The Countess De Charny - Volume II (11 page)

“Yes, monsieur.”

“Well, now listen to me, Monsieur Billot.”

“I am listening.”

” Very well ; here is an order for Manuel and Danton to make these troops return to their homes, and also to remove the artillery from the Pont Neuf. Cost what it may, this order must be carried out. Do you understand? “

“I will carry it to Monsieur Danton myself.”

“Very good. You live in the Rue Saint-Honoré, do you not? “

“Yes, monsieur.”

“Then, after delivering the order to Danton, go to your lodgings and get a little sleep. After a couple of hours, though, be sure you get up and take a little walk along-side the wall of the Feuillant Terrace. If you sec or hear any pebbles thrown over this wall from some one on the terrace, you may know that I am either kept there against my will, or that my life is in danger.”

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” I understand. “

“In that case, hasten to the Assembly and bid your colleagues send for me without loss of time. You understand, Billot, I intrust my life to your hands.”

“And I will be accountable for it. Have no fears.”

So Petion left, depending on Billot’s well-known patriotism. Billot had promised all the more confidently because he knew that Pitou had just arrived. He despatched that youth to Danton immediately with the order, telling him not to come back without bringing the great leader with him. In spite of Danton’s indolence, Pitou touched his heart, and brought him to the city-hall.

Danton saw the artillery on the Pont Neuf, and the Xational Guards on the Arcade Saint-Jean, and realised how important it was that such large military forces should not be allowed to remain where they could close in behind the populace. On the strength of Petion’s order, Manuel and Danton dismissed the Xational Guards, and sent the artillery from the Pont Neuf. This left the road clear for the insurgents.

Meanwhile, Billot and Pitou returned to the Rue Saint-Honoré, where Billot still kept his old quarters. On entering his lodgings, Billot sat down, and motioned Pitou to do the same.

“I sent word for you to join me, Pitou,” began the farmer.

” And I have n’t kept you waiting, as you see,” responded Pitou, with a smile that disclosed to view every tooth in his head.

“Xo. You can see for yourself, I suppose, that something serious is about to happen.”

“I judged as much; but tell me. Monsieur Billot, how is it that I don’t see or hear anything of either Monsieur Bailly or Lafayette?”

“Bailly is a traitor who had us slaughtered on the Champ de Mars.”

“Yes, I know; for didn’t I find you there weltering in your blood ? “

billot’s will. 93

“And Lafayette is a traitor who wants to carry off the king.”

“I didn’t know that! Lafayette a traitor! Why, who would have thought it! And the king?”

“He ‘s the biggest traitor of all.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“The king is in league with foreigners, and wants to deliver France into the hands of her enemies. The Tuileries is a regular hot-bed of conspiracy; so the people have decided to take the Tuileries. Do you understand? “

“As we took the Bastille, Monsieur Billot?”

“Yes.”

“But it won’t be such a diiïicult job, I judge.”

“You’re very much mistaken about that.”

“Why, the walls are not nearly so high.”

“No, but they’re much better guarded. You see, my dear boy, the Bastille was defended by a garrison of only fifty pensioners; whereas there are three or four thousand able-bodied men in the palace.”

“Three or four thousand men! The deuce! “

“Without taking into consideration the fact that the Bastille was taken by surprise, whereas the people at the Tuileries have been anticipating an attack for a long time, and doing everything in their power to strengthen the palace.”

“So they mean to defend it! “

“Yes; and they ‘11 do it all the better from the fact that Monsieur de Charny is intrusted with the defence.”

“True, he left Boursonnes yesterday with his wife. But is Monsieur de Charny also a traitor?”

“No, he ‘s an aristocrat, — that is all. He has always sided with the Court, and consequently he has not betrayed the people, nor has he ever tried to cajole the people into trusting him.”

“So we are to fight Monsieur de Charny! Strange, is n’t it, neighbours as we are?”

“That is what we call civil war, Pitou; but you’re not obliged to fight if you don’t want to.”

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“Excuse me, monsieur, but what suits you, suits me too, you know.”

