A NOTABLE FETE.
On the night of Monday, February 21st, 1848, all Paris was at the house
of M. Gaultier de Rumilly, in the Avenue des Champs Elysees. M. Gaultier
de Rumilly was well known as one of the leaders of the extreme left,
though the confidential friend of M. Odillon Barrot, and the fete was
perfectly understood to be a political reunion, rather than a social
one. All the accompaniments of the most splendid society events of the
season were in requisition. Even the brilliant balls given by the
opulent citizens of New York were eclipsed in luxury and splendor. There
was the streaming of lamps and chandeliers, the swell of enchanting
music, the whirl of the fascinating polka, redowa or mazurka, while
throngs of richly attired and lovely women were constantly enhancing the
magnificence of the scene by their arrival. The brilliancy of the
occasion was also richly diversified by the presence of an unusually
large number of officers of the Municipal and National Guards in full
uniform, as well as of several belonging to the Line or the regiments of
Algeria.
It was about ten o'clock. Within, all was light, life and loveliness;
without, the winter wind moaned drearily through the leafless trees of
the Boulevard, and the drifting sleet swept along the deserted streets.
It was a wild night. Throughout all Paris seemed going forth a
portentous murmur, like that mysterious moaning of the ocean, which,
with mariners, is the prelude of a storm. An ominous whispering, as of
many voices, seemed to sink and swell on the sweeping night blast; then
all was still. Again, in the distance, would rise a sharp shout, or the
stern, brief word of military command. At intervals, also, one might
imagine he heard a deep rumbling, as of heavy ordnance and its tumbrels
over the pavements, accompanied by the measured tread of armed men and
the clattering hoofs of cavalry horses. Then these sounds died away, and
along the narrow streets of Paris again the night wind only swept, the
bitter blast howled and the ominous whispering, as of spirits, rose and
fell.
It was a strange and stormy night--murky and chilly--while at intervals
the cold rain dashed down in cutting blasts. But within the magnificent
mansion of Gaultier de Rumilly all was light and loveliness, as has been
said. The splendid salons were already thronged, yet crowds of
richly-attired guests were constantly arriving.
"Ha! Beauchamp, just come?" cried Chateau-Renaud to his friend, as he
entered.
"By the grace of God, yes!" said the journalist. "What a night!"
"What a throng of men and women say rather!" was the reply.
"Very true. Who's here?"
"Ask who's not here, and your question may be easily answered. All Paris
is here! Women of every age and station, and men of all political
creeds--Conservatives, Dynastics, Legitimists, Republicans and
Communists. Indeed, this soiree seems to me, and I shouldn't wonder if
it were designed so to be, a general reunion of the leaders of all the
great parties in France, to compare notes and learn the news."
"And there is news enough to learn, it would seem. Is M. Dantes here?"
"He is, or was, and his beautiful wife, too, the most magnificent woman
in Paris. Morrel also is here with his fair bride."
"And who is that dark, dignified man in the Turkish costume, around whom
the ladies have clustered so inquisitively?" asked the Deputy.
"Why, that's the Emir of Algeria, the famous captive of the Duke
d'Aumale," was the reply.
"What! Abd-el-Kader! How comes he here?"
"Oh! as a special favor, I suppose; he has a respite from his sad
prison."
"What a splendid beard, and what keen black eyes!"
"No, his eyes are decidedly gray, but so shaded by his extraordinary
lashes that they seem black. They say that he was more distinguished as
a scholar, in Algeria, than as a soldier, statesman or priest. In fact,
he is as erudite as an Arab can be, and his library, which is contained
in two leathern trunks, accompanied him in all his wanderings prior to
his submission."
"And what think you really induced him to surrender himself?"
"Policy of the deepest character, and worthy of Talleyrand, Metternich
or Nesselrode, if we are to rely on the eloquent speech of Lamoriciere
in the Chamber, the other day."
"I remember. Bugeaud spoke first, and Lamoriciere followed. He thought
that the Arab Curtius leaped into the gulf because, by so doing, he was
convinced he could injure French interests more than by his freedom.
Well, perhaps he was right. He bids fair to be a hard bone of contention
between the opposition and the Ministry."
"If I mistake not, Lamoriciere disclaimed all responsibility for
accepting the surrender, and placed it on the Governor-General, the
young Duke, for whom the Ministry is liable?"
"Yes; and Guizot announced that he would send the Emir back to
Alexandria, could security be given against his return to Algeria."
"As to the Emir's surrender, at which you wonder, the real cause is said
to have been not policy, but the universal passion--love."
