CHAPTER VIII.
ON THE EVE OF BATTLE.
Madam Lebrenn was agreeably surprised at seeing her son, whom she didnot expect, thinking he was at the College. Velleda tenderly embracedher brother, while the merchant himself pressed the hand of his wife.
The resolute carriage of Sacrovir Lebrenn suggested the thought that hewas worthy of bearing the glorious name of the hero of ancient Gaul, oneof the greatest patriots of the land recorded in history.
Marik Lebrenn's son was a strapping lad of slightly over nineteen years.He had an open, kind and bold countenance. A sprouting beard shaded hislip and chin. His full cheeks were rosy, and looked bright withanimation. He very much resembled his father.
Madam Lebrenn embraced her son, saying:
"I did not expect the pleasure, son, of seeing you here to-day."
"I went to the College for him," explained the merchant. "You willpresently know the reason, my dear Henory."
"Without being exactly uneasy about you," said Madam Lebrenn to herhusband, "Velleda and I were beginning to wonder what kept you away solong. It seems that the commotion in Paris is on the increase. Do youknow they sounded the call to arms?"
"Oh! Mother," cried Sacrovir with eyes that sparkled with enthusiasm,"Paris has the fever--it follows that all hearts must be beating morestrongly. Without knowing one another, people look for and understand ata glance. On all the streets the words you hear are ardent, patrioticappeals to arms. In short, it smells of gunpowder. Oh, mother! mother!"added the young man with exaltation, "what a beautiful sight is theawakening of a people!"
"Keep cool, enthusiast that you are!" said Madam Lebrenn.
And with her handkerchief she wiped the perspiration that stood in dropson her son's forehead. In the meantime Monsieur Lebrenn embraced hisdaughter.
"Gildas," the merchant called out to his clerk, "some chests must havebeen brought in during my absence."
"Yes, monsieur, linen bales and looking glasses. They have beendeposited in the rear room."
"Very well--they can remain there. Be careful no fire comes near thebales."
"They must be inflammable stuff like bolting-cloth, muslin or gauze,"Gildas thought to himself, "and yet they are heavy as lead--anotherpuzzling thing!"
"My dear friend," Lebrenn said to his wife, "I have matters to talk overwith you. Shall we go up to your room with the children, while Jeanikesets the table? It is getting late. You, Gildas, may put up theshutters. We shall have but few customers this afternoon."
"Close up the shop! Oh, monsieur, I think you are very right!" criedGildas delightedly. "I thought so long ago."
And as he ran to execute the orders of his employer, the latter said tohim:
"Stop a moment, Gildas. Do not close the front door. I expect severalpeople to call for me. If they come take them to the rear room andnotify me."
"Yes, monsieur," answered Gildas with a sigh, seeing he would havepreferred to see the shop closed tight, and the door protected with itsgood strong iron bars, and bolted from within.
"And now, my dear," Lebrenn proceeded to say to his wife, "we shall goup to your room."
It was by this time almost dark. The merchant's family mounted to thefirst floor, and gathered in Madam Lebrenn's bedroom. The merchant thenaddressed his wife in a grave voice:
"My dear Henory, we are on the eve of great events."
"I believe it, my friend," answered Madam Lebrenn thoughtfully.
"I shall tell you in a few words how the situation has shaped itselfto-day," proceeded Lebrenn. "Then judge whether my plan is good or bad;oppose it, if you disapprove, or encourage me if you approve."
"I listen, my friend," answered Madam Lebrenn calm, serious andthoughtful, like one of our mothers of old at the solemn councils wheretheir views prevailed more than once.
Monsieur Lebrenn proceeded:
"After having carried on their agitation in France during three monthsby means of reform banquets, the deputies yesterday summoned the peopleto the street. Heart seemed to have failed the intrepid agitators at thelast moment. They did not dare to appear at the rendezvous which theythemselves had set. The people came in order to maintain their right ofassemblage and to run their own business. It is now rumored that theKing has appointed a cabinet out of the leaders of the dynastic center.This concession does not satisfy us. What we want, what the people want,is the total overthrow of the monarchy; we want the Republic, whichmeans sovereignty for all--political rights for all--in order to insureeducation, wellbeing, work, and credit to all, provided we are brave andhonest. That is our program, wife! Is it right or wrong?"
