The Chevalier De Maison Rouge (52 page)

hall if this rampart of flesh were to give way.

This immovable man was young and handsome, and

at every push bestowed on him by the crowd, he shook

his head of hair, thick as a lion's mane, under which

gleamed a dark and resolute expression, then, when either

by a look or a movement he had repelled the crowd and

resisted their violent attacks, he fell back into his attentive immobility. A hundred times this compact mass had,

notwithstanding, striven hard to overthrow him as from

his great height, to see anything behind him was utterly

impossible ; but, as we have said, firm as a rock, he stood his ground. In the meantime, at the other extremity of

this human sea, in the midst of the crushing crowd, an-

other man was forcing a passage, with a perseverance

almost amounting to ferocity. Xothing impeded his in-

defatigable exertions ; neither the cries of those he left

behind, the fearful imprecations of those he almost stifled in passing, nor the wails of the wome^i for there were

many females in this crowd.

To blows he responded with blows ; to imprecations, by

a look before which the most courageous quailed ; to com-

plaints, by a carelessness bordering on disdain. At last he arrived behind the powerful young man, who, so to speak,

closed the entrance to the hall in the midst of the general expectation for all were anxious to see how the contest

between two such rude antagonists would terminate he

essayed his peculiar method, which consisted in planting

his elbows between two spectators, and thus breaking

through. He was, notwithstanding, a short young man,

whose wan face and emaciated appearance betokened latent

illness.

His elbows had scarcely touched the young man before

him, when he, indignant at the aggression, turned sharply

round, at the same moment raising his clinched fist, which

threatened, in falling, to crush the slender form of the

intruder.

348 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

The two antagonists now found themselves face to face,

when a cry of recognition escaped from each.

"Ah, Monsieur Maurice/' said the delicate young man,

with an accent of inexpressible anguish, " permit me to pass ; only let me see her, I entreat you ; then kill me

afterward."

Maurice for it was he felt himself affected by admi-

ration and compassion, excited by this ceaseless devotion,

this adventurous daring.

(< You here ! " murmured he. (t How imprudent ! "

. " Yes ; but I am exhausted. Oh, mon Dieu ' she

speaks. Let me see her let me listen to her."

Maurice drew aside, and the young man passed before

him, and being at the head of the crowd, there was noth-

ing now to intercept the view of him who had undergone

BO many blows, so much buffeting to attain his end. All

this scene, and the murmurs it occasioned, aroused the

curiosity of the judges. The accused also turned round,

and immediately perceived and recognized the chevalier.

A shudder ran through the queen's frame, seated in the

iron arm-chair. The interrogation, conducted by the

President Harmand, interpreted by Fouquier Tinville,

discussed by Cheveau Logarde, the defender for the queen,

lasted as long as the strength of the judges and the ac-

cused permitted. During all this time, Maurice remained

motionless in his place, while several times already the

concourse was renewed both in the hall and the corridors.

The chevalier leaned against a pillar. He was no less pale

than the marble that supported him. The day was suc-

ceeded by a dark night ; some lighted candles on the

tables of the jurors, and some smoky lamps on the walls

of the hull, throw a red and sinister expression on the

nob! u faee of that woman who had formed the bright and

beautiful ornament of the splendid fetes at Versailles.

She was alone there, replying in brief and dignified lan-

guage to the questions of the president, and occasionally

addressed some words to her counsel in a low voice. Her

white and polished forehead retained all its original pride.

She was neither humbled nor cast down. She was attired

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 349

in a black dress, which she had worn ever since her hus-

band's death. The judges retired from the hall. The

sitting had terminated.

" Have I evinced too much hauteur, monsieur ?" said she, addressing herself to Cheveau Legarde.

" Ah. madame," replied he, " you are always right when you act like yourself."

" How proud she is ! " cried a woman among the audience, as if a voice from the people had replied to the

question of the unfortunate queen to her advocate.

The queen turned and looked at her.

" Yes," repeated the woman, " you are proud, Antoinette ; and I tell you pride has been the ruin of you."

The queen blushed. The chevalier turned toward the

female who had uttered these words, and replied, softly :

" She was queen."

Maurice seized him by the wrist, saying, in a low

tone :

" Take care ; do not forget yourself."

" Oh, Monsieur Maurice," replied the chevalier, "you are a man yourself, and you know you are speaking to a

man. Toll me, oh, tell me, do you think they will con-

demn her ?"

" I do not think," said Maurice ; " I am sure of it."

" What, a woman ? " said the chevalier, with a deep groan.

" Xo, a queen/" said Maurice ; '" you have yourself said so."

The chevalier, in his turn, seized Maurice by the wrist,

and with a force of which he appeared to be incapable,

compelled him to bend his ear. It was half-past tiiree in

the morning. Many vacuums were visible among the spec-

tators, and a few lights burning here and there served

only to render darkness visible. In one of the most ob-

scure parts of the hall were the chevalier and Maurice,

listening to what the former was telling him.

" Why are yon here ? what brings you here ? " de-

manded the chevalier; "you, monsieur, who have not a

tigers heart ? ''

850 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

" Alas ! M said Maurice, " to discover what has become of an unfortunate woman."

" Yes, yes," said Maison Rouge ; " she whom her husband forced into the queen's cell, the female it surprised

me so to see."

" Genevieve ? "

" Yes, Genevieve."

" Then, Genevieve is a prisoner, sacrificed by her husband, killed by Dixmer. Oh ! I comprehend all, I un-

derstand all now. Chevalier, tell me all that has oc-

curred, tell me where she is, tell me where I can find her.

Chevalier, this woman constitutes my life ; do you hear

me?"

" I witnessed all. I was there when she was arrested.

