■^ll.llW^'::l^jl!W>JMl^w)^Mii nm |iii . i|iiin , «i i» |i>ni»>wi n i« m i i ») ii jm iy j UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES ROSINE U'N^lSfl^c^ Wncsai&QolB J)ay 4Son Ub P. 54 ROSLXE By J. G. WHYTE-MELVILLE AUTUOR OF '• CERISE,'" " KATERFELTO,'" ETC., ETC., ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY MIIIIA2I KERNS ' •*. • ' "• >' ;" '*» ."• ^ \ \ ,' LONDON CHAPMAN AND HALL, 103, nCCADILLY 1877 \_All rights reseri'i'J] • •• • C C • :*.; 4 1, ^ • • * • • • rO r rn 4 'o%Oi^ ILLUSTEATIONS. 20^.414 PAOR '•You MAY PASS OX." .... Frojitispiece. " pleeee," she whispered, "i did b.xlf peomise " . .39 moxtarbas executed a pkofound axd deferential bow . 108 "See! there she is at last. Long lrt: the "NYol- verint: ! " 129 '• It is A QUESTION op BLOODSHED, of SACRILEGE ! " . .181 The last night at Versailles . . . . . 230 " We w.:Vnt a girl avith a broom to sweep away all this litter ! " 248 " You have been a true akd faithful servant to me " . 205 ROSINE : A STORY OF THE EED REVOLUTION. CHAPTER I. THE WOLF AT THE DOOR. In tlie forest of Rambouillet, aud the liamlets ou its out- skirts, bKnding snow was falling thick and fast. Already the storm had swept it into waving drifts of three and four feet deep, that choked the narrow lanes and j)asses of this secluded district, and effectually stopped communication between its neighbouring villages. Provisions ran short ; firewood grew scarce, for even where it could be had for cutting, the labour of drawing it through the snow was irksome and severe ; wolves, driven by stress of himger from their haimts in the forest, howled round the homesteads at night, and left long, winding tracks in the snow, where they had quested about the outbuildings, and snuffed auda- ciously at the cottage doors. Men's faces grew gaunt and careworn, women lost their beauty, and little children, white with hunger, cried aloud for bread. During the reign of Louis Seize, a severe winter in France meant death to many, privation, discontent, and danger to all. Wliat matter ? The half-starved, half-clad peasant crouched at his tireless hearth, brooding on thoughts that grew ere long to hideous phantoms, and yet more ghastly realities; but the B 2 EOSINE. noble wlio ground lilni down made good cheer in liis lordly castle, thouglitless and thankless, accepting as matters of course the rare old wine and furred mantle that warmed him within and without. Witness Count Arnold de Montarbas, as he slings home from shooting, through the snow, with easy gesture and jaunty step, the bloom of a handsome woman on his cheek, the glance of a bad one in his mirthful, meaning eyes. Fiye-and-twenty years old, with a patent of nobility that dates from the Crusades, conferring a right to intrude in his sovereign's bedroom and present the shivering King of France with a clean shirt, it is natural that he should be overwhelmed with debt, a bad landlord, an unlucky gamester, a faithless lover, a dishonest politician, and an micertain friend. He has not much to boast of ; yet does he pride himself with some reason on the good looks, good digestion, good spirits, and good manners that, in a world like his, give him the reputation of a good heart. "Dogs' weather!" he mutters with a laugh and a curse, while he wrings a snow-flake from his long eyelashes: "not that I would turn a dog out in such a storm as this! Holy Virgin ! what a time the wolves are having ! Here's another track, and yet another. Ah, rogues ! and my gun is not loaded with ball ! To-morrow, my friends, I will pay my respects to you ; and then for Paris, pleasant, wicked Paris ; I wish I was there to-day. When I am in one place I always do wish I was in another ! It is my character. What then ? There are men and men, as there are women and women. I wish I was at home now. Courage, my little Arnold, a quarter of a league more will see thee housed in safety by a blazing fire in the blue saloon. Ah ! here it comes again ! " He was forced to turn his back and crouch before the blast THE "WOLF AT THE DOOR. .3 that wrapped him in a whirl of snow, ere it passed moaning on into the forest. So doing he caught sight of a female fiofure on his track, strno'o-lino' throns^h a drift that buried her to the waist. He had a ready wit for such emergencies. While he bounded to her assistance with long elastic leaps, he noticed a sweet face, rosy red with exercise, a pair of dark eyes sparkling with excitement, slim feet, straight ankles, and under a scarlet cloak, flapping riotously in the gale, the shapely supple figure that belongs to a well-built o-irl of nineteen. " Pardon, mademoiselle ! Peimit me to oifer my assist- ance ; there — take my hand in yours ; don't be afraid of hurting me, I can bear a good deal of squeezing without crj^ing out. Excuse me if I embrace you too tightly : from such a situation one is only extricated by main force. Now that you stand again on solid ground, I venture to present myself — the Count Montarbas, at your service. I live within ten minutes' walk : if mademoiselle has far to go, need I say that my house and its master are wholly at her disposal ? " They were standing together on a firm wind-swept space beneath a tree. ^Vh.ile he stamped and shook the snow from his boots and shooting- dress, she had leisure to examine her new acquaintance furtively, from under her eyelashes, observing, without looking, as only a woman can. Yes, he was handsome, there could be no question. Slight, graceful, well-proportioned, with an air of confident, careless good- nature that possessed a certain charm. More experienced perceptions would have read profligate in every line of that delicate high-bred face, but she only saw a refined beauty, too feminine perhaps for her taste, and the polish of a society she never hoped and scarcely wished to enter. Altogether she retained her presence of mind very creditably for a " girl of the people," just pulled out of the snow by a peer of France ! n 2 4 . ROSINE. "I thank j'-ou, monsieur," slie said, drawing herself up, keeping him, as it were, at arm's length. "I, too, have very little farther to go, and I would not, for all the world, that you should walk a step out of your way on my account. Again I thank you. Monsieur le Comte, a thousand times, and — and — I wish you good evening, monsieur ; they will be anxious about me at home." " You are in a hurry, mademoiselle," he answered lightl}^ " so am I ; we will walk fast, but we will walk together. I cannot suffer you to be alone with all these wolves. Look at their tracks. Are you not afraid, or have you, with the face of a Hebe, the heart of a grenadier ?" She did not know what a Hebe meant, but his gaiety was catching, and she replied with a laugh, checked even as it rose : " There are wolves of many kinds, monsieur, in these forests. Some go about on two legs and in sheeps' clothing — these, I am told, are the hungriest and most dangerous." " Meaning me ! " he exclaimed. " Ah, mademoiselle ! what a good chance for the wolf to wear fleecy hosiery in such cold as this ! But see ! he takes off his sheepskin to shelter you. Have you not a kind word for him now ? " While he spoke, he stripped off a loose upper jacket lined with fur, and wraj^jDed it round her shoulders, as another blast drove its snow-cloud over their heads. She coidd not but be grateful for the attention ; nor, indeed, could she fail to remark the neat, well- chosen dress and symmetrical figure that he thus exposed to the storm. "It is too much, monsieur," she murmured; "too much kindness, too much honour. Do you know who I am ? " "Red Eiding-hood, I believe," he replied. "Will you not take me to the cottage and present me to the grand- jnother ? Even if I am a wolf, as you seem to think, I couldn't eat a grandmother ! " . THE WOLF AT THE DOOR. She lauglied out no^v, and tlie laugh, witli her dimples and white teeth, was pleasant to see as well as hear. "You shouldn't eat mine," she answered. "But we are not afraid of wolves in our little cottage. We have a sheep-dog that takes them by the throat." " And his name ? Tell me his name, that I may call him by it when I throw him a cake to divert his atten- tion. It is not always safe to take me by the throat ; I might bite, and do the sheep-dog more harm than you would like." She had coloured a moment ago. Now she turned pale. "We have no sheep-dog. I was only joking. My grandmother is old, we do not receive visitors, and — and — excuse me, monsieur ; I ought to have been home an hour ago." "Your grandmother is old," he repeated; "j^ou do not receive visitors. It is impossible ! It is unheard of ! Who cuts your firewood? Who draws your water? Who digs your garden ? How do you live ? Why don't you die of hunger?" " Monsieur, that is our affair." " And mine, mademoiselle. I believe I am jour land- lord — I have a right to know." He was getting interested in this lovely girl ; wonder- ing how ho had never chanced to see her before ; deciding that she could not but be a tenant of his own, and re- solving to make her better acquaintance without loss of time. Though his words seemed to express a sense of authority, there was yet a deference in his tone extremely agreeable to a woman who felt she was his inferior in rank and station. She had blushed more than once during their interview ; she grew crimson now, Avhile she an- swered — 6 EOSINE. " A neighbour looks iu to help us sometimes. We are not friendless, monsieur, nor quite unprotected. lie comes to see my grandmother uhnost every day." " Your grandmother ! Not yon ! Then it is really a sheep-dog after all ! " " A sheep-dog six feet high, monsieur ; and so strong that he carries an assload of firewood like a bundle of faggots. Strong ! why, they say Pierre is the strongest man in the province. And yet he is so kind-hearted he would not harm a mouse. That's our sheep-dog, monsieur ; the only one we have." "I know him," said the Count; "I shall know him better before I've done with him. You mean Pierre Legros." " I mean Pierre Legros. What do you know of him, monsieur ? No evil, I am sure." "If he interests you, that is enough. I shall hope to improve my acquaintance. And for yourself, mademoiselle — you will not refuse to see me again ? You will not forget me in a daj" — a week? I should be sorry to melt out of your memory as the snow melts in a south wind. I have told you my name. Promise to remember it." He had lowered his tone ; he was walking very close, and whispering in her ear. She felt a little nervous, but flattered also, and pleased. With a woman's tact, how- ever, she chose to accept his earnestness in jest. " There are more wolves than counts in the forest of Pambouillet," said she. " I do not think I ever spoke to a lord in my life before, so it is possible the recollection may last till the weather changes, at least. No, monsieur ; not a step farther. Take back your cloak. Our paths divide here, and I wish you good night." " Good night," he repeated, making, however, no demon- stration of leaving her side ; " but wiU you not tell me THE WOLF AT THE DOOR. 7 your name before we part? "WTiat am I to call you in my thoughts — in my dreams ? " " Rosine," she answered, in a soft, low voice. " That is enoug-h, is it not ? " " Hosine ! What a pretty name ! How appropriate ! I^ow, Rosine, listen to me " What the Count was about to observe, and whether Rosine would have listened or not, is a matter of uncer- tainty ; for while he was removing his upper jacket from her pretty shoulders, a pale, thin, middle-aged man, close shaven, and in a threadbare cassock, came up from behind, and gravely saluted each of them by name. "Good evening, Count Arnold de Montarbas. Good evening. Mademoiselle Rosine." The girl dropped a little nervous curtsey. Her com- panion imcovered and bowed low. Monsieur le Cure — for it was their parish priest — looked sternly from one to the other. Rosine's eyes drooped beneath his glance ; but the Count met it steadily and without the slightest embarrassment. " Have the kindness to see this young lady safe home," said he. " I was fortunate enough to extricate her, a few yards back, from a snow-di'ift, and should have accom- panied her to her own door, but for this happy meeting. I cannot do better than entrust her to Monsieur le Cure, and take my leave." The priest could have nothing to object, and Montarbas witli a graceful farewell strode gaily off, turning for a last glance at Rosine ere a group of snow-coated trees hid him from her sight. Though walking demurely, with down- cast eyes, beside her pastor, no doubt she marked the gesture, and understood perfectly what it meant. "Rosine," asked her companion, in a stern, sad voice, "have you ever seen tlie Count before?" 8 EOSINE. "TsTever," said Hosinc, "or I am sure I should not haye forgotten him. But why ? " The Cure meditated for a moment, muttering something like an invocation to heaven for aid. Then he looked in her handsome face and answered frankly — " Because yon are a good girl and pretty. Jle is a bad man and rich. I am a priest of holy Church. I am in charity with all the world. It is not for me to speak ill of my neighbour, far less to judge him by my own erring standard ; but, Rosine, your soul is in my keeping no less than his, and I warn you, my child, to fly from that man as you would fly from one with a pestilent disease. Do not let him so much as touch the hem of your garment. Avoid his company. Keep out of the very air he breathes." The Cure, single-minded, ascetic, and enthusiastic, was one of those devoted servants whom the Church of Rome numbers by thousands in her ranks. Father Ignatius, a name by which he was known in the high places of the Vatican, as among the poor peasantry of Rambouillet and Fontainebleau, had done much missionary work in savage regions, converting the heathen at no small risk of life and limb, carrying out his instructions with unquestioning fidelity, and serving, as he believed, the good cause with a total forgetfulness and abnegation of self. Blind obedience, unflagging zeal, were the two pillars of his creed ; and when an order came from his superiors, he accej^ted the charge of a few rude wood-cutters in a desolate forest of the provinces, neither more nor less willingly than he would have started at a moment's notice for Kamschatka or Japan. He was well read in the classics, thoroughly conversant with the history of his Church, a formidable disputant, a subtle controversialist, keen of perception, close in argument, fluent in language, pious enough for a martyr, wise enough THE WOLF AT THE DOOR. 9 for a cardinal ; but lie knew as Kttle of a -woman's nature as a boy of fifteen ! " Is lie really sucli a black sbeep ? " said Hosine, opening her dark eyes wide. " He does not look so very wicked ; tell me tben, my father, what has he done ? " " My daughter," answered the priest, " do not ask, neither your grandmother, nor Pierre, nor any one. You can trust me, and I sa}' to you forget him as if j'ou had never seen his face, make no mention of his name ; and if people speak in your presence of Count Montarbas cross yourself and say in your heart, I do not know the man ! I thank you, my daughter, but I will not enter now. I have half a league to walk yet. God be with you, E,osine, and good- night." So Father Ignatius hurried on to comfort some dying sinner on a pallet of straw, satisfied he had given the girl good counsel to keep her out of harm. It never occurred to him that he might have woke in her heart the little imp of curiosity who, cradled in idleness and fed on interest, is capable of growing into a full-sized Cupid, and doing sad mischief with young men and maidens. Perhaps, if she had not been warned against him, she might never have thought about the Coimt again. Health and exercise are wonderful cosmetics. Posino never looked prettier in her life than when she raised the latch of her cottage home, bringing, as it seemed to the eyes that longed for her, a flood of sunshine into that humble and somewhat gloomy abode. Ere she shut out the snowy landscape she gazed long and wistfully towards the forest, like one who waits for some one less expected than desired. " AVhat is it, Rosine ? " asked a woman's voice from the dark smoky fireplace within. " Dost thou sec aiui^hing unusual, my child P " 10 ROSINE. " Nothing, grandmother," was the answer. " Nothing but the hig wolf's track close to the door. Some day he will ffet through, and what is to become of us then ? " " God forbid ! " replied the old woman, crossing herseK. " In that case I put my trust in Pierre." CHAPTEE II. THE BALLE-MAIli:^E. " "Who calls me ? " said a deep kindly voice from tlie wood- yard behind tlie cottage, where the choj), chojD, of an axe denoted a thrifty provision of fuel against the severe weather that had set in. " You have but to say the word, ' Pierre, come here,' my little one, and behold, Pierre it is ! " There was an assumption of carelessness in the speaker's manner as he stepped into the kitchen, that changed by ludicrous gradations to the uneasiness of a man who finds himself face to face with the woman he loves. Pierre tried to look as if Rosine were the last person he expected to see — failed egregiously — blushed — stammered, and finally held out his hand \nth an incoherent apology for the dirt accu- mulated by its honest labour. She took it graciously enough, and the kindly greeting in her dark eyes seemed to reassure him at once. He was a strapping young fellow, over six feet in height, with the frank, pleasant face that so often accompanies a stalwart frame and athletic proj)ortions ; scarcely handsome, but comely In the comeliness of upstanding manhood, while to women, ^\'ho admire all qualities in extremes, there was something very pleasing in his noble stature and unusual physical strength. At leaping, running, Avrestling, carrying a load, cutting down a tree, or shooting with ball, he was unequalled from Ilambouillet to St. Cloud ; yet a girl of 12 ROSINE. nineteen could tnrn him round her finger li]j;c a needleful of thread ! "Ab! mademoiselle," said he, with emotion, "we were getting anxious about you in the storm. I have this moment finished cutting up your firewood, and should have been off to look for you the instant I had washed my hands." " No need. Monsieur Pierre," answered Rosine. " I can take good care of myself both indoors and out. I have long left off being a baby, though I am not quite so tall as you ! " She stood by him on tip-toe, and glanced up saucily in his face. " And the big wolf," he said, looking down with a wistful tenderness on the delicate creature that vexed and soothed him everj'^ day in the week. " Bah ! the big wolf is no wiser than the rest of you. In five minutes I could coax him to follow me about like a man ! " " Silence, my child ! " interrupted her grandmother, look- ing up from a pot-au-feu, the scaling of which wafted savoury odours through the kitchen ; "I cannot bear to hear you speak so in jest or in earnest. What do you know of wolves, or men either, for that matter ? You should have been back an hour ago, I won't have you walking alone in the forest at sundown." E,osine shrugged her pretty shoulders. "Content your- self, grandmother," she replied ; "I had an escort." " An escort ! " repeated the old woman, turning round, and wiping her bare arms on her apron. " An escort ! " echoed Pierre, with a troubled brow and a piteous quiver about the lips. " Well, is it so strange that a poor, lonely girl should meet with people kind enough to see her safe home in a snow-storm ? Father Ignatius brought me here, to the very door." THE BALLE-ilARIEE. 13 Pierre looked liappy again, tliougli lie lield his peace. "Father Ignatius is a good man," muttered the grand- mother ; " Our Lady will reward him according to his works; " and then she crossed herself and went back to her cooking. " But I met somebody else before I saw Monsieur le Cure," continued Rosine, with a demure coimtenance. "A gentleman who pulled me out of a snow-drift, and put his cloak about my shoulders — a handsome gentleman, gay, polite, and beautifully dressed, though he had only been shooting in the forest — that is to say, he carried a gun on his arm ; but there was nothing in his game-bag." " Had you ever seen him before ? " asked Pierre, to whom this confession seemed particularly distasteful. "Do you know who it was ? " " He said he lived close by," answered innocent Rosine, " a quarter of a league from this door. He called himself Coimt Montarbas. That is our landlord, you loiow. I wonder if this could be the same ? " "A slim, dark man ? " asked Pierre eagerly, but speaking- low, as if not to be overheard ; " with white hands and wicked eyes, that glitter like a hawk's in a trap ? No doubt it is the same." " Sit down, then, and tell me all about him," said Hosine. Instead of obeying he took two or three turns across the cottage floor, went to the window, looked out on the snowy landscape, fastened the door, and stood over the rude wooden stool which the girl had chosen for her seat. "It is not good to talk of landlords," said he, in the low, distinct accents of suppressed passion ; " they resemble our wolves here in the forest — as fierce, as greedy, and as piti- less. They are worse than the wolves, for these arc goaded by the passion of hiinger alone, while the others — never mind, let us not s^jcak of such things — they send the blood 14 ROSINE. to one's head ! Patience ! the time may conic when there will be no more landlords left in France ! " She looked frightened. " What do you mean ? " she asked, in a whisper. " All this is rotten ! " he answered, kindling- with excite- ment, the fiercer for being kept down. " It must go ! It cannot stand on the foundations that are eaten through and through with corruption, that brave hearts are spending their life-blood to uproot and destroy ! There is a limit to everything — the strength of an ox, the speed of a horse, a mother's love, a wife's patience — (you smile, Rosine !) — and the endurance even of a man ! " " The last is soon reached," observed Rosine ; but he was too intent on his subject to notice her playful sarcasm. '* We are wiser than our fathers," continued Pierre. " With knowledge comes reflection, and the age of reason is at hand. Already we ask ourselves if nature intends a hundred men — a thousand — to be born into the world only that they may minister to the wants, the luxuries, the vices of one ! Ah, Rosine, you should hear what is said in the towns ! We had it all last night — some twenty of us and more — round the blacksmith's forge. There's a deputy come from Paris on purpose — I can tell you the Cure never preached so fiercely nor so fast. The man foamed and raged like a lunatic, yet he told no more than the truth." "All truths are not pleasant to hear," observed Rosine; adding, with provoking inconsequence, " What sort of man was the dejDuty, Pierre ? Is he going to stay long ? " " He comes and goes like the wind," answered Pierre. " He travels from hamlet to hamlet, from province to pro- vince, as he receives secret instructions from the central oommittee in Paris. Look you, Rosine : if that Count of yours only knew, he would trap him without mercy, and shoot him down like a wolf ! " THE BALLE-MAEIEE. 15 " Are they, then, such deadly enemies ? " asked the girl. " They are tyrant and patriot," answered Pierre ; " op- pressor and oppressed — in one word, aristocrat and citizen ! How can they but be enemies to the death ? " She looked bewildered, while he continued his narrative of wrongs. " "Wlio is this Count that he should drain the life from such as I am with his feudal rights, his taxes, and his extor- tions ? Is he braver, better, stronger ? I think not. I could crush his breast-bone in my grasp, if I had him here man to man, with nobody to part us, between these four walls ! But I am a peasant, forsooth ! and he is noble for fourteen generations. Therefore I must squeeze my grapes in his wine-press and grind my corn at his mill, waiting his convenience till the one is mildewed and the other musty, paying through the nose for the privilege besides ! I am not to weed my fields, lest I disturb his game ; I may not mow my grass nor reap my barley till his partridges are on the wing, and his leverets strong enough to run alone, that he may murder them with his gun. Thej^ delight in blood, these aristocrats ; but, as the deputy said, game cooks best in its natural gravy, and perhaps they will swim at last in rivers of their own ! Can they expect me or mine to help them at their need ? Ask your grandmother — she has a sister married there — she will tell you the truth. Is it not so, grandmother, that in Brittany, when the wife of the seigneur is in child-bed, his peasants are forced to beat the swamps with long poles day and night to impose silence on the frogs, lest they disturb her repose ? " Thus appealed to, the old woman left off stirring, and joined in the conversation. "It is true enough," said she, shaking her head. "]\rany a time has my sister been up to her knees in the marshes, with her husband and children, for twenty-four hours on a 16 KOSIXE. stretch. But there are worse impositions than frog-beating-, Maitre Pierre — privileges it is not good to talk of, that make a brave man shiver with anger, and an honest woman blush Math shame. Let us put our trust in the saints and the Virgin, and leave these things to arrange themselves. See, my children, the soup is ready. Set another platter, Rosine ; Maitre Pierre will stay to supper. It is poor fare, neighbour, but sauced with a hearty welcome." And while E,osine busied herself, willingly enough, to make him comfortable, Pierre calmed gradually down to his natural good-humour. Hungry and healthy, the soup was grateful to his senses, after a hard day's work, and it seemed like bein<> married in earnest thus to see Rosine flittino: round hun in the firelight, anticipating his wants. So, for the present, wrath, discontent, and hatred evaporated in talk. But such discussions were held — I should rather say, such denunciations were fulminated — that night, and every night, in many thousand homes through the length and breadth of Prance. Centuries of oppression, culminating in the exactions of Louis the Great and the lavish profligacy of his successor, had driven the middle and lower classes to that extremity of suffering at which any change is accepted for an improvement. Daring casuists, smarting under injustice and looking in vain for bread, had ventured to question the divine right of kings. The subject, once broached, was f oimd to bear enlargement ; and converse theories, equally irrational, proposing an artificial equality of all mankind, were spreading far and wide. The humane, placable, and somewhat lethargic monarch now seated on the throne, was no pilot to weather such a storm as loomed on the horizon ; his queen, the courageous and devoted Marie Antoinette, had all the will indeed to reform abuses, abolish tyranny, and make her adopted country happy, but found herseK hampered THE BALLE-MARIEE. 17 at every turn in a net of privileges, prejudices, customs and etiquette, that it would have required the sword of a second Charlemagne to cut through. So, gradually but surely, "bad grew to worse, and worse to worst of all," till the red spark of Revolution caught, kindled, blazed into a conflagration that roared and ravaged over the fairest country in Europe, till it was quenched in a sea of blood. Pierre Legros, blowing on his platter to cool his soup, observed Rosine turn pale. "Holy Virgin, protect us!" exclaimed the girl, setting down her spoon with a shudder, " there he is again ! " "He! who?" said Pierre fiercely, thinking of the Count, and relapsing into his worst mood. " Who ? '^vhy, the old grey wolf ! " answered Posine, laying her hand on his arm. " He knows I am come home. He smells the soup. I hear him sniffing at the door ! " Listening intently, Pierre's eyes glittered, his nostrils opened, his very ears seemed to erect themselves like a wolf- hound's. " You are right," said he. " How quick you are, Posine, and how clever ! Compose yourself — don't be afraid — we vail arrange this little gentleman at the shortest possible notice." In his excitement he called her by her Christian name. In her fright she thought it very pleasant and reassuring. " Pierre, Maitre Pierre ! " she exclaimed, as he rose from the table, do not be rash, do not expose yourself — you will not go out to him in such a cold as this ?" His only reply was a grim smile as he retired to the chimney-corner, whence he presently emerged with an awkward brass-mounted long-barrelled gun, a powder-horn ingeniously constructed to spill half its contents, and a handful of bullets, weighing more than an ounce a-i)iece. The grandmother, catching siglit of these instruments, threw c 18 ROSINE. herself into a high-backed chair, wrapped her apron round her head, and fingering her chaplet, began to score off the prayers of her church, bead by bead, with praiseworthy devotion and dexterity. " Take care !" exclaimed Rosine. " Won't it go off ?" " Not till it 's loaded," said Pierre quietly. " Sometimes, even then, not so soon as I could wish. Observe what I am doing — look, Rosine ! May I caU you Rosine ?" " Go on ; don't stop to ask questions. He is scratching at the door. Oh, I'm so frightened !" Pierre placed a brace of bullets in the palm of his left hand, and poured the coarse grains over them from his powder-horn till they were completely covered. His science of projectiles was rude, and the result only of his own ex- perience, yet perhaps not so far wrong after all. With a confident smile he bade her watch his proceed- ings. " Many people," said he, " load one barrel with one baU ; that is not my way, and I rarely miss my mark." " "Why do you put in two ?" Resting its butt on his foot and caressing the barrel of his gun, Pierre explained his system with much solemnity. "I learned it from the old forester who taught me to track a boar, trap a wolf, and get the wind of a deer. Ah ! poor old Antoine ! He died last autumn year, and I make no doubt he is with St. Hubert in paradise. But, Rosine, do you know what they call it ?" " Cruelty — murder — bloodshed. How can I teU ?" " They call it the halle-manee. And, Rosine, there is a moral in this! Where each would fail singly, the two united succeed in effecting their purpose. See now: I ram them down together on a handfid of powder, and no thin o- on earth can separate them again, not even death, for they will be found close to each other in the heart of that accursed beast. Rosine, you understand? I am a rude. THE BALLE-MAEIEE. 19 homely fellow, coarsely dressed, self-taug-lit, not half good enough, but I have a strong hand and a loving heart. The one has been yours longer than you imagine ; and for the other " A terrific thud against the cottage door, and a scream from his listener, cut short Pierre's declamation, and caused him to shake up the powder in the pan of his firelock. The woK, whose himger had been attested by the vehemence of his sniffings at the chinks in the cottage door, now commenced such a fierce attack with paws and teeth as the slender woodwork and frail latch seemed unlikely to resist. "Mind Pierre!" exclaimed Rosine, pale as death, but showing: a bold front behind her lover; "he will be in the house in less than a minute." "That is sixty seconds," was his quiet reply — "a long time when it is a question of taking aim, point blank." In her terror she was proud of him, standing there so cool, so collected, so confident. Presently came an interval of silence. Had the beast retired to look for another inlet, or would he make a fresh charge accompanied by a troop of his kind ? Rosine, profoundly ignorant of wild animals and their habits, was persuaded that in a few seconds the whole door would be beaten down under an avalanche of wolves. Pierre opened the window and looked out. Such nights of winter are as light as day. The wolf, finding his efforts to gain an entrance ineffectual, was slinking back into the forest. His long lithe outline showed distinctly against the snow, and he, stopped, imprudently, for the luxury of a scratch. A deafening explosion, a jingling of window-panes, a scream from the grandmother, and a room full of smoke ; then Rosine laughed and clapped her hands, for the wolf lay stark dead in his tracks with a brace of balls lodged deftly ut his heart. c 2 20 ROSINE. " I do not often miss," said Pierre, reloading carefully- " Good nig-ht, Rosine ; I think these gentry will trouble you no more." But here arose fresh cause for anxiety and alarm. No peasant had the right to shoot a wolf, without permission, in his lord's forests, any more than a deer, boar, or other beast of chase. He was not even entitled to be in the possession of firearms, and Arnold de Montarbas was the last landlord in France to look over an infraction of his privileges. " If you bury it in the snow," said Rosine, " they will find its body when the wind changes, and oh, Pierre ! you will be punished for killing a wolf to save two poor women's lives." "It used to be the loss of a hand," said her grandmother, coming out of the corner with her mite of consolation. Rosine broke down and burst into tears. " I wish there were no such things," she sobbed, " as forest-laws, and guns, and wolves, and landlords in France ! " He took her hand and kissed it. "I will carry the beast home on my shoulders," said he, standing tall and erect on the threshold. " If anybody interferes I will give them good reason. I have shown you what the haUe-mariee can do, Rosine. It may be put to many uses, and a man upright on his feet is a fairer mark than a wolf ! " "Promise me you will do nothing rash," she said, anxiously. " Will you make me a promise in return ? " " Perhaps." Then she shut the door in his face and went off to bed. CHAPTER III. PRIVILEGE. A FRESH fall of snow soon obliterated the woK's foot- marks, but another track was to be seen coming and going day by day, to and from the cottage, with a persistency that threatened darker evils than any attack from a beast of prey. Count Arnold, drinking wine by himself in the blue saloon, decided that he was fascinated by this pretty tenant, whose acquaintance he had made in the snow-drifts, and resolved, as was his custom, to follow out the fancy utterly regardless of its consequences to a girl with whom he told himself he was positively in love ! Stretching his frame at length among his velvet cushions, gazing dreamily into the red' caverns of his ample wood fire, he recalled Rosine's dark eyes and blushing face as she stood before him in the snow, till he persuaded himself that now — yes, really now — for the first time, he had seen a woman whose attractions would not pall in a week — a month — no, he thought, not even in a year ! She seemed so fresh, so natural, so unlike all the other loves on whom he had wasted time and energies, in an ignorance the more deplorable that his experiences were so varied and so complete ! Clementine was fat, coarse, awkward ; Jeannctte, a pretty i-ustic, but totally uneducated, with hands that looked as if they had held the plough ; Marie, beautiful, but oh ! 22 ROSINE. SO stupid ; tlic Spanish IMarcliesa, witli her f^lorious eyes and blue-black hair, smelt of garlic ; the Duchess had bad teeth ; and his latest fancy, the young Viscountess, whom all Paris admired so furiously, though witty, tender, graceful, and engaging, was exacting, captious, and provokingly like all the other fine ladies at Court in dress, manners, con- versation, sentiments, and opinions. Yes, there was a monotony about the whole thing, there seemed so little difference between one woman and another ; their saloons, their furniture, their jewels, fans, and pocket-handker- chiefs, all of one pattern ; their jests, their conver- sation, their reflections, all born of one idea ; their blushes, smiles, tears, sulks, and caresses, all repetitions of one part, not very well performed. The same thing had to be said over and over again, of course, but how tiresome to hear it in the same words ! and, for himself, it was surely too cruel a tax on a man's invention to bid him find out, on every occasion, some new way of acknowledging a smile, glancing a reproach, blocking the corner of an opera- box, presenting a bouquet, conveying a note, or squeezing a hand. What had the world to givfe ? Even in Paris — splendid, sparkling, gay, and wicked Paris? He asked the question aloud, and it seemed that a ghost rose up in the smoke of his wood fire — the ghost of himself, bent, worn-out, ex- hausted — a shrivelled, decrepit old man — and answered " Satiety ! " Could he deny it ? He had drank greedily at the cup of pleasure, and found it not so sweet after all. E very thing palled : love and liquor had lost their stimulus, the court, the chase, the theatre, the card-room — all were stupider one than another. It seemed high time to find a new distraction, a fresh occupation for life. At the very moment Pierre shot the old grey wolf in the snow. Count Arnold was making up his mind that he would PRIVILEGE. 23 visit all the cottagers on liis estate in regular rotation, beginning with E,osine and her grandmother next day. He found the girl busy at household work, singing blithe and merry as a bird on a bough. She looked prettier than ever ; and reassured, no doubt, by the presence of another woman, seemed to have left her shyness of yesterday in the snow. He was too old a campaigner not to open the trenches warily. He acted the part of good landlord to perfection, listening to her grandmother's grievances with an air of courteous attention, and promised a new roof to the out- house, making a memorandum in his pocket-book of the same, before he addressed a syllable to E,osine. Then he directed his batteries against the ano-le of the fortress that his experience taught him was likely to be its weakest part. Reflecting how accustomed she must be to compliments on her beauty, he would make her understand that for hun this was the least of her many attractions. "I thought," he began, "when I came down into the forest I must forget my fellow- creatures, and live all by myself in my castle, like a bear in a hollow tree. I am charmed to find, mademoiselle, that there is society here as polite and pleasant, if not so artificial as in Paris." " Ah ! monseigneur," interrupted her grandmother, while the younger woman blushed and smiled, "it is not every day one meets, in the smoke of a cottage kitchen, such a girl as our Rosine. She has had an education, do you under- stand. She has been in a convent. The good sisters taught her to read, and write, and sew. Ah ! you should see her embroidery ! And the piano ! how she touches the piano ! Monseigneur, if that was only a harpsichord, instead of a kitchen dresser, she should sit down and play you air after air, like an angel from heaven." "I have a harpsichord in my house," said the Count, "as 24 ROSINE. well as a kitchen dresser. I shall be flattered if mademoiselle will come and practise on either whenever she has a mind." Rosine's eyes brightened, but the old woman shook her head. " Our Rosine has been well brought up," she said, "and comes of honest people, monseigneur. Her father was a sub-officer of Louis the Great. My poor boy ! I can see him now with the white belts crossed on his breast, and the pike shining in his hand. Her mother died when she was a baby, and we put her into the convent, he and I, for we said — pardon, monseigneur, I cannot speak of him yet with- out tears, though he has been in his grave so long ; and, indeed, he looked older than me, his mother, when he died. But I am an old woman, monseigneur, a very old woman, at your service." " Age is respectable, my mother," said the Count, giving her his hand, while he looked to Rosine for approval of his condescension. " We need not weary the Count with these details, grand- mother," observed the girl. "It is kind of him to interest himself in our welfare, but I cannot believe he would care to know all about our family." " Pardon, mademoiselle," replied the visitor, " I am all attention. I am puzzled. I am mystified. I cannot imagine how so sweet a flower has come to bloom in the forest of Rambouillet. If I had my way it should be transplanted to a garden without loss of time." " You are obliging, monseigneur, and complimentary," returned Rosine, perfectly self-possessed, " but the hardiest wild flower fades away in a hothouse ; and how should I look, dressed in satin and laces, sitting bolt upright in a high-backed chair ? If you are making game of me, let me tell you, monseigneur, that is not polite ! " " You would look like a queen," he whispered ; " you PRIVILEGE. 25 ought to be a queen. When a young girl is so beautiful she should be dressed in satin and laces every day. Rosine, will you try ? " She laughed out merrily. " Grandmother," said she, " do you hear what the Count proposes ? How should you answer if you were in my place ? Are not jewels, and soft living, and fine dresses, the first considerations in a woman's life P ^^Tiy have you taught me differently ! Monseigneur shall argue the point with you. For me, I am quite content to let things remain as they are ! " He felt angry and bit his lip. Was she presuming to jeer him, this little provincial ? Well, pei'haps the pursuit would be all the more amusing if thus jarotracted for a time. Between an abject fear of offending her landlord, and a sense of right, the grandmother was at a loss. "Pardon, monseigneur," she stammered, "you do not comprehend. Rosine, too, she does not comprehend. 'Tis but a young girl still. In a little while, after she is married, it will be time to talk of these thing-s." " Married ! " repeated the Count with a wicked smile. " ]\Iarried ! " echoed Rosine, blushing red, and adding with some perversity, "how do you know I am going to be married, grandmother ? I have not yet said yes." " You will say it, my dear, nevertheless," answered the old woman. " It is like that with every girl. We are baked in the same oven, one and all ! I have been young myself, though you would not think it to look at me now." "You carry your years lightly, my mother," said the Count. " In fact, really handsome people never lose their looks, and you must have done some damage in your time. Eh ! But tell me about your grand-daughter's marriage. ^^ademoiselle will pardon mo that I feel an iiifcrost in every- thing relating to her. Who is the chosen one ? A\Tien is 26 EOSINE. it to take place ? I sliall permit myself to present a wedding gift on the occasion." Eosine made a low curtsey, and her grandmother, mollified by his compliments, began to wonder if this well-spoken count could be such a bad man after all. " She is promised to Pierre Legros," said the old woman, and wished she had bitten her tongue off, rather than spoken, ere the words escaped her lips. " Pierre Legros," repeated the Count, with an air of satis- faction ; " a worthy young man, and a tenant of my own. I shall not lose sight of him. Permit me to say that I shall be present at the wedding, and that the sooner it takes place the better." Rosine blushed again, but her grandmother turned very pale. " Monseigneur, it is too much honour," said both women in the same breath, but in very different tones. "Then I will take my leave for the present," observed their landlord, as he courteously bent to print a kiss on Eosine's cheek ; adding, with another laugh, " We have our privileges, you know, we nobles. There is no danger, in my case, of their falling into abeyance by neglect." The door had scarcely closed, and his feet might still be heard crunching the snow outside, when the old woman exclaimed angrily : " Make haste, Posine ! Run to the sink yonder. Do not lose a moment. Take a basin of pure water, and rub your cheek where that villain kissed it, till the skin comes off! Oh, m}^ daughter! my daughter ! you have been such a good child to me ! And now, when I dress you in white for your wedding, I shall wish I were laying you out for the grave ! Holy Virgin ! are you gone to sleep, that you permit such horrors ? And the saints in paradise, what are they do- ing, that they have all forgotten France ? Culpa mca ! PRIVILEGE. 27 Culpa mea ! I am a miserable old woman, and I don't know what I say ! " Then she fell into a chair, threw her apron over her head, and burst into a a passion of weejiing that filled Rosine with astonishment and dismay. But, henceforward, she was continually holding private interviews with Pierre, who seemed to increase in her good opinion, as rapidly as her grand-daughter fell into disgrace. The latter, 'though never for an instant relieved from her grandmother's superintendence, felt that a cloud had come up between them, and that the confidence and affection which had hitherto subsisted was gone, without cause and without explanation. It vexed her more than she could bear. Pierre, too, seemed anxious, morose, and luilike him- self. The little cottage, once a home of so much humble happiness, was now possessed by a spirit of discord not to be exorcised or appeased. The outer world, that used to be such a fairyland, had lost its glitter, and seemed but an un- interesting sojourn of hard usage, hard fare, and hard work. Cold and hunger — nor in such severe weather was it possible for her to escape the discomforts of both — had become posi- tive evils, endured with impatience and discontent. Posine felt anxious, low, dispirited, irritated, even against Pierre, because of her humble lot ; and provoked with the Count, when even for a day he discontinued his visits. AVishing he had never come — wondering he didn't come — hoping all the while he would come again. CHAPTEE IV. COUPE-TETE. Not always does the brightest dawn precede the fairest day — a golden sunrise is too often succeeded by clouds and storms at noon. Never nation accorded so enthusiastic a welcome to its future queen as did the French people to Marie Antoinette when she came over their frontier : the loveliest young dauphiness that ever adorned a throne — the proudest, the bravest, and the best-intentioned princess that ever mounted a scaffold. " AVhat a crowd of people ! " she exclaimed, at her first reception by those shouting thousands, who trod each other under foot in the streets of Paris only to touch the panels of her carriage. " Madame," replied the courtly Due de Brissac, " with the Dauphin's good leave, it is a crowd of lovers ! " And in less than half a lifetime th« same people, with cries of fiendish execration, raged round the guillotine, dipping handkerchiefs in her blood. But for the first few years of her sojourn, who so popular, so admired, so beloved, in her adopted country, as this young Austrian Archduchess, bride to the Dauphin of France ? And with good reason, for gossip never ceased relating instances of her kindness, her consideration, her unselfish- ness, charity, and good-will. Now it was a groom, whose horse had inadvertently kicked her on the ankle, and whom she screened from reproof by never mentioning the accident. COUPE-TETE. 29 Another time she stopped hounds, horsemen, the whole hunting cavalcade of the King of France, rather than cross the little half-acre of a poor peasant, whose corn was yet standing in the ear. A cottager, working in his garden, and nearly gored to death by a hunted stag, she supported on her own knee, bandaged with her own hands, and pensioned for life at her own expense. The officer of the day, moving a cabinet by her desire, in the young Queen's apartments, bruised his temples inadvertently, with such violence as to draw blood. The whole Court was shocked to learn that the first lady in France had condescended to wait on the sufferer, and herself administer relief ; but the people out-of- doors hailed such royal condescension with acclamations of enthusiasm and delight. She was no " accursed Austrian " then ; but " their pride, their darling, their favourite child, their good young Queen, beautiful and beloved ! " She had been married some few years before there seemed any promise of an heir to the throne ; nevertheless, the fish- women of Paris, who at first took her under their special patronage, used to vow that Nature intended her to be a mother, she seemed so fond of children, for she would notice even dirty little vagabonds playing in the street. It fell out that on one occasion her horses were pulled up with their noses over the very head of a blue-eyed urchin, running from gutter to gutter, either ignorant of his danger or stupefied by its approach. The Queen, for it was soon after the death of Louis XV., believed for one moment the child was killed, and in her satisfaction at its escape, took it into the carriage, and was about to carry it off, w"hen an old woman rushed out of a neighbouring house, full of apologies, protestations, and alarm. Her Majesty vowed that Providence had given her this boy because she had none of her own. " Where is his mother ? " she asked. 