The Adventures of François

by S. Weir Mitchell

  *XI*

  _The juggling firm of Despard, Francois & Co. is broken up--Despard goesinto politics, and Francois becomes a fencing-master._

  January, 1791, Francois, having of late found business slack, had movedto the open _place_ in front of the Palais Royal. He had taught Toto newtricks--to shoulder a musket and to die _pour la patrie_. Time wastelling men's fortunes quite too fast for comfort. Neither his olddevices nor Toto's recently acquired patriotism was of much avail.Moreover, Pierre was losing interest in the booth as he became absorbedin politics.

  "Thou wilt not go to thy _sacre_ club, Pierre," said Francois, one nightlate in February. "Here are two days thou hast left us, the patriotToto and me, to feed thee and make sous for the poor little maid atSevres."

  "She is not at Sevres."

  "Why not? Thou hast not said a word to me of this."

  "No; I had more important matters to think of."

  Francois, who was tranquilly smoking his pipe, looked up at his partner.The man had lately worn a look of self-importance.

  "Well, what else?"

  "The sisters are aristocrats. A good _citoyenne_ hath her. I shallgive up the show. The country calls me, Pierre Despard, to save her.The great Robespierre hath asked me to go into Normandy, to Musillon,whence I came. I am to organize clubs of Jacobins." He spoke withexcitement, striding to and fro. He declared that he was not afraid nowof any one. To serve France was to have courage.

  "And how as to money?" asked Francois.

  He said his expenses would be paid by the clubs. Barnave, Duport, andthe deputies of the Right must be taught a lesson. There must be nomore kings. The people must rule--the people! He declaimed wildly.

  "_Fichtre!_" cried Francois, laughing. "It does seem to me that theyrule just now."

  Pierre went on with increasing excitement; and would not Francois gowith him?

  "Go with thee? Thou sayest we shall be deputies in the new Convention.A fine thing that! And Toto too, I suppose? Not I. I am anaristocrat. I like not thy Robespierre. As to the show, it pays nolonger, and I have greased the claws of the Crab until there is no moregrease left. I shall take to the streets, Toto and I. And so thou artto be a great man, and to play poodle on thy hind legs for Petion andthe mob?"

  Pierre was offended. He rose and stood glaring at Francois withwide-open eyes; then he said, as if to himself: "The marquis is nearEvreux. Let him take heed!"

  "_Mon Dieu_! He will eat thee as he would the frogs of his moat, thatman! I am not of those who fear, but if I had angered him--"

  "I have named him to the great Robespierre, the just, the good. He willremember him."

  "Then go; and the devil take the whole lot of you!"

  "I shall go. But do not say thou art an aristocrat, for then I musthate thee."

  "_Grand merci_! Thou poor, fat little pug, canst thou hate?"

  "Aye, as hell hates." Upon this Toto took refuge under his master'sbed.

  Francois rose, and, standing in front of the flushed, fat little man,set a hand on each of Pierre's shoulders and stopped his excited march.

  "I cannot understand thee. I never could contrive to hate even agendarme, and if hell hates, I know not. Thou art helpless as a turtlethat is on his back. What use to kick? No; do not answer me. Hear meout. I shall go my way--thou thy way. I served thee a good turn once,and thou hast helped me to a living. Now I like not thy ways; thou artgoing mad, I think."

  "Perhaps--perhaps," returned Pierre, gloomily. "Well, _c'est fini_--'tis done. Now to settle."

  They divided their spare cash; and after that Pierre went to his club,and Francois to bed and a dreamless sleep.

  In the morning he rose early, left his share of the rent on the table,and with a little bag of clothes, and Toto after him, walked away acrossthe Seine, and soon found a small room under the roof. He paid inadvance the customary _denier a Dieu_, and settled down to think.

  "HE PAID IN ADVANCE THE CUSTOMARY DENIER A DIEU."]

  He was tired of the show, and meant to resume his old trade. Hisconscience, or so much as he had, was at peace; all France wasplundering. Now the nobles were robbed, and now the church.

  "The world is on my side," he laughed, as he sat with Toto on his knees,looking over a wide prospect of chimney-pots and tiles.