"He is an Antony, then, instead of a Curtius."
"So it seems. At the moment when, with incredible efforts, he had
effected the passage of the Moorish camp, and was off like an ostrich
for the desert, the firing of the French, who had reached his deira,
struck his ear. Back he flew like the lamiel. Twice his horse fell
under him dead--twice he was surrounded and seized, and twice, by his
wonderful agility, he regained his freedom. At last, perceiving that all
was lost, he turned his face again toward the desert, and, for two days
and nights, continued his flight. But his heart was behind him. Certain
of escape himself, he preferred hopeless captivity with her he loved,
and he returned."
"Quite poetical, on my word! Worthy of Sadi, the Arab Petrarch,
himself!" said Chateau-Renaud.
"He is decidedly a great man, that Abd-el-Kader. They say he bears his
misfortunes like a philosopher--or, better, a Turk--unalterably mild and
dignified, while his wives and his mother wail at his feet. Every
morning he reads the Koran to them, and during the orisons all the
windows are open, and a large fire blazes in the centre of the room."
"He is a decided godsend to the quidnuncs of Paris."
"So would be a Hottentot, or a North American savage," replied
Beauchamp.
"Rather a different affair this from the Ministerial soiree a week ago,
I fancy," remarked the editor.
"Rather. I will confess to you, Beauchamp, I attended that soiree from
curiosity to see whether M. Guizot retained his habitual placidity of
manner amid the clouds every day thickening around him."
"And what was the result?"
"Why, this. He was as polite and courteous as ever, and the same cold,
imperturbable smile was on his thin lip; but he looked careworn, and
upon his countenance was an expression of solicitude, when it was
closely watched, which I never saw there before. Ah, Beauchamp, I envy
not the Premier!"
"And the guests?" asked the journalist.
"Of guests there were but few; and the spacious salons of the Hotel des
Affaires Etrangeres looked dismal and deserted."
"The lovely Countess Leven--"
"Even she was absent."
"And the Countess of Dino?"
"Absent, too."
"The soiree must have been, indeed, dull without those 'charming queens
of intrigue,' as Louis Blanc courteously calls them. But tell me, Count,
is the Minister really the husband of the beautiful Leven, or is she
only his par amours?"
"No one knows. It is certain, however, that the great man devotes to the
enchantress every moment he can steal from the State, though to look at
him one would hardly suppose him a lover, in any meaning of the term.
But who knows? To read his writings can one imagine a purer man? But,
then, the affairs of Gisquet, Cubieres, Teste, and, last and worst,
Petit, whose case was before the Chamber, do they not betray deplorable
lack of firmness or morality? But no more of this. Who is that dark,
splendid woman to whom young Joliette seems so devoted? I have seen
them together before!"
"Why, you surely have not forgotten Louise d'Armilly, the charming
cantatrice! She has recently left the boards, to the irreparable loss of
the opera, having come into possession of an immense inheritance--some
millions, it is said, left by her father, who was once a banker of
Paris. She is asserted to be very accomplished and very ambitious, and,
as the young African paladin is thoroughly bewitched by her, and she by
him, they will, doubtless, be matched as well as paired."
"Has Lucien been here?" asked the Deputy, after a pause, during which
the young men surveyed the brilliant throngs that passed before them and
returned the salutations of their acquaintances.
"I think not. We have not met, at least," replied the journalist.
"He can hardly be spared to-night, I fancy. The Ministry have had a
stormy day, and are, doubtless, preparing for one still more stormy
to-morrow."
"There was a perfect tempest in the Chamber this evening, I understand."
"Call it rather a hurricane, a tornado!"
"Ah! give me the particulars; here, come with me into this corner.
Unfortunately, I was not present. I was busy on the General Committee
for the Banquet of the Twelfth Arrondissement, to-morrow, at Chaillot.
To avoid all possibility of collision with the police, we resolved, you
know, not to have the banquet within the walls of Paris, and so there is
to be a procession to the Barriere de l'Etoile. I have been there since
morning, and reached the city only in time to come here. So, you see, I
am edifyingly ignorant of the latest news."
"Then I have to inform you that there is to be no banquet after all."
"No banquet! Why, I thought it was compromised between Guizot and Barrot
that the banquet should be allowed to proceed under protest, in order
that the question might be brought before the Supreme Court."
