TO
MISS M. H. M. CAPES
THE six stories in this
volume are the result of some three or four years of occasional work. The dates
of their writing are far apart, their origins are various. None of them are
connected directly with personal experiences. In all of them the facts are
inherently true, by which I mean that they are not only possible but that they
have actually happened. For instance, the last story in the volume, the one I
call Pathetic, whose first title is Il Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an almost
verbatim transcript of the tale told me by a very charming old gentleman whom I
met in Italy. I don't mean to say it is only that. Anybody can see that it is
something more than a verbatim report, but where he left off and where I began
must be left to the acute discrimination of the reader who may be interested in
the problem. I don't mean to say that the problem is worth the trouble. What I
am certain of, however, is that it is not to be solved, for I am not at all
clear about it myself by this time. All I can say is that the personality of
the narrator was extremely suggestive quite apart from the story he was telling
me. I heard a few years ago that he had died far away from his beloved Naples
where that "abominable adventure" did really happen to him.
Thus the genealogy of
Il Conde is simple. It is not the case with the other stories. Various strains
contributed to their composition, and the nature of many of those I have
forgotten, not having the habit of making notes either before or after the
fact. I mean the fact of writing a story. What I remember best about Gaspar
Ruiz is that it was written, or at any rate begun, within a month of finishing
Nostromo; but apart from the locality, and that a pretty wide one (all the
South American Continent), the novel and the story have nothing in common,
neither mood, nor intention and, certainly, not the style. The manner for the
most part is that of General Santierra, and that old warrior, I note with
satisfaction, is very true to himself all through. Looking now dispassionately
at the various ways in which this story could have been presented I can't
honestly think the General superfluous. It is he, an old man talking of the
days of his youth, who characterizes the whole narrative and gives it an air of
actuality which I doubt whether I could have achieved without his help. In the
mere writing his existence of course was of no help at all, because the whole
thing had to be carefully kept within the frame of his simple mind. But all
this is but a laborious searching of memories. My present feeling is that the
story could not have been told otherwise. The hint for Gaspar Ruiz the man I
found in a book by Captain Basil Hall, R.N., who was for some time, between the
years 1824 and 1828, senior officer of a small British Squadron on the West
Coast of South America. His book published in the thirties obtained a certain
celebrity and I suppose is to be found still in some libraries. The curious who
may be mistrusting my imagination are referred to that printed document, Vol.
II, I forget the page, but it is somewhere not far from the end. Another
document connected with this story is a letter of a biting and ironic kind from
a friend then in Burma, passing certain strictures upon "the gentleman
with the gun on his back" which I do not intend to make accessible to the
public. Yet the gun episode did really happen, or at least I am bound to
believe it because I remember it, described in an extremely matter-of-fact
tone, in some book I read in my boyhood; and I am not going to discard the
beliefs of my boyhood for anybody on earth.
The Brute, which is the
only sea-story in the volume, is, like Il Conde, associated with a direct
narrative and based on a suggestion gathered on warm human lips. I will not
disclose the real name of the criminal ship but the first I heard of her
homicidal habits was from the late Captain Blake, commanding a London ship in
which I served in 1884 as Second Officer. Captain Blake was, of all my
commanders, the one I remember with the greatest affection. I have sketched in
his personality, without however mentioning his name, in the first paper of The
Mirror of the Sea. In his young days he had had a personal experience of the brute
and it is perhaps for that reason that I have put the story into the mouth of a
young man and made of it what the reader will see. The existence of the brute
was a fact. The end of the brute as related in the story is also a fact,
well-known at the time though it really happened to another ship, of great
beauty of form and of blameless character, which certainly deserved a better
fate. I have unscrupulously adapted it to the needs of my story thinking that I
had there something in the nature of poetical justice. I hope that little
villainy will not cast a shadow upon the general honesty of my proceedings as a
writer of tales.
Of The Informer and An
Anarchist I will say next to nothing. The pedigree of these tales is hopelessly
complicated and not worth disentangling at this distance of time. I found them
and here they are. The discriminating reader will guess that I have found them
within my mind; but how they or their elements came in there I have forgotten
for the most part; and for the rest I really don't see why I should give myself
away more than I have done already.
It remains for me only
now to mention The Duel, the longest story in the book. That story attained the
dignity of publication all by itself in a small illustrated volume, under the
title, "The Point of Honour." That was many years ago. It has been
since reinstated in its proper place, which is the place it occupies in this
volume, in all the subsequent editions of my work. Its pedigree is extremely
simple. It springs from a ten-line paragraph in a small provincial paper
published in the South of France. That paragraph, occasioned by a duel with a
fatal ending between two well-known Parisian personalities, referred for some
reason or other to the "well-known fact" of two officers in Napoleon's
Grand Army having fought a series of duels in the midst of great wars and on
some futile pretext. The pretext was never disclosed. I had therefore to invent
it; and I think that, given the character of the two officers which I had to
invent, too, I have made it sufficiently convincing by the mere force of its
absurdity. The truth is that in my mind the story is nothing but a serious and
even earnest attempt at a bit of historical fiction. I had heard in my boyhood
a good deal of the great Napoleonic legend. I had a genuine feeling that I
would find myself at home in it, and The Duel is the result of that feeling,
or, if the reader prefers, of that presumption. Personally I have no qualms of
conscience about this piece of work. The story might have been better told of
course. All one's work might have been better done; but this is the sort of
reflection a worker must put aside courageously if he doesn't mean every one of
his conceptions to remain for ever a private vision, an evanescent reverie. How
many of those visions have I seen vanish in my time! This one, however, has
remained, a testimony, if you like, to my courage or a proof of my rashness.
What I care to remember best is the testimony of some French readers who
volunteered the opinion that in those hundred pages or so I had managed to
render "wonderfully" the spirit of the whole epoch. Exaggeration of
kindness no doubt; but even so I hug it still to my breast, because in truth
that is exactly what I was trying to capture in my small net: the Spirit of the
Epoch -- never purely militarist in the long clash of arms, youthful, almost
childlike in its exaltation of sentiment -- naïvely heroic in its faith.
A REVOLUTIONARY war
raises many strange characters out of the obscurity which is the common lot of
humble lives in an undisturbed state of society.
Certain individualities
grow into fame through their vices and their virtues, or simply by their
actions, which may have a temporary importance; and then they become forgotten.
The names of a few leaders alone survive the end of armed strife and are further
preserved in history; so that, vanishing from men's active memories, they still
exist in books.
The name of General
Santierra attained that cold paper-and-ink immortality. He was a South American
of good family, and the books published in his lifetime numbered him amongst
the liberators of that continent from the oppressive rule of Spain.
That long contest,
waged for independence on one side and for dominion on the other, developed in
the course of years and the vicissitudes of changing fortune the fierceness and
inhumanity of a struggle for life. All feelings of pity and compassion
disappeared in the growth of political hatred. And, as is usual in war, the
mass of the people, who had the least to gain by the issue, suffered most in
their obscure persons and their humble fortunes.
General Santierra began
his service as lieutenant in the patriot army raised and commanded by the
famous San Martin, afterwards conqueror of Lima and liberator of Peru. A great
battle had just been fought on the banks of the river Bio-Bio. Amongst the
prisoners made upon the routed Royalist troops there was a soldier called
Gaspar Ruiz. His powerful build and his big head rendered him remarkable
amongst his fellow-captives. The personality of the man was unmistakable. Some months
before he had been missed from the ranks of Republican troops after one of the
many skirmishes which preceded the great battle. And now, having been captured
arms in hand amongst Royalists, he could expect no other fate but to be shot as
a deserter.
Gaspar Ruiz, however,
was not a deserter; his mind was hardly active enough to take a discriminating
view of the advantages or perils of treachery. Why should he change sides? He
had really been made a prisoner, had suffered ill-usage and many privations.
Neither side showed tenderness to its adversaries. There came a day when he was
ordered, together with some other captured rebels, to march in the front rank
of the Royal troops. A musket had been thrust into his hands. He had taken it.
He had marched. He did not want to be killed with circumstances of peculiar
atrocity for refusing to march. He did not understand heroism but it was his
intention to throw his musket away at the first opportunity. Meantime he had
gone on loading and firing, from fear of having his brains blown out at the
first sign of unwillingness, by some noncommissioned officer of the King of
Spain. He tried to set forth these elementary considerations before the
sergeant of the guard set over him and some twenty other such deserters, who
had been condemned summarily to be shot.
It was in the
quadrangle of the fort at the back of the batteries which command the roadstead
of Valparaiso. The officer who had identified him had gone on without listening
to his protestations. His doom was sealed; his hands were tied very tightly
together behind his back; his body was sore all over from the many blows with
sticks and butts of muskets which had hurried him along on the painful road
from the place of his capture to the gate of the fort. This was the only kind
of systematic attention the prisoners had received from their escort during a
four days' journey across a scantily watered tract of country. At the crossings
of rare streams they were permitted to quench their thirst by lapping hurriedly
like dogs. In the evening a few scraps of meat were thrown amongst them as they
dropped down dead-beat upon the stony ground of the halting-place.
As he stood in the
courtyard of the castle in the early morning, after having been driven hard all
night, Gaspar Ruiz's throat was parched, and his tongue felt very large and dry
in his mouth.
And Gaspar Ruiz,
besides being very thirsty, was stirred by a feeling of sluggish anger, which
he could not very well express, as though the vigour of his spirit were by no
means equal to the strength of his body.
The other prisoners in
the batch of the condemned hung their heads, looking obstinately on the ground.
But Gaspar Ruiz kept on repeating: "What should I desert for to the
Royalists? Why should I desert? Tell me, Estaban!"
He addressed himself to
the sergeant, who happened to belong to the same part of the country as
himself. But the sergeant, after shrugging his meagre shoulders once, paid no
further attention to the deep murmuring voice at his back. It was indeed
strange that Gaspar Ruiz should desert. His people were in too humble a station
to feel much the disadvantages of any form of government. There was no reason
why Gaspar Ruiz should wish to uphold in his own person the rule of the King of
Spain. Neither had he been anxious to exert himself for its subversion. He had
joined the side of Independence in an extremely reasonable and natural manner.
A band of patriots appeared one morning early, surrounding his father's ranche,
spearing the watch-dogs and hamstringing a fat cow all in the twinkling of an
eye, to the cries of "Viva la Libertad!" Their officer discoursed of
Liberty with enthusiasm and eloquence after a long and refreshing sleep. When
they left in the evening, taking with them some of Ruiz, the father's, best
horses to replace their own lamed animals, Gaspar Ruiz went away with them,
having been invited pressingly to do so by the eloquent officer.
Shortly afterwards a
detachment of Royalist troops coming to pacify the district, burnt the ranche,
carried off the remaining horses and cattle, and having thus deprived the old
people of all their worldly possessions, left them sitting under a bush in the
enjoyment of the inestimable boon of life.
GASPAR RUIZ, condemned
to death as a deserter, was not thinking either of his native place or of his
parents, to whom he had been a good son on account of the mildness of his
character and the great strength of his limbs. The practical advantage of this
last was made still more valuable to his father by his obedient disposition.
Gaspar Ruiz had an acquiescent soul.
But it was stirred now
to a sort of dim revolt by his dislike to die the death of a traitor. He was
not a traitor. He said again to the sergeant: "You know I did not desert,
Estaban. You know I remained behind amongst the trees with three others to keep
the enemy back while the detachment was running away!"
Lieutenant Santierra,
little more than a boy at the time, and unused as yet to the sanguinary
imbecilities of a state of war, had lingered near by, as if fascinated by the
sight of these men who were to be shot presently -- "for an example"
-- as the Commandante had said.
The sergeant, without
deigning to look at the prisoner, addressed himself to the young officer with a
superior smile.
"Ten men would not
have been enough to make him a prisoner, mi teniente. Moreover, the other three
rejoined the detachment after dark. Why should he, unwounded and the strongest
of them all, have failed to do so?"
"My strength is as
nothing against a mounted man with a lasso," Gaspar Ruiz protested,
eagerly. "He dragged me behind his horse for half a mile."
At this excellent
reason the sergeant only laughed contemptuously. The young officer hurried away
after the Commandante.
Presently the adjutant
of the castle came by. He was a truculent, raw-boned man in a ragged uniform.
His spluttering voice issued out of a flat yellow face. The sergeant learned
from him that the condemned men would not be shot till sunset. He begged then
to know what he was to do with them meantime.
The adjutant looked
savagely round the courtyard and, pointing to the door of a small dungeon-like
guardroom, receiving light and air through one heavily barred window, said:
"Drive the scoundrels in there."
The sergeant, tightening
his grip upon the stick he carried in virtue of his rank, executed this order
with alacrity and zeal. He hit Gaspar Ruiz, whose movements were slow, over his
head and shoulders. Gaspar Ruiz stood still for a moment under the shower of
blows, biting his lip thoughtfully as if absorbed by a perplexing mental
process -- then followed the others without haste. The door was locked, and the
adjutant carried off the key.
By noon the heat of
that vaulted place crammed to suffocation had become unbearable. The prisoners
crowded towards the window, begging their guards for a drop of water; but the
soldiers remained lying in indolent attitudes wherever there was a little shade
under a wall, while the sentry sat with his back against the door smoking a
cigarette, and raising his eyebrows philosophically from time to time. Gaspar
Ruiz had pushed his way to the window with irresistible force. His capacious
chest needed more air than the others; his big face, resting with its chin on
the ledge, pressed close to the bars, seemed to support the other faces
crowding up for breath. From moaned entreaties they had passed to desperate
cries, and the tumultuous howling of those thirsty men obliged a young officer
who was just then crossing the courtyard to shout in order to make himself
heard.
"Why don't you
give some water to these prisoners?"
The sergeant, with an
air of surprised innocence, excused himself by the remark that all those men
were condemned to die in a very few hours.
Lieutenant Santierra
stamped his foot. "They are condemned to death, not to torture," he
shouted. "Give them some water at once."
Impressed by this
appearance of anger, the soldiers bestirred themselves, and the sentry,
snatching up his musket, stood to attention.
But when a couple of
buckets were found and filled from the well, it was discovered that they could
not be passed through the bars, which were set too close. At the prospect of
quenching their thirst, the shrieks of those trampled down in the struggle to
get near the opening became very heartrending. But when the soldiers who had
lifted the buckets towards the window put them to the ground again helplessly,
the yell of disappointment was still more terrible.
The soldiers of the
army of Independence were not equipped with canteens. A small tin cup was
found, but its approach to the opening caused such a commotion, such yells of
rage and pain in the vague mass of limbs behind the straining faces at the
window, that Lieutenant Santierra cried out hurriedly, "No, no -- you must
open the door, sergeant."
The sergeant, shrugging
his shoulders, explained that he had no right to open the door even if he had
had the key. But he had not the key. The adjutant of the garrison kept the key.
Those men were giving much unnecessary trouble, since they had to die at sunset
in any case. Why they had not been shot at once early in the morning he could
not understand.
Lieutenant Santierra
kept his back studiously to the window. It was at his earnest solicitations
that the Commandante had delayed the execution. This favour had been granted to
him in consideration of his distinguished family and of his father's high
position amongst the chiefs of the Republican party. Lieutenant Santierra
believed that the General commanding would visit the fort some time in the
afternoon, and he ingenuously hoped that his naïve intercession would induce
that severe man to pardon some, at least, of those criminals. In the revulsion
of his feeling his interference stood revealed now as guilty and futile
meddling. It appeared to him obvious that the general would never even consent
to listen to his petition. He could never save those men, and he had only made
himself responsible for the sufferings added to the cruelty of their fate.
"Then go at once
and get the key from the adjutant," said Lieutenant Santierra.
The sergeant shook his
head with a sort of bashful smile, while his eyes glanced sideways at Gaspar
Ruiz's face, motionless and silent, staring through the bars at the bottom of a
heap of other haggard, distorted, yelling faces.
His worship the
adjutant de Plaza, the sergeant murmured, was having his siesta; and supposing
that he, the sergeant, would be allowed access to him, the only result he
expected would be to have his soul flogged out of his body for presuming to
disturb his worship's repose. He made a deprecatory movement with his hands,
and stood stock-still, looking down modestly upon his brown toes.
Lieutenant Santierra
glared with indignation, but hesitated. His handsome oval face, as smooth as a
girl's, flushed with the shame of his perplexity. Its nature humiliated his
spirit. His hairless upper lip trembled; he seemed on the point of either
bursting into a fit of rage or into tears of dismay.
Fifty years later,
General Santierra, the venerable relic of revolutionary times, was well able to
remember the feelings of the young lieutenant. Since he had given up riding
altogether, and found it difficult to walk beyond the limits of his garden, the
general's greatest delight was to entertain in his house the officers of the
foreign men-of-war visiting the harbour. For Englishmen he had a preference, as
for old companions in arms. English naval men of all ranks accepted his
hospitality with curiosity, because he had known Lord Cochrane and had taken
part, on board the patriot squadron commanded by that marvellous seaman, in the
cutting out and blockading operations before Callao -- an episode of unalloyed
glory in the wars of Independence and of endless honour in the fighting
tradition of Englishmen. He was a fair linguist, this ancient survivor of the
Liberating armies. A trick of smoothing his long white beard whenever he was
short of a word in French or English imparted an air of leisurely dignity to
the tone of his reminiscences.
"YES, my
friends," he used to say to his guests, "what would you have? A youth
of seventeen summers, without worldly experience, and owing my rank only to the
glorious patriotism of my father, may God rest his soul. I suffered immense
humiliation, not so much from the disobedience of that subordinate, who, after
all, was responsible for those prisoners; but I suffered because, like the boy
I was, I myself dreaded going to the adjutant for the key. I had felt, before,
his rough and cutting tongue. Being quite a common fellow, with no merit except
his savage valour, he made me feel his contempt and dislike from the first day
I joined my battalion in garrison at the fort. It was only a fortnight before!
I would have confronted him sword in hand, but I shrank from the mocking
brutality of his sneers.
"I don't remember
having been so miserable in my life before or since. The torment of my
sensibility was so great that I wished the sergeant to fall dead at my feet,
and the stupid soldiers who stared at me to turn into corpses; and even those
wretches for whom my entreaties had procured a reprieve I wished dead also,
because I could not face them without shame. A mephitic heat like a whiff of
air from hell came out of that dark place in which they were confined. Those at
the window who had heard what was going on jeered at me in very desperation:
one of these fellows, gone mad no doubt, kept on urging me volubly to order the
soldiers to fire through the window. His insane loquacity made my heart turn
faint. And my feet were like lead. There was no higher officer to whom I could
appeal. I had not even the firmness of spirit to simply go away.
"Benumbed by my
remorse, I stood with my back to the window. You must not suppose that all this
lasted a long time. How long could it have been? A minute? If you measured by
mental suffering it was like a hundred years; a longer time than all my life
has been since. No, certainly, it was not so much as a minute. The hoarse
screaming of those miserable wretches died out in their dry throats, and then
suddenly a voice spoke, a deep voice muttering calmly. It called upon me to
turn round.
"That voice, señores,
proceeded from the head of Gaspar Ruiz. Of his body I could see nothing. Some
of his fellow-captives had clambered upon his back. He was holding them up. His
eyes blinked without looking at me. That and the moving of his lips was all he
seemed able to manage in his overloaded state. And when I turned round, this
head, that seemed more than human size resting on its chin under a multitude of
other heads, asked me whether I really desired to quench the thirst of the
captives.
"I said, 'Yes,
yes!' eagerly, and came up quite close to the window. I was like a child, and
did not know what would happen. I was anxious to be comforted in my
helplessness and remorse.
"'Have you the
authority, Señor teniente, to release my wrists from their bonds?' Gaspar
Ruiz's head asked me.
"His features
expressed no anxiety, no hope; his heavy eyelids blinked upon his eyes that
looked past me straight into the courtyard.
"As if in an ugly
dream, I spoke, stammering: 'What do you mean? And how can I reach the bonds on
your wrists?'
"'I will try what
I can do,' he said; and then that large staring head moved at last, and all the
wild faces piled up in that window disappeared, tumbling down. He had shaken
his load off with one movement, so strong he was.
"And he had not
only shaken it off, but he got free of the crush and vanished from my sight.
For a moment there was no one at all to be seen at the window. He had swung
about, butting and shouldering, clearing a space for himself in the only way he
could do it with his hands tied behind his back.
"Finally, backing
to the opening, he pushed out to me between the bars his wrists, lashed with
many turns of rope. His hands, very swollen, with knotted veins, looked
enormous and unwieldy. I saw his bent back. It was very broad. His voice was
like the muttering of a bull.
"'Cut, Señor
teniente. Cut!'
"I drew my sword,
my new unblunted sword that had seen no service as yet, and severed the many
turns of the hide rope. I did this without knowing the why and the wherefore of
my action, but as it were compelled by my faith in that man. The sergeant made
as if to cry out, but astonishment deprived him of his voice, and he remained
standing with his mouth open as if overtaken by sudden imbecility.
"I sheathed my
sword and faced the soldiers. An air of awestruck expectation had replaced
their usual listless apathy. I heard the voice of Gaspar Ruiz shouting inside,
but the words I could not make out plainly. I suppose that to see him with his
arms free augmented the influence of his strength: I mean by this, the
spiritual influence that with ignorant people attaches to an exceptional degree
of bodily vigour. In fact, he was no more to be feared than before, on account
of the numbness of his arms and hands, which lasted for some time.
"The sergeant had
recovered his power of speech. 'By all the saints!' he cried, 'we shall have to
get a cavalry man with a lasso to secure him again, if he is to be led to the
place of execution. Nothing less than a good enlazador on a good horse can
subdue him. Your worship was pleased to perform a very mad thing.'
"I had nothing to
say. I was surprised myself, and I felt a childish curiosity to see what would
happen next. But the sergeant was thinking of the difficulty of controlling
Gaspar Ruiz when the time for making an example would come.
"'Or perhaps,' the
sergeant pursued, vexedly, 'we shall be obliged to shoot him down as he dashes
out when the door is opened.' He was going to give further vent to his
anxieties as to the proper carrying out of the sentence; but he interrupted
himself with a sudden exclamation, snatched a musket from a soldier, and stood
watchful with his eyes fixed on the window.
"GASPAR RUIZ had
clambered up on the sill, and sat down there with his feet against the
thickness of the wall and his knees slightly bent. The window was not quite
broad enough for the length of his legs. It appeared to my crestfallen
perception that he meant to keep the window all to himself. He seemed to be
taking up a comfortable position. Nobody inside dared to approach him now he
could strike with his hands.
"'Por Dios!' I
heard the sergeant muttering at my elbow, 'I shall shoot him through the head
now, and get rid of that trouble. He is a condemned man.'
"At that I looked
at him angrily. 'The general has not confirmed the sentence,' I said -- though
I knew well in my heart that these were but vain words. The sentence required
no confirmation. 'You have no right to shoot him unless he tries to escape,' I
added, firmly.
"'But sangre de
Dios!' the sergeant yelled out, bringing his musket up to the shoulder, 'he is
escaping now. Look!'
"But I, as if that
Gaspar Ruiz had cast a spell upon me, struck the musket upward, and the bullet
flew over the roofs somewhere. The sergeant dashed his arm to the ground and
stared. He might have commanded the soldiers to fire, but he did not. And if he
had he would not have been obeyed, I think, just then.
"With his feet
against the thickness of the wall and his hairy hands grasping the iron bar,
Gaspar sat still. It was an attitude. Nothing happened for a time. And suddenly
it dawned upon us that he was straightening his bowed back and contracting his
arms. His lips were twisted into a snarl. Next thing we perceived was that the
bar of forged iron was being bent slowly by the mightiness of his pull. The sun
was beating full upon his cramped, unquivering figure. A shower of sweat-drops
burst out of his forehead. Watching the bar grow crooked, I saw a little blood
ooze from under his finger-nails. Then he let go. For a moment he remained all
huddled up, with a hanging head, looking drowsily into the upturned palms of
his mighty hands. Indeed he seemed to have dozed off. Suddenly he flung himself
backwards on the sill, and setting the soles of his bare feet against the other
middle bar, he bent that one, too, but in the opposite direction from the
first.
"Such was his
strength, which in this case relieved my painful feelings. And the man seemed
to have done nothing. Except for the change of position in order to use his
feet, which made us all start by its swiftness, my recollection is that of
immobility. But he had bent the bars wide apart. And now he could get out if he
liked; but he dropped his legs inwards, and looking over his shoulder beckoned
to the soldiers. 'Hand up the water,' he said. 'I will give them all a drink.'
"He was obeyed.
For a moment I expected man and bucket to disappear, overwhelmed by the rush of
eagerness; I thought they would pull him down with their teeth. There was a
rush, but holding the bucket on his lap he repulsed the assault of those wretches
by the mere swinging of his feet. They flew backwards at every kick, yelling
with pain; and the soldiers laughed, gazing at the window.
"They all laughed,
holding their sides, except the sergeant, who was gloomy and morose. He was
afraid the prisoners would rise and break out -- which would have been a bad
example. But there was no fear of that, and I stood myself before the window
with my drawn sword. When sufficiently tamed by the strength of Gaspar Ruiz
they came up one by one, stretching their necks and presenting their lips to
the edge of the bucket which the strong man tilted towards them from his knees
with an extraordinary air of charity, gentleness, and compassion. That
benevolent appearance was of course the effect of his care in not spilling the
water and of his attitude as he sat on the sill; for, if a man lingered with
his lips glued to the rim of the bucket after Gaspar Ruiz had said 'You have
had enough,' there would be no tenderness or mercy in the shove of the foot
which would send him groaning and doubled up far into the interior of the
prison, where he would knock down two or three others before he fell himself.
They came up to him again and again; it looked as if they meant to drink the
well dry before going to their death; but the soldiers were so amused by Gaspar
Ruiz's systematic proceedings that they carried the water up to the window
cheerfully.
"When the adjutant
came out after his siesta there was some trouble over this affair, I can assure
you. And the worst of it was that the general whom we expected never came to
the castle that day."
The guests of General
Santierra unanimously expressed their regret that the man of such strength and
patience had not been saved.
"He was not saved
by my interference," said the General. "The prisoners were led to
execution half an hour before sunset. Gaspar Ruiz, contrary to the sergeant's
apprehensions, gave no trouble. There was no necessity to get a cavalry man
with a lasso in order to subdue him, as if he were a wild bull of the campo. I
believe he marched out with his arms free amongst the others who were bound. I
did not see. I was not there. I had been put under arrest for interfering with
the prisoner's guard. About dusk, sitting dismally in my quarters, I heard
three volleys fired, and thought that I should never hear of Gaspar Ruiz again.
He fell with the others. But we were to hear of him nevertheless, though the
sergeant boasted that as he lay on his face expiring or dead in the heap of the
slain, he had slashed his neck with a sword. He had done this, he said, to make
sure of ridding the world of a dangerous traitor.
"I confess to you,
señores, that I thought of that strong man with a sort of gratitude, and with
some admiration. He had used his strength honourably. There dwelt, then, in his
soul no fierceness corresponding to the vigour of his body."
GASPAR RUIZ, who could
with ease bend apart the heavy iron bars of the prison, was led out with others
to summary execution. "Every bullet has its billet," runs the
proverb. All the merit of proverbs consists in the concise and picturesque
expression. In the surprise of our minds is found their persuasiveness. In
other words, we are struck and convinced by the shock.
What surprises us is
the form, not the substance. Proverbs are art -- cheap art. As a general rule
they are not true; unless indeed they happen to be mere platitudes, as for
instance the proverb, "Half a loaf is better than no bread," or
"A miss is as good as a mile." Some proverbs are simply imbecile,
others are immoral. That one evolved out of the naïve heart of the great
Russian people, "Man discharges the piece, but God carries the
bullet," is piously atrocious, and at bitter variance with the accepted
conception of a compassionate God. It would indeed be an inconsistent
occupation for the Guardian of the poor, the innocent, and the helpless, to
carry the bullet, for instance, into the heart of a father.
Gaspar Ruiz was
childless, he had no wife, he had never been in love. He had hardly ever spoken
to a woman, beyond his mother and the ancient negress of the household, whose
wrinkled skin was the colour of cinders, and whose lean body was bent double
from age. If some bullets from those muskets fired off at fifteen paces were
specifically destined for the heart of Gaspar Ruiz, they all missed their
billet. One, however, carried away a small piece of his ear, and another a
fragment of flesh from his shoulder.
A red and unclouded sun
setting into a purple ocean looked with a fiery stare upon the enormous wall of
the Cordilleras, worthy witnesses of his glorious extinction. But it is
inconceivable that it should have seen the ant-like men busy with their absurd
and insignificant trials of killing and dying for reasons that, apart from
being generally childish, were also imperfectly understood. It did light up,
however, the backs of the firing party and the faces of the condemned men. Some
of them had fallen on their knees, others remained standing, a few averted
their heads from the levelled barrels of muskets. Gaspar Ruiz, upright, the
burliest of them all, hung his big shock head. The low sun dazzled him a
little, and he counted himself a dead man already.
He fell at the first
discharge. He fell because he thought he was a dead man. He struck the ground
heavily. The jar of the fall surprised him. "I am not dead
apparently," he thought to himself, when he heard the execution platoon
reloading its arms at the word of command. It was then that the hope of escape
dawned upon him for the first time. He remained lying stretched out with rigid
limbs under the weight of two bodies collapsed crosswise upon his back.
By the time the
soldiers had fired a third volley into the slightly stirring heaps of the
slain, the sun had gone out of sight, and almost immediately with the darkening
of the ocean dusk fell upon the coasts of the young Republic. Above the gloom
of the lowlands the snowy peaks of the Cordilleras remained luminous and
crimson for a long time. The soldiers before marching back to the fort sat down
to smoke.
The sergeant with a
naked sword in his hand strolled away by himself along the heap of the dead. He
was a humane man, and watched for any stir or twitch of limb in the merciful
idea of plunging the point of his blade into any body giving the slightest sign
of life. But none of the bodies afforded him an opportunity for the display of
this charitable intention. Not a muscle twitched amongst them, not even the
powerful muscles of Gaspar Ruiz, who, deluged with the blood of his neighbours
and shamming death, strove to appear more lifeless than the others.
He was lying face down.
The sergeant recognized him by his stature, and being himself a very small man,
looked with envy and contempt at the prostration of so much strength. He had
always disliked that particular soldier. Moved by an obscure animosity, he
inflicted a long gash across the neck of Gaspar Ruiz, with some vague notion of
making sure of that strong man's death, as if a powerful physique were more
able to resist the bullets. For the sergeant had no doubt that Gaspar Ruiz had
been shot through in many places. Then he passed on, and shortly afterwards
marched off with his men, leaving the bodies to the care of crows and vultures.
Gaspar Ruiz had
restrained a cry, though it had seemed to him that his head was cut off at a
blow; and when darkness came, shaking off the dead, whose weight had oppressed
him, he crawled away over the plain on his hands and knees. After drinking
deeply, like a wounded beast, at a shallow stream, he assumed an upright
posture, and staggered on light-headed and aimless, as if lost amongst the
stars of the clear night. A small house seemed to rise out of the ground before
him. He stumbled into the porch and struck at the door with his fist. There was
not a gleam of light. Gaspar Ruiz might have thought that the inhabitants had
fled from it, as from many others in the neighbourhood, had it not been for the
shouts of abuse that answered his thumping. In his feverish and enfeebled state
the angry screaming seemed to him part of a hallucination belonging to the
weird, dreamlike feeling of his unexpected condemnation to death, of the thirst
suffered, of the volleys fired at him within fifteen paces, of his head being
cut off at a blow. "Open the door!" he cried. "Open in the name
of God!"
An infuriated voice
from within jeered at him: "Come in, come in. This house belongs to you.
All this land belongs to you. Come and take it."
"For the love of
God," Gaspar Ruiz murmured.
"Does not all the
land belong to you patriots?" the voice on the other side of the door
screamed on. "Are you not a patriot?"
Gaspar Ruiz did not
know. "I am a wounded man," he said, apathetically.
All became still
inside. Gaspar Ruiz lost the hope of being admitted, and lay down under the
porch just outside the door. He was utterly careless of what was going to
happen to him. All his consciousness seemed to be concentrated in his neck,
where he felt a severe pain. His indifference as to his fate was genuine. The
day was breaking when he awoke from a feverish doze; the door at which he had
knocked in the dark stood wide open now, and a girl, steadying herself with her
outspread arms, leaned over the threshold. Lying on his back, he stared up at
her. Her face was pale and her eyes were very dark; her hair hung down black as
ebony against her white cheeks; her lips were full and red. Beyond her he saw
another head with long grey hair, and a thin old face with a pair of anxiously
clasped hands under the chin.
"I KNEW those
people by sight," General Santierra would tell his guests at the
dining-table. "I mean the people with whom Gaspar Ruiz found shelter. The
father was an old Spaniard, a man of property ruined by the revolution. His
estates, his house in town, his money, everything he had in the world had been
confiscated by proclamation, for he was a bitter foe of our independence. From
a position of great dignity and influence on the Viceroy's Council he became of
less importance than his own negro slaves made free by our glorious revolution.
He had not even the means to flee the country, as other Spaniards had managed
to do. It may be that, wandering ruined and houseless, and burdened with
nothing but his life, which was left to him by the clemency of the Provisional
Government, he had simply walked under that broken roof of old tiles. It was a
lonely spot. There did not seem to be even a dog belonging to the place. But
though the roof had holes, as if a cannon-ball or two had dropped through it,
the wooden shutters were thick and tight-closed all the time.
"My way took me
frequently along the path in front of that miserable rancho. I rode from the
fort to the town almost every evening, to sigh at the window of a lady I was in
love with, then. When one is young, you understand. . . . She was a good
patriot, you may believe. Caballeros, credit me or not, political feeling ran
so high in those days that I do not believe I could have been fascinated by the
charms of a woman of Royalist opinions. . . ."
Murmurs of amused
incredulity all round the table interrupted the General; and while they lasted
he stroked his white beard gravely.
"Señores," he
protested, "a Royalist was a monster to our overwrought feelings. I am
telling you this in order not to be suspected of the slightest tenderness
towards that old Royalist's daughter. Moreover, as you know, my affections were
engaged elsewhere. But I could not help noticing her on rare occasions when
with the front door open she stood in the porch.
"You must know
that this old Royalist was as crazy as a man can be. His political misfortunes,
his total downfall and ruin, had disordered his mind. To show his contempt for
what we patriots could do, he affected to laugh at his imprisonment, at the
confiscation of his lands, the burning of his houses, and at the misery to
which he and his womenfolk were reduced. This habit of laughing had grown upon
him, so that he would begin to laugh and shout directly he caught sight of any
stranger. That was the form of his madness.
"I, of course,
disregarded the noise of that madman with that feeling of superiority the
success of our cause inspired in us Americans. I suppose I really despised him
because he was an old Castilian, a Spaniard born, and a Royalist. Those were
certainly no reasons to scorn a man; but for centuries Spaniards born had shown
their contempt of us Americans, men as well descended as themselves, simply
because we were what they called colonists. We had been kept in abasement and
made to feel our inferiority in social intercourse. And now it was our turn. It
was safe for us patriots to display the same sentiments; and I being a young
patriot, son of a patriot, despised that old Spaniard, and despising him I
naturally disregarded his abuse, though it was annoying to my feelings. Others
perhaps would not have been so forbearing.
"He would begin
with a great yell -- 'I see a patriot. Another of them!' long before I came
abreast of the house. The tone of his senseless revilings, mingled with bursts
of laughter, was sometimes piercingly shrill and sometimes grave. It was all very
mad; but I felt it incumbent upon my dignity to check my horse to a walk
without even glancing towards the house, as if that man's abusive clamour in
the porch were less than the barking of a cur. Always I rode by preserving an
expression of haughty indifference on my face.
"It was no doubt
very dignified; but I should have done better if I had kept my eyes open. A
military man in war time should never consider himself off duty; and especially
so if the war is a revolutionary war, when the enemy is not at the door, but
within your very house. At such times the heat of passionate convictions
passing into hatred, removes the restraints of honour and humanity from many
men and of delicacy and fear from some women. These last, when once they throw
off the timidity and reserve of their sex, become by the vivacity of their
intelligence and the violence of their merciless resentment more dangerous than
so many armed giants."
The General's voice
rose, but his big hand stroked his white beard twice with an effect of
venerable calmness. "Si, Señores! Women are ready to rise to the heights
of devotion unattainable by us men, or to sink into the depths of abasement
which amazes our masculine prejudices. I am speaking now of exceptional women,
you understand. . . ."
Here one of the guests
observed that he had never met a woman yet who was not capable of turning out
quite exceptional under circumstances that would engage her feelings strongly.
"That sort of superiority in recklessness they have over us," he
concluded, "makes of them the more interesting half of mankind."
The General, who bore
the interruption with gravity, nodded courteous assent. "Si. Si. Under
circumstances. . . . Precisely. They can do an infinite deal of mischief
sometimes in quite unexpected ways. For who could have imagined that a young
girl, daughter of a ruined Royalist whose life was held only by the contempt of
his enemies, would have had the power to bring death and devastation upon two
flourishing provinces and cause serious anxiety to the leaders of the
revolution in the very hour of its success!" He paused to let the wonder
of it penetrate our minds.
"Death and
devastation," somebody murmured in surprise: "how shocking!"
The old General gave a
glance in the direction of the murmur and went on. "Yes. That is, war --
calamity. But the means by which she obtained the power to work this havoc on
our southern frontier seem to me, who have seen her and spoken to her, still
more shocking. That particular thing left on my mind a dreadful amazement which
the further experience of life, of more than fifty years, has done nothing to
diminish." He looked round as if to make sure of our attention, and, in a
changed voice: "I am, as you know, a republican, son of a Liberator,"
he declared. "My incomparable mother, God rest her soul, was a
Frenchwoman, the daughter of an ardent republican. As a boy I fought for
liberty; I've always believed in the equality of men; and as to their
brotherhood, that, to my mind, is even more certain. Look at the fierce
animosity they display in their differences. And what in the world do you know
that is more bitterly fierce than brothers' quarrels?"
All absence of cynicism
checked an inclination to smile at this view of human brotherhood. On the
contrary, there was in the tone the melancholy natural to a man profoundly
humane at heart who from duty, from conviction, and from necessity, had played
his part in scenes of ruthless violence.
The General had seen
much of fratricidal strife. "Certainly. There is no doubt of their
brotherhood," he insisted. "All men are brothers, and as such know
almost too much of each other. But" -- and here in the old patriarchal
head, white as silver, the black eyes humorously twinkled -- "if we are
all brothers, all the women are not our sisters."
One of the younger
guests was heard murmuring his satisfaction at the fact. But the General
continued, with deliberate earnestness: "They are so different! The tale
of a king who took a beggar-maid for a partner of his throne may be pretty enough
as we men look upon ourselves and upon love. But that a young girl, famous for
her haughty beauty and, only a short time before, the admired of all at the
balls in the Viceroy's palace, should take by the hand a guasso, a common
peasant, is intolerable to our sentiment of women and their love. It is
madness. Nevertheless it happened. But it must be said that in her case it was
the madness of hate -- not of love."
After presenting this
excuse in a spirit of chivalrous justice, the General remained silent for a
time. "I rode past the house every day almost," he began again,
"and this was what was going on within. But how it was going on no mind of
man can conceive. Her desperation must have been extreme, and Gaspar Ruiz was a
docile fellow. He had been an obedient soldier. His strength was like an
enormous stone lying on the ground, ready to be hurled this way or that by the
hand that picks it up.
"It is clear that
he would tell his story to the people who gave him the shelter he needed. And
he needed assistance badly. His wound was not dangerous, but his life was
forfeited. The old Royalist being wrapped up in his laughing madness, the two
women arranged a hiding-place for the wounded man in one of the huts amongst
the fruit trees at the back of the house. That hovel, an abundance of clear
water while the fever was on him, and some words of pity were all they could
give. I suppose he had a share of what food there was. And it would be but
little: a handful of roasted corn, perhaps a dish of beans, or a piece of bread
with a few figs. To such misery were those proud and once wealthy people
reduced."
GENERAL SANTIERRA was
right in his surmise. Such was the exact nature of the assistance which Gaspar
Ruiz, peasant son of peasants, received from the Royalist family whose daughter
had opened the door of their miserable refuge to his extreme distress. Her
sombre resolution ruled the madness of her father and the trembling
bewilderment of her mother.
She had asked the
strange man on the doorstep, "Who wounded you?"
"The soldiers, señora,"
Gaspar Ruiz had answered, in a faint voice.
"Patriots?"
"Si."
"What for?"
"Deserter,"
he gasped, leaning against the wall under the scrutiny of her black eyes.
"I was left for dead over there."
She led him through the
house out to a small hut of clay and reeds, lost in the long grass of the
overgrown orchard. He sank on a heap of maize straw in a corner, and sighed
profoundly.
"No one will look
for you here," she said, looking down at him. "Nobody comes near us.
We, too, have been left for dead -- here."
He stirred uneasily on
his heap of dirty straw, and the pain in his neck made him groan deliriously.
"I shall show
Estaban some day that I am alive yet," he mumbled.
He accepted her
assistance in silence, and the many days of pain went by. Her appearances in
the hut brought him relief and became connected with the feverish dreams of
angels which visited his couch; for Gaspar Ruiz was instructed in the mysteries
of his religion, and had even been taught to read and write a little by the
priest of his village. He waited for her with impatience, and saw her pass out
of the dark hut and disappear in the brilliant sunshine with poignant regret.
He discovered that, while he lay there feeling so very weak, he could, by
closing his eyes, evoke her face with considerable distinctness. And this
discovered faculty charmed the long, solitary hours of his convalescence. Later
on, when he began to regain his strength, he would creep at dusk from his hut
to the house and sit on the step of the garden door.
In one of the rooms the
mad father paced to and fro, muttering to himself with short, abrupt laughs. In
the passage, sitting on a stool, the mother sighed and moaned. The daughter, in
rough threadbare clothing, and her white haggard face half hidden by a coarse
manta, stood leaning against the side of the door. Gaspar Ruiz, with his elbows
propped on his knees and his head resting in his hands, talked to the two women
in an undertone.
The common misery of
destitution would have made a bitter mockery of a marked insistence on social
differences. Gaspar Ruiz understood this in his simplicity. From his captivity
amongst the Royalists he could give them news of people they knew. He described
their appearance; and when he related the story of the battle in which he was
recaptured the two women lamented the blow to their cause and the ruin of their
secret hopes.
He had no feeling
either way. But he felt a great devotion for that young girl. In his desire to
appear worthy of her condescension, he boasted a little of his bodily strength.
He had nothing else to boast of. Because of that quality his comrades treated
him with as great a deference, he explained, as though he had been a sergeant,
both in camp and in battle.
"I could always
get as many as I wanted to follow me anywhere, señorita. I ought to have been
made an officer, because I can read and write."
Behind him the silent
old lady fetched a moaning sigh from time to time; the distracted father
muttered to himself, pacing the sala; and Gaspar Ruiz would raise his eyes now
and then to look at the daughter of these people.
He would look at her
with curiosity because she was alive, and also with that feeling of familiarity
and awe with which he had contemplated in churches the inanimate and powerful
statues of the saints, whose protection is invoked in dangers and difficulties.
His difficulty was very great.
He could not remain
hiding in an orchard for ever and ever. He knew also very well that before he
had gone half a day's journey in any direction, he would be picked up by one of
the cavalry patrols scouring the country, and brought into one or another of
the camps where the patriot army destined for the liberation of Peru was
collected. There he would in the end be recognized as Gaspar Ruiz -- the
deserter to the Royalists -- and no doubt shot very effectually this time.
There did not seem any place in the world for the innocent Gaspar Ruiz
anywhere. And at this thought his simple soul surrendered itself to gloom and
resentment as black as night.
They had made him a
soldier forcibly. He did not mind being a soldier. And he had been a good
soldier as he had been a good son, because of his docility and his strength.
But now there was no use for either. They had taken him from his parents, and
he could no longer be a soldier -- not a good soldier at any rate. Nobody would
listen to his explanations. What injustice it was! What injustice!
And in a mournful
murmur he would go over the story of his capture and recapture for the
twentieth time. Then, raising his eyes to the silent girl in the doorway,
"Si, señorita," he would say with a deep sigh, "injustice has
made this poor breath in my body quite worthless to me and to anybody else. And
I do not care who robs me of it."
One evening, as he
exhaled thus the plaint of his wounded soul, she condescended to say that, if
she were a man, she would consider no life worthless which held the possibility
of revenge.
She seemed to be
speaking to herself. Her voice was low. He drank in the gentle, as if dreamy
sound with a consciousness of peculiar delight of something warming his breast
like a draught of generous wine.
"True, Señorita,"
he said, raising his face up to hers slowly: "there is Estaban, who must
be shown that I am not dead after all."
The mutterings of the
mad father had ceased long before; the sighing mother had withdrawn somewhere
into one of the empty rooms. All was still within as well as without, in the
moonlight bright as day on the wild orchard full of inky shadows. Gaspar Ruiz
saw the dark eyes of Doña Erminia look down at him.
"Ah! The
sergeant," she muttered, disdainfully.
"Why! He has
wounded me with his sword," he protested, bewildered by the contempt that
seemed to shine livid on her pale face.
She crushed him with
her glance. The power of her will to be understood was so strong that it
kindled in him the intelligence of unexpressed things.
"What else did you
expect me to do?" he cried, as if suddenly driven to despair. "Have I
the power to do more? Am I a general with an army at my back? -- miserable
sinner that I am to be despised by you at last."
"SEÑORES,"
related the General to his guests, "though my thoughts were of love then,
and therefore enchanting, the sight of that house always affected me
disagreeably, especially in the moonlight, when its close shutters and its air
of lonely neglect appeared sinister. Still I went on using the bridle-path by
the ravine, because it was a short cut. The mad Royalist howled and laughed at
me every evening to his complete satisfaction; but after a time, as if wearied
with my indifference, he ceased to appear in the porch. How they persuaded him
to leave off I do not know. However, with Gaspar Ruiz in the house there would
have been no difficulty in restraining him by force. It was now part of their
policy in there to avoid anything which could provoke me. At least, so I
suppose.
"Notwithstanding
my infatuation with the brightest pair of eyes in Chile, I noticed the absence
of the old man after a week or so. A few more days passed. I began to think
that perhaps these Royalists had gone away somewhere else. But one evening, as
I was hastening towards the city, I saw again somebody in the porch. It was not
the madman; it was the girl. She stood holding on to one of the wooden columns,
tall and white-faced, her big eyes sunk deep with privation and sorrow. I
looked hard at her, and she met my stare with a strange, inquisitive look.
Then, as I turned my head after riding past, she seemed to gather courage for
the act, and absolutely beckoned me back.
"I obeyed, señores,
almost without thinking, so great was my astonishment. It was greater still
when I heard what she had to say. She began by thanking me for my forbearance
of her father's infirmity, so that I felt ashamed of myself. I had meant to
show disdain, not forbearance! Every word must have burnt her lips, but she
never departed from a gentle and melancholy dignity which filled me with
respect against my will. Señores, we are no match for women. But I could hardly
believe my ears when she began her tale. Providence, she concluded, seemed to
have preserved the life of that wronged soldier, who now trusted to my honour
as a caballero and to my compassion for his sufferings.
"'Wronged man,' I
observed, coldly. 'Well, I think so, too: and you have been harbouring an enemy
of your cause.'
"'He was a poor
Christian crying for help at our door in the name of God, señor,' she answered,
simply.
"I began to admire
her. 'Where is he now?' I asked, stiffly.
"But she would not
answer that question. With extreme cunning, and an almost fiendish delicacy,
she managed to remind me of my failure in saving the lives of the prisoners in
the guardroom, without wounding my pride. She knew, of course, the whole story.
Gaspar Ruiz, she said, entreated me to procure for him a safe-conduct from
General San Martin himself. He had an important communication to make to the
commander-in-chief.
"Por Dios, señores,
she made me swallow all that, pretending to be only the mouthpiece of that poor
man. Overcome by injustice, he expected to find, she said, as much generosity
in me as had been shown to him by the Royalist family which had given him a
refuge.
"Ha! It was well
and nobly said to a youngster like me. I thought her great. Alas! she was only
implacable.
"In the end I rode
away very enthusiastic about the business, without demanding even to see Gaspar
Ruiz, who I was confident was in the house.
"But on calm
reflection I began to see some difficulties which I had not confidence enough
in myself to encounter. It was not easy to approach a commander-in-chief with
such a story. I feared failure. At last I thought it better to lay the matter
before my general-of-division, Robles, a friend of my family, who had appointed
me his aide-de-camp lately.
"He took it out of
my hands at once without any ceremony.
"'In the house! of
course he is in the house,' he said contemptuously. 'You ought to have gone
sword in hand inside and demanded his surrender, instead of chatting with a
Royalist girl in the porch. Those people should have been hunted out of that
long ago. Who knows how many spies they have harboured right in the very midst
of our camps? A safe-conduct from the Commander-in-Chief! The audacity of the
fellow! Ha! ha! Now we shall catch him to-night, and then we shall find out,
without any safe-conduct, what he has got to say, that is so very important.
Ha! ha! ha!'
"General Robles,
peace to his soul, was a short, thick man, with round, staring eyes, fierce and
jovial. Seeing my distress he added:
"'Come, come,
chico. I promise you his life if he does not resist. And that is not likely. We
are not going to break up a good soldier if it can be helped. I tell you what!
