The Chevalier De Maison Rouge (57 page)

" There was only one, monsieur."

" Who ? "

" My husband."

" Do yon know where he is ?"

"Yes."

" Inform us of his retreat ?"

" He has been brutal, but I will not be a coward. It is not for me to tell you his retreat, but for you to find him."

Maurice looked at Dixmer. He never moved. One idea

flitted through the young man's brain. It was to de-

nounce him himself ; but he quickly suppressed the

thought. "No," said he, " it is not thus that he should die."

" Then you refuse to assist us in our search ?" said the president.

"I think, monsieur, I could not do so without render-

ing myself as contemptible in the eyes of others as he is

in mine."

"Are there any witnesses ?" demanded the president.

" There is one," replied the usher.

"Call the witness."

"Maximilien Jean Louis ! " shouted the usher.

"Louis!" cried Maurice, "oh, mon Dien ! what has happened, then ?"

This scene took place the same day that Louis had been

arrested, and Maurice was in utter ignorance of all that

had occurred.

" Louis ! " murmured Genevieve, looking round with anxious solicitude.

" Why does not the witness answer to the call?" demanded the president.

"Citizen President," said Fouquier Tinville, "upon a recent denunciation the witness was arrested at his own

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 381

house ; he will be here directly." Maurice started.

" There is another still more important witness, but we have not yet been able to find him."

Dixmer turned toward Maurice, smiling. Perhaps the

same idea flitted through the mind of the husband which

had before entered that of the lover. Genevie' ve, pale and horror-stricken, uttered a low groan.

At this moment Louis entered, followed by two gen-

darmes. After him, and by the same door, Simon ap-

peared, who came to take his seat in the judgment hall,

according to custom in that locality.

" Your name and surname ? " inquired the president.

" Maximilien Jean Louis."

" Your trade ? "

"An independent gentleman."

"You will not remain so long," muttered Simon, shaking his fist.

"Are you related to the prisoner at the bar ? "

" No ; but I have the honor of being one of her friends."

"Did you know there was a conspiracy to carry off the

queen ? "

" How could I know it ?"

" She might have confided in you."

" In me ! a member of the Section of the Ther-

mopyles ? "

" Notwithstanding, you have sometimes been seen with

her."

" That might have been seen often."

" Did you recognize her as an aristocrat ?"

" I knew her as the wife of a master tanner."

" But her husband did not in reality follow the business which he pretended to."

" Of that I am ignorant ; her husband was not one of

my friends."

"Tell me what you know of this husband."

" Oh, very willingly. He is a villain, who

" Monsieur Louis," said Genevieve, " have mercy."

Louis continued, unmoved :

*'< He is a villain who has sacrificed this poor woman be-382 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

fore yon, not even to his political opinions, but to private hatred. Pooh ! I look upon him as lower and more degraded even than Simon."

Dixmer became livid with rage. Simon wished to

speak, but a gesture from the president imposed silence.

" You appear to know the whole history, Citizen Louis,"

said Fouquier ; " continue your account."

" Pardon me, Citizen Fouquier/' said Louis, rising ;

' I know nothing more."

He bowed, and reseated himself.

"Citizen Louis/' said Fouquier, "it is your bounden duty to enlighten this tribunal."

" It will not be much enlightened by all I have to say.

As to this poor woman, I again repeat she has only acted

under compulsion. Look at her ; does she look like a

conspirator ? "What she has done she was compelled to

do. That is all."

"You think so?"

" I know so."

" In the name of the law/' said Fouquier, " I require that the witness Louis shall be placed before this tribunal as an accomplice of this woman."

Maurice groaned, while Genevieve buried her face in her

hands. Simon screamed out in a transport of joy.

" Citizen Accuser, you are the savior of your country ! "

As to Louis, he leaped over the balustrade without

making any reply, and seating himself near to Geuevieve,

took her hand, and respectfully kissed it, saying, "Bon jour, madame," with a coolness which electrified the

assembly ; "how do you find yourself?" Then he took his seat on the bench of the accused.

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 383

CHAPTER LII.

SEQUEL TO THE PRECEDING.

ALL this scene had passed before Maurice like a fantas-

tic vision. Leaning upon the handle of his sword, which

he had never quitted, he saw his friends precipitated one

after another into that gulf which never yields back its

victims ; and this dangerous fancy so affected him that he

asked himself why he, the companion of these unfortu-

nates, should still cling to the brink of the precipice, and not surrender himself to the infatuation which was dragging him with them. In leaping the balustrade, Louis

saw the dark figure and sneering features of Dixmer.

"When, as we have said, he had placed himself near her, Genevieve whispered in his ear,

"Ah, mon Dieu!" said she, "do you know that Maurice is here ? "

" Where ? Do not look round directly ; one look might

prove his ruin. Calm yourself."

" Behind us, near the door. What a trial for him, if

we are all condemned ! "

Louis regarded the young woman with tender sympathy.

' We shall be," said he. " I conjure you not to doubt it. The deception would be too cruel if you were to permit yourself to hope."

"Oh, mon Dieu!" said Genevieve, "pity our poor friend, who will remain alone in the world."

Louis then turned round toward Maurice, and Gene-

vieve also could not refrain from glancing at him. His

eyes were fixed upon them both, and one hand was placed

upon his heart.

" There is one way to save you," said Louis.

" Are you sure?" said Genevieve, her eyes sparkling with joy.

"Oh, of that one 1 am sure," replied Louis.

" Oh, if you can save me, how I will bless you ! "

384 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

" But this way," replied the young man.

Genevie've read his hesitation in his eye.

" You have also seen him ? " said she.