"Such was the purpose, but a manifesto of the Banquet Committee, drawn
up by Marrast, it is said, and, at all events, issued in 'Le National'
this morning, declaring the design not only of a banquet, but of a
procession, changed everything. The address sets forth that all invited
to the banquet would assemble at the Place de la Madeleine to-morrow at
about noon, and thence, escorted by the National Guard, and accompanied
by the students of the universities, should proceed by the Place de la
Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, at the extremity of the Avenue des
Champs Elysees, and thence to the immense pavilion on the grounds of
General Shian. Only one toast, 'Reform, and the right to assemble,' was
announced to be drunk, and then a commissary of police could enter a
formal protest against the whole proceeding on the spot, on which to
base a legal prosecution, and the multitude would disperse."
"A very sensible mode of procedure," quietly remarked the journalist,
"and one eminently calculated to relieve your friend Guizot and my
friend Barrot from the awkward dilemma of a direct issue."
"But so thought not my friend Guizot. Like his oracle, the sage
Montesquieu, he thought, 'Who assembles the people causes them to
revolt.' He took fright at the manifesto, as he was pleased to dignify
the simple programme in this morning's 'National,' and so, early in the
sitting, it was announced that the reform banquet was utterly prohibited
by M. Delessert, Prefect of Police, on the express injunction and
responsibility of M. Duchatel, Minister of the Interior, by and with the
advice of M. Hebert, Minister of Justice."
"Ha! and what said Odillon Barrot?" cried the journalist.
"He--why he said nothing at all, but immediately retired at the head of
the opposition from the Chamber."
"To consult?"
"Of course. An hour after, they returned in a body two hundred and fifty
strong, with Barrot at their head, who at once mounted the tribune and
denounced the despotism of the Ministry in forbidding the peaceful
assembling of the citizens, without tumult or arms, to discuss their
political rights. Duchatel replied, under great excitement.
"'Shall reform committees dare to call out the National Guard at their
pleasure?' he asked.
"'Will you dare to call out the National Guard?' retorted De Courtais,
fiercely. 'Only try it!'
"'The Government of France will never yield!' rejoined the Minister,
pale with fury.
"'Speak in your own name, Monsieur!' shouted Flocon.
"'I shall never speak in yours!' was the answer.
"'You play the game of menace!' cried Lesseps.
"'The Government will never yield!' again vociferated Duchatel.
"'Those were the very words of Charles X.!' observed M. Dantes, sternly.
The entire left responded in a terrific roar.
"'There is blood in those words!' shouted Ledru Rollin.
"'The Government will never yield!' the Minister of the Interior for the
third time vehemently exclaimed, and the right gathered around him.
'This is worse than Polignac or Peyronet!' vociferated Odillon Barrot,
his trumpet tones rising above all others like a clarion in a tempest.
Those hated names were greeted by a yell of abhorrence perfectly savage
from the left; then all was uproar--a dozen voices simultaneously
shouting at their
loudest--denunciation--menace--defiance--retort--clenched
hands--extended arms--furious gesticulations--every one on
tip-toe--fiery eyes--stamping feet--shouts of 'Order! order!
order!'--and, amid all, the incessant tinkling of old Sauzet's little
silver bell, which was just about as effective in restoring peace as it
would be to quiet the tempest now howling through the streets of Paris.
At length, in utter consternation and dismay the old President put on
his hat, and, pronouncing the seance ended, rushed from his chair amid a
hurricane of uproarious shouts."
"And Odillon Barrot?"
"Odillon Barrot led the opposition members immediately from the Chamber
to his own house, where they have been ever since in deliberation. It
was six o'clock when the sitting closed, and they must be in
consultation now, or Barrot would surely be here, if but for a moment,
out of respect to his bosom friend, our host. Ah! there he is, just
entering, surrounded by a perfect army of Republicans--De Courtais,
Marrast, Lesseps, Duvergier, Flocon, Lamartine, Dupont and a whole host
besides."
"How excited they look!" exclaimed the journalist. "Ah! Thiers
approaches them from the other end of the salon!"
"M. Thiers, like the worldly-wise and selfish man he is, has held
himself aloof from the banquet, and even declined the invitation
accepted by a hundred of his party; to-day he was absent from the
Chamber and to-night from the conclave, all with the aspiring, yet vain
hope, that the King will send for him to form a Ministry."
"And yet, in the Chamber, a few days ago, he said that he was of the
party of the revolution in Europe."
"True, but he added that he wished the revolution carried on by its
moderate supporters, and that he should do all he could to keep it in
the hands of the moderate party."
"'But if it should pass into the hands of a party not moderate,'
continued the crafty ex-Minister, 'I shall not abandon the cause of the
revolution. I shall be always of the party of the revolution.' But see,
he singles out Marrast, of all others!"