I am curious to see your strong man. Nothing but a general will do for the
picaro -- well, he shall have a general to talk to. Ha! ha! I shall go myself
to the catching, and you are coming with me, of course.'
"And it was done
that same night. Early in the evening the house and the orchard were surrounded
quietly. Later on the General and I left a ball we were attending in town and
rode out at an easy gallop. At some little distance from the house we pulled
up. A mounted orderly held our horses. A low whistle warned the men watching
all along the ravine, and we walked up to the porch softly. The barricaded
house in the moonlight seemed empty.
"The General
knocked at the door. After a time a woman's voice within asked who was there.
My chief nudged me hard. I gasped.
"'It is I,
Lieutenant Santierra,' I stammered out, as if choked. 'Open the door.'
"It came open
slowly. The girl, holding a thin taper in her hand, seeing another man with me,
began to back away before us slowly, shading the light with her hand. Her
impassive white face looked ghostly. I followed behind General Robles. Her eyes
were fixed on mine. I made a gesture of helplessness behind my chief's back, trying
at the same time to give a reassuring expression to my face. None of us three
uttered a sound.
"We found
ourselves in a room with bare floor and walls. There was a rough table and a
couple of stools in it, nothing else whatever. An old woman with her grey hair
hanging loose wrung her hands when we appeared. A peal of loud laughter
resounded through the empty house, very amazing and weird. At this the old
woman tried to get past us.
"'Nobody to leave
the room,' said General Robles to me.
"I swung the door
to, heard the latch click, and the laughter became faint in our ears.
"Before another
word could be spoken in that room I was amazed by hearing the sound of distant
thunder.
"I had carried in
with me into the house a vivid impression of a beautiful clear moonlight night,
without a speck of cloud in the sky. I could not believe my ears. Sent early
abroad for my education, I was not familiar with the most dreaded natural
phenomenon of my native land. I saw, with inexpressible astonishment, a look of
terror in my chief's eyes. Suddenly I felt giddy. The General staggered against
me heavily; the girl seemed to reel in the middle of the room, the taper fell
out of her hand and the light went out; a shrill cry of 'Misericordia!' from
the old woman pierced my ears. In the pitchy darkness I heard the plaster off
the walls falling on the floor. It is a mercy there was no ceiling. Holding on
to the latch of the door, I heard the grinding of the roof-tiles cease above my
head. The shock was over.
"'Out of the
house! The door! Fly, Santierra, fly!' howled the General. You know, señores,
in our country the bravest are not ashamed of the fear an earthquake strikes
into all the senses of man. One never gets used to it. Repeated experience only
augments the mastery of that nameless terror.
"It was my first
earthquake, and I was the calmest of them all. I understood that the crash
outside was caused by the porch, with its wooden pillars and tiled roof
projection, falling down. The next shock would destroy the house, maybe. That
rumble as of thunder was approaching again. The General was rushing round the
room, to find the door perhaps. He made a noise as though he were trying to
climb the walls, and I heard him distinctly invoke the names of several saints.
'Out, out, Santierra!' he yelled.
"The girl's voice
was the only one I did not hear.
"'General,' I
cried, I cannot move the door. We must be locked in.'
"I did not
recognize his voice in the shout of malediction and despair he let out. Señores,
I know many men in my country, especially in the provinces most subject to
earthquakes, who will neither eat, sleep, pray, nor even sit down to cards with
closed doors. The danger is not in the loss of time, but in this -- that the
movement of the walls may prevent a door being opened at all. This was what had
happened to us. We were trapped, and we had no help to expect from anybody.
There is no man in my country who will go into a house when the earth trembles.
There never was -- except one: Gaspar Ruiz.
"He had come out
of whatever hole he had been hiding in outside, and had clambered over the
timbers of the destroyed porch. Above the awful subterranean groan of coming
destruction I heard a mighty voice shouting the word 'Erminia!' with the lungs of
a giant. An earthquake is a great leveller of distinctions. I collected all my
resolution against the terror of the scene. 'She is here,' I shouted back. A
roar as of a furious wild beast answered me -- while my head swam, my heart
sank, and the sweat of anguish streamed like rain off my brow.
"He had the
strength to pick up one of the heavy posts of the porch. Holding it under his
armpit like a lance, but with both hands, he charged madly the rocking house
with the force of a battering-ram, bursting open the door and rushing in,
headlong, over our prostrate bodies. I and the General picking ourselves up,
bolted out together, without looking round once till we got across the road.
Then, clinging to each other, we beheld the house change suddenly into a heap
of formless rubbish behind the back of a man, who staggered towards us bearing
the form of a woman clasped in his arms. Her long black hair hung nearly to his
feet. He laid her down reverently on the heaving earth, and the moonlight shone
on her closed eyes.
"Señores, we
mounted with difficulty. Our horses getting up plunged madly, held by the
soldiers who had come running from all sides. Nobody thought of catching Gaspar
Ruiz then. The eyes of men and animals shone with wild fear. My general approached
Gaspar Ruiz, who stood motionless as a statue above the girl. He let himself be
shaken by the shoulder without detaching his eyes from her face.
"'Que guape!'
shouted the General in his ear. 'You are the bravest man living. You have saved
my life. I am General Robles. Come to my quarters to-morrow if God gives us the
grace to see another day.'
"He never stirred
-- as if deaf, without feeling, insensible.
"We rode away for
the town, full of our relations, of our friends, of whose fate we hardly dared
to think. The soldiers ran by the side of our horses. Everything was forgotten
in the immensity of the catastrophe overtaking a whole country."
. . . . . . .
Gaspar Ruiz saw the
girl open her eyes. The raising of her eyelids seemed to recall him from a
trance. They were alone; the cries of terror and distress from homeless people
filled the plains of the coast remote and immense, coming like a whisper into
their loneliness.
She rose swiftly to her
feet, darting fearful glances on all sides. "What is it?" she cried
out low, and peering into his face. "Where am I?"
He bowed his head
sadly, without a word.
". . . Who are
you?"
He knelt down slowly
before her, and touched the hem of her coarse black baize skirt. "Your
slave," he said.
She caught sight then
of the heap of rubbish that had been the house, all misty in the cloud of dust.
"Ah!" she cried, pressing her hand to her forehead.
"I carried you out
from there," he whispered at her feet.
"And they?"
she asked in a great sob.
He rose, and taking her
by the arms, led her gently towards the shapeless ruin half overwhelmed by a
landslide. "Come and listen," he said.
The serene moon saw
them clambering over that heap of stones, joists and tiles, which was a grave.
They pressed their ears to the interstices, listening for the sound of a groan,
for a sigh of pain.
At last he said,
"They died swiftly. You are alone."
She sat down on a piece
of broken timber and put one arm across her face. He waited -- then approaching
his lips to her ear: "Let us go," he whispered.
"Never -- never
from here," she cried out, flinging her arms above her head.
He stooped over her,
and her raised arms fell upon his shoulders. He lifted her up, steadied himself
and began to walk, looking straight before him.
"What are you
doing?" she asked, feebly.
"I am escaping
from my enemies," he said, never once glancing at his light burden.
"With me?"
she sighed, helplessly.
"Never without
you," he said. "You are my strength."
He pressed her close to
him. His face was grave and his footsteps steady. The conflagrations bursting
out in the ruins of destroyed villages dotted the plain with red fires; and the
sounds of distant lamentations, the cries of Misericordia! Misericordia! made a
desolate murmur in his ears. He walked on, solemn and collected, as if carrying
something holy, fragile, and precious.
The earth rocked at
times under his feet.
WITH movements of
mechanical care and an air of abstraction old General Santierra lighted a long
and thick cigar.
"It was a good
many hours before we could send a party back to the ravine," he said to
his guests. "We had found one-third of the town laid low, the rest shaken
up; and the inhabitants, rich and poor, reduced to the same state of distraction
by the universal disaster. The affected cheerfulness of some contrasted with
the despair of others. In the general confusion a number of reckless thieves,
without fear of God or man, became a danger to those who from the downfall of
their homes had managed to save some valuables. Crying 'Misericordia' louder
than any at every tremor, and beating their breast with one hand, these
scoundrels robbed the poor victims with the other, not even stopping short of
murder.
"General Robles'
division was occupied entirely in guarding the destroyed quarters of the town
from the depredations of these inhuman monsters. Taken up with my duties of
orderly officer, it was only in the morning that I could assure myself of the
safety of my own family. My mother and my sisters had escaped with their lives
from that ballroom, where I had left them early in the evening. I remember
those two beautiful young women -- God rest their souls -- as if I saw them
this moment, in the garden of our destroyed house, pale but active, assisting
some of our poor neighbours, in their soiled ball-dresses and with the dust of
fallen walls on their hair. As to my mother, she had a stoical soul in her
frail body. Half-covered by a costly shawl, she was lying on a rustic seat by
the side of an ornamental basin whose fountain had ceased to play for ever on
that night.
"I had hardly had
time to embrace them all with transports of joy when my chief, coming along,
dispatched me to the ravine with a few soldiers, to bring in my strong man, as
he called him, and that pale girl.
"But there was no
one for us to bring in. A landslide had covered the ruins of the house; and it
was like a large mound of earth with only the ends of some timbers visible here
and there -- nothing more.
"Thus were the
tribulations of the old Royalist couple ended. An enormous and unconsecrated
grave had swallowed them up alive, in their unhappy obstinacy against the will
of a people to be free. And their daughter was gone.
"That Gaspar Ruiz
had carried her off I understood very well. But as the case was not foreseen, I
had no instructions to pursue them. And certainly I had no desire to do so. I
had grown mistrustful of my interference. It had never been successful, and had
not even appeared creditable. He was gone. Well, let him go. And he had carried
off the Royalist girl! Nothing better. Vaya con Dios. This was not the time to
bother about a deserter who, justly or unjustly, ought to have been dead, and a
girl for whom it would have been better to have never been born.
"So I marched my men
back to the town.
"After a few days,
order having been re-established, all the principal families, including my own,
left for Santiago. We had a fine house there. At the same time the division of
Robles was moved to new cantonments near the capital. This change suited very
well the state of my domestic and amorous feelings.
"One night, rather
late, I was called to my chief. I found General Robles in his quarters, at
ease, with his uniform off, drinking neat brandy out of a tumbler -- as a
precaution, he used to say, against the sleeplessness induced by the bites of
mosquitoes. He was a good soldier, and he taught me the art and practice of
war. No doubt God has been merciful to his soul; for his motives were never
other than patriotic, if his character was irascible. As to the use of mosquito
nets, he considered it effeminate, shameful -- unworthy of a soldier. "I
noticed at the first glance that his face, already very red, wore an expression
of high good-humour.
"'Aha! Señor
teniente,' he cried, loudly, as I saluted at the door. 'Behold! Your strong man
has turned up again.'
"He extended to me
a folded letter, which I saw was superscribed 'To the Commander-in-Chief of the
Republican Armies.'
"'This,' General
Robles went on in his loud voice, 'was thrust by a boy into the hand of a
sentry at the Quartel General, while the fellow stood there thinking of his
girl, no doubt -- for before he could gather his wits together the boy had
disappeared amongst the market people, and he protests he could not recognize
him to save his life.'
"'My chief told me
further that the soldier had given the letter to the sergeant of the guard, and
that ultimately it had reached the hands of our generalissimo. His Excellency
had deigned to take cognizance of it with his own eyes. After that he had
referred the matter in confidence to General Robles.
"The letter, señores,
I cannot now recollect textually. I saw the signature of Gaspar Ruiz. He was an
audacious fellow. He had snatched a soul for himself out of a cataclysm,
remember. And now it was that soul which had dictated the terms of his letter.
Its tone was very independent. I remember it struck me at the time as noble --
dignified. It was, no doubt, her letter. Now I shudder at the depth of its
duplicity. Gaspar Ruiz was made to complain of the injustice of which he had
been a victim. He invoked his previous record of fidelity and courage. Having
been saved from death by the miraculous interposition of Providence, he could
think of nothing but of retrieving his character. This, he wrote, he could not
hope to do in the ranks as a discredited soldier still under suspicion. He had
the means to give a striking proof of his fidelity. He had ended by proposing
to the General-in-Chief a meeting at midnight in the middle of the Plaza before
the Moneta. The signal would be to strike fire with flint and steel three
times, which was not too conspicuous and yet distinctive enough for
recognition.
"San Martin, the
great Liberator, loved men of audacity and courage. Besides, he was just and
compassionate. I told him as much of the man's story as I knew, and was ordered
to accompany him on the appointed night. The signals were duly exchanged. It
was midnight, and the whole town was dark and silent. Their two cloaked figures
came together in the centre of the vast Plaza, and, keeping discreetly at a
distance, I listened for an hour or more to the murmur of their voices. Then
the General motioned me to approach; and as I did so I heard San Martin, who
was courteous to gentle and simple alike, offer Gaspar Ruiz the hospitality of
the headquarters for the night. But the soldier refused, saying that he would
be not worthy of that honour till he had done something.
"'You cannot have
a common deserter for your guest, Excellency,' he protested with a low laugh,
and stepping backwards merged slowly into the night.
"The
Commander-in-Chief observed to me, as we turned away: 'He had somebody with
him, our friend Ruiz. I saw two figures for a moment. It was an unobtrusive
companion.'
"I, too, had
observed another figure join the vanishing form of Gaspar Ruiz. It had the
appearance of a short fellow in a poncho and a big hat. And I wondered stupidly
who it could be he had dared take into his confidence. I might have guessed it
could be no one but that fatal girl -- alas!
"Where he kept her
concealed I do not know. He had -- it was known afterwards -- an uncle, his
mother's brother, a small shopkeeper in Santiago. Perhaps it was there that she
found a roof and food. Whatever she found, it was poor enough to exasperate her
pride and keep up her anger and hate. It is certain she did not accompany him
on the feat he undertook to accomplish first of all. It was nothing less than
the destruction of a store of war material collected secretly by the Spanish
authorities in the south, in a town called Linares. Gaspar Ruiz was entrusted
with a small party only, but they proved themselves worthy of San Martin's
confidence. The season was not propitious. They had to swim swollen rivers.
They seemed, however, to have galloped night and day out-riding the news of
their foray, and holding straight for the town, a hundred miles into the
enemy's country, till at break of day they rode into it sword in hand,
surprising the little garrison. It fled without making a stand, leaving most of
its officers in Gaspar Ruiz' hands.
"A great explosion
of gunpowder ended the conflagration of the magazines the raiders had set on
fire without loss of time. In less than six hours they were riding away at the
same mad speed, without the loss of a single man. Good as they were, such an
exploit is not performed without a still better leadership.
"I was dining at
the headquarters when Gaspar Ruiz himself brought the news of his success. And
it was a great blow to the Royalist troops. For a proof he displayed to us the
garrison's flag. He took it from under his poncho and flung it on the table.
The man was transfigured; there was something exulting and menacing in the
expression of his face. He stood behind General San Martin's chair and looked
proudly at us all. He had a round blue cap edged with silver braid on his head,
and we all could see a large white scar on the nape of his sunburnt neck.
"Somebody asked
him what he had done with the captured Spanish officers.
"He shrugged his
shoulders scornfully. 'What a question to ask! In a partisan war you do not
burden yourself with prisoners. I let them go -- and here are their
sword-knots.'
"He flung a bunch
of them on the table upon the flag. Then General Robles, whom I was attending
there, spoke up in his loud, thick voice: 'You did! Then, my brave friend, you
do not know yet how a war like ours ought to be conducted. You should have done
-- this.' And he passed the edge of his hand across his own throat.
"Alas, señores! It
was only too true that on both sides this contest, in its nature so heroic, was
stained by ferocity. The murmurs that arose at General Robles' words were by no
means unanimous in tone. But the generous and brave San Martin praised the
humane action, and pointed out to Ruiz a place on his right hand. Then rising
with a full glass he proposed a toast: 'Caballeros and comrades-in-arms, let us
drink the health of Captain Gaspar Ruiz.' And when we had emptied our glasses:
'I intend,' the Commander-in-Chief continued, 'to entrust him with the
guardianship of our southern frontier, while we go afar to liberate our
brethren in Peru. He whom the enemy could not stop from striking a blow at his
very heart will know how to protect the peaceful populations we leave behind us
to pursue our sacred task.' And he embraced the silent Gaspar Ruiz by his side.
"Later on, when we
all rose from table, I approached the latest officer of the army with my
congratulations. 'And, Captain Ruiz,' I added, 'perhaps you do not mind telling
a man who has always believed in the uprightness of your character what became
of Doña Erminia on that night?'
"At this friendly
question his aspect changed. He looked at me from under his eyebrows with the
heavy, dull glance of a guasso -- of a peasant. 'Señor teniente,' he said,
thickly, and as if very much cast down, 'do not ask me about the señorita, for
I prefer not to think about her at all when I am amongst you."
"He looked, with a
frown, all about the room, full of smoking and talking officers. Of course I
did not insist.
"These, señores,
were the last words I was to hear him utter for a long, long time. The very
next day we embarked for our arduous expedition to Peru, and we only heard of
Gaspar Ruiz' doings in the midst of battles of our own. He had been appointed
military guardian of our southern province. He raised a partida. But his
leniency to the conquered foe displeased the Civil Governor, who was a formal,
uneasy man, full of suspicions. He forwarded reports against Gaspar Ruiz to the
Supreme Government; one of them being that he had married publicly, with great
pomp, a woman of Royalist tendencies. Quarrels were sure to arise between these
two men of very different character. At last the Civil Governor began to
complain of his inactivity and to hint at treachery, which, he wrote, would be
not surprising in a man of such antecedents. Gaspar Ruiz heard of it. His rage
flamed up, and the woman ever by his side knew how to feed it with perfidious
words. I do not know whether really the Supreme Government ever did -- as he
complained afterwards -- send orders for his arrest. It seems certain that the Civil
Governor began to tamper with his officers, and that Gaspar Ruiz discovered the
fact.
"One evening, when
the Governor was giving a tertullia, Gaspar Ruiz, followed by six men he could
trust, appeared riding through the town to the door of the Government House,
and entered the sala armed, his hat on his head. As the Governor, displeased,
advanced to meet him, he seized the wretched man round the body, carried him
off from the midst of the appalled guests, as though he were a child, and flung
him down the outer steps into the street. An angry hug from Gaspar Ruiz was
enough to crush the life out of a giant; but in addition Gaspar Ruiz' horsemen
fired their pistols at the body of the Governor as it lay motionless at the
bottom of the stairs.
"AFTER this -- as
he called it -- act of justice, Ruiz crossed the Rio Blanco, followed by the
greater part of his band, and entrenched himself upon a hill. A company of
regular troops sent out foolishly against him was surrounded, and destroyed
almost to a man. Other expeditions, though better organized, were equally
unsuccessful.
"It was during
these sanguinary skirmishes that his wife first began to appear on horseback at
his right hand. Rendered proud and self-confident by his successes, Ruiz no
longer charged at the head of his partida, but presumptuously, like a general
directing the movements of an army, he remained in the rear, well mounted and
motionless on an eminence, sending out his orders. She was seen repeatedly at
his side, and for a long time was mistaken for a man. There was much talk then
of a mysterious white-faced chief, to whom the defeats of our troops were
ascribed. She rode like an Indian woman, astride, wearing a broad-rimmed man's
hat and a dark poncho. Afterwards, in the day of their greatest prosperity,
this poncho was embroidered in gold, and she wore then, also, the sword of poor
Don Antonio de Leyva. This veteran Chilian officer, having the misfortune to be
surrounded with his small force, and running short of ammunition, found his death
at the hands of the Arauco Indians, the allies and auxiliaries of Gaspar Ruiz.
This was the fatal affair long remembered afterwards as the 'Massacre of the
Island.' The sword of the unhappy officer was presented to her by Peneleo, the
Araucanian chief; for these Indians, struck by her aspect, the deathly pallor
of her face, which no exposure to the weather seemed to affect, and her calm
indifference under fire, looked upon her as a supernatural being, or at least
as a witch. By this superstition the prestige and authority of Gaspar Ruiz
amongst these ignorant people were greatly augmented. She must have savoured
her vengeance to the full on that day when she buckled on the sword of Don
Antonio de Leyva. It never left her side, unless she put on her woman's clothes
-- not that she would or could ever use it, but she loved to feel it beating
upon her thigh as a perpetual reminder and symbol of the dishonour to the arms
of the Republic. She was insatiable. Moreover, on the path she had led Gaspar
Ruiz upon, there is no stopping. Escaped prisoners -- and they were not many --
used to relate how with a few whispered words she could change the expression
of his face and revive his flagging animosity. They told how after every
skirmish, after every raid, after every successful action, he would ride up to
her and look into her face. Its haughty calm was never relaxed. Her embrace, señores,
must have been as cold as the embrace of a statue. He tried to melt her icy
heart in a stream of warm blood. Some English naval officers who visited him at
that time noticed the strange character of his infatuation."
At the movement of
surprise and curiosity in his audience General Santierra paused for a moment.
"Yes -- English
naval officers," he repeated. "Ruiz had consented to receive them to
arrange for the liberation of some prisoners of your nationality. In the
territory upon which he ranged, from sea coast to the Cordillera, there was a
bay where the ships of that time, after rounding Cape Horn, used to resort for
wood and water. There, decoying the crew on shore, he captured first the
whaling brig Hersalia, and afterwards made himself master by surprise of two
more ships, one English and one American.
"It was rumoured
at the time that he dreamed of setting up a navy of his own. But that, of
course, was impossible. Still, manning the brig with part of her own crew, and
putting an officer and a good many men of his own on board, he sent her off to
the Spanish Governor of the island of Chiloe with a report of his exploits, and
a demand for assistance in the war against the rebels. The Governor could not
do much for him; but he sent in return two light field-pieces, a letter of
compliments, with a colonel's commission in the royal forces, and a great
Spanish flag. This standard with much ceremony was hoisted over his house in
the heart of the Arauco country. Surely on that day she may have smiled on her
guasso husband with a less haughty reserve.
"The senior
officer of the English squadron on our coast made representations to our
Government as to these captures. But Gaspar Ruiz refused to treat with us. Then
an English frigate proceeded to the bay, and her captain, doctor, and two
lieutenants travelled inland under a safe-conduct. They were well received, and
spent three days as guests of the partisan chief. A sort of military barbaric
state was kept up at the residence. It was furnished with the loot of frontier
towns. When first admitted to the principal sala, they saw his wife lying down
(she was not in good health then), with Gaspar Ruiz sitting at the foot of the
couch. His hat was lying on the floor, and his hands reposed on the hilt of his
sword.
"During that first
conversation he never removed his big hands from the sword-hilt, except once,
to arrange the coverings about her, with gentle, careful touches. They noticed
that whenever she spoke he would fix his eyes upon her in a kind of expectant,
breathless attention, and seemingly forget the existence of the world and his
own existence, too. In the course of the farewell banquet, at which she was
present reclining on her couch, he burst forth into complaints of the treatment
he had received. After General San Martin's departure he had been beset by
spies, slandered by civil officials, his services ignored, his liberty and even
his life threatened by the Chilian Government. He got up from the table,
thundered execrations pacing the room wildly, then sat down on the couch at his
wife's feet, his breast heaving, his eyes fixed on the floor. She reclined on
her back, her head on the cushions, her eyes nearly closed.
"'And now I am an
honoured Spanish officer,' he added in a calm voice.
"The captain of
the English frigate then took the opportunity to inform him gently that Lima
had fallen, and that by the terms of a convention the Spaniards were
withdrawing from the whole continent.
"Gaspar Ruiz
raised his head, and without hesitation, speaking with suppressed vehemence,
declared that if not a single Spanish soldier were left in the whole of South
America he would persist in carrying on the contest against Chile to the last
drop of blood. When he finished that mad tirade his wife's long white hand was
raised, and she just caressed his knee with the tips of her fingers for a
fraction of a second.
"For the rest of
the officers' stay, which did not extend for more than half an hour after the
banquet, that ferocious chieftain of a desperate partida overflowed with
amiability and kindness. He had been hospitable before, but now it seemed as
though he could not do enough for the comfort and safety of his visitors'
journey back to their ship.
"Nothing, I have
been told, could have presented a greater contrast to his late violence or the
habitual taciturn reserve of his manner. Like a man elated beyond measure by an
unexpected happiness, he overflowed with good-will, amiability, and attentions.
He embraced the officers like brothers, almost with tears in his eyes. The
released prisoners were presented each with a piece of gold. At the last
moment, suddenly, he declared he could do no less than restore to the masters
of the merchant vessels all their private property. This unexpected generosity
caused some delay in the departure of the party, and their first march was very
short.
"Late in the
evening Gaspar Ruiz rode up with an escort, to their camp fires, bringing along
with him a mule loaded with cases of wine. He had come, he said, to drink a
stirrup cup with his English friends, whom he would never see again. He was
mellow and joyous in his temper. He told stories of his own exploits, laughed
like a boy, borrowed a guitar from the Englishmen's chief muleteer, and sitting
cross-legged on his superfine poncho spread before the glow of the embers, sang
a guasso love-song in a tender voice. Then his head dropped on his breast, his
hands fell to the ground; the guitar rolled off his knees -- and a great hush
fell over the camp after the love-song of the implacable partisan who had made
so many of our people weep for destroyed homes and for loves cut short.
"Before anybody
could make a sound he sprang up from the ground and called for his horse.
"'Adios, my
friends!' he cried. 'Go with God. I love you. And tell them well in Santiago
that between Gaspar Ruiz, colonel of the King of Spain, and the republican
carrion-crows of Chile there is war to the last breath -- war! war! war!'
"With a great yell
of 'War! war! war!' which his escort took up, they rode away, and the sound of
hoofs and of voices died out in the distance between the slopes of the hills.
"The two young
English officers were convinced that Ruiz was mad. How do you say that? -- tile
loose -- eh? But the doctor, an observant Scotsman with much shrewdness and
philosophy in his character, told me that it was a very curious case of
possession. I met him many years afterwards, but he remembered the experience
very well. He told me, too, that in his opinion that woman did not lead Gaspar
Ruiz into the practice of sanguinary treachery by direct persuasion, but by the
subtle way of awakening and keeping alive in his simple mind a burning sense of
an irreparable wrong. Maybe, maybe. But I would say that she poured half of her
vengeful soul into the strong clay of that man, as you may pour intoxication,
madness, poison into an empty cup.
"If he wanted war
he got it in earnest when our victorious army began to return from Peru.
Systematic operations were planned against this blot on the honour and
prosperity of our hardly won independence. General Robles commanded, with his
well-known ruthless severity. Savage reprisals were exercised on both sides and
no quarter was given in the field. Having won my promotion in the Peru
campaign, I was a captain on the staff. Gaspar Ruiz found himself hard pressed;
at the same time we heard by means of a fugitive priest who had been carried
off from his village presbytery and galloped eighty miles into the hills to
perform the christening ceremony, that a daughter was born to them. To
celebrate the event, I suppose, Ruiz executed one or two brilliant forays clear
away at the rear of our forces, and defeated the detachments sent out to cut
off his retreat. General Robles nearly had a stroke of apoplexy from rage. He
found another cause of insomnia than the bites of mosquitoes; but against this
one, señores, tumblers of raw brandy had no more effect than so much water. He
took to railing and storming at me about my strong man. And from our impatience
to end this inglorious campaign I am afraid that all we young officers became
reckless and apt to take undue risks on service.
"Nevertheless,
slowly, inch by inch as it were, our columns were closing upon Gaspar Ruiz,
though he had managed to raise all the Araucanian nation of wild Indians
against us. Then a year or more later our Government became aware through its
agents and spies that he had actually entered into alliance with Carreras, the
so-called dictator of the so-called republic of Mendoza, on the other side of
the mountains. Whether Gaspar Ruiz had a deep political intention, or whether
he wished only to secure a safe retreat for his wife and child while he pursued
remorselessly against us his war of surprises and massacres, I cannot tell. The
alliance, however, was a fact. Defeated in his attempt to check our advance
from the sea, he retreated with his usual swiftness, and preparing for another hard
and hazardous tussle, began by sending his wife with the little girl across the
Pequeña range of mountains, on the frontier of Mendoza.
"Now Carreras,
under the guise of politics and liberalism, was a scoundrel of the deepest dye,
and the unhappy state of Mendoza was the prey of thieves, robbers, traitors,
and murderers, who formed his party. He was under a noble exterior a man
without heart, pity, honour, or conscience. He aspired to nothing but tyranny,
and though he would have made use of Gaspar Ruiz for his nefarious designs, yet
he soon became aware that to propitiate the Chilian Government would answer his
purpose better. I blush to say that he made proposals to our Government to
deliver up on certain conditions the wife and child of the man who had trusted
to his honour, and that this offer was accepted.
"While on her way
to Mendoza over the Pequeña Pass she was betrayed by her escort of Carreras'
men, and given up to the officer in command of a Chilian fort on the upland at
the foot of the main Cordillera range. This atrocious transaction might have
cost me dear, for as a matter of fact I was a prisoner in Gaspar Ruiz' camp
when he received the news. I had been captured during a reconnaissance, my
escort of a few troopers being speared by the Indians of his bodyguard. I was
saved from the same fate because he recognized my features just in time. No doubt
my friends thought I was dead, and I would not have given much for my life at
any time. But the strong man treated me very well, because, he said, I had
always believed in his innocence and had tried to serve him when he was a
victim of injustice.
"'And now,' was
his speech to me, 'you shall see that I always speak the truth. You are safe.'
"I did not think I
was very safe when I was called up to go to him one night. He paced up and down
like a wild beast, exclaiming, 'Betrayed! Betrayed!'
"He walked up to
me clenching his fists. 'I could cut your throat.'
"'Will that give
your wife back to you?' I said as quietly as I could.
"'And the child!'
he yelled out, as if mad. He fell into a chair and laughed in a frightful,
boisterous manner. 'Oh, no, you are safe.'
"I assured him
that his wife's life was safe, too; but I did not say what I was convinced of
-- that he would never see her again. He wanted war to the death, and the war
could only end with his death.
"He gave me a
strange, inexplicable look, and sat muttering blankly, 'In their hands. In
their hands.'
"I kept as still
as a mouse before a cat.
"Suddenly he
jumped up. 'What am I doing here?' he cried; and opening the door, he yelled
out orders to saddle and mount. 'What is it?' he stammered, coming up to me.
'The Pequeña fort; a fort of palisades! Nothing. I would get her back if she
were hidden in the very heart of the mountain.' He amazed me by adding, with an
effort: "I carried her off in my two arms while the earth trembled. And
the child at least is mine. She at least is mine!'
"Those were
bizarre words; but I had no time for wonder.
"'You shall go
with me,' he said, violently. 'I may want to parley, and any other messenger
from Ruiz, the outlaw, would have his throat cut.'
"This was true
enough. Between him and the rest of incensed mankind there could be no
communication, according to the customs of honourable warfare.
"In less than half
an hour we were in the saddle, flying wildly through the night. He had only an
escort of twenty men at his quarters, but would not wait for more. He sent,
however, messengers to Peneleo, the Indian chief then ranging in the foothills,
directing him to bring his warriors to the uplands and meet him at the lake
called the Eye of Water, near whose shores the frontier fort of Pequeña was
built.
"We crossed the
lowlands with that untired rapidity of movement which had made Gaspar Ruiz'
raids so famous. We followed the lower valleys up to their precipitous heads.
The ride was not without its dangers. A cornice road on a perpendicular wall of
basalt wound itself around a buttressing rock, and at last we emerged from the
gloom of a deep gorge upon the upland of Pequeña.
"It was a plain of
green wiry grass and thin flowering bushes; but high above our heads patches of
snow hung in the folds and crevices of the great walls of rock. The little lake
was as round as a staring eye. The garrison of the fort were just driving in
their small herd of cattle when we appeared. Then the great wooden gates swung
to, and that four-square enclosure of broad blackened stakes pointed at the top
and barely hiding the grass roofs of the huts inside seemed deserted, empty,
without a single soul.
"But when summoned
to surrender, by a man who at Gaspar Ruiz' order rode fearlessly forward those
inside answered by a volley which rolled him and his horse over. I heard Ruiz
by my side grind his teeth. 'It does not matter,' he said. 'Now you go.'
"Torn and faded as
its rags were, the vestiges of my uniform were recognized, and I was allowed to
approach within speaking distance; and then I had to wait, because a voice
clamouring through a loophole with joy and astonishment would not allow me to
place a word. It was the voice of Major Pajol, an old friend. He, like my other
comrades, had thought me killed a long time ago.
"'Put spurs to
your horse, man!' he yelled, in the greatest excitement; 'we will swing the
gate open for you.'
"I let the reins
fall out of my hand and shook my head. 'I am on my honour,' I cried.
"'To him!' he
shouted, with infinite disgust.
"'He promises you
your life.'
"'Our life is our
own. And do you, Santierra, advise us to surrender to that rastrero?'
"'No!' I shouted.
'But he wants his wife and child, and he can cut you off from water.'
"'Then she would
be the first to suffer. You may tell him that. Look here -- this is all
nonsense: we shall dash out and capture you.'
"'You shall not
catch me alive,' I said, firmly.
"'Imbecile!'
"'For God's sake,'
I continued, hastily, 'do not open the gate.' And I pointed at the multitude of
Peneleo's Indians who covered the shores of the lake.
"I had never seen
so many of these savages together. Their lances seemed as numerous as stalks of
grass. Their hoarse voices made a vast, inarticulate sound like the murmur of
the sea.
"My friend Pajol
was swearing to himself. 'Well, then -- go to the devil!' he shouted,
exasperated. But as I swung round he repented, for I heard him say hurriedly,
'Shoot the fool's horse before he gets away.'
"He had good
marksmen. Two shots rang out, and in the very act of turning my horse
staggered, fell and lay still as if struck by lightning. I had my feet out of
the stirrups and rolled clear of him; but I did not attempt to rise. Neither
dared they rush out to drag me in.
"The masses of
Indians had begun to move upon the fort. They rode up in squadrons, trailing
their long chusos; then dismounted out of musket-shot, and, throwing off their
fur mantles, advanced naked to the attack, stamping their feet and shouting in
cadence. A sheet of flame ran three times along the face of the fort without
checking their steady march. They crowded right up to the very stakes,
flourishing their broad knives. But this palisade was not fastened together
with hide lashings in the usual way, but with long iron nails, which they could
not cut. Dismayed at the failure of their usual method of forcing an entrance,
the heathen, who had marched so steadily against the musketry fire, broke and
fled under the volleys of the besieged.
"Directly they had
passed me on their advance I got up and rejoined Gaspar Ruiz on a low ridge
which jutted out upon the plain. The musketry of his own men had covered the
attack, but now at a sign from him a trumpet sounded the 'Cease fire.' Together
we looked in silence at the hopeless rout of the savages.
"'It must be a
siege, then,' he muttered. And I detected him wringing his hands stealthily.
"But what sort of
siege could it be? Without any need for me to repeat my friend Pajol's message,
he dared not cut the water off from the besieged. They had plenty of meat. And,
indeed, if they had been short he would have been too anxious to send food into
the stockade had he been able. But, as a matter of fact, it was we on the plain
who were beginning to feel the pinch of hunger.
"Peneleo, the
Indian chief, sat by our fire folded in his ample mantle of guanaco skins. He
was an athletic savage, with an enormous square shock head of hair resembling a
straw beehive in shape and size, and with grave, surly, much-lined features. In
his broken Spanish he repeated, growling like a bad-tempered wild beast, that
if an opening ever so small were made in the stockade his men would march in
and get the señora -- not otherwise.
"Gaspar Ruiz,
sitting opposite him, kept his eyes fixed on the fort night and day as it were,
in awful silence and immobility. Meantime, by runners from the lowlands that
arrived nearly every day, we heard of the defeat of one of his lieutenants in
the Maipu valley. Scouts sent afar brought news of a column of infantry
advancing through distant passes to the relief of the fort. They were slow, but
we could trace their toilful progress up the lower valleys. I wondered why Ruiz
did not march to attack and destroy this threatening force, in some wild gorge
fit for an ambuscade, in accordance with his genius for guerilla warfare. But
his genius seemed to have abandoned him to his despair.
"It was obvious to
me that he could not tear himself away from the sight of the fort. I protest to
you, señores, that I was moved almost to pity by the sight of this powerless
strong man sitting on the ridge, indifferent to sun, to rain, to cold, to wind;
with his hands clasped round his legs and his chin resting on his knees, gazing
-- gazing -- gazing.
"And the fort he
kept his eyes fastened on was as still and silent as himself. The garrison gave
no sign of life. They did not even answer the desultory fire directed at the
loopholes.
"One night, as I
strolled past him, he, without changing his attitude, spoke to me unexpectedly.
'I have sent for a gun,' he said. 'I shall have time to get her back and
retreat before your Robles manages to crawl up here.'
"He had sent for a
gun to the plains.
"It was long in
coming, but at last it came. It was a seven-pounder field gun. Dismounted and
lashed crosswise to two long poles, it had been carried up the narrow paths
between two mules with ease. His wild cry of exultation at daybreak when he saw
the gun escort emerge from the valley rings in my ears now.
"But, señores, I
have no words to depict his amazement, his fury, his despair and distraction,
when he heard that the animal loaded with the gun-carriage had, during the last
night march, somehow or other tumbled down a precipice. He broke into menaces
of death and torture against the escort. I kept out of his way all that day,
lying behind some bushes, and wondering what he would do now. Retreat was left
for him, but he could not retreat.
"I saw below me
his artillerist, Jorge, an old Spanish soldier, building up a sort of structure
with heaped-up saddles. The gun, ready loaded, was lifted on to that, but in
the act of firing the whole thing collapsed and the shot flew high above the
stockade.
"Nothing more was
attempted. One of the ammunition mules had been lost, too, and they had no more
than six shots to fire; ample enough to batter down the gate providing the gun
was well laid. This was impossible without it being properly mounted. There was
no time nor means to construct a carriage. Already every moment I expected to
hear Robles' bugle-calls echo amongst the crags.
"Peneleo,
wandering about uneasily, draped in his skins, sat down for a moment near me
growling his usual tale.
"'Make an entrada
-- a hole. If make a hole, bueno. If not make a hole, then vamos -- we must go
away.'
"After sunset I
observed with surprise the Indians making preparations as if for another
assault. Their lines stood ranged in the shadows of the mountains. On the plain
in front of the fort gate I saw a group of men swaying about in the same place.
"I walked down the
ridge disregarded. The moonlight in the clear air of the uplands was bright as
day, but the intense shadows confused my sight, and I could not make out what
they were doing. I heard the voice of Jorge, the artillerist, say in a queer,
doubtful tone, 'It is loaded, señor.'
"Then another
voice in that group pronounced firmly the words, 'Bring the riata here.' It was
the voice of Gaspar Ruiz.
"A silence fell,
in which the popping shots of the besieged garrison rang out sharply. They,
too, had observed the group. But the distance was too great and in the spatter
of spent musket-balls cutting up the ground, the group opened, closed, swayed,
giving me a glimpse of busy stooping figures in its midst. I drew nearer, doubting
whether this was a weird vision, a suggestive and insensate dream.
"A strangely
stifled voice commanded, 'Haul the hitches tighter.'
"'Si, señor,'
several other voices answered in tones of awed alacrity.
"Then the stifled
voice said: 'Like this. I must be free to breathe.'
"Then there was a
concerned noise of many men together. 'Help him up, hombres. Steady! Under the
other arm.'
"That deadened
voice ordered: 'Bueno! Stand away from me, men.'
"I pushed my way
through the recoiling circle, and heard once more that same oppressed voice
saying earnestly: 'Forget that I am a living man, Jorge. Forget me altogether,
and think of what you have to do.'
"'Be without fear,
señor. You are nothing to me but a gun-carriage, and I shall not waste a shot.'
"I heard the
spluttering of a port-fire, and smelt the saltpetre of the match. I saw
suddenly before me a nondescript shape on all fours like a beast, but with a
man's head drooping below a tubular projection over the nape of the neck, and
the gleam of a rounded mass of bronze on its back.
"In front of a
silent semicircle of men it squatted alone, with Jorge behind it and a
trumpeter motionless, his trumpet in his hand, by its side.
"Jorge, bent
double, muttered, port-fire in hand: 'An inch to the left, señor. Too much. So.
Now, if you let yourself down a little by letting your elbows bend, I will . .
.'
"He leaped aside,
lowering his port-fire, and a burst of flame darted out of the muzzle of the
gun lashed on the man's back.
"Then Gaspar Ruiz
lowered himself slowly. 'Good shot?' he asked.
"'Full on, señor.'
"'Then load
again.'
"He lay there
before me on his breast under the darkly glittering bronze of his monstrous
burden, such as no love or strength of man had ever had to bear in the
lamentable history of the world. His arms were spread out, and he resembled a
prostrate penitent on the moonlit ground.
"Again I saw him
raised to his hands and knees and the men stand away from him, and old Jorge
stoop glancing along the gun.
'"Left a little.
Right an inch. Por Dios, señor, stop this trembling. Where is your strength?'
"The old gunner's
voice was cracked with emotion. He stepped aside, and quick as lightning
brought the spark to the touch-hole.
"'Excellent!' he
cried, tearfully; but Gaspar Ruiz lay for a long time silent, flattened on the
ground.
"'I am tired,' he
murmured at last. 'Will another shot do it?'
"'Without doubt,'
said Jorge, bending down to his ear.
"'Then -- load,' I
heard him utter distinctly. 'Trumpeter!'
"'I am here, señor,
ready for your word.'
"'Blow a blast at
this word that shall be heard from one end of Chile to the other,' he said, in
an extraordinarily strong voice. 'And you others stand ready to cut this
accursed riata, for then will be the time for me to lead you in your rush. Now
raise me up, and you, Jorge -- be quick with your aim.'
"The rattle of
musketry from the fort nearly drowned his voice. The palisade was wreathed in
smoke and flame.
"'Exert your force
forward against the recoil, mi amo,' said the old gunner, shakily. 'Dig your
fingers into the ground. So. Now!'
"A cry of
exultation escaped him after the shot. The trumpeter raised his trumpet nearly
to his lips and waited. But no word came from the prostrate man. I fell on one
knee, and heard all he had to say then.
"'Something
broken,' he whispered, lifting his head a little, and turning his eyes towards
me in his hopelessly crushed attitude.
"'The gate hangs
only by the splinters,' yelled Jorge.
"Gaspar Ruiz tried
to speak, but his voice died out in his throat, and I helped to roll the gun
off his broken back. He was insensible.
"I kept my lips
shut, of course. The signal for the Indians to attack was never given. Instead,
the bugle-calls of the relieving force for which my ears had thirsted so long,
burst out, terrifying like the call of the Last Day to our surprised enemies.
"A tornado, señores,
a real hurricane of stampeded men, wild horses, mounted Indians, swept over me
as I cowered on the ground by the side of Gaspar Ruiz, still stretched out on
his face in the shape of a cross. Peneleo, galloping for life, jabbed at me
with his long chuso in passing -- for the sake of old acquaintance, I suppose.
How I escaped the flying lead is more difficult to explain. Venturing to rise
on my knees too soon some soldiers of the 17th Taltal regiment, in their hurry
to get at something alive, nearly bayoneted me on the spot. They looked very
disappointed, too, when, some officers galloping up drove them away with the
flat of their swords.
"It was General
Robles with his staff. He wanted badly to make some prisoners. He, too, seemed
disappointed for a moment. 'What! Is it you?' he cried. But he dismounted at
once to embrace me, for he was an old friend of my family. I pointed to the
body at our feet, and said only these two words:
"'Gaspar Ruiz.'
"He threw his arms
up in astonishment.
"'Aha! Your strong
man! Always to the last with your strong man. No matter. He saved our lives
when the earth trembled enough to make the bravest faint with fear. I was
frightened out of my wits. But he -- no! Que guape! Where's the hero who got
the best of him? ha! ha! ha! What killed him, chico?'
"'His own
strength, General,' I answered.
"BUT Gaspar Ruiz
breathed yet. I had him carried in his poncho under the shelter of some bushes
on the very ridge from which he had been gazing so fixedly at the fort while
unseen death was hovering already over his head.
"Our troops had
bivouacked round the fort. Towards daybreak I was not surprised to hear that I
was designated to command the escort of a prisoner who was to be sent down at
once to Santiago. Of course the prisoner was Gaspar Ruiz' wife.
"'I have named you
out of regard for your feelings,' General Robles remarked. 'Though the woman
really ought to be shot for all the harm she has done to the Republic.'
"And as I made a
movement of shocked protest, he continued:
"'Now he is as
well as dead, she is of no importance. Nobody will know what to do with her.
However, the Government wants her.' He shrugged his shoulders. 'I suppose he
must have buried large quantities of his loot in places that she alone knows
of.'
"At dawn I saw her
coming up the ridge, guarded by two soldiers, and carrying her child on her
arm.
"I walked to meet
her.
"'Is he living
yet?' she asked, confronting me with that white, impassive face he used to look
at in an adoring way.
"I bent my head,
and led her round a clump of bushes without a word. His eyes were open. He
breathed with difficulty, and uttered her name with a great effort.
"'Erminia!'
"She knelt at his
head. The little girl, unconscious of him, and with her big eyes looking about,
began to chatter suddenly, in a joyous, thin voice. She pointed a tiny finger
at the rosy glow of sunrise behind the black shapes of the peaks. And while
that child-talk, incomprehensible and sweet to the ear, lasted, those two, the
dying man and the kneeling woman, remained silent, looking into each other's
eyes, listening to the frail sound. Then the prattle stopped. The child laid
its head against its mother's breast and was still.
"'It was for you,'
he began. 'Forgive.' His voice failed him. Presently I heard a mutter and
caught the pitiful words: 'Not strong enough.'
"She looked at him
with an extraordinary intensity. He tried to smile, and in a humble tone,
'Forgive me,' he repeated. 'Leaving you . . .'
"She bent down,
dry-eyed and in a steady voice: 'On all the earth I have loved nothing but you,
Gaspar,' she said.
"His head made a
movement. His eyes revived. 'At last!' he sighed out. Then, anxiously, 'But is
this true . . . is this true?'
'"As true as that
there is no mercy and justice in this world,' she answered him, passionately.
She stooped over his face. He tried to raise his head, but it fell back, and
when she kissed his lips he was already dead. His glazed eyes stared at the
sky, on which pink clouds floated very high. But I noticed the eyelids of the
child, pressed to its mother's breast, droop and close slowly. She had gone to
sleep.
"The widow of
Gaspar Ruiz, the strong man, allowed me to lead her away without shedding a
tear.
"For travelling we
had arranged for her a side-saddle very much like a chair, with a board swung
beneath to rest her feet on. And the first day she rode without uttering a
word, and hardly for one moment turning her eyes away from the little girl,
whom she held on her knees. At our first camp I saw her during the night
walking about, rocking the child in her arms and gazing down at it by the light
of the moon. After we had started on our second day's march she asked me how
soon we should come to the first village of the inhabited country.
"I said we should
be there about noon.
"'And will there
be women there?' she inquired.
"I told her that
it was a large village. 'There will be men and women there, señora,' I said,
'whose hearts shall be made glad by the news that all the unrest and war is
over now.'
"'Yes, it is all
over now,' she repeated. Then, after a time: 'Señor officer, what will your
Government do with me?'
"'I do not know,
señora,' I said. 'They will treat you well, no doubt. We republicans are not
savages and take no vengeance on women.'
"She gave me a
look at the word 'republicans' which I imagined full of undying hate. But an
hour or so afterwards, as we drew up to let the baggage mules go first along a
narrow path skirting a precipice, she looked at me with such a white, troubled
face that I felt a great pity for her.
"'Señor officer,'
she said, 'I am weak, I tremble. It is an insensate fear.' And indeed her lips
did tremble while she tried to smile, glancing at the beginning of the narrow
path which was not so dangerous after all. 'I am afraid I shall drop the child.
Gaspar saved your life, you remember. . . . Take her from me.'
"I took the child
out of her extended arms. 'Shut your eyes, señora, and trust to your mule,' I
recommended.
"She did so, and
with her pallor and her wasted, thin face she looked deathlike. At a turn of
the path where a great crag of purple porphyry closes the view of the lowlands,
I saw her open her eyes. I rode just behind her holding the little girl with my
right arm. 'The child is all right,' I cried encouragingly.
"'Yes,' she
answered, faintly; and then, to my intense terror, I saw her stand up on the
foot-rest, staring horribly, and throw herself forward into the chasm on our
right.
"I cannot describe
to you the sudden and abject fear that came over me at that dreadful sight. It
was a dread of the abyss, the dread of the crags which seemed to nod upon me.
My head swam. I pressed the child to my side and sat my horse as still as a
statue. I was speechless and cold all over. Her mule staggered, sidling close
to the rock, and then went on. My horse only pricked up his ears with a slight
snort. My heart stood still, and from the depths of the precipice the stones
rattling in the bed of the furious stream made me almost insane with their
sound.
"Next moment we
were round the turn and on a broad and grassy slope. And then I yelled. My men
came running back to me in great alarm. It seems that at first I did nothing
but shout, 'She has given the child into my hands! She has given the child into
my hands!' The escort thought I had gone mad."
General Santierra
ceased and got up from the table. "And that is all, señores," he
concluded, with a courteous glance at his rising guests.