30 EOSINE. "Alas ! Madame, she died last winter ! " was the answer. " What did she die of ? " " Hunger, your Majesty." The Queen burst into tears, and the jDcople cheered. " Then I charge myself with his bringing-up," said Marie Antoinette, and took her prize off to Versailles — the sturdy little rustic protesting vehemently against his abduction with rebellious kicks and cries. He soon became reconciled to his lot, and the Queen grew very fond of her little " Jacques," as she called him. He was educated and reared in her household, nor did he leave the palace till she had children of her own old enough to fill his place, when he was dismissed with such a gratuity as should afford him a comfortable provision for life. That he spent it all in a few months, plunging into the vices and dissipations of Paris, seemed nobody's fault but his o\\Ti. A profligate, even when ruined, is not always discon- tented, but invariably ungrateful. Jacques Armand was both. Gifted by nature with a striking person, and that fiery facility of language which passes for eloquence, even in France, where it is so common, he took a lead in the secret societies and revolutionary clubs at that time smouldering in hidden fire beneath the surface of society, and coined his mouthings into francs, after the fashion of such paid dema- gogues who mislead the honest folks that feed them, by mis- calling themselves patriots, Somiding syllables, audacious threats, inflated metaphors, serve for weapons, and are flourished boldly enough ; while to their dupes are left the pike, the gim, and the barricade. Men who talk bio- of dying for their country, and are lavish of other lives, will generally be found sufficiently careful of their own. It was to conclude an oration, invoking murder, anarchy, rebellion, license, and confusion, under the sacred name of Liberty, that Armand exclaimed : — " The time has come to coupe-t:^te. 31 read tlie Powers of Europe a lesson, and fling them down in defiance the head of a king ! " The phrase must have been worth at least a thousand francs a month to him, and he w^as known afterwards amonar the initiated by the name of Coupe-tete. An order of the Secret Committee in Paris had now set this firebrand loose in the j)rovinces, and a humble blacksmith's forge in the forest of Rambouillet was chosen for the scene of his opera- tions. The peasants listened with open mouths. It seemed as if a new world was rising before them — a world in which there should be no enforced labour, no irksome imposts, no more landlords' rights ; where men should enjoy the fruits of their own industry, and every cottage kitchen in France should smoke, as Henry of Navarre desired, with " a fowl in the pot." Though suffering from the exactions of the nobility, the peasants were not yet ripe for such excesses as their fellows in the towns ; but many a stout rustic, listening to Coupe- tete, bent his nigged brows, and braced his brawny arm, while he reflected that if this man spoke truth it was surely worth while to strike the one blow that should render them all free and prosperous for life. When a nation is thus di\'ided against itself, there are traitors in both camps. Intelligence of these meetings, though all who attended took a hideous oath of secresy, soon reached Montarbas, and Count Arnold was not the man to remain inactive under such provocation ; their danger he contemptuously underrated, it was the insolence of such proceedings that roused his anger, and turned to fire the old Norman blood in his patrician veins. " That they should dare," he kept muttering, while he paced the blue saloon like a ship's captain chafing on his own quarter-deck, " that they should dare even to argue on topics like tliese. And here, under my very nose. In the forge where my 32 ROSINE. horses are shod ! Why, the forge is mine, the land is iniuo, the bhicksmith is mine, and the peasants are mine, body and soul ! Shall a miserable shopman from Paris presume to come and teach us these impertineucies ? I shall permit myself to give him a lesson in return. Here, Antoine ! Victor ! One of you ! Send for Gaspard and big Contoi. Mind you open the windows when they are gone ! I shall arrange this little matter on a system of my own ! " So ill a few minutes two stout gamekeepers, dressed in the Count's livery of green and gold, stood at the door, hesitating to trust their nailed shoes on the waxed and shining floor. The Count looked angry. " You call yourselves foresters," he began, " and you know as little of what is taking place half a league off as the hounds in my kennel. Imbecile brutes ! How many wolves have you killed then since the hard weather set in ? " The men, who had been looking at each other in dismay, brightened up. " Five brace, monseigneur," answered the shorter of the two, a sturdy, well-made fellow, by name Gaspard. " And a brace more trapped, that have only escaped to die." " Then you believe, perhaps, that you have done your duty ? Pray did you ever hear of a wolf on two legs ? " Gasj)ard crossed himself. "The Loup-garou, monsei- gneur ? " he asked, and his healthy cheek turned pale. " Fool ! " answered his master, " if you cannot understand — rogue ! if you do, and pretend not. Listen ! I suppose you are scarcely such an idiot but that you know the blacksmith's forge, half a league from my gate ? " " With the Count's permission I could find my way there blindfold." This was true enough, for the blacksmith had a pretty daughter, who looked kindly on Gaspard. COUPE-TETE. 33 " Have }''ou been there lately ? within a week, a fort- night, a month ? " " No, monseigneur." Gaspare! had made up his mind to tell a good lie and stick to it. The Count turned to his comrade. "And you?" "Not since Gaspard, monseigneur," answered big black- browed Contoi, perspiring freely from shyness, misgiyings, and the heat of the room. Each had attended more than one of those seditious meetings where Coupe-tete declaimed so freely, chiefly from curiosity, and not holding entirely to his views, which, indeed, were calculated to take the bread out of their mouths. " Then you have heard nothing of a scoundrel who makes speeches there, night after night, in order to emjjty the pockets of fools who go and listen ? " " Nothing, monseigneur," answered Gaspard ; adding, with a side glance at his comrade, "that is to say, nothing positive. I have been told a stranger was hanging about our hamlet lately, but when I made sure he was not after the game, I thoug^ht no more about it." "Should you know him if vou saw him?" asked the Coimt, with a searching look. " At the command of monseigneur, yes." "Andj'ou, Contoi?" "I shall know him, I dare say, if Gaspard knows him," answered the big man. "AVhatever monseigneur desires, possible or impossible, I shall try to accomplish." " I believe I can depend upon j^ou both," continued the Count. "Now, mj' good friends, listen to me. This is a well-made active young fellow, dressed like a respcctabk' tradesman, wearing his brown hair unpowdercd and in a club. You cannot mistake him. He has keen, grey eyes, a D 34 EOSINE. pule complexion, and a large moutli with strong white teeth." " But that is Coupe-tetc ! " cxclainicd Contoi, with a gleam of intelligence on his stolid countenance. Count Arnold smiled. " You know him as well as I do," said he. " Ah ! rogues, you are not so stupid as you would have one think ! Never mind ; I can look over a great deal, if my orders are implicitly obeyed, and I can make allowances, as you have found, in good French cro^\^ls, for extra work done out of regular hours. You know how to use a cudgel, both of you, I have been told." Matters were drifting into his own department, and Contoi became spokesman now. "Passably, monseigneur," he answered. "It slips into my hand as readily as a sword into your own." " Then these are your instructions. Waylay this little rogue of a Coupe-tete wherever you can find him. The deeper in the forest the better. Drub him soundly from head to foot till he writhes — till he roars — till he ceases to cry out at all ! When you have made sure he cannot move you may leave him there ; I will bear you hannless. What business has he in my woods, game or no game ? Enough. You understand your orders. Victor shall give you a little glass of brandy each — two. Now be off. Let me hear no more till it is done ! " " We will drink to the health of monseigneur," said Gaspard, leaving the room with a bow, but Contoi turned back on the threshold, and observed carelessly — " I am strong, monseigneur, and my cudgel falls heavy when the blood flies to my head. It is possible, Coupe-tete might never get up again." " That is my affair," answered his master. " Drink your brandy and begone ! " COUPE-T^TE. 35 The men obeyed, looking uneasily in eacli other's faces. " There is no mistake this time," said Gaspard. " I wonder how many louis he is good for when it is done ? " " Five at least," replied the big ruffian. " Ten, perhaps, if we arrange little Coupe-tete's affair once for all. Let us about it, comrade ; the scum soon rises when your soup stands long to cool." Thus it feU out that Coupe-tete, walking from the cottage where he rented his hmnble lodging, to make a final appeal to the peasants of RambouiUet at the blacksmith's forge, found his path blocked by two athletic figures, dressed in the count's livery of green and gold. They bade him " good evening," indeed, but neither oifered to move a step out of the way, and something in their manner made the agitator wish he was back with his Central Committee in the heart of Paris. It had been his business to judge the temper of his fellow- men by their looks and bearing, as a sailor judges of calm and storm from the aspect of the skies. Both instinct and experience told him there was foul weather ahead now. "Be good enough to stand aside, my friends," said he, in a tone that was politeness itself, but the politeness of appre- hension rather than good manners. "Certainly, monsieur," replied Gaspard, moving just so far from his comrade as allowed the other to come between them. Ere he could make a step forward, each of the keepers had a hand in his cravat. Coupe-tete began to see stars, and through the stars, two oaken cudgels flourishing round his head. lie carried a dagger in his bosom, and for an instant thought of using it, but whatever courage he possessed was not of the fighting sort, and he sank down on his knees to beg for mercy. D 2 36 ' ROSINE. " Get up, beast," growled Contoi, with a kick, as lie pulled him to his feet. " How he trembles, poor devil. Let us make an end of this, Gaspard, before he shakes all to pieces ! " The other ansAvered by a coarse laugh, while between them they half dragged, half carried, the pale and quaking wretch deeper into the forest. "Holy Virgin! gentlemen," he gasped, "what are you going to do ? For the love of the saints let me go, good gentlemen. My brave friends, you are not assassins, you cannot intend to murder me — I am one of yourselves." "One of us!" repeated Contoi in his grufE brutal voice. " How can that be ? You are preaching against us every night down yonder, worse than Father Ignatius preaches against the devil ! Hold up, man, and come on. One of us, indeed ! Wo belong to the aristocracy ! " " And I too. I do, on my soul ! " pleaded the terrified agitator. " I also am an aristocrat. I was brought up in a palace. I was taught to read by the Queen of France. I can prove it if you will only give me time." " Enough ! " roared Contoi, working himself up to the necessary pitch of rage. " These are fables, dri veilings, a pack of slanders and lies ! Catch him with the other hand,, Gaspard. Are you ready, comrade ? Now. One ! Two ! " It may be that his senses, sharpened by imminent danger, caught the tread of a coming footstep, it may be that pain, and terror had deprived him of aU self-control, but with the first and second blows of the keepers' cudgels he yeUed out cries for help that rang through the clear frosty air half a league round. " Silence then, accursed poacher and coward ! " swore the big keeper, now thoroughly infuriated, and aiming a blow at his victim's head, that Avould have prevented further outcry had it not been parried by a stout oaken staff, held in a. hand even more powerful than his own. Foaming with COUPE-TETE. 37 rage, lie turned on this unexpected adversary and found himself confronted by the stalwart form of Pierre Legros. " Let the man alone," said the new-comer, covering his ovnx tall body with a yard and a half of timber. " You know me, both of you. I do not ujiderstand these jokes, and I will not see murder done." " You ! who are you ? " sneered Contoi, with a certain quivering of the mouth, not unobserved by his comrade. "You talk big, Maitre Pierre, but you had better look out for yourself. The Count does not suffer his wolves to be shot by a mere peasant without inquiry, and some fine day ho will have you maimed for life. You know what I mean, and you know, too, I am not to be frightened by words." " I know that I broke your head last Easter Monday at cudgel-play," answered the other quietly. " I shall break it again, Contoi, if you Avill not listen to reason to-day." In the meantime, Gaspard, disliking the look of things, released his prisoner's collar, and Couj)e-tete rose to his feet. " Save me," said he, drawing close to Pierre ; " you are an honest man, a brave fellow. Save me, and I wiU be your friend for life ! " " Come with me," answered the other, keejiing his robust body between the Parisian and his assailants, till he withdi-ew him gradually out of their reach. " They are too many for us, comrade," observed Gaspard to his mate ; " they are three to two, do you see, for yonder big bully is as strong as you and me put together. We had better give up the job and let them go." " What shall we say to the Count ? " asked Contoi. Gaspard was a man of reflection, and some knowledge of his kind. " Wo will tell the Count his orders have been carried out," said he, " and demand our five louis apiece. After that I do not think he will want to ask us any more questions." CIIAPTEE V. T-RiKjfDs IN COUNCIL. The same evening a counc0 of war was held at the cottage occupied by E-osine and her grandmother. The two women, with true female sjonpathy for the rescuer and rescued, readily adopted Pierre's suggestion that they should hide Coupe-tete for the night, and start him at daybreak on his return to Paris. Pierre was easily persuaded to remain, as usual, and share their frugal supper. Sitting round the fire, when the platters were emptied, conversation naturally turned on the events of the day, and the enmity of the Count. " He will score it down on his tablets in letters of blood," said the grandmother, with something of that assumption in her tone which seems the consolation of those who have no claim to superiority but in their misfortunes. " I know the race of Montarbas, well. They may forget, but be sure they will never forgive. Small chance of your taking in another acre of forest, now, Maitre Pierre. The corvee will be exacted from me, too ; and the honey-tax, and the dues on the hens. We shall have no soup on the table, and soon no bread to put in our mouths. Well, well ; it seems hard on you young people. For me — I have lived long enough." " Cannot I speak a word for us all ? " asked Rosine. " The Count often tells me I need only ask for what I want, and it shall be done." " Silence, child ! " said the old woman, while Pierre '.'iricpntBroaksDaji Sonljlii. 7.39. FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 39 moved uneasily in his scat, and Coupe-tete concealed a smile. " I am no longer a baby," murmured Rosine, witb tears in her eyes. " That is the reason," returned her grandmother. " Neigh- bour Pierre, I am at my wits' end. We must get this girl away from here." " I have offered to take her," said Pierre. " The cottage is whitewashed, the outhouse stacked with wood. There's a clock in the kitchen, a ham in the ch^'^^iey, and a pair of clean sheets on the bed. Mademoiselle has but to say the word. I am waiting- for her now a lonof time." "Imbecile ! " murmured the old woman, "you forget you are a tenant of the Count." "Impertinent!" laughed Coupe-tete. "You should ad- dress yourself to the yoimger lady, not the older, on u matter so personal to herself." Rosine looked from one to the other, and blushed to the tips of her little ears. Pierre turned pale. " I understand," he muttered ; " though the haUe-mariee at fifty yards might make a diiference ! They could only take one's life. But then — but then — what would become of Posine ? " His strong frame shivered, and resting them on the table, he leaned his face down on his crossed arms. The girl came round, and laid her hand on his shoulder. '•' Pierre," she whispered, " I did half promise, and now T wish I had said no. Why must I be a continual sorrow to those that — that love me ? Grandmother cannot speak to me without scolding ; and i/ou, Pierre — j^ou never Hay an unkind word — why don't you ? — but you sit and look so wretched, it cuts me to the heart. I had better go away from you both, and earn my own living somewhere else. After all, Pambouillet is not the world." 40 ROSINE. " Mademoiselle is rig-lit ! " iiitcrrupted Coupc-tetc with liis best Pansian bow. "Mademoiselle sjjeaks good sense. Monsieur, here, who will permit me to call him Citizen Legros for the future, has to-day done me a great service. Madame extends, to me a hospitality that may cause incon- venience to herself ; and mademoiselle, after assisting at our little supper, with a grace peculiarly her own, in a burst of emotion that does her honour, rej)oses a confidence in the stranger which he is the last man on earth to abuse. Excuse me if I ask permission to consider myself among your friends, and to interest myself in your affairs. I repeat, made- moiselle shows wisdom and a knowledge of things. Ram- bouillet is )iot the world, only a very small, and insignificant corner of it. There are places to be found, and at no great distance, where the word landlord is never pronounced but to bring down a storm of execration ; where his rights have been sifted and scrutinised and challenged till the simple question remains, whether he has any right to exist at all!" From sheer habit, Coupe-tete paused, as if awaiting the burst of applause, with which such sentences were usually received. "Where is that?" asked Pierre, for the grandmother and Rosine, dismayed by such sentiments, were too bewildered to speak. " Where ? Why, in Paris, without doubt. The home of liberty, the centre of civilisation, the capital of Europe. Paris is France, and Paris has decided against tyrants, land- lords, rent, taxes, all the odious imposts of feudal exaction and oppression. Soon she will proclaim her sentiments to the four comers of the earth, and I, Jacques Armand, whom good citizens call Coujjc-tete, shall be in a position to afford more than protection, rank, power and riches, to my friends ! " FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 41 "I thought you were going to abolish rauk, power, and especially riches," objected Pierre, who listened with breath- less interest. "You told us so at the blacksmith's." " So we shall," declared the other. "All men arc equal, and all men are to start fair from the same level. With- out doubt some will soon obtain the lead, and why not you and I as well as the others? Listen, my friend. There is good bread to be made in the cause of Liberty. It is worth a hundi'ed francs a month at this moment to be a patriot ! " " AYho pays the money?" asked Pierre, with an eye to the main chance, as behoved a man who worked hard for his bread. " Our central committee," answered Coupe-tete. " A handful of noble spirits, who meet together at present in cellars and suburban wineshops, in the very sewers, so to speak, of the capital ; but who shall deliberate in royal palaces ere long, and sit in judgment on Princes, as be- comes the governing body of France. Believe me, my friend, the time is coming when there shall be no law but the will of the people. We shall sweep away in one mass of filth all that rubbish of lords, and courtiers, and priests, and parliament, and king ! " " I have heard he is a good man, too, our Louis," said Pierre, a little staggered by this comprehensive system of reform. "lie relieved us out of his own jjocket in the famine year, and I am told he can fit a lock on a door as well as any workman in France." " He is not so bad if* he were let alone," replied the other. "It is that cursed Austrian wife of his who sets him on to trample down the liberties of France ! " " The Queen ! " exclaimed both women together. " But she is 80 gentle, our Queen — so beautiful, so charitable, so good!" 42 ROSINE. Coupc-tete sliook his licad with a smile of pitying superiority. "You are ignorant," said he, "you honest folks in the provinces ; but you mean well. You worshipped the Austrian when first she came to us, and why ? Because she had a fair skin, and a slender waist, and a foolish mouth. Bah ! you are easily deceived. She springs from a race that are the natural enemies of France. She spends her time plotting how she can bend our necks — the necks of French- men and Frenchwomen — to her foreign yoke. You know very little down here — you occupy yourselves with the cut- ting of your firewood, the laying of your hens, and the hiving of your bees, and the great world goes on at its own pace, till some morning you find yourselves crushed beneath its wheels ! Ah ! I could tell you strange things. Have you never heard of little Trianon ? nor the masked balls at the Opera ? Do you know the names of Coimt d'Artois, Count Rosenberg, and Cardinal de Rohan ? These are not fables, these stories of the midnight walks at Marly, and 'blind- man's buif ' by moonlight on the terraces of Versailles ! She is full of intrigues, I tell you, the Austrian — proud, vicious, impetuous, and deceitful, within and without ! " "All that does not affect us, monsieur," said the old woman. " I have been brought up to fear God and honour the King, and the Queen, too, I suppose ; but the question now is — you understand me, monsieur — how to keep the Wolf from the Lamb ? " "Perfectly, madame; the time has not yet arrived for suppressing the Wolf, it is therefore necessary to remove the Lamb." " And where. Monsieur ? " "To Paris, I repeat," was the answer. "Once under protection of the sovereign peojDle, let the aristocrat molest vou if he dare ! " FRIENDS IX COUNCIL. 43 " But we sliall starve, Rosine and I ! " " Never, my motlier ! " exclaimed Pierre, raising his head and squaring his broad shoulders. " I can work for three in Paris as well as here. Let us strike our camp aiid be off to-morrow at daybreak. Listen. I have a sledge and two mules, that will take our effects by easy stages. The snow is in our favour : it is better travelling than on wheels. I can arrange everything to-night, and be ready before sun- rise. 'Tis but two more fires out, two more homes broken up, by to-morrow at noon ! " " Grood ! " assented Coupe- tete ; " and when the hawk swoops down he will find the nest empty and the bird flown. Good, I say ! It is thus that revolutions are made." Rosine held her peace ; but stole her hand into Pierre's, and left it there. " I shoidd like to ask the advice of Father Ignatius," said her grandmother, who had grown too old to accept an irremediable alternative without a moment's hesitation. "And, in truth, I believe here he comes. Good evening. Father ! You are always welcome — never more so than to-night." Even as she spoke the latch of the door was lifted, and the good priest crossed the threshold, with a blessing on all within. "I am come to wish you farewell," said he, gravely and kindly. "The order has arrived from my superiors. Wo are like soldiers, you know, we poor servants of the Churcli, and must march at the word of command." Both women looked grieved and surprised. The elder took the initiative. " Can you have the heart to leave us ? " she said. "And in such times as these. Ah ! Father, we shall be like shcc]) without a shepherd ! " " My Master has other work for me to do," was the quiet 44 ROSINE. answer. "Do not be afraid, I am to be replaced without delay. I shall meet my successor to-morrow at the first stage on my way to Paris." " To Paris ! " exclaimed the grandmother. "It is but a moment ago we agreed among ourselves that we, too, would go and make our dwelling in Paris — we were speaking of it, my Father, even as you came in." He looked from Pierre to Rosine, and answered gravely, " I think you are right." " Then that decides it," exclaimed Coupe-tete, appro\- ingly. " It is the very advice I gave this evening, and monsieur, the new-comer, having declared himself of the same opinion, there can be no further question. To- morrow we decamp, all of us, and leave no traces of our departure." The priest looked searchingly in his face. " I know you, Monsieur Armand," said he, " though you may not know me. It is partly on your account that I am sent for to Paris at this short notice." " You do me a great honour," answered Coupe-tete, with a bow. " It is no question of compliments, monsieur," replied the other. "I speak frankly — I am ashamed of nothing, and have nothing to conceal — w^e are ranged on different sides, you and I, for the great battle to be fought out between good and evil in these latter days. It is my duty to oppose you at all risks, by all means, in all places, even to shedding of blood, and I shall not flinch ! " " At least. Father Ignatius, you are an open and honour- able foe," said Coupe-tete, respectfully. " There is one point, however, on which we are agreed, as regards our mutual friends here. Let us save them from ruin, and misery, and disgrace. We are not so bad, you see, we revolutionists. Like the devil, in whom vou believe, vou FRIENDS IN COUNCIL. 45 c'liiirchmen, with such unreasonable persistenc}', we are not so black nor so red as we are painted." " There lurks a spark of the Divine nature in everj^ human being," answered the priest, with a sigh ; " and this it is that makes the torture of a lost soul in hell ! " CHAPTER VI. VERSAILLES, There is a keen frost and a foot of snow on the ground, at Versailles, as in tlie forest of Ilambouillet. The price of bread has risen ; firewood grows scarcer every day ; squalid women, pale and haggard, gesticulate in the streets ; while rough-looking, able-bodied fellows, hungry, discontented, and unemployed, congregate about the wineshops, trying to forget their privations in brutal ribaldry, and coarse, ferocious jests. Out of doors, cold, famine, and despair ; within the line of sentries, and throughout the courts, galleries, and saloons of the palace, pomp, luxury and etiquette reign supreme. The nobleman has his yearly rental on his back ; his carriages, horses, and hotel in Paris, would cost more than the fee-simple of his estate, were they jjaid for, which they are not ; and he must carry a pocketful of gold besides, to risk at the royal tables, in accordance with the evil custom of the time. All this expenditure can only be met by holding a sinecure from the king, affording a nominal salary of large amount, wrung from the overtaxed nation, and hopelessly in arrear. He cannot pay his tradesmen, they cannot pay their workpeople, these are in debt to the baker, who owes for the very meal he adulterates, and so the plague spreads, till general bankruptcy becomes general disruption. Already glib speakers, in clubs and committee-rooms, are suggesting the abolition of army, priesthood, royalty itself, VERSAILLES. 47 on the practical score of expense ; soon hurried beyond tlieir own control, and coerced by the pressure from below, they will advocate desperate measures, and men will go down into the streets with pikes in their hands. In the meantime Louis is fitting a lock on one of his own cabinets, and, it must be admitted, fitting jt admirably. The Queen holds her daily levee, and nobody can spare a moment for any subject but one — viz., who have, and who have not, the right to present themselves without an invitation. Habit is indeed second nature. Frivolity will dance in a churchyard, and fashion, grimacing at Court, trips lightly- over a volcano on the eve of eruption, with an ill-timed jest and a vapid smile. Coimt Montarbas hurries throuo'h the crowd that throngs the Queen's ante-chamber, thoughtfid and pre-occupied, re- turning shorter answers than usual to the greetings of his acquaintance. True to his character, now that he is at Versailles, he wishes himself back at Rambouillet, though he quitted that retreat in the forest under strong feelings of irritation and disgust. His vanity has been wounded, his pride outraged, his feudal authority set at nought ; worse still, he has made himself ridiculous — has been baffled by an insignificant girl of nineteen, brought up in the provinces ; a mere wood-cutter — a tenant of his own ! It is incredible — impossible ! AVhat would they say could they know iha truth, these gilded lords and courtiers, these dainty pro- fligates, among whom he has hitherto been considered u leader in wit, debauchery and intrigue ? Why they would lash him to death with jests, epigrams, sarcasms. Ho would have to abdicate his sovereignty, and could show his face no more in good society. There would be nothing for it but to return and plant cabbages for the rest of his life among tlu; terraces at Montarbas. It stings him to reflect tlial no attraction is left in that picturesque solitude now. The 48 ROSINE. castle is a blank, the forest a blank; Eosinc's deserted cottag-e tbe dreariest blank of all ! He bad trudged through the snow to pay his accustomed visit, dressed even more carefully than usual — for it was his maxim to be abrupt with a duchess, but ceremonious with a dairjmiaid — and had found the^ hearth tireless, the house untenanted. It was some time before he could realise the trick thus played on him, before he could believe it possible that his own people should have dared to decline his favours, and repudiate his authority. Only after research and inquiry did he become convinced of the fact that Pierre Legros had decamped with his promised bride, to some hiding-place beyond the reach of feudal superiority and its hateful privileges. It is difficult enough for the red man to destroy his trail a? he leaves it behind him in the wilderness, covering the foot prints with leaves and grass, traversing to and fro, winding in and out to bafEe his enemy ; but in a civilised coimtr} money and influence can wrest information from the very bird of the air ; and a fugitive may no more hope to eludf pursuit than a hunted deer with a pack of bloodhounds on her track. In a few days Count Arnold had ascertained that Rosine's destination was Paris. In a few more he was himself at the Hotel Montarbas, within a musket- shot of the Tuileries ; and but for the exigencies of rank, which obliged him to wait on their majesties at the earliest opportmiity, he would have been at this moment seeking his prey through the alleys and suburbs of the capital, rather than exchanging compliments with a mob of lords and ladies in the ante- room of the Queen's apartments at Versailles. If not instructive, the conversation is incessant; to the initiated, perhaps, amusing ; to the rest simply unintelligible. Their Majesties, if the King can tear himself from his work- YERSAILLES. 49 shop, have expressed an intention of visiting Trianon in the afternoon, and those who have a right to accompany the Court may be distinguished easily enough, the gentlemen by a rich uniform of scarlet and gold lace, worn for Trianon, as blue for Choisy, and green for Compiegne ; the ladies, by an air of peculiar superiority and self-satisfaction, finding vent in an excess of politeness, so marked and elaborate as to be almost rude. "Are you not coming with ?rs .^ " asked De Favras, a chivalrous young nobleman, so devoted to the throne that it was said of him " he was more royalist than royalty." " You will have no time to make a second toilet, for Her Majesty has ordered the sledges at two o'clock, and means to start directly after dinner." " My friend, I am only here as an outsider," answered Montarbas, looking down on his own costly but sad-coloured suit with a smile. " Court favour is like sunshine, it cannot penetrate if you run into the shade. I shall walk through, make my bow, observe how many tiers have been added to the Queen's head-dress in my absence, and while you, Marquis, are standing vmcovered in the cold, I shall be back at Paris." " Paris ! " repeated the other. " I understand — some new attraction. Will you never reform, Count, and leave these follies for the great game of life ? " "Bah ! the great game. Marquis. What is it ? What is any game but a mere question of stakes ? A man with a iriillion francs in* his pocket does not care to win forty or fifty crowns. Show me how to sweep the board, and I will listen with both ears. In the meantime it is not worth while to be a lord-in-waiting, a comptroller of the household, or a private secretary with nothing to do. So I am going back to Paris. I can amuse myself in Paris." " Nobody better," said his friend, wliile flie doors opened, and a general rush was made for the queen's bedchamber. E 50 ROSINE. At the sovereign's levee, as the word implied, majesty was supposed to get out of bed in view of its admiring subjects, but in the present instance the royal toilet had been com- pleted ere the courtiers were admitted, though a few finishing touches were put to the queen's hair as a matter of form, while the highest nobility passed before her with their morning greeting. To these she replied affably and good- humouredly, nay, even in a tone of levity, on which her enemies put the worst construction, though her natural grace and dignity never failed to command respect, and he would have been a bold subject, even for a Frenchman, who had ventured to presume on Her Majesty's kind looks and brilliant smile. Tall and beautiful, she still retained that simplicity and charm of manner which so fascinated the nation when first they welcomed their Dauj)hin's young bride on the German frontier ; but those deep grey eyes wore a sad and scared expression now : trouble and anxiety had carved their lines in that pure, pearl-like face, and threads of silver already streaked the profusion of rich brown hair, raised according to the fashion of the time, tier upon tier, above her forehead, surmounted by a super- structure of lace, gauze, and crimson velvet, lapped in a string of pearls worth more than a hundred thousand francs. She loved jewels, this queenly woman, and womanly queen. 8he loved dancing, holiday-making, mirth, splen- dour, and amusement ; but she loved her people best of all, and they hated her, with a deep, deadly hatred, hereafter to be quenched in blood. . As the Marquis de Favras presented himself she accosted him with one of her winning smiles. " We expect you at Trianon after dinner, Marquis," she said ; " I see by your dress you have received an invita- tion. But listen ; I wish you to follow in the sledge next VERSAILLES. 61 mine. If I am upset in the snow you shall have the honour of picking me up." He looked intensely gratified. "It is the only honour you could accord, Madame, which I do not desire. The danger is too terrible." " The more danger, the more honour ; and I thought, Marquis, you were such a paladin — the very flower of chivalry." He bowed low. "Every Frenchman," said he, " is a paladin in the service of your Majesty. I am but one of a thousand — only a link in the chain." " And the chain ? Are there many links ? " " Every day forges a fresh one, Madame. It is long enough to encircle the palace now." " I thank you, Marquis ; it is a chain of gold." " Pardon, Madame, it is better. It is a chain of steel." " I understand. Enough, Monsieur le Marquis, you can pass on." She did understand, only too clearly, and her blood ran cold while she returned his low, devoted obeisance with majestic courtesy. The Marquis de Favras, young, chivalrous and romantic, but prescient of evils that older and wiser heads seemed to ignore, had set himself the task of forming a secret body-guard to watch over the safety of the royal family, prepared, at a moment's notice, to defend it with their lives. In this legion of honour were enrolled some of the noblest names in France, and at first, while the idea was fresh, and the enthusiasm of loyalty it called forth in the ascendant, prodigies of valour would, no doubt, have been perfonned on occasion, and these silken lords would have died by scores, like their ironclad ancestors, in the cause of their sovereign. But excitement is not valour, as fever is not strength. However exalted their rank, however noble E 2 52 ROSINE. their aim, good discipline, and, indeed, good pay, are required to keep together any body of men who have a common object in view ; and without the backbone of strength and cohesion afforded by practical and judicious organisation, all such associations dwindle down to inefficiency, as snow melts in the sun, from a mere innate principle of decay. When Montarbas was canvassed as a promising young royalist to join this band of heroes, he asked two pertinent questions — " Have you cannon, and a military chest ? " " Neither," answered De Favras, brimming with loyalty and enthusiasm ; " we know how to use our swords, and our purses are at the disposal of their majesties." " I make you my compliments then," replied Count Ar- nold ; " you cannot silence a battery with your rapiers, and, when the king and queen have spent your money, how are you to keep a hundred men together in the field ? " " Yet you are a Montarbas of Montarbas," said the Marquis, with a sigh. " Alas ! for France ; there is neither hope nor faith left." " Nor charity ! " answered the other, " except that which begins and ends at home. Depend upon it, my friend, the time is not far off when it will be every man for himself, and the devil for us all ! " Such opinions, however, were not to be proclaimed in the Queen's chamber, and Montarbas made his bow to her ISIajesty, with an air of devotion and loyalty not to have been exceeded by a knight of the olden time. Nevertheless, in such a society as that of Versailles, every courtier's sentiments, however discreetly kept in the back- ground, were sure to be canvassed and misjudged. Although the above conversation was strictly private, although the Marquis was too honourable, the Count too discreet to breathe a syllable of its purport, yet enough leaked out to throw VERSAILLES. 53 suspicion, presumed rather than expressed, on the loyalty of the latter, who began to be considered as inclined to that party against which De Favras was making his futile preparations — a party to be stamped out if weak and help- less, to be conciliated if, as seemed too obvious, it was gaining strength in town and country day by day. The king was a bad politician, though a good locksmith ; and Marie Antoinette had long since fomid that it required a steadier hand than hers to hold the balance between oppos- ing factions, who hesitated at nothing foul or fair in pursuit of their own ignoble ends. Yet, when she gave herself time to think, she did her best. Having received De Favras with unconcealed favour, it was necessary to be more than usually gracious to Montarbas. She had not inherited her imperial mother's tact and pru- dence. Cold and calculating Maria Theresa never committed herself, but Marie Antoinette, impressionable and impulsive, was disposed to overact her part. "Welcome to Court, Count Arnold!" said she, with a kinder smile than the dignity of a sovereign usually bestows on a subject. "We expected you back from Montarbas a week ago, and had almost given you up. Madame de Polignac vowed you had been eaten by your own wolves in the snow. But I have hunted in Rambouillet, and know its attractions, so I had no fears for your safety." lie bowed low, and glanced anxiously in her face. The Court knew everj'thing. Could she have heard about Rosine ? "WTiat did it all mean ? Her eyes met his own 80 kindly that he began to lose his head. " Nothing but necessity would have prevented my return- ing to wait upon your Majesty," he answered. " Your faithful servants, Madame, never feel really to live but in the sunshine of your presence." " You seem to have done very well without it, Mon- 54 ROSINE. sieur," she lanp^hed, " even in this wintry weather. You do not look like a flower that has been fading in the shade. But the wolves. I have never hunted a wolf. Tell me, how many have you killed since the snow began to fall?" "If your Majesty would honour my poor forest with a visit," he replied, " you would see a wolf-chase to the greatest advantage. They should die by scores at your feet, as their lord would be proud to do if it afforded you the slightest amusement ! " " More unlikely things have come to pass," said the Queen, surprised perhaps rather than gratified at the effect of a few sweet words. "The skin of a black wolf would make a warm apron for my sledge ! " " Will your Majesty deign to accept one from the most devoted of your servants?" he exclaimed, bowing once more till his lips touched her dress ; and adding in a voice so low and so full of meaning, that it became an insolence : "When it wraps the most beautiful lady in Europe, will you not, Madame, condescend to remember me ?" In how changed a tone came the cold and cutting answer — " Certainly, Monsieur ; and the more so that you seem to have forgotten yourself. You may pass on. I shall not expect to see you again while the Court remains at Versailles." CHAPTER VII. BREAKERS AHEAD. "You may pass on!" The words would not die out of his ears, woidd not lose themselves in the himi of voices, the shouting of lackeys, grinding of wheels, or ring of firelocks, as the Swiss guards relieved each other at their posts. They stimg, they maddened him, they seemed to poison his very blood. What had come to him ? Was he awake or dreaming? Could he be the same Count Arnold, who used to boast that woman had never flouted him but in pique, nor looked harshly in his face but from jealousy and excess of love? Was it possible that this Austrian archduchess could be insensible to his homage, and stand on her dignity forsooth, as Queen of France ? She, whom he had seen so frank and unbending with scores of others, his inferiors in rank, station, intelligence, above all in charm of manner and good looks ! She should pay for it, and dearly ! She had wounded his pride, outraged his self-love, insulted him before the whole Court. She would regret it some day, too late, when, as leader of the popidar party, he should con- strain this imperious and scornful princess to wait humbly on his wiU. Yes ! that was the side to choose ! There was a career that promised prizes worth the winning to men of courage and talent, reckless too, like himself, as having little left to lose, and wholly unburdened with scruples of right and wrong. 56 EOSINE. Besides, he was noble, and they would receive him with open arms. The title of aristocrat, though they might use it as a reproach, was in truth a sure passjDort to their favour. He was eloquent, he would speak in their Chamber ; he was brave, he would lead their columns. What should prevent his becoming the sovereign dictator, the absolute president of a people who had declared themselves free ? Cromwell did it ; and Cromwell after all was a mere burgess, a jilain-featured, hard-headed islander, with none of the brilliant qualities that seemed essential to political success ; and of which he, Montarbas, was gifted with so desirable a share ! Oliver had refused the crown of England. Was it quite impossible that the changes and chances of the great game should inscribe his own name on the page of history, as Arnold I., King of France ? Nothing is so rapid as a dream, nor so improbable. Mont- arbas had arrived at this preposterous conclusion ere he reached the outer courtyard of the palace. The sentries at the gate, who saluted him as he came in, were not yet re- lieved ; but this French noble of a hundred ancestors, who had passed their post half-an-hour ago a haughty royalist, was already changed to a fierce, vindictive demagogue, only desirous of abandoning the sacred traditions of his race for a hope of impossible aggrandisement and unworthy revenge. He returned their stiff and soldierlike recognition with something of the good-fellowship that tends to relaxation of discipline ; and the change had been wrought in five minutes, by no more complex machinery than a few thoughtless words from a woman, who was ever too prone to act on impulse in all she said and did. Count Arnold threw himself into his sledge, drew its furs up to his chin, and, notwithstanding these newborn predilec- tions for liberty, equality, and fraternity, bade his coachman "breakers ahead.'' drive liome to Paris, with, a curse tliat honest fellow, waiting patiently in the cold, b}^ no means deserved. Gliding softly through the streets of Versailles he could not fail to remark the discontent that prevailed amongst its poorer inhabitants. Cold and hunger had set their stamp on every second face — nay, in the eyes of many lurked the wolfish expression that tells of misery unable to endure more, and thirsting to quench its wrongs in blood. A little child ran out of its cheerless, tireless home to spit at him as he went by. A brawny ruffian's whisper in his comrade's ear elicited a loud, harsh laugh, in which there were tones of scorn, hatred, and defiance, but none of mirth. A bare- armed woman, with hair streaming over her shoulders, stood at the door of a wineshop, shrieking, gesticulating, calKng down imprecations on his head. Groups of people blocked the road, and hardly made way for his sledge to pass, hurling foul names and insults after the " aristocrat " as he drove on. " You have been to the bakehouse," growled one. " You have seen the baker this morning. Did you ask him to give us bread?" "Bread !" shrieked another. "You must ask the baker's wife for bread. She makes it all and she tal?fes it all. She will eat up our very children rather than want for herself ! " " She is an aristocrat ! " " She is a tyrant ! " " She is an ogress ! Do^^ai with the Austrian ! " The evil spirit that had entered with her rebuke got the mastery of him now — "DowTiwith the Austrian!" he repeated, rising in his sledge and waving his hat. They gave him a yell rather than a cheer, and for a moment, ere the hideous voices died away behind him, he deceived himself into the belief tliai lie was a true patriot, willing to risk life and fortune in the cause of his starving fellow-countrymen. As he neared tho 58 EOSINE. gates of Paris his speedy horses and fast-gliding sledge over- took scores of straggling pedestrians ; first, by twos and threes, soon by tens and twenties, trooping towards the capital — men and women looking wild and expectant, hurry- ing on with as much stir, but less purpose than a swarm of bees about a hive. Their talk seemed but a succession of questions without answers ; and he noticed that, like the tracks to the lion's den in the fable, all went the same way He met but one passenger coming towards Versailles — a tall, dashing-looking fellow, richly, if not neatly dressed, canter- ing through the deep snow with an easy seat and bold style of riding that stamped him a foreigner from the other side of one Channel at least. Though the wind blew in his face, and the thermometer stood many degrees below freezing, this cheerful horseman's coat was thrown open at the chest, the ends of a lace cravat streamed over his broad shoulders, abundant rich brown locks waved under the jaunty hat set carelessly on one side of his good-looking head, and a heavy gold chain swinging from his watch-pocket, jingled and clashed at every stride. His spurs were loose, so were his girths, his reins, his seat, his clothes — nay, his very joints seemed looser than other people's, and there hung about the whole man an air of free, good-humoured self-reliance and self-satisfaction, that betrayed his nationality even to those who had not heard his name. " Fitzgerald ! " exclaimed Montarbas, causing the sledge to be pulled up with a jerk. " Welcome back, my wild horseman of the West ! I thought the duel in Hainault had entailed banishment from France." " They forgave me when they heard he wasn't killed entirely," replied the other, with a cordial grasp of his friend's hand. " I shot him in the stomach, d'ye see ? Just where I meant to hit him. It's the vulnerable place. Count, in a Saxon." ''breakers ahead." 59 "In the stomach ! and yet the Englishman lived." "Lived! "Why wouldn't he live? It spoilt his watch though, and the ball fell out at the knee of his breeches as flat as one of his own buttons." " And you, my friend ; did you escape unhurt ?" " Missed me clean ! His ball took the lock off my pistol, ran up my arm, and came out at the shoulder between shirt and skin, neither of them a ha'porth the worse. He is a pretty shot, but he dwells too long." " That was enough. Honour was satisfied." "Faith, there was no honour to satisf}^ after all. We made a mistake. Somehow it was the wrong man." " And do you mean, seriously, my friend, that you en- dangered your position at Court, and took a long journey by post across the frontier, in order to put yourself up as a target at twelve paces to a fellow you knew nothing about. I shall never imder stand you Irishmen." " We are always ready to explain ourselves," replied Fitz- gerald, stiffly ; but added, with a laugh, " 'Twas the fault of his godfathers and godmothers, not mine. Wait till I tell ye. 'Twas John Thomson I shot in the watch-pocket, ye see ; but 'twas Tom Johnson I horse- whipped coming out from the faro- table. Any way, they've both had satisfac- tion." " Tonson ! Jonson ! What names ! Yes ; it was verv excusable. And are you going on to Versailles, to make your peace at Court ? " "If I can get there soon enough ; but I came into the world a little too late, that's the truth. Count, and I'm always in a gallop, trying to make up for lost time. Faith ! I sometimes wish I hadn't been born at all, or waited for the next time round, then I'd have been my own younger brother, d'ye see? He's a priest, little Denis, and got a isnug berth enough." 60 ROSINE. '' You have the good bay horse there," observed the Count, nqt attempting to follow out the above train of thought. "I shall never forget that five-foot paling he leaped so gallantly when we killed the black stag close to Fon- taineblcau." Fitzgerald laid his ungloved hand on his favourite's neck. " He never failed me yet," was his reply. " It's my belief he has wings on his feet, and that's why I call him Peg — you understand, short for Pegasus. Leap ! there's nothing here, nor in Ireland neither, that can touch him for leaping. So long as you hold him, he'll stay in the air ! " Montarbas stared, scanning for the hundredth time, with an amused astonishment, this characteristic specimen of a nation whose nature no Frenchman could hope to fathom, with all its antagonistic components — its nobility, its extra- vagance, its fun, vagaries, recklessness and romance, its courage, its desjDondency, its melancholy, and its mirth. Fitzgerald had made himself a reputation in the fashionable world of Paris, by his good looks, high spirits, feats of per- sonal daring, particularly on horseback, such as that in the royal stag-hunt to which Montarbas alluded, his joviality with men, his politeness to women, his humorous and original conversation — above all, by the magnificence of his surroundings, and an unbridled expenditure, that excited the curiosity of royalty itself. " They talk of nothing but the Fitzgerald carriages, the Fitzgerald horses, the Fitzgerald liveries, the luxuries of your hotel, the value of your plate, the splendour of your entertainments," said Marie Antoinette, when this sumptuous stranger was j)resented to her by Count d'Artois. "Even the King asked me but yesterday, 'Who is this Monsieur Fitzgerald of whom I hear fables like the Arabian Nights, who is flooding the streets of my cajjital with his goldP' What shall I tell him, Monsieur?" ' ' BREAKERS .AHEAD . " 61 He bowed low. If he struo:gled with a smile, all traces of it had disappeared when he rose upright. " I am miworthy of your Majesty's interest," said he ; "and the himiblest of candidates for your Majesty's favour. The truth is soon told : I am nothing- more than an Irish gentleman, living in France to eco- nomise ! " "And you are fresh from Paris?" said Montarbas ; " whereas I left it early this morning. You can tell me the latest news." " There's a free fight going on in the streets this minute," answered the other ; " and as many broken heads as you woxild want to see in a fair. That's no news in these days, since bread has gone up five sous in the pound ! You'll have to come and stay with me in Ireland, Coimt. There will be nothing to eat here very soon. In the meantime, I'll not detain you another minute. I only wish I could go back, and take my share in the diversion ! " The good horse sprang to his master's voice and his master's hand. Ere Montarbas had ordered his coachman to drive on, Fitzgerald was nearly out of sight, galloping towards Versailles. To reach his hotel, the Count's nearest road lay through one of the principal streets of the capital. He was surprised, and perhaps, in his craving for fresh excitement, not dis- pleased, to find its extremity occupied by a detachment of French guards, under command of an acquaintance, who courteously forbade him to pass. " Is there any real fighting, Eugene?" asked Montarbas. " I thought I heard a shot fired just now, as I drove through the barrier?" " They are throwing about a few sugarplums," answered Eugene, carelessly smoothing a young moustache. " I have sent some wounded men to the rear. JUit it's nothing of 62 ROSIXE. consequence; you can get to j^our hotel, Count, without inconvenience the other way." The other way meant a bystreet little frequented, but by foot-passengers. At the corner of this bystreet was a baker's shop, and at his own door stood the baker, white with flour, wild with rage and fear, trembling, gesticulating, pointing to his closed shutters, and trying to pacify a knot of people, that seemed gathering to a crowd. "What do you desire, my friends?" urged the baker. " You have no money — I have no bread ! See, my shop is closed. How am I to make loaves without meal ? How am I to heat the oven without firewood ?" The mob increased every moment. Three or four men, ragged and coatless, who seemed to act in concert, moved through the midst. One of these put himself forward. " Here is plenty of wood ! " said he, laying hold of the shutters. " Let us have these down, citizens, and see if the little shopkeeper speaks truth !" " Well said, citizen ! " exclaimed a score of voices ; while the crowd surged to and fro, every surge bringing them nearer the shop door. Its owner's courage was roused by a threatened destruction of his property, and, standing before his shutters, the baker made as if he would show fight. Then the ragged men closed in, hustling him back against his window, and one of them caught him by the throat. A woman's voice yelled out, " Kill him, and have done with it ! We are famished — we want bread for ourselves and our children ! " " You have no children. Ton- ton ! " laughed a bricklayer in the crowd, who seemed to know this fury well. " What matter ? 'tis all one," was the shrill and savage answer. " I am hungry, I am thirsty. I could eat a child '' BREAKERS AHEAD." 63 myself, and drink its blood. Down with the baker ! He is an aristocrat in his heart." "Down with the baker! down with all bakers! " echoed the rioters, and a rush was made at the unhappy man, like the rush of wolves on their prey. At that moment the Count's sledge stopped within ten paces, while Father Ignatius, coming from the opjDOsite direction, strode courageously through the mob to the baker's rescue, and wrenched his assailant's hand from the poor man's throat. He was not much too soon, the ^dctim's brow had already turned black, and his eyes were beginning to roU. Cowed by the priest's prompt interference, the ruffian would have slunk back into the crowd, but that the sneer of a scavenger's boy, a half -naked imp in his teens, goaded him to assert himself. " 'Tis thy director, Guillot," squeaked the urchin. " Go down on thy knees then, my son, and he will give thee absolution." Thus stimulated, Guillot, who was more than half drunk, turned upon the priest, and demanded, with a hideous impre- cation, " who he was ? and by what right he interfered ? " " By the right of my Master," answered Father Ignatius, in a loud, clear voice. " I am his servant, and so are you." " Do^\^l with all masters ! " yelled the crowd, " down with the priests ! down with the Church ! down with all the world ! " But these clauses were somewhat too sweeping, especially for the female rioters, and presently a reaction setting in, several voices cried " Long live the Church ; long live the priest ! Let the good father go his way." But again the little wretch in scavenger's rags must needs interfere. "Priest! " laughed this imp of miscliief, "he is 110 more a priest than T am. Loc^k a1 him ! AVhciv are his 64 ROSINE. beads ? Where is his breviary ? He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. An aristocrat in disguise. Strip him, and you will find a court suit beneath his cassock." They circled round with a howl of rage, ti score of dirty hands were already clutching at his dress, when the Father's eye met that of Montarbas standing upright in the sledge for a better view of this tumultuous scene. It betrayed neither fear nor wavering, yet was there something in it that appealed to the Count's manhood, and caused him to leap down with such energy as clove through the mob and brought him in three strides to the priest's side. " I know him ! " he vociferated ; " he speaks truth. I will answer for him with my life. He is no courtier, I tell you ; I am sure of it. I, who speak to you. I was at Versailles an hour ago myself." It seemed a bold avowal to such an audience at such a moment, but it produced the effect he desired. The rioters paused to parley, and let go of their victim, in whose arm Montarbas instantly linked his own. " Then >/ou are a courtier," they shouted, " and you do not fear to confess it here in face of the sovereign people ! " " Make your escape, Monsieur," whispered the Covuit in his companion's ear. " I know how to manage this rabble. I will keep them in parley while you slip off unobserved." " My son, you have saved a fellow-creature's life," answered the other, and glided mmoticed to the outskirts of the crowd. " I was a courtier this morning, citizens," said Montarbas, taking off his hat with the confident air of one who addresses a body of supporters. " What I have seen to-day has deter- mined me to be a courtier no longer. I belong to the people now. I am a citizen ; a patriot. I am one of your- selves. See ! I pull off my cross of St. Louis, and trample it under my feet." "breakers ahead." 65 ^ATiile lie spoke lie vrrenclied the decoration from his breast and threw it on the pavement. There rose a faint cheer of applause, quickly drowned in howls of scorn, hatred, and derision. "Idiot!" exclaimed a voice behind him, "have you ten lives in your jiocket, besides the one in your body, that you commit such follies ? Enter then, in heaven's name, or you will be torn in pieces, for they think you are afraid of them now!" Ere he could turn round he was pulled back through an oaken door, clamped in iron, that shut to with a bang. It was so strong and thick as to deaden the yells of rage and disappointment that filled the street, and he found himself in a dark passage holding a woman by the hand. CHAPTER VIII. THE WOLVERINE. Two slender fingers closed on the Count's wrist, and a low, clear voice whispered in his ear — " Good ! 3'our pulse beats full and calm. We want leaders ; you are of the right stuff to make them. Come upstairs with me." He mounted a few steps, still guided by the same hand, and passing through another door, less strongly fastened than the first, Montarbas found himself in a sufiiciently well- furnished apartment, face to face with the woman who had surely saved his life. His pidse, so steady in danger, throbbed wildly now, and he started with surprise, she was so like the queen ! The same height, the same undulating figure, the same graceful carriage of the head and shoulders, nay, the same pure, transparent complexion, and wealth of soft brown hair. But here the resemblance ceased. Scanning her features attentively the Count observed that they were harder, if more finely cut, than those of Marie Antoinette. The mouth, with its compressed resolute lips, its strong white teeth, denoted savage energy and dauntless force of will, while the light grey eyes and keen-contracted pupils, betrayed under their languid eyelids the dormant ferocity of a beast of prey. She was one of those women, unsexed by the depravity of THE WOLVERINE. 