“Yes — you are strangely like the King!” she said— “That is, — so far as I am able to judge by his portraits and coins. I have never seen him.”
“I have seen him,” — said Sergius Thord, “though only at a distance. And I wonder I did not notice the strange resemblance you bear to him before you called my attention to it. Are you in any way related to him?”
“Related to him!” Leroy laughed aloud. “No! If the late King had any bastard sons, I am not one of them! But I pray you again all to carefully note this hateful resemblance, — a resemblance I would fain rid me of — for it makes me seem a living copy of the man I most despise!”
There was a pause, — during which he stood quietly, submitting himself to the fire of a hundred wondering, questioning, and inquisitorial eyes without flinching.
“You are all satisfied?” he then asked; “You, Sergius Thord, — my chief and commander, — you, and all here present are satisfied?”
“Satisfied? — Yes!” replied Thord; “But sorry that your personality resembles that of a fool and a knave!”
A strange grimace distorted the countenance of Max Graub, but he quickly buried his nose and his expression together in a foaming glass of beer.
“You cannot be so sorry for me as I am for myself!” said Leroy, “And now to finish the few words I have been trying to say. I thank you from my heart for your welcome, and for the trust you have reposed in me and my companions. I am proud to be one of you; and I promise that you shall all have reason to be glad that I am associated with your Cause! And to prove my good faith, I undertake to set about working for you without a day’s delay; and towards this object, I give you my word that before our next meeting something shall be done to shake the political stronghold of Carl Pérousse!”
Sergius Thord sprang up excitedly.
“Do that,” he said, “and were you a thousand times more like the King than you are, you shall be the first to command our service and honour!”
Loud acclamation followed his words, and all the men gathered close up about Leroy. He looked round upon them, half-smiling, half-serious.
“But you must tell me what to do!” he said. “You must explain to me why you consider Pérousse a traitor, and how you think it best his treachery should be proved. For, remember, I am a stranger to this part of the country, and my accidental resemblance to the King does not make me his subject!”
“True!” said Paul Zouche, — his eyes were feverishly bright and his cheeks flushed— “To be personally like a liar does not oblige one to tell lies! To call oneself a poet does not enable one to write poetry! And to build a cathedral does not make one a saint! To know all the highways and byways of the Pérousse policy, you must penetrate into the depths and gutter-slushes of the great newspaper which is subsidised by the party to that policy! And this is difficult — exceedingly difficult, let me assure you, my bold Pasquin! And if you can perform such a ‘pasquinade’ as shall take you into these Holy of Holy purlieus of mischief and money-making, you will deserve to be chief of the Committee, instead of Sergius! Sergius talks — he will talk your head off! — but he does nothing!”
“I do what I can,” — said Thord, patiently. “It is true I have no access to the centres of diplomacy or journalism. But I hold the People in the hollow of my hand!”
He spoke with deep and concentrated feeling, and the power of his soul looked out eloquently from the darkening flash of his eyes. Leroy studied his features with undisguised interest.
“If you thus hold the People,” he said,— “Why not bid them rise against the evil and tyranny of which they have cause to complain?”
Thord shook his head.
“To rouse the People,” he replied, “would be worse than to rouse a herd of starving lions from their forest dens, and give them freedom to slay and devour! Nay! — the time is not yet! All gentle means must be tried; and if these fail — why then — !”
He broke off, but his clenched hand and expressive glance said the rest.
“Why do you not use the most powerful of all the weapons ever invented for the destruction of one’s enemies — the Pen?” asked Max Graub. “Start a newspaper, for example, and gibbet your particular favourite Carl Pérousse therein!”
“Bah! He would get up a libel case, and advertise himself a little more by that method!” said Zegota contemptuously; “And besides, a newspaper needs unlimited capital behind it. We have no rich friends.”
“Rich friends!” exclaimed Lotys suddenly; “Who speaks of them — who needs them? Rich friends expect you to toady to them; to lick the ground under their feet; to fawn and flatter and lie, and be anything but honest men! The rich are the vulgar of this world; — no one who has heart, or soul, or sense, would condescend to seek friendships among those whose only claim to precedence is the possession of a little more yellow metal than their neighbours.”
“Nevertheless, they and their yellow metal are the raw material, which Genius may as well use to pave its way through life,” said Zegota. “Lotys, you are too much of an idealist!”
“Idealist! And you call yourself a realist, poor child!” said Lotys with a laugh; “I tell you I would sooner starve than accept favour or assistance from the merely rich!”
“Of course you would!” said Zouche, “And is not that precisely the reason why you are set in dominion over us all? We men are not sure of ourselves — but — Heaven knows why! — we are sure of You! I suppose it is because you are sure of yourself! For example, we men are such wretched creatures that we cannot go long without our food, — but you, woman, can fast all day, and scorn the very idea of hunger. We men cannot bear much pain, — but you, — woman, — can endure suffering of your own without complaint, while attending to our various lesser hurts and scratches. Wherefore, just because we feel you are above us in this and many other things, we have set you amongst us as a warning Figurehead, which cries shame upon us if we falter, and reminds us that you, a woman, can do, and probably will do, what we men cannot. Imagine it! You would bear all things for love’s sake! — and, frankly speaking, we would bear nothing at all, except for our own immediate and particular pleasure. For that, of course, we would endure everything till we got it, and then — pouf! — we would let it go again in sheer weariness and desire for something else! Is it not so, Sergius?”