  Thus began again the life of the thief; but now, thanks to his longtraining as a juggler, he was amazingly expert. He took no great risks,but the frequent tumults of the streets were full of chances, althoughit must be said that purses were thinner, watches and gold snuff-boxesrarer, and caution less uncommon than it had once been. If businessprospered, he and Toto took long holidays in the country, and did alittle hunting of rabbits; for the gamekeeper was no longer a person tobe dreaded. Sometimes, lying on the turf, he thought how pleasant wouldbe a bit of garden, and assurance of good diet and daily work to histaste. I fear it would scarcely have been long to his taste. Whensomething like a chance came, he could not make up his mind to acceptthe heaven-sent offer. He was to see many things and suffer much beforehis prosperous hour arrived.

  One fine day in April, Francois, with whom of late fortune hadquarreled, was seated in the sun on a bench in the now ill-tended gardenof the Luxembourg. The self-made difficulties of the country wereaffecting more and more the business of the honest, and of thatuncertain guild which borrows but never returns. He had a way of takingToto into his counsels. "What shall we do, little devil?" The poodlebarked. "No. These accursed Jacobins are ruining France. What, knock aman on the head at night! Bad dog, hast thou no morals? _Va donc_! Goto. Thou hast not my close experience of the lantern, and stone wallsfor a home I like not. Work, thou sayest? Too late; there is work forno one nowadays. Thou wilt end badly, little monster."

  Toto whined, and having no more to say, fell asleep. At this momentFrancois, looking up, saw go by a young woman in black, and with her aboy of perhaps ten years. On the farther side was a tall, well-dressedman of middle age, whom, as he was looking away, Francois did notrecognize. Some bright thing fell unnoticed from the woman's wrist, andlay in the sun. "Hist, Toto! Look there--quick!" In a moment the dogwas away, and back again, with a small miniature set in gold andsurrounded by pearls. It was the portrait of a young officer. Francoishastily put it back into the dog's mouth, saying: "Go to sleep! Down!down quickly!" The dog, well taught, accepted the trust, and dropped asif in slumber, his head on his paws, while his master studied theweathercocks on the old gray palace. A moment later both the man andthe woman turned to look for the lost miniature. Then Francois saw thatit was his old acquaintance the marquis. He had more than once seen himin the garden, where he was fond of walking; but the great seigneur hadpassed him always without notice. The boy ran back ahead of hisgrandfather, and coming to Francois, said innocently:

  "Monsieur, have you seen a little picture madame let fall? It is sobig, and I saw it only just now on her wrist. Please to help us to lookfor it. It is my father; he is dead."

  After the boy came the woman, looking here and there on the gravel.

  "_Dame de Dieu!_ she is beautiful," murmured Francois; "and that _sacre_marquis!"

  The voice he heard was sweet and low, and tender with regret at herloss.

  "Has monsieur chanced to see a little miniature?"

  Monsieur was troubled, but his pocket and stomach were both empty.Monsieur was distressed. He had seen no miniature.

  Next came the marquis.

  "Ho, ho!" he said pleasantly. "Here is the citizen my thief again.Have you seen a small miniature?"

  Francois had not.

  "_Diable_! 'T is a pity, monsieur. Well, pardon a _ci-devant_ marquis,but I do think monsieur knows a little too much of that miniature forhis eternal salvation. Also, monsieur does not lie as well as might beexpected from one in his line of life."

  Francois rose. He was embarrassed as he saw the tearful face of thewoman.

  "I was about to say I would look--I would
search."

  Ste. Luce smiled. "Suppose we begin with you?"

  "I have it not."

  "Well, but where is it? I am not a man to be trifled with. Come,quick, or I must ask the gendarmes yonder for a bit of help."

  Francois looked at him. There was menace in those cold gray eyes.Should he trust to his own long legs? At this instant he heard a sob,and glancing to the right, saw the woman seated on the bench with herface in her hands, the little fellow at her side saying: "Do not cry,mama; the gentleman will help us." The gentleman was ill clothed andseedy. He had seen women cry, but they were not like this woman.

  "M. le Marquis does me injustice. Permit that my dog and I search alittle."

  The marquis smiled again. "_Pardieu!_ and if you search, and meanwhiletake a fancy to run, your legs are long; but now I have you. How thedeuce can I trust a thief?"

  The little lad looked up. "I will go with monsieur to look--and thedog; we will find it, mama."

  "Monsieur may trust me; I will not run away," said Francois. "Ifmonsieur desires to search me?"

  "I do not search thieves."

  Francois looked at this strangely quiet gentleman with the large,light-gray, unpleasant eyes, and then at the woman.

  "Come, Toto; we must take a look."

  The marquis stood still, quietly watching thief, dog, and boy.