67 the times, wlio urged to guilty excesses the leaders of the Revolution, and already in her bloodthirsty counsels, patient vigilance, and vindictive hatred, had earned from her jaarty the nickname of " The Wolverine." Cruel, watchful, untiring, like that scourge of the forest, there seemed no limit to her endurance, no satiety in her revenge. Yet was she a woman after all. She could not bear to see a handsome aristocrat, like Count Arnold, torn to pieces by the mob when it was in her jDower to save him with the turn of a finger. More especially as the tool seemed fitted to her purpose, and she promised herseH some amuse- ment in shaping it for future use. He was always polite. He stood uncovered on the threshold, and thanked her with a careless smile. " It is for you to disj)ose of me henceforth, Mademoiselle," said he. " You have saved me from death, and by all rules of warfare I belong to you, body and bones." Faint and far-off shouting could still be heard in the street. She raised her hand to bespeak his attention. "Listen," she said, " do you hear the roaring of the waves from which I extricated you ? Do j'ou believe they can be stemmed by a handful of cavalry and a company of Swiss guards?" "Not without a fieldpicce or two," he answered cjoiically. " Scarcely, perhaps, by a park of artillery. Frankly, Made- moiselle, I think they will soon mount to a tide that shall sweep all before it." " Do not call me Mademoiselle. I am a citizen. Arnold de Montarbas, I know your name. Call me by mine — Leonie Armand." " Leonie Armand ! then you arc Coupe-tetc's sister ? Faith ! the affair complicates itself at every luiii." " I am Coupe-tete's sister, and I am proud of my brother. Tliere ! lie is a worker, a watcher, a plotter, an excellent F 2 68 EOSINE. subordinate, but he is not a leader. Ah, if only I were a man!" " You might lead all France by the nose ! You may lead me wherever you like now ! " "Bah ! you are talking- nonsense. Count Arnold. Do you imagine I pulled you out of that turmoil by the ears, for the sake of your good looks ?" " And my good character combined : yes, I rather flattered myself it was so, Mademoiselle. I beg pardon, Leonie." The tender inflection of voice as it dwelt on her name sank pleasantly in her ear. She might have known, had she reflected, how impossible it was for Montarbas to speak to any woman at any time, without giving her to understand that she had excited an interest in his feeling-s. " You are jesting ! " she exclaimed, with a softer ex- pression in her bright grey eyes, '* and I am in earnest. I am always in earnest, because I am ambitious. You too, are you not ambitious ?" He looked very comely, she thought, this aristocrat, as he raised his head and his eyes brightened. "Ambitious ! " he repeated. " Yes, if ambition be the love of power. Not for its wealth : I have spent so much that it seems no hardship to be penniless. Not for its pomp : a king is none the more a king because his crown is carried before him on a cushion of red velvet. Not even for the fame it hands down to a generation I shall never know ; but for its own sake, for gratification of the pride and self- love that would fain dispose of man's life and woman's honour, at the caprice of an irresponsible will." "You are frank. Monsieur," she said, with a glance of admiration in the handsome, excited face. " And the woman who could help you to this power, what would you give her in return?" "What does one always give a woman in return for THE WOLYERINE. G9 sacrifices?" he laughed. "Inconstancy, I suppose, and ingratitude." "If I were the woman, you would never have the chance," she answered. "You should die by inj hand before I suffered you to play me false ! " Then, smiling at her own vehemence, added more gently, "It will not be so between you and mc. Listen, I am your good genius. I can show you the way to triumphs such as you never imagined in your x;Ireams. And when you are the idol of the people, the liberator of France, give me a simple * Thank you, Leonie,' and it will be recompense enough." Her enthusiasm was catching. He pressed her hand to his lips, and wondered to find it so firm and strong, with large blue veins like a man's. She drew it away hastily, rudely. " This is trifling ! " said she, " and we are about no child's play now. Listen, Mont- arbas, while I exj)lain to you our plan." His ears were quick ; they had already caught the tread of footsteps on the stairs. "Pardon, Leonie," he interrupted. " If they are intended for my exclusive benefit, permit me to say your confidence had better be postponed. At this moment there are listeners outside the door." "They must not find you with me," she whispered. "It would spoil everything. Go into that room, they will never think to look for you there." " It is the bedchan;bcr of Mademoiselle," said he, turning round in the doorway with a laugh ; " this is indeed a jjroof of confidence." "Silence!" she replied, "and do as I bid you." Tlicn with a rapid adjustment of hairpins and survey of her hand- .sorae person in the mirror, she bade them enter, in a loud, clear voice, and drew back the bolt to admit her visitors. Montarbas was not without his share of curiosit}' ; and indeed the position seemed to justify every possible pre- 70 ROSINE. caution. lie had no scruples in watcliing his hostess from behind the half-closed door. A start of surprise it was impossible to control had nearly betrayed him when he saw her embrace of welcome accepted and returned by Rosine, who marched into the apartment as if quite at home, followed by Pierre Legros, in a leather apron, carrying a basket of tools on his arm. The girl looked fresher and handsomer than ever, bright- ened by happiness like a flower by sunshine; and Count Arnold, who thought he had thoroughly worn out all such follies, felt his heart stir with thrills of pique, longing, and admiration that he mistook for love. It was "This sweet Eosine!" "This dear Leonie!" " Our good Pierre ! " Then the kissing and hand- shaking began again, while the hidden visitor made his opening a little wider, to witness the proceedings at ease. "But when is it to be?" asked the Wolverine, seating Posine beside her, while Pierre set his basket on the floor. " I have done my part. I have prepared a modest little ' corbeille.' I imagine all the delay now is with the bride." "You must ask Pierre," said Rosine, with a blush. Pierre shifted from one leg to the other, looked at the floor, the ceiling, the windows, and repeated " You must ask Rosine." "Do you know that you talk nonsense, my good friends?" returned the Wolverine, taking a hand of each. " I look on you as my children, for you are but a pair of babies, you simple country folk, in a wicked town like this, and you ought to take my advice. My brother is dearer to me than any one on eartli. You saved him from outrage. You, Pierre, with your honest courage and your broad shoulders. Do you think I shall ever forget it ?" The Count began to understand behind his door. If, some day, he should go back to Montarbas, he thought, there THE WOLVERINE. 71 would be a little accoimt to settle with Gaspard and big Contoi ! "I only did my duty as a Christian," said Pierre. "I mean as one citizen should act by another." Leonie laughed. "He is learning his lesson, Rosine," said she. " We shall make a patriot of him in time." But Rosine looked at her lover, crossed herself with a shudder, and turned pale. "I must have a place fit to offer her, Mademoiselle," he continued slowly and deliberately, as having well-considered the position. "A young girl like that should come home to a well-furnished apartment, with firewood, bedding, curtains, a wardrobe, cut glass, cups and saucers, such as I had under my thatched-roof at Rambouillet." "And that is why; I ask how you came to leave it?" demanded Leonie. Pierre hesitated, looked to Posine for encouragement, failed to catch her averted eye, and took the plunge. " Mademoiselle will permit me to speak the truth, and call things by their right names. Our marriage had arranged itself, and was as good as fixed, when, by ill-luck, for it was no fault of hers, Rosine attracted the notice of our landlord- She is a beautiful girl, Mademoiselle — fresh, innocent, and — " " I see," replied Leonie. " Was he young then, this aristocrat, and — and dangerous?" " I know not about the danger," said Pierre, with darken- ing brows. " But I love Rosine, I, who speak to you ; and I would rather behold her laid out for the grave than in the power of Count Montarbas." The Wolverine winced, and glanced towards her bedroon) door. " Count Montarbas ! " she repeated, and to save her life she could not have repressed the exclamation. He listened eagerly. Here, surely, in this very quarter of the town ! It would be his own fault now if she escaped 72 EOSINE. ugciiu ! Tlic girl mig-ht fall into his hands at any moment. Piei're continued in the same sober tones — " That is why I brought her to Paris, in oi-der to lose our- selves in the crowd of this great capital. That is why I took an apartment for herself and her grandmother, here in this very street, near you and Coupe-tete, who are our only friends, and lodged myself where I can see her, and watch over her day by day. I am strong. I work hard. Soon, in a few weeks, I shall have earned enough to make us a home. Then we shall be married. Mademoiselle and her good brother will assist at the wedding. There are no serfs here as in the provinces. "We are free citizens, we, work- ing-men of Paris ; and let me see the aristocrat who will dare to molest her then ! " There was an evil smile on the Coimt's face while he listened, and vowed a wicked vow, to be registered in hell, that he would leave no stone unturned till he had made himself sure of his prey. Glancing towards Leonie, notwithstanding his own pre- occupation, he was struck by her discomposure. She, too, smiled, and at Rosine, but beneath her smile lurked the cruel expectant glare of the Wolverine waiting for its victim. He was ready of perception, versed in matters of intrigue, and not deficient in self-esteem. His busy brain jumped to conclusions at a moment. " Can it be," he thought, " that this woman cares for me already ? She did not hate Rosine five minutes ago as she hates her now. Yes, she kisses her on both cheeks as they take leave, and I see in her eyes that she would like to tear the girl with her teeth. How handsome she is too, and graceful ! How like the Queen as she steps across the room. Hold ! I have an idea : if it is as I think, and I can only play my hand with skill and boldness, I shall win on every card in the game ! " THE WOLVERINE. 73 "WTien her visitors were gone, and lie emerged from his hiding-place, the Count spared none of the arts in which he was so proficient to make a favourable impression on his hostess. He laughed, he trifled, he flattered, he would not enter on serious conversation, but went away, as she thought, far too soon, with a laughing request, in which there was yet less of jest than earnest, that she would soon afford him an excuse to come and see her again. CHAPTER IX. BROTHER AND SISTER. " He is an aristocrat, I tell you ! Have we not traitors enough in the camp already?" "Who then?" " Well ; I don't know that we have discovered any yet, but there must be some nevertheless. Does it not stand to reason, Leonie ? Every man is looking out for himself." "And you?" " I am a true patriot. I ask but to be employed by the Central Committee for the salvation of my country — at a thousand francs a month. France before everything ! " " Of course ; that is always understood ! You are easily satis- fied, my brother. You have shown yourseK a good patriot, but you do not see very far. Such an imdertaking as ours will not move on of itself. It is like a little child that pre- serves its balance well enough while it staggers across the floor, but so soon as it stops it tumbles down. We must keep the machine in motion. You and your comrades seem contented to draw your salaries and let it stand still." "You know best, Leonie. And yet it was not for my want of zeal they gave me the name of Coupe-tete." " You are excellent in your own department, my brother. Not one of us has more tact, more discretion. Nobody can make so effective a speech. Without compliment, your eloquence is a torrent that sweeps all before it. But listen. If BEOTHER AND SISTER. 75 you were obliged to go do^VI^ into the streets and lead a column of citizens against the Swiss Guards, the King's Household, what shall I say ? a battery of nine-pounder guns. How then, Jacques? Would not the j)eople discover that their little Coupe-tete was more daring in word than deed?" " I love not the report of firearms, I confess. The noise shatters my nerves, and the smell of powder turns me sick. You know that when I was a child, after the Austrian took me away from my home to imprison me in her own apart- ments, they gave me a plaything musket that exploded and scorched my face. The system never recovers after such a shock, and it is unfair to reproach me. I am brave,. Leonie, but not under fire. Men are gifted with different kinds of courage. I love not hard knocks in the present, but I have no fear of consequences for the future." " That is well. There is, indeed, a future of storms before us ere we ride into clear weather on a flood-tide at last. Who shall pilot the ship ? Ah, my brother, that is the question ! One has valour, but wants discretion. Another has all necessary qualities but honesty. A third is ready to break every promise, and denounce every friend, to attain power. And a fourth would sell the mother that bore him for gold." " But this aristocrat, Leonie — this Count Arnold, who begins to call himself Citizen Montarbas, does he possess any of the qualities, good or bad, that you have enumerated? " " He possesses them all. He might even be honest, I think, in a great crisis. He is brave, or I am much mis- taken ; wary and cunning, I feel sure. Truth and friend- ship would never stand in the way of his advancement ; and if he has a mother, I have no doubt ho would sacrifice her, or any other woman, to his convenience without a scruple." The Wolverine spoke as if such a character must needs be the ideal of manly perfection, and lier brother listened 76 ROSINE. with the puzzled oxprcssioTi so often to be seen on a man's face when lie has induced a Avoman to explain herself, and cannot make her out after all. They were together in the apartments where Moutarbas had been concealed — apartments with which the Count was very familiar now, for he had paid Leonie many a visit since, and bestirred himself, not unsuccessfully, to kindle a spark of interest in that hard white breast. Already the moment of his arrival had become the turning-point of her day ; already she had learned to speculate how he would look and what he would say ; to anticipate unreasonable pleasure in his conversation ; to experience a reaction of unreasonable despondency when he went away. She was a Avoman of proud, strong nature, in whom the affections had hitherto been wholly subservient to the will, and to whom it seemed an impossibility against which it was absurd to be on guard, that sentiment should ever assume the mastery over common sense. Perhaps the very novelty of her position made it the more attractive ; nor did the draught with which she was as yet only dallying, seem less tempting because it was dashed by a strong corrective of shame. That she had fallen in love with Montarbas she would have been the first person indignantly to deny ; yet did she not conceal from herself that she suffered from one symptom at least of the disorder — in keen pangs of jealousy when she looked on the face or heard the name of Rosine. Even an indifferent woman seems gifted with some faculty that discovers, as if by instinct, the inclination of her natural prey towards her natural enemy ; but male duplicity has never yet succeeded in concealing from her who feels an interest in it, the interest its own ingratitude is base enough to feel in another. She had resolved to keep them apart. However uncertain seemed the future, on this point she would never waver ; but BEOTHER AND SISTER. 77 tlioiigti a hard temperament and keen sense of the ludicrous afforded her a certain cjTiical amusement in thwarting the inquiries about the girl he was not ashamed to make in her presence, this pastime, like many other so-called pleasures in which the feelings are excited, was sadly qualified with pain. Nevertheless, by whatever means Coimt Arnold might succeed in hunting dowTi poor innocent E,osine, she swore a great oath he should have no assistance from Leonie Armand. She used often to ridicule the power of love as compared with ambition. She was more than ever ambitious, she told herself of late, wilfully ignoring the consciousness that her ambition was now for him. She called it patriotism, good generalship, wise management, forethought, common sense. She never admitted it was a woman's merest weakness that bade her canvass, intrigue, deceive, move heaven and earth to make Montarbas a leader of that desperate faction which hoped ere long to be the governing power in France. He was so brave, she argued, so eloquent, so persuasive, so versatile, so reckless of consequences ; above all, so eager to rise. In the Comicil, in the Chamber, in the field, when others shrank from action, he would come boldly to the front. He seemed born to be a leader, and it was her mission, she declared, so to guide him that he should not miss his destiny. " Yes, my brother," she resumed, " I have never ceased to insist that the man we want at the head of our party must possess brain, heart, courage, everything but con- science. We have been preparing our strength for weeks and months; it is time to prove it at last. This Assembly of ours will be no Parliament of the INIiddle Ages, convoked by a Bourbon to congratulate him on his sovereignty, fill his purse with gold, and dissolve when he puts on his hat. No, we have had enough of these pageantries, these harle- quinades, these Punch and Judy shows of tinsel and silver 78 EOSINE. paper. The people will sweep all that away as a scavenger sweeps rubbish from the street," " Brava, my sister ; you speak like Brutus in petticoats. What fire ! what eloquence ! You should be a deputy yourself." " I am telling you the truth, my brother, and can afford to be laughed at. These deputies represent the opinions, not of a court, a church, a faction, but of France. Do you know what that means ? It means millions and millions of Frenchmen, who are of the same race, the same interest, the same mind. We shall obtain a majority to swamp the priests and the courtiers by ten, twenty, a hundred to one ! But we must choose a leader for that majority ; and where shall we find a man so well fitted for the part as this Citizen Montarbas ? " " Citizen, Leonie — nonsense ! His patent is four hundred years old. The villain is a noble of twenty generations." " All the more reason, Jacques. Oh ! how thick-witted you are, you men ! Now, a woman would understand in a moment. Can you not see, my brother, that our side will welcome Count Arnold with acclamations, as a convert by conviction to the cause of liberty, and the force of reason ; while his own will scout and cry shame on the Citizen Montarbas for a spy, a renegade, a traitor. He breaks the bridge down behind him — he fights with a rope round his neck ! He is ours, I tell you, body and — yes, if there be such a thing ! — body and soul ! " "Can we depend on him?" replied Coupe-tete, reflecting. " Such a leader as ours must not dare to go back a step ! It is a desperate game, Leonie ! I sometimes wish I had never sat down to play." " You would have stood by and looked on — and starved. These inconveniences are but a necessity of the age. It is not you and I who make the Revolution, my brother — BROTHER AND SISTER. 79 it is the Hevolution that makes a Coupe-tete and a Wol- veriae!" " Do you remember when we used to string daisies on the grassplot in the garden, Leonie?" " Follies, my brother ! If I allowed myself to think of those childish days I should go mad. Jacques, I have been a good sister to you, have I not ?" "There is no denying it. But for you, neither of us would have drawn a single franc from the House of Orleans." " Then be a kind brother to me, Jacques, and never remind me of our childhood. Those who live in the future have no need to trouble themselves with the past ; and yet — and yet — oh ! Jacques, I wish I was a little girl again, leading you by the hand in and out of the cottage door." To his intense discomfiture, the Wolverine burst into a passion of weeping, resting her head on the sofa-cushions, and burjdng her face in her white, well-shaped arms. "That is the worst of doing business with women," thought Coupe-tete ; " just as you bring them to reason, they glance off at a tangent, and the whole thing is to begin again. A moment ago, she was ready to make a speech in the club, a barricade in the street, would have impeached a minister, or denounced an aristocrat, without a twinge ; and now, because I mentioned a daisy-chain, like a fool, she becomes weak as water, and would betray the party, desert the cause, and forfeit the profits of a lifetime, so long as the mood lasts, for the sake of a childish sentiment, and a memory fifteen years old." But he did her less than justice. He had scarcely time to say a few kind words, ere she looked up from her cushions, pushed the hair off her face, and smiled at the weakness she had overcome. "You never saw me like that before," she said. "You 80 ROSINE. shall never see me like that again. Do you remember the story of the wood- cutter's wife in Brittany, who was some- times a wolf and sometimes a woman ? I shall bodn to o think it may be true." "You are no wolf, Leonie," he answered, softened, in spite of himself, by the burst of feeling to which the play- mate of his childhood had given way. " Enough, Coupe-tete ! " she returned. " I am the Wol- verine — they shall not say I am unworthy of my name. Let us have' no more trifling ; but go on with real affairs. To return to Coimt Arnold. You must see him, you must speak with him, you must offer him the leadership of our party, as authorised to do so by the Central Committee — mind, it must not seem to come from me; and you must give him to understand that once embarked in the cause, he is to hesitate at nothing ! " " Suppose he declines ?" " Nonsense ! the Count is ruined, I tell you ; there is no place at Court good enough to pay such debts as his. Besides, they are all filled. No ; if he is the man I take him for, he will require little persuasion ; but should he seem quite insensible to your arguments, then send him to me. "Leonie, look me in the face — straight in the eyes, my sister. Do you feel no stronger motive than mere patriotism for the conversion of this aristocrat?" Not twice in one interview was it likely that the Wolverine would betray a woman's weakness. Hard and bright as steel glittered the grey eyes that met his glance ; cold, clear, and metallic rang the syllables that answered his question. " No, my brother — no ! a thousand times, no ! " He was a Frenchman, and must have known that a woman's negative loses force in direct jjroportion to the number of its repetitions ; yet he seemed satisfied, after the BROTHER AND SISTER. 81 maimer of brothers, who are seldom clear-sighted regarding their sisters' inclinations. " Then I had better lose no time," said he. "I will go to the club this instant and set about it. We must secure Santerre and his ragged division at once." " There is no hurry for them ; they will come to us by hundreds when the roofs are on fire, and the nation begins to sack its o^yn wineshops. Have you got me what I wanted from the Duke?" "My sister, it is safe in my pocket — I had almost for- gotten. It is regular, you see, signed and sealed, with a blank space left for the name. Leonie, do you know that you hold a man's life there in your hand ?" " Only one ? I wanted a dozen ! " "You must make the most of that one — we shall never have another ! Citizen Philip was im willing enough to pai t with it. The King has decided no more orders for the Bastile shall be issued with his signature. In future, he means to write them out himseK. He is not such a bad King, Leonie." " There you are wrong, Jacques ; he knows nothing of the trade. It is the Austrian who arranges ever3i;hing — the accursed Austrian ! Yet she is a fine woman, too, this daughter of Emperors — handsome, well-grown, and walks like an antelope." Leonie smiled. It was not many hours since Montarbas had whispered in her ear how fair a resemblance she herself bore, in face and figure, to the Queen. G CHAPTEE X. HUSBAND AND WIFE. " Madame, it is an injustice ! Wliat ? A tyranny ! I desire to be — ^I icill be tlie father and protector of my people ! " " Monsieur, one by one you are stripping every privilege, every safeguard from royalty." " Be it so, ^vllen privileges and safeguards are preserved by cruelty and of>prcssion. It is intolerable to think of, that a man I have never seen, whose name I never heard, should be imprisoned for life in a dungeon, by my authority, at the caprice of some wretch who buys, or begs, or steals, a blank form attested by the king's signature and the king's seal. Madame, it is an infamy — a horror — a disgrace." " The king of France cannot be too powerful. Abuse of strength. Monsieur, not its possession, constitutes tyranny ; do you forget who you are ? " " An unworthy descendant of Robert Capet, surnamed the Strong," was his laughing answer. "I was taught to count my kindred, be sure, before I learned to say my prayers. But times are changed since my ancestor, Jacques, became Constable of France. It would be ridiculous, my wife, in these days to lay lance in rest, and cry ' Bourbon ! Notre Dame ! ' " " My husband, such a Bourbon as the Count de la Marche, and ten thousand of his lances, would save France even now." HUSBAND AND WIFE. 83 " Be satisfied — France will save herself ; the disorder has beeu sharp and the patient is coming through a crisis. The nation has suffered from cold, famine, taxation, and cruel injustice, of which these letters I shall abolish are a flagrant example. But my people have good hearts, Madame, and they love their king." She shook her head. "Was she thinking of a progress from Strasburg to Compiegne, when every step of the young bride's journey might have been made, had she desired it, on the necks of shouting millions willing to lay down life for a glance of her bright eyes ; of the Paris fishwomen in their black satin dresses, who presented this beloved queen with the freedom of their market, in fruit and flowers, bidding her, in language more affectionate than decorous, to make haste with her nursery, for if she bred a score of Bourbons they would find provision for them all ; or of a hideous scene inflicted on her by these same furies but a few weeks ago, when, backed by a throng of scowling ruffians, they crowded round her coach with ghastly threats, and ribald gestures, shrieking for her blood ? Good hearts, indeed ! There was a wistful smile of tenderness and pity, and, perhaj)s, invo- luntary scorn on her face, as she looked in the kindly features of a husband into whose dull, lymphatic tempera- ment she so often strove to instil something of her own chivalry, and firmness, and common sense. She was visiting the king, according to custom, in His Majesty's apartments. It was the hour to which they both looked forward as the real pleasure of the day, for, notwith- standing a marked difference of education, character, and opinions, they loved each other, these two, with a sincerity that was hereafter to come triumphantly through the crowai- ing ordeal of death. The room was plainly furnished, devoid of all that florid decoration which overloaded the rest of the palace, and with its cans of oil, filings of steel, and baskets of G 2 84 ROSINE. tools, looked more like the workshop of some decent meclianic than the abode of a king of France. Louis himself might have been an honest tradesman as he sat in his easy-chair with a lock he was polishing on his knee. His court suit and ribbon of St. Louis covered by a leathern apron, his hair disordered, brows wet, and fingers blackened in the earnestness with which he worked at his favourite handicraft. What a contrast to the royal lady who stood over him, the daughter of a hundred kings, revealing in every turn of her graceful figure, every fold of her sumptuous wxll-chosen dress, the incontestable stamp of birth and breeding that was beginning to be put daily to so cruel a test. AVell might she call him her Vulcan, and complain playfully that the charms" of Venus herself would fail to lure this begrimed deity from his forge. Yet she forced herself to respect him, even when her nature soared to heights he could not reach. She ignored his weaknesses, accepted his prejudices, took the blame of his failures, and gave him the credit of such wiser and nobler ideas as originated with herself. He had prized her at first for her girlish beauty, her innocence, her good-humoured simplicity and grace, but in her maturer womanhood he learned to value her for more sterling qualities than these. Even his sluggish perceptions could not fail to appreciate her courage, her constancy, her unselfish devotion, in matters of real moment, her German suceptibility to kindness, and deep- seated love of home. So far as his vacillating, well-meaning disposition was capable of direction, he elected to be guided by his queen. Bu.t with regard to these lettres de cachet, as they were called, he determined to have his own way. It was, indeed, monstrous that such an abuse of power should exist in any civilised coimtry. They were to be purchased at no very hio-h price, under his own hand and seal, with a blank space HUSBAND AKD WIFE. 85 left for the insertion of tlie victim's name, wliom tliey could consign, without appeal or trial, to a living tomb. In a disorganised state of society it is needless to speculate on the flagrant abuse of these dangerous weapons handled by such unscrupulous adventurers as the revolution was now bringing to the front. The Duke of Orleans and his confederates had possessed themselves, characteristically enough, while they inveighed against their injustice, of several lettres de cachet, bought from the Minister of the Interior at so many francs apiece, and held them back the more obstinately that the king seemed desirous of calling them in. Louis, who was given to half-measures, and, like his profligate predecessor, entertained a morbid disinclination to give offence, instead of cancelling those already issued, contented himself Avith a royal order that no more should be prepared, and it was on this point that he found himself diifering in opinion with his wife. " I am determined to rule by love, Madame," said he, laying down the lock he was polishing, to regard it with a side- long look of complacency as a man contemplates some exquisite work of art. " I could not bear to think I was obeyed from the detestable influence of fear. I should neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, nor go out hunting in comfort, if I believed my people trembled at the mention of my name. I would rather be a mechanic, earning his daily bread, with his tools, in the sweat of his honest brow." He wiped his own while he spoke, and looked, it must be confessed, the very character he described. " Ah, my husband," she answered, half in jest, and half in sorrow, " you would not bo unhappy in tliat lowly lot. Confess now, you would rather work for eight liours with a piece of wasldeatlier and a file, lliaii consult for eiglit Tiiiimtes with u minister on a new tax, or a declaralion of war." 86 ROSINE. ■" I believe there arc many trades more desirable than that of a king's," he replied ; " especially a king of France. If I fit a lock on a cabinet, I do it with my own tools, in my own way. The screws go where I drive them, and I am not answerable for the biinglings of a predecessor. It is not so in statecraft, my wife. Yes, I think it would have turned out better for me if the first of the Capets had really been a butcher in Paris, and his descendants had remained shop- keepers to the last of their generation ! " The daughter of Maria Theresa repressed a smile ; but the wife of a kind-hearted husband could not keep back the tears that rose to her eyes. "You would have been safer," she said, "perhaps we should all have been happier. You would have worked hard for me and the children, and we should have been together many more hours of the day than we are now." He laughed quietly. " You forget, Madame, that it is not usual for a Parisian locksmith to marry the daughter of an empress ! " She threw up her handsome head. "And you remind me, Monsieur, of duties I had forgotten ; duties I have no right to neglect so long as I am Queen of France. You will honour my apartments with your presence this evening, Monsieur, and I shall expect that your Majesty will assist at my faro-table." The smile faded from his face, and his heavy features assumed an expression of vexation and disapproval. " Not if there is to be high play, Madame ! It wearies me, it confuses me. Enough ! it annoys me ! I object to it |i for many reasons. I have spoken about it so often." She passed her hand caressingly over his heated brows. "Will your Majesty listen to the advice of his Queen? Shall I not rather say, my dear husband, will you refuse to do what your wife asks ?" HUSBAXD AND WIFE. 87 Hers was tlie master-spirit. He pressed the cool, white hand to his lips, rose from his chair, took a turn through the room in ludicrous perplexity, and sat down again to his polishing, as one who resigns himself to be " convinced against his will." " You know what the Court is at this season, Monsieur," she resimied. " In summer we have music on the terraces, dancing by moonlight, walking in the garden ; the good townspeople come and go without an invitation, and one always finds something to make one laugh. I am French now to the tips of my fingers, and I say, with my country- women, it is a necessity of life to be amused ! " " But does it amuse you, Madame, to lose a thousand francs on the turn of a card ? For me I would rather go to bed." " It amuses my household. It brings those to Court who would remain hidden in Paris ; or, worse still, in the pro- vinces, if we could offer them nothing more tempting than a mere reception at Versailles. I tell j^ou, my husband, in these days we must surround ourselves with the nobiKty. We cannot make our circle too large, nor the links too strong ; they may have to bear a heavier strain than you suppose. In the meantime, if people will not come without a faro-table, there is no more to be said, a bank must be established, and a faro- table laid out." "I would rather they played Cavagnol, then, or Loto. Those games are not so ruinous." " Cavagnol and Loto belong to a former generation. Besides you used to get so tired of both. The last time we played, you yawned till Count d'Artois gathered up his counters and put them in his hat, because he said you were going to swallow the table." " My brother is a confinned gambler. You do wrong to encourage him. I am sorry now that we went to see his horse, King l*ii)pin, run last autumn at the Bois, j)articularly 88 EOSINE. us it was beat. Englisli horses, English grooms, English boots, English manners and English oaths, are not becoming for a child of France." "But faro is not an English game, Monsieur. On the contrary, that extraordinary man — how is he called ? — Fitz- gerald, had never seen it played before, which did not prevent his losing two thousand louis at a sitting." " Two thousand louis ! and under my own roof — mine, Madame, do you understand ? And I have forbidden games of chance to be played for money in Paris and every town of France ! " " But, my husband, are you not King ? "VYho shall call you to account? The very power of prohibition argues a right of exception in your own case. Believe me, if you never exert your privileges they will fall into disuse, and when you would resume them, up comes the cry of Injustice and Tyranny. We have heard too much about liberty of late!" He was reflecting deeply. A dull grey hue crept over his face, as a mist from the water creeps over some Flemish landscape, and his countenance, never very animated, assumed that expression of powerlessness and apathy which with a sick man is considered the forerunner of death. He sat for some minutes in silence, then roused himself with an effort like one who wakes from a dream. "Be it so, Madame," said he. " Give what directions you will, and please yourself. Who knows how long I may be able to indulge you ? It shall never be said that one of my last acts of authority was to thwart the dearest and the fairest and the best of wives in a matter like this ! " She had been the Queen a moment ago. She was only a woman now. She flung her arms round his neck, and burst out crying like a child. " My own, my king, my husband ! " she sobbed, " we wiU stand or fall together — hand to hand. HUSBAND AND WIFE. 89 heart to heart. We are not to be separated, you and I, in life or death. But courage, Monsieur. Why do I speak of falling and dying ? We need but a little prudence, firmness, and policy to conquer and to live. The nobles are true as yet, the good tradespeople have everything to lose by our discomfiture ; and, for the lower classes — see, spring is coming on ; with warmer weather will vanish cold and starvation, our bitterest enemies in the palace, as theirs in the hovel. Wise measures, my husband, dictated by fore- sight — not fear — and, above all, a strong hand at the hehn, will guide us safely through the storm." "But for the boy," he mused, "I would abdicate, and have done with. it. My brothers would ask nothing better than to follow my examj^le. What does ' Monsieur ' care, so long as his bed is soft and his table well served ? Or D'Artois, if he can spend haK the day and all the night in amusing himself with trifling, and worse ? Then they might have our Cousin Egalite for a king, since they seem so fond of him. I doubt if he would love his people as well as I do, for all his protestations, his condescension, his brazen face, and his silver tongue." " Do not speak of him ! What ? lie has actually been seen in the streets, wearing the red cap. A prince of the blood royal ! A gentleman born and bred ! It is monstrous ! It is incredible ! " " I would wear the red cap myseK," he observed gently, " if it would do them any good. I would go down into the streets and give them my life freely, if the sacrifice would make my people happier for a day." Many conflicting emotions chased each other over the Queen's face, to be succeeded by a smile, in which there was l)oth shame and pity, yet more of love than cither. " You do not fear death, my husband," she answered ; " T know it well. You are a hero, but a passive hero — not liko 90 ROSINE. Robert the Strong. He would never have recalled a parlia- ment he had suspended. Ah, Monsieur, he would never have suspended it without fifty thousand men at his back." " Nor taken the chains off his people, nor given them bread, nor convoked the States General," continued Louis, with his quiet smile. " Believe me, Madame, there is a policy of conciliation more effective than the policy of repression and force. When I ride my horse hunting I do not pull hard at his bridle to prevent his running away." " But if you ride without any bridle at all. Monsieur, what becomes of you then ? " Beaten in argument, a man is apt to take refuge in obstinacy. "Enough, Madame," replied the Eing; "it is for the Assembly to provide a remedy. That is why they are convoked." " I will pray night and morning that their counsels may be directed aright," said the Queen. "Surely the repre- sentatives of France must consist of the wisest and best men in the nation ; surely their deliberations will extricate us from our difficulties if they are unbiassed by fear. They should meet fifty or sixty leagues off in the provinces ; far enough to be uninfluenced by the riots, and cries, and clubs of the capital. Where have you ordered them to assemble, Monsieur ? " "At Yersailles," answered Louis; "on account of the spring hunting." Marie Antoinette bowed assent, but the blood curdled in her veins, for the grasp of a cold and cruel hand seemed to tighten round her heart. CHAPTER XI. FOUL PLAY. Xevertheless a faro-table was prepared all tlie same. Judging from the interior of Versailles, a man would hardly have believed that the country could be bankrupt, the nobility ruined, and the throne about to fall. High officers of his Majesty's household attended, splendid, gay, and debonair, as in the time of Louis the Great. Ladies minced and smiled, rustling and sparkling in satins and lace and precious stones. The very pages who waited on the company, the \erj lackeys who called their names, shone in scarlet and gold. A handful of sentries, belonging to the Maison du roi, dotted galleries and staircases within ; a scanty picket of the Swiss Guard piled arms outside. This was the whole preparation for defence, these were all the precautions taken for the safety of royalty, and not four leagues off the fiercest population of any city in Europe only waited for a signal to rise in rebellion against their king. " Is he imbecile, this good man ? " thought Montarbas, scanning with supercilious eye the line of A-etorans Avho turned out to salute a prince of the blood. "Has he not even the instinct of self-preservation, common to the lowest natures, that he leaves himself defenceless at sucli a moment as this. Here are barely five hundred men within call of a bugle, and Santcrre need but lift a finger to sack the palace 92 ROSINE. with ten thousand. It may come sooner than any of us tliiuk. In the meantime I have a heavy stake to play, and must attend to my own affairs," It was after much thought and a long consultation with Leonie that Coxmt Arnold determined so far to put his pride in his pocket as to attend a royal reception, and present himself again before the Majesty he had offended. His rank, of which he told his new friends he was only desirous to divest himself, entitled him to appear in the Queen's circle under any circimistances of disgrace short of actual banish- ment from Court. Besides on these "play nights," as they were called, well-dressed persons were admitted in the royal apartments by mere introduction of an official, and might stake their money freely on the cards of prince or princess, lord or lady, though etiquette forbade a commoner from sitting down at the table itself. There had been found, moreover, considerable difficulty of late in providing players wealthy and reckless enough to hold a faro-bank. Some of the company, notably Count d'Artois and Mr. Fitzgerald, put down stakes so heavy that few private individuals possessed means to cover them. As the Irish gentleman characteristically observed, "A rich man couldn't afford to lose, nor a poor man to win ! " and on one occasion, much to the king's disgust, professional gamblers were brought expressly from Paris to conduct the proceedings under his own royal roof. Montarbas, then, felt sure of admittance and even welcome if he only came provided with sufficient funds ; so, sweej)ing together the wreck of his own fortunes, he made up his mind to risk all on the chance of winning so large a stake as should effectually further his views of self- aggrandisement in the impending crisis. Without money he could do nothing amongst the revolutionists, though, with gold pieces in his pockets, they would be willing to overlook the gold lace on FOUL TLAY. 93 his coat, freely offering the red hand of liberty, fraternity, and equality, to be filled at his expense. He passed the Queen with a low, deferential bow, but Marie Antoinette had not served an apprenticeship to royalty at Schonbrunn to forget her trade at Versailles, and managed not to see him, with an appearance of perfect un- consciousness and good-humour. Only a courtier could have detected the omission ; even a courtier might have believed it wholly unintentional. Montarbas knew better, and added one more item to the score that he vowed should some day be paid in full. When he approached the table there was more confusion and a louder clatter of tongues than is considered decorous in a king's palace. Players were gathered in plenty round the green cloth, and several packs of cards lay ready to cut and deal, but the place of enterprise at one end remained vacant, and none of the company seemed rich enough or bold enough to accept, with its profits, the enormous risks of the bank. Even Coimt d'Artois, usually the most adven- turous of gamesters, hesitated and held back, though pressed to accept the alternative by the Queen, " Madame," said he, " fortune never favours me in your Majesty's presence. She seems ashamed of her preference imder the eye of a greater lady than herself." "And well she may be," answered the Queen, laughing. " For weeks you have presumed on her smiles and abused her favours. She is a goddess, Monsieui- ; but she is also a woman. You have worn out her patience, and she forsakes you at last." " I have trusted her too far, and she has played me false," he replied, gaily. " Your Majesty is right ; she is a goddess, but she is also a woman." Marie Antoinette turned haughtily away. There -was nothing in the words, but under her brother-in-law's light 94 ROSINE. and airy manner ran a current of tliat implied gallantry, wliich, according to their character, women accept as a com- pliment or resent for an oifence. In her adopted country, where all classes and all ages apparently esteemed it the first duty of man to make the other sex forget the first duty of woman, her good spirits and good humour attracted many compliments and attentions that seemed rather adulation to the individual than homage to the Queen. The deep, tender German nature underlying her calm bearing and royal dignity, recoiled from such tributes of admiration, not so much because they were unbecoming as because they were untrue. Where a Frenchwoman's exquisite tact would have accepted flattery for exactly what it was worth, the Austrian- born archduchess made more of it than it deserved, and was either too gracious or too cold. She might have offended Count d'Artois, who was con- stantly in her society, three or four times a week, and pro- bably did ; but at that period this volatile young prince's impressions were exceedingly evanescent — ^his feelings com- pletely absorbed in his one deep passion for play. With fingers itching to stake the gold pieces in his pocket, and eyes gloating on the backs of the uncut cards, he had not a thought nor a wish at this moment but for the stirring cry of the dealer and the maddening chances of the game. " I cannot do it," he muttered. " I dare not risk it. The bank must pay ready money, and I should be broke in two bad deals. Now, gentlemen," he added, in a louder tone, " are we to stand here all night looking in each other's faces over a card-table ? Where is Fitzgerald ?" But Fitzgerald was engaged in a corner with one of the ladies-in-waiting — the prettiest we may be sure — ^making love to her gaily, after the fashion of his nation, and in her own language, which he spoke bravely, with a marked accent, as became an Irishman. FOUL PLAT. 4t 95 Besides, Fitzgerald was not noble, and tliere might have been a question if his rank entitled him to sit do^vn at the play-table, thougli such a doubt would have required to be substantiated at the sword's point by any gentleman rash enough to suggest it. " My ancestors," he used to say, when surrounded by the flower of French nobility, " were kings, my lords, when yours were men-at-arms. Moreover, they fought hungry and naked, when yours got plenty to eat, and were covered from head to foot in steel." There was no disputing with a man who delighted to sup- port his argument by sword and pistol ; courteous, punc- tilious, a professed duellist, always good-humoured, even on the field of hounour as he called it, and who risked his life at every turn for mere amusement as if it had been a five- franc piece. But for poKteness to the lady with whom he was in con- versation, he would probably have accepted the liabilities of the bank without hesitation, rank, or no rank, funds or no funds, and taken his chance. Count Montarbas did not put himself forward, but ho allowed the crowd to float him as it were towards the vacant place. He knew that of all the wants to which human nature sacrifices propriety, decorrma, and the fitness of things, gambling is the most imperious, and he had only to bide his time. Meanwhile Louis wandered to the table, and his sleepy face, for it was past his usual hour of retiring, brightened with a gleam of satisfaction to see the cards still uncut. But, reflecting that his courtiers must be amused, and observing a cloud on his wife's brow, the goodnatured King did violence to his own feelings of reserve and disapproval by asking why nobody would begin ? Count d'Artois laughed. "My brother," he said, "you will have to hold the bank to-night in your own person, 96 EOSINE. unless there is a Frencliman in this company loyal enough to sacrifice himself in your Majesty's place !" The King looked round in a dismay so unaffected as to rouse a general smile. It was not the loss of his money he dreaded, but of his night's rest. AVTiy couldn't people be rational, and go to bed at ten o'clock ! Montarbas stcp2:)cd gracefully out of the crowd. "If it is a question of loyalty, sire," said he, "I am happy to anticipate every other gentleman in this room. Should I be so far honoured as to supply your Majesty's august place, I will do my best to hold the bank all night against all comers ! " " Bravo, Count ! " exclaimed d'Artois. The King looked much relieved, while whispers went round the circle of " Well said," " Yery gracefully put," " I thought Montarbas had gone over to the others," " He must belong to us still," "I hope he has money enough in his pocket to stand the pull ! " There was a general stir amongst the company as they sat down, lords and ladies bustling for places at the table with less than the usual politeness of French society. They were soon wedged pretty close together, each taking in hand a livret, or suit of thirteen cards, on one or more of which the players began to set their stakes ; while Montarbas, handing a pack to be cut by a beautiful duchess on his right, called for a croupier to face him at the other end, and assist in the general management of the game. It was soon in full swing. Right and left he dealt the cards, with a politeness, a precision, and a rapidity of calcu- lation that even losers felt constrained to admire. Amonsfst these were some of the highest players at Court. Faro is essentially a gambling game ; and, without dwelling on details, its principle may be explained as follows : — The dealer, or banker, turns the cards up from a complete FOUL PLAT. 97 pack, one by one, dealing them alternately, first to tlie right hand for himself, then to the left for the company, till the four suits are exhausted. The player sets any stake he pleases, within a declared limit, on one or more of the cards in his livret, and wins by every card turned up on the banker's Jeff, similar in points or value to that on which his wager is laid, as he loses when the corresponding card is turned up on the right. He may also double on his gains again and again, till, if luck serves him, his 'paroU, as such ventures are called, may land seven, fifteen, thirty, and even sixty times his original stake. It is ob^dous that at such a pastime large sums are to be won or lost in a few seconds — fortunes made and swept away in a sinjjle nig^ht. The King, when, as a matter of form, he had ventured, and won a hundred louis, retired quietly from the circle and went to bed. Her Majesty, who had lost a thousand, could not bring herself to follow his example, but con- tinued persistently to load her livret with gold, in that hope of winning back, which although they have learned its fallacy, people who love high play are never able to resist. How handsome she looked ! thought Count Arnold, even in the pre-occupation of a fresh deal ; with hair pushed back, cheeks flushed, lips closed tight, and that cold, keen glitter in her eyes. How determined ! how earnest ! and how like the Wolverine ! With the next card turned, he swept in a hundred more of her louis ; and Coimt d'Artois swore aloud, for he had lost five times as much on the difference between a nine and a ten. The bank was winning largely. The players bent eagerly •)vcr the table, with creased and folded cards quivering in their hands; bystanders, betting clamorously behind, leaned forward on the necks and shoulders even of ladies loo H 98 ROSINE. absorbed in the turns of fortune to complain or protest ; painted faces paled the ghastlier for their rouge; on lovely cheeks the dimples froze to hard fixed smiles ; a lady, high at Court, was not ashamed to pray audibly to the Virgin for luck ; and the eyes of a young marchioness filled with tears. The devil was keeping holiday to some pvirpose, and through the din of his revels, here and there, a practised votary took advantage of the confusion to further his master's work A\-ith the sting of a meaning glance, the pressure of a gloved hand, or the breathing of burning whispers, into a small delicate ear, that could not, woidd not, must not listen, except in such a crowd as this. Prescntlv Count d'Artois, whose luck had been at the lowest ebb, was gladdened by a happy change. He placed a hundred louis, the last he could muster for the night, on a low card in his livret and won ! " Paroli ! " he exclaimed, bending its corner upwards with the confident air of a man who has taken fortune on the turn. Again chance favoured him, and again, till, in the true spirit of a gambler, with a shout of " Soixante ct le va ! " he hazarded all or none on the next card in the game. People said afterwards that the dealer's cheek paled, and his lip quivered, but his hand, at least, must have been steady, if amongst all those players watching every finger, only two detected a false movement that seemed to substitute the next card in succession for that which he ought to have turned up. " Ilold ! " exclaimed D'Artois, screaming with passion, " you are cheating, Monsieur ! Gentlemen, this is foul play ! " and he glared round on the company with blazing eyes like a wild beast. Montarbas, holding the cards firmly in his hand, looked him full in the face. "Monsieur," said he, "in Her Majesty's presence I decline FOUL PLAT. 99 to exchange bad language with her brother-in-law. I hold every gentleman here answerable for this shameful accu- sation." "Hold me! I saw you do it," exclaimed a young man pushing forward from the crowd behind Count d'Artois. " I repeat the words of Monseigneur, you are a cheat ! you have swindled us all ! " In an access of indignation, if not real, then exceedingly well assumed, Montarbas dashed down his cards with a violence that scattered half the pack over the floor, so that it was impossible to count or sort them now. Then he turned on his new adversary, calm and firm, masking his anger in a wicked smile. " I thank you, Marquis, for your good opinion ; it is well worth the thrust of a sword. For to-morrow, then — the three firs in the Bois — at eight." " The sooner the better," answered the other, retiring with a bow. But now arose a great confusion of tongues amongst the witnesses of this indecorous scene, which was enacted so rapidly that the Queen at the other end of the table did not make out exactly what had happened. Knowing the excitable temper of her brother-in-law, she set it down, indeed, to the impatience with which, in spite of their frequency, he accepted his losses ; but those who discussed it were of a different opinion, the more so as the gains of the bank had been unusually heavy, and many were disposed to believe that they had been cheated all thi'ough. Play was suspended, the party broke into groups, and Montarbas found himself shunned as if he had the plague, with a duel for next morning on his hands. Turning from one to aiKjtlier he satisfied himself that the game was up. Henceforth he would no longer be tolerated by that class of society to which he belonged. In the meau- II 2 100 EOSINE. time the Marquis dc Vaucourt was the finest swordsman in Europe, and where was ho to provide himself with a second ? Catching sight of Fitzgerald's tall figure stalking down a corridor he hurried after the Irishman, and implored his valuable assistance in so congenial an affair. The other looked kindly in his face — "Did ye do it now?" said he. "I'll never believe it! If ye did, I'd have to run ye through the body myself. Anyhow, you should have asked me sooner, for I am engaged on the other side." CHAPTER XIL FOUL FIGHTING. In spite of a cold wind and the chilly drizzling weather that so often attends the breaking up of winter and departure of snow, his blood felt hot and fevered, the flush of anger still burned in his cheek, when Count Arnold descended mechanically from his coach and entered the Hotel Montarbas like a man in a dream. At the door stood Leonie, cloaked and muffled, looking very pale and eager under her black satin hood, impatient to learn how he had sped. He would have passed without notice, so absorbed was he in the troubles gathering about him., but she laid her hand on his arm and peered anxiously iu his face. " You have lost," she whispered. "It is all gone. Some- thing has happened. Tell me the truth. Now — at once." He opened the door of a saloon on the ground floor in which lights were yet burning. " Come in here," he said in the calm, quiet voice she thought so charming, and so high bred ; " we shall be alone. Are you afraid ? " "Afraid!" Her tone expressed the height of confidence and scorn, yet she had told her own heart more than once, in the long cold vigil under his porch, that he was the only man on earth she feared and loved. He poured himself a glass of red wine from a flask standing 102 KOSINE. on the table, and finished it at a draught. Temperate, like most of his nation, he found both a stimulant and a sedative in the rich, pure vintage of southern France. " You will j)ledge me, Leonie," said he, politely. " No, you arc right ; -wine brings a colour to the cheek, and you look so handsome when you are pale." She was jjlad to see him like himself ajjain. She was glad, too, perhaps, that he admired her clear white face, therefore she answered very sternly — " Nonsense ! I have not been starving two hours between courtyard and garden, to be told I am tolerably good-looking- Let us attend to business. What have you done to night at Versailles ? " "Brought away five thousand louis in half-an-hour's play." " Good ! But there is more to tell : a winner does not empty his glass, without taking breath, like that." " I have lost, you see, my chance of landing the largest stake ever played for at a king's table. That is nothing ; I have lost a small trifle besides." "What trifle?" " Something of no consequence. Only the honour of Montarbas. It has lasted twenty generations. Time it was worn out, perhaps. Well, there is no more question about it after to-night." He spoke with a harsh laugh, loosening the lace handker- chief round his throat. The Wolverine was a woman, as far as he was concerned, and felt inclined to cry. " Tell me all about it," said she, laying her strong white hand on his coat- sleeve. " In these stirring times there is more honour to be won by Citizen Montarbas than even Count Arnold can have lost." "I did it for a good motive," he continued, less to his companion than himself. "I should have scorned to Avin FOUL FIGHTING. 