THE THUNDERCLAP
The German argument was simple enough: the arrest had taken place in
Germany. At least, that was what the newspapers stated in the extracts
which Philippe and his father read in the _Börsweilener Zeitung_. Was it
not to be expected that this would be the argument eventually
adopted--if it was not adopted already--by the imperial government?
At Börsweilen--the _Zeitung_ made no mystery about it--people were very
positive. After twenty-four hours' silence, the authorities took their
stand upon the explanation given the day before by Weisslicht, in the
course of an enquiry attended by several functionaries, who were
mentioned by name; and they declared aloud that everything had taken
place in due form and that it was impossible to go back upon
accomplished facts. Special Commissary Jorancé and Councillor Morestal,
caught in the act of assisting a deserter, would be brought before the
German courts and their case tried in accordance with German law.
Besides, it was added, there were other charges against them.
Of Dourlowski, there was no mention. He was ignored.
"But the whole case depends upon him!" exclaimed Morestal, after
receiving the Prefect of the Vosges at the Saint-Élophe town-hall and
discussing the German argument with him and the examining-magistrate.
"The whole case depends upon him, monsieur le préfet. Even supposing
their argument to be correct, what is it worth, if we prove that we were
drawn into an ambush by Weisslicht and that Baufeld's desertion was a
got-up job contrived by subordinate officials of police? And the proof
of this rests upon Dourlowski!"
He was indignant at the hawker's disappearance. But he added:
"Fortunately, we have Farmer Saboureux's evidence."
"We had it yesterday," said the examining-magistrate, "but we haven't it
to-day."
"How so?"
"Yesterday, Wednesday, when I was questioning him, Farmer Saboureux
declared that he had seen Weisslicht and Dourlowski together. He even
used certain words which made me suspect that he had noticed the
preparations for the attack and that he was an unseen witness of it ...
and a valuable witness, as you will agree. This morning, Thursday, he
retracts, he is not sure that it was Weisslicht he saw and, at night, he
was asleep ... he heard nothing ... not even the shooting.... And he
lives at five hundred yards from the spot!"
"I never heard of such a thing! What does he mean by backing out like
that?"
"I can't say," replied the magistrate. "Still, I saw a copy of the
_Börsweilener Zeitung_ sticking out of his pocket ... things have
altered since yesterday ... and Saboureux has been reflecting...."
"Do you think so? Is he afraid of war?"
"Yes, afraid of reprisals. He told me an old story about Uhlans, about a
farm that was burnt down. So that's what it is: he's afraid!..."
*
* *
The day began badly. Morestal and his son walked silently by the old
road to the frontier, where the enquiry was resumed in detail. But, at
the Butte, they saw three men in gold-laced caps smoking their pipes by
the German frontier-post.
And, further on, at the foot of the slope, in a sort of clearing on the
left, they perceived two more, lying flat on their stomachs, who were
also smoking.
And, around these two, there were a number of freshly-painted
black-and-yellow stakes, driven into the ground in a circle and roped
together.
In reply to a question put to them, the men said that that was the place
where Commissary Jorancé had been arrested.
Now this place, adopted by the hostile enquiry, was on German territory
and at twenty yards beyond the road that marked the dividing-line
between the two countries!
Philippe had to drag his father away. Old Morestal was choking with
rage:
"They are lying! They are lying! It's scandalous.... And they know it!
Is it likely I should be mistaken? Why, I belong here! Whereas they ...
a pack of police-spies!..."
When he had grown calmer, he began his explanations over again. Philippe
next repeated his, in less definite terms, this time, and with a
hesitation which old Morestal, absorbed in his grievances, did not
observe, but which could not well escape the others.
The father and son returned to the Old Mill together, as on the day
before. Morestal was no longer so triumphant and Philippe thought of
Farmer Saboureux, who, warned by his peasant shrewdness, varied his
evidence according to the threat of possible events.
As soon as he reached home, he took refuge in his room. Marthe went up
to him and found him lying on the bed, with his head between his hands.
He would not even answer when she spoke to him. But, at four o'clock,
hearing that his father, eager for news, had ordered the carriage, he
went downstairs.
They drove to Saint-Élophe and then, growing more and more anxious, to
Noirmont, twelve miles beyond it, where Morestal had many friends. One
of these took them to the offices of the _Éclaireur_.
