"'Well, I had been brought up to my father's trade; and if he had not left me heir to his debts as well as to his business, (which God forbid I should blame him for; for how could he have helped it, if even he had known he had been going to die?) I might have gained myself a pretty livelihood: but his creditors threatened to arrest me for the money, and so my uncle Perlet, too avaricious to pay it for me, and too proud to see his nephew confined in a jail, though he lived in a prison himself, took me to serve under him in the Bastile.
"'I did not like going there at all; but what could I do, monsieur? I thought it was better than starving; but by the time I had been there a couple of months, which was about the time I first came to bring you your portion of bread and water, I would almost sooner have died than have staid much longer where I was; for the frightful things I saw, and the groans, and moans, and shrieks I heard in that dismal place, would freeze your blood, and make your hair stand on end, monsieur, if I was to tell you them all.'
"I sighed in the affirmative to Jacques' exclamation; and he continued: 'Ah, monsieur, you have had your share of their devil's works, I dare say?'
"'It is past now, so let us drive away its remembrance,' I replied.
"'I wish I could, monsieur: but I shall dream of it many a night to come, I dare say.—My uncle,' continued he, 'had a room where he and I used to sit by ourselves in an evening: and as my head was continually running upon the poor unhappy wretches I attended in the day-time, I could not forbear questioning him about them; and many a time, when I heard the story of a poor helpless creature condemned to die by the rack, or poison, I could not help thinking of the fate of his persecutors at a future day, that all of us must see.
"'Sometimes I used to remonstrate with my uncle on the cruelty with which he often assisted in using the unhappy prisoners; but his answer always was, 'Jacques, I am a true lover of my king, and I'll never treat those kindly, depend upon it, that it is his pleasure to have otherwise dealt by.'—'But may not obedience,' I would answer, 'be carried so far as to make conscience troublesome?'
"'Impossible, child,' he once answered me, when I had thus spoken to him; 'the king is the representative of God on earth, chosen by himself; thus we can never be doing wrong, while we implicitly obey his commands.'—'Then,' returned I, 'how careful ought the king to be, for his own sake, that his conduct is kind, merciful, and forgiving, since, as you say, the consciences of all his subjects, if they have done amiss in compliance with his commands, are cleared from guilt; of course the weight of all their bad actions must lie upon his conscience instead of theirs, and he be punished accordingly hereafter.'
"'You are a foolish boy,' cried he, 'and don't understand these matters.'
"'I made him no answer; for truly, monsieur, I did not wish to know more than I already did of a conduct that seemed to me void of reason and humanity; I had only a mind to ask him whether he prayed to the king instead of le bon Dieu; but I durst not, for fear he should think I was laughing at him, and use me as hardly as he had done others for less offences.'
"I could not help smiling at Jacques's philosophy; he laughed too, and thus went on—
"'Well, monsieur, every day I began to long more and more to quit my situation: but it was a thing I almost despaired to be able to do; for I was well aware that my uncle would never give his consent to my leaving the Bastile for any other employment, for fear I should tell tales out of prison; so I knew the only method must be to run away to a distance from Paris; but then I had not much money, and I did not much like to make such an attempt without a companion.
"'Some how, monsieur, I had taken a liking to you above any of the prisoners I attended; and all I kept wishing for, was some means of setting you at liberty, that we might run away together; I knew, if I could contrive it, you could not dislike it, and there was something in your countenance that told me you would be kind to me afterwards.
"'Oh, monsieur! how often have I wished to sit and talk half an hour or an hour with you, and tell you how much I pitied you, and how I wished to serve you; but I durst not, for all the walls in that Bastile have eyes and ears, I believe; for nothing can be said or done but what is known by my uncle and the governor.—I often inquired of my uncle something about you, and I learnt, a little at a time, that you were, as most of the other prisoners are, a gentleman; and that you were only retained in prison because they were afraid to let you out, for fear you should expose the secrets of their tyranny.
