The Chevalier De Maison Rovge.

Western Star, Issue 2220, 8 July 1898, Page 5

The Chevalier De Maison Rovge.

CHAPTER XLTV. -Continued. " Well, you can tell me to-morrow." " No, this evening: it must be this evening," replied the same voice. "Oh," muttered the key-bearer, "what is about to happen now ? It is Dixmer's voice." Sinister and vibrating, this voice seemed to borrow something funereal from the far-off echoes of the gloomy corridor. Duchesne turned round. " Well." said Gilbert, " if he wishes it, I must go," and he directed his steps toward the door. The key-bearer availed himself of this moment, when the attention of the two gendarmes was thus occupied by this unforeseen ci*i«mßtaiice. lie ran toward the window <5 the queen. "Is it doxT?" said hi'. " I have more than half finished," said tho queen. " Oh, mon Dieu, mon Dinu !" murmured he, "make haste, make haste!" " Well, Citizen Murdoch." -said Dujhesno, "what has become of you?" - iiero 1 am," ffaid the key-bearer, returning quickly to the window of the first oompartment. At that very same moment, even as he turned to resume his former station, a frightful cry resounded through the prison, then nil imprecation, and a noise of a sword being drawn from the scabbard. " ViSlain ! brigand !" cried Gilbert, and the sound of a struggle was heard in the corridor. The door then opened, displaying to the eyes of the turnkey two shadows (struggling in the wicket, and thus affording a free jitissage to a female, who, pushing aside Duchesne, rushed into the queen's chamber. Duchesne, without noticing the woman, ran to his comrade s assistance. The turnkey sprung toward the other window, and beheld the female on knees before the queen, praying and supplicating her majesty to exchange dresses with her. He lowered his burning eyes, endeavoring to gain a clearer view of this woman, whom he feared he had already recognized. All at once he uttered a dreadful cry. " Genevieve ! Genevieve !" murmured he.

Tho queen hail dropped the file from her hand, and seemed transfixed with despair. Here, alas! was another attempt rendered abortive. Tho turnkey seized the bar with both hands, shook it with all his strength, but the file had not accomplished its work; the bar of iron would not yield to his efforts. During this time Dixmer had, wrestling, struggling with Gilbert, reached tho prison, and there attempted to force his entrance with him; but Duch sue, loaning against th> door, prevented him. But he was unable to close it, for Dixmer, in despair, had p]aced his arm between the gale and the wall. Iu his hand he still retained the poniard, which, in the contest, blunted by the buckle of the belt, had glided over" the turnkey's breas.t tearing open his coat and lacerating his flesh. The two men encouraged each other to reunite their efforts, at the same time calling loudly for assistance. Dixmer felt his arm must break; he placed his shoulder against the door, shook it violently, and succeeded in withdrawing his bruised arm. The door closed with a great noise. Duchesne drew the bolts, while Gilbert turned the key; a rapid step was heard in the corridor; then all was over. The two gendarmes searched everywhere around them. They detected the sound of the assumed turnkey wrenching the bar: then Gilbert rushed into the queens chamber, where he found Genevieve entreating her majesty, on her knees, to exchange clothes with her. Duchesne seized his gun and ran to the window; he discovered a man hanging to the bar, which he shook with rage, frantically endeavoring in vain to break it. He pointed his gun; the young man saw it levelled at him. " Ob, yes, yes !" said he, " kill me ! and, sublime in his despair, he bared his breast to the storm. " Chevalier," said the queen, " Chevalier," I entreat you to live." At the sound of the queen's voice the chevalier sunk upon his knees. The gun was discharged, but this movement saved him: the ball passed over his head. Genevieve, imagining her friend was dead, fell upon the ground without sense or motion. When the smoke was dissipated no one remained in the Cour des Femmes, Ten minutes afterward, thirty soldiers, led by two commissaries, searched the whole of the couciergerie. even its most inaccessible retreats. They discovered no one; the registrar had passed, calm and smiling, before Father Richard's arm-chair. As to the turnkey," he had gone out crying : " Alarm ! alarm !" The sentinel opposed his egress with his bayonet, but the two dogs seized him by tho throat. It was only Genevieve who was arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned.

