The Chevalier De Maison Rouge (50 page)

handled instruments similar to that upon which at this

moment depended her every chance of safety and deliver-

ance. Directly the man with the keys heard the queen's

window open, he knocked at that of the gendarmes.

" Ah, ah ! " said Gilbert, looking through the window,

"'here is the Citizen Murdoch."

"' Himself/' said the turnkey. " Well, but it appears you keep strict watch."

" Much as usual, Citizen Key-bearer. It seems to me

you do not often find us at fault."

"'Ah!" said Murdoch, 'and vigilance is more than

ever necessary to-night."

" Bah !" said Duchesne, who had now approached.

"Truly."

"Why, then?"

" Open the window, and I will tell you all about it."

334 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

Gilbert opened it, and shook hands with Murdoch, who

had already made friends with the two gendarmes.

" What is it, Citizen Murdoch ? " repeated Gilbert.

" The sitting of the Convention has been rather warm

to-day. Have you read it ? "

" No. What passed, then ? "

" It was first stated the Citizen Hebert had made a

discovery.-"

"What?"

"It is that the conspirators believed to be dead are

found to be living. There are three living."

"Oh, yes," said Gilbert; " Delessert and Thierry; I have heard speak of that. They are in England, the

scoundrels ! "

" And the Chevalier de Maison Rouge," said the key-bearer, raising his voice so that the queen might hear,

ei What, is he in England,- too ? "

" Xot at all," said Murdoch; " he is in France," still speaking in the same loud key.

" He has returned, then ? "

" He has never quitted it."

" Well, he has good courage/' said Dnchesne.

"Indeed he has."

" Well, are they going to arrest him ? "

" Certainly ; but that is much easier said than done/'

At this moment the queen's file grated so forcibly upon

the iron bar that the key-bearer feared it might be heard,

notwithstanding all his efforts at concealment. He hastily

trod upon the paw of the nearest dog, who uttered a pro-

longed howl of pain.

" Oh. poor beast ! " said Gilbert.

".Bah ! '' said the key-bearer, " he had not put on his sabots. Be quiet, Girondin ; will you be quiet ?"

"Is your dog named Girondin, Citizen Murdoch ?"

" Yes ; that is the name I have given him."

"And you say this ? " saic Puchesne, who, imprisoned himself, took a lively interest in all that related to

prisoners. "You say this ?"

" Truly, I say this, that in the Citizen Hebert you see THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 335

a good patriot. I say that the Citizen Hebert has made a

proposition to return the Austrian to the Temple. Dam !

Because they pretend she has only been withdrawn from

the Temple to remove her from the immediate inspection

of the Commune of Paris."

" Yes ; and from the attempts of this cursed Maison

Rouge," said Gilbert, " it seems that the subterranean passage did exist."

" That was the reply the Citizen Saintez made ; but

Hebert said the instant that was defeated there was no

more danger ; that at the Temple fewer precautions were

requisite for the security of Marie Antoinette than here ;

and finally, that the Temple was differently inclosed to the conciergerie, and another thing altogether."

"MafoiJ" said Gilbert, "I wish they would remove her to the Temple."

" I understand you are tired of the confinement ?"

"No ; but it makes me melancholy."

Maison Rouge coughed loudly, as the noise of the file

biting through the iron bar was distinctly heard.

"What have they decided on ?" said Duchesne, when the key-bearer's cough had subsided.

" It is settled that she remains here ; but her trial will take place immediately."

" Poor woman !" said Gilbert.

Duchesne, whose sense of hearing was no doubt more

acute than that of his colleague, or his attention less en-

grossed by the recital of Murdoch, stooped down to listen

on the left side of the compartment.

The key-bearer saw the movement.

