CHAPTER XXI
IN THE HIDDEN CELLAR
The three of them stood there in the great, dark entrance hall, Henritrying to speak through his sobs.
"You, Monsieur Lisle! You are safe. I can not believe my eyes. I amglad, glad! You can not know--I was tempted. I was weak. They talked meover, Tortot and his friend, and they promised me a big reward, but Ihave known nothing but misery. Monsieur Lisle, you must believe me. Ihave known only horror since I helped them plan to take you away, andsince the imprisonment of Madame, your mother, at the home of youraunt." Henri clasped his hands in his earnestness. "I am in despair. Ihave known bad hours in this house. They have turned against me, Tortotand the others. They say that I am working against them. I thought justnow that one of them had come to kill me. I promise now to do all I canto help you and yours."
Lisle's face showed no signs of softening as he stood there facingHenri. He was full of excitement. He had come from the hidden cellar,and had found adventure before he reached the second story. He had nopity for Henri.
"You saw to it that my mother was made a prisoner, and yet you dare towhine before me," he exclaimed.
Dian had stood silent during the words between Henri and Lisle. He sawwhat Lisle did not see, that Henri's repentance was real, and that, inspite of his weakness and cowardice, Henri wanted now, most earnestly,to atone! It was a blessed thing for them all, that Dian knew this to betrue. Henri was one of the people and he knew Paris well. Henri turnedto Dian.
"Tell the young master that it is so. Do not be mad enough to refuse myaid. I have joined up with a battalion and am leaving the city shortly.I did not mean them any real harm, only I was afraid----"
"You need not give your cowardice as an excuse. It is you and those likeyou who are making this revolution a thing for fiends. It is you andyour kind who are taking all the beauty from the thought of brotherhood.The Saint Freres have not shown you any kindness, you will say, and thatmay be true; but they trusted you, a woman and two children, alone andunprotected. They never did anything to deserve such rank disloyalty."Dian spoke very sternly and turned in the next breath and addressedhimself to Lisle. "You, too, are untrustworthy and disloyal," he said,and looked straight into Lisle's eyes. Lisle's eyes answered his, aworld of grieved astonishment in their depths.
Dian turned again to Henri.
"Prove your words by some deed that will show you to be less a coward. Itrust you now. I am taking this boy where he will be kept in safety.You, in the meantime, can try to find some way to undo your evil work. Ican come and go by way of the broken window in the cellar. You know itwell. I can receive a message from you if you have anything of import totell me."
Henri came nearer to Dian as he spoke, looking at him in a way he hadnever looked at any human being before. It was as though he were seeinghimself for the first time. He put out both his hands toward Dian.
"You trust me?" he faltered.
Dian nodded. Then he turned and drew Lisle close to him. He knew that hehad spoken harshly. He had meant to do so.
"He saved your life, for I might have killed you!" Henri said to Dianand the shepherd answered:
"He is like that first Lisle Saint Frere, his long-ago ancestor."
Dian turned away after he had said these words. Then looking back atHenri, he went on, "Leave any message for me, here in this hall, underthe carpet by the stairs." He went on down the hall, Lisle beside him.When they reached the cellar stairs he looked back. There was no sign orsound of any one. Henri was not following, not spying.
When they reached the first cellar, they stood for a moment by the jamshelf where the swinging lanthorn cast its light upon them. Lisle caughthold of Dian's arm and looked up at him.
"You said I was like the first Lisle Saint Frere. You said it after Ihad disobeyed you. I'm sorry that I left the cellar when you trusted meto stay," he said.
Dian held him at arm's length, smiling the smile that seemed totransfigure him, bringing a radiance to his face.
"Yes, you did wrong. We all do. It is true that you are like the firstLisle. Listen, my child, there are great things for you to know. Awaketo them! Think of the protection that has been with you and yours. Youwill see." As he spoke, Dian went to the panel, and kneeling, opened it.It slid back and they descended backward into the depths.
As Lisle reached the last step, his first impression was of light, andwhen he turned around, a blaze of candle radiance greeted him. He puthis hand to his forehead, leaning back for a moment against the roughwall.
The lighted cellar seemed unreal and so did the two figures who stood bythe old, carved chest. One of the figures, with an odd cry that was halfa laugh, half a sob, sprang forward and caught him about the neck. Shewas a wild-looking, dark child with rough black locks which flappedagainst his face as she clung to him, but in spite of her rags and thestrangeness of her appearance, he knew, when she called his name, thatit was Marie Josephine!
