness with which +he affects to have put her from his mind when he discovered her +worthlessness, I do not believe; nor, as I have said, do his actions +encourage that belief. Then, again, his callous cynicism in hoping +that he had killed Binet is also an affectation. Knowing that such +things as Binet are better out of the world, he can have suffered +no compunction; he had, you must remember, that rarely level vision +which sees things in their just proportions, and never either +magnifies or reduces them by sentimental considerations. At the +same time, that he should contemplate the taking of life with such +complete and cynical equanimity, whatever the justification, is +quite incredible. + +Similarly now, it is not to be believed that in coming straight +from the Bois de Boulogne, straight from the killing of a man, he +should be sincerely expressing his nature in alluding to the fact +in terms of such outrageous flippancy. Not quite to such an extent +was he the incarnation of Scaramouche. But sufficiently was he so +ever to mask his true feelings by an arresting gesture, his true +thoughts by an effective phrase. He was the actor always, a man +ever calculating the effect he would produce, ever avoiding +self-revelation, ever concerned to overlay his real character by +an assumed and quite fictitious one. There was in this something +of impishness, and something of other things. + +Nobody laughed now at his flippancy. He did not intend that +anybody should. He intended to be terrible; and he knew that the +more flippant and casual his tone, the more terrible would be its +effect. He produced exactly the effect he desired. + +What followed in a place where feelings and practices had become +what they had become is not difficult to surmise. When the session +rose, there were a dozen spadassins awaiting him in the vestibule, +and this time the men of his own party were less concerned to guard +him. He seemed so entirely capable of guarding himself; he appeared, +for all his circumspection, to have so completely carried the war +into the enemy's camp, so completely to have adopted their own +methods, that his fellows scarcely felt the need to protect him +as yesterday. + +As he emerged, he scanned that hostile file, whose air and garments +marked them so clearly for what they were. He paused, seeking the +man he expected, the man he was most anxious to oblige. But M. de +La Tour d'Azyr was absent from those eager ranks. This seemed to +him odd. La Tour d'Azyr was Chabrillane's cousin and closest friend. +Surely he should have been among the first to-day. The fact was +that La Tour d'Azyr was too deeply overcome by amazement and grief +at the utterly unexpected event. Also his vindictiveness was held +curiously in leash. Perhaps he, too, remembered the part played by +Chabrillane in the affair at Gavrillac, and saw in this obscure +Andre-Louis Moreau, who had so persistently persecuted him ever +since, an ordained avenger. The repugnance he felt to come to the +point, with him, particularly after this culminating provocation, +was puzzling even to himself. But it existed, and it curbed him now. + +To Andre-Louis, since La Tour was not one of that waiting pack, it +mattered little on that Tuesday morning who should be the next. The +next, as it happened, was the young Vicomte de La Motte-Royau, one +of the deadliest blades in the group. + +On the Wednesday morning, coming again an hour or so late to the +Assembly, Andre-Louis announced - in much the same terms as he had +announced the death of Chabrillane - that M. de La Motte-Royau +would probably not disturb the harmony of the Assembly for some +weeks to come, assuming that he were so fortunate as to recover +ultimately from the effects of an unpleasant accident with which he +had quite unexpectedly had the misfortune to meet that morning. + +On Thursday he made an identical announcement with regard to the +Vidame de Blavon. On Friday he told them that he had been delayed +by M. de Troiscantins, and then turning to the members of the Cote +Droit, and lengthening his face to a sympathetic gravity: + +"I am glad to inform you, messieurs, that M. des Troiscantins is +in the hands of a very competent surgeon who hopes with care to +restore him to your councils in a few weeks' time." + +It was paralyzing, fantastic, unreal; and friend and foe in that +assembly sat alike stupefied under those bland daily announcements. +Four of the most redoubtable spadassinicides put away for a time, +one of them dead - and all this performed with such an air of +indifference and announced in such casual terms by a wretched little +provincial lawyer! + +He began to assume in their eyes a romantic aspect. Even that group +of philosophers of the Cote Gauche, who refused to worship any force +but the force of reason, began to look upon him with a respect and +consideration which no oratorical triumphs could ever have procured +him. + +And from the Assembly the fame of him oozed out gradually over Paris. +Desmoulins wrote a panegyric upon him in his paper "Les Revolutions," +wherein he dubbed him the "Paladin of the Third Estate," a name that +caught the fancy of the people, and clung to him for some time. +Disdainfully was he mentioned in the "Actes des Apotres," the mocking +organ of the Privileged party, so light-heartedly and provocatively +edited by a group of gentlemen afflicted by a singular mental myopy. + +The Friday of that very busy week in the life of this young man who +even thereafter is to persist in reminding us that he is not in any +sense a man of action, found the vestibule of the Manege empty of +swordsmen when he made his leisurely and expectant egress between +Le Chapelier and Kersain. + +So surprised was he that he checked in his stride. + +"Have they had enough?" he wondered, addressing the question to Le +Chapelier. + +"They have had enough of you, I should think," was the answer. +"They will prefer to turn their attention to some one less able to +take care of himself." + +Now this was disappointing. Andre-Louis had lent himself to this +business with a very definite object in view. The slaying of +Chabrillane had, as far as it went, been satisfactory. He had +regarded that as a sort of acceptable hors d'oeuvre. But the +three who had followed were no affair of his at all. He had met +them with a certain amount of repugnance, and dealt with each as +lightly as consideration of his own safety permitted. Was the +baiting of him now to cease whilst the man at whom he aimed had +not presented himself? In that case it would be necessary to force +the pace! + +Out there under the awning a group of gentlemen stood in earnest +talk. Scanning the group in a rapid glance, Andre-Louis perceived +M. de La Tour d'Azyr amongst them. He tightened his lips. He must +afford no provocation. It must be for them to fasten their quarrels +upon him. Already the "Actes des Apotres" that morning had torn the +mask from his face, and proclaimed him the fencing-master of the Rue +du Hasard, successor to Bertrand des Amis. Hazardous as it had been +hitherto for a man of his condition to engage in single combat it +was rendered doubly so by this exposure, offered to the public as +an aristocratic apologia. + +Still, matters could not be left where they were, or he should have +had all his pains for nothing. Carefully looking away from that +group of gentlemen, he raised his voice so that his words must +carry to their ears. + +"It begins to look as if my fears of having to spend the remainder +of my days in the Bois were idle." + +Out of the corner of his eye he caught the stir his words created +in that group. Its members had turned to look at him; but for the +moment that was all. A little more was necessary. Pacing slowly +along between his friends he resumed: + +"But is it not remarkable that the assassin of Lagron should make +no move against Lagron's successor? Or perhaps it is not remarkable. +Perhaps there are good reasons. Perhaps the gentleman is prudent." + +He had passed the group by now, and he left that last sentence of +his to trail behind him, and after it sent laughter, insolent and +provoking. + +He had not long to wait. Came a quick step behind him, and a hand +falling upon his shoulder, spun him violently round. He was brought +face to face with M. de La Tour d'Azyr, whose handsome countenance +was calm and composed, but whose eyes reflected something of the +sudden blaze of passion stirring in him. Behind him several members +of the group were approaching more slowly. The others - like +Andre-Louis' two companions - remained at gaze. + +"You spoke of me, I think," said the Marquis quietly. + +"I spoke of an assassin - yes. But to these my friends." Andre-Louis' +manner was no less quiet, indeed the quieter of the two, for he was the +more experienced actor. + +"You spoke loudly enough to be overheard," said the Marquis, +answering the insinuation that he had been eavesdropping. + +"Those who wish to overhear frequently contrive to do so." + +"I perceive that it is your aim to be offensive." + +"Oh, but you are mistaken, M. le Marquis. I have no wish to be +offensive. But I resent having hands violently laid upon me, +especially when they are hands that I cannot consider clean, In the +circumstances I can hardly be expected to be polite." + +The elder man's eyelids flickered. Almost he caught himself +admiring Andre-Louis' bearing. Rather, he feared that his own must +suffer by comparison. Because of this, he enraged altogether, and +lost control of himself. + +"You spoke of me as the assassin of Lagron. I do not affect to +misunderstand you. You expounded your views to me once before, and +I remember." + +"But what flattery, monsieur!" + +"You called me an assassin then, because I used my skill to dispose +of a turbulent hot-head who made the world unsafe for me. But how +much better are you, M. the fencing-master, when you oppose yourself +to men whose skill is as naturally inferior to your own!" + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr's friends looked grave, perturbed. It was +really incredible to find this great gentleman so far forgetting +himself as to descend to argument with a canaille of a +lawyer-swordsman. And what was worse, it was an argument in which +he was being made ridiculous. + +"I oppose myself to them!" said Andre-Louis on a tone of amused +protest. "Ah, pardon, M. le Marquis; it is they who chose to oppose +themselves to me - and so stupidly. They push me, they slap my +face, they tread on my toes, they call me by unpleasant names. What +if I am a fencing-master? Must I on that account submit to every +manner of ill-treatment from your bad-mannered friends? Perhaps had +they found out sooner that I am a fencing-master their manners would +have been better. But to blame me for that! What injustice!" + +"Comedian!" the Marquis contemptuously apostrophized him. "Does it +alter the case? Are these men who have opposed you men who live by +the sword like yourself?" + +"On the contrary, M. le Marquis, I have found them men who died by +the sword with astonishing ease. I cannot suppose that you desire +to add yourself to their number." + +"And why, if you please?" La Tour d'Azyr's face had flamed scarlet +before that sneer. + +"Oh," Andre-Louis raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, a man +considering. He delivered himself slowly. "Because, monsieur, you +prefer the easy victim - the Lagrons and Vilmorins of this world, +mere sheep for your butchering. That is why." + +And then the Marquis struck him. + +Andre-Louis stepped back. His eyes gleamed a moment; the next they +were smiling up into the face of his tall enemy. + +"No better than the others, after all! Well, well! Remark, I beg +you, how history repeats itself - with certain differences. Because +poor Vilmorin could not bear a vile lie with which you goaded him, +he struck you. Because you cannot bear an equally vile truth which +I have uttered, you strike me. But always is the vileness yours. +And now as then for the striker there is... " He broke off. "But +why name it? You will remember what there is. Yourself you wrote +it that day with the point of your too-ready sword. But there. +I will meet you if you desire it, monsieur." + +"What else do you suppose that I desire? To talk?" + +Andre-Louis turned to his friends and sighed. "So that I am to go +another jaunt to the Bois. Isaac, perhaps you will kindly have a +word with one of these friends of M. le Marquis', and arrange for +nine o'clock to-morrow, as usual." + +"Not to-morrow," said the Marquis shortly to Le Chapeher. "I have +an engagement in the country, which I cannot postpone." + +Le Chapelier looked at Andre-Louis. + +"Then for M. le Marquis' convenience, we will say Sunday at the +same hour." + +"I do not fight on Sunday. I am not a pagan to break the holy day." + +"But surely the good God would not have the presumption to damn a +gentleman of M. le Marquis' quality on that account? Ah, well, +Isaac, please arrange for Monday, if it is not a feast-day or +monsieur has not some other pressing engagement. I leave it in +your hands." + +He bowed with the air of a man wearied by these details, and +threading his arm through Kersain's withdrew. + +"Ah, Dieu de Dieu! But what a trick of it you have," said the +Breton deputy, entirely unsophisticated in these matters. + +"To be sure I have. I have taken lessons at their hands." He +laughed. He was in excellent good-humour. And Kersain was +enrolled in the ranks of those who accounted Andre-Louis a man +without heart or conscience. + +But in his "Confessions" he tells us - and this is one of the +glimpses that reveal the true man under all that make-believe + - that on that night he went down on his knees to commune with +his dead friend Philippe, and to call his spirit to witness that +he was about to take the last step in the fulfilment of the oath +sworn upon his body at Gavrillac two years ago. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +TORN PRIDE + + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr's engagement in the country on that Sunday +was with M. de Kercadiou. To fulfil it he drove out early in the +day to Meudon, taking with him in his pocket a copy of the last +issue of "Les Actes des Apotres," a journal whose merry sallies +at the expense of the innovators greatly diverted the Seigneur de +Gavrillac. The venomous scorn it poured upon those worthless +rapscallions afforded him a certain solatium against the +discomforts of expatriation by which he was afflicted as a result +of their detestable energies. + +Twice in the last month, had M. de La Tour d'Azyr gone to visit +the Lord of Gavrillac at Meudon, and the sight of Aline, so sweet +and fresh, so bright and of so lively a mind, had caused those +embers smouldering under the ashes of the past, embers which +until now he had believed utterly extinct, to kindle into flame +once more. He desired her as we desire Heaven. I believe that +it was the purest passion of his life; that had it come to him +earlier he might have been a vastly different man. The cruelest +wound that in all his selfish life he had taken was when she +sent him word, quite definitely after the affair at the Feydau, +that she could not again in any circumstances receive him. At +one blow - through that disgraceful riot - he had been robbed of a +mistress he prized and of a wife who had become a necessity to the +very soul of him. The sordid love of La Binet might have consoled +him for the compulsory renunciation of his exalted love of Aline, +just as to his exalted love of Aline he had been ready to sacrifice +his attachment to La Binet. But that ill-timed riot had robbed +him at once of both. Faithful to his word to Sautron he had +definitely broken with La Binet, only to find that Aline had +definitely broken with him. And by the time that he had +sufficiently recovered from his grief to think again of La Binet, +the comedienne had vanished beyond discovery. + +For all this he blamed, and most bitterly blamed, Andre-Louis. +That low-born provincial lout pursued him like a Nemesis, was +become indeed the evil genius of his life. That was it - the evil +genius of his life! And it was odds that on Monday... He did not +like to think of Monday. He was not particularly afraid of death. +He was as brave as his kind in that respect, too brave in the +ordinary way, and too confident of his skill, to have considered +even remotely such a possibility as that of dying in a duel. It +was only that it would seem like a proper consummation of all the +evil that he had suffered directly or indirectly through this +Andre-Louis Moreau that he should perish ignobly by his hand. +Almost he could hear that insolent, pleasant voice making the +flippant announcement to the Assembly on Monday morning. + +He shook off the mood, angry with himself for entertaining it. +It was maudlin. After all Chabrillane and La Motte-Royau were +quite exceptional swordsmen, but neither of them really approached +his own formidable calibre. Reaction began to flow, as he drove +out through country lanes flooded with pleasant September sunshine. +His spirits rose. A premonition of victory stirred within him +Far from fearing Monday's meeting, as he had so unreasonably been +doing; he began to look forward to it. It should afford him the +means of setting a definite term to this persecution of which he +had been the victim. He would crush this insolent and persistent +flea that had been stinging him at every opportunity. Borne upward +on that wave of optimism, he took presently a more hopeful view +of his case with Aline. + +At their first meeting a month ago he had used the utmost frankness +with her. He had told her the whole truth of his motives in going +that night to the Feydau; he had made her realize that she had acted +unjustly towards him. True he had gone no farther. + +But that was very far to have gone as a beginning. And in their +last meeting, now a fortnight old, she had received him with frank +friendliness. True, she had been a little aloof. But that was to +be expected until he quite explicitly avowed that he had revived +the hope of winning her. He had been a fool not to have returned +before to-day. + +Thus in that mood of new-born confidence - a confidence risen from +the very ashes of despondency - came he on that Sunday morning to +Meudon. He was gay and jovial with M. de Kercadiou what time he +waited in the salon for mademoiselle to show herself. He pronounced +with confidence on the country's future. There were signs already + - he wore the rosiest spectacles that morning - of a change of +opinion, of a more moderate note. The Nation began to perceive +whither this lawyer rabble was leading it. He pulled out "The Acts +of the Apostles" and read a stinging paragraph. Then, when +mademoiselle at last made her appearance, he resigned the journal +into the hands of M. de Kercadiou. + +M. de Kercadiou, with his niece's future to consider, went to read +the paper in the garden, taking up there a position whence he could +keep the couple within sight - as his obligations seemed to demand +of him - whilst being discreetly out of earshot. + +The Marquis made the most of an opportunity that might be brief. +He quite frankly declared himself, and begged, implored to be taken +back into Aline's good graces, to be admitted at least to the hope +that one day before very long she would bring herself to consider +him in a nearer relationship. + +"Mademoiselle," he told her, his voice vibrating with a feeling +that admitted of no doubt, "you cannot lack conviction of my utter +sincerity. The very constancy of my devotion should afford you +this. It is just that I should have been banished from you, since +I showed myself so utterly unworthy of the great honour to which +I aspired. But this banishment has nowise diminished my devotion. +If you could conceive what I have suffered, you would agree that +I have fully expiated my abject fault." + +She looked at him with a curious, gentle wistfulness on her +lovely face. + +"Monsieur, it is not you whom I doubt. It is myself." + +"You mean your feelings towards me?" + +"Yes." + +"But that I can understand. After what has happened... " + +"It was always so, monsieur," she interrupted quietly. "You +speak of me as if lost to you by your own action. That is to say +too much. Let me be frank with you. Monsieur, I was never yours +to lose. I am conscious of the honour that you do me. I esteem +you very deeply... " + +"But, then," he cried, on a high note of confidence, "from such +a beginning... " + +"Who shall assure me that it is a beginning? May it not be the +whole? Had I held you in affection, monsieur, I should have sent +for you after the affair of which you have spoken. I should at +least not have