"And his old colleague of 'Le National' seems to give him no very
cordial reception," added the Deputy. "But let us move up and hear the
determination of the opposition relative to the banquet."
"That's the very question the little historian has just propounded to
the great journalist. Now for the answer."
"The opposition decide, Monsieur, to abandon the banquet," was the angry
reply of the editor to the ex-Minister.
"Indeed!" was the bland rejoinder; "and has a manifesto of this decision
been issued to the people?"
"It has; and it instantly called forth a counter manifesto from the
electoral committee of the Twelfth Arrondissement, expressing very
natural astonishment that, at the same time the opposition abandoned the
banquet, they had not abandoned their seats in the Chamber, and inviting
them so to do at once."
"And the Ministry?" anxiously asked M. Thiers.
"Will to-morrow be impeached, Monsieur!"
"Ah! indeed! indeed!" cried the smart little aspirant, gleefully
rubbing his hands.
At that moment General Lamoriciere, the brother-in-law of Thiers, who
owed so much to the house of Orleans, hastily approached.
"I come straight from the Tuileries," he said, with considerable
excitement. "General Jacqueminot has just issued an order of the day, as
commander-in-chief of the National Guard, appealing to them as the
constitutional protectors of the Throne to take no part in the banquet.
Orders have, also, been issued for the rappel to be beaten at dawn, in
the Quartier St. Honore, the scene of the contemplated procession. But
it's all folly to rely on the National Guard. They are of the people.
Only the Municipal Guard and the troops of the Line can be relied on in
the civil conflict, which is sure to come to-morrow."
"And the Ministers, what do they?" asked Thiers.
"Oh! they are not idle," replied the soldier. "The bastilles are armed,
and those of Montrouge and Aubervilliers are provisioned. The
horse-artillery at Vincennes are ready, on the instant, to gallop into
the capital. Seventy additional pieces of ordnance are now entering the
barrieres. The Municipal Guard are supplied with ball-cartridges. The
troops concentrated at sunrise to-morrow will not be less than one
hundred thousand strong. With these men in the forts and faithful, the
city can be starved in three days, National Guard and all, if
rebellious. Now is the crisis in which to test the remarkable admission
of M. Duchatel, in May, '45, that the bastilles of Paris were designed
to 'fortify order.' We shall see, we shall see!"
"And the Marshal Duke of Islay--where is he?" quietly asked Marrast,
with a significant shrug and smile.
At this mention of his bitter foe, a frown lowered on the fine face of
Lamoriciere, as he briefly and sternly replied:
"With the King, Monsieur--General Bugeaud is with the King. But they
mistake, Monsieur. Eugene Cavaignac is the man for this emergency.
Bugeaud is a soldier--a mere soldier--Cavaignac is a statesman--a
Napoleon! Paris will discriminate between the two one day, and that
shortly."
And with an abrupt military salute the conqueror of Algeria walked away,
followed by his little brother-in-law, who seemed yet shorter and more
insignificant at the side of his towering and graceful form. At the same
moment, Ledru Rollin entered in great agitation, and, having glanced
hastily around, as if in search of some one in the assemblage, advanced
straight to the journalist and grasped his hand.
"By heavens, Armand, I think the hour has arrived!"
"Whence do you come?" was the quick question.
"From the Boulevards, where I left Flocon, Louis Blanc and M. Dantes,
with the people. I tell you, Armand, the people are ripe--ripe! The
Ministerial ordinances prohibiting the banquet have kindled a flame
wherever they have gone. The pitiful manifesto of the opposition and the
counter manifesto of the Twelfth Arrondissement have only served to fan
this flame into fury. It has been our care to restrain and direct, not
to excite. It is dark and cold without, Armand; the winter wind howls
dismally along the streets, the sleet freezes as it falls and the
furious blast almost extinguishes the torches by which, at the corners
and at the cafes, the different manifestoes of the day are being read to
the eager throngs, on whose faces, in the flare of the blood-red light,
can be perceived the fury of their hearts. The people, at length, are
ripe! To-morrow all Paris will be in arms!"
While Ledru Rollin was thus speaking, Louis Blanc entered and quietly
approached, courteously saluting his acquaintances on his way, and
stopping to exchange a few words with Madame Dantes, who inquired with
considerable anxiety for her husband.
"I have this moment left him, Madame," said Louis Blanc. "Be assured, he
is safe and well. Ah! how glorious to be an object of solicitude to one
like you!" he added, with a smile.
The lady smiled also, and offered an appropriate jest in reply to the
gallantry of the distinguished author, as he moved on to join his
friends.