"Right!" answered Madam Lebrenn in a tone of firm conviction. "It isright!"
"I told you what we want," proceeded Lebrenn. "I shall now mention whatwe want no longer--we no longer want that two hundred thousandprivileged electors be the sole arbiters of the fate of thirty-eightmillion proletarians or small holders, similar to what happened when atrifling minority of conquerors, Roman or Frankish, despoiled, enslavedand exploited our fathers for twenty centuries. No, we want an electoralor industrial feudality no more than we will tolerate the feudality ofconquerors! Wife, is that right, or is it wrong?"
"It is right! Serfdom and even slavery have in reality perpetuatedthemselves down to our own days," answered Madam Lebrenn withindignation. "It is right! I am a woman, and I have seen women, theslaves of an insufficient wage, die by degrees, exhausted by excessivetoil and want. It is right! I am a mother, I have seen young girls, thevirtual slaves of certain manufacturers, forced to choose betweendishonor and enforced idleness, which means hunger. It is right! I am awife, and I have seen fathers of families, honest, industrious andintelligent traders, the slaves and victims of the whim or the usuriouscupidity of their seigneurs the large capitalists, suffer bankruptcy,and be plunged into ruin and despair. Finally, your resolution is goodand just, my friend," added Madam Lebrenn, extending her hand to herhusband, "because, if you have hitherto been fortunate enough to escapemany a snare, it is your duty to go to the assistance of those of ourbrothers who are afflicted with misfortunes that we remain exempt from."
"Brave and generous woman! You redouble my strength and courage," saidthe merchant, pressing Madam Lebrenn's hand in ecstacy. "I expected noless from you. But just as are the rights that we demand for ourbrothers, they will have to be conquered by force, arms in hand."
"I believe it, my friend."
"Accordingly," proceeded the merchant, "to-night, thebarricades--to-morrow, battle. That is the reason why I fetched my sonfrom his College. Do you approve? Shall he remain with us?"
"Yes," answered Madam Lebrenn. "Your son's place is at your side."
"Oh, thank you, mother!" cried the young man, joyously embracing hismother, who clasped him to her breast.
"Look at him, father," said Velleda to the merchant with a smile andnodding toward Sacrovir, "he looks as happy as if he were graduated."
"But tell me, my friend," asked Madam Lebrenn, addressing the merchant,"will the barricade, on which you and my son are to fight, be near ourplace? on this street?"
"It will be at our very door," answered Lebrenn. "Agreed?"
"All the better!" exclaimed Madam Lebrenn. "We shall be there--nearyou."
"Mother," interjected Velleda, "should we not prepare lint to-night, andbandages? There will be many wounded."
"I was thinking of that, my child. Our shop will serve asfield-hospital."
"Oh, mother! Sister!" cried the young man. "We are to fight--and underyour very eyes--for liberty! How that will inspire us! Alas," he addedafter a moment's reflection, "why should this be, this fratricidalduel?"
"It is a sad fact, my boy," answered Lebrenn with a sigh. "Oh, may theblood shed in such a strife fall upon the heads of those who compel thepeople to take up arms for their rights--as we shall have to doto-morrow--as our fathers have done in almost every century of ourhistory!"
"Thank God, at least in our days the struggle takes place withouthatred," replied the you
ng man. "The soldier fights in the name ofdiscipline--the people in the name of their rights. It is a deadly duel,but a loyal one, after which the surviving adversaries shake hands."
"But seeing these are survivers only, and I or my son may be laid low onthe barricade," replied Monsieur Lebrenn with a benign smile, "there isone thing more I wish to impress upon you, my children. As you will see,where others turn pale with fright we will smile with serenity. Why?Because death does not exist for us; because, brought up in the beliefof our fathers, instead of seeing in what is called the close of lifeonly a dismal and fear-inspiring ending that plunges us into eternaldarkness we see in death only the severance of the soul from the body,which emancipates the former, leaving it free to rejoin, or to wait forthe sooner or later arrival of, those whom we love, and reunite withthem on the other side of the veil, which, during our terrestrial life,hides from us the marvelous, the dazzling mysteries of our future lives,infinite lives as various as the divine power from which they emanate.To us, death is but a new birth."
