by Eugène Sue
CHAPTER XI.
BOURGEOIS TURNED SANS-CULOTTE.
It was the evening of December 10, 1792. Monsieur Desmarais sat talkingwith his wife in the parlor of their dwelling. The attorney, elected tothe Convention in September, no longer was content to affect patriotismin his acts and words; his very appearance now breathed a sans-culottismof the deepest dye. Thus he, once so precise about his person, shavedbut once a week; his hair, now powderless, was clipped close like aRoundhead's; he wore a carmagnole jacket, hob-nailed shoes, widepantaloons, a distinctive sign of the sans-culottes, and a red-checkeredhandkerchief rolled around his neck, after the style of Marat. In one ofthe corners of the parlor, now without mirrors or curtains and almoststripped of furniture, reposed a large square deal box, whose cover borethe words in large penciled characters: "Breakable. Handle with care."The chest seemed to be built with more care and solidity than is usualwith packing-cases. Its cover, instead of being merely nailed, wasfastened with hinges; a strong lock held it shut. Madam Desmarais,arrived from Lyons a brief half hour before, had not yet removed hertraveling garments. Her face breathed anxiety. Her husband's featureswere pale and glowering; he seemed worked up, agitated. His wifecontinued the conversation:
"You understand, my friend, that, frightened at the rumors which wererife in Lyons on the subject of the triumph of a royalistconspiracy--that Paris was given up to fire and blood, the Conventiondissolved, its members exposed to the greatest dangers--"
"It is incomprehensible to me what object anyone could have inpropagating such sinister rumors," replied Desmarais. "We are on thetracks of a royalist plot, built, for a pretext, upon the trial of thisunfortunate King; but the plot can not but miscarry. Paris seems seizedwith vertigo since August 10!"
"However that may be, my friend, frightened by these rumors, I set outfor Paris. Besides, it costs me too much to live far from you in theseterrible times. The reasons for our separation were the hope of allayingthe passion of our daughter for that young Lebrenn, and your livelydesire to shield me from the spectacle of the insurrections, the popularpassions which were about to sweep over Paris. But our principal aim hasnot been attained. Charlotte persists in her determination to remainunmarried or to wed that ironsmith. She writes to him and receives hisletters. So, then, whether she be at Paris or at Lyons, she will beneither nearer nor further from the scene of her love-affair. Andfinally, by the very fact that you are exposed to dangers of all sorts,my place is beside you, my friend. I have, then, resolved to leave youno longer. I also am much alarmed on my brother's score. Here it is morethan a month that I haven't heard from him. Can you tell me what hasbecome of him?"
"I know that he was denounced as a suspect; he probably has remained inParis, where he is in hiding, and conspiring in favor of the monarchy.I do not in the least doubt it."
"What do you tell me! My brother denounced! My God! In these times suchan accusation is a thing of terror--it may lead to the scaffold!"
"No doubt. But why doesn't he consent to resign himself, as I have, tohowl with the wolves, and roar with the tigers?"
"Poor Hubert," replied Madam Desmarais in tears. "In the midst of themortal dangers which he runs, he thinks of my birthday; he sends me atoken of his brotherly affection." And the attorney's wife, casting hereyes towards the box in the corner, added, "Dear, good brother! Howsensible I am of this new proof of his affection!"
"If he truly loved you, he would not risk causing you the greatestchagrin, and compromising me into the bargain!"
"My friend, I can not listen to reproaches against my brother, when heis exposed to such grave perils--"
"And whose fault is it, if not his own, due to his own violent andobstinate character? He abhors, says he, the excesses of the Revolution!Alas, I also execrate them--yet I feign to applaud them. That will atleast do to insure our repose and steer clear of the guillotine. Thus,to-morrow, the members of the Convention will hale before the bar theunfortunate Louis XVI, he will be examined in due form, they will givehim his trial, and he will be condemned to death. And well, I shall votefor death."
"O, my God!" murmured Madam Desmarais in cold fear. "My husband aregicide!"
"But how can I escape the fatal necessity?"
"Let the fatality fall, then!" answered Madam Desmarais mournfully, hervoice broken with sobs.
"Let us go on," said advocate Desmarais after a long silence, duringwhich his agitation slowly got the better of itself, "let us go on. Ourdaughter is then still infatuated with this Lebrenn?"
