Part 37 (1/2)
The telegraph was in operation on the hill of Saint Jean; Burguet pointed it out to me.
”If we understood those signals, Moses,” said he, ”we should know better what was going to happen to us in the next fortnight.”
Some persons having turned round to listen to us, we went down again into the streets of the quarters, very thoughtfully.
The soldiers at the upper windows of the barracks were also looking out. Men and women in great numbers were collecting in the street.
We went through the crowd. In the street of the Capuchins, which was always deserted, Burguet, who was walking with his head down, exclaimed:
”So it is all over! What things have we seen in these last twenty-five years, Moses! What astonis.h.i.+ng and terrible things! And it is all over!”
He took hold of my hand, and looked at me as if he were astonished at his own words; then he began to walk on.
”This winter campaign has been frightful to me,” said he; ”it has dragged along--dragged along--and the thunder-bolt did not come! But to-morrow, the day after to-morrow, what are we going to hear? Is the Emperor dead? How will that affect us? Will France still be France?
What will they leave us? What will they take from us?”
Reflecting on these things, we came in front of our house. Then, as if suddenly wakened, Burguet said to me:
”Prudence, Moses! If the Emperor is not dead, the veterans will hold out till the last second. Remember that, and whoever they suspect will have everything to fear.”
I thanked him, and went up, promising myself that I would follow his advice.
My wife and children were waiting breakfast for me, with the little basket of potatoes upon the table. We sat down, and I told them in a low voice what was to be seen from the top of the ramparts, and charged them to keep silent, for the danger was not over; the garrison might revolt and choose to defend itself, in spite of the officers; and those who mixed themselves in these matters, either for or against, even only in words, ran the risk of destruction without profit to any one.
They saw that I was right, and I had no need of saying more.
We were afraid that our sergeant would come, and that we should be obliged to answer him, if he asked what we thought of these matters; but he did not come in till about eleven, when we had all been in bed for a long time.
The next day the news of the entrance of the allies to Paris was affixed to the church doors and the pillars of the market; it was never known by whom! M. de Vablerie, and three or four other emigrants, capable of such a deed, were spoken of at the time, but nothing was known with certainty.
The mounted guard tore down the placards, but unfortunately not before the soldiers and citizens had read them.
It was something so new, so incredible, after those ten years of war, when the Emperor had been everything, and the nation had been, so to speak, in the shadow; when not a man had dared to speak or write a word without permission; when men had had no other rights than those of paying, and giving their sons as conscripts,--it was such a great matter to think that the Emperor could have been conquered, that a man like myself in the midst of his family shook his head three or four times, before daring to breathe a single word.
So everybody kept quiet, notwithstanding the placards. The officials stayed at home, so as not to have to talk about it; the governor and council of defence did not stir; but the last recruits, in the hope of going home to their villages, embracing their families, and returning to their trades or farming, did not conceal their joy, as was very natural. The veterans, whose only trade and only means of living was war, were full of indignation! They did not believe a word of it; they declared that the reports were all false, that the Emperor had not lost a battle, and that the placards and the cannon-firing of the allies were only a stratagem to make us open the gates.
And from that time, Fritz, the men began to desert, not one at a time, but by sixes, by tens, by twenties. Whole posts filed off over the mountain with their arms and baggage. The veterans fired upon the deserters; they killed some of them, and were ordered to escort the conscripts who carried soup to the outposts. * * * * *
During this time, the flag of truce officers did nothing but come and go, one after another. All, Russian, Austrian, Bavarian, staff-officers stayed whole hours at the head-quarters, having, no doubt, important matters to discuss.
Our sergeant came to our room only for a moment in the evening, to complain of the desertions, and we were glad of it; Zeffen was still sick, Sorle could not leave her, and I had to help Safel until the people went home.
The shop was always full of veterans; as soon as one set went away another came.
These old, gray-headed men swallowed down gla.s.s after gla.s.s of brandy; they paid by turns, and grew more and more down-hearted. They trembled with rage, and talked of nothing but treason, while they looked at you as if they would see through you.
Sometimes they would smile and say:
”I tell you! if it is necessary to blow up the fortress, it will go!”
Safel and I pretended not to understand; but you can imagine our agony; after having suffered all that we had, to be in danger of being blown up with those veterans!