103 by such an accident for my own gain. A man is boimcl to sacrifice everything, bis life, bis fortune, even bis bonour in tbe cause of France. I belong to tbe Patriots now, Leonie, if I never belonged to tbem before. It is not two bours ago tbat tbe King's brotber denounced me for a cbeat before tbe Avbole Court at Versailles." "D'Artois!" sbe mused, looking very tbougbtfid and perplexed. " Tbis is a bad business ; but it migbt bave been worse. Arnold — I mean Count Arnold, you cannot figbt a duel, you know, witb one of tbe royal family." " You are rigbt, Leonie, it migbt indeed bave been worse. I sbould bave bad no redress, no revenge, but tbat one of tbe company came forward and put bimself in Monseigneur's place." "^Tiotben?" " Tbe Marquis de Vaucourt." A spasm passed across ber face. " Ob ! Arnold," sbe exclaimed, " I bave beard of bim. My brotber says be is tbe best swordsman in Paris ! " " I know bow to fence a little, too, Leonie. Do you tbink I can do notbing but dance ?" "Tbat is all one. You bave a strong arm and a brave beart, but Yaucourt uses a ripoHtc tbat is as famous and as fatal as tbe coup de Jarnac ! Wbo is to be bis second." " Fitzgerald. You bave beard of bim. I asked bim to be mine, but I was too late." "And yours?" lie turned awa}^ to conceal a flusb of rage and mortifica- tion. " It is not settled," be answered. " I bave been unable to find one at sucb sbort notice. I must see about it at once." Sbe looked into bis very eyes. " Never trust a woman by balves ! " said sbe. " Tell me tbe wbole trutb. Perbaps I can belp you at your need." "Nobody better, witbout doubt," be answered carelessly. 104 ROSINE. " Well, Leonic, I do not mind. I will tell you tlie wliolc truth. Because my quarrel was witli Count d'Artois not one of those curs at Court -would back me up. I must find a second before to-morrow morning, and where to look for one I know no more than a lady-abbess in a convent ! " She was thinking hard. "When is it to be," she asked, "and where?" " At eight. In the Bois. By the three firs. I hope it won't rain, I do so hate getting wet before breakfast ! " Her brows cleared. If she had been hunting an idea she seemed to have caught it at last. "Count Arnold," she said, gravely, "I am a woman, but I am Coupe-tete's sister. It would be madness to go out to-morrow and meet this fencing- master, for he is nothing- less, with a fevered pulse and a shaking hand. You are not to run about all night through the town seeking what you require. Leave the affair to me. Go to bed, now, this instant. No, not another drop of Burgundy, and trouble your head for nothing but to get a good night's sleep. I swear to you that when you arrive at the three firs to- morrow morning you will find yourseH provided with a second. ^Yhat ! I hope I have still some friends left ! " "And which of your admirers, may I ask, do you jDropose devoting to this chilly and wearisome amusement of looking on ? Remember, Mademoiselle, he must not only be a patriot but a gentleman." " Your impertinence is sublime," she retorted. " Be satis- fied. Do as I bid you. Count Arnold — Citizen Montarbas. Can you not believe that your honour is dear to me as my own ? I mean, for my brother's sake, for the credit of our party, for the cause of France. Go to bed, I tell you ; bid your valet wake you at seven, with a cup of coif ee and a small glass of brandy. You see, I know all about it. Take a warai cloak and a sword you are accustomed to. Slip FOUL FIGHTING. 105 quietly out alone, and when you get to the three firs, I pledge you my word, you shall find a gentleman waiting there to assist you, and see fair play." He wavered, he hesitated ; there was nothing else for it, he thought ; but this seemed so strange and unauthorised a way of fiii'htino: a duel ! "Can I depend on you, Leonie?" he asked, half-ashamed. There came a tinge of pink in the smooth transparent cheek, and her eyes refused to meet his glance. " Depend on me," she repeated, " as if I were your mother or your sister." " Or my wife," he laughed, catching her hand and pressing it to his lips. " If men do trust their wives. I don't know, I have never had one of my o^ti ! " She drew it angrily away, pulled the cloak over her head, and was gone. Now, even as there stretched a network of catacombs, laid out with hideous regularity, in lanes, and streets, and grottoes of skulls and dead men's bones, under the fair city of Paris, so beneath the framework of society lurked a pit- fall of treachery, tyranny, and espial into which a man once stumbling came no more to the surface, but disappeared from observation and inquiry as completely as if he were buried bodily twenty fathoms deep in the earth. Lessons of reck- less cruelty, practised under the old kings of France, had been learned with fierce aptitude by the members of those revolutionary clubs who already began to call themselves Jacobins, and men were consigned to imprisonment for life at the caprice of these champions of liberty with as little compunction as was ever felt by a monarch of the Middle Ages, when thrusting some rebel into a dungeon that he might possess himself of the refractory vassal's fief. Not till those blank lettrea de cachet, which the Duke of Orleans had purchased for the use of his fellow- conspirators, woi'o ex- hausted, could any inhabitant of Paris, native or forcign^> 106 llOSINE. illustrious or obscure, innocent or guilty, feel the slightest confidence when he rose from his bed in the morninff that he would not lie down at night in the Bastille. Had Fitzgerald kno^^^^ the handAvriting of Leonie Ar- mand, in which his own name was clearly traced above the King's signature, on one of these detestable missives, he would have been only the more puzzled to account for the catastrophe that overtook him within fifty paces of the ]Marquis de Vaucourt's apartments, as he hastened through the silent streets in the raw breath of a cold spring momino-. He was not easily astonished ; but, to use his own words, " you might have knocked him down with a feather ! " when, surrounded by an escort of the French guards, an exempt took him prisoner in due form, showing the order for his arrest signed by the King's hand. His first impulse was to resist, but ten file of musketeers and a sergeant Avere too heavy odds, even for an Irishman, and he yielded his sword to the official politely enough, begging it might be returned as soon as this inconvenient mistake was cleared up. " Mistake ! " replied the exempt, sternly. " Pardon, Mon- sieur ! we do not make mistakes in such matters. You must come with me." " But, I tell ye it's impossible, my good friend ! " urged the prisoner; "they couldn't want me for anythino; but debt, and his Majesty wouldn't interfere in such a miserable trifle as a tailor's bill, God bless him ! You must leave me at liberty for another hour, at least — I have an affair of honour on hand." " If it were an affair of gallantry, Monsieur, I am sorry I could not oblige you," returned the exempt, polite, but firm ; and disregarding his prisoner's entreaties that the whole force would accompany him to the 2:)lace of meeting, sur- FOUL FIGHTING. 107 round it to prevent interruption, see the fight out, as lie expressed it, in peace and comfort, and conduct him wherever he pleased afterwards, he marched the Irishman off, without further ceremony, delivered him over to Governor de Launay, and took a proper receipt for him at that fatal gate, where so many have entered never to emerge again. Thus it fell out that the Marquis de Vaucourt, pacing his apartment in a fever of anxiety and impatience, cursed his valet, his coffee, the morning, the mud, the weather, all seconds for indifference, and all Irishmen for unpimctuality, with exceeding volubility and disgust. Having waited as long as he dared — ^for no temptation on earth could have made him late for a duel — De Vaucourt was forced to set out at last, in a state of considerable irritation, comforted only by a vague hope that Fitzgerald might have mistaken his instructions, and would meet him at the Bois. Dismissing his coach, with orders to return home, he walked briskly forward, in the direction of the three firs, as much to make up for lost time as to circulate his blood, chilled by the cold damp air, looking eagerly about him in every direction for the arrival of his friend. He could distinguish nothing at ten paces' distance, because of a thick mist that crept and curled about the stems of the trees, condensing itself on their branches into a heavy drip, far more dispiriting and comfortless than a fall of rain. It was one of those miserable mornings on which inanimate objects assume unreal shapes and proportions, like the phantoms that pass vaguely through a dream. " He must have lost himseK in this cursed fog ! " tliouglit De Vaucourt, arriving at the three firs, in solitary discom- fiture. " No wonder — a man can hardly see the length of his sword ! Hold ! I am wrong, liravo ! there he is." But instead of Fitzgerald, it was the figure of his adver- sary looming gigantic in the thick atmosphere, pacing 108 ROSINE. moodily to and fro, cloaked, armed, and solitary, like him- self. As they imcovered, with that courtesy which one gentle- man necessarily extends to another when he proposes to put him to death, each thought he observed on his adversary's face an expression of wonder and disappointment. Each looked as if he expected that arrival of something or some- body, without ^^'hich it seemed impossible to begin. It was impolite to keep silence, it was not etiquette to speak. Montarbas produced his snuffbox, and handing it to the ]\Iarquis, executed a profound and deferential bow. The other, accepting a pinch, returned the salute with a courtesy so elaborate as to border on the ludicrous. Neither uttered a syllable ; not a sound was to be heard but the drip, drip, from the branches in the forest. Presently, one of the snufftakers sneezed, and the other looked at him. The situation was becoming ridiculous. At that moment a step fell softly on the saturated sward, and a cloaked figure, looming large and dim, aj)proached them out of the fog. "It is Fitzgerald ! " exclaimed the Marquis. " It is Leonie's admirer ! " thought Montarbas. They had replaced their hats, but uncovered once more to the new arrival, and De Yaucourt, not recognising the figure, cursed his Irish friend more emphatically than ever in his heart. "Monsieur will be my witness, without doubt," said Count Arnold, no less impatient than his adversary. "He will have the kindness to demand of the Marquis why he is here unaccompanied by a friend ? " "Monsieur will inform Count Arnold de Montarbas," returned the Marquis, "that I have been strangely and inexplicably disappointed. It is no fault of mine that I am FOUL FIGHTING. 109 here unattended. No matter ! we are men of honour. Monsieur will perhaps have the goodness to act for both ?" The stranger bowed, without, however, removing the hat or cloak that were so worn as to conceal the features. "You do me a great honour, gentlemen," was the reply " Under such unusual circumstances you will permit me to make my own arrangements, and to accommodate you in my own way." Montarbas started. Something in the voice reminded him of Coupe-tete — ^but, no ; the figure was slighter, with black beard and moustache, and a shock of coarse black hair." " Take your ground, gentlemen," continued this mysterious personage, drawing a long rapier, and scoring with its point a straight line on the sodden turf. "You will neither of you put a foot forward beyond that mark, and you will be kind enough to fence over my sword. It is the way we fight in our country ; and only on these conditions will I consent to act. On guard, if you please, gentlemen, and begin ! " They looked surprised ; but threw cloaks and hats aside, drew, and placed themselves in position. The stranger, still wrapped up and muffled, with sword- point resting on the mark at their feet, watched intently, every limb and sinew braced, as if in act to spring. Not an eyelash quivered, not a nerve appeared to wince, though the wicked blades gleamed and clashed within a sword's length, twining, eluding, thwarting each other in the nimble game of death. The men were good fencers. At first, there seemed little to choose between them ; but Do Vaucourt was reserving his strength till he could tempt his adversary into that mode of attack for which he had invented and practised his deadly return. In such contests, the slightest inferiority of skill must be supplemented by greater exertion. Montarbas fcK liis cliest heaving and his muscles beginning to ache, whilu the 110 ROSINE. Marquis stood firm as a rock, his point steady, aud liis wrist like iron. With a skilful feint he drew the assault he wanted at last. Blown, baffled, bewildered, Montarbas launched a succession of wild aud aindcss passes that the Marquis parried closer and closer, till, disengaging for the last time, he was inside his adversary's blade, and had got him safe. But in its very thrust his point flew up, struck sharply from below, and a familiar voice, recognised even at that supreme moment, hissed in the Count's ear. " Lunge, Arnold ! Quick ! Under his guard, and he's a dead man ! " The words were hardly spoken, when De Yaucourt went down Avith a deep groan, and half his adversary's blade, broken short off, sticking through his body. The stranger, tearing a mass of false hair from head, and cheeks, and chin, leaned on the shoulder of Montarbas, and burst into a passion of tears. "Leonie," said the Coimt, passing his arm round her waist, " our friend is a fencer of the first force. I should have been down there in his place, but for you. Once again, Leonie, you have saved my life." She dashed the tears from her eyes. "Not yet!" she exclaimed. " We must fly, we must make the most of every moment. Dare you touch him, Arnold? How brave you are ! Turn him over, pull the blade out of his chest. There ! they can prove nothing, now. This fog is simply providential ; let us escape before it clears off ! " Leaving the fallen man to die unsuccoured, if fate so willed it, Montarbas, who had scarcely yet recovered his astonishment, suffered the Wolverine to lead him back to Paris at a rapid pace, and by the least-frequented paths. It was some minutes before he'could demand an explanation of her disguise, and opportune arrival on the scene of combat. FOUL FIGHTIXG. Ill nor did he find lier very willing to make confession of her proceedings and her motives. After excitement so fierce and strong, the inevitable re- action set in, and she was woman enough to feel both shame and compunction for the part she had played. "I could think of no other plan," she pleaded, as if he, of all people, were the judge before whom she must defend herself. " There was so little time, and men have so little energy when the affair does not concern themselves. AYhat could I do ? AVhat woidd you have done in my place ? Arnold, Count Arnold, you must not think the worse of me for this!" " I should be a monster if I did," he answered, honestly enough. " But still, Leonie, you have not explained what became of Fitzgerald. He said himself he was De Vaucourt's second." "There are ways and means," she replied; "I am not to tell you everything. Yes, I will. Why should you and I have secrets from each other? I quietly sent that Irish gentleman to the Bastille. It was quite simple. They locked him up before eight o'clock this morning ! " " Poor Fitzgerald ! It seems rather hard usage. But they will let him go again, Leonie, surely. If you could put him in, I suppose you can take him out ? " " Be satisfied. All that pile of rubbish is to come down ! When the haystack burns we may leave the rats to find an escape for themselves ! " CHAPTER XIII. A BALL AT THE OPERA. A WOMAN who has made painful sacrifices on a man's behalf, forgetting for his sake her pride, her prejudices, and her former rules of conduct, invariably becomes his slave, on some mysterious principle of barter between the sexes, ordaining that the give-and-take shall be, on one side or the other, a process of taking everything and giving nothing. After the Wolverine had saved Count Arnold's life at the price of foul and treacherous bloodshed, she no longer concealed from herself that she loved him better than her brother, her party, her patriotism ; better than her reputation, her happiness, and the very air she breathed. It is needless to add that he traded freely on her affections, making use of them for advancement of his own purposes, in a fine masculine spirit of liberality, more remarkable for ingratitude than good taste. She supplied his extravagance with the money she drew from the clubs and the House of Orleans, ostensibly to promote a revolution ; she helped him amongst his new friends with her countenance, encourage- ment, and support ; she even let him persuade her to join in an unwomanly conspiracy, having for its object the defamation and debasement of the purest, the noblest, the most defenceless lady in the land ! Those reckless politicians who aspired to lead the French people by means of their worst passions entertained small scruples as to the engines they A BALL AT THE OrERA. 113 employed. In tlieir wliole armoury tlicy used no weapon more adi-oitly than the poisoned shaft of shiuder aimed against the Queen. Speech and silence, action and inaction were equally tortured into accusations of malice and ill-will. Forethought became suspicion, and firmness tyranny. If the King moved without her advice, she was a useless incimi- brance to the nation ; if he followed it, she was guilty of treasonable interference. They would have no petticoat government, and she ought to be impeached ! Because she saw through Necker's want of firmness and sagacity, disapproving of his subservience to public opinion, she was called the enemy of her people ; because she was fain to uphold the King's authority as a rudder to guide them all through the violence of the storm, she was stigmatised for an autocrat, a despot, an Austrian traitress, poisoning the councils of France. But they wounded her to the quick with slanders worse than these. She could have borne accusations of intolerance, indifference, and inefficiency, but she winced and smarted under the sting when rumours were spread abroad against her good name, rumours that imputed to the true wife, the loving mother, words and actions of immodesty, levity, and worse. Foul stories were hinted even at Court, shameless libels were flying about the cajjital, and the whisper and the pamphlet originated with those very princes of the blood royal who, on all principles of honour and chivalry, nay, of common manliness and honesty, should have been the first to rise in her defence. That the evil Duke of Orleans took an active part amongst this treacherous band excites the less wonder, the more we reflect on the character of this worthless renegade ; but that an order in council should have officially willidrawn the immunity from investigation hitherto accorded to tlio palaces of the Counts of Provence and Artois avowedl}' on account 1 114 EOSINE. of these seditious slanders, impresses on us painfidly and forcibly the Queen's unhappy position, whose wounds were dealt by her familiar friends, and whose enemies were of her own house. It was the nature of IMontarbas to assimie the lead in all enterprises with which he was concerned, and to strike out a path for himself in matters both of action and intrigue. His fertile brain had conceived a plot for further blackening the character of the Queen, thus to avenge the injury she had inflicted on his vanity, while with the same blow he advanced his new cause by weakening her influence as a prop to the throne. Let it only be proved to the people, in their very faces, that she was a bad woman, and even the King's un- alterable affection could do little towards lifting her out of the dirt. But to carry his plan through he required the assistance of Leonie, and she gave it him freely, as she had given her heart long ago. They were together in the Hotel Montarbas. She felt no scruple now in visiting him at all hours and under all circimistances. She was even proud of her brother's remonstrances and the censure of her friends. She gloried in shame and sorrow for Count Arnold's sake, and he indulged her plentifully with both. " Wolverine," he said, putting his arm round her waist with that familiarity which is the first step towards indiffer- ence and contempt, " would you like to go to the masked baU, to-night?" ''Withyo?^.?" " Of course, that is imderstood. The Opera-house will be crowded. I have secured a box." A faint flush tinged her fine, clear-cut features, softening them iato unusual beauty. *' It was good of you," she answered. " I shall like it very much. We can be together, and we can be alone." "As we are here," he replied, repressing a smile, and A BALL AT THE OPERA. 115 reflecting tliat solitude even in couples, is not exactly tte object for which people go into society. " But Leonie, Wol- verine, what shall I call you ? I must not be so selfish as to hide your beauty from all admirers. You will have more than ever to-night. I have provided you such a dress ! " She shot a quick, anxious look in his face. It was sug- gestive of her uncertain tenure that so unusual a gallantry inferred some return on her part, the nature of which she already anticipated with anxiety and misgiving. Still, even in the strongest feminine minds, dress must be a paramount consideration, and her first question came naturally enough. "Is it white satin ?" " White satin and seed-pearls. Faith, I took some pains about it, I can tell you, and I understand these matters as well as most people. The Austrian is to wear just such another ; Wolverine, do you understand ?" " Not yet." " It is quite simple. Boehmer has let me have the Mont- arbas diamonds out of pawn on purpose. Set in a tiara, a collar, and ear-rings, they are yours for the whole night. You will be taken for the Queen." She clapped her hands like a schoolgirl. " How polite of Boehmer ! What a prince among jewellers ! I shall be decked out, as you say, like the Queen herself. And then?" " You will attend to my directions. You will do every- thing I tell you, Leonie. Is it not your wish to see me at the top of the ladder ? Do you know you can send mc u] ) three or four steps with a push ?" " And you will kick the ladder down, of course, wlien you have done with it ! Never mind ! Tell me how to help you, and I will try my best." " Without reserve ? Mind, Leonie, wc arc about no child's- I)lay now." 116 EOSINE. " "Without reserve ! Even tlioug-li It cruslies my self- esteem, and cuts me to the heart ; Arnold, do you not think I love you." "A little." " And i/ou ? Do you love me ? " " A little." " It shall be the study of my life to make that little more. Bah ! these are follies. Enough, there is business to bo done ; let us be serious." " On the contrary, let us be gay, and go to the ball ! I will pass by your apartments, Leonie, and see you dressed. I shall then have prepared your instructions, and we can meet afterwards in the Opera-house. Towards midnight. Not too early. Be sure to keep unseen after the Queen has arrived." And the Wolverine consented willingly. It required, indeed, little persuasion to go to a ball with the man she loved, in diamonds and white satin, looking like the Queen of France. There is nothing so difficidt to calculate as the ebb and flow of popular opinion, when it permeates to the dregs of society. The idol of to-day may be daubed with filth to- morrow. And a pelting in the pillory this week does not ensure public personages from being smothered with gar- lands the next. Marie Antoinette, driving in her state coach to the Opera- house, received such an ovation from the rabble as reminded her of the bright old days when nothing seemed too precious for an offering to the Dauphin of France. Bread had fallen a son, and the mob, in their exquisite sense of justice, attributed to her Majesty's good word a trifling abatement of price, really due to the tactics of speculators, who fattened on the himger of the people. They peered into her coach, they blessed her handsome A BALL AT THE OPERA. 117 face, danced, shouted, kissed their hands ; and, finally, pi-essed so close and so heavily that an axle gave way, bringing to a standstill horses, vehicle, coachman, posti- lions, running footmen, escort, ladies-in-waiting and all. She looked, smiling, from the window, and called out in her sweet frank voice — " Send for a hackney coach, my friends. The first that comes. I can get to the Opera, I suppose, en fiacre, as well as another." A roar went up from the delighted populace that shook the old chimneys of the capital, rendering inaudible a remonstrance addressed to Her Majesty by the captain of her escort. She was ready with her answer, nevertheless. " Dismiss them," she said, waving her white hand ; " I require no guards in Paris. I am among my own people here, and in my own home." A gigantic butcher, bare-armed, with bloody shirt-sleeves rolled to the shoulder, burst into tears. While they made a lane for her passage to the hackney coach, she might, had she so wiUed it, have walked in her satin shoes on the necks of all that rabble prostrate before her in the mud. Yet, this very incident was remembered hereafter as an additional proof of certain foul slanders, hatched and cir- culated by one of her bitterest enemies, a noble of tAvcnty generations, and a peer of France. In accordance with custom she put a mask on to enter the Opera-house, of which the arena, completely boarded over, formed a capa- cious ballroom, while the surrounding boxes were filled with crowds of alternate dancers and spectators. Oppressed by the heat she soon took it off again ; though her lady-in-wait- ing, Madame do Polignac, who had some little mystification of her own in hand, refused to follow her example. Not an individual at the bull, Ihcrcfore, but knew Ilcr :Majcsty was 118 EOSINE. present, and \vc may be sure that the ladies, even through the eye-holes in their black velvet, noted every fold in her dress, every knot and ribbon in its trinunings, every loop of brilliants in her hair. The men, less critical, were satisfied to observe that the Queen looked pleased and excited, hoping she would take notice of themselves, the more so that they were, without exception, immaskcd. Presently the musicians struck up, the dancers glided in and out, or darted here and there, like fire-flies in the tropical night. The crowd increasing every moment, began to ebb and flow, circling, shifting, mingling in its motley like a shufilcd pack of cards. Those who had come in couples, vowing not to separate, were already parted. In the Babel of voices, the strains of melody, the loosening of locks, and whirl of dresses, even steady brains began to turn, conversation became more pointed, and less polite, reserve seemed an affectation, decorum an absurdity, and mirth grew fast to riot unrestrained. One votary of pleasure, however, kept his head cool, and made shrewd use of his wits for his o\\^l evil purpose. Count Arnold, of Montarbas, dressed, in spite of his ruined fortunes, with a splendour that could not fail to attract attention, was observed in a corner of the ballroom, engaged in earnest conversation with a masked lady, so closely resembling the Queen that bystanders drew near in hoj)es of gathering from its purport stray crumbs of slander for next day. The more they looked the better they were satisfied that this dignified and graceful figure must be Marie Antoinette herself. There was Her Majesty's stately car- riage of the head and neck, her delicate ear, her trim waist, and shapely form, her favourite attire of white satin and seed- pearls ; nay, the very diamonds in her hair were of such size and lustre as could only have been equalled by the famous necklace, which they had all heard of, talked of, wondered A BALL AT THE OPERA. 119 at, of whicli nobocl}^ knew the true histoi^y, and -which had branded Cardinal de Rohan with an immortality of disgrace. Yes. It must be the Queen, it could be none other ! And who was the handsome coxcomb thus presuming to mono- polise her royal attention ? A\Tiy, who but Count Montarbas ? The man whose name was in everybody's mouth : a gambler, a profligate, a duellist ! What ! He had cheated at Ver- sailles, he had been insulted before the whole Court ; and, next day, the man who exposed him was taken up for dead in the Bois de Boulogne, waylaid by this assassin, no doubt ! And he was still at large ! AVTiat, then, was the use of the Bastille ? He must have enjoyed favour in high places, have been sheltered by powerful protection, and now the secret was out ! Those who watched narrowly, observed the deference of liis manner, the condescension of hers, the uneasiness of both. They parted in the thickest of the crowd ; they met again in the corridor; finally, they entered a private box on the second tier alone ! In five minutes there were five score people in the theatre who told each other that " The Queen had a fresh intrigue on hand. Who did they think was the object ? They would never guess. Why, that notorious Count Montarbas, the man who held the faro-bank, and cheated everybody at Versailles. Impossible ! No doubt ; but true, none the less ; they were in No. 7 at this moment. It is suffocating down here ; let us stroll through the corridors, and we shall see what we shall see." Who can toll how many eager eyes marked the tall, hand- some figure in its white satin and seed-pearls slip out at the box-door, hold quietly ajar from within ? or estimate the satisfaction with which the mask was observed to drop at her feet? replaced, indeed, with trembling hands and liot confu- sion ; eagerly, hastily, yet not so quickly but that there was 120 EOSINE. time to recognise the small arched nose, the pencilled brows, the delicate, clear-cut face, and the deep grey Austrian eyes. "But this is a little too strong!" observed a splendid dame, the heroine of fifty conquests, to her latest captive. " Tliougli I luive seen, Visconte, I cannot believe. What ! my eyes must have deceived me ! " "They have deceived a great many others — why not yon ?" replied the young Visconte, squeezing her hand. She rapped him over the knucldes with her fan, and they passed on. Leonie, perfect in her lesson, hurried back to the dancers, lost herself in the crowd, reached the door imobserved, and vanished for the niffht. Montarbas, on the contrary, hovered about the spot where the Queen stood, conversing with her lady-in-waiting, making himself indiscreetly conspicuous, rivetting his eyes on Her Majesty, and attending her to the very door when she went away. That she turned from him with marked dis- pleasure when he thrust himself forward to make a low obeisance, simply advanced his object. He only wanted to set people talking, that was enough. The testimony of a himdred eye-witnesses would do the rest. And she herself played so simply, so unwittingly, into his hands. Naturally frank and cheerful, pleased with her reception by the populace, she was in such good sj)irits that she could not refrain from telling everybody she met of her adventure and its consequences. " How do you think I came here ? You will never guess. I will give you a hundred chances. Would you believe it ? In a hackney coach ! " And experienced courtiers, affecting surprise, asked them- selves whether the indiscretion or the effrontery of Her Majesty were most to be admired ? CHAPTER Xiy. MOTHER caret's CHICKENS. So sure as a storm tlireatened, so sure were tliey to be seen : by twos and threes, and tens and scores, mounting quickly to hundreds, as the skies darkened and the gale increased. They were a strange band of Amazons, these fish women of Paris — bold, coarse, unsexed, depraved, yet with a certain sense of loyalty to their own institutions, a certain fidelity to their traditions, to each other, and to the pri\dleges of their guild. The opening of the States- General, the convocation of that deliberative Assembly which Louis himself hoped was to prove the salvation of his kingdom, had been fixed for the fourth of May. A severe and tedious winter was over at last. Spring, that bursts on France as she must have burst on Paradise, bloomed fresh and radiant, like a girl opening into womanhood, all hopes and smiles. The white cloud floated in a pure blue sky, the breeze stirred and fluttered through a wealth of leaves, that had not yet lost their tender green, birds soared in air, or sang in thicket, and the fishwomen, gathering in angry groups, shrieked, raved, and swore, tossing their bare brown arms, and calling down curses from the peaceful heavens on all that was pure, and noble, and bright, and beautiful here below. To what extent sedition had been fostered in Paris, with treachery, calumny, and the lavish expenditure of money, 122 KOSINE. notably supplicfl by the Duke of Orleans, was perhaps least kno^vn to the King and his immediate advisers. Louis, kindly, sluggish, gifted with an idle, passive courage, was always disposed to look on the bright side; and Necker, affecting, or entertaining, a preposterous belief in the excel- lence of mankind, seemed satisfied to carry out his own system of Government, studying the inclinations of the people as a mariner watches his compass, and making a fair wind of it, to carry out the metajihor, from whatever point it blew. The Queen, indeed, whose natural good sense and keen perceptions had picked up a few lessons in statecraft from her mother and her mother's advisers, showed an instinctive prescience of danger ; but she was too unselfish to alarm others by acknowledgment of her own anxiety, and too loyal overtly, at any time, to differ in opinion with the King. So the ship rode on towards the breakers, with an inexperienced captain, a dangerous cargo, a mutinous crew, and a shaking hand at the helm. Well might the storm-birds wheel, and croak, and soar, driven onward before the squall, mingling their ominous shrieks with the moan of that brewing tempest, the dull, unceasing roar of that pitiless ocean beating on a lee- shore ! The States- General, a free parliament of the nation, con- sisted of nobles, clergy, and Commons, or, as the latter were then entitled, the Third Estate ; but so-called Reformers, who had hitherto found their requests readily granted, encouraged by success, now demanded two fresh concessions — first, that this Third Estate should equal in numbers the other two added together ; secondly, that all should meet and deliberate in the same chamber. It is obvious that in such an assembly the popular party could at any time command a majority ; and such was the agitation brought to bear on this revolu- tionary 'measure by the Jacobins, with Orleans at their head. MOTHER CAEEY's CHICKENS. 123 that Necker dared not face the torrent, and ad^-ise the Kill 2: to refuse his consent. But it has often been observed by historians and others, that in great social disruptions, the mass of the people, dis- inclined to sudden changes, are stiU more averse to the violence with which they must be carried out. The nobility, stirred by a restless ambition, are not ashamed of furnishing leaders to the mob, who, gnawed by hunger, willingly follow any agitator promising bread at a low price ; but the middle class, who have something to lose, would fain sit comfortably at home, and watch the pot boil over the fire. These do not make them, these suffer most from them, and these could easily prevent revolutions would they but bring their dead weight to bear on the crisis. Even in France, maddened by oppression for six centuries, there was a large and influential majority, who wished no better than to see one generation of Bourbons after another, seated securely on the throne. So strong was this negative sentiment of content, as to produce positive action on the part of the tradesmen in Paris, the backbone of its social framework, the honest fathers of families and respectable shopkeepers, who have furnished from time immemorial, subjects of laughter to the stage, figures of fun for the pencil. Why a man must necessarily be ridiculous because he is a kind parent, a faithful hasband, and a useftd member of society, is a question that might well be asked in a more or less advanced state of civilisation than our own. At present, but for his vunbreUa, his rotundity, his pompous, solemn respectability, we should have no farce, no absurdity, no caricature. The tradesmen of Paris, anticipating, no doubt, an inun- dation that would carry all before it, unless they could stem the flood in time, bestirred themselves to select such deputies for the representation of their own interests, as should show some kind of front to the phalanx of ruffians who already 124 ROSINE. threatened their counters and their homes. Many of their nominees were necessarily persons distasteful to the rabhlc, and siicli as they would certainly not have chosen. A Parisian mob is usually ready enough to express its feelings of impatience and irritation. In no other capital of Europe do the people swarm down into the streets so willingly, nor break those streets up into lines of defence with such engineering skill. A few mischievous urchins collect a crowd; idlers join it from the wineshop, and presently young mechanics from their work. A cry is raised, shouted, repeated in shrill echoes by slatternly women hanging about the flanks and rear. A baker's shutters are torn down, a drinking-house broken into, the proprietor is maltreated, or his waiter knocked on the head. It takes but a sprinkling of blood to render the populace fierce as wolves, while, like wolves, they encourage and infuriate one another. Soon a drum beats in some neighbouring square, the clatter of dragoons, the measured tramp of infantry, perhaps the roll of a six-pounder gives timely warning, and the crowd either melts like a snow-wreath or makes a futile resistance, that leaves a dozen of its least guilty members dead in the gutter, and a poor little child shot accidentally through the window, killed amongst its playthings on a nursery floor. There is nothing so unmanageable, so impulsive, so desperate, and yet so cowardly, as a mob. It has held its own, bare- footed and half-armed, against the flower of regular troops, and it has been turned by a solitary sentry, scared by the pennon of a single lance. But the French are essentially a military nation, and a French mob is therefore so far formidable, that it usually contains a proportion of men, who, accustomed to act in concert, understand the necessity of mutual dependence and cohesion. On a bright morning in April, 1789, knots of people, belonging to the lowest of the lower classes, dotted the streets MOTHER Carey's chiceexs. 125 of Paris, obviously with some fixed intention, and under tlie guidance of certain leading spirits, who disj)osed tliem in different localities, systematically, and as it seemed, with, a definite plan of operations. The material, though rough, was formidable, and less unwieldy than might have been exjDected, There were workmen and mechanics in large numbers, many of whom brought with them such of their tools as could be used for offensive weapons in a hand-to- hand conflict. The butcher shouldered his cleaver, the carpenter his axe, the very tailor carried a pair of shears ; and in one instance a little cobbler, more than half drunk, brandished an awl ! Here and there some rufiian, whose only trade seemed blood, was armed with a worn-out musket, or a rusty pike ; but these were evidently heads of their own little companies, and so to speak, sub-ofiicers of the movement. ^\Tiile amongst them all, passing where they would, flitted Mother Carey's chickens, those birds of ill- omen, the Paris fishwomen, welcomed on every side with shouts and cheers, and jests more pointed than decorous, which they returned in a spirit of ribaldry that made the ears of modesty tingle, and its blood run cold ! Strapping furies, most of them were ! powerful of lungs and limb, deep-bosomed, tanned and freckled, with brawny arms, fitter to strangle an enemy than girdle a lover, and voices husky from shouting, exposure, and drink. Some, indeed, of the younger portion who had pretensions to beauty, decked themselves out in satin dresses invariably black and of the costliest fabric ; while all were so far feminine as to wear ornaments of some kind, and to keep their hair neatly arranged, the most ragged and the least sober amongst them priding herself on a pair of gold ear-rings, and a row of glossy braids, carefully jiresscd and flattened down. "How now, chicken?" exclaimed the busiest of them, a 12G EOSINE. hoarse, broad-shouldered viraj^o, leering in the face of a shrinking girl, dressed in black, cowering under the arm of a tall robust man to whom she clung. *' What art thou doing here, little one, trussed up in a crowd like this ? Go home, I tell thee, go home, and look after the soup. We mean no child's-play to-day. If thou art himgry thou shalt have blood for supper ! Blood for supper, my pretty one, dost thou imdorstand ?" " Oh, Pierre ! she frightens me," whispered the girl, pressing closer to her protector, and receiving this appetising invitation with pale cheeks and dark eyes full of terror. To Rosine the past had indeed been an eventful winter ; one of change, excitement, grief, happiness, hardships, and consolations that only rendered her the more beautiful in the seal of thought and sentiment they set on her innocent face. Pierre, working like a horse, with a horse's strength and courage, earned such high wages from his first coming to Paris, as speedily provided a lodging good enough for his promised wife. They would have been married long ago, but that the severe weather told on her grandmother's failing health, and the old woman died a week before the day fixed for their wedding. Then came a necessary period of mourning, curtailed indeed by the exigencies of the situa- tion, for, as Pierre urged, sensibly enough, it seemed now more than ever necessary to provide the girl with a protector and a home. Father Ignatius, too, put in a word, as did Leonie, not^vithstanding her many vocations, and, jjerhaps, \\ath secret reasons of her own. Hosine listened to advice, like a good girl, and did as she was told. Their marriage had been fixed to take place on the morrow, and in the meantime Pierre took her out for a walk in the fine spring weather, with that pleasant sense of holiday- making nowhere so intense and so enjoyable as in France. It seemed annoying to be hemmed in a narrow street by MOTHER Carey's chickens. 127 Ihe crowd when they wanted to reach gardens and fields. Nevertheless, it was an enlivening scene, exciting, amusing, and, but for the language of the fish women, it would have been agreeable enough. Clinging to her protector, E,osIne was further shielded by the portly figure of the lady who last addressed her, and who looked down into her face with a kind of pitying admiration, not devoid of amusement. "You puzzle me, child," she said, after a protracted and imceremonious stare. " I don't know what to make of you, with your dark eyes and delicate face. Cursed little aristocrat ! There — I am only joking. Mere Bouillon must have her joke. Call me mother, little one. I should like it." " I am afraid," hesitated Rosine. "Afraid! Nonsense! what should you be afraid of with that strapping bachelor of yours at your elbow ? No ; you're not one of the minxes who come down to the streets to find a husband. That is why I bid you go home. Take the girl away, citizen, I tell you ! I would make a passage for you myseK, with my own broad shoulders, but that I am ordered not to leave my post by the Wolverine." " The AVolverine ! " repeated Rosine, in astonishment. " Do you know her ? " " I will show her to you in five minutes. Do you see that pole, little one, over the barber's shoj) ? There will be a red cap hanging there directly. It is the signal ; she won't be long after that." Now curiosity, though the speciality of neither sex, is doubt- less one of the few weaknesses to which women yield without a struggle. Rosine would have given a great deal to be safe at home. She feared the crowd, the confusion, the noise ; mistrusted the position, and, above all, dreaded this awful ■ woman at her side ; but she could not resist the tcmjstation of 128 EOSINE. waiting for the Wolverine, of watching her whom she had only loiown hitherto in the privacy of domestic life, exercising those functions of which she had hoard her speak so proudly, swaying the mob with a word, raising, repressing, and directing the storm. "Pierre," she whispered, "I should like to stay here a little longer. I want to see what Leonie will do when she comes before all these people ; must slie make them a speech ? I wonder how she will be dressed ? " and Pierre, confident in his own strength, feeling besides, that to-day, of all days, the lightest wish of his bride must be law, seemed content to remain where he was. In less than half-an-hour the crowd, that had been gather- ing volume from every adjoining street and inlet, surged and swayed in one of those waves that denote a new impulse, a fresh excitement. But for Pierre's strong arm it would have lifted Rosine off her feet. " Look ! " exclaimed the fishwoman, with a push of her huge elbow, " Did I not tell you so ? Tremble, tyrants ! That is the cap of liberty ! " An unsavoury woollen cap, crimson rather than scarlet, now dangled from the barber's pole. So far as Rosine could observe by the action of their heads, it seemed that a circle of ruffians and fishwomen were dancing beneath it with horrid shrieks, and gesticulations that froze the marrow in her bones. " Do you know what they call that ? " grinned her neigh- bour, enjoying the girl's terror. " It is no court minuet they are practising yonder : it is the dance of the people — it is the Carmagnole ! " She stuck her great fists in her sides, and beat the ground with her feet, as if she too would have executed a war dance had there been room. But now cheers were heard in an adjoining street, swelling to a roar of welcome as they were taken uj), louder and louder, by nearer voices; presently a lane opened in the crowd, and a triumphal car, neither more nor less than a tfiaoem Croat; L'.iy^otii. ijti. P. 129 MOTHER Carey's chickens. 129 hackney coacli "with its roof torn off, drawn by brutes on two legs instead of four, made its appearance. On it stood Leonie dressed in white, with a garhmd of red flowers round her head, bending occasionally to whisper in the ear of some one, as yet inyisible, who seemed to be seated at her side. " See ! " cried the big fish woman, quivering with exulta- tion, " there she is at last. The Wolverine herself. Look at her, little one. Long live the Wolverine ! the queen of Liberty — the only queen we mean to have." The car was brought to a halt within twenty paces of where they stood, and Leonie descended amidst the acclama- tions of the mob. They crowded round her, they dashed down flowers at her feet, they pressed forward to shake her hands, some of the most enthusiastic, and these were generally men, kissed the folds of her dress. " That is the sort we want," affirmed Rosine's neighbour, nearly spent with shouting, " a girl of heart, and headpiece, and courage ; not a trembling little mouse like you ! She will breed men, that one. Bah ! what are men ? If she will only consent to lead us now, this afternoon — me, and five himdred of my sisters — I tell you we will tear the Austrian out of Versailles with our nails, and bring her into Paris dead or alive." Rosinc shuddered and looked on. Another shout of welcome, somewhat dashed with derision, even scorn, a smothered oath from her lover, who seldom swore, and a figure rose in the car to address the rabble, while Pierre exclaimed angrily — " Impossible ! Down with the aristocrat ! No honest man can take part with those who suffer themselves to be led by Count Arnold of Montarbas." K CHAPTER XY. SUNK IN THE STORM. " Silence, fool ! " roared the virago, looking with some approval, nevertheless, on Pierre's sunburnt face, and stalwart proportions. " There are no counts with us. That is Citizen Montarbas, a decent fellow enough, my friend, and one who sticks at nothing. Listen ! he has got to speak — this one ; he will tell you something you never heard before." In effect, Montarbas, rising in the car and waving his hand to entreat the silence which it is only fair to say was readily accorded, proceeded to address his audience with the cool and graceful effrontery that never deserted him. It was the man's nature to stand equally unmoved in presence of the adversary he hated, the woman he loved, the sove- reign he betrayed, or the dregs of the populace that he deceived and despised. He had got as far as "Friends, Frenchmen, republicans, brother-patriots! And you, my sisters, the pride and ornament of Paris, goddesses of liberty and love ! " — a commencement exceedingly well received, when he disappeared below the surface suddenly, in an instant, with the ludicrous rapidity of a jack-in-the-box; while a volley of musketry, reverberating through the lanes and alleys of this crowded quarter, denoted that the contest had begun in earnest, and that real fighting was going on in the adjoining streets. SUNK IN THE STORM. 131 Poor E-osine, thoroughly frightened at last, shook like a leaf ; but Mere Boufflon's eyes kindled, and the colour deepened in her rubicund cheeks. " Do you hear it ? " she vociferated ; " that is something like music ! That makes the ears tingle, and smells of gunpowder a mile off ! That means death to the aristocrats and war to the knife ! — the baker's oven sacked, the wineshop gutted, and the street running with blood ! " These heroic sentiments seemed, however, in no way shared by the populace. On the contrary, a general panic set in, the more irrepressible that it sprang from a hidden danger ; and many a ragged hero, bold enough if he could have confronted his enemy, trembled and crouched amongst his fellow- cowards, parah'sed by the one selfish fear of an unseen death. They were the countr^nnen of Dunois and Duguescliu ; they were the same material that hereafter carried the tri- color and the eagle to the bounds of Europe ; but neither Dunois nor Duguesclin could have encouraged them to show a front now, nor Charlemagne himself — no, nor the coming warrior, mightier and more illustrious than all three ! And the unknown foe consisted of a subaltern's guard of the regiment of Flanders — an officer, a sergeant, and some twenty men, themselves surprised by this imexpected out- break, and fighting as they retired on their barracks, section by section, steadily enough. If, like Jonathan with his armour-bearer, or Alfred with his harp, each leader could enter the enemy's lines, discover his purpose, his weakness, his dispositions, would a battle ever be won ? Say, rather, would a battle ever be risked ? How many a success has been crowned with laurels, that, but for some accident unknown to victor and vanquished, would have been a disastrous defeat. Fate, though she sits behind the curtains of her puppet-show, takes care to pull the strings K 2 132 ROSINE. with her OAvai hand ; and if the steadiest and bravest of troops have thus been the sport of circumstances, what was to be expected from an undisciplined mob like this ? In its ungovernable panic the crowd ebbed and flowed so violently, so irresistibly, that its very leaders were swept be- fore the tide like corks upon a wave. Montarbas, though he struggled with a strength and activity surprising in that slight and graceful frame, could make no head whatever against the flood, and was fairly carried away amongst a score of fishwomeu into the next street. One of these, maddened with drink and fury, put her arms round his neck and kissed him on the mouth. To that foul embrace he owed his life, for a retiring soldier, cool and steady, faced about at the same instant, and fired his musket into the mob. The ball lodged in her temples, and the woman's blood and brains be- spattered the lace handkerchief round the Count's neck, even while he heard the clink of the marksman's ramrod, as he re-loaded, passing in rear of a comrade who took his place. They were wedged so close that Montarbas could not dis- engage himseK from his ghastly companion, standing up- right, stark dead in his arms. He saw her eyes roll and turn dim, he heard the gasp and rattle in her throat, he felt her clutch him in the last convulsive quiver of her limbs, and turned sick, with a repugnance worse than horror, that the surrounding pressure bound him straitly to this fearful thing, like a lover to his bride. " She has got it — that one I " exclaimed just such another fury, peering over the dead woman's shoulder with a grin. " Hold me up instead, little aristocrat ! I am a partner better worth the trouble. Bah! let her drop. She will never dance the Carmagnole as-ain ! " Leonie, too, found herself speedily dethroned, and of no more account than the most obscure of her late admirers. She had headed the movement somewhat unwillingly, and SUNK IN THE STOEM. 133 Avitli proplietic misgivings of its result. She liad warned Coupe-tete and the Jacobins, that the pear was not yet ripe, and that an3'thing less than a simultaneous rising of the whole capital only exposed the revolutionists to be beaten in detail. Her brother's argiunents failed to convince her, but she jaelded readily to the persuasions of Montarbas, and con- sented to appear at his side as a female leader of insurrection and mythological genius of Liberty. The fishwomen, who approved of her courage, applauded loudly, entreating her to command their whole army of Amazons, and volunteering a bodyguard, which, like many other extemporaneous forces, melted into air with the first symptoms of danger. She looked for them in vain when the car broke to pieces under her feet, and she found herself launched amongst the struggling, heaving, panting crowd, herding together like hunted deer, maddened by fright, and regardless, in their bKnd struggles to escape, whom or what they crushed and trampled underfoot. To use their own expressive term : — " The people had gone down into the streets," because of the excitement created by the elections for the Third Estate, in the States- General, to be kno"svn henceforth as the National Assembly. The champions of liberty had resolved by intimidation, or, if necessary, by violence, to prevent the return of candidates likely to oppose their views, and had determined to protest (by physical force) against the election of such respectable tradesmen as carried weight from their own high characters, and the number of people in their employment. These were ridiculed, insulted, threatened with ill-usage, even with as- sassination. They burned one in effigy at his own shoj)- door, and it was to support such malpractices by a popular demonstration that Montarbas had persuaded Leonie to assist liiin in heading the outbreak which produced so disastrous u result. 