"She loves Lebrenn as much as, if not more than, before. He informed herin one of his last letters that he had been promoted to certain dutiesin the Commune of Paris, and she glories in his advancement."
"In truth, the workingman has been elected a municipal officer. Theyeven proposed to him, such is his influence in the quarter and in theJacobin Club, to run as candidate for the Convention, but he declinedthe offer. For the rest, his position with the Jacobins has put him intouch with several leading spirits of the Revolution--Tallien,Robespierre, Legendre, Billaud-Varenne, Danton, and other rabiddemocrats."
"Have you renewed your relations with the young man since the day yourefused him our daughter's hand?"
"No; we have met several times at the Jacobins, but I have avoidedspeaking with him. He has imitated my reserve. For the rest, I must dohim this justice--he has always expressed himself in favorable termsconcerning me, true to his promise, that, however little reliance heplaced in my uprightness and the sincerity of my convictions, he wouldhold his opinion secret until my acts themselves denounced me. Well, myacts and speeches have been, and will be, in conformity with thenecessities of my position. But, too much of this Lebrenn;--I have toldyou that your unlooked-for return surprised me, but that it chimed inwith my recent projects. I have in view for our daughter a marriage towhich I attach great importance, for I would become, by the alliance,the father-in-law of a man destined to count among the most influentialpersonages of the Revolution. This future son-in-law is very young, andremarkably good looking; he belongs to the upper bourgeois, evenbordering on the nobility. He is, in fine, the intimate friend, thepupil, the devoted supporter, the right arm of Robespierre. This youngman, who has already made his mark in the Assembly in two speeches ofimmense influence,--is Monsieur St. Just."
"Alas, my friend, in Lyons I heard tell of this young man. His nameexcites the same execration as that of Robespierre and Marat among theroyalists, and even among the moderate republicans of the complexion ofthe Girondins. Have you considered that?"
"It is precisely because of the aversion which he inspires in theroyalists, the Girondins, and the moderates, that I have fixed my eyesupon St. Just. One of our common friends, Billaud-Varenne, is to make,this very day, overtures to my young colleague on the subject of thismarriage, which will be so much to my advantage."
"My friend, all that you say causes me a surprise and bewilderment thatputs my mind in a whirl. You own to experiencing great regret atentering on the path of the Revolution; and, by a strange contradiction,you speak of marrying your daughter to one of the men whom honest folkshold most in horror."
"No contradiction there, at all. Facts are facts. I am unhappy enough tohave for brother-in-law a mad-cap counter-revolutionist. Hubert is adenounced man, and at this very hour, no doubt, is intriguing againstthe Revolution. All this may compromise me most perilously. Marat hashis eye on me. Now, if Marat penetrates my innermost thoughts, I am ingreat danger. The influence of St. Just, once my son-in-law, would savemy head."
Gertrude the serving-maid interrupted her master by entering the roomwith an air at once of mystery and affright, and saying to him in astartled voice:
"Monsieur, madam's brother is here."
"Hubert here!" cried Desmarais with a start. "I don't want to see him!Tell him I'm out!"
"Alas, sir, your brother-in-law said to me that he was pursued by thepolice, and that they were hard on his tracks."
"Great God!" murmured Madam Desmarais faintly. "My broth
er!"
"Let him get out of here!" cried the attorney, pale with terror. "Lethim get out this instant!"
"You repulse my brother, when he is in danger of his life, perhaps!"exclaimed Madam Desmarais indignantly. And running to Gertrude shedemanded, "Where is my brother?"
"In the dining room, taking off his cloak--" But interrupting herselfshe exclaimed, "Here is Monsieur Hubert, now!"
In fact, it was none other than Hubert himself who appeared in theparlor door. He was laboring under strong emotion; he received hissister in his arms and embraced her effusively.
Advocate Desmarais, a prey to the keenest anxiety, was as yet uncertainas to how his troublesome brother-in-law was to be received. In awhisper he interrogated Gertrude:
"Do you think the porter recognized Monsieur Hubert?"
"With his slouch hat pulled over his eyes, blue glasses on, and his chinhidden in the collar of his great-coat, Monsieur Hubert wasunrecognizable."