" So, you see, Citizen Duchesne, the attempts of the

conspirators will become the more desperate, from the

fact of their having less time before them for their exe-

cution. They are going to double the guards of the

prisons, so look out, Citizen Gendarme, since the matter

in question is nothing less than the irruption of an armed

force into the conciergerie. They will murder all, sacrifice every impediment, till they effect an entrance to the queen to the widow of Capet, I tell yon."

336 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

" Ah, bah ! How can they get in ? '*

" Disguised as patriots, they will appear to recommence the 2d of September. Poor wretches ! and when once the

gates are open. Bon soir."

There was an instant's silence, produced by the astonish-

ment of the guards, while the key-bearer heard with emo-

tions of joy and terror the continued grating of the file.

Nine o'clock struck. At the same moment there was a

knock at the wicket, but the gendarmes, preoccupied, did

not reply.

" Well, we shall see, we shall see/' said Gilbert.

" And, if necessary, will die at our posts like stanch Republicans," said Duchesne.

"She ought soon to have finished," said the key-bearer to himself, wiping the drops of perspiration from his face.

" And you, on your side," said Gilbert, " keep on the lookout, I presume ? They would spare you no more than

ns were such an event to take place."

the rest of you, at least those who are relieved, can sleep every other night."

At this moment a second summons at the wicket was

heard. Murdoch started ; any event, however trifling,

might mar the execution of his project.

" What is it, then ?" demanded he, in spite of himself.

"Nothing, nothing," said Gilbert; "it is only the registrar of the minister of war. lie is going now, and

came to inform me of it."

" Oh, very well," said Murdoch.

The registrar still continued to knock.

" Bon, box /" cried Gilbert, without leaving the

v,'indov. " B<> //. W/-. Adi'Mi."

" I think he is .-peaking," said Duchesne, turning toward the door.

The voice of the registrar *as then heard.

"Conic hero, Citizen Gendarme," said lie, "I wish to speak to yon."

This voice, which appeared overpowered by emotion,

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 337

and deprived of its natural accent, startled the key-bearer, who fancied he recognized it.

" What do you want, Citizen Durand ?" said Gilbert.

" I wish to speak a word with you."

" Well, you can tell me to-morrow."

"No, this evening ; it must be this evening," replied the same voice.

" Oli ! " murmured the key-Dearer, " what is about to happen now ? It is Dixmer's voice."

Sinister and vibrating, this voice seemed to borrow some-

thing funereal from the far-off echoes of the gloomy

corridor. Duchesne turned round.

" Well," said Gilbert, " if he wishes it, I must go,"

and he directed his steps toward the door.

The key-bearer availed himself of this moment when

the attention of the two gendarmes was thus occupied by

this unforeseen circumstance. He ran toward the window

of the queen.

" Is it done ?" said he.

" I have more than half finished/' said the queen.

"Oh, moil Dieu, inon Dieuf" murmured he, "make haste, make haste !"

" Well, Citizen Murdoch," said Duchesne, " what has become of you ? "

" Here I am," said the key-bearer, returning quickly to the window of the first compartment.

At that very same moment, even as he turned to resume

his former station, a frightful cry resounded through the

prison, then an imprecation, and a noise of a sword

being drawn from the scabbard.

' Villain ! brigand !" cried Gilbert, and the sound of a struggle was heard in the corridor,

The door then opened, displaying to the eyes of the turn-

key two shadows struggling in the wicket, and thus affording a free passage to a female . who, pushing aside Duchesne,

rushed into the queen's chamber. Duchesne, without no-

ticing the woman, ran to his comrade's assistance. The

turnkey sprung toward the other vindow, and beheld the

female on her knees before the queen, praying and supplicat-XI.

338 THE CHEVALIER DE MAI80N ROUGE.

ing her majesty to exchange dresses with her. He lowered

his bnrning eyes, endeavoring to gain a clearer view of

this woman, whom he feared he had already recognized.

All at once he uttered a dreadful cry.

" Genevi&ve ! Genevi^ve !" murmured he.

