The clock in the tower of Sairmeuse was striking the hour of eight when
Lacheneur and his little band of followers left the Reche.
An hour later, at the Chateau de Courtornieu, Mlle. Blanche, after
finishing her dinner, ordered the carriage to convey her to Montaignac.
Since her father had taken up his abode in town they met only on Sunday;
on that day either Blanche went to Montaignac, or the marquis paid a
visit to the chateau.
Hence this proposed journey was a deviation from the regular order of
things. It was explained, however, by grave circumstances.
It was six days since Martial had presented himself at Courtornieu; and
Blanche was half crazed with grief and rage.
What Aunt Medea was forced to endure during this interval, only poor
dependents in rich families can understand.
For the first three days Mlle. Blanche succeeded in preserving a
semblance of self-control; on the fourth she could endure it no longer,
and in spite of the breach of “_les convenances_” which it involved, she
sent a messenger to Sairmeuse to inquire for Martial. Was he ill--had he
gone away?
The messenger was informed that the marquis was perfectly well, but,
as he spent the entire day, from early morn to dewy eve, in hunting, he
went to bed every evening as soon as supper was over.
What a horrible insult! Still, she was certain that Martial, on hearing
what she had done, would hasten to her to make his excuses. Vain hope!
He did not come; he did not even condescend to give one sign of life.
“Ah! doubtless he is with her,” she said to Aunt Medea. “He is on his
knees before that miserable Marie-Anne--his mistress.”
For she had finished by believing--as is not unfrequently the case--the
very calumnies which she herself had invented.
In this extremity she decided to make her father her confidant; and she
wrote him a note announcing her coming.
She wished her father to compel Lacheneur to leave the country. This
would be an easy matter for him, since he was armed with discretionary
authority at an epoch when lukewarm devotion afforded an abundant excuse
for sending a man into exile.
Fully decided upon this plan, Blanche became calmer on leaving the
chateau; and her hopes overflowed in incoherent phrases, to which poor
Aunt Medea listened with her accustomed resignation.
“At last I shall be rid of this shameless creature!” she exclaimed. “We
will see if he has the audacity to follow her! Will he follow her? Oh,
no; he dare not!”
When the carriage passed through the village of Sairmeuse, Mlle. Blanche
noticed an unwonted animation.
There were lights in every house, the saloons seemed full of drinkers,
and groups of people were standing upon the public square and upon the
doorsteps.
But what did this matter to Mlle. de Courtornieu! It was not until they
were a mile or so from Sairmeuse that she was startled from her revery.
“Listen, Aunt Medea,” she said, suddenly. “Do you hear anything?”
The poor dependent listened. Both occupants of the carriage heard shouts
that became more and more distinct with each revolution of the wheels.
“Let us find out the meaning of this,” said Mlle. Blanche.
And lowering one of the carriage-windows, she asked the coachman the
cause of the disturbance.
“I see a great crowd of peasants on the hill; they have torches and----”
“Blessed Jesus!” interrupted Aunt Medea, in alarm.
“It must be a wedding,” added the coachman, whipping up his horses.
It was not a wedding, but Lacheneur’s little band, which had been
augmented to the number of about five hundred. Lacheneur should have
been at the Croix d’Arcy two hours before. But he had shared the fate of
most popular chiefs. When an impetus had been given to the movement he
was no longer master of it.
Baron d’Escorval had made him lose twenty minutes; he was delayed four
times as long in Sairmeuse. When he reached that village, a little
behind time, he found the peasants scattered through the wine-shops,
drinking to the success of the enterprise.
To tear them from their merry-making was a long and difficult task.
And to crown all, when they were finally induced to resume their line of
march, it was impossible to persuade them to extinguish the pine knots
which they had lighted to serve as torches.
Prayers and threats were alike unavailing. “They wished to see their
way,” they said.
Poor deluded creatures! They had not the slightest conception of the
difficulties and the perils of the enterprise they had undertaken.
They were going to capture a fortified city, defended by a numerous
garrison, as if they were bound on a pleasure jaunt.
Gay, thoughtless, and animated by the imperturbable confidence of a
child, they were marching along, arm in arm, singing patriotic songs.
On horseback, in the centre of the band, M. Lacheneur felt his hair
turning white with anguish.
Would not this delay ruin everything? What would the others, who were
waiting at the Croix d’Arcy, think! What were they doing at this very
moment?
“Onward! onward!” he repeated.
