The Blockade of Phalsburg: An Episode of the End of the Empire

by Erckmann-Chatrian

  XIV

  BURGUET'S VISIT TO THE DESERTER

  I still think it one of the happiest moments of my life, Fritz.Scarcely had I come up the stairs when Zeffen and Sorle were in myarms; the little ones clung to my shoulders, and I felt their lovelyfull lips on my cheeks; Safel held my hand, and I could not speak aword, but my eyes filled with tears.

  Ah! if we had had Baruch with us, how happy we should have been!

  At length I went to lay aside my musket, and hang my cartridge-box inthe alcove. The children were laughing, and joy was in the house oncemore. And when I came back in my old beaver cap, and my large, warmwoollen stockings, and sat down in the old arm-chair, in front of thelittle table set with porringers, in which Zeffen was pouring the soup;when I was again in the midst of all these happy faces, bright eyes,and outstretched hands, I could have sung like an old lark on hisbranch, over the nest where his little ones were opening their beaksand flapping their wings.

  I blessed them in my heart a hundred times over. Sorle, who saw in myeyes what I was thinking, said: "They are all together, Moses, just asthey were yesterday; the Lord has preserved them."

  "Yes, blessed be the name of the Lord, forever and ever!" I replied.

  While we were at breakfast, Zeffen told me about their going to thelarge casemate at the barracks, how it was full of people stretched ontheir mattresses in every direction--the cries of some, the fright ofothers, the torment from the vermin, the water dropping from the arch,the crowds of children who could not sleep, and did nothing but cry,the lamentations of five or six old men who kept calling out, "Ah! ourlast hour has come! Ah! how cold it is! Ah! we shall never gohome--it is all over!"

  Then suddenly the deep silence of all, when they heard the cannon aboutten o'clock--the reports, coming slowly at first, then like the roar ofa tempest--the flashes, which could be seen even through the blindagesof the gate, and old Christine Evig telling her beads as loud as if shewere in a procession, and the other women responding together.

  As she told me this, Zeffen clasped her little Esdras tightly, while Iheld David on my knees, embracing him as I thought to myself, "Yes, mypoor children, you have been through a great deal!"

  Notwithstanding the joy of seeing that we were all safe, the thought ofthe deserter in his dungeon at the town-house would come to me; he toohad parents! And when you think of all the trouble which a father andmother have in bringing up a child, of the nights spent in soothing hiscries, of their cares when he is sick, of their hopes in seeing himgrowing up; and then imagine to yourself some old soldiers sittingaround a table to try him, and coolly send him to be shot behind thebastion, it makes you shudder, especially when you say to yourself:"But for me, this boy would have been at liberty; he would be on theroad to his village; to-morrow perhaps he would have reached the poorold people's door, and have called out to them, 'Open! it is I!'"

  Such thoughts are enough to make one wild.

  I did not dare to speak to my wife and children of the poor fellow'sarrest; I kept my thoughts to myself.

  Without, the detachments from La Roulette, Trois-Maisons, and LaFontaine-du-Chateau, passed through the street, keeping step; groups ofchildren ran about the city to find the pieces of shells; neighborscollected to talk about the events of the night--the roofs torn off,chimneys thrown down, the frights they had had. We heard their voicesrising and falling, and their shouts of laughter. And I have sinceseen that it is always the same thing after a bombardment; the showeris forgotten as soon as it is over, and they exclaim: "Huzza! the enemyis routed!"

  While we were there meditating, some one came up the stairs. Welistened, and our sergeant, with his musket on his shoulder, and hiscape and gaiters covered with mud, opened the door, exclaiming: "Goodfor you, Father Moses! Good for you!--You distinguished yourself lastnight!"

  "Ha! what is it, sergeant?" asked my wife in astonishment.

  "What! has he not told you of the famous thing he did, Madame Sorle?Has he not told you that the national guard Moses, on patrol about nineo'clock at the Hospital bastion, discovered and then arrested adeserter in the very act! It is on Lieutenant Schnindret's affidavit!"