  "Renee," he said, "don't make a fool of yourself."

  Then from a distance the boy cried, "We found it, mama!" and ran to meether.

  The marquis took it as Francois rejoined the group.

  "Ah, Master Thief, you are clever; but it is a little wet, this trifle,and warm too. The dog had it all the while in his mouth. He is welltaught. Why the deuce did you give it up?"

  The boy began to understand this small drama. He had the courage of hisbreed, and the training.

  "Did you dare to steal my mama's picture?"

  "Yes; when she let it fall."

  "I know now why you were glad to give it back. It was because shecried."

  "Yes; it was because she cried."

  "Venire St. Gris!" exclaimed the marquis, who was pleased to swear likeHenry of Navarre. "You are a poor devil for a thief. You havetemptations to be good. I never have them myself. I thank Heaven Ihave reasonably well used my opportunities to be agreeably wicked."

  "Father!" said the young woman, reproachfully; and then to Francois: "Ifyou are a thief, still I thank you; I cannot tell you how much I thankyou."

  "And how many louis do you expect, most magnanimous of thieves?" saidthe marquis.

  The woman looked up again. "Come to me to-morrow; I will find a way tohelp you."

  Something of yearning, some sense of a void, some complexity of noveldistress, arose in the thief's mind.

  "_Mon Dieu!_ madame," he said, turning toward her, without replying tothe marquis, "you are a saint. I--I will think. I am not fit for suchas you to talk to."

  "Quite true," said the marquis. "Hast thou thy purse, Renee? I forgotmine."

  "No, no," she said. "Come and see us--Rue des Petits-Augustines--agreat house with a gilded gate. You will come? I will say they are tolet you in. Promise me that you will come."

  "And bring that poodle," added the marquis; "I will buy him."

  Francois laughed outright--that merry laugh which half Paris had learnedto like, till Paris tired of it and of its owner.

  "Monsieur will pardon me. I cannot sell my only friend. Good day."And he walked away, the boy crying after him: "You will come? Oh, youmust come, because my mama says so."

  The marquis muttered: "_Animal_! If I had your carcass--no, if I hadhad you awhile ago in Normandy, your manners would have been bettered.But now the world is upside down. He will come, Renee. If thou art quitof him for two hundred francs and a few lost spoons, thou mayest restthankful."

  Francois moved moodily away. Something was wrong in his world; an angelcoming into his crude life would not have disturbed him as this lady'sfew kind words had done, and yet he had left her unanswered. He knew hehad been a fool, but knew not why. He had, too, a notion that he andthis marquis would meet again, but for this he was not eager. Herecalled the palm-reading. Had the woman been alone, he would probablyhave said a glad "Yes"; but now his inclinations to obey her were sadlydiluted by feelings which he did not analyze, or perhaps could not haveanalyzed. He did not accept the hand thus stretched out to save him,but for many a day her tender eagerness and the pleading face which hadso attracted him came before him at times with a look of reproach. Isit strange that this glimpse of a nobler nature and a better life thanhis own should have had an influence on this man quite the reverse ofthat which its good will sought to effect? He cannot be said to havebeen refined, but he had in him tastes which are the germs ofrefinement, and which, when I knew him, had no doubt produced results.Probably he was in 1791 a coarser person, but he must always have been aman who could be forced by circumstances to think.

  It may have been that the sense of a great gulf between him and a worldhe was by nature inclined to like caused one of those rare spells ofdespair to which the gay and over-sanguine are liable. Of course he hadseen and for brief seasons shared the profligacy of the Cite,--hismemoirs confess this with absolute frankness,--but these gross lapseshad been rare and brief. Now he plunged headlong into the worstvileness of the most dissolute quarter, where few lived who were notsaturated with crime. I have no desire to dwell on this part of hislife. A month passed away, and he was beginning to suffer in health.This amazed him. He had not hitherto known a pang save that of hunger.He began to drink _eau-de-vie_ to relieve his sense of impairedstrength, and being off his guard and under the influence of thetemporary mood of rashness which drink is apt to cause, he twicenarrowly escaped arrest.

  Under the vivid impression thus created he was wandering homeward lateat night to some low resort in the Cite, when in the Rue aux Feves heheard a cry in front of him. The moon was bright, and he saw a man setupon by two fellows. The person assailed was staggering from the blowof a club, and fell with the cry which the thief heard. Both banditsthrew themselves upon him, and, as he unwisely struggled, Francois sawthe glitter of a knife. Clearly this was no easy prey. As the threetumbled over in the mud of the street there was small chance for adecisive use of the blade. Francois, as I have said, had been alwaysfree from crimes of violence, but this affair was none of his business,and had his pocket been full he might have left the ruffians and theirprey unmolested. His purse, however, was down to the last sou, and herewas a chance.