"'And is it owing to the king that the poor gentleman suffers all this for nothing?' said I.
"'Partly,' my uncle answered, 'and partly to those who first represented him to sa majesté, as obnoxious to the state.'
"'Then the king has some good friends, who lighten the burden of his conscience by taking a little of it upon their own,' said I.
"'My uncle answered me with a look which determined me never to hazard a joke again, on what he deemed so sacred a subject.
"'About five weeks ago, my uncle told me, as he had given up the care of half his prisoners to me, I must fill every part of the office myself, and accordingly on the next morning must carry a dose of poison into the apartment of a marquis, who was condemned to die: I was afraid of disobeying my uncle; and I knew besides that if I did not do it, somebody else would, so that my refusal would be of no service to the poor wretch; and thus, at the time appointed, I attended the governor to the cell, just as I came with him into yours, monsieur, on the morning when he thought he was giving you your last dose: but I was too sly for him,—eh, monsieur?
"'When the poor gentleman had swallowed the draught, and the governor had left the apartment, my uncle locked the door upon the dying man, saying, 'nobody must go in any more till he was dead.'
"'What! must we leave him all alone at this terrible moment?' asked I.
"'Why, does he want any body to help him to die?'" returned my uncle.
"'Ah, pauvre diable! I wish it was over with him,' said I.
"'It won't be long, I'll answer for it,' he replied, and then commanded me to leave the door by which I was standing, and could not help trying to listen what was passing within.
"'In the evening, when all the prison doors were double locked for the night, he called me to follow him up stairs, and we went together into the poor marquis's apartment. Oh dear, monsieur, I shall never forget it. There lay the poor gentleman dead and cold, and all his features so dreadfully distorted, and his eyes and mouth wide open, that I should have run out of the room with fright if my uncle had not held me by the collar.
"'Now,' said my uncle, 'we must carry the corpse into the cimetière, and bury it.'
"'I was forced to obey, and we carried down the body to the spot he had named, where stood a coffin ready to receive it.
"'I suppose you think,' said he, 'I am going to bury this man? No! no! I know a better trick than that; I'll never bury a corpse whilst I can get well paid for letting it remain above ground.' He then told me, that a surgeon in La rue de Saint Etienne le grand always bought the bodies of him to dissect; and that as he had the privilege of passing the draw-bridge when he pleased, he had always carried them to him by night; 'but,' said he, 'I'll contrive for you to carry this one, and I'll bury the coffin in the mean time.'
"'Well, monsieur, the body was put into a sack; I pretended it was so heavy I could not carry it; my uncle knew better, and I was forced to set off according to his directions: he went with me to the draw-bridge, and having whispered the guards, they let me pass.
"'Do you know, monsieur, I'd wager my life, the governor and he went shares in selling the dead men; for nobody, I had often heard my uncle say, could go over the draw-bridge without the governor's knowing it, and giving leave.
"'Notwithstanding the weight of my burden, I ran all the way; for not being accustomed to be so near dead people, I thought every moment I could feel him stirring and groaning.
"'When I had got quit of my load, I began to consider whether I should go back or not; I felt in my pocket to see ho
w much money I was worth in case I took the chance of running away, when, pardi, monsieur! if I had not left my purse at home. I did not know what to do now; for having nothing to support myself with, I thought I could not go far without money, so might be heard of by my uncle, taken back to the Bastile, and perhaps roasted alive for what I had done, by the great fire in that room where all the irons are hanging about: I trembled at the very thought of it, and so ran back as fast as my legs could carry me.
"'When I returned back to my uncle, he gave me an écu de six francs out of his profits, as a reward for what I had done, saying, he would double it the next job, for he was determined I should not want for encouragement, and I should soon have another, for monsieur Montville had not much longer to live.
