The strong, the selfish, and the cruel, still delight in oppressing their more helpless fellows, despite the theories of Christianity. And it is perfectly natural that it should be so, seeing that the Christian Church itself has become a mere system of money-making and self-advancement."
A burst of applause interrupted him. Eyes lightened with eager enthusiasm, and every face was turned towards him. He went on:--
"To think of the great Founder of a great Creed, and then to consider what his pretended followers have made of Him and His teaching, is sufficient to fill the soul with the sickness of despair and humiliation! To remember that Christ came to teach all men the Gospel of love,--and to find them after eighteen hundred years still preferring the Gospel of hate,--is enough to make one doubt the truth of religion altogether! The Divine Socialist preached a creed too good and pure for this world; and when we try to follow it, we are beaten back on all sides by the false conventionalities and customs of a sacerdotal system grown old in self-seeking, not in self-sacrifice. Were Christ to come again, the first thing He would probably do would be to destroy all the churches, saying: "I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity!" But till He does come again, it rests with the thinkers of the time to protest against wrongs and abuses, even if they cannot destroy them,--to expose falsehood, even if they cannot utterly undo its vicious work. Seeing, however, that the greater majority of men are banded on the side of wealth and material self-interest, it is unfortunately only a few who remain to work for the cause of the poor, and for such equal rights of justice as you--as we--in our present a.s.sociation claim to be most worthy of man"s best efforts. It may be asked by those outside such a Fraternity as ours,--"What do they want?
What would they have that they cannot obtain?" I would answer that we want to see the end of a political system full of bribery and corruption,--that we desire the disgrace and exposure of such men as those, who, under the pretence of serving the country, merely line their own coffers out of the taxes they inflict upon the people;--and that if we see a king inclined to favour the overbearing dominance of a political party governed by financial considerations alone,--a party which has no consideration for the wider needs of the whole nation, we from our very hearts and souls desire the downfall of that king!"
A low, deep murmur responded to his words,--a sound like the snarl of wolves, deep, fierce, and pa.s.sionate. A close observer might perhaps have detected a sudden pallor on Leroy"s face as he heard this ominous growl, and an involuntary clenching of the hand on the part of Axel Regor. Max Graub looked up.
"Ah so, my friends! You hate the King?"
No answer was vouchsafed to this query. The interruption was evidently unwelcome, all eyes being still fixed on Leroy. He went on tranquilly:
"I repeat--that wherever and whenever a king--any king--voluntarily and knowingly, supports iniquity and false dealing in his ministers, he lays himself open to suspicion, attack, and dethronement! I speak with particular feeling on this point, because, apart from whatever may be the thoughts and opinions of these who are a.s.sembled here to-night, I have a special reason of my own for hating the King! That reason is marked on my countenance! I bear an extraordinary resemblance to him,--so great indeed, that I might be taken for his twin brother if he had one! And I beg of you, my friends, to look at me long and well, that you make no error concerning me, for, being now your comrade, I do not wish to be mistaken for your enemy!"
He drew himself up, lifting his head with an air of indomitable pride and grace which well became him. An exclamation of surprise broke from all present, and Sergius Thord bent forward to examine his features with close attention. Every man at the table did the same, but none regarded him more earnestly or more searchingly than Lotys. Her wonderful eyes seemed to glow and burn with strange interior fires, as she kept them steadily fixed upon his face.
"Yes--you are strangely like the King!" she said--"That is,--so far as I am able to judge by his portraits and coins. I have never seen him."
"I _have_ seen him,"--said Sergius Thord, "though only at a distance.
And I wonder I did not notice the strange resemblance you bear to him before you called my attention to it. Are you in any way related to him?"
"Related to him!" Leroy laughed aloud. "No! If the late King had any b.a.s.t.a.r.d sons, I am not one of them! But I pray you again all to carefully note this hateful resemblance,--a resemblance I would fain rid me of--for it makes me seem a living copy of the man I most despise!"
There was a pause,--during which he stood quietly, submitting himself to the fire of a hundred wondering, questioning, and inquisitorial eyes without flinching.
"You are all satisfied?" he then asked; "You, Sergius Thord,--my chief and commander,--you, and all here present are satisfied?"
"Satisfied?--Yes!" replied Thord; "But sorry that your personality resembles that of a fool and a knave!"
A strange grimace distorted the countenance of Max Graub, but he quickly buried his nose and his expression together in a foaming gla.s.s of beer.
"You cannot be so sorry for me as I am for myself!" said Leroy, "And now to finish the few words I have been trying to say. I thank you from my heart for your welcome, and for the trust you have reposed in me and my companions. I am proud to be one of you; and I promise that you shall all have reason to be glad that I am a.s.sociated with your Cause! And to prove my good faith, I undertake to set about working for you without a day"s delay; and towards this object, I give you my word that before our next meeting something shall be done to shake the political stronghold of Carl Perousse!"
Sergius Thord sprang up excitedly.
"Do that," he said, "and were you a thousand times more like the King than you are, you shall be the first to command our service and honour!"
Loud acclamation followed his words, and all the men gathered close up about Leroy. He looked round upon them, half-smiling, half-serious.
"But you must tell me what to do!" he said. "You must explain to me why you consider Perousse a traitor, and how you think it best his treachery should be proved. For, remember, I am a stranger to this part of the country, and my accidental resemblance to the King does not make me his subject!"
