The Chevalier De Maison Rouge (27 page)

everlastingly in this dove-cot am not allowed to see my

poor Sophie."

Maurice took her hand and slipped into it an assignat

of ten livres.

" There, good woman, take that, and do not despair.

Mon Dieu ! the Austrian will not last forever."

"Ten livres!" said the jaileress ; "that is kind of you, but I would rather have even a papilotte that had

curled my poor girl's hair."

As she finished these words, Simon, who was then com-

ing up, heard them, and saw the jaileress place in her

pocket the money Maurice had given her. We will men-

tion what sort of a temper Simon was in. As he entered

the court he encountered Louis. Now, a decided antip-

athy existed between these two men. This hatred was

less induced by the violent scenes with which our readers

are already familiar, than by the difference of race, an

everlasting source of detestation, which however myste-

rious it may at first appear, is easily explained. Simon

was hideous, Louis handsome ; Simon was low, Louis

the very opposite ; Simon was a Republican bully, Louis

one of those ardent patriots who had sacrificed every-

thing to the Revolution ; and then, if they must come to

blows, Simon instinctively felt that the iistof the fop lost none of its elegance when Maurice had decreed him to a

plebeian punishment.

Simon, on perceiving Louis, stopped short, and turned

pale.

" It is still this battalion that mounts guard," growled ho.

" Vell,'' sail] a grenadier, who overheard this apos-

trophe, " one is as good us another, it seems to me."

Simon (lrev a pencil from his pocket, and pretended to

note down something on a piece of papec almost as black

as his own hands.

" Ah ! " said Louis. " yon know how to write, then, Simon, since you are tutor to young Capet ? Look, citi-THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 177

zens, upon my honor, he takes notes ; it is Simon the

Censor."

A universal shout of laughter proceeded from the ranks

of the young National Guards, almost all men of educa-

tion, at the ridiculous title bestowed upon the wretched

cobbler.

"Very well, very well," said he, grinding his teeth, and coloring with rage ; " they say you have permitted strangers to enter the keep, and that without the consent

of the Commune. Very well, I am going to draw out the

proces- verbal for the municipal."

" At least, he knows how to write that," said Louis ;

" it is Maurice, you know, brave Simon Maurice with

the Iron Hand, you remember that."

At this moment Morand and Genevieve went out.

At this sight, Simon rushed into the keep, at the very

moment, as we have said, when Maurice, by way of con-

soling her, presented the woman Tison with the assignat

for ten livres. Maurice paid no attention to the presence

of this miserable wretch, whom by a natural instin'ct he

always avoided if he by any chance encountered him, re-

garding him in the light of a disgusting and venomous

reptile.

" Ah, well ! " said Simon to Tison's wife, " so you wish to bring yourself to be guillotined, citoyenne ? "

" I ! " said the woman, who had just dried her eyes with her apron ; " and why is that ? "

" Why ? because you receive money from the munici-

pal for allowing aristocrats entrance to the Austrian."

"I!" said the woman Tison. "Be silent; you are mr.4 ! "

" This shall be consigned to the proces-verbal," said Simon, emphatically.

"' Well, then, they are friends of the Municipal Maurice, one of the best patriots that ever existed."

" Conspirators, I tell you ; besides, the Commune shall be informed ; it will judge for itself."

" Allans, you mean to denounce me, then, spy of the

police ? "

178 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

" Exactly so, if you do not denounce yourself."

" Denounce what ? What do you wish me to de-

nounce ? "

"All that has happened."

" But nothing has happened."

"Where were these aristocrats?"

"There, upon the staircase."

" Has Capet's wife ascended the stairs ?"

" Yes."

" And they spoke to her ?"

" They exchanged two words."

" Two words ! and what perfume of this aristocrat's

do I smell here ? "

"It is the scent of the carnations."

" Carnations ! what carnations ?"

" Why, the citoyenne had a bunch of them, which per-

fumed the whole place."

"What citoyenne ?"

" The one who saw the queen pass."

"' You see plainly and tell the queen so that convers-

ing with these aristocrats will be your ruin. But what

is this I am treading upon ?" continued Simon, stooping down.

" Ah ! " said the woman Tison, "it is a flower, a carnation ; it must have fallen from the band of the Cito-

yenne Dixmer, when Marie Antoinette took one from her

bouquet."

"The woman Capet took a flower from the Citoyenne

Bixmer's bouquet ? '" said Simon.

" Yes, and it was given her by me," said Maurice, in a loud and menacing tone, who bad been for some moments

listening to this colloquy till his patience was nearly ex-

hausted.

" It is all very well, it is all very well ; one sees what one does see, and one knows what one says," growled

Simon, who still held in bis band the carnation crushed by

his huge foot.

" And I also know one thing, ''replied Maurice, " which I am now going to tell you ; it is that you have nothing

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 179

whatever to do in this keep, and that your honorable

post of tormentor is down there with the little Capet,

whom I would, for your own sake, recommend you not

to chastise to-day, as I am here to defend him/'

" Do you threaten me ? do you call me tormentor ? "

cried Simon, crushing the flower in his hand. " Ah ! we shall see if it is permitted in these aristocrats Why,

what can this be ? "

" What ? " asked Maurice.

" That I feel in this carnation ! Ah, ah ! "

The eyes of Maurice were transfixed with astonishment,

as Simon drew from the calyx of the flower a small paper,

rolled with the most exquisite care, which had been ar-

tistically introduced into the center of the clustering

leaves.

"Oh, mon Dieu ! " said Maurice, "what can this mean ? "

" We will know, we will know ! " said Simon, approaching the window. " Ah ! you and your friend Louis told

me I did not know how to read. " Well, you shall

see."

