"At the Chateau of Beauvais, hard by Lausanne, across the frontier."
"Lausanne! Switzerland!"
Before the man could give a word of further explanation there was a loud knocking at the door of the inn which the landlord had closed for the night, and when it was not opened immediately, angry curses and a threat to break it down. The patient on the bed did not start, he was too grievously hurt to do that, but his white face grew gray with fear.
"It is nothing, only a late traveler," said Barrington. "And, my good fellow, I cannot go to--"
The man"s eyes were closed. The sudden fear seemed to have robbed him of consciousness. It was quite evident to Barrington that he could not be made to understand just now that a journey to Beauvais was impossible.
He waited a few minutes to see if the man would rouse again, but he did not, and seeing that an explanation must be put off until later, he went out of the room, closing the door gently behind him. As he descended the stairs the landlord tiptoed up to meet him.
"The men who were here to-day and cursed my wine," he whispered. "Two of them have returned!"
CHAPTER II
A BINDING OATH
The return of these men, if indeed they were responsible for the condition of the man upstairs, might augur further evil for him. They had perchance returned along the road to make certain that their work was complete, and, finding their victim gone, were now in search of him.
Exactly what reliance was to be placed on the word of the wounded man, Barrington had not yet determined. He might be a contemptible spy, his message might contain hidden information to the enemies of his country; he was certainly carrying it to aristocrats who were safe across the frontier, and he might fully deserve all the punishment which had been meted out to him, but for the moment he was unable to raise a hand in his own defense and his helplessness appealed to Barrington. These men should not have their will of him if he could prevent it.
"Keep out of the way of being questioned," he whispered to the landlord, as they went down the stairs. It was characteristic of Richard Barrington that he had formed no plan when he entered the room. He believed that actions must always be controlled by the circ.u.mstances of the moment, that it was generally essential to see one"s enemy before deciding how to outwit him, a false theory perhaps, but, given a strong personality, one which is often successful.
"Good evening, gentlemen! My friend and I are not the only late travelers to-night."
The two men looked sharply at him. Their attention had been keenly, though furtively, concentrated upon Seth, who sat in a corner, apparently half asleep. In fact, having just noticed them, he had closed his eyes as though he were too weary and worn out to talk.
Both men curtly acknowledged Barrington"s greeting, hardly conscious of the curtness maybe. They were of the people, their natural roughness turned to a sort of insolent swagger by reason of the authority which had been thrust upon them. They were armed, blatantly so, and displayed the tri-colored c.o.c.kade. In some society, at any rate, they were of importance, and this stranger and the manner of his greeting puzzled them. He spoke like an aristocrat, yet there was something unfamiliar about him.
"Did you have to batter at the door before you could gain admittance?"
asked one. Of the two, he seemed to have the greater authority.
"No, we arrived before the door was closed."
"Closed doors are suspicious," the man returned with an oath. "This is the day of open doors and freedom for all, citizen."
"Liberty, equality, and fraternity," Barrington answered. "It is a good motto. One that men may well fight for."
"Do you fight for it?" asked the man, truculently.
"Not yet," said Barrington, very quietly and perfectly unmoved, apparently seeing nothing unusual in the man"s manner or his question, but quite conscious that Seth had sleepily let his hand slip into his pocket and kept it there.
"Late travelers on the road are also suspicious," said the man, stepping a little nearer to Barrington.
"Indeed! Tell me, of what are you afraid? My friend and I are armed, as I see you are. We may join forces against a common danger. Four resolute men are not easily to be played with."
"Aristocrats find it convenient to travel at night, and tricked out just as you are," he said. "I have taken part in stopping many of them."
"Doubtless an excellent and useful occupation," Barrington returned.
"And I have heard many of them talk like that," said the man, "an attempt to throw dust into eyes far too sharp to be blinded by it. You will tell me where you travel to and where from."
"Do you ask out of courteous curiosity, as meeting travelers may do, or for some other reason?"
"You may think whichever pleases you."
"I am not making for the frontier, if that is what you want to know,"
laughed Barrington.
"I asked a question which it will be well for you to answer," said the man, and it was evident that his companion was also on the alert.
"Have you authority to question me?" Barrington asked.
"Papers here," said the man, touching his coat, "and this." His hand fell upon a pistol in his belt.
"Leave it there. It is the safest place."
Seth"s hands had come from his pocket with a pistol in it. Barrington still laughed.
"My friend seems as suspicious as you are. Let me end it, for truly I expected to be drinking with you before this, instead of trying to find a cause for quarrel. Your eyes must be sharp indeed if you can discover an aristocrat in me. I was for freedom and the people before you had struck a blow for the cause here in France. We are from the coast, before that from America, and we journey to Paris to offer our services to the Marquis de Lafayette."
Perhaps the man believed him, perhaps he did not, but the result of an appeal to force was doubtful, and wine was an attraction. He held out his hand with an air that the welcome of France was in the action. For the present they could pose as friends, whatever might chance in the future.
"Sieur Motier the Marquis is now called, but in America that name would not appeal. We may drown our mistake in wine, the first but maybe not the last time we shall drink together."
The landlord brought in the wine and departed without being questioned.
"Sieur Motier," said Barrington, reflectively. "News has traveled slowly to us in Virginia, and things here have moved quickly. You can tell me much. This meeting is a fortunate one for me."
Into weeks and months had been crowded the ordinary work of a long period of time. After nearly three years of strenuous effort, the Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly had come to an end. With Mirabeau as its master spirit, it had done much, some evil, but a great deal that was good. It had suppressed torture, done away with secret letters, and lightened the burden of many grievous taxes. Now, the one man who was able to deal with the crisis if any man was, the aristocrat who had become the darling of the rabble, the "little mother" of the fisher-wives, the hope of even the King himself, was silent. Mirabeau was dead. In fear the King had fled from Paris only to be stopped at Varennes and brought back ignominiously to the capital. The Legislative a.s.sembly took the place of the Const.i.tuent a.s.sembly, three parties in it struggling fiercely for the mastery, one party, that high-seated crowd called the Mountain, red republicans whose cry was ever "No King," growing stronger day by day.
Nations in arms were gathering on the frontiers of France, and the savagery of the populace was let loose. The Tuileries had been stormed, the Swiss Guard butchered, the royal family imprisoned in the Temple.
Quickly the Legislative a.s.sembly had given way to a National Convention, and the country was ripe for any and every atrocity the mind of man could conceive.
The patriot, sitting opposite to Barrington and drinking wine at intervals, told his tale with enthusiasm and with many comments of his own. He was full of the tenets of the Jacobin and Cordelian Clubs. For him the world, set spinning on a mad career when the Bastille fell, was moving too slowly again. There had been a good beginning, truly something had been done since, but why not make a good end of it?
Mirabeau, yes, he had done something, but the work had grown too large for him. He had died in good time before the people had become tired of him. France was for the people, and there must be death for all who stood in the people"s way, and a quick death, too.
"Blood must run more freely, there will be no good end without that," he said; "the blood of all aristocrats, no matter what they promise, what they pretend. From the beginning they were liars. France has no use for them save to make carrion of."
"And whose power is sufficient for all this?" Barrington asked.
"To-day, no one"s. To-morrow;--who shall say? Things go forward quickly at times. A sudden wave might even raise me to power."
"Then the good ending," said Barrington.
The man caught no irony, he only heard the flattery.
"Then the blood flowing," he laughed; "so, as full in color and as freely spilt," and he jerked the remains of the wine in his gla.s.s across the room, staining the opposite wall.