The Hero of the People: A Historical Romance of Love, Liberty and Loyalty

by Alexandre Dumas

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  THE KING ATTENDS TO PUBLIC MATTERS.

  Though the King had been only a fortnight in the Tuileries he had twoplaces fitted out completely for him. The forge was one, the study theother.

  Charny walked up to the desk at which his royal master seated himselfwithout looking round at the papers with which he was familiar.

  "Count Charny," began the King at last, yet seeming to halt, "I noticedone thing, on the night of the attack by the rioters, you stood by mewhile you set your brother on guard over the Queen."

  "Sire, it was my right as head of my family, as you are chief of therealm, to die for you."

  "That made me think, that if ever I had a secret errand, difficult anddangerous, I could rely on your loyalty as a Frenchman, and on yourheart as a friend's."

  "Oh, Sire, however the King may raise me, I have no pretension tobelieve that I shall be more than a faithful and thankful subject."

  "My lord, you are a grave man though but thirty-six; you have not passedthrough recent events without drawing some conclusion from them. What doyou think of the situation and what would be your means to relieve me,if you were my Premier?"

  "Sire, I am a soldier and a seaman," returned Charny, with morehesitation than embarrassment, "these high social questions fly over myhead."

  "Nay, you are a man," said the sovereign with a dignity in holding outhis hand which sprang from the quandary; "another man, who believes youto be his friend, asks you, purely and simply, what you, with yourupright heart and healthy mind, would do in his place."

  "Sire, in a no less serious position, the Queen asked my opinion: theday after the Taking of the Bastile, when she wanted to fling theforeign legions upon the mobs. My reply would have embroiled me with herMajesty had I been less known to her and my respect and devotion lessplain. I said that your Majesty must not enter these walls as aconqueror if he could not as a father of his people."

  "Well, my lord, is not that the counsel I followed? The question is wasI right? am I here as a King or a captive?"

  "Speaking in full frankness, I disapproved of the banquet at Versailles,supplicating the Queen not to go there; I was in despair when she threwdown the tricolor and set up the black cockade of Austria."

  "Do you believe that led really to the attack on the palace?"

  "No, Sire; but it was the cover for it. You are not unjust for the lowerorders; they are kindly and love you--they are royalist. But they are inpain from cold and hunger; beneath and around them are evil advisers,who urge them on, and they know not their own strength. Once startedthey become flood or fire, for they overwhelm or they consume."

  "Well, what am I to do? supposing, as is natural enough, I do not wantto be drowned or burned."

  "We must not open the sluices to the flood or windows to the flame. Butpardon me forgetting that I should not speak thus, even on a royalorder----"

  "But you will on a royal entreaty. Count Charny, the King entreatsyou--to continue."

  "Well, Sire, there are two strata of the lower orders, the soil and themud; the one which may be reposed upon and the other which will yieldand smother one. Distrust one and rest on the other."

  "Count, you are repeating at two hours' interval, what Dr. Gilbert toldme."

  "Sire, how is it that after taking the advice of a learned man, you askthat of a poor naval officer like me?"

  "Because there is a wide difference between you, I believe. Dr. Gilbertis devoted to royalty and you to the King. If the principle remainssafe, he would let the King go."

  "Then there is a difference between us, for the King and the principleare inseparable for me," responded the nobleman; "under this head it isthat I beg your Majesty to deal with me."

  "First, I should like to hear to whom you would apply in this space ofcalm between two storms perhaps, to efface the wreck made by one andsoothe the coming tempest."

  "If I had the honor and the misfortune to be the wearer of the crown, Ishould remember the cheers I heard round my carriage, and I should holdout my hands to General Lafayette and Member Mirabeau."

  "Can you advise this when you detest one and scorn the other?"

  "My sympathies are of no moment, the whole question is the safety of thecrown and the salvation of the monarchy."

  "Just what Dr. Gilbert says," muttered the hearer as though speaking tohimself.

  "Sire, I am happy to be in tune with such an eminent man."

  "But if I were to agree to such a union and there should be failure,what think you I ought to do?"

  "Think of your safety and your family's."

  "Then you suggest that I should flee?"

  "I should propose that your Majesty should retire with such regiments asare reliable and the true nobles to some fortified place."

  "Ah," said the King with a radiant face: "but among the commanders whohave given proof of devotion, you knowing them all, to which would youconfide this dangerous mission, of guarding and removing the King?"

  "Sire," replied Charny, after hesitation, "it is not because ties offriendship--almost of family--attach me to a certain nobleman that Iname him, but because he is known for his steadfast devotion; asGovernor of the Leeward Islands, he not only protected our possessionsin the Antilles, but captured some islands from the British: he had beencharged with various commands, and at present he is General Governor, Ibelieve, at Metz--this is the Marquis of Bouille. Were I a father, Ishould trust my son to him; a subject, I would confide the King!"