condemned you without hearing your explanation. As +it was... " She shrugged, smiling gently, sadly. "You see... " + +But his optimism far from being crushed was stimulated. "But it +is to give me hope, mademoiselle. If already I possess so much, +I may look with confidence to win more. I shall prove myself +worthy. I swear to do that. Who that is permitted the privilege +of being near you could do other than seek to render himself +worthy?" + +And then before she could add a word, M. de Kercadiou came +blustering through the window, his spectacles on his forehead, his +face inflamed, waving in his hand "The Acts of the Apostles," and +apparently reduced to speechlessness. + +Had the Marquis expressed himself aloud he would have been profane. +As it was he bit his lip in vexation at this most inopportune +interruption. + +Aline sprang up, alarmed by her uncle's agitation. + +"What has happened?" + +"Happened?" He found speech at last. "The scoundrel! The +faithless dog! I consented to overlook the past on the clear +condition that he should avoid revolutionary politics in future. +That condition he accepted, and now" - he smacked the news-sheet +furiously - "he has played me false again. Not only has he gone +into politics, once more, but he is actually a member of the +Assembly, and what is worse he has been using his assassin's +skill as a fencing-master, turning himself into a bully-swordsman. +My God! Is there any law at all left in France?" + +One doubt M. de La Tour d'Azyr had entertained, though only +faintly, to mar the perfect serenity of his growing optimism. +That doubt concerned this man Moreau and his relations with M. +de Kercadiou. He knew what once they had been, and how changed +they subsequently were by the ingratitude of Moreau's own +behavior in turning against the class to which his benefactor +belonged. What he did not know was that a reconciliation had +been effected. For in the past month - ever since circumstances +had driven Andre-Louis to depart from his undertaking to steer +clear of politics - the young man had not ventured to approach +Meudon, and as it happened his name had not been mentioned in La +Tour d'Azyr's hearing on the occasion of either of his own previous +visits. He learnt of that reconciliation now; but he learnt at +the same time that the breach was now renewed, and rendered wider +and more impassable than ever. Therefore he did not hesitate to +avow his own position. + +"There is a law," he answered. "The law that this rash young man +himself evokes. The law of the sword." He spoke very gravely, +almost sadly. For he realized that after all the ground was tender. +"You are not to suppose that he is to continue indefinitely his +career of evil and of murder. Sooner or later he will meet a +sword that will avenge the others. You have observed that my +cousin Chabrillane is among the number of this assassin's victims; +that he was killed on Tuesday last." + +"If I have not expressed my condolence, Azyr, it is because my +indignation stifles at the moment every other feeling. The +scoundrel! You say that sooner or later he will meet a sword that +will avenge the others. I pray that it may be soon." + +The Marquis answered him quietly, without anything but sorrow in +his voice. "I think your prayer is likely to be heard. This +wretched young man has an engagement for to-morrow, when his +account may be definitely settled." + +He spoke with such calm conviction that his words had all the sound +of a sentence of death. They suddenly stemmed the flow of M. de +Kercadiou's anger. The colour receded from his inflamed face; +dread looked out of his pale eyes, to inform M. de La Tour d'Azyr, +more clearly than any words, that M. de Kercadiou's hot speech had +been the expression of unreflecting anger, that his prayer that +retribution might soon overtake his godson had been unconsciously +insincere. Confronted now by the fact that this retribution was +about to be visited upon that scoundrel, the fundamental gentleness +and kindliness of his nature asserted itself; his anger was suddenly +whelmed in apprehension; his affection for the lad beat up to the +surface, making Andre-Louis' sin, however hideous, a thing of no +account by comparison with the threatened punishment. + +M. de Kercadiou moistened his lips. + +"With whom is this engagement?" he asked in a voice that by an +effort he contrived to render steady. + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr bowed his handsome head, his eyes upon the +gleaming parquetry of the floor. "With myself," he answered quietly, +conscious already with a tightening of the heart that his answer +must sow dismay. He caught the sound of a faint outcry from Aline; +he saw the sudden recoil of M. de Kercadiou. And then he plunged +headlong into the explanation that he deemed necessary. + +"In view of his relations with you, M. de Kercadiou, and because +of my deep regard for you, I did my best to avoid this, even though +as you will understand the death of my dear friend and cousin +Chabrillane seemed to summon me to action, even though I knew that +my circumspection was becoming matter for criticism among my friends. +But yesterday this unbridled young man made further restraint +impossible to me. He provoked me deliberately and publicly. He +put upon me the very grossest affront, and... to-morrow morning in +the Bois... we meet." + +He faltered a little at the end, fully conscious of the hostile +atmosphere in which he suddenly found himself. Hostility from M. +de Kercadiou, the latter's earlier change of manner had already +led him to expect; the hostility of mademoiselle came more in the +nature of a surprise. + +He began to understand what difficulties the course to which he +was committed must raise up for him. A fresh obstacle was to be +flung across the path which he had just cleared, as he imagined. +Yet his pride and his sense of the justice due to be done admitted +of no weakening. + +In bitterness he realized now, as he looked from uncle to niece + - his glance, usually so direct and bold, now oddly furtive - that +though to-morrow he might kill Andre-Louis, yet even by his death +Andre-Louis would take vengeance upon him. He had exaggerated +nothing in reaching the conclusion that this Andre-Louis Moreau +was the evil genius of his life. He saw now that do what he would, +kill him even though he might, he could never conquer him. The last +word would always be with Andre-Louis Moreau. In bitterness, in +rage, and in humiliation - a thing almost unknown to him - did he +realize it, and the realization steeled his purpose for all that +he perceived its futility. + +Outwardly he showed himself calm and self-contained, properly +suggesting a man regretfully accepting the inevitable. It would +have been as impossible to find fault with his bearing as to +attempt to turn him from the matter to which he was committed. +And so M. de Kercadiou perceived. + +"My God!" was all that he said, scarcely above his breath, yet +almost in a groan. + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr did, as always, the thing that sensibility +demanded of him. He took his leave. He understood that to linger +where his news had produced such an effect would be impossible, +indecent. So he departed, in a bitterness comparable only with +his erstwhile optimism, the sweet fruit of hope turned to a thing +of gall even as it touched his lips. Oh, yes; the last word, +indeed, was with Andre-Louis Moreau - always! + +Uncle and niece looked at each other as he passed out, and there +was horror in the eyes of both. Aline's pallor was deathly almost, +and standing there now she wrung her hands as if in pain. + +"Why did you not ask him - beg him... " She broke off. + +"To what end? He was in the right, and... and there are things +one cannot ask; things it would be a useless humiliation to ask." +He sat down, groaning. "Oh, the poor boy - the poor, misguided boy." + +In the mind of neither, you see, was there any doubt of what must +be the issue. The calm confidence in which La Tour d'Azyr had +spoken compelled itself to be shared. He was no vainglorious +boaster, and they knew of what a force as a swordsman he was +generally accounted. + +"What does humiliation matter? A life is at issue - Andre's life." + +"I know. My God, don't I know? And I would humiliate myself if +by humiliating myself I could hope to prevail. But Azyr is a hard, +relentless man, and... " + +Abruptly she left him. + +She overtook the Marquis as he was in the act of stepping his +carriage. He turned as she called, and bowed. + +"Mademoiselle?" + +At once he guessed her errand, tasted in anticipation the +unparalleled bitterness of being compelled to refuse her. Yet at +her invitation he stepped back into the cool of the hall. + +In the middle of the floor of chequered marbles, black and white, +stood a carved table of black oak. By this he halted, leaning +lightly against it whilst she sat enthroned in the great crimson +chair beside it. + +"Monsieur, I cannot allow you so to depart," she said. "You cannot +realize, monsieur, what a blow would be dealt my uncle if... if +evil, irrevocable evil were to overtake his godson to-morrow. The +expressions that he used at first... " + +"Mademoiselle, I perceived their true value. Spare yourself. +Believe me I am profoundly desolated by circumstances which I had +not expected to find. You must believe me when I say that. It +is all that I can say." + +"Must it really be all? Andre is very dear to his godfather." + +The pleading tone cut him like a knife; and then suddenly it aroused +another emotion - an emotion which he realized to be utterly +unworthy, an emotion which, in his overwhelming pride of race, +seemed almost sullying, yet not to be repressed. He hesitated to +give it utterance; hesitated even remotely to suggest so horrible +a thing as that in a man of such lowly origin he might conceivably +discover a rival. Yet that sudden pang of jealousy was stronger +than his monstrous pride. + +"And to you, mademoiselle? What is this Andre-Louis Moreau to you? +You will pardon the question. But I desire clearly to understand." + +Watching her he beheld the scarlet stain that overspread her face. +He read in it at first confusion, until the gleam of her blue eyes +announced its source to lie in anger. That comforted him; since +he had affronted her, he was reassured. It did not occur to him +that the anger might have another source. + +"Andre and I have been playmates from infancy. He is very dear to +me, too; almost I regard him as a brother. Were I in need of help, +and were my uncle not available, Andre would be the first man to +whom I should turn. Are you sufficiently answered, monsieur? Or +is there more of me you would desire revealed?" + +He bit his lip. He was unnerved, he thought, this morning; +otherwise the silly suspicion with which he had offended could +never have occurred to him. + +He bowed very low. "Mademoiselle, forgive that I should have +troubled you with such a question. You have answered more fully +than I could have hoped or wished." + +He said no more than that. He waited for her to resume. At a loss, +she sat in silence awhile, a pucker on her white brow, her fingers +nervously drumming on the table. At last she flung herself headlong +against the impassive, polished front that he presented. + +"I have come, monsieur, to beg you to put off this meeting." + +She saw the faint raising of his dark eyebrows, the faintly regretful +smile that scarcely did more than tinge his fine lips, and she +hurried on. "What honour can await you in such an engagement, +monsieur?" + +It was a shrewd thrust at the pride of race that she accounted his +paramount sentiment, that had as often lured him into error as it +had urged him into good. + +"I do not seek honour in it, mademoiselle, but - I must say it + - justice. The engagement, as I have explained, is not of my +seeking. It has been thrust upon me, and in honour I cannot draw +back." + +"Why, what dishonour would there be in sparing him? Surely, +monsieur, none would call your courage in question? None could +misapprehend your motives." + +"You are mistaken, mademoiselle. My motives would most certainly +be misapprehended. You forget that this young man has acquired in +the past week a certain reputation that might well make a man +hesitate to meet him." + +She brushed that aside almost contemptuously, conceiving it the +merest quibble. + +"Some men, yes. But not you, M. le Marquis." + +Her confidence in him on every count was most sweetly flattering. +But there was a bitterness behind the sweet. + +"Even I, mademoiselle, let me assure you. And there is more than +that. This quarrel which M. Moreau has forced upon me is no new +thing. It is merely the culmination of a long-drawn persecution. + +"Which you invited," she cut in. "Be just, monsieur." + +"I hope that it is not in my nature to be otherwise, mademoiselle." + +"Consider, then, that you killed his friend." + +"I find in that nothing with which to reproach myself. My +justification lay in the circumstances - the subsequent events in +this distracted country surely confirm it." + +"And... " She faltered a little, and looked away from him for the +first time. "And that you... that you... And what of Mademoiselle +Binet, whom he was to have married?" + +He stared at her for a moment in sheer surprise. "Was to have +married?" he repeated incredulously, dismayed almost. + +"You did not know that?" + +"But how do you?" + +"Did I not tell you that we are as brother and sister almost? I +have his confidence. He told me, before... before you made it +impossible." + +He looked away, chin in hand, his glance thoughtful, disturbed, +almost wistful. + +"There is," he said slowly, musingly, "a singular fatality at +work between that man and me, bringing us ever each by turns +athwart the other's path... " + +He sighed; then swung to face her again, speaking more briskly: +"Mademoiselle, until this moment I had no knowledge - no suspicion +of this thing. But..." He broke off, considered, and then +shrugged. "If I wronged him, I did so unconsciously. It would be +unjust to blame me, surely. In all our actions it must be the +intention alone that counts." + +"But does it make no difference?" + +"None that I can discern, mademoiselle. It gives me no +justification to withdraw from that to which I am irrevocably +committed. No justification, indeed, could ever be greater than +my concern for the pain it must occasion my good friend, your +uncle, and perhaps yourself, mademoiselle." + +She rose suddenly, squarely confronting him, desperate now, +driven to play the only card upon which she thought she might +count. + +"Monsieur," she said, "you did me the honour to-day to speak in +certain terms; to... to allude to certain hopes with which you +honour me." + +He looked at her almost in fear. In silence, not daring to speak, +he waited for her to continue. + +"I... I... Will you please to understand, monsieur, that if you +persist in this matter, if... unless you can break this engagement +of yours to-morrow morning in the Bois, you are not to presume +to mention this subject to me again, or, indeed, ever again to +approach me." + +To put the matter in this negative way was as far as she could +possibly go. It was for him to make the positive proposal to +which she had thus thrown wide the door. + +"Mademoiselle, you cannot mean... " + +"I do, monsieur... irrevocably, please to understand." He looked +at her with eyes of misery, his handsome, manly face as pale as +she had ever seen it. The hand he had been holding out in protest +began to shake. He lowered it to his side again, lest she should +perceive its tremor. Thus a brief second, while the battle was +fought within him, the bitter engagement between his desires and +what he conceived to be the demands of his honour, never perceiving +how far his honour was buttressed by implacable vindictiveness. +Retreat, he conceived, was impossible without shame; and shame was +to him an agony unthinkable. She asked too much. She could not +understand what she was asking, else she would never be so +unreasonable, so unjust. But also he saw that it would be futile +to attempt to make her understand. + +It was the end. Though he kill Andre-Louis Moreau in the morning +as he fiercely hoped he would, yet the victory even in death must +lie with Andre-Louis Moreau. + +He bowed profoundly, grave and sorrowful of face as he was grave +and sorrowful of heart. + +"Mademoiselle, my homage," he murmured, and turned to go. + +"But you have not answered me!" she called after him in terror. + +He checked on the threshold, and turned; and there from the cool +gloom of the hall she saw him a black, graceful silhouette against +the brilliant sunshine beyond - a memory of him that was to cling +as something sinister and menacing in the dread hours that were +to follow. + +"What would you, mademoiselle? I but spared myself and you the +pain of a refusal." + +He was gone leaving her crushed and raging. She sank down again +into the great red chair, and sat there crumpled, her elbows on +the table, her face in her hands - a face that was on fire with +shame and passion. She had offered herself, and she had been +refused! The inconceivable had befallen her. The humiliation of +it seemed to her something that could never be effaced. + +Startled, appalled, she stepped back, her hand pressed to her +tortured breast. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RETURNING CARRIAGE + + +M. de Kercadiou wrote a letter. + +"Godson," he began, without any softening adjective, "I have learnt +with pain and indignation that you have dishonoured yourself again +by breaking the pledge you gave me to abstain from politics. With +still greater pain and indignation do I learn that your name has +become in a few short days a byword, that you have discarded the +weapon of false, insidious arguments against my class - the class +to which you owe everything - for the sword of the assassin. It +has come to my knowledge that you have an assignation to-morrow +with my good friend M. de La Tour d'Azyr. A gentleman of his +station is under certain obligations imposed upon him by his birth, +which do not permit him to draw back from an engagement. But you +labour under no such disadvantages. For a man of your class to +refuse an engagement of honour, or to neglect it when made, entails +no sacrifice. Your peers will probably be of the opinion that you +display a commendable prudence. Therefore I beg you, indeed, did +I think that I still exercise over you any such authority as the +favours you have received from me should entitle me to exercise, I +would command you, to allow this matter to go no farther, and to +refrain from rendering yourself to your assignation to-morrow +morning. Having no such authority, as your past conduct now makes +clear, having no reason to hope that a proper sentiment of gratitude +to me will induce to give heed to this my most earnest request, I +am compelled to add that should you survive to-morrow's encounter, +I can in no circumstances ever again permit myself to be conscious +of your existence. If any spark survives of the affection that once +you expressed for me, or if you set any value upon the affection, +which, in spite of all that you have done to forfeit it, is the +chief prompter of this letter, you will not refuse to do as I am +asking." + +It was not a tactful letter. M. de Kercadiou was not a tactful man. +Read it as he would, Andre-Louis - when it was delivered to him on +that Sunday afternoon by the groom dispatched with it into Paris + - could read into it only concern for M. La Tour d'Azyr, M. de +Kercadiou's good friend, as he called him, and prospective +nephew-in-law. + +He kept the groom waiting a full hour while composing his answer. +Brief though it was, it cost him very considerable effort and +several unsuccessful attempts. In the end this is what he wrote: + +Monsieur my godfather - You make refusal singularly hard for me when +you appeal to me upon the ground of affection. It is a thing of +which all my life I shall hail the opportunity to give you proofs, +and I am therefore desolated beyond anything I could hope to express +that I cannot give you the proof you ask to-day. There is too much +between M. de La Tour d'Azyr and me. Also you do me and my class +- whatever it may be - less than justice when you say that +obligations of honour are not binding upon us. So binding do I +count them, that, if I would, I could not now draw back. + +If hereafter you should persist in the harsh intention you express, +I must suffer it. That I shall suffer be assured. + Your affectionate and grateful godson + Andre-Louis + +He dispatched that letter by M. de Kercadiou's groom, and conceived +this