134 ROSINE. It was knoA\Ti, however, by their leaders, and, indeed, by many of the mob themselves, that Baron de Besenval, who commanded the Royal Guards, was a veteran of experience and tried courage, a resolute soldier, with few scruples and no fear of responsibility, one who was most unlikely to march his troops out of barracks only to exchange repartees with the Parisians, and who, if he gave the order to " fire a volley," would assuredly, in the same breath, bid his men " aim Joir /" "He does not understand our little jokes, that one!" whispered the rioters, as the old Swiss general's name passed from lip to lip, and though not one of them knew for certain that he had yet mounted his horse, all seemed actuated by an overmastering impulse to get out of the scraj^e speedily and hurry home. Bvit, as in most cases of panic, they were so wedged into helpless blocks of himianity, they so pressed, and crowded, and baffled each other, that escape seemed impossible. Only to live and breathe was a task that taxed the stoutest of lungs and limbs. The weakest went to the wall. Young lads, women of slender frame, pale, faint- ing, suffocated, gasped and choked, and, finally, went down to rise no more, beneath that monstrous seething living wave. AVhen their heads touched the pavement it was all over. Life was trodden out relentlessly, mechanically, luider the stern law of gravitation, not to be resisted, but by an opposing power of equal value. One woman, indeed, a comrade of Mere Boufflon, felt her ankles clutched in a gripe of despair, and kicked the dying wretch in the mouth to extricate herself. But she did it for seK-preservation, ex- cusing her violence thereafter by an appeal to the first law of nature. "Who would have pulled me out," was her argument, "if I had gone down in such a game of romps as that ? Pity ! humanity ! fellow-feeling ! These are fine phrases, but my SUNK IN THE STORM. lo5 life is as good as another's. Better to me for that matter ! I was uppennost, you see, aud uppermost I took care to remain I " The Wolverine owed it to her height, her great activity, and the strength so often attending unusual sJ^nmetry of frame, that she kept her head above water, so to speak, while in spite of her resistance she felt her feet more than once lifted off the ground. Preserving that presence of mind \\hich seldom deserted her, she floated, as it were, with the tide in hopes of drifting to some open space where she might breathe freely, and be able to move her limbs. Faint and exhausted, she felt the pressure relaxing ever such a little, and caught a glimpse of the corner house in this narrow stifling street. If she could but reach it, she thought, surely there would be a few more inches of standing-room, and a welcome mouthful of air ! Her strength was failing fast. She felt Kke the swimmer, who would throw up his powerless arms, and go down from sheer fatigue, but that he sees within a stone's throw the shore, the jetty, the houses, and the children playing on the beach. It is cruel, when at such a crisis, the tide turns imrelenting, and carries him, like a wisp of seaweed, back into the deep ! So was it with Leonie. At a fathom or two from freedom there came a mighty backward surge, an eddy as it were of the whirlpool, that bore her with irresistible force many feet beyond the spot from which she had first started, while a whisper, soon rising to a roar of execration, warned the struggling crowd around her of a new danger. " Beware ! keep back I keep back ! The street is mined ! There are five thousand barrels of powder laid under the pavement ! We shall all mount together into the air ! It is the Queen's doing! Down with the accursed Austrian! Down witli Marie Antoinette ! " The Wolverine, crushed, bruised, sickening, scared, and 136 ROSINE. panting, like some wild animal in extremity, but keeping her feet with the tenacity of one who wrestles for bare life, found herself driven almost into the arms of Pierre Legros, who, straining to the utmost his personal advantages of height and strength, stood like a tower of defence in front of Hosine, to shield her from the throng. Leonie, slipping deftly behind him, saw that the girl's head drooped, and that she was nearly fainting from the effects of heat, fatigue, and this new panic about the gunpowder, for which there was not the shadow of a cavise. She turned on the Wolverine a frightened glance of recognition, but her eyes were swim- ming, and her face was whiter than the cambric on her neck. "Help me, Pierre!" she murmured. "I am suffocated! I am dying ! " He braced himself for a supreme effort. The simple, child- like appeal pierced him to the heart. " I am tall and strong," he said, bending his body backward, for he could not turn to look ; " clasp thine hands tight round my neck : I will carry thee out of this on my shoulders. Courage ! Eosine. It is our only chance ! " But Posine had fainted, slipping noiselessly to the ground, and the "Wolverine stood in her place. She sprang to his invitation eagerly, nimbly, with the force of one who leaps for life. She clasped him tight under the chin, so that he coidd not see those strong white hands twined in an iron grip, and he breasted the crowd gallantly with his burden, cleaving it as a ship cleaves the waters, slow, steady, and persistent, because of the precious freight. Once, she turned her head, in remorse, to look for Rosine. She might as well have looked in the ship's wake for one who had fallen overboard and was drowned. So they reached the end of the alley, the corner of the street, the open square beyond, where even Pierre was fain to halt, and be relieved of his voluntary load. o»- SUXK IX THE STORM. lo/ She was on her feet in an instant, and confronted him gail}' with a smile. "I thank you," she said, "for your politeness. You have done me a great ser"sdce. Monsieur, and I wish you good- day!" " H0I3' Virgin ! " he exclaimed. " Where is Rosine ?" " Fifty paces off in the crowd," was her reply. " She had fainted when I saw her last. Can you not fight your way back, and bring her out ?" He made no answer. His eyes were set in a hard, fixed stare ; his jaw dropped, and a cold, grey hue crept over his face, as it had been the face of a corpse. CHAPTER XVI. IN THE GUARDROOM. An arms-rack three-quarters full, pouch-belts slmig here and there, a strong odour of tobacco, humanity, and pipeclay, half-a-dozen figures in great coats stretched on the sloping boards that serve soldiers for bed ; a sergeant drinking from a tin canteen, and a prisoner handcuffed, fettered, gazing stupidly and without stirring at the plaster on the wall. He is a fine young man, of unusual size and strength, but he suffered the troops to take him with scarcely an attempt at escape, and none at resistance. Since his capture he has neither ate, nor drank, nor spoken, and has refused tobacco in every shape. He sits motionless, staring, always staring at the dead wall. They know not what to make of him. Is he imbecile, this droll fellow, or exceedingly cunning ? an idiot, a lunatic, or a spy ! They have had to do with rioters in plenty ; shot them down, wounded them, marched them off to gaol, but never one like this. He is welcome to their hospitality nevertheless, and they will keep him willingly enough till the provost-marshal comes to take him away, for it is the guardroom of the regiment of Flanders, and their prisoner is Pierre Legros. A recumbent soldier wakes, yawns, stretches himself, and begins to load a short, much blackened pipe. After a few whiffs he appears refreshed, puts the pipe, still alight, into his pocket, rises, takes his firelock from the IX THE GUARDROOM. 139 rack, and proceeds to polish it with a little sweet oil and a dirty rag, humming the while one of the many satirical ditties then popidar in the capital — " Now listen, my masters, the tale to be told Is concerning a monarcli, more prudent than hold, Whose wisdom decides that in spite of mischance Abundance and morals shall flourish in France. But if all are so good, and have plenty to eat, Say what will become of the knave and the cheat ! Tra-la-la, tra-la-la, 9a iia, <,-a ira ! " If titles of honour, true honour affords, Little claim to their patent have some of cm- lords ! If ladies of virtue the king will support, He will have to discard half the ladies at court ! And if riotous livers are left in the lurch, 'Twill be very hard times for the sons of the Church ! Tra-la-la, tra-la-la, 9a ira, 9a ira ! " If hollow lip service he treat with disdain. His household and courtiers are flattering in vain. And a spurious loyalty pledging till death, His friends in the country are wasting their breath. For what is the use of a partizan ? Since, 'Tis a family party of subjects and prince ! Tra-la-la, tra-la-la, 9a ira, 9a ira ! " If he means all his prelates good Christians to be, His magistrates honest, impartial, and free, How many a bishop, and vicar, and judge, From place and preferment must speedily budge ; Or alter their doings entirely, and then May the king live for ever ! So be it ! Amen ! Tra-la-la, tra-la-la, ca ira, 9a ira! " The singer's recreations were here cut short by a storm of remonstrance from his comrades, especially vehement on the part of those whose rest he had disturbed. " Silence, canary-bird ! " cried one. " I could have slept till the relief," growled another. "Goto all the devils!" swore u third. " I was dreaming of Mademoiselle Therese, HO EOSINE. and to be woke by a cursed republican ditty like that ! lie ought to stand the guard an ounce of tobacco all round." " It is not a republican ditty ! " protested the singer, polishing away at his musket ; " I am loyal to the backbone! What ! Like de Favras, I am more royalist than the king ! " " Not republican ! ^Vliat say you, sergeant ? I call it revolutionary. Ask the prisoner there ; he is a Jacobin, that one." " I cannot make him speak, comrade. I offered him tobacco, a mouthful of wine, even a little taste of brandy yesterday while you were snoring, and he never gave me a thank j'ou. Poor devil ! He is off his head, I think." " You would have said so if you had been with us when we took him ; he seemed qviite blind and stupid, grojDing on the pavement with his hands, turning round and round like a dog going to lie down. He is a strong fellow too. The rogue burst away from us, me, and Lenoir, and Boutin, as if we had been so many children ; but he ran back to the same place, and when we followed him came with us like a lamb." " Was he armed ? He looks as if he might be an awkward customer at the right end of a pike." " Not so much as a toothpick. I don't believe he is one of the Reds, that is why I am sorry for him. I suppose it will be the old story." " How the old story ? " " Why, a proces-verbal in the orderly-room. Has the prisoner anything to urge in his defence ? Silence ! Right face ! Quick march ! Ten file of men — a silk handkerchief over his eyes — fire a volley, and — Crac ! Before the smoke clears he is gone to the other place, wherever that may be!" "Was he not fighting? Corporal Croquard said he saw him at the barricade." " Corporal Croquard is a fool ; they had no time to make IX THE GUARDROOM. 141 tlieir barricade. I Tvill take my oath the Reds never meant fighting- after we drove them from the square. I think they knew that old ' Eat'em alive ' had two six-pomidcrs in reserve." " They let us have it pretty hot, I can tell you, in the Rue cles Tricoteuses ; but then we were only a sergeant's guard, and it was, in some sort, a surjarise. The street is narrow and we showed a good front, retiring by alternate sections. Happily they had not lined the houses. That is the worst of your street fighting, comrade, a woman in an attic may pick off a marshal of France." " I would make the attic too hot for her. When they play that game, you should set the houses on fire. It was your first volley woke us up in the barracks. You must have heard our bugles sounding the assembly." " We had other affairs to think of. This little sweetheart of mine gave me enough to do. See how her face shines with a drop of oil. I held her straight, comrade, I can tell you. Low aim, stiff arm, steady finger, and — Pflan ! down comes another of them ! I had a dozen rounds of ball-cartridge in my pouch, and I don't think one missed its man." " ^^T-iy didn't they take you in rear from the other end of the street ? " " Bah ! we should have faced about and held our own till you came to bring us off. The regiment of Flanders can fight in reverse, I hope." *' Front, flanks, and centre, without a doubt, comrade. It is all the same to us. In line or colunm, close, open, and quarter distance, upside do^vn if you like. Tliat is not the question ; I say again it was only a reconnoissance to-day. Tliat is why we took this poor devil with so little trouble. He had luii away from his own people, right into our iiioiitlis, but there were hundreds of the Sniis-cK/of/rfi within ])istol-shot, and they might easily have got liini l)ack." 142 ROSINE. " The Sans-ruloftes dare not face the Line. Give me two companies of the regiment of Flanders, and I will undertake to sweep the Reds out of Paris, as a scavenger sweeps filth from the streets. I wouldn't ask the Household or the Swiss Guards for a single section ! " " Yet old Bcsenval refused to move a step without the guns, and I think he knows his trade as well as another. They seldom wait for a howitzer, these civilians. It's no use putting up an umbrella against a shower of grape." " We did without artillery well enough ; you occupied the ground afterwards where we had been fighting, you must have found it strewed with fallen." " The practice was good, comrade ; I am not going to deny it, but the enemy had carried off most of their dead, thanks to those furies of fishwomen ; they showed a front, and covered the retreat better than a regiment of grenadiers ! " "Women fight like devils when their blood is up. There would be no such soldiers alive, only it's impossible to command them. Did you find our friend here amongst the women. He's the sort they love to take care of, big, comely, strong, and as stupid as a pump." " On the contrary, he was alone, looking for something on the ground. When he saw us he came forward at a run and tried to speak, but he gurgled and choked, while his face worked like a man in a fit ; we've had him in the guardroom now for eight-and-forty hours, and I don't think he has once opened his mouth ! " " Let us try him again," but even as he spoke the tramp of a horse, followed by a sentry's challenge, was heard at the barrack-gates and a gru:ff voice shouted, " Guard ! Turn out ! " The men sprang to their arms, formed line, paid the usual compliment to the mounted ofiicer who visited their post, and bustled back into the guardroom without the stir and noise arousing their prisoner from his abstraction. He IN THE GUARDROOM. 143 had ceased, however, to be an object of interest. Soldiers lead a life of such constant and varying excitement, that with them the present or, perhaps, we should say, the imme- diate future, must always be the first consideration. A few words uttered by their sergeant left them nothing to think of but the welcome news of a march and change of quarters forthwith. " Now, men, be smart about it. Get your packs on. Steady. Attention ! Corporal Croquard, detach four file. Put your prisoner in the centre ; you are answerable for his safety. Right, form four deep ! March ! " and in less than five minutes, the guard was stepping briskly out to join the main body of its regiment, ordered that morning to Yersailles. In the confusion of the late disturbances, and the alarm felt even for the personal safety of the royal family, by those who had means of knowing the rancorous disaffection that prevailed in the capital, and wisdom to foresee its results, punishment to the ringleaders in an outbreak was less thought of than measures for the security of those august persons against whom it had been organised. Louis, indeed, would have allowed his palace to remain unguarded by a single soldier ; would have hunted, shot, mended and made locks, eaten his meals, and drunk his wine, in a state of fatuous confidence, for which the historian is puzzled to account, while at three leagues distance the mob was roaring for his blood. A kind husband, and an affectionate father, it seems strange that he should have ignored the danger of wife and family, however careless constitutional indolence rendered him of his own. It may be that he could not, or would not, believe in the irreconcileable enmity of those for whom he felt an affection more like that of a father for his cliildrcn than a king for his people, on whose behalf he was ready to make the noblest sacrifices of personal luxury and comfort, even to tlie melting 144 EOSINE. down of Ills plate to palliate the rigours of a scarce season, and supply starvation witli bread. It may be tliat a lethargic temperament averse to exertion forbade liim to confront liis position, and that the hero in endurance was a coward in action, from sheer idleness and sloth. Whatever the cause, through the whole of his ill-fated career, under the bitterest provocation, at the most critical moment, he could not be persuaded to stiike a blow in self-defence. The mob, incited by the Duke of Orleans, not satisfied with heaping insults on His Majesty, whom they nicknamed the Baker, and to whose tyranny, they asserted, was due the high price of bread, expressed openly their intention of marching on Versailles, taking their Sovereign out of his palace by force, and bringing him home to that pandemonium they were pleased to call his own good city ! By the exertion of certain devoted royalists, such as the Marquis de Favras, a few scattered trooj)s were called in from the frontier to strengthen the slender garrisons of Paris and Versailles. Thus it fell out, that the regiment of Flanders, after a brush with the rioters in the caj)ital, was ordered to change its quarters, for the immediate protection of the King, If, to the eye of discipline, they straggle somewhat loosely from their ranks, French soldiers are, of all others, the merriest on the march. These formed no exception to the rule. They sang, they smoked, they jested, they shared mouldy biscuit from their havresacks and sour wine from their canteens ; but the morsel was nibbled with a joke, the mouthful sipped with a laugh. They seemed boys out of school rather than bearded men whose trade it was to look on death ; and in their midst plodded Pierre Legros, his hands tied, his eyes fixed on the ground, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, marking nothing, like one whose doom has gone forth, and whose spirit is already hovering on the border of another world. CHAPTER XYII. MOTHER KEDCAP. "When Eosine recovered consciousness, slie found lierself in the dark, stretched on a couch, thirsty and exhausted, very- sore, very stiff, but otherwise not much the worse for the ordeal she had passed throvigh. Her senses, returning- gradually, as to one who wakes from a profound sleep, told her that she was not yet, as she at first believed, an inmate of the tomb. Death could never smell so strong of fish, and it seemed impossible to suppose that the other world, whether paradise or purgatory, was an abode the least like this ! A handkerchief steeped in some cooling liquid, com- pressed her brows, the laces of her dress had been loosened, and a pillow from which the straw protruded was jDlaced under her head. Experiencing a drowsy sense of rest after labour, ease after pain, she felt comfortable rather than otherwise, and indisposed even for the exertion of trying to recall the past. It was enough to hold some vague remem- brance of a crowd swimming before her eyes, of a sea roaring in her ears, of a sentence spoken by Pierre that her failing senses forbade her to take in, and a hoarse, hateful voice, dominating all other noises, that seemed to mock and jeer at her distress. Tn her weariness she would have sunk to sleep, l)ut that the same harsh tones, holding forth in an apartment below, roused her to wakefulness, memory, and the use of all her faculties, sharpened by a keen sense of fear. L 146 EOSINE. The smell of fish was presently accoimted for, by the wet flap of some flabbj^ substance repeated at intervals on a slab, which served to point and set off, as it were, the dealer's discourse with customers and friends. Rosine took in the situation at a flash. She was in the fishwomen's quarter, at the very centre of the insurrection — an inmate, a prisoner, perhaps a victim in Mere Boufllon's house. She had scarcely time to realise her jDosition when a heavy foot was heard on the stairs, the door opened, and a large figure loomed through the obscurity, treading softly, with an air of ludicrous precaution, like an elejohant trying the groimd over which it bas to pass. "Dost thou feel better, my pretty one?" asked the voice Rosine so dreaded, while Mere Boufilon opened a sbutter to throw some light on her patient. "Dame ! but I thought it was all over when I brought thee home. ' Dead as a her- ring ! ' says I, shooting thee off my shoulders on the counter, and sousing thee witb cold water like last week's fish. Why, the Sansculottes must have passed right over thee in the fury of tbeir onset. A splendid charge tbey made, the rogues, but it was to the rear ! ' Right-about-face ! ' says tbe Count, in that mocking voice of his, 'and run for your lives ! ' Faith ! they asked no better. Bah ! men are all cowards. What?" " You brought me here on your shoulders ! " faltered Rosine. " It was good of you ! I thank you with all my heart, Madame, and Pierre shall thank you too." " Call me mother, my pretty dove," said the fishwoman. " Call me mother, it does me good. Wby, tbe very street urchins, the little patriots of the gutter, only know me as Mother Redcap. Shall I tell you how I earned the name ? When the people burned Reveillon in eflagy before his own house, for a shopkeeping traitor and aristocrat, I, who sjDeak to you, led our own brave lasses to the attack. A ball struck MOTHER EEDCAr. 147 me on the head — here ; you can feel the scar, touch it, litth^ one, don't be afraid ; but Mere Boufflon wasn't likely to stop for such a fleabite as that. I let the blood cake on and plaster the wound, till friends and foes believed I was fight- ing in a man's nightcap for luck. 'Aim at the woman in the red cap ! ' cried the soldiers. ' Follow the woman in the red cap ! ' answered our people ; and Mother Redcap I am called in the quarter to this day. Am I proud of it ? No. These are follies. AVait a little, we have seen only child's- play yet. In the meantime, art thou not in pain, my dove ? art thou not sore and bruised ? Call me mother, then, that I may soothe and cherish thee, and keep thee here till thou art healed, lively as a sea-trout, and sound as a roach ! " Coarse, foul as she seemed, smelling of garlic, fish, and brandy, there was yet a tenderness in the woman's manner that emboldened Eosine to ask the question nearest her heart. "And Pierre?" she murmured. "My — my companion, who took care of me. What became of Pierre ?" " Bah ! Let him go to all the devils, your Pierre ! A pretty bachelor to forsake a girl in such a plight as that. Stay with me, my dear, and be my daughter. We will get thee a better husband than Pierre. Thou shalt chose from the very pick of the patriots. Hold ! I have it. Thoii shalt marry Citizen Montarbas. Our Count — the people's Count. That is an idea ! He shall see thee to-morrow, Avhen the colour has come back to thy cheeks. Thou art pale to-day and tired, no doubt. Look here; I will leave thee to rest now, and they may burn the fishmarket down ere I let them wake thee, till thou hast had thy sleep out. "What ! I have brought up children of my own. If I believed she could hear, I would thank the Virgin that not one of them is alive to see me now ! " "When the door had shut on her liuge bloated form, Kosiue I *> 148 EOSINE. leaped from tlie coucli in an access of unreasoning terror that prompted her, like the instinct of a wild animal, to some mere physical struggle for escape. She looked from the window, it was on a second floor, and twenty feet from the ground. She examined the door, it was thick, strong, and locked on the outside. Then she lay down again, and reviewed the situation. Obviously nothing could be accomplished by force. She must use her wits, she must trust to chance, above all, she must gain time. After baffling the Count so effectually, it was maddening to think that she might become his prey at last. She wondered whether he remembered her still. Impossible ! He must have abandoned the pursuit long ago. This dreadful old woman was only talking at random. Well, happen what might, she was resolved he should not find her here. No ; if worst came to worst, as he entered the door, she would leap from the window and take her chance. AVTiat had she done to deserve this cruel persecution ? Was it a punishment for her sins, or a tax on her beauty ? How she wished she had been born ugly ! No ; she didn't ! Not even now. Pierre would never have cared for a plain woman, and, of course, good looks must attract notice, admiration, undesired attentions, which well-brought-up girls should know how to avoid. And this grisly hostess of hers, who was proud of being called Mother Redcap. It was a horror to think of, the name, and its frightful origin ! She could fancy she saw the towering figure, the iron-grey tresses, and the face a mask of blood ! Rosine shut her eyes, as if to keep out the vision, and before she opened them, heard the wooden stairs creak under the same heavy footfall as before, while the key turned in the lock and the old woman again entered, treaduig stealthily, not to disturb her prisoner's repose. The girl took the hint, breathing hard as if sound asleep, MOTHER REDCAP. 149 and Motlier EcclcaiJ witlidrew, once more apparently well satisfied ; not, however, until site had lifted a lock of Rosine's dark hair floating on the pillow, and put it verj^ gentlj^ to her lips. There was something touching in the tenderness of the action and the sigh that accompanied it, something that spoke of a better nature dormant in that mass of vice, and ribaldry, and excess. For a moment the prisoner felt an impulse to make a friend and confidant of her gaoler, but it was checked by the sound of voices, one of which she was startled to recognise as that of the Wolverine, conversing in the shop below. Sliding softly from the couch and lajdng herself along the floor to listen, she found a crevice in the boards through which she could both see and hear. Mother Hedcap, with a bottle and glasses before her, stood bare-armed at the counter in a demonstrative attitude, as prepared equally to serve a customer or press a visitor to drink. "A little mouthful," she urged, filling a wine-glass for herself, and another for her guest. " Just a taste, citizen ; it is the best brandy in the quarter. See, here is to the cause of liberty ! Ah ! that does good, that comfoi-ts the stomach and warms the heart ! That ffives couragfe and confidence, and — ^and — all the virtues of a patriot." " Including prudence, silence, and self-command," laughed the Wolverine. " No, mother, not a droj^. Some of us must keep our heads clear for the affairs in hand. You know me well. Did you ever see me drink wine or brandy when the pavement was up, and a smell of gunpowder in the streets 't " The other looked at her in servile admiration. They formed a strange contrast these two, the designer and the worker, the steel spring and the leaden bolt, the impulse^ aiid the blow, the spirit and the fleslj. Leonie, calm, commanding, 150 IIOSINE. dressed to perfection, beautiful of form and feature, in a beauty none the less effective that it was of no celestial type ; and ^lotlier Iledcap, coarse, red-faced, vigorous, her sleeves rolled up, her petticoat turned back, showing- her muscular limbs and large strong feet, turbulent, reckless, flushed with brandy, and ready for action, right or wrong. "No," answered llu' lish woman, after a pause, "it cannot \)v (Iciiicd that you are braver, harder, nobler, a better jiatiiot than any one of us. ^Vh ! they may well call you the AVolvcrine ; there is something- of the tiger-cat about vou, besides the beauty of your bright sleek skin. The only liquor you relish is blood ; and though you might have a hundred lovers every day in the week, you wouldn't care to see the best man that ever stripjDcd at your feet, with- out a pike through his body, or an oimce of lead in his lieart." The other pointed to the bottle, with a smile. " You are eloquent, my mother," said she. " Profound, rhetorical, full of poetry and romance ! You speak like my brother, Coupe- tete, at the Jacobins, or — or — Citizen Montarbas himself. P)ut do you bebeve, seriously, I came here to prate about love and lovers ; all these childish follies we had done with years ago ? ^Yhat has come to you. Mother Pedcajj ? I have seen you drink brandy, but I never heard you talk sentiment before." "An angel has come to me," answered the old w^oman, stifling something between a hiccough and a sob. " I used to believe in angels once, when I went to the mass. I had pictures of them, I tell you, in the book I carried in my hand. 15 ut the priest never taught me they would come down to such a woman as I am now. Devils ! ah ! that's a different matter. Talk to me of them, if you please. I know them. I see them every day. I drink with them here in the market. I embrace them, down yonder behind the barri- MOTHER EEDCAP. 151 cade. And — I was once a young girl at her first communion in a white gown ! Excuse me, Citizen, I will have another glass of brandy, by your leave." " You have had brandy enough, mother. But no matter — talk yourself sober It Avill do you good ; and when your hand is as cool as mine, and your head as clear, we will go to business. There is no hurry — I can wait." Mother Redcap laid her own great fist on the counter, and examined it as if for the first time, wagging her head with a laugh. " Shall I confess what first made me take to you," said she, "before your name of Wolverine meant the Spirit of Liberty, the Goddess of Reason, the Genius of the French people? It was because with a woman's beauty — you arc beautiful ; this is no foolish compliment — you showed the strength and courage of a man ! Do you remember when that imp of an apprentice, whom Santerre used to call ' Small-beer ' for his pretensions, drew a pistol on Coupe-tete, here at a meeting in our market, because your brother said the pear was not ripe, and the people could do nothing against soldiers till they had muskets of their own. How you grasped the little scoundrel's wrist, holding it in a vice, tUl he cried out with pain, and let the weapon fall to the ground ? I examined your white hands then ; I saw that they were as strong, ay, as strong again, as mine ; and I said to myself, ' She may hok like an aristocrat, that one, but if ever she comes up the street waving a red flag, I, and a hundred of my sisters, will follow her to the gates of hell ! And so we will, Wolverine, and I who speak to you shall be the first to enter — unless — unless, that angel on the second floor comes to pull me back ! " " What do you mean. Mother ? Are you drunk or dream- ing ? 1 have no time to read riddles, or listen to fables ; l)ut if you have really g(jt an angel upstairs, I advise you to clip 152 IIOSINE. its wings, and keep it safe. There arc not many in Paris, and tlicy are A'ery scarce indeed in this quarter of the tOWTl." Mere Boufflon stretched her hand towards the bottle, but seemed to think better of it, and refrained from filling her glass. " It was not always so, Madame," said she, her hoarse voice broken, and her eyes softened by the tears she kept bravely do-^Ti. "I had an angel of my owoi once, who put her arms round my neck every morning, and said her prayers. Imagine, Madame, the absurdity — said her prayers every night, at my knee ! I — I said prayers myself then. When I looked at her sleeping, fresh and innocent as a spring flower, in her little bed, there wasn't a better giii, nor a prettier, nor one stricter brought up, than my Margot, between here and St. Cloud. But look what came of it all ! Put the bottle out of reach. Wolverine. Brandy does nothing for a pain like mine. Here, in the heart — in the head ! I must have blood — I always feel better when I have tasted blood ! " "You may take j^our fill of it this summer," answered the Wolverine, coolly. " There will be a red vintage, I think, before the grapes are ripe ; and if you like the flavour. Mere Boufflon, you shall drink enough to quench a fiercer thirst than yours ! " The other paid no attention. She seemed absorbed in memories of the past, and continued the narrative of her grievances in the same sad, broken voice. " We prayed to the Virgin, she and I. We had better have prayed to Santerre, and your brother Coupe-tete, and the Jacobins in their club ! See how it finished ! There lived a Marquis in the next street. The dead wall of his hotel kept light and air from our humble little home. We might not draw water for our household till his stables had MOTHER REDCAP. 153 been supplied. Tliat was not enough ! He was a man of middle age. He had a wife and children of his ovni. A mistress, too, in the suburbs. What do I know ? Perhaps a score of intrigues all over the town. And he saw my pretty Margot going to the mass ! He went there too, regularly, morning after morning. To the mass, Madame, do you imderstand ? Our friends the Sansculottes are bad enough, but they are honest de\dls. Jet black and smelling frankly of sulphur. They never went to the mass ! No ! I learned the whole story afterwards, when it was too late. You have been a young girl, Madame, and so have I, though it seems impossible now. Need I tell you how these things accomplish themselves in spite of mother, neighbours, the Virgin, and all the saints ? The man watches and the woman waits. A look accepted and returned ; a blush — a smile — a flower, or a knot of ribbon begged, refused, ac- corded. It is all over then, and there is nothing more to be said. My girl had a fan she seemed to prize highly, declaring she bought it, with her own earnings, in the market. I ought to have known better. She had never deceived me before, and I should have seen she was telling a lie, because she turned so red ! Poor Margot ! She was pale enough when I kissed her dead lips, and bade her good- bye for ever. If it's true they will never let me get to her over there — if it's all a fable, what matter? Everything must come to an end ! " Will you laugh at Mother Redcap now ? Do you wonder that I am so fierce, and so merry too, when I hear church- bells ringing backwards, and the rattle of drums, behind a storm of file-firing that wastes itself against the barricade. Ah ! that beats all the brandy in the Fishmarket ! That makes the blood moimt to my head, and I can forget IMargot though she was the last of my children, thougli I laid her and her dead baby in the same grave with my own hands ! " 154 ROSINE. There was something of pity ou the "Wolverine's clear, haudsome face, but more of scorn. " I understand," said she. " The aristocrat broke her h(>art. And your Marquis, what became of Jdm ?" " Died peaceably in his bed ! " replied the other. " Priest, notary, doctor, all regular as clockwork. And the chisel never broke that scored lies on his tombstone ! Had he only lived a little longer, only till now ! I would have cut his throat with my fishkuife, and lapped a mouthful of his blood ! Enough ! I have told my tale. I am out of breath — give me some brandy — just a little taste. Excuse me, jSIadame, I feel better now. With your permission, I am w^holly at your service, and ready to attend to business ! " The Wolverine shuddered. She felt like a tamer of wild beasts after some crisis, during which the quiver of a nerve, the falter of an eyelash, might have changed the balance of power, and destroyed in a second the dominion of intellect over brute force. But these were the tools with which she had to work, and she must make the best of them. Ilers was no unskilful touch, and the very sharpness that rendered them so dangerous to a bimgler, was the quality she most prized. AV^ith a cool, firm hand she removed bottle and glasses out of Mother Hedcap's reach, bade her hostess sit down, placed a chair for herself, and in the calm, measured voice with which one speaks of the weather, or the trimmings of a dress, proceeded to unfold the business that had brought her here, into the heart of the fish women's quarter. CHAPTER XVIII. THE LIE LIKE TRUTH. '' I KEED not reniind you, Mother," she began, " that four meetings have been held at the Jacobins during the last week, and that we are all agreed the Hevolution moves slowly, so slowly, it seems as if it would come to a dead stop. You are pretty well-informed here, you sisters of the peoj)le. We keep nothing from you ; we confide in you ; we tell you all that takes place, and you must have arrived at the same conclusion for yourselves." " Just what I say ! " exclaimed Mother Redcap. " Wo seem to be resting on our oars, as if the fish would swim of themselves into our nets. What ! We are no nearer Versailles than we were a month back, and the Baker, he is no nearer Paris. We are trifling. I have thought so for long. I am tired of it. Keep moving ! that is my motto. That is how the world goes round. Pardon. I am listening ; say on ! " " There is a reaction, Mother, I have seen it coming, an eddy that, mdess we turn it, may prove strong enough to draw us all under water. I do not mean to drown for one. On the contrary, I hope to swim on the top of the tide ! The people are hoodwinked, cajoled, deceived. It is for us, for you and me, and a few more patriots, to set them right." "How sor' The people are never wrong. Thus we are taught, and thus we teach. Yet, they do take up strange 156 . KOSINE. fancies sometimes. They are like the currents of the Seine. It is but a little bend that sends tliem Avliirlin<>' away under the opposite bank only to return again Avith the next curve, yet they move down towards the sea all the time. It was but the other night they brought the Austrian to the Opera- house with shouts and cheers, as if it had been you or me ! Some of our own women, here, in this very quarter, swear she is not such a bad wench after all." " How could she be worse ?" " She loves her children, they say, and her husband. After all, 'tis no fault of hers that she was born a princess, only her misfortune. That is all one ! People must jjay for their misfortmies. I do believe the Austrian is a good mother and a good wife ! " ** A good wife ! Bah ! You must be easily deceived ! There is no better judge of stale fish in the market. Can you not detect the taint in a woman's reputation because she is a queen? I should have thought you had a keener scent ! " " Faith, Madame, the finest scent might well be blunted for both in such a place as this. But that is another affair. I am only repeating what I hear. You know our wenches — they say what they mean ! " "And you know me. I mean what I say. I swear to you that the Austrian is light, frivolous, bad. "What ! A woman of passions, a woman of intrigue. Shall I tell you why she went to the Oj)era like a private citizen in a hackney coach?" "To amuse herself, I suppose. They must amuse them- selves, no doubt, the same as the others, though they wear satin every day, and eat off gold plate. I have been to the Opera myself, once, for that matter ! " " And you went to meet your admirer. On my word of honour, Mother, he showed good taste." THE LIE LIKE TEUTH. 157 Tlie old woman burst into a coarse laugh, winking, and leering as if no less flattered by the supposition than tickled with the conceit. " Stranger things come to pass every day," she answered. " But it is no question of me and mine, I am not an Austrian archduchess, nor a queen of France, whatever I may be when the people get the upper hand ! " " At least, when you are queen, you will manage matters, I hope, -with some regard to decency, and not publish your shame to the whole world, as Her Majesty did the other night without a blush ! " " Was it so bad as that ?" "Listen. I will tell you the whole story. I know what I am talking about, for I was there. She stopped her state carriage in the street, dismissed her escort, and came to the ball in a hackney coach. She was masked, of course." " A masked ball ! In my life I have never been to a masked ball. It must be rare sport. But if she had a mask on how could you recognise her?" The Wolverine smiled. "How?" she repeated, "By a thousand signs. Her height, her figure, the way she crosses a room. There are not many women in France who can walk like Marie Antoinette. Finally, hj her jewels and her dress," " What was the dress ?" asked the other eagerly, " Black satin and pearls?" "No. That shall be yours when we have made you queen. On the contrary, white satin and diamonds. There were hundreds saw her besides me. In the whole society scarcely another figure looked so beautiful and so remarkable. The men never took their eyes off her. And she — Queen of France, a wife and the mother of children — had eyes only for one." 158 ROSINE. " The A'illaiii ! Tte aristocrat ! ITc must have been a handsome fellow tliou^^li, to win so mariced a jjreference." " He never left her for an instant. He was at her side in the crowd. He was whispering to her in the dances. And he passed a quarter of an hour alone with her in a private box." " A private box ! But this is a horror ! I am not a prude. My name is Boufflon. They call me Mother Red- cap in the market, and I fear no man that ever wore boots. But if the best of them oifcred to shut me up alone with him in a private box, before such a society as that, I would simply catch him by the scruff of the neck and fling him over into the pit. There ! " " It is a warning to the most venturous ! I can believe, Mother, you would be as good as your word. She did nothing of the kind. Scores of ladies were in the corridor to see her come out. There could be no mistake. She dropped her mask at the door, and her hands shook so, it was a full minute before she could put it on." " She is foolish then as well as wicked ! I would have tied mine tight behind my ears in such a scrape as that ! " " It was all over Paris next day. They are talking of it still. Surely it is time to finish with this unworthy woman, and put an end to the influence she exerts over her weak, besotted husband. She is coming into Paris to-morrow. She is to throw dust in our eyes by visiting the hospitals, and will talk to the sick like a Carmelite. That is for effect. Mother Redcap, but you and I are not so easily deceived. She might be taken in any one of the narrow streets near the Capuchins. It is but lifting twenty feet of pavement, then ring out the tocsin ! up with the red flag, and a thousand Sansculottes ought to master any force she is likely to bring on such an errand as hers. 'V\Tien WG have got her safe in the Hotel de ViUe, or THE LIE LIKE TRUTH. 159 even tlie Temple, we can make our ovra terms with the Baker. Bread sliall be liacl for the asking, and brandy sokl at a penny a glass. What do you think of it, Mother ?" " It is the only way to -save the countr}-." " We must keep our own counsel. A revolution is the result of circiunstances, even accidents. It is a dish that must come off the fire all hot. Let us be ready to act at a word, when the moment arrives. How many of your mer- maids do you think you could muster with an hour's warning ?" Mother Redcap reflected. "If there is no mistake about the brandy," she answered, " I could parade five hundred ; -svith twice as much notice, perhaps half as many more. Strapping wenches all, nearly as big as I am ; but younger, you understand, and who will stick at nothing. We have not to learn our trade for the first time. I shall look to you, Madame, for a signal. And then Tantara ! Sound the assembly, and stand to your arms ! I wish we were going to begin now ! " " You are impatient. Mother, and perhaps you are right. These are matters which, like your own wares, should not be kept too long. Besides, I am not quite pitiless. I am not a woman of stone, and something teUs me that the longer we stifle it, the greater will be the explosion when it comes." " Let it blow the aristocrats into the air ! That will be good enough for me. It is agreed then. I will set about it this very night and warn my lasses to be ready at an hour's notice, and to bring some brand}^ with them for the men. We are sure of the Sansculottes. We can have as manj' as we want, but who is to lead them ? Santerre has his arm in a sling. Coupe-tete will be making a speech at the Jacobins. Your brother can talk, there is no denying it, though fighting is not so much to his taste as yours. It would be a nice job for Montarbas. He has courage, llic little Count, 160 EOSINE. and loves the smell of powder, as well as most of them. Besides, we shall be none the worse for an aristocrat of our o^vn on the right side of a barricade ! " Leonie hesitated. " I will speak to him about it," said she, reflecting how she could best extricate him from this post of danger. " T shall see him first," observed the other. " He is coming round here to-night. He has promised to address us in the Fishmarket. My wenches are stark mad for his handsome face, one and all." The Wolverine repressed a movement of impatience. " We must not risk our best leaders too freely," said she. " The Count has genius as well as courage. We could not easily replace him if anything should go wrong !" " Bah ! There are plenty more where he came from. I am as good a captain myself, if you come to that ! And so the Austrian is a bad one ! Well, I never heard much good of these Gennans. But that is no matter. You have not told me who it was that took her fancy. There must be some mettle in him, that one ! I will say for these aristocrats, they stick at nothing, good or bad ! " Her cold eye spaikled, and a faint colour came to the Wolverine's cheek, while she answered — "Count Arnold de Montarbas. The Queen is no bad judge after all." " One of ourselves ! " exclaimed Mother Eedcap, bringing her great palms together with a smack that caused Rosine to shrink back startled from the crevice where she was listening overhead. " A patriot ! A Jacobin ! A Scais- cnlottes in silk breeches and a clean shirt ! The little rogue ! winning as he likes in love and war. I once thought you had a fancy for him yourself, Wolverine. But no. You care only for the Red Flag. So the Count takes a Queen for his mistress, and I have a wife for him here in the room THE LIE LIKE TEUTH. 161 upstairs. He deserves my angel, and I will give her to him. "WTiat ! She is my own, I hope, since I brought her to life again when she lay for dead under the feet of the patriots ! " "It is the last place I should have thought an angel would choose for her repose," said the Wolverine, with a sneer, as finding the conversation not much to her taste. " If Citizen Montarbas wants a wife he will scarcely come to seek her in the fishmarket. This angel of yeurs, Mother, is a fallen one, no doubt." "She is very different from you and me," answered Mere Bouillon ; " that is what makes me think she comes from heaven. Ah ! poor thing, how she trembled when the firing began. I was standing close by her side, then we were sei^arated in the panic, though I tried hard to keep her sheltered by my great carcase. She seemed such a weak thing to be tossed about in a crowd like that. I struggled back to her though, by main force, and there I found her, lying on the pavement, white and bruised, like — like a lily, Madame, crushed under a garden-roller. So I carried her here in my arms, for her bachelor had deserted her — a great strong coward. And the first word she uttered, when she came to herself, was Pierre." " Pierre ! " echoed Leonie. " The saints be praised. It is Hosine ! " "You know her, do you.^ Yes, it must be so. She looks as if her name was Rosine." Leonie made no answer, so manj^ thoughts came crowding on her busy brain. Her first feeling, venting itself from liabit in a tlianksgiving to those heavenly powers whom she had long since abjured, was one of relief and gratification, to learn that an innocent girl, rival though she were, liad not been sacrificed to lier own nimble treachery, in seizing the readiest opportunity of escape. But this healthier sentiment M 1C2 ROSINE. was absorbed in tlic jealousy of a woman who loves, when she reflected that Rosine, deprived of her natural protector and imprisoned here in Mother Iledcap's house, avowedly that she might fall into the power of Montarbas, had better have died a hundred deaths than reappeared at such a time. The instinct everybody tries to stifle, that never sleeps, and never deceives, warned her how slight was the thread by which she held this maa, whom, in spite of common sense, experience, and a resolute character, she could not help loving so dearly. It would break, she feared, with the slightest pull, and a smile from a fairer, nay, a newer face, might at any moment demolish the whole fabric she had been at such pains to rear on so fragile a foundation. He must have forgotten Rosine, surely, but for this strange mischance. Now, his old caprice would resume all the power such wandering fancies exert over characters like his. He was quite cajjable of forsaking the woman whose happiness depended on his favour, and transferring to another those shallow affections, for which she, the Wolverine, proud and ambitious as she was, would sacrifice pride and ambition without a regret. How could she love such a man ? Why did she love him better for his inconstancy and his want of heart ? They are mighty powers, both Eros and Anteros, the blushing golden-haired Cupid, and his naughty little black brother. There is a love that elevates, and a love that de- bases ; it is hard to say which is the stronger of the two. "And you expect Montarbas this evening," said Leonie, racking her brain to devise some means of keejaing him apart from Rosine, but speaking the while in that calm decided voice, to which she owed much of her influence over less self- contained natures. "Every minute," answered Mother Redcap, walking to THE LIE LIKE TRUTH. 163 the shop door. " Effectually — there he is, and Coupe-tete on his arm, coming up the street now." Woman's wit is seldom found wanting, and there are certain congenial matters, such as dress, hysterics, and a motherly care for children, in which one woman's sjanpathy never fails another woman at her need. Leonie ran to a mirror in the back shop, that had reflected the weather- beaten faces and flashing looks of many a visitor out of the fishmarket, and turned from it with a little cry of vexation and disgust. " I cannot meet him like this ! " she exclaimed. " Did you ever set eyes on such a figure ? Couldn't I run upstairs. Mother, and put my hair to rights ? I look as if I had been birds' -nesting. I declare I'm not fit to be seen." " Run along, my dear," said the old woman, with whom such an appeal was no less powerful than it would have been thirty years ago. "The room opposite the landing. You will find the key in the lock. Arrange yourself there ; don't disturb the sleeper ; and come down again at your leisure. I also was young once, and a likely wench enough. Ah ! they admired dark women in my time. They wouldn't have turned round to look at such a white pinched face as yours ! " And Rosino, listening at her crevice, had but time to settle herself on the couch, and pretend to be asleep, as Leonie came noiselessly into the room. M '^ CnAPTEH XIX. MEX WERE DECEIVERS EVER. Had Mother Redcap been a girl again slie might have taken a fancy herself, she thought, to this dainty Count, leaning on the arm of Coupe-tete, while he swaggered gaily into the shop. Montarbas was one of those people to Avhom the costume of the moment seems always the most becoming. In compliance with the prejudices of his new friends, he liad discarded powder, and his oval face looked all the hand- somer for the dark curling locks in which it was framed. A blue coat with gilt buttons, a white waistcoat, nankeen breeches, and top-boots pushed low down the leg, set off the symmetry of his slender, graceful form ; and while he removed a tall hat in that precision of politeness, which no amount of republicanism can destroy among the French people, his hostess could not but admit with some incon- sistency that after all there was nothing so gracious as patrician blood ! Standing by Coupe-tete, who imitated him in dress and manners, he looked like a grilse by a haddock, a cane by a cudgel, a thorough-bred horse by a butcher's hack. He had been speaking at the Jacobins, so had his com- panion ; neither was disinclined to moisten his lips in Mother Iledcap's brandy ; and the old woman, jjledging her guests with a freedom that she thought exacted by the laws of MEN WERE DECEIVERS EVER. 165 hospitality, bocanie more friendly, more revolutionary, and more incoherent with every gulp. She seemed to forget Leonie, and the proposed insur- rection, for which she had promised to raise a troop of Amazons belonging to her guild. She ignored Coupe-tete altogether, and sat behind her counter, blinking at Mont- arbas, while she maundered on about the angel she had captured, whom she retained upstairs for the Count to marry without delay. Next week — to-morrow — why not this even- ing y They could live here, in these very apartments. She would keep house for them. They should be her children, and inherit the business when she died. It was a good business. Ah ! she knew what she was about. Montarbas, sipping a small glass of brandy, listened patiently enough ; amused at first, in his contemptuous mocking mood, by her drivellings, waking gradualh^ to interest as she enlarged on the beauty of this mysterious guest, whom she had im- prisoned to become his bride. " Go and see her, Citizen," hiccoughed the old woman, rolling her eyes and wagging her head, as she steadied her- self against the counter. " Here, take the key, it is in my pocket. No, I left it in the lock. Never mind. You will lind her asleep. Ah ! rogue, she is the Sleeping Beauty who sleeps a hundred years, and thou art the handsome young Prince. What ! A prince of the republic. Monsieur Armand — pardon, Citizen Coupe-tete, your good health ! Let us drink one more round, gentlemen. To the Revolu- tion, and the cause of Liberty all over the world ! " Then, leaning her head on her great brawny arms, crossed over the counter, she sank into a drunken uneasy slecj). "This is not amusing. Citizen," said Coupe-tete, wlio had finished his ])i'aiidy. "I shall Avish you good evening, and go back ti) ilic Jacobins, leaving you at leisure to complete your intrij^-ue." 16G ROSIXE. ^loutai'bas ask(,'(l no lu-ltiT. r'roiii Mother ]i(Mlca])'s iiarrativo. tliiduii'lioiit the vhole of which, involved as it was, she hiid great stress on tlie name of Piosinc and the description of her ca])tive's personal channs, lie felt satisfied that the girl who had so successfully eluded his pursuit was at last in his powei', her(^ in the same house, bound hand and foot, as it were, beyond all hope of rescue. He ])aused but oiu' moment to ascertain that Mother Hedcap had really fallen asleep, and as ( 'oup(^-t<^te passed into the street he ])u1 his foot on th(> stairs, his hands cold, his lips dry, his heai't throbbing as it had not throbbed since he was a boy. Yes, it all setnued right enough : there was the passage, and there was the door facing him. He opened it noise- lessly, and glided into the room like a ghost. In its utter darkness he coidd but gropt^ his way as a blind man does, directed by the hea\y breathing of the sleeper, towards her couch. 