A Girl of the Commune

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER X.

  Another month and a great change had come over Paris. The spirit ofempty gasconnade had been succeeded by one more befitting the time andcircumstances. As the hopes of assistance from without lessened, thespirit of resistance grew stronger and firmer. There was no longer anytalk of sweeping the Prussians out of France, no longer was it anarticle of faith that Paris would be saved; but the thought of surrenderwas farther than ever from men's minds. Paris would resist to the last.She would give time to France to reorganize herself, and would set suchan example of devotion and patience under suffering, that when at lastfamine forced her to surrender, the world should at least say that Parishad proved herself worthy of her reputation.

  The defences had been strengthened to an enormous extent; the outlyingforts which, when the siege began, could have been carried without muchdifficulty by a resolute attack, had now been rendered practicallyimpregnable, their approaches had been thickly mined, obstacles of allsorts erected round them, and the casements, barracks, and magazinesprotected by coverings of trunks of trees and so great a depth of earthas to be able to defy the heaviest shell.

  The walls of the _enciente_ had been repaired and greatly strengthened,and covered by bastions and other works, so that even were one of theforts taken the work of the enemy would but be begun. The theatres hadbeen closed from the first. The cafe's chantants, and the open-airconcerts had long since followed the example, partly because of theincreasing seriousness of the temper of the people, partly because ofthe failure of the gas. The cafe's themselves were no longer crowdeduntil midnight; the dim lights of the lamps that had taken the place ofgas gave a sombre air to these establishments, and by eight o'clock inthe evening most of them put up their shutters.

  The National Guard were being reorganized. From each battalion, three orfour hundred of the most able-bodied, for the most part unmarried, men,had by order of the Government, been selected and formed into companiesfor service in the field, and these promised in a short time to developinto troops equal in physique and spirit to the mobiles, and vastlysuperior to the line.

  Ladies no longer appeared in the streets in rich dresses. It was feltthat these were out of place now, and all adornments had been rigidlygiven up, and the women of the better class set the example of dressingin the simplest of costumes and the quietest of colors. Great numbershad devoted themselves to the services of the hospitals and ambulances,and spent the whole of their time in ministering to the sick andwounded.

  As yet there was little real suffering in Paris, and the privations andinconveniences were borne uncomplainingly, and even cheerfully. Beef hadbecome almost unobtainable, but it was agreed that horse-flesh was not abad substitute; cats and dogs were fast disappearing from the streets,and their flesh, prepared in a variety of ways, took the place on thecards of the restaurants of hares and game, and the change was hardlynoticed.

  Cuthbert was working hard. The school was now definitely closed, butthose who liked to do so were free to work there when they chose. M.Goude had taken advantage of the cessation of lessons to paint on hisown account, and was engaged upon a large canvas which he announced wasintended for the Salon.

  "All this," he said, "has wiped away old quarrels. If I were fit for itI would do as so many of the artists of Paris have done--take my placein the ranks--but I am past the age for marching and sleeping inditches; but I can entertain no further anger against men who arefighting for France. It is the duty of those who cannot fight to paint.When the Salon opens we must show the world that, in spite of thesebarbarians, France still holds her head high, and is at the head ofcivilization."

  Cuthbert, however, was not among the number of those who used thepainting-room. He had chosen his lodging so as to have a north light,and kept his door closed from early morning until the light faded. Anardor for work had seized him, and it was with reluctance that he putaside his brush when the day's work was over. He was engaged upon twopictures, and worked upon them alternately as the mood seized him. Whenhe had done for the day the canvas was always covered up and the easelsplaced behind a screen in the corner of the room and the doors opened tohis friends.

  Once a week for two days, when the corps marched out to take its turn atoutpost work, the work was laid by. Between the regular troops on eitherside there was but an occasional exchange of shots, except when one orthe other side attempted to advance its position, but this was seldom,for every post of advantage and every village was now so stronglyfortified as to defy capture except by a large force.

  The Germans had recognized already that Paris was not to be taken byforce, at the cost except of a tremendous expenditure of life,therefore, they were content to close every avenue of escape and toleave it to famine to do the work for them. The French on their sidefelt that minor operations to enlarge their boundary somewhat, were buta vain effort, and reserved themselves for a great attempt to breakthrough the line. The Franc-tireurs, however, were ever active. Theykept up an increasing fusilade upon the Prussian outposts night and day,keeping them in a state of perpetual irritation and watchfulness.

