The Countess De Charny - Volume II (29 page)

Gilbert reached her just in time to catch her as she fell. She turned her failing eyes upon him, and recognising him, murmured, in a voice that was scarcely audible : ” Love Sebastian for both of us ! ” Then, in still fainter tones,

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she murmured: “I shall lie beside him, shall I not? beside my Oliver, my husband, — for all eternity ! “

And so she died.

Gilbert lifted her from the ground. Fiftj^ bloodstained hands threatened him, but Maillard stepped up behind him, placed his hand on his shoulder, and said: “Let Citizen Gilbert pass. He is carrying away the body of a poor insane woman who was killed by mistake.”

The crowd made way for him, and Gilbert passed out of the courtyard unmolested, so great was Maillard’s power over the multitude.

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CHAPTER XXXI.

SCENES AT THE TEMPLE DURING THE MASSACRE.

Though bent upon organising a widespread massacre, and upon subjugating the Assembly through terror, the Commune watched the prisoners in the Temple with a jealous eye.

Longwy had been captured by the Prussians, and Verdun was surrounded by the same army, which was consequently only about one hundred and twenty-hve miles from Paris now. As the royal family were valuable hostages that might save the lives of the most deeply compromised Republicans by and by, the Communal Council promptly despatched a guard to the Temple; but well aware that no guard, however strong, would suffice to protect this prison if the populace resolved to gain possession of it, one of the commissioners hit upon the shrewd device of encircling the edifice with a tricoloured ribbon bearing this inscription : —

Fellow-citizens, you who so well %inderstand liow to combine love of public order with vengeance, respect this barrier.

Strange times, indeed, were these, when heavy oaken doors were battered in, and iron gratings demolished, and yet the populace bowed down before a ribbon ! Yes; the mob absolutely knelt before that tricoloured ribbon and kissed it. Not a man stepped over it!

On the 2d of September the king and queen had no suspicion of what was going on in the city. They noticed that there seemed to be rather more confusion and disorder than usual in and around the Temple, but tli(!y were becoming accustomed to these outbreaks on the part of the populace.

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The king dined at two, as usual; and after dinner went down into the garden, as was his custom, accompanied by-all the members of his immediate family; and during their promenade they noticed that the clamour outside greatly increased.

One of the municipal officers who was in attendance that day whispered to a colleague, loud enough for Clery to hear: ” We made a mistake in permitting them to take a walk to-day.”

It was then about three o’clock, the hour the slaughter of the prisoners began.

The only servants the king had been allowed to retain were Clery and Hué. The unfortunate Thierry was in the Abbaye prison, and had been sentenced to be executed on the following day.

The second municipal officer agreed with his colleague in thinking they had done wrong to allow the royal family to come down into the garden, and intimated to the august prisoners that they had better go inside at once.

They did so, but they had scarcely reached the queen’s room before two other municipal officers entered. One of them, a former Capuchin, named Mathieu, approached the king, and said: “Do you know what is going on, citizen? The countrj’- is in the greatest danger.”

” How can you expect me to know what is going on outside, monsieur, when I am kept shut up here, cut off from all communication with the outer world?” responded the king.

“Well, I will tell you what is going on. Our enemies have reached Champagne, and the King of Prussia is marching upon Chalons.”

The queen could not repress a movement of joy, which, rapid as it was, did not escape the official’s keen eye, and he exclaimed : —

” Oh yes, we know that we shall all perish , and our wives and children as well ; but you will be held accountable for it! You will die before we do, and the people will be avenged! “

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“God’s will be done!” answered the king, devoutly. “I have done all I could for the people, and feel that I have no cause to reproach myself.”

The same official then said, turning to Hué, who was standing by the door : —

“The Commune has ordered me to place you under arrest.”

“Place whom under arrest?” interposed the king.

“Your servant.”

“Of what is he accused?”

” That is no affair of mine. But he will be taken away this evening, and his papers be put under seal. And you, too, had better look out,” he added, turning to Clery; “for the same thing will happen to you if you don’t walk straight.”