I was there also to effect the escape of the queen, but

our different projects not having been communicated to

each other, injured instead of assisting our mutual

cause."

" Why did you not save her, at least your sister, Geiievieve?"

" How conld I, when an iron bar divided us ? Oh ! if

you had only been there, if you had united yonr efforts

with mine, the bar must have yielded, and both might

have been saved."

"Genevieve !" Genevieve !" murmured Maurice.

Then, regarding Maison Rouge with an indefinable ex-

pression of hatred and rage :

"And Dixmer, where is he ?" demanded he.

'"' I know not : he saved himself, as I did also."

' Oil!" said Maurice, grinding his teeth, "if ever I meet him

" Yes, I understand. Rut there is nothing yet to de-

spair about concerning Genevieve," said Maison Rouge ;

" her case is not yet desperate ; but the queen. Oh, stop, Maurice, you are a sensitive man, an influential man.

You have friends. Oli ! I pray to you as I would pray to

my God. Maurice, help me to save the queen. Maurice,

Genevieve supplicates you through me."

" Pronounce not that name, monsieur. Who knows

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 351

but that, like Dixmer, you may have sacrificed this un-

happy woman ? "

"Monsieur," replied the chevalier, haughtily, "when I attach myself to a cause, I know better than to sacrifice any one but myself."

Maurice was about to reply, when the door of the cham-

ber of debate opened.

" Silence, monsieur, silence," said the chevalier, " the judges are returning."

And Maurice felt the htfnd tremble which Maison Eouge

had placed upon his arm.

" Ah ! " murmured the chevalier, " my heart fails me now."

" Have courage and constrain yourself, or you are lost,"

said Maurice.

The tribunal reentered, and the news of its return

spread rapidly through the corridors and galleries. The

crowd again congregated in the hall, and even the dim

lights appeared to burn brighter at this solemn and de-

cisive moment. The queen rose, and stood erect, haughty,

and immovable ; her eyes fixed, her lips closed. The de-

cree was then read which doomed the queen to death.

She heard her sentence without even turning pale or ut-

tering a sigh ; her countenance evinced not the slightest

emotion. Then, turning toward the chevalier, she re-

garded him with a long and eloquent look, as if to indi-

cate her gratitude to this man whom she hud ever seen a

living statue of devotion, and supported on the arm of the

officer of the gendarmes who commanded the forces, with

a calm and dignified demeanor, she quitted the court.

Maurice drew a deep sigh.

"Thank God!" said lie, "nothing in this declaration can compromise (renevieve ; there is yet hope."

' 'Thank God ! " murmured the chevalier on his side.

" It is all finished, and the struggle at length terminated.

1 have not strength to go further."

" Courage, monsieur," said Maurice, in a low voice.

"I will take courage, monsieur," replied the chevalier; and, having shaken hands, they disappeared by different

352 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

outlets. The queen was reconducted to the conciergerie ;

the large clock struck four as she entered. At the end of

Pout Neuf, Maurice was stopped by Louis.

" Halt ! " said he ; " you do not pass here ! "

" Why ? "

" First, where are yon going ? "

" I am going home. I can return there now, since I

know what has become of her.*'

"So much the better ; but you must not enter there."

" For what reason ? "

" The reason is, that two hours ago the gendarmes went there to arrest you."

"Ah!" cried Maurice. "Well, there is the greater reason."

" Are you mad ? And Genevieve ? "

" You are right. But where are we to go ?"

" To my house. Pardieu ! "

"But I shall ruin you."

' The more reason," said Louis, dragging Maurice away with him.

CHAPTER XLVII.

THE PRIEST AND THE EXECUTIONER.

Ox leaving the court, the queen had been conducted

back to the conciergerie. On reaching her chamber she

had taken a pair of scissors and cut off her long and

beautiful curls, rendered still more so from the absence

of powder, which had been totally abolished two years since ; these she enclosed in a packet, and on the paper was inscribed, " For my son and daughter." She then seated herself, or rather, sunk into a chair, and, worn out with

fatigue, the trial having lasted eighteen hours, she fell

asleep. At seven o'clock the noise of the opening screen

roused her from her troubled sleep, and turning round,

she beheld a man perfectly unknown to her.

" What do you want ?" demanded she.

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 353

He approached and saluted her as respectfully as if she

had not been the queen.

" I am called Sanson," said he.

The name was sufficient. The queen slightly shuddered.

" You are here in good time, monsieur ; could you not

have made it rather later."

"No, madame," replied Sanson ; "I received orders to come."

As he uttered these words, he advanced still nearer to

the queen. At this moment everything about this man

was expressive and terrible.

" I understand," said the prisoner, "you wish to cut off my hair."

"It is necessary, madame," replied the executioner.

" I know it, monsieur ; and I wished to spare you the

trouble. My hair is on the table."

Sanson followed the direction of the queen's hand.

" Only," said she, " I wish these curls sent to my children to-night."

" Madame," said Sanson, " this does not concern me."

" However, I thought notwithstanding "

"'Oil! I get nothing," replied the executioner; "the clothes, the jewels, unless formally made over to me, all

go to La Salpetriere, and are allotted to the poor of the

hospital. The Committee of Public Safety arrange these

things."

"'But, monsieur," persisted Marie Antoinette, "may I at least, depend upon this packet being forwarded to my

children ?"

Sanson remained silent.

"'I will endeavor to do so," said (filbert.

The prisoner cast upon him a look of deep gratitude.

" I (.Time," said Sanson, "to cut off your h:iir : but sin^o you have done so. I can, if you wish it, leave you for a short period alone.''

" I entreat you to do so, monsieur. 1 wish to collect

my scattered thoughts, and off>T up a prayer."