Here, nothing was known as yet: the telegraph-and telephone-wires were
blocked. But, at eight o'clock, a first telegram got through: groups of
people had raised manifestations outside the German embassy. On the
Place de la Concorde, the statue of the city of Strasburg was covered
with flags and flowers.
Then the telegrams flowed in.
Questioned in the Chamber, the prime minister had replied, amid the
applause of the whole house:
"We ask, we claim your absolute confidence, your blind confidence. If
some of you refuse it to the minister, at least grant it to the
Frenchman. For it is a Frenchman who speaks in your name. And it is a
Frenchman who will act."
In the lobby outside the house, a member of the opposition had begun to
sing the _Marseillaise_, which was taken up by all the rest of the
members in chorus.
And then there was the other side of the question: telegrams from
Germany; the yellow press rabid; all the evening-papers adopting an
uncompromising, aggressive attitude; Berlin in uproar....
*
* *
They drove back at midnight; and, although they were both seized with a
like emotion, it aroused in them ideas so different that they did not
exchange a word. Morestal himself, who was not aware of the divorce that
had taken place between their minds, dared not indulge in his usual
speeches.
The next morning, the _Börsweilener Zeitung_ announced movements of
troops towards the frontier. The emperor, who was cruising in the North
Sea, had landed at Ostende. The chancellor was waiting for him at
Cologne. And it was thought that the French ambassador had also gone to
meet him.
Thenceforward, throughout that Friday and the following Saturday, the
inmates of the Old Mill lived in a horrible nightmare. The storm was now
shaking the whole of France and Germany, the whole of quivering Europe.
They heard it roar. The earth cracked under its fury. What terrible
catastrophe would it produce?
And they, who had let it loose--the actors of no account, relegated to
the background, the supernumeraries whose parts were played--they could
see nothing of the spectacle but distant, blood-red gleams.
Philippe took refuge in a fierce silence that distressed his wife.
Morestal was nervous, excited and in an execrable temper. He went out
for no reason, came in again at once, could not keep still:
"Ah," he cried, in a moment of despondency in which his thoughts stood
plainly revealed, "why did we come home by the frontier? Why did I help
that deserter? For there's no denying it: if I hadn't helped him,
nothing would have happened."
On Friday evening, it became known that the chancellor, who already had
the German reports in his hands, now possessed the French papers, which
had been communicated by our ambassador. The affair, hitherto purely
administrative, was becoming diplomatic. And the government was
demanding the release of the special commissary of Saint-Élophe, who had
been arrested on French territory.
"If they consent, all will be well," said Morestal. "There is no
humiliation for Germany in disowning the action of a pack of minor
officials. But, if they refuse, if they believe the policemen's lies,
what will happen then? France cannot give way."
On Saturday morning, the _Börsweilener Zeitung_ printed the following
short paragraph in a special edition:
"After making a careful examination of the French papers, the
chancellor has returned them to the French ambassador. The case of
Commissary Jorancé, accused of the crime of high treason and
arrested on German territory, will be tried in the German courts."
It was a refusal.
That morning, Morestal took his son to the Col du Diable and, bent in
two, following the road to the Butte-aux-Loups step by step, examining
each winding turn, noting a big root here and a long branch there, he
reconstituted the plan of the attack. And he showed Philippe the trees
against which he had brushed in his flight and the trees at the foot of
which he and his friend had stood and defended themselves:
"It was there, Philippe, and nowhere else.... Do you see that little
open space? That's where it was.... I have often come and smoked my pipe
here, because of this little mound to sit upon.... That's the place!"
He sat down on the same mound and said no more, staring before him,
while Philippe looked at him. Several times, he repeated, between his
teeth:
"Yes, this is certainly the place.... How could I be mistaken?"
And, suddenly, he pressed his two fists to his temples and blurted out:
"Still, suppose I were mistaken! Suppose I had branched off more to the
right ... and ..."
He interrupted himself, cast his eyes around him, rising to his feet:
"It's impossible! One can't make as big a blunder as that, short of
being mad! How could I have? I was thinking of one thing only; I kept
saying to myself, 'I must remain in France, I must keep to the left of
the line.' And I did keep to it, hang it all! It is absolutely
certain.... What then? Am I to deny the truth in order to please them?"