About eleven o’clock the next morning the king and his family were again assembled in the queen’s chamber, when another municipal officer came in and ordered Clery to go over to the king’s room. Here he found Manuel and several other members of the Commune. The countenance of each and every one expressed the liveliest anxiety. Manuel, as we have before remarked, was not fond of bloodshed, and there was a conservative element even in the Commune.

“What does the king think of the seizure of his valet?” inquired Manuel.

“His Majesty is greatly distressed about it,” answered Clery.

“No evil will befall him,” said Manuel. “Still, I am requested to inform the king that Hué is not to return, but that the Commune will send some one in his place. You can apprise the king of the fact.”

” Such a task is certainly not included in the duties of my office,” replied Clery, with dignity; “so please have the goodness to excuse me from announcing to my master a fact that is sure to grieve him.”

Manuel reflected a moment.

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**So 1)0 it,” he sail], at last. “I will go myself.”

He did so. The king received the intelligence very calmly.

“Very well, monsieur,” he replied. “I will avail my-self of the services of my son’s valet. If the Council objects to that I will endeavour to wait upon myself.”

“Do you need anything?” asked Manuel.

“We need linen very much,” answered the king. “Do you think you could prevail upon the Commune to furnish some?”

” I will call their attention to the matter at once. ” Then, as the king did not ask him for any news from the outside world, Manuel withdrew.

About one o’clock the king expressed a wish to take a walk, but this time the officials in charge refused to give the desired permission; so about two o’clock the family sat down to dinner. The meal was about half over when the beating of drums was heard, accompanied by the shrieks and yells of an angry mob approaching nearer and nearer to the prison.

The royal family sprang up from the table and hastened back to the queen’s room.

What was the cause of all this uproar?

They were slaughtering prisoners at La Force as well as at the Abbaye, not under the superintendence of Maillard, but of Hébert, so the massacre was all the more terrible.

And yet it would have been miich easier to save these prisoners, as there were not nearly so many political offenders incarcerated in La Force as in the Abbaye; but forty-three prisoners were spared at the Abbaye, and only ten at La Force.

Among the prisoners at La Force was the poor little Princesse de Lamballe. Our readers have made the acquaintance of this lady in the books entitled : ” The Queen’s Necklace,” and “Ange Pitou,” as well as in the present volume, and always in the character of the queen’s devoted friend and admirer.

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For this reason the populace hated her bitterly, and styled her the Queen’s Counsellor. She had been the queen’s confidante and intimate friend, but never the queen’s adviser. This charming Savoyard, with her dainty, compressed lips and rather set smile, was capable of loving, and proved it; but an adviser, — an adviser to an arrogant, obstinate, domineering woman like the queen, she certainly never was !

The queen loved her exactly as she had loved Madame de Guémené, Madame de Marsan, and Madame de Polignac; but being capricious and tickle in her friendships, she had probably made the princess suffer as much as her friend, as she had made Charny sutïer as a lover; but, as we have seen, the lover became weary of her, while the friend remained faithful.

Nevertheless, both perished for the woman they had loved. The princess had proved her loyalty by returning from England and demanding her place by the queen’s side as soon as she heard of the arrest of the royal family at Varennes, and, conducted at first to the Temple with the queen, she was very soon afterwards transferred to La Force.

She had hoped to die near the queen, — with the queen. Under such circumstances death would have seemed sweet to her; but separated from the queen her courage failed her. This woman was not of Andrée’s stamp. She was positively ill with terror.

She was well aware of the intense animosity against her. Confined with Madame de Navarre in one of the upper rooms of the prison, she had seen Madame de Tourzel taken away the night before, and realised perfectly that she had only been left to die a little later.