to be the end of the matter. It cut him keenly; but he bore +the wound with that outward stoicism he affected. + +Next morning, at a quarter past eight, as with Le Chapelier - who +had come to break his fast with him - he was rising from table to +set out for the Bois, his housekeeper startled him by announcing +Mademoiselle de Kercadiou. + +He looked at his watch. Although his cabriolet was already at the +door, he had a few minutes to spare. He excused himself from Le +Chapelier, and went briskly out to the anteroom. + +She advanced to meet him, her manner eager, almost feverish. + +"I will not affect ignorance of why you have come," he said quickly, +to make short work. "But time presses, and I warn you that only +the most solid of reasons can be worth stating." + +It surprised her. It amounted to a rebuff at the very outset, +before she had uttered a word; and that was the last thing she had +expected from Andre-Louis. Moreover, there was about him an air +of aloofness that was unusual where she was concerned, and his +voice had been singularly cold and formal. + +It wounded her. She was not to guess the conclusion to which he +had leapt. He made with regard to her - as was but natural, after +all - the same mistake that he had made with regard to yesterday's +letter from his godfather. He conceived that the mainspring of +action here was solely concern for M. de La Tour d'Azyr. That it +might be concern for himself never entered his mind. So absolute +was his own conviction of what must be the inevitable issue of that +meeting that he could not conceive of any one entertaining a fear +on his behalf. + +What he assumed to be anxiety on the score of the predestined victim +had irritated him in M. de Kercadiou; in Aline it filled him with a +cold anger; he argued from it that she had hardly been frank with +him; that ambition was urging her to consider with favour the suit +of M. de La Tour d'Azyr. And than this there was no spur that could +have driven more relentlessly in his purpose, since to save her +was in his eyes almost as momentous as to avenge the past. + +She conned him searchingly, and the complete calm of him at such a +time amazed her. She could not repress the mention of it. + +"How calm you are, Andre!" + +"I am not easily disturbed. It is a vanity of mine." + +"But... Oh, Andre, this meeting must not take place!" She came +close up to him, to set her hands upon his shoulders, and stood so, +her face within a foot of his own. + +"You know, of course, of some good reason why it should not?" +said he. + +"You may be killed," she answered him, and her eyes dilated as +she spoke. + +It was so far from anything that he had expected that for a moment +he could only stare at her. Then he thought he had understood. He +laughed as he removed her hands from his shoulders, and stepped +back. This was a shallow device, childish and unworthy in her. + +"Can you really think to prevail by attempting to frighten me?" he +asked, and almost sneered. + +"Oh, you are surely mad! M. de La Tour d'Azyr is reputed the most +dangerous sword in France." + +"Have you never noticed that most reputations are undeserved? +Chabrillane was a dangerous swordsman, and Chabrillane is +underground. La Motte-Royau was an even more dangerous swordsman, +and he is in a surgeon's hands. So are the other spadassinicides +who dreamt of skewering a poor sheep of a provincial lawyer. And +here to-day comes the chief, the fine flower of these +bully-swordsmen. He comes, for wages long overdue. Be sure of +that. So if you have no other reason to urge..." + +It was the sarcasm of him that mystified her. Could he possibly +be sincere in his assurance that he must prevail against M. de La +Tour d'Azyr? To her in her limited knowledge, her mind filled +with her uncle's contrary conviction, it seemed that Andre-Louis +was only acting; he would act a part to the very end. + +Be that as it might, she shifted her ground to answer him. + +"You had my uncle's letter?" + +"And I answered it." + +"I know. But what he said, he will fulfil. Do not dream that he +will relent if you carry out this horrible purpose." + +"Come, now, that is a better reason than the other," said he. "If +there is a reason in the world that could move me it would be that. +But there is too much between La Tour d'Azyr and me. There is an +oath I swore on the dead hand of Philippe de Vilmorin. I could +never have hoped that God would afford me so great an opportunity +of keeping it." + +"You have not kept it yet," she warned him. + +He smiled at her. "True!" he said. "But nine o'clock will soon be +here. Tell me," he asked her suddenly, "why did you not carry this +request of yours to M. de La Tour d'Azyr?" + +"I did," she answered him, and flushed as she remembered her +yesterday's rejection. He interpreted the flush quite otherwise. + +"And he?" he asked. + +"M. de La Tour d'Azyr's obligations... " she was beginning: then +she broke off to answer shortly: "Oh, he refused." + +"So, so. He must, of course, whatever it may have cost him. Yet +in his place I should have counted the cost as nothing. But men +are different, you see." He sighed. "Also in your place, had that +been so, I think I should have left the matter there. But then... " + +"I don't understand you, Andre." + +"I am not so very obscure. Not nearly so obscure as I can be. Turn +it over in your mind. It may help to comfort you presently." He +consulted his watch again. "Pray use this house as your own. I +must be going." + +Le Chapelier put his head in at the door. + +"Forgive the intrusion. But we shall be late, Andre, unless you... " + +"Coming," Andre answered him. "If you will await my return, Aline, +you will oblige me deeply. Particularly in view of your uncle's +resolve." + +She did not answer him. She was numbed. He took her silence for +assent, and, bowing, left her. Standing there she heard his steps +going down the stairs together with Le Chapelier's. He was +speaking to his friend, and his voice was calm and normal. + +Oh, he was mad - blinded by self-confidence and vanity. As his +carriage rattled away, she sat down limply, with a sense of +exhaustion and nausea. She was sick and faint with horror. +Andre-Louis was going to his death. Conviction of it - an +unreasoning conviction, the result, perhaps, of all M. de Kercadiou's +rantings - entered her soul. Awhile she sat thus, paralyzed by +hopelessness. Then she sprang up again, wringing her hands. She +must do something to avert this horror. But what could she do? To +follow him to the Bois and intervene there would be to make a scandal +for no purpose. The conventions of conduct were all against her, +offering a barrier that was not to be overstepped. Was there no one +could help her? + +Standing there, half-frenzied by her helplessness, she caught again +a sound of vehicles and hooves on the cobbles of the street below. +A carriage was approaching. It drew up with a clatter before the +fencing-academy. Could it be Andre-Louis returning? Passionately +she snatched at that straw of hope. Knocking, loud and urgent, fell +upon the door. She heard Andre-Louis' housekeeper, her wooden shoes +clanking upon the stairs, hurrying down to open. + +She sped to the door of the anteroom, and pulling it wide stood +breathlessly to listen. But the voice that floated up to her was +not the voice she so desperately hoped to hear. It was a woman's +voice asking in urgent tones for M. Andre-Louis - a voice at first +vaguely familiar, then clearly recognized, the voice of Mme. de +Plougastel. + +Excited, she ran to the head of the narrow staircase in time to hear +Mme. de Plougastel exclaim in agitation: + +"He has gone already! Oh, but how long since? Which way did he +take?" + +It was enough to inform Aline that Mme. de Plougastel's errand must +be akin to her own. At the moment, in the general distress and +confusion of her mind, her mental vision focussed entirely on the +one vital point, she found in this no matter for astonishment. The +singular regard conceived by Mme. de Plougastel for Andre-Louis +seemed to her then a sufficient explanation. + +Without pausing to consider, she ran down that steep staircase, +calling: + +"Madame! Madame!" + +The portly, comely housekeeper drew aside, and the two ladies faced +each other on that threshold. Mme. de Plougastel looked white and +haggard, a nameless dread staring from her eyes. + +"Aline! You here!" she exclaimed. And then in the urgency sweeping +aside all minor considerations, "Were you also too late?" she asked. + +"No, madame. I saw him. I implored him. But he would not listen." + +"Oh, this is horrible!" Mme. de Plougastel shuddered as she spoke. +"I heard of it only half an hour ago, and I came at once, to prevent +it at all costs." + +The two women looked blankly, despairingly, at each other. In the +sunshine-flooded street one or two shabby idlers were pausing to +eye the handsome equipage with its magnificent bay horses, and the +two great ladies on the doorstep of the fencing-academy. From +across the way came the raucous voice of an itinerant bellows-mender +raised in the cry of his trade: + +"A raccommoder les vieux soufflets!" + +Madame swung to the housekeeper. + +"How long is it since monsieur left?" + +"Ten minutes, maybe; hardly more." Conceiving these great ladies +to be friends of her invincible master's latest victim, the good +woman preserved a decently stolid exterior. + +Madame wrung her hands. "Ten minutes! Oh!" It was almost a moan. +"Which way did he go?" + +"The assignation is for nine o'clock in the Bois de Boulogne," +Aline informed her. "Could we follow? Could we prevail if we did?" + +"Ah, my God! The question is should we come in time? At nine +o'clock! And it wants but little more than a quarter of an hour. +Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!" Madame clasped and unclasped her hands in +anguish. "Do you know, at least, where in the Bois they are to meet?" + +"No - only that it is in the Bois." + +"In the Bois!" Madame was flung into a frenzy. "The Bois is nearly +half as large as Paris." But she swept breathlessly on, "Come, +Aline: get in, get in!" + +Then to her coachman. "To the Bois de Boulogne by way of the Cours +la Reine," she commanded, "as fast as you can drive. There are ten +pistoles for you if we are in time. Whip up, man!" + +She thrust Aline into the carriage, and sprang after her with the +energy of a girl. The heavy vehicle - too heavy by far for this +race with time - was moving before she had taken her seat. Rocking +and lurching it went, earning the maledictions of more than one +pedestrian whom it narrowly avoided crushing against a wall or +trampling underfoot. + +Madame sat back with closed eyes and trembling lips. Her face +showed very white and drawn. Aline watched her in silence. Almost +it seemed to her that Mme. de Plougastel was suffering as deeply +as herself, enduring an anguish of apprehension as great as her own. + +Later Aline was to wonder at this. But at the moment all the +thought of which her half-numbed mind was capable was bestowed upon +their desperate errand. + +The carriage rolled across the Place Louis XV and out on to the +Cours la Reine at last. Along that beautiful, tree-bordered avenue +between the Champs Elysees and the Seine, almost empty at this hour +of the day, they made better speed, leaving now a cloud of dust +behind them. + +But fast to danger-point as was the speed, to the women in that +carriage it was too slow. As they reached the barrier at the end +of the Cours, nine o'clock was striking in the city behind them, +and every stroke of it seemed to sound a note of doom. + +Yet here at the barrier the regulations compelled a momentary halt. +Aline enquired of the sergeant-in-charge how long it was since a +cabriolet such as she described had gone that way. She was answered +that some twenty minutes ago a vehicle had passed the barrier +containing the deputy M. le Chapelier and the Paladin of the Third +Estate, M. Moreau. The sergeant was very well informed. He could +make a shrewd guess, he said, with a grin, of the business that took +M. Moreau that way so early in the day. + +They left him, to speed on now through the open country, following +the road that continued to hug the river. They sat back mutely +despairing, staring hopelessly ahead, Aline's hand clasped tight +in madame's. In the distance, across the meadows on their right, +they could see already the long, dusky line of trees of the Bois, +and presently the carriage swung aside following a branch of the +road that turned to the right, away from the river and heading +straight for the forest. + +Mademoiselle broke at last the silence of hopelessness that had +reigned between them since they had passed the barrier. + +"Oh, it is impossible that we should come in time! Impossible!" + +"Don't say it! Don't say it!" madame cried out. + +"But it is long past nine, madame! Andre would be punctual, and +these... affairs do not take long. It... it will be all over by now." + +Madame shivered, and closed her eyes. Presently, however, she opened +them again, and stirred. Then she put her head from the window. "A +carriage is approaching," she announced, and her tone conveyed the +thing she feared. + +"Not already! Oh, not already!" Thus Aline expressed the silently +communicated thought. She experienced a difficulty in breathing, +felt the sudden need of air. Something in her throat was throbbing +as if it would suffocate her; a mist came and went before her eyes. + +In a cloud of dust an open caleche was speeding towards them, coming +from the Bois. They watched it, both pale, neither venturing to +speak, Aline, indeed, without breath to do so. + +As it approached, it slowed down, perforce, as they did, to effect +a safe passage in that narrow road. Aline was at the window with +Mme. de Plougastel, and with fearful eyes both looked into this +open carriage that was drawing abreast of them. + +"Which of them is it, madame? Oh, which of them?" gasped Aline, +scarce daring to look, her senses swimming. + +On the near side sat a swarthy young gentleman unknown to either of +the ladies. He was smiling as he spoke to his companion. A moment +later and the man sitting beyond came into view. He was not smiling. +His face was white and set, and it was the face of the Marquis de La +Tour d'Azyr. + +For a long moment, in speechless horror, both women stared at him, +until, perceiving them, blankest surprise invaded his stern face. + +In that moment, with a long shuddering sigh Aline sank swooning to +the carriage floor behind Mme. de Plougastel. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +INFERENCES + + +By fast driving Andre-Louis had reached the ground some minutes +ahead of time, notwithstanding the slight delay in setting out. +There he had found M. de La Tour d'Azyr already awaiting him, +supported by a M. d'Ormesson, a swarthy young gentleman in the +blue uniform of a captain in the Gardes du Corps. + +Andre-Louis had been silent and preoccupied throughout that drive. +He was perturbed by his last interview with Mademoiselle de +Kercadiou and the rash inferences which he had drawn as to her +motives. + +"Decidedly," he had said, "this man must be killed." + +Le Chapelier had not answered him. Almost, indeed, had the Breton +shuddered at his compatriot's cold-bloodedness. He had often of +late thought that this fellow Moreau was hardly human. Also he had +found him incomprehensibly inconsistent. When first this +spadassinicide business had been proposed to him, he had been so +very lofty and disdainful. Yet, having embraced it, he went about +it at times with a ghoulish flippancy that was revolting, at times +with a detachment that was more revolting still. + +Their preparations were made quickly and in silence, yet without +undue haste or other sign of nervousness on either side. In both +men the same grim determination prevailed. The opponent must be +killed; there could be no half-measures here. Stripped each of coat +and waistcoat, shoeless and with shirt-sleeves rolled to the elbow, +they faced each other at last, with the common resolve of paying +in full the long score that stood between them. I doubt if either +of them entertained a misgiving as to what must be the issue. + +Beside them, and opposite each other, stood Le Chapelier and the +young captain, alert and watchful. + +"Allez, messieurs!" + +The slender, wickedly delicate blades clashed together, and after +a momentary glizade were whirling, swift and bright as lightnings, +and almost as impossible to follow with the eye. The Marquis led +the attack, impetuously and vigorously, and almost at once +Andre-Louis realized that he had to deal with an opponent of a very +different mettle from those successive duellists of last week, not +excluding La Motte-Royau, of terrible reputation. + +Here was a man whom much and constant practice had given +extraordinary speed and a technique that was almost perfect. +In addition, he enjoyed over Andre-Louis physical advantages of +strength and length of reach, which rendered him altogether +formidable. And he was cool, too; cool and self-contained; fearless +and purposeful. Would anything shake that calm, wondered +Andre-Louis? + +He desired the punishment to be as full as he could make it. Not +content to kill the Marquis as the Marquis had killed Philippe, he +desired that he should first know himself as powerless to avert +that death as Philippe had been. Nothing less would content +Andre-Louis. M. le Marquis must begin by tasting of that cup of +despair. It was in the account; part of the quittance due. + +As with a breaking sweep Andre-Louis parried the heavy lunge in +which that first series of passes culminated, he actually laughed + - gleefully, after the fashion of a boy at a sport he loves. + +That extraordinary, ill-timed laugh made M. de La Tour d'Azyr's +recovery hastier and less correctly dignified than it would otherwise +have been. It startled and discomposed him, who had already been +discomposed by the failure to get home with a lunge so beautifully +timed and so truly delivered. + +He, too, had realized that his opponent's force was above anything +that he could have expected, fencing-master though he might be, and +on that account he had put forth his utmost energy to make an end +at once. + +More than the actual parry, the laugh by which it was accompanied +seemed to make of that end no more than a beginning. And yet it +was the end of something. It was the end of that absolute confidence +that had hitherto inspired M. de La Tour d'Azyr. He no longer looked +upon the issue as a thing forgone. He realized that if he was to +prevail in this encounter, he must go warily and fence as he had +never fenced yet in all his life. + +They settled down again; and again - on the principle this time that +the soundest defence is in attack - it was the Marquis who made the +game. Andre-Louis allowed him to do so, desired him to do so; +desired him to spend himself and that magnificent speed of his +against the greater speed that whole days of fencing in succession +for nearly two years had given the master. With a beautiful, easy +pressure of forte on foible Andre-Louis kept himself completely +covered in that second bout, which once more culminated in a lunge. + +Expecting it now, Andre-Louis parried it by no more than a deflecting +touch. At the same moment he stepped suddenly forward, right within +the other's guard, thus placing his man so completely at his mercy +that, as if fascinated, the Marquis did not even attempt to recover +himself. + +This time Andre-Louis did not laugh: He just smiled into the dilating +eyes of M. de La Tour d'Azyr, and made no shift to use his advantage. + +"Come, come, monsieur!" he bade him sharply. "Am I to run my blade +through an uncovered man?" Deliberately he fell back, whilst his +shaken opponent recovered himself at last. + +M. d'Ormesson released the breath which horror had for a moment +caught. Le Chapelier swore softly, muttering: + +"Name of a name! It is tempting Providence to play the fool in +this fashion!" + +Andre-Louis observed the ashen pallor that now over spread the face +of his opponent. + +"I think you begin to realize, monsieur, what Philippe de Vilmorin +must have felt that day at Gavrillac. I desired that you should +first do so. Since that is accomplished, why, here's to make an end." + +He went in with lightning rapidity. For a moment his point seemed +to La Tour d'Azyr to be everywhere at once, and then from a low +engagement in sixte, Andre-Louis stretched forward with swift and +vigorous ease to lunge in tierce. He drove his point to transfix +his opponent whom a series of calculated disengages uncovered in +that line. But to his amazement and chagrin, La Tour d'Azyr parried +the