CHAPTER XVI
Under arrest.
Deroulede did not attempt to go to her.
Only presently, when the heavy footsteps of Merlin and his men were oncemore heard upon the landing, she quietly rose to her feet.
She had accomplished her act of humiliation and repentance, there beforethem all. She looked for the last time upon those whom she had so deeplywronged, and in her heart spoke an eternal farewell to that great, andmighty, and holy love which she had called forth and then had sohopelessly crushed.
Now she was ready for the atonement.
Merlin had already swaggered into the room. The long and arduous searchthroughout the house had not improved either his temper or his personalappearance. He was more covered with grime than he had been before, andhis narrow forehead had almost disappeared beneath the tangled mass ofhis ill-kempt hair, which he had perpetually tugged forward and roughedup in his angry impatience.
One look at his face had already told Juliette what she wished to know.He had searched her room, and found the fragments of burnt paper, whichshe had purposely left in the ash-pan.
How he would act now was the one thing of importance left for Julietteto ponder over. That she would not escape arrest and condemnation was atonce made clear to her. Merlin's look of sneering contempt, when heglanced towards her, had told her that.
Deroulede himself had been conscious of a feeling of intense relief whenthe men re-entered the room. The tension had become unendurable. When hesaw his dethroned madonna kneel in humiliation at his feet, anoverwhelming pain had wrenched his very heart-strings.
And yet he could not go to her. The passionate, human nature within himfelt a certain proud exultation at seeing her there.
She was not above him now, she was no longer akin to the angels.
He had given no further thought to his own immediate danger. Vaguely heguessed that Merlin would find the leather case. Where it was he couldnot tell; perhaps Juliette herself had handed it to the soldiers. Shehad only hidden it for a few moments, out of impulse perhaps, fearinglest, at the first instant of its discovery, Merlin might betray her.
He remembered now those hints and insinuations which had gone out fromthe Terrorist to Juliette whilst the search was being conducted in thestudy. At the time he had merely looked upon these as a base attempt atinsult, and had tortured himself almost beyond bearing, in the endeavourto refrain from punishing that evilmouthed creature, who dared to bandywords with his madonna.
But now he understood, and felt his very soul writhing with shame at theremembrance of it all.
Oh yes; the return of Merlin and his men, the presence of these grimy,degraded brutes, was welcome now. He would have wished to crowd in theentire world, the universe and its population, between him and hisfallen idol.
Merlin's manner towards him had lost nothing of its ironicalbenevolence. There was even a touch of obsequiousness apparent in theugly face, as the representative of the people approached the popularCitizen-Deputy.
"Citizen-Deputy," began Merlin, "I have to bring you the welcome news,that we have found nothing in your house that in any way can castsuspicion upon your loyalty to the Republic. My orders, however, were tobring you before the Committee of Public Safety, whether I had foundproofs of your guilt or not. I have found none."
He was watching Deroulede keenly, hoping even at this eleventh hour todetect a look or a sign, which would furnish him with the proofs forwhich he was seeking. The slightest suggestion of relief on Deroulede'spart, a sigh of satisfaction, would have been sufficient at this moment,to convince him and the Committee of Public Safety that theCitizen-Deputy was guilty after all.
But Deroulede never moved. He was sufficiently master of himself not toexpress either surprise or satisfaction. Yet he felt both--satisfactionnot for his own safety, but because of his mother and Anne Mie, whom hewould immediately send out of the country, out of all danger; and alsobecause of her, of Juliette Marny, his guest, who, whatever she may havedone against him, had still a claim on his protection. His feeling ofsurprise was less keen, and quite transient. Merlin had not found theletter-case. Juliette, stricken with tardy remorse perhaps, hadsucceeded in concealing it. The matter had practically ceased tointerest him. It was equally galling to owe his betrayal or his ultimatesafety to her.
He kissed his mother tenderly, bidding her good-bye, and pressed AnneMie's timid little hand warmly between his own. He did what he could toreassure them, but, for their own sakes, he dared say nothing beforeMerlin, as to his plans for their safety.
After that he was ready to follow the soldiers.