CHAPTER XLV. TUB INQUIRY. We can no longer leave in forgetfulness one of the principal personages of his history, ho who, during the accompjiebment of the various incidents of the preceding chapter, had suffered most of all, and whose anxieties merit most thr liveliest sympathy ou the part of our readers. The sun shone gloriously in La Rue do la Monuaie, and the gossips were discoursing merrily at their doors (as if for the last ten months a mist of Mood had not hung over the city, tinging all nature with its sanguinary hue), when Maurice returned home, bringing, as he had promised, the cabriolet with him. lie gave the bridle of the horse to a shoe-back on the pavement of St. Enstache, and hastily ran upstairs, his heart filled with joy. Love is a vivifying sentiment. It animates hearts long deadened to every other sensation—it peoples the desertit resuscitates before the eyes the shade of the bejoved object-it causes the voice which '*VS in the soul of the lover to display, before him the entire creation jaiumincd by the brilliant raya of hope and happiness: at the same time it is egotistical, blinding him who loves to all but the existence of the beloved object. Maurice neither saw these women nor (listened to their commentaries; he alone fcaw Genevieve preparing for a departure, which was at last to bring them durable happiness; he only heard Genevieve singing carelessly her customary song, and this little song burred so pwcetly in his ear that he might have sworn he was listening to the varied modulations of her voice, mingled with the less harmonious sound of closing Jocks. Upon the lauding, Maurice stopped; the door was ha.lt open; it was generally kept closed, and the circumstance surprised Maurice. lie looked all r.viind, thinking Genevieve was in the corridor. She was not there. He entered, looked in the ante-chamber, the dining room, the saloon. He visited Mm bed chamber; but ante-room, saloon and bed chamber were all empty. lie loudly cajled. No one replied. Ibe ofncial. no he knew, had gone out. Maunte imagined that, during his absence, Genevieve had perhaps reqivred some cord .o lasten her trunk, or provision ae voyage to

—'T^RRQR'

store in the carriage, and had gone out trv purchase it. He thought it imprudent, hut. although every moment his anxiety increased, he in reality feared nothing. Maurice waited for some time, walking up and down the room, with long, impatient strides, and occasionally leaning out of the window, which, half opened, admitted puffs of air charged heavily with rain. But soon he fancied he heard a step upon the staircase: lie listened: it was not that of Genevieve; he ran to the landing, looked over the palisade, and recognized the official, who leisurely mounted the stairs after the manner of domestics. " Scevola !" cried he. The official raised his head. "Ah ! is it you citizen ?" " Yes. Where is the citoyenne ?" "The citoyenne?" demanded Scevola. with much surprise, as he continued mounting the stairs. " Have you seen her below ?" " No." " Go down, then, and ask the porter, and enquire of all the neighbors." Scevola descended. "Quicker! quicker!" said the master. •' Do you not see I am burning with impatience ?" , After waiting five or six minutes and Scevola not having made his appearance, Maurice re-entered the apartment and again leaned out of the window. He saw Scevola enter several shops and leave them without having gained any fresh intelligence. He called him. The official raised his head, and saw his master impatiently looking from the window, Maurice signed to him to come up. " It is impossible she cmi have gono out." said Maurice to himself, and ngnim he called: "Genevieve! Genevieve!" All was silent as death, even the sohtarv chamber appeared no longer to have an echo. Scevola reappeared. " Well ?" demanded Maurice. " The porter is the only person who has seen her." " The porter has seen her ! How was that ?" '• He saw her go out." " She is gone out, then ?" " It seems so." " Alone ! It is impossible Genevieve would go out alone !" "She was not alone, citizen, she had a man with her." " How ! A man with her ?" " That is what the porter says, at least." "Go and seek him. I must find out who Uiim man is." Scevola made a step toward the door; then, turning : "Wait." said he, appearing to reflect. "What is it?" said Maurice. "Speak, or vou will be the death of me." "Perhaps it was the man who ran after me ?" " What for ?" " To ask me for the key." " What key ?" "The key of your apartments." "You gave the key of the apartments to a stranger?" cried Maurice, seizing with both hands the official by the colli* r. " It was not a stranger, monsieur, it was to one of your friends." "Ah! yes. to one of my friends. It is' Louis; no doubt, it is so. She has gone out with Louis;" and smiling a

