CHAPTER VIII.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 8, 18 June 1886, Page 5

CHAPTER VIII.

AT THK CONVENTION. LISK and Emilie, accompanied by Commandant La Raison, had left the hou^e a little before two o'clock, directing their steps towards the Palais Nationale (the Tuileries), where the Convention was then sitting. They went thither on foot, for vehicles were rare, and bo one could venture to appear in the streets of Paris in a carriage or coach, without running the risk of being suspected, insulted, or arrested. Emilie, witb the iroperiousness and impetuosity of a Creole, and also of a spoiled child, was not an enthusiastic admiier of the vulgar democracy of that epoch. No doubt she appreciated to the full the liberty of speech and conduct that the Revolution granted to women, and the importance which it gave in Parisian society to tbe daughters of the wealthy sans-culottes. Emilie was in a position analogous to that of the royal princesses under the old regime. Nevertheless, even for her, daughter of a Jacobin and a Montagnard as she was. what privations and precautions were necessary I For the moment she had lost sight of all this, and was singing, in her heart, a hymn of praise to democracy, just because it had declared carriages to be "suspect " of aristocracy. For, as they had to walk, Emilie might lean on the arm of the Commandant. Lise fancied she leaned upon that arm a little more closely than was absolutely necessary ; but the Little Nightingale was especially struck ny the joyous light that shone in the ordinary moody eyes of her companion ; she especially admired the charming tinge of pink that suffused tbe pale cheeks of her cousin, vanishing only to return again, as beautitul and us brief as before. And the Commandant, was he aware of Emihe's feelings? Did he see the transient recurrent blush ? He was quietly attentive to his fair companion, but decidedly reserved, much to the surprise of Lise, who thought Emilie looked too beautiful for anyone in the world to be regardless of her grace aud charm. Lise walked by the side of Emilie. La iiussiere had left the group, with a parting whisper to Lise, that she must not be surprised if she did not see him again for some time. Kequaiu, the gallant scavenger, sueing Lise without an escort, and observing, with a grin and a wink, that the Citizeness Crassus had takeu the arm of the young follower of Mars, offered his own to the Citizeness Dubois-Juli. Warned by a sign from her father, Lise accepted this courtesy. Happily, however, the gallant scavenger was as avaricious as he was polite, and remembered when they were passing before the Section at the corner of the CroixRouge that he had to go and " put the seals " on the effects of a rich wine merchant, in toe Rue de la Chaise, near the Hospice des Teigneux. Thereupon be explained, again wiih a grin and a wink, that, although obliged to neglect his own proper business in order to serve the country and tbe Section, still he was bound to live somehow, and everyone knew what putting the seals on meant, when a rich conspirator was in question. He then left Lise, but wanted to kiss her first. The girl shrank from him, and La Raison said roughly that they had no time to lose. Requain, furious that anyone should even seem to wish to oppose him, summoned ttenaud, the bailiff to the Committee, to arrest the insolent soldier. It was Piget who •erne. "This scoundrel of a Fayettist," cried Requain, "has the insolence to insult the Committee in my person. Take him to the jail of the Section ; to-morrow he goes before Trinchard, at the popular Commission of the Museum ; and the day after, vile Praetorian, you shall embrace Madame." [One of the many phrases in use to signify death by the guillotine. J La Raißon looked at the speaker with astonishment that wavered between anger and contempt. Piget came close up to the scavenger, and whispered to bim : "It is you who will look out of the little window, you idiot ! If this citizen weie a mere commandant, or even a general, it would not matter ; and if he were a Conventional, or even a Montagnard, I might say to you— we will see about it. But he is the son of a member of the Comite de Surete Generale. " He went away sniggering, while Requain rushed to the officer and clasped him in his arms, as he said in a conciliatory tone : " Come, come, let us have no more o£ this. You understand perfectly, Citizen Commandant, that, seeing you so well dressed, I could not believe in your civism. And then, you know, sold ers are the great danger of the Republic, and the natural enemies of the democracy. 1 hat's all about it. How was Ito know that you wanted both these pretty cttizenesses at the same time ? But I won't tease you — have your fling 1 Commend me to your venerable author. Hal ha !" La Raison passed on, astonished to see that neither of his companions had blushed at the Commissary's words. He had not yet learned that the Revolution had abolished delicacy, and that indecent speech filled the air, just as indecent drawings covered the walls. Tbe two walked on ; Emilie broke the silence by saying in a low "fcone : ™ "I do not yet icnowyour name ?" The Commandant answered, with some hesitation : " I am called La Raison." " Ah, yes, but that name is for everyone, on every lip. What is the other — that which under the old regime, under the reign of prejudice and superstition, was your baptismal name V " Bernard-Kmile." " Kmihe," she repeated, with a vivid blush, "you see 1" This time it tvas impossible for the Commandant to mistake the meaning of her tone, and the look that accompanied her words. Lise obseived the two with innocent curiosity, in which there was ome uneasiness, and La Raison could not refrain from smiling at the startled glance of the Little Nightingale.

The throe pedest \na booh reaohed the Tuileriea, and found Domingo waning for tf- u rvi at the door of the Salle des Archives, on the right of the Pavill/a/s l'Horloge ; this doo: jgave admittance to the Salle de Sj- xtac't- ir» .^.ach the Convention held its sittings. The negro's counvnan. c tnxap nilie laugh. " You have se».n the sorcerer f" said she. Domingo rolled his white eyeballs, as he made an affirmative sign, then he said, quickly : "You late. Utizen Cassus want talk at the sitting, and want you admire he and Lim eloquence. Come quick, diplomatic gallery." This was, indeed, the only one of the galleneH, which accommodated several thousand spectators, that was not invaded by the public. As France had been placed under the ban of humanity by the Revolution, and the Corps Diplomatique accredited to the Government comprised only the Ministers fiom Geneva and the United States of America, the principal M mtagnards and the Comites had this gallerj at their disposal. Robespierre, whose presidency of fifteen days ended on this occasion, had reserved three places for El6oaore Duplay and her two friends. Here the Commandant left Lise and Emilie. He had to take his place in the wide passage that traversed the amphitheatre in which the deputies sat. At tbe end of this passage, in tbe hall itself, exactly facing the Beat of the President and the tribuue, from which the orators spoke, was a barrier called " the bar," and behind this, petitioners, proposers of motions— in fact, all persons called before the Convention for whatever cause — had to remam until their turn to speak had come. From the bar every part of the hall was dihtinctly visible. The heart of the young and enthusiastic soldier b- at quickly when he entered tne venerable and sacred " Temple of the Genius of the Country," and stood in the midst of that illustrious Areopagus which represented Revolutionary supremacy, directed the destinies of France and was the quintessence of tbe national sovereignty, infallible and divine. A senate was before him, more powerful, more noble, more illustrious, more hj\y in his eyes than that Roman Benate which the University had been teaching the generations to revere for centuries. When he had reached the bar, and cast an eager yet reverent glance around him, he turned pale. He was forced to lean against one of the benches ; it seemed to bim as though he were pierced through tbe heart, and his soul about to leave his body. Large tears welled up uuder his eyelids, and he hid himself for a few moments behind a big man in a grty blouse, who was, like himself, awaiting the " honors of the Bitting."

{To be Continual.)