The Chevalier De Maison Rouge (13 page)

"Where was that ? " demanded Maurice.

"Here, of course, in this ante-chamber."

"Well, and did your daughter ask to see the Aus-

trian?"

"Xo. 1 '

" Did she not enter her room ?"

" Xo."

"And during the time you were conversing with your

daughter, did no one come out of the prisoners' cham-

ber ? "

" How should I know ? I was fully occupied with my

daughter, whom I had not seen for three months."

" Recollect yourself."

"Ah, yes ; I think I remember."

" What ? "

" The young girl came out."

" Mario Therese ?"

"Yes."

" Did she speak to your daughter ?"

"Xo."

' Your daughtei restored nothing to her ?"

"Xo."

" Did she pirk up nothing from the ground ?"

' ' My daughter ? "

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 83

"No, the daughter of Marie Antoinette ?"

"She picked up her pocket-handkerchief."

"Ah, malheureuse !" cried Maurice.

And he rushed toward the string of a bell, which he

pulled violently. It was an alarm-bell.

CHAPTER XI.

THE BILLET.

THE other two municipal guards came up hastily. A

detachment of the post accompanied them. The doors

were shut, and two sentinels intercepted the egress from

each chamber.

"What do you want, monsieur?" said the queen to

Maurice, when he entered. " I was retiring to bed, when, five minutes since, the citizen municipal suddenly forced

his entrance into my chamber, without informing me

what may be desired."

" Madame," said Maurice, bowing, " it is not my colleague who desires anything from you, it is myself."

"You, monsieur ?" demanded Marie Antoinette, looking at Maurice, whose courteous behavior had inspired

her with almost gratitude, " and what do you desire ?"

" I request you will be kind enough to show me the

letter you were concealing in your pocket when I entered

just now."

Mme. Royale and Mine. Elizabeth trembled. The queen

tunu'tl very pale.

" You are mistaken, monsieur ; I concealed nothing."

" You lie, Austrian !" cried Agricola.

Maurice quickly placed his hand on the arm of his col-

league.

" One moment, my dear colleague," said he; "leave me to speak to the citoyeune ; I am a little bit of a lawyer."

" Go on, then ; but you will not contrive it, mor~blcu ! "

" You have concealed a letter, citoyeune," said Maurice, 84 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

austerely. " Now, it is necessary we should see this

letter."

"But what letter ?"

" The letter that Tison's daughter brought you, and

which the citoyenne, your daughter" (Maurice alluded

to the young princess), " picked up with her pocket-

handkerchief."

The three females looked at one another with terror.

" But, monsieur, this is worse than tyranny," said the queen ; " these women ! these women ! "

"Do not mistake," said Maurice, with firmness; "we are neither judges nor executioners, we are overseers ;

that is to say, your fellow-citizens, commissioned to guard you. We have our order ; to violate it is treason. Citoyenne, I pray you to give me the letter you have con-

cealed."

" Messieurs," said the queen, with much hauteur,

" since you are overseers, search, and deprive us of our rest to-night, as usual."

" God forbid we should lay our hands upon these women.

I am now going to inform the Commune and await its

orders ; but you cannot retire to bed ; you must sleep

upon these fauteuils, if you please, and we must guard

you. If necessary, they will search you."

"What is the matter ?" said Tison's wife, appearing at the door, quite bewildered.

"It is this, citoyenne," said Maurice, "that by lending yourself to treasonable practises, you will debar yourself

from seeing your daughter any more."

" From seeing my daughter ? What do you tell me,

then, citizen ?" demanded Tison's wife, who could not

yet comprehend why she was not to see her daughter.

" I tell you that your daughter did not come here to

see you, but to bring a letter to the Citoyenne Capet ;

and, therefore, she will return here no more."

" But if she does not come here, I shall not be able to see her, as we are forbidden to go out."

" This time you have no one to blame but yourself it

was your fault," said Maurice.

THE CHEVALIER DE MAI8ON ROUGE. 85

" Oh !" screamed the poor woman, " why do you say it is my fault ? Nothing has happened, I tell you. If I

thought anything would happen, woe to you, Marie An-

toinette ; you should pay dearly for it."

And the exasperated woman shook her fist at the

queen.

"Threaten no one/' said Maurice; ''but rather gain

by kindness what we demand ; for you are a woman, and

the Citoyenne Marie Antoinette, who is herself a mother,

will take pity on you. To-morrow your daughter will be

arrested to-morrow imprisoned ; then, if they discover

anything, and you know that when they choose they al-

ways can do so, she is lost, and also her companion."

The woman Tison, who had listened to Maurice with

terrified credulity, turned wildly toward the queen.

"You hear, Antoinette? My daughter! It is you

who will ruin my child ! "

The queen, in her turn, appeared bewildered, not by

the fury which sparkled in the eyes of her female jailer,

but by the despair legible there :

" Come, Madame Tison," said she, " I have something to say to you."

" Halloo ! No cajolery ; there are not too many of us,"

said Maurice's colleague, " Before the municipality

always before the municipality."

" Never mind, Citizen Agricola," said Maurice ; "provided the permission comes from us, it does not matter in

what fashion."

' You are right, Citizen Maurice ; but "

" Let us pass behind the glazed partition, Citizen

Agricola ; and if you think with me, we will turn our

backs, and I am certain the individual for whom we

evince this consideration will not make us repent it."

The queen heard these words, intended for her to hear,

and cast upon the young man a look of grateful acknowl-

edgment . Maurice carelessly turned his head, and

walked to the other side of the glazed partition. Agricola

followed him.