  He called, "Catch them, Toto!" and, leaping forward, seized one of themen by the throat and threw him on his back. The poodle took a good nipof the other rascal's leg, and when the man broke away and, stumbling,ran, pursued him until recalled by Francois's whistle. Meanwhile theassaulted man sat up, a bit dazed. The other fellow--it was he of theknife--was on his feet again, and at once turned furiously on therescuer. Francois darted to one side, and, catching him by the neck,throttled him savagely. His great length of arm made it impossible forthe scamp, who was short and strong, to reach any vital organ. But hestabbed Francois's shoulder over and over. Francois's grip on the throatwas weakening, when the victim, now on his feet, struck the man underthe ear, and thus knocked him clean out of Francois's failing grip. Hefell headlong, but was up and away in a moment, while a crowd began tocollect.

  "Hi! it is Francois!" some one cried.

  "Quick!" said the thief. "Room there! Let us get out of this."Seizing the man he had saved, he hustled his way through the crowd andhurried him toward the bridge. In a few minutes they were standingalone by the river, amid the tombs back of Notre Dame. Then the manspoke:

  "By Heaven! thou hast saved my life. Hallo! thou art bleeding. Here!"and he tied a handkerchief about his shoulder. "We shall be in luck tofind a chaise. Wait!" and he ran away.

  Francois's head was dizzy. He sat on a tombstone, well sobered now, butbleeding freely. It was long before he heard a horse; and when i
n thechaise, where Toto promptly followed him, he fell back, and knew littlemore until they stopped in the Rue St. Honore. Here his newacquaintance got out, and soon returned with a glass of _eau-de-vie_.With this aid, and the arm of his host, Francois was able to reach alarge room in the second story. He fell on a couch, and lay still whilethe other man ran out to find a surgeon.

  On his arrival, Francois was put to bed in an adjoining room, and fortwo weeks of care and good diet had leave to meditate on the changefulchances of this wretched world. For a while he was too weak to indulgehis customary keenness of curiosity. His host, M. Achille Gamel, paidhim brief visits, and was singularly unwilling to talk one day, and thenext sufficiently so for the patient to learn that he had been in thearmy as a _maitre d'armes_, and was now, in his own opinion, the bestfencing-master in France. Through the partitions could be heard theclick, click of the foils, and now and then the crack of pistols. Aftera fortnight Francois's wounds were fairly healed, and he began to getback his rosy complexion and his unfailing curiosity.

  One pleasant evening in June, Gamel appeared as usual. It was one ofhis days of abrupt speech.

  "Art well?"

  "Yes."

  "Thou art soon mended."

  "Yes." His brevity begot a like form of answer, and Francois was nowsomewhat on his guard.

  "I pay my debts."

  "That is true."

  "Now thou art well, what wilt thou do?"

  "I--I--I shall go away."

  "Why didst thou help me?"

  "My pocket and paunch were empty. It seemed a chance."

  "Thy two reasons are good. Who art thou?"

  "Who is every one in the Cite? A thief."

  "_Diable!_ but thou art honest--in speech at least."

  "Yes, sometimes. I was a conjurer too--for a while."

  "Yes, yes, I remember now. Thou art the fellow with a laugh. I see notyet why thou hast helped me. Thou mightest easier have helped therascals and shared their gains."

  Francois began to be interested, and laughed a laugh which was the mosthonest of his possessions.

  "I dislike clumsiness in my profession," he said. "Why should thebrutality of war be brought into a peaceful occupation?" He was half inearnest, half in jest.

  "That is a third reason, and a good one." It was difficult to surpriseGamel. "Suppose we talk business," he added.

  "Mine or thine?"

  "Mine. A moment, Citizen Francois--permit me. Pray stand up a moment."

  Francois rose as the fencing-master produced a tape-measure. "Permitme," and with no more words he set one end of the tape on Francois'sshoulder and carried the length of it to his finger-tips.

  Francois stood still, wondering what it all meant.

  "The deuce!" said Gamel, slowly rolling up the measuring-tape.

  "Well, what is it? What is wrong?"

  "Wrong? Nothing. It is astonishing!"

  "What?"