"The Ministry provokes its fate!" he said, in a low tone, as he
approached. "'Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.' These
men suffered seventy reform banquets all over France. The seventy-first
one they prohibit, and that, too, by the exhumation of an old despotic
edict of 1790. This is exactly what we would have. It was the first, not
the last banquet they should have suppressed. Barrot was right to-day,
in the Chamber, when he said that had this manifestation been suffered
the people would have become tranquil."
"Tranquil, indeed!" cried Ledru Rollin. "That's exactly what we have
apprehended! No--no--it is too late! This Reform Banquet was, at first,
but an insignificant thing. In it we now recognize the commencement of a
revolution. The various announcements and postponements of this banquet
have caused an agitation among the masses favorable to our wishes, and
the threats and obstinacy of the Ministry have completed the work. The
hopes, fears, doubts and disappointments attending this affair have put
the mind of all Paris in a ferment, and excited passions of which we may
take immediate advantage."
"Aye!" cried Louis Blanc, "we may now do what I have always wished and
counseled--we, the Communists, may now take advantage of a movement, in
the origin or inception of which we had no hand."
"True, most true!" observed Marrast; "this is the work of the
Dynastics--Thiers, Barrot and the rest--the commencement of a reform
under the law which we design to make a revolution paramount to all
law."
"They begin to fear already that they have gone too far, those discreet
men!" said Louis Blanc, smiling bitterly. "Did you observe how they
shuffled to-night at M. Barrot's, and finally resolved to abandon the
banquet, but, as a sop to the people, pledged themselves to impeach the
Ministry?"
"Ah! ha! ha!" laughed Ledru Rollin; "just as if their abandonment of the
banquet is to keep the people away from it to-morrow, any more than the
Ministerial ordinances! Why, not one man in ten thousand knows of the
existence of these manifestoes! But the faubourgs have been promised a
holiday for a fortnight past, and they don't intend to be put off
again."
"Whether the Dynastics designed or wished to be compromised in this
affair," remarked Marrast, "they certainly are committed now, and it is
too late for them to get out of the movement. Indeed, I view it as
nothing less than a union of all the oppositions against the Crown--aye,
against the Crown, and for a republic! We comprehend this--they don't.
They have not, like us, waited seventeen years for a signal for
revolution;--and now, before God, I believe the hour is at hand! This is
no accidental insurrection of the 5th and 6th of June, '32--no outbreak
at a funeral--no riot of operatives--no unmeaning revolt, as in '39. It
is a reform, with the first names in France as its advocates and
supporters, which we will make a revolution if we can secure the
National Guard."
"The National Guard is secured already," said Louis Blanc. "Are they
not of the people? At least twenty thousand of the National Guard are
Republicans. Of the remaining forty thousand, nearly all are well
disposed or neutral in feeling. Have I studied the National Guard for
twenty years in vain, and have all the measures of the Communists to
secure them, when the crisis came on, proved utterly ineffectual? On the
National Guard we may rely. The Municipal Guard are picked men, and well
paid to support the Throne--they will fight even better than the Line.
With the Line and the National Guard the people must seek to fraternize
from the beginning--with the other troops they have solely to
fight--but, after all, general facts and principles only can be laid
down. Circumstances utterly beyond human control must direct and govern,
and vary and determine results when the period of action arrives; and
arrive it may at any hour of the day or night. At this moment Paris
sleeps on a volcano, the fires of which have long been gathering through
many a fair and sunny day! God only knows when the volcano will burst;
but, when the hour comes, let the people be prepared!"
As these enthusiastic words were uttered, the dark eye of the speaker
flashed and his lip quivered. The silver clock on the mantel, beside
which the conspirators stood, struck the first quarter after two. The
night was waning, but the festivity seemed rather to increase than
diminish within the salons of the magnificent mansion, while the storm
howled even more drearily without, and the rain, at intervals, in heavy
blasts, beat even more fiercely against the northern casements.
As Louis Blanc ceased speaking, M. Flocon entered the salon, and, as if
by some preconcerted arrangement, at once sought his political friends.
"What of the night, watchman?" cried Ledru Rollin, as the editor of "La
Reforme" approached. "The latest news! for 'That of an hour's age doth
hiss the speaker,' as the English Shakespeare says. The news! good or
bad!"
"As I entered," said Flocon, "the house trembled with the jar of a train
of heavy ordnance, attended by tumbrels and artillery caissons, and
escorted by a regiment of horse, which rolled along the pavement of the
Champs Elysees."
"Good!" answered Marrast, with enthusiasm.