The attorney pondered a few seconds, and continued his conversation withGertrude: "You have a key to the little garden gate? Go open it, andleave it ajar. In ten minutes run to the janitor with a great air ofalarm and tell him that the person who just asked for me was a robber,that you just surprised him with his hand in the drawer of thedining-room buffet; that he took flight as soon as discovered, that heran down stairs in a hurry, and that he probably made good his escape byscaling the garden wall. You understand all I've told you? Execute myorders precisely, and not a word on my brother-in-law's presence."
"It shall all be done as you wish."
"Not a word of all this to Jeanette or Germain. Let no one into theparlor for any reason whatsoever, and do not come in yourself until Iring for you." Then Desmarais added, as one who had a brilliant idea,"For greater safety, I'll bolt the door, Go!"
Gertrude went out, and Desmarais cautiously bolted the door of theparlor.
"To see you again brother, perhaps at the moment of losing you forever!"sobbed Madam Desmarais addressing Hubert; "the thought is misery to me."
"Reassure yourself, sister. I know how to baffle the pursuits of which Iam the object. I have thrown off the scent the spies who dogged mysteps. And certes, they will never come to seek me in the house of amember of the Convention. I ask asylum of your husband till midnightonly. At that hour I shall quit his house."
"Ah, I swear, that do I, that you will have quit it in ten minutes!"retorted the attorney, going over slowly to his wife's side, at the samemoment that Hubert, perceiving the wooden packing-case, said to hissister:
"Ah, there is my box!"
"Poor brother," began Madam Desmarais, interrupting the financier. "Inthe midst of your anxieties, you still remembered my birthday. How can Itell you how touched I am at this proof of your affection!"
"I deserve no thanks, my dear sister. The case is not intended for you;it contains some precious objects which I wish to save from thedomiciliary visits they make upon suspects."
"Compromising papers, no doubt!" gasped Desmarais, aside. "Such anobject to drop upon me!"
"I thought these things would be safer here than anywhere else, that iswhy I sent them in the case," continued Hubert; "but for reasons uselessto tell you, your servant and the porter must transport it at once to ahouse at an address I shall give you."
"I shall go at once to tell our men," said Madam Desmarais, movingtoward the door. But the lawyer stopped her with his hand, and saidcoldly:
"Madam, you shall not go out!"
"Pardon, my dear brother-in-law, my not yet having pressed your hand,you whose hospitality I shall share for a few hours," spoke up Hubert,stepping to meet the lawyer; "but it was so long since I saw my sister,that my first movement was to run to her, and--"
"Citizen Hubert," broke in the attorney, pale and trembling between rageand fear, "the house of a Mountainist of the Convention shall not serveas the refuge of traitors."
"Good God!" Madam Desmarais murmured, clasping her hands in fright.
"What, brother-in-law, I ask you for shelter for a few hours, you, myrelative, you, erstwhile my friend, and you dare drive me from yourdoor?"
"Citizen Hubert, the enemies of the Republic are my enemies; I shalltreat them as political enemies when they fall into my hands. Out yougo!"
"Such greetings from you!" stammered Hubert, dazed.
"Brother," cried Madam Desmarais, "do not believe what my husband says!He is incapable of committing such an act of infamy. It was only a fewmoments ago that he was cursing the excesses of the Revolution."
"Wretch!" shrieked Desmarais, seizing his wife by the wrist. "Will youhold your peace!" Then, turning to his brother-in-law, "Citizen Hubert,if you do not leave this building on the instant, I shall send for thepatrol of the Section, and have you arrested."
"Ah!" cried Hubert with indignation. "I come to ask a relative for a fewhours' refuge, and the coward, for fear of being compromised, wishes tosend me to the scaffold!"
As Hubert pronounced these last words, Gertrude rapped at the door andcalled in a quaking voice:
"Open, open! The commissioner of the Section, in his scarf of office, ishere with the mounted police. He is coming upstairs."
Hubert drew from his coat pockets a brace of double-barreled pistols,cocked them, and said in a low voice:
"I shall sell my life dear; but, by the thousand gods! my first bulletwill be for you, my coward and traitor brother-in-law!"
Advocate Desmarais leaped to the door and drew back the bolt. His wife,struck with a sudden inspiration, and displaying, in the terror whichseized her, an unwonted strength, dragged her brother into herbed-chamber, which opened on the parlor, slammed the door after her, andshot the bolt into its socket.