" Yes, I saw him. Will you be saved ? Let him, in

his turn, take his seat in the iron armchair, and you

shall be safe."

Dixmer, doubtless from Louis' look and the expression

of his countenance, divined what he uttered. He at first

turned pale, but soon recovered his satanic look and

sinister smile.

" Impossible ! " said Genevie've ; " the most I can do is to hate him."

" Say that he knows your generous nature, and defies

you."

" No doubt ; for he is sure of him, of me, of us all."

" Genevieve, Genevie've ! I am less perfect than your-

self. Let me entreat you. Let him perish."

"No, Louis, I conjure you. Nothing in common with

this man, not even death. It seems to me I should be

unfaithful to Maurice were I to die with Dixmer."

"But you will not die."

"To live by his death."

"Ah !" said Louis, "Maurice lias reason to love you ; you are an angel, and heaven is the angels' home. Poor,

dear Maurice ! "

In the meantime, Simon, who could not overhear the

conversation between the accused, devoured their looks

instead of their words.

"Citizen Gendarme," said lie, "prevent those conspirators from continuing their plots against the Republic, even in the Revolutionary Tribunal."

"You know, Citizen Simon," replied the gendarme,

"they will conspire here no more, and if they do so now it will not be for long. These citizens are only conversing together, and since the law does not forbid them to do so

in the cart, why should it be forbidden at the tribunal ?"

Tli is gendarme was Gilbert, who, having recognized the

prisoner taken in the queen's chamber, avowed with his

ordinary honesty the interest which he could not help

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 385

according to her courage aiid devotion. The president

having consulted the benchers, by the request of Fouquier

Tinville, commenced his questions.

" Accused Louis/' demanded he, " of what nature was your acquaintance with the Citoyenne Dixmer ? "

" Of what nature, Citizen President ? Friendship's

pure flame bound us to each other. She loved me as a

sister, I loved her as a brother."

" Citizen Louis," said Fouquier Tinville, ''your poetry is out of season here, and the rhyme is bad."

" Why so ? "

" You have a syllable too long."

" Cut it off ! cut it off, Citizen Accuser ; that is your trade, yon know."

The imperturbable countenance of Fouquier Tinville

assumed a pallid hue at this horrible pleasantry.

" And in what light," demanded the president, " did the Citizen Dixmer view this liaison of a man, a pretended

Republican, with his wife ? "

' As to that I can toll you nothing, declaring to never

having been intimate with the Citizen Dixmer, and never

having felt any desire to be so."

"But," said Fouquier Tinville, "you did not tell us that your friend, Maurice Lindey, formed the link

of this pure friendship between yourself and the ac-

cused."

" If I did not say so," replied Louis, "it was because it seemed to me wrong so to speak, and I lind that yon

even might take example from me."

"The citizen jury," said Fouquier Tinville, "will appreciate this singular alliance between an aristocrat and

two Republicans, and at the very moment even when this

aristocrat is convicted of the blackest plot that could be

concocted against the nation."

" How should I know anything concerning this plot

you speak of ? " demanded Louis, disgusted by the bru-

tality of the argument.

"You were acquainted with this woman, you were her

friend, you term yourself her brother, you speak of her as

(j DUMAS VOL. XI.

386 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

your sister, and you knew all her proceedings. Is it then

probable, as you have yourself remarked," continued the president, ''that she would have committed this act im-puted to her alone ? "

" She did not commit it alone," replied Louis, repeating the technical words used by the president ; "since, as she has told you, and I have told you, and again repeat it,

her husband compelled her."

" Then, how is it yon are not acquainted with her hus-

band," said Fouquier Tinville, " since the husband was united with the wife ? "

It remained only for Louis to recount the first disap-

pearance of Dixmer, to mention the amours Genevieve

and his friend, and, in short, to relate the manner in which Dixmer had carried off and" concealed his wife in some impenetrable retreat. It needed only this to exculpate

himself from all connivance, and to elucidate the whole

mystery. But for this he must betray the secrets of his

two friends ; to do this would be to shame Genevieve be-

fore five hundred people. Louis shook his head, as if

saying no to himself.

" Well," demanded the president, " what do you reply to the public accuser ? "

" That his logic is crushing,'' said Louis ; "and I am now convinced of one thing which I never even suspected

before."

" What is that ?"

"That I am, it appears, one of the most frightful con-

spirators that has ever been seen."

" This declaration elicted a roar of laughter; even the jury could not refrain, so ludicrous was the young man's

pronunciation of these words. Fouquier felt the ridicule ;

and since, with his usual indefatigable perseverance he had managed to possess himself of all the secrets of the accused, as veil known to him as to themselves, he could not

help feeling toward Louis a sentiment of pity mingled with

admiration.

"Citizen Louis," said lie, "speak and defend yourself.

The tribunal will lend a willing ear. We are acquainted

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 387

with your previous conduct, and it has always been that of

a stanch Republican."

Simon essayed to speak ; but the president made him a

signal to remain silent.

" Speak, Citizen Lonis," said he ; " we are all attention."

But Louis only shook his head.

" This silence is confession/' said the president.

" Not so/' said Lonis. " Silence is silence, that is all."

" Once more, ''said Fouquier Tinville, " will you speak ?"

Louis turned toward the audience to encounter the eyes

of Maurice, and to learn from them what course he would

wish him to pursue ; but Maurice made no sign to speak

to him, and Louis maintained his former silence. This

was self-condemnation. All that followed was quickly ex-

ecuted. Fouquier resumed his accusation, the president

continued the debates, the jury retired, and unanimously

returned a verdict of guilty against Louis and Geneveive.

The president condemned them both to suffer the penalty

of death. Two o'clock sounded from the large clock of