"You see this queen," said he to Agricola; "as a 86 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

queen she is very culpable, as a woman she is high-minded

and dignified. They destroyed the crown woe to the

model ! "

" Sacre bleu! you speak well, Citizen Maurice ; I love to listen to you and your friend Tison. Is this also poetry you are reciting ? "

Maurice smiled.

During this conversation, the scene which Maurice had

anticipated was passing on the other side.

The woman Tison approached the queen.

" Madame, "said the queen, "your despair grieves me.

I do not wish to deprive you of your daughter that

would be too cruel ; but do you consider that by doing

what these men require your child will be equally

lost ? "

" Do as they tell you," cried the woman, "do as they say."

" But first, at least, hear what the question is."

" What the question is ? " demanded the woman, with an almost savage curiosity.

" Your daughter brought a friend with her."

" Yes, an artificial, like herself. She did not like to come alone, because of the soldiers. This friend committed a letter to your daughter your daughter let it

fall. Marie, who was passing, picked it up. It is, doubt-

less, a paper of no consequence, but still one upon which

evil-minded people might put a bad construction. Has

not the municipal just told you, if they wish to do so,

they can do so ? "

" What next ? What next ? "

' Well, this is all ; you wish me to send back this paper

do you wish me to sacrifice a friend, without, perhaps,

benefiting your daughter ? "

" Do us they say," cried the woman, " do as they say."

" But if this paper implicates your daughter," said the queen ; " do you understand ? "

" My daughter is, like myself, a good patriot," cried the housekeeper. " Dieu merci ! The Tisons are well

known. Do what they tell you."

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 87

" Mon Z)iew/"said the queen, "what can I say to convince you ? "

" My child ! I want them to return me my child ! " cried Tison's wife, stamping her feet. " Give me the paper,

Antoinette, give me the paper ! "

" There it is, madame."

And the queen tendered a paper to the wretched

creature, which she seized, and held joyfully above her

head, crying :

" Come here, come here, Citizen Municipals. I have

the paper ; take it, and give me back my child ! "

" You would sacrifice our friends, my sister," said Mme.

Elizabeth.

" No, my sister," replied the queen, mournfully, " I only sacrifice ourselves. This paper implicates no

one."

At the cries of the woman Tison, Maurice and his col-

league came toward her, when she immediately held out

the paper to them. They opened and read :

" A 1'Orient ! again an old friend."

Maurice had no sooner cast his eyes on this paper, than

he started.

The writing was not quite unknown to him.

" Mon Dieu /"cried he, " can it be that of Genevie've ?

But no ; it is impossible, and I am mad. It resembles

hers, certainly ; but what communication can she have

with the queen? "

He turned round, and observed that Marie Antoinette

was watching him attentively. As for the woman Tison,

as she awaited her fate, she devoured Maurice with her

eyes.

"You have done a good action," said he to Tison's wife ; "and you, citoyenne, a great one," addressing the queen.

" Then, monsieur," replied Marie Antoinette, " follow my example. Burn this paper, and you will perform a

charitable one."

' You are joking, Austrian." said Agricola. "Burn a paper that may, perhaps, enable us to discover a whole

88 THE CHEVALIER DE MA1SON ROUGB.

covey of aristocrats ? Ma foi ! no ; that would be too

much like blockheads."

" Do what ? Burn it ! That might compromise my

daughter/' said the woman Tison.

" I believe you ; your daughter and some others," said Agricola, taking the paper from the hands of Maurice,

which, had he been alone, would most assuredly have been

destroyed.

Ten minutes afterward, the letter was deposited on the

bureau of the members of the Commune, and commented

upon in various ways.

" ' A 1'Orient an old friend.' What the devil can this mean ? " said a voice.

" Pardieu !" replied a geographer; "to Lorient, that is clear enough. Lorient is a little town of Brittany,

situated between Vannes and Quimper."

" MorUeu ! they ought to burn the town, if it be true

that it shelters aristocrats, who keep watch still upon the Austrian."

"It is the more dangerous," said another, "that Lorient being a seaport, they might establish communication

with England."

"I propose," said a third, "that a mandate be forwarded to Lorient, that an inquiry may be made."

This proposition made the minority smile, but excited

the majority ; they decreed a mandate should be sent to

Lorient to watch the aristocrats.

Maurice had been informed of the consultation.

" I think it may, perhaps, mean the East," said he ;

" but I am quite sure it is not in Brittany."

The next day the queen, who, as we have previously

said, would no more enter the garden to avoid passing

the door of the apartment where her husband had been

imprisoned, requested permission to ascend the tower to

take the air, with her daughter and Mme. Elizabeth. Her

wish was instantly acceded to ; but Maurice followed her,

and, mounting the stairs, ensconced himself behind a

little turret. There, concealed, he awaited the result of

the letter of the preceding evening. The queen at first

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 89

walked indifferently with Mme. Elizabeth and her daugh-

ter, then stopped, while the two princesses continued

their promenade ; then turned toward the "East," and observed very attentively a house, at the windows of

which were visible several persons. One of the number

held a white pocket-handkerchief.

Maurice, on his part, drew a telescope from his pocket,

and while he adjusted it, the queen made a quick move-

ment, as if to request those at the window to retire ; but

Maurice had already remarked the head of a man, with

fair hair and pale complexion, whose salutation was so

respectful as almost to border on humility. Behind this

young man, for he appeared to be five or six and twenty

years of age, a woman remained partially concealed from

view. Maurice directed his glass toward her, and thought

he recognized Genevieve. Immediately the female, who

also held a telescope in her hand, drew back, dragging the

young man away with her. Was this really Genevieve?

Had she also recognized Maurice ? Had this couple only

retired at the signal given him by the queen ? Maurice

waited a moment to see if this young man and woman

would reappear ; but seeing the window remain unoccu-