"LUCILE.[16]
"Touching farewell!" continued Charlotte. "I also, shall know how to die."
"You frighten me!" exclaimed Madam Desmarais, trembling. "But no; you are a mother, and women in your condition escape the scaffold."
"The child protects the mother. So I address this writing to my child, to whom, perchance, I may owe my life. Camille Desmoulins, Danton, those ill.u.s.trious men, those lofty patriots, were all sacrificed yesterday. My husband has equalled them in civic virtue, he may be judged and guillotined to-morrow. Sad outlook!"
"Ah, blood, always blood!" murmured Madam Desmarais, her heart sinking within her. "Good G.o.d, have pity on us."
"Good mother, let me read you a few lines from the memoirs I have written for my child on the events of our times:
""You are born, dear child, in times without their like in the world.
And when your reason is sufficiently grown, you will read these pages written by me under the eyes of a loving mother, while your father was gone to fight for the independence of our country, and for the safety of the Revolution and the Republic.
""Perhaps some day you will hear curses and calumnies leveled at this heroic epoch in which you were born. Perhaps for a day, but for a day only, you will see walk again the phantoms of the Church of Rome and of royalty.
""Christ, the proletarian of Nazareth said, _The chains of the slaves will be broken; all men shall be united in one fraternal equality; the poor, the widows and the orphans shall be succored_.
""And now the time has arrived.
""Those who called themselves the ministers of G.o.d continued, for eighteen centuries, to possess slaves, serfs and va.s.sals. In one day the Revolution has realized the prophecy of Christ, misconstrued by the priests.""
"True, true, my daughter," a.s.sented Madam Desmarais, "the Republic did in one day what the Church had for centuries refused to do. It was the place of the Church at least to set the example in freeing the slaves, the serfs and the va.s.sals who belonged to it before the Revolution. May it be accursed for its failure to do so."
"You recognize, then, dear mother, that in these troublous times the good still outdistances the bad;" and Charlotte resumed her reading:
""Church and royalty purposely kept the people in profound ignorance, in order to render them more docile to exploitation. On the other hand, behold what the Republic decreed, on the 8th Nivose, year II (December 28, 1793):
""The National Convention decrees:
""Instruction is unrestricted and shall be gratuitous and compulsory. The Convention charges its Committee on Instruction to draw up for it elementary text books for the education of the citizens. The first of these books shall have in them the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the Const.i.tution, the Table of Virtuous or Heroic Deeds, and the Principles of Eternal Morality.
""This it followed up by two other decrees, the first under date of the 28th Nivose, year II (January 17, 1794):
""The National Convention decrees:
""A compet.i.tion shall be opened for works treating of;
""Instruction on preserving the health of children, from the moment of conception till their birth, and on their physical and moral training until their entrance into the national schools.
""The National Convention decrees:
""There shall be established in each district within the territory of the Republic a national public library"!"
"These are, as you say, my daughter, great and useful things."
Charlotte continued reading:
""The National Convention, upon a report of the Committee of Public Safety, adopted also this resolution:
""The National Convention decrees:
""There shall be opened in each department a register ent.i.tled the Book of National Benefits.
""The first division therein shall be for old and infirm farmers;
""The second, for old or infirm mechanics;
""The third shall be set apart for mothers and widows as well as unmarried mothers, who have children in the country districts.
""These decrees prove that the Republic, in its commiseration for the unfortunate, consecrates to them a sort of religious care; not only does it relieve the miseries of the people, but it honors their misfortune.
It is not a degrading alms which it throws them, it is the debt of the country which it seeks to pay off to the aged who have used up their lives in toil upon the land or in trades. This debt the Republic also pays off to the poor widows who can not undertake the care of their young family. The aged, the child, and the woman, are the constant objects of the solicitude of the Republic.""
Just then Gertrude the serving maid ran quickly into the room. Her countenance was at once joyous and pained. Charlotte sprang from her seat, and cried,
"My husband has come!"