"But what became
of the child. General?" we asked.
"Ah, the child,
the child."
He walked to one of the
windows opening on his beautiful garden, the refuge of his old days. Its fame
was great in the land. Keeping us back with a raised arm, he called out,
"Erminia, Erminia!" and waited. Then his cautioning arm dropped, and
we crowded to the windows.
From a clump of trees a
woman had come upon the broad walk bordered with flowers. We could hear the
rustle of her starched petticoats and observed the ample spread of her
old-fashioned black silk skirt. She looked up, and seeing all these eyes
staring at her stopped, frowned, smiled, shook her finger at the General, who
was laughing boisterously, and drawing the black lace on her head so as to
partly conceal her haughty profile, passed out of our sight, walking with stiff
dignity.
"You have beheld
the guardian angel of the old man -- and her to whom you owe all that is seemly
and comfortable in my hospitality. Somehow, señores, though the flame of love
has been kindled early in my breast, I have never married. And because of that
perhaps the sparks of the sacred fire are not yet extinct here." He struck
his broad chest. "Still alive, still alive," he said, with
serio-comic emphasis. "But I shall not marry now. She is General
Santierra's adopted daughter and heiress."
One of our
fellow-guests, a young naval officer, described her afterwards as a
"short, stout, old girl of forty or thereabouts." We had all noticed
that her hair was turning grey, and that she had very fine black eyes.
"And,"
General Santierra continued, "neither would she ever hear of marrying any
one. A real calamity! Good, patient, devoted to the old man. A simple soul. But
I would not advise any of you to ask for her hand, for if she took yours into
hers it would be only to crush your bones. Ah! she does not jest on that
subject. And she is the own daughter of her father, the strong man who perished
through his own strength: the strength of his body, of his simplicity -- of his
love!"
MR. X came to me,
preceded by a letter of introduction from a good friend of mine in Paris,
specifically to see my collection of Chinese bronzes and porcelain.
My friend in Paris is a
collector, too. He collects neither porcelain, nor bronzes, nor pictures, nor
medals, nor stamps, nor anything that could be profitably dispersed under an
auctioneer's hammer. He would reject, with genuine surprise, the name of a
collector. Nevertheless, that's what he is by temperament. He collects
acquaintances. It is delicate work. He brings to it the patience, the passion,
the determination of a true collector of curiosities. His collection does not
contain any royal personages. I don't think he considers them sufficiently rare
and interesting; but, with that exception, he has met with and talked to
everyone worth knowing on any conceivable ground. He observes them, listens to
them, penetrates them, measures them, and puts the memory away in the galleries
of his mind. He has schemed, plotted, and travelled all over Europe in order to
add to his collection of distinguished personal acquaintances.
As he is wealthy, well
connected, and unprejudiced, his collection is pretty complete, including
objects (or should I say subjects?) whose value is unappreciated by the vulgar,
and often unknown to popular fame. Of those specimens my friend is naturally
the most proud.
He wrote to me of X:
"He is the greatest rebel (révolté) of modern times. The world knows him
as a revolutionary writer whose savage irony has laid bare the rottenness of
the most respectable institutions. He has scalped every venerated head, and has
mangled at the stake of his wit every received opinion and every recognized
principle of conduct and policy. Who does not remember his flaming red
revolutionary pamphlets? Their sudden swarmings used to overwhelm the powers of
every Continental police like a plague of crimson gadflies. But this extreme
writer has been also the active inspirer of secret societies, the mysterious
unknown Number One of desperate conspiracies suspected and unsuspected, matured
or baffled. And the world at large has never had an inkling of that fact! This
accounts for him going about amongst us to this day, a veteran of many
subterranean campaigns, standing aside now, safe within his reputation of merely
the greatest destructive publicist that ever lived."
Thus wrote my friend,
adding that Mr. X was an enlightened connoisseur of bronzes and china, and
asking me to show him my collection.
X turned up in due
course. My treasures are disposed in three large rooms without carpets and
curtains. There is no other furniture than the étagères and the glass cases
whose contents shall be worth a fortune to my heirs. I allow no fires to be
lighted, for fear of accidents, and a fire-proof door separates them from the
rest of the house.
It was a bitter cold
day. We kept on our overcoats and hats. Middle-sized and spare, his eyes alert
in a long, Roman-nosed countenance, X walked on his neat little feet, with
short steps, and looked at my collection intelligently. I hope I looked at him
intelligently, too. A snow-white moustache and imperial made his nut-brown
complexion appear darker than it really was. In his fur coat and shiny tall hat
that terrible man looked fashionable. I believe he belonged to a noble family,
and could have called himself Vicomte X de la Z if he chose. We talked nothing
but bronzes and porcelain. He was remarkably appreciative. We parted on cordial
terms.
Where he was staying I
don't know. I imagine he must have been a lonely man. Anarchists, I suppose,
have no families -- not, at any rate, as we understand that social relation.
Organization into families may answer to a need of human nature, but in the
last instance it is based on law, and therefore must be something odious and
impossible to an anarchist. But, indeed, I don't understand anarchists. Does a
man of that -- of that -- persuasion still remain an anarchist when alone,
quite alone and going to bed, for instance? Does he lay his head on the pillow,
pull his bedclothes over him, and go to sleep with the necessity of the
chambardement général, as the French slang has it, of the general blow-up,
always present to his mind? And if so how can he? I am sure that if such a
faith (or such a fanaticism) once mastered my thoughts I would never be able to
compose myself sufficiently to sleep or eat or perform any of the routine acts
of daily life. I would want no wife, no children; I could have no friends, it
seems to me; and as to collecting bronzes or china, that, I should say, would
be quite out of the question. But I don't know. All I know is that Mr. X took
his meals in a very good restaurant which I frequented also.
With his head
uncovered, the silver top-knot of his brushed-up hair completed the character
of his physiognomy, all bony ridges and sunken hollows, clothed in a perfect
impassiveness of expression. His meagre brown hands emerging from large white
cuffs came and went breaking bread, pouring wine, and so on, with quiet
mechanical precision. His head and body above the tablecloth had a rigid
immobility. This firebrand, this great agitator, exhibited the least possible
amount of warmth and animation. His voice was rasping, cold, and monotonous in
a low key. He could not be called a talkative personality; but with his
detached calm manner he appeared as ready to keep the conversation going as to
drop it at any moment.
And his conversation
was by no means commonplace. To me, I own, there was some excitement in talking
quietly across a dinner-table with a man whose venomous pen-stabs had sapped
the vitality of at least one monarchy. That much was a matter of public
knowledge. But I knew more. I knew of him -- from my friend -- as a certainty
what the guardians of social order in Europe had at most only suspected, or
dimly guessed at.
He had had what I may
call his underground life. And as I sat, evening after evening, facing him at
dinner, a curiosity in that direction would naturally arise in my mind. I am a
quiet and peaceable product of civilization, and know no passion other than the
passion for collecting things which are rare, and must remain exquisite even if
approaching to the monstrous. Some Chinese bronzes are monstrously precious.
And here (out of my friend's collection), here I had before me a kind of rare
monster. It is true that this monster was polished and in a sense even
exquisite. His beautiful unruffled manner was that. But then he was not of
bronze. He was not even Chinese, which would have enabled one to contemplate
him calmly across the gulf of racial difference. He was alive and European; he
had the manner of good society, wore a coat and hat like mine, and had pretty
near the same taste in cooking. It was too frightful to think of.
One evening he
remarked, casually, in the course of conversation, "There's no amendment
to be got out of mankind except by terror and violence."
You can imagine the
effect of such a phrase out of such a man's mouth upon a person like myself,
whose whole scheme of life had been based upon a suave and delicate
discrimination of social and artistic values. Just imagine! Upon me, to whom
all sorts and forms of violence appeared as unreal as the giants, ogres, and
seven-headed hydras whose activities affect, fantastically, the course of
legends and fairy-tales!
I seemed suddenly to
hear above the festive bustle and clatter of the brilliant restaurant the
mutter of a hungry and seditious multitude.
I suppose I am
impressionable and imaginative. I had a disturbing vision of darkness, full of
lean jaws and wild eyes, amongst the hundred electric lights of the place. But
somehow this vision made me angry, too. The sight of that man, so calm,
breaking bits of white bread, exasperated me. And I had the audacity to ask him
how it was that the starving proletariat of Europe to whom he had been
preaching revolt and violence had not been made indignant by his openly
luxurious life. "At all this," I said, pointedly, with a glance round
the room and at the bottle of champagne we generally shared between us at
dinner.
He remained unmoved.
"Do I feed on
their toil and their heart's blood? Am I a speculator or a capitalist? Did I
steal my fortune from a starving people? No! They know this very well. And they
envy me nothing. The miserable mass of the people is generous to its leaders.
What I have acquired has come to me through my writings; not from the millions
of pamphlets distributed gratis to the hungry and the oppressed, but from the
hundreds of thousands of copies sold to the well-fed bourgeoisie. You know that
my writings were at one time the rage, the fashion -- the thing to read with
wonder and horror, to turn your eyes up at my pathos . . . or else, to laugh in
ecstasies at my wit."
"Yes," I
admitted. "I remember, of course; and I confess frankly that I could never
understand that infatuation."
"Don't you know
yet," he said, "that an idle and selfish class loves to see mischief
being made, even if it is made at its own expense? Its own life being all a
matter of pose and gesture, it is unable to realize the power and the danger of
a real movement and of words that have no sham meaning. It is all fun and
sentiment. It is sufficient, for instance, to point out the attitude of the old
French aristocracy towards the philosophers whose words were preparing the
Great Revolution. Even in England, where you have some common-sense, a
demagogue has only to shout loud enough and long enough to find some backing in
the very class he is shouting at. You, too, like to see mischief being made.
The demagogue carries the amateurs of emotion with him. Amateurism in this,
that, and the other thing is a delightfully easy way of killing time, and
feeding one's own vanity -- the silly vanity of being abreast with the ideas of
the day after to-morrow. Just as good and otherwise harmless people will join
you in ecstasies over your collection without having the slightest notion in
what its marvellousness really consists."
I hung my head. It was
a crushing illustration of the sad truth he advanced. The world is full of such
people. And that instance of the French aristocracy before the Revolution was
extremely telling, too. I could not traverse his statement, though its cynicism
-- always a distasteful trait -- took off much of its value to my mind.
However, I admit I was impressed. I felt the need to say something which would
not be in the nature of assent and yet would not invite discussion.
"You don't mean to
say," I observed, airily, "that extreme revolutionists have ever been
actively assisted by the infatuation of such people?"
"I did not mean
exactly that by what I said just now. I generalized. But since you ask me, I
may tell you that such help has been given to revolutionary activities, more or
less consciously, in various countries. And even in this country."
"Impossible!"
I protested with firmness. "We don't play with fire to that extent."
"And yet you can
better afford it than others, perhaps. But let me observe that most women, if
not always ready to play with fire, are generally eager to play with a loose
spark or so."
"Is this a
joke?" I asked, smiling.
"If it is, I am
not aware of it," he said, woodenly. "I was thinking of an instance.
Oh! mild enough in a way . . ."
I became all
expectation at this. I had tried many times to approach him on his underground
side, so to speak. The very word had been pronounced between us. But he had
always met me with his impenetrable calm.
"And at the same
time," Mr. X continued, "it will give you a notion of the
difficulties that may arise in what you are pleased to call underground work.
It is sometimes difficult to deal with them. Of course there is no hierarchy
amongst the affiliated. No rigid system."
My surprise was great,
but short-lived. Clearly, amongst extreme anarchists there could be no
hierarchy; nothing in the nature of a law of precedence. The idea of anarchy
ruling among anarchists was comforting, too. It could not possibly make for
efficiency.
Mr. X startled me by
asking, abruptly, "You know Hermione Street?"
I nodded doubtful
assent. Hermione Street has been, within the last three years, improved out of
any man's knowledge. The name exists still, but not one brick or stone of the
old Hermione Street is left now. It was the old street he meant, for he said:
"There was a row
of two-storied brick houses on the left, with their backs against the wing of a
great public building -- you remember. Would it surprise you very much to hear
that one of these houses was for a time the centre of anarchist propaganda and
of what you would call underground action?"
"Not at all,"
I declared. Hermione Street had never been particularly respectable, as I
remembered it.
"The house was the
property of a distinguished government official," he added, sipping his
champagne.
"Oh, indeed!"
I said, this time not believing a word of it.
"Of course he was
not living there," Mr. X continued. "But from ten till four he sat
next door to it, the dear man, in his well-appointed private room in the wing
of the public building I've mentioned. To be strictly accurate, I must explain
that the house in Hermione Street did not really belong to him. It belonged to
his grown-up children -- a daughter and a son. The girl, a fine figure, was by
no means vulgarly pretty. To more personal charm than mere youth could account
for, she added the seductive appearance of enthusiasm, of independence, of
courageous thought. I suppose she put on these appearances as she put on her
picturesque dresses and for the same reason: to assert her individuality at any
cost. You know, women would go to any length almost for such a purpose. She
went to a great length. She had acquired all the appropriate gestures of
revolutionary convictions -- the gestures of pity, of anger, of indignation
against the anti-humanitarian vices of the social class to which she belonged
herself. All this sat on her striking personality as well as her slightly
original costumes. Very slightly original; just enough to mark a protest
against the philistinism of the overfed taskmasters of the poor. Just enough,
and no more. It would not have done to go too far in that direction -- you
understand. But she was of age, and nothing stood in the way of her offering
her house to the revolutionary workers."
"You don't mean
it!" I cried.
"I assure
you," he affirmed, "that she made that very practical gesture. How
else could they have got hold of it? The cause is not rich. And, moreover,
there would have been difficulties with any ordinary house-agent, who would
have wanted references and so on. The group she came in contact with while
exploring the poor quarters of the town (you know the gesture of charity and
personal service which was so fashionable some years ago) accepted with
gratitude. The first advantage was that Hermione Street is, as you know, well
away from the suspect part of the town, specially watched by the police.
"The ground floor
consisted of a little Italian restaurant, of the flyblown sort. There was no
difficulty in buying the proprietor out. A woman and a man belonging to the
group took it on. The man had been a cook. The comrades could get their meals
there, unnoticed amongst the other customers. This was another advantage. The
first floor was occupied by a shabby Variety Artists' Agency -- an agency for
performers in inferior music-halls, you know. A fellow called Bomm, I remember.
He was not disturbed. It was rather favourable than otherwise to have a lot of
foreign-looking people, jugglers, acrobats, singers of both sexes, and so on,
going in and out all day long. The police paid no attention to new faces, you
see. The top floor happened, most conveniently, to stand empty then."
X interrupted himself
to attack impassively, with measured movements, a bombe glacée which the waiter
had just set down on the table. He swallowed carefully a few spoonfuls of the
iced sweet, and asked me, "Did you ever hear of Stone's Dried Soup?"
"Hear of
what?"
"It was," X
pursued, evenly, "a comestible article once rather prominently advertised
in the dailies, but which never, somehow, gained the favour of the public. The
enterprise fizzled out, as you say here. Parcels of their stock could be picked
up at auctions at considerably less than a penny a pound. The group bought some
of it, and an agency for Stone's Dried Soup was started on the top floor. A
perfectly respectable business. The stuff, a yellow powder of extremely
unappetizing aspect, was put up in large square tins, of which six went to a
case. If anybody ever came to give an order, it was, of course, executed. But
the advantage of the powder was this, that things could be concealed in it very
conveniently. Now and then a special case got put on a van and sent off to be
exported abroad under the very nose of the policeman on duty at the corner. You
understand?"
"I think I
do," I said, with an expressive nod at the remnants of the bombe melting
slowly in the dish.
"Exactly. But the
cases were useful in another way, too. In the basement, or in the cellar at the
back, rather, two printing-presses were established. A lot of revolutionary
literature of the most inflammatory kind was got away from the house in Stone's
Dried Soup cases. The brother of our anarchist young lady found some occupation
there. He wrote articles, helped to set up type and pull off the sheets, and
generally assisted the man in charge, a very able young fellow called Sevrin.
"The guiding
spirit of that group was a fanatic of social revolution. He is dead now. He was
an engraver and etcher of genius. You must have seen his work. It is much sought
after by certain amateurs now. He began by being revolutionary in his art, and
ended by becoming a revolutionist, after his wife and child had died in want
and misery. He used to say that the bourgeoisie, the smug, overfed lot, had
killed them. That was his real belief. He still worked at his art and led a
double life. He was tall, gaunt, and swarthy, with a long, brown beard and
deep-set eyes. You must have seen him. His name was Horne."
At this I was really
startled. Of course years ago I used to meet Horne about. He looked like a
powerful, rough gipsy, in an old top hat, with a red muffler round his throat
and buttoned up in a long, shabby overcoat. He talked of his art with
exaltation, and gave one the impression of being strung up to the verge of insanity.
A small group of connoisseurs appreciated his work. Who would have thought that
this man. . . . Amazing! And yet it was not, after all, so difficult to
believe.
"As you see,"
X went on, "this group was in a position to pursue its work of propaganda,
and the other kind of work, too, under very advantageous conditions. They were
all resolute, experienced men of a superior stamp. And yet we became struck at
length by the fact that plans prepared in Hermione Street almost invariably
failed."
"Who were
'we'?" I asked, pointedly.
"Some of us in
Brussels -- at the centre," he said, hastily. "Whatever vigorous
action originated in Hermione Street seemed doomed to failure. Something always
happened to baffle the best planned manifestations in every part of Europe. It
was a time of general activity. You must not imagine that all our failures are
of a loud sort, with arrests and trials. That is not so. Often the police work
quietly, almost secretly, defeating our combinations by clever
counter-plotting. No arrests, no noise, no alarming of the public mind and
inflaming the passions. It is a wise procedure. But at that time the police
were too uniformly successful from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. It was
annoying and began to look dangerous. At last we came to the conclusion that
there must be some untrustworthy elements amongst the London groups. And I came
over to see what could be done quietly.
"My first step was
to call upon our young Lady Amateur of anarchism at her private house. She
received me in a flattering way. I judged that she knew nothing of the chemical
and other operations going on at the top of the house in Hermione Street. The
printing of anarchist literature was the only 'activity' she seemed to be aware
of there. She was displaying very strikingly the usual signs of severe
enthusiasm, and had already written many sentimental articles with ferocious
conclusions. I could see she was enjoying herself hugely, with all the gestures
and grimaces of deadly earnestness. They suited her big-eyed, broad-browed face
and the good carriage of her shapely head, crowned by a magnificent lot of
brown hair done in an unusual and becoming style. Her brother was in the room,
too, a serious youth, with arched eyebrows and wearing a red necktie, who struck
me as being absolutely in the dark about everything in the world, including
himself. By and by a tall young man came in. He was clean-shaved with a strong
bluish jaw and something of the air of a taciturn actor or of a fanatical
priest: the type with thick black eyebrows -- you know. But he was very
presentable indeed. He shook hands at once vigorously with each of us. The
young lady came up to me and murmured sweetly, 'Comrade Sevrin.'
"I had never seen
him before. He had little to say to us, but sat down by the side of the girl,
and they fell at once into earnest conversation. She leaned forward in her deep
armchair, and took her nicely rounded chin in her beautiful white hand. He
looked attentively into her eyes. It was the attitude of love-making, serious,
intense, as if on the brink of the grave. I suppose she felt it necessary to
round and complete her assumption of advanced ideas, of revolutionary
lawlessness, by making believe to be in love with an anarchist. And this one, I
repeat, was extremely presentable, notwithstanding his fanatical black-browed
aspect. After a few stolen glances in their direction, I had no doubt that he
was in earnest. As to the lady, her gestures were unapproachable, better than
the very thing itself in the blended suggestion of dignity, sweetness,
condescension, fascination, surrender, and reserve. She interpreted her
conception of what that precise sort of love-making should be with consummate
art. And so far, she, too, no doubt, was in earnest. Gestures -- but so perfect!
"After I had been
left alone with our Lady Amateur I informed her guardedly of the object of my
visit. I hinted at our suspicions. I wanted to hear what she would have to say,
and half expected some perhaps unconscious revelation. All she said was, 'That's
serious,' looking delightfully concerned and grave. But there was a sparkle in
her eyes which meant plainly, 'How exciting!' After all, she knew little of
anything except of words. Still, she undertook to put me in communication with
Horne, who was not easy to find unless in Hermione Street, where I did not wish
to show myself just then.
"I met Horne. This
was another kind of a fanatic altogether. I exposed to him the conclusion we in
Brussels had arrived at, and pointed out the significant series of failures. To
this he answered with irrelevant exaltation:
"'I have something
in hand that shall strike terror into the heart of these gorged brutes.'
"And then I
learned that, by excavating in one of the cellars of the house, he and some
companions had made their way into the vaults under the great public building I
have mentioned before. The blowing up of a whole wing was a certainty as soon
as the materials were ready.
"I was not so
appalled at the stupidity of that move as I might have been had not the
usefulness of our centre in Hermione Street become already very problematical.
In fact, in my opinion it was much more of a police trap by this time than
anything else.
"What was
necessary now was to discover what, or rather who, was wrong, and I managed at
last to get that idea into Horne's head. He glared, perplexed, his nostrils
working as if he were sniffing treachery in the air.
"And here comes a
piece of work which will no doubt strike you as a sort of theatrical expedient.
And yet what else could have been done? The problem was to find out the
untrustworthy member of the group. But no suspicion could be fastened on one
more than another. To set a watch upon them all was not very practicable.
Besides, that proceeding often fails. In any case, it takes time, and the
danger was pressing. I felt certain that the premises in Hermione Street would
be ultimately raided, though the police had evidently such confidence in the
informer that the house, for the time being, was not even watched. Horne was positive
on that point. Under the circumstances it was an unfavourable symptom.
Something had to be done quickly.
"I decided to
organize a raid myself upon the group. Do you understand? A raid of other
trusty comrades personating the police. A conspiracy within a conspiracy. You
see the object of it, of course. When apparently about to be arrested I hoped
the informer would betray himself in some way or other; either by some
unguarded act or simply by his unconcerned demeanour, for instance. Of coarse there
was the risk of complete failure and the no lesser risk of some fatal accident
in the course of resistance, perhaps, or in the efforts at escape. For, as you
will easily see, the Hermione Street group had to be actually and completely
taken unawares, as I was sure they would be by the real police before very
long. The informer was amongst them, and Horne alone could be let into the
secret of my plan.
"I will not enter
into the detail of my preparations. It was not very easy to arrange, but it was
done very well, with a really convincing effect. The sham police invaded the
restaurant, whose shutters were immediately put up. The surprise was perfect.
Most of the Hermione Street party were found in the second cellar, enlarging
the hole communicating with the vaults of the great public building. At the
first alarm, several comrades bolted through impulsively into the aforesaid
vault, where, of course, had this been a genuine raid, they would have been
hopelessly trapped. We did not bother about them for the moment. They were
harmless enough. The top floor caused considerable anxiety to Horne and myself.
There, surrounded by tins of Stone's Dried Soup, a comrade, nick-named the
Professor (he was an ex-science student) was engaged in perfecting some new
detonators. He was an abstracted, self-confident, sallow little man, armed with
large round spectacles, and we were afraid that under a mistaken impression he
would blow himself up and wreck the house about our ears. I rushed upstairs and
found him already at the door, on the alert, listening, as he said, to
'suspicious noises down below.' Before I had quite finished explaining to him
what was going on he shrugged his shoulders disdainfully and turned away to his
balances and test-tubes. His was the true spirit of an extreme revolutionist.
Explosives were his faith, his hope, his weapon, and his shield. He perished a
couple of years afterwards in a secret laboratory through the premature
explosion of one of his improved detonators.
"Hurrying down
again, I found an impressive scene in the gloom of the big cellar. The man who
personated the inspector (he was no stranger to the part) was speaking harshly,
and giving bogus orders to his bogus subordinates for the removal of his
prisoners. Evidently nothing enlightening had happened so far. Horne, saturnine
and swarthy, waited with folded arms, and his patient, moody expectation had an
air of stoicism well in keeping with the situation. I detected in the shadows
one of the Hermione Street group surreptitiously chewing up and swallowing a
small piece of paper. Some compromising scrap, I suppose; perhaps just a note
of a few names and addresses. He was a true and faithful 'companion.' But the
fund of secret malice which lurks at the bottom of our sympathies caused me to feel
amused at that perfectly uncalled-for performance.
In every other respect
the risky experiment, the theatrical coup, if you like to call it so, seemed to
have failed. The deception could not be kept up much longer; the explanation
would bring about a very embarrassing and even grave situation. The man who had
eaten the paper would be furious. The fellows who had bolted away would be
angry, too.
"To add to my
vexation, the door communicating with the other cellar, where the
printing-presses were, flew open, and our young lady revolutionist appeared, a
black silhouette in a close-fitting dress and a large hat, with the blaze of
gas flaring in there at her back. Over her shoulder I perceived the arched
eyebrows and the red necktie of her brother.
"The last people
in the world I wanted to see then! They had gone that evening to some amateur
concert for the delectation of the poor people, you know; but she had insisted
on leaving early, on purpose to call in Hermione Street on the way home, under
the pretext of having some work to do. Her usual task was to correct the proofs
of the Italian and French editions of the Alarm Bell and the Firebrand." .
. .
"Heavens!" I
murmured. I had been shown once a few copies of these publications. Nothing, in
my opinion, could have been less fit for the eyes of a young lady. They were
the most advanced things of the sort; advanced, I mean, beyond all bounds of
reason and decency. One of them preached the dissolution of all social and
domestic ties; the other advocated systematic murder. To think of a young girl
calmly tracking printers' errors all along the sort of abominable sentences I
remembered was intolerable to my sentiment of womanhood. Mr. X, after giving me
a glance, pursued steadily.
"I think, however,
that she came mostly to exercise her fascinations upon Sevrin, and to receive
his homage in her queenly and condescending way. She was aware of both -- her
power and his homage -- and enjoyed them with, I dare say, complete innocence.
We have no ground in expediency or morals to quarrel with her on that account.
Charm in woman and exceptional intelligence in man are a law unto themselves.
Is it not so?"
I refrained from
expressing my abhorrence of that licentious doctrine because of my curiosity.
"But what happened
then?" I hastened to ask.
X went on crumbling
slowly a small piece of bread with a careless left hand.
"What happened, in
effect," he confessed, "is that she saved the situation."
"She gave you an
opportunity to end your rather sinister farce," I suggested.
"Yes," he
said, preserving his impassive bearing. " The farce was bound to end soon.
And it ended in a very few minutes. And it ended well. Had she not come in, it
might have ended badly. Her brother, of course, did not count. They had slipped
into the house quietly some time before. The printing-cellar had an entrance of
its own. Not finding any one there, she sat down to her proofs, expecting
Sevrin to return to his work at any moment. He did not do so. She grew
impatient, heard through the door the sounds of a disturbance in the other
cellar and naturally came in to see what was the matter.
Sevrin had been with
us. At first he had seemed to me the most amazed of the whole raided lot. He
appeared for an instant as if paralyzed with astonishment. He stood rooted to
the spot. He never moved a limb. A solitary gas-jet flared near his head; all
the other lights had been put out at the first alarm. And presently, from my
dark corner, I observed on his shaven actor's face an expression of puzzled,
vexed watchfulness. He knitted his heavy eyebrows. The corners of his mouth
dropped scornfully. He was angry. Most likely he had seen through the game, and
I regretted I had not taken him from the first into my complete confidence.
"But with the
appearance of the girl he became obviously alarmed. It was plain. I could see
it grow. The change of his expression was swift and startling. And I did not
know why. The reason never occurred to me. I was merely astonished at the
extreme alteration of the man's face. Of course he had not been aware of her
presence in the other cellar; but that did not explain the shock her advent had
given him. For a moment he seemed to have been reduced to imbecility. He opened
his mouth as if to shout, or perhaps only to gasp. At any rate, it was somebody
else who shouted. This somebody else was the heroic comrade whom I had detected
swallowing a piece of paper. With laudable presence of mind he let out a
warning yell.
"'It's the police!
Back! Back! Run back, and bolt the door behind you.'
"It was an
excellent hint; but instead of retreating the girl continued to advance,
followed by her long-faced brother in his knickerbocker suit, in which he had
been singing comic songs for the entertainment of a joyless proletariat. She
advanced not as if she had failed to understand -- the word 'police' has an
unmistakable sound -- but rather as if she could not help herself. She did not
advance with the free gait and expanding presence of a distinguished amateur
anarchist amongst poor, struggling professionals, but with slightly raised
shoulders, and her elbows pressed close to her body, as if trying to shrink
within herself. Her eyes were fixed immovably upon Sevrin. Sevrin the man, I
fancy; not Sevrin the anarchist. But she advanced. And that was natural. For
all their assumption of independence, girls of that class are used to the
feeling of being specially protected, as, in fact, they are. This feeling
accounts for nine tenths of their audacious gestures. Her face had gone
completely colourless. Ghastly. Fancy having it brought home to her so brutally
that she was the sort of person who must run away from the police! I believe
she was pale with indignation, mostly, though there was, of course, also the
concern for her intact personality, a vague dread of some sort of rudeness.
And, naturally, she turned to a man, to the man on whom she had a claim of
fascination and homage -- the man who could not conceivably fail her at any
juncture."
"But," I
cried, amazed at this analysis, "if it had been serious, real, I mean --
as she thought it was -- what could she expect him to do for her?"
X never moved a muscle
of his face.
"Goodness knows. I
imagine that this charming, generous, and independent creature had never known
in her life a single genuine thought; I mean a single thought detached from
small human vanities, or whose source was not in some conventional perception.
All I know is that after advancing a few steps she extended her hand towards
the motionless Sevrin. And that at least was no gesture. It was a natural
movement. As to what she expected him to do, who can tell? The impossible. But
whatever she expected, it could not have come up, I am safe to say, to what he
had made up his mind to do, even before that entreating hand had appealed to
him so directly. It had not been necessary. From the moment he had seen her
enter that cellar, he had made up his mind to sacrifice his future usefulness,
to throw off the impenetrable, solidly fastened mask it had been his pride to
wear --"
"What do you mean?"
I interrupted, puzzled. "Was it Sevrin, then, who was --"
"He was. The most
persistent, the most dangerous, the craftiest, the most systematic of
informers. A genius amongst betrayers. Fortunately for us, he was unique. The
man was a fanatic, I have told you. Fortunately, again, for us, he had fallen
in love with the accomplished and innocent gestures of that girl. An actor in
desperate earnest himself, he must have believed in the absolute value of
conventional signs. As to the grossness of the trap into which he fell, the
explanation must be that two sentiments of such absorbing magnitude cannot
exist simultaneously in one heart. The danger of that other and unconscious
comedian robbed him of his vision, of his perspicacity, of his judgment.
Indeed, it did at first rob him of his self-possession. But he regained that
through the necessity -- as it appeared to him imperiously -- to do something
at once. To do what? Why, to get her out of the house as quickly as possible.
He was desperately anxious to do that. I have told you he was terrified. It
could not be about himself. He had been surprised and annoyed at a move quite
unforeseen and premature. I may even say he had been furious. He was accustomed
to arrange the last scene of his betrayals with a deep, subtle art which left
his revolutionist reputation untouched. But it seems clear to me that at the
same time he had resolved to make the best of it, to keep his mask resolutely
on. It was only with the discovery of her being in the house that everything --
the forced calm, the restraint of his fanaticism, the mask -- all came off
together in a kind of panic. Why panic, do you ask? The answer is very simple.
He remembered -- or, I dare say, he had never forgotten -- the Professor alone
at the top of the house, pursuing his researches, surrounded by tins upon tins
of Stone's Dried Soup. There was enough in some few of them to bury us all
where we stood under a heap of bricks. Sevrin, of course, was aware of that.
And we must believe, also, that he knew the exact character of the man. He had
gauged so many such characters! Or perhaps he only gave the Professor credit
for what he himself was capable of. But, in any case, the effect was produced.
And suddenly he raised his voice in authority.
"'Get the lady away
at once.'
"It turned out
that he was as hoarse as a crow; result, no doubt, of the intense emotion. It
passed off in a moment. But these fateful words issued forth from his
contracted throat in a discordant, ridiculous croak. They required no answer. The
thing was done. However, the man personating the inspector judged it expedient
to say roughly:
"'She shall go
soon enough, together with the rest of you.'
"These were the
last words belonging to the comedy part of this affair.
"Oblivious of
everything and everybody, Sevrin strode towards him and seized the lapels of
his coat. Under his thin bluish cheeks one could see his jaws working with
passion.
"'You have men
posted outside. Get the lady taken home at once. Do you hear? Now. Before you
try to get hold of the man upstairs.'
"'Oh! There is a
man upstairs,' scoffed the other, openly. 'Well, he shall be brought down in
time to see the end of this.'
"But Sevrin,
beside himself, took no heed of the tone.
'"Who's the
imbecile meddler who sent you blundering here? Didn't you understand your
instructions? Don't you know anything? It's incredible. Here --'
"He dropped the
lapels of the coat and, plunging his hand into his breast, jerked feverishly at
something under his shirt. At last he produced a small square pocket of soft
leather, which must have been hanging like a scapulary from his neck by the
tape whose broken ends dangled from his fist.
"'Look inside,' he
spluttered, flinging it in the other's face. And instantly he turned round
towards the girl. She stood just behind him, perfectly still and silent. Her
set, white face gave an illusion of placidity. Only her staring eyes seemed
bigger and darker.
"He spoke rapidly,
with nervous assurance. I heard him distinctly promise her to make everything
as clear as daylight presently. But that was all I caught. He stood close to
her, never attempting to touch her even with the tip of his little finger --
and she stared at him stupidly. For a moment, however, her eyelids descended
slowly, pathetically, and then, with the long black eyelashes lying on her
white cheeks, she looked ready to fall down in a swoon. But she never even
swayed where she stood. He urged her loudly to follow him at once, and walked
towards the door at the bottom of the cellar stairs without looking behind him.
And, as a matter of fact, she did move after him a pace or two. But, of course,
he was not allowed to reach the door. There were angry exclamations, a short,
fierce scuffle. Flung away violently, he came flying backwards upon her, and
fell. She threw out her arms in a gesture of dismay and stepped aside, just
clear of his head, which struck the ground heavily near her shoe.
"He grunted with
the shock. By the time he had picked himself up, slowly, dazedly, he was awake
to the reality of things. The man into whose hands he had thrust the leather
case had extracted therefrom a narrow strip of bluish paper. He held it up
above his head, and, as after the scuffle an expectant uneasy stillness reigned
once more, he threw it down disdainfully with the words, 'I think, comrades,
that this proof was hardly necessary.'
"Quick as thought,
the girl stooped after the fluttering slip. Holding it spread out in both
hands, she looked at it; then, without raising her eyes, opened her fingers
slowly and let it fall.
"I examined that
curious document afterwards. It was signed by a very high personage, and
stamped and countersigned by other high officials in various countries of
Europe. In his trade -- or shall I say, in his mission? -- that sort of
talisman might have been necessary, no doubt. Even to the police itself -- all
but the heads -- he had been known only as Sevrin the noted anarchist.
"He hung his head,
biting his lower lip. A change had come over him, a sort of thoughtful, absorbed
calmness. Nevertheless, he panted. His sides worked visibly, and his nostrils
expanded and collapsed in weird contrast with his sombre aspect of a fanatical
monk in a meditative attitude, but with something, too, in his face of an actor
intent upon the terrible exigencies of his part. Before him Horne declaimed,
haggard and bearded, like an inspired denunciatory prophet from a wilderness.
Two fanatics. They were made to understand each other. Does this surprise you?
I suppose you think that such people would be foaming at the mouth and snarling
at each other?"
I protested hastily
that I was not surprised in the least; that I thought nothing of the kind; that
anarchists in general were simply inconceivable to me mentally, morally,
logically, sentimentally, and even physically. X received this declaration with
his usual woodenness and went on.
"Horne had burst
out into eloquence. While pouring out scornful invective, he let tears escape
from his eyes and roll down his black beard unheeded. Sevrin panted quicker and
quicker. When he opened his mouth to speak, everyone hung on his words.
"'Don't be a fool,
Horne,' he began. 'You know very well that I have done this for none of the
reasons you are throwing at me.' And in a moment he became outwardly as steady
as a rock under the other's lurid stare. 'I have been thwarting, deceiving, and
betraying you -- from conviction.'
"He turned his
back on Horne, and addressing the girl, repeated the words: 'From conviction.'
"It's
extraordinary how cold she looked. I suppose she could not think of any
appropriate gesture. There can have been few precedents indeed for such a
situation.
"'Clear as
daylight,' he added. 'Do you understand what that means? From conviction.'
"And still she did
not stir. She did not know what to do. But the luckless wretch was about to
give her the opportunity for a beautiful and correct gesture.
"'I have felt in
me the power to make you share this conviction,' he protested, ardently. He had
forgotten himself; he made a step towards her -- perhaps he stumbled. To me he
seemed to be stooping low as if to touch the hem of her garment. And then the
appropriate gesture came. She snatched her skirt away from his polluting
contact and averted her head with an upward tilt. It was magnificently done,
this gesture of conventionally unstained honour, of an unblemished high-minded
amateur.
"Nothing could
have been better. And he seemed to think so, too, for once more he turned away.
But this time he faced no one. He was again panting frightfully, while he
fumbled hurriedly in his waistcoat pocket, and then raised his hand to his
lips. There was something furtive in this movement, but directly afterwards his
bearing changed. His laboured breathing gave him a resemblance to a man who had
just run a desperate race; but a curious air of detachment, of sudden and
profound indifference, replaced the strain of the striving effort. The race was
over. I did not want to see what would happen next. I was only too well aware.
I tucked the young lady's arm under mine without a word, and made my way with
her to the stairs.
"Her brother
walked behind us. Half-way up the short flight she seemed unable to lift her
feet high enough for the steps, and we had to pull and push to get her to the
top. In the passage she dragged herself along, hanging on my arm, helplessly
bent like an old woman. We issued into an empty street through a half-open
door, staggering like besotted revellers. At the corner we stopped a
four-wheeler, and the ancient driver looked round from his box with morose
scorn at our efforts to get her in. Twice during the drive I felt her collapse
on my shoulder in a half faint. Facing us, the youth in knickerbockers remained
as mute as a fish, and, till he jumped out with the latch-key, sat more still
than I would have believed it possible.
"At the door of
their drawing-room she left my arm and walked in first, catching at the chairs
and tables. She unpinned her hat, then, exhausted with the effort, her cloak
still hanging from her shoulders, flung herself into a deep armchair, sideways,
her face half buried in a cushion. The good brother appeared silently before
her with a glass of water. She motioned it away. He drank it himself and walked
off to a distant corner -- behind the grand piano, somewhere. All was still in
this room where I had seen, for the first time, Sevrin, the anti-anarchist,
captivated and spell-bound by the consummate and hereditary grimaces that in a
certain sphere of life take the place of feelings with an excellent effect. I
suppose her thoughts were busy with the same memory. Her shoulders shook
violently. A pure attack of nerves. When it quieted down she affected firmness,
'What is done to a man of that sort? What will they do to him?'
"'Nothing. They
can do nothing to him,' I assured her, with perfect truth. I was pretty certain
he had died in less than twenty minutes from the moment his hand had gone to
his lips. For if his fanatical anti-anarchism went even as far as carrying
poison in his pocket, only to rob his adversaries of legitimate vengeance, I
knew he would take care to provide something that would not fail him when
required.
"She drew an angry
breath. There were red spots on her cheeks and a feverish brilliance in her
eyes.
"'Has ever any one
been exposed to such a terrible experience? To think that he had held my hand!
That man!' Her face twitched, she gulped down a pathetic sob. 'If I ever felt
sure of anything, it was of Sevrin's high-minded motives.'
"Then she began to
weep quietly, which was good for her. Then through her flood of tears, half
resentful, 'What was it he said to me? -- "From conviction!" It
seemed a vile mockery. What could he mean by it?'
"'That, my dear
young lady,' I said, gently, 'is more than I or anybody else can ever explain
to you.'"
Mr. X flicked a crumb
off the front of his coat.
"And that was
strictly true as to her. Though Horne, for instance, understood very well; and
so did I, especially after we had been to Sevrin's lodging in a dismal back
street of an intensely respectable quarter. Horne was known there as a friend,
and we had no difficulty in being admitted, the slatternly maid merely
remarking, as she let us in, that 'Mr Sevrin had not been home that night.' We
forced open a couple of drawers in the way of duty, and found a little useful
information. The most interesting part was his diary; for this man, engaged in
such deadly work, had the weakness to keep a record of the most damnatory kind.
There were his acts and also his thoughts laid bare to us. But the dead don't
mind that. They don't mind anything.
"'From
conviction.' Yes. A vague but ardent humanitarianism had urged him in his first
youth into the bitterest extremity of negation and revolt. Afterwards his
optimism flinched. He doubted and became lost. You have heard of converted
atheists. These turn often into dangerous fanatics, but the soul remains the
same. After he had got acquainted with the girl, there are to be met in that
diary of his very queer politico-amorous rhapsodies. He took her sovereign
grimaces with deadly seriousness. He longed to convert her. But all this cannot
interest you. For the rest, I don't know if you remember -- it is a good many
years ago now -- the journalistic sensation of the 'Hermione Street Mystery';
the finding of a man's body in the cellar of an empty house; the inquest; some
arrests; many surmises -- then silence -- the usual end for many obscure
martyrs and confessors. The fact is, he was not enough of an optimist. You must
be a savage, tyrannical, pitiless, thick-and-thin optimist, like Horne, for
instance, to make a good social rebel of the extreme type.
He rose from the table.
A waiter hurried up with his overcoat; another held his hat in readiness.
"But what became
of the young lady?" I asked.
"Do you really
want to know?" he said, buttoning himself in his fur coat carefully.
"I confess to the small malice of sending her Sevrin's diary. She went
into retirement; then she went to Florence; then she went into retreat in a
convent. I can't tell where she will go next. What does it matter? Gestures!
Gestures! Mere gestures of her class."
He fitted on his glossy
high hat with extreme precision, and casting a rapid glance round the room,
full of well-dressed people, innocently dining, muttered between his teeth:
"And nothing else!
That is why their kind is fated to perish."
I never met Mr. X again
after that evening. I took to dining at my club. On my next visit to Paris I
found my friend all impatience to hear of the effect produced on me by this
rare item of his collection. I told him all the story, and he beamed on me with
the pride of his distinguished specimen.
"Isn't X well
worth knowing?" he bubbled over in great delight. "He's unique,
amazing, absolutely terrific."
His enthusiasm grated
upon my finer feelings. I told him curtly that the man's cynicism was simply
abominable.
"Oh, abominable!
abominable!" assented my friend, effusively. "And then, you know, he
likes to have his little joke sometimes," he added in a confidential tone.
I fail to understand
the connection of this last remark. I have been utterly unable to discover
where in all this the joke comes in.
DODGING in from the
rain-swept street, I exchanged a smile and a glance with Miss Blank in the bar
of the Three Crows. This exchange was effected with extreme propriety. It is a
shock to think that, if still alive, Miss Blank must be something over sixty now.
How time passes!
Noticing my gaze
directed inquiringly at the partition of glass and varnished wood, Miss Blank
was good enough to say, encouragingly:
"Only Mr. Jermyn
and Mr. Stonor in the parlour with another gentleman I've never seen
before."
I moved towards the
parlour door. A voice discoursing on the other side (it was but a matchboard
partition), rose so loudly that the concluding words became quite plain in all
their atrocity.
"That fellow
Wilmot fairly dashed her brains out, and a good job, too!"
This inhuman sentiment,
since there was nothing profane or improper in it, failed to do as much as to
check the slight yawn Miss Blank was achieving behind her hand. And she
remained gazing fixedly at the window-panes, which streamed with rain.
As I opened the parlour
door the same voice went on in the same cruel strain:
"I was glad when I
heard she got the knock from somebody at last. Sorry enough for poor Wilmot,
though. That man and I used to be chums at one time. Of course that was the end
of him. A clear case if there ever was one. No way out of it. None at
all."
The voice belonged to
the gentleman Miss Blank had never seen before. He straddled his long legs on
the hearthrug. Jermyn, leaning forward, held his pocket-handkerchief spread out
before the grate. He looked back dismally over his shoulder, and as I slipped
behind one of the little wooden tables, I nodded to him. On the other side of
the fire, imposingly calm and large, sat Mr. Stonor, jammed tight into a
capacious Windsor armchair. There was nothing small about him but his short,
white side-whiskers. Yards and yards of extra superfine blue cloth (made up
into an overcoat) reposed on a chair by his side. And he must just have brought
some liner from sea, because another chair was smothered under his black
waterproof, ample as a pall, and made of three-fold oiled silk, double-stitched
throughout. A man's hand-bag of the usual size looked like a child's toy on the
floor near his feet.
I did not nod to him.
He was too big to be nodded to in that parlour. He was a senior Trinity pilot
and condescended to take his turn in the cutter only during the summer months.
He had been many times in charge of royal yachts in and out of Port Victoria.
Besides, it's no use nodding to a monument. And he was like one. He didn't
speak, he didn't budge. He just sat there, holding his handsome old head up,
immovable, and almost bigger than life. It was extremely fine. Mr. Stonor's
presence reduced poor old Jermyn to a mere shabby wisp of a man, and made the
talkative stranger in tweeds on the hearthrug look absurdly boyish. The latter
must have been a few years over thirty, and was certainly not the sort of
individual that gets abashed at the sound of his own voice, because gathering
me in, as it were, by a friendly glance, he kept it going without a check.
"I was glad of
it," he repeated, emphatically. "You may be surprised at it, but then
you haven't gone through the experience I've had of her. I can tell you, it was
something to remember. Of course, I got off scot free myself -- as you can see.
She did her best to break up my pluck for me tho'. She jolly near drove as fine
a fellow as ever lived into a madhouse. What do you say to that -- eh?"
Not an eyelid twitched
in Mr. Stonor's enormous face. Monumental! The speaker looked straight into my
eyes.
"It used to make
me sick to think of her going about the world murdering people."
Jermyn approached the
handkerchief a little nearer to the grate and groaned. It was simply a habit he
had.
"I've seen her
once," he declared, with mournful indifference. "She had a house
--"
The stranger in tweeds
turned to stare down at him, surprised.
"She had three
houses," he corrected, authoritatively. But Jermyn was not to be
contradicted.
"She had a house,
I say," he repeated, with dismal obstinacy. "A great, big, ugly,
white thing. You could see it from miles away -- sticking up."
"So you
could," assented the other readily. "It was old Colchester's notion,
though he was always threatening to give her up. He couldn't stand her racket
any more, he declared; it was too much of a good thing for him; he would wash
his hands of her, if he never got hold of another -- and so on. I daresay he
would have chucked her, only -- it may surprise you -- his missus wouldn't hear
of it. Funny, eh? But with women, you never know how they will take a thing,
and Mrs. Colchester, with her moustaches and big eyebrows, set up for being as
strong-minded as they make them. She used to walk about in a brown silk dress,
with a great gold cable flopping about her bosom. You should have heard her
snapping out: 'Rubbish!' or 'Stuff and nonsense!' I daresay she knew when she
was well off. They had no children, and had never set up a home anywhere. When
in England she just made shift to hang out anyhow in some cheap hotel or
boarding-house. I daresay she liked to get back to the comforts she was used
to. She knew very well she couldn't gain by any change. And, moreover,
Colchester, though a first-rate man, was not what you may call in his first
youth, and, perhaps, she may have thought that he wouldn't be able to get hold
of another (as he used to say) so easily. Anyhow, for one reason or another, it
was 'Rubbish' and 'Stuff and nonsense' for the good lady. I overheard once
young Mr. Apse himself say to her confidentially: 'I assure you, Mrs.
Colchester, I am beginning to feel quite unhappy about the name she's getting
for herself.' 'Oh,' says she, with her deep little hoarse laugh, 'if one took
notice of all the silly talk,' and she showed Apse all her ugly false teeth at
once. 'It would take more than that to make me lose my confidence in her, I
assure you,' says she."
At this point, without
any change of facial expression, Mr. Stonor emitted a short, sardonic laugh. It
was very impressive, but I didn't see the fun. I looked from one to another.
The stranger on the hearthrug had an ugly smile.
"And Mr. Apse
shook both Mrs. Colchester's hands, he was so pleased to hear a good word said
for their favourite. All these Apses, young and old you know, were perfectly
infatuated with that abominable, dangerous --"
"I beg your
pardon," I interrupted, for he seemed to be addressing himself exclusively
to me; "but who on earth are you talking about?"
"I am talking of
the Apse family," he answered, courteously.
I nearly let out a damn
at this. But just then the respected Miss Blank put her head in, and said that
the cab was at the door, if Mr. Stonor wanted to catch the eleven three up.
At once the senior
pilot arose in his mighty bulk and began to struggle into his coat, with
awe-inspiring upheavals. The stranger and I hurried impulsively to his
assistance, and directly we laid our hands on him he became perfectly
quiescent. We had to raise our arms very high, and to make efforts. It was like
caparisoning a docile elephant. With a "Thanks, gentlemen," he dived
under and squeezed himself through the door in a great hurry.
We smiled at each other
in a friendly way.
"I wonder how he
manages to hoist himself up a ship's side-ladder," said the man in tweeds;
and poor Jermyn, who was a mere North Sea pilot, without official status or
recognition of any sort, pilot only by courtesy, groaned.