He was bewildered and it was not to be wondered at. After weeks ofinaction in the bakery shop, the sudden wild rescue, the hidden cellar,leaving it, the episode with Henri in the hall, and now, wonder ofwonders his sister, Marie Josephine! He felt her arms clinging to himand looking over her shoulder he saw--could he believe hissenses?--little Jean Barbette, covered with dust and smiling out of hisblack eyes!
"It is Jean!" he gasped.
Jean was so delighted at Lisle's surprise, that he began to hop about onone foot. "Yes, I came! I came all the way from Pigeon Valley to Paris!I'm going to tell Petite Mere all about it!" Jean's eyes seemed fairlyto blaze in his excitement.
"Let us go over to the chest and sit down!" said Lisle, who was tryingnot to show his emotion and his unbounded surprise, but he failed inthis, for they could all see that he was fairly dazed. He sat down onthe chest with Marie Josephine beside him, and in spite of her dust andgrime, he kept his arm close about her. Then he beckoned to Jean. "Comeand sit on the other side, won't you, Jean?" he said.
Dian had gone over to the heap of rugs, and coming back with a softbrown one, put it on the floor in front of the chest. Jean sat down onit with his legs crosswise.
"You sit down between us on the chest, Dian," suggested Marie Josephineexcitedly. "We can talk and talk but I don't know where to begin. Thereare so many things I want to tell and to hear about!"
It was true. It was all so strange and unreal, the journey, their comingthrough the gates meeting Dian, then the alley, an odd dark room, afunny fat man, whose name was Humphrey Trail and who was Lisle's friend,and with him Rosanne! Then the walk through the noisy streets with Dianto her own home, to the secret cellar!
Marie Josephine had to be the one to talk first. She talked so fast andsaid so much that her words fairly tumbled over themselves, but herhearers were so interested that they did not miss one of them! Jean satlistening as eagerly as any one, nodding his head vigorously every nowand then, and blushing at Marie Josephine's praise of him. They drank inall she had to tell them of that spring night less than a week ago whenshe had dressed herself in the disguise which she had been all winter inprocuring, and which she told them would furnish a story all of itself.She told of the pitiful whine of Flambeau when she had come away andleft him, of the last glimpse of Mother Barbette's cottage, and then ofher words to Grigge. She told of the run through the sweet, night air oftheir dear Pigeon Valley, and finally of finding Jean just behind her!
When she reached this stage in her narrative she stopped for sheer lackof breath and Dian stood up, saying:
"You both need food, Little Mademoiselle. I shall prepare it."
At these words of Dian's Jean cried, "Bravo!"
Marie Josephine gave a happy little laugh. "Yes, we do, and I'll stoptalking altogether for a few minutes." She turned toward her brother asshe spoke. He was sitting with his head thrown back against the greystone wall, his hands at his sides. He wore one of the dark velvet suitswhich brought back memories of the schoolroom. Dian had found it
upstairs and had brought it down to him. Marie Josephine had only beentold that Lisle was safe in the hidden cellar. She knew nothing of thebaker shop. As she turned to look at him, he smiled back at her, thefirst time since he had smiled at the bakery woman over the cake. He wasso astounded at what she had done, that he could scarcely believe it wasnot all a dream. What was it Dian had said there by the panel, thatwonderful smile on his face?--"think of the protection that has beenwith you." Marie Josephine and Jean had come safely through to the heartof Paris. His sister was sitting there beside him in a disguise whichshe had thought of and carried out herself. She had known highadventure, and she told it all simply as an interesting story, without atrace of vainglory.
"Why did you come, Marie Josephine? Was it because of the hiddencellar?" Lisle asked her, and Dian, as he bent over his cooking in a farcorner of the room, listened for her reply. He had built a small fire ina rough hollow of the floor and he was brewing chocolate. The fire madesome smoke but not enough to cause discomfort, drifting off into the dimrecesses of the alcoves beyond.
"I came because of knowing about it, partly because of that and partlybecause grandfather had told me that I was to tell about it if it wereto save a life. I thought and thought about it all winter. It seemed asthough the spring would never come. I knew no one would dream of lettingme come, of course, and I didn't tell any one but Jean about what I wasgoing to do. If you want me to I'll go right on telling some more whilewe have the chocolate. There is so much to tell!"
Dian took off the red, brocaded cloth and brought out a white one from ashelf in a sort of small cavern in the wall. He spread it on the table.Marie Josephine jumped up, breaking off with, "I'll set the table. I cantalk while I'm doing it. Bring the silver, and the horn drinking cups,Jean. They're there on the shelf. You see," she looked across and smiledat Jean as she spoke, "I--I've been here in the hidden cellar before!"