  At the name the hearer could not repress an outcry of joy. He held out aletter, saying:

  "Read this address, my lord, and see if Providence itself did notinspire me to apply to you."

  The address ran: "To Lord Francois Claude Amour, Marquis of Bouille,General Commander at Metz."

  "After what has happened, I do not feel that I ought to keep anythingback from you. I have thought of this flight before, but in all thepropositions was the hand of Austria beckoning me into a trap, and Ihave recoiled. I do not love Austria more than you do yourself."

  "Sire, you forget that I am the faithful subject of the King and theQueen of France." He emphasized the second title.

  "I have already told you, count," went on the King, "that you are afriend, and I can speak the more frankly as the prejudice I cherishedagainst the Queen is completely effaced from my mind. But it was againstmy will that I received into my house the double enemy of my line, as anAustrian and a Lorrainer. After ten years' struggle it was despite mywill that I had to charge Lord Breteuil with the management of myhousehold and the government of Paris; make the Premier of theArchbishop of Toulouse, an atheist; lastly, pay to Austria the millionsshe extorted from the Low Countries. At present speaking, who succeedsthe dead Maria Theresa, to counsel and direct the Queen? Her brotherJoseph II., who is luckily dying. He is advised by old women ofcouncillors who sway the Queen of France through her hairdresser Leonardand her dressmaker Bertin.

  "They are pensioned by us while they are leading her to alliance withAustria. Austria has always been fatal to France, either as foe orfriend, as when she put the dagger in Jacques Clement's or Ravaillac'sor Damien's to slay our kings. Formerly it was Catholic and devoutAustria, but she is abjuring now and is partly philosophical underJoseph; rashly, she runs against her own sword, Hungary: withoutforesight, she lets the Belgian priesthood rob her of the finest jewelsin her crown, the Low Countries; become the vassal of Russia, she wearsout her troops in fighting for it against the Turks, our allies. No, mylord, I hate Austria and I will not trust to her. But I was saying thather overtures of flight were not the only ones. I have had one proposedby Marquis Favras. Do you know him?"

  "He was the captain in the Belgunze Regiment, and lieutenant in theCount of Provence's own Guards."

  "You have hit it with the latter shot. What think you of him?"

  "He is a brave soldier and a loyal gentleman. Unfortunately he has nomeans and this makes him restless and fit for mad projects and hazardousattempts. But he is a man of honor who w
ill die without retreating astep, or uttering a complaint in order to keep his word. He may betrusted to make a dash but not to manage an enterprise."

  "He is not the leader," said the King, with marked bitterness; "that isProvence, who finds the means and manages all; devoted to the end, hewill remain while Favras bears me hence. This is not the plot of Austriabut of the fugitive princes and peers."

  "But why should not your Majesty's brother go with you? why would heremain?"

  "Through devotion, and also to be at hand in case the people should betired of revolution and seek a regent. I tell you what all know, my dearcount, and what your brother wrote me yesterday from Turin. They debateabout deposing me and ruling by a regent. You see that unless in anextremity I can no sooner accept the Favras plan than the Austrian. Thisis what I have said to nobody, my dear count, but yourself, and I do itin order that nobody, not even the Queen," he laid stress on the lastthree words, "can make you more devoted to them than to me, since theycannot show more confidence."

  "Sire, am I to keep the journey a secret from everybody?" inquiredCharny, bowing.

  "It little matters, count, that it should be known whither you go, aslong as the design is unknown. You know the situation, my fears andhopes, better than my Minister Necker and my adviser Gilbert. Actaccordingly; I put the scissors and the thread in your hands--disentangleor cut, as you see fit."

  He held the letter open for him to read:

  TUILERIES PALACE, Oct. 29th.

  "I hope, my lord, that you continue contented with your post as Governor of Metz. Count Charny, Lieutenant of my Lifeguards, passing through your city, will inquire if among your desires are any I can gratify. In that event I will take the opportunity to be agreeable to you as I do this one to renew the assurance of my feelings of esteem for your lordship.

  "LOUIS."

  "Now, my Lord Charny," said the King, "you have full power to makepromises to Bouille if you think he needs any; only do not commit mefarther than I can perform."

  For the second time he held out his hand.

  Charny kissed it with emotion forefending any fresh pledges, and wentforth, leaving his master convinced that he had acquired by his trust,the heart of the servitor, better than by offerings of wealth andfavors such as he had lavished in the days of his power.