8he was wrapped close in the luHl-elothc^s. His touch wandered lightly over the curve of her shoidders, the fall of her shapely waist, till it met the hand that lay outside the coverlet, half-open, turned npAvard, in the conhding aban- donment of sleep. He slipped his own into it, with a gentle, gradual pressure, and whispered " Rosine." "Hush!" His ])ulses beat wildly. She was hei'o then of her o^\n free-will; she no longer fled from him, hated him. He must have been expected, desii'cd ! '^Fhere was neither fear nor anger in that scarcely-audible warning, only an accent of extreme caution. "My love!" he murmured in her ear, so close that his senses seemed affected by the very fragrance of her hair ; " my treasure ! my angel ! have I followed thee so far, and found thee at last ? I must have died to lose thee for ever. MEN WERE DECEIVERS EVER. 167 Art thou not glad to feel my tiand. in thine, E-osine, my heart of hearts ?" A hundred affirmative sseemed confessed by that soft, timid pressure, that low, half- stifled sigh. "And now," he continued, in a subdued whisper, "we will never part again ! We will leave Paris, we will abandon everything, we will go back to Montarbas. My Rosine shall be the lady of the castle. We will wander, hand-in-hand, through our own woods, under the bright summer sky, happy and loving as the birds that sing to us from the thickets. Thou shalt wear thy peasant's costume, but made of the richest fabrics, and we will live only for each other. Speak to me, my own ! Say one word, only one little yes ! " Had his ear not lain very close her answer must have been lost, so faintly was it breathed through the sweet, parted lips. " But you love another ! " "Who then?" " The Wolverine." " The Wolverine ! " he rejjeated, with an energy that but for a warning pressure of the hand locked in his own, would have burst into declamation. " A woman of the people ! A woman of the clubs ! What ! A man in woman's clothes, with a man's strength, and a man's sentiments ; even a man's voice ! I never cared for her. Do not shrink from me. I am telling you the truth. I never cared but for you, Rosine ; I shall never care for any one else, so long as I live ! " " Can I believe you ?" " TIow shall I make you sure ? I swear it by everything I hold most sacred, everything I hold most dear ! By my name ! by the honour of my father ! by the spirit of my mother! by my own heart! by yourself, E,osine, and the tears of joy I shed to hold this precious hand once more within my own." lie pressed it to his eyes, and the man was so good an 168 . . ROSINE. actor, thrtn\- liiinsclf so warmly into his jjart, that a drop did fall Avhich burned like molten lead. Extreme agony, no less than extreme danger, often braces the nerves into perfect calm. Not a qui \ or betrayed that she was hurt, only her clasp tightened painfully round his fingers, while she mvirmured — " I am yours ! Do with me what you will ; only let in the daylight, and take me away from here ! " He sprang to the shutters, and pulled them open in a few seconds, admitting a flood of sunset into the room. Then he turned to embrace his prize, and stopped rooted to the spot : staring, open-mouthed, rigid — a man cut in stone. The Wolverine stood by the empty couch looking him full in the face, and burst into a laugh that was frightful to hear. He had a strange genius for intrigue. AVas it the facility of practice, or the readiness of mother-wit that so often extricated him from such false positions as these ? It is said that if you throw a cat out of a second- floor window, the agile creature will light on its feet. So, in his encounters with women, the Count was not to be tripped up, nor placed at a disadvantage. He echoed her laugh in a tone, that, although it was much louder, would not have reached half the distance. " 'Tis a good joke, my dear," said he ; " but, unfortunately, this is a game that can be j^layed by two. I knew you all the time, Leonie, and resolved to give you such a lesson as would prevent your ever being jealous again ! " She burst into tears, violent, hysterical, yet affording intense physical relief. " You didn't ! " she sobbed. " You thought it was E-osine. You love her, you know you do, as much as you hate 7ne ! You are a villain, a traitor, a coward ! Yes ! a coward, Coimt Arnold de Montarbas, for ingratitude is the lowest form of cowardice. If you think I earc, you are very much MEN WERE DECEIYERS EVER. 169 mistaken ! I have done witli you. I will never speak to you, nor see you, nor even hear your name mentioned from this hour ! I will denoimce you to the people, I will impeach you before the Secret Committee ; yovir head shall fall in the sawdust, your heart shall be pierced by the assassin's knife. And — and — I hate you, Arnold. I will never be at home to you in my apartments again ! " The climax was weak, but womanly. He had been engaged in such controversies too often not to know exactly when and where to keep silence. Like a skilful angler, he let his fish have plenty of line to exhaust, and run itself out. Leonie dried her eyes, took breath, and began again. " Have I not placed you where you are ? Have I not loaded you with benefits? Have I not rescued you from death once, twice, if you onl}^ knew it, a hundred times ! Who pulled you off the street when the rabble would have stamped the life out of jon like a rat in the gutter ? Leonie ! Who directed the point of De Yaucourt's sword over your shoulder when it was aimed straight for your heart ? Leonie ! AVho has pledged her life for your honesty over and over again to the Jacobins, when they demurred at keeping an aristocrat in their counsels, and proposed to vote him quietly out of the way for the public safety? Why, Leonie. Always Leonie. Even Coupe-tete warned me that I spoke rashly, and was risking two lives to save one ! But that's all done with now ! Go your own way, and let mc go mine. I loved you once, Arnold. Imagine how I loved you, when I, the Wolverine to all the world besides, can stand here and prate about my feelings like a laundress at her washtub ! Good. It is for the last time. Everything has an end, and I tell you finally. Monsieur, I shall never love you again ! " He looked in her face with a feeling of interest and curi- osity, little stronger than that in wliich a doctor examines the 170 EOSINE. tongue, or feels the pulse of his patient. lie could observe no reliable signs of serene weather. The tail of the stonn was yet to come, and that sailors tell us is often the strongest and fiercest of the gale. So he contented himself with muttering below his breath, " Don't believe me if you had rather not ! Truth is none the less truth because a woman will not listen to it ! " " Liar ! " she exclaimed. *' How dare you speak of truth 't You ! Steeped in falsehood to the lips ! Go on. It amuses me to hear your inventions. Silence ! I will not listen to a word you have to say ! " He shrugged his shoulders, and held his peace. When she had tailzied herself out, he thought, it would be tune enough to enter on his defence. "I gave you so much," she continued — "myself, my reputation, my future. Bah ! that is nothing. I gave you my illusions and my better nature, the love of my country, the regeneration of my race. All this I sacrificed for your sake, because I hcUeved in you ! And now, what have I left ? It is not that you have pierced me to the quick : a wound will heal ; or that you have crushed my pride to the dust : I can raise it with my own hands, in these stirring times, to a higher pedestal than you could ever have erected in my honour ! But it is myself, my second and nobler self, that you have destroyed. A man thinks lightly of these things, he is but a weaker kind of devil at his best or worst ; but when he teaches a woman that neither hope nor faith are left for her in heaven or earth, he transforms an angel by the torture of fire to the blackest fiend in hell. Enough! Let there be an end of this ! I have not another word to say! " "But, Leonie!" " But, Citizen Montarbas, you shall not put me down by talking. Facts are stubborn things, let them speak for themselves. You came into this room like a thief in the MEN WEEE DECEIYEES EVER. 171 niglit, so stealthy, so silent, on the velvet footfall of a cat, to find the girl joii love. There was the soft look in your eyes that I used to know too well. Dark ? Nonsense ! Do you think a woman outraged as I have been, cannot see in the dark ? So the cat crept gently, treacherously, silently to the dove's nest, and found there a hawk ready to fight with beak and talons ! What a fool you looked, Monsieur, when you turned from the window, and saw it was me ! BafHed, out witted, disappointed. Can you deny it?" " On the contrary — " " Hold your tongue ! I know all you are going to say. I will not hear another syllable. Listen to me : I will tell you how near you have been to happiness, how it has vanished like a dream in your very embrace. Your Hosine has been here, in this room, on that couch, within an hour ! You start — you blush — you turn pale ! No, you don't, because you have a heart of marble, and a front of brass ! I did not strangle her with these strong hands of mine. Why should I ? When love dies there is an end of jealousy. And she is a good girl — pure, virtuous, well brought up, devoted to the man who will become her husband : a fine strong young fellow — one of «« — a man of the people — not a pale languid aristocrat, worn out with dissipation and intrigue ! She loves him, of course, and cares no more for you, Monsieur, than I do noiv. That is why I helped her to escape — let her out at that very door, before you came in. What would you give to know where she is gone ? " " A five-franc piece," he answered, carelessly. " Perhaps hardly so much. Do you suppose I could not have found her long ago, if I had tried ? " " Do you suppose it makes the slightest difi'crencc to me, whether you did or not ? She is gone at any rate, and you can follow her — the sooner the better." " To her home, Leonie ? Thank you, 1 had rather stay here ! ' ' 172 ROSINE. " "Where you please. It is the same to me. I have clone with you, once for all." " And you can bid me farewell for ever, with hate in your blue eyes, and a frown on your fair white brow. Be it so, Leonie ! We have spent a happy time together, and it makes me sad to think we must part in anger now." "Have you been happy with me? No, I don't believe you. How can I ? " " I ask 5'ou to believe nothing. Judge for yourself when you look back to the past. For me, I must live henceforth in the future. I suppose every man has his ordeal to un- dergo. Why should I be more fortunate than the rest ? " " You have brought it on yourself." " That makes it none the less painful. I have no more to say. You will avoid me, Leonie, for pity's sake. I had rather not see you at all, than see you changed ; and years must pass before I can return to the places we have visited together, with a quiet heart." Her head was averted, but his experience of women taught him that silent tears were flowing from the relenting heart. " Farewell then," he continued, in a broken voice. " Fare- well ! But Leonie, if we are never to meet again, will you not give me your hand for the last time ? " She comjDlied, turning on him one tearful look of the deepest tenderness while he raised it to his lips. " L(?onie ! " "Arnold!" Then she snatched it away, and pointed to the door, with a gesture, all the more imperious that she would fain have fallen into his arms, and wej)t her heart out on his breast. "It was a sharpish rally," thought Montarbas, as he hurried doAvn the wooden staircase, congratulating himself on his cunning of fence. " But I fought correctly, and had the best of the bout all throug'h." CHAPTER XX. "the hare and many friends." IToT that gentle, timid beast of chase, leaping from her form, startled by the deep-mouthed melody that instinct warns her is a deathknell, could look more scared, more helpless, than did Rosine, when, in obedience to the summons of Leonie, she came forth from her hiding-place, and stood in the middle of the room Montarbas had just quitted. Crouched doA^ai, in compliance with her friend's instruc- tions, between the couch and the wall, she had been a witness to the late stormy interview, terrified lest at any moment an involuntary movement or a deep-drawn breath might expose her to detection by the man whom most she feared in the world : moved now by another apprehension, that an un- scrupulous rival might visit on her the partiality it was but too evident her former landlord continued to cherish for his beautiful tenant. It was dreadful, no doubt, to be an object of the Count's pursuit, and of the "Wolverine's jealousy ; but the position, from either point of view, was not without its triumphs. " Come out, Rosine ! " said Leonie, half- laughing, half- sobbing, while she dashed the tears from her eyes. " Come out of your hiding-place, and tell me why I do not kill you, now, on this very floor, before you can leave the room ? " " Kill me ! " repeated Rosine, with a quaking heart, bul keeping her eyes fixed steadily and bravely on the utliei'.-s 174 EOSINE. face, as if she expcctofl her deathblow every moment. " Why- should you ? I have done no harm. And you have not the will to hurt nie, surely, Leonie, even if you have the power." From the bosom of her dress the Wolverine drew a long slender knife, two-edged, and sharp at the point like a lancet. "Look at it!" she exclaimed. "With a turn of the wrist I could bury it in your heart." " And I would rather have my throat cut by your hands than fall into his!" There was something appealing in her tone, while ex- pressive, at the same time, of patient, passive, feminine en- durance that probed to the quick, a heart already sore from its late emotions. The Wolverine flung her weapon to the other end of the room. "You have courage, my girl," said she; "and of the noblest order. No. Why should I harm you ? It was not for that I bade yoii hide between bed and board, against the wainscot there, and witness the little scene Montarbas and I have just enacted for your amusement. Tell the truth, my dear, what did you think of the performance?" " That both the actors had become very much in earnest," answered Bosine, frankly, "when one of them left the stage." It is only just before its birth, and after its death, that the imputation of a love-affair is resented for an impertinence. Leonie blushed, but not with shame. " You think he knew me all the time ?" she asked. Eosine might entertain her own opinion, but a national proverb had taught her that truth is not to be spoken indiscriminately at all seasons, therefore she answered with discretion — " I think he would have been very much disappointed to '•THE HARE AND ilANY FRIENDS." 175 find any one else wrapped up in the eoTcrlet. Myself, for instance, or Mere Boufflon ! " The A\'^olYerine laughed. A load seemed lifted from her heart. It is so easy to believe what we desire, and the wish that is father to the thought cherishes his offspring with such parental pertinacity ! " I don't think he will play these tricks again," said she : " I told him my mind pretty freely, and it will do him no harm. Never let a man get the upper hand of you, Rosine. It is a maxim every girl should learn with her alphabet. Like fire, he is a good servant, but a bad master, and — and — oh ! it does hurt so to love most of the two ! But we are talking like children, and I am old enough to know better. I have not been acting a comedy only for your amusement. When I ran up here and found you sleeping, so sound, so innocent, like a baby, my heart softened, and I said to my- self : I will take this pretty bird out of the snare, and set her free. That was why I bade you hide when we heard the Count's voice in the shop. He lost no time in coming up- stairs. Mother Redcap told him I was here, no doubt." "No doubt!" "It is dark now, Eosine. The Mother was drinkinc: brandy when I left her. I can take off her attention while you slip into the street. You will go straight home, of course." " Of course ! " answered Rosine. " Pierre will be waiting at the door, wondering what has become of me." Leonie pondered. Suppose Pierre had been killed in the riot, or arrested by the troops ; suppose he should not be forthcoming to take charge of his promised wife (and the Wolverine shuddered when she remembered the expression of his face as she last saw it), would she be wise to leave a girl like Rosine unprotected in the streets of Paris, wliile the Count was hunting up and down to find her out ? Notwith- 176 EOSINE. standing his protestations, slie sadly mistrusted her inconstant lover still, and equally dreaded his discovering her rival at home, if she went there, or meeting her by accident abroad, if she did not. So the women were playing at cross-purposes, for Rosine, who felt little alarm on the score of Pierre's personal safety, and, perhaps, underrated the anxiety his strong, brave heart would feel on her behalf, had resolved, the instant she was free, to make straight for Versailles, and, at all hazards, give warning of her impending danger to the Queen. The force of habit, the influence of education, the instincts of race, equally strong, whether inherited from a line of nobles or of peasants, caused E,osine to feel as thorough- going a little aristocrat as if her ancestors had been robbers in Palestine, rather than honest husbandmen in Brittany. It is needless to say she was callous to argument, nor could be brought to accept the political opinions of her new friends and her jjromised husband, even by the force of her affections. They broached sentiments she was imable to realise — sj)oke a language she could not imderstand. With that noble persistency of prejudice which so often conquers mere reason, she clung to her own traditions, her own religion, her own blind and beautiful faith, believing firmly in heaven and hell, in j)aradise and purgatory, in the Virgin, the saints, and the Bourbons ! Listening to the plot meditated by Leonie for the Queen's capture, she drank in every syllable with the holy horror of one who overhears a conspiracy to rob a church of its relics, and cut the priest's throat at the altar. To thwart it seemed the most sacred and paramount of duties, nor would she grudge (for the girl had a large share of self-sacrificing womanly courage) to give her own life freely in the cause. She was shrewd enough to trust the Wolverine's jealousy for her escape, and while she crouched trembling on the floor, racked her brain to devise "the hare Aj^d many friends," 177 how best ste could obtain access to Her Majestj^ when she had traversed the three and a half leagues that intervened between Paris and Versailles. She never doubted but that she would be a free agent if she could only get clear of Mother Hedcap's shop and the odious neighbourhood of the Fishmarket. There would be nothing then to prevent her reaching the palace before day- break, and for her loyal purjjose any time in the morning would be soon enough. Therefore did her heart sink cruelly when Leonie, hold- ing her affectionately by the arm, desired her to have no fear, as she herself would be answerable for the safety of Pierre's betrothed, and would lodge her through the night. "But I am so afraid of that old woman below ! " whispered Rosine. " Mother Redcap will never let me go away like this." " Mother Redcap has drunk brandy enough to agree to any- thing," answered the Wolverine, hurrying her captive do"^\Ti- stairs, and passing with her through the shop, where indeed the old fishw Oman's snores attested the depth of her slumbers. She started up, however, before they reached the street, dis- playing an activity no less unwelcome than unexpected, and placed, her great body in the doorway, while, with an obstinacy provokingly affectionate, she absolutely forbade their departure. Folding Rosine in an alcoholic embrace, she forced them both to sit down ; then poured out glasses of brandy, and insisted that each should at least touch the liquour with her lips, pledging them heartily herself, and waking up under the renewed stimulant, to an energy that was almost sober, compared with her late insensibility. She seemed to have some glimmerings of a wedding to be celebrated, and a drinking-bout arranged, but was hazy and confused as to tlio N 178 ROSINE. identity of the bride, declaring more than once, that she was going to be married herself. Waiting till these last flashes of intelligence should go out like a candle, Rosine lost heart, and her companion patience, at the entrance of some half-dozen fishwomen, dropping in to spend the evening in a friendly way, and sipping, each of them, at the comfortable little dram, so readily offered and accepted, as if they were in no hurry to take their leave. All seemed to know the Wolverine, greeting her with in- convenient and overpowering enthusiasm. Rosine did not fail to observe that Leonie's hold over these furies was of a very fragile nature. 8he could guide them with a thread, but it must be in the way they chose to go themselves, and the Wolverine, whose courage had passed into a proverb when leading them by hundreds, did not dare now to thwart a mere handful of them in their drink. They accepted the girl at once as the friend of their friend, smothering her Avith unsavoury caresses, and pressing, almost forcing on her, the brandy of which the fumes already made her sick. She never forgot that night. It seemed to her that pur- gatory, when she came to it, would be far preferable to such a hell on earth. Ribaldry, blasphemy, horrible songs, com- bining the grossest indecency, the most daring impiety, with a fiendish kind of wit, threats to intimidate the aristocracy, and even the middle classes, libels on all that was best and noblest and purest in France, curses for the Church, ridicule of the King, and vows of vengeance that made her blood run cold, against the Queen ! It was long past midnight ere the odious din sank into drunken stupor, and Rosine, with her protectress, escaped into the cool moonlight of the streets. Mother Redcap had relapsed into complete insensibility, and though two strapping fishwomen swore they would "the hare and many friends." 179 escort their favourite home, the change from a heated atmo- sphere to the outward air, acted so irresistibly ou the brandy , they had swallowed, that each subsided on her own stall as she passed through the market, to sleep there tranquillj?' enough till morning. " Are you not tired to death, little one ? " asked Leonie, who, while she accepted them as necessary evils of her posi- tion, regarded these revolutionary orgies with intense loath- ing and abhorrence. " We have but to cross the square, traverse one street, and we shall be at home." "Not in my legs," answered Rosine, wearily, " but in my head ; yet still more, I think, in my heart. And you ? " " For me, I am never tired," answered the Wolverine ; and she spoke truth. That frame of steel, those nerves of iron could defy even such an ordeal of the feelings and senses as she had passed through since sunset and retain their strength and elasticity undefeated still. The pair were passing under the church of Our Lady of Sorrows. Rosirie, looking hopelessly upward at the stone fretwork of its shafts and pinnacles, beautiful and delicate in the moonlight, as if wrought in ivory or lace, accepted, like a revelation from heaven, the idea that crossed her mind. "It is open all night," she said, pointing to the quiet solemn porch ; "I have gone through much to frighten and distress me, it will do me good to run in and say my prayers to the Virgin. Will you come with me, Leonie, or — or wait out- side ? " She was pious and faithful, this dai'k-cyed peasant-girl, and her church enjoins proselytism at all times, under all circumstances, yet would she have felt sadly disajjpointod to find her friend as good a Catholic as herself. The Wolverine shrugged her shoulders. " The Virgin and I do not visit," she said, witli a mcK-king smile; "but you can present my comj)limcii(s to liei- if you N 2 180 EOSINE. like. Do not look distressed little one. If your superstitions amuse you, go and practise tliem ; but be quick about it. We are close on daybreak, and tbe morning air strikes chill when one has been up all night." Rosine, dipping her fingers and crossing herself, as she entered the building, was pleased to find she was not its only occupant. A score of women at least were scattered here and there amongst the branching pillars and lofty arches of its majestic aisles, kneeling himibly, muttering inaudibly, and, notwithstanding the interruption of many wandering thoughts and worldly interests, we will Iwpe, praying sincerely. A thrill of joy came over her, when she remembered that Father Ignatius officiated in this very church. Surely he could extricate her from her difficulties. She was bred a village maiden, and he had been her parish priest. She believed in him as a Mussulman believes in his prophet, a Negro in his fetiche, or an English gentleman in his solicitor ! If she prayed to the Virgin at all, it was that she might come across Father Ignatius without delay. A lamp was glimmering feebly under the low arches that formed a recess containing the tomb of a constable of France : a dark figure passed between her and the light. Our Lady be praised ! it was his whom she sought ! In a moment her hand was on the sleeve of his cassock, while her voice munniired in his ear — " Help, help, my father ! I am in the last extremity of despair ! " He bent his head to listen, with the cabn commiserating air of one to whom no phase of human sin and suffering is unknown. " My daughter," he said, " despair cannot enter here. The good Catholic leaves her sorrows at the church door. If you have sinned, make atonement with confession ; if you are '/ir._eriLBioo]£sX'^iSan.Ijti. P181 ''the hare a^b many friends." 181 suffering, accept your chastisement ^vitli prayer. Look around you, every one of these jDenitents is in the same plight as yours." "But, my father, I implored the Virgin that I might find you, and she has granted my petition. You alone can help me ! ^Hiat ! it is a question of bloodshed, of sacrilege. There is no time to lose if we would prevent the murder of the Queen ! " For a moment he feared she had lost her senses, but through the dim obscurity of the church, into which a grey morning light was already stealing, he could detect on her features a wise steadfastness of purpose, equally removed from the mobile frivolity and the overstrained seriousness of madness. " Come hither, my daughter," said he, leading her apart into a lonely side-chapel ; " these are not subjects for the bird of the air to carry to and fro. Here you cannot be over- heard, and may unburden your mind safe and secret as in the confessional." Then out it all came — the story of her capture, her imprisonment, her feigned sleep ; the manner in which she had learned the conspiracy of the fishwomen, and their bloodthirsty designs against the Queen ; impressing on him at the same time that her movements were watched by the least scrupulous of the revolutionists, then waiting her return at the church door, urging him to further her escape and put her on the road to Versailles without a moment's delay. He i^ulled a small ink-horn, a pen and a scrap of paper from under his cassock, and wrote a few lines by the light of the dim and dying lamp to one of the Queen's waiting-women, apparently so unimportant as not to comjaromiso the bearer : a simple request that she might be admitted in the i)ala('c to take patterns for some dresses ordered from l*aris d la 182 ROSINE. Carmagnole, and ai)proved of by the citizens as the latest novelty in costume. " Tell the officer on duty you had it direct from Father Ignatius," said he, placing- the note in Rosine's hand, " and he will pass you up the private staircase. My daughter, you are hound on a sacred errand, and heaven will guide your stejjs. Now come with me." lie led her through a low door, hideously suggestive of the nun's fate who must expiate broken vows by lingering penance, walled up for ever in a living tomb, down a wind- ing stair, along a crypt wherein a cunning transparency re- produced the awful scene of Friday night on Calvary ; and pushing aside a rusty iron grating, took her up some moss- grown steps into a convent garden, where already the little birds were praising God for morning, in faint melodious twitters among the leaves. With a whispered benediction, he let her through the narrow wicket, and Eosine found her- self in a street that she knew was at least a quarter of a mile from the porch by which she had entered the church. Though submitting willingly enough to the restrictions of a virtuous and weU- brought up girlhood, she had never yet experienced that coercion by main force which makes the real bitterness of captivity, had never realised how dear was liberty till she thus regained it at a moment when so much depended on her exertions. "You will teU Pierre I am safe," were the last words she whispered to Father Ignatius, as the wicket closed, and his quiet nod of assent re-assured her more than a hundred protestations. She knew she coidd depend on the good priest, and danced, rather than walked along the pavement, with that feeling of exhilaration, which is but re-action after nervous depression, which is accej)ted for an omen of victory, and which so often turns out to be the forerimner of humiliation and defeat. "Versailles," she said, to herself, "is scarcely four good ''the hare and many friends." 183 leagues off, after all. I thank the Yirgin for my peasant- breeding, my active legs and feet. I can reach it in four hours at most. Courage ! I will die rather than give in ! " And the Wolverine waiting at the porch of Our Lady of Sorrows, in whose mission of holy love and mercy she seemed to have no part, shivered with cold and weariness, glancing in wistful longing, yet stubborn, seK-willed scorn at the lofty cross already reddened by the first beams of a morning sky, wondering vaguely, sadly, bitterly, if peace might be found anywhere, and if this or that was the Truth ! pitying, with a strange yearning pity, the lost sj)irit she had heard, or read, or dreamed of, that was doomed to wait hopelessly at the gates of Paradise, seeking rest and finding none for evermore ! CHAPTER XXI. UNDER THE POPLARS. Bread-and-milk, with plenty of fresh air, in childhood, regular hours, regular meals, household duties, and strict government in youth, had endowed Rosine with as sound a constitution as any young woman in France. And this is saying a good deal : for, partly from their Celtic blood ; partly from their bright exhilarating climate ; partly, no doubt, from the temperate, frugal habits of their every- day life, the French peojile are gifted with an energy and elasticity of temperament not to be observed as the distinctive quality of any other nation in Europe. The sons of France perform longer marches on shorter rations, her daughters dance with lighter footfall after a harder day's work, than Sclave or Saxon, Spaniard, Italian, Tartar, Mongol or Magyar. In ti'ials of strength, in games of skill, in subtle, supple ex- ercise of body and mind, they bear off the palm triumphant, undefeated, carrying all before them till checked by the first reverse. Alas ! how the tide turns then : the soldier becomes de- moralised in a day — the girl breaks her heart in an hour — the late winner loses at a blow nerve, self-confidence, even self-esteem ; neglects his precautions, abjures his prudence, throws the helve after the hatchet, and sinks into a blind despondency that has all the recklessness, without the energy of despair. UNDER THE POPLARS. 185 To walk four short leagues seemed no great effort of pedestrianism for a girl brought up iu Brittany, and transferred to the forest of Rambouillet in later years. A^Tiile she cleared the Barrier, and drank in with a sense of freedom and expansion her first breath of the real country air, Rosine scarcely realised the task she had undertaken to perform. It was not till the morning sun beat on her im- jjrotected head ; till her thin-shod feet were bruised by the ill-jaaved road ; till long fasting, want of sleep, and past excitement began to numb her senses and weaken her frame, that the horrible misgiving came across her — ^how if she should fail at this important crisis, if her bodily strength should desert her now in the hour of need, and, strug-e-lins" imder the weight of her appalling secret, she should faint by the way ? Her eyes ached in the glare, her lungs were choked with the dust ; she felt tired, sick, and hungry ; the cold damp of exhaustion stood on her forehead, and Versailles was not even in sight. Two leagues more ! A league and three- quarters ! A league and a half ! It might as well be forty. Her head began to swim, and her Icnees to shake. Holy Virgin, help her ! Now ! Only this once, and never again — neither in this world, neither in the world to come! Our blessed Lady would not surely mock her, she thought, yet did it seem like a mockery, that at this very moment the roll of a driun, the steady tramp of soldiers' feet, should be heard from behind, and that, turning roimd in an agony of despair, she should mark the cloud of dust that denoted the advance of an armed force, along the sti'aight and solitary road. Her strength was altogether spent ; the walk hud slackened to a crawl. How was she to keep before them, even at their deliberate regulation pace ? It seemed her only resource to 186 ROSINE. cower down in the nearest ditch, like the hunted animal to which she has abeady been compared, and trust to the chance of their passing- her unobserved. Weary, panting, faint, and frightened, but with every sense sharpened by anxiety, she shrank into her hiding-place and listened. The drum ceased to roll, the tramp came nearer and nearer, then the murmur of voices, the jingle of accoutrements, the hoarse word of command. Presently, a shout — ^hurrying footsteps — a bronzed face with glittering eyes, between her own and the blue sky — a loud laugh, and she knew she was discovered. A French soldier has the roving glance of a hawk. It seems an instinct rather than a sense of duty that causes him to scan every inch of ground in his front, to note every bush that may hide a skirmisher, every hollow to screen a section. He possesses a faculty of his own, keener than sight or hear- ing, that detects the stray fowl for his supper, the truss of forgotten straw for his bed, the ungathered sticks for his bivouac-fire. It was not likely that he would overlook a handsome, dark-eyed girl, hiding in a ditch on his line of march. " What is that, comrade ? " said a simburned boy from Touraine, to his front-rank man, a grizzled musketeer, scarred in the wars of Louis the Great, as the lad caught sight of that flutter of drapery which seldom fails to attract youth in or out of uniform. " A petticoat, by all the saints in heaven, and a jDretty woman inside ! It is my duty to reconnoitre our front, and make it good. I will bring her in to the main body at once ! " "A petticoat ! " repeated his comrade with disgust. "Had it been a wineshoj^, now, or even a wench from the canteen with a three- gallon cask at her back, it would be more to the pui"pose. Better let her alone, Antoine. They are all alike : bad to catch, and not worth the trouble when you have UNDER THE POPLARS. 187 caught them ! I wouldn't give three whiffs of my pipe for the wickedest that ever wore stays ! " But long ere the old grumbler arrived at this conclusion, so flattering to the gentler sex, his comrade had lifted Hosine out of her hiding-place, and was doing his best to encourage the girl in her obvious discomposure, with vigorous practical attentions that seemed exceedingly ill- received. Before, however, she could appeal to the ofiicer in com- mand of the detachment, or even a sergeant, who hastened forward to examine this unexpected prize, a cloud of dust rose from the midst of the colimin, there came a shout, an oath, a scufiling of feet, and Pierre, handcuffed as he was, shook himself free, in a mighty effort, from the men told off to guard him, one of whom he tripped up, while with a push he sent the other reeling to the ground, and ran forward to rescue the woman he loved, tearing at his manacles with a strength that seemed capable of rending into fragments the very iron round his wrists. "Pierre!" exclaimed E,osine, stretching out her arms, like a child when it sees its nurse. " Oh, Pierre ! I have been so frightened, and I am so tired ! But I am content now since I have got thee back ! " Then her head drooped, and she fainted. But for Antoine's arm, which had never quitted her waist, she must have fallen on the stones. The scene would have formed a quaint little picture in that dusty, ill-paved road, beneath its double avenue of trees. Brown faces and white teeth, blue coats, red lappets, pipe- clayed cross-belts, and gleaming firelocks gathered round that pale prostrate girl, resting her head, like a broken lily, on Antoine's martial young breast ; a war-worn sergeant stooping over her to offer an oval tin canteen, and a hand- cuffed giant, looking down with the stupefied air of a man just waking from profound sleep ; on either side the flat, 188 EOSINE. smiling fielcLs of sunnj^ France, and above fhe quivering 2)oplurs that changed their lights and shadows at the faintest breath, as they fluttered, grey and gleaming, against the summer sky, "Steady, men!" exclaimed the sergeant, straightening himself bolt upright Avith a rattle of his firelock, " Here is the captain ! Attention ! and silence in the ranks ! " A young gentleman of two or three and twenty, plumed and laced, with a profusion of feathers in his three-cornered hat, now bustled up from the rear, masking his curiosity in that expression of scorn without which beardless faces seem unable to assume an air of martial authority. He uncovered, nevertheless, as if in homage to the beauty of this helpless girl, now coming to herself under the care of her warlike attendants, before he demanded, looking haughtily about him, the cause of this immilitary halt and confusion on his line of march ? A score of voices rose clamorous in answer. "It is a scout of the enemy, my captain." "It is an actress engaged at Versailles." " It is a dancing mistress, to teach us the Carmagnole." "It is a sj)y from the Faubourg." "It is a wench out of the Market." "It is a girl off the streets." Then Pierre's deep voice, of which his captors had not yet heard the soimd, roared out above them all — " They lie, my captain ! lie in their throats ! Take me out of irons and I will prove it on any three of them ! She is good and virtuous. She is my promised wife. She is as honest as the mother or the sister of every man here ! " Rosine, who had regained her feet, began to cry. " It is true," she sobbed, " and I had rather go to prison with my poor Pierre than march into Versailles yonder at the head of your regiment, though they call it the bravest in France! " rXDER THE POPLAES. 189 Then she smiled through her tears, and laid her pale cheek against her lover's breast. The soldiers looked in each others' faces, murmuring "Well said ! But this is a girl of courage. One can trust her imder fire. She stands firm to her colours. I would give a day's pay to marrj^ her myself." The captain -whispered with his sergeant. It was his duty to be cautious, and mistrustful of his better feelings, more especially of his natural prejudice in favour of a pretty face. Pierre had been taken, not red-handed, indeed, nor even red- capped, but under such circumstances as made it extremely probable that he had assumed a leading part amongst the rioters. His fine stature, his personal strength,. the ease with which he had broken from his escort, and his dumb obstinacy in the guardroom, seemed all so many counts in the indictment against him, as a revolutionist and a Sansculotte. When they joined head-quarters, thought the Captain, a courtmartial must decide ; but in the mean- time, if this girl were really the prisoner's promised wife she would be conversant with all the secrets of their party, and had better share his confinement. "Mademoiselle," said he, politely enough, " I cannot let you go — all this must be reported to the Colonel. In the meantime my men shall not molest you, and you shall march if you like alongside the prisoner." She thanked him with a grateful look from her dark eyes, that nearly made him change his mind and take care of her himself, but the instincts of the soldier prevailed, and he told off four men from his company as a special guard for the prisoners. Amongst them was the old soldier whose com- rade had first detected the hiding-place of Hosine. Ho was, perhaps, the only man present whose heart remained \in- softenod by the girl's beauty and distress. If he had no pity to spare for her, however, his commiseration for Pierre, 190 ROSINE. whose strcng-tb and stature liad already won his good-will, increased mightily, while he learned how this stalwart speci- men of manhood was about to become the prey of a natural enemy. When the sergeant asked, as a matter of form, whether the prisoners should be manacled together, and his officer replied, somewhat hastily, in the negative, this confirmed woman- hater could not forbear exclaiming, " Right, my captain ! Let him be free while he may ! If he has not the good fortune to be shot he will be handcuffed to her all the rest of his life ! " CHAPTER XXII. A CAT MAY LOOK AT A KING. Hosine's strength seemed to come back in the very happiness of proximity to her lover. The soldiers, with rough kind- ness, had forced on both a morsel or two of bread and a few sips of wine. Thus refreshed, they marched into Yersailles with renewed bodily energy, and consequently in a more hopeful state of mind, relating by turns the sufferings and adventures that had befallen each. E-osine wisely reserved the letter received from Father Ignatius, as a last resource. She had been sorely tempted to show it when surrounded and taken captive, but reflected that if it was once out of her possession, she would have no certain means of access to the Queen ; and in all her troubles, all her alarms, she never lost sight of this, the great object for which she had escaped from Paris. Nevertheless, when a sentry's challenge, and the order " Guard turn out," at the palace-gates welcomed the arrival of her captors, she observed with dismay that the Flemish horses of state were harnessed ; the gaudy, glittering coaches stood in readiness ; a handful of lancers had mounted for escort duty ; a band played under the windows ; footmen with pink silk stockings and gold-laccd coats thronged the entrance ; Jjages, in court dress, hurried to and fro ; a scarlet cloth was rolled out on the doorstcjjs, and everything denoted the bustle of a royal departure. There was no time 192 ROSINE. to lose. Wlien they would liavo thrust her into the guard- room she detached herself from Pierre, and walked boldly up to the young officer, who was in the act of dismissing his men. " Monsieur," she said, " I demand to see the Colonel on duty for the day." " Mademoiselle," he replied, " you forget you are a prisoner in the guardroom." " It is at your peril you refuse," continued the girl, feeling her head swim with terror at her own audacity. "It is a question of sacrilege, an attack on the person of Her Majesty!" A richly-dressed officer, j)assing at the moment, overheard this forcible appeal. "What is it, De Girard?" said he. " Who is the woman, and what does she want. I heard her ask for me." The other bowed with exceeding deference. " She is a girl of the people. Marquis," he answered. " I have got her lover in irons at this moment. We arrested her hiding on the high-road." " I was hurrying to the palace," pleaded Hosine. " I felt so tired I was forced to sit down ; but if the soldiers had not overtaken me, I should have crept here on my hands and knees, for I would die to save the Queen ! " They were so exactly his personal sentiments, that Do Favras looked apjsrovingly in the speaker's face. It told its owTi tale. There was no need of dusty shoes, travel-worn dress, nor drooping figure to attest anxiety, suifering, and fatigue. " I will charge myself with this affair," said he ; " Captain de Girard, I relieve you of your prisoner. As you see, I 'am field officer of the day." Hosine was waiting her ojDportunity. It had come at last. " Monsieur," she said, drawing the paper from her bosom. " Here is a letter for you, from Father Ignatius." He started, and his face became very grave and thoughtful while he read it. " Captain de Girard," said he, " keep your A CAT MAY LOOK AT A KING. 193 detaclimeiit under arms till further orders ; double your sentries, and place a subaltern's guard at each of the gates ; then bid the Colonel of D'Aiguillon's Lancers saddle, and be ready to tui'n out at a moment's notice. Tell the officer in command of the escort to dismount his men — and, Mademoi- selle, be kind enough to come with me." ^^Tiile the yoimg Captain hurried off to fulfil these instruc- tions, Rosine followed the Marquis into the palace, through a side door, up a narrow staircase, along a corridor, lined with portraits of French royalties, and found herself ushered, with a quaking heart, into the private apartments of the King. She heard a step in the adjoining room, a cough, the opening of a door, and, for one moment, almost wished she had never come on so alarming an errand. A cat may look at a king, says the proverb at the head of this chapter, and the impression made by the monarch on the animal, depends, I think, less on the nature of the cat than the king. Rosine's presence of mind came back to her fast enough, when, lifting her eyes, she fomid herself face to face with the heir of that illustrious and ill-fated line, which seems always so to have used its prosperity as to bring on itself the reverses it bears with such noble constancy and endurance. She thought him very like a tradesman expecting an order, when the King of France bustled up to a mother-of-pearl bureau, beautifully carved and inlaid, to look over it at his visitor with the air of a shopkeeper waiting on a customer, rather than a Sovereign receiving a subject. His hair was disordered, his hands were dirty, his dress was awry, his face denoted irresolution, and a vague im- patience, so tempered with good humour as to convey an impression of ludicrous resignation to an undignified lot. " What d(j you want. Marquis ? " asked the luoiiarcli some- what petulantly. " This is a bus}^ day. The Queen is starting o 194 ROSINE. for Paris ; I left her in the next room, we have not a moment to spare." Be Favras whispered in his ear, and Louis turned pale. Over his features came the dull, heavy expression of a sufferer who accepts injury quietly, from sheer inability to resist. What a contrast between the countenances of the monarch and the Marquis, the one chafing like a lion in a net, the other stupefied like a sheep at the shambles — the courtier and subject goaded, as it were, by an insult — the King and husband stunned by a blow. As usual, in trouble or uncertainty, Louis appealed to the Queen. " Come here, Madame," he called out, " this is something you ought to know — something in which I cannot act without you — something appalling, monstrous, unheard of — something so strange I cannot believe it true." Her Majesty entered the room while he spoke, and Rosine started, trembling from head to foot, she was so like the Wolverine ! So like, and yet with such a difference ; the difference between gold and tinsel, a rose and a dahlia, an angel from heaven and an angel from hell. Marie Antoinette was richly, superbly dressed: her laces, her jewels, the plumes on her hat, the diamonds in her hair, were of the rarest and costliest, such as the people of Paris, whether offering ovation or insult, loved to see worn by their Queen ; but to Rosine's eager senses, there seemed a majesty in her gait and bearing, totally independent of all such adven- titious aids ; hereditary, innate, born of the royal mind, rather than the commanding figure, not to be taken off with the trappings of state, nor soiled by the pollution of prisons, nor borne down by accumulation of outrage culminating in a horrible death ! There is much in the traditions of race, there is more in the consolations of faith; the spirit of chivalry, and the A CAT MAY LOOK AT A KIXG. 195 spirit of religion, bore her up on each side that she might march with unfaltering step to the scaffold, and when they ascended with her to paradise, returned no more till the guilty generation that decreed her murder had passed away, in streams of blood, from the god-forsaken soil of France. She looked kindly in Eosine's face, and turned to the King with a gay laugh, at his obvious perplexity. " Some- thing incredible, Monsieur," she exclaimed, " that is nothing new. In these times the impossible happens every day. Who is j'our pretty visitor, and what does she want ? " He fldo-eted to the door, shut it close, listened a moment as if for eavesdrojDpers, and threw himself into a chair, wiping the jjerspiration from his brow. " The wolves are loose at last," he said. " They are howl- ing even now in the streets of Paris, Madame, for your blood and mine." The Queen flung her head up in disdain. "And is this one of them ? " she asked. " Poor little wolf ! She looks much more like a lamb !" The tone was pitiful, even tender. Posine raised her eyes to Her Majesty's face, and something she saw there kindled on the instant mere abstract duty and loyalty into sincere respect and love. "Madame," she faltered, "I heard it all. They thought I was asleep. They kept me a prisoner: but for Father Ignatius I should never have got here. He said you would believe me if I came from liim. Madame — your Majesty — I do not know how to call you — I am only a peasant. For the love of our Lady, by all the blessed saints in heaven, I implore you, do not enter Paris to-day ! " She was faint and weary, her limbs trembled, she fell on her knees at the Queen's feet, raising the hem of H(^r Majesty's gannent, and pressing it to her lips. ^larie Antoinette lifted the girl with her own hands, set o 2 196 ROSINE. * her in a chuii-, poured ti glass of water from a caraffe on the table, and gave her to drink. " I believe it," she said, looking from her husband to De Favras. "There can be no falsehood in those honest eyes, liut I am as little afraid of my good people in Paris as at Versailles. Afraid ! It is a word no Lorraine can pronounce, no De Favras imderstand. Will you give the orders, Marquis ? I am quite ready to set out." " Oh, Madame ! " faltered Rosine, and burst into tears. " Will your Majesty deign to consider ?" urged De Favras. " France is loyal, and the Parisians love their Queen, but a few discontented spirits, a moment of false excitement, may do mischief that can never be repaired." " You mean the rabble may be insolent," said the daughter of Maria Theresa. "Well, Monsieur, I have an escort, and their lances, I hope, are tipped with steel. Bah ! they would sweep the Sansculottes into the Seine. Do your duty. Marquis, if you please. There is nothing more to be said." The King looked from one to the other in considerable perturbation. He thought it time to interpose. " My wife," he exclaimed, " my dear wife, be persuaded to stay at home. For the sake of your children, for the sake of your husband. Think of my feelings, sitting here in an agony of anxiety, while you are threading those narrow streets amongst the mob ! " " They are narrow," pleaded De Favras. " Reflect, Madame, if your Majesty's troops come into collision with the populace, how many innocent people may be trampled to death ! " " It Avas thus I was parted from Pierre," added Rosine. "It is too horrible to think of. The shrieks, the struggles, the suffocation, the poor women and children trodden under foot, crushed and mangled, like grajjes in a winepress. Oh, Madame, as you hope for heaven, do not go into Paris to-dav ! " A CAT MAY LOOK AT A KING. 197 On the Queen's amiour of courage and resolution, not far removed from obstinac}^ the consideration of personal risk insisted on by the Marquis made not the slig-htcst impres- sion ; but her husband's aifectionate entreaties penetrated its joints, and Rosine's appeal went to her heart. Though she Avould have looked on fair fighting as calmly as the boldest of her ancestors, she could not bear to think that the innocent might suffer vnth the guilty, or that women and children should be sacrificed on her behalf. " I will do as your Majesty pleases," she said, turning to the King with an air of displeasure, that gave De Favras to understand he was out of favour, as having offered advice contrary to her inclina- tions, for her own safety. " If you wish me to remain with you, I can put off my visit to Paris, without inconvenience ; and the Marquis, who seems chief in authority here, may dismiss my people at once." De Favras bowed low, with an expression of intense relief, and her heart smote her that she could even have looked un- kindly at so faithful a servant. Ere he left the room she recalled him with a movement of her proud head. "You may kiss my hand. Marquis," she said, graciously. " I believe you value my little finger above your own life and the lives of all your race." A tear fell on the white hand as he bent over it, and the officer of the day went from her presence, vowing, as he had often vowed before, that now and ever, his whole existence should be consecrated to his Queen. How many a noble heart was pledged to the same service, how many a gallant head was to fall in the same cause ! Religion, loj'alt}^, chivalry, and honour rallied round the Bourbons, and what was the end of it all ? Meantime Louis trotted back to his workshoj), and Marie Antoinette, taking her by the hand, led Rosine to her private apartments, whence she dismissed the waiting-women, and 198 EOSINE. insisted on giving the girl to cat and drink witli her own royal hands. " And what do they call yon, my child ? " asked Her Majesty, pouring out the coffee. " It ought to be a pretty name with such a face as yours." The girl blushed. " Eosine," she faltered, plucking nervously at the folds of her dress. She was beginning to realise the position, though it seemed like a dream, that she should be here, in the l^ilace of Versailles, alone with the Queen of France. " Rosine ! " repeated Her Majesty ; "I was a Eosine myself once. It was in the Marriage of Figaro. It seems such a long time ago ! And yet I remember I was di'essed in green, and took no small j)ains with my appearance ; but I do not think I looked the part as well as you. Ah ! what it is to be young and free and light-hearted — destined for anything but a queen ! " "Madame," faltered Eosine, "if you had been born in a cottage, you could never have been anything else." " And you have become a courtier, my dear, since you entered a palace," returned Her Majesty, laughing ; but added more gravely : " There is truth in what you say. It is my destiny — rather, it is my duty. The highest of us is but a sentry at his post. I will hold mine to the death. And now, child, tell me your history. Do not be afraid ; speak to me as you would to your mother or your sister. After all, I was a girl before they made me a wife, and a woman before I became a queen." Then Eosine, not without many blushes and some tears, and more than one self-conscious smile, related all that had befallen her ; made no secret of her connection with, and detestation of, the revolutionary party ; and confessed frankly that her betrothed husband was at that moment a prisoner in the guardroom, captured by a company of the A CAT ilAY LOOK AT A KING. 199 Regiment of Flanders, amongst rioters wlio were figLitmg in the streets. " But, oh ! Madame," pleaded the girl, falling on her loiees, and covering the Queen's hand with kisses, " he hates them so now ! He could speak of nothing else as we marched, he and I, two helpless prisoners, between the soldiers. He is so strong, my Pierre, and so brave ! And he said, even if they condemned him to death, he would ask to carry a pike once, only once, against the E,eds, and go out to be shot contentedly after he had killed as many as he could reach ! But — but — if they want his life, Madame, they must have mine too. I should die, I know I shovdd, if anything happened to Pierre ! " " Be satisfied, my child," answered the Queen ; " i will take your Pierre under my protection, as I have taken your- self. If he is brave and strong, and so anxious to manage a pike, he shall carry one in our owoi body-guard. And yet — and yet — I have sometimes a grievous foreboding that the brave and the strong will be the first victims, and that a time is coming when the dead shall most be envied who died fighting with weapons in their hands ! " CHAPTER XXIII. THE WHITE COCKADE. And now there came for Rosine a season of peace and happi- ness, the more delightful because of past svifferings and danger. She was mai-ried to Pierre in the Queen's presence, at Her Majesty's express desire, who furnished the wedding- dress, made the bride one of her personal attendants, and enlisted the bridegroom, much to his gratification, a soldier in her own guards. Two stauncher royalists than this grate- ful pair did not exist in France ; and they seemed only to long for an opportimity of proving their devotion to the sovereigns whom they had heard so rancorously and unjustly maligned. A certain reaction, too, set in amongst the people. Great things were expected from the meeting of the States- General, greater still from its change of title to the National Assembly. A fusion of parties began to be talked of, moderatism seemed for a few weeks in the ascendant, the preponderance of the mountain was as yet only foreshadowed, the Jacobins still met secretly in the very chamber that had witnessed the early conspiracies of the League, citizens reposed great faith in their organisation of a National Guard, and Lafayette had not yet shown himself in his true colours. Perhaps, also, with that susceptibility to a passing sentiment which makes them in some respects the strongest, in some, the weakest of nations, the French people commiserated the bereavement THE WHITE COCKADE. 