"He makes eight
hundred a year."
"Are you a
sailor?" I asked the stranger, who had gone back to his position on the
rug.
"I used to be till
a couple of years ago, when I got married," answered this communicative
individual. "I even went to sea first in that very ship we were speaking
of when you came in."
"What ship?"
I asked, puzzled. "I never heard you mention a ship."
"I've just told
you her name, my dear sir," he replied. "The Apse Family. Surely
you've heard of the great firm of Apse & Sons, shipowners. They had a
pretty big fleet. There was the Lucy Apse, and the Harold Apse, and Anne, John,
Malcolm, Clara, Juliet, and so on -- no end of Apses. Every brother, sister,
aunt, cousin, wife -- and grandmother, too, for all I know -- of the firm had a
ship named after them. Good, solid, old-fashioned craft they were, too, built
to carry and to last. None of your new-fangled, labour-saving appliances in
them, but plenty of men and plenty of good salt beef and hard tack put aboard
-- and off you go to fight your way out and home again."
The miserable Jermyn
made a sound of approval, which sounded like a groan of pain. Those were the
ships for him. He pointed out in doleful tones that you couldn't say to
labour-saving appliances: "Jump lively now, my hearties." No
labour-saving appliance would go aloft on a dirty night with the sands under
your lee.
"No,"
assented the stranger, with a wink at me. "The Apses didn't believe in
them either, apparently. They treated their people well -- as people don't get
treated nowadays, and they were awfully proud of their ships. Nothing ever
happened to them. This last one, the Apse Family, was to be like the others,
only she was to be still stronger, still safer, still more roomy and
comfortable. I believe they meant her to last for ever. They had her built
composite -- iron, teak-wood, and greenheart, and her scantling was something
fabulous. If ever an order was given for a ship in a spirit of pride this one
was. Everything of the best. The commodore captain of the employ was to command
her, and they planned the accommodation for him like a house on shore under a
big, tall poop that went nearly to the mainmast. No wonder Mrs. Colchester
wouldn't let the old man give her up. Why, it was the best home she ever had in
all her married days. She had a nerve, that woman.
"The fuss that was
made while that ship was building! Let's have this a little stronger, and that
a little heavier; and hadn't that other thing better be changed for something a
little thicker. The builders entered into the spirit of the game, and there she
was, growing into the clumsiest, heaviest ship of her size right before all
their eyes, without anybody becoming aware of it somehow. She was to be 2,000
tons register, or a little over; no less on any account. But see what happens.
When they came to measure her she turned out 1,999> tons and a fraction.
General consternation! And they say old Mr. Apse was so annoyed when they told
him that he took to his bed and died. The old gentleman had retired from the
firm twenty-five years before, and was ninety-six years old if a day, so his
death wasn't, perhaps, so surprising. Still Mr. Lucian Apse was convinced that
his father would have lived to a hundred. So we may put him at the head of the
list. Next comes the poor devil of a shipwright that brute caught and squashed
as she went off the ways. They called it the launch of a ship, but I've heard
people say that, from the wailing and yelling and scrambling out of the way, it
was more like letting a devil loose upon the river. She snapped all her checks
like pack-thread, and went for the tugs in attendance like a fury. Before
anybody could see what she was up to she sent one of them to the bottom, and
laid up another for three months' repairs. One of her cables parted, and then,
suddenly -- you couldn't tell why -- she let herself be brought up with the
other as quiet as a lamb.
"That's how she
was. You could never be sure what she would be up to next. There are ships
difficult to handle, but generally you can depend on them behaving rationally.
With that ship, whatever you did with her you never knew how it would end. She
was a wicked beast. Or, perhaps, she was only just insane."
He uttered this
supposition in so earnest a tone that I could not refrain from smiling. He left
off biting his lower lip to apostrophize me.
"Eh! Why not? Why
couldn't there be something in her build, in her lines corresponding to --
What's madness? Only something just a tiny bit wrong in the make of your brain.
Why shouldn't there be a mad ship -- I mean mad in a ship-like way, so that
under no circumstances could you be sure she would do what any other sensible
ship would naturally do for you. There are ships that steer wildly, and ships
that can't be quite trusted always to stay; others want careful watching when running
in a gale; and, again, there may be a ship that will make heavy weather of it
in every little blow. But then you expect her to be always so. You take it as
part of her character, as a ship, just as you take account of a man's
peculiarities of temper when you deal with him. But with her you couldn't. She
was unaccountable. If she wasn't mad, then she was the most evil-minded,
underhand, savage brute that ever went afloat. I've seen her run in a heavy
gale beautifully for two days, and on the third broach to twice in the same
afternoon. The first time she flung the helmsman clean over the wheel, but as
she didn't quite manage to kill him she had another try about three hours
afterwards. She swamped herself fore and aft, burst all the canvas we had set,
scared all hands into a panic, and even frightened Mrs. Colchester down there
in these beautiful stern cabins that she was so proud of. When we mustered the
crew there was one man missing. Swept overboard, of course, without being
either seen or heard, poor devil! and I only wonder more of us didn't go.
"Always something
like that. Always. I heard an old mate tell Captain Colchester once that it had
come to this with him, that he was afraid to open his mouth to give any sort of
order. She was as much of a terror in harbour as at sea. You could never be
certain what would hold her. On the slightest provocation she would start
snapping ropes, cables, wire hawsers, like carrots. She was heavy, clumsy,
unhandy -- but that does not quite explain that power for mischief she had. You
know, somehow, when I think of her I can't help remembering what we hear of
incurable lunatics breaking loose now and then."
He looked at me
inquisitively. But, of course, I couldn't admit that a ship could be mad.
"In the ports where
she was known," he went on,' "they dreaded the sight of her. She
thought nothing of knocking away twenty feet or so of solid stone facing off a
quay or wiping off the end of a wooden wharf. She must have lost miles of chain
and hundreds of tons of anchors in her time. When she fell aboard some poor
unoffending ship it was the very devil of a job to haul her off again. And she
never got hurt herself -- just a few scratches or so, perhaps. They had wanted
to have her strong. And so she was. Strong enough to ram Polar ice with. And as
she began so she went on. From the day she was launched she never let a year
pass without murdering somebody. I think the owners got very worried about it.
But they were a stiff-necked generation all these Apses; they wouldn't admit
there could be anything wrong with the Apse Family. They wouldn't even change
her name. 'Stuff and nonsense,' as Mrs. Colchester used to say. They ought at
least to have shut her up for life in some dry dock or other, away up the
river, and never let her smell salt water again. I assure you, my dear sir,
that she invariably did kill someone every voyage she made. It was perfectly
well-known. She got a name for it, far and wide."
I expressed my surprise
that a ship with such a deadly reputation could ever get a crew.
"Then, you don't
know what sailors are, my dear sir. Let me just show you by an instance. One
day in dock at home, while loafing on the forecastle head, I noticed two
respectable salts come along, one a middle-aged, competent, steady man,
evidently, the other a smart, youngish chap. They read the name on the bows and
stopped to look at her. Says the elder man: 'Apse Family. That's the sanguinary
female dog' (I'm putting it in that way) 'of a ship, Jack, that kills a man
every voyage. I wouldn't sign in her -- not for Joe, I wouldn't.' And the other
says: 'If she were mine, I'd have her towed on the mud and set on fire, blamme
if I wouldn't.' Then the first man chimes in: 'Much do they care! Men are
cheap, God knows.' The younger one spat in the water alongside. 'They won't
have me -- not for double wages.'
"They hung about
for some time and then walked up the dock. Half an hour later I saw them both
on our deck looking about for the mate, and apparently very anxious to be taken
on. And they were."
"How do you
account for this?" I asked.
"What would you
say?" he retorted. "Recklessness ! The vanity of boasting in the
evening to all their chums: 'We've just shipped in that there Apse Family. Blow
her. She ain't going to scare us.' Sheer sailor-like perversity! A sort of
curiosity. Well -- a little of all that, no doubt. I put the question to them
in the course of the voyage. The answer of the elderly chap was:
"'A man can die
but once.' The younger assured me in a mocking tone that he wanted to see 'how
she would do it this time.' But I tell you what; there was a sort of
fascination about the brute."
Jermyn, who seemed to
have seen every ship in the world, broke in sulkily:
"I saw her once
out of this very window towing up the river; a great black ugly thing, going
along like a big hearse."
"Something
sinister about her looks, wasn't there?" said the man in tweeds, looking
down at old Jermyn with a friendly eye. "I always had a sort of horror of
her. She gave me a beastly shock when I was no more than fourteen, the very
first day -- nay, hour -- I joined her. Father came up to see me off, and was
to go down to Gravesend with us. I was his second boy to go to sea. My big
brother was already an officer then. We. got on board about eleven in the
morning, and found the ship ready to drop out of the basin, stern first. She
had not moved three times her own length when, at a little pluck the tug gave
her to enter the dock gates, she made one of her rampaging starts, and put such
a weight on the check rope -- a new six-inch hawser -- that forward there they
had no chance to ease it round in time, and it parted. I saw the broken end fly
up high in the air, and the next moment that brute brought her quarter against
the pier-head with a jar that staggered everybody about her decks. She didn't
hurt herself. Not she! But one of the boys the mate had sent aloft on the
mizzen to do something, came down on the poop-deck -- thump -- right in front
of me. He was not much older than myself. We had been grinning at each other
only a few minutes before. He must have been handling himself carelessly, not
expecting to get such a jerk. I heard his startled cry -- Oh! -- in a high
treble as he felt himself going, and looked up in time to see him go limp all over
as he fell. Ough! Poor father was remarkably white about the gills when we
shook hands in Gravesend. 'Are you all right?' he says, looking hard at me.
'Yes, father.' 'Quite sure?' 'Yes, father.' 'Well, then good-bye, my boy.' He
told me afterwards that for half a word he would have carried me off home with
him there and then. I am the baby of the family -- you know," added the
man in tweeds, stroking his moustache with an ingenuous smile.
I acknowledged this
interesting communication by a sympathetic murmur. He waved his hand
carelessly.
"This might have
utterly spoiled a chap's nerve for going aloft, you know -- utterly. He fell
within two feet of me, cracking his head on a mooring-bitt. Never moved. Stone
dead. Nice looking little fellow, he was. I had just been thinking we would be
great chums. However, that wasn't yet the worst that brute of a ship could do.
I served in her three years of my time, and then I got transferred to the Lucy
Apse, for a year. The sailmaker we had in the Apse Family turned up there, too,
and I remember him saying to me one evening, after we had been a week at sea:
Isn't she a meek little ship?' No wonder we thought the Lucy Apse a dear, meek,
little ship after getting clear of that big, rampaging savage brute. It was like
heaven. Her officers seemed to me the restfullest lot of men on earth. To me
who had known no ship but the Apse Family, the Lucy was like a sort of magic
craft that did what you wanted her to do of her own accord. One evening we got
caught aback pretty sharply from right ahead. In about ten minutes we had her
full again, sheets aft, tacks down, decks cleared, and the officer of the watch
leaning against the weather rail peacefully. It seemed simply marvellous to me.
The other would have stuck for half-an-hour in irons, rolling her decks full of
water, knocking the men about -- spars cracking, braces snapping, yards taking
charge, and a confounded scare going on aft because of her beastly rudder,
which she had a way of flapping about fit to raise your hair on end. I couldn't
get over my wonder for days.
"Well, I finished
my last year of apprenticeship in that jolly little ship -- she wasn't so
little either, but after that other heavy devil she seemed but a plaything to
handle. I finished my time and passed; and then just as I was thinking of
having three weeks of real good time on shore I got at breakfast a letter
asking me the earliest day I could be ready to join the Apse Family as third
mate. I gave my plate a shove that shot it into the middle of the table; dad
looked up over his paper; mother raised her hands in astonishment, and I went
out bare-headed into our bit of garden, where I walked round and round for an
hour.
"When I came in
again mother was out of the dining-room, and dad had shifted berth into his big
armchair. The letter was lying on the mantelpiece.
"'It's very
creditable to you to get the offer, and very kind of them to make it,' he said.
'And I see also that Charles has been appointed chief mate of that ship for one
voyage.'
"There was, over
leaf, a P.S. to that effect in Mr. Apse's own handwriting, which I had
overlooked. Charley was my big brother.
"I don't like very
much to have two of my boys together in one ship,' father goes on, in his
deliberate, solemn way. 'And I may tell you that I would not mind writing Mr.
Apse a letter to that effect.'
"Dear old dad! He
was a wonderful father. What would you have done? The mere notion of going back
(and as an officer, too), to be worried and bothered, and kept on the jump
night and day by that brute, made me feel sick. But she wasn't a ship you could
afford to fight shy of. Besides, the most genuine excuse could not be given
without mortally offending Apse & Sons. The firm, and I believe the whole
family down to the old unmarried aunts in Lancashire, had grown desperately
touchy about that accursed ship's character. This was the case for answering
'Ready now' from your very death-bed if you wished to die in their good graces.
And that's precisely what I did answer -- by wire, to have it over and done
with at once.
"The prospect of
being shipmates with my big brother cheered me up considerably, though it made
me a bit anxious, too. Ever since I remember myself as a little chap he had
been very good to me, and I looked upon him as the finest fellow in the world.
And so he was. No better officer ever walked the deck of a merchant ship. And
that's a fact. He was a fine, strong, upstanding, sun-tanned, young fellow,
with his brown hair curling a little, and an eye like a hawk. He was just
splendid. We hadn't seen each other for many years, and even this time, though
he had been in England three weeks already, he hadn't showed up at home yet,
but had spent his spare time in Surrey somewhere making up to Maggie
Colchester, old Captain Colchester's niece. Her father, a great friend of
dad's, was in the sugar-broking business, and Charley made a sort of second
home of their house. I wondered what my big brother would think of me. There
was a sort of sternness about Charley's face which never left it, not even when
he was larking in his rather wild fashion.
"He received me
with a great shout of laughter. He seemed to think my joining as an officer the
greatest joke in the world. There was a difference of ten years between us, and
I suppose he remembered me best in pinafores. I was a kid of four when he first
went to sea. It surprised me to find how boisterous he could be.
"'Now we shall see
what you are made of,' he cried. And he held me off by the shoulders, and
punched my ribs, and hustled me into his berth. 'Sit down, Ned. I am glad of
the chance of having you with me. I'll put the finishing touch to you, my young
officer, providing you're worth the trouble. And, first of all, get it well
into your head that we are not going to let this brute kill anybody this
voyage. We'll stop her racket.'
"I perceived he
was in dead earnest about it. He talked grimly of the ship, and how we must be
careful and never allow this ugly beast to catch us napping with any of her
damned tricks.
"He gave me a
regular lecture on special seamanship for the use of the Apse Family; then
changing his tone, he began to talk at large, rattling off the wildest,
funniest nonsense, till my sides ached with laughing. I could see very well he
was a bit above himself with high spirits. It couldn't be because of my coming.
Not to that extent. But, of course, I wouldn't have dreamt of asking what was
the matter. I had a proper respect for my big brother, I can tell you. But it
was all made plain enough a day or two afterwards, when I heard that Miss
Maggie Colchester was coming for the voyage. Uncle was giving her a sea-trip
for the benefit of her health.
"I don't know what
could have been wrong with her health. She had a beautiful colour, and a deuce
of a lot of fair hair. She didn't care a rap for wind, or rain, or spray, or
sun, or green seas, or anything. She was a blue-eyed, jolly girl of the very
best sort, but the way she cheeked my big brother used to frighten me. I always
expected it to end in an awful row. However, nothing decisive happened till
after we had been in Sydney for a week. One day, in the men's dinner hour,
Charley sticks his head into my cabin. I was stretched out on my back on the
settee, smoking in peace.
"'Come ashore with
me, Ned,' he says, in his curt way.
"I jumped up, of
course, and away after him down the gangway and up George Street. He strode
along like a giant, and I at his elbow, panting. It was confoundedly hot.
'Where on earth are you rushing me to, Charley?' I made bold to ask.
"'Here,' he says.
"'Here' was a
jeweller's shop. I couldn't imagine what he could want there. It seemed a sort
of mad freak. He thrusts under my nose three rings, which looked very tiny on
his big, brown palm, growling out --
"'For Maggie!
Which?'
"I got a kind of
scare at this. I couldn't make a sound, but I pointed at the one that sparkled
white and blue. He put it in his waistcoat pocket, paid for it with a lot of
sovereigns, and bolted out. When we got on board I was quite out of breath.
'Shake hands, old chap,' I gasped out. He gave me a thump on the back. 'Give
what orders you like to the boatswain when the hands turn-to,' says he; 'I am
off duty this afternoon.'
"Then he vanished
from the deck for a while, but presently he came out of the cabin with Maggie,
and these two went over the gangway publicly, before all hands, going for a
walk together on that awful, blazing hot day, with clouds of dust flying about.
They came back after a few hours looking very staid, but didn't seem to have
the slightest idea where they had been. Anyway, that's the answer they both
made to Mrs. Colchester's question at tea-time.
"And didn't she
turn on Charley, with her voice like an old night cabman's! 'Rubbish. Don't
know where you've been! Stuff and nonsense. You've walked the girl off her
legs. Don't do it again.'
"It's surprising
how meek Charley could be with that old woman. Only on one occasion he
whispered to me, 'I'm jolly glad she isn't Maggie's aunt, except by marriage.
That's no sort of relationship.' But I think he let Maggie have too much of her
own way. She was hopping all over that ship in her yachting skirt and a red tam
o' shanter like a bright bird on a dead black tree. The old salts used to grin
to themselves when they saw her coming along, and offered to teach her knots or
splices. I believe she liked the men, for Charley's sake, I suppose.
"As you may
imagine, the fiendish propensities of that cursed ship were never spoken of on
board. Not in the cabin, at any rate. Only once on the homeward passage Charley
said, incautiously, something about bringing all her crew home this time.
Captain Colchester began to look uncomfortable at once, and that silly,
hard-bitten old woman flew out at Charley as though he had said something
indecent. I was quite confounded myself; as to Maggie, she sat completely
mystified, opening her blue eyes very wide. Of course, before she was a day
older she wormed it all out of me. She was a very difficult person to lie to.
"'How awful,' she
said, quite solemn. 'So many poor fellows. I am glad the voyage is nearly over.
I won't have a moment's peace about Charley now.'
"I assured her
Charley was all right. It took more than that ship knew to get over a seaman
like Charley. And she agreed with me.
"Next day we got
the tug off Dungeness; and when the tow-rope was fast Charley rubbed his hands
and said to me in an undertone --
"'We've baffled
her, Ned.'
'"Looks like it,'
I said, with a grin at him. It was beautiful weather, and the sea as smooth as
a millpond. We went up the river without a shadow of trouble except once, when
off Hole Haven, the brute took a sudden sheer and nearly had a barge anchored
just clear of the fairway. But I was aft, looking after the steering, and she
did not catch me napping that time. Charley came up on the poop, looking very
concerned. 'Close shave,' says he.
"'Never mind,
Charley,' I answered, cheerily. 'You've tamed her.'
"We were to tow
right up to the dock. The river pilot boarded us below Gravesend, and the first
words I heard him say were: 'You may just as well take your port anchor inboard
at once, Mr. Mate.'
"This had been
done when I went forward. I saw Maggie on the forecastle head enjoying the
bustle and I begged her to go aft, but she took no notice of me, of course.
Then Charley, who was very busy with the head gear, caught sight of her and
shouted in his biggest voice: 'Get off the forecastle head, Maggie. You're in
the way here.' For all answer she made a funny face at him, and I saw poor
Charley turn away, hiding a smile. She was flushed with the excitement of
getting home again, and her blue eyes seemed to snap electric sparks as she
looked at the river. A collier brig had gone round just ahead of us, and our
tug had to stop her engines in a hurry to avoid running into her.
"In a moment, as
is usually the case, all the shipping in the reach seemed to get into a
hopeless tangle. A schooner and a ketch got up a small collision all to
themselves right in the middle of the river. It was exciting to watch, and,
meantime, our tug remained stopped. Any other ship than that brute could have
been coaxed to keep straight for a couple of minutes -- but not she! Her head
fell off at once, and she began to drift down, taking her tug along with her. I
noticed a cluster of coasters at anchor within a quarter of a mile of us, and I
thought I had better speak to the pilot. 'If you let her get amongst that lot,'
I said, quietly, 'she will grind some of them to bits before we get her out
again.'
"'Don't I know
her!' cries he, stamping his foot in a perfect fury. And he out with his
whistle to make that bothered tug get the ship's head up again as quick as
possible. He blew like mad, waving his arm to port, and presently we could see
that the tug's engines had been set going ahead. Her paddles churned the water,
but it was as if she had been trying to tow a rock -- she couldn't get an inch
out of that ship. Again the pilot blew his whistle, and waved his arm to port.
We could see the tug's paddles turning faster and faster away, broad on our
bow.
"For a moment tug
and ship hung motionless in a crowd of moving shipping, and then the terrific
strain that evil, stony-hearted brute would always put on everything, tore the
towing-chock clean out. The tow-rope surged over, snapping the iron stanchions
of the head-rail one after another as if they had been sticks of sealing-wax.
It was only then I noticed that in order to have a better view over our heads,
Maggie had stepped upon the port anchor as it lay flat on the forecastle deck.
"It had been
lowered properly into its hardwood beds, but there had been no time to take a turn
with it. Anyway, it was quite secure as it was, for going into dock; but I
could see directly that the tow-rope would sweep under the fluke in another
second. My heart flew up right into my throat, but not before I had time to
yell out: 'Jump clear of that anchor!'
"But I hadn't time
to shriek out her name. I don't suppose she heard me at all. The first touch of
the hawser against the fluke threw her down; she was up on her feet again quick
as lightning, but she was up on the wrong side. I heard a horrid, scraping sound,
and then that anchor, tipping over, rose up like something alive; its great,
rough iron arm caught Maggie round the waist, seemed to clasp her close with a
dreadful hug, and flung itself with her over and down in a terrific clang of
iron, followed by heavy ringing blows that shook the ship from stem to stern --
because the ring stopper held!"
"How
horrible!" I exclaimed.
"I used to dream
for years afterwards of anchors catching hold of girls," said the man in
tweeds, a little wildly. He shuddered. "With a most pitiful howl Charley
was over after her almost on the instant. But, Lord! he didn't see as much as a
gleam of her red tam o' shanter in the water. Nothing! nothing whatever! In a
moment there were half-a-dozen boats around us, and he got pulled into one. I,
with the boatswain and the carpenter, let go the other anchor in a hurry and
brought the ship up somehow. The pilot had gone silly. He walked up and down
the forecastle head wringing his hands and muttering to himself: 'Killing
women, now! Killing women, now!' Not another word could you get out of him.
"Dusk fell, then a
night black as pitch; and peering upon the river I heard a low, mournful hail,
'Ship, ahoy!' Two Gravesend watermen came alongside. They had a lantern in
their wherry, and looked up the ship's side, holding on to the ladder without a
word. I saw in the patch of light a lot of loose, fair hair down there."
He shuddered again.
"After the tide
turned poor Maggie's body had floated clear of one of them big mooring
buoys," he explained. "I crept aft, feeling half-dead, and managed to
send a rocket up -- to let the other searchers know, on the river. And then I
slunk away forward like a cur, and spent the night sitting on the heel of the
bowsprit so as to be as far as possible out of Charley's way."
"Poor
fellow!" I murmured.
"Yes. Poor
fellow," he repeated, musingly. "That brute wouldn't let him -- not
even him -- cheat her of her prey. But he made her fast in dock next morning.
He did. We hadn't exchanged a word -- not a single look for that matter. I
didn't want to look at him. When the last rope was fast he put his hands to his
head and stood gazing down at his feet as if trying to remember something. The
men waited on the main deck for the words that end the voyage. Perhaps that is
what he was trying to remember. I spoke for him. 'That'll do, men.'
"I never saw a
crew leave a ship so quietly. They sneaked over the rail one after another,
taking care not to bang their sea chests too heavily. They looked our way, but
not one had the stomach to come up and offer to shake hands with the mate as is
usual.
"I followed him
all over the empty ship to and fro, here and there, with no living soul about
but the two of us, because the old ship-keeper had locked himself up in the galley
-- both doors. Suddenly poor Charley mutters, in a crazy voice: 'I'm done
here,' and strides down the gangway with me at his heels, up the dock, out at
the gate, on towards Tower Hill. He used to take rooms with a decent old
landlady in America Square, to be near his work.
"All at once he
stops short, turns round, and comes back straight at me. 'Ned,' says he, I am
going home.' I had the good luck to sight a four-wheeler and got him in just in
time. His legs were beginning to give way. In our hall he fell down on a chair,
and I'll never forget father's and mother's amazed, perfectly still faces as
they stood over him. They couldn't understand what had happened to him till I
blubbered out, 'Maggie got drowned, yesterday, in the river.'
"Mother let out a
little cry. Father looks from him to me, and from me to him, as if comparing
our faces -- for, upon my soul, Charley did not resemble himself at all. Nobody
moved; and the poor fellow raises his big brown hands slowly to his throat, and
with one single tug rips everything open -- collar, shirt, waistcoat -- a
perfect wreck and ruin of a man. Father and I got him upstairs somehow, and
mother pretty nearly killed herself nursing him through a brain fever."
The man in tweeds
nodded at me significantly.
"Ah! there was
nothing that could be done with that brute. She had a devil in her."
"Where's your
brother?" I asked, expecting to hear he was dead. But he was commanding a
smart steamer on the China coast, and never came home now.
Jermyn fetched a heavy
sigh, and the handkerchief being now sufficiently dry, put it up tenderly to
his red and lamentable nose.
"She was a
ravening beast," the man in tweeds started again. "Old Colchester put
his foot down and resigned. And would you believe it? Apse & Sons wrote to
ask whether he wouldn't reconsider his decision! Anything to save the good name
of the Apse Family.' Old Colchester went to the office then and said that he
would take charge again but only to sail her out into the North Sea and scuttle
her there. He was nearly off his chump. He used to be darkish iron-grey, but
his hair went snow-white in a fortnight. And Mr. Lucian Apse (they had known
each other as young men) pretended not to notice it. Eh? Here's infatuation if
you like! Here's pride for you!
"They jumped at
the first man they could get to take her, for fear of the scandal of the Apse
Family not being able to find a skipper. He was a festive soul, I believe, but
he stuck to her grim and hard. Wilmot was his second mate. A harum-scarum fellow,
and pretending to a great scorn for all the girls. The fact is he was really
timid. But let only one of them do as much as lift her little finger in
encouragement, and there was nothing that could hold the beggar. As apprentice,
once, he deserted abroad after a petticoat, and would have gone to the dogs
then, if his skipper hadn't taken the trouble to find him and lug him by the
ears out of some house of perdition or other.
"It was said that
one of the firm had been heard once to express a hope that this brute of a ship
would get lost soon. I can hardly credit the tale, unless it might have been
Mr. Alfred Apse, whom the family didn't think much of. They had him in the
office, but he was considered a bad egg altogether, always flying off to race
meetings and coming home drunk. You would have thought that a ship so full of
deadly tricks would run herself ashore some day out of sheer cussedness. But
not she! She was going to last for ever. She had a nose to keep off the
bottom."
Jermyn made a grunt of
approval.
"A ship after a
pilot's own heart, eh?" jeered the man in tweeds. "Well, Wilmot
managed it. He was the man for it, but even he, perhaps, couldn't have done the
trick without the green-eyed governess, or nurse, or whatever she was to the children
of Mr. and Mrs. Pamphilius.
"Those people were
passengers in her from Port Adelaide to the Cape. Well, the ship went out and
anchored outside for the day. The skipper -- hospitable soul -- had a lot of
guests from town to a farewell lunch -- as usual with him. It was five in the
evening before the last shore boat left the side, and the weather looked ugly
and dark in the gulf. There was no reason for him to get under way. However, as
he had told everybody he was going that day, he imagined it was proper to do so
anyhow. But as he had no mind after all these festivities to tackle the straits
in the dark, with a scant wind, he gave orders to keep the ship under lower
topsails and foresail as close as she would lie, dodging along the land till
the morning. Then he sought his virtuous couch. The mate was on deck, having
his face washed very clean with hard rain squalls. Wilmot relieved him at
midnight.
"The Apse Family
had, as you observed, a house on her poop . . ."
"A big, ugly white
thing, sticking up," Jermyn murmured, sadly, at the fire.
"That's it: a
companion for the cabin stairs and a sort of chart-room combined. The rain
drove in gusts on the sleepy Wilmot. The ship was then surging slowly to the
southward, close hauled, with the coast within three miles or so to windward.
There was nothing to look out for in that part of the gulf, and Wilmot went
round to dodge the squalls under the lee of that chart-room, whose door on that
side was open. The night was black, like a barrel of coal-tar. And then he
heard a woman's voice whispering to him.
"That confounded
green-eyed girl of the Pamphilius people had put the kids to bed a long time
ago, of course, but it seems couldn't get to sleep herself. She heard eight
bells struck, and the chief mate come below to turn in. She waited a bit, then
got into her dressing-gown and stole across the empty saloon and up the stairs
into the chart-room. She sat down on the settee near the open door to cool
herself, I daresay.
"I suppose when
she whispered to Wilmot it was as if somebody had struck a match in the
fellow's brain. I don't know how it was they had got so very thick. I fancy he
had met her ashore a few times before. I couldn't make it out, because, when
telling the story, Wilmot would break off to swear something awful at every
second word. We had met on the quay in Sydney, and he had an apron of sacking
up to his chin, a big whip in his hand. A wagon-driver. Glad to do anything not
to starve. That's what he had come down to.
"However, there he
was, with his head inside the door, on the girl's shoulder as likely as not --
officer of the watch! The helmsman, on giving his evidence afterwards, said
that he shouted several times that the binnacle lamp had gone out. It didn't
matter to him, because his orders were to 'sail her close.' 'I thought it
funny,' he said, 'that the ship should keep on falling off in squalls, but I
luffed her up every time as close as I was able. It was so dark I couldn't see
my hand before my face, and the rain came in bucketfuls on my head.'
"The truth was
that at every squall the wind hauled aft a little, till gradually the ship came
to be heading straight for the coast, without a single soul in her being aware
of it. Wilmot himself confessed that he had not been near the standard compass
for an hour. He might well have confessed! The first thing he knew was the man
on the look-out shouting blue murder forward there.
"He tore his neck
free, he says, and yelled back at him: 'What do you say?'
"'I think I hear
breakers ahead, sir,' howled the man, and came rushing aft with the rest of the
watch, in the 'awfullest blinding deluge that ever fell from the sky,' Wilmot
says. For a second or so he was so scared and bewildered that he could not
remember on which side of the gulf the ship was. He wasn't a good officer, but
he was a seaman all the same. He pulled himself together in a second, and the
right orders sprang to his lips without thinking. They were to hard up with the
helm and shiver the main and mizzen-topsails.
"It seems that the
sails actually fluttered. He couldn't see them, but he heard them rattling and
banging above his head. 'No use! She was too slow in going off,' he went on,
his dirty face twitching, and the damn'd carter's whip shaking in his hand.
'She seemed to stick fast.' And then the flutter of the canvas above his head
ceased. At this critical moment the wind hauled aft again with a gust, filling
the sails and sending the ship with a great way upon the rocks on her lee bow.
She had overreached herself in her last little game. Her time had come -- the
hour, the man, the black night, the treacherous gust of wind -- the right woman
to put an end to her. The brute deserved nothing better. Strange are the
instruments of Providence. There's a sort of poetical justice --"
The man in tweeds
looked hard at me.
"The first ledge
she went over stripped the false keel off her. Rip! The skipper, rushing out of
his berth, found a crazy woman, in a red flannel dressing-gown, flying round
and round the cuddy, screeching like a cockatoo.
"The next bump
knocked her clean under the cabin table. It also started the stern-post and
carried away the rudder, and then that brute ran up a shelving, rocky shore,
tearing her bottom out, till she stopped. short, and the foremast dropped over
the bows like a gangway."
"Anybody
lost?" I asked.
"No one, unless
that fellow, Wilmot," answered the gentleman, unknown to Miss Blank,
looking round for his cap. "And his case was worse than drowning for a
man. Everybody got ashore all right. Gale didn't come on till next day, dead
from the West, and broke up that brute in a surprisingly short time. It was as
though she had been rotten at heart." . . . He changed his tone,
"Rain left off? I must get my bike and rush home to dinner. I live in Herne
Bay -- came out for a spin this morning."
He nodded at me in a
friendly way, and went out with a swagger.
"Do you know who
he is, Jermyn?" I asked.
The North Sea pilot
shook his head, dismally. "Fancy losing a ship in that silly fashion! Oh,
dear! oh dear!" he groaned in lugubrious tones, spreading his damp
handkerchief again like a curtain before the glowing grate.
On going out I
exchanged a glance and a smile (strictly proper) with the respectable Miss
Blank, barmaid of the Three Crows.
THAT year I spent the
best two months of the dry season on one of the estates -- in fact, on the
principal cattle estate -- of a famous meat-extract manufacturing company.
B.O.S. Bos. You have
seen the three magic letters on the advertisement pages of magazines and
newspapers, in the windows of provision merchants, and on calendars for next
year you receive by post in the month of November. They scatter pamphlets also,
written in a sickly enthusiastic style and in several languages, giving
statistics of slaughter and bloodshed enough to make a Turk turn faint. The
"art" illustrating that "literature" represents in vivid
and shining colours a large and enraged black bull stamping upon a yellow snake
writhing in emerald-green grass, with a cobalt-blue sky for a background. It is
atrocious and it is an allegory. The snake symbolizes disease, weakness --
perhaps mere hunger, which last is the chronic disease of the majority of
mankind. Of course everybody knows the B. 0. S. Ltd., with its unrivalled
products: Vinobos, Jellybos, and the latest unequalled perfection, Tribos,
whose nourishment is offered to you not only highly concentrated, but already
half digested. Such apparently is the love that Limited Company bears to its
fellowmen -- even as the love of the father and mother penguin for their hungry
fledglings.
Of course the capital
of a country must be productively employed. I have nothing to say against the
company. But being myself animated by feelings of affection towards my
fellow-men, I am saddened by the modern system of advertising. Whatever
evidence it offers of enterprise, ingenuity, impudence, and resource in certain
individuals, it proves to my mind the wide prevalence of that form of mental
degradation which is called gullibility.
In various parts of the
civilized and uncivilized world I have had to swallow B. 0. S. with more or
less benefit to myself, though without great pleasure. Prepared with hot water
and abundantly peppered to bring out the taste, this extract is not really
unpalatable. But I have never swallowed its advertisements. Perhaps they have
not gone far enough. As far as I can remember they make no promise of
everlasting youth to the users of B. 0. S., nor yet have they claimed the power
of raising the dead for their estimable products. Why this austere reserve, I
wonder? But I don't think they would have had me even on these terms. Whatever
form of mental degradation I may (being but human) be suffering from, it is not
the popular form. I am not gullible.
I have been at some
pains to bring out distinctly this statement about myself in view of the story
which follows. I have checked the facts as far as possible. I have turned up
the files of French newspapers, and I have also talked with the officer who
commands the military guard on the Ile Royale, when in the course of my travels
I reached Cayenne. I believe the story to be in the main true. It is the sort
of story that no man, I think, would ever invent about himself, for it is
neither grandiose nor flattering, nor yet funny enough to gratify a perverted
vanity.
It concerns the
engineer of the steam-launch belonging to the Marañon cattle estate of the B.
0. S. Co., Ltd. This estate is also an island -- an island as big as a small
province, lying in the estuary of a great South American river. It is wild and
not beautiful, but the grass growing on its low plains seems to possess
exceptionally nourishing and flavouring qualities. It resounds with the lowing
of innumerable herds -- a deep and distressing sound under the open sky, rising
like a monstrous protest of prisoners condemned to death. On the mainland,
across twenty miles of discoloured muddy water, there stands a city whose name,
let us say, is Horta.
But the most
interesting characteristic of this island (which seems like a sort of penal
settlement for condemned cattle) consists in its being the only known habitat
of an extremely rare and gorgeous butterfly. The species is even more rare than
it is beautiful, which is not saying little. I have already alluded to my
travels. I travelled at that time, but strictly for myself and with a
moderation unknown in our days of round-the-world tickets. I even travelled
with a purpose. As a matter of fact, I am -- "Ha, ha, ha! -- a desperate
butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!"
This was the tone in
which Mr. Harry Gee, the manager of the cattle station, alluded to my pursuits.
He seemed to consider me the greatest absurdity in the world. On the other
hand, the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., represented to him the acme of the nineteenth
century's achievement. I believe that he slept in his leggings and spurs. His
days he spent in the saddle flying over the plains, followed by a train of
half-wild horsemen, who called him Don Enrique, and who had no definite idea of
the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., which paid their wages. He was an excellent manager,
but I don't see why, when we met at meals, he should have thumped me on the
back, with loud, derisive inquiries: "How's the deadly sport to-day?
Butterflies going strong? Ha, ha, ha!" -- especially as he charged me two
dollars per diem for the hospitality of the B. 0. S. Co., Ltd., (capital £1,500,000,
fully paid up), in whose balance-sheet for that year those monies are no doubt
included. "I don't think I can make it anything less in justice to my
company," he had remarked, with extreme gravity, when I was arranging with
him the terms of my stay on the island.
His chaff would have
been harmless enough if intimacy of intercourse in the absence of all friendly
feeling were not a thing detestable in itself. Moreover, his facetiousness was
not very amusing. It consisted in the wearisome repetition of descriptive
phrases applied to people with a burst of laughter. "Desperate
butterfly-slayer. Ha, ha, ha!" was one sample of his peculiar wit which he
himself enjoyed so much. And in the same vein of exquisite humour he called my
attention to the engineer of the steam-launch, one day, as we strolled on the
path by the side of the creek.
The man's head and
shoulders emerged above the deck, over which were scattered various tools of
his trade and a few pieces of machinery. He was doing some repairs to the
engines. At the sound of our footsteps he raised anxiously a grimy face with a
pointed chin and a tiny fair moustache. What could be seen of his delicate
features under the black smudges appeared to me wasted and livid in the
greenish shade of the enormous tree spreading its foliage over the launch
moored close to the bank.
To my great surprise,
Harry Gee addressed him as "Crocodile," in that half-jeering,
half-bullying tone which is characteristic of self-satisfaction in his
delectable kind:
"How does the work
get on, Crocodile?"
I should have said
before that the amiable Harry had picked up French of a sort somewhere -- in
some colony or other -- and that he pronounced it with a disagreeable forced
precision as though he meant to guy the language. The man in the launch
answered him quickly in a pleasant voice. His eyes had a liquid softness and
his teeth flashed dazzlingly white between his thin, drooping lips. The manager
turned to me, very cheerful and loud, explaining:
"I call him
Crocodile because he lives half in, half out of the creek. Amphibious -- see?
There's nothing else amphibious living on the island except crocodiles; so he
must belong to the species -- eh? But in reality he's nothing less than un
citoyen anarchiste de Barcelone."
"A citizen
anarchist from Barcelona?" I repeated, stupidly, looking down at the man.
He had turned to his work in the engine-well of the launch and presented his
bowed back to us. In that attitude I heard him protest, very audibly:
"I do not even
know Spanish."
"Hey? What? You
dare to deny you come from over there?" the accomplished manager was down
on him truculently.
At this the man
straightened himself up, dropping a spanner he had been using, and faced us;
but he trembled in all his limbs.
"I deny nothing,
nothing, nothing!" he said, excitedly.
He picked up the
spanner and went to work again without paying any further attention to us.
After looking at him for a minute or so, we went away.
"Is he really an
anarchist?" I asked, when out of ear-shot.
"I don't care a
hang what he is," answered the humorous official of the B. 0. S. Co.
"I gave him the name because it suited me to label him in that way, It's
good for the company."
"For the
company!" I exclaimed, stopping short.
"Aha!" he
triumphed, tilting up his hairless pug face and straddling his thin, long legs.
"That surprises you. I am bound to do my best for my company. They have
enormous expenses. Why -- our agent in Horta tells me they spend fifty thousand
pounds every year in advertising all over the world! One can't be too
economical in working the show. Well, just you listen. When I took charge here
the estate had no steam-launch. I asked for one, and kept on asking by every
mail till I got it; but the man they sent out with it chucked his job at the
end of two months, leaving the launch moored at the pontoon in Horta. Got a
better screw at a sawmill up the river -- blast him! And ever since it has been
the same thing. Any Scotch or Yankee vagabond that likes to call himself a
mechanic out here gets eighteen pounds a month, and the next you know he's
cleared out, after smashing something as likely as not. I give you my word that
some of the objects I've had for engine-drivers couldn't tell the boiler from
the funnel. But this fellow understands his trade, and I don't mean him to
clear out. See?"
And he struck me
lightly on the chest for emphasis. Disregarding his peculiarities of manner, I
wanted to know what all this had to do with the man being an anarchist.
"Come!"
jeered the manager. "If you saw suddenly a barefooted, unkempt chap
slinking amongst the bushes on the sea face of the island, and at the same time
observed less than a mile from the beach, a small schooner full of niggers
hauling off in a hurry, you wouldn't think the man fell there from the sky,
would you? And it could be nothing else but either that or Cayenne. I've got my
wits about me. Directly I sighted this queer game I said to myself -- 'Escaped
Convict.' I was as certain of it as I am of seeing you standing here this
minute. So I spurred on straight at him. He stood his ground for a bit on a
sand hillock crying out: 'Monsieur! Monsieur! Arrêtez!' then at the last moment
broke and ran for life. Says I to myself, 'I'll tame you before I'm done with
you.' So without a single word I kept on, heading him off here and there. I
rounded him up towards the shore, and at last I had him corralled on a spit,
his heels in the water and nothing but sea and sky at his back, with my horse
pawing the sand and shaking his head within a yard of him.
"He folded his
arms on his breast then and stuck his chin up in a sort of desperate way; but I
wasn't to be impressed by the beggar's posturing.
"Says I, 'You're a
runaway convict.'
"When he heard
French, his chin went down and his face changed.
"'I deny nothing,'
says he, panting yet, for I had kept him skipping about in front of my horse
pretty smartly. I asked him what he was doing there. He had got his breath by
then, and explained that he had meant to make his way to a farm which he
understood (from the schooner's people, I suppose) was to be found in the
neighbourhood. At that I laughed aloud and he got uneasy. Had he been deceived?
Was there no farm within walking distance?
"I laughed more
and more. He was on foot, and of course the first bunch of cattle he came
across would have stamped him to rags under their hoofs. A dismounted man
caught on the feeding-grounds hasn't got the ghost of a chance.
"'My coming upon
you like this has certainly saved your life,' I said. He remarked that perhaps
it was so; but that for his part he had imagined I had wanted to kill him under
the hoofs of my horse. I assured him that nothing would have been easier had I
meant it. And then we came to a sort of dead stop. For the life of me I didn't
know what to do with this convict, unless I chucked him into the sea. It
occurred to me to ask him what he had been transported for. He hung his head.
"'What is it?'
says I. 'Theft, murder, rape, or what?' I wanted to hear what he would have to
say for himself, though of course I expected it would be some sort of lie. But
all he said was --
"'Make it what you
like. I deny nothing. It is no good denying anything.'
"I looked him over
carefully and a thought struck me.
"'They've got
anarchists there, too,' I said. 'Perhaps you're one of them.'
"'I deny nothing
whatever, monsieur,' he repeats.
"This answer made
me think that perhaps he was not an anarchist. I believe those damned lunatics
are rather proud of themselves. If he had been one, he would have probably
confessed straight out.
"'What were you
before you became a convict?'
"'Ouvrier,' he
says. 'And a good workman, too.'
"At that I began
to think he must be an anarchist, after all. That's the class they come mostly
from, isn't it? I hate the cowardly bomb-throwing brutes. I almost made up my
mind to turn my horse short round and leave him to starve or drown where he
was, whichever he liked best. As to crossing the island to bother me again, the
cattle would see to that. I don't know what induced me to ask --
"'What sort of
workman?'
"I didn't care a
hang whether he answered me or not. But when he said at once, 'Mécanicien,
monsieur,' I nearly jumped out of the saddle with excitement. The launch had
been lying disabled and idle in the creek for three weeks. My duty to the
company was clear. He noticed my start, too, and there we were for a minute or
so staring at each other as if bewitched.
"'Get up on my
horse behind me,' I told him. 'You shall put my steam-launch to rights.'"
These are the words in
which the worthy manager of the Marañon estate related to me the coming of the
supposed anarchist. He meant to keep him -- out of a sense of duty to the
company -- and the name he had given him would prevent the fellow from
obtaining employment anywhere in Horta. The vaqueros of the estate, when they
went on leave, spread it all over the town. They did not know what an anarchist
was, nor yet what Barcelona meant. They called him Anarchisto de Barcelona, as
if it were his Christian name and surname. But the people in town had been
reading in their papers about the anarchists in Europe and were very much
impressed. Over the jocular addition of "de Barcelona" Mr. Harry Gee
chuckled with immense satisfaction. "That breed is particularly murderous,
isn't it? It makes the sawmills crowd still more afraid of having anything to
do with him -- see?" he exulted, candidly. "I hold him by that name
better than if I had him chained up by the leg to the deck of the steam-launch.
"And mark,"
he added, after a pause, "he does not deny it. I am not wronging him in
any way. He is a convict of some sort, anyhow."
"But I suppose you
pay him some wages, don't you?" I asked.
"Wages! What does
he want with money here? He gets his food from my kitchen and his clothing from
the store. Of course I'll give him something at the end of the year, but you
don't think I'd employ a convict and give him the same money I would give an
honest man? I am looking after the interests of my company first and
last."
I admitted that, for a
company spending fifty thousand pounds every year in advertising, the strictest
economy was obviously necessary. The manager of the Marañon Estancia grunted
approvingly.
"And I'll tell you
what," he continued: "if I were certain he's an anarchist and he had
the cheek to ask me for money, I would give him the toe of my boot. However,
let him have the benefit of the doubt. I am perfectly willing to take it that
he has done nothing worse than to stick a knife into somebody -- with extenuating
circumstances -- French fashion, don't you know. But that subversive sanguinary
rot of doing away with all law and order in the world makes my blood boil. It's
simply cutting the ground from under the feet of every decent, respectable,
hard-working person. I tell you that the consciences of people who have them,
like you or I, must be protected in some way; or else the first low scoundrel
that came along would in every respect be just as good as myself. Wouldn't he,
now? And that's absurd!"
He glared at me. I
nodded slightly and murmured that doubtless there was much subtle truth in his
view.
The principal truth
discoverable in the views of Paul the engineer was that a little thing may
bring about the undoing of a man.
"Il ne faut pas
beaucoup pour perdre un homme," he said to me, thoughtfully, one evening.
report this reflection
in French, since the man was of Paris, not of Barcelona at all. At the Marañon
he lived apart from the station, in a small shed with a metal roof and straw
walls, which he called mon atelier. He had a work-bench there. They had given
him several horse-blankets and a saddle -- not that he ever had occasion to
ride, but because no other bedding was used by the working-hands, who were all
vaqueros -- cattlemen. And on this horseman's gear, like a son of the plains,
he used to sleep amongst the tools of his trade, in a litter of rusty
scrap-iron, with a portable forge at his head, under the work-bench sustaining
his grimy mosquito-net.
Now and then I would
bring him a few candle ends saved from the scant supply of the manager's house.
He was very thankful for these. He did not like to lie awake in the dark, he
confessed. He complained that sleep fled from him. "Le sommeil me
fuit," he declared, with his habitual air of subdued stoicism, which made
him sympathetic and touching. I made it clear to him that I did not attach
undue importance to the fact of his having been a convict.
Thus it came about that
one evening he was led to talk about himself. As one of the bits of candle on
the edge of the bench burned down to the end, he hastened to light another.
He had done his
military service in a provincial garrison and returned to Paris to follow his
trade. It was a well-paid one. He told me with some pride that in a short time
he was earning no less than ten francs a day. He was thinking of setting up for
himself by and by and of getting married.
Here he sighed deeply
and paused. Then with a return to his stoical note:
"It seems I did
not know enough about myself."
On his twenty-fifth
birthday two of his friends in the repairing shop where he worked proposed to
stand him a dinner. He was immensely touched by this attention.
"I was a steady
man," he remarked, "but I am not less sociable than any other
body."
The entertainment came
off in a little café on the Boulevard de la Chapelle. At dinner they drank some
special wine. It was excellent. Everything was excellent; and the world -- in
his own words -- seemed a very good place to live in. He had good prospects,
some little money laid by, and the affection of two excellent friends. He
offered to pay for all the drinks after dinner, which was only proper on his
part.
They drank more wine;
they drank liqueurs, cognac, beer, then more liqueurs and more cognac. Two
strangers sitting at the next table looked at him, he said, with so much
friendliness, that he invited them to join the party.
He had never drunk so
much in his life. His elation was extreme, and so pleasurable that whenever it
flagged he hastened to order more drinks.
"It seemed to
me," he said, in his quiet tone and looking on the ground in the gloomy
shed full of shadows, "that I was on the point of just attaining a great
and wonderful felicity. Another drink, I felt, would do it. The others were
holding out well with me, glass for glass."