"All night," continued Flocon, eagerly, "through darkness and storm,
whole regiments of infantry have thronged the line of boulevards which
stretch from the Tuileries to Vincennes, and each soldier bears upon his
knapsack, in addition to all his arms, an axe to demolish barricades.
The garrisons of the arrondissements of Paris are already seventy
thousand strong; and the troops of the Line are concentrating around the
Palais Bourbon and the Chamber of Deputies."
"Excellent--most excellent!" joyfully exclaimed Louis Blanc. "The
affront will not be wanting! But where is M. Dantes?"
"He is still with the chiefs of the faubourgs and the committees of the
Free-masons and workmen, in the Rue Lepelletier, issuing his last
instructions for the morrow. Messieurs, that man is a magician! His zeal
in the good cause puts the boldest of us all to the blush. By most
indefatigable energy and indomitable perseverance, he has brought about
a systematic, almost scientific organization and fraternity, through
various modes of rapid intercommunication between the innumerable
classes of operatives of every description throughout the whole capital
and its faubourgs, so that, within six hours, he can have in military
array an armed mass of one hundred thousand blouses upon the boulevards.
The workshops alone, he tells me, can furnish fifty thousand. The
rapidity with which he conveys intelligence through this immense army
and their utter subservience to his will and subordination to his orders
are all so wonderful that it is impossible to determine which is most
so. To control a Parisian populace has hitherto been deemed a chimera.
With M. Dantes it is an existing reality. Not an army in Europe is so
obedient or so prompt as his army of workmen. The secret is this--they
know him to be their friend. All over Paris are to be seen his
workshops, savings banks, hospitals and houses of industry and reform,
and, in the suburbs, his phalansteries and his model farms. That he has
the command of boundless wealth is certain; but whose it is, or whence
it comes, no one can divine; and never did man make use of boundless
wealth to attain his ends more wisely than he does! Why, I am told that
the pens of half the litterateurs and feuilletonists of Paris have for
years past been guided by his will and compensated from his purse to
accomplish his purposes. 'The Mysteries of Paris' and 'The Wandering
Jew' are but two of the triumphs of his policy. And his system of
philanthropy seems not bounded by France, but to embrace all Europe. The
Swiss Protestant and the Italian patriot have each felt his effective
sympathy as well as the French workman; and in the same manner as with
the operatives so has he obtained influence and weight with the National
Guard, and to such an extent that of the sixty thousand one-half would
obey his orders with greater alacrity than those of Jacqueminot himself.
I tell you, Messieurs, he is a magician!"
"Hush! hush!" cried Marrast; "he is entering now!"
"He pauses and looks around him!" said Louis Blanc.
"He looks for us; I will go to him!" remarked Flocon.
"He looks for his wife," replied Louis Blanc. "There, he catches her
eye. See how eagerly she flies to him!"
"That is the finest pair in Paris," remarked the journalist.
"And the most devoted," added Ledru Rollin. "They have been man and wife
for some time, it is said, and any one would take them for lovers at
this moment."
"Have they children?" asked Flocon.
"No; but M. Dantes has by a former wife a son and daughter, who rival
in good looks the celebrated children of our friend Victor Hugo,"
returned Louis Blanc.
"I met Arago, Lamartine, Sue, Chateaubriand and some other celebrities
at his mansion in the Rue du Helder one night, recently," continued
Marrast, "and I thought I never saw a house arranged with such perfect
taste. The salons, library, picture-gallery, cabinet of natural history,
conservatory, and laboratory were superb--everything, in short, was
exquisite."
"And then one is always sure to meet at Madame Dantes' soirees," added
Louis Blanc, "exactly the persons who, of all others, he wishes to see,
and whom he would meet nowhere else, poets, painters, authors, orators,
statesmen and artists of every description--in fine, every man or woman,
whether native or foreigner, distinguished for anything, is certain to
be met with at M. Dantes' house."
"I once met there," said Flocon, "Rachel, the actress, and Van Amburgh,
the lion-king."
"M. Dantes is a perfect Maecenas in encouraging merit, as every one
knows," remarked Marrast; "and he manifests especial solicitude to show
that he appreciates worth more highly than wealth--genius than station.
Poverty and ability are sure recommendations to him."
"Madame Dantes is, I am told, as devoted to the good cause as her
husband," remarked Flocon.
"She is a second Madame Roland!" exclaimed Louis Blanc. "France will
owe much to such women as she and her friend Madame Dudevant!"
