CHAPTER xxxvi.

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 45

CHAPTER xxxvi.

Robespierre's Game of Chess. From the Hotel de Fournier Grebauval walked to the Cafe de la Regenoe, where Robespierre might occasionally be seen playing a quiet game of chess, his only recreation. Another visitor now and then to be seen at the same reßort was your/g Bonaparte. If Robespierre could only have foreseen the possibilities of the Corsican's career he would not have lived long after the remark he was known to have made to a college companion, spectators of the insults to royalty in the Tuileries gardens: "The wretches ! They should cat down the first 500 with grape shot and the remainder would soon take to flight." The time was soon to come when he should give evidence of the sincerity of his contempt for the mob. Grebauval found Robespierre intent upon a game of chese with an old habitue of the cafe, known there as Monsieur Melville, and to the reader as the official person of the Oercle dcs Boutons Blancs. At the cafe he was in a different kind of dress from that in which we made his acquaintance. Here he was, nevertheless, still the same quiet, selfreliant, distinguished-looking citizen. It was generally understood that he was a contributor to Marat's paper ; in which of course there was no truth whatever. There were many mysterious persons about Paris notwithstanding the general espionage. Marat in his cellar boasted that he knew everything and everybody. He took pains to know all about his colleagues and rivals — JDaaton, Robespierre, and St. Just — and he was not unacquainted with the comings and goings of Grebauval, their not too transparent ally. But Paris had many a hiding-place, and many a scheming man and woman eluded Marat aa weft as the sleuth hound hmli 2SI

thought he knew every club and cafe in the revolted city. He bad Bpies watching the < Cafe Choisenl, the Cafe Pan tin, tbe Cafe da Rendezvous, and the Cafe de la Regence; bnt Paris was, metaphorically, burrowed with rendezvous for all kinds of seditions, schisms, profanities, vices, and virtues ; and, bo far, the White Buttons had rejoiced, unsuspected and undisturbed, in their subterranean assemblies. j ' The dame de comptoir at the Cafe de la Regence was the rival in beauty of the lady at the adjacent Cafe Foy, of whom the Dae d'Orleans was enamoured. The popular Deputy and friend of Robespierre glanced at himself in the mirVor and approved of the set of bis cravat and collar as he paid madame a compliment on the fashion of her oap and its tricolour cockade, imd passed on to take his coffee in a corner, where, on the pretence of reading " L'Ami dv People," ho could quietly observe Robespierre, and held himself ready to join the incorruptible one so soon as be should have fii.ished his game. " Check," said Robespierre's opponent, who was no other than the übiquitous Melville, thb official-looking person who had impressed Ds Fcurnier at the Oercle dcs Boutons Blancs; a man of distinguished manneri, who had succeeded in keeping outside the category of the suspected, an habitue of many years' standing at the famous cafe, and who bad frequently been invited by Siobespierre to join him at his favourite game. > •» Check," said Melville, takirg a silver box from tbe pocket of his capacious waistcoat and refreshing himself witb a pinch of tbe lightest of golden-looking duet, part ofwhich he brushed with a white .hand from his broad coat collar. " Kings will get into trouble," said Robespierre with a oynical smile. "Can't move but by virtue of an ecclesiastical diversion. Well, we must humour him " ; and he brought a bishop to his majesty's relief. " Check," again said Melville, taking the bishop with his knight. " And the Church is a broken reed, eh ? " Haid Robespierre. "Well, then, the queen thall help him " ; and he moved his queen. " Check," said M«lville, taking the queen. "What! said Robespierre. "Lay your sacrilegious hand upon tbe queen I Nay, Monsieur Melville, I had you down in mj list as a loyal man." "And you are right, oitizen. Loyal to France." " But you take my queen ? " " To check the kiDg." 11 And you think that is wise 1 Perhaps you are right. It would have been better for Louis if he had had no queen at all." "Better for Louis if he had had no throne," eaid Melville. " Check." " And for the people," said Robespierre, his face bent upon the board, his mind evidently far away. " Better for some of us if we had never been- born,"' remarked Melville, his hand upon a pawn. " Death makes compensation ; faith reguues martyrs," said Robespierre. " Checkmate," said Melville." •' And with a pawn I " remarked Robespierre, a sneer showing bis canine tooth. *' With a mere pawn. Poor, weak, nondescript king!" Then, turning to bis opponent, hg said, *• Thank yon, citizen, for a lesson in strategy. I mast now go home and resume that other game in which kings and queens are taken, bat not so easily put away as these counterfeits," whom the victorious player was now dropping, one by one, into a box by his fide. " These can b.e restored, monsieur," said the other. "My own thought," said Robespierre. II In that respect your king lives to fight again. It was not so when Charles of Bogland fell to the Brewer's pawns." "But they made a new one," was the bantering reply. " Royalty will die with Capet, and have no Succession." " We shall call it by Borne other name, by your leave, moat illustrious citizen," said the übiquitous and daring official of the Buttons, tendering his snuff-box to Robespierre. "Do Doe the honour, citizen." Robespierre smiled in a painful kind of way. His smile was more of a sneer than a Emile. It had a threat in it. You did not know that it might not turn to a snarl. "Thank you," he said, taking a light pinch. "We Bball call it the people, monsieur, and it will be the people." Then, turning to Grebauval, Robespierre Walked aside with his friend, and they left the cafe together. " The reign of the people does not help the Cafe de la Regence, mademoiselle," said a mysterious Button, addressing the coquettish dame de oomptoir. ." That iB most trne," she answered, dropping her voice, " but surely it is treason to say so." "Vive Robespierre 1 " said one or two timid voiced as the master of affairs and his friend passed along the street in the direction of Itjbespierre'a humble lodging. " Vive Grebauval I " was also heard as they turned into the great thoroughfare of St. Honore, ■to disappear into the nearest by-way. " I was weary," said R jbespierre — " overwhelmed with callers. Cne^s gives the brain rest." "To many it is bard work," said Grebauval. "Pew know what hard work is," Robespierre replied. He might well say so when contemplating bis own austere life by way of comparison with the lives of most men. His career was one long self-denial. The crimes he committed were the outcome of what he conceived to be the highest principles. He never faltered. His doctrines were simple, and he supported them with a fanatical ardour that stopped at nothing. " The people are always light, the magistrates always corrupt. The fpuntain of power is in the people, and by the dtlc git e3 of t he people a'one should power be exercised."' To this princtpio of government he conceived it was the duty of the revolutionists to sweep every opponent from tbe path of liberty.