But an extraordinary
thing happened. At something the strangers said his elation fell. Gloomy
ideas-- des idées noires -- rushed into his head. All the world outside the café
appeared to him as a dismal evil place where a multitude of poor wretches had
to work and slave to the sole end that a few individuals should ride in
carriages and live riotously in palaces. He became ashamed of his happiness.
The pity of mankind's cruel lot wrung his heart. In a voice choked with sorrow he
tried to express these sentiments. He thinks he wept and swore in turns.
The two new
acquaintances hastened to applaud his humane indignation. Yes. The amount of
injustice in the world was indeed scandalous. There was only one way of dealing
with the rotten state of society. Demolish the whole sacrée boutique. Blow up
the whole iniquitous show.
Their heads hovered
over the table. They whispered to him eloquently; I don't think they quite
expected the result. He was extremely drunk -- mad drunk. With a howl of rage
he leaped suddenly upon the table. Kicking over the bottles and glasses, he
yelled: "Vive l'anarchie! Death to the capitalists!" He yelled this
again and again. All round him broken glass was falling, chairs were being
swung in the air, people were taking each other by the throat. The police
dashed in. He hit, bit, scratched and struggled, till something crashed down
upon his head. . . .
He came to himself in a
police cell, locked up on a charge of assault, seditious cries, and anarchist
propaganda.
He looked at me fixedly
with his liquid, shining eyes, that seemed very big in the dim light.
"That was bad. But
even then I might have got off somehow, perhaps," he said, slowly.
I doubt it. But
whatever chance he had was done away with by a young socialist lawyer who
volunteered to undertake his defence. In vain he assured him that he was no
anarchist; that he was a quiet, respectable mechanic, only too anxious to work
ten hours per day at his trade. He was represented at the trial as the victim
of society and his drunken shoutings as the expression of infinite suffering.
The young lawyer had his way to make, and this case was just what he wanted for
a start. The speech for the defence was pronounced magnificent.
The poor fellow paused,
swallowed, and brought out the statement:
"I got the maximum
penalty applicable to a first offence."
I made an appropriate
murmur. He hung his head and folded his arms.
"When they let me
out of prison," he began, gently, "I made tracks, of course, for my
old workshop. My patron had a particular liking for me before; but when he saw
me he turned green with fright and showed me the door with a shaking
hand."
While he stood in the
street, uneasy and disconcerted, he was accosted by a middle-aged man who
introduced himself as an engineer's fitter, too. "I know who you
are," he said. "I have attended your trial. You are a good comrade
and your ideas are sound. But the devil of it is that you won't be able to get
work anywhere now. These bourgeois'll conspire to starve you. That's their way.
Expect no mercy from the rich."
To be spoken to so
kindly in the street had comforted him very much. His seemed to be the sort of
nature needing support and sympathy. The idea of not being able to find work
had knocked him over completely. If his patron, who knew him so well for a
quiet, orderly, competent workman, would have nothing to do with him now --
then surely nobody else would. That was clear. The police, keeping their eye on
him, would hasten to warn every employer inclined to give him a chance. He felt
suddenly very helpless, alarmed and idle; and he followed the middle-aged man
to the estaminet round the corner where he met some other good companions. They
assured him that he would not be allowed to starve, work or no work. They had
drinks all round to the discomfiture of all employers of labour and to the
destruction of society.
He sat biting his lower
lip.
"That is,
monsieur, how I became a compagnon," he said. The hand he passed over his
forehead was trembling. "All the same, there's something wrong in a world
where a man can get lost for a glass more or less."
He never looked up,
though I could see he was getting excited under his dejection. He slapped the
bench with his open palm.
"No!" he
cried. "It was an impossible existence! Watched by the police, watched by
the comrades, I did not belong to myself any more! Why, I could not even go to
draw a few francs from my savings-bank without a comrade hanging about the door
to see that I didn't bolt! And most of them were neither more nor less than
housebreakers. The intelligent, I mean. They robbed the rich; they were only
getting back their own, they said. When I had had some drink I believed them.
There were also the fools and the mad. Des exaltés -- quoi! When I was drunk I
loved them. When I got more drink I was angry with the world. That was the best
time. I found refuge from misery in rage. But one can't be always drunk --
n'est-ce pas, monsieur? And when I was sober I was afraid to break away. They would
have stuck me like a pig."
He folded his arms
again and raised his sharp chin with a bitter smile.
"By and by they
told me it was time to go to work. The work was to rob a bank. Afterwards a
bomb would be thrown to wreck the place. My beginner's part would be to keep
watch in a street at the back and to take care of a black bag with the bomb
inside till it was wanted. After the meeting at which the affair was arranged a
trusty comrade did not leave me an inch. I had not dared to protest; I was afraid
of being done away with quietly in that room; only, as we were walking together
I wondered whether it would not be better for me to throw myself suddenly into
the Seine. But while I was turning it over in my mind we had crossed the
bridge, and afterwards I had not the opportunity."
In the light of the
candle end, with his sharp features, fluffy little moustache, and oval face, he
looked at times delicately and gaily young, and then appeared quite old,
decrepit, full of sorrow, pressing his folded arms to his breast.
As he remained silent I
felt bound to ask:
"Well! And how did
it end?"
"Deportation to
Cayenne," he answered.
He seemed to think that
somebody had given the plot away. As he was keeping watch in the back street,
bag in hand, he was set upon by the police. "These imbeciles," had
knocked him down without noticing what he had in his hand. He wondered how the
bomb failed to explode as he fell. But it didn't explode.
"I tried to tell
my story in court," he continued. "The president was amused. There
were in the audience some idiots who laughed."
I expressed the hope
that some of his companions had been caught, too. He shuddered slightly before
he told me that there were two -- Simon, called also Biscuit, the middle-aged
fitter who spoke to him in the street, and a fellow of the name of Mafile, one
of the sympathetic strangers who had applauded his sentiments and consoled his
humanitarian sorrows when he got drunk in the café.
"Yes," he
went on, with an effort, "I had the advantage of their company over there
on St. Joseph's Island, amongst some eighty or ninety other convicts. We were
all classed as dangerous."
St. Joseph's Island is
the prettiest of the Iles de Salut. It is rocky and green, with shallow
ravines, bushes, thickets, groves of mango-trees, and many feathery palms. Six
warders armed with revolvers and carbines are in charge of the convicts kept
there.
An eight-oared galley
keeps up the communication in the daytime, across a channel a quarter of a mile
wide, with the Ile Royale, where there is a military post. She makes the first
trip at six in the morning. At four in the afternoon her service is over, and
she is then hauled up into a little dock on the Ile Royale and a sentry put
over her and a few smaller boats. From that time till next morning the island
of St. Joseph remains cut off from the rest of the world, with the warders
patrolling in turn the path from the warders' house to the convict huts, and a
multitude of sharks patrolling the waters all round.
Under these
circumstances the convicts planned a mutiny. Such a thing had never been known
in the penitentiary's history before. But their plan was not without some
possibility of success. The warders were to be taken by surprise and murdered
during the night. Their arms would enable the convicts to shoot down the people
in the galley as she came alongside in the morning. The galley once in their
possession, other boats were to be captured, and the whole company was to row
away up the coast.
At dusk the two warders
on duty mustered the convicts as usual. Then they proceeded to inspect the huts
to ascertain that everything was in order. In the second they entered they were
set upon and absolutely smothered under the numbers of their assailants. The
twilight faded rapidly. It was a new moon; and a heavy black squall gathering
over the coast increased the profound darkness of the night. The convicts
assembled in the open space, deliberating upon the next step to be taken,
argued amongst themselves in low voices.
"You took part in
all this?" I asked.
"No. I knew what
was going to be done, of course. But why should I kill these warders? I had
nothing against them. But I was afraid of the others. Whatever happened, I
could not escape from them. I sat alone on the stump of a tree with my head in
my hands, sick at heart at the thought of a freedom that could be nothing but a
mockery to me. Suddenly I was startled to perceive the shape of a man on the
path near by. He stood perfectly still, then his form became effaced in the
night. It must have been the chief warder coming to see what had become of his
two men. No one noticed him. The convicts kept on quarrelling over their plans.
The leaders could not get themselves obeyed. The fierce whispering of that dark
mass of men was very horrible.
"At last they
divided into two parties and moved off. When they had passed me I rose, weary
and hopeless. The path to the warders' house was dark and silent, but on each
side the bushes rustled slightly. Presently I saw a faint thread of light
before me. The chief warder, followed by his three men, was approaching
cautiously. But he had failed to close his dark lantern properly. The convicts
had seen that faint gleam, too. There was an awful savage yell, a turmoil on
the dark path, shots fired, blows, groans: and with the sound of smashed
bushes, the shouts of the pursuers and the screams of the pursued, the
man-hunt, the warder-hunt, passed by me into the interior of the island. I was
alone. And I assure you, monsieur, I was indifferent to everything. After
standing still for a while, I walked on along the path till I kicked something
hard. I stooped and picked up a warder's revolver. I felt with my fingers that
it was loaded in five chambers. In the gusts of wind I heard the convicts calling
to each other far away, and then a roll of thunder would cover the soughing and
rustling of the trees. Suddenly, a big light ran across my path very low along
the ground. And it showed a woman's skirt with the edge of an apron.
"I knew that the
person who carried it must be the wife of the head warder. They had forgotten
all about her, it seems. A shot rang out in the interior of the island, and she
cried out to herself as she ran. She passed on. I followed, and presently I saw
her again. She was pulling at the cord of the big bell which hangs at the end
of the landing-pier, with one hand, and with the other she was swinging the
heavy lantern to and fro. This is the agreed signal for the Ile Royale should
assistance be required at night. The wind carried the sound away from our
island and the light she swung was hidden on the shore side by the few trees
that grow near the warders' house.
"I came up quite
close to her from behind. She went on without stopping, without looking aside,
as though she had been all alone on the island. A brave woman, monsieur. I put
the revolver inside the breast of my blue blouse and waited. A flash of
lightning and a clap of thunder destroyed both the sound and the light of the
signal for an instant, but she never faltered, pulling at the cord and swinging
the lantern as regularly as a machine. She was a comely woman of thirty -- no
more. I thought to myself, 'All that's no good on a night like this.' And I
made up my mind that if a body of my fellow-convicts came down to the pier --
which was sure to happen soon -- I would shoot her through the head before I
shot myself. I knew the 'comrades' well. This idea of mine gave me quite an.
interest in life, monsieur; and at once, instead of remaining stupidly exposed
on the pier, I retreated a little way and crouched behind a bush. I did not
intend to let myself be pounced upon unawares and be prevented perhaps from
rendering a supreme service to at least one human creature before I died
myself.
"But we must
believe the signal was seen, for the galley from Ile Royale came over in an
astonishingly short time. The woman kept right on till the light of her lantern
flashed upon the officer in command and the bayonets of the soldiers in the
boat. Then she sat down and began to cry.
"She didn't need
me any more. I did not budge. Some soldiers were only in their shirt-sleeves,
others without boots, just as the call to arms had found them. They passed by
my bush at the double. The galley had been sent away for more; and the woman
sat all alone crying at the end of the pier, with the lantern standing on the
ground near her.
"Then suddenly I
saw in the light at the end of the pier the red pantaloons of two more men. I
was overcome with astonishment. They, too, started off at a run. Their tunics
flapped unbuttoned and they were bare-headed. One of them panted out to the
other, 'Straight on, straight on!'
"Where on earth
did they spring from, I wondered. Slowly I walked down the short pier. I saw
the woman's form shaken by sobs and heard her moaning more and more distinctly,
'Oh, my man! my poor man! my poor man!' I stole on quietly. She could neither
hear nor see anything. She had thrown her apron over her head and was rocking
herself to and fro in her grief. But I remarked a small boat fastened to the
end of the pier.
"Those two men --
they looked like sous-officiers -- must have come in it, after being too late,
I suppose, for the galley. It is incredible that they should have thus broken
the regulations from a sense of duty. And it was a stupid thing to do. I could
not believe my eyes in the very moment I was stepping into that boat.
"I pulled along
the shore slowly. A black cloud hung over the Iles de Salut. I heard firing,
shouts. Another hunt had begun -- the convict-hunt. The oars were too long to
pull comfortably. I managed them with difficulty, though the boat herself was
light. But when I got round to the other side of the island the squall broke in
rain and wind. I was unable to make head against it. I let the boat drift
ashore and secured her.
"I knew the spot.
There was a tumbledown old hovel standing near the water. Cowering in there I
heard through the noises of the wind and the falling downpour some people
tearing through the bushes. They came out on the strand. Soldiers perhaps. A
flash of lightning threw everything near me into violent relief. Two convicts!
"And directly an
amazed voice exclaimed. 'It's a miracle!' It was the voice of Simon, otherwise
Biscuit.
"And another voice
growled, 'What's a miracle?'
"'Why, there's a
boat lying here!'
"'You must be mad,
Simon! But there is, after all. . . . A boat.'
"They seemed awed
into complete silence. The other man was Mafile. He spoke again, cautiously.
"'It is fastened
up. There must be somebody here.'
"I spoke to them
from within the hovel: 'I am here.'
"They came in
then, and soon gave me to understand that the boat was theirs, not mine. 'There
are two of us,' said Mafile, 'against you alone.'
"I got out into
the open to keep clear of them for fear of getting a treacherous blow on the
head. I could have shot them both where they stood. But I said nothing. I kept
down the laughter rising in my throat. I made myself very humble and begged to
be allowed to go. They consulted in low tones about my fate, while with my hand
on the revolver in the bosom of my blouse I had their lives in my power. I let
them live. I meant them to pull that boat. I represented to them with abject
humility that I understood the management of a boat, and that, being three to
pull, we could get a rest in turns. That decided them at last. It was time. A
little more and I would have gone into screaming fits at the drollness of
it."
At this point his
excitement broke out. He jumped off the bench and gesticulated. The great
shadows of his arms darting over roof and walls made the shed appear too small
to contain his agitation.
"I deny
nothing," he burst out. "I was elated, monsieur. I tasted a sort of
felicity. But I kept very quiet. I took my turns at pulling all through the
night. We made for the open sea, putting our trust in a passing ship. It was a
foolhardy action. I persuaded them to it. When the sun rose the immensity of
water was calm, and the Iles de Salut appeared only like dark specks from the top
of each swell. I was steering then. Mafile, who was pulling bow, let out an
oath and said, 'We must rest.'
'The time to laugh had
come at last. And I took my fill of it, I can tell you. I held my sides and
rolled in my seat, they had such startled faces. 'What's got into him, the
animal?' cries Mafile.
"And Simon, who
was nearest to me, says over his shoulder to him, 'Devil take me if I don't
think he's gone mad!'
"Then I produced
the revolver. Aha! In a moment they both got the stoniest eyes you can imagine.
Ha, ha! They were frightened. But they pulled. Oh, yes, they pulled all day,
sometimes looking wild and sometimes looking faint. I lost nothing of it
because I had to keep my eyes on them all the time, or else -- crack! -- they
would have been on top of me in a second. I rested my revolver hand on my knee
all ready and steered with the other. Their faces began to blister. Sky and sea
seemed on fire round us and the sea steamed in the sun. The boat made a
sizzling sound as she went through the water. Sometimes Mafile foamed at the
mouth and sometimes he groaned. But he pulled. He dared not stop. His eyes
became blood-shot all over, and he had bitten his lower lip to pieces. Simon
was as hoarse as a crow.
"'Comrade --' he
begins.
'"There are no
comrades here. I am your patron.'
"'Patron, then,'
he says, 'in the name of humanity let us rest.'
"I let them. There
was a little rainwater washing about the bottom of the boat. I permitted them
to snatch some of it in the hollow of their palms. But as I gave the command,
'En route!' I caught them exchanging significant glances. They thought I would
have to go to sleep sometime! Aha! But I did not want to go to sleep. I was
more awake than ever. It is they who went to sleep as they pulled, tumbling off
the thwarts head over heels suddenly, one after another. I let them lie. All
the stars were out. It was a quiet world. The sun rose. Another day. Allez! En
route! "They pulled badly. Their eyes rolled about and their tongues hung
out. In the middle of the forenoon Mafile croaks out: 'Let us make a rush at
him, Simon. I would just as soon be shot at once as to die of thirst, hunger,
and fatigue at the oar.'
"But while he
spoke he pulled; and Simon kept on pulling too. It made me smile. Ah! They
loved their life these two, in this evil world of theirs, just as I used to
love my life, too, before they spoiled it for me with their phrases. I let them
go on to the point of exhaustion, and only then I pointed at the sails of a
ship on the horizon.
"Aha! You should
have seen them revive and buckle to their work! For I kept them at it to pull
right across that ship's path. They were changed. The sort of pity I had felt
for them left me. They looked more like themselves every minute. They looked at
me with the glances I remembered so well. They were happy. They smiled.
"'Well,' says
Simon, 'the energy of that youngster has saved our lives. If he hadn't made us,
we could never have pulled so far out into the track of ships. Comrade, I
forgive you. I admire you.'
"And Mafile growls
from forward: 'We owe you a famous debt of gratitude, comrade. You are cut out
for a chief.'
"Comrade!
Monsieur! Ah, what a good word! And they, such men as these two, had made it
accursed. I looked at them. I remembered their lies, their promises, their
menaces, and all my days of misery. Why could they not have left me alone after
I came out of prison? I looked at them and thought that while they lived I
could never be free. Never. Neither I nor others like me with warm hearts and
weak heads. For I know I have not a strong head, monsieur. A black rage came
upon me -- the rage of extreme intoxication -- but not against the injustice of
society. Oh, no!
"'I must be free!'
I cried, furiously.
"'Vive la liberté!"
yells that ruffian Mafile. 'Mort aux bourgeois who send us to Cayenne! They
shall soon know that we are free.'
"The sky, the sea,
the whole horizon, seemed to turn red, blood red all round the boat. My temples
were beating so loud that I wondered they did not hear. How is it that they did
not? How is it they did not understand?
"I heard Simon
ask, 'Have we not pulled far enough out now?'
"'Yes. Far
enough,' I said. I was sorry for him; it was the other I hated. He hauled in
his oar with a loud sigh, and as he was raising his hand to wipe his forehead
with the air of a man who has done his work, I pulled the trigger of my
revolver and shot him like this off the knee, right through the heart.
"He tumbled down,
with his head hanging over the side of the boat. I did not give him a second
glance. The other cried out piercingly. Only one shriek of horror. Then all was
still.
"He slipped off
the thwart on to his knees and raised his clasped hands before his face in an
attitude of supplication. 'Mercy,' he whispered, faintly. 'Mercy for me! --
comrade.'
"'Ah, comrade,' I
said, in a low tone. 'Yes, comrade, of course. Well, then, shout Vive
l'anarchie.'
"He flung up his
arms, his face up to the sky and his mouth wide open in a great yell of
despair. 'Vive l'anarchie! Vive --'
"He collapsed all
in a heap, with a bullet through his head.
"I flung them both
overboard. I threw away the revolver, too. Then I sat down quietly. I was free
at last! At last. I did not even look towards the ship; I did not care; indeed,
I think I must have gone to sleep, because all of a sudden there were shouts
and I found the ship almost on top of me. They hauled me on board and secured
the boat astern. They were all blacks, except the captain, who was a mulatto.
He alone knew a few words of French. I could not find out where they were going
nor who they were. They gave me something to eat every day; but I did not like
the way they used to discuss me in their language. Perhaps they were
deliberating about throwing me overboard in order to keep possession of the
boat. How do I know? As we were passing this island I asked whether it was
inhabited. I understood from the mulatto that there was a house on it. A farm,
I fancied, they meant. So I asked them to put me ashore on the beach and keep
the boat for their trouble. This, I imagine, was just what they wanted. The
rest you know."
After pronouncing these
words he lost suddenly all control over himself. He paced to and fro rapidly,
till at last he broke into a run; his arms went like a windmill and his
ejaculations became very much like raving. The burden of them was that he
"denied nothing, nothing!" I could only let him go on, and sat out of
his way, repeating, "Calmez vous, calmez vous," at intervals, till
his agitation exhausted itself.
I must confess, too,
that I remained there long after he had crawled under his mosquito-net. He had
entreated me not to leave him; so, as one sits up with a nervous child, I sat
up with him -- in the name of humanity -- till he fell asleep.
On the whole, my idea
is that he was much more of an anarchist than he confessed to me or to himself;
and that, the special features of his case apart, he was very much like many
other anarchists. Warm heart and weak head -- that is the word of the riddle;
and it is a fact that the bitterest contradictions and the deadliest conflicts
of the world are carried on in every individual breast capable of feeling and
passion.
From personal inquiry I
can vouch that the story of the convict mutiny was in every particular as
stated by him.
When I got back to
Horta from Cayenne and saw the "Anarchist" again, he did not look
well. He was more worn, still more frail, and very livid indeed under the grimy
smudges of his calling. Evidently the meat of the company's main herd (in its
unconcentrated form) did not agree with him at all.
It was on the pontoon
in Horta that we met; and I tried to induce him to leave the launch moored
where she was and follow me to Europe there and then. It would have been
delightful to think of the excellent manager's surprise and disgust at the poor
fellow's escape. But he refused with unconquerable obstinacy.
"Surely you don't
mean to live always here!" I cried. He shook his head.
"I shall die
here," he said. Then added moodily, "Away from them."
Sometimes I think of
him lying open-eyed on his horseman's gear in the low shed full of tools and
scraps of iron -- the anarchist slave of the Marañon estate, waiting with
resignation for that sleep which "fled" from him, as he used to say,
in such an unaccountable manner.
NAPOLEON I., whose
career had the quality of a duel against the whole of Europe, disliked duelling
between the officers of his army. The great military emperor was not a
swashbuckler, and had little respect for tradition.
Nevertheless, a story
of duelling, which became a legend in the army, runs through the epic of
imperial wars. To the surprise and admiration of their fellows, two officers,
like insane artists trying to gild refined gold or paint the lily, pursued a
private contest through the years of universal carnage. They were officers of
cavalry, and their connection with the high-spirited but fanciful animal which
carries men into battle seems particularly appropriate. It would be difficult
to imagine for heroes of this legend two officers of infantry of the line, for
example, whose fantasy is tamed by much walking exercise, and whose valour
necessarily must be of a more plodding kind. As to gunners or engineers, whose
heads are kept cool on a diet of mathematics, it is simply unthinkable.
The names of the two
officers were Feraud and D'Hubert, and they were both lieutenants in a regiment
of hussars, but not in the same regiment.
Feraud was doing
regimental work, but Lieut. D'Hubert had the good fortune to be attached to the
person of the general commanding the division, as officier d'ordonnance. It was
in Strasbourg, and in this agreeable and important garrison they were enjoying
greatly a short interval of peace. They were enjoying it, though both intensely
warlike, because it was a sword-sharpening, firelock-cleaning peace, dear to a
military heart and undamaging to military prestige, inasmuch that no one
believed in its sincerity or duration.
Under those historical
circumstances, so favourable to the proper appreciation of military leisure,
Lieut. D'Hubert, one fine afternoon, made his way along a quiet street of a
cheerful suburb towards Lieut. Feraud's quarters, which were in a private house
with a garden at the back, belonging to an old maiden lady.
His knock at the door
was answered instantly by a young maid in Alsatian costume. Her fresh
complexion and her long eyelashes, lowered demurely at the sight of the tall
officer, caused Lieut. D'Hubert, who was accessible to esthetic impressions, to
relax the cold, severe gravity of his face. At the same time he observed that
the girl had over her arm a pair of hussar's breeches, blue with a red stripe.
"Lieut. Feraud
in?" he inquired, benevolently.
"Oh, no, sir! He
went out at six this morning."
The pretty maid tried
to close the door. Lieut. D'Hubert, opposing this move with gentle firmness,
stepped into the ante-room, jingling his spurs.
"Come, my dear!
You don't mean to say he has not been home since six o'clock this
morning?"
Saying these words,
Lieut. D'Hubert opened without ceremony the door of a room so comfortably and
neatly ordered that only from internal evidence in the shape of boots,
uniforms, and military accoutrements did he acquire the conviction that it was
Lieut. Feraud's room. And he saw also that Lieut. Feraud was not at home. The
truthful maid had followed him, and raised her candid eyes to his face.
"H'm!" said
Lieut. D'Hubert, greatly disappointed, for he had already visited all the
haunts where a lieutenant of hussars could be found of a fine afternoon.
"So he's out? And do you happen to know, my dear, why he went out at six
this morning?"
"No," she
answered, readily. "He came home late last night, and snored. I heard him
when I got up at five. Then he dressed himself in his oldest uniform and went
out. Service, I suppose."
"Service? Not a
bit of it!" cried Lieut. D'Hubert. "Learn, my angel, that he went out
thus early to fight a duel with a civilian."
She heard this news
without a quiver of her dark eyelashes. It was very obvious that the actions of
Lieut. Feraud were generally above criticism. She only looked up for a moment
in mute surprise, and Lieut. D'Hubert concluded from this absence of emotion
that she must have seen Lieut. Feraud since the morning. He looked around the
room.
"Come!" he
insisted, with confidential familiarity. "He's perhaps somewhere in the
house now?"
She shook her head.
"So much the worse
for him!" continued Lieut. D'Hubert, in a tone of anxious conviction.
"But he has been home this morning."
This time the pretty
maid nodded slightly.
"He has!"
cried Lieut. D'Hubert. "And went out again? What for? Couldn't he keep
quietly indoors! What a lunatic! My dear girl --"
Lieut. D'Hubert's
natural kindness of disposition and strong sense of comradeship helped his
powers of observation. He changed his tone to a most insinuating softness, and,
gazing at the hussar's breeches hanging over the arm of the girl, he appealed
to the interest she took in Lieut. Feraud's comfort and happiness. He was
pressing and persuasive. He used his eyes, which were kind and fine, with
excellent effect. His anxiety to get hold at once of Lieut. Feraud, for Lieut.
Feraud's own good, seemed so genuine that at last it overcame the girl's
unwillingness to speak. Unluckily she had not much to tell. Lieut. Feraud had
returned home shortly before ten, had walked straight into his room, and had
thrown himself on his bed to resume his slumbers. She had heard him snore
rather louder than before far into the afternoon. Then he got up, put on his
best uniform, and went out. That was all she knew.
She raised her eyes,
and Lieut. D'Hubert stared into them incredulously.
"It's incredible.
Gone parading the town in his best uniform! My dear child, don't you know he
ran that civilian through this morning? Clean through, as you spit a
hare."
The pretty maid heard
the gruesome intelligence without any signs of distress. But she pressed her
lips together thoughtfully.
"He isn't parading
the town," she remarked in a low tone. "Far from it."
"The civilian's
family is making an awful row," continued Lieut. D'Hubert, pursuing his
train of thought. "And the general is very angry. It's one of the best
families in the town. Feraud ought to have kept close at least --"
"What will the
general do to him?" inquired the girl, anxiously.
"He won't have his
head cut off, to be sure," grumbled Lieut. D'Hubert. "His conduct is
positively indecent. He's making no end of trouble for himself by this sort of
bravado."
"But he isn't
parading the town," the maid insisted in a shy murmur.
"Why, yes! Now I
think of it, I haven't seen him anywhere about. What on earth has he done with
himself?"
"He's gone to pay
a call," suggested the maid, after a moment of silence.
Lieut. D'Hubert
started.
"A call! Do you
mean a call on a lady? The cheek of the man! And how do you know this, my
dear?"
Without concealing her
woman's scorn for the denseness of the masculine mind, the pretty maid reminded
him that Lieut. Feraud had arrayed himself in his best uniform before going
out. He had also put on his newest dolman, she added, in a tone as if this
conversation were getting on her nerves, and turned away brusquely.
Lieut. D'Hubert,
without questioning the accuracy of the deduction, did not see that it advanced
him much on his official quest. For his quest after Lieut. Feraud had an
official character. He did not know any of the women this fellow, who had run a
man through in the morning, was likely to visit in the afternoon. The two young
men knew each other but slightly. He bit his gloved finger in perplexity.
"Call!" he
exclaimed. "Call on the devil!"
The girl, with her back
to him, and folding the hussars breeches on a chair, protested with a vexed
little laugh:
"Oh, dear, no! On
Madame de Lionne."
Lieut. D'Hubert
whistled softly. Madame de Lionne was the wife of a high official who had a
well-known salon and some pretensions to sensibility and elegance. The husband
was a civilian, and old; but the society of the salon was young and military.
Lieut. D'Hubert had whistled, not because the idea of pursuing Lieut. Feraud
into that very salon was disagreeable to him, but because, having arrived in
Strasbourg only lately, he had not had the time as yet to get an introduction
to Madame de Lionne. And what was that swashbuckler Feraud doing there, he
wondered. He did not seem the sort of man who --
"Are you certain
of what you say?" asked Lieut. D'Hubert.
The girl was perfectly
certain. Without turning round to look at him, she explained that the coachman
of their next door neighbours knew the maître-d'hôtel of Madame de Lionne. In
this way she had her information. And she was perfectly certain. In giving this
assurance she sighed. Lieut. Feraud called there nearly every afternoon, she
added.
"Ah, bah!"
exclaimed D'Hubert, ironically. His opinion of Madame de Lionne went down
several degrees. Lieut. Feraud did not seem to him specially worthy of
attention on the part of a woman with a reputation for sensibility and
elegance. But there was no saying. At bottom they were all alike -- very
practical rather than idealistic. Lieut. D'Hubert, however, did not allow his
mind to dwell on these considerations.
"By thunder!"
he reflected aloud. "The general goes there sometimes. If he happens to
find the fellow making eyes at the lady there will be the devil to pay! Our
general is not a very accommodating person, I can tell you."
"Go quickly, then!
Don't stand here now I've told you where he is!" cried the girl, colouring
to the eyes.
"Thanks, my dear!
I don't know what I would have done without you."
After manifesting his
gratitude in an aggressive way, which at first was repulsed violently, and then
submitted to with a sudden and still more repellent indifference, Lieut.
D'Hubert took his departure.
He clanked and jingled
along the streets with a martial swagger. To run a comrade to earth in a
drawing-room where he was not known did not trouble him in the least. A uniform
is a passport. His position as officier d'ordonnance of the general added to his
assurance. Moreover, now that he knew where to find Lieut. Feraud, he had no
option. It was a service matter.
Madame de Lionne's
house had an excellent appearance. A man in livery, opening the door of a large
drawing-room with a waxed floor, shouted his name and stood aside to let him
pass. It was a reception day. The ladies wore big hats surcharged with a
profusion of feathers; their bodies sheathed in clinging white gowns, from the
armpits to the tips of the low satin shoes, looked sylph-like and cool in a
great display of bare necks and arms. The men who talked with them, on the
contrary, were arrayed heavily in multi-coloured garments with collars up to
their ears and thick sashes round their waists. Lieut. D'Hubert made his
unabashed way across the room and, bowing low before a sylph-like form
reclining on a couch, offered his apologies for this intrusion, which nothing
could excuse but the extreme urgency of the service order he had to communicate
to his comrade Feraud. He proposed to himself to return presently in a more
regular manner and beg forgiveness for interrupting the interesting
conversation . . .
A bare arm was extended
towards him with gracious nonchalance even before he had finished speaking. He
pressed the hand respectfully to his lips, and made the mental remark that it
was bony. Madame de Lionne was a blonde, with too fine a skin and a long face.
"C'est ça!"
she said, with an ethereal smile, disclosing a set of large teeth. "Come
this evening to plead for your forgiveness."
"I will not fail,
madame."
Meantime, Lieut.
Feraud, splendid in his new dolman and the extremely polished boots of his
calling, sat on a chair within a foot of the couch, one hand resting on his
thigh, the other twirling his moustache to a point. At a significant glance
from D'Hubert he rose without alacrity, and followed him into the recess of a
window.
"What is it you
want with me?" he asked, with astonishing indifference. Lieut. D'Hubert
could not imagine that in the innocence of his heart and simplicity of his
conscience Lieut. Feraud took a view of his duel in which neither remorse nor
yet a rational apprehension of consequences had any place. Though he had no
clear recollection how the quarrel had originated (it was begun in an
establishment where beer and wine are drunk late at night), he had not the
slightest doubt of being himself the outraged party. He had had two experienced
friends for his seconds. Everything had been done according to the rules
governing that sort of adventures. And a duel is obviously fought for the
purpose of someone being at least hurt, if not killed outright. The civilian
got hurt. That also was in order. Lieut. Feraud was perfectly tranquil; but
Lieut. D'Hubert took it for affectation, and spoke with a certain vivacity.
"I am directed by
the general to give you the order to go at once to your quarters, and remain
there under close arrest."
It was now the turn of
Lieut. Feraud to be astonished. "What the devil are you telling me
there?" he murmured, faintly, and fell into such profound wonder that he
could only follow mechanically the motions of Lieut. D'Hubert. The two
officers, one tall, with an interesting face and a moustache the colour of ripe
corn, the other, short and sturdy, with a hooked nose and a thick crop of black
curly hair, approached the mistress of the house to take their leave. Madame de
Lionne, a woman of eclectic taste, smiled upon these armed young men with
impartial sensibility and an equal share of interest. Madame de Lionne took her
delight in the infinite variety of the human species. All the other eyes in the
drawing-room followed the departing officers; and when they had gone out one or
two men, who had already heard of the duel, imparted the information to the
sylph-like ladies, who received it with faint shrieks of humane concern.
Meantime, the two
hussars walked side by side, Lieut. Feraud trying to master the hidden reason
of things which in this instance eluded the grasp of his intellect, Lieut.
D'Hubert feeling annoyed at the part he had to play, because the general's
instructions were that he should see personally that Lieut. Feraud carried out
his orders to the letter, and at once.
"The chief seems
to know this animal," he thought, eyeing his companion, whose round face,
the round eyes, and even the twisted-up jet black little moustache seemed
animated by a mental exasperation against the incomprehensible. And aloud he
observed rather reproachfully, "The general is in a devilish fury with
you!"
Lieut. Feraud stopped
short on the edge of the pavement, and cried in accents of unmistakable
sincerity, "What on earth for?" The innocence of the fiery Gascon
soul was depicted in the manner in which he seized his head in both hands as if
to prevent it bursting with perplexity.
"For the
duel," said Lieut. D'Hubert, curtly. He was annoyed greatly by this sort
of perverse fooling.
"The duel! The . .
."
Lieut. Feraud passed
from one paroxysm of astonishment into another. He dropped his hands and walked
on slowly, trying to reconcile this information with the state of his own
feelings. It was impossible. He burst out indignantly, "Was I to let that sauerkraut-eating
civilian wipe his boots on the uniform of the 7th Hussars?"
Lieut. D'Hubert could
not remain altogether unmoved by that simple sentiment. This little fellow was
a lunatic, he thought to himself, but there was something in what he said.
"Of course, I
don't know how far you were justified," he began, soothingly. "And
the general himself may not be exactly informed. Those people have been
deafening him with their lamentations."
"Ah! the general
is not exactly informed," mumbled Lieut. Feraud, walking faster and faster
as his choler at the injustice of his fate began to rise. "He is not
exactly . . . And he orders me under close arrest, with God knows what
afterwards!"
"Don't excite
yourself like this," remonstrated the other. "Your adversary's people
are very influential, you know, and it looks bad enough on the face of it. The
general had to take notice of their complaint at once. I don't think he means
to be over-severe with you. It's the best thing for you to be kept out of sight
for a while."
"I am very much
obliged to the general," muttered Lieut. Feraud through his teeth.
"And perhaps you would say I ought to be grateful to you, too, for the
trouble you have taken to hunt me up in the drawing-room of a lady who --"
"Frankly,"
interrupted Lieut. D'Hubert, with an innocent laugh, "I think you ought to
be. I had no end of trouble to find out where you were. It wasn't exactly the
place for you to disport yourself in under the circumstances. If the general
had caught you there making eyes at the goddess of the temple . . . oh, my
word! . . . He hates to be bothered with complaints against his officers, you
know. And it looked uncommonly like sheer bravado."
The two officers had
arrived now at the street door of Lieut. Feraud's lodgings. The latter turned
towards his companion. "Lieut. D'Hubert," he said, "I have
something to say to you, which can't be said very well in the street. You can't
refuse to come up."
The pretty maid had
opened the door. Lieut. Feraud brushed past her brusquely, and she raised her
scared and questioning eyes to Lieut. D'Hubert, who could do nothing but shrug
his shoulders slightly as he followed with marked reluctance.
In his room Lieut.
Feraud unhooked the clasp, flung his new dolman on the bed, and, folding his
arms across his chest, turned to the other hussar.
"Do you imagine I
am a man to submit tamely to injustice?" he inquired, in a boisterous
voice.
"Oh, do be
reasonable!" remonstrated Lieut. D'Hubert.
"I am reasonable!
I am perfectly reasonable!" retorted the other with ominous restraint.
"I can't call the general to account for his behaviour, but you are going
to answer me for yours."
"I can't listen to
this nonsense," murmured Lieut. D'Hubert, making a slightly contemptuous
grimace.
"You call this
nonsense? It seems to me a perfectly plain statement. Unless you don't
understand French."
"What on earth do
you mean?"
"I mean,"
screamed suddenly Lieut. Feraud, "to cut off your ears to teach you to
disturb me with the general's orders when I am talking to a lady!"
A profound silence
followed this mad declaration; and through the open window Lieut. D'Hubert
heard the little birds singing sanely in the garden. He said, preserving his
calm, "Why! If you take that tone, of course I shall hold myself at your
disposition whenever you are at liberty to attend to this affair; but I don't
think you will cut my ears off."
"I am going to
attend to it at once," declared Lieut. Feraud, with extreme truculence.
"If you are thinking of displaying your airs and graces to-night in Madame
de Lionne's salon you are very much mistaken."
"Really!"
said Lieut. D'Hubert, who was beginning to feel irritated, "you are an
impracticable sort of fellow. The general's orders to me were to put you under
arrest, not to carve you into small pieces. Good-morning!" And turning his
back on the little Gascon, who, always sober in his potations, was as though
born intoxicated with the sunshine of his vine-ripening country, the Northman,
who could drink hard on occasion, but was born sober under the watery skies of
Picardy, made for the door. Hearing, however, the unmistakable sound behind his
back of a sword drawn from the scabbard, he had no option but to stop.
"Devil take this
mad Southerner!" he thought, spinning round and surveying with composure
the warlike posture of Lieut. Feraud, with a bare sword in his hand.
"At once! -- at
once!" stuttered Feraud, beside himself.
"You had my
answer," said the other, keeping his temper very well.
At first he had been
only vexed, and somewhat amused; but now his face got clouded. He was asking
himself seriously how he could manage to get away. It was impossible to run
from a man with a sword, and as to fighting him, it seemed completely out of
the question. He waited awhile, then said exactly what was in his heart.
"Drop this! I
won't fight with you. I won't be made ridiculous."
"Ah, you
won't?" hissed the Gascon. "I suppose you prefer to be made infamous.
Do you hear what I say? . . . Infamous! Infamous! Infamous!" he shrieked, rising
and falling on his toes and getting very red in the face.
Lieut. D'Hubert, on the
contrary, became very pale at the sound of the unsavoury word for a moment,
then flushed pink to the roots of his fair hair. "But you can't go out to
fight; you are under arrest, you lunatic!" he objected, with angry scorn.
"There's the
garden: it's big enough to lay out your long carcass in," spluttered the
other with such ardour that somehow the anger of the cooler man subsided.
"This is perfectly
absurd," he said, glad enough to think he had found a way out of it for
the moment. "We shall never get any of our comrades to serve as seconds.
It's preposterous."
"Seconds! Damn the
seconds! We don't want any seconds. Don't you worry about any seconds. I shall
send word to your friends to come and bury you when I am done. And if you want
any witnesses, I'll send word to the old girl to put her head out of a window at
the back. Stay! There's the gardener. He'll do. He's as deaf as a post, but he
has two eyes in his head. Come along! I will teach you, my staff officer, that
the carrying about of a general's orders is not always child's play."
While thus discoursing
he had unbuckled his empty scabbard. He sent it flying under the bed, and,
lowering the point of the sword, brushed past the perplexed Lieut. D'Hubert,
exclaiming, "Follow me!" Directly he had flung open the door a faint
shriek was heard and the pretty maid, who had been listening at the keyhole,
staggered away, putting the backs of her hands over her eyes. Feraud did not
seem to see her, but she ran after him and seized his left arm. He shook her
off, and then she rushed towards Lieut. D'Hubert and clawed at the sleeve of
his uniform.
"Wretched
man!" she sobbed. "Is this what you wanted to find him for?"
"Let me go,"
entreated Lieut. D'Hubert, trying to disengage himself gently. "It's like
being in a mad-house," he protested, with exasperation. "Do let me
go! I won't do him any harm."
A fiendish laugh from
Lieut. Feraud commented that assurance. "Come along!" he shouted,
with a stamp of his foot.
And Lieut. D'Hubert did
follow. He could do nothing else. Yet in vindication of his sanity it must be
recorded that as he passed through the ante-room the notion of opening the
street door and bolting out presented itself to this brave youth, only of
course to be instantly dismissed, for he felt sure that the other would pursue
him without shame or compunction. And the prospect of an officer of hussars
being chased along the street by another officer of hussars with a naked sword
could not be for a moment entertained. Therefore he followed into the garden.
Behind them the girl tottered out, too. With ashy lips and wild, scared eyes,
she surrendered herself to a dreadful curiosity. She had also the notion of
rushing if need be between Lieut. Feraud and death.
The deaf gardener,
utterly unconscious of approaching footsteps, went on watering his flowers till
Lieut. Feraud thumped him on the back. Beholding suddenly an enraged man
flourishing a big sabre, the old chap trembling in all his limbs dropped the
watering-pot. At once Lieut. Feraud kicked it away with great animosity, and,
seizing the gardener by the throat, backed him against a tree. He held him
there, shouting in his ear, "Stay here, and look on! You understand?
You've got to look on! Don't dare budge from the spot!"
Lieut. D'Hubert came
slowly down the walk, unclasping his dolman with unconcealed disgust. Even
then, with his hand already on the hilt of his sword, he hesitated to draw till
a roar, "En garde, fichtre! What do you think you came here for?" and
the rush of his adversary forced him to put himself as quickly as possible in a
posture of defence.
The clash of arms
filled that prim garden, which hitherto had known no more warlike sound than
the click of clipping shears; and presently the upper part of an old lady's
body was projected out of a window upstairs. She tossed her arms above her white
cap, scolding in a cracked voice. The gardener remained glued to the tree, his
toothless mouth open in idiotic astonishment, and a little farther up the path
the pretty girl, as if spellbound to a small grass plot, ran a few steps this
way and that, wringing her hands and muttering crazily. She did not rush
between the combatants: the onslaughts of Lieut. Feraud were so fierce that her
heart failed her. Lieut. D'Hubert, his faculties concentrated upon defence,
needed all his skill and science of the sword to stop the rushes of his
adversary. Twice already he had to break ground. It bothered him to feel his
foothold made insecure by the round, dry gravel of the path rolling under the
hard soles of his boots. This was most unsuitable ground, he thought, keeping a
watchful, narrowed gaze, shaded by long eyelashes, upon the fiery stare of his
thick-set adversary. This absurd affair would ruin his reputation of a
sensible, well-behaved, promising young officer. It would damage, at any rate,
his immediate prospects, and lose him the good-will of his general. These
worldly preoccupations were no doubt misplaced in view of the solemnity of the
moment. A duel, whether regarded as a ceremony in the cult of honour, or even
when reduced in its moral essence to a form of manly sport, demands a perfect
singleness of intention, a homicidal austerity of mood. On the other hand, this
vivid concern for his future had not a bad effect inasmuch as it began to rouse
the anger of Lieut. D'Hubert. Some seventy seconds had elapsed since they had
crossed blades, and Lieut. D'Hubert had to break ground again in order to avoid
impaling his reckless adversary like a beetle for a cabinet of specimens. The
result was that misapprehending the motive, Lieut. Feraud with a triumphant
sort of snarl pressed his attack.
"This enraged
animal will have me against the wall directly," thought Lieut. D'Hubert.
He imagined himself much closer to the house than he was, and he dared not turn
his head; it seemed to him that he was keeping his adversary off with his eyes
rather more than with his point. Lieut. Feraud crouched and bounded with a
fierce tigerish agility fit to trouble the stoutest heart. But what was more
appalling than the fury of a wild beast, accomplishing in all innocence of
heart a natural function, was the fixity of savage purpose man alone is capable
of displaying. Lieut. D 'Hubert in the midst of his worldly preoccupations
perceived it at last. It was an absurd and damaging affair to be drawn into,
but whatever silly intention the fellow had started with, it was clear enough
that by this time he meant to kill -- nothing less. He meant it with an
intensity of will utterly beyond the inferior faculties of a tiger.
As is the case with
constitutionally brave men, the full view of the danger interested Lieut.
D'Hubert. And directly he got properly interested, the length of his arm and
the coolness of his head told in his favour. It was the turn of Lieut. Feraud
to recoil, with a blood-curdling grunt of baffled rage. He made a swift feint,
and then rushed straight forward.
"Ah! you would,
would you?" Lieut. D'Hubert exclaimed, mentally. The combat had lasted
nearly two minutes, time enough for any man to get embittered, apart from the
merits of the quarrel. And all at once it was over. Trying to close breast to
breast under his adversary's guard Lieut. Feraud received a slash on his
shortened arm. He did not feel it in the least, but it checked his rush, and
his feet slipping on the gravel he fell backwards with great violence. The
shock jarred his boiling brain into the perfect quietude of insensibility.
Simultaneously with his fall the pretty servant-girl shrieked; but the old
maiden lady at the window ceased her scolding, and began to cross herself
piously.
Beholding his adversary
stretched out perfectly still, his face to the sky, Lieut. D'Hubert thought he
had killed him outright. The impression of having slashed hard enough to cut
his man clean in two abode with him for a while in an exaggerated memory of the
right good-will he had put into the blow. He dropped on his knees hastily by
the side of the prostrate body. Discovering that not even the arm was severed,
a slight sense of disappointment mingled with the feeling of relief. The fellow
deserved the worst. But truly he did not want the death of that sinner. The
affair was ugly enough as it stood, and Lieut. D'Hubert addressed himself at
once to the task of stopping the bleeding. In this task it was his fate to be
ridiculously impeded by the pretty maid. Rending the air with screams of
horror, she attacked him from behind and, twining her fingers in his hair,
tugged back at his head. Why she should choose to hinder him at this precise
moment he could not in the least understand. He did not try. It was all like a
very wicked and harassing dream. Twice to save himself from being pulled over
he had to rise and fling her off. He did this stoically, without a word,
kneeling down again at once to go on with his work. But the third time, his
work being done, he seized her and held her arms pinned to her body. Her cap
was half off, her face was red, her eyes blazed with crazy boldness. He looked
mildly into them while she called him a wretch, a traitor, and a murderer many
times in succession. This did not annoy him so much as the conviction that she
had managed to scratch his face abundantly. Ridicule would be added to the
scandal of the story. He imagined the adorned tale making its way through the
garrison of the town, through the whole army on the frontier, with every
possible distortion of motive and sentiment and circumstance, spreading a doubt
upon the sanity of his conduct and the distinction of his taste even to the
very ears of his honourable family. It was all very well for that fellow
Feraud, who had no connections, no family to speak of, and no quality but
courage, which, anyhow, was a matter of course, and possessed by every single
trooper in the whole mass of French cavalry. Still holding down the arms of the
girl in a strong grip, Lieut. D'Hubert glanced over his shoulder. Lieut. Feraud
had opened his eyes. He did not move. Like a man just waking from a deep sleep
he stared without any expression at the evening sky.
Lieut. D'Hubert's
urgent shouts to the old gardener produced no effect -- not so much as to make
him shut his toothless mouth. Then he remembered that the man was stone deaf.
All that time the girl struggled, not with maidenly coyness, but like a pretty,
dumb fury, kicking his shins now and then. He continued to hold her as if in a
vice, his instinct telling him that were he to let her go she would fly at his
eyes. But he was greatly humiliated by his position. At last she gave up. She
was more exhausted than appeased, he feared. Nevertheless, he attempted to get
out of this wicked dream by way of negotiation.
"Listen to
me," he said, as calmly as he could. "Will you promise to run for a
surgeon if I let you go?"
With real affliction he
heard her declare that she would do nothing of the kind. On the contrary, her
sobbed out intention was to remain in the garden, and fight tooth and nail for
the protection of the vanquished man. This was shocking.
"My dear
child!" he cried in despair, "is it possible that you think me
capable of murdering a wounded adversary? Is it. . . . Be quiet, you little
wild cat, you!"
They struggled. A
thick, drowsy voice said behind him, "What are you after with that
girl?"
Lieut. Feraud had
raised himself on his good arm. He was looking sleepily at his other arm, at
the mess of blood on his uniform, at a small red pool on the ground, at his
sabre lying a foot away on the path. Then he laid himself down gently again to
think it all out, as far as a thundering headache would permit of mental
operations.
Lieut. D'Hubert
released the girl who crouched at once by the side of the other lieutenant. The
shades of night were falling on the little trim garden with this touching
group, whence proceeded low murmurs of sorrow and compassion, with other feeble
sounds of a different character, as if an imperfectly awake invalid were trying
to swear. Lieut. D'Hubert went away.