"She differs greatly from Madame George Sand in some respects, I fancy,"
said Marrast; "but, if she at all rivals that wonderful woman in
devotedness to the cause of human rights, whether of her own sex or
ours, she deserves well of France. In her charities, it is notorious,
she has no rival. Half the mendicants of the capital bless her name, and
she is at the head of a dozen associations and enterprises for the
amelioration of the condition of the destitute, suffering and abandoned
of her sex."
"Upon my word, Messieurs," cried Ledru Rollin, "your praises of M.
Dantes and Madame, his beautiful wife, are perfectly enthusiastic--so
much so, that, in your zeal, you utterly forgot another matter quite as
momentous. I am so unfortunate as to know M. Dantes only as one of the
great pillars of our noble cause, and a man who, for nearly six years,
has proven himself an apostle of man's rights, and ready, if need be, to
become a martyr! That's enough for me to know of him!"
"But who really are M. Dantes and his wife?" asked Flocon.
"Who really are any of us?" laughingly rejoined Louis Blanc.
"Who really is any one in Paris," continued Marrast, "the blood-royal
always and alone excepted?"
"Of M. Dantes this only is known," said Louis Blanc, "that for five or
six years past he has been a Deputy from Marseilles, Lyons and other
southern cities, all of which have been eager to honor themselves by
returning him as their representative, as one of the boldest and most
eloquent Republicans in all France; as for Madame Dantes, we know her to
have once been the Countess de Morcerf, but now the wife of our friend,
and one of the noblest and most lovely matrons in Paris. What need have
we to know more? But our friend comes."
While this conversation was proceeding, Dantes and Mercedes had joined
each other, and their hands were quietly clasped.
"Is all well, Edmond?" was the anxious inquiry of the fond wife, in low,
soft, musical tones, as she fixed upon his pale face her dark eyes,
beaming with the tenderest solicitude.
"All is well, love," replied the husband. "You will pardon my protracted
absence, when I tell you it has been unavoidable--will you not,
Mercedes?"
"Will I not? What a question! But I have been so anxious for your
safety, knowing the perilous business in which you are engaged; and the
night is so tempestuous."
"You forget that I have a constitution of iron, dear," replied Dantes;
"you forget that I was a sailor once, and the storms were my
playthings!"
"But you will go home with me now, Edmond, will you not?" she anxiously
asked, placing her little white hand on his arm and gazing beseechingly
into his eyes.
"Have I ever passed one night from your arms, my Mercedes, since we
were wed?" was the whispered response. "Ah! love, any pillow but thy
soft bosom would be to me a thorny one! You have spoiled me forever!" he
added, smiling.
"And shall we go now, Edmond?" eagerly asked the delighted woman. "Oh!
I'm so weary of this fete!"
"I must exchange a few words with our friend Louis Blanc, whom I see
yonder, with others of our party, and then, dear, we will to our pillow.
We are both weary. Au revoir!"
"Edmond--Edmond!" cried the lady, as her husband was going, "do you see
Joliette and Louise in the redowa yonder?"
Dantes looked and, with a well pleased smile, nodded assent; a more
brilliant and well-matched pair could hardly have been found, Joliette
in the splendid uniform of an officer of the Spahis, and she in her own
magnificent beauty, fitly garbed.
M. Dantes was received with marked respect by the knot of Republicans as
he approached.
"I am delighted to meet you all, and to meet you to-night, or, rather,
this morning," said Dantes, warmly, "in order that I may render you an
account of my stewardship for the past six hours. They have been hours
big with fate; and the first day of Republican France has already
commenced. Messieurs, we can no longer remain blind to the fact that the
long looked for--hoped for--expected hour has come--the hour to
strike--strike home for liberty and for France! To-morrow the streets of
Paris will swarm with blouses!--the Marseillaise will be
heard!--barricades rise!--the Ministry be impeached! Next day the
National Guards will fraternize with the people!--blood will flow!--the
Ministry resign! On the third, the King abdicates!--the Tuileries are
surrendered!--a Regency is refused!--a Republic is declared! And this
day, two weeks hence, liberty will be shouted in the streets of Vienna
and Berlin, and every throne in Europe will tremble! The honors of
prophecy are easily won," continued the speaker, with a significant
smile that lighted up his features, pale with enthusiasm and exhaustion,
"when the problem of seventeen years approaches solution with
mathematical certainty!"
"Are our plans all complete?" asked Louis Blanc.
