"Well, what then?"
The Slasher again remained silent; then he replied, struggling to preserve his calmness, "Hold, Martial; I know that you will laugh at me; but I wish to tell you all, so that, if anything should happen to me, this at least will prove that I was not deceived."
"What is it, then?"
"When M. Rudolph asked if it should be agreeable for us to go together to Algiers, and to be neighbors there, I did not wish to deceive either you or your wife. I told you what I had been."
"Let us speak no more about that. You have undergone your punishment--you are as good as the best of us. But I can conceive that, like me, you would prefer to live abroad, thanks to our generous protector, than to remain here, where, no matter how honest, and how easy in our circ.u.mstances we may be, we shall always be reproached, you for the crime which you have expiated, and which you still regret, and I for the crimes of my parents, for which I am not responsible. But, between us, the past is gone, and gone forever. Be tranquilized; we rely upon you, as you may rely upon us."
"Between us, perhaps, the past will be forgotten; but, as I said to M.
Rudolph, Martial, there is a Providence above, and I have killed a man."
"It is a great misfortune; but at the time you did not know what you were doing--you were not yourself; and, besides, you have saved the lives of others, and that ought to count in your favor."
"Listen, Martial, I have now spoken to you of my unhappiness, because, formerly, I often had a dream, in which I saw the sergeant, whom I killed; for a long time I have not had this dream, and last night I dreamed it"
"It was chance."
"No, this forebodes that some misfortune will happen to me this day."
"You are unreasonable, my good comrade."
"I have a presentiment that I shall never quit Paris."
"Once more, you have not common sense. Your sorrow at the thought of quitting our benefactor, the knowledge that you were to accompany me to Bicetre, where so painful an interview awaited me; all this agitated you last night; hence naturally, your dream returned to you."
The Slasher sadly shook his head.
"It has returned to me on the night before the departure of M. Rudolph, for it is today that he goes."
"Today?"
"Yes; yesterday I sent a messenger to his hotel, not daring to go there myself; he has forbidden it. They told him that the prince would set out this morning, at eleven o"clock, by the Barriere Charenton. Thus, when we shall have arrived in Paris, I will post myself there, to endeavor to see him for this last time! the last!"
"He appears so good that I comprehend how well you must love him."
"Love him!" said the Slasher, with deep and pa.s.sionate emotion; oh, yes! Do you understand, Martial! to sleep on the ground--to eat black bread--to be his dog; but to be where he is, I ask nothing more--that was too much--he did not wish it."
"He has been so generous to you!"
"It is not that which makes me love him so much--it is because he said to me that I had a heart and honor! yes, and at a time when I was as ferocious as a wild beast, when I despised myself as the vilest of the vile, he made me comprehend that there was still some good in me, since, my punishment inflicted, I had repented, and after having suffered the utmost extremity of want without being guilty of theft, I had industriously labored to gain an honest livelihood: wishing to injure no one, although every one looked upon me as a finished scoundrel, which was not very encouraging. It is true, in most instances, all that is necessary to keep one in the right path are words of encouragement and kindness. Is it not so, Martial? So when M. Rudolph said these words to me, my heart beat high and proudly.
Since then I would go through fire to do a good action. Oh! that the opportunity might offer! you would see--and to whom the thanks? the thanks to M. Rudolph."
"Truly, since you are a thousand times better than you used to be, you should not have such evil presentiments. Your dream signifies nothing."
"Well, we shall see. I do not purposely search for a misfortune; there can be for me no greater one than that which has already happened; never to see him more. M. Rudolph! I who thought never more to quit him. In my sphere, I would have been at his service, body and soul, always ready. Well, perhaps he is wrong. You know, Martial, that I am but an earth-worm in comparison with him; well, sometimes it happens that the most insignificant can be useful to the most powerful. If that should be the case, I would never pardon him for depriving himself of my services."
"Who knows? one day, perhaps, he will recall you."
"Oh, no! he said to me, "My good fellow, you must promise me that you will never endeavor to see me again; by so doing, you will render me a service."
