CHAPTER XII
The sword of Damocles.
"In the name of the Republic!"
Absorbed in his thoughts, his dreams, his present happiness, Derouledehad heard nothing of what was going on in the house, during the past fewseconds.
At first, to Anne Mie, who was still singing her melancholy ditty overher work in the kitchen, there had seemed nothing unusual in theperemptory ring at the front-door bell. She pulled down her sleeves overher thin arms, smoothed down her cooking apron, then only did she run tosee who the visitor might be.
As soon as she had opened the door, however, she understood.
Five men were standing before her, four of whom wore the uniform of theNational Guard, and the fifth, the tricolour scarf fringed with gold,which denoted service under the Convention.
This man seemed to be in command of the others, and he immediatelystepped into the hall, followed by his four companions, who at a signfrom him, effectively cut off Anne Mie from what had been her imminentpurpose--namely, to run to the study and warn Deroulede of his danger.
That it was danger of the most certain, the most deadly kind she neverdoubted for one moment. Even had her instinct not warned her, she wouldhave guessed. One glance at the five men had sufficed to tell her: theirattitude, their curt word of command, their air of authority as theycrossed the hall--everything revealed the purpose of their visit: adomiciliary search in the house of Citizen-Deputy Deroulede.
Merlin's Law of the Suspect was in full operation. Someone had denouncedthe Citizen-Deputy to the Committee of Public Safety; and in this yearof grace, 1793, and I. of the Revolution, men and women were daily sentto the guillotine on suspicion.
Anne Mie would have screamed, had she dared, but instinct such as herswas far too keen, to betray her into so injudicious an act. She feltthat, were Paul Deroulede's eyes upon her at this moment, he would wishher to remain calm and outwardly serene.
The foremost man--he with the tricolour scarf--had already crossed thehall, and was standing outside the study door. It was his word ofcommand which first roused Deroulede from his dream:
"In the name of the Republic!"
Deroulede did not immediately drop the small hand, which a moment ago hehad been covering with kisses. He held it to his lips once more, verygently, lingering over this last fond caress, as if over an eternalfarewell, then he straightened out his broad, well-knit figure, andturned to the door.
He was very pale, but there was neither fear nor even surprise expressedin his earnest, deep-set eyes. They still seemed to be looking afar,gazing upon a heaven-born vision, which the touch of her hand and theavowal of his love had conjured up before him.
"In the name of the Republic!"
Once more, for the third time--according to custom--the words rang out,clear, distinct, peremptory.
In that one fraction of a second, whilst those six words were spoken,Deroulede's eyes wandered swiftly towards the heavy letter-case, whichnow held his condemnation, and a wild, mad thought--the mere animaldesire to escape from danger--surged up in his brain.
The plans for the escape of Marie Antoinette, the various passports,worded in accordance with the possible disguises the unfortunate Queenmight assume--all these papers were more than sufficient proof of whatwould be termed his treason against the Republic.
He could already hear the indictment against him, could see the filthymob of Paris dancing a wild saraband round the tumbril, which bore himtowards the guillotine; he could hear their yells of execration, couldfeel the insults hurled against him, by those who had most admired, mostenvied him. And from all this he would have escaped if he could, if ithad not been too late.
It was but a second, or less, whilst the words were spoken outside hisdoor, and whilst all other thoughts in him were absorbed in this one maddesire for escape. He even made a movement, as if to snatch up theletter-case and to hide it about his person. But it was heavy and bulky;it would be sure to attract attention, and might bring upon him theadditional indignity of being forced to submit to a personal search.
He caught Juliette's eyes fixed upon him with an intensity of gazewhich, in that same one mad moment, revealed to him the depths of herlove. Then the second's weakness was gone; he was once more quiet, firm,the man of action, accustomed to meet danger boldly, to rule and tosubdue the most turgid mob.
With a quiet shrug of the shoulders, he dismissed all thought of thecompromising lettercase, and went to the door.
