*X*
_How Pierre became a Jacobin and how a nation became insane._
Although the marquis was not again upon the scene, as the months went byDespard became by degrees more gloomy. At night, in place of the gaylittle cafe, he went out to the club of the Jacobins, and fed full ofits wild declamations against the _emigres_ and the aristocrats. Itamused Francois, who saw no further ahead than other men. Despard camehome loaded with gazettes and pamphlets, and on these he fed hisexcitement long after his partner was asleep.
When, as time went by, Pierre's vagaries increased, Francois found inthem less subject for mirth. The fat little man sat up later and laterat night. At times he read; at others he walked about muttering, ormoving his lips without uttering a sound. What disturbed Francois mostwas that the poodle now and then showed fear of Pierre, and would nolonger obey him as he had been used to do.
Meanwhile, as Pierre still attended sedulously to business, Francoiscould find no fault. He himself had become devoted to his art ofpalm-reading. He bought at the stalls old books, Latin and French,which treated of the subject, and tried to keep up the name his odd wayshad made so profitable. Deceit was a part of his working capital; butdeceit and credulity are apt to go together, as a great man has wellsaid. Not for many louis would the conjurer have let any one read againthe lines of his own hand. When Despard began to teach him the little hehimself knew of palmistry, it had caused interest, and after a while ahalf-belief. This grew as he saw the evident disturbance to which theuse of his art gave rise in certain of those who at first appeared tolook upon it as an idle jest. The imaginative have need to be wary, andthis man was imaginative, and had the usual notions of the gambler andthief as to omens and luck. I have said he had no definite workingconscience. I have also said that he possessed an inborn kindness ofheart; he had a long memory for benefits, and a short one for injuries.His courage was of fine quality: not even Quatre Pattes could terrifyhim.
The politics of the time were becoming month by month more troublous tosuch as kept their heads steady in the amazing tumble of what forcenturies had been on top, and the rise of that which had been as longunderneath. The increasing interest of Pierre in all that went onsurprised Francois, and sometimes, as I have said, amused him. He couldnot comprehend why he should care whether the king ruled, or theAssembly. This mighty drama was nothing to him. He paid no taxes; hetoiled not, nor spun, except nets of deceit; and whether or not commercedied and the plow stood idle in the furrow was to him of no moment.Meanwhile, before the eyes of a waiting, wondering world historic fatewas shuffling the cards as neither war nor misrule had shifted them formany a day. Knave and king, spade and club, were now up, now down.Every one was in a new place. The old surnames were replaced byclassical appellations. Streets, palaces, and cities were rebaptizedwith prenominal republican adjectives. Burgundy, Anjou, Navarre, andthe other ancient provinces, knew no more their great names heroicallyfamous.
All men were to be equal; all men were free to be what they could. Butthe freedom of natural or acquired inequality was not to be recognized.There were new laws without end. The Jacobin added a social creed. Allmen must _tutoyer_. "Your Majesty" was no more to be used. Because thegentles said "thou" and "thee" to one another and to an inferior, allmen must "thou" as a sign that all are on a level.
A bit of paper was to be five francs--and take care of thy head if thoushouldst venture to doubt its value. As to all else, men accepted thenumberless and bewildering decrees of the Assembly. But the laws ofcommerce no ruler can break. These are despotic, changeless, and as oldas the act of barter between man and man. The assignats fell in valueuntil two hundred francs would scarce buy a dinner. There, too, was anew navy and a new army, with confusing theories of equal rights forsailor, soldier, and captain.
A noble desire arose everywhere to exercise the new functions. What joyto cast a ballot, to act the part of officials, to play at soldiering!All the cross dogs in France are unchained and the muzzles off; and someare bloodhounds. What luxury to be judge, jury, and hangman, like thenoble of long ago!
Even childhood caught the temper of the time. It played at beingofficer and prisoner, built and tore down bastilles, and at last wonattention and a law all to itself when some young ruffians hung one oftheir number in good earnest for an aristocrat.
However indifferent was Francois at this time, the shifting drama amusedhim as some monstrous burlesque might have done. Its tragedies were asyet occasional, and he was by nature too gay to be long or deeplyimpressed. There was none he loved in peril, and how to take care ofFrancois his life had taught him full well.
"_Allons zi gaiement!_" he cried, in the tongue of his old quarter; andkept a wondering, anxious eye on Pierre.
The Adventures of François Page 12