"So far as human forethought or power could render them so, our efforts
have, I trust, been effectual," was the reply. "Yet the events of every
hour will induce changes, and render indispensable policy now undreamed
of. Ah! Messieurs, we must none of us sleep now! Not a moment must
escape our vigilance! Not an advantage must be sacrificed! We can afford
to lose nothing! Without leaders, the people are blind! Not, for an
instant, must they be abandoned! To-morrow, let the masses gather at
different points! Next day let barricades choke the Boulevards; and, if
the conflict come not, be it precipitated--provoked! Thursday, an
hundred thousand men must invest the Tuileries, and a Provisional
Government be declared in the Chamber of Deputies! The Bourbons will
then be in full flight, and France will be free! And now, Messieurs,
will you permit me to suggest the propriety of our separation? Yonder
Ministerial Secretary has had his eye upon us ever since he entered."
The expediency of the suggestion of M. Dantes was at once perceived; the
conspirators parted and one after the other, by different routes,
shortly disappeared. As for M. Dantes, he threw himself carelessly in
the way of the Ministerial Secretary to whom he had alluded, who was no
other than our friend Lucien Debray, and saluted him with most marked
and winning courtesy.
"Will the Ministerial Secretary suffer me to compliment him upon his
indefatigable industry and exertions to-night to fortify order in Paris
and sustain the administration?"
Debray bowed somewhat confusedly at this remark, and having returned a
diplomatic reply, from which neither himself nor any one else could have
elicited an idea, M. Dantes continued the conversation.
"Let me see, it is now nearly three o'clock," he said, consulting his
repeater; "at half-past two you received an order, signed by the Duke of
Montpensier, and directed to the War Ministry, commanding that
seventy-two additional pieces of artillery be transported from Vincennes
to Paris before dawn. That order was issued, and the ordnance is now on
the boulevard!"
"How!" exclaimed the astonished Secretary.
"At Vincennes, the horses of the flying artillery stand harnessed in
their stalls! All night infantry have been pouring into Paris, and,
obedient to midnight orders, every railway will disgorge, at dawn,
additional troops!"
"Are you a magician?" asked the astonished Secretary.
"Shall I reveal to you the Ministerial tactics for the morrow's
apprehended insurrection?" coolly asked Dantes, with a smile. "The
salons of the Tuileries have not been deserted to-night. 'Can you quell
an insurrection, General?' asked the King of the Marshal Duke of Islay.
'I can kill thirty thousand men,' was the humane answer. 'And I, sire,
can preserve order in Paris without killing a score,' said Marshal
Gerard, the hero of Antwerp, 'if I can rely on my men.' 'What is your
plan, Marshal?' asked the King. Shall I give you the Marshal's reply, my
friend?"
"You were present--you know all!" exclaimed Debray.
"Not quite all," thought Dantes, "but I shall before we part. Well,"
continued he, aloud, "the Marshal's strategy was this--exceedingly
simple and exceedingly efficacious, too, provided, to use the Marshal's
own words, he can rely on his men. It is this: Occupy the Tuileries, the
Hotel de Ville, the Halles, the Louvre and other prominent points with a
heavy reserve of infantry and artillery, and sweep the boulevards, and
the Rues St. Honore, de Rivoli, St. Martin, St. Denis, Montmartre and
Richelieu with cavalry. A simple plan, is it not? Almost as simple as
that of the insurrectionists themselves--a barricade on every street and
one hundred thousand men in the Place du Carrousel!"
"The Government will not yield, Monsieur!" said Debray, firmly. "The
Minister is unshaken. To crush an unarmed mob cannot severely tax the
most skillful generals in Europe."
"True, they are unarmed," returned Dantes, with apparent seriousness.
"Their leaders should have thought of that--arms are so easily
provided--but then they can rely on their men!"
"We have yet to see that!" replied Debray, with some asperity.
"True, we have yet to see it. It is only a matter of belief now; then it
will be a matter of knowledge. Seeing is knowing," added M. Dantes, with
his peculiar smile. "But, pray, assure me, M. Debray, are the Ministry
and their advisers, indeed, sanguine of the issue to-morrow!"
"They are certain!" replied the Secretary, with energy. Then, feeling
that he had, perhaps, made a dangerous revelation, he quickly added: "I
have the honor, Monsieur, to wish you a very good night! It is late!"
"Say, rather, it is early, Monsieur!" replied Dantes. "I have the honor
to wish you a very good morning!"
The Secretary returned the courtesy, turned away, and, after exchanging
a few words with M. Thiers, disappeared.
"They are certain, then!" soliloquized M. Dantes, as Debray quitted the
salon. "I was sure I should know all before he left."
Then, rejoining Mercedes, who was patiently awaiting him, they stepped
into their carriage, as the drowsy tones of the watchman rose on the
misty air, "Past four o'clock, and all is well!"