  Except when on this service, Cuthbert saw but little of ArnoldDampierre. The latter had entirely given up painting and was seldom athis lodgings; nor when at home did he join in the smoking-parties at oneor other of the students rooms. Other luxuries had given out, buttobacco was still fairly cheap and its solace made up for manyprivations. Nor was Arnold's absence regretted. He had never beenpopular, and on the few occasions when he appeared among them, he was somoody and taciturn that his absence was felt as a relief. When on dutywith the corps, however, he was always in good spirits. He seemed todelight in action and was ever ready to volunteer for any dangerouswork, such as crawling up close to the German outposts to ascertaintheir precise positions. He had so many narrow escapes that his comradesdeclared that he held a charmed life against Prussian bullets.

  "The American would be a pleasant fellow if we were always under arms,"Pierre Leroux said one evening; "he is not the same man directly we getoutside the walls--he is cheerful, good-tempered, and full ofardor--here he is a bear. He will get into trouble if he does not mind.I was this afternoon opposite the Hotel de Ville. There were many of theunwashed denouncing the Government and its ways to all who would listento them. Dampierre was standing in one of the groups where a man, whom Iknew to be Minette's father, for he came to the studio one day to saythat she was unwell and could not come, was addressing them. He waspouring out threats against the bourgeois, against the Government,against every one in fact. He said that at present the true patriots,the working-men of Paris, were disarmed, but even had they arms, theywould not imperil the defence of Paris by civil war; but that as soon asthe accursed Germans had turned their backs, their day would come, andthe true principles of the Republic, the principles of '79, would thenbe triumphant, and France would be free of the incubus of the selfishcapitalists who ground down the people. I could see that Dampierrethoroughly sympathized with the fellow, and I believe that if there istrouble he is capable of putting on a red cap and marching with the scumof Belleville.

  "It is not Minette's father, but Minette, who has converted him. I sawher marching at the head of one of the Belleville battalions the otherday, dressed as a cantiniere, and carrying herself with the air of ayoung Amazon."

  "That girl is capable of anything," Cuthbert said; "I have always saidthat she was a small sleeping volcano, and if there are barricades I canfancy her standing on the top of one of them and waving a red flag,however thickly the bullets might be whistling around. I went as far asI could in the way of warning Dampierre in the early days, but I soonsaw that if we were to continue on terms of amity I must drop it. It isan infatuation and a most unfortunate one, but it must run its course.Dampierre is a gentleman, and although at present he may be carried awayby the enthusiasm of these people, I fancy that if they should happen,which, God forbid, to get the upper hand, he would soon be shocked whenthey proceeded to carry their theories into execution. As to Minette, ifhe is ever m
ad enough to marry her, the best thing would be to do so assoon as Paris is open and to take her straight away to New Orleans.

  "She is a born actress, and is as clever as she is pretty, and I have nodoubt she would have the good sense to play the part of a grande dameadmirably, and would soon become a leader of French society there; but Ishould be sorry to predict how long it would last and what would comeafter it, and I believe in my heart that the best thing that couldhappen for him would be to be knocked over by a Prussian bullet. Butafter all the thing may never come off. A girl like Minette must havelovers in her own class. I have no doubt she is fond of Dampierre atpresent, but no one can say how long it will last. I can imagine thatshe is proud of her conquest. He is good-looking, a gentleman, and rich.No doubt she is envied in her quarter, and besides it must be agratification to her to have induced or fascinated him into casting inhis lot with the reds, but all that will pall in time. If I were in hisplace I should never feel sure of her until I had placed the ring on herfinger."

  "That is the time when I should begin not to feel sure of her," Renelaughed, "my anxieties would begin then. She is as changeable as anApril sky. She could love passionately for a time, but for how long Ishould be sorry to guess. You see her in the studio, she is delightedwith every fresh dress and fresh pose. Never was there so good a modelfor a few days, then she gets tired of it, and wants something fresh.She is like a child with a new doll; for a bit she will be wild over it;she cannot sleep without it, she takes it with her everywhere, sheadores it, but will it soon be thrown by, and perhaps she will bebattering its head with a stick. When Minette first came to the studio Iwas mad about her, now I would as soon have a tiger-cat for a mistress."