“I am glad you know yourself so well!” said Thord gloomily. “Personally, I am not prepared to accept your theory.”
“Men are children!” said Lotys, still smiling; “And should be treated as children always, by women! Come, little ones! To bed, all of you! It is growing late, and the rain has ceased.”
She went to the window, and unbarring the shutters, opened it. The streets were wet and glistening below, but the clouds had cleared, and a pale watery moon shone out fitfully from the misty sky.
“Say good-night, and part;” she continued. “It is time! This day month we will meet here again, — and our new comrades will then report what progress they have made in the matter of Carl Pérousse.”
“Tell me,” said Leroy, approaching her, “What would you do, Madame, if you had determined, on proving the corruption and falsehood of this at present highly-honoured servant of the State?”
“I should gain access to his chief tool, David Jost, by means of the Prime Minister’s signet,” said Lotys,— “If I could get the signet! — which I cannot! Nor can you! But if I could, I should persuade Jost to talk freely, and so betray himself. He and Carl Pérousse move the Premier and the King whichever way they please.”
“Is that so — ?” began Leroy, when he was answered by a dozen voices at once: —
“The King is a fool!”
“The King is a slave!”
“The King accepts everything that is set before him as being rightly and wisely ordained, — and never enquires into the justice of what is done!”
“The King assumes to be the friend of the People, but if you ask him to do anything for the People, you only get the secretary
’s usual answer— ‘His Majesty regrets that it is impossible to take any action in the matter’!”
“Wait! — wait!—” said Leroy, with a gesture which called for a moment’s silence; “The question is, — Could the King do anything if he would?”
“I will answer that!” said Lotys, her eyes flashing, her bosom heaving, and her whole figure instinct with pride and passion; “The King could do everything! The King could be a man if he chose, instead of a dummy! The King could cease to waste his time on fools and light women! — and though he is, and must be a constitutional Monarch, he could so rule all social matters as to make them the better, — not the worse for his influence! There is nothing to prevent the King from doing his most kingly duty!”
Leroy looked at her for a moment in silence.
“Madame, if the King heard your words he might perhaps regret his many follies!” he said courteously;— “But where Society is proved worse, instead of better for a king’s influence, is it not somewhat too late to remedy the evil? What of the Queen?”
“The Queen is queen from necessity, not from choice!” said Lotys;— “She has never loved her husband. If she had loved him, perhaps he might, — through her, — have loved his people more!”
There was a note of pathos in her voice that was singularly tender and touching. Anon, as if impatient with herself, she turned to Sergius Thord.
“We must disperse!” she said abruptly; “Daybreak will be upon us before we know it, and we have done no business at all this evening. To enrol three new associates is a matter of fifteen minutes; the rest of our time has been wasted!”
“Do not say so, Madame!” interposed Max Graub, “You have three new friends — three new ‘sons of your blood,’ as you so poetically call them, — though, truly, I for one am more fit to be your grandfather! And do you consider the time wasted that has been spent in improving and instructing your newly-born children?”
Lotys turned upon him with a look of disdain.
“You are a would-be jester;” she said coldly; “Old men love a jest, I know, but they should take care to make it at the right time, and in the right place. They should not play with edge-tools such as I am, though I suppose, being a German, you think little or nothing of women?”
“Madame!” protested Graub, “I think so much of women that I have never married! Behold me, an unhappy bachelor! I have spared any one of your beautiful sex from the cruel martyrdom of having to endure my life-long company!”
She laughed — a pretty low laugh, and extended her hand with an air of queenly condescension.
“You are amusing!” she said,— “And so I will not quarrel with you! Good-night!”
“Auf wiedersehn!” and Graub kissed the white hand he held. “I shall hope you will command me to be of service to you and yours, ere long!”
“In what way, I wonder,” she asked dubiously; “What can you do best? Write? Speak? Or organize meetings?”
“I think,” said Graub, speaking very deliberately, “that of all my various accomplishments, which are many — as I shall one day prove to you — I can poison best!”
“Poison!”
The exclamation broke simultaneously from all the company. Graub looked about him with a triumphant air.
“Ah so, — I know I shall be useful,” he said; “I can poison so very beautifully and well! One little drop — one, little microbe of mischief — and I can make all your enemies die of cholera, typhoid, bubonic plague, or what you please! I am what is called a Christian scientific poisoner — that is a doctor! You will find me a most invaluable member of this Brotherhood!”
He nodded his head wisely, and smiled. Sergius Thord laid one hand heavily on his shoulder.
“We shall find you useful, no doubt!” he said, “But mark me well, friend! Our mission is not to kill, but to save! — not to poison, but to heal! If we find that by the death of one traitor we can save the lives of thousands, why then that traitor must die. If we know that by killing a king we destroy a country’s abuses, that king is sent to his account. But never without warning! — never without earnest pleading that he whom the laws of Truth condemn, may turn from the error of his ways and repent before it is too late. We are not murderers; — we are merely the servants of justice.”