ghastly smile. Maurice wiped away the drops of agony which had gathered on his brow. "No, monsieur: no, it was not he. I know Monsieur Louis very well." " Who was it then '.'" " You know the man who came hero one dav ?" " What day ?" " The day when you were so sad, and he took you away with him, and you returned so happy." Scevola had remarked all these things. Maurice regarded him with a bewildered air: a cold shudder ran through all his veins. Then, after a long silence : " Dixnier 1" cried he. " Ma foi ! yes. I think it was him, citizen." Maurice tottered, and fell back upon the chair. " Oh, my God I" murmured he. When he reopened his eyes they encountered the violets, forgotten, or. rather, left there by Genevieve. He rushed toward them, seized and kissed them, remarking where she had placed them : " Doubtless," said he, " these violetsit is her last adieu." When Maurice turned round he perceived for the first time the trunk was half full, the rest of the linen remained cm the ground, or in the half-opened wardrobe. The cord which lay upon the ground had no doubt fallen from Genevieve's hand at the apparition of Dixnier. It was all explained now. The scene rose vivid and terrible before his eyes, between these four walls that had lately witnessed bo much happiness. Till now Maurice had remained crushed and heart-broken. Now the reaction was fearful. His rage was bordering on frenzy. II" rose, closed the window, took from the top of his secretaire a pair of pistols, ready loaded for their intended journey, looking to the primiiig. and finding all right, placed them in his pocket. He also l'urnishd himself with two rouleaux of louis, which, notwithstanding his patriotism, he had thought it iM)lite to conceal at the bottom of a drawer, and taking his saber in his hand : " Scevola," said he, "you are attached to me. I think: you have nerved my father and myself for fifteen years." " Yes, citizen,'' replied the official, terrified at the pallor and nervous trembling he had never before remarked iu his master, who had always been justly considered one of the most courageous and vigorous of men, "yes; what are your orders for me?" " Listen. If this lady who lived hvre—" He stopped; his voice trembled so much in pronouncing these words, he was unable to proceed. " If she should return," continued he, after a moments pause. " receive her, close the door after her, take this gun and station yourself upon the staircase, and, for your head, for your life, for your soul, do not permit a single person to enter here If anv one should force the door, defend it. Strike ! kill ! kill, and fear nothing, Scevola, for I will answer for all." The young man's impetuous harangue, his vehement confidence, electrified feeeVt "t' will not oaly kill, but wil eves

suffer death for the'Citoyenne GeneYfeve/' said he.

" Thuaks. Now. a+f"'-' 7*' T ment is auious to me, and since l con not find her I will no longer remain h->iv if she has been able, to eftect her escape, if she has returned, place before the window the Japan vase, with the pearls, which she loves so much That is, during the day. At night put a lantern. Every time 1 pass the end of the Street I shall know, and i I see neither vase nor lantern I shall still continue my rcseurelis. "He prudent, monsieur! Oh, pray be prudent!" continued Scevola. His master made no reply, but, rushing from the chamber, flew down the staircase as if possessed of Wing, and ran toward Louis' house It would be difficult to paint the astonishment and r-iire of our worthy poet when he heard th J uuW s. much as he wished to recommence the touching elegies addressed by Orestes to Pylades. " And you do not know whore she is ?" he repeated, incessantly. "Lost! disappeared:' shrieked Maurice, in a tone of despair; "he has killed her, Louis-he has lulled her! "No my dear friend: no, Maurice, he on n'k-eiv to kill a woman like Genevieve. If he had thought ~r doing so. he WoihU have done it on the spot, and have letc her corpse there in token of his just vengeance. No. no. lie lias taken her away, only too happy at having regained his lost treasure." "You do not know. Lonis-you Uo not know: this man had something fatal ill his look." "You are mistaken," said Louis; he always struck me as a brave man. He has taken her as the sacrifice. He will stop with her. and they will die together. When-, then, is the danger . These words redoubled Maurice's fury. " I will find her! I will find her. or perish in the attempt !" cried he. " Oh ! as to that, we are certain to find her," said Louis : "only calm yourself. They fail in success who do iiot reflect, and when agitated as you are, we reflect badly and unwisely.

" Adieu. Louis, adieu !" "Where are you going, then? " I am going." ', "You will leave me, then? Why ts Ithat ?" , T "Because this concerns me only. <■ alone should risk my life to save Genevieve's."