"Madam--that is to say--but pray, madam, in your condition do not agitate yourself too greatly--" replied Gertrude. "Monsieur John is, indeed, come, if you please--but--"
Charlotte and her mother were both about to rush to meet their returning soldier when he appeared on the threshold, supported on Castillon"s arm.
The two men were dressed in the uniform of the volunteers of the Republic. John embraced his wife and her mother rapturously, and wiped from his eyes the happy tears which his wife"s approaching motherhood caused him. Then seeing that Castillon stood aside, with tears in his eyes also, John said:
"A hug for Castillon, too. In this campaign he has been to me not a comrade, but a brother."
"I knew it by your letters," replied Charlotte, as she warmly embraced the foreman.
"You will sup with us, Citizen Castillon--you would not leave us to celebrate my husband"s return alone?"
"You are very kind, Citizeness Lebrenn. I accept your offer gratefully--my day will then be complete," answered the foreman. "I shall just run out and say good-day to my comrades in the shop. But do not forget--friend John must be kept from walking, if he is not to remain a cripple." And Castillon stepped out of the room.
"My child," said Madam Desmarais, "your husband must get off his uniform and lie down. Besides, his wound no doubt needs dressing. Let us attend to it."
Several hours later John and his wife were sitting together, still drinking in the delicious raptures which follow long separations. Day was nearly done.
"When I left you," John was saying, "you were the dearest and best of wives. I return to find you the n.o.blest of mothers. Words fail me to express how moved I am by the sentiment which dictated to you that address to our child which you have just read me. I, too, am affrighted, not for the future but for the present, for the present generation. The most upright spirits seem now to be stricken with a sort of mad vertigo; and still the republican arms are everywhere victorious, everywhere the oppressed peoples stretch out their hands to us. The Terror has become a fatal necessity. The Convention, having restored the public credit and a.s.sured the livelihood of the people, continues daily to issue decrees as generous and lofty in sentiment and as practical in operation as those you have embodied in your pages to our child. The national wealth still opens to the country enormous financial resources. The people, calm and steady, has cast the slough, so to speak, of its effervescence and political inexperience. It now shows itself full of respect for the law, and for the Convention, in which it sees the incarnation of its own sovereignty. And yet, it is at this supreme moment that the best patriots are decimating, mowing one another down, with blind fury.
Anacharsis Clootz, Herault of Sech.e.l.les, Camille Desmoulins, Danton, and many others, the best and most ill.u.s.trious citizens, are sent to the scaffold."
"Eh! no doubt; and if there is anything surprising, it is your own astonishment, my dear Lebrenn!" suddenly put in a voice.
Charlotte and her husband turned quickly around, to see Billaud-Varenne standing in the open doorway. For some moments he had been a party to Lebrenn"s confidences; an indiscretion almost involuntary on Billaud"s part, for the young couple, absorbed in their conversation, had not noticed his entrance. Now stepping forward, he said to Charlotte:
"Be so good as to excuse me, madam, for having listened. Your door was open, and that circ.u.mstance should mitigate my "spying"." Then with a friendly gesture preventing John"s rising from the reclining chair where he half sat, half lay, Billaud-Varenne added, as he affectionately pressed the hand of Charlotte"s husband: "Do not move, my dear invalid.
You have won the right to remain on your stretcher. Your worthy wife must have written to you what interest I took in all that concerned you since your departure for the army."
"My wife has often given me intimation of your affectionate remembrance, my dear Billaud; and further, I know it is through your intervention that Citizen Hubert, my mother-in-law"s brother, has been mercifully forgotten in the prison of Carmes, where he has long been held as a suspect. Thanks to you, his life is no longer in danger."
"Enough, too much, on that subject," declared Billaud-Varenne, half smiling, half serious. "Do not awaken in me remorse for a slip. Citizen Hubert has ever been, and ever will be, one of the bitterest enemies of the Republic. For that reason, he should never have been spared. I should have ordered his head to fall."