THE PEASANTS' DEFEAT.
Mademoiselle Plouernel entered the apartment walking slowly. She looked
fresher, more beautiful than ever. She was dressed in white. The old
equerry bowed respectfully and said to her, who upon seeing him, uttered
a cry of surprise:
"I did not hurry to present myself before mademoiselle because the
tidings that I bring are of the saddest."
"Leave us alone, Marion," said Mademoiselle Plouernel to her nurse. "I
must see Du Buisson privately for a moment."
Marion left the room, and Bertha kindly addressed the equerry:
"I am all the sorrier for the trouble I have put you to, Du Buisson,
seeing that it was to prove fruitless;" and seating herself, the young
girl added: "Do not remain standing; you must feel tired after your long
journey."
Out of deference for his mistress the old man hesitated to obey. Bertha
repeated:
"Take a seat; I want it."
Du Buisson sat down. Bertha proceeded:
"Then you bring me back my letter?"
"Here it is, mademoiselle," answered the old man. "I could not find the
addressee," and taking a letter out of his wallet, he passed it over to
Bertha, who laid the folded and sealed paper on a table beside her,
saying:
"So then you found it impossible to ascertain the whereabouts of
Monsieur Nominoe Lebrenn? Could you gather no information concerning
him?"
"None, mademoiselle! When I left Mezlean I learned that the troop of
insurgent peasants took the road to Rennes, was greatly augmented by
contingents from the parishes which it traversed, and must have numbered
about twenty thousand men, more or less well armed. It was a veritable
army. Monsieur Nominoe Lebrenn, his father and Monsieur Serdan had
brought the body under considerable disciplinary order. Nevertheless,
all their efforts to the contrary, not a few disorderly acts were
indulged in at the castles and rectories. The peasant army moved all the
while towards Rennes. I hoped to encounter it at Guemenee. But there I
learned that envoys of Monsieur the Duke of Chaulnes, Governor of
Brittany, had arrived at that town ahead of the insurgents and announced
to the inhabitants that the new royal taxes were repealed, that the
parliament of Brittany was to assemble at Vannes, that it would register
the Peasant Code, that the vassals also were to be exonerated from
paying the royal taxes, and that thenceforth they were all to be
protected against any further extortions and maltreatment by the
seigneurs and the curates. The promises made by the emissaries of
Monsieur the Duke of Chaulnes caused great jubilation among the
peasants. They declared that, having obtained what they wanted, the war
was ended, and they would return home to their respective parishes. So
far from sharing the confidence into which the peasants were lulled,
Lebrenn and Serdan urged upon them the necessity of not disbanding and
not laying down their arms; they assured the peasants that they were
being deceived, and that the plan was to dissolve their army by means of
mendacious promises, and then to fall upon and crush them. Indeed, the
promises were but a snare and a lure. But the lure seduced the peasants,
who were homesick for their huts, their wives and their children. In
vain did their chiefs urge them to march upon Rennes, the usual place
for the parliament to hold its sessions, and support the assembly in its
defiance of the King."
"And the advice was not heeded?"
"No, mademoiselle. The vassals, delighted at the realization of their
aspirations, answered that it was impossible to suppose Monseigneur the
Governor would vilely lie to them. They broke ranks and struck the roads
home in separate bands, proclaiming everywhere along their passage that
the Peasant Code was accepted by the seigneurs and the curates. Great
rejoicing reigned in all the parishes of Brittany. Everywhere bonfires
were lighted. Upon learning at Guemenee of the dispersion of the
insurgents, I inquired after their chiefs. I learned that Monsieur
Salaun Lebrenn, his son and Monsieur Serdan had proceeded to Rennes. I
went thither. The masses of the people, especially the bourgeoisie,
being less credulous than the peasants, remained in arms, the same as
at Nantes, awaiting the opening of the parliament promised by Monsieur
the Duke of Chaulnes. While at Rennes I looked for the Lebrenns and
Monsieur Serdan. Later I learned they had departed for Nantes. Thither I
wended my way. Upon arriving at Nantes I learned that a body of ten
thousand troops, commanded by Monsieur De Forbin, had just entered
Brittany in order to crush the rebellious parliamentarians--were they
bourgeois or peasants. On the following day the town of Nantes was
occupied by two regiments of infantry, supported by artillery and
cavalry. The executions commenced. On the first day forty-seven leading
bourgeois were hanged, and eleven men of the common people, who were
marked as seditious, broken alive on the wheel."
"My God!" cried Mademoiselle Plouernel horrified. "How much blood! How
much blood!"