He passed through the
silent house, and congratulated himself upon the dusk concealing his gory hands
and scratched face from the passers-by. But this story could by no means be
concealed. He dreaded the discredit and ridicule above everything, and was
painfully aware of sneaking through the back streets in the manner of a
murderer. Presently the sounds of a flute coming out of the open window of a
lighted upstairs room in a modest house interrupted his dismal reflections. It
was being played with a persevering virtuosity, and through the fioritures of
the tune one could hear the regular thumping of the foot beating time on the
floor.
Lieut. D'Hubert shouted
a name, which was that of an army surgeon whom he knew fairly well. The sounds
of the flute ceased, and the musician appeared at the window, his instrument
still in his hand, peering into the street.
"Who calls? You,
D'Hubert? What brings you this way?"
He did not like to be
disturbed at the hour when he was playing the flute. He was a man whose hair
had turned grey already in the thankless task of tying up wounds on
battlefields where others reaped advancement and glory.
"I want you to go
at once and see Feraud. You know Lieut. Feraud? He lives down the second
street. It's but a step from here."
"What's the matter
with him?"
"Wounded."
"Are you
sure?"
"Sure!" cried
D'Hubert. "I come from there."
"That's
amusing," said the elderly surgeon. Amusing was his favourite word; but
the expression of his face when he pronounced it never corresponded. He was a
stolid man. "Come in," he added. "I'll get ready in a
moment."
"Thanks! I will. I
want to wash my hands in your room."
Lieut. D'Hubert found
the surgeon occupied in unscrewing his flute, and packing the pieces
methodically in a case. He turned his head.
"Water there -- in
the corner. Your hands do want washing."
"I've stopped the
bleeding," said Lieut. D'Hubert. "But you had better make haste. It's
rather more than ten minutes ago, you know."
The surgeon did not
hurry his movements.
"What's the
matter? Dressing came off? That's amusing. I've been at work in the hospital
all day but I've been told this morning by somebody that he had come off
without a scratch."
"Not the same duel
probably," growled moodily Lieut. D'Hubert, wiping his hands on a coarse
towel.
"Not the same. . .
. What? Another. It would take the very devil to make me go out twice in one
day." The surgeon looked narrowly at Lieut. D'Hubert. "How did you
come by that scratched face? Both sides, too -- and symmetrical. It's
amusing."
"Very!"
snarled Lieut. D'Hubert. "And you will find his slashed arm amusing, too.
It will keep both of you amused for quite a long time."
The doctor was
mystified and impressed by the brusque bitterness of Lieut. D'Hubert's tone.
They left the house together, and in the street he was still more mystified by
his conduct.
"Aren't you coming
with me?" he asked.
"No," said
Lieut. D'Hubert. "You can find the house by yourself. The front door will
be standing open very likely."
"All right.
Where's his room?"
"Ground floor. But
you had better go right through and look in the garden first."
This astonishing piece
of information made the surgeon go off without further parley. Lieut. D'Hubert
regained his quarters nursing a hot and uneasy indignation. He dreaded the
chaff of his comrades almost as much as the anger of his superiors. The truth was
confoundedly grotesque and embarrassing, even putting aside the irregularity of
the combat itself, which made it come abominably near a criminal offence. Like
all men without much imagination, a faculty which helps the process of
reflective thought, Lieut. D'Hubert became frightfully harassed by the obvious
aspects of his predicament. He was certainly glad that he had not killed Lieut.
Feraud outside all rules, and without the regular witnesses proper to such a
transaction. Uncommonly glad. At the same time he felt as though he would have
liked to wring his neck for him without ceremony.
He was still under the
sway of these contradictory sentiments when the surgeon amateur of the flute
came to see him. More than three days had elapsed. Lieut. D'Hubert was no
longer officier d'ordonnance to the general commanding the division. He had
been sent back to his regiment. And he was resuming his connection with the
soldiers' military family by being shut up in close confinement, not at his own
quarters in town, but in a room in the barracks. Owing to the gravity of the
incident, he was forbidden to see any one. He did not know what had happened,
what was being said, or what was being thought. The arrival of the surgeon was
a most unexpected thing to the worried captive. The amateur of the flute began
by explaining that he was there only by a special favour of the colonel.
"I represented to
him that it would be only fair to let you have some authentic news of your
adversary," he continued. "You'll be glad to hear he's getting better
fast."
Lieut. D'Hubert's face
exhibited no conventional signs of gladness. He continued to walk the floor of
the dusty bare room.
"Take this chair,
doctor," he mumbled.
The doctor sat down.
"This affair is
variously appreciated -- in town and in the army. In fact, the diversity of
opinions is amusing."
"Is it!"
mumbled Lieut. D'Hubert, tramping steadily from wall to wall. But within
himself he marvelled that there could be two opinions on the matter. The
surgeon continued.
"Of course, as the
real facts are not known --"
"I should have
thought," interrupted D'Hubert, "that the fellow would have put you
in possession of facts."
"He said
something," admitted the other, "the first time I saw him. And, by
the by, I did find him in the garden. The thump on the back of his head had
made him a little incoherent then. Afterwards he was rather reticent than
otherwise."
"Didn't think he
would have the grace to be ashamed!" mumbled D'Hubert, resuming his pacing
while the doctor murmured, "It's very amusing. Ashamed! Shame was not
exactly his frame of mind. However, you may look at the matter otherwise."
"What are you
talking about? What matter?" asked D'Hubert, with a sidelong look at the
heavy-faced, grey-haired figure seated on a wooden chair.
"Whatever it
is," said the surgeon a little impatiently, "I don't want to
pronounce any opinion on your conduct --"
"By heavens, you
had better not!" burst out D'Hubert.
"There! -- there!
Don't be so quick in flourishing the sword. It doesn't pay in the long run.
Understand once for all that I would not carve any of you youngsters except
with the tools of my trade. But my advice is good. If you go on like this you will
make for yourself an ugly reputation."
"Go on like
what?" demanded Lieut. D'Hubert, stopping short, quite startled. "I!
-- I! -- make for myself a reputation. . . . What do you imagine?"
"I told you I
don't wish to judge of the rights and wrongs of this incident. It's not my
business. Nevertheless --"
"What on earth has
he been telling you?" interrupted Lieut. D'Hubert, in a sort of awed
scare.
"I told you
already, that at first, when I picked him up in the garden, he was incoherent.
Afterwards he was naturally reticent. But I gather at least that he could not
help himself."
"He
couldn't?" shouted Lieut. D'Hubert in a great voice. Then, lowering his
tone impressively, "And what about me? Could I help myself?"
The surgeon stood up.
His thoughts were running upon the flute, his constant companion with a
consoling voice. In the vicinity of field ambulances, after twenty-four hours'
hard work, he had been known to trouble with its sweet sounds the horrible
stillness of battle-fields, given over to silence and the dead. The solacing
hour of his daily life was approaching, and in peace time he held on to the
minutes as a miser to his hoard.
"Of course! -- of
course!" he said, perfunctorily. "You would think so. It's amusing.
However, being perfectly neutral and friendly to you both, I have consented to
deliver his message to you. Say that I am humouring an invalid if you like. He
wants you to know that this affair is by no means at an end. He intends to send
you his seconds directly he has regained his strength -- providing, of course,
the army is not in the field at that time."
"He intends, does
he? Why, certainly," spluttered Lieut. D'Hubert in a passion.
The secret of his
exasperation was not apparent to the visitor; but this passion confirmed the surgeon
in the belief which was gaining ground outside that some very serious
difference had arisen between these two young men, something serious enough to
wear an air of mystery, some fact of the utmost gravity. To settle their urgent
difference about that fact, those two young men had risked being broken and
disgraced at the outset almost of their career. The surgeon feared that the
forthcoming inquiry would fail to satisfy the public curiosity. They would not
take the public into their confidence as to that something which had passed
between them of a nature so outrageous as to make them face a charge of murder
-- neither more nor less. But what could it be?
The surgeon was not
very curious by temperament; but that question haunting his mind caused him twice
that evening to hold the instrument off his lips and sit silent for a whole
minute -- right in the middle of a tune -- trying to form a plausible
conjecture.
He succeeded in this
object no better than the rest of the garrison and the whole of society. The
two young officers, of no especial consequence till then, became distinguished
by the universal curiosity as to the origin of their quarrel. Madame de
Lionne's salon was the centre of ingenious surmises; that lady herself was for
a time assailed by inquiries as being the last person known to have spoken to
these unhappy and reckless young men before they went out together from her
house to a savage encounter with swords, at dusk, in a private garden. She
protested she had not observed anything unusual in their demeanour. Lieut.
Feraud had been visibly annoyed at being called away. That was natural enough;
no man likes to be disturbed in a conversation with a lady famed for her
elegance and sensibility. But in truth the subject bored Madame de Lionne,
since her personality could by no stretch of reckless gossip be connected with
this affair. And it irritated her to hear it advanced that there might have
been some woman in the case. This irritation arose, not from her elegance or
sensibility, but from a more instinctive side of her nature. It became so great
at last that she peremptorily forbade the subject to be mentioned under her
roof. Near her couch the prohibition was obeyed, but farther off in the salon
the pall of the imposed silence continued to be lifted more or less. A
personage with a long, pale face, resembling the countenance of a sheep,
opined, shaking his head, that it was a quarrel of long standing envenomed by
time. It was objected to him that the men themselves were too young for such a
theory. They belonged also to different and distant parts of France. There were
other physical impossibilities, too. A sub-commissary of the Intendence, an
agreeable and cultivated bachelor in kerseymere breeches, Hessian boots, and a
blue coat embroidered with silver lace, who affected to believe in the
transmigration of souls, suggested that the two had met perhaps in some
previous existence. The feud was in the forgotten past. It might have been
something quite inconceivable in the present state of their being; but their
souls remembered the animosity, and manifested an instinctive antagonism. He
developed this theme jocularly. Yet the affair was so absurd from the worldly,
the military, the honourable, or the prudential point of view, that this weird
explanation seemed rather more reasonable than any other.
The two officers had
confided nothing definite to any one. Humiliation at having been worsted arms
in hand, and an uneasy feeling of having been involved in a scrape by the
injustice of fate, kept Lieut. Feraud savagely dumb. He mistrusted the sympathy
of mankind. That would, of course, go to that dandified staff officer. Lying in
bed, he raved aloud to the pretty maid who administered to his needs with
devotion, and listened to his horrible imprecations with alarm. That Lieut.
D'Hubert should be made to "pay for it," seemed to her just and
natural. Her principal care was that Lieut. Feraud should not excite himself.
He appeared so wholly admirable and fascinating to the humility of her heart
that her only concern was to see him get well quickly, even if it were only to
resume his visits to Madame de Lionne's salon.
Lieut. D'Hubert kept
silent for the immediate reason that there was no one, except a stupid young
soldier servant, to speak to. Further, he was aware that the episode, so grave
professionally, had its comic side. When reflecting upon it, he still felt that
he would like to wring Lieut. Feraud's neck for him. But this formula was
figurative rather than precise, and expressed more a state of mind than an
actual physical impulse. At the same time, there was in that young man a
feeling of comradeship and kindness which made him unwilling to make the
position of Lieut. Feraud worse than it was. He did not want to talk at large
about this wretched affair. At the inquiry he would have, of course, to speak
the truth in self-defence. This prospect vexed him.
But no inquiry took
place. The army took the field instead. Lieut. D'Hubert, liberated without
remark, took up his regimental duties; and Lieut. Feraud, his arm just out of
the sling, rode unquestioned with his squadron to complete his convalescence in
the smoke of battlefields and the fresh air of night bivouacs. This bracing
treatment suited him so well, that at the first rumour of an armistice being
signed he could turn without misgivings to the thoughts of his private warfare.
This time it was to be
regular warfare. He sent two friends to Lieut. D'Hubert, whose regiment was
stationed only a few miles away. Those friends had asked no questions of their
principal. "I owe him one, that pretty staff officer," he had said,
grimly, and they went away quite contentedly on their mission. Lieut. D'Hubert
had no difficulty in finding two friends equally discreet and devoted to their
principal. "There's a crazy fellow to whom I must give a lesson," he
had declared curtly; and they asked for no better reasons.
On these grounds an
encounter with duelling-swords was arranged one early morning in a convenient
field. At the third set-to Lieut. D'Hubert found himself lying on his back on
the dewy grass with a hole in his side. A serene sun rising over a landscape of
meadows and woods hung on his left. A surgeon -- not the flute player, but
another -- was bending over him, feeling around the wound.
"Narrow squeak.
But it will be nothing," he pronounced.
Lieut. D'Hubert heard
these words with pleasure. One of his seconds, sitting on the wet grass, and
sustaining his head on his lap, said, "The fortune of war, mon pauvre
vieux. What will you have? You had better make it up like two good fellows.
Do!"
"You don't know
what you ask," murmured Lieut. D'Hubert, in a feeble voice. "However,
if he . . ."
In another part of the
meadow the seconds of Lieut. Feraud were urging him to go over and shake hands
with his adversary.
"You have paid him
off now -- que diable. It's the proper thing to do. This D'Hubert is a decent
fellow."
"I know the
decency of these generals' pets," muttered Lieut. Feraud through his
teeth, and the sombre expression of his face discouraged further efforts at
reconciliation. The seconds, bowing from a distance, took their men off the
field. In the afternoon Lieut. D'Hubert, very popular as a good comrade uniting
great bravery with a frank and equable temper, had many visitors. It was remarked
that Lieut. Feraud did not, as is customary, show himself much abroad to
receive the felicitations of his friends. They would not have failed him,
because he, too, was liked for the exuberance of his southern nature and the
simplicity of his character. In all the places where officers were in the habit
of assembling at the end of the day the duel of the morning was talked over
from every point of view. Though Lieut. D'Hubert had got worsted this time, his
sword play was commended. No one could deny that it was very close, very
scientific. It was even whispered that if he got touched it was because he
wished to spare his adversary. But by many the vigour and dash of Lieut.
Feraud's attack were pronounced irresistible.
The merits of the two
officers as combatants were frankly discussed; but their attitude to each other
after the duel was criticised lightly and with caution. It was irreconcilable,
and that was to be regretted. But after all they knew best what the care of
their honour dictated. It was not a matter for their comrades to pry into
over-much. As to the origin of the quarrel, the general impression was that it
dated from the time they were holding garrison in Strasbourg. The musical
surgeon shook his head at that. It went much farther back, he thought.
"Why, of course!
You must know the whole story," cried several voices, eager with
curiosity. "What was it?"
He raised his eyes from
his glass deliberately. "Even if I knew ever so well, you can't expect me
to tell you, since both the principals choose to say nothing."
He got up and went out,
leaving the sense of mystery behind him. He could not stay any longer, because
the witching hour of flute-playing was drawing near.
After he had gone a
very young officer observed solemnly, "Obviously, his lips are
sealed!"
Nobody questioned the
high correctness of that remark. Somehow it added to the impressiveness of the
affair. Several older officers of both regiments, prompted by nothing but sheer
kindness and love of harmony, proposed to form a Court of Honour, to which the
two young men would leave the task of their reconciliation. Unfortunately they
began by approaching Lieut. Feraud, on the assumption that, having just scored
heavily, he would be found placable and disposed to moderation.
The reasoning was sound
enough. Nevertheless, the move turned out unfortunate. In that relaxation of
moral fibre, which is brought about by the ease of soothed vanity, Lieut.
Feraud had condescended in the secret of his heart to review the case, and even
had come to doubt not the justice of his cause, but the absolute sagacity of
his conduct. This being so, he was disinclined to talk about it. The suggestion
of the regimental wise men put him in a difficult position. He was disgusted at
it, and this disgust, by a paradoxical logic, reawakened his animosity against
Lieut. D'Hubert. Was he to be pestered with this fellow for ever -- the fellow
who had an infernal knack of getting round people somehow? And yet it was
difficult to refuse point blank that mediation sanctioned by the code of
honour.
He met the difficulty
by an attitude of grim reserve. He twisted his moustache and used vague words.
His case was perfectly clear. He was not ashamed to state it before a proper
Court of Honour, neither was he afraid to defend it on the ground. He did not
see any reason to jump at the suggestion before ascertaining how his adversary
was likely to take it.
Later in the day, his
exasperation growing upon him, he was heard in a public place saying
sardonically, "that it would be the very luckiest thing for Lieut.
D'Hubert, because the next time of meeting he need not hope to get off with the
mere trifle of three weeks in bed."
This boastful phrase
might have been prompted by the most profound Machiavellism. Southern natures
often hide, under the outward impulsiveness of action and speech, a certain
amount of astuteness.
Lieut. Feraud, mistrusting
the justice of men, by no means desired a Court of Honour; and the above words,
according so well with his temperament, had also the merit of serving his turn.
Whether meant so or not, they found their way in less than four-and-twenty
hours into Lieut. D'Hubert's bedroom. In consequence Lieut. D'Hubert, sitting
propped up with pillows, received the overtures made to him next day by the
statement that the affair was of a nature which could not bear discussion.
The pale face of the
wounded officer, his weak voice which he had yet to use cautiously, and the
courteous dignity of his tone had a great effect on his hearers. Reported
outside all this did more for deepening the mystery than the vapourings of
Lieut. Feraud. This last was greatly relieved at the issue. He began to enjoy
the state of general wonder, and was pleased to add to it by assuming an
attitude of fierce discretion.
The colonel of Lieut.
D'Hubert's regiment was a grey-haired, weather-beaten warrior, who took a
simple view of his responsibilities. "I can't," he said to himself,
"let the best of my subalterns get damaged like this for nothing. I must
get to the bottom of this affair privately. He must speak out if the devil were
in it. The colonel should be more than a father to these youngsters." And
indeed he loved all his men with as much affection as a father of a large
family can feel for every individual member of it. If human beings by an
oversight of Providence came into the world as mere civilians, they were born
again into a regiment as infants are born into a family, and it was that
military birth alone which counted.
At the sight of Lieut.
D'Hubert standing before him very bleached and hollow-eyed the heart of the old
warrior felt a pang of genuine compassion. All his affection for the regiment
-- that body of men which he held in his hand to launch forward and draw back,
who ministered to his pride and commanded all his thoughts -- seemed centred
for a moment on the person of the most promising subaltern. He cleared his throat
in a threatening manner, and frowned terribly. "You must understand,"
he began, "that I don't care a rap for the life of a single man in the
regiment. I would send the eight hundred and forty-three of you men and horses
galloping into the pit of perdition with no more compunction than I would kill
a fly!"
"Yes, Colonel. You
would be riding at our head," said Lieut. D'Hubert with a wan smile.
The colonel, who felt
the need of being very diplomatic, fairly roared at this. "I want you to
know, Lieut. D'Hubert, that I could stand aside and see you all riding to Hades
if need be. I am a man to do even that if the good of the service and my duty
to my country required it from me. But that's unthinkable, so don't you even
hint at such a thing." He glared awfully, but his tone softened.
"There's some milk yet about that moustache of yours, my boy. You don't
know what a man like me is capable of. I would hide behind a haystack if . . .
Don't grin at me, sir! How dare you? If this were not a private conversation I
would . . . Look here! I am responsible for the proper expenditure of lives
under my command for the glory of our country and the honour of the regiment.
Do you understand that? Well, then, what the devil do you mean by letting
yourself be spitted like this by that fellow of the 7th Hussars? It's simply
disgraceful!"
Lieut. D'Hubert felt
vexed beyond measure. His shoulders moved slightly. He made no other answer. He
could not ignore his responsibility.
The colonel veiled his
glance and lowered his voice still more. "It's deplorable!" he
murmured. And again he changed his tone. "Come!" he went on,
persuasively, but with that note of authority which dwells in the throat of a
good leader of men, "this affair must be settled. I desire to be told
plainly what it is all about. I demand, as your best friend, to know."
The compelling power of
authority, the persuasive influence of kindness, affected powerfully a man just
risen from a bed of sickness. Lieut. D'Hubert's hand, which grasped the knob of
a stick, trembled slightly. But his northern temperament, sentimental yet
cautious and clear-sighted, too, in its idealistic way, checked his impulse to
make a clean breast of the whole deadly absurdity. According to the precept of
transcendental wisdom, he turned his tongue seven times in his mouth before he
spoke. He made then only a speech of thanks.
The colonel listened,
interested at first, then looked mystified. At last he frowned. "You
hesitate? -- mille tonnerres! Haven't I told you that I will condescend to
argue with you -- as a friend?"
"Yes,
Colonel!" answered Lieut. D'Hubert, gently. "But I am afraid that
after you have heard me out as a friend you will take action as my superior
officer."
The attentive colonel
snapped his jaws. "Well, what of that?" he said, frankly. "Is it
so damnably disgraceful?"
"It is not,"
negatived Lieut. D'Hubert, in a faint but firm voice.
"Of course, I
shall act for the good of the service. Nothing can prevent me doing that. What
do you think I want to be told for?"
"I know it is not
from idle curiosity," protested Lieut. D'Hubert. "I know you will act
wisely. But what about the good fame of the regiment?"
"It cannot be
affected by any youthful folly of a lieutenant," said the colonel,
severely.
"No. It cannot be.
But it can be by evil tongues. It will be said that a lieutenant of the 4th
Hussars, afraid of meeting his adversary, is hiding behind his colonel. And
that would be worse than hiding behind a haystack -- for the good of the
service. I cannot afford to do that, Colonel."
"Nobody would dare
to say anything of the kind," began the colonel very fiercely, but ended
the phrase on an uncertain note. The bravery of Lieut. D'Hubert was well known.
But the colonel was well aware that the duelling courage, the single combat
courage, is rightly or wrongly supposed to be courage of a special sort. And it
was eminently necessary that an officer of his regiment should possess every
kind of courage -- and prove it, too. The colonel stuck out his lower lip, and
looked far away with a peculiar glazed stare. This was the expression of his
perplexity -- an expression practically unknown to his regiment; for perplexity
is a sentiment which is incompatible with the rank of colonel of cavalry. The
colonel himself was overcome by the unpleasant novelty of the sensation. As he
was not accustomed to think except on professional matters connected with the
welfare of men and horses, and the proper use thereof on the field of glory,
his intellectual efforts degenerated into mere mental repetitions of profane
language. "Mille tonnerres! . . . Sacré nom de nom . . ." he thought.
Lieut. D'Hubert coughed
painfully, and added in a weary voice: "There will be plenty of evil
tongues to say that I've been cowed. And I am sure you will not expect me to
pass that over. I may find myself suddenly with a dozen duels on my hands
instead of this one affair."
The direct simplicity
of this argument came home to the colonel's understanding. He looked at his
subordinate fixedly. "Sit down, Lieutenant!" he said, gruffly.
"This is the very devil of a . . . Sit down!"
"Mon
Colonel," D'Hubert began again, "I am not afraid of evil tongues.
There's a way of silencing them. But there's my peace of mind, too. I wouldn't
be able to shake off the notion that I've ruined a brother officer. Whatever
action you take, it is bound to go farther. The inquiry has been dropped -- let
it rest now. It would have been absolutely fatal to Feraud."
"Hey! What! Did he
behave so badly?"
"Yes. It was
pretty bad," muttered Lieut. D'Hubert. Being still very weak, he felt a
disposition to cry.
As the other man did
not belong to his own regiment the colonel had no difficulty in believing this.
He began to pace up and down the room. He was a good chief, a man capable of
discreet sympathy. But he was human in other ways, too, and this became
apparent because he was not capable of artifice.
"The very devil,
Lieutenant," he blurted out, in the innocence of his heart, "is that
I have declared my intention to get to the bottom of this affair. And when a
colonel says something . . . you see . . ."
Lieut. D'Hubert broke
in earnestly: "Let me entreat you, Colonel, to be satisfied with taking my
word of honour that I was put into a damnable position where I had no option; I
had no choice whatever, consistent with my dignity as a man and an officer. . .
. After all, Colonel, this fact is the very bottom of this affair. Here you've
got it. The rest is mere detail. . . ."
The colonel stopped
short. The reputation of Lieut. D'Hubert for good sense and good temper weighed
in the balance. A cool head, a warm heart, open as the day. Always correct in
his behaviour. One had to trust him. The colonel repressed manfully an immense
curiosity. "H'm! You affirm that as a man and an officer. . . . No option?
Eh?"
"As an officer --
an officer of the 4th Hussars, too," insisted Lieut. D'Hubert, "I had
not. And that is the bottom of the affair, Colonel."
"Yes. But still I
don't see why, to one's colonel. . . . A colonel is a father -- que
diable!"
Lieut. D'Hubert ought
not to have been allowed out as yet. He was becoming aware of his physical
insufficiency with humiliation and despair. But the morbid obstinacy of an
invalid possessed him, and at the same time he felt with dismay his eyes
filling with water. This trouble seemed too big to handle. A tear fell down the
thin, pale cheek of Lieut. D'Hubert.
The colonel turned his
back on him hastily. You could have heard a pin drop. "This is some silly
woman story -- is it not?"
Saying these words the
chief spun round to seize the truth, which is not a beautiful shape living in a
well, but a shy bird best caught by stratagem. This was the last move of the
colonel's diplomacy. He saw the truth shining unmistakably in the gesture of
Lieut. D'Hubert raising his weak arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme
protest.
"Not a woman
affair -- eh?" growled the colonel, staring hard. "I don't ask you
who or where. All I want to know is whether there is a woman in it?"
Lieut. D'Hubert's arms
dropped, and his weak voice was pathetically broken.
"Nothing of the
kind, mon Colonel."
"On your
honour?" insisted the old warrior.
"On my
honour."
"Very well,"
said the colonel, thoughtfully, and bit his lip. The arguments of Lieut.
D'Hubert, helped by his liking for the man, had convinced him. On the other
hand, it was highly improper that his intervention, of which he had made no
secret, should produce no visible effect. He kept Lieut. D'Hubert a few minutes
longer, and dismissed him kindly.
"Take a few days
more in bed. Lieutenant. What the devil does the surgeon mean by reporting you
fit for duty?"
On coming out of the
colonel's quarters, Lieut. D'Hubert said nothing to the friend who was waiting
outside to take him home. He said nothing to anybody. Lieut. D'Hubert made no
confidences. But on the evening of that day the colonel, strolling under the
elms growing near his quarters, in the company of his second in command, opened
his lips.
"I've got to the
bottom of this affair," he remarked. The lieut.-colonel, a dry, brown chip
of a man with short side-whiskers, pricked up his ears at that without letting
a sign of curiosity escape him.
"It's no
trifle," added the colonel, oracularly. The other waited for a long while
before he murmured:
"Indeed,
sir!"
"No trifle,"
repeated the colonel, looking straight before him. "I've, however,
forbidden D'Hubert either to send to or receive a challenge from Feraud for the
next twelve months."
He had imagined this
prohibition to save the prestige a colonel should have. The result of it was to
give an official seal to the mystery surrounding this deadly quarrel. Lieut.
D'Hubert repelled by an impassive silence all attempts to worm the truth out of
him. Lieut. Feraud, secretly uneasy at first, regained his assurance as time
went on. He disguised his ignorance of the meaning of the imposed truce by
slight sardonic laughs, as though he were amused by what he intended to keep to
himself. "But what will you do?" his chums used to ask him. He
contented himself by replying "Qui vivra verra" with a little
truculent air. And everybody admired his discretion.
Before the end of the
truce Lieut. D'Hubert got his troop. The promotion was well earned, but somehow
no one seemed to expect the event. When Lieut. Feraud heard of it at a
gathering of officers, he muttered through his teeth, "Is that so?"
At once he unhooked his sabre from a peg near the door, buckled it on
carefully, and left the company without another word. He walked home with
measured steps, struck a light with his flint and steel, and lit his tallow
candle. Then snatching an unlucky glass tumbler off the mantelpiece he dashed
it violently on the floor.
Now that D'Hubert was
an officer of superior rank there could be no question of a duel. Neither of
them could send or receive a challenge without rendering himself amenable to a
court-martial. It was not to be thought of. Lieut. Feraud, who for many days
now had experienced no real desire to meet Lieut. D'Hubert arms in hand, chafed
again at the systematic injustice of fate. "Does he think he will escape
me in that way?" he thought, indignantly. He saw in this promotion an
intrigue, a conspiracy, a cowardly manœuvre. That colonel knew what he was
doing. He had hastened to recommend his favourite for a step. It was outrageous
that a man should be able to avoid the consequences of his acts in such a dark
and tortuous manner.
Of a happy-go-lucky
disposition, of a temperament more pugnacious than military, Lieut. Feraud had
been content to give and receive blows for sheer love of armed strife, and
without much thought of advancement; but now an urgent desire to get on sprang
up in his breast. This fighter by vocation resolved in his mind to seize showy
occasions and to court the favourable opinion of his chiefs like a mere
worldling. He knew he was as brave as any one, and never doubted his personal
charm. Nevertheless, neither the bravery nor the charm seemed to work very
swiftly. Lieut. Feraud's engaging, careless truculence of a beau sabreur
underwent a change. He began to make bitter allusions to "clever fellows
who stick at nothing to get on." The army was full of them, he would say;
you had only to look round. But all the time he had in view one person only,
his adversary, D'Hubert. Once he confided to an appreciative friend: "You
see, I don't know how to fawn on the right sort of people. It isn't in my
character."
He did not get his step
till a week after Austerlitz. The Light Cavalry of the Grand Army had its hands
very full of interesting work for a little while. Directly the pressure of
professional occupation had been eased Captain Feraud took measures to arrange
a meeting without loss of time. "I know my bird," he observed,
grimly. "If I don't look sharp he will take care to get himself promoted
over the heads of a dozen better men than himself. He's got the knack for that
sort of thing."
This duel was fought in
Silesia. If not fought to a finish, it was, at any rate, fought to a
standstill. The weapon was the cavalry sabre, and the skill, the science, the
vigour, and the determination displayed by the adversaries compelled the
admiration of the beholders. It became the subject of talk on both shores of
the Danube, and as far as the garrisons of Gratz and Laybach. They crossed blades
seven times. Both had many cuts which bled profusely. Both refused to have the
combat stopped, time after time, with what appeared the most deadly animosity.
This appearance was caused on the part of Captain D'Hubert by a rational desire
to be done once for all with this worry; on the part of Captain Feraud by a
tremendous exaltation of his pugnacious instincts and the incitement of wounded
vanity. At last, dishevelled, their shirts in rags, covered with gore and
hardly able to stand, they were led away forcibly by their marvelling and
horrified seconds. Later on, besieged by comrades avid of details, these
gentlemen declared that they could not have allowed that sort of hacking to go
on indefinitely. Asked whether the quarrel was settled this time, they gave it
out as their conviction that it was a difference which could only be settled by
one of the parties remaining lifeless on the ground. The sensation spread from
army corps to army corps, and penetrated at last to the smallest detachments of
the troops cantoned between the Rhine and the Save. In the cafés in Vienna it
was generally estimated, from details to hand, that the adversaries would be
able to meet again in three weeks' time on the outside. Something really
transcendent in the way of duelling was expected.
These expectations were
brought to naught by the necessities of the service which separated the two
officers. No official notice had been taken of their quarrel. It was now the
property of the army, and not to be meddled with lightly. But the story of the
duel, or rather their duelling propensities, must have stood somewhat in the
way of their advancement, because they were still captains when they came
together again during the war with Prussia. Detached north after Jena, with the
army commanded by Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, they entered Lübeck
together.
It was only after the
occupation of that town that Captain Feraud found leisure to consider his
future conduct in view of the fact that Captain D'Hubert had been given the
position of third aide-de-camp to the marshal. He considered it a great part of
a night, and in the morning summoned two sympathetic friends.
"I've been
thinking it over calmly," he said, gazing at them with blood-shot, tired
eyes. "I see that I must get rid of that intriguing personage. Here he's
managed to sneak on to the personal staff of the marshal. It's a direct
provocation to me. I can't tolerate a situation in which I am exposed any day
to receive an order through him. And God knows what order, too! That sort of
thing has happened once before -- and that's once too often. He understands
this perfectly, never fear. I can't tell you any more. Now you know what it is
you have to do."
This encounter took
place outside the town of Lübeck, on very open ground, selected with special
care in deference to the general sentiment of the cavalry division belonging to
the army corps, that this time the two officers should meet on horseback. After
all, this duel was a cavalry affair, and to persist in fighting on foot would
look like a slight on one's own arm of the service. The seconds, startled by
the unusual nature of the suggestion, hastened to refer to their principals.
Captain Feraud jumped at it with alacrity. For some obscure reason, depending,
no doubt, on his psychology, he imagined himself invincible on horseback. All
alone within the four walls of his room he rubbed his hands and muttered
triumphantly, "Aha! my pretty staff officer, I've got you now."
Captain D'Hubert on his
side, after staring hard for a considerable time at his friends, shrugged his
shoulders slightly. This affair had hopelessly and unreasonably complicated his
existence for him. One absurdity more or less in the development did not matter
-- all absurdity was distasteful to him; but, urbane as ever, he produced a
faintly ironical smile, and said in his calm voice, "It certainly will do
away to some extent with the monotony of the thing."
When left alone, he sat
down at a table and took his head into his hands. He had not spared himself of
late and the marshal had been working all his aides-de-camp particularly hard.
The last three weeks of campaigning in horrible weather had affected his
health. When over-tired he suffered from a stitch in his wounded side, and that
uncomfortable sensation always depressed him. "It's that brute's doing,
too," he thought bitterly.
The day before he had
received a letter from home, announcing that his only sister was going to be
married. He reflected that from the time she was nineteen and he twenty-six,
when he went away to garrison life in Strasbourg, he had had but two short
glimpses of her. They had been great friends and confidants; and now she was
going to be given away to a man whom he did not know -- a very worthy fellow no
doubt, but not half good enough for her. He would never see his old Léonie
again. She had a capable little head, and plenty of tact; she would know how to
manage the fellow, to be sure. He was easy in his mind about her happiness but
he felt ousted from the first place in her thoughts which had been his ever
since the girl could speak. A melancholy regret of the days of his childhood
settled upon Captain D'Hubert, third aide-de-camp to the Prince of Ponte Corvo.
He threw aside the
letter of congratulation he had begun to write as in duty bound, but without
enthusiasm. He took a fresh piece of paper, and traced on it the words:
"This is my last will and testament." Looking at these words he gave
himself up to unpleasant reflection; a presentiment that he would never see the
scenes of his childhood weighed down the equable spirits of Captain D'Hubert.
He jumped up, pushing his chair back, yawned elaborately in sign that he didn't
care anything for presentiments, and throwing himself on the bed went to sleep.
During the night he shivered from time to time without waking up. In the morning
he rode out of town between his two seconds, talking of indifferent things, and
looking right and left with apparent detachment into the heavy morning mists
shrouding the flat green fields bordered by hedges. He leaped a ditch, and saw
the forms of many mounted men moving in the fog. "We are to fight before a
gallery, it seems," he muttered to himself, bitterly.
His seconds were rather
concerned at the state of the atmosphere, but presently a pale, sickly sun
struggled out of the low vapours, and Captain D'Hubert made out, in the
distance, three horsemen riding a little apart from the others. It was Captain
Feraud and his seconds. He drew his sabre, and assured himself that it was
properly fastened to his wrist. And now the seconds, who had been standing in
close group with the heads of their horses together, separated at an easy
canter, leaving a large, clear field between him and his adversary. Captain
D'Hubert looked at the pale sun, at the dismal fields, and the imbecility of
the impending fight filled him with desolation. From a distant part of the
field a stentorian voice shouted commands at proper intervals: Au pas -- Au
trot -- Charrrgez! . . . Presentiments of death don't come to a man for
nothing, he thought at the very moment he put spurs to his horse.
And therefore he was
more than surprised when, at the very first set-to, Captain Feraud laid himself
open to a cut over the forehead, which blinding him with blood, ended the
combat almost before it had fairly begun. It was impossible to go on. Captain
D'Hubert, leaving his enemy swearing horribly and reeling in the saddle between
his two appalled friends, leaped the ditch again into the road and trotted home
with his two seconds, who seemed rather awestruck at the speedy issue of that
encounter. In the evening Captain D'Hubert finished the congratulatory letter
on his sister's marriage.
He finished it late. It
was a long letter. Captain D'Hubert gave reins to his fancy. He told his sister
that he would feel rather lonely after this great change in her life; but then
the day would come for him, too, to get married. In fact, he was thinking
already of the time when there would be no one left to fight with in Europe and
the epoch of wars would be over. "I expect then," he wrote, "to be
within measurable distance of a marshal's baton, and you will be an experienced
married woman. You shall look out a wife for me. I will be, probably, bald by
then, and a little blasé. I shall require a young girl, pretty of course, and
with a large fortune, which should help me to close my glorious career in the
splendour befitting my exalted rank." He ended with the information that
he had just given a lesson to a worrying, quarrelsome fellow who imagined he
had a grievance against him. "But if you, in the depths of your
province," he continued, "ever hear it said that your brother is of a
quarrelsome disposition, don't you believe it on any account. There is no
saying what gossip from the army may reach your innocent ears. Whatever you
hear you may rest assured that your ever-loving brother is not a
duellist." Then Captain D'Hubert crumpled up the blank sheet of paper
headed with the words "This is my last will and testament," and threw
it in the fire with a great laugh at himself. He didn't care a snap for what
that lunatic could do. He had suddenly acquired the conviction that his
adversary was utterly powerless to affect his life in any sort of way; except,
perhaps, in the way of putting a special excitement into the delightful, gay
intervals between the campaigns.
From this on there
were, however, to be no peaceful intervals in the career of Captain D'Hubert.
He saw the fields of Eylau and Friedland, marched and counter-marched in the
snow, in the mud, in the dust of Polish plains, picking up distinction and
advancement on all the roads of North-eastern Europe. Meantime, Captain Feraud,
despatched southwards with his regiment, made unsatisfactory war in Spain. It
was only when the preparations for the Russian campaign began that he was
ordered north again. He left the country of mantillas and oranges without
regret.
The first signs of a
not unbecoming baldness added to the lofty aspect of Colonel D'Hubert's
forehead. This feature was no longer white and smooth as in the days of his
youth; the kindly open glance of his blue eyes had grown a little hard as if
from much peering through the smoke of battles. The ebony crop on Colonel
Feraud's head, coarse and crinkly like a cap of horsehair, showed many silver
threads about the temples. A detestable warfare of ambushes and inglorious
surprises had not improved his temper. The beak-like curve of his nose was
unpleasantly set off by a deep fold on each side of his mouth. The round orbits
of his eyes radiated wrinkles. More than ever he recalled an irritable and
staring bird -- something like a cross between a parrot and an owl. He was
still extremely outspoken in his dislike of "intriguing fellows." He
seized every opportunity to state that he did not pick up his rank in the
ante-rooms of marshals. The unlucky persons, civil or military, who, with an
intention of being pleasant, begged Colonel Feraud to tell them how he came by
that very apparent scar on the forehead, were astonished to find themselves
snubbed in various ways, some of which were simply rude and others mysteriously
sardonic. Young officers were warned kindly by their more experienced comrades
not to stare openly at the colonel's scar. But indeed an officer need have been
very young in his profession not to have heard the legendary tale of that duel
originating in a mysterious, unforgivable offence.
The retreat from Moscow
submerged all private feelings in a sea of disaster and misery. Colonels
without regiments, D'Hubert and Feraud carried the musket in the ranks of the
so-called sacred battalion -- a battalion recruited from officers of all arms
who had no longer any troops to lead.
In that battalion
promoted colonels did duty as sergeants; the generals captained the companies;
a marshal of France, Prince of the Empire, commanded the whole. All had provided
themselves with muskets picked up on the road, and with cartridges taken from
the dead. In the general destruction of the bonds of discipline and duty
holding together the companies, the battalions, the regiments, the brigades,
and divisions of an armed host, this body of men put its pride in preserving
some semblance of order and formation. The only stragglers were those who fell
out to give up to the frost their exhausted souls. They plodded on, and their
passage did not disturb the mortal silence of the plains, shining with the
livid light of snows under a sky the colour of ashes. Whirlwinds ran along the
fields, broke against the dark column, enveloped it in a turmoil of flying
icicles, and subsided, disclosing it creeping on its tragic way without the
swing and rhythm of the military pace. It struggled onwards, the men exchanging
neither words nor looks; whole ranks marched touching elbow, day after day and
never raising their eyes from the ground, as if lost in despairing reflections.
In the dumb, black forests of pines the cracking of overloaded branches was the
only sound they heard. Often from daybreak to dusk no one spoke in the whole
column. It was like a macabre march of struggling corpses towards a distant
grave. Only an alarm of Cossacks could restore to their eyes a semblance of
martial resolution. The battalion faced about and deployed, or formed square
under the endless fluttering of snowflakes. A cloud of horsemen with fur caps
on their heads, levelled long lances, and yelled "Hurrah! Hurrah!"
around their menacing immobility whence, with muffled detonations, hundreds of
dark red flames darted through the air thick with falling snow. In a very few
moments the horsemen would disappear, as if carried off yelling in the gale,
and the sacred battalion standing still, alone in the blizzard, heard only the
howling of the wind, whose blasts searched their very hearts. Then, with a cry
or two of "Vive l'Empereur!" it would resume its march, leaving
behind a few lifeless bodies lying huddled up, tiny black specks on the white
immensity of the snows.
Though often marching
in the ranks, or skirmishing in the woods side by side, the two officers
ignored each other; this not so much from inimical intention as from a very
real indifference. All their store of moral energy was expended in resisting
the terrific enmity of nature and the crushing sense of irretrievable disaster.
To the last they counted among the most active, the least demoralized of the
battalion; their vigorous vitality invested them both with the appearance of an
heroic pair in the eyes of their comrades. And they never exchanged more than a
casual word or two, except one day, when skirmishing in front of the battalion
against a worrying attack of cavalry, they found themselves cut off in the
woods by a small party of Cossacks. A score of fur-capped, hairy horsemen rode
to and fro, brandishing their lances in ominous silence; but the two officers
had no mind to lay down their arms, and Colonel Feraud suddenly spoke up in a
hoarse, growling voice, bringing his firelock to the shoulder. "You take
the nearest brute, Colonel D'Hubert; I'll settle the next one. I am a better
shot than you are."
Colonel D'Hubert nodded
over his levelled musket. Their shoulders were pressed against the trunk of a large
tree; on their front enormous snowdrifts protected them from a direct charge.
Two carefully aimed shots rang out in the frosty air, two Cossacks reeled in
their saddles. The rest, not thinking the game good enough, closed round their
wounded comrades and galloped away out of range. The two officers managed to
rejoin their battalion halted for the night. During that afternoon they had
leaned upon each other more than once, and towards the end, Colonel D'Hubert,
whose long legs gave him an advantage in walking through soft snow,
peremptorily took the musket of Colonel Feraud from him and carried it on his
shoulder, using his own as a staff.
On the outskirts of a
village half buried in the snow an old wooden barn burned with a clear and an
immense flame. The sacred battalion of skeletons, muffled in rags, crowded
greedily the windward side, stretching hundreds of numbed, bony hands to the
blaze. Nobody had noted their approach. Before entering the circle of light
playing on the sunken, glassy-eyed, starved faces, Colonel D'Hubert spoke in
his turn:
"Here's your
musket, Colonel Feraud. I can walk better than you."
Colonel Feraud nodded,
and pushed on towards the warmth of the fierce flames. Colonel D'Hubert was
more deliberate, but not the less bent on getting a place in the front rank.
Those they shouldered aside tried to greet with a faint cheer the reappearance
of the two indomitable companions in activity and endurance. Those manly
qualities had never perhaps received a higher tribute than this feeble
acclamation.
This is the faithful
record of speeches exchanged during the retreat from Moscow by Colonels Feraud
and D'Hubert. Colonel Feraud's taciturnity was the outcome of concentrated
rage. Short, hairy, black faced, with layers of grime and the thick sprouting
of a wiry beard, a frost-bitten hand wrapped up in filthy rags carried in a
sling, he accused fate of unparalleled perfidy towards the sublime Man of
Destiny. Colonel D'Hubert, his long moustaches pendent in icicles on each side
of his cracked blue lips, his eyelids inflamed with the glare of snows, the
principal part of his costume consisting of a sheepskin coat looted with
difficulty from the frozen corpse of a camp follower found in an abandoned
cart, took a more thoughtful view of events. His regularly handsome features,
now reduced to mere bony lines and fleshless hollows, looked out of a woman's
black velvet hood, over which was rammed forcibly a cocked hat picked up under
the wheels of an empty army fourgon, which must have contained at one time some
general officer's luggage. The sheepskin coat being short for a man of his
inches ended very high up, and the skin of his legs, blue with the cold, showed
through the tatters of his nether garments. This under the circumstances
provoked neither jeers nor pity. No one cared how the next man felt or looked.
Colonel D'Hubert himself, hardened to exposure, suffered mainly in his
self-respect from the lamentable indecency of his costume. A thoughtless person
may think that with a whole host of inanimate bodies bestrewing the path of
retreat there could not have been much difficulty in supplying the deficiency.
But to loot a pair of breeches from a frozen corpse is not so easy as it may
appear to a mere theorist. It requires time and labour. You must remain behind
while your companions march on. Colonel D'Hubert had his scruples as to falling
out. Once he had stepped aside he could not be sure of ever rejoining his
battalion; and the ghastly intimacy of a wrestling match with the frozen dead
opposing the unyielding rigidity of iron to your violence was repugnant to the
delicacy of his feelings. Luckily, one day, grubbing in a mound of snow between
the huts of a village in the hope of finding there a frozen potato or some
vegetable garbage he could put between his long and shaky teeth, Colonel
D'Hubert uncovered a couple of mats of the sort Russian peasants use to line
the sides of their carts with. These, beaten free of frozen snow, bent about
his elegant person and fastened solidly round his waist, made a bell-shaped
nether garment, a sort of stiff petticoat, which rendered Colonel D'Hubert a
perfectly decent, but a much more noticeable figure than before.
Thus accoutred, he
continued to retreat, never doubting of his personal escape, but full of other
misgivings. The early buoyancy of his belief in the future was destroyed. If
the road of glory led through such unforeseen passages, he asked himself -- for
he was reflective -- whether the guide was altogether trustworthy. It was a
patriotic sadness, not unmingled with some personal concern, and quite unlike
the unreasoning indignation against men and things nursed by Colonel Feraud.
Recruiting his strength in a little German town for three weeks, Colonel
D'Hubert was surprised to discover within himself a love of repose. His
returning vigour was strangely pacific in its aspirations. He meditated
silently upon this bizarre change of mood. No doubt many of his brother
officers of field rank went through the same moral experience. But these were
not the times to talk of it. In one of his letters home Colonel D'Hubert wrote,
"All your plans, my dear Léonie, for marrying me to the charming girl you
have discovered in your neighbourhood, seem farther off than ever. Peace is not
yet. Europe wants another lesson. It will be a hard task for us, but it shall
be done, because the Emperor is invincible."
Thus wrote Colonel D
'Hubert from Pomerania to his married sister Léonie, settled in the south of
France. And so far the sentiments expressed would not have been disowned by
Colonel Feraud, who wrote no letters to anybody, whose father had been in life
an illiterate blacksmith, who had no sister or brother, and whom no one desired
ardently to pair off for a life of peace with a charming young girl. But
Colonel D 'Hubert's letter contained also some philosophical generalities upon
the uncertainty of all personal hopes, when bound up entirely with the
prestigious fortune of one incomparably great it is true, yet still remaining
but a man in his greatness. This view would have appeared rank heresy to
Colonel Feraud. Some melancholy forebodings of a military kind, expressed
cautiously, would have been pronounced as nothing short of high treason by
Colonel Feraud. But Léonie, the sister of Colonel D'Hubert, read them with profound
satisfaction, and, folding the letter thoughtfully, remarked to herself that
"Armand was likely to prove eventually a sensible fellow." Since her
marriage into a Southern family she had become a convinced believer in the
return of the legitimate king. Hopeful and anxious she offered prayers night
and morning, and burnt candles in churches for the safety and prosperity of her
brother.
She had every reason to
suppose that her prayers were heard. Colonel D'Hubert passed through Lutzen,
Bautzen, and Leipsic losing no limb, and acquiring additional reputation.
Adapting his conduct to the needs of that desperate time, he had never voiced
his misgivings. He concealed them under a cheerful courtesy of such pleasant
character that people were inclined to ask themselves with wonder whether
Colonel D'Hubert was aware of any disasters. Not only his manners, but even his
glances remained untroubled. The steady amenity of his blue eyes disconcerted
all grumblers, and made despair itself pause.
This bearing was
remarked favourably by the Emperor himself; for Colonel D'Hubert, attached now
to the Major-General's staff, came on several occasions under the imperial eye.
But it exasperated the higher strung nature of Colonel Feraud. Passing through
Magdeburg on service, this last allowed himself, while seated gloomily at
dinner with the Commandant de Place, to say of his life-long adversary:
"This man does not love the Emperor," and his words were received by
the other guests in profound silence. Colonel Feraud, troubled in his
conscience at the atrocity of the aspersion, felt the need to back it up by a
good argument. "I ought to know him," he cried, adding some oaths.
"One studies one's adversary. I have met him on the ground half a dozen
times, as all the army knows. What more do you want? If that isn't opportunity
enough for any fool to size up his man, may the devil take me if I can tell
what is." And he looked around the table, obstinate and sombre.
Later on in Paris,
while extremely busy reorganizing his regiment, Colonel Feraud learned that
Colonel D'Hubert had been made a general. He glared at his informant
incredulously, then folded his arms and turned away muttering, "Nothing
surprises me on the part of that man."