The queen had dropped the file from her hand, and

seemed transfixed with despair. Here, alas ! was another

attempt rendered abortive.

The turnkey seized the bar with both hands, shook it

with all his strength, but the file had not accomplished its work ; the bar of iron would not yield to his efforts. During this time Dixmer had, wrestling, struggling with Gilbert,

reached the prison, and there attempted to force his en-

trance with him ; but Duchesne, leaning against the door,

prevented him. But he was unable to close it, for Dixmer,

in despair, had placed his arm between the gate and the wall.

In his hand he still retained the poniard, which in the contest, blunted by the buckle of the belt, had glided over

the turnkey's breast tearing open his coat and lacerating

his flesh. The two men encouraged each other to reunite

their efforts, at the same time calling loudly for assistance.

Dixmer felt his arm must break ; he placed his shoulder

against the door, shook it violently, and succeeded in withdrawing his bruised arm. The door closed with a great

noise. Duchesne drew the bolts, while Gilbert turned the

key ; a rapid step was heard in the corridor, then all was

over. The two gendarmes searched everywhere around

them. They detected the sound of the assumed turnkey

wrenching the bar ; then Gilbert rushed into the queen's

chamber, where he found Genevie've entreating her majesty,

on her knees, to exchange clethes witli her. Duchesne

seized his gun and ran to the window ; he discovered a man

hanging to the bar, which he shook with rage, frantically

endeavoring in vain to break it.

lie pointed his gun; the young man saw it leveled at him.

" Oh, yes, yes ! " said he, " kill me, kill me ! " and, Bublime in bis despair, lie bared his breast to the storm.

" Chevalier," said the queen, " chevalier, I entreat you to live."

THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE. 339

At the sound of the queen's voice the chevalier sank

npon his knees. The gun was discharged, but this

movement saved him ; the ball passed over his head.

Genevieve, imagining her friend was dead, fell upon the

ground without sense or motion. When the smoke was

dissipated, no one remained in the Cour des Femmes.

Ten minutes afterward, thirty soldiers, led by two com-

missaries, searched the whole of the conciergerie, even its most inaccessible retreats. They discovered no one ; the

registrar had passed, culm and smiling, before Father

Richard's armchair. As to the turnkey, he had gone out

crying :

" Alarm ! alarm ! "

The sentinel opposed his egress with his bayonet, but

the two dogs seized him by the throat. It was only

Genevieve who was arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned.

CHAPTER XLV.

THE

WE can no longer leave in forgetfulness one of the

principal personages of this history, he who, during the

accomplishment of the various incidents of the preceding

chapter, had suffered most of all, and whose anxieties

merit the liveliest sympathy on the part of our readers. The sun shone gloriously in La Rue de la Monnaie, and the

gossips were discoursing merrily at their doors (as if for the last ten months a mist of blood had not hung over the city, tinging all nature with its sanguinary hue) , when Maurice

returned home, bringing, as he had promised, the cab-

riolet with him. He gave the bridle of the horse to a shoe-

black on the pavement of St. Eustache, and hastily run

up-stairs, his heart filled with joy.

Love is a vivifying sentiment. It animates hearts long

deadened to every other sensation it peoples the desert

it resuscitates before the eyes the shade of the beloved object it causes the voice which sings in the soul of the lover to display before him the entire creation illumined by the

340 THE CHEVALIER DE MAISON ROUGE.

brilliant rays of hope and happiness, at the same time it is egotistical, blinding him who loves to all but the existence of the beloved object.

Maurice neither saw these women nor listened to their

commentaries, he alone saw Genevieve preparing for a de-

parture which was at last to bring them durable happiness ; he only heard Genevieve singing carelessly her customary

song, and this little song burred so sweetly in his ear that he might have sworn he was listening to the varied modulations of her voice, mingled with the less harmonious sound of

closing locks. Upon the landing, Maurice stopped ; the

door was half open ; it was generally kept closed, and