"'I was not a little surprised and disturbed at hearing this, monsieur, as you may suppose; and I was sure that if any thing could be done, it must be done directly. Well, I kept thinking, and thinking, and no way could I contrive to get you out; at last a plan came into my head, and I resolved I would try it whether it succeeded or not. I complained to my uncle that I had got a very bad tooth-ache, and told him that I had frequently been subject to it, and that my father had been used to give me some laudanum to cure it, and begged that he would too.
"'He gave me a small phial about half full, warning me to be very careful how I used it; I immediately ran with it to my own chamber, and having poured it into the phial that had held the poison given to the poor dead marquis, and which I had washed out for that purpose, I let fall the empty phial: it broke with the fall, just as I wished; I ran down to my uncle with the broken pieces in my hand, and telling him my misfortune, begged him to give me some more.
"'The old fox was taken in for once, monsieur, and he brought me about as much as before.
"'I suppose,' said I, as I took it from him, 'if I was to drink all this stuff, it would kill me?'
"'Twice as much would,' he replied: 'that would make you sleep for about two days.'
"'I found by this that my first quantity would have been enough for what I wanted with it, but however I thought it was no bad thing to have two doses by me, in case any accident happened to one of them; and so I put them both carefully by, and by the next night my tooth-ache was gone.
"'Well, monsieur, at last the day was fixed for you to die upon: I found means of coming to your window, as you must recollect, the night before; and when I told you not to refuse to drink any thing that was offered you, I said it because I was afraid you might by some means spill the potion that would be given to you, thinking it to be poison, as you could not know I had contrived to give you laudanum in its stead, and then might be obliged to take the poison indeed, as a second dose would have been brought you, that I should have had no opportunity of changing.
"'When I left the outside of your prison window, I went and got one of my phials half full of laudanum. Now the poison phials are always full; so I knew my false one must be so too, or it would discover the trick. I durst not put in any more laudanum for fear I should kill you, and if I filled it up with water, it would look so much paler than the poison; so at last, what do you think I did, monsieur?—why, I filled it up with treacle and water, and it looked quite black, just like what it should have been.
"'When morning came, I was called to attend the governor: my uncle gave me the phial of poison; and I, to deceive him, said in a low voice, 'to-night I shall earn deux écus.' He nodded significantly, and I followed the governor and his guards. At the turn from the last flight of stairs into the gallery, I stopped an instant, and snatching my phial from my bosom, and slipping the other into its place, I made a noise with my feet as if saving myself from falling; and then running a step or two after the governor, and rubbing my knee as if I had bruised it, 'better so than a broken leg,' I cried: the governor turned round and looked at me; still rubbing my knee, I drew up a face which made him smile at my supposed accident, and he walked on without suspicion.'"
The travellers at this moment arrived within sight of a small house, and Alphonsus interrupted the count's narrative, by proposing, that, if it proved a house of public accommodation, they should make it their abode for the night, as the twilight was already beginning to fall. To this proposal count Byroff agreed; and the habitation proving to be such as they wished it, they here put an end to their day's journey.
CHAPTER XIX
Wish'd morning's come! And now upon the plains
And distant mountains, where men feed their flocks,
The happy shepherds leave their homely huts,
And with their lusty pipes proclaim the new-born day.
The cheerful birds too, on the tops of trees,
Assemble all in choirs, and with their notes
Salute and welcome up the rising sun.
There's no condition sure so curs'd as mine!
-OTWAY
Refreshed by the salutary balm of sleep, our travellers awoke to one of the most glorious mornings that ever burst from the heavens; the sun was beginning his progress towards his meridian of splendor, without a single cloud to obscure his expanding rays; the pearly drops of dew were still hanging on the dripping leaves, and studding the blades of grass; every bush resounding with the grateful notes of its feathered inhabitants, hailing the return of morn; and every flower exhaling sweets in gratitude to the rising presence of their fostering orb.