You understand, Martial, I have promised; on the honor of a man, I will keep my word; but it is hard."
"Once at our destination, you will forget, by degrees, your sorrow. We will work, we will live retired and tranquil, like good farmers, except occasionally trying our skill, as marksmen, on the Arabs. Ah! there La Louve will help us."
"If it should come to blows, I am at home there, Martial," said the Slasher, slightly animated. I am unmarried, and I have been a trooper."
"And I a poacher!"
"But you--you have a wife, and these two children whom you have adopted. As for me, I have nothing but my hide, and since it can no longer serve as a screen for M. Rudolph, I have no regard for it. So, if we should be obliged to give them their change, it"s my affair."
"Ah! we"ll both have something to do with it."
"No; I alone--thunder! leave the Bedouins to me."
"Good; I would rather hear you speak thus than you did a short time since.
Come, Slasher, we will be true brothers, and you can converse with me of your sorrow, if it endures, for I have my own. The recollection of this day will last all my life. One cannot see his mother, his sister, as I have seen mine, without forever bearing it in remembrance. Our situations are so similar that it is good for us to be together. We will not fear to look danger in the face; well, we will be half farmers, half soldiers. If we can start any game, we will hunt. If you wish to live alone, you can do so, and we will be near neighbors: if otherwise, we will all live together. We will bring up the children like honest people, and you shall be, almost, their uncle, while we will be brothers. How does it suit you?" said Martial, offering his hand to the Slasher.
"It suits me well, my good Martial; and then, sorrow shall kill me or I will kill it, as the saying is."
"It will not kill you--we shall grow old in our wilderness, and every night we will say, brother, _thanks_ to M. Rudolph--that shall be our prayer for him."
"Martial, you put balsam on my wound."
"Good; this foolish dream, you will think no more of it, I hope?"
"I will endeavor."
"Ah! well, you will call for us at four o"clock? the diligence starts at five."
"It is agreed upon. But here we are in Paris; I will stop the coach, and go on foot to the Barriere Charenton; I will await M. Rudolph, to see him pa.s.s."
The carriage stopped, and the Slasher got out.
"Don"t forget, at four o"clock, my good comrade," said Martial: "at four o"clock!"
The Slasher had forgotten that it was the morning after Mid-Lent. So he was much surprised at the spectacle, at the same time fantastic and hideous, which was presented to his view when he walked through a part of the exterior boulevard which he crossed on his way to the Barridre Charenton.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE HAND OF HEAVEN.
The Slasher in a few moments was carried along, in spite of himself, by a dense crowd, a popular torrent, which, descending from the taverns of the Faubourg de la Glaciere, collected around the approaches to the Barriere, to pour out afterward on the Boulevard Saint Jacques, where the execution was to take place. Although it was broad daylight, yet still could be heard at a distance the resounding music of the orchestras of the drinking dens, where, above all, could be distinguished the sonorous vibrations of the cornets-a-piston.
It needs the pencil of Callot, or Rembrandt, or of Goya to portray the bizarre, hideous, almost fantastical appearance of this mult.i.tude. Almost all, men, women, children, were dressed in old masquerading costumes; those who had not been able to obtain this luxury had fastened on their clothes old rags, of flaunting colors; some young men were attired in women"s apparel, torn and soiled with mud; all these faces, haggard from debauch and vice, bloated by intoxication, sparkled with savage joy, in thinking that, after a night of drunken orgies, they were going to see the two women put to death, for whom the scaffold was raised. The sc.u.m of the population of Paris, an immense mob, was composed of bandits and abandoned women, who demand each day from crime their daily bread, and who each night return well filled to their dens. The exterior boulevard being very contracted at this place, the closely-packed crowd entirely blocked up the pa.s.sageway. In spite of his athletic strength, the Slasher was obliged to remain almost immovable in the midst of this compact ma.s.s; he submitted. The prince, leaving the Rue Plumet at ten o"clock, as they had told him, would not leave the Barriere Charenton until about eleven, and it was not yet seven.