On the evening of the same day, after supper, Louise, having taken her
spinning-wheel, had gone to spend the evening with Dame Rochart, at
whose cottage all the old gossips and young girls of the neighbourhood
were in the habit of assembling, relating old legends, chatting about
the rain, the weather, marriages, christenings, the departure or the
return of the conscripts, and what not--all of which helped to pass
away the time in a very agreeable manner.
Hullin sat alone, opposite his little copper lamp, repairing the old
wood-cutter's sabots. Already he thought no more of the fool, Yégof;
his hammer went up and down, hitting the big nails into the thick
wooden soles, and all mechanically, and from force of habit. A thousand
thoughts, however, passed through his head; he was a dreamer without
knowing why.
At times he thought of Gaspard, who, for a long while, had given no
sign of life; then of the campaign, which was being indefinitely
prolonged. The lamp lit up with its yellowish flame the little smoky
cabin. Outside not a sound was to be heard. The fire was almost
out; Jean-Claude rose to throw on a fresh log, then sat down again,
murmuring:
"Bah! this cannot go on much longer. We shall have a letter one of
these days."
The old clock began to strike nine; and as Hullin resumed his work, the
door opened, and Catherine Lefévre, the mistress of the Bois-de-Chênes
farm, appeared on the threshold, to the great surprise of the
shoemaker, for it was not usual for her to leave her home at such an
hour.
Catherine Lefévre might be about sixty years of age, but she was as
upright and straight as at thirty. Her clear gray eyes and hooked nose
gave to her face some-what the look of a bird of prey; her sunken
cheeks, and the corners of her mouth, drawn down by thought, added
something of a gloomy and bitter expression; two or three thick locks
of grizzled hair hung down on each side of her temples; on her head
she wore a striped brown hood, which covered her shoulders also down
to her elbows; in short, her whole aspect denoted a character firm
to obstinacy, mingled with something of grandeur and sadness which
inspired at once respect and fear.
"You, Catherine!" said Hullin, surprised out of himself.
"Yes, it is I," replied the old farm-mistress, in a calm tone. "I am
come to talk a little with you, Jean-Claude. Is Louise gone out?"
"She is spending the evening with Madeline Rochart."
"That is well."
Then Catherine threw back her hood, and came and sat down beside the
bench. Hullin looked at her steadfastly; he was struck by an appearance
of something at once extraordinary and mysterious.
"What is the matter?" said he, laying down his hammer.
Instead of replying to this question, the old woman, looking towards
the door, seemed to be listening; then, hearing nothing, she resumed
her musing look.
"The fool Yégof passed last night at the farm," said she.
"He came to see me, too, this afternoon," said Hullin, without
attaching any importance to this fact, which seemed to him of no moment.
"Yes," replied the old woman, in a low tone, "he passed the night at
our house, and yesterday evening, at this hour, in the kitchen, before
everybody, that man, that madman, related the most fearful things to
us!"
She was silent, and the corners of her mouth seemed to be drawn down
lower than usual.
"Fearful things!" murmured the shoemaker, more and more surprised, for
he had never seen the farm-mistress in such a state before, "but what
sort, Catherine, what sort?"
"Dreams that I have had!"
"Dreams! you must be laughing at me, surely!"
"No."
Then, after a moment's silence, looking at the wonderstruck Hullin, she
went on slowly:
"Yesterday evening, then, after supper, all our people were assembled
in the kitchen, round the fire. The table was still covered with the
empty bowls, platters, and spoons. Yégof had supped with us, and been
diverting us with the history of his treasures, his castles, and his
provinces. It might be then about nine o'clock--the fool had just
seated himself in the corner, beside the blazing hearth. Duchêne, my
labourer, was botching Bruno's saddle; the shepherd, Robin, was weaving
a basket; Annette was arranging her pots and pans on the dresser,
while I had brought my wheel to the fire to spin a hank before going to
bed. Out of doors, the dogs were barking at the moon; it must have been
very cold. Well, there we all were, talking about the winter that was
coming; Duchêne was saying that it would be very hard, for he had seen
large flocks of wild geese, which is a sure sign: and Yégof's raven,
perched on the edge of the chimney-piece, his great head buried in his
ruffled plumes, seemed to be asleep; but from time to time he stretched
out his neck, preened a feather or two with his bill, then looked at
us, listening for a second, and again plunged his head between his
shoulders."
