Part 33 (1/2)
”I didn't intend that you should What of yourself, Isaac? And what of the world which see still!” Le Chapelier laughed ”But where have you been, then?
Standing still!” He pointed across the square to a cafe under the shadow of the glooo and drink a bavaroise You are of alleverywhere, and--behold!--you drop from the skies into my path”
They crossed the square and entered the cafe
”So you think the world has been standing still! Dieu de Dieu! I suppose you haven't heard of the royal order for the convocation of the States General, or the terms of them--that we are to have e demanded, what you demanded for us here in Nantes! You haven't heard that the order has gone forth for the primary elections--the elections of the electors You haven't heard of the fresh uproar in Rennes, last ether at the States General of the bailliages, but in the bailliage of Rennes the nobles must ever be recalcitrant They took up arms actually--six hundred of them with their valetaille, headed by your old friend M de La Tour d'Azyr, and they were for slashi+ng us--the members of the Third Estate--into ribbons so as to put an end to our insolence” He laughed delicately ”But, by God, we showed them that we, too, could take up arms It hat you yourself advocated here in Nantes, last Noveht them a pitched battle in the streets, under the leadershi+p of your namesake Moreau, the provost, and we so peppered thelad to take shelter in the Cordelier Convent That is the end of their resistance to the royal authority and the people's will”
He ran on at great speed detailing the events that had taken place, and finally ca him to hunt for Andre-Louis until he had all but despaired of finding hiates to the assembly of Rennes which was to select the deputies to the Third Estate and edit their cahier of grievances Rennes itself was being as fully represented, whilst such villages as Gavrillac were sending two delegates for every two hundred hearths or less Each of these three had claates Gavrillac wanted hie, and it was known there what sacrifices he had made in the popular cause; Rennes wanted him because it had heard his spirited address on the day of the shooting of the students; and Nantes--to whom his identity was unknown--asked for him as the speaker who had addressed them under the name of Omnes Omnibus and who had fraely to have influenced M
Necker in for the terms of the convocation
Since he could not be found, the delegations had been made up without him But now it happened that one or two vacancies had occurred in the Nantes representation; and it was the business of filling these vacancies that had brought Le Chapelier to Nantes
Andre-Louis firmly shook his head in answer to Le Chapelier's proposal
”You refuse?” the other cried ”Are you mad? Refuse, when you are demanded from so many sides? Do you realize that it is more than probable you will be elected one of the deputies, that you will be sent to the States General at Versailles to represent us in this work of saving France?”
But Andre-Louis, we knoas not concerned to save France At the moment he was concerned to save toh in vastly different ways, from a man he had vowed to ruin He stood firm in his refusal until Le Chapelier dejectedly abandoned the attempt to persuade him
”It is odd,” said Andre-Louis, ”that I should have been so deeply immersed in trifles as never to have perceived that Nantes is being politically active”
”Active! My friend, it is a seething cauldron of political emotions It is kept quiet on the surface only by the persuasion that all goes well
At a hint to the contrary it would boil over”
”Would it so?” said Scarae ed the subject ”You know that La Tour d'Azyr is here?”
”In Nantes? He has courage if he shows himself They are not a docile people, these Nantais, and they know his record and the part he played in the rising at Rennes I marvel they haven't stoned him But they will, sooner or later It only needs that soest it”
”That is very likely,” said Andre-Louis, and smiled ”He doesn't show himself much; not in the streets, at least So that he has not the courage you suppose; nor any kind of courage, as I told hi Le Chapelier again exhorted hiht to what he proposed ”Send ed at the Cerf, and I shall be here until the day after to-morrow If you have ambition, this is your moment”
”I have no ambition, I suppose,” said Andre-Louis, and went his way
That night at the theatre he had a mischievous impulse to test what Le Chapelier had told hi in the city They were playing ”The Terrible Captain,” in the last act of which the eart Rhodohter which the exposure of the roaring captain invariably produced, it remained for Scaramouche contehtly, according to the inspiration of the ive his phrase a political complexion:
”Thus, O thrasonical coward, is your ereat sword you carry and the angle at which you cock your hat, people have gone in fear of you, have believed in you, have iined you to be as terrible and as formidable as you insolently make yourself appear But at the first touch of true spirit you crureat sword reed Orders when confronted by the Third Estate”
It was audacious of hination, or all together But he was not prepared for what caroundlings and the body of those in the amphitheatre that he was almost scared by it--as a boy may be scared who has held a match to a sun-scorched hayrick It was a hurricane of furious applause Men leapt to their feet, sprang up on to the benches, waving their hats in the air, deafening him with the terrific uproar of their acclamations And it rolled on and on, nor ceased until the curtain fell
Scaraht lips At the last limpse of M de La Tour d'Azyr's face thrust farther forward than usual froer, with eyes on fire