And Philippe, who had never ceased watching him, replied, within
himself:
"Why not, father? What would that little falsehood signify, compared
with the magnificent result that would be obtained? If you would tell a
lie, father, or if only you would assert so fatal a truth less forcibly,
France could give way without the least disgrace, since it is your
evidence alone that compels her to make her demand! And, in this way,
you would have saved your country...."
But he did not speak. His father was guided by a conception of duty
which Philippe knew to be as lofty and as legitimate as his own. What
right had he to expect his father to act according to his, Philippe's,
conscience? What to one of them would be only a fib would be to the
other, to old Morestal, a criminal betrayal of his own side. Morestal,
when giving his evidence, was speaking in the name of France. And France
does not tell lies.
"If there is a possible solution," Philippe said to himself, "my father
is not the man to be asked to provide it. My father represents a mass of
intangible ideas, principles and traditions. But I, I, I ... what can I
do? What is my particular duty? What is the object for which I ought to
make in spite of every obstacle?"
Twenty times over, he was on the point of exclaiming:
"My evidence was false, father. I was not there. I was with Suzanne!"
What was the use? It meant dishonouring Suzanne; and the implacable
march of events would continue just the same. Now that was the only
thing that mattered. Every individual suffering, every attack of
conscience, every theory, all vanished before the tremendous catastrophe
with which humanity was threatened and before the task that devolved
upon men like himself, men emancipated from the past and free to act in
accordance with a new conception of duty.
*
* *
In the afternoon, they heard at the offices of the _Éclaireur_ that a
bomb had burst behind the German ambassador's motor-car in Paris. In the
Latin Quarter, the ferment was at its height. Two Germans had been
roughly handled and a Russian, accused of spying, had been knocked down.
There had been free fights at Lyons, Toulouse and Bordeaux.
Similar disorders had taken place in Berlin and in the other big towns
of the German Empire. The military party was directing the movement.
Lastly, at six o'clock, it was announced as certain that Germany was
mobilizing three army-corps.
A tragic evening was spent at the Old Mill. Suzanne arrived from
Börsweilen without having been allowed to see her father and added to
the general distress by her sobs and lamentations. Morestal and
Philippe, silent and fever-eyed, seemed to avoid each other. Marthe, who
suspected her husband's anguish, kept her eyes fixed upon him, as though
she feared some inconsiderate act on his part. And the same dread seemed
to trouble Mme. Morestal, for she warned Philippe, time after time:
"Whatever you do, no arguments with your father. He is not well. All
this business upsets him quite enough as it is. A quarrel between the
two of you would be terrible."
And this also, the idea of this illness of which he did not know the
exact nature, but to which his heated imagination lent an added
importance, this also tortured Philippe.
*
* *
They all rose on the Sunday morning with the certainty that the news of
war would reach them in the course of the day; and old Morestal was on
the point of leaving for Saint-Élophe, to make the necessary
arrangements in case of an alarm, when a ring of the telephone stopped
him. It was the sub-prefect at Noirmont, who conveyed a fresh order to
him from the prefecture. The two Morestals were to be at the
Butte-aux-Loups at twelve o'clock.
A moment later, a telegram that appeared at the top of the front page of
the _Éclaireur des Vosges_ told them the meaning of this third summons:
"The German ambassador called on the prime minister at ten o'clock
yesterday, Saturday, evening. After a long conversation, when on
the point of concluding an interview that seemed unable to lead to
any result, the ambassador received by express a personal note
from the emperor, which he at once handed to the prime minister. In
this note, the emperor proposed a renewed examination of the
affair, for which purpose he would delegate the Governor of
Alsace-Lorraine, with instructions to check the report of the
police. An understanding was at once arrived at on this basis; and
the French government has appointed a member of the cabinet, M. Le
Corbier, under-secretary of state for home affairs, to act as its
representative. It is possible that an interview may take place
between these two prominent personages."
And the newspaper added:
"This intervention on the part of the emperor is a proof of his
peaceful intentions, but it can hardly be said to alter the
situation. If France be in the wrong--and it were almost to be
hoped that she may be--then France will yield. But, if it be once
more proved on our side that the arrest took place on French soil
and if Germany refuse to yield, what will happen then?"