The farm-mistress was silent for a moment, as if to collect her
thoughts. She cast down her eyes; her long, hooked nose bent itself
almost to her lips, and a strange paleness seemed to spread over her
face.
"What on earth is she driving at?" said Hullin to himself.
The old woman went on:
"Yégof, beside the blazing hearth, with his tin crown on his head, his
short staff between his knees, was dreaming of something. He looked at
the great black fire-place, the large stone chimney-piece, with figures
and trees carved upon it, and the smoke which was rising in heavy
wreaths round the flitches of bacon. All at once, when we were least
thinking of it, he struck the end of his staff upon the stones, and
cried out, like one in a dream: 'Yes, yes; I have seen all that. It is
a long time ago--a long time.' And as we all looked at him, struck with
surprise--'At that time,' he went on, 'the fir forests were forests of
oak--the Nideck the Dagsberg, the Falkenstein, the Geroldseck; none
of those old castles, now in ruins, existed then. At that time they
used to hunt the wild oxen in the woods, fish for salmon in the Sarre;
and you--you fair-skinned men, buried in the snow six months in the
year--you lived upon milk and cheese; for you had large flocks and
herds on the Hengst, the Schneeberg, the Grosmann, and the Donon. In
summer, you hunted; you came trooping down to the banks of the Rhine,
the Moselle, the Meuse. Oh, yes; I remember all that.'
"Strange to say, Jean-Claude, while the fool continued speaking,
I seemed to see again all those countries of former times, and to
remember them as a dream. I had let fall my distaff, and old Duchêne,
Robin, Jeanne--in short, every one, was listening eagerly. 'Yes, it
is a long time ago,' the fool began again. 'In those times, too, you
used to build these huge fire-places; and all around, at two or three
hundred paces, you used to fix your palings fifteen feet high, and
inside of them you used to keep your great dogs, with hanging dewlaps,
who barked night and day.'
"Whatever he said, Jean-Claude, we saw. As for him, he seemed to pay
no heed to us, but kept looking at the figures on the chimney-piece,
with his mouth wide open; but at the end of a moment, having turned his
head towards us, and seeing us all attentive, he began to laugh with
that wild laugh of his, exclaiming: 'And at that time--oh! fair-haired
men with blue eyes and white skins, fed on milk and cheese, and only
drinking blood in the autumn, at the great hunts--you believed
yourselves masters of the plain and of the mountain, when we, the red
men with green eyes, sprung from the sea; we, who drank blood always,
and loved nothing but war, arrived one fine morning, with our axes
and our spears, coming up the Sarre under shadow of the old oaks. Ah!
it was a cruel war, and one that lasted weeks and months. And the old
woman, there,' said he, pointing to me, with a strange smile, 'the
Margareth of the clan of the Kilberix, that old woman with the hooked
nose--within her palisades, in the midst of her dogs and her warriors,
defended herself like a she-wolf. But at the end of five moons hunger
came: the gates of her palisades opened for flight, and we--in ambush
in the stream--we massacred all--all, except the children and the
beautiful young girls. The old woman alone, with her nails and her
teeth, defended herself to the last. And I, Luitprand--I cleft her gray
head, and I took her father, the blind man, the aged of many days, and
chained him to the gate of my strong castle like a dog.'
"Then, Hullin," continued the farm-mistress, bowing down her
head--"then the fool began to sing a long song--the complaint of the
old man chained to his gate. Wait while I try and remember it. It was
sad--sad as _a miserere_. I cannot recollect it, Jean-Claude; but I
seem to hear it still: it froze the marrow in my bones. And as he
kept laughing all the while, our people at last grew furious. With a
terrible cry, Duchêne sprang at the throat of the fool to strangle him;
but he, stronger than you would think, repulsed him, and raising his
staff threateningly, exclaimed:
"'On your knees, slaves--on your knees! My armies are advancing.
Do you hear them? The earth trembles beneath their tread. Those
castles--the Nideck, the Haut-Barr, the Dagsberg, the Turkestein--you
will have to rebuild them. On your knees!'
