CHAPTER XVII
Atonement.
Merlin waited a while in the hall, until he heard the noise of theshrieking crowd gradually die away in the distance, then with a grunt ofsatisfaction he one more mounted the stairs.
All these events outside had occurred during a very few minutes, andMadame Deroulede and Anne Mie had been too anxious as to what washappening in the streets, to take any notice of Juliette.
They had not dared to step out on to the balcony to see what was goingon, and, therefore, did not understand what the reopening and shuttingof the front door had meant.
The next instant, however, Merlin's heavy, slouching footsteps on thestairs had caused Anne Mie to look round in alarm.
"It is only the soldiers come back for me," said Juliette quietly.
"For you?"
"Yes; they are coming to take me away. I suppose they did not wish to doit in the presence of Mr. Deroulede, for fear ..."
She had no time to say more. Anne Mie was still looking at her in awedand mute surprise, when Merlin entered the room.
In his hand he held a leather case, all torn, and split at one end, anda few tiny scraps of half-charred paper. He walked straight up toJuliette, and roughly thrust the case and papers into her face.
"These are yours?" he said roughly.
"Yes."
"I suppose you know where they were found?"
She nodded quietly in reply.
"What were these papers which you burnt?"
"Love letters."
"You lie!"
She shrugged her shoulders.
"As you please," she said curtly.
"What were these papers?" he repeated, with a loud obscene oath which,however, had not the power to disturb the young girl's serenity.
"I have told you," she said: "love letters, which I wished to burn."
"Who was your lover?" he asked.
Then as she did not reply he indicated the street, where cries of"Deroulede! Vive Deroulede!" still echoed from afar.
"Were the letters from him?"
"No."
"You had more than one lover, then?"
He laughed, and a hideous leer seemed further to distort his uglycountenance.
He thrust his face quite close to hers, and she closed her eyes, sickwith the horror of this contact with the degraded wretch. Even Anne Miehad uttered a cry of sympathy at sight of this evil-smelling, squalidcreature torturing, with his close proximity, the beautiful, refinedgirl before him.
With a rough gesture he put his clawlike hand under her delicate chin,forcing her to turn round and to look at him. She shuddered at theloathsome touch, but her quietude never forsook her for a moment.
It was into the power of wretches such as this man, that she hadwilfully delivered the man she loved. This brutish creature'sfamiliarity put the finishing touch to her own degradation, but it gaveher the courage to carry through her purpose to the end.
"You had more than one lover, then?" said Merlin, with a laugh whichwould have pleased the devil himself. "And you wished to send one ofthem to the guillotine in order to make way for the other? Was that it?"
"Was that it?" he repeated, suddenly seizing one of her wrists, andgiving it as savage twist, so that she almost screamed with the pain.
"Yes," she replied firmly.
"Do you know that you brought me here on a fool's errand?" he askedviciously; "that the Citizen-Deputy Deroulede cannot be sent to theguillotine on mere suspicion, eh? Did you know that, when you wrote outthat denunciation?"
"No; I did not know."
"You thought we could arrest him on mere suspicion?"
"Yes."
"You knew he was Innocent?"
"I knew it."
"Why did you burn your love letters?"
"I was afraid that they would be found, and would be brought under thenotice of the Citizen-Deputy."
"A splendid combination, _ma foi!_" said Merlin, with an oath, as heturned to the two other women, who sat pale and shrinking in a corner ofthe room, not understanding what was going on, not knowing what to thinkor what to believe. They had known nothing of Deroulede's plans for theescape of Marie Antoinette, they didn't know what the letter-case hadcontained, and yet they both vaguely felt that the beautiful girl, whostood up so calmly before the loathsome Terrorist, was not a wanton, asshe tried to make out, but only misguided, mad perhaps--perhaps amartyr.
"Did you know anything of this?" queried Merlin roughly from tremblingAnne Mie.
"Nothing," she replied.
"No one knew anything of my private affairs or of my privatecorrespondence," said Juliette coldly; "as you say, it was a splendidcombination. I had hoped that it would succeed. But I understand nowthat Citizen-Deputy Deroulede is a personage of too much importance tobe brought to trial on mere suspicion, and my denunciation of him wasnot based on facts."
"And do you know, my fine aristocrat," sneered Merlin viciously, "thatit is not wise either to fool the Committee of Public Safety, or todenounce without cause one of the representatives of the people?"
"I know," she rejoined quietly, "that you, Citizen Merlin, aredetermined that someone shall pay for this day's blunder. You dare notnow attack the Citizen-Deputy, and so you must be content with me."
"Enough of this talk now; I have no time to bandy words with aristos,"he said roughly.
"Come now, follow the men quietly. Resistance would only aggravate yourcase."
"I am quite prepared to follow you. May I speak two words to my friendsbefore I go?"
"No."
"I may never be able to speak to them again."
"I have said No, and I mean No. Now then, forward. March! I have wastedtoo much time already."
Juliette was too proud to insist any further. She had hoped, by oneword, to soften Madame Deroulede's and Anne Mie's heart towards her. Shedid not know whether they believed that miserable lie which she had beentelling to Merlin; she only guessed that for the moment they stillthought her the betrayer of Paul Deroulede.
But that one word was not to be spoken. She would have to go forth toher certain trial, to her probable death, under the awful cloud, whichshe herself had brought over her own life.
She turned quietly, and walked towards the door, where the two menalready stood at attention.
Then it was that some heaven-born instinct seemed suddenly to guide AnneMie. The crippled girl was face to face with a psychological problem,which in itself was far beyond her comprehension, but vaguely she feltthat it was a problem. Something in Juliette's face had already causedher to bitterly repent her action towards her, and now, as thisbeautiful, refined woman was about to pass from under the shelter ofthis roof, to the cruel publicity and terrible torture of that awfulrevolutionary tribunal, Anne Mie's whole heart went out to her inboundless sympathy.
Before Merlin or the men could prevent her, she had run up to Juliette,taken her hand, which hung listless and cold, and kissed it tenderly.
Juliette seemed to wake as if from a dream. She looked down at Anne Miewith a glance of hope, almost of joy, and whispered:
"It was an oath--I swore it to my father and my dead brother. Tell him."
Anne Mie could only nod; she could not speak, for her tears were chokingher.
"But I'll atone--with my life. Tell him," whispered Juliette.
"Now then," shouted Merlin, "out of the way, hunchback, unless you wantto come along too."
"Forgive me," said Anne Mie through her tears.
Then the men pushed her roughly aside. But at the door Juliette turnedto her once more, and said:
"Petronelle--take care of her ..."
And with a firm step she followed the soldiers out of the room.
Presently the front door was heard to open, then to shut with a loudbang, and the house in the Rue Ecole de Medecine was left in silence.