  "This arm of thine."

  "Why?"

  "It is one and a half inches longer than mine."

  "Well?"

  "A gift! To have the longest arm in Paris! _Mon Dieu!_"

  "What of that?"

  "A fortune! Phenomenal! Superb! And a chest--and muscles! ByHercules, they are as hard as horn!"

  "Well?"

  "_Diable_! Thou art dull for a thief."

  Francois had a high opinion of himself. He said: "Perhaps. What next?"

  "I need help. I will teach thee to fence and to shoot. Canst thou behonest? I ask not if thou art."

  "Can I? I do not know. I have never tried very long." Then he paused.To fence like a gentleman, to handle a sword, had its temptations. "Tryme."

  "Good! Canst thou be a Jacobin to-day and a Royalist to-morrow?"

  "Why not?"

  "The messieurs and their kind fence here in the morning; after ourbreakfast come the Jacobins about two. I ask not thy politics."

  "Why not?" said Francois, who was the frankest of men--"why not? I aman aristocrat. I am at the top of my profession. I like naturally thefolks who are on top."

  "France is like a ball now, no top, no bottom, rolling. Let us beserious."

  "_Dieu!_ that is difficult. I want to quit thieving. It doesn't pay atpresent. I accept the citizen's offer. Does it include my dog?"

  "Yes, indeed! Toto--a treasure! He will delight our pupils."

  "Good! He must have a little sword and wear a white cockade till noon,and then a tricolor."

  "And will five francs a week suffice until thou art fit to teach? Andthy board and lodging--that goes without saying. After a while we willtalk again."

  "'T is a fortune!" said Francois; and upon this agreement the pair fellto chatting about the details of their future work.

  "One moment," said Francois, as Gamel rose. "What are thy own politics?"

  "I will tell thee when I can trust thee," said the fencing-master. "Nowthey vary with the clock."

  "I see. But I have told thee mine."

  "Thou wert rash. I am not."

  Francois laughed merrily, "Good night." He was happy to be at rest,well fed, and with something to do which involved no risk. Gamel wentaway, and Francois fell to talking to the poodle.

  "Toto! Sit up, my sleepy friend! Attention! What dost thou think of M.Achille Gamel?" The poodle had been taught when questioned to put hishead on one side, which gave him an air of intelligent consideration."Ah, thou dost think he is as long-legged as I! Any fool of a cur cansee that. What else?"

  "He has great teeth--big--the better to eat thee, my dear! Curly hair,like thine, and as black; a nose--of course he has a nose, Toto. Artperplexed, little friend? Oh, that is it! I see. Thou art right. Hesmiles; he never laughs. 'T is that bothered thee. Thou dost like him?Yes. Thou art not sure? Nor I. We must laugh for two. The bones aregood here. That is past doubt. We will stay, and we will keep our eyesopen. And listen now, Toto. We are honest. Good! Dost thouunderstand? No more purses, or out we go. No stealing of cutlets. Ah,thou mayest lick thy chops in vain, bandit!"

  A few days later Gamel began to fence with Francois, who liked it well.He was strong, agile, and like his old friends the cats for quickness offoot. Gamel was charmed.

  "We must make no mistakes. The foil held lightly--so, so! If you graspit too strongly you will not feel the other's blade. That is better.'T is the fingers direct the point. Thy hand a little higher--so, so!"

  They fenced before the pupils came and in the intervals when none was onhand. Francois was tireless.

  It was June now, and Robespierre was the public prosecutor, with Petionat his side. Gamel read aloud the announcement with a coldly sternface. Francois heard it with indifference.

  "_Tiens!_" he cried. "What matters it? _Dame!_" as he lunged at thewall, "I do believe my arm is an inch longer." He was thinking, as hetried over and over a new guard, of what a queer education he had had.Gamel walked away into his own room. He was a man who often liked to bealone. Apt to be monosyllabic with his pupils, he could at times becomeseriously talkative at night over a pipe and a glass. Francois began tolike him, and to suspect that he in turn was liked--a matter notindifferent to this poor devil, who had himself an undeveloped talentfor affection.

  "_Mon ami_, Toto! Let us think. I might have been a priest. What anescape! Or a great chorister. That is another matter. A thief, astreet-dog, a juggler, a _maitre d'escrime_. _Parbleu_! What next? Weare getting up in the world. My palm, little rascal? Thou wouldst readit. Ah, bad dog, not I! Let us to bed; come along. It seems too goodto last."