They were pa.s.sing through the princ.i.p.al street, and they were struck with the mournful aspect of the place--the little city which was ordinarily so bustling and gay--fear and consternation evidently reigned there. The shops were closed; the shutters of the houses had not been opened. A lugubrious silence pervaded the town. One might have supposed that there was general mourning, and that each family had lost one of its members.
The manner of the few persons seen upon the thoroughfare was anxious and singular. They hurried on, casting suspicious glances on every side.
Two or three who were acquaintances of the Baron d"Escorval averted their heads, on seeing his carriage, to avoid the necessity of bowing.
The abbe and Maurice found an explanation of this evident terror on reaching the hotel to which they had ordered the coachman to take them.
They had designated the Hotel de France, where the baron always stopped when he visited Montaignac, and whose proprietor was none other than Laugeron, that friend of Lacheneur, who had been the first to warn him of the arrival of the Duc de Sairmeuse.
This worthy man, on hearing what guests had arrived, went to the court-yard to meet them, with his white cap in his hand.
On such a day politeness was heroism. Was he connected with the conspiracy? It has always been supposed so.
He invited Maurice and the abbe to take some refreshments in a way that made them understand he was anxious to speak with them, and he conducted them to a retired room where he knew they would be secure from observation.
Thanks to one of the Duc de Sairmeuse"s valets de chambre who frequented the house, the host knew as much as the authorities; he knew even more, since he had also received information from the rebels who had escaped capture.
From him the abbe and Maurice received their first positive information.
In the first place, nothing had been heard of Lacheneur, or of his son Jean; thus far they had escaped the most rigorous pursuit.
In the second place, there were, at this moment, two hundred prisoners in the citadel, and among them the Baron d"Escorval and Chanlouineau.
And lastly, since morning there had been at least sixty arrests in Montaignac.
It was generally supposed that these arrests were the work of some traitor, and all the inhabitants were trembling with fear.
But M. Laugeron knew the real cause. It had been confided to him under pledge of secrecy by his guest, the duke"s _valet de chambre_.
"It is certainly an incredible story, gentlemen," he said; "nevertheless, it is true. Two officers belonging to the Montaignac militia, on returning from their expedition this morning at daybreak, on pa.s.sing the Croix d"Arcy, found a man, clad in the uniform of the Emperor"s body-guard, lying dead in the fosse."
Maurice shuddered.
The unfortunate man, he could not doubt, was the brave old soldier who had spoken to Lacheneur.
"Naturally," pursued M. Laugeron, "the two officers examined the body of the dead man. Between his lips they found a paper, which they opened and read. It was a list of all the conspirators in the village. The brave man, knowing he was mortally wounded, endeavored to destroy this fatal list; but the agonies of death prevented him from swallowing it----"
But the abbe and Maurice had not time to listen to the commentaries with which the hotel proprietor accompanied his recital.
They despatched a messenger to Mme. d"Escorval and to Marie-Anne, in order to rea.s.sure them, and, without losing a moment, and fully determined to brave all, they went to the house occupied by the Duc de Sairmeuse.
A crowd had gathered about the door. At least a hundred persons were standing there; men with anxious faces, women in tears, soliciting, imploring an audience.
They were the friends and relatives of the unfortunate men who had been arrested.
Two footmen, in gorgeous livery and pompous in bearing, had all they could do to keep back the struggling throng.
The abbe, hoping that his priestly dress would win him a hearing, approached and gave his name. But he was repulsed like the others.
"Monsieur le Duc is busy, and can receive no one," said the servant.
"Monsieur le Duc is preparing his report for His Majesty."
And in support of this a.s.sertion, he pointed to the horses, standing saddled in the court-yard, and the couriers who were to bear the despatches.
The priest sadly rejoined his companions.
"We must wait!" said he.
Intentionally or not, the servants were deceiving these poor people. The duke, just then, was not troubling himself about despatches. A violent altercation was going on between the Marquis de Courtornieu and himself.
Each of these n.o.ble personages aspired to the leading role--the one which would be most generously rewarded, undoubtedly. It was a conflict of ambitions and of wills.
It had begun by the exchange of a few recriminations, and it quickly reached stinging words, bitter allusions, and at last, even threats.
The marquis declared it necessary to inflict the most frightful--he said the most _salutary_ punishment upon the offender; the duke, on the contrary, was inclined to be indulgent.
The marquis declared that since Lacheneur, the prime mover, and his son, had both eluded pursuit, it was an urgent necessity to arrest Marie-Anne.
The other declared that the arrest and imprisonment of this young girl would be impolitic, that such a course would render the authorities odious, and the rebels more zealous.
As each was firmly wedded to his own opinion, the discussion was heated, but they failed to convince each other.
"These rebels must be put down with a strong hand!" urged M. de Courtornieu.
"I do not wish to exasperate the populace," replied the duke.
"Bah! what does public sentiment matter?"
"It matters a great deal when you cannot depend upon your soldiers. Do you know what happened last night? There was powder enough burned to win a battle; there were only fifteen peasants wounded. Our men fired in the air. You forget that the Montaignac militia is composed, for the most part, at least of men who formerly fought under Bonaparte, and who are burning to turn their weapons against us."
But neither the one nor the other dared to tell the real cause of his obstinacy.
Mlle. Blanche had been at Montaignac that morning. She had confided her anxiety and her sufferings to her father; and she made him swear that he would profit by this opportunity to rid her of Marie-Anne.
On his side, the duke, persuaded that Marie-Anne was his son"s mistress, wished, at any cost, to prevent her appearance before the tribunal. At last the marquis yielded.
The duke had said to him: "Very well! let us end this dispute," at the same time glancing so meaningly at a pair of pistols that the worthy marquis felt a disagreeable chilliness creep up his spine.
They then went together to examine the prisoners, preceded by a detachment of soldiery who drove back the crowd, which gathered again to await the duke"s return. So all day Maurice watched the aerial telegraph established upon the citadel, and whose black arms were moving incessantly.
"What orders are travelling through s.p.a.ce?" he said to the abbe; "is it life or is it death?"
CHAPTER XXVI
"Above all, make haste!" Maurice had said to the messenger charged with bearing a letter to the baroness.