201 of their Queen, who -was mourning the death of her eldest son, and directed, as they always do, the course of public opinion by the current of private feeling. Yet was this state of comparative security a delusion soon to be dispelled — the calm before the storm, the concentra- tion of the tiger crouching for his spring. Such agitators as Coupe-tete and Montarbas took care that the fire should not die out for want of fuel. Leonie went to and fro amongst the revolutionists, stealthy, persistent, and persua- sive, a spirit of darkness in a form of light ; Santerre kept his ruffians on full pay, and Mother Redcap supplied liberally with brandy all who thirsted for blood. So the hot summer passed into the rich and pleasant autiunn, the season of plenty and content, of yellowing grain and reddening grapes, of full garners and decent merriment, of gratitude to heaven, and good- will on earth. But the grain was hardly gathered, the grapes were yet unpressed, when the demon of discord began to stir out of his brief slmnber, and set brother agaiust brother, even to shedding of blood through the length and breadth of France. It is maddening to think that he might have been crushed and destroyed, even then, by the fidelity of a few regiments under a brave and determined chief. There are times when mistaken mercy is the deadliest of cruelty, when the sacrifice of ten lives may save ten thousand ; but high personal courage is not always willing to accept the responsibility of bloodshed, and excellent officers in the field may be worse than useless to suppress a riot in the street. Though partially contaminated by disaffection, there still remaiaed in the troops a strong spirit of loyalty, and even personal attachment to the throne, combined witli that feeling of military honour, which, to the French soldier, is as the very air he breathes. The army was like a good blade, 202 ROSINE. sharp, serviceable, and of the keenest temper, needing only a bold and practised grasp to draw it fi'om the sheath. Amongst the handful of infantry collected about the palace for protection of their Majesties, the Eegiment of Flanders, lately distributed on the frontier, had now called in all its detachments to join head-quarters, and was stationed at Versailles in its complete strength. Fighting and feasting have been ever bracketed together in the catechism of war ; the cup of welcome passes nowhere so freely as from comrade to comrade ; and, according to timehonoured custom, the officers of the body-guard, who considered themselves as hosts of all fresh arrivals, gave a banquet in welcome of the new comers, to which also were invited the officers of the Swiss Guard. This entertainment was prepared in the Opera-house. Boxes and galleries overflowed with spectators, many of whom were ladies of the Court, beautiful in person, sump- tuously dressed, and gracing the military splendours of the scene, as a wreath of flowers graces a wine-cup, or a sparkling jewel the pommel of a sword. Below, the tables were spread with such refinement of luxury as caused France to become a proverb for all that was tasteful in the feast ; around them sat those fiery spirits, brim- ming with military enthusiasm, who rendered her an example of all that was formidable in the fray. With rustling laces, jingling spurs, belt and buckle flashing in gems and gold, wine sparkling in the glasses, hands clas23ed in friendship, faces glowing with zeal, loyalty, and good fellowshij), they seemed a band of heroes brave as the defenders of Thermopylae, chivalrous as the invaders of Palestine, and worthy, in their polished dainty gallantrj^, to defend the honour of a Queen. They would have died for her to a man ! They scrupled not to swear it here over their wine, they hesitated not to redeem the pledge hereafter nobly, in their blood. Unlike Belshazzar and his satraps, few of them but must have read THE WHITE COCKADE. 203 and interpreted the writing on tlie wall. Its warning only made them more resolved to do their duty to the death, and those letters of fire served but to kindle their generous enthusiasm into a brighter and fiercer flame. As the wine went round they spoke of the royal family, especiall}^ of Marie Antoinette, in terms of such boundless devotion that their captain thought it a fitting opportunity to quit the table, and repairing to the royal apartments, entreat their Majesties, if only for a few minutes, to gratify his brother ofiicers with their presence, and receive in person that ovation of which the acclamations reached them where they sat. The King loved nothing better than to see people happy, and to the daughter of Maria Theresa, with the traditions of her line, and her own deep earnest German sjonpathies, such a request seemed impossible to refuse. Following her husband, and carrying the dauphin in her arms, she came with her stately step into the banqueting-room, to meet such a reception as never greeted queen or woman before or since ; no, not even in those bright days when the beautiful young arch-duchess crossed the frontier of France to become a bride. Glasses clinked, voices shouted, hats were flourished and flimg to the roof ; swords were drawn, and pointed to the skies ; men laughed, wept, embraced ; and ladies, trembling, sobbing, leaning over the boxes, used their handkerchiefs, alternately to wave their welcome, and to dry their tears. It was an intoxication, a whirlwind, a paroxysm of delirium that caught like wildfire, that was as diflicult to guide or check, that created as much confusion in as short a time, and that died out, alas ! rapidly and inexplicably as it spread. "VVTiile she crossed the threshold their band struck u[) a favourite air of the day, called " Peut-on affligor co qu'on aime ? " and when the burst, with which this allusion was received, had somewhat subsided, the Marquis de Vuucourt, cot ROSINE. now recovered from his wounds, fixed his eyes on Her ^lajesty, and sang the following lines in his mellow yoimg voice, with a meaning and expression of which none present could miss the force nor the application : — " Can we vex the heart we love ? Shall its mate forsake the dove ? Precious tears for «s to flow, Ours the hand to deal the blow ! No — no ! No — no ! " When wo vex the heart we love — Tang all other pangs above I 'Tis because of Love's excess — Loving more, not loving less ! Yes — j'es ! Yes — yea ! " And now the excitement reached its height. Guests, spectators, men and women, the very musicians, joined in chorus. Some officers of the National Gviard in the boxes turned inwards the red and blue of their tri-coloured cockades, so as to show nothing but white. It was the badge of the Bourbons, and everything available was con- verted into a white cockade on the spot. Ladies tore their handkerchiefs, their lappets, the trimmings of their dress, and made them up into the required shape. Officers scaled the boxes and received these decorations on the points of their swords. A moment ago the lives of all present were at the disposal of the Queen, now they asked no better than to die for the white cockade ! Her Majesty's feelings overcame her, and the firmness that could face insult, outrage, the last extremity of personal danger, so far gave way, under these overpowering demon- strations of attachment, that she was forced to retire with her handkerchief to her eyes. The whole company followed the royal family, with tumultuous cheers, to the door of their apartments, and THE WHITE COCKADE. 205 returned to renew, over the wine-cup, tlieir protestations of zeal, devotion, and mutual good-will. Some of the National Guard, who had hitherto been only visitors in the banquetiug-hall, were now pressed to sit down and join the givers of the entertainment as guests. These proselytes outdid the body-guard itself in professions of loyalty and enthusiasm. They were honest citizens enough, abhorring bloodshed, hai'dship, long marches, short rations, all the inconveniences of actual warfare, and had never carried a round of ball cartridge in their lives. It is needless to say that their bearing was fiercer, their conversation more warlike than that of the veterans with whom they were so proud to associate. It seemed they only wanted opportunity to prove themselves the bravest troops in Europe, the best drilled, the best discij)lined, and the steadiest under fire. Young de Vaucourt found himself receiving lessons in the art of war from a stout and shining captain, whom he recognised, after awhile, as the tradesman who supjjlied him with coffee, and to whom his intendant had lately informed him he owed rather a heavy accomit. He was, perhaps, none the less tolerant a listener. The worthy grocer having conceived no small admiration for his noble customer, less because of his high rank and lavish expenditure, than his well-known prowess with the sword, did not fail to oblige him with many personal details concerning his own parades, inspections, guard-mountings, and military duties in the good city of Paris. " It is not all rose-colour. Marquis," said he, draining his beaker, with the air of one who has earned the right to a carouse by a long- day's march — " under such a brigadier as ours. lie is none of your cotton nightcaps, though indeed he sells them, and very good ones too, in the Rue des Mousquetaircs. But to see him behind the counter, and before his biigade — why, Monsieur, you could not believe it was the same man. When ^06 ROSINE. lie puts on his uniform — o?^>' uniform, ]Marquis (it is a service- able, soldierlike uniform, is it not ?) Crac ! he becomes a lion, a hero ! It is the same witli me J Do you not think. Monsieur, that a brave man grows doubly brave when he finds hiui.self surrounded by comrades all as like each other as black beans in a bushel ? You, too, are a soldier. Marquis (here's your health), and you know how a soldier feels." De Vaucourt smothered a lauffh in his wineglass. " And your men, Cajitain," said he, " are they supplied with muskets ? Arc they used to handle their arms ? " " Every Frenchman is born a soldiei'," was the reply. "For the rest, Marquis, our firelocks have been lately issued, and — and — to speak the truth, we have practised with empty barrels as yet. What of that ? We can learn to load them, I should hoj)e, and to take aim, and in time, no doubt, to fire them off ! The Romans were the finest soldiers in the world, Monsieur, except the French ; and Rome, you know, was not built in a day ! " " The Romans knew how to entrench themselves," ob- served De Vaucourt, carelessly. " Every third man carried a mattock or a palisade. Do you teach your people to throw up a breastwork with the first materials that come to their hand?" In spite of their late-assumed loyalty, the Marquis thought it not impossible, he might find himself face to face with these unskilled and zealous volunteers. lie would take this oppor- tunity of finding out how much they did and did not know. " A breastwork ! What is that ? " replied the other. " Monsieur, the breastwork of a National Guardsman is his own courage, and the bold heart that beats beneath his cross- belts. We are soldiers of France, Marquis ; you and I. Rah ! what means the whistle of a ball or two more or less to a soldier of France? It is music in the ears of men like ourselves ! " THE WHITE COCKADE. 207 De Vaucourt reflected tliat it was music, to wliich he had seen the soldiers of France dance nimbly enough, both in advance and retreat, but contented himself with another pertinent inquiry. "And your muster?" he asked. "How do you collect your men, Captain, and what number could you bring into the field — pardon, I ought to say, into the streets, with six hours' notice?" The grocer reflected, putting his finger to his forehead, like a man immersed in calculation. " In fifty minutes," he answered, " the drum would have beat round all our quarter ; in five we should put on our uniforms, in five more we coidd reach our place of assembly. My battalion. Monsieur, would muster a thousand men •udthin an hour of the first alarm." "AU armed?" "All armed. Even the drummers wear swords. I can tell you. Monsieur, we are not only brave but we are also strong. A military sj)irit has been roused in the nation. We may not have yet acquired the skill that comes with practice, nor the knowledge gained by experience, but these are mere results of which hard fighting is the cause, and you must remember, Marquis, we are the same material that won their battles for Luxembourg and Turenne." The other looked grave enough now, but a smile came on his face with the answer to his next question. "Will your people stand by ours? comrade to comrade, man to man, like true brothers of the sword?" " Surely ! we will never turn our backs on you. We have not forgotten it was the body-guard that brought us oft' at Fontenoy ! " CHAPTER XXIV. THE TRICOLOR. At Foutcnoy ! Yes, tlicy identified tlieraselves with the glory and the military history of France. These tradesmen of Paris, awkward and uneasy in stiff, tight uniforms, jostling each other in their formations like a flock of sheep, handling a musket with obvious fear of its recoil ; assumed to them- selves a share in the past triumphs of heroes who could hold their own with Marlborough's grenadiers, and check the picked cavalry of Prince Eugene ; who advanced into action with a band of fiddles, curled, gloved, scented, and cravatted as if for a ball, and left their dead in hundreds wherever a battery was to be taken, or an outwork of the enemy carried by storm. Could there be one single sentiment in common between a Black Musketeer of Louis the Great, with his debts, his dandyism, his refined prejudices, his in- trigues, his duels, his dainty scorn of death, and a respectable grocer, comfortable, thrifty, industrious, sorting goods, posting a ledger, and coming in regularly to his meals ? Only this, that each was a Frenchman, and, as a Frenchman, set his country above everything on earth, except her military glory, which he loved even better than France. With six months' campaigning, and a few volleys fired in earnest, these citizens were hereafter to make the finest soldiers in Europe, but at present they were no match for a mere rabble, for a mob of ruffians commanded by Santerre, the scum and sweepings of the streets. 4, THE TRICOLOR. 209 Red, white, and blue were the colours of the good city of Paris. Her national guards elected to wear them in a cockade, and thus originated the famous Tricolor, the flag that, torn to shreds by shot and shell, has floated triimiphant in every part of the world where danger is to be encountered and honour won. As the cross to Crusaders, the crescent to Saracens, as our own unconquered Union Jack to sturdy Britons, is the Tricolor to the warlike sons of France. Where it waves there will they make their rush, loose in formation, firing as they advance, but pressing eagerly to the front. How many hearts have shed their life-blood to further it twenty paces in the charge, to preserve its honour unsullied in the retreat ; how many eyes swimming in death, and watching it to the last, have taken its image with them into another world ; how many noble spirits, swelling with pride and patriotism, have trooped gloriously into Paris under the remnants of their victorious flag ! Even in reverse it has retained its prestige, and though defeated, has never been disgraced. But in its early days it was out-flaunted by the red banner of Revolution, even as the national guard who adoj)ted it were overborne, intimidated, and indeed absorbed by the Sansculottes. They came into collision before long, and their antagonism ended in that fraternisation between troops and populace which seems so luinatural, is so subversive of good order, and becomes so demoralising to both. Public events had been watched for weeks by eager spirits anxiously waiting an 02:)i:)ortunity for insurrection, well qualified to take advantage of it when it came. The scarcity of provisions, in no degree modified by an in- gathered harvest, offered an excellent pretext to the leadeis of those ruffians who only wanted an excuse for plunder ; while the successful storming of the Bastille inspiicd ilic p 210 ROSINE. populace with confidence in themselves, and, worse still, gave them a taste for blood. The air was heavy with thunder- clouds, and the foreboding on men's faces seemed as an ominous reflection from the gloomy skies. People stood in knots before coffee-houses and at corners of streets ; Mother Carey's chickens, too, the furies of the fishmarket, began to show themselves. Those whp were best informed knew that a fire was smouldering, ready to burst forth. It was thirsty weather. The breaking open of a wineshop might kindle the spark at any moment, and then who was to say how wide the conflagration wordd spread, or when it would be put out ? The hands of Montarbas had been full for weeks, so full, as his plots grew riper, that he found no time for further pursuit of Rosine, nor vexation of Leonie by fresh and flagrant infidelities. True, in this one respect, to her woman's nature, the Wolverine, after their late difference, had become more than ever his slave. Convinced, though sorely against her will, that his attachment was a mere passing caprice, while hers was an absorbing passion, she flung herself, so to speak, at the feet that might spurn her in any moment, and implored them to trample her in the dust. The weaker she felt her hope, the more firmly did she cling to it, and, like many an- other potentate, was never less inclined to abdicate than when her better reason told her the sovereignty had gone from her for ever. She threw herself wath increased energy into the stream of political intrigue. So allied was she with the Jacobins, so conversant with their secrets, and so necessary to their plans, that no great scheme could be undertaken without her connivance and aj)proval; while, at the same time, thanks to her beauty, her self-confidence, and her calm, stern courage, she was such a favourite with the rabble, that her consent to act as one of their leaders became indis- THE TRICOLOR. 211 pensable for any movement to be carried out by pliysical force. The assistance of the Wolverine signified the pikes of a thousand ruffians, the most desperate in Paris, and the good- will of Mother Redcap ; in other words, a rush of six hundred she-devils, to be turned by no considerations of shot or steel, fear or mercy, pity for others or for themselves. Montarbas had quitted his hotel to occupy an obscure lodging, in the centre of Paris, living, like his confederates, in the enjojonent of much real luxury, shorn of all outward pomp and show. Here he transacted business, received deputations from the fiercest of the Sansculottes, and looked to such arrangements as must be organised at the centre of insurrection. Here, too, the "Wolverine had free admittance, and hence she often returned home heavy at heart in that bitterness of spirit which those only can realise who feel they have built their whole fabric of hope on a foundation of sand. But she found relief in the excitement of action, and was never so well pleased as when selected by her party for some special undertaking, the more welcome the more dangerous it seemed. " I have come to thank you," said she, entering im- announced the apartment where Montarbas sat, buried in papers, a brace of pistols on his writing-table, and a cup of coffee at his elbow. " They tell me the idea was yours. Monsieur, and they ask me to head the movement. It is a high compliment, and one I know how to appreciate," He raised his head from his writing. " You will do it so well," said he, in his careless, caressing voice. " And you will look so handsome all the time. You ought to have been an Amazon instead of a Frenchwoman." " I am both ! " she answered, proudly. " But the French- woman first. And I shall lead some hundreds of ray sisters p 2 212 ROSINE. to the attack. Who can witlistand our charge ? Arnold, I have heard you depreciate women ; but to-day you have shown that you know our real value." It had been indeed the Count's suggestion to place at the head of the movement such a column of the softer sex as should either paralyse the action of the soldiers, or, in the event of bloodshed, rouse to wilder fury the passions of the populace. He laughed. " I advised them to put you in front," said he, " because I know it is impossible to keep you in the rear. And, Leonie, I am convinced these little gaieties amuse you more than a ball or a concert. I said I was sure you woidd lead them, and welcome." She shot an eager glance in the high-bred, handsome face. What would she have given to detect a cloud on the brow, a quiver of the lip, any, the lightest symptom of apprehension for her safety, that should argue affection for herself. But no, all was tranquil, good-humoured, and composed. He might have been ordering a dinner, or a nosegay rather than an attack on regular troops, of which the woman who loved him was to lead the stormers in the front rank. "You can trust me," she answered, with rather a trembling voice. " And — and if I am killed, Arnold, you will not forget me? I wonder if you M^ould care ?" " Bah ! nobody will be killed ! Do you think I would put you in a place of danger ? It is time enough to cry out when one is hurt ! " She was forced to content herself with this slender consola- tion, finding excuses for him in the very heartlessness of his character. " I know you are always careless," she replied, more cheerfvdly, " both for yourseH and others. I like you to be brave, Arnold, but you carry your courage over the verge of imprudence. I would lay a wager now, that your pistols there are empty, and your coffee-cup fidl." THE TRICOLOR. 213 " You would win on both events," he laughed. " In honest truth I forgot all about the coffee, and an luiloadcd pistol keeps my ruffians in subjection as well as a field- piece charged with grape. Not one dare look along a barrel without winking, unless he stands at the trigo-er- end. AYhat would you have ? Men are men, ruled by fear." "And women are women," she answered softly, " ruled by love." Then she crossed to where he sat, took his head between her hands, printed on his brow one long clinging kiss, and was gone before he could say another word. As he resimied his writing a tear trickled down his cheek. It was none of his, though for one moment his heart smote him to reflect how this woman was wasting her love on a worthless idol, as she would waste her life on an idea, a shadow, a phantom, the fallacy of imiversal liberty, and the impossible regeneration of France. Over his bold spirit crept a chilling doubt whether his own gods were one whit more reliable. Whether self and ambition might not prove like Baal and Dagon, deaf when he implored, and unmoved by the prayers of their worshipper at his utmost need. Three hours later, overlooking the construction of a bar- ricade, who so courageous, so confident, so clear-headed as Citizen Montarbas, formerly a peer of Franco ? lie took off his coat to handle a pickaxe, and exchanged a jest with the .scavenger whose labours he relieved. One he taught how to charge his musket, another how to cover his body while taking aim. He ridiculed their military knowledge with good humour, while with the utmost patience he gave them the benefit of his own. Their parapet was too low, their trench too shallow, the step not wide enough by which they went up and down to deliver their fire and reload. All these 214 EOSINE. shortcomings he found fault with, and caused them to rectif on the spot. " But he knows his trade this one," they said, following his movements with admiring eyes. " lie has been brought up to it, do you see ? As thou art a shoemaker, and I am a butcher, and Bontcmps here is a chimney-sweep, he was born an aristocrat. They learn nothing else, but this fighting they understand thoroughly. It is their trade." "So is feasting." " Bah ! we can all do that. What say you, comrades ? Let us knock off for an hour, and see how the wine tastes with old Father Bossu. There are no scores to settle now. Order what you like, take what you please, and call for more. The Revolution pays for all." So these worthies betook themselves to the congenial occupation of drinking at a poor hump-backed vintner's expense ; and with every fresh cup they swallowed, grew more ardent advocates of right, more intolerant opponents of injustice, tyranny, and oppression. Such scenes were being enacted in every quarter of Paris at which it was thought advisable to check the regular troops ; and Montarbas, flying from one barricade to another, made his dispositions, with military skill and ingenuity, worthy of a better cause. The Wolverine, too, played her desperate part with the fierceness and energy that won her nickname. Dressed, as usual, in white, wearing a blood- red scarf round her waist, a knot of blood-red ribbons at her bosom, and carrying a blood-red flag in her hand, she passed proudly through the fishmarket. Its denizens turned out in swarms, shouting, cheering, gesticulating, calling on her only to give the word and they would follow where she led. Mother Hedcap brought up more than two hundred, their arms bare, their black hair streaming over their shoulders, THE TRICOLOR. 215 their eyes blazing with excitement and brandy, demanding, •for herself and her Amazons, the post of honour in front. Ruffians more than half-drunk, some in women's clothes, swelled the force, but these formed no welcome addition to their ranks, for the Ladies of the Market, as they called themselves, scouted the notion of masculine assistance, exult- ing in the exclusiveness of their own picked column, their female forlorn hope. When a sufficient number had assembled, the "Wolverine halted to address her followers. In a moment over that riotous crowd came a deep silence, ominous, oppressive, like the hush that precedes a thunderstorm. Her clear, thrilling tones seemed to cleave it as the lightning cleaves the cloud. " To the Hotel de Yille ! " she said, and the explosion that followed echoed half way to Yersailles. Shout after shout, yell after yell, caught up, repeated, passed, from street to street, till it shook every rafter in the capital, and caused many a martial tradesman, struggling into his uniform, to ask himself the unpleasant question whether it would not be taken off him before nightfall by other hands than his own ! The sluice was open now, and the torrent unrestrained. At the Hotel de Yille a detachment of the National Guard went over bodily, tricolour and all, to join the populace. A rush was made for the armoury, and those who had come without weapons took whatever was at hand ; the lance once couched for Duguesclin quivered in the grasp of a scavenger, the sword that kept the head of a Montmorency glittered in the hand of a Sansculotte. But the people were beginning to realise their strength, and asked each other whether the Duguesclins and the Montmorencys were not Frenchmen like themselves, neither braver nor better, fighting only for their order as they, the people, were resolved to fight for theirs ! 216 EOSINE. Presently, as usual iu all sucli outbreaks, threats were uttered against the royal faniilj^, and especially the Queen. " Where is the Austrian ? " shrieked the fish women ; " why is she not here ? Show us tlie Austrian, that we may give her a piece of our mind. 8hc ought to be in Paris, she ought to be at home ! " " Why, YOU have got her there ! " exclaimed a ruffian, pointing to Leonie, whose likeness to Iler Majesty was never more striking than when she stood thus calm, and scornful, in the midst of danger or excitement. " If that is not the Queen, I never saw her. See, my friends, look at her well ! It is Marie Antoinette." It might have been mere drunken stupidity, it might have been a ferocious jest, but popvilar idols have been immolated for less, and another than the Wolverine would have run no small risk of being torn in pieces by mistake. She was equal to the occasion. " Marie Antoinette ! " she repeated, pointing to the blood-red ribbons at her breast. " Yes ! Marie Antoinette with her throat cut ! That is how queens ought always to be dressed ! " They cheered louder than ever, those who had kej)t their heads till now gave way to the universal frenzy, and a whisper that originated with Coupe-tete soon grew to a roar of hungry hate. " Let us pay her a morning visit ! and the Baker, and the baker's boy ! To the barrier ! To the road ! Courage ! it is a short four leagues. Let us all go on to Versailles ! " CHAPTER XXY. THE REDS. And wliere was her dear Arnold at sucli a crisis ? The Wolverine looked for him more than once during the sack of the Hotel de Ville, and knew not whether to be more distressed or gratified by his absence. It was well that he should be out of danger, but, on the other hand, what infidelities might he not be j)lotting while thus removed from her supervision, and aware that she could not desert her post ! Proud as she felt of her power, guiding with a movement of her finger these thousands of Parisians, whom she had been tauo'ht to consider the French nation — declaring; war, she, a daughter of the people, against the Sovereign of France, holding in her hand, as she believed, the life and fortunes of these Bourbons, the haughtiest family in Europe, there was a something that marred all her triumph, in the doubt of her o"svn influence over the man she loved. It would have spared her a keen heartache to know how he was occupied, and to whom he was urging his fervid and im- passioned appeal. One can sway an audience with his tongue, another per- suade a nation with his pen, a third knows how to point a cannon, handle a regiment, or direct an attack. Now and again we find an exception, like Montarbas, who is orator, Avriter, soldier, all at once. To such, political convulsions afford the noblest opportunities of aggrandisement. At tlie 218 EOSINE. beginning of a revolution lie is in his element, there seems scope for the versatility of his genius with either faction ; in the midst of it, he usually finds himself carried off his feet by the torrent he has let loose ; and at the end is set aside to make room for some iron soldier who is no casuist, but who feels intuitively that moral argument can never hold its own in the long run against a well-found army of a hundred thousand men. In the meantime Citizen Montarbas, having directed the movements of the populace, seen to their barricades, and set Leonie to lead them, proceeded to the club of the Jacobins, where members were used to assemble after dinner, that his tongue might bring to perfection the work he had been furthering with his hands. The entrance of this heretofore aristocrat never failed to create a sensation amongst these desperate adventurers. They were Frenchmen, yet they looked at him in silent admiration when he sat down, and listened eagerly when he rose to speak. Like many other assembKes which have ruled the destiny of nations, there was nothing striking in their appearance, their proceedings, nor the chamber where they met ; there were benches, there was a tribune, and already, though ostensibly united for one great object, in one common cause, there were sections representing moderate and extreme opinions on the Right and Left. One distinction, however, was remarkable enough in those days of careful dressing, and by it they set no little store — all wore their hair without powder, combed loosely over their ears ; this fashion gave an air of freedom they thought, and absence of prejudice, well suited to the friends of liberty, but was, indeed, the first token of that truckling to the Sansculottes which finished with the Reign of Terror — the unqualified submission of society to the lowest of the low. If it was the nature of Montarbas to be always acting a THE EEDS. 219 part, lie at least tlirew liimseK into it witli a force that deceived tlie penetration of others, sometimes even liis own. He entered the club, wearing the plain morning dress of a citizen, but carrying pistols in a belt round his waist, and a j)oniard in his hand. With head erect and flashing eyes, he strode to the Tribune, mounted it, and dashed at once into his speech, as if under influence of that strong excite- ment, which produces effects so different on opposite sides of the Channel dividing England from France. " The aristocrats of former times," said he, flinging his naked dagger into the middle of the floor, "were wont to throw down a steel gauntlet in defiance of an enemy ; but there. Citizens, Kes my gage of battle, and it signifies war to the knife ! War to the Tyrant in his palace, war to the oppressors ia their Chamber, war to the aristocrats in their castles, war to their paid assassins that disgrace the uniform of France in the streets ! A war of reprisals, a war of ex- termination, a war in which quarter is neither to be asked nor received. We temporised too long, and our enemies took advantage of our inaction ; we were too moderate in oiu' demands, and they thought we were scarcely in earnest, and might be put off with promises when we asked for bread. But the French people has woke up at last, as the lion wakes out of sleep, shaking the glory of his mane, bracing his mighty sinews, stretching his talons, and drinking in the smell of blood that taints the air, while the desert trembles to his roar. But away with imagery and metajjhor-! T am addressing my countrymen, distinguished, as all the world knows, above other nations, for the solid quahties of reason, persistency, and calm good sense. We are not a j^eople to be carried out of sound judgment by a phrase, a sentiment, an idea. No ! we are logical, we are practical ; let us come to plain facts. " Yes, we are Frenchmen. Is there one of us who can 220 ROSINE. forget the history of his beloved country ? Need I tell you how this accursed vegetable, this upas-tree — called by courtesy Royalty — has taken root and flourished ; planted with fear, fostered by corruption, and watered in blood ? IIow Louis the Fat assumed for it a pretence of defending the right — ^how Philip Augustus strengthened it by en- larging its dominions — how Philip the Fair gave it a code of laws, to be interpreted at the pleasure of those who professed to understand them — how regular taxes, regular troops, and the thunder of cannon clothed it, under Charles VIL, in a physical strength, to which Louis XI. added the subtlety of a diplomatist and the treachery of a fiend ? "These were the dark ages; but, as in the workings of that nature which men have ever worshipped under different titles, this very darkness germinated a spark of light. The jealousy of kings became the war of nations, invasions, battles, defeats, brought about interchange of ideas ; and, with the diffusion of knowledge, men began to ask them- selve the question — Why ? "Let us pass to later times. It was but in the last century that Richelieu weeded the French nobility of all who ventured to oppose their sovereign ; and the wars of the Fronde did but prove the weakness of an aristocracy which, without support from the people, rebels against a power that gave it birth. Nobility, that prostituted title, signified a mere hereditary slavery to an hereditary tyrant ; and Louis XIY., on the throne of France, believed himself, not unreasonably, to be a god ! His ministers antici]Dated his desires with the servility of a grand vizier to the Grand Turk ; Colbert and Louvois drank her blood, and France became inanimate as a corpse. " Nor was our beloved country isolated in her sufferings as she has been isolated in her glory. Europe seemed as a goodly forest-tree, wasted by the canker-worm eating at her THE REDS. 221 core. Progress eliecked, trade restricted, industry paralysed, and all for the interests of a family, a relationship, a mere tie of kindi'ed, that might or might not be a legitimate cause. The lives of men, the honour of women, the devastation of whole districts, depended on the health of a rickety babe — the fancy of a fickle girl. War — always war and its dangers, not even shared by the wretches for whom it was waged ! A war of succession in Spain ; a war of succession in Austria ; a war of succession in Poland. It seemed as if the people were mere chattels of the sovereign, lilce the flocks and herds of a patriarch, to be sacrificed in hecatombs for a superstition that did not even aim at making friends with heaven ! " And thus. Citizens, the great movement came about. It was impossible but that men should suffer, and suffering, reflect, and reflecting, reason, and reasoning put their argu- ments into words. Fenelon, Bayle, St. Evremond placed their levers imder the oppressive mass, and Voltaire gave it the final push that set it rolling do^^^i the hill. Other writers on other subjects discussed the same principles, adopted the same sentiments, followed, as far as they were capable, the same style. Political freedom and political economy marched hand- in-hand. The 'Live and let live' seemed no less applicable to private liberty than to public imposts. Increase of communication brought increase of knowledge, and while the exact sciences courted every day fresh inquiry, and developed fresh disclosures, the art of government was not permitted to remain without exami- nation, analysis, and criticism. Men wrote in retirement, but their works were read by the world. To proscribe a book was to insure its popularity and publication a thousand- fold. People discussed with the more energy that they di.scussed in secret, impartiality of justice, toleration in religion, charity, good- will, equality, brotherhood ; what shall 222 ROSINE. I say, Citizens ? all the points of our great charter wliich lias for its object a vindication of the rights of man ! " I will not ask 3'ou to recall the degradations to which we have submitted. I need not remind you of the yoke we have shaken of¥, for its scars remain branded on our shoulders in scarlet letters of shame. There has been inequality of taxes, inequality of justice, inequality of labour, service, rewards, and punishments ; but for nature's im- mutable law of corruption there would be inequality even in the grave ! " Much has been done by our own efforts, in our own recollection, but much yet remains to do. Malesherbes, that gentle philosopher, the comrade and disciple of Jean Jacques Rousseau, dreamed and organised, but he did not act. Turgot, with lofty views, clear ideas, wise schemes, and honesty of purpose, could make no head against the dead weight of resistance offered by the nobility and the church. Necker is on his trial — I am no advocate for or against him — I repeat, Necker is on his trial, and I pause to await your verdict." They broke out into loud cries and declamation ; they stormed, they raved, they stood on the benches shaking their clenched fists, and shouting, " Down with Necker ! Down with the ministry — the King — the priests — the army ! Down with everything ! " He knew their temper to a scowl. He could play on it, as a musician plays on an instrument. They were glowing now and malleable. It was the moment to forge them into any shape he choose. " Enough," he said, " the tribimal is not to be questioned, — the verdict not to be set aside, and Necker is condemned ! Away with him ! Yet stay ! The Swiss can make no defence, but he may offer somewhat in extenuation ; he may plead that he is hut a Swiss — a mere porter at the entrance — a servant in the antechamber, who is paid to obey the ♦*\ THE REDS. 223 orders, make the excuses, and tell tlie falsehoods of his master. Are the eyes of Justice so handaged as to overlook that master ; is her hand so paralysed that she fails to weigh him in her scales ? There is a second coirnt in my indict- ment. I accuse another criminal. Again I pause to hear your verdict. I charge a Bourbon with designs on the ex- istence of his nation. I impeach Louis XVI. for treason to France ! " Again the turmoil roared and raged about him like a whirlwind. In the midst of it a voice was heard to exclaim, "Prove it!" and more than one hand clutched a hidden poniard, to bury it in the heart of an advocate bold enough to demand that even royalty should have a fair hearing in its defence. But the advocate was a creature of Arnold's, the interrup- tion a mere dramatic situation to enhance the effect of his speech. " A citizen requires proof," he said, his handsome features mantling with the smile of one who is confident he can de- moKsh the argmnent of an adversary. " That citizen is right. We are patient, we are logical, we take nothing for granted. The proof is contained in one single word. It lies in the Veto, which a tyrant refuses to resign. So long as he retains this obstructive power, what shall avail universal franchise for our representation — admission of males to the rights of citizenship at twenty-five years of age — purity of the law — responsibility of the executive — free trade — liberty of worship, and of the press — the sovereignty of the people — and the equality of all mankind ! Let us not be carried away by phrases, sentiments, expressions. Let us analyse the situation, reasoning calmly, exhaustively, without prejudice, like true citizens of France ? "WTicucc is this right of kings, that, while men believed in such follies, was called divine ? Absurd! It emanates from the nut ion. The voice of the & 224 ROSINE. people is the voice of destiny ; the condemnation of the people is the decree of doom ! IIow say you, Citizens : this Louis, hatching plots against his country, yonder at Ver- sailles ; is he guilty, or not guilty ? " Again a wild and furious uproar. "Guilty ! guilty ! " shouted, repeated, re-echoed, without a single dissentient. Montarbas, who had carried his hat in his hand, now placed it on his head. " To Versailles, then ! " said he. " "When we have brought him back with us to Paris, the game will be our o^\ti ! " " To Versailles ! To Versailles ! " The clamour within rose and swelled, till it drowned the clamour of the mob, vociferating the same war-cry without. To use a national expression, Paris had gone down into the streets, and a mighty volume, surging and swaying, at every outlet, mioved steadily onwards, like a rising tide towards the Southern Barrier, while, dominating the confvision of the moment, a note of warning that struck chill to the boldest heart, clanged harsh and discordant overhead. The bells of Notre-Dame were tolling backwards to arouse the populace, and incite them to fresh outrage. Montarbas stopped the rush of his followers in the door- way with a motion of his hand. " Listen ! " said he. " Citizens, it is the tocsin. It is the death-knell ! — the death-knell of monarchy in France ! " CHAPTER XXYI. THE TOCSIN. The sun went down, like an earthly king, in robes of purple and gold, tlie crimson streaks of evening melted into a mild October nigbt, and still, tbrougb the gathering dark- ness above rang out that threatening summons, as though some spirit of evil brooding over the city had broken his restrain- ing fetters, and clashed their fragments together in unholy and malicious glee. Again, again, and yet again, it pealed and vibrated, strong, ceaseless, regular : the cry of murder gathering her brood, and well they answered to her call ! Like vultures round a carcase, like flies on a carrion, like rats from the sewers, swarmed all that was vilest and lowest in Paris, out of their obscene haunts — from squalid cellar and filthy wineshop, from stall and shambles, dust-heap and gutter — to pollute the upper air. With these the tocsin meant proclamation of a devil's holiday, gratification of fiendish malevolence and foul appetites, a feast of excess and ribaldry and blood. But not for them the chance of encountering regular troops, of meeting the grim scowl of a fieldpiecc halting to unlimber, the gleam of bayonets flashing down to the charge. They would dip their hands in blood, but it must be the blood of the fallen ; they would give no quarter to the wounded, if the wounded lay helpless and unarmed ; their weapon was the knife not the sword, and they hung on Q 226 . ROSINE. the flanks and rear of that column, which might almost be called an army of malecontents, moving steadily towards Versailles. In any other country it would have been an undisciplined mob, and as such must have fallen to pieces and melted away with the march of a league or two, and the passing of half-a-dozen wineshops ; but, as has been observed already, there is a warlike element in the French people that imparts to their most disorderly assemblages something of disci- pline, something of organisation, something of military caution and command. The advance-guard of fishwomen, led by the Wolverine, studiously preserved communications with the main body in their rear, and that body permitted no voluntary halt, no gratuitous change of direction, no straggling on the line of march. Montarbas, hurrying to the post which he had assigned himself in front, could not but admire the regu- larity of its movements, and the steady persistent step with which it threaded the streets of Paris, losing scarcely a tenth of its rank and file under the temptations of the capital with its many attractions— the smiles of women, the drink for nothing, and the enthusiastic admiration of friends. He was no fanatic, and had seen service before an enemy ; he did not therefore underrate the perils or difficulties of his enterprise, but he began to have strong hopes of success now. In the meantime, the royal family were not entirely with- out warning, perhaps we should rather say without appre- hension. Rumours, such as are always afloat before an important crisis, had already reached Versailles that the revolutionary party were about to take some decided step. It was even whispered that the Duke of Orleans had been seen in the vicinitv of the palace the day before. This, how- THE TOCSIN. 227 ever, seemed so gross an improbability as to tbrow discredit on tbe rest ; and Louis, never suificiently an alarmist, went out hunting, as usual, in tolerable composure. The Queen, too, spent her afternoon at little Trianon, and it was not till evening that the Court began to realise the actual physical danger in which it was placed. A few faithful retainers stole abroad to reconnoitre, and amongst them Rosiiie, who, wearing her peasant's costume, and making good use of it, to conceal her connection with royalty, was able to bring in much trustworthy intelligence. The girl had two narrow escapes of discovery, once from Mother Redcap, behind whose broad back she slipped into the crowd, unobserved, and once from the Wolverine, who was so occupied in disposing her forces round the palace that she failed to notice this rustic beauty hurrying to and fro with a basket of provisions on her arm, soon emptied by the hungry rioters, who gave her, in exchange for bread and brandy, their own opinions and sentiments concerning the outbreak. "We have come for justice," said one. "We have come for food," said another. " Food ! Justice ! " exclaimed a third. " Bah ! These are fables ! We have come for blood ! We have come to massacre the Tyrant, the baker, and the baker's wife, and the baker's boy ! Down with them all ! Dance, my sister ; pay attention, I will teach you the step. Is it graceful ? Does it please you ? See, we call it the Carmagnole ! " "Do you like my white apron?" asked another fury, whom Rosine remembered as having detained her with im welcome caresses the night she made her escape from Mother Redcap's house. " Does it suit me ? Do I look well in it ? See, I wear it not entirely for coquetry ; it is to save my dress when I carry the Austrian's heart home to-night for supper ! You are pale, little one. Ah ! you have not got used to the Revolution yet. I was like that Q 2 228 EOSINE. nij'sclf once. Give me hold of j^oiir bottle. See, the citizens have been before me ; there is nothing- left in it but the cork and the smell ! No matter ; you are a good girl, run back to your mother for some more ; and, listen, if the sight of blood makes you sick, don't come here again to-night, for we shall all be up to our necks in it before to-morrow morning. —Go!" Yet, though she could well believe them true, none of these ferocious reports had power to shake the constancj^, or quell the spirit of Marie Antoinette, holding her post at the king's side with the steady courage of a soldier and the loving devotion of a wife. Louis, though arrangements had been made for his journey to Rambouillet, could not summon resolution for so decided a step, preferring to await his destiny at Yer- sailles, and trust his safety to that principle of conciliation which had failed him so egregiously from the first. Where the King was, there remained the Queen and her children. The little dauphin and his sisters played about the apart- ment, unable to realise the situation; their mother, com- posed, resigned, courageous, thoughtful only of others, calmly prepared herself for the worst. "But Madame," pleaded Rosine, who had been to the window for the hundredth time — " all seems quieter now. I can see by the steady glare on the sky that they have lit their watchfires, and we all know that means they will not stir till morning. Pierre says, even if they dared attack us at once, they could do nothing against the garrison. My poor Pierre ! He is so brave, so strong, and he will fight to the last ! I entreat your Majesty to take some rest. See, it is time for their royal highnesses to retire. Children in my country are never out of bed at sundown : that is why they grow up robust, and brown. If your Maj esty would only lie down on the sofa there. I will arrange the pillows, and TBE TOCSIN. 229 ■watch, watch, all night through. Ah ! jMadame, I am not likely to sleep on my post, anj more than Pierre, when I mount guard over my Queen ! " Marie Antoinette smiled one of those wan sad smiles that had become habitual now, that contrasted so pitifull}^ with the gaiety and lightheartedness of her youth. " You and your Pierre ! " she said, taking the girl's hand in her own. " I should sleep the sounder had I two or three thousand such to defend me every night. How can people be so different ? You are French, you two, and yet you would die for me, without a question ! " "TVillingl}', Madame, both of us; I first, and then Pierre." "TYhy is it, then, that these others, French also, men and women, are pursuing me with a hatred that kindness cannot soften, nor submission modify ? Submission ! 'No ! I will never submit. I was a princess of Lorraine before I was Queen of France. If I am to die, I will die as becomes both. Yes, Rosine, you are right, I will try to get some sleep in order that to-morrow I may have strength to go through whatever is in store for me, like a princess and a queen ! " Then she smiled again, more sadly j^et, glancing at the King, whose supper had been served on a tray, and who was devouring roast chicken with a healthy appetite, that seemed in no way affected by his critical position. Posine shook up the cushions, helped Her Majesty to dispose herself in an attitude of repose, shaded the lamp from her eyes, and sat herself down to watch. When Louis had eaten his supper and drank his wine, he crept softly away to his own apart- ment, whence a comfortable snore at regular intervals soon announced the depth of his slumbers, and while the lamps died out and the moon rose, this peasant girl of Brittany found herself in the beleaguered palace, alone Avith the Queen of France. 230 ROSINE. What a contrast to her childhood, her youth, her early history ; yet did it seem now a perfectly natural consequence that she should be the companion, the friend, the confidant of her beloved Sovereign. It is strange how soon humanity accommodates itself to changes that would have once been accounted simple impossibilities. The incredible in anticipa- tion becomes almost commonplace when we look back, and it is not too much to say that no man was ever yet raised to a pinnacle he esteemed one inch too high for his merits, or placed in so unexpected a position, but that he felt he had realised something of the same kind before. It takes a culprit scarcely ten minutes to recover the effects of a sentence of death. Mother Hedcap with her apron Avrapped about her head, nodded placidly over a bivouac fire ; Santerre ordered rations of brandy for his ruffians with the composure of a publican serving at his bar ; Coupe-tete, though not with- out misgivings of to-morrow, while congratulating himself there had been no attack to-night, made thoughtful arrange- ments for his supper and his bed ; Count Arnold wrote orders on a drumhead with unclouded brain and unfalterino- hand. Leonie, hoping and caring for nothing but that she might live or die at his side, it little mattered which, looked at the peaceful moon, and wondered vaguely how all this was to end ; Pierre pipeclayed his belts, whistled softly the while, and ran his finger approvingly over the point and edges of his pike ; Rosine prayed in silence to the Virgin, listening for every sound ; and Marie Antoinette slept. Half-sitting, half-reclining, propped against the sofa- cushions, she seemed rather insensible from moral and physical exhaustion, than sunk in healthy repose. How wan and pale that clear-cut face in the lights and shadows of the partly-darkened room ! How sad the drooping mouth, o THE TOCSIX. 231 falling into its habitual curves of despondent resignation, of tender anxiety, of calm unfiincliing courage, not devoid of scorn ! How solemn the hollow, faded eyes, with their droop- ing lids, weighed down, as it were, under the burden of shed and unshed tears, expressing, even in sleep, their hopeless yearning for relief, for rest — never to open on this weary world again ! How touching those broad patches of grey in the rich brown hair, marks of the destroyer who had passed like a flame over her fairest years, withering the promise of youth, and blasting the glory of womanhood into a scorched and dreary waste ! It was a fair and noble head even now, dainty, graceful, womanly ; a head for a lover to caress, for a crown to encircle, for a multitude to adore ; not a head to be polluted b}^ the touch of the executioner, and rolled in the sawdust of the guillotine. Was it by favour of the Virgin ? Was it a glory that shone round her as she slept, like the aureole shed on its saints and martyrs from the heaven of heavens ? No. It was only that Rosine looked on her doomed mistress through a mist of tears ! The Queen awoke, in a listening attitude, turning about bewildered, as if uncertain where she was. " Did you not hear it ? " she asked in terrified accents, starting to her feet. " It is quiet now, but it was loud enough a moment back." Then, reseating herself, added with more composure, " Do not look so scared, child ; it is nothing. I am hardly awake yet — I must have been dream- ing. Four leagues off — it is impossible. Yes, without ques- tion, it must have been a dream ! " But she could not compose herself to sleep again, and presently began to relate the vision that had so troubled her for the information of her humble and sympathising friend. " Give me thy hand, little one," she said ; " I like to feel 232 ROSINE. that thou art near. Is it not strange ? I dreamed that I was a girl again — a girl younger than thyself, and mamma came to tell me that I was to be married, that my wedding- day was fixed. She was angry, mamma, because my clothes were not made, and because I said I didn't care, and could go to church well enough as I was. Then she scolded me just as she used about my dancing, and riding, and play- ing blindman's buif on the terrace after supper. Ah ! Rosine, what would I give to have her back that she might scold me now ! " Then all at once I seemed to bo at the altar of JSTotre- Dame, and Mercy d'Argenteau, who always liked to inter- fere, brought me the veil I was to wear, and wanted to throw it over my head. Rosine, it was wet and stained with blood ! "When I spoke angrily, he answered that it was no fault of his, and pointed to my bridesmaids, who were troop- ing into the church — thirteen of them — for I counted ; all dressed in black, and dancing that dreadful dance they call the Carmagnole. I was so frightened I looked for mamma, but the place was getting darker every moment, and I could not make her out. There were two priests, though, saying mass over a coffin, and on the pall I distinguished our double eagles and the imperial crown of Austria. Then I began to tremble and cry. " There was no bridegroom, and the chuich became darker and darker. I was horribly frightened, and thought I would escape into the street, but when I tried one outlet after another, the bridesmaids laughed and hooted, and drove me here and there, till I was ready to drop with teiTor and fatigue. Breathless, faint, I tripped over something that felt like a human head severed from the body, and would have fallen had I not caught at a rope to save myself. As I pulled it set all the bells ringing backward in the great tower overhead. Even in my dream, I knew I had heard THE TOCSIN. 