Lisle was still sitting with his head thrown back against the stonewall, and as Marie Josephine looked over at him, a drinking cup in onehand and a silver spoon in the other, she noticed suddenly that his facewas very white there in the candlelight and that there was somethingdifferent about it. It was always like him to keep things to himself.She came across to him slowly.
"You have been always in my thoughts, and that is why I came--because ofmaman and of you. She is safe at Great-aunt Hortense's house and Dianwill take care of us, but there is something that makes you different.What is it?"
Dian brought a loaf of bread on a blue plate and put it on the table. Hehad already placed a dish of cheese by the jug of chocolate. Thenlifting the table, he brought it up close to the chest.
"Come and eat and drink. That is the best for now. There is much to tellon each side, for you are not the only one who has had adventures,Little Mademoiselle," he said.
"Yes, yes, I know; Rosanne. I am thinking all the time about it, howHumphrey Trail carried her through the snowstorm to that funny darkalley room." She looked across uncertainly at Lisle. "There is somethingI do not know, something you have not told me," she said slowly.
Lisle stood up and caught her about the waist.
"Come," he said, "you are the worst little beggar as to looks I've everbeheld, isn't she, Dian? But we'd rather have her just as she is thanthe greatest beauty in Paris as it was in the good old days!" He bowedbefore her as he spoke and, to his surprise, she started the first stepsof the minuet. How she blessed those hours after dinner, practicing withBertran! She hummed the melody as she danced and she forgot everything,even the hot chocolate for the moment. It was Lisle, with his same oldhalf-laughing, half-serious way. She was dancing with him in the secretcellar and, of all the strange happenings of the past week, this seemedthe strangest and in all ways the most wonderful.
"Sometime I'll tell you about a mouse," he said as they went through thegraceful measures.
"A mouse! What do you mean?" she questioned merrily, smiling over hershoulder at Dian and Jean.
"And a cake!" he went on.
"A cake! What do you mean?" she exclaimed again.
"Come, please, and have the very nice chocolate," pleaded Jean, and theyboth came running up to the table.
It was a strange supper there in the deep dim cavern in the heart of theearth. Lisle and Jean brought the bed up to the table, and they sat downon it, opposite Dian and Marie Josephine. The hot chocolate in the oldhorn drinking cups was delicious, and it seemed to the two wayfarersthat they had never tasted anything so good as the bread and cheese.
"Tell me what you mean by a mouse and a cake, Lisle," Marie Josephinedemanded, but her brother shook his head.
"I'm too hungry just now, and I want to know what happened when youfound that Jean had followed you. That's where you left off in yourstory," he said.
Dian had told Marie Josephine that the good Yorkshire farmer had savedRosanne from men who had tried to abduct her. He had told her at oncethat Lisle was safe in the hidden cellar and that her mother was in thehouse of Great-aunt Hortense, but more than this she did not know. Shehad taken for granted, in her fatigue and excitement, that her motherwas quite safe, being in the house of her great-aunt, and as Lisle satbefore her alive and well she could not but see that it was all rightwith him.
"When I knew that Jean had really come, had followed me all the way, Iwas so glad! I can't tell you how I felt, but it was like flying. We ranon and on through the woods, and we did not seem to be tired at all. Wewould rest now and then, and once I told a story, but I didn't dare tostay still for very long, for fear Jean would fall asleep."
Jean blushed at this, and Marie Josephine added hastily:
"It was hard for me to keep awake, too, for everything was asleep, eventhe owls, I think. It was wonderful, wasn't it, Jean, there in the stillnight? I'd always wanted to be out in the woods in the middle of thenight, not just evening. When early morning came we were at the edge ofthe forest, and we went right up to the old green mill-inn!" MarieJosephine leaned forward eagerly as she went on, one hand stretchedacross the table: "The minute I saw the dark woman, I recognized her asthe one who waited on us at lunch last summer, but of course I wasn't abit frightened because she thought we were just little tramp children.She was just going to tell us to be off when--what do you think?" Shepaused impressively.
"What!" exclaimed Lisle.
He was listening eagerly, a bit of color in his cheeks. Dian watchedhim, wondering if the first Lisle Saint Frere had been like him. Dian,too, was listening with all his heart to everything that Marie Josephinewas saying.
"Why, all of a sudden, who should appear at the edge of the forest andcome running to us but Flambeau!"