Already, as no reply had come to the third word of command, it had beenthrown open from outside, and Deroulede found himself face to face withthe five men.
"Citizen Merlin!" he said quietly, as he recognised the foremost amongthem.
"Himself, Citizen-Deputy," rejoined the latter, with a sneer, "at yourservice."
Anne Mie, in a remote corner of the hall, had heard the name, and felther very soul sicken at its sound.
Merlin! Author of that infamous Law of the Suspect which had set managainst man, a father against his son, brother against brother, andfriend against friend, had made of every human creature a bloodhound onthe track of his fellowmen, dogging in order not to be dogged,denouncing, spying, hounding, in order not to be denounced.
And he, Merlin, gloried in this, the most fiendishly evil law everperpetrated for the degradation of the human race.
There is that sketch of him in the Musee Carnavalet, drawn just beforehe, in his turn, went to expiate his crimes on that very guillotine,which he had sharpened and wielded so powerfully against his fellows.The artist has well caught the slouchy, slovenly look of his looselyknit figure, his long limbs and narrow head, with the snakelike eyes andslightly receding chin. Like Marat, his model and prototype, Merlinaffected dirty, ragged clothes. The real Sanscullottism, the downwardlevelling of his fellowmen to the lowest rung of the social ladder,pervaded every action of this noted product of the great Revolution.
Even Deroulede, whose entire soul was filled with a great,all-understanding pity for the weaknesses of mankind, recoiled at sightof this incarnation of the spirit of squalor and degradation, of allthat was left of the noble Utopian theories of the makers of theRevolution.
Merlin grinned when he saw Deroulede standing there, calm, impassive,well dressed, as if prepared to receive an honoured guest, rather than asummons to submit to the greatest indignity a proud man has ever beencalled upon to suffer.
Merlin had always hated the popular Citizen-Deputy. Friend andboon-companion of Marat and his gang, he had for over two years nowexerted all the influence he possessed in order to bring Deroulede undera cloud of suspicion.
But Deroulede had the ear of the populace. No one understood as he didthe tone of a Paris mob; and the National Convention, ever terrified ofthe volcano it had kindled, felt that a popular member of its assemblywas more useful alive than dead.
But now at last Merlin was having his way. An anonymous denunciationagainst Deroulede had reached the Public Prosecutor that day. Tinvilleand Merlin were the fastest of friends, so the latter easily obtainedthe privilege of being the first to proclaim to his hated enemy, thenews of his downfall.
He stood facing Deroulede for a moment, enjoying the present situationto its full. The light from the vast hall struck full upon the powerfulfigure of the Citizen-Deputy and upon his firm, dark face and magnetic,restless eyes. Behind him the study, with its closely-drawn shutters,appeared wrapped in gloom.
Merlin turned to his men, and, still delighted with his position of acat playing with a mouse, he pointed to Deroulede, with a smile and ashrug of the shoulders.
"_Voyez-moi donc ca,_" he said, with a coarse jest, and expectoratingcontemptuously upon the floor, "the aristocrat seems not to understandthat we are here in the name of the Republic. There is a very goodproverb, Citizen-Deputy," he added, once more addressing Deroulede,"which you seem to have forgotten, and that is that the pitcher whichgoes too often to the well breaks at last. You have conspired againstthe liberties of the people for the past ten years. Retribution has c
ometo you at last; the people of France have come to their senses. TheNational Convention wants to know what treason you are hatching betweenthese four walls, and it has deputed me to find out all there is toknow."
"At your service, Citizen-Deputy!" said Deroulede, quietly steppingaside, in order to make way for Merlin and his men.
Resistance was useless, and, like all strong, determined natures, heknew when it was best to give in.
During this while, Juliette had neither moved nor uttered a sound.Little more than a minute had elapsed since the moment when the firstperemptory order, to open in the name of the Republic, had sounded likethe tocsin through the stillness of the house. Deroulede's kisses werestill hot upon her hand, his words of love were still ringing in herears.
