Part 20 (1/2)
”So, monsieur, you share our belief on the subject of my sister's disappearance? The victim has been sacrificed?”
”Eh, surely! But whence your insistence on the subject, my dear John?”
The voice, the features of the lawyer proved his sincerity. He was manifestly ignorant of Victoria's prolonged sojourn in the royal pleasure-house at Versailles, and her subsequent imprisonment in the Repentant Women--fatal circ.u.mstances, which in John's mind, might have explained Desmarais's refusal. The last illusion that John Lebrenn still hugged to heart now vanished. But containing his indignation, he addressed the advocate: ”And so, monsieur, my marriage with Mademoiselle Charlotte is impossible, solely because my sister, s.n.a.t.c.hed from the bosom of her family by a procuress at the age of eleven, was violated by Louis XV?”
”Is not that good and sufficient cause?”
”And is not Citizen Lebrenn satisfied?” put in Hubert, who for several minutes had been with difficulty bottling up his rage. ”The dismissal is given in good form, by heaven! You have nothing to do but retire.”
”Please, my dear John, attach no importance to the temper of my brother-in-law,” interposed advocate Desmarais, extending his hand to the young man. ”Excuse, I beseech you, his thrusts; I should be very sorry to have you depart from my house under a false impression.”
”Citizen Desmarais, I long trusted in your friends.h.i.+p,” replied John, without taking the hand that the lawyer held out to him. ”I am not the dupe of the vain pretext with which you color your refusal. It is not the brother of the unhappy child dishonored by Louis XV that you repulse; it is the artisan, the ironsmith.”
”Ah, my dear John, I protest, in the name of our common principles, against such a supposition. You are in error!”
”Blue death! brother-in-law, have the courage of your opinion!” shouted Hubert, unable to contain himself. ”Dare to tell the truth! Such hypocrisy and cowardice revolt me.”
”Once more, brother-in-law, mix in your own affairs!” cried the advocate, exasperated. ”I know what I am saying! I find intolerable your pretension to dictate my answers to me.”
John Lebrenn turned to the financier, as if to address his words through him to the lawyer. ”You, Citizen Hubert, are sincere in your aversion, in your disdain for us. You are an enemy of the working cla.s.s, but an open one. We can esteem you while we join battle with you. You are a man of courage, in spite of your prejudices. Alas, the people and the bourgeoisie, united and pursuing the same object, would be invincible and would change the face of this old world. But the bourgeois mistrust the workers and turn against them, when they should sustain them, guide them, direct them in the uprisings whose object is the reconquest of their common rights. The people have so far borne witness by their conduct to their affection, their trust in the bourgeoisie. They have had, they will have faith in it to the end. But sad and irreparable will be the evil for you and for us, if one day the bourgeoisie, having utilized the people to overcome the n.o.bility, should seek to reign in the shadow of a fict.i.tious royalty; to subst.i.tute its own privileges for those we will have helped it to overthrow; to perjure itself by merely changing the style of our yoke; and refuse to satisfy our legitimate demands. That day, we shall fight the b.a.s.t.a.r.d royalty of the shekel, the bourgeois oligarchy, even as we now fight the royalty of divine right and the aristocracy!”
”And hunger will defeat you, vile mechanics! For the moment always comes when you must resume the yoke of forced labor!”
Hardly had Hubert hurled this threat of savage exultation at John Lebrenn, when the door flew open, and Charlotte, her eyes red and filled with tears, rushed in, followed by her mother.
The change in Charlotte's features, her grief-stricken appearance, gripped John Lebrenn's heart as if in a vise. Lawyer Desmarais and his brother-in-law seemed as much irritated as astonished at the presence of the young girl. She, after a momentary struggle, spoke straight to Desmarais in a firm and even voice:
”I have just learned from mother that Monsieur John Lebrenn came to ask of you my hand, and that your intention was to answer the request with a refusal--”
”Yes, niece,” interjected Hubert, ”your father has just now refused your hand to Monsieur Lebrenn. We all oppose the union, which would be a disgrace to our family.”
”Father, have you so made up your mind?”
”Daughter, reasons which it is useless to inform you of, oppose, indeed, this marriage. I can not give my consent to it.”
”Do these reasons attaint, in any way, the honor, probity, or conduct of Monsieur John Lebrenn?” asked the young girl unfalteringly.
”Monsieur Lebrenn is an upright man; but the lawyer Desmarais can not give, will not give, his daughter in marriage to an ironsmith's apprentice. It is out of all reason.”
”So, then, father, you refuse for no other reason than prejudice against the inequality of condition between Monsieur Lebrenn and me?”
”No other reason; but that suffices to make this union impossible.”
”Monsieur John Lebrenn,” then said Charlotte, advancing toward the young artisan and tendering him her hand with a gesture full of grace and dignity, ”in the presence of G.o.d, who sees me and hears me,--you have my pledge! I shall wed none other but you. I shall be your wife,--or die a maid.”
”Adieu, Charlotte, thou love of my life. I, too, shall be till death true to my promise. Let us have faith in the future to break down all barriers.”
The betrothed exchanged a tender hand-clasp, and Charlotte, followed by her mother, left the room; while John Lebrenn, bowing to Monsieur Desmarais and his brother-in-law, withdrew without a word.