233 that peal once before. It was the Tocsin, little one, and I felt that I was lost ! So I awoke, and found you watching — watching, like a faithful little sentinel on your post. Let us go to the children, Rosine, and see with our own eyes that they are safe ! " CHAPTER XXVII. A SOLDIER OF THE CHURCH. In the ranks of the rioters, as they inarched out of Paris, was to be observed a strange medley of costume and character, such as would have reminded the spectator of a pantomime, or a masked ball, but for the tragic element that pervaded the crowd and the murderous nature of the enterprise on which they were embarked. Their advance-guard, indeed, furnished by the ladies of the fishmarket, could boast a uniform simplicity of dress, weapons, and accoutrements ; for one and all went bare- headed, bare-necked, and bare-armed, carrying a haversack at the waist, and a long steel knife in the hand ; but the main body in their rear was composed of more incongruous ele- ments, such as can never be mingled in a crowd without mischief, just as certain chemical substances cannot be brought into contact without explosion. Here a scavenger, coated in filth, rubbed shoulders with a butcher, fresh from his shambles and reeking with blood ; there a half-naked beggar whose sores gaped through the foulest rags, linked his arm in that of the escaped convict, low-browed, furtive of eye and gesture, yellow, shorn, prison- marked, and halting on the galled leg, from which a fetter had been so recently struck ofi'. The deserter from the army strove to impart something of his gait and air to the tailor off his shopboard; and the tall broad-shouldered A SOLDIER OF THE CHURCH. 235 peasant looking down from his superior height on the Parisian urchin, looked up to him out of the depths of his inexperience, with a veneration which his impish comrade was the first to ridicule and deceive. There were tradesmen from their counters, and thieves from their haunts, sharpers out at elbows, servants out of place, labourers out of work ; here and there might be seen young men in decent attire, with a bearing that denoted education and refinement, having no excuse for their presence but a restless craving for excitement, engendered by lives of profligacy and self- indulgence. Though they moved in column, with some imitation of military regularity, there could, of course, be no attempt at real discipline, none of that prompt obedience to orders, for which the first essential is silence in the ranks. The}^ swore, they chattered, they sang, they bandied fierce jokes, hideous threats, and much personal invective, of which the coarseness was spiced with keen and caustic wit. They broached start- ling theories, to argue them with no little ingenuity, and discussed the science of government in a spirit that was cal- culated to set every man's hand incontinently at his neigh- bour's throat. But of all ingredients to be found in such an assemblage, the most unexpected was surely a priest — a priest of holy church, attired in the sober habit of his order, and pacing gravely on, in the centre of these insurrectionists, with as calm a bearing, as stately a step, as if he were under the roof of a cathedral about to celebrate high mass before the altar. Coupe-tete recognised him at a glance, and pressed to his side, it is but justice to admit, with the view of shielding him from insult, and indeed outrage, as far as lay in his power. But there is a spell in the quiet confidence of true courage that acts on such assemblages of degraded humanity, no less 236 ROSINE. nwstcrioiisly than on the beasts of the field. Father Ignatius moved amongst the ruffians, by whom he was sur- rounded, like a captain leading his grenadiers rather than a prisoner guarded by his escort. He saluted Coupe-tete with a courteous inclination of the head, and was the first to allude to their parting some months ago in the forest of Rambouillet. " We have met again, Monsieur," said he, " and, as I anti- cipated, oj^posed to each other in the great battle. You have the advantage at present. So much the more reason for gathering every man available to the losing side." Coupe-tete looked cautiously round, and whispered in the priest's ear — " Walk on with us for a quarter of a league. Take the first bypath to the right, and hurry home. I have still influence enough to screen your flight. If you are wise, escape from Paris without delay. My friends here are making stock for the soup, and I tell you they mean putting holy church into the pot first of all ! " The other smiled. "And is that your notion of duty? " said he. " Verily, if the soldiers of the revolution are not more true to their colours than you would have me believe, we on our side need fear little for the result." " Foll}^ ! " replied Coupe-tete ; " I advise you for your good. What are you going to do ? " "I am going to attend on my respectable friends here through the whole expedition," was the calm reply. " Look at them. Monsieur, they are of your own enlisting ; the filth of Paris, the very rubbish and refuse of the streets ! But there is nothing to be ashamed of. None of these are more naked under their rags than the courtier in his silks, or the garde -du-corps in his uniform. None but have souls as pre- cious as yours or mine, or that of any Bourbon who sits on a throne. If my feeble remonstrance shall turn them from A SOLDIER OF THE CHURCH. 237 crime, good ! But if they must needs rusli on tlieir destruc- tion, let me only rescue one at the last moment from the grasp of our great enemy, I shall have done my day's work, earned my day's wages, and can go to sleep, or to death — no matter which — with a good conscience ! " " I will not argue the point with you," returned Coupe- tete, by no means easy as to the construction his own friends might put on this long interview with so obvious a royalist as a priest of E-ome. " You must make your own choice. It is quite simple — life or death ! " " It is quite simple ! " repeated the other. " I choose death ! Well met. Count Arnold," he continued, addressing Montarbas, who now hurried up to consult with Coupe-tete. " I know not that we need be surprised to see each other here in a mob of rioters at the very gates of Versailles. Without doubt, we have the same motive. I call on you to help me with your influence and authority in persuading these misguided men to return home without bloodshed, entrusting to the National Assembly and the Constitution the security of that liberty which is sure to be destroyed by force." He raised his voice so as to address the bystanders, who accepted such impalatable counsels with immediate outcries for his blood. " Silence, fool ! " exclaimed ^Montarbas, provoked from his usual equanimity by the man's self-sacrificing audacity ; for he, too, wished to save him if he could. " Coupe-tete," he continued, turning round, " why have you brought this priest here ? Send him back with a guard into Paris ! " But Coupe-tete, for whom the favour of the mob was the very bread he ate, had disappeared ; and already scowling brows and loud imprecations warned Montarbas that his own forbearance to a cassock was viewed with suspicion, as a symptom of insincerity, a leaning towards that reaction, the 238 EOSINE. fear of whicli drove tlie revolution deeper and deeper into an abyss of fire, from M'hich anarchy and confusion were to reajipcar forged and moulded anew in the form of an iron despotism, all-powerful for evil, utterly hopeless and help- less for good. " Down with the priest ! " they vociferated. " Down with the cassock ! Down with Montarbas, if he will take his part ! They are aristocrats ; they are in league to betray the nation. Treachery ! treachery ! Down with them both ! " It was a critical moment, and would have' shaken the nerves of most men ; yet Montarbas retained his coolness, his presence of mind, and that decision of character, that promptitude of action, right or wrong, which entitles men to command. " I can save you now, Monsieur," he whispered, " if j'ou will hold your tongue ! " " Speak out. Count ! " answered the other, smiling scorn- fully ; " I will do my duty, whether or not j^ou flinch from 3'ours ! " Montarbas shrugged his shoulders. " The man is an enthusiast, a fanatic," said he, beckoning to Santerre, who came striding through the crowd. '' I cannot stay here to argue till sunrise. Take him to the rear and have him guarded — gagged if you like, and with his hands tied, but do not shed his blood. We might want him in an hour or two, if the aristocrats yonder are disposed to come to terms." Santerre shook his head. " "Who is Citizen Montarbas," growled this leader of ruffians, " that I should take his orders ? A noble ! an aristocrat ! What ! a peer of France. He is not a man of the people. He is not one of U8 ! Wait a bit, my little Count ! Santerre has his ej^e on you. Per- haps it will take you all your time to look out for yourself! " And here is the difficulty with which such leaders have to A SOLDIER OF THE CHURCH. 239 contend. There is a downward impetus in its progress, that those who set a revolution in motion are powerless to arrest. So long as the agitator can make fresh promises, originate fresh changes, and incite to fresh outrage, so long is he adored by an unreasoning and enthusiastic crowd, who ask no better than to cheer themselves lioarse round their idol, swearing they will follow him to the death. But the most prolific of statesmen cannot be expected to compile new laws, and produce a fresh constitution, once a week. There must be a halt somewhere ; it is a mere ques- tion of time ; with his first pause in the work of destruction, the agitator is condemned for an obstructive, and, like some log sticking fast in a torrent, finds himself destroyed and submerged by the rush of that very stream on which he has been sailing so proudly, so swiftly, and so surely to his fate. We have all read of those magicians, who, like the Virgil of the dark ages, like Michael Scott and Lord Soulis in later times, could raise the devil by their spells, and force him to do their work ; but with this proviso, that work they must find him to do. The sage racked his brain to make employ- ment for his appalling servant, and it is but fair to admit, showed a whimsical power of invention in the tasks he pro- posed ; but human ingenuity failed to keep pace with fiendish diligence, and was sure to be overtaken at last. The master and man changed places, and so the tale was told. Like all old world legends, it has its moral. - Ambition, cunning, and reckless audacity, are spells powerful enough in modern times to raise a devil, tliat human wisdom and human experience prove helpless to send back to his place till he has far exceeded his mission and worked his own wicked will rejoicing, with suj)reme contempt for the remonstrances of his lord. Santerrc, in the worst of liumours, felt disposed to sacri- fice Father Ignatius to his own feelings of discontent and 240 ROSINE. insubordination, rather than to his personal hatred for a priest. The column had at length arrived in front of the palace, round which its female advance-guard bivouacked during the night. These were rising from their watchfires, yawn- ing, stretching their arms, twisting their long black hair into place, and questioning each other volubly as to when the attack was to begin. Their male comrades, on the con- trarj', were morose and silent ; scowling fiercely at the building, and whetting their long knives on their boots and the palms of their hands. In the grey light of dawn, now stealing over the east, the sullen faces of his followers did not show to advantage, thought Montarbas, with their pale, squalid hue, bloodshot eyes, and features swollen by indulgence of the vilest passions of mankind. He detected, too, in their looks and bearing, such symptoms of ill-humour and discontent as might soon break out in mutiny. It was no time for inaction. Putting himself at the head of some hundred ruffians better armed than, their comrades — while the Wolverine, who watched every glance of his eye, got her Amazons into line — he waved his hat and gave the order for an attack. At that moment, Father Ignatius sprang forward to con- front him. Santerre, who divined his object, and was willing to thwart Montarbas, let the prisoner escape from his grasp. " Halt ! " exclaimed the priest, standing perfectly unmoved in face of them all, and holding a small crucifix aloft. " I charge you to disband. My sons, my daughters, there is yet time. Consider, you are about sacrilege, about murder. I bear my Master's commission, I carry his banner in my hand, and in. his name I call upon you to obey his com- mands ! " The leading files actually fell back a pace, paralysed, as it seemed, by the incredible temerity of such an appeal at such A SOLDIER OF THE CHUECH. 241 a moment. " But he has some courage, this father," said one. ''He is not afraid of doing his duty," added another " Then do yours," exclaimed a brutal voice from the rear, " we have no time for comedies. There is nothing more to say. Put a bullet through him, Jacques, and have done with it ! " But Jacques had been a good Catholic once — ^long ago, before his mother died — and could not bring himself to shoot -a ]3riest point-blank like this without a qualm. There was a moment's hesitation. At such a crisis the slightest check might prove fatal to their whole enterprise. The priest stood firm, pale indeed but calm, and with that compression about the mouth which means no surrender, no compromise. " Be persuaded, my children," said he, kindly. " I can give 5^ou absolution even now, every one of you, man and woman. I have the right, and I have the power. Do you think I am alone here ? You cannot see them, but I have the whole host of heaven at my back ! " The column wavered, and Count Arnold lost his temper. "Do your duty, Santerre," he shouted; "this idiot is in your keeping now, not mine." The brewer signed to his followers, two of whom brought their pikes to the charge, and held them at the priest's breast. Not the quiver of an eyelash betrayed fear of their naked steel. " I warn you," he resumed, " I implore you." " Strike, comrade ! " exclaimed the farther ruffian ; and the nearer buried his weapon in the good man's body at u thrust. His eyes rolled ; his jaw dropped ; blood spouted over his cassock, and he staggered where lie stood ; but he made shift to hold the cross up in his murderer's face. R 242 ROSINE. " Look ! " he faltered, In a faint, clioklng voice, of wliicli the other heard clearly every accent — then, and always, and never more distinctly than hereafter in his own death- struggle. " Fix thine eyes on it, my son, and repent, that I may give thee absolution. In another minute it will be too late ! " Then his limbs stiffened, and he went down to be trodden underfoot b}^ the rushing crowd ; who, maddened with the sight of blood, hurried wildly on to the attack, shouting " Forward ! citizens, forward ! Death to the King ! Death to the aristocrats ! Death to the enemies of France ! " Coupe-tete passing lightl}'- over the corpse amongst the last of the rioters, found himself vaguely wondering whether this death, which they made their fiercest threat, could be so terrible after all. There was no discomposure in the fallen priest's attitude ; on his placid features neither sorrow, nor anger, nor alarm — only a serene and peaceful dignity — only the solemn hush that keeps the inscrutable secret of a dead man's face. CHAPTER XXVIII. A SOLDIER OF THE BODY-GUARD. " One last embrace, Hoslne ! " "Not the last, Pierre ; not the last ! You are so big and strong, and the Virgin will take care of you. I have prayed to her till my knees are sore. Pierre, don't be too brave ! " He bent his tall form over her for another kiss. " Never fear, little woman," said he cheerfully. " But I am the onl}^ man in the body-guard wlio is not noble by birth. See, Rosine, I am proud of being a peasant ; and when it comes to hard knocks, I can fight like a Constable of France, My wife, I will do my duty ! " "And my husband, I will do mine ! Oh ! Pierre, if we never meet again in Versailles, we shall see each other in Paradise." " Till then, my wife ! " " Till then, my husband ! " And the simple souls parted, each on a mission of devotion and self-sacrifice, fortified by their humble hope, so unaffect- edly expressed, that the sorrows and misfortunes of this world would be fully made up to them in the next. Pierre went back to the guardroom ; Rosine, who had stolen out to bid him farewell, returned to her station near the Queen. It had been a hideous night-watch. Dawn was breaking at last, but failed to bring those rays of hojoo and comfort which it seems so natural to associate with tbc approach uf r2 244 KOSINE. day. The King, who had slept sound, began to dress earlier than usual, and even expressed good-humoured satisfaction with the flavour of his coffee. The Queen, who had only- rested by snatches, looked very pale and tired, but full of courage, and perfectly composed. She had gathered her cliildren about her, and tried hard to seem unconscious of any extraordinary cause for alarm ; but with every passing noise, an eager, listening expression came over her face, that spoke of keen anxiety and painful tension of the nerves. There was too good cause. The body-guard were getting under arms, the fishwomen yelling for an assault, and Father Ignatius lay dead within a quarter of a mile. Notwithstanding the expostulations of his officers, Louis had forbidden resistance till it was too late. The mob were suffered to stream into the very court of the palace, without sustaining a single shot. Soon they arrived at the foot of that private staircase which led to the Royal Apartments, and here, with, or without authority, stood two of the body- guard, resolved that not a Sansculotte of them all should pass, but OA^er their corpses, into the presence of their Queen. They represented in their different types the pith and flower of the nation. De Vaucourt, handsome, lithe and agile as a panther, the best swordsman in Europe, with the blood of twenty knightly ancestors coursing through his veins ; and Pierre Legros, tall and strong as an oak-tree, fierce and faithful as an English mastiff', wielding his pike in a grasp that owed its vigour and tenacity to a long line of rustic forefathers, taught to wrest their triumphs from the lap of nature by endurance of body and sheer force of arm. They stood together at the top of the stairs, and exchanged a glance of mutual understanding, each recognising in the other that true courage which is not without a leavening of ofood-humour, and has almost a comic element of its own. A SOLDIER OF THE BODY-GUARD. 245 Said the peasant to tlie Marquis : " ^Tis the very job for you and me, Monseigneur. And yet j'our people were fighting Saracens when mine were killing pigs ! " Answered the noble of thirty-two quarterings : " You would have made a better account of the Saracens than I should of the pigs." Pierre laughed a short grim laugh. " This rabble are worse than either," said he ; " let us give them the treat- ment of both ! " The head of their column came up the steps, four abreast, the staircase admitting of no wider front. It halted, there- fore, and wavered before it reached within push of pike, for each of the champions standing there to oppose it was more than a match for any two ruffians who led the assault. " Go on ! " exclaimed those in rear. " See then. Citizens, there are but a pair of these aristocrats to exterminate. Down with the body-guard ! Spit them like larks ! Crush them like rats ! Forward, Citizens, and trample them under your feet ! " But those in front did not seem to see it. Their adversaries were bidden to surrender, were threatened with massacre, were hooted, reviled, insulted, and still none of the Sanscu- lottes found courage to try conclusions with Pierre or the Marquis hand to hand. These looked at each other, smiled, and descended a step or two simultaneously, as if moved by the same iinpulse. The rioters gave back, creating an infinity of confusion, and something like a panic in the rear. The want of a leader was too apparent, and Montarbas came hurrying through the column, accompanied by Coup- tete, whom be had appointed his aide-de-camp ; not entirely to the satisfaction of the latter, for, when blows were going, this orator preferred the part of a looker-on. " Incredible ! " exclaimed the Count, in his clear, mucking 246 EOSINE. voice, while be pressed forward tlirongli the crowd. " "Who M'ill dare to tell me that two hundred Frenchmen can be held at bay by two — and one of these probably a Swiss ! " His old antagonist recognised the voice. De Yancourt had not forgotten the shameful treachery that defeated him, nor the cruelty that left him on the wet ground to die, and burned to clear off all scores, sword in hand. " Well met. Count Arnold de Montarbas! " said he, remov- ing his hat with a bow. " You have been long expected, and everything is prepared for your reception." The irony was lost on those who heard, but the words themselves were not forgotten, and helped hereafter to work out a revenge that even their speaker would hardly have desired. In the meantime, though pikes were levelled, axes brand- ished, and daggers drawn, a clear space of three or four yards still separated the unequally-matched combatants. ''* This is ridiculous ! A farce ! Let us make an end of it ! " muttered Montarbas, resting a pistol on his left arm to take deliberate aim at Pierre, with the intention of shooting him through the head. Coupe-tete was doubtless a man of resource rather than a man of action ; but, to use his own expression, there rose something in him that was stronger than himself. Here at his elbow stood the aristocrat who had ordered a couple of gamekeepers to beat him to death ; yonder, the bold and honest peasant who rescued him. In another moment the oppressor would have added a fresh outrage to the list of his crimes, and the friend in need would be a dead man ! As the Count's finger pressed the trigger, Coupe-tete pushed the ruffian next him, suddenly, against the marks- man's arm. His aim deviated the eighth of an inch, and the debt of gratitude was paid in full. But " the bullet found its billet " nevertheless. It 7 1 A SOLDIER OF THE BODY-GEARD. 24 craslied tlirouo:]! tlie skull of the foremost Sansculotte, who sprang into the air with a yell, and fell headlong on his face, at the very feet of Pierre Legros. " Assassin ! " exclaimed Santerre from behind, persuading himself, in his jealousy of Montarbas, that this was part of a deep-laid plot against the Revolution and the liberties of the nation. " It is no longer an affair of outposts," observed de Vau- court, coolly. " You and I will be well in it directly, Pierre. That means we shall be engaged along the whole line ! " This random shot was indeed the spark that kindled the conflagration. Those in front, who were observant enough to know it came from the rear, excited, bewildered, and suspecting treachery, rushed forward with the courage of desjjair. The majority of the rabble became infuriated, as usual, at the sight of blood, so that partly from fear, partly from ferocity, and partly from the pressure of those behind, the two champions of the body-guard soon found themselves waging desperate conflict hand-to-hand. A stalwart butcher came on, with his cleaver whirling round De Yaucourt's head ; the practised wrist of the Marquis scarcely seemed to turn, and the butcher went down like an ox in his own shambles, while the smooth and gliding rapier passed out of his chest almost as quickly as it ran in. An urchin from the gutters in the streets crept under a line of levelled weapons, that he might twine round Pierre's ankles, and bury the knife he held between his teeth in the guardsman's stomach ; but the kick of a heavy boot sent him flying back amongst his comrades, with a shattered blade and a fractured skull ; while the Marquis, disposing of another enemy by his lightning thrust, observed two more rioters go down, right and left, to the push of his com- panion's pike, driven home b}^ that stout and irresistible arm. 248 EOSINE. ""We want a girl with a broom," said lie, "to sweep away- all this litter we are making on the stairs ! " But Pierre thought of Rosine, and answered only by setting teeth and museles to run another Sansculotte through the body with all his might. The steps were encumbered with corpses, the boards slipjDcry with blood ; but fighting in so far resembles feast- ing, that the appetite for it increases with indulgence, and such hideous orgies become faster and more furious as the crimson liquor flows. The Sansculottes came raging on like wolves : and, like wolves, seemed to gain confidence from the very volume and confusion of their attack. De Yaucourt's blade flashing in and out of pike, and crowbar, and musket-barrel, answered nobly to the arm that guided it with consummate strength and skill, but the gal- lant limb was broken by a crashing blow just above the wrist, and with the lowering of his guard, the Marquis received half-a-score of thrusts in his undefended body. " Make a barricade of me, Pierre," he gasped, as he went down ; " but turn my face to all this rabble, because you know I am a jDcer of France ! " He was quite dead before his lowborn comrade, bestriding him like a colossus, had dealt a dozen strokes to keep the enemy out of distance. Pierre fought with the fury of a wild cat. The blood mounted to his head, and he seemed possessed only by a fierce instinct of slaughter. He knew not that he was wounded in many places, he forgot King, Queen, wife, religion, everything, but his rage and the cunning of his right hand. For several minutes, that seemed hours, the Sansculottes made at him, four-abreast, and still with a leg on each side of De Vaucourt's body, he held them gallantly at bay. But the might of Hercules, and the courage of Bayard, cannot stand against time and numbers. His brain ViiiL'aubnxiiKDayJl :}iji Juiit PZ1-8 A SOLDIEE OF THE BODY-GUARD. 249 reeled, his knees gave way, the blows he delivered spent themselves in air, a sea of faces swam before his ej^es, and amongst them he had a dim perception of Count Arnold charging up the steps with a fresh reinforcement, and the "Wolverine peering over his shoulder in her pale and lurid beauty, like a star of ill-omen shining through the storm- rack in a gale. Then his senses failed, he fell against the door at his back ; it opened suddenly, and his own dear wife, with a few strong- hands of the Swiss Guard, dragged him into safety from within. Those moments had indeed been precious, nor were they bought too dear, though peer and peasant paid for them, one by one, in drops of blood to ransom their Queen, at least for the present, from insult, outrage, perhaps immediate death. While the one was stiffening where he lay, and the other fainting from his wounds, the royal family retired into the farthest wing of the palace, and a strong division of the national guard marching into the courtj^ard, dominated, to a certain extent, the rioters, with whom they might, or might not, take part. It had been a crisis at which, as sometimes happens in history, destin}^ hung on the single arm of a brave man. But for the strength of that arm, and the stout heart behind it, scenes of horror must have been enacted before the sun was high, of which the bare idea makes the blood run cold. Count Arnold was the last man to lose his opportunity for want of courage to dare, or energy to strike. When he missed his shot he did not pause to reload, but retired through the assailants, to collect a few of the best armed ; and, followed by the Wolverine who could not bear to let him out of sight, returned for a final rush that sliould carry all before it ; and, in making him master of the position, place, as he hoped, the government of the nation iu his 250 EOSIXE. hands. lie was lialf-way up the steps, wlicn the door opened for an instant to receive Pierre's falling form, and in that instant he caught sight of Rosine. Even at such a time, it may be that her beautiful face added a fresh incitement to his ardour. He sprang eagerly to the front, waving his sword, and shouting " Forward ! citizens, forward ! The body-guard are defeated, and there is nothing to stop us now ! " But other eyes, sharpened bj^ jealousy, had not failed to detect and recognise the well-known features. All the blood in Leonie's body turned to gall, while she marked the man she worshipped thus hurrying into the jaws of death to reach her rival. For one moment she hated him most of the two, and in her agony sprang the mine that blew her to destruction. " Treason ! " she shrieked. " Treason to the revolution ! to the nation ! Montarbas leads you into an ambush. Do not follow him. Listen, the troops are below. Our retreat is cut off! Run for your lives ! " She addressed a willing audience ; confused, excited, bewildered by the tramp of soldiers in the court below now occupied by the National Guard ; more than suspecting Mont- arbas from his antecedents, from his clemency to Father Ignatius and the fatal shot he fired during the attack, they were only too glad to retire in whole skins out of this dan- gerous staircase already crowded with their dead. But like all cowards they must have a victim. Santerre spoke but three words to his ruffians, and Montarbas, while leading them gallantly to the attack, found himself seized from behind, gagged, bound, blindfolded, and hurried out of the palace into those irregular lines which had been occu- pied by the fishwomen during the night. Here they laid him on the bare ground, and left him guarded by four Sansculottes, with loaded muskets, who A SOLDIER OF THE LODY-GUAED. 251 were charged to blow his brains out if he moved or spoke, and indeed desired nothing better than to execute their orders. He was little given" to self-deception. He knew it was all over now — that he had set a great stake and lost, at a game in which there is no second chance for the unsuccessful player. — Lost ! But what ? The government of the country ? Would he have prized it had he won ? The applause of the nation ? Bah ! he knew what the nation was ! His honour ? That went long ago ! His life — it had been scarce worth having for more years than he chose to count ! Altogether he was surprised to find how little he cared ! CHAPTEE XXIX. BLOOD WILL TELL. " Out with lier ! " " Let lier show herself ! " " There is the king ! " "Which then ? " " That one with his hair powdered, and ruffles on his hands." •' Why is she not in the balcony ?" " She has fled to Austria for troops." " Nonsense ! I see her coming out. She is not afraid to show herself ; she never was ! After all 'tis a good queen ! " " Bah ! a good queen sits at home and minds her knitting." ''Long live Marie Antoinette ! and the King, and the Army, and the National Guard ! " " Long live everybod}'-, and down with everything that goes against the people ! " Such were the shouts of a motley assemblage, partly rabble, partly men in uniform, partly deputies from the clubs, and members of the National Assembly, who crowded the courtyard before the royal apartments at Versailles. The National Guard, whose presence might have pre- vented the whole rising, had they been under arms a few hours sooner, so far fraternised with the rioters that they consented to withhold their fire, if these on their part would refrain from farther outrage. In accordance with the versa- tility of the French character, this truce was hardly accepted ere it became an enthusiastic alliance. Soldiers and Sanscu lottes embraced, drank together, interchanged red night- caps and tricoloured cockades, voted each other the bravest of the brave, and thronged the court of the palace, to aflford BLOOD WILL TELL. 253 ro5\'ilty an opportunity of learning their sentiments, and agreeing "with their opinions. It had been decided by those who, in command of a swarm of citizen soldiers, had now unquestionably the upper hand, that their Majesties should at once proceed to Paris in state, escorted by the nation under galling compidsion, yet osten- sibly of their own free-will. But a rumour got abroad amongst the lowest and most ignorant of the rioters, that the King and Queen had escaped, and fled beyond the frontier. It was necessary to convince the mob that their prey was still in their clutches ; therefore, their leaders encouraged them to shout themselves hoarse under the windows, till their Majesties should appear. Louis came out with his accustomed equanimity. His face might be a shade paler, might wear a somewhat heavier expression than common, but in other respects he was the same Louis whom they were used to blame, pity, deride, and caricature, according to the humour of the moment, or the witticism of the day. It seemed even to the bitterest repub- licans a poor triumph over a weak adversary, thus to coerce their harmless sovereign ; but for the resolute courage of his wife they entertained a feeling of admiration, not incom- patible with hatred nor devoid of fear. If she were at large, it would be in vain to have captured the rest, and the more intelligent of the crowd were louder than the very rabble in their outcries for " The Queen ! the Queen ! " She came to the front tall and stately, with her usual dignity, and more than her usual pride, holding the dauphin and his sister by the hand. " Take away the children ! We want no children !" exclaimed a ferocious Sansculotte, levelling his musket at the balcony, perhaps in drunken bravado, perhaps a-thirst for blood. " Child thyself ; and trouble enough for a dozen ! there's a rap on the pate to keep thee quiet ! " exclaimed Mother 254 ROSINE. Redcap, wresting Lis firelock from the ruffian's grasp, and dealing liim with its butt end a blow on the forehead that laid him senseless at her feet. The crowd laughed and clapped their hands. " Long live Mere Boufflon ! " they cried. '^And long live Marie Antoinette ! " But oh ! the contempt on that pale high-bred face ! The warning to dismiss her children had not been lost on the Queen's maternal ear^ and wliile advancing to look down upon her people, she believed she came out to face her death. Standing against tbe ironwork of tbe balcon^^, she scanned that sea of np-turned faces no less undauntedly than her princely ancestors were used to scan the foes for whom they set lance in rest ; but with feelings how different to those of the mailed champion, panting only to win honour from an adversary honourable as himself ! No. She stood there alone ; to accept ingratitude where she had conferred benefits, to sustain outrage where she had a right to homage ; and the only armour she wore was her own courage, the only allies she could count on Avere her own self-sacrifice and sense of right. How proud she looked, how beautiful, and oh, how sad ! With head erect, shoulders thrown back, and drawn to her fullest stature, it seemed as if here, at the last extremity, she would bate not one inch of her native majesty, would narrow not by one hair's breadth the royal mark she offered, for a rebel's insult or an assassin's shot ! And this was the face that thousands had thronged to welcome over their frontier, when the name of Marie Antoi- nette meant all that was brightest, and fairest, and happiest in France ; when an unkind look would have been treason, a harsh word sacrilege against the Queen — this face so faded with sorrow, so seamed with care, so worn and carved BLOOD WILL TELL. 255 and liollowecl by the cliafiug spirit witliin, that accepted stubbornl}' a fate it was powerless to dominate, too brave to flinch, too noble to complain. Yet was it pure, and fair, and queenly, even now — in its patience, its resignation, in the utter hopelessness, that by no means affected its expression of stern endurance, and in its quiet, dogged, Austrian courage — calm, scornful, almost stolid under the deadening pressure of despair. As her people looked up at her standing there, majestic and un- moved, to bear the brunt of the storm without quailing whatever it might bring ; so firm, so undaunted, yet so helpless and forlorn ; the reddest of republicans felt his heart moved by the touching contrast ; more than one brawny hand shifted its weapon to wipe away a tear, and the xery furies of the fishmarket began to sob outright. "Trust thyself to lis, Madame ! " shouted Mother E,edcap, in her stentorian voice. " Thou wilt be nowhere so safe as at Paris in the midst of us. And bring the children too. We love children, I and my sisters. What ! We are wives, some of us, and mothers nearly every one ! " The peopled laughed, and applauded. The Queen bowed ; the cheering was redoubled, and Marie Antoinette retired from the balconj'', in such a burst of admiration as might have done honour to the most popular Sovereign who ever graced a throne. Mother Redcap, much pleased with herself, and loving the sound of her own voice, would have taken this opportu- nity to make a little speech, but that she felt a hand on her elbow, and turning round, was startled to confront Leonie, looking more like a corpse out of its grave than a French- woman clothed in living flesh and blood. The Wolverine, always pale, was now perfectly white, her lips bloodless, her eyes dull, her whole appearance denoting the extreme of mental anguish and mortal fear. 256 EOSIXE. " AVliat is it then ? " asked the fishwoman. " Ilast thou seen a ghost, my girl, or art thou one thyself ? Nothing alive ever looked like that ! " Leonie muttered a few syllables, almost inaudible, that the other bent her ear to catch. " What ! " she exclaimed. " Our little Count to be tried for a conspirator — a reactionist ! Are they all alike, these aristocrats ! There is no safety in trusting one of them. But come along, my lass, and we will see what can be done." What could be done ? The downward course of events was so headlong that even such advanced revolutionists as Mere BoufHon and Leonie seemed to be losing their influence hour by hour. The latter was utterly unstrung and helpless, tottering as she walked, and only saved from falling by the hold she kept on her companion's powerful arm. Her head hung down, she never lifted her eyes from the ground, and she muttered in short, spasmodic sentences as she crept along — "It is my ftiult. I did it, and I loved him. That was why. And now he will hate me. He will never speak to me again — and — he will die — he will die — ^he will die ! " Once she broke out in a shrieking, choking laugh that made the old fishwoman's stout heart turn cold. Mere Boufilon was no great pedestrian ; the night-march from Paris had told severely on her bulky frame, but of the two women she seemed much the less exhausted, when they stopped amongst a group of Sansculottes, resting their muskets on the ground, and forming, with some attempt at military regularity, three sides of a hollow square. In the centre sat Santerre using a drum for a writing-table, and at his side stood two or three of his fiercest followers, afiecting to hold a court-martial, of which the sentence was already decided, and the forms, even to themselves, seemed a wild and hideous jest. \ BLOOD WILL TELL. 257 Opposite the drum stood Montarbas, bare-headed, erect, and smiling, guarded by two blood-stained ruflBans, and hav- ing his arms secured in a sword-belt, buckled tight over the elbows round his body- The constraint of such a position did not prevent his bending to the Wolverine in a low and cere- monious bow, accompanied by a smile of supreme contempt. " Citizen Montarbas," began Santerre. "Pardon, Monsieur," interrupted the prisoner. "Your want of breeding excuses your want of knowledge. You are a Citizen, like your ragged friends here. / am Count Ai'nold of Montarbas, at your service, and a peer of France." The ruffian positively foamed with rage. " You boast you are an aristocrat ! " he burst out. " You confess your treason. You admit you have no defence. It is enough ; what prevents my shooting you down with this pistol, where you stand ? " " The presence of my ragged friends here," answered the other, looking calmly around. " Their fidelity, their sense of justice, perhaps also the rusty muskets they handle with such an amusing awkwardness. When one begins shooting- down the chiefs of a revolution without trial, there is no say- ing whose turn may come next." The brewer felt the force of this argument. " You shall not say yoa have had no trial," he retorted, "and in effect, there is the evidence to condemn you. Stand forth, Leonie Armand, and repeat at leisure the charge of treason you made against this aristocrat." She sprang forwai'd and stretched out her arms to tlie prisoner, gasping, choking, like one in a fit, but the words would not out, though she put both hands to her throat, rolling her head from side to side in a paroxysm of despair. " It is needless," returned Montarbas. " There is no occasion for all this pleading. Can you not sec, citizen Santerre, that you distress the lady ? Let us make an end. s 258 ROSINE. I am tired of your revolution — it wearies, it annoys me. If I were Lafayette up there, I would load with grape, sweep away a'll that rubbish, and have done with it ! " Santerre seemed struck dumb by his audacity, the very men who guarded liim turned round to stare, and Mother Redcap simply refused to believe her cars. Only Leonie found her voice now at this supreme moment ; and, falling on her knees before the brewer, seized his hand to press it against her bosom. " I did not mean it ! " she sobbed. " I was jealous. Citizen — mad ! I knew not what I said ; I love him, do you see ? Love him — love him — love him ! You know what a woman is. He made me angry, and for the moment I wanted to kill him. I ! who would rather be killed myself. This is a brave man, a good citizen. Ask Coupe-tete there. He is my brother ; he will tell the truth ! " But Coupe-tote always swam with the tide. He had no idea of losing his influence and his weekly pay, perhaps even sharing the prisoner's fate, for the sake of a formet aristo- crat — of a woman's fancy ; or, of that still wilder illusion which men called the truth. " What say you, Coupe-tete ? " asked Santerre. " Did not the prisoner try to save the priest ? " " Undoubtedly, citizen ! " " Coward ! " hissed Leonie, still on her knees at the brewer's elbow. " Did not the prisoner shoot Scavenger Bloc when he was leading the attack ? " " Through the head, Citizen ! " " Liar ! " exclaimed his sister, springing to her feet. " Citizen Montarbas," continued Santerre, affecting an impartial and judicial bearing; " j'ou are accused of re- action, retrogression, mutiny, murder, and treason against the sovereignty of the people ! The evidence of this wit- BLOOD WILL TELL. 259 ness is conclusive, and your sentence is death ! Take him away and shoot him down at once ! " " Monster ! ^' yelled the "Wolverine, plucking- a long thin knife from her bosom, that, but for Mother Redcap's quick eye and strong arm, she would have buried in the brewer's heart. The old fishwoman seized her by the wrist in act to strike ; but so strong was that lithe well-turned frame, so fierce the agony raging within, that, even assisted by two Sansculottes, she could scarcely restrain her captive's strug- gles, making excuses for her all the time. " She is mad, do you see ? " panted the old woman. "Out of her senses. Citizen, and does not know what she is savins,- or doing, or where she is. ^Tis a brave lass, I tell you, she worked hard for the revolution all last night, all this morn- ing. It has been too much for her — (keep quiet then, or I'll wring thy neck ofP!) — too much for her. Citizen. I will take care of her till she gets better : send her home with me." Santerre frowned. He admired Leonie's beauty, no doubt, but did not at all relish her freedom with the knife. " Take her away then," he growled : "a taste of the discipline in your fishmarket will do her no harm. I've known as white a skin cut into ribbons for mutiny, and I would see it done myself if I had time. Enough ! this other business presses just now. You are sentenced," he added, turning to Mont- arbas, who stood calm and graceful with a smile on his lip ; " there is no respite, and there is no appeal." "And no hurry apparently," sneered the other. " "Wliat are they waiting for ? " " You are to die ! — to be shot to death ! — now — this instant. Do you understand, aristocrat ? " " Perfectly. What is the use of making so many phi-ases, Sansculotte ? " The brewer turned livid, and Lconic writlied like a snake in Mother liedcap's grasp. 260 KOSINE. There came a shuffling of feet, a ring of ramrods, and some half-score men with loaded muskets formed line facing the prisoner ; while those who guarded him glided swiftly from his side. " Have you anything more to say ? " asked the brewer, " Only one word," replied Montarbas ; " down with the Republic ! " " Silence ! " roared Santerre. " Make ready ! Present ! " There was a sharp, quick, dropjoing fire, a loud shriek, and a white form flying wildly through the smoke. When it cleared away the Count was still erect, though more than one ball had lodged in a vital ijlace, and the Wolverine lay motionless, shot through the heart, across his feet. With a supreme effort, she wrenched herself free at the last moment, to die with the man she loved and had de- stroyed. " Poor Leonie ! '^ gasped Montarbas, looking down at her. " I am sorry ; for the rest, my life is not much to boast of, but I think I have ended it like a gentleman ! '^ Then he fell over, backwards, stark-dead, and never stirred nor spoke again. " It was his own fault," muttered Santerre, relenting when too late. " Down with the aristocrats ! " yelled half-a-dozen of his men ; but the well-known cry was taken up with less than its usual spirit, and a tear trembled on more than one shaggy eyelash for pity of the Wolverine. Mother Redcap's rubicund face turned almost pale. " She was a brave wench," mused the old woman, " and when one kept her Count away from her she had the wisest headpiece of us all. We shall miss her now she is gone. What ! We march too fast. I should like this revolution better, if I could see where it is going to stop ! " CHAPTER XXX. FAREWELL — AND GO A BED hastily made up in the Queen's favourite sitting- room ; a strong, fine man, bandaged, swathed, and plastered, stretched thereon, supine and motionless, but that his eyes roll, and his head turns from side to side as he follows the move- ments of his two nurses, while they glide noiselessly across the floor. It is hard to say which of these is the more tender, the more skilful, or the more eager in her minis- trations. Yet they have learned their healing lessons in very different schools, for they are his wife and his Sove- reign — the peasant girl from Brittany, and the Queen of France. When Pierre Legros was dragged into compai*ative safety from the post he held with such tenacious gallantry, it seemed at first that life must surely escape out of its many openings in the wounds he had sustained ; but the man Avas blessed with unusual vigour of constitution^ in addition to a powerful frame. After cordials had been administered, and the bleeding stanched in half-a-score places, he recovei'ed his senses, and expressed a strong desire to get up that he might fight out his quarrel with the enemies of his Queen. She laid her white hand on his brow, and gave him her royal command to lie still. " The danger is past," she said, with her gi-acious smile. " You averted it at the supreme moment, and your duty 262 ROSINE. is now to Rosinc. I desire you to keep quiet, and to get well!" Her carriajjes were waiting: at tlie door. The National Guard was under arms to escort herself, her husband, and her children into Paris, with little of the respect due to royalty, and all the vigilance observed for prisoners of war. She had obtained but a very short respite to burn a few papers, to collect a ring or two, a locket, a handful of those trifles which represent the history of a woman's heart ; and yet she found time to bind the wounds of her defender, to comfort his terrified wife, and to arrange for the future security of both. As Pierre closed his eyes, and dropped off in the slumber of exhaustion, the Queen drew E-osine into the recess of a bay window, and placed a sealed packet in her hands. " You will staj^ here, little one, when we are gone," said she. " I have still influence enough to obtain that favour from those who are masters now. No, you cannot come with me ; Pierre must remain for a fortnight at least, and your place is by his side ! " E-osine looked wistfully towards the bed. If the larger half of her heart was with her husband, no small portion owned allegiance to that gracious lady looking down on her so kindly from the height of her own tribulation, gentle, con- siderate, thoughtful of others, and wholly unconcerned for herself. " When he is well enough to be moved," continued the Queen, " he shall take charge of the letter contained in this parcel. It is to one of my friends in Austria, and he must deliver it with his own hand. You are to accompany him. The presence of his wife will disarm suspicion, and both will be allowed to cross the frontier, when one would probably be arrested and sent back. Uosine, you will see my country, and my people ! " " FAEEWELL — JJN'D GO ! '' 263 She paused. Her eyes seemed to be looking far away, as if tliey travelled like ker heart to the blue Danube, the quaint and pleasant city, with its honest German faces, its familiar greetings, and the kind homelj' accent of the land where she was born. In her love for her husband, her loj'alty to her adopted subjects, she used to boast she had for- gotten her nationality and her native tongue, but she remembered the Fatherland now ! Oh ! that she had never left it ! Oh ! that she were back amongst her countrymen to-day — safe with the blue-eyed, broad-shouldered Saxons, who could oppose without hate, accuse without insult, and punish without torture. Some fifty thousand of them would save her even here ! Alas ! all this was but a dream. She must fight her own battle, for herself, her husband, and her children. How gladly would she give her life for theirs, and when worst came to worst die boldly and with honour, doomed indeed and defeated, but guiltless and undisgraced. In the meantime she had provided for the future of her humble friends. There was money and money's worth enough in the packet to secure them a competency for life. She laid express commands in her letter, on the person to whom it was addressed, that neither Pierre nor Rosine should be permitted to return to France till the troubles were over, and Libert}' had ceased to walk abroad with a red caj) on her head and a knife streaming with blood in her right hand. She had expressed herself gracefully, forcibly, and in few words. Her phrases wei'e decided and full of meaning, tlio character of her handwriting bold, firm, and clear, like the character of her mind. Its reader could never have guessed this was the letter of a dethroned Queen going in danger of her life. Surely there is a heroism of endurance far above ihe heroism of daring, and never so admirable as when con- spicuous in that sex for whom it seems to us men so 2G4 EOSINE. unnatural that there should be either danger or difficulty or hardship. Yet if we scan life narrowly in its every-day aspect, if we think of the mothers who gave us birth, the wives we have loved, or lost, or forgotten, the tender hearts we have wilfully vexed, or inadvertently wounded, rather from obtuseness than ingratitude — we shall be satisfied that the woman's burden, though usually borne of her own free- will, and often with an hypocrisy that seems truly admirable, is heavier and more galling than our own. She cannot, or she does not, choose to lay the knapsack aside as we do, that it may be resumed more cheerfully after food and sleep. She never unbuckles the straps nor varies the pressure, and, perhaps, because her shoulders are not broad enough, she carries the weight too near her heart. Many women have staggered all the length of their weary journey to the grave, bent down by a cruel load. Few — none — have moved under it, so upright and so majestic as Marie Antoinette. E-osine's tears fell fast while she kissed the hands that were placing a life's comfort and a life's safety in her own. " Oh ! Madame ! " she sobbed. " My queen, my mis- tress, I cannot bear to leave you. I shall never, never see you again ! " " You must not speak so, little one," replied Iler Majesty. " "We are good Catholics both, and at last we shall arrive in a fairer and brighter country than France." " But it is so far away," said Eosine, "and it will be so long first." Again into those clear eyes came the mournful dreamy look that so often dimmed and deepened them now. " It is perhaps nearer than we think," answered the Queen ; " and whether it be one league or a hundred, six months or sixty years, every tick of the clock and every step Vmceut.Brook^ Jj.iy'?: iiari.Lith P2ei '' FAREWELL — AXD GO ! " 265 of the journey heljjs us towards the end. But you are young, RosinCj and pretty," she added in a more cheerful voice; " and good, which is best of all; you will have happi- ness, my dear, even in this life." " And 5^ou, Madame ? " " I have duty. It is better to be born a peasant than a princess. But we cannot change places. Believe me, little one, I would not desert my post if I could. The Lorraines were always good soldiers, men and women, so far as that goes. They may conquer, but they cannot frighten us ; and — and, Rosine, I will never turn my back on those I love ! Alas ! what do I say ? Even at this moment, though I love you dearly, I must bid you farewell. May our blessed Lady and all the saints in heaven protect you ! My dear, you have been a true and faithful servant to me." The girl could not speak. She was on her knees holding the Queen's dress to her lips, and looking up to the proud, kind face through her tears, with as much of longing, loving worship, as she could have offered the holiest of those very saints whom her mistress invoked on her behalf. There rang a jar of firelocks outside, creating a stir and bustle in the passage. The carriages were at the door, the King was ready, and the royal family must no longer delay their journey to Paris, to the Tuileries, to the Temple, to their doom. The Queen wore round her neck a gold chain with a locket containing her children's haii\ She took it off and put it in Bosine's hand, while she bent over her and pressed a kiss on the girl's bonny brow. " Wear it, my dear," she whispered, " for my sake — to remind you of Marie Antoinette ! " Bosine, looking up, observed how the links had chafed that delicate skin, tracing round the pure white throat a thin circle of red. T 266 ROSINE. Tlieu she bowed her head in her hands and wept her heart out, for something told the g-irl that here, on this side of paradise, she would never see her fair and gracious Queen again. THE END. PKIM'liU BV VIKTUE AND Co , LIMITED, CITY KOAD, LONDON. 193, Piccadilly, London, W. December, 1876. €hnp\\mx autr pairs CATALOGUE OF BOOKS; LMWmG EXAMPLES, DIAGRAMS, MODELS, INSTRUMENTS, ETC. IXCLrDIXG THOSE ISSUED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT, SOUTH KENSINGTON, FOR THE USE OP SCHOOLS AND ART AND SCIENCE CLASSES. NEW NOVELS. NEW NOVEL BY MAJOR WHYTE-MELVILLE. Rosine. By (I. J. AVIIYTE-MELVILLE. With Illustrations. 1 vol. demy Svo. 16s. Uniform with " Katorfclto." Fashion and Passion ; or, Life in Hf ay fair. By the DUKE DE MEDINA POMAK. Kew Edition, in one vol. [In the Press. Condoned. By ANNA C. STEELE, Author of "Gardenhnrst," " So Kuns the World Avv-ay," " Broken Toy-s " &c. 3 vols. Fools of Fortune: A NOVEL. By FEEDEEICK BOYLE. 3 vols, crown Svo. 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