stroke; infinitely more to his chagrin La Tour d'Azyr parried +it just too late. Had he completely parried it, all would yet have +been well. But striking the blade in the last fraction of a second, +the Marquis deflected the point from the line of his body, yet not +so completely but that a couple of feet of that hard-driven steel +tore through the muscles of his sword-arm. + +To the seconds none of these details had been visible. All that +they had seen had been a swift whirl of flashing blades, and then +Andre-Louis stretched almost to the ground in an upward lunge that +had pierced the Marquis' right arm just below the shoulder. + +The sword fell from the suddenly relaxed grip of La Tour d'Azyr's +fingers, which had been rendered powerless, and he stood now +disarmed, his lip in his teeth, his face white, his chest heaving, +before his opponent, who had at once recovered. With the +blood-tinged tip of his sword resting on the ground, Andre-Louis +surveyed him grimly, as we survey the prey that through our own +clumsiness has escaped us at the last moment. + +In the Assembly and in the newspapers this might be hailed as another +victory for the Paladin of the Third Estate; only himself could know +the extent and the bitternest of the failure. + +M. d'Ormesson had sprung to the side of his principal. + +"You are hurt!" he had cried stupidly. + +"It is nothing," said La Tour d'Azyr. "A scratch." But his lip +writhed, and the torn sleeve of his fine cambric shirt was full of +blood. + +D'Ormesson, a practical man in such matters, produced a linen +kerchief, which he tore quickly into strips to improvise a bandage. + +Still Andre-Louis continued to stand there, looking on as if bemused. +He continued so until Le Chapelier touched him on the arm. Then at +last he roused himself, sighed, and turned away to resume his +garments, nor did he address or look again at his late opponent, but +left the ground at once. + +As, with Le Chapelier, he was walking slowly and in silent dejection +towards the entrance of the Bois, where they had left their carriage, +they were passed by the caleche conveying La Tour d'Azyr and his +second - which had originally driven almost right up to the spot of +the encounter. The Marquis' wounded arm was carried in a sling +improvised from his companion's sword-belt. His sky-blue coat with +three collars had been buttoned over this, so that the right sleeve +hung empty. Otherwise, saving a certain pallor, he looked much his +usual self. + +And now you understand how it was that he was the first to return, +and that seeing him thus returning, apparently safe and sound, the +two ladies, intent upon preventing the encounter, should have +assumed that their worst fears were realized. + +Mme. de Plougastel attempted to call out, but her voice refused its +office. She attempted to throw open the door of her own carriage; +but her fingers fumbled clumsily and ineffectively with the handle. +And meanwhile the caleche was slowly passing, La Tour d'Azyr's fine +eyes sombrely yet intently meeting her own anguished gaze. And then +she saw something else. M. d'Ormesson, leaning back again from the +forward inclination of his body to join his own to his companion's +salutation of the Countess, disclosed the empty right sleeve of M. +de La Tour d'Azyr's blue coat. More, the near side of the coat +itself turned back from the point near the throat where it was +caught together by single button, revealed the slung arm beneath +in its blood-sodden cambric sleeve. + +Even now she feared to jump to the obvious conclusion feared lest +perhaps the Marquis, though himself wounded, might have dealt his +adversary a deadlier wound. + +She found her voice at last, and at the same moment signalled to +the driver of the caleche to stop. + +As it was pulled to a standstill, M. d'Ormesson alighted, and so +met madame in the little space between the two carriages. + +"Where is M. Moreau?" was the question with which she surprised him. + +"Following at his leisure, no doubt, madame," he answered, +recovering. + +"He is not hurt?" + +"Unfortunately it is we who... " M. d'Ormesson was beginning, when +from behind him M. de La Tour d'Azyr's voice cut in crisply: + +"This interest on your part in M. Moreau, dear Countess... " + +He broke off, observing a vague challenge in the air with which +she confronted him. But indeed his sentence did not need completing. + +There was a vaguely awkward pause. And then she looked at M. +d'Ormesson. Her manner changed. She offered what appeared to be +an explanation of her concern for M. Moreau. + +"Mademoiselle de Kercadiou is with me. The poor child has fainted." + +There was more, a deal more, she would have said just then, but for +M. d'Ormesson's presence. + +Moved by a deep solicitude for Mademoiselle de Kertadiou, de La Tour +d'Azyr sprang up despite his wound. + +"I am in poor case to render assistance, madame," he said, an +apologetic smile on his pale face. "But... " + +With the aid of d'Ormesson, and in spite of the latter's +protestations, he got down from the caleche, which then moved on a +little way, so as to leave the road clear - for another carriage +that was approaching from the direction of the Bois. + +And thus it happened that when a few moments later that approaching +cabriolet overtook and passed the halted vehicles, Andre-Louis +beheld a very touching scene. Standing up to obtain a better view, +he saw Aline in a half-swooning condition - she was beginning to +revive by now - seated in the doorway of the carriage, supported by +Mme. de Plougastel. In an attitude of deepest concern, M. de La +Tour d'Azyr, his wound notwithstanding, was bending over the girl, +whilst behind him stood M. d'Ormesson and madame's footman. + +The Countess looked up and saw him as he was driven past. Her face +lighted; almost it seemed to him she was about to greet him or to +call him, wherefore, to avoid a difficulty, arising out of the +presence there of his late antagonist, he anticipated her by bowing +frigidly - for his mood was frigid, the more frigid by virtue of +what he saw - and then resumed his seat with eyes that looked +deliberately ahead. + +Could anything more completely have confirmed him in his conviction +that it was on M. de La Tour d'Azyr's account that Aline had come +to plead with him that morning? For what his eyes had seen, of +course, was a lady overcome with emotion at the sight of blood of +her dear friend, and that same dear friend restoring her with +assurances that his hurt was very far from mortal. Later, much +later, he was to blame his own perverse stupidity. Almost is he +too severe in his self-condemnation. For how else could he have +interpreted the scene he beheld, his preconceptions being what +they were? + +That which he had already been suspecting, he now accounted proven +to him. Aline had been wanting in candour on the subject of her +feelings towards M. de La Tour d'Azyr. It was, he supposed, a +woman's way to be secretive in such matters, and he must not blame +her. Nor could he blame her in his heart for having succumbed to +the singular charm of such a man as the Marquis - for not even his +hostility could blind him to M. de La Tour d'Azyr's attractions. +That she had succumbed was betrayed, he thought, by the weakness +that had overtaken her upon seeing him wounded. + +"My God!" he cried aloud. "What must she have suffered, then, if +I had killed him as I intended!" + +If only she had used candour with him, she could so easily have won +his consent to the thing she asked. If only she had told him what +now he saw, that she loved M. de La Tour d'Azyr, instead of leaving +him to assume her only regard for the Marquis to be based on +unworthy worldly ambition, he would at once have yielded. + +He fetched a sigh, and breathed a prayer for forgiveness to the +shade of Vilmorin. + + "It is perhaps as well that my lunge went wide," he said. + +"What do you mean?" wondered Le Chapelier. + +"That in this business I must relinquish all hope of recommencing." + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE OVERWHELMING REASON + + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr was seen no more in the Manege - or indeed in +Paris at all - throughout all the months that the National Assembly +remained in session to complete its work of providing France with +a constitution. After all, though the wound to his body had been +comparatively slight, the wound to such a pride as his had been +all but mortal. + +The rumour ran that he had emigrated. But that was only half the +truth. The whole of it was that he had joined that group of noble +travellers who came and went between the Tuileries and the +headquarters of the emigres at Coblenz. He became, in short, a +member of the royalist secret service that in the end was to bring +down the monarchy in ruins. + +As for Andre-Louis, his godfather's house saw him no more, as a +result of his conviction that M. de Kercadiou would not relent from +his written resolve never to receive him again if the duel were +fought. + +He threw himself into his duties at the Assembly with such zeal and +effect that when - its purpose accomplished - the Constituent was +dissolved in September of the following year, membership of the +Legislative, whose election followed immediately, was thrust upon +him. + +He considered then, like many others, that the Revolution was a +thing accomplished, that France had only to govern herself by the +Constitution which had been given her, and that all would now be +well. And so it might have been but that the Court could not bring +itself to accept the altered state of things. As a result of its +intrigues half Europe was arming to hurl herself upon France, and +her quarrel was the quarrel of the French King with his people. +That was the horror at the root of all the horrors that were to come. + +Of the counter-revolutionary troubles that were everywhere being +stirred up by the clergy, none were more acute than those of Brittany, +and, in view of the influence it was hoped he would wield in his +native province, it was proposed to Andre-Louis by the Commission of +Twelve, in the early days of the Girondin ministry, that he should +go thither to combat the unrest. He was desired to proceed +peacefully, but his powers were almost absolute, as is shown by the +orders he carried - orders enjoining all to render him assistance +and warning those who might hinder him that they would do so at +their peril. + +He accepted the task, and he was one of the five plenipotentiaries +despatched on the same errand in that spring of 1792. It kept him +absent from Paris for four months and might have kept him longer +but that at the beginning of August he was recalled. More imminent +than any trouble in Brittany was the trouble brewing in Paris itself; +when the political sky was blacker than it had been since '89. +Paris realized that the hour was rapidly approaching which would +see the climax of the long struggle between Equality and Privilege. +And it was towards a city so disposed that Andre-Louis came speeding +from the West, to find there also the climax of his own disturbed +career. + +Mlle. de Kercadiou, too, was in Paris in those days of early August, +on a visit to her uncle's cousin and dearest friend, Mme. de +Plougastel. And although nothing could now be plainer than the +seething unrest that heralded the explosion to come, yet the air of +gaiety, indeed of jocularity, prevailing at Court - whither madame +and mademoiselle went almost daily - reassured them. M. de +Plougastel had come and gone again, back to Coblenz on that secret +business that kept him now almost constantly absent from his wife. +But whilst with her he had positively assured her that all measures +were taken, and that an insurrection was a thing to be welcomed, +because it could have one only conclusion, the final crushing of +the Revolution in the courtyard of the Tuileries. That, he added, +was why the King remained in Paris. But for his confidence in that +he would put himself in the centre of his Swiss and his knights of +the dagger, and quit the capital. They would hack a way out for +him easily if his departure were opposed. But not even that would +be necessary. + +Yet in those early days of August, after her husband's departure +the effect of his inspiring words was gradually dissipated by the +march of events under madame's own eyes. And finally on the +afternoon of the ninth, there arrived at the Hotel Plougastel a +messenger from Meudon bearing a note from M. de Kercadiou in +which he urgently bade mademoiselle join him there at once, and +advised her hostess to accompany her. + +You may have realized that M. de Kercadiou was of those who make +friends with men of all classes. His ancient lineage placed him +on terms of equality with members of the noblesse; his simple +manners - something between the rustic and the bourgeois - and his +natural affability placed him on equally good terms with those who +by birth were his inferiors. In Meudon he was known and esteemed +of all the simple folk, and it was Rougane, the friendly mayor, +who, informed on the 9th of August of the storm that was brewing +for the morrow, and knowing of mademoiselle's absence in Paris, +had warningly advised him to withdraw her from what in the next +four-and-twenty hours might be a zone of danger for all persons +of quality, particularly those suspected of connections with the +Court party. + +Now there was no doubt whatever of Mme. de Plougastel's connection +with the Court. It was not even to be doubted - indeed, measure of +proof of it was to be forthcoming - that those vigilant and +ubiquitous secret societies that watched over the cradle of the +young revolution were fully informed of the frequent journeyings of +M. de Plougastel to Coblenz, and entertained no illusions on the +score of the reason for them. Given, then, a defeat of the Court +party in the struggle that was preparing, the position in Paris of +Mme. de Plougastel could not be other than fraught with danger, and +that danger would be shared by any guest of birth at her hotel. + +M. de Kercadiou's affection for both those women quickened the fears +aroused in him by Rougane's warning. Hence that hastily dispatched +note, desiring his niece and imploring his friend to come at once +to Meudon. + +The friendly mayor carried his complaisance a step farther, and +dispatched the letter to Paris by the hands of his own son, an +intelligent lad of nineteen. It was late in the afternoon of that +perfect August day when young Rougane presented himself at the +Hotel Plougastel. + +He was graciously received by Mme. de Plougastel in the salon, whose +splendours, when combined with the great air of the lady herself, +overwhelmed the lad's simple, unsophisticated soul. Madame made up +her mind at once. + +M. de Kercadiou's urgent message no more than confirmed her own +fears and inclinations. She decided upon instant departure. + +"Bien, madame," said the youth. "Then I have the honour to take +my leave." + +But she would not let him go. First to the kitchen to refresh +himself, whilst she and mademoiselle made ready, and then a seat +for him in her carriage as far as Meudon. She could not suffer him +to return on foot as he had come. + +Though in all the circumstances it was no more than his due, yet +the kindliness that in such a moment of agitation could take thought +for another was presently to be rewarded. Had she done less than +this, she would have known - if nothing worse - at least some hours +of anguish even greater than those that were already in store for her. + +It wanted, perhaps, a half-hour to sunset when they set out in her +carriage with intent to leave Paris by the Porte Saint-Martin. They +travelled with a single footman behind. Rougane - terrifying +condescension - was given a seat inside the carriage with the ladies, +and proceeded to fall in love with Mlle. de Kercadiou, whom he +accounted the most beautiful being he had ever seen, yet who talked +to him simply and unaffectedly as with an equal. The thing went to +his head a little, and disturbed certain republican notions which +he had hitherto conceived himself to have thoroughly digested. + +The carriage drew up at the barrier, checked there by a picket of +the National Guard posted before the iron gates. + +The sergeant in command strode to the door of the vehicle. The +Countess put her head from the window. + +"The barrier is closed, madame," she was curtly informed. + +"Closed!" she echoed. The thing was incredible. "But... but do +you mean that we cannot pass?" + +"Not unless you have a permit, madame." The sergeant leaned +nonchalantly on his pike. "The orders are that no one is to leave +or enter without proper papers." + +"Whose orders?" + +"Orders of the Commune of Paris." + +"But I must go into the country this evening." Madame's voice was +almost petulant. "I am expected." + +"In that case let madame procure a permit." + +"Where is it to be procured?" + +"At the Hotel de Ville or at the headquarters of madame's section." + +She considered a moment. "To the section, then. Be so good as to +tell my coachman to drive to the Bondy Section." + +He saluted her and stepped back. "Section Bondy, Rue des Morts," +he bade the driver. + +Madame sank into her seat again, in a state of agitation fully +shared by mademoiselle. Rougane set himself to pacify and reassure +them. The section would put the matter in order. They would most +certainly be accorded a permit. What possible reason could there +be for refusing them? A mere formality, after all! + +His assurance uplifted them merely to prepare them for a still more +profound dejection when presently they met with a flat refusal from +the president of the section who received the Countess. + +"Your name, madame?" he had asked brusquely. A rude fellow of the +most advanced republican type, he had not even risen out of +deference to the ladies when they entered. He was there, he would +have told you, to perform the duties of his office, not to give +dancing-lessons. + +"Plougastel," he repeated after her, without title, as if it had +been the name of a butcher or baker. He took down a heavy volume +from a shelf on his right, opened it and turned the pages. It was +a sort of directory of his section. Presently he found what he +sought. "Comte de Plougastel, Hotel Plougastel, Rue du Paradis. +Is that it?" + +"That is correct, monsieur," she answered, with what civility she +could muster before the fellow's affronting rudeness. + +There was a long moment of silence, during which he studied certain +pencilled entries against the name. The sections had been working +in the last few weeks much more systematically than was generally +suspected. + +"Your husband is with you, madame?" he asked curtly, his eyes still +conning that page. + +"M. le Comte is not with me," she answered, stressing the title. + +"Not with you?" He looked up suddenly, and directed upon her a +glance in which suspicion seemed to blend with derision. "Where +is he?" + +"He is not in Paris, monsieur. + +"Ah! Is he at Coblenz, do you think?" + +Madame felt herself turning cold. There was something ominous in +all this. To what end had the sections informed themselves so +thoroughly of the comings and goings of their inhabitants? What was +preparing? She had a sense of being trapped, of being taken in a +net that had been cast unseen. + +"I do not know, monsieur," she said, her voice unsteady. + +"Of course not." He seemed to sneer. "No matter. And you wish to +leave Paris also? Where do you desire to go?" + +"To Meudon." + +"Your business there?" + +The blood leapt to her face. His insolence was unbearable to a +woman who in all her life had never known anything but the utmost +deference from inferiors and equals alike. Nevertheless, realizing +that she was face to face with forces entirely new, she controlled +herself, stifled her resentment, and answered steadily. + +"I wish to conduct this lady, Mlle. de Kercadiou, back to her uncle +who resides there." + +"Is that all? Another day will do for that, madame. The matter is +not pressing." + +"Pardon, monsieur, to us the matter is very pressing." + +"You have not convinced me of it, and the barriers are closed to all +who cannot prove the most urgent and satisfactory reasons for wishing +to pass. You will wait, madame, until the restriction is removed. +Good-evening." + +"But, monsieur... " + +"Good-evening, madame," he repeated significantly, a dismissal more +contemptuous and despotic than any royal "You have leave to go." + +Madame went out with Aline. Both were quivering with the anger that +prudence had urged them to suppress. They climbed into the coach +again, desiring to be driven home. + +Rougane's astonishment turned into dismay when they told him