“Exactly!” put in Paul Zouche; “You understand? We try to be what God is not, — just!”
“Blaspheme not, Zouche!” said Thord; “Justice is the very eye of God! — the very centre and foundation of the universe.”
Zouche laughed discordantly.
“Excellent Sergius! Impulsive Sergius! — with big heart, big head and no logic! Prove to me this eternal justice! Where does it begin? In the creation of worlds without end, all doomed to destruction, and therefore perfectly futile in their existence? In the making of man, who lives his little day with the utmost difficulty, pain and struggle, and is then extinguished, to be heard of no more? The use of it, my Sergius! — point out the use of it! No, — there is no man can answer me that! If I could see the Creator, I would ask Him the question personally — but He hides Himself behind the great big pendulum He has set swinging — tick — tock! — tick — tock! Life — Death! — Life — Death! — and never a reason why the clock is set going! And so we shall never have justice, — simply because there is none! It is not just or reasonable to propound a question to which there is no answer; it is not just or reasonable to endow man with all the thinking powers of brain, and all the imaginative movements of mind, merely to turn him into a pinch of dust afterwards. Every generation, every country strives to get justice done, but cannot, — merely for the fact that God Himself has no idea of it, and therefore it is naturally lacking in His creature, man. Our governing-forces are plainly the elements. No Divine finger stops the earthquake from engulfing a village full of harmless inhabitants, simply because of the injustice of such utter destruction! See now! — look at the eyes of Lotys reproaching me! You would think they were the eyes of an angel, gazing at a devil in the sweet hope of plucking him out of hell!”
“Such a hope would be vain in your case, Zouche,” said Lotys tranquilly; “You make your own hell, and you must live in it! Nevertheless, in some of the wild things you say, there is a grain of truth. If I were God, I should be the most miserable of all beings, to look upon all the misery I had myself created! I should be so sorry for the world, that I should put an end to all hope of immortality by my own death.”
She made this strange remark with a simplicity and wistfulness which were in striking contrast to the awful profundity of the suggestion, and all her auditors, including the half-tipsy Zouche, were silent.
“I should be so sorry!” she repeated; “For even as a mortal woman my pity for the suffering world almost breaks my heart; — but if I were God, I should have all the griefs of all the worlds I had made to answer for, — and such an agony would surely kill me. Oh, — the pain, the tears, the mistakes, the sins, the anguish of humanity! All these are frightful to me! I do not understand why such misery should exist! I think it must be that we have not enough love in the world; if we only loved each other faithfully, God might love us more!”
Her eyes were wet; she caught her breath hard, and smiled a little difficult smile. Something in her soul transfigured her face, and made it for the moment exquisitely lovely, and the men around her gazed at her in evidently reverential silence. Suddenly she stretched out both her hands:
“Good-night, children!”
One by one the would-be-fierce associates of the Revolutionary Committee bent low over those fair hands; and then quietly saluting Sergius Thord, as quietly left the room, like schoolboys retiring from a class where the lessons had been more or less badly done. Paul Zouche was not very steady on his feet, and two of his comrades assisted him to walk as he stumbled off, singing somewhat of a ribald rhyme in mezza-voce. Pasquin Leroy and his two friends were the last to go. Lotys looked at them all three meditatively.
“You will be faithful?” she said.
> “Unto death!” answered Leroy.
She came close up to him, placing one hand on his arm, and glanced meaningly towards Sergius Thord, who was standing at the threshold watching Zouche stumbling down the dark stairs.
“Sergius is a good man!” she said; “One of the mistaken geniuses of this world, — savage as a lion, yet simple as a child! Whoever, and whatever you are, be true to him!”
“He is dear to you?” said Leroy on a sudden impulse, catching her hand; “He is more to you than most men?”
She snatched away her hand, and her eyes lightened first with wrath, then with laughter.
“Dear to me!” she echoed,— “to Me? No one man on earth is dearer to me than another! All are alike in my estimation, — all the same barbaric, foolish babes and children — all to be loved and pitied alike! But Sergius Thord picked me out of the streets when I was no better than a stray and starving dog, — and like a dog I serve him — faithfully! Now go!”
She stretched out her hand in an attitude of command, and there was nothing for it but to obey. They therefore repeated their farewells, and in their turn, went out, one by one, down the tortuous staircase. Sholto, the hunchback, was below, and he let them out without a word, closing and barring the door carefully behind them. Once in the street and under the misty moonlight, Pasquin Leroy nodded a careless dismissal to his companions.
“You will return alone?” enquired Max Graub.
“Quite alone!” was the reply.
“May I not follow you at a distance?” asked Axel Regor.
Leroy smiled. “You forget! One of the rules we have just sworn to conform to, is— ‘No member shall track, follow or enquire into the movements of any other member.’ Go your ways! I will thank you both for your services to-morrow.”
He turned away rapidly and disappeared. His two friends remained gazing somewhat disconsolately after him.
“Shall we go?” at last said Max Graub.
Delphi Collected Works of Marie Corelli (Illustrated) (Delphi Series Eight Book 22) Page 534