"True!" said Paul Zouche,--his eyes were feverishly bright and his cheeks flushed--"To be personally like a liar does not oblige one to tell lies! To call oneself a poet does not enable one to write poetry!
And to build a cathedral does not make one a saint! To know all the highways and byways of the Perousse policy, you must penetrate into the depths and gutter-slushes of the great newspaper which is subsidised by the party to that policy! And this is difficult--exceedingly difficult, let me a.s.sure you, my bold Pasquin! And if you can perform such a "pasquinade" as shall take you into these Holy of Holy purlieus of mischief and money-making, you will deserve to be chief of the Committee, instead of Sergius! Sergius talks--he will talk your head off!--but he does nothing!"
"I do what I can,"--said Thord, patiently. "It is true I have no access to the centres of diplomacy or journalism. But I hold the People in the hollow of my hand!"
He spoke with deep and concentrated feeling, and the power of his soul looked out eloquently from the darkening flash of his eyes. Leroy studied his features with undisguised interest.
"If you thus hold the People," he said,--"Why not bid them rise against the evil and tyranny of which they have cause to complain?"
Thord shook his head.
"To rouse the People," he replied, "would be worse than to rouse a herd of starving lions from their forest dens, and give them freedom to slay and devour! Nay!--the time is not yet! All gentle means must be tried; and if these fail--why then--!"
He broke off, but his clenched hand and expressive glance said the rest.
"Why do you not use the most powerful of all the weapons ever invented for the destruction of one"s enemies--the Pen?" asked Max Graub. "Start a newspaper, for example, and gibbet your particular favourite Carl Perousse therein!"
"Bah! He would get up a libel case, and advertise himself a little more by that method!" said Zegota contemptuously; "And besides, a newspaper needs unlimited capital behind it. We have no rich friends."
"Rich friends!" exclaimed Lotys suddenly; "Who speaks of them--who needs them? Rich friends expect you to toady to them; to lick the ground under their feet; to fawn and flatter and lie, and be anything but honest men!
The rich are the vulgar of this world;--no one who has heart, or soul, or sense, would condescend to seek friendships among those whose only claim to precedence is the possession of a little more yellow metal than their neighbours."
"Nevertheless, they and their yellow metal are the raw material, which Genius may as well use to pave its way through life," said Zegota.
"Lotys, you are too much of an idealist!"
"Idealist! And you call yourself a realist, poor child!" said Lotys with a laugh; "I tell you I would sooner starve than accept favour or a.s.sistance from the merely rich!"
"Of course you would!" said Zouche, "And is not that precisely the reason why you are set in dominion over us all? We men are not sure of ourselves--but--Heaven knows why!--we are sure of You! I suppose it is because you are sure of yourself! For example, we men are such wretched creatures that we cannot go long without our food,--but you, woman, can fast all day, and scorn the very idea of hunger. We men cannot bear much pain,--but you,--woman,--can endure suffering of your own without complaint, while attending to our various lesser hurts and scratches.
Wherefore, just because we feel you are above us in this and many other things, we have set you amongst us as a warning Figurehead, which cries shame upon us if we falter, and reminds us that you, a woman, can do, and probably will do, what we men cannot. Imagine it! You would bear all things for love"s sake!--and, frankly speaking, we would bear nothing at all, except for our own immediate and particular pleasure. For that, of course, we would endure everything till we got it, and then--pouf!--we would let it go again in sheer weariness and desire for something else!
Is it not so, Sergius?"
"I am glad you know yourself so well!" said Thord gloomily. "Personally, I am not prepared to accept your theory."
"Men are children!" said Lotys, still smiling; "And should be treated as children always, by women! Come, little ones! To bed, all of you! It is growing late, and the rain has ceased."
She went to the window, and unbarring the shutters, opened it. The streets were wet and glistening below, but the clouds had cleared, and a pale watery moon shone out fitfully from the misty sky.
"Say good-night, and part;" she continued. "It is time! This day month we will meet here again,--and our new comrades will then report what progress they have made in the matter of Carl Perousse."
"Tell me," said Leroy, approaching her, "What would you do, Madame, if you had determined, on proving the corruption and falsehood of this at present highly-honoured servant of the State?"
"I should gain access to his chief tool, David Jost, by means of the Prime Minister"s signet," said Lotys,--"If I could get the signet!--which I cannot! Nor can you! But if I could, I should persuade Jost to talk freely, and so betray himself. He and Carl Perousse move the Premier and the King whichever way they please."
"Is that so--?" began Leroy, when he was answered by a dozen voices at once:--
"The King is a fool!"
"The King is a slave!"
"The King accepts everything that is set before him as being rightly and wisely ordained,--and never enquires into the justice of what is done!"
"The King a.s.sumes to be the friend of the People, but if you ask him to do anything for the People, you only get the secretary"s usual answer--"His Majesty regrets that it is impossible to take any action in the matter"!"
"Wait!--wait!--" said Leroy, with a gesture which called for a moment"s silence; "The question is,--_Could_ the King do anything if he would?"
"I will answer that!" said Lotys, her eyes flashing, her bosom heaving, and her whole figure instinct with pride and pa.s.sion; "The King could do everything! The King could be a man if he chose, instead of a dummy! The King could cease to waste his time on fools and light women!--and though he is, and must be a const.i.tutional Monarch, he could so rule all social matters as to make them the better,--not the worse for his influence!
There is nothing to prevent the King from doing his most kingly duty!"