  "That is too severe, Rene," a young man who had joined the studio butthree months before, expostulated. "She seemed to me a charming youngwoman. I cannot understand what you and Cuthbert are talking of her inthis way for."

  Rene laughed.

  "Ah, you haven't got over the first stage yet, and many of the otherswill agree with you. We all like her, you know, we are all glad to haveher with us; she is like a glass of champagne, and we cannot sayanything against her in that quality. It is only when one comes to talkabout her as a wife that one is frightened."

  "I believe all this is on account of her standing last month as Judithabout to kill Holofernes."

  "Perhaps you are right, Clement. I admit that was a revelation to me. Iused to laugh at Cuthbert, who declared she frightened him, but I feltthen he was right. Good heavens, what a Judith she was; it was enough tomake one shiver to see the look of hate, of triumph and of vengeance inher face. One knew that one blow would do it; that his head would besevered by that heavy knife she held as surely as a Maitre d'Armes wouldcut a dead sheep in two."

  "It was only a piece of acting, Rene. You might as well say that atragedienne would be capable of carrying out a tragedy in her ownfamily."

  "Perhaps so, Clement, but then you see it would never occur to me tomarry a tragedienne. I should imagine that she would ask for the salt inthe same tone that she would demand poison. I grant it was acting, butthere was a terrific truth about it that showed that she was at leastable to picture the position and feel it. I tried to sketch her, but Igave it up as hopeless. It was beyond me altogether. I observed that allthe others failed, too, except Cuthbert here. He dashed it off in hisnote-book, and if he ever paints it, I would not have it hung up in mybedroom for a thousand francs, for I should never dare to go to sleepwith it looking at me. But, indeed, of late, Minette has changed a gooddeal; the little fool is carried away by all this talk up at Belleville,and takes it quite seriously. You remember she has refused our lastthree invitations, and she said quite superbly when I asked her the lasttime, 'This is no time for feasting and enjoyment, M. Rene, when Parisis besieged and thousands are starving.'"

  "Then I don't know where they are," Pierre said. "Belleville was neverso well off as it is to-day; every man gets a franc and a half a day forwearing a kepi and going for a few hours once a week on duty on thewall. His wife gets something, and they have so much for each child.They have no work to do, and I am told that, although six francs a dayare offered by the Government for laborers, they cannot get enough men.The fellows enjoy smoking, lounging, talking, and doing nothing too muchto be tempted by any offer. There may be starvation before we have done;but at any rate there is none at present, for every man, woman, andchild draws their ration of meat, not a large one, but enough to get onwith; beside bread is not very dear, and there is no lack of vegetables,brought in every day from beyond the forts."

  "I said as much to Minette, Pierre, but she only muttered thatworking-men would not always exist on charity, and the time would comewhen there would be plenty for all. We shall have trouble with thembefore we have done I expect, what do you think, Henri?"

  The lieutenant took his pipe out of his mouth and nodded.

  "There will be trouble," he said. "I have been up to Belleville severaltimes. This spell of idleness is doing much harm. As soon as we havedone with the Prussians we shall have the reds on our hands."

  "We are seven to one against them," Rene said, contemptuously. "Thevoting the other day showed that."

  "Ah, but the seventh know what they want. They want to be masters. Theywant money enough to keep them without work. They want to set thestreets flowing with blood. The other six only want to be left alone.They have no idea of risking their lives, and you will see, when itbegins, they will hold the butts of their muskets up; they will say,'Don't let us irritate these demons,' and each man will hope that, evenif others are robbed, he will somehow escape.

  "You cannot rely on the National Guard, it is no use to count them in,and the mobiles only want to be off to their villages. If the troops hada leader they might fight, but who is to lead them? Trochu is animbecile, the real fighting army is in the prisons of Germany, and whenit is released will not care to embark in another war. I think thingslook bad."

  "What should we do?" Pierre asked.

  "We should paint," Henri said, "that is to say we should paint if thingsgo as I think they will, and the National Guard refuse to fight. If themen who have something to lose won't lift an arm to defend it, whyshould we who have nothing at stake?"