Louis had calumniated Simon ; he had learned both to

read and write. But the billet was so minute that Simon

was obliged to have recourse to his spectacles. He con-

sequently placed it on the window, while he proceeded

to take an inventory of the contents of his pockets ; but

while thus engaged, the Citizen Agricola opened the

door of the ante-chamber exactly facing the little window,

thereby causing a current of air, which blew away the

little paper, light as a feather from a bird's wing, so that when Simon, after a momentary exploration, had discovered his spectacles, placed them on his nose, and

turned himself round, his search was useless the paper

had disappeared.

" There was a paper here !" screamed Simon, crimson with rage ; " there was a paper here. Look to yourself, Citizen Municipal, for it must and shall be found."

And he descended precipitately, leaving Maurice in a

state of stupefaction. Ten minutes afterward three

180 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

members of the Commune entered the keep. The queen

was still upon the platform, and strict orders had been

issued that she should remain in total ignorance of all

that had just occurred. The members of the Commune

desired to be conducted to her presence. The first object

which met their view was the crimson carnation, which

she still retained in her hand. They regarded her with

surprise, and approaching her :

" Give us this flower," said the president of the deputation.

The queen, who had not previously noticed this inter-

ruption, started and hesitated.

" Surrender your flower, madame," said Maurice, in terror, "I ^ntreat you."

The queen tendered them the carnation. The presi-

dent took it and r tired, foll.w'd by liis colleagues, into a neighboring apartment, to make un examination, and

draw up the proces-verbal. They opened the flower it

was empty. Maurice breathed afresh.

"Wait a moment, "said one of the members, " the heart of the carnation has been removed. The socket is

empty, it is true, bul in this, Bucket most unquestionably, a letter has been introduced."

" I am quite ready and willing," said Maurice, "to furnish all necessary explanation ; " but, first oi all, I request that I may be arrested."

" It would not be right to avail ourselves of your proposition," said the president. " You are known as a stanch patriot, Citizen Lindey."

11 And I will answer with my life for the friends I had

the imprudence to bring with me."

"Answer for no one," replied the procurator.

A great conversation was now heard in the court. It

was Simon, who, having long and vainly sought for the

little billet wafted away by the wind, now went to inform

Santerre that an attempt had been made to carry off the

queen, with all the accessories which the charms of his

excited imagination could lend to such an event. Santerre

was in great haste he investigated the Temple and changed

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 181

the guard, to the great disgust of Louis, who strongly

protested against this offense to his battalion.

"Ah ! vile cobbler," said he to Simon, menacing him with his saber, " I have yon to thank for this ; Jbut only wait a little, I will have my revenge, and pay you in your

own coin."

" I think rather that the nation will pay you," said the shoemaker, rubbing his hands.

"Citizen Maurice," said Santerre, "hold yourself in readiness for the command of the Commune, who will

examine you."

" I await your orders, commandant ; but I have already told you I desire to be arrested, and I again repeat my

former request."

"Wait, wait/' murmured Simon, sullenly; " since you feel so sure, we will soon settle that business for you."

And he went to find the woman Tison.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE GODDESS REASON".

THEY searched during the whole day in the court, in

the garden and its environs, for the little billet which

had caused all this tumult, and which they no longer

doubted contained the whole plot. They interrogated the

queen, after having first separated her from her daughter

and sister, but elicited nothing more from her, than hav-

ing, on the staircase, encountered a young woman carry-

ing a bouquet, she had drawn a single flower from the

center.

'Had she not plucked this flower with the consent of

the Municipal Maurice ? "

She had nothing more to tell. This was the truth in

all its force and simplicity. This was all reported to

Maurice, and he in his turn declared the deposition of the

queen to be quite correct.

" But," said the president, " there was still a plot."

182 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

" Impossible," said Maurice ; " I was dining at Madame Dixmer's and proposed that she should see the prisoners,

hearing her remark she had never done so ; but neither

the day nor the manner of 30 doing was arranged."

" But the flowers were purchased/' said the president ;

" the bouquet had been made beforehand."

" Not at all ; I myself purchased these flowers from a flower-girl, who offered them to us at the corner of La

Hue des Yieilles Audriettes."

' ' But at least, this flower-girl presented the bouquet to you?"

" No, citizen ; I selected it myself from ten or twelve others. Certainly, I purchased the most beautiful."

" But was there a possibility of secreting this billet on your road to the tower ? "

" Impossible, citizen. I never quitted Madame Dixmer's side for a moment, and to perform the operation named on

each flower for remark that every flower, according to

Simon's account, contained alike billet would, at least,

occupy half a day or more."

" But, in short, could not two prepared billets have

been placed in the flowers ? "

" It was in my presence the prisoner took one at hazard, after having declined the rest."

" Then, in your opinion, Citizen Lindey, there was not a plot at all."

"If it were a plot," replied Maurice, "and I am the first not only to believe but to affirm it, my friends were not concerned in it. However, as the nation must necessarily experience alarm, I offer security by constituting

myself prisoner."

" Not at all," said Santerre ; " this act alone is sufficient proof. If you constitute yourself prisoner to answer for

your friends, I constitute myself prisoner to answer for

you. The thing is simple enough. There is no positive

denunciation. Is it not so ? No one will know what has

passed. Inspect every occurrence more strictly, redouble

your own vigilance especially, and we shall arrive at the

bottom of this thing by avoiding publicity."

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 183

"Thanks, commandant," said Maurice; "but I reply to you as you would answer were you in my place. We