what +had taken place. "Why not try the Hotel de Ville, madame?" he +suggested. + +"After that? It would be useless. We must resign ourselves to +remaining in Paris until the barriers are opened again." + +"Perhaps it will not matter to us either way by then, madame," said +Aline. + +"Aline!" she exclaimed in horror. + +"Mademoiselle!" cried Rougane on the same note. And then, because +he perceived that people detained in this fashion must be in some +danger not yet discernible, but on that account more dreadful, he +set his wits to work. As they were approaching the Hotel Plougastel +once more, he announced that he had solved the problem. + +"A passport from without would do equally well," he announced. +"Listen, now, and trust to me. I will go back to Meudon at once. +My father shall give me two permits - one for myself alone, and +another for three persons - from Meudon to Paris and back to Meudon. +I reenter Paris with my own permit, which I then proceed to destroy, +and we leave together, we three, on the strength of the other one, +representing ourselves as having come from Meudon in the course of +the day. It is quite simple, after all. If I go at once, I shall +be back to-night." + +"But how will you leave?" asked Aline. + +"I? Pooh! As to that, have no anxiety. My father is Mayor of +Meudon. There are plenty who know him. I will go to the Hotel de +Ville, and tell them what is, after all, true - that I am caught +in Paris by the closing of the barriers, and that my father is +expecting me home this evening. They will pass me through. It is +quite simple." + +His confidence uplifted them again. The thing seemed as easy as +he represented it. + +"Then let your passport be for four, my friend," madame begged him. +"There is Jacques," she explained, indicating the footman who had +just assisted them to alight. + +Rougane departed confident of soon returning, leaving them to await +him with the same confidence. But the hours succeeded one another, +the night closed in, bedtime came, and still there was no sign of +his return. + +They waited until midnight, each pretending for the other's sake +to a confidence fully sustained, each invaded by vague premonitions +of evil, yet beguiling the time by playing tric-trac in the great +salon, as if they had not a single anxious thought between them. + +At last on the stroke of midnight, madame sighed and rose. + +"It will be for to-morrow morning," she said, not believing it. + +"Of course," Aline agreed. "It would really have been impossible +for him to have returned to-night. And it will be much better to +travel to-morrow. The journey at so late an hour would tire you +so much, dear madame." + +Thus they made pretence. + +Early in the morning they were awakened by a din of bells - the +tocsins of the sections ringing the alarm. To their startled ears +came later the rolling of drums, and at one time they heard the +sounds of a multitude on the march. Paris was rising. Later still +came the rattle of small-arms in the distance and the deeper boom +of cannon. Battle was joined between the men of the sections and +the men of the Court. The people in arms had attacked the Tuileries. +Wildest rumours flew in all directions, and some of them found their +way through the servants to the Hotel Plougastel, of that terrible +fight for the palace which was to end in the purposeless massacre +of all those whom the invertebrate monarch abandoned there, whilst +placing himself and his family under the protection of the Assembly. +Purposeless to the end, ever adopting the course pointed out to him +by evil counsellors, he prepared for resistance only until the need +for resistance really arose, whereupon he ordered a surrender which +left those who had stood by him to the last at the mercy of a +frenzied mob. + +And while this was happening in the Tuileries, the two women at the +Hotel Plougastel still waited for the return of Rougane, though now +with ever-lessening hope. And Rougane did not return. The affair +did not appear so simple to the father as to the son. Rougane the +elder was rightly afraid to lend himself to such a piece of +deception. + +He went with his son to inform M. de Kercadiou of what had happened, +and told him frankly of the thing his son suggested, but which he +dared not do. + +M. de Kercadiou sought to move him by intercessions and even by the +offer of bribes. But Rougane remained firm. + +"Monsieur," he said, "if it were discovered against me, as it +inevitably would be, I should hang for it. Apart from that, and +in spite of my anxiety to do all in my power to serve you, it +would be a breach of trust such as I could not contemplate. You +must not ask me, monsieur." + +"But what do you conceive is going to happen?" asked the +half-demented gentleman. + +"It is war," said Rougane, who was well informed, as we have seen. +"War between the people and the Court. I am desolated that my +warning should have come too late. But, when all is said, I do not +think that you need really alarm yourself. War will not be made +on women." M. de Kercadiou clung for comfort to that assurance after +the mayor and his son had departed. But at the back of his mind +there remained the knowledge of the traffic in which M. de Plougastel +was engaged. What if the revolutionaries were equally well informed? +And most probably they were. The women-folk political offenders had +been known aforetime to suffer for the sins of their men. Anything +was possible in a popular upheaval, and Aline would be exposed +jointly with Mme. de Plougastel. + +Late that night, as he sat gloomily in his brother's library, the +pipe in which he had sought solace extinguished between his fingers, +there came a sharp knocking at the door. + +To the old seneschal of Gavrillac who went to open there stood +revealed upon the threshold a slim young man in a dark olive +surcoat, the skirts of which reached down to his calves. He wore +boots, buckskins, and a small-sword, and round his waist there was +a tricolour sash, in his hat a tricolour cockade, which gave him an +official look extremely sinister to the eyes of that old retainer +of feudalism, who shared to the full his master's present fears. + +"Monsieur desires?" he asked, between respect and mistrust. + +And then a crisp voice startled him. + +"Why, Benoit! Name of a name! Have you completely forgotten me?" + +With a shaking hand the old man raised the lantern he carried so +as to throw its light more fully upon that lean, wide-mouthed +countenance. + +"M. Andre!" he cried. "M. Andre!" And then he looked at the sash +and the cockade, and hesitated, apparently at a loss. + +But Andre-Louis stepped past him into the wide vestibule, with its +tessellated floor of black-and-white marble. + +"If my godfather has not yet retired, take me to him. If he has +retired, take me to him all the same." + +"Oh, but certainly, M. Andre - and I am sure he will be ravished to +see you. No, he has not yet retired. This way, M. Andre; this way, +if you please." + +The returning Andre-Louis, reaching Meudon a half-hour ago, had +gone straight to the mayor for some definite news of what might be +happening in Paris that should either confirm or dispel the ominous +rumours that he had met in ever-increasing volume as he approached +the capital. Rougane informed him that insurrection was imminent, +that already the sections had possessed themselves of the barriers, +and that it was impossible for any person not fully accredited to +enter or leave the city. + +Andre-Louis bowed his head, his thoughts of the gravest. He had +for some time perceived the danger of this second revolution from +within the first, which might destroy everything that had been done, +and give the reins of power to a villainous faction that would +plunge the country into anarchy. The thing he had feared was more +than ever on the point of taking place. He would go on at once, +that very night, and see for himself what was happening. + +And then, as he was leaving, he turned again to Rougane to ask if +M. de Kercadiou was still at Meudon. + +"You know him, monsieur?" + +"He is my godfather." + +"Your godfather! And you a representative! Why, then, you may be +the very man he needs." And Rougane told him of his son's errand +into Paris that afternoon and its result. + +No more was required. That two years ago his godfather should upon +certain terms have refused him his house weighed for nothing at the +moment. He left his travelling carriage at the little inn and went +straight to M. de Kercadiou. + +And M. de Kercadiou, startled in such an hour by this sudden +apparition, of one against whom he nursed a bitter grievance, +greeted him in terms almost identical with those in which in that +same room he had greeted him on a similar occasion once before. + +"What do you want here, sir?" + +"To serve you if possible, my godfather," was the disarming answer. + +But it did not disarm M. de Kercadiou. "You have stayed away so +long that I hoped you would not again disturb me." + +"I should not have ventured to disobey you now were it not for the +hope that I can be of service. I have seen Rougane, the mayor... " + +"What's that you say about not venturing to disobey?" + +"You forbade me your house, monsieur." + +M. de Kercadiou stared at him helplessly. + +"And is that why you have not come near me in all this time?" + +"Of course. Why else?" + +M. de Kercadiou continued to stare. Then he swore under his breath. +It disconcerted him to have to deal with a man who insisted upon +taking him so literally. He had expected that Andre-Louis would +have come contritely to admit his fault and beg to be taken back +into favour. He said so. + +"But how could I hope that you meant less than you said, monsieur? +You were so very definite in your declaration. What expressions of +contrition could have served me without a purpose of amendment? +And I had no notion of amending. We may yet be thankful for that." + +"Thankful?" + +"I am a representative. I have certain powers. I am very +opportunely returning to Paris. Can I serve you where Rougane +cannot? The need, monsieur, would appear to be very urgent if the +half of what I suspect is true. Aline should be placed in safety +at once." + +M. de Kercadiou surrendered unconditionally. He came over and took +Andre-Louis' hand. + +"My boy," he said, and he was visibly moved, "there is in you a +certain nobility that is not to be denied. If I seemed harsh with +you, then, it was because I was fighting against your evil +proclivities. I desired to keep you out of the evil path of +politics that have brought this unfortunate country into so terrible +a pass. The enemy on the frontier; civil war about to flame out at +home. That is what you revolutionaries have done." + +Andre-Louis did not argue. He passed on. + +"About Aline?" he asked. And himself answered his own question: +"She is in Paris, and she must be brought out of it at once, before +the place becomes a shambles, as well it may once the passions that +have been brewing all these months are let loose. Young Rougane's +plan is good. At least, I cannot think of a better one." + +"But Rougane the elder will not hear of it." + +"You mean he will not do it on his own responsibility. But he has +consented to do it on mine. I have left him a note over my signature +to the effect that a safe-conduct for Mlle. de Kercadiou to go to +Paris and return is issued by him in compliance with orders from me. +The powers I carry and of which I have satisfied him are his +sufficient justification for obeying me in this. I have left him +that note on the understanding that he is to use it only in an +extreme case, for his own protection. In exchange he has given me +this safe-conduct." + +"You already have it!" + +M. de Kercadiou took the sheet of paper that Andre-Louis held out. +His hand shook. He approached it to the cluster of candles burning +on the console and screwed up his short-sighted eyes to read. + +"If you send that to Paris by young Rougane in the morning," said +Andre-Louis, "Aline should be here by noon. Nothing, of course, +could be done to-night without provoking suspicion. The hour is +too late. And now, monsieur my godfather, you know exactly why I +intrude in violation of your commands. If there is any other way +in which I can serve you, you have but to name it whilst I am here." + +"But there is, Andre. Did not Rougane tell you that there were +others... " + +"He mentioned Mme. de Plougastel and her servant." + +"Then why... ?" M. de Kercadiou broke off, looking his question. + +Very solemnly Andre-Louis shook his head. + +"That is impossible," he said. + +M. de Kercadiou's mouth fell open in astonishment. "Impossible!" +he repeated. "But why?" + +"Monsieur, I can do what I am doing for Aline without offending my +conscience. Besides, for Aline I would offend my conscience and do +it. But Mme. de Plougastel is in very different case. Neither Aline +nor any of hers have been concerned in counter-revolutionary work, +which is the true source of the calamity that now threatens to +overtake us. I can procure her removal from Paris without +self-reproach, convinced that I am doing nothing that any one could +censure, or that might become the subject of enquiries. But Mme. de +Plougastel is the wife of M. le Comte de Plougastel, whom all the +world knows to be an agent between the Court and the emigres." + +"That is no fault of hers," cried M. de Kercadiou through his +consternation. + +"Agreed. But she may be called upon at any moment to establish the +fact that she is not a party to these manoeuvres. It is known that +she was in Paris to-day. Should she be sought to-morrow and should +it be found that she has gone, enquiries will certainly be made, +from which it must result that I have betrayed my trust, and abused +my powers to serve personal ends. I hope, monsieur, that you will +understand that the risk is too great to be run for the sake of a +stranger." + +"A stranger?" said the Seigneur reproachfully. + +"Practically a stranger to me," said Andre-Louis. + +"But she is not a stranger to me, Andre. She is my cousin and very +dear and valued friend. And, mon Dieu, what you say but increases +the urgency of getting her out of Paris. She must be rescued, Andre, +at all costs - she must be rescued! Why, her case is infinitely +more urgent than Aline's!" + +He stood a suppliant before his godson, very different now from the +stern man who had greeted him on his arrival. His face was pale, +his hands shook, and there were beads of perspiration on his brow. + +"Monsieur my godfather, I would do anything in reason. But I cannot +do this. To rescue her might mean ruin for Aline and yourself as +well as for me." + +"We must take the risk." + +"You have a right to speak for yourself, of course." + +"Oh, and for you, believe me, Andre, for you!" He came close to +the young man. "Andre, I implore you to take my word for that, and +to obtain this permit for Mme. de Plougastel." + +Andre looked at him mystified. "This is fantastic," he said. "I +have grateful memories of the lady's interest in me for a few days +once when I was a child, and again more recently in Paris when she +sought to convert me to what she accounts the true political +religion. But I do not risk my neck for her - no, nor yours, nor +Aline's." + +"Ah! But, Andre... " + +"That is my last word, monsieur. It is growing late, and I desire +to sleep in Paris." + +"No, no! Wait!" The Lord of Gavrillac was displaying signs of +unspeakable distress. "Andre, you must!" + +There was in this insistence and, still more, in the frenzied +manner of it, something so unreasonable that Andre could not fail +to assume that some dark and mysterious motive lay behind it. + +"I must?" he echoed. "Why must I? Your reasons, monsieur?" + +"Andre, my reasons are overwhelming." + +"Pray allow me to be the judge of that." Andre-Louis' manner was +almost peremptory. + +The demand seemed to reduce M. de Kercadiou to despair. He paced +the room, his hands tight-clasped behind him, his brow wrinkled. +At last he came to stand before his godson. + +"Can't you take my word for it that these reasons exist?" he cried +in anguish. + +"In such a matter as this - a matter that may involve my neck? Oh, +monsieur, is that reasonable?" + +"I violate my word of honour, my oath, if I tell you." M. de +Kercadiou turned away, wringing his hands, his condition visibly +piteous; then turned again to Andre. "But in this extremity, in +this desperate extremity, and since you so ungenerously insist, I +shall have to tell you. God help me, I have no choice. She will +realize that when she knows. Andre, my boy... " He paused again, +a man afraid. He set a hand on his godson's shoulder, and to his +increasing amazement Andre-Louis perceived that over those pale, +short-sighted eyes there was a film of tears. "Mme. de Plougastel +is your mother." + +Followed, for a long moment, utter silence. This thing that he was +told was not immediately understood. When understanding came at +last Andre-Louis' first impulse was to cry out. But he possessed +himself, and played the Stoic. He must ever be playing something. +That was in his nature. And he was true to his nature even in this +supreme moment. He continued silent until, obeying that queer +histrionic instinct, he could trust himself to speak without emotion. +"I see," he said, at last, quite coolly. + +His mind was sweeping back over the past. Swiftly he reviewed his +memories of Mme. de Plougastel, her singular if sporadic interest +in him, the curious blend of affection and wistfulness which her +manner towards him had always presented, and at last he understood +so much that hitherto had intrigued him. + +"I see," he said again; and added now, "Of course, any but a fool +would have guessed it long ago." + +It was M. de Kercadiou who cried out, M. de Kercadiou who recoiled +as from a blow. + +"My God, Andre, of what are you made? You can take such an +announcement in this fashion?" + +"And how would you have me take it? Should it surprise me to +discover that I had a mother? After all, a mother is an +indispensable necessity to getting one's self born." + +He sat down abruptly, to conceal the too-revealing fact that his +limbs were shaking. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to +mop his brow, which had grown damp. And then, quite suddenly, he +found himself weeping. + +At the sight of those tears streaming silently down that face that +had turned so pale, M. de Kercadiou came quickly across to him. He +sat down beside him and threw an arm affectionately over his shoulder. + +"Andre, my poor lad," he murmured. "I... I was fool enough to think +you had no heart. You deceived me with your infernal pretence, and +now I see... I see... " He was not sure what it was that he saw, or +else he hesitated to express it. + +"It is nothing, monsieur. I am tired out, and... and I have a cold +in the head." And then, finding the part beyond his power, he +abruptly threw it up, utterly abandoned all pretence. "Why... why +has there been all this mystery?" he asked. "Was it intended that +I should never know?" + +"It was, Andre. It... it had to be, for prudence' sake." + +"But why? Complete your confidence, sir. Surely you cannot leave +it there. Having told me so much, you must tell me all." + +"The reason, my boy, is that you were born some three years after +your mother's marriage with M. de Plougastel, some eighteen months +after M. de Plougastel had been away with the army, and some four +months before his return to his wife. It is a matter that M. de +Plougastel has never suspected, and for gravest family reasons must +never suspect. That is why the utmost secrecy has been preserved. +That is why none was ever allowed to know. Your mother came betimes +into Brittany, and under an assumed name spent some months in the +village of Moreau. It was while she was there that you were born." + +Andre-Louis turned it over in his mind. He had dried his tears. +And sat now rigid and collected. + +"When you say that none was ever allowed to know, you are telling +me, of course, that you, monsieur... " + +"Oh, mon Dieu, no!" The denial came in a violent outburst. M. de +Kercadiou sprang to his feet propelled from Andre's side by the +violence of his emotions. It was as if the very suggestion filled +him with horror. "I was the only other one who knew. But it is +not as you think, Andre. You cannot imagine that I should lie to +you, that I should deny you if you were my son?" + +"If you say that I am not, monsieur, that is sufficient." + +"You are not. I was Therese's cousin and also, as she well knew, +her truest friend. She knew that she could trust me; and it was +to me she came for help in her extremity. Once, years before, I +would have married her. But, of course, I am not the sort of man +a woman could love. She trusted, however, to my love for her, and +I have kept her trust." + +"Then, who was my father?" + +"I don't know. She never told me. It was her secret, and I did +not pry. It is not in my nature, Andre." + +Andre-Louis got up, and stood silently facing M. de Kercadiou. + +"You believe me, Andre." + +"Naturally, monsieur; and I am sorry, I am sorry that I am not your +son." + +M. de Kercadiou gripped his godson's hand convulsively, and held +it a moment with no word spoken. Then as they fell away from each +other again: + +"And now, what will you do, Andre?" he asked. "Now that you know?" + +Andre-Louis stood awhile, considering, then broke into laughter. +The situation had its humours. He explained them. + +"What difference should the knowledge make? Is filial piety to be +called into existence by the mere announcement of relationship? Am +I to risk my neck through lack of circumspection on behalf of a +mother so very circumspect that she had no intention of ever +revealing herself? The discovery rests upon the merest chance, +upon a fall of the dice of Fate. Is that to weigh with me?" + +"The decision is with you, Andre." + +"Nay, it is beyond me. Decide it who can, I cannot." + +"You mean that you refuse even now?" + +"I mean that I consent. Since I cannot decide what it is that I +should do, it only remains for me to do what a son should. It is +grotesque; but all life is grotesque." + +"You will never, never regret it." + +"I hope not," said Andre. "Yet I think it very likely that I shall. +And now I had better see Rougane again at once, and obtain from him +the other two permits required. Then perhaps it will be best that +I take them to Paris myself, in the morning. If you will give me a +bed, monsieur, I shall be grateful. I... I confess that I am hardly +in case to do more to-night." + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +SANCTUARY + + +Into the late afternoon of that endless day of horror with its +perpetual alarms, its volleying musketry, rolling drums, and distant +muttering of angry multitudes, Mme. de Plougastel and Aline sat +waiting in that handsome house in the Rue du Paradis. It was no +longer for Rougane they waited. They realized that, be the reason +what it might - and by now many reasons must no doubt exist - this +friendly messenger would not return. They waited without knowing +for what. They waited for whatever might betide. + +At one time early in the afternoon the roar of battle approached +them, racing swiftly in their direction, swelling each moment in +volume and in horror. It was the frenzied clamour of a multitude +drunk with blood and bent on destruction. Near at hand that fierce +wave of humanity checked in its turbulent progress. Followed blows +of pikes upon a door and imperious calls to open, and thereafter +came the rending of timbers, the shivering of glass, screams of +terror blending with screams of rage, and, running through these +shrill sounds, the deeper diapason of bestial laughter. + +It was a hunt of two wretched Swiss guardsmen seeking blindly to +escape. And they were run to earth in a house in the neighbourhood, +and there cruelly done to death by that demoniac mob. The thing +accomplished, the hunters, male and female, forming into a battalion, +came swinging down the Rue du Paradis, chanting the song of +Marseilles - a song new to Paris in those days: + + Allons, enfants de la patrie! + Le jour de gloire est arrive + Contre nous de la tyrannie + L'etendard sanglant est leve. + +Nearer it came, raucously bawled by some hundreds of voices, a +dread sound that had come so suddenly to displace at least +temporarily the merry, trivial air of the "Ca ira!" which hitherto +had been the revolutionary carillon. Instinctively Mme. de +Plougastel and Aline clung to each other. They had heard the +sound of the ravishing of that other house in the neighbourhood, +without knowledge of the reason. What if now it should be the +turn of the Hotel Plougastel! There was no real cause to fear it, +save that amid a turmoil imperfectly understood and therefore the +more awe-inspiring, the worst must be feared always. + +The dreadful song so dreadfully sung, and the thunder of heavily +shod feet upon the roughly paved street, passed on and receded. +They breathed again, almost as if a miracle had saved them, to +yield to fresh alarm an instant later, when madame's young footman, +Jacques, the most trusted of her servants, burst into their presence +unceremoniously with a scared face, bringing the announcement that +a man who had just climbed over the garden wall professed himself a +friend of madame's, and desired to be brought immediately to her +presence. + +"But he looks like a sansculotte, madame," the staunch fellow +warned her. + +Her thoughts and hopes leapt at once to Rougane. + +"Bring him in," she commanded breathlessly. + +Jacques went out, to return presently accompanied by a tall man in +a long, shabby, and very ample overcoat and a wide-brimmed hat that +was turned down all round, and adorned by an enormous tricolour +cockade. This hat he removed as he entered. + +Jacques, standing behind him, perceived that his hair, although now +in some disorder, bore signs of having been carefully dressed. It +was clubbed, and it carried some lingering vestiges of powder. The +young footman wondered what it was in the man's face, which was +turned from him, that should cause his mistress to out and recoil. +Then he found himself dismissed abruptly by a gesture. + +The newcomer advanced to the middle of the salon, moving like a man +exhausted and breathing hard. There he leaned against a table, +across which he confronted Mme. de Plougastel. And she stood +regarding him, a strange horror in her eyes. + +In the background, on a settle at the salon's far end, sat Aline +staring in bewilderment and some fear at a face which, if +unrecognizable through the mask of blood and dust that smeared it, +was yet familiar. And then the man spoke, and instantly she knew +the voice for that of the Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr. + +"My dear friend," he was saying, "forgive me if I startled you. +Forgive me if I thrust myself in here without leave, at such a time, +in such a manner. But... you see how it is with me. I am a +fugitive. In the course of my distracted flight, not knowing which +way to turn for safety, I thought of you. I told myself that if I +could but safely reach your house, I might find sanctuary." + +"You are in danger?" + +"In danger?" Almost he seemed silently to laugh at the unnecessary +question. "If I were to show myself openly in the streets just now, +I might with luck contrive to live for five minutes! My friend, it +has been a massacre. Some few of us escaped from the Tuileries at +the end, to be hunted to death in the streets. I doubt if by this +time a single Swiss survives. They had the worst of it, poor devils. +And as for us - my God! They hate us more than they hate the Swiss. +Hence this filthy disguise." + +He peeled off the shaggy greatcoat, and casting it from him stepped +forth in the black satin that had been the general livery of the +hundred knights of the dagger who had rallied in the Tuileries that +morning to the defence of their king. + +His coat was rent across the back, his neckcloth and the ruffles at +his wrists were torn and bloodstained; with his smeared face and +disordered headdress he was terrible to behold. Yet he contrived +to carry himself with his habitual easy assurance, remembered to +kiss the trembling hand which Mme. de Plougastel extended to him +in welcome. + +"You did well to come to me, Gervais," she said. "Yes, here is +sanctuary for the present. You will be quite safe, at least for +as long as we are safe. My servants are entirely trustworthy. +Sit down and tell me all." + +He obeyed her, collapsing almost into the armchair which she thrust +forward, a man exhausted, whether by physical exertion or by +nerve-strain, or both. He drew a handkerchief from his pocket and +wiped some of the blood and dirt from his face. + +"It is soon told." His tone was bitter with the bitterness of +despair. "This, my dear, is the end of us. Plougastel is lucky in +being across the frontier at such a time. Had I not been fool +enough to trust those who to-day have proved themselves utterly +unworthy of trust, that is where I should be myself. My remaining +in Paris is the crowning folly of a life full of follies and +mistakes. That I should come to you in my hour of most urgent need +adds point to it." He laughed in his bitterness. + +Madame moistened her dry lips. "And... and now?" she asked him. + +"It only remains to get away as soon as may be, if it is still +possible. Here in France there is no longer any room for us - at +least, not above ground. To-day has proved it." And then he looked +up at her, standing there beside him so pale and timid, and he +smiled. He patted the fine hand that rested upon the arm of his +chair. "My dear Therese, unless you carry charitableness to the +length of giving me to drink, you will see me perish of thirst +under your eyes before ever the canaille has a chance to finish me." + +She started. "I should have thought of it!" she cried in +self-reproach, and she turned quickly. "Aline," she begged, "tell +Jacques to bring... " + +"Aline!" he echoed, interrupting, and swinging round in his turn. +Then, as Aline rose into view, detaching from her background, and +he at last perceived her, he heaved himself abruptly to his weary +legs again, and stood there stiffly bowing to her across the space +of gleaming floor. "Mademoiselle, I had not suspected your +presence," he said, and he seemed extraordinarily ill-at-ease, a +man startled, as if caught in an illicit act. + +"I perceived it, monsieur," she answered, as she advanced to do +madame's commission. She paused before him. "From my heart, +monsieur, I grieve that we should meet again in circumstances so +very painful." + +Not since the day of his duel with Andre-Louis - the day which had +seen the death and burial of his last hope of winning her - had +they stood face to face. + +He checked as if on the point of answering her. His glance strayed +to Mme. de Plougastel, and, oddly reticent for one who could be +very glib, he bowed in silence. + +"But sit, monsieur, I beg. You are fatigued." + +"You are gracious to observe it. With your permission, then." And +he resumed his seat. She continued on her way to the door and +passed out upon her errand. + +When presently she returned they had almost unaccountably changed +places. It was Mme. de Plougastel who was seated in that armchair +of brocade and gilt, and M. de La Tour d'Azyr who, despite his +lassitude, was leaning over the back of it talking earnestly, +seeming by his attitude to plead with her. On Aline's entrance he +broke off instantly and moved away, so that she was left with a +sense of having intruded. Further she observed that the Countess +was in tears. + +Following her came presently the diligent Jacques, bearing a tray +laden with food and wine. Madame poured for her guest, and he +drank a long draught of the Burgundy, then begged, holding forth +his grimy hands, that he might mend his appearance before sitting +down to eat. + +He was led away and valeted by Jacques, and when he returned he had +removed from his person the last vestige of the rough handling he +had received. He looked almost his normal self, the disorder in +his attire repaired, calm and dignified and courtly in his bearing, +but very pale and haggard of face, seeming suddenly to have +increased in years, to have reached in appearance the age that was +in fact his own. + +As he ate and drank - and this with appetite, for as he told them +he had not tasted food since early morning - he entered into the +details of the dreadful events of the day, and gave them the +particulars of his own escape from the Tuileries when all was seen +to be lost and when the Swiss, having burnt their last cartridge, +were submitting to wholesale massacre at the hands of the +indescribably furious mob. + +"Oh, it was all most ill done," he ended critically. "We were timid +when we should have been resolute, and resolute at last when it was +too late. That is the history of our side from the beginning of +this accursed struggle. We have lacked proper leadership throughout, +and now - as I have said already - there is an end to us. It but +remains to escape, as soon as we can discover how the thing is to +be accomplished." + +Madame told him of the hopes that she had centred upon Rougane. + +It lifted him out of his gloom. He was disposed to be optimistic. + +"You are wrong to have abandoned that hope," he assured her. "If +this mayor is so well disposed, he certainly can do as his son +promised. But last night it would have been too late for him to +have reached you, and to-day, assuming that he had come to Paris, +almost impossible for him to win across the streets from the other +side. It is most likely that he will yet come. I pray that he may; +for the knowledge that you and Mlle. de Kercadiou are out of this +would comfort me above all." + +"We should take you with us," said madame. + +"Ah! But how?" + +"Young Rougane was to bring me permits for three persons - Aline, +myself, and my footman, Jacques. You would take the place of Jacques." + +"Faith, to get out of Paris, madame, there is no man whose place I +would not take." And he laughed. + +Their spirits rose with his and their flagging hopes revived. But +as dusk descended again upon the city, without any sign of the +deliverer they awaited, those hopes began to ebb once more. + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr at last pleaded weariness, and begged to be +permitted to withdraw that he might endeavour to take some rest +against whatever might have to be faced in the immediate future. +When he had gone, madame persuaded Aline to go and lie down. + +"I will call you, my dear, the moment he arrives," she said, +bravely maintaining that pretence of a confidence that had by now +entirely evaporated. + +Aline kissed her affectionately, and departed, outwardly so calm +and unperturbed as to leave the Countess wondering whether she +realized the peril by which they were surrounded, a peril +infinitely increased by the presence in that house of a man so +widely known and detested as M. de La Tour d'Azyr, a man who was +probably being sought for by his enemies at this moment. + +Left alone, madame lay down on a couch in the salon itself, to be +ready for any emergency. It was a hot summer night, and the glass +doors opening upon the luxuriant garden stood wide to admit the +air. On that air came intermittently from the distance sounds of +the continuing horrible activities of the populace, the aftermath +of that bloody day. + +Mme. de Plougastel lay there, listening to those sounds for upwards +of an hour, thanking Heaven that for the present at least the +disturbances were distant, dreading lest at any moment they should +occur nearer at hand, lest this Bondy section in which her hotel +was situated should become the scene of horrors similar to those +whose echoes reached her ears from other sections away to the south +and west. + +The couch occupied by the Countess lay in shadow; for all the lights +in that long salon had been extinguished with the exception of a +cluster of candles in a massive silver candle branch placed on a +round marquetry table in the middle of the room - an island of light +in the surrounding gloom. + +The timepiece on the overmantel chimed melodiously the hour of ten, +and then, startling in the suddenness with which it broke the +immediate silence, another sound vibrated through the house, and +brought madame to her feet, in a breathless mingling of hope and +dread. Some one was knocking sharply on the door below. Followed +moments of agonized suspense, culminating in the abrupt invasion of +the room by the footman Jacques. He looked round, not seeing his +mistress at first. + +"Madame! Madame!" he panted, out of breath. + +"What is it, Jacques!" Her voice was steady now that the need for +self-control seemed thrust upon her. She advanced from the shadows +into that island of light about the table. "There is a man below. +He is asking... he is demanding to see you at once." + +"A man?" she questioned. + +"He... he seems to be an official; at least he wears the sash of +office. And he refuses to give any name; he says that his name +would convey nothing to you. He insists that he must see you in +person and at once." + +"An official?" said madame. + +"An official," Jacques repeated. "I would not have admitted him, +but that he demanded it in the name of the Nation. Madame, it is +for you to say what shall be done. Robert is with me. If you +wish it... whatever it may be... " + +"My good Jacques, no, no." She was perfectly composed. "If this +man intended evil, surely he would not come alone. Conduct him to +me, and then beg Mlle. de Kercadiou to join me if she is awake." + +Jacques departed, himself partly reassured. Madame seated herself +in the armchair by the table well within the light. She smoothed +her dress with a mechanical hand. If, as it would seem, her hopes +had been futile, so had her momentary fears. A man on any but an +errand of peace would have brought some following with him, as she +had said. + +The door opened again, and Jacques reappeared; after him, stepping +briskly past him, came a slight man in a wide-brimmed hat, adorned +by a tricolour cockade. About the waist of an olive-green +riding-coat he wore a broad tricolour sash; a sword hung at his side. + +He swept off his hat, and the candlelight glinted on the steel +buckle in front of it. Madame found herself silently regarded by +a pair of large, dark eyes set in a lean, brown face, eyes that +were most singularly intent and searching. + +She leaned forward, incredulity swept across her countenance. Then +her eyes kindled, and the colour came creeping back into her pale +cheeks. She rose suddenly. She was trembling. + +"Andre-Louis!" she exclaimed. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BARRIER + + +That gift of laughter of his seemed utterly extinguished. For once +there was no gleam of humour in those dark eyes, as they continued +to consider her with that queer stare of scrutiny. And yet, though +his gaze was sombre, his thoughts were not. With his cruelly true +mental vision which pierced through shams, and his capacity for +detached observation - which properly applied might have carried him +very far, indeed - he perceived the grotesqueness, the artificiality +of the emotion which in that moment he experienced, but by which he +refused to be possessed. It sprang entirely from the consciousness +that she was his mother; as if, all things considered, the more or +less accidental fact that she had brought him into the world could +establish between them any real bond at this time of day! The +motherhood that bears and forsakes is less than animal. He had +considered this; he had been given ample leisure in which to consider +it during those long, turbulent hours in which he had been forced to +wait, because it would have been almost impossible to have won across +that seething city, and certainly unwise to have attempted so to do. + +He had reached the conclusion that by consenting to go to her rescue +at such a time he stood committed to a piece of purely sentimental +quixotry. The quittances which the Mayor of Meudon had exacted from +him before he would issue the necessary safe-conducts placed the +whole of his future, perhaps his very life, in jeopardy. And he +had consented to do this not for the sake of a reality, but out of +regard for an idea - he who all his life had avoided the false lure +of worthless and hollow sentimentality. + +Thus thought Andre-Louis as he considered her now so searchingly, +finding it, naturally enough, a matter of extraordinary interest to +look consciously upon his mother for the first time at the age of +eight-and-twenty. + +From her he looked at last at Jacques, who remained at attention, +waiting by the open door. + +"Could we be alone, madame?" he asked her. + +She waved the footman away, and the door closed. In agitated +silence, unquestioning, she waited for him to account for his +presence there at so extraordinary a time. + +"Rougane could not return," he informed her shortly. "At M. de +Kercadiou's request, I come instead." + +"You! You are sent to rescue us!" The note of amazement in her +voice was stronger than that of het relief. + +"That, and to make your acquaintance, madame." + +"To make my acquaintance? But what do you mean, Andre-Louis?" + +"This letter from M. de Kercadiou will tell you." Intrigued by his +odd words and odder manner, she took the folded sheet. She broke +the seal with shaking hands, and with shaking hands approached the +written page to the light. Her eyes grew troubled as she read; the +shaking of her hands increased, and midway through that reading a +moan escaped her. One glance that was almost terror she darted at +the slim, straight man standing so incredibly impassive upon the +edge of the light, and then she endeavoured to read on. But the +crabbed characters of M. de Kercadiou swam distortedly under her +eyes. She could not read. Besides, what could it matter what else +he said. She had read enough. The sheet fluttered from her hands +to the table, and out of a face that was like a face of wax, she +looked now with a wistfulness, a sadness indescribable, at +Andre-Louis. + +"And so you know, my child?" Her voice was stifled to a whisper. + +"I know, madame my mother." + +The grimness, the subtle blend of merciless derision and reproach +in which it was uttered completely escaped her. She cried out at +the new name. For her in that moment time and the world stood +still. Her peril there in Paris as the wife of an intriguer at +Coblenz was blotted out, together with every other consideration + - thrust out of a consciousness that could find room for nothing +else beside the fact that she stood acknowledged by her only son, +this child begotten in adultery, borne furtively and in shame in a +remote Brittany village eight-and-twenty years ago. Not even a +thought for the betrayal of that inviolable secret, or the +consequences that might follow, could she spare in this supreme +moment. + +She took one or two faltering steps towards him, hesitating. Then +she opened her arms. Sobs suffocated her voice. + +"Won't you come to me, Andre-Louis?" + +A moment yet he stood hesitating, startled by that appeal, angered +almost by his heart's response to it, reason and sentiment at grips +in his soul. This was not real, his reason postulated; this +poignant emotion that she displayed and that he experienced was +fantastic. Yet he went. Her arms enfolded him; her wet cheek was +pressed hard against his own; her frame, which the years had not +yet succeeded in robbing of its grace, was shaken by the passionate +storm within her. + +"Oh, Andre-Louis, my child, if you knew how I have hungered to hold +you so! If you knew how in denying myself this I have atoned and +suffered! Kercadiou should not have told you - not even now. It +was wrong - most wrong, perhaps, to you. It would have been better +that he should have left me here to my fate, whatever that may be. +And yet - come what may of this - to be able to hold you so, to be +able to acknowledge you, to hear you call me mother - oh! +Andre-Louis, I cannot now regret it. I cannot... I cannot wish it +otherwise." + +"Is there any need, madame?" he asked her, his stoicism deeply +shaken. "There is no occasion to take others into our confidence. +This is for to-night alone. To-night we are mother and son. +To-morrow we resume our former places, and, outwardly at least, +forget." + +"Forget? Have you no heart, Andre-Louis?" + +The question recalled him curiously to his attitude towards life + - that histrionic attitude of his that he accounted true philosophy. +Also he remembered what lay before them; and he realized that he +must master not only himself but her; that to yield too far to +sentiment at such a time might be the ruin of them all. + +"It is a question propounded to me so often that it must contain +the truth," said he. "My rearing is to blame for that." + +She tightened her clutch about his neck even as he would have +attempted to disengage himself from her embrace. + +"You do not blame me for your rearing? Knowing all, as you do, +Andre-Louis, you cannot altogether blame. You must be merciful to +me. You must forgive me. You must! I had no choice." + +"When we know all of whatever it may be, we can never do anything +but forgive, madame. That is the profoundest religious truth that +was ever written. It contains, in fact, a whole religion - the +noblest religion any man could have to guide him. I say this for +your comfort, madame my mother." + +She sprang away from him with a startled cry. Beyond him in the +shadows by the door a pale figure shimmered ghostly. It advanced +into the light, and resolved itself into Aline. She had come in +answer to that forgotten summons madame had sent her by Jacques. +Entering unperceived she had seen Andre-Louis in the embrace of +the woman whom he addressed as "mother." She had recognized him +instantly by his voice, and she could not have said what bewildered +her more: his presence there or the thing she overheard. + +"You heard, Aline?" madame exclaimed. + +"I could not help it, madame. You sent for me. I am sorry if... " +She broke off, and looked at Andre-Louis long and curiously. She +was pale, but quite composed. She held out her hand to him. "And +so you have come at last, Andre," said she. "You might have come +before." + +"I come when I am wanted," was his answer. "Which is the only time +in which one can be sure of being received." He said it without +bitterness, and having said it stooped to kiss her hand. + +"You can forgive me what is past, I hope, since I failed of my +purpose," he said gently, half-pleading. "I could not have come to +you pretending that the failure was intentional - a compromise +between the necessities of the case and your own wishes. For it +was not that. And yet, you do not seem to have profited by my +failure. You are still a maid." + +She turned her shoulder to him. + +"There are things," she said, "that you will never understand." + +"Life, for one," he acknowledged. "I confess that I am finding it +bewildering. The very explanations calculated to simplify it seem +but to complicate it further." And he looked at Mme. de Plougastel. + +"You mean something, I suppose," said mademoiselle. + +"Aline!" It was the Countess who spoke. She knew the danger of +half-discoveries. "I can trust you, child, I know, and Andre-Louis, +I am sure, will offer no objection." She had taken up the letter +to show it to Aline. Yet first her eyes questioned him. + +"Oh, none, madame," he assured her. "It is entirely a matter for +yourself." + +Aline looked from one to the other with troubled eyes, hesitating +to take the letter that was now proffered. When she had read it +through, she very thoughtfully replaced it on the table. A moment +she stood there with bowed head, the other two watching her. Then +impulsively she ran to madame and put her arms about her. + +"Aline!" It was a cry of wonder, almost of joy. "You do not +utterly abhor me!" + +"My dear," said Aline, and kissed the tear-stained face that seemed +to have grown years older in these last few hours. + +In the background Andre-Louis, steeling himself against emotionalism, +spoke with the voice of Scaramouche. + +"It would be well, mesdames, to postpone all transports until they +can be indulged at greater leisure and in more security. It is +growing late. If we are to get out of this shambles we should be +wise to take the road without more delay." + +It was a tonic as effective as it was necessary. It startled them +into remembrance of their circumstances, and under the spur of it +they went at once to make their preparations. + +They left him for perhaps a quarter of an hour, to pace that long +room alone, saved only from impatience by the turmoil of his mind. +When at length they returned, they were accompanied by a tall man +in a full-skirted shaggy greatcoat and a broad hat the brim of +which was turned down all around. He remained respectfully by the +door in the shadows. + +Between them the two women had concerted it thus, or rather the +Countess had so concerted it when Aline had warned her that +Andre-Louis' bitter hostility towards the Marquis made it +unthinkable that he should move a finger consciously to save him. + +Now despite the close friendship uniting M. de Kercadiou and his +niece with Mme. de Plougastel, there were several matters concerning +them of which the Countess was in ignorance. One of these was the +project at one time existing of a marriage between Aline and M. de +La Tour d'Azyr. It was a matter that Aline - naturally enough in +the state of her feelings - had never mentioned, nor had M. de +Kercadiou ever alluded to it since his coming to Meudon, by when he +had perceived how unlikely it was ever to be realized. + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr's concern for Aline on that morning of the +duel when he had found her half-swooning in Mme. de Plougastel's +carriage had been of a circumspection that betrayed nothing of his +real interest in her, and therefore had appeared no more than +natural in one who must account himself the cause of her distress. +Similarly Mme. de Plougastel had never realized nor did she realize +now - for Aline did not trouble fully to enlighten her - that the +hostility between the two men was other than political, the quarrel +other than that which already had taken Andre-Louis to the Bois on +every day of the preceding week. But, at least, she realized that +even if Andre-Louis' rancour should have no other source, yet that +inconclusive duel was cause enough for Aline's fears. + +And so she had proposed this obvious deception; and Aline had +consented to be a passive party to it. They had made the mistake +of not fully forewarning and persuading M. de La Tour d'Azyr. They +had trusted entirely to his anxiety to escape from Paris to keep +him rigidly within the part imposed upon him. They had reckoned +without the queer sense of honour that moved such men as M. le +Marquis, nurtured upon a code of shams. + +Andre-Louis, turning to scan that muffled figure, advanced from +the dark depths of the salon. As the light beat on his white, +lean face the pseudo-footman started. The next moment he too +stepped forward into the light, and swept his broad-brimmed hat +from his brow. As he did so Andre-Louis observed that his hand +was fine and white and that a jewel flashed from one of the +fingers. Then he caught his breath, and stiffened in every line +as he recognized the face revealed to him. + +"Monsieur," that stern, proud man was saying, "I cannot take +advantage of your ignorance. If these ladies can persuade you to +save me, at least it is due to you that you shall know whom you +are saving." + +He stood there by the table very erect and dignified, ready to +perish as he had lived - if perish he must - without fear and +without deception. + +Andre-Louis came slowly forward until he reached the table on the +other side, and then at last the muscles of his set face relaxed, +and he laughed. + +"You laugh?" said M. de La Tour d'Azyr, frowning, offended. + +"It is so damnably amusing," said Andre-Louis. + +"You've an odd sense of humour, M. Moreau." + +"Oh, admitted. The unexpected always moves me so. I have found +you many things in the course of our acquaintance. To-night you +are the one thing I never expected to find you: an honest man." + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr quivered. But he attempted no reply. + +"Because of that, monsieur, I am disposed to be clement. It is +probably a foolishness. But you have surprised me into it. I +give you three minutes, monsieur, in which to leave this house, and +to take your own measures for your safety. What afterwards happens +to you shall be no concern of mine." + +"Ah, no, Andre! Listen... " Madame began in anguish. + +"Pardon, madame. It is the utmost that I will do, and already I +am violating what I conceive to be my duty. If M. de La Tour d'Azyr +remains he not only ruins himself, but he imperils you. For unless +he departs at once, he goes with me to the headquarters of the +section, and the section will have his head on a pike inside the +hour. He is a notorious counter-revolutionary, a knight of the +dagger, one of those whom an exasperated populace is determined to +exterminate. Now, monsieur, you know what awaits you. Resolve +yourself and at once, for these ladies' sake." + +"But you don't know, Andre-Louis!" Mme. de Plougastel's condition +was one of anguish indescribable. She came to him and clutched his +arm. "For the love of Heaven, Andre-Louis, be merciful with him! +You must!" + +"But that is what I am being, madame - merciful; more merciful than +he deserves. And he knows it. Fate has meddled most oddly in our +concerns to bring us together to-night. Almost it is as if Fate +were forcing retribution at last upon him. Yet, for your sakes, I +take no advantage of it, provided that he does at once as I have +desired him." + +And now from beyond the table the Marquis spoke icily, and as he +spoke his right hand stirred under the ample folds of his greatcoat. + +"I am glad, M. Moreau, that you take that tone with me. You relieve +me of the last scruple. You spoke of Fate just now, and I must +agree with you that Fate has meddled oddly, though perhaps not to +the end that you discern. For years now you have chosen to stand +in my path and thwart me at every turn, holding over me a perpetual +menace. Persistently you have sought my life in various ways, first +indirectly and at last directly. Your intervention in my affairs +has ruined my highest hopes - more effectively, perhaps, than you +suppose. Throughout you have been my evil genius. And you are even +one of the agents of this climax of despair that has been reached +by me to-night." + +"Wait! Listen!" Madame was panting. She flung away from +Andre-Louis, as if moved by some premonition of what was coming. +"Gervais! This is horrible!" + +"Horrible, perhaps, but inevitable. Himself he has invited it. I +am a man in despair, the fugitive of a lost cause. That man holds +the keys of escape. And, besides, between him and me there is a +reckoning to be paid." + +His hand came from beneath the coat at last, and it came armed with +a pistol. + +Mme. de Plougastel screamed, and flung herself upon him. On her +knees now, she clung to his arm with all her strength and might. + +Vainly he sought to shake himself free of that desperate clutch. + +"Therese!" he cried. "Are you mad? Will you destroy me and +yourself? This creature has the safe-conducts that mean our +salvation. Himself, he is nothing." + +From the background Aline, a breathless, horror-stricken spectator +of that scene, spoke sharply, her quick mind pointing out the +line of checkmate. + +"Burn the safe-conducts, Andre-Louis. Burn them at once - in the +candles there." + +But Andre-Louis had taken advantage of that moment of M. de La Tour +d'Azyr's impotence to draw a pistol in his turn. "I think it will +be better to burn his brains instead," he said. "Stand away from +him, madame." + +Far from obeying that imperious command, Mme. de Plougastel rose +to her feet to cover the Marquis with her body. But she still +clung to his arm, clung to it with unsuspected strength that +continued to prevent him from attempting to use the pistol. + +"Andre! For God's sake, Andre!" she panted hoarsely over her +shoulder. + +"Stand away, madame," he commanded her again, more sternly, "and +let this murderer take his due. He is jeopardizing all our lives, +and his own has been forfeit these years. Stand away!" He sprang +forward with intent now to fire at his enemy over her shoulder, and +Aline moved too late to hinder him. + +"Andre! Andre!" + +Panting, gasping, haggard of face, on the verge almost of hysteria, +the distracted Countess flung at last an effective, a terrible +barrier between the hatred of those men, each intent upon taking +the other's life. + +"He is your father, Andre! Gervais, he is your son - our son! The +letter there... on the table... O my God!" And she slipped +nervelessly to the ground, and crouched there sobbing at the feet +of M. de La Tour d'Azyr. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +SAFE-CONDUCT + + +Across the body of that convulsively sobbing woman, the mother of +one and the mistress of the other, the eyes of those mortal enemies +met, invested with a startled, appalled interest that admitted of +no words. + +Beyond the table, as if turned to stone by this culminating horror +of revelation, stood Aline. + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr was the first to stir. Into his bewildered +mind came the memory of something that Mme. de Plougastel had said +of a letter that was on the table. He came forward, unhindered. +The announcement made, Mme. de Plougastel no longer feared the +sequel, and so she let him go. He walked unsteadily past this +new-found son of his, and took up the sheet that lay beside the +candlebranch. A long moment he stood reading it, none heeding him. +Aline's eyes were all on Andre-Louis, full of wonder and +commiseration, whilst Andre-Louis was staring down, in stupefied +fascination, at his mother. + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr read the letter slowly through. Then very +quietly he replaced it. His next concern, being the product of +an artificial age sternly schooled in the suppression of emotion, +was to compose himself. Then he stepped back to Mme. de Plougastel's +side and stooped to raise her. + +"Therese," he said. + +Obeying, by instinct, the implied command, she made an effort to +rise and to control herself in her turn. The Marquis half conducted, +half carried her to the armchair by the table. + +Andre-Louis looked on. Still numbed and bewildered, he made no +attempt to assist. He saw as in a dream the Marquis bending over +Mme. de Plougastel. As in a dream he heard him ask: + +"How long have you known this, Therese?" + +"I... I have always known it... always. I confided him to Kercadiou. +I saw him once as a child... Oh, but what of that?" + +"Why was I never told? Why did you deceive me? Why did you tell +me that this child had died a few days after birth? Why, Therese? +Why?" + +"I was afraid. I... I thought it better so - that nobody, nobody, +not even you, should know. And nobody has known save Quintin until +last night, when to induce him to come here and save me he was +forced to tell him." + +"But I, Therese?" the Marquis insisted. "It was my right to know." + +"Your right? What could you have done? Acknowledge him? And then? +Ha!" It was a queer, desperate note of laughter. "There was +Plougastel; there was my family. And there was you... you, yourself, +who had ceased to care, in whom the fear of discovery had stifled +love. Why should I have told you, then? Why? I should not have +told you now had there been any other way to... to save you both. +Once before I suffered just such dreadful apprehensions when you +and he fought in the Bois. I was on my way to prevent it when you +met me. I would have divulged the truth, as a last resource, to +avert that horror. But mercifully God spared me the necessity then." + +It had not occurred to any of them to doubt her statement, incredible +though it might seem. Had any done so her present words must have +resolved all doubt, explaining as they did much that to each of her +listeners had been obscure until this moment. + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr, overcome; reeled away to a chair and sat down +heavily. Losing command of himself for a moment, he took his +haggard face in his hands. + +Through the windows open to the garden came from the distance the +faint throbbing of a drum to remind them of what was happening +around them. But the sound went unheeded. To each it must have +seemed that here they were face to face with a horror greater than +any that might be tormenting Paris. At last Andre-Louis began to +speak, his voice level and unutterably cold. + +"M. de La Tour d'Azyr," he said, "I trust that you'll agree that +this disclosure, which can hardly be more distasteful and horrible +to you than it is to me, alters nothing, - since it effaces nothing +of all that lies between us. Or, if it alters anything, it is +merely to add something to that score. And yet... Oh, but what can +it avail to talk! Here, monsieur, take this safe-conduct which is +made out for Mme. de Plougastel's footman, and with it make your +escape as best you can. In return I will beg of you the favour +never to allow me to see you or hear of you again." + +"Andre!" His mother swung upon him with that cry. And yet again +that question. "Have you no heart? What has he ever done to you +that you should nurse so bitter a hatred of him?" + +"You shall hear, madame. Once, two years ago in this very room I +told you of a man who had brutally killed my dearest friend and +debauched the girl I was to have married. M. de La Tour d'Azyr is +that man." + +A moan was her only answer. She covered her face with her hands. + +The Marquis rose slowly to his feet again. He came slowly forward, +his smouldering eyes scanning his son's face. + +"You are hard," he said grimly. "But I