  "You might paint, but who is going to buy your pictures, Henri?"Cuthbert said, quietly. "As soon as the reds get the upper hand we shallhave the guillotine at work, and the first heads to fall will be thoseof your best customers. You don't suppose the ruffians of Belleville aregoing to become patrons of art. For my part I would rather fight againstthe savages than level my rifle against the honest German lads who areled here against us. I should think no more of shooting one of theseroughs than of killing a tiger--indeed, I regard the tiger as the morehonest beast of the two. Still, if you Frenchmen like to be ruled overby King Mob, it is no business of mine. Thank God, such a thing isnever likely to happen in England--at any rate in my time. In the firstplace, we can trust our troops, and in the second, we could trustourselves. Were there not a soldier in the land, such a thing will neverhappen. Our workmen have sense enough to know that a mob-rule would beruin to them as well as to the rich, and, were it needed, in twenty-fourhours half a million men could be sworn in as constables, and thesewould sweep the rabble into the Thames."

  "Your rabble would be unarmed; ours have at present all got muskets."

  "More fools they who gave them to them, but what can one expect fromsuch a Government. There is not among them a single practical man exceptGambetta, and he is away at Tours. It is a Government of lawyers andspouters; of words they give us plenty, of government nothing. I wouldrather, infinitely rather, that the women at the Halles should chose adozen of the most capable women among them and establish them as theGovernment. I will guarantee you would see a change for the betterbefore twenty-four hours were over. I doubt if you could see a changefor the worse. Jules Fauvre with his ridiculous phrase, not one foot ofour territory, not one stone of our fortresses, is no better than amountebank, and the others
are as bad. Would that either Ducrot or Vinoyhad the firmness and half the talent of a Napoleon. They would march thetroops in, sweep away this gathering of imbeciles, establish martiallaw, disarm Belleville and Montmartre, shoot Floureus, Pyat, Blanqui,and a hundred of the most noxious of these vermin; forbid allassemblages, turn the National Guards into soldiers, and after renderingParis impotent for mischief turn their attention to the Germans. The onething that can save Paris to my mind is a military dictator, but I seeno sign of such a man being forthcoming."

  "Bravo! bravo!" several of the students shouted, "what a pity it is thatyou are an Englishman, Cuthbert. You would be just the man for usotherwise."

  "At any rate, I should do something and not let everything drift,"Cuthbert retorted, joining in the laugh at his own unaccustomedvehemence; "but there, we have broken our agreement, now let us revertto art;" but the effort was vain, the talk soon drifted back again tothe siege, and many were the conjectures as to what Trochu's famous plancould be and which point offered the most hopeful chance for the army topierce the German cordon.

  Mary Brander had a fortnight before enrolling herself among the nursesat the American ambulance, which was doing admirable work, and wasadmitted by the French themselves to be a model which could be followedwith great advantage in their own hospitals. Here everything was neat,clean, and well arranged. The wounded were lodged in tents which werewell ventilated and yet warm. The surgeons and some of the nurses werealso under canvas, while others, among whom was Mary Brander, went backto their homes when their turn of duty was over. They had, like theladies who worked in the French hospitals, adopted a sort of uniform andwore the white badge with the red cross on their arms. With this theycould go unquestioned, and free from impertinent remarks through thethickest crowds, everyone making way for them with respectful civility.

  "It is terrible," she said to Cuthbert, upon his calling one eveningwhen she was off duty, "and yet I do not feel it so trying as listeningto the silly talk and seeing the follies of the people in the streets.The poor fellows bear their sufferings so patiently, they are sograteful for every little thing done for them, that one cannot but feelhow much there is likable among the French in spite of their follies. Italk to them a good deal and it is almost always about their homes andtheir families, especially their mothers. Sometimes it is theirsweethearts or their sisters. With mobiles and linesmen it is just thesame. Sometimes I write letters for them--such simple, touching lettersas they are, it is difficult not to cry as they dictate, what are, inmany cases, last farewells. They always want those at home to know thatthey have died doing their duty, but beyond that they don't say much ofthemselves. It is of those to whom they are writing that they think.They tell them to cheer up. They bid younger brothers take their place.Besides the letters which will be photographed and sent off by pigeonpost, I have a pile of little packets to be despatched when Paris isopen--locks of hair, photographs, Bibles, and keepsakes of all kinds."