And now this awful, deadly peril, which she with her own hand hadbrought on the man she loved!
If in one moment's anguish the soul be allowed to expiate a lifelongsin, then indeed did Juliette atone during this one terrible second.
Her conscience, her heart, her entire being rose in revolt against hercrime. Her oath, her life, her final denunciation appeared before her inall their hideousness.
And now it was too late.
Deroulede stood facing Merlin, his most implacable enemy. The latter wasgiving orders to his men, preparatory to searching the house, and there,just on the top of the valise, lay the letter-case, obviously containingthose papers, to which the day before she had overheard Deroulede makingallusion, whilst he spoke to his friend, Sir Percy Blakeney.
An unexplainable instinct seemed to tell her that the papers were inthat case. Her eyes were riveted on it, as if fascinated. An awfulterror held her enthralled for one second more, whilst her thoughts, herlongings, her desires were all centred on the safety of that one thing.
The next instant she had seized it and thrown it upon the sofa. Thenseating herself beside it, with the gesture of a queen and the grace ofa Parisienne, she had spread the ample folds of her skirts over thecompromising case, hiding it entirely from view.
Merlin in the hall was ordering two men to stand one on each side ofDeroulede, and two more to follow him into the room. Now he entered ithimself, his narrow eyes trying to pierce the semi-obscurity, which wasrendered more palpable by the brilliant light in the hall.
He had not seen Juliette's gesture, but he had heard the _frou-frou_ ofher skirts, as she seated herself upon the sofa.
"You are not alone Citizen-Deputy, I see," he said, with a sneer, as hissnakelike eyes lighted upon the young girl.
"My guest, Citizen Merlin," replied Deroulede as calmly as hecould--"Citizen Juliette Marny. I know that it is useless, under thesecircumstances, to ask for consideration for a woman, but I pray you toremember, as far as is possible, that although we are all Republicans,we are also Frenchmen, and all still equal in our sentiment of chivalrytowards our mothers, our sisters, or our guests."
Merlin chuckled, and gazed for a moment ironically at Juliette. He hadheld, between his talon-like fingers, that very morning, a thin scrap ofpaper, on which a schoolgirlish hand had scrawled the denunciationagainst Citizen-Deputy Deroulede.
Coarse in nature, and still coarser in thoughts, this representative ofthe people had very quickly arrived at a conclusion in his mind, withregard to this so-called guest in the Deroulede household.
"A discarded mistress," he muttered to himself. "Just had another scene,I suppose. He's got tired of her, and she's given him away out ofspite."
Satisfied with this explanation of the situation, he was quite inclinedto be amiable to Juliette. Moreover, he had caught sight of the valise,and almost thought that the young girl's eyes had directed his attentiontowards it.
"Open those shutters!" he commanded, "this place is like a vault."
One of the men obeyed immediately, and as the brilliant August sun camestreaming into the room, Merlin once more turned to Deroulede.
"Information has been laid against you, Citizen-Deputy," he said, "by ananonymous writer, who states that you have just now in your possessioncorrespondence or other papers intended for the Widow Capet: and theCommittee of Public Safety has entrusted me and these citizens to seizesuch correspondence, and make you answerable for its presence in yourhouse."
Deroulede hesitated for one brief fraction of a second. As soon as theshutters had been opened, and the room flooded in daylight, he had atonce perceived that his letter-case had disappeared, and guessed, fromJuliette's attitude upon the sofa, that she had concealed it about herperson. It was this which caused him to hesitate.
His heart was filled with boundless gratitude to her for her nobleeffort to save him, but he would have given his life at this moment, toundo what she had done.
The Terrorists were no respecters of persons or of sex. A domicillarysearch order, in those days, conferred full powers on those inauthority, and Juliette might at any moment now be peremptorily orderedto rise. Through her action she had made herself one with theCitizen-Deputy; if the case were found under the folds of her skirts,she would be accused of connivance, or at any rate of the equally gravecharge of shielding a traitor.
