The Whites and the Blues

This book made available by the Internet Archive.

CONTENTS

XXXI. In which the Organ-Grinder's Plan Begins to Develop...

XXXII. The Toast 207

XXXIII. The Order of the Day , 212

XXXIY. A Chapter which is but One with the Following Chapter 219

XXXV. In which Abatucci Fulfils the Mission that he has Received from

his General, and Charles that which he Received from God 224

THE THIKTEENTH YENDEMIAIKE

I. A Bird's-Eye View 230

II. A Glimpse of Paris — The Incroyables .. 234

III. The Merveilleuses .. 238

IV. The Sections 242

V. The President of the Section le Peletier 247

VI. Three Leaders .. 253

VII. General Roundhead and the Chief of the Companions of Jehu... 256

VIII. The Man in the Green Coat 261

IX. An Incroyable and a Merveilleuse .. 265

X. Two Portraits..... 270

XL Aspasia's Toilet 275

XII. For which Voltaire and Rousseau are to Blame.„ 278

XIII. The Eleventh Vendemiaire. 282

XIV. The Twelfth Vendemiaire .. „ 286

XV. The Night of the 12th and the 13th Vendemiaire 290

XVI. The Salon of Madame de Stael, the Swedish Ambassadress.... 293

XVII. The Hotel of the Rights of Man 306

XVIII. Citizen Bonaparte 310

XIX. Citizen Garat .. 314

XX. The Outposts 320

XXI. The Steps of Saint-Roch 325

XXII. The Rout 329

XXIII. The Victory....... „ » 333

XXIV. The Sword of the Vicomte de Beauharnais .... .. 336

XXV. The Map of Marengo „ 340

XXVI. Marie-Rose-Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie, Vicomtesse Beau harnais 345

XXVII. Where an Angel Steps a Miracle is Performed 349

XXVIII. The Sibyl 354

XXIX. Fortune-Telling 260

XXX. The Pretended Incroyable 365

XXXI. "Macbeth, thou Shalt be King!" 370

CONTENTS

THE EIGHTEENTH FKUCTIDOR

I. A Glance at the Provinces .. 383

II. The Traveller 388

III. The Chartreuse of Seillon 393

IV. The Traitor 398

V. The Judgment 402

VI. Diane of Fargas 407

VII. "What was Talked About for More than Three Months in the

Little Town of Nantua 412

VIII. A New Companion is Received into the Society of Jehu under

the Name of Alcibiades 417

IX. The Comte de Fargas............................. ................. 422

X. The Trouillasse Tower .. 426

XI. Brother and Sister .. . ............... 431

XII. In which the Reader will Meet some Old Acquaintances ... 436

XIII. Citizens and Messieurs .............. .... « . 441

XIV. The Cause of Citizen-General Bonaparte's Ill-Humor. 446

XV. Augereau .... 452

XVI. The Citizen-Directors 458

XVII. Mademoiselle de Sainte-Amour's Sick-Headache 465

XVIII. The Mission of Mademoiselle de Fargas 470

XIX. The Travellers 476

XX. "The Best of Friends Must Part" , 482

XXI. Citizen Frangois Goulin » . 487

XXII. Colonel Hulot -.«— ...... . 492

XXIII. The Battle 497

XXIV. Portia : 502

XXV. Cadoudal's Idea 507

XXVI. The Road to the Scaffold 513

XXVII. The Execution 518

XXVIII. The Seventh Fructidor. 524

XXIX. Jean-Victor Moreau « 530

XXX. The Eighteenth Fructidor 536

XXXI. The Temple 542

XXXII. The Exiles 548

XXXIII. The Journey 553

XXXIV. The Embarkation 559

CONTENTS

THE EIGHTH CKUSADE

I. Saint-Jean-d'Acre 572

II. The Prisoners.. .. .. 577

III. The Carnage 583

IV. From Ancient Days to Our Own 588

Y. Sidney Smith.... .............. ... 594

VI. Ptolemais 601

VII. The Scouts 607

VIII. The Beautiful Daughters of Nazareth 613

IX. The Battle of Nazareth 619

X. Mount Tabor... 624

XI. The Bullet Merchant 631

XII. How Citizen Pierre-Claude Faraud was made a Sub-Lieutenant.. 635

XIII. The Last Assault 640

XIV. The Last Bulletin 644

XV. Vanished Dreams 648

XVI. The Retreat 652

XVII. Wherein we see that Bonaparte's Presentiments did not De ceive Him 657

XVIII. Aboukir 662

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY ILLUSTRIOUS FRIEND AND COLLABORATOR

