The Chevalier De Maison Rouge (29 page)

found they hud conducted her to the Section Mere, where

he immediately followed her.

The club was thronged, but by making free use of his

elbows and fists, he succeeded in forcing an entrance.

The first sight be encountered was the tall and noble

figure of Maurice, standing haughtily before the bench

of the accused, and annihilating Simon by his looks.

"Yes, citizens," cried Simon, " the Citoyenne Tisou 190 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

accuses the Citizen Lindey and the Citizen Louis. The

Citizen Lindey mentions a flower-girl, upon whom he

endeavors to cast all the blame ; but, as I told yon before, the flower-girl will not return, or be found again, and

that is a vile plot formed by a body of aristocrats, who

toss back the ball from one to the other, like cowards, as

they are. You have seen, besides, that the Citizen Louis

had decamped when his presence was required, and he will

return no more than the flower-girl."

" Then you have lied, Simon," cried a furious voice ;

" and he will return, for he is here."

And Louis strode into the hall.

" Eoom for me," said he, pushing aside the spectators.

" Room for me."

And he placed himself near Maurice.

The entrance of Louis, so natural, and without affecta-

tion, yet combining all the freedom and strength inherent

in the character of the young man, produced an immense

effect upon the tribunes, who instantly greeted him with

cries of applause. Maurice contented himself by smil-

ing and holding out his hand to his friend the friend

concerning whom he had said to himself, " I shall not

long stand alone at the bench of the accused."

The spectators gazed with visible interest on these two

handsome young men, accused (like a demon envious of

their youth and beauty) by the foul shoemaker of the

Temple. He soon perceived the unfavorable impression

he had made, and determined to strike the last blow.

" Citizens ! " roared he, " I demand that the generous Citoyenne Tison should be heard, that she may speak,

and bring forward her accusation."

" Citizens," said Louis, " I demand that the flower-girl, who is about to be arrested, and who no doubt will be

brought before you, may be first heard."

"Xo, no," said Simon ; " it is just some false evidence some partisan of the aristocrats. Besides, the woman

Tison is most impatient to forward the means of justice."

During this time Louis took the opportunity to whisper

to Maurice.

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 191

"Yes," cried the tribunes; "the deposition of the woman Tison ; let her depose."

"Is the woman Tison in the hall?" demanded the

president.

" Without doubt she is here/' cried Simon. " Citoyenne Tison, answer for yourself. "

"I am here, president ; but if I depose will they give me back my daughter ?" said the jaileress.

" Your daughter has nothing at all to do with the

affair with which we are at present engaged," said the president. " Make your deposition first, and then appeal to the Commune to redeem your child."

"Do you hear ?" said Simon ; "the citizen president commands you to make your deposition. Do it quickly."

"A moment," said the president, turning toward

Maurice, astonished at the calmness of a man generally

so impetuous. " One moment. Citizen Municipal, have

you nothing to say first ? "

" No, Citizen President except that before Simon

attached the words ' traitor and coward ' to a man like

myself it would have been better to have waited till he

was more correctly informed on that subject, that is

all."

' You say that ? you say that ?" replied Simon, with

the blustering accent peculiar to the plebeian Parisian.

" I say, Simon," replied Maurice, with more sorrow than anger, "that you will experience your punishment

when you see who it is will presently be brought here."

" Who will arrive here, then ?" demanded Simon.

" Citizen President," said Maurice, without deigning to notice the question of his hideous accuser, " I unite with my friend Louis in demanding that the young girl

about to be arrested may be heard before this poor woman

is compelled to speak, who, no doubt, has been prompted

to this deposition."

" Listen, citoyenne," said Simon ; " listen. They say down there that you are a false witness ! "

"la false witness ! " cried the woman Tison. " You shall see you shall see. Wait."

192 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

" Citizen," said Maurice, " in pity, desire this woman to remain silent."

"Ah ! you are afraid/' said Simon ; " you are afraid."

" Citizen President, I require the deposition of the

woman Tison."

" Yes, yes ; the deposition !" cried the tribunes.

"Silence!" cred the president; "the Commune returns."

At this moment the sound of a voiture was heard roll-

ing outside, amid the noise and shouts of arms.

Simon turned uneasily toward the door.

"Quit the box," said the president to him; "you have nothing more to tell."

Simon descended.

At this moment some gendarmes entered, with the tide

of curious idlers, which soon ebbed, and a woman was

pushed toward the judgment hall.

" Is it she ? " whispered Louis to Maurice.

" Yes, it is," replied Maurice. " Miserable woman, she is utterly ruined and lost. "

"The flower-girl! the flower-girl!" murmured the

tribunes, whose curiosity was raised to the highest pitch.

"Is this the flower-girl ?"

" I demand, before everything else," roared Simon,

" the deposition of the woman Tison. You commanded

her to depose, president, and she has not yet done

so."

The woman was recalled, and entered upon a dreadful

and circumstantial deposition. The flower-girl, it was

true, was alone criminal, but Maurice and Louis were her

accomplices. This denunciation produced an incredible

effect upon the public mind, and now, indeed, Simon was

in the ascendant.

" Gendarmes," said the president, " bring forward the flower-girl."

"Oh ! this is frightful/' said Maurice, concealing his face in his hands.

The flower-girl was called and placed before the trib-

une, exactly opposite to Tison's wife, whose testimony

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 193

had convicted her of a capital crime the moment before.

She raised her veil.

" Heloise ! " cried the woman Tison ; " my child.

You here ? "

" Yes, ma mire" replied the young woman, in a low tone.