The manly pride in him rebelled at the thought of owing his immediatesafety to a woman, yet he could not now discard her help, withoutcompromising her irretrievably.
He dared not even to look again towards her, for he felt that at thismoment her life as well as his own lay in the quiver of an eyelid; andMerlin's keen, narrow eyes were fixed upon him in eager search for atremor, a flash, which might betray fear or prove an admission of guilt.
Juliette sat there, calm, impassive, disdainful, and she seemed toDeroulede more angelic, more unattainable even than before. He couldhave worshipped her for her heroism, her resourcefulness, her quietaloofness from all these coarse creatures who filled the room with theodour of their dirty clothes, with their rough jests, and their noisomesuggestions.
"Well, Citizen-Deputy," sneered Merlin after a while, "you do not reply,I notice."
"The insinuation is unworthy of a reply, citizen," replied Derouledequietly; "my services to the Republic are well known. I should havethought that the Committee of Public Safety would disdain an anonymousdenunciation against a faithful servant of the people of France."
"The Committee of Public Safety knows its own business best,Citizen-Deputy," rejoined Merlin roughly. "If the accusation prove acalumny, so much the better for you. I presume," he added with a sneer,"that you do not propose to offer any resistance whilst these citizensand I search your house."
Without another word Deroulede handed a bunch of keys to the man by hisside. Every kind of opposition, argument even, would be worse thanuseless.
Merlin had ordered the valise and desk to be searched, and two men werebusy turning out the contents of both on to the floor. But the desk nowonly contained a few private household accounts, and notes for thevarious speeches which Deroulede had at various times delivered in theassemblies of the National Convention. Among these, a few penciljottings for his great defence of Charlotte Corday were eagerly seizedupon by Merlin, and his grimy, clawlike hands fastened upon this scrapof paper, as upon a welcome prey.
But there was nothing else of any importance. Deroulede was a man ofthought and of action, with all the enthusiasm of real conviction, butnone of the carelessness of a fanatic. The papers which were containedin the letter-case, and which he was taking with him to theConciergerie, he considered were necessary to the success of his plans,otherwise he never would have kept them, and they were the only proofsthat could be brought up against him.
The valise itself was only packed with the few necessaries for a month'ssojourn at the Conciergerie; and the men, under Merlin's guidance, werevainly trying to find something, anything that might be construed intotreasonable correspondence with the unfortunate prisoner there.
Merlin, whilst his men were busy with the search, was sprawling in oneof the big leather-covered chairs, on the arms of which his dirtyfinger-nails were beating an impatient devil's tattoo. He was at nopains to conceal
the intense disappointment which he would experience,were his errand to prove fruitless.
His narrow eyes every now and then wandered towards Juliette, as ifasking for her help and guidance. She, understanding his frame of mind,responded to the look. Shutting her mentality off from the coarsesuggestion of his attitude towards her, she played her part withcunning, and without flinching. With a glance here and there, shedirected the men in their search. Deroulede himself could scarcelyrefrain from looking at her; he was puzzled, and vaguely marvelled atthe perfection, with which she carried through her role to the end.
Merlin found himself baffled.
He knew quite well that Citizen-Deputy Deroulede was not a man to belightly dealt with. No mere suspicion or anonymous denunciation would besufficient in his case, to bring him before the tribunal of theRevolution. Unless there were proofs--positive, irrefutable, damnableproofs--of Paul Deroulede's treachery, the Public Prosecutor would neverdare to frame an indictment against him. The mob of Paris would rise todefend its idol; the hideous hags, who plied their knitting at the footof the scaffold, would tear the guillotine down, before they would allowDeroulede to mount it.