"The city was mulcted of one hundred thousand ecus, the sum to be
delivered to the troops within forty-eight hours. Thereupon a decree of
the Governor of Brittany was posted pronouncing sentence of death upon
all those who would afford refuge to the chiefs of the insurrection. At
the head of the list of the chiefs, whose heads were pronounced forfeit,
were the names of Salaun and Nominoe Lebrenn."
"I am not surprised," put in Bertha calmly. "And at Nantes neither were
you able to find any traces of Monsieur Lebrenn and his son?"
"No, mademoiselle. From that moment it seemed to me there was nothing
left for me to do but to return and inform you of the miscarriage of my
errand. But, alas! as I crossed Brittany, what a lamentable spectacle!
Pillage, desolation, gallows--everywhere! The soldiers treat Brittany
like a conquered country, and demean themselves in the identical manner
that they did in Flanders. Their acts of rapine and cruelty transcend
description. I saw along the roads almost as many gibbets as trees! The
peasants are tortured and then butchered. Those who flee to the woods
are tracked, hunted and killed like wild beasts by the soldiers! They
spare neither old men nor children--the women are outraged. In short,
such is the terror that reigns in the country that yesterday, as I
crossed Lesneven, which was just occupied by a company of soldiers, I
saw a score of peasants throw themselves upon their knees, clasp their
hands, and offering their throats, cry out pitifully to the soldiers:
'Cut our throats, if you wish, but do not make us languish in torture!'
Finally this morning, at Karer, a lot of drunken soldiers roasted a
child alive!"
"Enough! That's horrible!" cried Mademoiselle Plouernel, shivering. "Oh,
great century! Oh, Grand Monarch! Blessed be the hour when I shall
depart from this land, the scene of so many horrors and so many
infamies!"
"Is mademoiselle going on a voyage?"
"Yes," answered Bertha with an indefinable smile; "yes, I contemplate
undertaking a long voyage."
"May I hope that mademoiselle will keep me near her? I am old, but
devoted."
"I know your devotion, good and faithful servitor. It matches Marion,
my nurse's. Nevertheless, I could hardly think of taking you with me,
either you, or her."
"Is it possible!" exclaimed the old man, tears coming to his eyes.
"What! Are we not to accompany mademoiselle? But, good God! I may ask
without presuming too much, where will mademoiselle find more faithful
servants, or more devoted to her? We must implore mademoiselle to keep
us near her, in her service."
"Can you imagine that, if I were to keep any servants, I would look for
others than yourselves?"
"But, mademoiselle," persisted Du Buisson, stupefied, "mademoiselle can
not think of traveling alone!"
"Exactly! That surprises you? I can well understand that it does. And
yet, it is so. I need not add that I shall provide for your old age, my
good Du Buisson."
"Oh, I hope mademoiselle does not think that my private interest--is
what concerns me--"
"Your disinterestedness, Du Buisson, is equal to your probity and
zeal--I know it. For that very reason it will be an agreeable duty on my
part to recompense your long services. That is not yet all. I shall
leave you--you and Marion--charged with a mission that, I am sure, you
will be thankful to me for entrusting you with. I can entrust it to no
worthier hands. The large number of executions, which, by order of Louis
XIV will turn Brittany into a vast cemetery, will make many widows, many
orphans. Before my departure I shall leave with you a considerable sum
in gold and valuables. You and Marion shall use the same towards
alleviating the distress of the poor families whose breadwinners will
have perished and--"
Marion burst into the room. She was pale and trembling. In a broken
voice she said:
"Oh, mademoiselle! What a singular occurrence!"
"What is the matter, nurse?"
"I hardly dare tell you! My God, you will be so much surprised! It will
be so strange to you--I am all upset!"
"What is the matter?"
"Margarid, the porter's wife, came up to the house to announce to me
that someone knocked at the gate, that she opened, a person appeared and
asked to speak--"
"Well?"
"I told Margarid to let the person come in; he did--I saw him. It
is--Nominoe Lebrenn."
"Heaven be praised! Thanks, Oh Lord, thanks!" cried Mademoiselle
Plouernel, clasping her hands tightly and raising her eyes moistened
with joyful tears. Immediately after her first transport of gladness,
Bertha said to Marion in a voice that trembled:
"Bring him to me. Let him come."
Marion left, and Bertha returned to her old equerry:
"You will not forget my recommendations regarding the sum that I destine
for the widows and orphans--whom the savage soldiers of the Grand
Monarch will have made."
"Mademoiselle's wishes shall be carried out," answered the old man,
bowing.
He left the room; almost immediately after Nominoe entered the hall. His
clothes were dusty; he threw his wallet and traveling stick upon an arm
chair. He stood alone before Bertha.