" And why do you enter between two gendarmes ? "

"Because I am accused, ma mere."

"You! accused, and by whom? "cried the startled

woman.

" By yon, ma mere."

A frightful silence, like the precursor of death fell

suddenly upon this noisy assemblage, while the miser-

able feeling excited by this affecting scene weighed down

every heart. " Her daughter," was whispered, as if by voices in the distance, " her daughter ! " Unhappy woman!

Maurice and Louis regarded both the accnser and the

accused with sentiments of deep commiseration mingled

with respectful pity for their unhappy fate. Simon,

anxious to witness the conclusion of this tragedy, in

which he hoped both Maurice and Louis would remain

actors, endeavored to concentrate the attention of the

woman, who gazed wildly around.

" What is your name, citoyenne ? " said the president to the young girl, himself affected at the scene.

" Heloise Tison, citizen."

' What is your age ?"

" Nineteen years."

" Rue des Xonandieres, 24."

" Did you sell the Citizen Lindey, whom you now see

on the bench, a bouquet of carnations this morning ? "

The young girl turned round and looked at Maurice.

" Yes, citizen, I did," she said.

The mother herself gazed at her daughter, her eyes

dilated with terror.

'*' Are you aware that every carnation contained a billet

addressed to the widow of Capet ? "

' I know it," replied the accused.

194 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISOX ROUGE.

A movement of horror and admiration spread itself

through the hall.

" Why did you offer these carnations to the Citizen

Maurice ? "

" Because I perceived that he wore the scarf of a municipal, and I imagined he was going to the Temple."

"Who are your accomplices ?"

"I have none."

" What I have you, then, concocted this plot alone ? "

" If it is a plot, I alone am concerned in it."

" But the Citizen Maurice "

" Did he know that the flowers contained these bil-

lets ? "

"Yes."

" The Citizen Maurice is a municipal, the Citizen

Maurice could converse with the queen at any hour of

the day or the night. The Citizen Maurice, if lie wished

to say anything to the queen, had no occasion to write,

he could speak."

" And you do not know the Citizen Maurice Lindey ? "

" I have sometimes seen him come to the Temple,

while I was there, with my poor mother, but I only know

him by sight."

" Do you see. miserable wretch," said Louis, shaking his finger at Simon, who. dismayed at the turn of affairs,

with his head lowered, was attempting to sneak away

unperceived, " do you see what you have done ? "

Every one regarded Simon with looks of deep indig-

nation.

The president continued :

" Since you made up these bouquets, you, of course,

are aware that each one contained a paper, and there-

fore you must know also what was written upon that

paper ? "

" Of course I know it."

" Well, then, tell us what it was ?"

" Citizen," said the young girl, with firmness, "I have told all I either can or will tell."

"Then you refuse to answer this question ?"

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 195

"Yes."

" Do you know to what you expose yourself ?"

"Yes."

"You trust, perhaps, to your youth and beauty ?"

" I trust in God."

" Citizen Maurice Lindey, Citizen Hyacinth Louis,"

said the president, "you are free. The Commune rec-

ognizes your innocence, and admires your loyal spirit.

Gendarmes, conduct the Citoyenne Heloise to the prison

of the section."

At these words the woman Tison seemed to awake, and

uttering a piercing cry, attempted to rush forward once

more to embrace her daughter, but was withheld by the

guards.

" I forgive you, mother," said the young girl, as they led her away.

The woman Tison rushed forward, uttered a savage

roar, and fell down as if dead.

'" Noble girl," mnrmured Moraud, filled with emotions too miserable to describe.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE BILLET.

IMMEDIATELY following the events we are about to re-

late, the lust scene of the drama enrolled itself, as a sad finale to this sudden change in. the wheel of fortune.

The woman Tison, struck as by a thunderbolt at what

had occurred, and totally abandoned by those who had

escorted her (for there is something even revolting in an

involuntary crime, and it certainly amounts to a great

crime when a mother condemns her own daughter to an

ignominious death, were it even from excess of zealous

patriotism), the woman, after remaining for some time

in a state of insensibility, at length raised her head,

looked wildly around, and finding herself deserted mid

ulone, uttered a loud cry, and rushed toward the door.

196 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

At this door a few idlers more curious than the rest

still remained congregated together, who dispersed when

they beheld her, and pointing with their fingers, said one

to another, " Do you see that woman ? It is she who

denounced her daughter."

The wretched woman uttered a cry of despair and

rushed toward the Temple. But on reaching the third

house of La Rue Michel de Comte, a man placed himself

in front of her, impeding her progress, and concealing his

face and figure in his mantle :

" Are you content," said he, " now you have killed your child ? "

" Killed my child ! " cried the poor woman, " killed my child ! No, no, it is not possible ! "

" It is so, notwithstanding, for your daughter has been arrested."

"And where have they taken her ?"

" To the conciergerie ; from there she will be sent to the Revolutionary Tribunal, and you know what becomes

of those who are sent there."

" Stand aside," said the woman Tison, "and let me pass."

" Where are you going ? "

"To the conciergerie."

" AVhat are you going there for ? "

" To see her again."

" They will not allow you to enter."

" They will permit me to lie at the door, to live there, to sleep there. I will remain there till she goes out, and

then, at least, I shall see her once more."

" Suppose some one promised to restore you your

child?"

"What is that you say ?"

" I ask you, supposing a man woro to promise to give

you back your child, would you do what this man re-

quired of you in return ? "

"Everything for my child; all for my Ileloisc ! "

cried the woman, wringing her hands. " All, all,

alii"