recognize the hardness. +It derives from the blood you bear." + +"Spare me that," said Andre-Louis. + +The Marquis inclined his head. "I will not mention it again. But +I desire that you should at least understand me, and you too, Therese. +You accuse me, sir, of murdering your dearest friend. I will admit +that the means employed were perhaps unworthy. But what other means +were at my command to meet an urgency that every day since then +proves to have existed? M. de Vilmorin was a revolutionary, a man +of new ideas that should overthrow society and rebuild it more akin +to the desires of such as himself. I belonged to the order that +quite as justifiably desired society to remain as it was. Not only +was it better so for me and mine, but I also contend, and you have +yet to prove me wrong, that it is better so for all the world; that, +indeed, no other conceivable society is possible. Every human +society must of necessity be composed of several strata. You may +disturb it temporarily into an amorphous whole by a revolution such +as this; but only temporarily. Soon out of the chaos which is all +that you and your kind can ever produce, order must be restored or +life will perish; and with the restoration of order comes the +restoration of the various strata necessary to organized society. +Those that were yesterday at the top may in the new order of things +find themselves dispossessed without any benefit to the whole. That +change I resisted. The spirit of it I fought with whatever weapons +were available, whenever and wherever I encountered it. M. de +Vilmorin was an incendiary of the worst type, a man of eloquence +full of false ideals that misled poor ignorant men into believing +that the change proposed could make the world a better place for +them. You are an intelligent man, and I defy you to answer me from +your heart and conscience that such a thing was true or possible. +You know that it is untrue; you know that it is a pernicious +doctrine; and what made it worse on the lips of M. de Vilmorin was +that he was sincere and eloquent. His voice was a danger that must +be removed - silenced. So much was necessary in self-defence. In +self-defence I did it. I had no grudge against M. de Vilmorin. He +was a man of my own class; a gentleman of pleasant ways, amiable, +estimable, and able. + +"You conceive me slaying him for the very lust of slaying, like +some beast of the jungle flinging itself upon its natural prey. +That has been your error from the first. I did what I did with the +very heaviest heart - oh, spare me your sneer! - I do not lie, I +have never lied. And I swear to you here and now, by my every hope +of Heaven, that what I say is true. I loathed the thing I did. +Yet for my own sake and the sake of my order I must do it. Ask +yourself whether M. de Vilmorin would have hesitated for a moment +if by procuring my death he could have brought the Utopia of his +dreams a moment nearer realization. + +"After that. You determined that the sweetest vengeance would be +to frustrate my ends by reviving in yourself the voice that I had +silenced, by yourself carrying forward the fantastic apostleship +of equality that was M. de Vilmorin's. You lacked the vision that +would have shown you that God did not create men equals. Well, +you are in case to-night to judge which of us was right, which +wrong. You see what is happening here in Paris. You see the foul +spectre of Anarchy stalking through a land fallen into confusion. +Probably you have enough imagination to conceive something of what +must follow. And do you deceive yourself that out of this filth +and ruin there will rise up an ideal form of society? Don't you +understand that society must re-order itself presently out of all +this? + +"But why say more? I must have said enough to make you understand +the only thing that really matters - that I killed M. de Vilmorin +as a matter of duty to my order. And the truth - which though it +may offend you should also convince you - is that to-night I can +look back on the deed with equanimity, without a single regret, +apart from what lies between you and me. + +"When, kneeling beside the body of your friend that day at +Gavrillac, you insulted and provoked me, had I been the tiger you +conceived me I must have killed you too. I am, as you may know, a +man of quick passions. Yet I curbed the natural anger you aroused +in me, because I could forgive an affront to myself where I could +not overlook a calculated attack upon my order." + +He paused a moment. Andre-Louis stood rigid listening and wondering. +So, too, the others. Then M. le Marquis resumed, on a note of less +assurance. "In the matter of Mlle. Binet I was unfortunate. I +wronged you through inadvertence. I had no knowledge of the +relations between you." + +Andre-Louis interrupted him sharply at last with a question: "Would +it have made a difference if you had?" + +"No," he was answered frankly. "I have the faults of my kind. I +cannot pretend that any such scruple as you suggest would have +weighed with me. But can you - if you are capable of any detached +judgment - blame me very much for that?" + +"All things considered, monsieur, I am rapidly being forced to the +conclusion that it is impossible to blame any man for anything in +this world; that we are all of us the sport of destiny. Consider, +monsieur, this gathering - this family gathering - here to-night, +whilst out there... O my God, let us make an end! Let us go our +ways and write 'finis' to this horrible chapter of our lives." + +M. le La Tour considered him gravely, sadly, in silence for a moment. + +"Perhaps it is best," he said, at length, in a small voice. He +turned to Mme. de Plougastel. "If a wrong I have to admit in my +life, a wrong that I must bitterly regret, it is the wrong that I +have done to you, my dear... " + +"Not now, Gervais! Not now!" she faltered, interrupting him. + +"Now - for the first and the last time. I am going. It is not +likely that we shall ever meet again - that I shall ever see any +of you again - you who should have been the nearest and dearest to +me. We are all, he says, the sport of destiny. Ah, but not quite. +Destiny is an intelligent force, moving with purpose. In life we +pay for the evil that in life we do. That is the lesson that I +have learnt to-night. By an act of betrayal I begot unknown to me +a son who, whilst as ignorant as myself of our relationship, has +come to be the evil genius of my life, to cross and thwart me, and +finally to help to pull me down in ruin. It is just - poetically +just. My full and resigned acceptance of that fact is the only +atonement I can offer you." + +He stooped and took one of madame's hands that lay limply in her lap. + +"Good-bye, Therese!" His voice broke. He had reached the end of +his iron self-control. + +She rose and clung to him a moment, unashamed before them. The +ashes of that dead romance had been deeply stirred this night, and +deep down some lingering embers had been found that glowed brightly +now before their final extinction. Yet she made no attempt to +detain him. She understood that their son had pointed out the only +wise, the only possible course, and was thankful that M. de La Tour +d'Azyr accepted it. + +"God keep you, Gervais," she murmured. "You will take the +safe-conduct, and... and you will let me know when you are safe?" + +He held her face between his hands an instant; then very gently +kissed her and put her from him. Standing erect, and outwardly calm +again, he looked across at Andre-Louis who was proffering him a +sheet of paper. + +"It is the safe-conduct. Take it, monsieur. It is my first and +last gift to you, and certainly the last gift I should ever have +thought of making you - the gift of life. In a sense it makes us +quits. The irony, sir, is not mine, but Fate's. Take it, monsieur, +and go in peace." + +M. de La Tour d'Azyr took it. His eyes looked hungrily into the +lean face confronting him, so sternly set. He thrust the paper +into his bosom, and then abruptly, convulsively, held out his hand. +His son's eyes asked a question. + +"Let there be peace between us, in God's name," said the Marquis +thickly. + +Pity stirred at last in Andre-Louis. Some of the sternness left +his face. He sighed. "Good-bye, monsieur," he said. + +"You are hard," his father told him, speaking wistfully. "But +perhaps you are in the right so to be. In other circumstances I +should have been proud to have owned you as my son. As it is... " +He broke off abruptly, and as abruptly added, "Good-bye." + +He loosed his son's hand and stepped back. They bowed formally to +each other. And then M. de La Tour d'Azyr bowed to Mlle. de +Kercadiou in utter silence, a bow that contained something of +utter renunciation, of finality. + +That done he turned and walked stiffly out of the room, and so +out of all their lives. Months later they were to hear if him +in the service of the Emperor of Austria. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +SUNRISE + + +Andre-Louis took the air next morning on the terrace at Meudon. The +hour was very early, and the newly risen sun was transmuting into +diamonds the dewdrops that still lingered on the lawn. Down in the +valley, five miles away, the morning mists were rising over Paris. +Yet early as it was that house on the hill was astir already, in a +bustle of preparation for the departure that was imminent. + +Andre-Louis had won safely out of Paris last night with his mother +and Aline, and to-day they were to set out all of them for Coblenz. + +To Andre-Louis, sauntering there with hands clasped behind him and +head hunched between his shoulders - for life had never been richer +in material for reflection - came presently Aline through one of +the glass doors from the library. + +"You're early astir," she greeted him. + +"Faith, yes. I haven't been to bed. No," he assured her, in answer +to her exclamation. "I spent the night, or what was left of it, +sitting at the window thinking." + +"My poor Andre!" + +"You describe me perfectly. I am very poor - for I know nothing, +understand nothing. It is not a calamitous condition until it is +realized. Then... " He threw out his arms, and let them fall again. +His face she observed was very drawn and haggard. + +She paced with him along the old granite balustrade over which the +geraniums flung their mantle of green and scarlet. + +"Have you decided what you are going to do?" she asked him. + +"I have decided that I have no choice. I, too, must emigrate. I +am lucky to be able to do so, lucky to have found no one amid +yesterday's chaos in Paris to whom I could report myself as I +foolishly desired, else I might no longer be armed with these." +He drew from his pocket the powerful passport of the Commission of +Twelve, enjoining upon all Frenchmen to lend him such assistance as +he might require, and warning those who might think of hindering +him that they did so at their own peril. He spread it before her. +"With this I conduct you all safely to the frontier. Over the +frontier M. de Kercadiou and Mme. de Plougastel will have to conduct +me; and then we shall be quits." + +"Quits?" quoth she. "But you will be unable to return!" + +"You conceive, of course, my eagerness to do so. My child, in a +day or two there will be enquiries. It will be asked what has +become of me. Things will transpire. Then the hunt will start. +But by then we shall be well upon our way, well ahead of any +possible pursuit. You don't imagine that I could ever give the +government any satisfactory explanation of my absence - assuming +that any government remains to which to explain it?" + +"You mean... that you will sacrifice your future, this career upon +which you have embarked?" It took her breath away. + +"In the pass to which things have come there is no career for me +down there - at least no honest one. And I hope you do not think +that I could be dishonest. It is the day of the Dantons, and the +Marats, the day of the rabble. The reins of government will be +tossed to the populace, or else the populace, drunk with the conceit +with which the Dantons and the Marats have filled it, will seize +the reins by force. Chaos must follow, and a despotism of brutes +and apes, a government of the whole by its lowest parts. It cannot +endure, because unless a nation is ruled by its best elements it +must wither and decay." + +"I thought you were a republican," said she. + +"Why, so I am. I am talking like one. I desire a society which +selects its rulers, from the best elements of every class and denies +the right of any class or corporation to usurp the government to +itself - whether it be the nobles, the clergy, the bourgeoisie, or +the proletariat. For government by any one class is fatal to the +welfare of the whole. Two years ago our ideal seemed to have been +realized. The monopoly of power had been taken from the class that +had held it too long and too unjustly by the hollow right of +heredity. It had been distributed as evenly as might be throughout +the State, and if men had only paused there, all would have been +well. But our impetus carried us too far, the privileged orders +goaded us on by their very opposition, and the result is the horror +of which yesterday you saw no more than the beginnings. No, no," +he ended. "Careers there may be for venal place-seekers, for +opportunists; but none for a man who desires to respect himself. +It is time to go. I make no sacrifice in going." + +"But where will you go? What will you do?" + +"Oh, something. Consider that in four years I have been lawyer, +politician, swordsman, and buffoon - especially the latter. There +is always a place in the world for Scaramouche. Besides, do you +know that unlike Scaramouche I have been oddly provident? I am +the owner of a little farm in Saxony. I think that agriculture +might suit me. It is a meditative occupation; and when all is said, +I am not a man of action. I haven't the qualities for the part." + +She looked up into his face, and there was a wistful smile in her +deep blue eyes. + +"Is there any part for which you have not the qualities, I wonder?" + +"Do you really? Yet you cannot say that I have made a success of +any of those which I have played. I have always ended by running +away. I am running away now from a thriving fencing-academy, which +is likely to become the property of Le Duc. That comes of having +gone into politics, from which I am also running away. It is the +one thing in which I really excel. That, too, is an attribute of +Scaramouche." + +"Why will you always be deriding yourself?" she wondered. + +"Because I recognize myself for part of this mad world, I suppose. +You wouldn't have me take it seriously? I should lose my reason +utterly if I did; especially since discovering my parents." + +"Don't, Andre!" she begged him. "You are insincere, you know." + +"Of course I am. Do you expect sincerity in man when hypocrisy is +the very keynote of human nature? We are nurtured on it; we are +schooled in it, we live by it; and we rarely realize it. You have +seen it rampant and out of hand in France during the past four +years - cant and hypocrisy on the lips of the revolutionaries, +cant and hypocrisy on the lips of the upholders of the old regime; +a riot of hypocrisy out of which in the end is begotten chaos. +And I who criticize it all on this beautiful God-given morning am +the rankest and most contemptible hypocrite of all. It was this +- the realization of this truth kept me awake all night. For two +years I have persecuted by every means in my power... M. de La Tour +d'Azyr." + +He paused before uttering the name, paused as if hesitating how to +speak of him. + +"And in those two years I have deceived myself as to the motive +that was spurring me. He spoke of me last night as the evil genius +of his life, and himself he recognized the justice of this. It may +be that he was right, and because of that it is probable that even +had he not killed Philippe de Vilmorin, things would still have +been the same. Indeed, to-day I know that they must have been. +That is why I call myself a hypocrite, a poor, self-duping hypocrite." + +"But why, Andre?" + +He stood still and looked at her. "Because he sought you, Aline. +Because in that alone he must have found me ranged against him, +utterly intransigeant. Because of that I must have strained every +nerve to bring him down - so as to save you from becoming the prey +of your own ambition. + +"I wish to speak of him no more than I must. After this, I trust +never to speak of him again. Before the lines of our lives crossed, +I knew him for what he was, I knew the report of him that ran the +countryside. Even then I found him detestable. You heard him +allude last night to the unfortunate La Binet. You heard him plead, +in extenuation of his fault, his mode of life, his rearing. To that +there is no answer, I suppose. He conforms to type. Enough! But +to me, he was the embodiment of evil, just as you have always been +the embodiment of good; he was the embodiment of sin, just as you +are the embodiment of purity. I had enthroned you so high, Aline, +so high, and yet no higher than your place. Could I, then, suffer +that you should be dragged down by ambition, could I suffer the +evil I detested to mate with the good I loved? What could have +come of it but your own damnation, as I told you that day at +Gavrillac? Because of that my detestation of him became a personal, +active thing. I resolved to save you at all costs from a fate so +horrible. Had you been able to tell me that you loved him it would +have been different. I should have hoped that in a union sanctified +by love you would have raised him to your own pure heights. But +that out of considerations of worldly advancement you should +lovelessly consent to mate with him... Oh, it was vile and hopeless. +And so I fought him - a rat fighting a lion - fought him relentlessly +until I saw that love had come to take in your heart the place of +ambition. Then I desisted." + +"Until you saw that love had taken the place of ambition!" Tears +had been gathering in her eyes whilst he was speaking. Now +amazement eliminated her emotion. "But when did you see that? +When?" + +"I - I was mistaken. I know it now. Yet, at the time... surely, +Aline, that morning when you came to beg me not to keep my +engagement with him in the Bois, you were moved by concern for him?" + +"For him! It was concern for you," she cried, without thinking +what she said. + +But it did not convince him. "For me? When you knew - when all +the world knew what I had been doing daily for a week!" + +"Ah, but he, he was different from the others you had met. His +reputation stood high. My uncle accounted him invincible; he +persuaded me that if you met nothing could save you." + +He looked at her frowning. + +"Why this, Aline?" he asked her with some sternness. "I can +understand that, having changed since then, you should now wish +to disown those sentiments. It is a woman's way, I suppose." + +"Oh, what are you saying, Andre? How wrong you are! It is the +truth I have told you!" + +"And was it concern for me," he asked her, "that laid you swooning +when you saw him return wounded from the meeting? That was what +opened my eyes." + +"Wounded? I had not seen his wound. I saw him sitting alive and +apparently unhurt in his caleche, and I concluded that he had +killed you as he had said he would. What else could I conclude?" + +He saw light, dazzling, blinding, and it scared him. He fell back, +a hand to his brow. "And that was why you fainted?" he asked +incredulously. + +She looked at him without answering. As she began to realize how +much she had been swept into saying by her eagerness to make him +realize his error, a sudden fear came creeping into her eyes. + +He held out both hands to her. + +"Aline! Aline!" His voice broke on the name. "It was I... " + +"O blind Andre, it was always you - always! Never, never did I +think of him, not even for loveless marriage, save once for a +little while, when... when that theatre girl came into your life, +and then... " She broke off, shrugged, and turned her head away. +"I thought of following ambition, since there was nothing left +to follow." + +He shook himself. "I am dreaming, of course, or else I am mad," +he said. + +"Blind, Andre; just blind," she assured him. + +"Blind only where it would have been presumption to have seen." + +"And yet," she answered him with a flash of the Aline he had known +of old, "I have never found you lack presumption." + +M. de Kercadiou, emerging a moment later from the library window, +beheld them holding hands and staring each at the other, +beatifically, as if each saw Paradise in the other's face. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Scaramouche, by Rafael Sabatini + |