"That is the picture I have of death," cried Sacrovir. "I feel sure Iwill die overmastered by curiosity. What new, wonderful, dazzling worldsthere will be to visit!"
"Brother is right," put in the young girl with no less curiosity. "Itmust be beautiful to behold! novel! marvelous! And, besides, never moreto be separated from our beloved ones but temporarily in all eternity!What a variety of infinite voyages there are to be made by us togetherin our new incarnations in the stars! Oh, when I think of that, mother,my head grows dizzy with impatience to see and know!"
"Go to, you inquisitive girl! Be not so impatient," answered MadamLebrenn, smiling, and in a tone of affectionate reproach. "You know,when you were small, I always scolded you when, at your drawing lessons,you seemed to give less thought to the model that you were copying thanto those that you were to copy later. Well, my dear child, do not allowyour curiosity, however natural it may be, to ascertain what is on theother side of the curtain, as your father expresses it, to cause yourmind to wander too much away from that which is on this side."
"Oh, you may be easy, mother, on that score!" answered the young girlaffectionately. "On this side of the curtain are you and father andbrother--quite enough to keep my mind from wandering."
"Just see how time is wasted in philosophizing!" interjected Lebrenn."Jeanike will soon be calling us to supper, and still I shall not havetold you a word of what I meant to confide to you. In case _my curiosityshould be satisfied before yours_, my dear Henory," the merchantproceeded to say to his wife, pointing to a desk, "you will find theremy last will. It is no secret to you. We have but one heart. But this,"added Lebrenn, drawing a folded but not sealed letter from his pocket,"concerns our dear daughter. You are to give it to her after reading ityourself."
Velleda colored slightly, realizing that it referred to her marriage.
"As to you, my boy," proceeded the merchant, addressing his son, "takethis key," and he detached it from his watch chain. "It is the key ofthe room with the closed windows which, until now, only your mother andI have entered. On the 11th of September of next year you will betwenty-one years of age. On that day, but not before, open the door.Among other things you will find a manuscript in the cabinet. It willimpart to you the information of the immemorial tradition of ourfamily--because," added Lebrenn interrupting himself with a smile, "weplebeians, we of the conquered race, we also have our archives,proletarian archives, often as glorious, you may believe me, as those ofour conquerors. You will then learn, as I was saying, that, obedient toa family tradition, at the age of twenty-one the eldest son or, indefault of a son, the eldest daughter, or our nearest of kin is toacquaint himself with our family archives and several relics that aregathered with them. And now, my loved ones," added Lebrenn in a movedvoice, rising and throwing his arms around his wife and children, "alast embrace. Before to-morrow's sun goes down, we may be temporarilyseparated; the possibility of a separation ever saddens one a little."
It was a touching picture. Monsieur Lebrenn held his wife and childrenin a close embrace. His wife hung upon his neck, while with his rightarm he held his daughter, and with his left his son. He pressed themall ardently to his breast, and they in turn held their father in theirloving arms.
The touching group, a symbol of the family, remained silent for a fewmoments. Only the sound of exchanging kisses was heard. Their emotiononce calmed, the group separated; heads were again held up serene,though affected: the mother and daughter grave and serious; the fatherand son tranquil and resolute.
"And now," resumed the merchant, "to work, my children. You, wife, willsee to getting lint and bandages ready, with the help of your daughterand Jeanike. Sacrovir and I, while waiting for the hour when thebarricades are to be simultaneously thrown up all over Paris, willunpack the cartridges and arms which a large number of our brothers willcall for."
"But where are the arms, my friend?" inquired Madam Lebrenn.
"The chests," answered the merchant smiling, "the chests and bales thatcame in to-day."
"Oh, I now understand!" exclaimed Madam Lebrenn. "But you will have totake Gildas into your confidence. He is, no doubt, an honest lad. Still,do you not fear--"
"At this hour, my dear Henory, the mask may be raised. An indiscretionis no longer to be feared. If poor Gildas is afraid, I shall allow himto hide himself in some nook in the garret--or in the cellar. And now,first of all, to supper. After supper you and Velleda shall come upagain with Jeanike to get everything in readiness for the hospital. Weshall remain in the shop, Sacrovir and I, because we shall have a lot ofcompany to-night."
