Part 10 (2/2)
”What exquisite fastidiousness!” retorted Morlet.
”You must have clean lost your senses, Abbot,” returned Plouernel. ”To dare to propose such a role to us--to make hyenas out of us!”
”We sons of the Church,” answered the Abbot, ”shall then a.s.sume the role ourselves, if it is so repugnant to you, gentlemen of the n.o.bility.[8]
You fear to soil your lace cuffs and silk stockings with mire and blood; we of the clergy, less dainty, and arrayed in coa.r.s.er garb, are free from any such false delicacy. We shall roll up our cuffs to the elbow, and perform our duty. We shall save you, then, my worthy gentlemen, with or without your aid; that will be an account to be settled afterwards between us.”
”The priest has been vomited forth from h.e.l.l,” thought Victoria, to herself. ”He is a demon incarnate.”
”We shall know how to save the monarchy, Sir Abbot,” replied the Count of Plouernel to his friend Morlet, ”even without the need of you folks of the Church; have no worry on that score. You forget that it was our sword which established the monarchy in Gaul and revived the Catholic Church, fourteen centuries ago, without the aid of the ca.s.socks of that time.”
”Fine words--but empty,” answered the Abbot. ”If you are indeed so determined to draw the sword, Monsieur Count, will you then please tell me why, this very day, you resigned into the hands of the King the command of your regiment? Your boast comes at a poor season.”
”You well know why, Monsieur Abbot,” the Count retorted. ”My regiment grew uncontrollable. The evil, however, dates far back. The first symptoms of insubordination in the French Guards showed themselves two years ago. A sergeant named Maurice”--Victoria shuddered--”had the insolence to pa.s.s me without saluting; and after I took off his cap with a stroke of my cane, he had the audacity to raise his hand against his colonel. I handed the mutineer over to the scourges till he dropped dead. That is how I avenge my honor.”
As Monsieur Plouernel thus told the story of Sergeant Maurice, Victoria was unable to control herself. Her features contracted, and she fixed on Plouernel a look of menace. Then a sudden flush overspread her features. None of this was lost upon the Abbot. ”What is this mystery?”
he pondered. ”The Marchioness casts an implacable look at the Count, then she blushes--she who till now has been as pale as marble. What can there have been between this Italian Marchioness and this sergeant in the French Guards, now two years dead?”
At that moment the steward again entered the banquet hall and approached the Count of Plouernel.
”What news, Robert?” asked the latter.
”Terrible, my lord!”
”My Robert is not an optimist,” explained Plouernel to the company. ”In what does this terrible news consist?”
”The barriers of the Throne and St. Marcel are on fire. Everywhere the tocsin is clanging. The people of the districts are gathering in the churches.”
”Behold the sway of our holy religion over the populace--they pray before the altars,” cried the Cardinal briskly.
”Alas, my lord, it is not to pray, at all, that the rebels are swarming into the churches, but to listen to haranguers, and among others a comedian by the name of Collot D'Herbois, who preaches insurrection.
They trample the sacred vessels under foot, spit on the host, and tear down the priestly ornaments.”
”Profanation! Sacrilege!” exclaimed the Cardinal, suddenly modifying his ideas on the sway of his faith over the people.
”One of our men,” continued the steward, ”saw them putting up bills which the rabble read by the light of their torches. One of the placards read: 'For sale, because of death, the business of Grand Master of Ceremonies. Inquire of the widow Breze.'”
”Ah, poor Baked one,” sang out the Marquis, making a hideous pun on the unfortunate officer's name, ”you are cooked! All they have to do now is to eat you!”
”On other placards were written in large letters, 'Names of the Traitors to the Nation: Louis Capet--Marie Antoinette--Provence--Artois--Conti--Bourbon--Polignac--Breteuil--Foulon'--and others.”
”That is intended to point out these names to the fury of the populace!”
gasped the Viscount of Mirabeau.
”The rumor runs through Paris that to-morrow the people will rise in arms and march on Versailles.”
”So much the better,” exclaimed the Viscount. ”They will be cut to pieces, this rabble. Cannoniers--to your pieces--fire!”
<script>