  "But I was not alone," I exclaimed in despair; "there were four of us."

  "Bah! You discovered the track, you went down into the trenches, youcarried the lantern! Father Moses, you must not try to make your gooddeed seem less; you are wrong. You are going to be named for corporal.The court-martial will sit to-morrow at nine. Be easy, they will takecare of your man!"

  Imagine, Fritz, how I looked; Sorle, Zeffen, and the children looked atme, and I did not know what to say.

  "Now I must go and change my clothes," said the sergeant, shaking myhand. "We will talk about it again, Father Moses. I always said thatyou would turn out well in the end."

  He gave a low laugh as was his custom, winking his eyes, and then wentacross the passage into his room.

  My wife was very pale.

  "Is it true, Moses?" she asked after a minute.

  "He! I did not know that he wanted to desert, Sorle," I replied. "Andthen the boy ought to have looked round on all sides; he ought to havegone down on the Hospital square, gone round the dunghills, and eveninto the lane to see if any one was coming; he brought it on himself; Idid not know anything, I----"

  But Sorle did not let me finish.

  "Run quickly, Moses, to Burguet's!" she exclaimed; "if this man isshot, his blood will be upon our children. Make haste, do not lose aminute."

  She raised her hands, and I went out, much troubled.

  My only fear was that I should not find Burguet at home; fortunately,on opening his door, on the first floor of the old Cauchois house, Isaw the tall barber Vesenaire shaving him, in the midst of the oldbooks and papers which filled the room.

  Burguet was sitting with the towel at his chin.

  "Ah! It is you, Moses!" he exclaimed, in a glad tone. "What gives methe pleasure of a visit from you?"

  "I come to ask a favor of you, Burguet."

  "If it is for money," said he, "we shall have difficulty."

  He laughed, and his servant-woman, Marie Loriot, who heard us from thekitchen, opened the door, and thrust her red head-gear into the room,as she called out, "I think that we shall have difficulty! We oweVesenaire for three months' shaving; do not we, Vesenaire?"

  She said this very seriously, and Burguet, instead of being angry,began to laugh. I have always fancied that a man of his talents had asort of need of such an incarnation of human stupidity to laugh at, andhelp his digestion. He never was willing to dismiss this Marie Loriot.

  In short, while Vesenaire kept on shaving him, I gave him an account ofour patrol and the arrest of the deserter; and begged him to defend thepoor fellow. I told him that he alone was able to save him, andrestore peace, not only to my own mind, but to Sorle, Zeffen, and thewhole family, for we were all in great distress, and we dependedentirely upon him to help us.

  "Ah! you take me at my weak point, Moses! If it is possible for me tosave this man, I must try. But it will not be an easy matter. Duringthe last fortnight, desertions have begun--the court-martial wishes tomake an example. It is a bad business. You have money, Moses; giveVesenaire four sous to go and take a drop."

  I gave four sous to Vesenaire, who made a grand bow and went out.Burguet finished dressing himself.

  "Let us go and see!" said he, taking me by the arm.

  And we went down together on our way to the mayoralty.

  Many years have passed since that day. Ah, well! it seems now as if wewere going under the arch, and I heard Burguet saying: "Hey, sergeant!Tell the turnkey that the prisoner's advocate is here."

  Harmantier came, bowed, and opened the door. We went down into thedungeon full of stench, and saw in the right-hand corner a figuregathered in a heap on the straw.

  "Get up!" said Harmantier, "here is your advocate."

  The poor wretch moved and raised himself in the darkness. Burguetleaned toward him and said: "Co
me! Take courage! I have come to talkwith you about your defence."

  And the other began to sob.

  When a man has been knocked down, torn to tatters, beaten till hecannot stand, when he knows that the law is against him, that he mustdie without seeing those whom he loves, he becomes as weak as a baby.Those who maltreat their prisoners are great villains.