They all laughed at this statement, but their laughter sounded so odd,echoing through the long, low hollows and arches of the ancient placethat they stopped almost as soon as they began, and Marie Josephine wenton with her story. She told how the woman suddenly became very friendlyand ushered them inside, how she became suspicious of the woman, and howJean tried the door and found it bolted.
"I couldn't be really sure it was the same woman I'd seen under our oakat Les Vignes, but I was almost sure, and I knew when we found that wewere locked in." They listened breathlessly while she told of the eave'strough and their escape.
"You talk for a while, Jean. Tell them the rest. Jean was so splendid.It was all his idea about the trough and the tree." Marie Josephine satback and rubbed her eyes, which smarted a little from the smoke of thefast-dying fire.
Dian sat with his hands on his knees, his face almost stern in itsearnestness. The woman from the green mill had been spying. He hadalways felt that it was a strange place, and so had Neville, though theyhad had no real reason to suspect it. He hoped with all his heart thatthe adventure of the green mill had been only an episode in thechildren's strange journey, and that there would not be anything furtherto fear from that direction.
Jean told of the happy meeting with the man who drove the coach.
"There isn't much to tell about it, for we went right to sleep
and sleptall day. The driver was a very nice man, and when I woke up I went andsat on the box with him, and we talked about all that's going on. Hetold me his brother was fighting with the army of the Revolution. He wasa kind man even if he was cross-eyed."
"What was his name?" It was Dian who spoke.
Jean shook his head, and so did Marie Josephine.
"I ought to remember but I don't. A farm boy came up to the cart andgave him a letter to deliver on his way back, just as we were gettingout of the cart. The boy spoke his name but I've forgotten it," answeredJean.
A cross-eyed coach driver on the Calais road, a farm boy with a note forhim to deliver on his way back. Dian bowed his head over his hands andsat quietly. As Jean went on Dian knew what he had so longed to know,that the note for Grigge had fallen safely into the hands of Champar thecoach driver, who was his friend.
"He asked him if he went near Pigeon Valley, and the driver said, 'Yes,sometimes in good weather,' and that he was going that way on his routeback," Jean said, thus giving Dian the knowledge he so longed topossess.
"Do go on and tell how we walked all night because we had slept allday," put in Marie Josephine impatiently.
"You tell, Little Mademoiselle," said Jean.
"It was the best time of all, I think, for though we were thrilled thefirst night we were--well, not frightened, but sort of not used to itall. We'd had a splendid rest all day and we were so excited. It wassuch a warm night, and the wild lavender was so sweet that the wholewood smelt of it. It was splendid out on the highroad, too, and we nevermet anything to frighten us. We had the food we'd both brought, and weate it at dawn under a big flowering hawthorn tree. We kept on walking,and we didn't know how tired we were, until all of a sudden we couldn'tgo another step. We went to sleep in a sort of summer house in thegarden of an empty house. No one saw us, and in the afternoon we startedon." Marie Josephine hesitated, and then said honestly:
"We were all tired out by that time and I was very cross."
"It was my fault because I was homesick," put in Jean.
"It wasn't your fault any more than mine, for we were both homesick andFlambeau was a great worry."
"Where is Flambeau?" asked Lisle.
"We've left him with some people in a farmhouse. We knew we simplycouldn't come through the gates with him," answered his sister.
"The Little Mademoiselle was very good to me when I was homesick on thethird day. It was while the sun was going down, and we were sitting on amound near a river where we could see it. It made me think of how weused to watch it sinking behind the woods when we used to come acrossthe meadow with Dian and the sheep, and--and--I cried." Poor Jeanblushed as he admitted the last.
"So did I almost. There were tears in my eyes, and some you didn't seeslid right down my cheeks, Jean. It was glorious, sitting there by theriver, watching the sun say good-by to it, making it all gold and pink.I told Jean about the 'Song of Roland' and we pretended to listen forhis horn echoing down from the hills, just the way it must have soundedto the soldiers long ago when Roland blew the last blast as he was dyingin the hills. The next day we had a long ride in a farmer's cart. He wasa fierce man with bristling moustaches even though he was a farmer. Hesaid he hoped the guillotine would put an end to every aristo in thecountry. That ride helped a good deal, and when the farmer asked if wewere hungry and we said we were, he gave us some young radishes and ahalf loaf of bread." Marie Josephine stopped for a moment to draw a longbreath, and then said regretfully: "We didn't really have any excitingadventure except the one of the old green mill. We just trudged alongand everyone took us for poor tramp children, though they all stared andasked questions about Flambeau. That was one reason why we left him withsome nice children who lived in a house near Melon. They promised totake good care of him until we came for him, and to keep him locked upuntil we were out of sight so he could not follow us. I knew thatFlambeau would make it much harder for us when we came to Paris, helooks so----"
"Such an aristo," suggested Lisle.