The merchant and his family descended back into the shop and went tosupper in the rear room, where their meal was hastily despatched.
The agitation grew intenser on the street with every minute. From thedistance the muffled rumbling could be heard of large surging masses. Itsounded threateningly, like the distant blast of an approaching storm. Afew windows on the street were lighted in honor of the change of Cabinetofficers. But some friends of Monsieur Lebrenn's, who came in and wentout again several times to bring tidings of what was afoot, reportedthat the royal concessions were interpreted as a sign of weakness, thatthe night would be decisive, that everywhere the people were armingthemselves by entering certain appointed houses and demanding guns,after which they would take their departure, leaving on the door aninscription in chalk--"Arms delivered."
After supper, Madam Lebrenn, her daughter and the maid returned upstairsto the first floor, into a room that faced the street. The merchant, hisson and Gildas remained in the rear of the shop.
Gildas was gifted by nature with a robust appetite; nevertheless, he didnot partake of supper. His uneasiness grew at every instant; with moreinsistence than ever he whispered to Jeanike, or muttered to himself:
"A puzzling house! A puzzling street! Altogether a puzzling city!"
"Gildas," called Lebrenn, "fetch me a couple of hammers and chisels. Myson and I shall open these cases, while you may rip up the bales."
"The bales of linen, monsieur?"
"Yes--rip them open with your knife."
Furnished with hammers and chisels, the merchant and Sacrovir began topry open the chests, while Gildas, who had rolled one of the bales flaton the floor, knelt down beside it and made ready to cut it open.
"Monsieur!" he suddenly cried, frightened by the hard blows that Lebrennwas dealing to the chest with his hammer. "Monsieur! If it please you,take care--look at the lettering on the chests--_glass_! You will breakthe looking-glasses to pieces!"
"Do not be frightened, Gildas," answered his employer, "these lookingglasses are of solid material."
"They are plated with lead and iron, my friend Gildas," added Sacrovir,striking still more heavily.
"More and more puzzling!" muttered Gildas to himself as he again wentdown on his knees beside one of the bales in order to rip it open. Inorder to furnish himself with more light at his work he took a candle,and placed it upon the floor beside him. He was jus
t about to remove theheavy outer wrappage of coarse grey burlap when Monsieur Lebrenn, whoonly then noticed the illumination which his shop-assistant had providedhimself with, cried out:
"Hold, Gildas! Are you crazy? Put the candle back on the table, quick.The devil take it! You would blow us all up, my boy!"
"Blow us all up!" echoed Gildas, terror-stricken, and he bounded awayfrom the bale, while Sacrovir himself placed the candle on the table."What should blow us up?"
"The cartridges, my lad, which these bales contain. You must look outwhat you are doing."
"Cartridges!" ejaculated the amazed Gildas, stepping still further back,and more and more overcome with fear, while his employer took out twoguns from the chest which he had just opened, and his son drew from thesame receptacle several braces of pistols, muskets and carbines.
At the sight of these weapons, and knowing himself surrounded bycartridges, the head of Gildas swam, he grew pale, and leaning against atable again muttered to himself:
"A puzzling house, this! Its bales of linen are filled with cartridges!Its looking glasses turn into guns and muskets and pistols!"
"My good Gildas," said Lebrenn, addressing him affectionately, "there isno danger whatever in unpacking these arms and munitions. That is all Iwant you to do. After you have done that, you may, if you prefer, eithergo down into the cellar, or climb up into the garret, where you canremain in all security until after the battle. Because, I might as welllet you know, there will be fighting going on with the break of day.Once you are ensconced in the hiding place that you may choose, all Iwarn you against is sticking your nose either out of the sky-light orout of the air-hole when the firing has begun--not infrequently bulletsfly astray."
The linendraper's words--stray bullets, fighting, firing--completelyplunged Gildas into a vertigo that is easily imaginable. He had notexpected to find in the St. Denis quarter a stronghold of belligerency.Other events soon crowded upon each other, all conspiring to increasethe terror of Gildas. Fresh clamors, at first distant, drew perceptiblynearer and nearer, and finally seemed to explode with such fury that notonly Lebrenn and his son, but Gildas also, ran to the shop door in orderto ascertain what was happening on the street.