  "Let us see!" said Burguet. "Sit down on the side of your camp-bed.What is your name? Where did you come from? Harmantier, give this mana little water to drink and wash himself!"

  "He has some, M. Burguet; he has some in the corner."

  "Ah, well!"

  "Compose yourself, my boy!"

  The more gently he spoke, the more did the poor fellow weep. At last,however, he said that his family lived near Gerarmer, in the Vosges;that his father's name was Mathieu Belin, and that he was a fishermanat Retournemer.

  Burguet drew every word out of his mouth; he wanted to know everyparticular about his father and mother, his brothers and sisters.

  I remember that his father had served under the Republic, and had evenbeen wounded at Fleurus; that his oldest brother had died in Russia;that he himself was the second son taken from home by the conscription,and that there was still at home three sisters younger than himself.

  This came from him slowly; he was so prostrated by Winter's blows, thathe moved and sank down like a soulless body.

  There was still another thing, Fritz, as you may think--the boy wasyoung! and that brought to my mind the days when I used to go in twohours from Phalsburg to Marmoutier, to see Sorle--Ah, poor wretch! Ashe told all this, sobbing, with his face in his hands, my heart meltedwithin me.

  Burguet was quite overcome. When we were leaving, at the end of anhour, he said, "Come, let us be hopeful! You will be triedto-morrow.--Don't despair! Harmantier, we must give this man a cloak;it is dreadfully cold, especially at night. It is a bad business, myboy, but it is not hopeless. Try to appear as well as you can beforethe audience; the court-martial always thinks better of a man who iswell dressed."

  When we were out, he said to me: "Moses, you send the man a cleanshirt. His waistcoat is torn; don't forget to have him decentlydressed every way; soldiers always judge of a man by his appearance."

  "Be easy about that," said I.

  The prison doors were closed, and we went across the market.

  "Now," said Burguet, "I must go in. I must think it over. It is wellthat the brother was left in Russia, and that the father has been inthe service--it is something to make a point of."

  We had reached the corner of the rampart street; he kept on, and I wenthome more miserable than before.

  You cannot imagine, Fritz, how troubled I was; when a man has alwayshad a quiet conscience it is terrible to reproach one's self, andthink: "If this man is shot, if his father, and mother, and sisters,and that other one, who is expecting him, are made miserable, thou,Moses, wilt be the cause of it all!"

  Fortunately there was no lack of work to be done at home; Sorle hadjust opened the old shop to begin to sell our brandies, and it was fullof people. For a week the keepers of coffee-houses and inns had hadnothing wherewith to fill their casks; they were on the point ofshutting up shop. Imagine the crowd! They came in a row, with theirjugs and little casks and pitchers. The old topers came too, stickingout their elbows; Sorle, Zeffen, and Safel had not time to serve them.

  The sergeant said that we must put a policeman at our door to preventquarrels, for some of them said that they lost their turn, and thattheir money was as good as anybody's.

  It will be a good many years before such a crowd will be seen again infront of a Phalsburg shop.

  I had only time to tell my wife that Burguet would defend the deserter,and then went down into the cellar to fill the two tuns at the counter,which were already empty.

  A fortnight after, Sorle doubled the price; our first two pipes weresold, and this extra price did not lessen the demand.

  Men always find money for brandy and tobacco, even when they have noneleft for bread. This is why governments impose their heaviest taxesupon these two articles; they might be heavier still withoutdiminishing their use--only, children would starve to death.

  I have seen this--I have seen this great folly in men, and I amastonished whenever I think of it.

  That day we kept on selling until seven o'clock in the evening, whenthe tattoo was sounded.

  My pleasure in making money had made me forget the deserter; I did notthink of him again till after supper, when night set in; but I did notsay a word about him; we were all so tired and so delighted with theday's profits that we did not want to be troubled with thinking of suchthings. But after Zeffen and the children had retired, I told Sorle ofour visit to the prisoner. I told her, too, that Burguet had hopes,which made her very happy.

  About nine o'clock, by God's blessing, we were all asleep.