“But I ‘d much rather you would n’t fight, Pitou.”

“Then why on earth did you send for me?”

“I sent for you to give you this paper,” responded the farmer, his face growing graver.

“What is it?”

“A copy of my will.”

“A copy of your will. Monsieur Billot,” continued Pitou, laughing. ” You don’t look much like a man who ‘s about to die.”

“No,” said Billot, pointing to his musket and powder-flasks, which were hanging on the wall; “but I look like a man who may be killed.”

” Yes, we ‘re all mortal ! “

“Well, as I said before, I sent for you to give you this copy of my will, as I have made you my sole legatee.”

” Me, Monsieur Billot? No, thank you, Monsieur Billot. You say that just in joke.”

” I tell you that it’s so.”

“It can’t be, Monsieur Billot.”

“And why?”

“Because when a man has legal heirs, he can’t give his estate away to strangers.”

“You ‘re mistaken, Pitou; he can.””

“But he ought not to. Monsieur Billot.”

Billot’s face clouded. “I have no heirs,” he said gloomily.

” No heirs ? What do you call Mademoiselle Catherine ? “

“I know no person of that name.”

“Don’t talk in that way, monsieur. It makes me mad.”

“When a thing belongs to me, Pitou, I can give it to any one I choose. In like manner, if I die, and the jDroperty comes to you, you can give it to any one you choose.”

“Oh, yes, very good,” said Pitou, beginning to understand the situation. ” Then if any misfortune should hap-pen to you — But nonsense! What a fool I am! You ‘11 come out all right!”

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“But as you said just now, we are all mortal.”

“Well, you are right, I suppose. I will take the will, provided that I shall have a right to do what I like with your property, if I have the misfortune to become your heir.»

“Of course you will, as it will belong to you. They won’t try to play any tricks on you who are a good patriot, as they would on a person who has been truckling to aristocrats. So put the paper in your pocket, and try to get a little sleep, as we are likely to have plenty of work on hand to-morrow, or rather to-day, as it is now two o’clock in the morning.”

“You are not going out, Monsieur Billot? “

“Yes, I ‘ve some business on the Feuillant Terrace.”

“You are sure you don’t need me?”

“On the contrary, you would be very much in my way.”

“In that case, I ‘11 eat a bit of supper, I guess.”

“True; I quite forgot to ask if you were hungry.”

“That’s because you know I’m always hungry, I suppose,” said Pitou, laughing.

“It ‘s not necessary for me to tell you where the pantry is, I fancy.”

“Oh, no, you needn’t bother about that. You’ll be back soon, won’t you? “

“Yes, I ‘11 be back in less than an hour.”

“Very well, then; good luck to you! “

So Pitou went in search of refreshment, with an appetite which was no more impaired by untoward events than the king’s, while Billot repaired to the Feuillant Terrace.

We know his business there. He had scarcely reached the spot before a pebble falling almost at his very feet, followed by a second and a third, apprised him that wliat Petion had apprehended had come to pass, and that the mayor was a prisoner in the Tuileries.

In obedience to the instructions he had received, he hastened to the Assembly, and demanded that Petion be sent for forthwith.

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Pétion, beiug thus set at liberty , had ouly to pass through the hall of the Assembly, aud then return on foot to the city-hall, leaving his carriage to represent him in the courtyard of the Tuileries.

Billot, too, returned home, where he found Pitou just finishing his supper.

•‘Well, Monsieur Billot, what’s the news?” inquired Pitou.

“Nothing, except that it is daybreak, and that the sky is as red as blood,” responded Billot.

FKOM THKEE TO SIX IN THE MORNING. 97

CHAPTER XII.

FROM THREE TO SIX IN THE MORNING.

We have already described how the sun rose. It had just become visible above the horizon when two men rode down the deserted quay in front of the Tuileries.

These two men were the commanding general of the National Guards, Mandat, and one of his aides.

Mandat, summoned at about one o’clock in the morning to the Hôtel de Ville, had refused to go, at first. Two hours later the order was repeated in a much more per-emptory manner. Mandat was still inclined to refuse ; but Rœderer approached him, and said : ” General, recollect that, according to law, the commander of the National Guards is at the orders of the municipal authorities.”