And aloud he added,
speaking over his shoulder, "You would oblige me greatly by telling
General D'Hubert at the first opportunity that his advancement saves him for a
time from a pretty hot encounter. I was only waiting for him to turn up here."
The other officer
remonstrated.
"Could you think
of it, Colonel Feraud, at this time, when every life should be consecrated to
the glory and safety of France?"
But the strain of
unhappiness caused by military reverses had spoiled Colonel Feraud's character.
Like many other men, he was rendered wicked by misfortune.
"I cannot consider
General D'Hubert's existence of any account either for the glory or safety of
France," he snapped viciously. "You don't pretend, perhaps, to know
him better than I do -- I who have met him half a dozen times on the ground --
do you?"
His interlocutor, a
young man, was silenced. Colonel Feraud walked up and down the room.
"This is not the
time to mince matters," he said. "I can't believe that that man ever
loved the Emperor. He picked up his general's stars under the boots of Marshal
Berthier. Very well. I'll get mine in another fashion, and then we shall settle
this business which has been dragging on too long."
General D'Hubert,
informed indirectly of Colonel Feraud's attitude, made a gesture as if to put
aside an importunate person. His thoughts were solicited by graver cares. He
had had no time to go and see his family. His sister, whose royalist hopes were
rising higher every day, though proud of her brother, regretted his recent
advancement in a measure, because it put on him a prominent mark of the
usurper's favour, which later on could have an adverse influence upon his
career. He wrote to her that no one but an inveterate enemy could say he had
got his promotion by favour. As to his career, he assured her that he looked no
farther forward into the future than the next battlefield.
Beginning the campaign
of France in this dogged spirit, General D'Hubert was wounded on the second day
of the battle under Laon. While being carried off the field he heard that
Colonel Feraud, promoted this moment to general, had been sent to replace him
at the head of his brigade. He cursed his luck impulsively, not being able at
the first glance to discern all the advantages of a nasty wound. And yet it was
by this heroic method that Providence was shaping his future. Travelling slowly
south to his sister's country home under the care of a trusty old servant,
General D'Hubert was spared the humiliating contacts and the perplexities of
conduct which assailed the men of Napoleonic empire at the moment of its
downfall. Lying in his bed, with the windows of his room open wide to the
sunshine of Provence, he perceived the undisguised aspect of the blessing
conveyed by that jagged fragment of a Prussian shell, which, killing his horse
and ripping open his thigh, saved him from an active conflict with his
conscience. After the last fourteen years spent sword in hand in the saddle,
and with the sense of his duty done to the very end, General D'Hubert found
resignation an easy virtue. His sister was delighted with his reasonableness.
"I leave myself altogether in your hands, my dear Léonie," he had
said to her.
He was still laid up
when, the credit of his brother-in-law's family being exerted on his behalf, he
received from the royal government not only the confirmation of his rank, but
the assurance of being retained on the active list. To this was added an
unlimited convalescent leave. The unfavourable opinion entertained of him in
Bonapartist circles, though it rested on nothing more solid than the
unsupported pronouncement of General Feraud, was directly responsible for
General D'Hubert's retention on the active list. As to General Feraud, his rank
was confirmed, too. It was more than he dared to expect; but Marshal Soult,
then Minister of War to the restored king, was partial to officers who had
served in Spain. Only not even the marshal's protection could secure for him
active employment. He remained irreconcilable, idle, and sinister. He sought in
obscure restaurants the company of other half-pay officers who cherished dingy
but glorious old tricolour cockades in their breast-pockets, and buttoned with
the forbidden eagle buttons their shabby uniforms, declaring themselves too
poor to afford the expense of the prescribed change.
The triumphant return
from Elba, an historical fact as marvellous and incredible as the exploits of
some mythological demi-god, found General D'Hubert still quite unable to sit a
horse. Neither could he walk very well. These disabilities, which Madame Léonie
accounted most lucky, helped to keep her brother out of all possible mischief.
His frame of mind at that time, she noted with dismay, became very far from
reasonable. This general officer, still menaced by the loss of a limb, was
discovered one night in the stables of the château by a groom, who, seeing a
light, raised an alarm of thieves. His crutch was lying half-buried in the
straw of the litter, and the general was hopping on one leg in a loose box
around a snorting horse he was trying to saddle. Such were the effects of
imperial magic upon a calm temperament and a pondered mind. Beset in the light
of stable lanterns, by the tears, entreaties, indignation, remonstrances and
reproaches of his family, he got out of the difficult situation by fainting
away there and then in the arms of his nearest relatives, and was carried off
to bed. Before he got out of it again, the second reign of Napoleon, the
Hundred Days of feverish agitation and supreme effort, passed away like a terrifying
dream. The tragic year 1815, begun in the trouble and unrest of consciences,
was ending in vengeful proscriptions.
How General Feraud
escaped the clutches of the Special Commission and the last offices of a firing
squad he never knew himself. It was partly due to the subordinate position he
was assigned during the Hundred Days. The Emperor had never given him active
command, but had kept him busy at the cavalry depot in Paris, mounting and
despatching hastily drilled troopers into the field. Considering this task as
unworthy of his abilities, he had discharged it with no offensively noticeable
zeal; but for the greater part he was saved from the excesses of Royalist
reaction by the interference of General D'Hubert.
This last, still on
convalescent leave, but able now to travel, had been despatched by his sister
to Paris to present himself to his legitimate sovereign. As no one in the
capital could possibly know anything of the episode in the stable he was
received there with distinction. Military to the very bottom of his soul, the
prospect of rising in his profession consoled him from finding himself the butt
of Bonapartist malevolence, which pursued him with a persistence he could not
account for. All the rancour of that embittered and persecuted party pointed to
him as the man who had never loved the Emperor -- a sort of monster essentially
worse than a mere betrayer.
General D'Hubert
shrugged his shoulders without anger at this ferocious prejudice. Rejected by
his old friends, and mistrusting profoundly the advances of Royalist society,
the young and handsome general (he was barely forty) adopted a manner of cold,
punctilious courtesy, which at the merest shadow of an intended slight passed
easily into harsh haughtiness. Thus prepared, General D'Hubert went about his
affairs in Paris feeling inwardly very happy with the peculiar uplifting
happiness of a man very much in love. The charming girl looked out by his
sister had come upon the scene, and had conquered him in the thorough manner in
which a young girl by merely existing in his sight can make a man of forty her
own. They were going to be married as soon as General D'Hubert had obtained his
official nomination to a promised command.
One afternoon, sitting
on the terrasse of the Café Tortoni, General D'Hubert learned from the
conversation of two strangers occupying a table near his own, that General
Feraud, included in the batch of superior officers arrested after the second
return of the king, was in danger of passing before the Special Commission.
Living all his spare moments, as is frequently the case with expectant lovers,
a day in advance of reality, and in a state of bestarred hallucination, it
required nothing less than the name of his perpetual antagonist pronounced in a
loud voice to call the youngest of Napoleon's generals away from the mental
contemplation of his betrothed. He looked round. The strangers wore civilian
clothes. Lean and weather-beaten, lolling back in their chairs, they scowled at
people with moody and defiant abstraction from under their hats pulled low over
their eyes. It was not difficult to recognize them for two of the compulsorily
retired officers of the Old Guard. As from bravado or carelessness they chose
to speak in loud tones, General D'Hubert, who saw no reason why he should
change his seat, heard every word. They did not seem to be the personal friends
of General Feraud. His name came up amongst others. Hearing it repeated,
General D'Hubert's tender anticipations of a domestic future adorned with a woman's
grace were traversed by the harsh regret of his warlike past, of that one long,
intoxicating clash of arms, unique in the magnitude of its glory and disaster
-- the marvellous work and the special possession of his own generation. He
felt an irrational tenderness towards his old adversary and appreciated
emotionally the murderous absurdity their encounter had introduced into his
life. It was like an additional pinch of spice in a hot dish. He remembered the
flavour with sudden melancholy. He would never taste it again. It was all over.
"I fancy it was being left lying in the garden that had exasperated him so
against me from the first," he thought, indulgently.
The two strangers at
the next table had fallen silent after the third mention of General Feraud's
name. Presently the elder of the two, speaking again in a bitter tone, affirmed
that General Feraud's account was settled. And why? Simply because he was not
like some bigwigs who loved only themselves. The Royalists knew they could
never make anything of him. He loved The Other too well.
The Other was the Man
of St. Helena. The two officers nodded and touched glasses before they drank to
an impossible return. Then the same who had spoken before, remarked with a
sardonic laugh, "His adversary showed more cleverness."
"What
adversary?" asked the younger, as if puzzled.
"Don't you know?
They were two hussars. At each promotion they fought a duel. Haven't you heard
of the duel going on ever since 1801?"
The other had heard of
the duel, of course. Now he understood the allusion. General Baron D'Hubert
would be able now to enjoy his fat king's favour in peace.
"Much good may it
do to him," mumbled the elder. "They were both brave men. I never saw
this D'Hubert -- a sort of intriguing dandy, I am told. But I can well believe
what I've heard Feraud say of him -- that he never loved the Emperor."
They rose and went
away.
General D'Hubert
experienced the horror of a somnambulist who wakes up from a complacent dream
of activity to find himself walking on a quagmire. A profound disgust of the
ground on which he was making his way overcame him. Even the image of the
charming girl was swept from his view in the flood of moral distress.
Everything he had ever been or hoped to be would taste of bitter ignominy
unless he could manage to save General Feraud from the fate which threatened so
many braves. Under the impulse of this almost morbid need to attend to the
safety of his adversary, General D'Hubert worked so well with hands and feet
(as the French saying is), that in less than twenty-four hours he found means
of obtaining an extraordinary private audience from the Minister of Police.
General Baron D'Hubert
was shown in suddenly without preliminaries. In the dusk of the Minister's
cabinet, behind the forms of writing-desk, chairs, and tables, between two
bunches of wax candles blazing in sconces, he beheld a figure in a gorgeous
coat posturing before a tall mirror. The old conventionnel Fouché, Senator of
the Empire, traitor to every man, to every principle and motive of human
conduct. Duke of Otranto, and the wily artizan of the second Restoration, was
trying the fit of a court suit in which his young and accomplished fiancée had
declared her intention to have his portrait painted on porcelain. It was a caprice,
a charming fancy which the first Minister of Police of the second Restoration
was anxious to gratify. For that man, often compared in wiliness of conduct to
a fox, but whose ethical side could be worthily symbolized by nothing less
emphatic than a skunk, was as much possessed by his love as General D'Hubert
himself.
Startled to be
discovered thus by the blunder of a servant, he met this little vexation with
the characteristic impudence which had served his turn so well in the endless
intrigues of his self-seeking career. Without altering his attitude a
hair's-breadth, one leg in a silk stocking advanced, his head twisted over his
left shoulder, he called out calmly, "This way, General. Pray approach.
Well? I am all attention."
While General D'Hubert,
ill at ease as if one of his own little weaknesses had been exposed, presented
his request as shortly as possible, the Duke of Otranto went on feeling the fit
of his collar, settling the lapels before the glass, and buckling his back in
an effort to behold the set of the gold embroidered coat-skirts behind. His
still face, his attentive eyes, could not have expressed a more complete
interest in those matters if he had been alone.
"Exclude from the
operations of the Special Court a certain Feraud, Gabriel Florian, General of
brigade of the promotion of 1814?" he repeated, in a slightly wondering
tone, and then turned away from the glass. "Why exclude him
precisely?"
"I am surprised
that your Excellency, so competent in the evaluation of men of his time, should
have thought worth while to have that name put down on the list."
"A rabid
Bonapartist!"
"So is every
grenadier and every trooper of the army, as your Excellency well knows. And the
individuality of General Feraud can have no more weight than that of any casual
grenadier. He is a man of no mental grasp, of no capacity whatever. It is inconceivable
that he should ever have any influence."
"He has a
well-hung tongue, though," interjected Fouché.
"Noisy, I admit,
but not dangerous."
"I will not
dispute with you. I know next to nothing of him. Hardly his name, in
fact."
"And yet your
Excellency has the presidency of the Commission charged by the king to point
out those who were to be tried," said General D'Hubert, with an emphasis
which did not miss the minister's ear.
"Yes,
General," he said, walking away into the dark part of the vast room, and
throwing himself into a deep armchair that swallowed him up, all but the soft
gleam of gold embroideries and the pallid patch of the face -- "yes,
General. Take this chair there."
General D'Hubert sat
down.
"Yes,
General," continued the arch-master in the arts of intrigue and betrayals,
whose duplicity, as if at times intolerable to his self-knowledge, found relief
in bursts of cynical openness. "I did hurry on the formation of the
proscribing Commission, and I took its presidency. And do you know why? Simply
from fear that if I did not take it quickly into my hands my own name would
head the list of the proscribed. Such are the times in which we live. But I am
minister of the king yet, and I ask you plainly why I should take the name of
this obscure Feraud off the list? You wonder how his name got there! Is it
possible that you should know men so little? My dear General, at the very first
sitting of the Commission names poured on us like rain off the roof of the
Tuileries. Names! We had our choice of thousands. How do you know that the name
of this Feraud, whose life or death don't matter to France, does not keep out
some other name?"
The voice out of the
armchair stopped. Opposite General D'Hubert sat still, shadowy and silent. Only
his sabre clinked slightly. The voice in the armchair began again. "And we
must try to satisfy the exigencies of the Allied Sovereigns, too. The Prince de
Talleyrand told me only yesterday that Nesselrode had informed him officially
of His Majesty the Emperor Alexander's dissatisfaction at the small number of
examples the Government of the king intends to make -- especially amongst
military men. I tell you this confidentially."
"Upon my
word!" broke out General D'Hubert, speaking through his teeth, "if
your Excellency deigns to favour me with any more confidential information I
don't know what I will do. It's enough to break one's sword over one's knee,
and fling the pieces. . . ."
"What government
you imagined yourself to be serving?" interrupted the minister, sharply.
After a short pause the
crestfallen voice of General D'Hubert answered, "The Government of
France."
"That's paying
your conscience off with mere words, General. The truth is that you are serving
a government of returned exiles, of men who have been without country for
twenty years. Of men also who have just got over a very bad and humiliating
fright. . . . Have no illusions on that score."
The Duke of Otranto
ceased. He had relieved himself, and had attained his object of stripping some
self-respect off that man who had inconveniently discovered him posturing in a
gold-embroidered court costume before a mirror. But they were a hot-headed lot
in the army; it occurred to him that it would be inconvenient if a
well-disposed general officer, received in audience on the recommendation of
one of the Princes, were to do something rashly scandalous directly after a
private interview with the minister. In a changed tone he put a question to the
point: "Your relation -- this Feraud?"
"No. No relation
at all."
"Intimate
friend?"
"Intimate . . .
yes. There is between us an intimate connection of a nature which makes it a
point of honour with me to try . . ."
The minister rang a
bell without waiting for the end of the phrase. When the servant had gone out,
after bringing in a pair of heavy silver candelabra for the writing-desk, the
Duke of Otranto rose, his breast glistening all over with gold in the strong
light, and taking a piece of paper out of a drawer, held it in his hand
ostentatiously while he said with persuasive gentleness: "You must not
speak of breaking your sword across your knee, General. Perhaps you would never
get another. The Emperor will not return this time. . . . Diable d'homme! There
was just a moment, here in Paris, soon after Waterloo, when he frightened me.
It looked as though he were ready to begin all over again. Luckily one never
does begin all over again, really. You must not think of breaking your sword,
General."
General D'Hubert,
looking on the ground, moved slightly his hand in a hopeless gesture of
renunciation. The Minister of Police turned his eyes away from him, and scanned
deliberately the paper he had been holding up all the time.
"There are only
twenty general officers selected to be made an example of. Twenty. A round
number. And let's see, Feraud. . . . Ah, he's there. Gabriel Florian.
Parfaitement. That's your man. Well, there will be only nineteen examples made
now."
General D'Hubert stood
up feeling as though he had gone through an infectious illness. "I must
beg your Excellency to keep my interference a profound secret. I attach the
greatest importance to his never learning . . ."
"Who is going to
inform him, I should like to know?" said Fouché, raising his eyes
curiously to General D'Hubert's tense, set face. "Take one of these pens,
and run it through the name yourself. This is the only list in existence. If
you are careful to take up enough ink no one will be able to tell what was the
name struck out. But, par exemple, I am not responsible for what Clarke will do
with him afterwards. If he persists in being rabid he will be ordered by the
Minister of War to reside in some provincial town under the supervision of the
police."
A few days later
General D'Hubert was saying to his sister, after the first greetings had been
got over: "Ah, my dear Léonie! it seemed to me I couldn't get away from
Paris quick enough."
"Effect of
love," she suggested, with a malicious smile.
"And horror,"
added General D'Hubert, with profound seriousness. "I have nearly died there
of . . . of nausea."
His face was contracted
with disgust. And as his sister looked at him attentively he continued, "I
have had to see Fouché. I have had an audience. I have been in his cabinet.
There remains with one, who had the misfortune to breathe the air of the same
room with that man, a sense of diminished dignity, an uneasy feeling of being
not so clean, after all, as one hoped one was. . . . But you can't
understand."
She nodded quickly
several times. She understood very well, on the contrary. She knew her brother
thoroughly, and liked him as he was. Moreover, the scorn and loathing of
mankind were the lot of the Jacobin Fouché, who, exploiting for his own
advantage every weakness, every virtue, every generous illusion of mankind,
made dupes of his whole generation, and died obscurely as Duke of Otranto.
"My dear
Armand," she said, compassionately, "what could you want from that
man?"
"Nothing less than
a life," answered General D'Hubert. "And I've got it. It had to be
done. But I feel yet as if I could never forgive the necessity to the man I had
to save."
General Feraud, totally
unable (as is the case with most of us) to comprehend what was happening to
him, received the Minister of War's order to proceed at once to a small town of
Central France with feelings whose natural expression consisted in a fierce rolling
of the eye and savage grinding of the teeth. The passing away of the state of
war, the only condition of society he had ever known, the horrible view of a
world at peace, frightened him. He went away to his little town firmly
convinced that this could not last. There he was informed of his retirement
from the army, and that his pension (calculated on the scale of a colonel's
rank) was made dependent on the correctness of his conduct, and on the good
reports of the police. No longer in the army! He felt suddenly strange to the
earth, like a disembodied spirit. It was impossible to exist. But at first he
reacted from sheer incredulity. This could not be. He waited for thunder,
earthquakes, natural cataclysms; but nothing happened. The leaden weight of an
irremediable idleness descended upon General Feraud, who having no resources
within himself sank into a state of awe-inspiring hebetude. He haunted the
streets of the little town, gazing before him with lack-lustre eyes,
disregarding the hats raised on his passage; and people, nudging each other as
he went by, whispered, "That's poor General Feraud. His heart is broken.
Behold how he loved the Emperor."
The other living
wreckage of Napoleonic tempest clustered round General Feraud with infinite
respect. He, himself, imagined his soul to be crushed by grief. He suffered
from quickly succeeding impulses to weep, to howl, to bite his fists till blood
came, to spend days on his bed with his head thrust under the pillow; but these
arose from sheer ennui, from the anguish of an immense, indescribable,
inconceivable boredom. His mental inability to grasp the hopeless nature of his
case as a whole saved him from suicide. He never even thought of it once. He
thought of nothing. But his appetite abandoned him, and the difficulty he
experienced to express the overwhelming nature of his feelings (the most
furious swearing could do no justice to it) induced gradually a habit of
silence -- a sort of death to a southern temperament.
Great, therefore, was
the sensation amongst the anciens militaires frequenting a certain little café
full of flies when one stuffy afternoon "that poor General Feraud"
let out suddenly a volley of formidable curses.
He had been sitting
quietly in his own privileged corner looking through the Paris gazettes with
just as much interest as a condemned man on the eve of execution could be
expected to show in the news of the day. A cluster of martial, bronzed faces,
amongst which there was one lacking an eye, and another the tip of a nose, frost-bitten
in Russia, surrounded him anxiously.
"What's the
matter, General?"
General Feraud sat
erect, holding the folded newspaper at arm's length in order to make out the
small print better. He read to himself, over again, fragments of the
intelligence which had caused, what may be called his resurrection.
"We are informed
that General d' Hubert, till now on sick leave in the south, is to be called to
the command of the 5th Cavalry brigade in . . ."
He dropped the paper
stonily. . . . "Called to the command" . . . and suddenly gave his
forehead a mighty slap. "I had almost forgotten him," he muttered, in
a conscience-stricken tone.
A deep-chested veteran
shouted across the café: "Some new villainy of the Government,
General?"
"The villainies of
these scoundrels," thundered General Feraud, "are innumerable. One
more, one less!" . . . He lowered his tone. "But I will set good
order to one of them at least."
He looked all round the
faces. "There's a pomaded, curled staff officer, the darling of some of
the marshals who sold their father for a handful of English gold. He will find
out presently that I am alive yet," he declared, in a dogmatic tone.
"However, this is a private affair. An old affair of honour. Bah! Our
honour does not matter. Here we are driven off with a split ear like a lot of
cast troop horses -- good only for a knacker's yard. But it would be like
striking a blow for the Emperor. . . . Messieurs, I shall require the
assistance of two of you."
Every man moved
forward. General Feraud, deeply touched by this demonstration, called with
visible emotion upon the one-eyed veteran cuirassier and the officer of the
Chasseurs à Cheval who had left the tip of his nose in Russia. He excused his
choice to the others.
"A cavalry affair
this -- you know."
He was answered with a
varied chorus of "Parfaitement, mon Général. . . . C'est juste. . . .
Parbleu, c'est connu. . . ." Everybody was satisfied. The three left the
café together, followed by cries of "Bonne chance."
Outside they linked arms,
the general in the middle. The three rusty cocked hats worn en bataille with a
sinister forward slant barred the narrow street nearly right across. The
overheated little town of grey stones and red tiles was drowsing away its
provincial afternoon under a blue sky. The loud blows of a cooper hooping a
cask reverberated regularly between the houses. The general dragged his left
foot a little in the shade of the walls.
"This damned
winter of 1813 has got into my bones for good. Never mind. We must take pistols,
that's all. A little lumbago. We must have pistols. He's game for my bag. My
eyes are as keen as ever. You should have seen me in Russia picking off the
dodging Cossacks with a beastly old infantry musket. I have a natural gift for
firearms."
In this strain General
Feraud ran on, holding up his head, with owlish eyes and rapacious beak. A mere
fighter all his life, a cavalry man, a sabreur, he conceived war with the
utmost simplicity, as, in the main, a massed lot of personal contests, a sort
of gregarious duelling. And here he had in hand a war of his own. He revived.
The shadow of peace passed away from him like the shadow of death. It was the
marvellous resurrection of the named Feraud, Gabriel Florian, engagé volontaire
of 1793, General of 1814, buried without ceremony by means of a service order
signed by the War Minister of the Second Restoration.
No man succeeds in
everything he undertakes. In that sense we are all failures. The great point is
not to fail in ordering and sustaining the effort of our life. In this matter
vanity is what leads us astray. It hurries us into situations from which we
must come out damaged; whereas pride is our safeguard, by the reserve it
imposes on the choice of our endeavour as much as by the virtue of its sustaining
power.
General D'Hubert was
proud and reserved. He had not been damaged by his casual love affairs,
successful or otherwise. In his war-scarred body his heart at forty remained
unscratched. Entering with reserve into his sister's matrimonial plans, he had
felt himself falling irremediably in love as one falls off a roof. He was too
proud to be frightened. Indeed, the sensation was too delightful to be
alarming.
The inexperience of a
man of forty is a much more serious thing than the inexperience of a youth of
twenty, for it is not helped out by the rashness of hot blood. The girl was
mysterious, as young girls are by the mere effect of their guarded ingenuity;
and to him the mysteriousness of that young girl appeared exceptional and
fascinating. But there was nothing mysterious about the arrangements of the
match which Madame Léonie had promoted. There was nothing peculiar, either. It
was a very appropriate match, commending itself extremely to the young lady's
mother (the father was dead) and tolerable to the young lady's uncle -- an old émigré
lately returned from Germany, and pervading, cane in hand, a lean ghost of the
ancien régime, the garden walks of the young lady's ancestral home.
General D'Hubert was
not the man to be satisfied merely with the woman and the fortune -- when it
came to the point. His pride (and pride aims always at true success) would be
satisfied with nothing short of love. But as true pride excludes vanity, he
could not imagine any reason why this mysterious creature with deep and
brilliant eyes of a violet colour should have any feeling for him warmer than
indifference. The young lady (her name was Adèle) baffled every attempt at a
clear understanding on that point. It is true that the attempts were clumsy and
made timidly, because by then General D'Hubert had become acutely aware of the
number of his years, of his wounds, of his many moral imperfections, of his
secret unworthiness -- and had incidentally learned by experience the meaning
of the word funk. As far as he could make out she seemed to imply that, with an
unbounded confidence in her mother's affection and sagacity, she felt no
unsurmountable dislike for the person of General D'Hubert; and that this was
quite sufficient for a well-brought-up young lady to begin married life upon.
This view hurt and tormented the pride of General D'Hubert. And yet he asked
himself, with a sort of sweet despair, what more could he expect? She had a
quiet and luminous forehead. Her violet eyes laughed while the lines of her
lips and chin remained composed in admirable gravity. All this was set off by
such a glorious mass of fair hair, by a complexion so marvellous, by such a
grace of expression, that General D'Hubert really never found the opportunity
to examine with sufficient detachment the lofty exigencies of his pride. In
fact, he became shy of that line of inquiry since it had led once or twice to a
crisis of solitary passion in which it was borne upon him that he loved her
enough to kill her rather than lose her. From such passages, not unknown to men
of forty, he would come out broken, exhausted, remorseful, a little dismayed.
He derived, however, considerable comfort from the quietist practice of sitting
now and then half the night by an open window and meditating upon the wonder of
her existence, like a believer lost in the mystic contemplation of his faith.
It must not be supposed
that all these variations of his inward state were made manifest to the world.
General D 'Hubert found no difficulty in appearing wreathed in smiles. Because,
in fact, he was very happy. He followed the established rules of his condition,
sending over flowers (from his sister's garden and hot-houses) early every
morning, and a little later following himself to lunch with his intended, her
mother, and her émigré uncle. The middle of the day was spent in strolling or
sitting in the shade. A watchful deference, trembling on the verge of
tenderness was the note of their intercourse on his side -- with a playful turn
of the phrase concealing the profound trouble of his whole being caused by her
inaccessible nearness. Late in the afternoon General D 'Hubert walked home
between the fields of vines, sometimes intensely miserable, sometimes supremely
happy, sometimes pensively sad; but always feeling a special intensity of
existence, that elation common to artists, poets, and lovers -- to men haunted
by a great passion, a noble thought, or a new vision of plastic beauty.
The outward world at
that time did not exist with any special distinctness for General D'Hubert. One
evening, however, crossing a ridge from which he could see both houses, General
D'Hubert became aware of two figures far down the road. The day had been
divine. The festal decoration of the inflamed sky lent a gentle glow to the
sober tints of the southern land. The grey rocks, the brown fields, the purple,
undulating distances harmonized in luminous accord, exhaled already the scents
of the evening. The two figures down the road presented themselves like two
rigid and wooden silhouettes all black on the ribbon of white dust. General
D'Hubert made out the long, straight, military capotes buttoned closely right
up to the black stocks, the cocked hats, the lean, carven, brown countenances
-- old soldiers -- vieilles moustaches! The taller of the two had a black patch
over one eye; the other's hard, dry countenance presented some bizarre,
disquieting peculiarity, which on nearer approach proved to be the absence of
the tip of the nose. Lifting their hands with one movement to salute the
slightly lame civilian walking with a thick stick, they inquired for the house
where the General Baron D'Hubert lived, and what was the best way to get speech
with him quietly.
"If you think this
quiet enough," said General D'Hubert, looking round at the vine-fields,
framed in purple lines, and dominated by the nest of grey and drab walls of a
village clustering around the top of a conical hill, so that the blunt church
tower seemed but the shape of a crowning rock -- "if you think this spot
quiet enough, you can speak to him at once. And I beg you, comrades, to speak
openly, with perfect confidence."
They stepped back at
this, and raised again their hands to their hats with marked ceremoniousness.
Then the one with the chipped nose, speaking for both, remarked that the matter
was confidential enough, and to be arranged discreetly. Their general quarters
were established in that village over there, where the infernal clodhoppers --
damn their false, Royalist hearts! -- looked remarkably cross-eyed at three
unassuming military men. For the present he should only ask for the name of
General D'Hubert's friends.
"What
friends?" said the astonished General D'Hubert, completely off the track.
"I am staying with my brother-in-law over there."
"Well, he will do
for one," said the chipped veteran.
"We're the friends
of General Feraud," interjected the other, who had kept silent till then,
only glowering with his one eye at the man who had never loved the Emperor.
That was something to look at. For even the gold-laced Judases who had sold him
to the English, the marshals and princes, had loved him at some time or other.
But this man had never loved the Emperor. General Feraud had said so
distinctly.
General D'Hubert felt
an inward blow in his chest. For an infinitesimal fraction of a second it was
as if the spinning of the earth had become perceptible with an awful, slight
rustle in the eternal stillness of space. But this noise of blood in his ears
passed off at once. Involuntarily he murmured, "Feraud! I had forgotten
his existence."
"He's existing at
present, very uncomfortably, it is true, in the infamous inn of that nest of
savages up there," said the one-eyed cuirassier, drily. "We arrived
in your parts an hour ago on post horses. He's awaiting our return with
impatience. There is hurry, you know. The General has broken the ministerial
order to obtain from you the satisfaction he's entitled to by the laws of
honour, and naturally he's anxious to have it all over before the gendarmerie
gets on his scent."
The other elucidated
the idea a little further. "Get back on the quiet -- you understand?
Phitt! No one the wiser. We have broken out, too. Your friend the king would be
glad to cut off our scurvy pittances at the first chance. It's a risk. But
honour before everything."
General D'Hubert had
recovered his powers of speech. "So you come here like this along the road
to invite me to a throat-cutting match with that -- that . . ." A laughing
sort of rage took possession of him. "Ha! ha! ha! ha!"
His fists on his hips,
he roared without restraint, while they stood before him lank and straight, as
though they had been shot up with a snap through a trap door in the ground.
Only four-and-twenty months ago the masters of Europe, they had already the air
of antique ghosts, they seemed less substantial in their faded coats than their
own narrow shadows falling so black across the white road: the military and
grotesque shadows of twenty years of war and conquests. They had an outlandish
appearance of two imperturbable bonzes of the religion of the sword. And
General D'Hubert, also one of the ex-masters of Europe, laughed at these
serious phantoms standing in his way.
Said one, indicating
the laughing General with a jerk of the head: "A merry companion,
that."
"There are some of
us that haven't smiled from the day The Other went away," remarked his
comrade.
A violent impulse to
set upon and beat those unsubstantial wraiths to the ground frightened General
D'Hubert. He ceased laughing suddenly. His desire now was to get rid of them,
to get them away from his sight quickly before he lost control of himself. He
wondered at the fury he felt rising in his breast. But he had no time to look
into that peculiarity just then.
"I understand your
wish to be done with me as quickly as possible. Don't let us waste time in
empty ceremonies. Do you see that wood there at the foot of that slope? Yes,
the wood of pines. Let us meet there to-morrow at sunrise. I will bring with me
my sword or my pistols, or both if you like."
The seconds of General
Feraud looked at each other.
"Pistols,
General," said the cuirassier.
"So be it. Au
revoir -- to-morrow morning. Till then let me advise you to keep close if you
don't want the gendarmerie making inquiries about you before it gets dark.
Strangers are rare in this part of the country."
They saluted in
silence. General D'Hubert, turning his back on their retreating forms, stood
still in the middle of the road for a long time, biting his lower lip and
looking on the ground. Then he began to walk straight before him, thus
retracing his steps till he found himself before the park gate of his
intended's house. Dusk had fallen. Motionless he stared through the bars at the
front of the house, gleaming clear beyond the thickets and trees. Footsteps
scrunched on the gravel, and presently a tall stooping shape emerged from the
lateral alley following the inner side of the park wall.
Le Chevalier de
Valmassigue, uncle of the adorable Adèle, ex-brigadier in the army of the Princes,
book-binder in Altona, afterwards shoemaker (with a great reputation for
elegance in the fit of ladies' shoes) in another small German town, wore silk
stockings on his lean shanks, low shoes with silver buckles, a brocaded
waistcoat. A long-skirted coat, à la française, covered loosely his thin, bowed
back. A small three-cornered hat rested on a lot of powdered hair, tied in a
queue.
"Monsieur le
Chevalier," called General D'Hubert, softly.
"What? You here
again, mon ami? Have you forgotten something?"
"By heavens!
that's just it. I have forgotten something. I am come to tell you of it. No --
outside. Behind this wall. It's too ghastly a thing to be let in at all where
she lives."
The Chevalier came out
at once with that benevolent resignation some old people display towards the
fugue of youth. Older by a quarter of a century than General D'Hubert, he
looked upon him in the secret of his heart as a rather troublesome youngster in
love. He had heard his enigmatical words very well, but attached no undue
importance to what a mere man of forty so hard hit was likely to do or say. The
turn of mind of the generation of Frenchmen grown up during the years of his
exile was almost unintelligible to him. Their sentiments appeared to him unduly
violent, lacking fineness and measure, their language needlessly exaggerated.
He joined calmly the General on the road, and they made a few steps in silence,
the General trying to master his agitation, and get proper control of his
voice.
"It is perfectly
true; I forgot something. I forgot till half an hour ago that I had an urgent
affair of honour on my hands. It's incredible, but it is so!"
All was still for a
moment. Then in the profound evening silence of the countryside the clear, aged
voice of the Chevalier was heard trembling slightly: "Monsieur! That's an
indignity."
It was his first
thought. The girl born during his exile, the posthumous daughter of his poor
brother murdered by a band of Jacobins, had grown since his return very dear to
his old heart, which had been starving on mere memories of affection for so
many years. "It is an inconceivable thing, I say! A man settles such
affairs before he thinks of asking for a young girl's hand. Why! If you had
forgotten for ten days longer, you would have been married before your memory
returned to you. In my time men did not forget such things -- nor yet what is
due to the feelings of an innocent young woman. If I did not respect them
myself, I would qualify your conduct in a way which you would not like."
General D'Hubert
relieved himself frankly by a groan. "Don't let that consideration prevent
you. You run no risk of offending her mortally."
But the old man paid no
attention to this lover's nonsense. It's doubtful whether he even heard.
"What is it? "he asked. "What's the nature of . . . ?"
"Call it a
youthful folly, Monsieur le Chevalier. An inconceivable, incredible result of .
. ." He stopped short. "He will never believe the story," he
thought. "He will only think I am taking him for a fool, and get offended."
General D'Hubert spoke up again: "Yes, originating in youthful folly, it
has become . . ."
The Chevalier
interrupted: "Well, then it must be arranged."
"Arranged?"
"Yes, no matter at
what cost to your amour propre. You should have remembered you were engaged.
You forgot that, too, I suppose. And then you go and forget your quarrel. It's
the most hopeless exhibition of levity I ever heard of."
"Good heavens,
Monsieur! You don't imagine I have been picking up this quarrel last time I was
in Paris, or anything of the sort, do you?"
"Eh! What matters
the precise date of your insane conduct," exclaimed the Chevalier,
testily. "The principal thing is to arrange it."
Noticing General
D'Hubert getting restive and trying to place a word, the old émigré raised his
hand, and added with dignity, "I've been a soldier, too. I would never
dare suggest a doubtful step to the man whose name my niece is to bear. I tell
you that entre galants hommes an affair can always be arranged."
"But saperiotte,
Monsieur le Chevalier, it's fifteen or sixteen years ago. I was a lieutenant of
hussars then."
The old Chevalier
seemed confounded by the vehemently despairing tone of this information.
"You were a lieutenant of hussars sixteen years ago," he mumbled in a
dazed manner.
"Why, yes! You did
not suppose I was made a general in my cradle like a royal prince."
In the deepening purple
twilight of the fields spread with vine leaves, backed by a low band of sombre
crimson in the west, the voice of the old ex-officer in the army of the Princes
sounded collected, punctiliously civil.
"Do I dream? Is
this a pleasantry? Or am I to understand that you have been hatching an affair
of honour for sixteen years?"
"It has clung to
me for that length of time. That is my precise meaning. The quarrel itself is
not to be explained easily. We met on the ground several times during that
time, of course."
"What manners!
What horrible perversion of manliness! Nothing can account for such inhumanity
but the sanguinary madness of the Revolution which has tainted a whole
generation," mused the returned émigré in a low tone. "Who's your
adversary?" he asked a little louder.
"My adversary? His
name is Feraud."
Shadowy in his tricorne
and old-fashioned clothes, like a bowed, thin ghost of the ancien régime, the
Chevalier voiced a ghostly memory. "I can remember the feud about little
Sophie Derval, between Monsieur de Brissac, Captain in the Bodyguards, and
d'Anjorrant (not the pock-marked one, the other -- the Beau d'Anjorrant, as
they called him). They met three times in eighteen months in a most gallant
manner. It was the fault of that little Sophie, too, who would keep on playing
. . ."
"This is nothing
of the kind," interrupted General D'Hubert. He laughed a little
sardonically. "Not at all so simple," he added. "Nor yet half so
reasonable," he finished, inaudibly, between his teeth, and ground them
with rage.
After this sound
nothing troubled the silence for a long time, till the Chevalier asked, without
animation: "What is he -- this Feraud?"
"Lieutenant of
hussars, too -- I mean, he's a general. A Gascon. Son of a blacksmith, I
believe."
"There! I thought
so. That Bonaparte had a special predilection for the canaille. I don't mean
this for you, D'Hubert. You are one of us, though you have served this usurper,
who . . ."
"Let's leave him
out of this," broke in General D'Hubert.
The Chevalier shrugged
his peaked shoulders. "Feraud of sorts. Offspring of a blacksmith and some
village troll. See what comes of mixing yourself up with that sort of
people."
"You have made
shoes yourself, Chevalier."
"Yes. But I am not
the son of a shoemaker. Neither are you, Monsieur D'Hubert. You and I have
something that your Bonaparte's princes, dukes, and marshals have not, because
there's no power on earth that could give it to them," retorted the émigré,
with the rising animation of a man who has got hold of a hopeful argument.
"Those people don't exist -- all these Ferauds. Feraud! What is Feraud? A
va-nu-pieds disguised into a general by a Corsican adventurer masquerading as
an emperor. There is no earthly reason for a D'Hubert to s'encanailler by a
duel with a person of that sort. You can make your excuses to him perfectly
well. And if the manant takes into his head to decline them, you may simply
refuse to meet him."
"You say I may do
that?"
"I do. With the
clearest conscience."
"Monsieur le
Chevalier! To what do you think you have returned from your emigration?"
This was said in such a
startling tone that the old man raised sharply his bowed head, glimmering
silvery white under the points of the little tricorne. For a time he made no
sound.
"God knows!"
he said at last, pointing with a slow and grave gesture at a tall roadside
cross mounted on a block of stone, and stretching its arms of forged iron all
black against the darkening red band in the sky -- "God knows! If it were
not for this emblem, which I remember seeing on this spot as a child, I would
wonder to what we who remained faithful to God and our king have returned. The
very voices of the people have changed."
"Yes, it is a
changed France," said General D'Hubert. He seemed to have regained his
calm. His tone was slightly ironic. "Therefore I cannot take your advice.
Besides, how is one to refuse to be bitten by a dog that means to bite? It's
impracticable. Take my word for it -- Feraud isn't a man to be stayed by
apologies or refusals. But there are other ways. I could, for instance, send a
messenger with a word to the brigadier of the gendarmerie in Senlac. He and his
two friends are liable to arrest on my simple order. It would make some talk in
the army, both the organized and the disbanded -- especially the disbanded. All
canaille! All once upon a time the companions in arms of Armand D'Hubert. But
what need a D'Hubert care what people that don't exist may think? Or, better
still, I might get my brother-in-law to send for the mayor of the village and
give him a hint. No more would be needed to get the three 'brigands' set upon
with flails and pitchforks and hunted into some nice, deep, wet ditch -- and
nobody the wiser! It has been done only ten miles from here to three poor
devils of the disbanded Red Lancers of the Guard going to their homes. What
says your conscience, Chevalier? Can a D'Hubert do that thing to three men who
do not exist?"
A few stars had come
out on the blue obscurity, clear as crystal, of the sky. The dry, thin voice of
the Chevalier spoke harshly: "Why are you telling me all this?"
The General seized the
withered old hand with a strong grip. "Because I owe you my fullest
confidence. Who could tell Adèle but you? You understand why I dare not trust
my brother-in-law nor yet my own sister. Chevalier! I have been so near doing
these things that I tremble yet. You don't know how terrible this duel appears
to me. And there's no escape from it."
He murmured after a
pause, "It's a fatality," dropped the Chevalier's passive hand, and
said in his ordinary conversational voice, "I shall have to go without
seconds. If it is my lot to remain on the ground, you at least will know all
that can be made known of this affair."
The shadowy ghost of
the ancien régime seemed to have become more bowed during the conversation.
"How am I to keep an indifferent face this evening before these two
women?" he groaned. "General! I find it very difficult to forgive
you."
General D 'Hubert made
no answer.
"Is your cause
good, at least?"
"I am
innocent."
This time he seized the
Chevalier's ghostly arm above the elbow, and gave it a mighty squeeze. "I
must kill him!" he hissed, and opening his hand strode away down the road.
The delicate attentions
of his adoring sister had secured for the General perfect liberty of movement
in the house where he was a guest. He had even his own entrance through a small
door in one corner of the orangery. Thus he was not exposed that evening to the
necessity of dissembling his agitation before the calm ignorance of the other
inmates. He was glad of it. It seemed to him that if he had to open his lips he
would break out into horrible and aimless imprecations, start breaking
furniture, smashing china and glass. From the moment he opened the private door
and while ascending the twenty-eight steps of a winding staircase, giving access
to the corridor on which his room opened, he went through a horrible and
humiliating scene in which an infuriated madman with blood-shot eyes and a
foaming mouth played inconceivable havoc with everything inanimate that may be
found in a well-appointed dining-room. When he opened the door of his apartment
the fit was over, and his bodily fatigue was so great that he had to catch at
the backs of the chairs while crossing the room to reach a low and broad divan
on which he let himself fall heavily. His moral prostration was still greater.
That brutality of feeling which he had known only when charging the enemy,
sabre in hand, amazed this man of forty, who did not recognize in it the
instinctive fury of his menaced passion. But in his mental and bodily exhaustion
this passion got cleared, distilled, refined into a sentiment of melancholy
despair at having, perhaps, to die before he had taught this beautiful girl to
love him.
That night, General
D'Hubert stretched out on his back with his hands over his eyes, or lying on
his breast with his face buried in a cushion, made the full pilgrimage of
emotions. Nauseating disgust at the absurdity of the situation, doubt of his
own fitness to conduct his existence, and mistrust of his best sentiments (for
what the devil did he want to go to Fouché for?) -- he knew them all in turn.
"I am an idiot, neither more nor less," he thought -- "A
sensitive idiot. Because I overheard two men talking in a café. . . . I am an
idiot afraid of lies -- whereas in life it is only truth that matters."
Several times he got up
and, walking in his socks in order not to be heard by anybody downstairs, drank
all the water he could find in the dark. And he tasted the torments of
jealousy, too. She would marry somebody else. His very soul writhed. The
tenacity of that Feraud, the awful persistence of that imbecile brute, came to
him with the tremendous force of a relentless destiny. General D'Hubert
trembled as he put down the empty water ewer. "He will have me," he
thought. General D'Hubert was tasting every emotion that life has to give. He
had in his dry mouth the faint sickly flavour of fear, not the excusable fear
before a young girl's candid and amused glance, but the fear of death and the
honourable man's fear of cowardice.
But if true courage
consists in going out to meet an odious danger from which our body, soul, and
heart recoil together, General D'Hubert had the opportunity to practise it for
the first time in his life. He had charged exultingly at batteries and at
infantry squares, and ridden with messages through a hail of bullets without
thinking anything about it. His business now was to sneak out unheard, at break
of day, to an obscure and revolting death. General D'Hubert never hesitated. He
carried two pistols in a leather bag which he slung over his shoulder. Before
he had crossed the garden his mouth was dry again. He picked two oranges. It
was only after shutting the gate after him that he felt a slight faintness.
He staggered on,
disregarding it, and after going a few yards regained the command of his legs.
In the colourless and pellucid dawn the wood of pines detached its columns of
trunks and its dark green canopy very clearly against the rocks of the grey
hillside. He kept his eyes fixed on it steadily, and sucked at an orange as he
walked. That temperamental good-humoured coolness in the face of danger which
had made him an officer liked by his men and appreciated by his superiors was
gradually asserting itself. It was like going into battle. Arriving at the edge
of the wood he sat down on a boulder, holding the other orange in his hand, and
reproached himself for coming so ridiculously early on the ground. Before very
long, however, he heard the swishing of bushes, footsteps on the hard ground,
and the sounds of a disjointed, loud conversation. A voice somewhere behind him
said boastfully, "He's game for my bag."
He thought to himself,
"Here they are. What's this about game? Are they talking of me?" And
becoming aware of the other orange in his hand, he thought further, "These
are very good oranges. Léonie's own tree. I may just as well eat this orange
now instead of flinging it away."
Emerging from a
wilderness of rocks and bushes, General Feraud and his seconds discovered
General D'Hubert engaged in peeling the orange. They stood still, waiting till
he looked up. Then the seconds raised their hats, while General Feraud, putting
his hands behind his back, walked aside a little way.
"I am compelled to
ask one of you, messieurs, to act for me. I have brought no friends. Will
you?"
The one-eyed cuirassier
said judicially, "That cannot be refused."
The other veteran
remarked, "It's awkward all the same."
"Owing to the
state of the people's minds in this part of the country there was no one I
could trust safely with the object of your presence here," explained
General D'Hubert, urbanely.
They saluted, looked
round, and remarked both together:
"Poor
ground."
"It's unfit."
"Why bother about
ground, measurements, and so on? Let us simplify matters. Load the two pairs of
pistols. I will take those of General Feraud, and let him take mine. Or, better
still, let us take a mixed pair. One of each pair. Then let us go into the wood
and shoot at sight, while you remain outside. We did not come here for
ceremonies, but for war -- war to the death. Any ground is good enough for
that. If I fall, you must leave me where I lie and clear out. It wouldn't be
healthy for you to be found hanging about here after that."
It appeared after a
short parley that General Feraud was willing to accept these conditions. While
the seconds were loading the pistols, he could be heard whistling, and was seen
to rub his hands with perfect contentment. He flung off his coat briskly, and
General D 'Hubert took off his own and folded it carefully on a stone.
"Suppose you take
your principal to the other side of the wood and let him enter exactly in ten
minutes from now," suggested General D'Hubert, calmly, but feeling as if
he were giving directions for his own execution. This, however, was his last
moment of weakness. "Wait. Let us compare watches first."
He pulled out his own.
The officer with the chipped nose went over to borrow the watch of General
Feraud. They bent their heads over them for a time.
"That's it. At
four minutes to six by yours. Seven to by mine."
It was the cuirassier
who remained by the side of General D'Hubert, keeping his one eye fixed
immovably on the white face of the watch he held in the palm of his hand. He
opened his mouth, waiting for the beat of the last second long before he
snapped out the word, "Avancez."
General D'Hubert moved
on, passing from the glaring sunshine of the Provençal morning into the cool
and aromatic shade of the pines. The ground was clear between the reddish
trunks, whose multitude, leaning at slightly different angles, confused his eye
at first. It was like going into battle. The commanding quality of confidence
in himself woke up in his breast. He was all to his affair. The problem was how
to kill the adversary. Nothing short of that would free him from this imbecile
nightmare. "It's no use wounding that brute," thought General
D'Hubert. He was known as a resourceful officer. His comrades years ago used
also to call him The Strategist. And it was a fact that he could think in the
presence of the enemy. Whereas Feraud had been always a mere fighter -- but a
dead shot, unluckily.
"I must draw his
fire at the greatest possible range," said General D'Hubert to himself.
At that moment he saw
something white moving far off between the trees -- the shirt of his adversary.
He stepped out at once between the trunks, exposing himself freely; then, quick
as lightning, leaped back. It had been a risky move but it succeeded in its
object. Almost simultaneously with the pop of a shot a small piece of bark
chipped off by the bullet stung his ear painfully.
General Feraud, with
one shot expended, was getting cautious. Peeping round the tree, General
D'Hubert could not see him at all. This ignorance of the foe's whereabouts
carried with it a sense of insecurity. General D'Hubert felt himself abominably
exposed on his flank and rear. Again something white fluttered in his sight.
Ha! The enemy was still on his front, then. He had feared a turning movement.
But apparently General Feraud was not thinking of it. General D'Hubert saw him
pass without special haste from one tree to another in the straight line of
approach. With great firmness of mind General D'Hubert stayed his hand. Too far
yet. He knew he was no marksman. His must be a waiting game -- to kill.
Wishing to take
advantage of the greater thickness of the trunk, he sank down to the ground.