CHAELES NODIER

I have used the word "collaborator" because the trouble I should take in seeking for a Setter would be thrown away.

ALEX AND RE DUMAS

THE WHITES AND THE BLUES

VOLUME ONE

THE WHITES AND THE BLUES

PROLOGUE THE PRUSSIANS ON THE RHINE

CHAPTEE I

FROM THE HOTEL DE LA POSTE TO THE HOTEL DE LA LANTEKNE

ON THE 21st Frimaire of the year II. (llth of De-' comber, 1793), the diligence from Besan9on to Strasbourg stopped at nine o'clock in the even ing in the courtyard of the Hotel de la Poste, behind the cathedral.

Five travellers descended from it, but the youngest only merits our attention.

He was a boy of thirteen or fourteen, thin and pale, who might have been taken for a girl dressed in boy's clothes, so sweet and melancholy was the expression of his face. His hair, which he wore cut a la Titus—a fashion which zealous Kepublicans had adopted in imitation of Talma— was dark brown; eyelashes of the same color shaded eyes of deep blue, which rested, with remarkable intelligence, like two interrogation points, upon men and things. He had thin lips, fine teeth, and a charming smile, and he was dressed in the fashion of the day, if not elegantly, at least so carefully that it was easy to see that a woman had super intended his toilet.

The conductor, who seemed to be particularly watchful of the boy, handed him a small package, like a soldier's knapsack, which could be hung over the shoulders by a pair of straps. Then, looking around, he called: u Hallo I

(7)

THE WHITES AND THE BLUES

Is there any one here from the Hotel de la Lanterne look ing for a young traveller from Besan9on ?"

"I'm here," replied a gruff, coarse voice.

And a man who looked like a groom approached. He was hardly distinguishable in the gloom, in spite of the lan tern he carried, which lighted nothing but the pavement at his feet. He turned toward the open door of the huge vehicle.

"Ah! so it's you, Sleepy-head," cried the conductor.

4 'My name's not Sleepy-head; it's Cocl&s," replied the groom, in a surly tone, "and I am looking for the citizen Charles.*'

"You come from citizeness Teutch, don't you?" said the boy, in a soft tone that formed an admirable contrast to the groom's surly tones.

"Yes, from the citizeness Teutch. Well, are you ready, citizen?"

" Conductor," said the boy, "you will tell them at home—"

"That you arrived safely, and that there was some one to meet you; don't worry about that, Monsieur Charles."

"Oh, ho!" said the groom, in a tone verging upon a menace, as he drew near the conductor and the boy.

"Well, what do you mean with your 'Oh, ho' ? "

"I mean that the words you use may be all right in the Franche-Comte*, but that they are all wrong in Alsace."

"Eeally," said the conductor, mockingly, "you don't say so?"

"And I would advise you," continued citizen Codes, "to leave your monsieurs in your diligence, as they are not in fashion here in Strasbourg. Especially now that we are so fortunate as to have citizens Lebas and Saint-Just within our walls."

"Get along with your citizens Lebas and Saint-Just! and take this young man to the Hotel de la Lanterne."

And, without paying further heed to the advice of citi zen Codes, the conductor entered the Hotel de la Poste.

The man with the torch followed the conductor with hia eyes, muttering to himself; then he turned to the boy: "Come on, citizen Charles," he said. And he went on ahead to show the way.