" Not one of them should escape," he was Baying to Grebauvpl as they neared his pb?de. •' Marat is right. Until every aristocrat ie head bas lajiaa &a 69aatar is ia

"A monstrous contribution to that end was made this morning," said Grebauval. " And will go on from day to day, bat with less expedition. There mast be trials, Oitizen Grebauval; trials and judgments, in proper order." "It was of the Citizen Louvefc that I desired to speak with yon," said Grebauval. "He remains for judgment," said Ribespierre. •• I bad your message about him ; he was taken into the governor's office, and by this time has been restored to bis cell." " Yon are a master of detail," said Grebauval. " My Abbaye reports are carefully made ; I am thought to take special delight in this historic prison. My only interest, as you know, lies in clearing the ground of vipers that lie by in holes and corners, ready to sting should tbe enemy ever swarm through the gates of Paris." " Tbe allies, in their policy of vengeance, help our cause, my friend," said Grebauval. " They unite us ; they give to the revolution an intensity of patriotism that otherwise might have languished. The English statesman, Burke, predicted for us a group of I independent republics. The attack of the allies keeps us clear of any guch possibility. We shall live .to thank the foreign sovereigns when we hurl them back and follow them with our victorious standards." "You are eloquent, Grebauval, and I believe you are right. I envy yon that experience you had in America. What is the latest from England ? " 11 Active preparations for war," said Grebauval, " encouraged by the successes of the Austrians and the armed emigrants." " What will they say when they know that they have taken Verdun 1 What will they say to the Siege of Thionville 1 " " We have many sympathisers in England, as in America," said Grebauval. " But no allies," Robespierre replied in a sharp, snappy tone, and with a twitching of bis mouth and a satanic expression of face that interpreted his worst feelings. " Oar answer, Grebauval, will be war to the knife vrith every royal Government. All France is rising. Iv Savoy, even at Chambery, there is a Jacobin Club of 1200. They have formed a troop of missionaries, armed with the torch of reason and liberty, for the purpose of enlightening the Savoyards on their regeneration and imprescriptible rights. Nothing can withstand us, Grebauval! Every man in France will crowd to the frontiers." " In that we agree, my friend," said Grebauval ; " and once in a way we can be magnanimous." " Once in a way," said Robespierre, " when occasion is the way. If the woman who hesitates is lost, Citizen Grebauval, what of | the director of a nation ? " They entered a poor-looking house and climbed a plain stairway to Robespierre's [ apartments, the domestic economy of which waspresided over by. his sister. The room in which he lived and conducted most of his business was the apartment of a man whose personal vanity was a strange incongruity, considered with his principles, bis austere life, and his savage thirst for blood. On the walls, and hanging over his desk, were Beveral portraits of himself; one a miniature by Maria Bruyset, presented by Laroche. Whichever way he turned a mirror reflected bis form and figure. He was dressed with an almost affected fastidiousness, which characterised his attire duriDg the entire sanguinary period of his reign. He wore a delicate muslin waistcoat lined with rose-coloured silk, and a blue coat of the softest cloth ; his linen was of the whitest ; his sword-hilt and scabbard ornately decorated. You may see them still among the relics that are stored in the Oarnavalet Museum, together with his portrait in various styles. Ugly men often pride themselves on their appearance. Robespierre might have had reason to regard .his figure with approval. H9 was slight, and of a not ungraceful carriage. In his portraits he suggested a man of refinement and intellectuality, not without a certain urbane expression. Physiognomists, however, may possibly read the pictures differently. Anyhow, it is most true that in life his countenance was livid and