Extended at full length, head on to his enemy, he had his person completely
protected. Exposing himself would not do now, because the other was too near by
this time. A conviction that Feraud would presently do something rash was like
balm to General D'Hubert's soul. But to keep his chin raised off the ground was
irksome, and not much use either. He peeped round, exposing a fraction of his
head with dread, but really with little risk. His enemy, as a matter of fact,
did not expect to see anything of him so far down as that. General D'Hubert
caught a fleeting view of General Feraud shifting trees again with deliberate
caution. "He despises my shooting," he thought, displaying that
insight into the mind of his antagonist which is of such great help in winning
battles. He was confirmed in his tactics of immobility. "If I could only
watch my rear as well as my front!" he thought anxiously, longing for the
impossible.
It required some force
of character to lay his pistols down; but, on a sudden impulse, General
D'Hubert did this very gently -- one on each side of him. In the army he had
been looked upon as a bit of a dandy because he used to shave and put on a
clean shirt on the days of battle. As a matter of fact, he had always been very
careful of his personal appearance. In a man of nearly forty, in love with a
young and charming girl, this praiseworthy self-respect may run to such little
weaknesses as, for instance, being provided with an elegant little leather
folding-case containing a small ivory comb, and fitted with a piece of
looking-glass on the outside. General D'Hubert, his hands being free, felt in
his breeches' pockets for that implement of innocent vanity excusable in the
possessor of long, silky moustaches. He drew it out, and then with the utmost
coolness and promptitude turned himself over on his back. In this new attitude,
his head a little raised, holding the little looking-glass just clear of his
tree, he squinted into it with his left eye, while the right kept a direct
watch on the rear of his position. Thus was proved Napoleon's saying, that
"for a French soldier, the word impossible does not exist." He had
the right tree nearly filling the field of his little mirror.
"If he moves from
behind it," he reflected with satisfaction, "I am bound to see his
legs. But in any case he can't come upon me unawares."
And sure enough he saw
the boots of General Feraud flash in and out, eclipsing for an instant everything
else reflected in the little mirror. He shifted its position accordingly. But
having to form his judgment of the change from that indirect view he did not
realize that now his feet and a portion of his legs were in plain sight of
General Feraud.
General Feraud had been
getting gradually impressed by the amazing cleverness with which his enemy was
keeping cover. He had spotted the right tree with bloodthirsty precision. He
was absolutely certain of it. And yet he had not been able to glimpse as much
as the tip of an ear. As he had been looking for it at the height of about five
feet ten inches from the ground it was no great wonder -- but it seemed very
wonderful to General Feraud.
The first view of these
feet and legs determined a rush of blood to his head. He literally staggered
behind his tree, and had to steady himself against it with his hand. The other
was lying on the ground, then! On the ground! Perfectly still, too! Exposed!
What could it mean? . . . The notion that he had knocked over his adversary at
the first shot entered then General Feraud's head. Once there it grew with
every second of attentive gazing, overshadowing every other supposition --
irresistible, triumphant, ferocious.
"What an ass I was
to think I could have missed him," he muttered to himself. "He was
exposed en plein -- the fool! -- for quite a couple of seconds."
General Feraud gazed at
the motionless limbs, the last vestiges of surprise fading before an unbounded
admiration of his own deadly skill with the pistol.
"Turned up his
toes! By the god of war, that was a shot!" he exulted mentally. "Got
it through the head, no doubt, just where I aimed, staggered behind that tree,
rolled over on his back, and died."
And he stared! He
stared, forgetting to move, almost awed, almost sorry. But for nothing in the
world would he have had it undone. Such a shot! -- such a shot! Rolled over on
his back and died!
For it was this
helpless position, lying on the back, that shouted its direct evidence at
General Feraud! It never occurred to him that it might have been deliberately
assumed by a living man. It was inconceivable. It was beyond the range of sane
supposition. There was no possibility to guess the reason for it. And it must
be said, too, that General D'Hubert's turned-up feet looked thoroughly dead.
General Feraud expanded his lungs for a stentorian shout to his seconds, but,
from what he felt to be an excessive scrupulousness, refrained for a while.
"I will just go
and see first whether he breathes yet," he mumbled to himself, leaving
carelessly the shelter of his tree. This move was immediately perceived by the
resourceful General D'Hubert. He concluded it to be another shift, but when he
lost the boots out of the field of the mirror he became uneasy. General Feraud
had only stepped a little out of the line, but his adversary could not possibly
have supposed him walking up with perfect unconcern. General D'Hubert,
beginning to wonder at what had become of the other, was taken unawares so
completely that the first warning of danger consisted in the long,
early-morning shadow of his enemy falling aslant on his outstretched legs. He
had not even heard a footfall on the soft ground between the trees!
It was too much even
for his coolness. He jumped up thoughtlessly, leaving the pistols on the
ground. The irresistible instinct of an average man (unless totally paralyzed
by discomfiture) would have been to stoop for his weapons, exposing himself to
the risk of being shot down in that position. Instinct, of course, is irreflective.
It is its very definition. But it may be an inquiry worth pursuing whether in
reflective mankind the mechanical promptings of instinct are not affected by
the customary mode of thought. In his young days, Armand D'Hubert, the
reflective, promising officer, had emitted the opinion that in warfare one
should "never cast back on the lines of a mistake." This idea,
defended and developed in many discussions, had settled into one of the stock
notions of his brain, had become a part of his mental individuality. Whether it
had gone so inconceivably deep as to affect the dictates of his instinct, or
simply because, as he himself declared afterwards, he was "too scared to
remember the confounded pistols," the fact is that General D'Hubert never
attempted to stoop for them. Instead of going back on his mistake, he seized
the rough trunk with both hands, and swung himself behind it with such
impetuosity that, going right round in the very flash and report of the
pistol-shot, he reappeared on the other side of the tree face to face with
General Feraud. This last, completely unstrung by such a show of agility on the
part of a dead man, was trembling yet. A very faint mist of smoke hung before
his face which had an extraordinary aspect, as if the lower jaw had come
unhinged.
"Not missed!"
he croaked, hoarsely, from the depths of a dry throat.
This sinister sound
loosened the spell that had fallen on General D'Hubert's senses. "Yes,
missed -- à bout portant," he heard himself saying, almost before he had
recovered the full command of his faculties. The revulsion of feeling was
accompanied by a gust of homicidal fury, resuming in its violence the
accumulated resentment of a lifetime. For years General D 'Hubert had been
exasperated and humiliated by an atrocious absurdity imposed upon him by this
man's savage caprice. Besides, General D'Hubert had been in this last instance
too unwilling to confront death for the reaction of his anguish not to take the
shape of a desire to kill. "And I have my two shots to fire yet," he
added, pitilessly.
General Feraud
snapped-to his teeth, and his face assumed an irate, undaunted expression.
"Go on!" he said, grimly.
These would have been
his last words if General D'Hubert had been holding the pistols in his hands.
But the pistols were lying on the ground at the foot of a pine. General
D'Hubert had the second of leisure necessary to remember that he had dreaded
death not as a man, but as a lover; not as a danger, but as a rival; not as a
foe to life, but as an obstacle to marriage. And behold! there was the rival
defeated! -- utterly defeated, crushed, done for!
He picked up the
weapons mechanically, and, instead of firing them into General Feraud's breast,
he gave expression to the thoughts uppermost in his mind, "You will fight
no more duels now."
His tone of leisurely,
ineffable satisfaction was too much for General Feraud's stoicism. "Don't
dawdle, then, damn you for a cold-blooded staff-coxcomb!" he roared out,
suddenly, out of an impassive face held erect on a rigidly still body.
General D'Hubert
uncocked the pistols carefully. This proceeding was observed with mixed
feelings by the other general. "You missed me twice," the victor
said, coolly, shifting both pistols to one hand; "the last time within a
foot or so. By every rule of single combat your life belongs to me. That does
not mean that I want to take it now."
"I have no use for
your forbearance," muttered General Feraud, gloomily.
"Allow me to point
out that this is no concern of mine," said General D'Hubert, whose every
word was dictated by a consummate delicacy of feeling. In anger he could have
killed that man, but in cold blood he recoiled from humiliating by a show of
generosity this unreasonable being -- a fellow-soldier of the Grande Armée, a
companion in the wonders and terrors of the great military epic. "You
don't set up the pretension of dictating to me what I am to do with what's my
own."
General Feraud looked
startled, and the other continued, "You've forced me on a point of honour
to keep my life at your disposal, as it were, for fifteen years. Very well. Now
that the matter is decided to my advantage, I am going to do what I like with
your life on the same principle. You shall keep it at my disposal as long as I
choose. Neither more nor less. You are on your honour till I say the
word."
"I am! But,
sacrebleu! This is an absurd position for a General of the Empire to be placed
in!" cried General Feraud, in accents of profound and dismayed conviction.
"It amounts to sitting all the rest of my life with a loaded pistol in a
drawer waiting for your word. It's -- it's idiotic; I shall be an object of --
of -- derision."
"Absurd? --
idiotic? Do you think so?" queried General D'Hubert with sly gravity.
"Perhaps. But I don't see how that can be helped. However, I am not likely
to talk at large of this adventure. Nobody need ever know anything about it.
Just as no one to this day, I believe, knows the origin of our quarrel. . . .
Not a word more," he added, hastily. "I can't really discuss this
question with a man who, as far as I am concerned, does not exist."
When the two duellists
came out into the open, General Feraud walking a little behind, and rather with
the air of walking in a trance, the two seconds hurried towards them, each from
his station at the edge of the wood. General D'Hubert addressed them, speaking
loud and distinctly, "Messieurs, I make it a point of declaring to you
solemnly, in the presence of General Feraud, that our difference is at last
settled for good. You may inform all the world of that fact."
"A reconciliation,
after all!" they exclaimed together.
"Reconciliation?
Not that exactly. It is something much more binding. Is it not so,
General?"
General Feraud only
lowered his head in sign of assent. The two veterans looked at each other.
Later in the day, when they found themselves alone out of their moody friend's
earshot, the cuirassier remarked suddenly, "Generally speaking, I can see
with my one eye as far as most people; but this beats me. He won't say
anything."
"In this affair of
honour I understand there has been from first to last always something that no
one in the army could quite make out," declared the chasseur with the
imperfect nose. "In mystery it began, in mystery it went on, in mystery it
is to end, apparently."
General D'Hubert walked
home with long, hasty strides, by no means uplifted by a sense of triumph. He
had conquered, yet it did not seem to him that he had gained very much by his
conquest. The night before he had grudged the risk of his life which appeared
to him magnificent, worthy of preservation as an opportunity to win a girl's
love. He had known moments when, by a marvellous illusion, this love seemed to
be already his, and his threatened life a still more magnificent opportunity of
devotion. Now that his life was safe it had suddenly lost its special
magnificence. It had acquired instead a specially alarming aspect as a snare
for the exposure of unworthiness. As to the marvellous illusion of conquered
love that had visited him for a moment in the agitated watches of the night,
which might have been his last on earth, he comprehended now its true nature.
It had been merely a paroxysm of delirious conceit. Thus to this man, sobered
by the victorious issue of a duel, life appeared robbed of its charm, simply
because it was no longer menaced.
Approaching the house
from the back, through the orchard and the kitchen garden, he could not notice
the agitation which reigned in front. He never met a single soul. Only while
walking softly along the corridor, he became aware that the house was awake and
more noisy than usual. Names of servants were being called out down below in a
confused noise of coming and going. With some concern he noticed that the door
of his own room stood ajar, though the shutters had not been opened yet. He had
hoped that his early excursion would have passed unperceived. He expected to
find some servant just gone in; but the sunshine filtering through the usual
cracks enabled him to see lying on the low divan something bulky, which had the
appearance of two women clasped in each other's arms. Tearful and desolate
murmurs issued mysteriously from that appearance. General D'Hubert pulled open
the nearest pair of shutters violently. One of the women then jumped up. It was
his sister. She stood for a moment with her hair hanging down and her arms
raised straight up above her head, and then flung herself with a stifled cry
into his arms. He returned her embrace, trying at the same time to disengage
himself from it. The other woman had not risen. She seemed, on the contrary, to
cling closer to the divan, hiding her face in the cushions. Her hair was also
loose; it was admirably fair. General D'Hubert recognized it with staggering
emotion. Mademoiselle de Valmassigue! Adèle! In distress!
He became greatly
alarmed, and got rid of his sister's hug definitely. Madame Léonie then
extended her shapely bare arm out of her peignoir, pointing dramatically at the
divan. "This poor, terrified child has rushed here from home, on foot, two
miles -- running all the way."
"What on earth has
happened?" asked General D'Hubert in a low, agitated voice.
But Madame Léonie was
speaking loudly. "She rang the great bell at the gate and roused all the
household -- we were all asleep yet. You may imagine what a terrible shock. . .
. Adèle, my dear child, sit up."
General D'Hubert's
expression was not that of a man who "imagines" with facility. He
did, however, fish out of the chaos of surmises the notion that his prospective
mother-in-law had died suddenly, but only to dismiss it at once. He could not
conceive the nature of the event or the catastrophe which would induce
Mademoiselle de Valmassigue, living in a house full of servants, to bring the
news over the fields herself, two miles, running all the way.
"But why are you
in this room?" he whispered, full of awe.
"Of course, I ran
up to see, and this child . . . I did not notice it . . . she followed me. It's
that absurd Chevalier," went on Madame Léonie, looking towards the divan.
. . . "Her hair is all come down. You may imagine she did not stop to call
her maid to dress it before she started. . . Adèle, my dear, sit up. . . . He
blurted it all out to her at half-past five in the morning. She woke up early
and opened her shutters to breathe the fresh air, and saw him sitting collapsed
on a garden bench at the end of the great alley. At that hour -- you may
imagine! And the evening before he had declared himself indisposed. She hurried
on some clothes and flew down to him. One would be anxious for less. He loves
her, but not very intelligently. He had been up all night, fully dressed, the
poor old man, perfectly exhausted. He wasn't in a state to invent a plausible
story. . . . What a confidant you chose there! My husband was furious. He said,
'We can't interfere now.' So we sat down to wait. It was awful. And this poor
child running with her hair loose over here publicly! She has been seen by some
people in the fields. She has roused the whole household, too. It's awkward for
her. Luckily you are to be married next week. . . . Adèle, sit up. He has come
home on his own legs. . . . We expected to see you coming on a stretcher,
perhaps -- what do I know? Go and see if the carriage is ready. I must take
this child home at once. It isn't proper for her to stay here a minute
longer."
General D'Hubert did
not move. It was as though he had heard nothing. Madame Léonie changed her
mind. "I will go and see myself," she cried. "I want also my
cloak. -- Adèle --" she began, but did not add "sit up." She
went out saying, in a very loud and cheerful tone: "I leave the door
open."
General D'Hubert made a
movement towards the divan, but then Adèle sat up, and that checked him dead.
He thought, "I haven't washed this morning. I must look like an old tramp.
There's earth on the back of my coat and pine-needles in my hair." It
occurred to him that the situation required a good deal of circumspection on
his part.
"I am greatly
concerned, mademoiselle," he began, vaguely, and abandoned that line. She
was sitting up on the divan with her cheeks unusually pink and her hair,
brilliantly fair, falling all over her shoulders -- which was a very novel
sight to the general. He walked away up the room, and looking out of the window
for safety said, "I fear you must think I behaved like a madman," in
accents of sincere despair. Then he spun round, and noticed that she had
followed him with her eyes. They were not cast down on meeting his glance. And
the expression of her face was novel to him also. It was, one might have said,
reversed. Those eyes looked at him with grave thoughtfulness, while the
exquisite lines of her mouth seemed to suggest a restrained smile. This change
made her transcendental beauty much less mysterious, much more accessible to a
man's comprehension. An amazing ease of mind came to the general -- and even
some ease of manner. He walked down the room with as much pleasurable
excitement as he would have found in walking up to a battery vomiting death,
fire, and smoke; then stood looking down with smiling eyes at the girl whose
marriage with him (next week) had been so carefully arranged by the wise, the
good, the admirable Léonie.
"Ah!
mademoiselle," he said, in a tone of courtly regret, "if only I could
be certain that you did not come here this morning, two miles, running all the
way, merely from affection for your mother!"
He waited for an answer
imperturbable but inwardly elated. It came in a demure murmur, eyelashes
lowered with fascinating effect. "You must not be méchant as well as
mad."
And then General
D'Hubert made an aggressive movement towards the divan which nothing could
check. That piece of furniture was not exactly in the line of the open door.
But Madame Léonie, coming back wrapped up in a light cloak and carrying a lace
shawl on her arm for Adèle to hide her incriminating hair under, had a swift
impression of her brother getting up from his knees.
"Come along, my
dear child," she cried from the doorway.
The general, now
himself again in the fullest sense, showed the readiness of a resourceful
cavalry officer and the peremptoriness of a leader of men. "You don't
expect her to walk to the carriage," he said, indignantly. "She isn't
fit. I shall carry her downstairs."
This he did slowly,
followed by his awed and respectful sister; but he rushed back like a whirlwind
to wash off all the signs of the night of anguish and the morning of war, and
to put on the festive garments of a conqueror before hurrying over to the other
house. Had it not been for that, General D 'Hubert felt capable of mounting a
horse and pursuing his late adversary in order simply to embrace him from
excess of happiness. "I owe it all to this stupid brute," he thought.
"He has made plain in a morning what might have taken me years to find out
-- for I am a timid fool. No self-confidence whatever. Perfect coward. And the
Chevalier! Delightful old man!" General D'Hubert longed to embrace him
also.
The Chevalier was in
bed. For several days he was very unwell. The men of the Empire and the
post-revolution young ladies were too much for him. He got up the day before
the wedding, and, being curious by nature, took his niece aside for a quiet
talk. He advised her to find out from her husband the true story of the affair
of honour, whose claim, so imperative and so persistent, had led her to within
an ace of tragedy. "It is right that his wife should be told. And next
month or so will be your time to learn from him anything you want to know, my
dear child."
Later on, when the
married couple came on a visit to the mother of the bride, Madame la Générale
D'Hubert communicated to her beloved old uncle the true story she had obtained
without any difficulty from her husband.
The Chevalier listened
with deep attention to the end, took a pinch of snuff, flicked the grains of
tobacco from the frilled front of his shirt, and asked, calmly, "And
that's all it was?"
"Yes, uncle,"
replied Madame la Générale, opening her pretty eyes very wide. "Isn't it
funny? C'est insensé -- to think what men are capable of!"
"H'm!"
commented the old émigré. "It depends what sort of men. That Bonaparte's
soldiers were savages. It is insensé. As a wife, my dear, you must believe
implicitly what your husband says."
But to Léonie's husband
the Chevalier confided his true opinion. "If that's the tale the fellow
made up for his wife, and during the honeymoon, too, you may depend on it that
no one will ever know now the secret of this affair."
Considerably later
still, General D'Hubert judged the time come, and the opportunity propitious to
write a letter to General Feraud. This letter began by disclaiming all
animosity. "I've never," wrote the General Baron D'Hubert,
"wished for your death during all the time of our deplorable quarrel.
Allow me," he continued, "to give you back in all form your forfeited
life. It is proper that we two, who have been partners in so much military
glory, should be friendly to each other publicly."
The same letter
contained also an item of domestic information. It was in reference to this
last that General Feraud answered from a little village on the banks of the
Garonne, in the following words:
"If one of your
boy's names had been Napoleon -- or Joseph -- or even Joachim, I could
congratulate you on the event with a better heart. As you have thought proper
to give him the names of Charles Henri Armand, I am confirmed in my conviction
that you never loved the Emperor. The thought of that sublime hero chained to a
rock in the middle of a savage ocean makes life of so little value that I would
receive with positive joy your instructions to blow my brains out. From suicide
I consider myself in honour debarred. But I keep a loaded pistol in my
drawer."
Madame la Générale
D'Hubert lifted up her hands in despair after perusing that answer.
"You see? He won't
be reconciled," said her husband. "He must never, by any chance, be
allowed to guess where the money comes from. It wouldn't do. He couldn't bear
it."
"You are a brave
homme, Armand,"said Madame la Générale, appreciatively.
"My dear, I had
the right to blow his brains out; but as I didn't, we can't let him starve. He
has lost his pension and he is utterly incapable of doing anything in the world
for himself. We must take care of him, secretly, to the end of his days. Don't
I owe him the most ecstatic moment of my life? . . . Ha! ha! ha! Over the
fields, two miles, running all the way! I couldn't believe my ears! . . . But
for his stupid ferocity, it would have taken me years to find you out. It's
extraordinary how in one way or another this man has managed to fasten himself
on my deeper feelings."
"Vedi Napoli e poi mori." THE
first time we got into conversation was in the National Museum in Naples, in
the rooms on the ground floor containing the famous collection of bronzes from
Herculaneum and Pompeii: that marvellous legacy of antique art whose delicate
perfection has been preserved for us by the catastrophic fury of a volcano.
He addressed me first,
over the celebrated Resting Hermes which we had been looking at side by side.
He said the right things about that wholly admirable piece. Nothing profound.
His taste was natural rather than cultivated. He had obviously seen many fine
things in his life and appreciated them: but he had no jargon of a dilettante
or the connoisseur. A hateful tribe. He spoke like a fairly intelligent man of
the world, a perfectly unaffected gentleman.
We had known each other
by sight for some few days past. Staying in the same hotel -- good, but not
extravagantly up to date -- I had noticed him in the vestibule going in and
out. I judged he was an old and valued client. The bow of the hotel-keeper was
cordial in its deference, and he acknowledged it with familiar courtesy. For
the servants he was Il Conde. There was some squabble over a man's parasol --
yellow silk with white lining sort of thing -- the waiters had discovered
abandoned outside the dining-room door. Our gold-laced door-keeper recognized
it and I heard him directing one of the lift boys to run after Il Conde with
it. Perhaps he was the only Count staying in the hotel, or perhaps he had the
distinction of being the Count par excellence, conferred upon him because of
his tried fidelity to the house.
Having conversed at the
Museo -- (and by the by he had expressed his dislike of the busts and statues
of Roman emperors in the gallery of marbles: their faces were too vigorous, too
pronounced for him) -- having conversed already in the morning I did not think
I was intruding when in the evening, finding the dining-room very full, I
proposed to share his little table. Judging by the quiet urbanity of his
consent he did not think so either. His smile was very attractive.
He dined in an evening
waistcoat and a "smoking" (he called it so) with a black tie. All
this of very good cut, not new -- just as these things should be. He was,
morning or evening, very correct in his dress. I have no doubt that his whole
existence had been correct, well ordered and conventional, undisturbed by
startling events. His white hair brushed upwards off a lofty forehead gave him
the air of an idealist, of an imaginative man. His white moustache, heavy but
carefully trimmed and arranged, was not unpleasantly tinted a golden yellow in
the middle. The faint scent of some very good perfume, and of good cigars (that
last an odour quite remarkable to come upon in Italy) reached me across the
table. It was in his eyes that his age showed most. They were a little weary
with creased eyelids. He must have been sixty or a couple of years more. And he
was communicative. I would not go so far as to call it garrulous -- but
distinctly communicative.
He had tried various
climates, of Abbazia, of the Riviera, of other places, too, he told me, but the
only one which suited him was the climate of the Gulf of Naples. The ancient
Romans, who, he pointed out to me, were men expert in the art of living, knew
very well what they were doing when they built their villas on these shores, in
Baiæ, in Vico, in Capri. They came down to this seaside in search of health,
bringing with them their trains of mimes and flute-players to amuse their
leisure. He thought it extremely probable that the Romans of the higher classes
were specially predisposed to painful rheumatic affections.
This was the only
personal opinion I heard him express. It was based on no special erudition. He
knew no more of the Romans than an average informed man of the world is
expected to know. He argued from personal experience. He had suffered himself
from a painful and dangerous rheumatic affection till he found relief in this
particular spot of Southern Europe.
This was three years
ago, and ever since he had taken up his quarters on the shores of the gulf,
either in one of the hotels in Sorrento or hiring a small villa in Capri. He
had a piano, a few books: picked up transient acquaintances of a day, week, or
month in the stream of travellers from all Europe. One can imagine him going
out for his walks in the streets and lanes, becoming known to beggars,
shopkeepers, children, country people; talking amiably over the walls to the
contadini -- and coming back to his rooms or his villa to sit before the piano,
with his white hair brushed up and his thick orderly moustache, "to make a
little music for myself." And, of course, for a change there was Naples
near by -- life, movement, animation, opera. A little amusement, as he said, is
necessary for health. Mimes and flute-players, in fact. Only unlike the
magnates of ancient Rome, he had no affairs of the city to call him away from
these moderate delights. He had no affairs at all. Probably he had never had
any grave affairs to attend to in his life. It was a kindly existence, with its
joys and sorrows regulated by the course of Nature -- marriages, births, deaths
-- ruled by the prescribed usages of good society and protected by the State.
He was a widower; but
in the months of July and August he ventured to cross the Alps for six weeks on
a visit to his married daughter. He told me her name. It was that of a very
aristocratic family. She had a castle -- in Bohemia, I think. This is as near
as I ever came to ascertaining his nationality. His own name, strangely enough,
he never mentioned. Perhaps he thought I had seen it on the published list.
Truth to say, I never looked. At any rate, he was a good European -- he spoke
four languages to my certain knowledge -- and a man of fortune. Not of great
fortune evidently and appropriately. I imagine that to be extremely rich would
have appeared to him improper, outré -- too blatant altogether. And obviously, too,
the fortune was not of his making. The making of a fortune cannot be achieved
without some roughness. It is a matter of temperament. His nature was too
kindly for strife. In the course of conversation he mentioned his estate quite
by the way, in reference to that painful and alarming rheumatic affection. One
year, staying incautiously beyond the Alps as late as the middle of September,
he had been laid up for three months in that lonely country house with no one
but his valet and the caretaking couple to attend to him. Because, as he
expressed it, he "kept no establishment there." He had only gone for
a couple of days to confer with his land agent. He promised himself never to be
so imprudent in the future. The first weeks of September would find him on the
shores of his beloved gulf.
Sometimes in travelling
one comes upon such lonely men, whose only business is to wait for the
unavoidable. Deaths and marriages have made a solitude round them, and one
really cannot blame their endeavours to make the waiting as easy as possible.
As he remarked to me, "At my time of life freedom from physical pain is a
very important matter."
It must not be imagined
that he was a wearisome hypochondriac. He was really much too well-bred to be a
nuisance. He had an eye for the small weaknesses of humanity. But it was a
good-natured eye. He made a restful, easy, pleasant companion for the hours
between dinner and bedtime. We spent three evenings together, and then I had to
leave Naples in a hurry to look after a friend who had fallen seriously ill in
Taormina. Having nothing to do, Il Conde came to see me off at the station. I
was somewhat upset, and his idleness was always ready to take a kindly form. He
was by no means an indolent man.
He went along the train
peering into the carriages for a good seat for me, and then remained talking
cheerily from below. He declared he would miss me that evening very much and
announced his intention of going after dinner to listen to the band in the
public garden, the Villa Nazionale. He would amuse himself by hearing excellent
music and looking at the best society. There would be a lot of people, as
usual.
I seem to see him yet
-- his raised face with a friendly smile under the thick moustaches, and his
kind, fatigued eyes. As the train began to move, he addressed me in two
languages: first in French, saying, "Bon voyage"; then, in his very
good, somewhat emphatic English, encouragingly, because he could see my
concern: "All will -- be -- well -- yet!"
My friend's illness
having taken a decidedly favourable turn, I returned to Naples on the tenth
day. I cannot say I had given much thought to Il Conde during my absence, but
entering the dining-room I looked for him in his habitual place. I had an idea
he might have gone back to Sorrento to his piano and his books and his fishing.
He was great friends with all the boatmen, and fished a good deal with lines
from a boat. But I made out his white head in the crowd of heads, and even from
a distance noticed something unusual in his attitude. Instead of sitting erect,
gazing all round with alert urbanity, he drooped over his plate. I stood
opposite him for some time before he looked up, a little wildly, if such a
strong word can be used in connection with his correct appearance.
"Ah, my dear sir!
Is it you?" he greeted me. "I hope all is well."
He was very nice about
my friend. Indeed, he was always nice, with the niceness of people whose hearts
are genuinely humane. But this time it cost him an effort. His attempts at
general conversation broke down into dullness. It occurred to me he might have
been indisposed. But before I could frame the inquiry he muttered:
"You find me here
very sad."
"I am sorry for
that," I said. "You haven't had bad news, I hope?"
It was very kind of me
to take an interest. No. It was not that. No bad news, thank God. And he became
very still as if holding his breath. Then, leaning forward a little, and in an
odd tone of awed embarrassment, he took me into his confidence.
"The truth is that
I have had a very -- a very -- how shall I say? -- abominable adventure happen
to me."
The energy of the
epithet was sufficiently startling in that man of moderate feelings and
toned-down vocabulary. The word unpleasant I should have thought would have
fitted amply the worst experience likely to befall a man of his stamp. And an
adventure, too. Incredible! But it is in human nature to believe the worst; and
I confess I eyed him stealthily, wondering what he had been up to. In a moment,
however, my unworthy suspicions vanished. There was a fundamental refinement of
nature about the man which made me dismiss all idea of some more or less
disreputable scrape.
"It is very
serious. Very serious." He went on, nervously. "I will tell you after
dinner, if you will allow me."
I expressed my perfect
acquiescence by a little bow, nothing more. I wished him to understand that I
was not likely to hold him to that offer, if he thought better of it later on.
We talked of indifferent things, but with a sense of difficulty quite unlike our
former easy, gossipy intercourse. The hand raising a piece of bread to his
lips, I noticed, trembled slightly. This symptom, in regard to my reading of
the man, was no less than startling.
In the smoking-room he
did not hang back at all. Directly we had taken our usual seats he leaned
sideways over the arm of his chair and looked straight into my eyes earnestly.
"You
remember," he began, "that day you went away? I told you then I would
go to the Villa Nazionale to hear some music in the evening."
I remembered. His
handsome old face, so fresh for his age, unmarked by any trying experience,
appeared haggard for an instant. It was like the passing of a shadow. Returning
his steadfast gaze, I took a sip of my black coffee. He was systematically
minute in his narrative, simply in order, I think, not to let his excitement
get the better of him.
After leaving the
railway station, he had an ice, and read the paper in a café. Then he went back
to the hotel, dressed for dinner, and dined with a good appetite. After dinner
he lingered in the hall (there were chairs and tables there) smoking his cigar;
talked to the little girl of the Primo Tenore of the San Carlo theatre, and
exchanged a few words with that "amiable lady," the wife of the Primo
Tenore. There was no performance that evening, and these people were going to
the Villa also. They went out of the hotel. Very well.
At the moment of
following their example -- it was half-past nine already -- he remembered he
had a rather large sum of money in his pocket-book. He entered, therefore, the
office and deposited the greater part of it with the book-keeper of the hotel.
This done, he took a carozella and drove to the seashore. He got out of the cab
and entered the Villa on foot from the Largo di Vittoria end.
He stared at me very
hard. And I understood then how really impressionable he was. Every small fact
and event of that evening stood out in his memory as if endowed with mystic
significance. If he did not mention to me the colour of the pony which drew the
carozella, and the aspect of the man who drove, it was a mere oversight arising
from his agitation, which he repressed manfully.
He had then entered the
Villa Nazionale from the Largo di Vittoria end. The Villa Nazionale is a public
pleasure-ground laid out in grass plots, bushes, and flower-beds between the
houses of the Riviera di Chiaja and the waters of the bay. Alleys of trees,
more or less parallel, stretch its whole length -- which is considerable. On
the Riviera di Chiaja side the electric tramcars run close to the railings.
Between the garden and the sea is the fashionable drive, a broad road bordered
by a low wall, beyond which the Mediterranean splashes with gentle murmurs when
the weather is fine.
As life goes on late at
night in Naples, the broad drive was all astir with a brilliant swarm of
carriage lamps moving in pairs, some creeping slowly, others running rapidly
under the thin, motionless line of electric lamps defining the shore. And a
brilliant swarm of stars hung above the land humming with voices, piled up with
houses, glittering with lights -- and over the silent flat shadows of the sea.
The gardens themselves
are not very well lit. Our friend went forward in the warm gloom, his eyes
fixed upon a distant luminous region extending nearly across the whole width of
the Villa, as if the air had glowed there with its own cold, bluish, and
dazzling light. This magic spot, behind the black trunks of trees and masses of
inky foliage, breathed out sweet sounds mingled with bursts of brassy roar,
sudden clashes of metal, and grave, vibrating thuds.
As he walked on, all
these noises combined together into a piece of elaborate music whose harmonious
phrases came persuasively through a great disorderly murmur of voices and
shuffling of feet on the gravel of that open space. An enormous crowd immersed
in the electric light, as if in a bath of some radiant and tenuous fluid shed
upon their heads by luminous globes, drifted in its hundreds round the band.
Hundreds more sat on chairs in more or less concentric circles, receiving
unflinchingly the great waves of sonority that ebbed out into the darkness. The
Count penetrated the throng, drifted with it in tranquil enjoyment, listening
and looking at the faces. All people of good society: mothers with their
daughters, parents and children, young men and young women all talking,
smiling, nodding to each other. Very many pretty faces, and very many pretty
toilettes. There was, of course, a quantity of diverse types: showy old fellows
with white moustaches, fat men, thin men, officers in uniform; but what
predominated, he told me, was the South Italian type of young man, with a
colourless, clear complexion, red lips, jet-black little moustache and liquid
black eyes so wonderfully effective in leering or scowling.
Withdrawing from the
throng, the Count shared a little table in front of the café with a young man
of just such a type. Our friend had some lemonade. The young man was sitting
moodily before an empty glass. He looked up once, and then looked down again.
He also tilted his hat forward. Like this --
The Count made the
gesture of a man pulling his hat down over his brow, and went on:
"I think to
myself: he is sad; something is wrong with him; young men have their troubles.
I take no notice of him, of course. I pay for my lemonade, and go away."
Strolling about in the
neighbourhood of the band, the Count thinks he saw twice that young man
wandering alone in the crowd. Once their eyes met. It must have been the same
young man, but there were so many there of that type that he could not be
certain. Moreover, he was not very much concerned except in so far that he had
been struck by the marked, peevish discontent of that face.
Presently, tired of the
feeling of confinement one experiences in a crowd, the Count edged away from
the band. An alley, very sombre by contrast, presented itself invitingly with
its promise of solitude and coolness. He entered it, walking slowly on till the
sound of the orchestra became distinctly deadened. Then he walked back and
turned about once more. He did this several times before he noticed that there
was somebody occupying one of the benches.
The spot being midway
between two lamp-posts the light was faint.
The man lolled back in
the corner of the seat, his legs stretched out, his arms folded and his head
drooping on his breast. He never stirred, as though he had fallen asleep there,
but when the Count passed by next time he had changed his attitude. He sat
leaning forward. His elbows were propped on his knees, and his hands were
rolling a cigarette. He never looked up from that occupation.
The Count continued his
stroll away from the band. He returned slowly, he said. I can imagine him
enjoying to the full, but with his usual tranquillity, the balminess of this
southern night and the sounds of music softened delightfully by the distance.
Presently, he
approached for the third time the man on the garden seat, still leaning forward
with his elbows on his knees. It was a dejected pose. In the semi-obscurity of
the alley his high shirt collar and his cuffs made small patches of vivid
whiteness. The Count said that he had noticed him getting up brusquely as if to
walk away, but almost before he was aware of it the man stood before him asking
in a low, gentle tone whether the signore would have the kindness to oblige him
with a light.
The Count answered this
request by a polite "Certainly," and dropped his hands with the
intention of exploring both pockets of his trousers for the matches.
"I dropped my
hands," he said, "but I never put them in my pockets. I felt a
pressure there --"
He put the tip of his
finger on a spot close under his breastbone, the very spot of the human body
where a Japanese gentleman begins the operations of the Hara-kiri, which is a
form of suicide following upon dishonour, upon an intolerable outrage to the
delicacy of one's feelings.
"I glance
down," the Count continued in an awestruck voice, "and what do I see?
A knife! A long knife --"
"You don't mean to
say," I exclaimed, amazed, "that you have been held up like this in
the Villa at half-past ten o'clock, within a stone's throw of a thousand
people!"
He nodded several
times, staring at me with all his might.
"The
clarionet," he declared, solemnly, "was finishing his solo, and I
assure you I could hear every note. Then the band crashed fortissimo, and that
creature rolled its eyes and gnashed its teeth hissing at me with the greatest
ferocity, 'Be silent! No noise or --'"
I could not get over my
astonishment.
"What sort of knife
was it?" I asked, stupidly.
"A long blade. A
stiletto -- perhaps a kitchen knife. A long narrow blade. It gleamed. And his
eyes gleamed. His white teeth, too. I could see them. He was very ferocious. I
thought to myself: 'If I hit him he will kill me.' How could I fight with him?
He had the knife and I had nothing. I am nearly seventy, you know, and that was
a young man. I seemed even to recognize him. The moody young man of the café.
The young man I met in the crowd. But I could not tell. There are so many like
him in this country."
The distress of that
moment was reflected in his face. I should think that physically he must have
been paralyzed by surprise. His thoughts, however, remained extremely active.
They ranged over every alarming possibility. The idea of setting up a vigorous
shouting for help occurred to him, too. But he did nothing of the kind, and the
reason why he refrained gave me a good opinion of his mental self-possession.
He saw in a flash that nothing prevented the other from shouting, too.
"That young man
might in an instant have thrown away his knife and pretended I was the
aggressor. Why not? He might have said I attacked him. Why not? It was one
incredible story against another! He might have said anything -- bring some
dishonouring charge against me -- what do I know? By his dress he was no common
robber. He seemed to belong to the better classes. What could I say? He was an
Italian -- I am a foreigner. Of course, I have my passport, and there is our
consul -- but to be arrested, dragged at night to the police office like a
criminal!"
He shuddered. It was in
his character to shrink from scandal, much more than from mere death. And
certainly for many people this would have always remained -- considering
certain peculiarities of Neapolitan manners -- a deucedly queer story. The
Count was no fool. His belief in the respectable placidity of life having
received this rude shock, he thought that now anything might happen. But also a
notion came into his head that this young man was perhaps merely an infuriated
lunatic.
This was for me the
first hint of his attitude towards this adventure. In his exaggerated delicacy
of sentiment he felt that nobody's self-esteem need be affected by what a
madman may choose to do to one. It became apparent, however, that the Count was
to be denied that consolation. He enlarged upon the abominably savage way in
which that young man rolled his glistening eyes and gnashed his white teeth.
The band was going now through a slow movement of solemn braying by all the trombones,
with deliberately repeated bangs of the big drum.
"But what did you
do?" I asked, greatly excited.
"Nothing,"
answered the Count. "I let my hands hang down very still. I told him
quietly I did not intend making a noise. He snarled like a dog, then said in an
ordinary voice:
"'Vostro
portofolio.'"
"So I
naturally," continued the Count -- and from this point acted the whole
thing in pantomime. Holding me with his eyes, he went through all the motions
of reaching into his inside breast pocket, taking out a pocket-book, and
handing it over. But that young man, still bearing steadily on the knife,
refused to touch it.
He directed the Count
to take the money out himself, received it into his left hand, motioned the
pocket-book to be returned to the pocket, all this being done to the sweet
thrilling of flutes and clarionets sustained by the emotional drone of the
hautboys. And the "young man," as the Count called him, said:
"This seems very little."
"It was, indeed,
only 340 or 360 lire," the Count pursued. "I had left my money in the
hotel, as you know. I told him this was all I had on me. He shook his head
impatiently and said:
"'Vostro
orologio.'"
The Count gave me the
dumb show of pulling out his watch, detaching it. But, as it happened, the
valuable gold half-chronometer he possessed had been left at a watch-maker's
for cleaning. He wore that evening (on a leather guard) the Waterbury
fifty-franc thing he used to take with him on his fishing expeditions.
Perceiving the nature of this booty, the well-dressed robber made a
contemptuous clicking sound with his tongue like this, "Tse-Ah!" and
waved it away hastily. Then, as the Count was returning the disdained object to
his pocket, he demanded with a threateningly increased pressure of the knife on
the epigastrium, by way of reminder:
"'Vostri
anelli.'"
"One of the
rings," went on the Count, "was given me many years ago by my wife;
the other is the signet ring of my father. I said, 'No. That you shall not
have!'"
Here the Count reproduced
the gesture corresponding to that declaration by clapping one hand upon the
other, and pressing both thus against his chest. It was touching in its
resignation. "That you shall not have," he repeated, firmly, and
closed his eyes, fully expecting -- I don't know whether I am right in
recording that such an unpleasant word had passed his lips -- fully expecting
to feel himself being -- I really hesitate to say -- being disembowelled by the
push of the long, sharp blade resting murderously against the pit of his
stomach -- the very seat, in all human beings, of anguishing sensations.
Great waves of harmony
went on flowing from the band.
Suddenly the Count felt
the nightmarish pressure removed from the sensitive spot. He opened his eyes.
He was alone. He had heard nothing. It is probable that "the young
man" had departed, with light steps, some time before, but the sense of
the horrid pressure had lingered even after the knife had gone. A feeling of
weakness came over him. He had just time to stagger to the garden seat. He felt
as though he had held his breath for a long time. He sat all in a heap, panting
with the shock of the reaction.
The band was executing,
with immense bravura, the complicated finale. It ended with a tremendous crash.
He heard it unreal and remote, as if his ears had been stopped, and then the
hard clapping of a thousand, more or less, pairs of hands, like a sudden
hail-shower passing away. The profound silence which succeeded recalled him to
himself.
A tramcar resembling a
long glass box wherein people sat with their heads strongly lighted, ran along
swiftly within sixty yards of the spot where he had been robbed. Then another
rustled by, and yet another going the other way. The audience about the band
had broken up, and were entering the alley in small conversing groups. The
Count sat up straight and tried to think calmly of what had happened to him.
The vileness of it took his breath away again. As far as I can make it out he
was disgusted with himself. I do not mean to say with his behaviour. Indeed, if
his pantomimic rendering of it for my information was to be trusted, it was
simply perfect. No, it was not that. He was not ashamed. He was shocked at
being the selected victim, not of robbery so much as of contempt. His tranquillity
had been wantonly desecrated. His lifelong, kindly nicety of outlook had been
defaced.
Nevertheless, at that
stage, before the iron had time to sink deep, he was able to argue himself into
comparative equanimity. As his agitation calmed down somewhat, he became aware
that he was frightfully hungry. Yes, hungry. The sheer emotion had made him
simply ravenous. He left the seat and, after walking for some time, found
himself outside the gardens and before an arrested tramcar, without knowing
very well how he came there. He got in as if in a dream, by a sort of instinct.
Fortunately he found in his trouser pocket a copper to satisfy the conductor.
Then the car stopped, and as everybody was getting out he got out, too. He
recognized the Piazza San Ferdinando, but apparently it did not occur to him to
take a cab and drive to the hotel. He remained in distress on the Piazza like a
lost dog, thinking vaguely of the best way of getting something to eat at once.
Suddenly he remembered
his twenty-franc piece. He explained to me that he had that piece of French
gold for something like three years. He used to carry it about with him as a
sort of reserve in case of accident. Anybody is liable to have his pocket
picked -- a quite different thing from a brazen and insulting robbery.
The monumental arch of
the Galleria Umberto faced him at the top of a noble flight of stairs. He
climbed these without loss of time, and directed his steps towards the Café
Umberto. All the tables outside were occupied by a lot of people who were
drinking. But as he wanted something to eat, he went inside into the café,
which is divided into aisles by square pillars set all round with long
looking-glasses. The Count sat down on a red plush bench against one of these
pillars, waiting for his risotto. And his mind reverted to his abominable
adventure.
He thought of the
moody, well-dressed young man, with whom he had exchanged glances in the crowd
around the bandstand, and who, he felt confident, was the robber. Would he
recognize him again? Doubtless. But he did not want ever to see him again. The
best thing was to forget this humiliating episode.
The Count looked round
anxiously for the coming of his risotto, and, behold! to the left against the
wall -- there sat the young man. He was alone at a table, with a bottle of some
sort of wine or syrup and a carafe of iced water before him. The smooth olive
cheeks, the red lips, the little jet-black moustache turned up gallantly, the
fine black eyes a little heavy and shaded by long eyelashes, that peculiar
expression of cruel discontent to be seen only in the busts of some Roman
emperors -- it was he, no doubt at all. But that was a type. The Count looked
away hastily. The young officer over there reading a paper was like that, too.
Same type. Two young men farther away playing draughts also resembled --
The Count lowered his
head with the fear in his heart of being everlastingly haunted by the vision of
that young man. He began to eat his risotto. Presently he heard the young man
on his left call the waiter in a bad-tempered tone.
At the call, not only
his own waiter, but two other idle waiters belonging to a quite different row
of tables, rushed towards him with obsequious alacrity, which is not the
general characteristic of the waiters in the Café Umberto. The young man
muttered something and one of the waiters walking rapidly to the nearest door
called out into the Galleria: "Pasquale! O! Pasquale!"
Everybody knows
Pasquale, the shabby old fellow who, shuffling between the tables, offers for
sale cigars, cigarettes, picture postcards, and matches to the clients of the
café. He is in many respects an engaging scoundrel. The Count saw the
grey-haired, unshaven ruffian enter the café, the glass case hanging from his
neck by a leather strap, and, at a word from the waiter, make his shuffling way
with a sudden spurt to the young man's table. The young man was in need of a
cigar with which Pasquale served him fawningly. The old pedlar was going out,
when the Count, on a sudden impulse, beckoned to him.
Pasquale approached,
the smile of deferential recognition combining oddly with the cynical searching
expression of his eyes. Leaning his case on the table, he lifted the glass lid
without a word. The Count took a box of cigarettes and urged by a fearful
curiosity, asked as casually as he could --
"Tell me,
Pasquale, who is that young signore sitting over there?"
The other bent over his
box confidentially.
"That, Signor
Conde,"he said, beginning to rearrange his wares busily and without
looking up, "that is a young Cavaliere of a very good family from Bari. He
studies in the University here, and is the chief, capo, of an association of
young men -- of very nice young men."
He paused, and then,
with mingled discretion and pride of knowledge, murmured the explanatory word
"Camorra" and shut down the lid. "A very powerful Camorra,"
he breathed out. "The professors themselves respect it greatly . . . una
lira e cinquanti centesimi, Signor Conde."
Our friend paid with
the gold piece. While Pasquale was making up the change, he observed that the
young man, of whom he had heard so much in a few words, was watching the
transaction covertly. After the old vagabond had withdrawn with a bow, the
Count settled with the waiter and sat still. A numbness, he told me, had come
over him.
The young man paid,
too, got up, and crossed over, apparently for the purpose of looking at himself
in the mirror set in the pillar nearest to the Count's seat. He was dressed all
in black with a dark green bow tie. The Count looked round, and was startled by
meeting a vicious glance out of the corners of the other's eyes. The young
Cavaliere from Bari (according to Pasquale; but Pasquale is, of course, an
accomplished liar) went on arranging his tie, settling his hat before the
glass, and meantime he spoke just loud enough to be heard by the Count. He
spoke through his teeth with the most insulting venom of contempt and gazing
straight into the mirror.
"Ah! So you had
some gold on you -- you old liar -- you old birba -- you furfante! But you are
not done with me yet."
The fiendishness of his
expression vanished like lightning, and he lounged out of the café with a
moody, impassive face.
The poor Count, after
telling me this last episode, fell back trembling in his chair. His forehead
broke into perspiration. There was a wanton insolence in the spirit of this
outrage which appalled even me. What it was to the Count's delicacy I won't attempt
to guess. I am sure that if he had been not too refined to do such a blatantly
vulgar thing as dying from apoplexy in a café, he would have had a fatal stroke
there and then. All irony apart, my difficulty was to keep him from seeing the
full extent of my commiseration. He shrank from every excessive sentiment, and
my commiseration was practically unbounded. It did not surprise me to hear that
he had been in bed a week. He had got up to make his arrangements for leaving
Southern Italy for good and all.
And the man was
convinced that he could not live through a whole year in any other climate!
No argument of mine had
any effect. It was not timidity, though he did say to me once: "You do not
know what a Camorra is, my dear sir. I am a marked man." He was not afraid
of what could be done to him. His delicate conception of his dignity was
defiled by a degrading experience. He couldn't stand that. No Japanese
gentleman, outraged in his exaggerated sense of honour, could have gone about
his preparations for Hara-kiri with greater resolution. To go home really
amounted to suicide for the poor Count.
There is a saying of
Neapolitan patriotism, intended for the information of foreigners, I presume:
"See Naples and then die." Vedi Napoli e poi mori. It is a saying of
excessive vanity, and everything excessive was abhorrent to the nice moderation
of the poor Count. Yet, as I was seeing him off at the railway station, I
thought he was behaving with singular fidelity to its conceited spirit. Vedi
Napoli! . . . He had seen it! He had seen it with startling thoroughness -- and
now he was going to his grave. He was going to it by the train de luxe of the
International Sleeping Car Company, via Trieste and Vienna. As the four long,
sombre coaches pulled out of the station I raised my hat with the solemn
feeling of paying the last tribute of respect to a funeral cortège. Il Conde's
profile, much aged already, glided away from me in stony immobility, behind the
lighted pane of glass -- Vedi Napoli e poi mori!
THE END