Strasbourg, even at its best, was never a gay, lively town, especially after the tattoo had been beaten for two hours; but it was duller than ever at the time when our story opens; that is to say, during the early part of the month of December, 1793. The Austro-Prussian army was literally at the gates of the city. Pichegru, general-in-chief of the Army of the Rhine, after gathering together all the scattered forces at his command, had, by force of will and his own example, restored discipline and resumed the offensive on the 18th Frimaire, three days before; or ganizing a war of skirmishing and sharpshooting, since he was powerless to offer battle. He had succeeded Houchard and Custine, who had been guillotined because they had met with reverses, and Alexandre de Beauharnais, who was also in danger of being guillotined.

Furthermore, Saint-Just and Lebas were there, not only commanding Pichegru to conquer, but decreeing the vic tory. The guillotine followed them, charged with execut ing their decrees the instant they were made.

And three decrees had been issued that very day.

The first one ordered the gates of Strasbourg to be closed at three o'clock in the afternoon; any one who delayed their closing, if only for five minutes, did so under pain of death.

The second decree forbade any one to flee before the en emy. The rider who put his horse to a gallop, or the foot-soldier who retreated faster than a walk, when turning his back on the enemy on the field of battle, thereby incurred the penalty of death.

The third decree, which was due to fear of being sur prised by the enemy, forbade any soldier to remove his clothing at night. Any soldier who disobeyed this order, no matter what his rank, was condemned to death.

The boy who had just entered the city was destined to

THE WHITES AND THE BLUES

see each of these three decrees carried into effect within six days after his arrival in the city.

As we have said, all these circumstances, added to the news which had just arrived from Paris, increased the nat ural gloominess of the city.

This news told of the deaths of the queen, the Due d' Or leans, Madame Koland, and Bailly.

There was talk of the speedy recapture of Toulon from the English, but this was as yet a mere rumor.

Neither was the hour liable to make Strasbourg appear to advantage in the new-comer's eyes. After nine o'clock in the evening the dark, narrow streets were wholly given up to the patrol of the civic guard and of the company of the Propagande, who were watching over the public welfare.

Nothing, in fact, could be more depressing and mourn ful to a traveller newly arrived from a town which is neither in a state of war nor on the frontier than the sound of the nocturnal tramp of an organized body, stopping suddenly at an order given in a muffled tone, and accompanied by the clashing of arms and the exchange of the password each time two squads met.

Two or three of these patrols had already passed our young traveller and his guide, when they met another, which brought them to a halt.with the challenging, "Who goes there?"

In Strasbourg there were three different ways of replying to this challenge, which indicated in a sufficiently charac teristic way the varying opinions. The indifferent ones re plied, '' Friends!'' The moderates, ' * Citizens!'' The fanat ics, "Sans Culottes!"

"Sans Culottes!'' Codes energetically answered the guard.

"Advance and give the watchword!" cried an imperious voice.

"Ah, good!" said Codes, "I recognize that voice; it be longs to citizen Te'trell. Leave this to me."

"Who is citizen T&rell?" asked the boy.

"The friend of the people, the terror of the aristocrats,

an out-and-outer." Then, advancing like a man who has nothing to fear, he said: "It is I, citizen Tetrell!"

"AhI you know me," said the leader of the patrol, a giant of five feet ten, who reached something like a height of seven feet with his hat and the plume which surmounted it.

4 ' Indeed I do," exclaimed Codes. *' Who does not know citizen Tdtrell in Strasbourg?" Then, approaching the co lossus, he added: "Good-evening, citizen Tdtrell."

"It's all very well for you to know me," said the giant, "but I don't know you."

'' Oh, yes you do! I am citizen Codes, who was called Sleepy-head in the days of the tyrant; it was you yourself who baptized me with the name when your horses and dogs were at the Hotel de la Lanterne. Sleepy-head! What, you don't remember Sleepy-head?"

"Why, of course I do; I called you that because you were the laziest rascal I ever knew. And who is this young fellow?"

"He," said Codes, raising his torch to the level of the boy's face—"he is a little chap whom his father has sent to Euloge Schneider to learn Greek."