Maurice, Chanlouineau, Jean, Marie-Anne, and about twenty of the old
soldiers of the Empire, understood and shared Lacheneur’s despair. They
knew the terrible danger they were incurring, and they, too, repeated:
“Faster! Let us march faster!”
Vain exhortation! It pleased these people to go slowly.
Suddenly the entire band stopped. Some of the peasants, chancing to look
back, had seen the lamps of Mlle. de Courtornieu’s carriage gleaming in
the darkness.
It came rapidly onward, and soon overtook them. The peasants recognized
the coachman’s livery, and greeted the vehicle with shouts of derision.
M. de Courtornieu, by his avariciousness, had made even more enemies
than the Duc de Sairmeuse; and all the peasants who thought they had
more or less reason to complain of his extortions were delighted at this
opportunity to frighten him.
For, that they were not thinking of vengeance, is conclusively proved by
the sequel.
Hence great was their disappointment when, on opening the carriage-door,
they saw within the vehicle only Mlle. Blanche and Aunt Medea, who
uttered the most piercing shrieks.
But Mlle. de Courtornieu was a brave woman.
“Who are you?” she demanded, haughtily, “and what do you desire?”
“You will know to-morrow,” replied Chanlouineau. “Until then, you are
our prisoner.”
“I see that you do not know who I am, boy.”
“Excuse me. I do know who you are, and, for this very reason, I request
you to descend from your carriage. She must leave the carriage, must she
not, Monsieur d’Escorval?”
“Very well! I declare that I will not leave my carriage; tear me from it
if you dare!”
They would certainly have dared had it not been for Marie-Anne, who
checked some peasants as they were springing toward the carriage.
“Let Mademoiselle de Courtornieu pass without hinderance,” said she.
But this permission might produce such serious consequences that
Chanlouineau found courage to resist.
“That cannot be, Marie-Anne,” said he; “she will warn her father. We
must keep her as a hostage; her life may save the life of our friends.”
Mlle. Blanche had not recognized her former friend, any more than she
had suspected the intentions of this crowd of men.
But Marie-Anne’s name, uttered with that of d’Escorval enlightened her
at once.
She understood it all, and trembled with rage at the thought that she
was at the mercy of her rival. She resolved to place herself under no
obligation to Marie-Anne Lacheneur.
“Very well,” said she, “we will descend.”
Her former friend checked her.
“No,” said she, “no! This is not the place for a young girl.”
“For an honest young girl, you should say,” replied Blanche, with a
sneer.
Chanlouineau was standing only a few feet from the speaker with his
gun in his hand. If a man had uttered those words he would have been
instantly killed. Marie-Anne did not deign to notice them.
“Mademoiselle will turn back,” she said, calmly; “and as she can reach
Montaignac by the other road, two men will accompany her as far as
Courtornieu.”
She was obeyed. The carriage turned and rolled away, but not so quickly
that Marie-Anne failed to hear Blanche cry:
“Beware, Marie! I will make you pay dearly for your insulting
patronage!”
The hours were flying by. This incident had occupied ten minutes
more--ten centuries--and the last trace of order had disappeared.
M. Lacheneur could have wept with rage. He called Maurice and
Chanlouineau.
“I place you in command,” said he; “do all that you can to hurry these
idiots onward. I will ride as fast as I can to the Croix d’Arcy.”
He started, but he was only a short distance in advance of his followers
when he saw two men running toward him at full speed. One was clad in
the attire of a well-to-do bourgeois; the other wore the old uniform of
captain in the Emperor’s guard.
“What has happened?” Lacheneur cried, in alarm.
“All is discovered!”
“Great God!”
“Major Carini has been arrested.”
“By whom? How?”
“Ah! there was a fatality about it! Just as we were perfecting our
arrangements to capture the Duc de Sairmeuse, the duke surprised us. We
fled, but the cursed noble pursued us, overtook Carini, seized him by
the collar, and dragged him to the citadel.”
Lacheneur was overwhelmed; the abbe’s gloomy prophecy again resounded in
his ears.
“So I warned my friends, and hastened to warn you,” continued the
officer. “The affair is an utter failure!”
He was only too correct; and Lacheneur knew it even better than he did.
But, blinded by hatred and anger, he would not acknowledge that the
disaster was irreparable.
“Let Mademoiselle de Counornieu pass without hinderance.”
He affected a calmness which he did not in the least feel.
“You are easily discouraged, gentlemen,” he said, bitterly. “There is,
at least, one more chance.”
“The devil! Then you have resources of which we are ignorant?”
