"We surrender,--we will open the door; put out your fire!"
The two gendarmes jumped to their fire and scattered it out with a few
kicks. The chimney-back then slowly turned on a pivot and disclosed a
hollow space, from which a woman, bareheaded, her face pale, her hair
standing up from her forehead like that of a man, dressed in a simple
Neapolitan gown of a brown color, scorched in many places, came forth,
placing her feet and hands on the heated hearth.
This woman was Petit-Pierre, her Royal Highness Marie-Caroline, the
Duchesse de Berry.
Her companions followed her. For sixteen hours they had been confined
in that cramped place without food. The hole which was thus their
asylum was made between the flue of the chimney and the wall of the
adjoining house under the roof, the rafters of which served to conceal
it.
At the moment when the troops surrounded the house her Royal Highness
was listening to Maître Pascal, who gave her an amusing account of the
scare which had led him to leave his house and come to hers. Through
the windows of the room in which she sat the duchess could see the
moon rising in the calm sky, and defining, like a brown silhouette,
the massive towers, the silent, motionless towers of the old castle.
There are moments when nature seems so gentle, so friendly, that it is
impossible to believe a danger lurks and threatens us from the midst
of such perfect quietude.
Suddenly Maître Pascal, coming nearer to the window, saw the flash of
bayonets. Instantly he threw himself back, exclaiming:--
"Escape! save yourself, Madame!"
The duchess at once rushed up the staircase, the others following her.
Reaching the hiding-place, she turned and called to her companions. As
they knew the place could only be entered on their hands and knees,
the men went first; then, as the young lady who attended on her Royal
Highness was unwilling to pass before her, the duchess said,
laughing:--
"Go in, go in! Good strategy requires that when a retreat is made the
commander should always be in the rear."
The soldiers entered the door of the house just as that of the
hiding-place was closed on the princess and her friends.
We have seen with what minute care the search had been made. Every
blow struck on the walls resounded in the refuge of the duchess; the
plaster fell in showers, the bricks were loosened, and the prisoners
came near being buried in the mass of rubbish shaken down by the jar
of the hammers and the iron-bars and joists of the searchers. When the
gendarmes built their fire the back of the chimney and the wall gave
forth a heat which made the little chamber almost insupportable. After
a while those who were imprisoned in it could scarcely breathe, and
they would have perished asphyxiated if they had not succeeded in
getting a few slates off the roof, which made an opening that let in
air.
The duchess suffered the most; for, having entered last, she was
nearest to the chimney-back. Each of her companions begged her to
change places, but she would not consent to it. To the danger of being
suffocated was now added that of being burned alive. The door of the
hiding-place was red-hot, and threatened at every moment to set fire
to the clothing of the women. In fact, Madame's gown had been twice on
fire and she had put it out with her hands, which were badly burned;
the scars remained visible for many months.
Every minute exhausted the interior air, and the external air admitted
through the tiny holes did not suffice to renew it. The breathing of
the prisoners became more and more difficult; another ten minutes in
that furnace might sacrifice the future life of the duchess. Her
companions implored her to surrender; but she would not. Her eyes
filled with tears of anger, which the scorching air dried upon her
cheeks. The fire had again caught her gown and again she had
extinguished it; but in the movement she thus made she chanced to
touch the spring of the chimney-back, which moved and attracted the
attention of the gendarme.
Supposing that this accident had betrayed her retreat, and pitying the
sufferings of her companions, Madame consented to surrender, leaving
the chimney as we have related. Her first words were a request to see
General Dermoncourt. One of the gendarmes went to find him on the
ground-floor, which he had not chosen to leave throughout the search.