Hiding her head under the bed-clothes, like a terrified child, whenever she heard the shrieks of the victims in the courtyard below, she relapsed into a condition of unconsciousness again and again, exclaiming, wlien she came to her senses : ” Oh , my God ! my God ! I hoped I was dead ! “

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Then she would add, sobbingly: “Oh! if one could only die as one swoons, one would not mind! “

Murdor was going on everywhere, — in the courtyard, in the lower rooms, even in the cells, and the smell of blood mounted to her room like funeral incense.

About eight o’clock in the morning her door opened. Her terror was so great that she did not even speak or move as she saw two National Guards enter.

“Get up, madame,” said one, roughly. “You ‘re to be taken to the Abbaye.”

“I cannot leave my bed. I am not able to walk,” she faltered. Then, in a voice that was scarcely audible, she added : ” If you want to kill me, you can do it here.”

“Do what I say. We want to save you,” whispered one man, while the other stood guard at the door.

“Then step outside and let me dress myself.”

Strange to say, the two men did go out, and IMadame de Xavarre helped the princess dress, or, rather, put her clothes on for her.

In about ten minutes the two men came in again. The princess was ready, only she was really unable to walk, as she had said. She trembled like an aspen leaf as she took the arm of the National Guardsman who had tried to encourage her, and when she found herself in the presence of Hebert’s bloody tribunal, and saw the ferocious-looking executioners with their sleeves rolled up and their hands and clothing covered with blood, the poor princess fainted away.

Three times the judges attempted to interrogate her, and three times she swooned, without being able to answer a single question.

“But they wish to save you,” cautiously whispered the man who had encouraged her before.

This assurance seemed to impart a little strength to the unfortunate woman, and she murmured : —

“What do you desire of me, gentlemen?”

“Who are you?” asked Hébert.

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“Marie Louise de Savoie Carignan.”

“Your business?”

“Superintendent of the queen’s household.”

” Do you know anything in relation to the conspiracies of the court on the 10th of August? “

“I do not think that there were any conspiracies. If there were, I was kept in ignorance of them.”

” Swear to uphold Liberty and Equality ! Swear hatred to the King, Queen, and all royalists! “

“I will take the first oath willingly; but I cannot swear to the other, because such a feeling is not in my heart.”

“Swear, swear!” whispered the guardsman, softly. ” Swear, or you ‘re a dead woman. Swear, I say ! “

As if fearing that her terror of death might cause her to utter an oath of which she was ashamed, the princess put her hand over her mouth as if to keep back words which might escape her in spite of herself.

A sort of moan was heard through her fingers.

“She has sworn!” cried her protector. Then he said, softly : ” Pass out quickly through the door directly in front of you. Hurrah for the Nation as you go out, and you are saved ! “

As she stepped out of the door she found herself in the arms of a man called Big Nicholas, the same who had cut off the heads of the two bodyguards at Versailles ; but this time he had promised to save instead of kill.

Dragging her towards a shapeless, quivering, bleeding mass, he whispered, hurriedly: —

“Shout: ‘ Long live the Nation.’ Make haste and shout: ‘ Long live the Nation ! ‘ “

She would doubtless have shrieked out these words; but, unfortunately, on opening her eyes she saw in front of her a pile of dead bodies upon which a man was trampling, the blood gushing out from beneath his hob-nailed shoes as grape-juice gushes out from beneath the feet of one who treads the wine-press.

As she beheld the ghastly sight she shrank back in

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horror, averting her face, ami cxelaimiug, “Shame! how horrible ! “

But this cry, too, was smothered in order to save her. It is said that her father-in-law. Monsieur de Penthièvre, had paid one hundred thousand francs to secure her release.

She was pushed into the narrow passageway leading from the prison to the Hue Saint Antoine ; but a miserable wretch, a barber named Chariot, who had just joined the volunteers as a drummer, snatched off her cap with his pike.

Did he merely intend to pull oft’ her cap, or did he in-tend to strike her in the face?

At all events, the blood flowed, and blood always calls for more blood. Another man hurled a stick of wood at the princess and struck her on the neck. She stumbled, and fell upon one knee.