Part 39 (1/2)
They turned to confront M Binet Moving with that noiseless tread of his, he had come up unheard behind them, and there he stood now in his scarlet suit of Pantaloon under a trailing bedgown, his little eyes glaring from either side of his false nose But their attention was held by the voice of Scarae
”He doubts it,” he was telling the audience ”But then this M Leandre is himself akin to those orshi+p the wore, and so he is a little afraid to believe a truth that is beco apparent to all the world Shall I convince him? Shall I tell him how a company of noblemen backed by their servants under arht to dictate to the Third Estate of Rennes a few short weeks ago? Must I remind him of the martial front shown on that occasion by the Third Estate, and how they swept the streets clean of that rabble of nobles--cette canaille noble”
Applause interrupted hiht Those who had writhed under that infa of it against the nobles themselves
”But let me tell you of their leader--le pins noble de cette canaille, ou bien le plus canaille de ces nobles! You know his, but the voice of truth he fears most With such as hi instantly to be silenced
So he marshalled his peers and their valetailles, and led theeois who dared to raise a voice But these sahtered in the streets of Rennes It occurred to them that since the nobles decreed that blood should flow, it ht as well be the blood of the nobles
They ainst the rabble of nobles--and they marshalled themselves so well that they drove M de La Tour d'Azyr and his warlike following from the field with broken heads and shattered delusions They sought shelter at the hands of the Cordeliers; and the shavelings gave the as their proud leader, M de La Tour d'Azyr You have heard of this valiant Marquis, this great lord of life and death?”
The pit was in an uproar a ain as Scaramouche continued:
”Oh, it was a fine spectacle to see thisto earth in the Cordelier Convent Rennes has not seen hiain But if he is valorous, he is also discreet And where do you think he has taken refuge, this great nobleman anted to see the streets of Rennes washed in the blood of its citizens, thisof the contemptible canaille to silence the voice of reason and of liberty that presuh France to-day? Where do you think he hides hiain there was uproar
”What do you say? Impossible? Why, my friends, at thisup there in that box He is too shy to show hientleman But there he is behind the curtains Will you not show yourself to your friends, M de La Tour d'Azyr, Monsieur le Marquis who considers eloquence so very dangerous a gift? See, they would like a ith you; they do not believe me when I tell them that you are here”
Nohatever he may have been, and whatever the views held on the subject by Andre-Louis, M de La Tour d'Azyr was certainly not a coward
To say that he was hiding in Nantes was not true He came and went there openly and unabashed It happened, however, that the Nantais were ignorant until thisthem But then he would have disdained to have informed them of it just as he would have disdained to have concealed it froed thus, however, and despite the oeois element in the audience had responded to Scaramouche's appeal to its passions, despite the attempts made by Chabrillane to restrain him, the Marquis swept aside the curtain at the side of the box, and suddenly showed himself, pale but self-contained and scornful as he surveyed first the daring Scaraiven tongue to their hostility
Hoots and yells assailed hily
”assassin! Scoundrel! Coward! Traitor!”
But he braved the stor for the noise to cease; waiting to address them in his turn
But he waited in vain, as he very soon perceived
The conteoad the Bloere being freely exchanged; there were scuffling groups, and here and there swords were being drawn, but fortunately the press was too dense to per used effectively Those who had wo haste to leave a house that looked like beco smashed to provide weapons, and parts of chandeliers were already being used as entleman in one of the boxes narrowly ri of what inflammabledown ahted torch of discord, to produce this conflagration
He saw roups representative of one side or the other of this great quarrel that already was beginning to agitate the whole of France Their rallying cries were ringing through the theatre
”Doith the canaille!” froed!” fro out sharply and insistently:
”To the box! Death to the butcher of Rennes! Death to La Tour d'Azyr who makes war upon the people!”
There was a rush for one of the doors of the pit that opened upon the staircase leading to the boxes
And nohilst battle and confusion spread with the speed of fire, overflowing from the theatre into the street itself, La Tour d'Azyr's box, which had becoeoisie, had also becoentlemen as were present in the theatre and for those ithout being men of birth themselves, were nevertheless attached to the party of the nobles