What can you do with such an array against you? I repeat, you are no match for them. You must go back to your command."
"That is what I desire above all else," answered Tournay.
"You can go to-morrow, if you wish," said the demoiselle.
"How?"
"By listening to what the president of the committee has to say to you, and agreeing to it. Yield to his demands, whatever they may be, and you will be permitted to set out to-morrow."
"I shall be glad to meet the committee more than halfway. I will agree to everything they wish, if I can do so consistently."
"Consistently!" she repeated. "I see you will be obstinate." Then she stopped and looked full in his face. "I might know that you would after all only act according to your convictions, and that any advice would be thrown away on you. Well, I must say I like you better that way, and were I a man I should do the same."
She placed one hand upon her hip where hung a small poniard suspended by a silver chain about her waist, and went on earnestly: "But listen to this word of advice. You, who have been so long absent from Paris, do not realize Robespierre"s power. It is sometimes the part of a brave man to yield. Give way to him as much as your _consistency_ will permit. Now adieu." She turned away; then facing him suddenly with an impulsive gesture she came toward him.
"Compatriot!" she said with an unwonted tremble in her voice, "will you take my hand?" He took the hand extended to him.
"I do not forget, Marianne, that you and I both came from La Thierry. If ever you are in need of a friend, you can rely upon me."
For one moment the brown head was bent over his hand, and La Liberte showed an emotion which none of those who thought they knew her would have believed possible. Then throwing back her head she disappeared through the door beyond, as Robespierre entered from the corridor.
Much absorbed in his meditations, Robespierre did not appear to notice that any one had just quitted the room. He walked very slowly as if to impress Tournay with his greatness, and did not speak for some moments.
He no longer affected the great simplicity of dress which had characterized him at the beginning of the Revolution, and the coat of blue velvet, waistcoat of white silk, and buff breeches which he wore were quite in keeping with his fine linen shirt and the laces of his ruffles.
It was Tournay who first broke the silence.
"Citizen president, you see I have been prompt to comply with your request; I am here in answer to your summons."
Robespierre raised his head, and started from his soliloquy.
"Ah yes, you are the citizen colonel who appeared to-day before the committee to answer certain charges."
"I am," replied Tournay.
"Citizen colonel," said Robespierre, "I will be perfectly frank with you. The Committee of Public Safety, whose dearest wish, whose only thought, is the welfare of the Republic," here the president"s small eyes blinked in rapid succession, "is not quite satisfied with the condition of affairs in the army."
"I am sorry to hear that, citizen president, and in behalf of the army, I would call the committee"s attention to the recent battles in which the soldiers of France have certainly borne themselves with great bravery. I speak now as one of their officers who is justly proud of them."
"It is not the conduct of the soldiers of which the committee finds cause of complaint," replied Robespierre, "but of their generals."
"It is not for me to criticise my superior officers," said Tournay. "I leave that to the nation."
"The committee has good reason to criticise the att.i.tude of certain of its generals, who seem to have forgotten that they are merely citizens.
They have been chosen to serve the Republic only for a time in a more exalted position than their fellow citizens, yet they have become swollen with pride, and take to themselves the credit of the victories won by their armies. Their dispatches to the convention are couched in arrogant and sometimes insolent language."
Tournay bowed. "Again I must refrain from expressing my opinion on such a matter," he said.
"Ever since the treason of General Dumouriez," Robespierre went on, "the committee has had its suspicions as to the conduct of several of its generals. Hoche is one."
Tournay started.
"What you are pleased to impart to me, citizen president, sounds strange. Permit me to state that I feel sure the committee"s suspicions are unfounded."
Robespierre looked at him closely. "Does General Hoche take you into his entire confidence?" he inquired quickly; his weak eyes blinking more rapidly than ever.
"No, I am merely a colonel in his army. Though I have good reason to believe he places confidence in me, he naturally does not inform me of his plans before they are matured."
"Citizen colonel, the committee also places great confidence in you, and for that reason it wishes you to return at once to the army."
"I obey its orders with the greatest pleasure in the world," said Tournay.
"The committee also desires," Robespierre continued, "that you send to its secretary each week a minute report of everything that pa.s.ses under your notice, particularly as regards the actions of Citizen General Hoche. Do not regard anything as too trifling to be included in your report; the committee will pa.s.s upon its importance."
Tournay had listened in silence. His teeth ground together in the rage he struggled to suppress. He felt that if he made a movement it would be to strike the president to the floor.
"I must decline the commission with which the committee honors me. I am not fitted for it," he replied.
"The committee has chosen you as eminently fitted for the work. The confidence that General Hoche places in you makes you the best agent the committee could employ."
"Then tell your committee, citizen president, that it must find some less fitting agent to do its dirty work. My business is to fight the enemies of France, not to spy upon its patriots."
Robespierre"s sallow face became a shade more yellow. "Have a care how you speak of the committee. In the service of the Republic all employment is sacred and honorable."
"I prefer my own interpretation of the words," answered Tournay, with a look of scorn.
"And yet you yourself have somewhat strange ideas of what is honorable,"
remarked Robespierre sneeringly.
"I do not understand what you mean," replied Tournay.
Robespierre stepped to the wall and pulled the bell-rope. "Perhaps when it is made clear to you, your mind may change."
The colonel made no reply, but the next moment uttered an exclamation of surprise as the Marquis de Lacheville entered the room. Robespierre turned toward Tournay with the shadow of a smile hovering on his thin lips.
"You know this citizen?" he asked in his harsh voice.
Tournay looked at the marquis curiously, wondering why he had jeopardized his own safety by returning to Paris. The look of hatred which the n.o.bleman shot at him served as an explanation.
"I know him as a former n.o.bleman, an emigre, who is proscribed by the Republic; I wonder that he puts his life in danger by returning to the land he fled from."
The marquis made an uneasy gesture, and was about to speak when Robespierre said:--
"He has taken the oath of allegiance to the Republic."
Tournay laughed outright at this. "And do you trust his oath?" he asked.
"And for the service he now renders the nation, his emigration and the fact of his having been an aristocrat are to be condoned." As he spoke, a grim smile hovered about Robespierre"s lips. It faded away instantly, leaving his face as mirthless and forbidding as before.
"Shall we ask the Citizen Lacheville to tell us when he last saw you?"