" Do you wish to die ?" " I will face all. I will find out the president of the Committee of Surveillance. I will speak to Herbert, to Danton, to Robespierre. I will avow all, that she may be restored to me. "Very well." said Louis; and, without adding another word, he rose, adjusted his belt, put on his military cap, and, as Maurice had done, provided himself with a pair of pistols, ready loaded, which he put in h.'s pocket. "Let us go,' said he, simply. "But yon will compromise yourselt, said Mam ice.

" Weil, what next?" " Where shall we seek her first ? said Maurice. "We will first search in the oUI qnniter you know. Vieille Rue St. Jacques: then we will watch for Maison Rouge, as where he will be, doubtless Dixmer vwll be also: then we will draw mar the houses in La Vieille Cordene. You know tho talk of transferring Marie jijiloii.fito to the temple; believe me, men !ike them will not. till the last moment, abandon the hope of serving her." " Yes," repeated Maurice, " you are right. Maison Rouge, do you think he is in Paris?" " Dixmer is there." " It is true, it is true; of course they will be together," said Maurice, to whom these vague ideas seemed partially to restore reason.

The two friends went out to commence their search immediately, but all ill vain. Paris is large, and well adapted for concealment. Never was a pit known to conceal more obscurely the secret confided to its keeping by crime or misery. A hundred times Maurice and Louis passed over La Place do Greve; a hundred times glanced at the house that contained Genevieve, watchin- without ceasing for Dixmer. as tho priests watch the victim destined for a sacrifice. Genevieve, on her sale, seeing herself destined to perish, like all generous souls, accepted the sacrifice, and only wished to die quietly and unnoticed;" besides, she dreaded less for Dixmer than the cause of the queenthe publicity that Maurice would not fail to give to his vengeance. She kept, then, a silence as profound as if death had already sealed her lipa. In the meantime, without saying anything to Louis. Maurice had applied to the members of the terrible Committee of Public Safety. ami Louis, without speakinK to Maurice, had. on his part, determined on a similar proceeding. Thus, on the same day. a. red cross was affixed by Fouqnier Tinville to both their names, and the word "suspects united them in a sanguinary embrace.

CHAPTER XLVI. TUB SHNTBNCB. On the 23rd day of the month of the second year of the French Republic, one and indivisible, corresponding to the 14th of October. 17!)3, old style, as it was then called, a curious crowd had. since the morning, invaded the galleries of the hall where the revolutionary sittings were held. The passages of the palace, the avenues of the conciergerte, were lined with greedy and impatient spectators, who made over one to another their reports and passions, as the waves transmit their froth and foam. Notwithstanding the curiosity which agitated each spectator—an agitation caused by this curiosity - every wave of this troubled sea. inclosed between two barriers—the exterior one which propelled them, and the interior which repelled them-this flux and reflux of human beings were thus kept almost stationary in the places they had at first taken. Thus, those more conveniently situated, comprehending it was necessary they should obtain forgiveness for their good fortune, kept this object in view by transmitting to these their neighbors less comfortably and Commodiously placed than themselves, and who, ill their turn, recounted to others the first words they heard and all they saw. '

Near the door of the tribunal a group of men were collected, rudely disputing for ten lines of space in width and height —for ten lines in breadth sufficed to sec between two shoulders the corner of the hall and the form of the judges -for ten lines in height was suffieient to overlook the entire hall and the figure of the accused. Unfortunately, this entrance to the passage of the hall, this narrow defile, was almost entirely filled by a man with broad shoulders, and his arms akimbo, who most effectually excluded the wavering crowd, ready to drop into the hall if this rampart of flesh were to give way. This immovable man was. young ana handsome, and at every" push bestowed on him by the crowd, he shook his head of hair, thick as a lion's mane, under which gleamoH a dark and resolute expression, then, when either by a look or a movement he hajl repelled the crowd and resisted their violent attacks, he fell back into his attentive immobility. A hundred times this compact mass hud. notwithstanding, striven lmrd to overthrow him—as from his great height, to see anything behind him was utterly impossible, but, as we have said, firm as a rock, he stood his ground. In the meantime, at the other extremity of this human sea, in the midst of tbe crushing crowd, another man was forcing a passage, with a perseverance almost amounting to ferocity. Nothing impeded his indefatigable exertiuns; neither the cries of those he left behind, the fe>-- t-,J imurecations of those he al-