Again blessed with her Alphonsus, Lauretta's feelings harmonised in the universal gladness of nature: Alphonsus strove to be cheerful, but his efforts were ineffectual; Lauretta observed his dejectedness, and without remarking upon it, endeavoured to divert it. She was sometimes successful: again Alphonsus sunk into thought; she varied her attentions; he returned a smile of gratitude for her endeavours to please, and she was happy.
Having made a delicious repast of new milk and fruits, they again proceeded on their journey, and after a short conversation on various topics, count Byroff thus pursued his narrative—
"'Well, monsieur,' continued Jacques Perlet, 'all day long I was wishing, I hardly knew why, to come and take a peep at you; however I should not have been allowed if I had asked it, and at all events I thought it was much more prudent not. At night my uncle called me to go up with him about the same time he had done before, and, oh dear, how frightened I was all the way up stairs!—for it had just come into my head you might not be asleep yet; and then, when I found you was asleep, I was as much afraid my uncle's rough handling, or some unlucky blow in lifting you, might awake you.
"'However, Dieu merci, we got you down stairs, and into the cimetière quite safe: I trembled a little when my uncle said he thought you was very warm; but I soon recovered again when he added, that he thought nothing of that, for that he had carried away many a one before they were half cold.
"'In a few minutes I got you put into the sack, taking care to lay you with your head towards the mouth, and away I went, leaving my uncle to bury the coffin, and wait my return.
"'Instead of going to the surgeon's, I made the best of my way for la porte de Saint Jean; and being got out of the city, I looked for the first hedge I could find, and setting down my load on the side farthest from the road, I pulled you out of the sack, terrified to death for fear I should have smothered you; and pleased enough I was, when I put my hand to your side, and felt your heart heave. I directly set about putting on you this gown and petticoat, and hat, and apron, and cloak, that I had taken from the old woman in the Bastile that is kept to make my uncle's and the governor's beds. I did not rob her of them, monsieur, for I put a demi-louis into her box when I took them out; and the manner I contrived to bring them away with me, was by buttoning them in between my coat and waistcoat, and telling my uncle it was a lump of cloth I had put there to keep the weight of my load from hurting my shoulder.
"'When I had dressed you, I set about disguising myself, and having turned all my clothes inside outwards, I dyed my hands and face with some stuff I had brought in my pocket for that purpose; I then threw the clothes I had
taken off you, together with the sack, over the opposite hedge, into a deep ditch, and then sat me down by your side, anxiously waiting till some cart might come past that would carry us a little farther from our old abode.
"'About day-break I heard the wheels of some carriage coming from the city; I peeped over the hedge, and saw a wagon full of luggage, in the front of which sat one man, on a bench large enough to hold three or four; I called to him, asking, 'Whither he was going?'—'To Desmartin,' he answered. Then, pretending that I was hardly able to express myself in French, I told him that I had a sick wife almost at the point of death lying behind the hedge, and that I would give him a trifle to carry us some way on our journey, which lay his road; after a short dispute about what I was to pay him, he consented to carry us, and I lifted you into the wagon and placed you upon the seat, carefully holding you, lest you should fall out.
"'We stopped several times during the day; some pitied my poor wife, some laughed at me for a black fourbe, and some were charitable enough to give me a petit sous, and bid me take care of la pauvre ame; and I directly bought the wine and bread in their presence, which I gave you under the hedge, for which they all called me a bon garçon, and one old woman doubled her charity.
"'I had not taken you out of the wagon all day, for fear, if I did, the people should crowd round you out of curiosity, and discover the imposition: evening was coming on, and you did not wake; we were within a lieue of Desmartin, and I did not know what to do; at last I remembered this little cabaret, which stands a few hundred paces from the high road, for I had once in my life travelled as far as Desmartin; and telling the wagoner I meant to pass the night there, as inns in towns were too expensive for me, I desired, when we came in sight of it, to get out. He accordingly stopped, and having taken you out, and paid him his promised fare, we wished one another bon soir, and on he drove.
The Complete Northanger Horrid Novel Collection (9 Books of Gothic Romance and Horror) Page 271