As he passed close to Juliette he bowed, and almost inaudibly whispered:
"Adieu!"
She heard the whisper, but did not respond. Her look alone gave him thereply to his eternal farewell.
His footsteps and those of his escort were heard echoing down thestaircase, then the hall door to open and shut. Through the open windowcame the sound of hoarse cheering as the popular Citizen-Deputy appearedin the street.
Merlin, with two men beside him, remained under the portico; he told offthe other two to escort Deroulede as far as the Hall of Justice, wheresat the members of the Committee of Public Safety. The Terrorist had avague fear that the Citizen-Deputy would speak to the mob.
An unruly crowd of women had evidently been awaiting his appearance. Thenews had quickly spread along the streets that Merlin, Merlin himself,the ardent, bloodthirsty Jacobin, had made a descent upon PaulDeroulede's house, escorted by four soldiers. Such an indignity, putupon the man they most trusted in the entire assembly of the Convention,had greatly incensed the crowd. The women jeered at the soldiers as soonas they appeared, and Merlin dared not actually forbid Deroulede tospeak.
_"A la lanterne, vieux cretin!"_ shouted one of the women, thrusting herfist under Merlin's nose.
"Give the word, Citizen-Deputy," rejoined another, "and we'll break hisugly face. _Nous lui casserons la gueule!_"
"_A la lanterne! A la lanterne!"_
One word from Deroulede now would have caused an open riot, and in thosedays self defence against the mob was construed into enmity against thepeople.
Merlin's work, too, was not yet accomplished. He had had no intention ofescorting Deroulede himself; he had still important business to transactinside the house which he had just quitted, and had merely wished to getthe Citizen-Deputy well out of the way, before he went upstairs again.
Moreover, he had expected something of a riot in the streets. The temperof the people of Paris was at fever heat just now. The hatred of thepopulace against a certain class, and against certain individuals, wasonly equalled by their enthusiasm in favour of others.
They had worshipped Marat for his squalor and his vices; they worshippedDanton for his energy and Robespierre for his calm; they worshippedDeroulede for his voice, his gentleness and his pity, for his care oftheir children and the eloquence of his speech.
It was that eloquence which Merlin feared now; but he little knew thetype of man he had to deal with.
Deroulede's influence over the most unruly, the most vicious populacethe history of the world has ever known, was not obtained throughfanning its passions. That popularity, though brilliant, is alwaysephemeral. The passions of a mob will invariably turn against those whohave helped to rouse them. Marat did not live to see the waning of hisstar; Danton was dragged to the guillotine by those whom he had taughtto look upon that instrument of death as the only possible andunanswerable political argument; Robespierre succumbed to the orgies ofbloodshed he himself had brought about. But Deroulede remained master ofthe people of Paris for as long as he chose to exert that mastery. Whenthey listened to him they felt better, nobler, less hopelessly degraded.
He kept up in their poor, misguided hearts that last flickering sense ofmanhood which their bloodthirsty tyrants, under the guise of Fraternityand Equality, were doing their best to smother.
Even now, when he might have turned the temper of the small crowdoutside his
door to his own advantage, he preferred to say nothing; heeven pacified them with a gesture.
He well knew that those whom he incited against Merlin now would, oncetheir blood was up, probably turn against him in less than half-an-hour.
Merlin, who all along had meant to return to the house, took hisopportunity now. He allowed Deroulede and the two men to go on ahead,and beat a hasty retreat back into the house, followed by the jeers ofthe women.
_"A la lanterne, vieux cretin!"_ they shouted as soon as the hall doorwas once more closed in their faces. A few of them began hammeringagainst the door with their fists; then they realised that their specialfavourite, Citizen-Deputy Deroulede, was marching along between twosoldiers, as if he were a prisoner. The word went round that he wasunder arrest, and was being taken to the Hall of Justice--a prisoner.
This was not to be. The mob of Paris had been taught that it was themaster in the city, and it had learned its lesson well. For the momentit had chosen to take Paul Deroulede under its special protection, andas a guard of honour to him--the women in ragged kirtles, the men withbare legs and stripped to the waist, the children all yelling, hooting,and shrieking--followed him, to see that none dared harm him.