So Mandat finally concluded to go. He was ignorant of two facts, however: first, that forty-seven of the forty-eight municipal sections had each appointed three commissioners to unite with the city authorities in saving the country.

In short, Mandat expected to find the old city government, and had no suspicion that he was to encounter one hundred and forty-one new faces. He was likewise ignorant of the order which had been issued for the removal of the troops from the Pont Neuf and on the Saint-Jean Arcade, which order, by reason of its importance, had been delivered by Manuel and Danton in person.

On reaching the Pont Neuf, Mandat was consequently astounded to find it completely deserted. He paused, therefore, and sent his aide on ahead to reconnoitre. In a few minutes the aide returned. He had seen nothing

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of any artillery, or of any National Guards. The Place Dauphine, the Kne Dauphine, and the Augustin Quay were as deserted as the Pont Neuf.

Mandat kept on. Possibly it would have been better for him if he had returned to the palace; but men go where destiny drives them.

As he approached the Hôtel de Ville, the aspect of things changed entirely. Just as, in certain physical cataclysms, the blood deserts the extremities, which remain pale and cold, and rushes to the heart, so the bustle and excitement — or, in other words, the Revolution — had centred itself along the Quay Pelletier, the Place de Grève, and around the city-hall, — in short, in the heart of that great metropolis we call Paris.

On reaching the corner of the Pelletier Quay, and see-ing that the detachment of National Guards had disappeared. Mandat felt strongly inclined to retrace his steps; but the crowd, which had massed itself behind him, forced him along to the steps of the city-hall.

“Eemain at the corner of the quay,” he said to his aide; “and if any misfortune befalls me, go to the palace at once and inform them.”

On entering the building, ^Mandat found himself confronted by many stern and unknown faces. Here stood the insurrection, ready to call to an account the man who was trying, not to curb it, but to strangle it in its very birth.

At the Tuileries, in his interview with Petion, it was Mandat who had played the part of inquisitor; here, it was Mandat who was to be questioned.

One of the members of the new Commune — that dread Commune which broke up the Assembly, and afterwards waged such a vigorous warfare upon the Convention — came forward, and, acting as spokesman for all present, demanded : —

“By whose order was the number of guards at the Tuileries doubled? “

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“By order of the mayor of Paris.”

*• Where is that order? “

” At the Tuileries, where I left it, in order that it might be carried into execution in my absence.”

“Why was the artillery ordered out?”

“Because I intended to have a battalion drill; and when a battalion drills, the artillery goes with it.”

“Where is Petion?”

“He was at the palace when I left.”

” Was he a prisoner? “

“No; he was free, and walking about the garden.”

Just then another member of the Council produced an unsealed letter and requested that it might be read aloud.

Mandat needed only to glance at the missive to know that his doom was sealed. He recognised his own handwriting.

This letter was the order sent at one o’clock that morning to the officer in command of the battalion stationed at the Arcade Saint-Jean, ordering an attack upon the rear of any crowd approaching the palace, while the troops on the Pont Neuf would attack them on the flank. This order had fallen into the hands of the Commune after the withdrawal of the troops.

The examination was ended. What more damaging admission could be desired?

The City Council decided that Mandat should be taken to the Abbaye prison. In reading the decision to Mandat, we are told that the President of the Council made a sort of horizontal wave of the hand, — a gesture of which the populace knew the interpretation only too well.

This gesture did indeed become very expressive in 179.S, one year later; but it did not signify nearly so much in 1792, when the reign of the guillotine had not yet begun.

As it was not until August 21, eleven days afterwards, that the first Koyalist was guillotined, how could this horizontal movement of the hand have meant, “Kill this man! ” unless it had been agreed upon in advance ?

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The events which followed seem to justify this supposi-tion, however.

Mandat had hardly descended three steps of the perron in front of the city-hall, when, just as his son rushed forward to meet him, a bullet fired from a pistol pierced his head. The same thing had happened to Flesselles three years before.