  "I think at any rate, Mary, you have at present discovered one branch atleast of woman's mission upon which we cannot quarrel. We grant not onlyyour equality but your superiority to us as nurses."

  Mary Brander smiled faintly, but ignored the opening for argument.

  "Some of them are dreadfully wounded," she went on, her thoughtsreverting to the hospital. "It is terrible to think that when the greatbattle everyone seems looking forward to takes place, there may bethousands of wounded to be cared for. When do you think it will be?"

  "Soon; of course no one can say when, but I don't see anything to gainfrom waiting longer. The mobiles are as good as they are likely to bemade. One can't call the line disciplined, according to the Englishideas of discipline, but they are better than they were, and at any rateall are anxious for something to be done."

  "Do you think they will get through?"

  He shook his head.

  "If they could fall suddenly upon the Germans they might do so, but itis no easy matter to move large bodies of men quickly, and to besuccessful they ought to be able to hurl themselves against the Germansbefore they have time to concentrate. I have no doubt whichever side weissue out on, we shall get on fairly enough as long as we have theassistance of the guns of the forts; but beyond that I don't think weshall get. The Germans must by this time know the country vastly betterthan we do. They are immensely better trained in making extensivemovements. They have excellent generals and good officers. I fancy itwill be the same thing that it has been before. We shall make anadvance, we shall push the enemy back for a bit, we shall occupypositions, and the next day the Germans will retake them. We have nomethod and no commissariat. Even now bodies of troops are outside thewalls frequently four-and-twenty hours without food. In the confusionconsequent on a battle matters will be ten times worse. In the morningthe troops will be half-starved and half-frozen, and there will be verylittle fight left in them."

  "What would you do if you were commander-in-chief, Cuthbert?"

  "I am altogether unfit to make a plan, and still more unfit to carry itout," he said, "but my idea would certainly be to attack somewhere withhalf my force, to force the enemy back, and to hold positions at the endof the day, so that the Germans would concentrate to attack in themorning. At night I would withdraw the greater portion of them, marchthem straight across Paris; the other half of the army would attackthere at daybreak, and would be reinforced soon after the fighting beganby those who had fought the day before. I think in that way they oughtto be able to cut their way out, but what they would do when they onceget out is more than I can tell you. They have no cavalry to speak of,while the Germans have a splendid cavalry force who would harass themcontinually. The infantry would pursue and would march infinitely betterthan we should do. We should scatter to get food, whole regiments wouldbreak up and become masses of fugitives, and finally we should besurrounded, either cut to pieces or forced to surrender. Of two things,I am not sure that it would not be best for us to be handsomely thrashedon the first day of our sortie."

  "You take a very gloomy view of things," she said, almost angrily.

  "Why, I should have thought you would be pleased. I am prophesyingsuccess for your friends, the Germans."

  "I don't know why you should always insist that they are my friends. Iwas of opinion that they were right at first, and am so still, but Ithink they now are behaving hardly and cruelly; at least I thinkBismarck is. It was heartless for him to insist, as a condition of thearmistice, that Paris should not be re-victualled while it lasted. Ofcourse they could not agree to that, though they would have agreed toanything like fair conditions. Everyone really wanted peace, and if theGermans hadn't insisted on those terms, peace would have been made. Sothings have changed altogether, and it is clear that not the Germans,but their leaders, want to injure and humiliate France to the utmost.They were not content with their pound of flesh, but they want todestroy France altogether. I despised these people at first, but I don'tdespise them now. At least they are wonderfully patient, and though theyknow what they will have to suffer when everything is eaten up, no onehas said a word in favor of surrender, since Bismarck showed howdetermined he was to humiliate them."

  "I think I shall win my bet after all, Mary."

  "I am not so sure as I was that you won't. I didn't think I could everhave eaten horse-flesh, but it is really not so bad. Monsieur Michaudtold us, yesterday, that he dined out with some friends and had had bothcat and rat. Of course they were disguised with sauces, but the peoplemade no secret of what they were, and he said they were really verynice. I don't think I could try them, but I don't feel as certain as Idid; anyhow, we haven't begun to touch our stores, and there is no talkof confiscating everything yet."