They all laughed.
"That's it," assented his sister. "He's such an aristo."
Dian stood up suddenly, and going over to the stairs, listened. Then hestarted back a little, putting his hand out warningly toward thechildren. The next instant a breathless voice came down to them:
"Tha said well when tha said the sliding was not large; an' I live toreach the cellar I shall never come back again!"
They all ran eagerly to the foot of the stairs. There, coming downbackward, was Humphrey Trail and in front of him, moving cautiously, herhand on his shoulders, was Rosanne. Dian was up the stairs and had shutthe panel in a second. Then he waited a few minutes, listening. When hereturned Humphrey was surrounded by the children. Jean sat on his knee,Marie Josephine stood on one side, Rosanne next her, the two friendsholding hands, and in front of him stood Lisle. Lisle was speaking andMarie Josephine was more surprised at his words than at the arrival ofthe farmer and Rosanne.
"Humphrey Trail, I am glad to see you. Humphrey Trail, you were rightand I was wrong. I did not take your warning. I kept on going to thebaker's shop until it became my prison. I brought Rosanne into awfuldanger and you rescued her. Humphrey, I--" He looked about the dim, bareplace, weird in the uncertain light of the fast melting candles. "Youare welcome here," he ended simply.
Marie Josephine never knew, she said afterward, whether she was reallyawake, it all seemed so fantastic, the half-dark cellar, all of themthere together, Lisle talking about a prison in a bakery shop, and anote in a cake which Dian found at a spinner's supper. She heard overagain of Humphrey's wrapping Rosanne in the blue velvet mantle, of hisvain search for Lisle, of his meeting at the gates with Dian, of Vivi.
They talked on, as Dian went through the dim, rocky alcoves beyond,making beds out of rugs and blankets and lighting candles, the strikingof the flint and tinder making an odd sound in the stillness.
Vivi had come in late that evening and had brought disquieting news.This Humphrey told Dian in an aside. She had spent a good part of theday roaming about, and had gone to the house of the Marquise du Ganne.With other curious children of the street, she had looked through thebroken door at the comtesse. She had heard that there were otherprisoners hidden in the house and that in the course of a few days theywere to be taken to the prison of La Force. She had heard, too, amongthe crowd that there was to be a general search for missing aristocratsthrough the Saint Antoine district. She had come in tired and excited,after Humphrey had searched for her in vain and had returned to thealley, and she had told him all she knew. What he had not understood,Rosanne had explained in English. They had thought it best that Vivishould not know who they were, as much for her own safety as for theirs;so, when they left, Humphrey put a mound of coins on the table and saidto her: "Th'art faithful. We ha' trust in tha. I shall come back," buthe did not tell her where they were all going.
Rosanne had put her arms around her friend and cried, and when Humphreycarried her out of the door, she had said earnestly:
"I, too, shall see you again. We are friends, Vivi."
It was a grave risk that Humphrey ran, for there was no friendlysnowstorm to cover their getting away, but the alley had been desertedand he had concealed Rosanne completely with his cloak.
"Dian, I wish we had brought Vivi with us. I think all the time ofVivi," Rosanne said as he came up to her, a pillow for her bed and MarieJosephine's in his hands.
The shepherd smiled.
"You need not be afraid for the little Vivi, Mademoiselle. She is safein the only home she has ever known, and there are bright days ahead forher. She is better off now than she knows. Have no thought for her butone of love." He paused a moment. "The good God who sent us Vivi lovesher, Mademoiselle," he said.
Marie Josephine was half asleep, her funny, tangled shock of hair onRosanne's shoulder, but her eyes, when she looked up at Dian, werebright with excitement.
"I may go to maman to-morrow, promise me, Dian. I told you in the alleyroom that I wou
ld be patient about not seeing her to-night, butto-morrow early I must go straight to her and to Great-aunt Hortense. Itwill be quite safe for me in the streets in my disguise." She caught hisarm and looked up at him as she spoke.
Dian looked down at Marie Josephine and said to her simply:
"There is real work for you to do to-morrow. You have come just in time,and you have not come in vain, Little Mademoiselle. I hope that you willsee your mother to-morrow."