“Perhaps--that depends. You have just passed the Croix d’Arcy; did you
tell any of those people what you have just told me?”
“Not a word.”
“How many men are there at the rendezvous?”
“At least two thousand.”
“And what is their mood?”
“They are burning to begin the struggle. They are cursing our slowness,
and told me to entreat you to make haste.”
“In that case our cause is not lost,” said Lacheneur, with a threatening
gesture. “Wait here until the peasants come up, and say to them that
you were sent to tell them to make haste. Bring them on as quickly
as possible, and have confidence in me; I will be responsible for the
success of the enterprise.”
He said this, then putting spurs to his horse, galloped away. He
had deceived the men. He had no other resources. He did not have the
slightest hope of success. It was an abominable falsehood. But, if this
edifice, which he had erected with such care and labor, was to totter
and fall, he desired to be buried beneath its ruins. They would be
defeated; he was sure of it, but what did that matter? In the conflict
he would seek death and find it.
Bitter discontent pervaded the crowd at the Croix d’Arcy; and after
the passing of the officers, who had hastened to warn Lacheneur of the
disaster at Montaignac, the murmurs of dissatisfaction were changed to
curses.
These peasants, nearly two thousand in number, were indignant at not
finding their leader awaiting them at the rendezvous.
“Where is he?” they asked. “Who knows but he is afraid at the last
moment? Perhaps he is concealing himself while we are risking our lives
and the bread of our children here.”
And already the epithets of mischief-maker and traitor were flying from
lip to lip, and increasing the anger in every breast.
Some were of the opinion that the crowd should disperse; others wished
to march against Montaignac without Lacheneur, and that, immediately.
But these deliberations were interrupted by the furious gallop of a
horse.
A carriage appeared, and stopped in the centre of the open space.
Two men alighted; Baron d’Escorval and Abbe Midon.
They were in advance of Lacheneur. They thought they had arrived in
time.
Alas! here, as on the Reche, all their efforts, all their entreaties,
and all their threats were futile.
They had come in the hope of arresting the movement; they only
precipitated it.
“We have gone too far to draw back,” exclaimed one of the neighboring
farmers, who was the recognized leader in Lacheneur’s absence. “If death
is before us, it is also behind us. To attack and conquer--that is our
only hope of salvation. Forward, then, at once. That is the only way of
disconcerting our enemies. He who hesitates is a coward! Forward!”
A shout of approval from two thousand throats replied:
“Forward!”
They unfurled the tri-color, that much regretted flag that reminded
them of so much glory, and so many great misfortunes; the drums began to
beat, and with shouts of: “Vive Napoleon II.!” the whole column took up
its line of march.
Pale, with clothing in disorder, and voices husky with fatigue and
emotion, M. d’Escorval and the abbe followed the rebels, imploring them
to listen to reason.
They saw the precipice toward which these misguided creatures were
rushing, and they prayed God for an inspiration to check them.
In fifty minutes the distance separating the Croix d’Arcy from
Montaignac is traversed.
Soon they see the gate of the citadel, which was to have been opened for
them by their friends within the walls.
It is eleven o’clock, and yet this gate stands open.
Does not this circumstance prove that their friends are masters of the
town, and that they are awaiting them in force?
They advance, so certain of success that those who have guns do not even
take the trouble to load them.
M. d’Escorval and the abbe alone foresee the catastrophe.
The leader of the expedition is near them, they entreat him not to
neglect the commonest precautions, they implore him to send some two
men on in advance to reconnoitre; they, themselves, offer to go, on
condition that the peasants will await their return before proceeding
farther.
But their prayers are unheeded.
The peasants pass the outer line of fortifications in safety. The head
of the advancing column reaches the drawbridge.
The enthusiasm amounts to delirium; who will be the first to enter is
the only thought.
Alas! at that very moment a pistol is fired.
It is a signal, for instantly, and on every side, resounds a terrible
fusillade.
Three or four peasants fall, mortally wounded. The rest pause, frozen
with terror, thinking only of escape.
The indecision is terrible; but the leader encourages his men, there are
a few of Napoleon’s old soldiers in the ranks. A struggle begins, all
the more frightful by reason of the darkness!
But it is not the cry of “Forward!” that suddenly rends the air.
The voice of a coward sends up the cry of panic:
“We are betrayed! Let him save himself who can!”
This is the end of all order. A wild fear seizes the throng; and these
men flee madly, despairingly, scattered as withered leaves are scattered
by the power of the tempest.