"Never in my life did I see a countenance more terrific than that of
Yégof at this moment; but, for the second time seeing my people about
to rush upon him, I felt bound to defend him.
"'He is a madman,' said I. 'Are you not ashamed to take heed of the
words of a fool?' They stopped on account of what I said; but for my
own part I could not close an eye the whole night long. I lay awake
hour after hour, thinking of what the wretched creature had said. I
seemed to hear the song of the old man, the barking of the dogs, and
the sounds of battle. It is long since I have felt so disturbed and
unhappy. That is why I have come to see you. What do you think of all
this, Hullin?"
"I!" said the shoemaker, whose full, red face betrayed a sort of
sad scorn mixed with pity; "if I did not know you as well as I do,
Catherine, I should say that you had gone out of your mind--you,
Duchêne, Robin, and all the rest of them. It all sounds to me like one
of the tales of Genevieve de Brabant--a story made to frighten little
children, and which shows us the folly of our ancestors."
"Because you do not understand these things," said the old
farm-mistress, in a calm and grave tone; "you never had any ideas of
this sort."
"Then you believe what Yégof sang to you?"
"Yes, I believe it."
"What, you, Catherine--a woman of your sense? If it were Dame Rochart,
I should think nothing of it. But you!----"
He rose quite indignant, took off his apron, shrugged his shoulders,
and then abruptly sat down again, saying, "Do you know who this raving
maniac is? Well, I will tell you. You may be sure he is one of those
German schoolmasters who puzzle their brain over an old story of
Mother Goose, and discuss it gravely with you. By dint of studying
dreaming, pondering, looking for knots in a bulrush, their brain
gets bewildered--they have visions, distorted dreams, and take those
dreams for gospel. I have always looked upon Yégof as one of those
poor creatures, he knows a host of names; he talks of Brittany and
Austrasia, of Polynesia and the Nideck; and then of the Geroldseck,
the Turkestein, the borders of the Rhine: in short, of everything, at
random till at length there seems to be something in it, while in truth
there is nothing. At another time, you would think with me, Catherine;
but you are in trouble at not having had any news from Gaspard. These
rumours of war, of invasion, that are going about, torment you, disturb
your rest. You cannot sleep, and so you come to look upon the babble of
a fool as the words of Holy Writ."
"No, Hullin--it is not so. You, yourself, if you had heard Yégof----"
"Stuff and nonsense!" exclaimed the honest man. "If I had heard it I
should have laughed in his face, as just now---- By the way, do you
know that he came to ask Louise's hand of me, to make her Queen of
Austrasia?"
Catherine Lefévre could not restrain a smile; but immediately resuming
her serious manner: "All your reasons, Jean-Claude," said she, "do not
convince me; but I confess Gaspard's silence alarms me. I know my son.
I am certain he has written to me. Why, then, have not his letters
reached me? The war is going badly, Hullin; we have the whole world
against us. They will have none of our revolution; you know that as
well as me. As long as we had the upper hand, and gained victory upon
victory, they were hand-and-glove with us; but, since our disasters in
Russia, things have taken another turn."
"Ah! ha! Catherine, how your head wanders. You look always on the black
side of things."
"Yes, I do look on the black side of things, and I am right. What
troubles me most is that we get no news from the outer world; we live
here like a nation of savages, and know nothing of what is going on
around us. The Austrians and the Cossacks may fall upon us from one day
to the next, before we know where we are."
Hullin observed the growing excitement of the old woman, and was
infected, in spite of himself, by the influence of her fears.
"Listen, Catherine," said he, all at once; "when you talk in a rational
way, it is not for me to contradict you. All that you say now is
possible. Not that I believe it; still, there is no knowing I was
intending to go to Phalsbourg in about a week, to buy some sheepskin to
line my sabots. I will go to-morrow. At Phalsbourg, a fortified place,
and a post-town, moreover, there must be some reliable news to be had.
Will you believe what I bring you from there?"
"Yes."
"Good; then that is settled. I will set out early to-morrow. It is five
leagues; about six o'clock I shall be back. You will see, Catherine,
that your gloomy ideas are against all common sense."
"I hope so," replied the farm-mistress, rising; "I hope so. You have
comforted me a little, Hullin. And now I will go back to the farm, and,
I hope, sleep better than I did last night. Good night, Jean-Claude."
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