This was Deroulede's stronghold: the people of Paris, whom he had lovedthrough all their infamies, and whom he had succoured and helped intheir private need; and above all the women of Paris, whose children hehad caused to be tended in the hospitals which he had built forthem--this they had not yet forgotten, and Merlin knew it. One day theywould forget--soon, perhaps--then they would turn on their former idol,and, howling, send him to his death, amidst cries of rancour andexecration. When that day came there would be no need to worry abouttreason or about proofs. When the populace had forgotten all that he haddone, then Deroulede would fall.
But that time was not yet.
The men had finished ransacking the room; every scrap of paper, everyportable article had been eagerly seized upon.
Merlin, half blind with fury, had jumped to his feet.
"Search him!" he ordered peremptorily.
Deroulede set his teeth, and made no protest, calling up every fibre ofmoral strength within him, to aid him in submitting to this indignity.At a coarse jest from Merlin, he buried his nails into the palms of hishand, not to strike the foulmouthed creature in the face. But hesubmitted, and stood impassive by, whilst the pockets of his coat wereturned inside out by the rough hands of the soldiers.
All the while Juliette had remained silent, watching Merlin as any hawkwould its prey. But the Terrorist, through the very coarseness of hisnature, was in this case completely fooled.
He knew that it was Juliette who had denounced Deroulede, and hadsatisfied himself as to her motive. Because he was low and brutish anddegraded, he never once suspected the truth, never saw in that beautifulyoung woman, anything of the double nature within her, of that curious,self-torturing, at times morbid sense of religion and of duty, at warwith her own upright, innately healthy disposition.
The low-born, self-degraded Terrorist had put his own construction onJuliette's action, and with this he was satisfied, since it answered tohis own estimate of the human race, the race which he was doing his bestto bring down to the level of the beast.
Therefore Merlin did not interfere with Juliette, but contented himselfwith insinuating, by jest and action, what her share in this day's workhad been. To these hints Deroulede, of course, paid no heed. For himJuliette was as far above political intrigue as the angels. He would assoon have suspected one of the saints enshrined in Notre Dame as thisbeautiful, almost ethereal creature, who had been sent by Heaven togladden his heart and to elevate his very thought.
But Juliette understood Merlin's attitude, and guessed that her writtendenunciation had come into his hands. Her every thought, every livingsensation within her, was centred in this one thing: to save the man sheloved from the consequences of her own crime against him. And for this,even the shadow of suspicion must be removed from him. Merlin'siniquitous law should not touch him again.
When Deroulede at last had been released, after the outrage to which hehad been personally subjected, Merlin was literally, and figurativelytoo, looking about him for an issue to his present dubious position.
Judging others by his own standard of conduct, he feared now that thepopular Citizen-Deputy would incite the mob against him, in revenge forthe indignities which he had had to suffer. And with it all theTerrorist was convinced that Deroulede was guilty, that proofs of histreason did exist, if only he knew where to lay hands on them.
He turned to Juliette with an unexpressed query in his adder-like eyes.She shrugged her shoulders, and made a gesture as if pointing towardsthe door.
"There are other rooms in the house besides this," her gesture seemed tosay; "try them. The proofs are there, 'tis for you to find them."
Merlin had been standing between her and Deroulede, so that the lattersaw neither query nor reply.
"You are cunning, Citizen-Deputy," said Merlin now, turning towards him,"and no doubt you have been at pains to put your treasonablecorrespondence out of the way. You must understand that the Committee ofPublic Safety will not be satisfied with a mere examination of yourstudy," he added, assuming an air of ironical benevolence, "and Ipresume you will have no objection, if I and these citizen soldiers paya visit to other portions of your house."
"As you please," responded Deroulede drily.
"You will accompany us, Citizen-Deputy," commanded the other curtly.
The four men of the National Guard formed themselves into line outsidethe study door; with a peremptory nod, Merlin ordered Deroulede to passbetween them, then he too prepared to follow. At the door he turned, andonce more faced Juliette.
"As for you, citizeness," he said, with a sudden access of viciousnessagainst her, "if you have brought us here on a fool's errand, it will goill with you, remember. Do not leave the house until our return. I mayhave some questions to put to you."