marked with smallpox, though in this respect not so deeply pitted as Marat, to whose countenance the ravages of that terrible disease give a grim te verity. It was the face of one who might have come back to the world from loDg immurement in a convict prison. Robespierre -was the superior of bis two confederates, both as to phys'que, intellect, and morality, if this much-abused term can be I applied to him in any sense. He rarely . smi/ed, and when he did those who were honoured with his favour might well have wished he could not unbend so far. His smile was repellent, if not hideous; and although he is mostly credited with an intellectual oountenance, it was intellectual in the worst sense, the intellect of the spirit that denies. Compared with Grebauval, Robespierre was, physically, a poor creature. The ancient blood of the Di Fourniers made itself apparent in the well-poised head, the strong, domineering face, and the haughty swing of Grebauval's gait. The swarthy face was pale, but not with the livid hues of Robespierre's thin cheeks. It was of an olive hue, but with indications of the healthful blood beneath ; and when Grebauval spoke you felt his voice had something of the »ng of De Fournier's when the Count was most in earnest. They were a curfou3 pair, these two men of the revolution— Grebauval, th 9 friendly worshipper and lion's provider ; Robespierre, the satan of the time, with his Mephistophelian agents— Danton, Marat, and St. Just. Grebauval, moved by his passion for Mathilde, was anxious to control the fate of the Duke de Louvet, but Robespierre would not rise to either his hints or his proposals ; had other business ; wanted to koow all about England ; asked for Grebauval's precis of the latest despatches ; spoke of leaving Fouquier-Tinville, Maillard, Santerre, Pet ion, Marat, and the rest to their unob- ! structed labours ; mixed up the names of Dan- ' ton and Marat with the commonest and most unimportant of assassins ; was in no mood to I consider even the smallest concession of mercy or policy, though Grebauval reminded him that both Danton and St. Jast had apprised many nersons of the cominiz exec a- I

tions, and bad saved the live 3of others who had been able to personally petition them. " All the worse for Danton and St. Just," said Rabespierre. " The men whom you,save are the men whose poignards sooner or later seek your life." " 1 have proved my devotion to France," said Grebauval. "And you fondled the righteous instruments of justice last night with an inimitable oratory," said Robespierre. " My life is my country's." " And your country your mistress's, ela I Robespierre replied with his threatening smile. " Your recreation Is chess," said Grebauval. " I permit myself to be in love." "I, too, have been refused. Go to, man," was the quick reply. " And w"hen the time comes I will not bay her with the life of her father." " And do you think d'Orleans will fall into j yonr hands 1 " 1 "As surely as tb.3 Duke de Louvet is I doomed." " Is he doomed ? * i " You are a judge, and don't know that 1 " said Robespierre. " Perhaps, being a judge, I do." 11 Otherwise you would sacrifice France to your mistress 1 " " I btlieve I would let him go." " Under similar circumstances I would not save my own father," Robespierre replied. " The name of father represents nothing to me," said Grebauval. " Then say mother, uister, brother, what you will. I am indebted to my sidter for every little domestic comfort of these humble apartments. I would not spare her if she rebelled against the government of the people. No, by God, I would not I " There was something so ferocious in the expression of Robespierre's face, livid with the intensity of the thought that he might have to sacrifice his sister, and would do so without a murmur, that Grebauval changed tbe subject abruptly. " Here iB a precis of the recent speeohes of Burke and Fox and the young man Pitt, with a note on the proposals of alliance between Austria and Prussia and England." "Thank you Bon soir, ray friend," said Robespierre, taking Gr«bauval playfully by the ear, which sent a slight chill through the Grebauval anatomy. (To be co)iUnues.)