The Sword of Honor; or, The Foundation of the French Republic

by Eugène Sue

  CHAPTER III.

  CROSS PURPOSES.

  The same day as that on which occurred the scene just described, that isto say, the 17th Brumaire, year VIII (November 7, 1799), the followingevents took place at the home of Monsieur Hubert, banker and member ofthe Council of Ancients and uncle to Charlotte. This exponent of highfinance had tenfold increased his fortune by his enterprises infurnishing supplies to the army, or, in other words, robbing the peopleand famishing the soldiers. In conference with the banker was thereverend Father Morlet; politics was on the carpet.

  "My reverend sir," asked Hubert, "will you please to tell me why theCatholic and royalist party is taking no hand in political affairs? Doyou not comprehend that in supporting the dictatorship of Bonaparte youdeal the last blow to the Republic?"

  "And who will profit thereby? Just clarify me on that point."

  "He will, as a matter of course."

  "Bonaparte's ambition is boundless," returned the Jesuit. "He is notignorant that a monarchy which owes its restoration to a Monck has nomore dire need than, as soon as it no longer needs his treasons, to riditself of the traitor. It is thus more than probable that GeneralBonaparte prefers the role of a Cromwell, or a Caesar. In either ofthese two cases we Catholics and royalists must oppose him, for he wouldthus put off for a long time the return of the Old Regime. But as, afterall, and in spite of its improbability, there is one chance in athousand that he may be looking out for a restoration, we maintain forthe present complete neutrality."

  "Monsieur John Lebrenn asks to speak with you, sir," announced a valet.

  "John Lebrenn in Paris!--Pray Monsieur Lebrenn to wait an instant!"cried the banker to the valet, who at once left the room to execute hismaster's orders.

  "My dear Monsieur Hubert, I am not at all anxious for a meeting withthat red-cap Jacobin, and for reasons of a particular nature," said theJesuit.

  "Step into my cabinet. Thence you can descend by the little staircase."

  "In case of unforeseen developments, write me, or--you know----"

  "Oh, I forgot to ask you about the Count of Plouernel."

  "He is," replied the Jesuit, "at Vienna, with his wife, who has justpresented him with a son, according to what the Count's brother, theBishop _in partibus_, whom you know, has just written me."

  "And your god-son, little Rodin?"

  "He is growing up under the eye of the Lord. He is in Rome, attendingthe seminary of our Society."

  The financier conducted Father Morlet to the door of the cabinet, andthen rang for the valet to show in Monsieur Lebrenn at once.

  "What can be the motive of my nephew's coming now to Paris?" ponderedHubert. "I hope he bears no bad news from my poor sister. Her lastletters foreshadowed nothing untoward. Ah, here he is. Welcome, my dearnephew," he cried as he held out his hand, "welcome! And first of allput me at ease about my sister and niece. Are they well?"

  "Charlotte and her mother are in perfect health," answered Lebrenn."They charged me to visit you and tell you so, and I have made it apoint to deliver the message the very day of my arrival. We are livinghappily in the peaceful town of Vannes, and still occupied in our clothtrade."

  "From which I conclude that you no longer trouble yourself withpolitics. I congratulate you upon your wisdom, my dear nephew. TheRepublic is a chimera, as I said long ago. Look at it to-day, as good asdead, and to-morrow it will have heaved its last sigh. You come just intime to attend the funeral. May it never rise from its ashes."

  "The Republic is like Lazarus in the Scriptures. It may be wrapped inits shroud, it will burst the stones of its sepulture. But let us leavepolitics aside; we are not agreed on the matter, and never will be. I amasked by my wife and her mother to inquire of you after the health of myfather-in-law, your colleague in the Council of Ancients, of whom wehave no news."

  "My brother-in-law is still the same, dragging his miserable life fromapostasy to apostasy, tormented by the fear of death."

  "What an existence!"

  "He is, indeed, the most cowardly of men, and at the same time the mosttalkative and vain of lawyers. Then, his position of Representative ofthe people in the Convention, and now as deputy in the Council ofAncients, flatters his vanity, and furnishes him with the opportunity togive a loose to his voluble oratory. So, tossed back and forth betweenhis vanity, which impels him toward the hazards of political life, justnow so tempestuous, and his cowardice, which makes him tremble each daylest he receive the reward of his apostasies, the miserable fellow'slife is kept, as the Catholics say, in perpetual hell."

  "Monsieur Desmarais!" announced the valet.

  The lawyer, barely across the threshold, stopped stock still, assurprised as put out of sorts by the unexpected presence of hisson-in-law; for a moment he was unable to utter a word, and Hubert saidto him sardonically:

  "How, brother! Is it so that you greet your son-in-law after so manyyears' separation?"

  "Monsieur Lebrenn should know," at length replied the lawyer, regaininghis self-assurance, "that a deep gulf separates honest men from theJacobins of '93, the Septembrists, Terrorists, Communists, and otherSocialists."

  "Citizen Desmarais, we have known each other a long time," retortedLebrenn. "You are the father of my dear wife, to whom my life owes itshappiness. Whatever may be your words or your conduct toward me, thereare limits which I shall never exceed in my treatment of you. Youinspire me neither with anger nor hatred, but with a profound pity, foryou are unhappy."

  "What insolence! To hear such words issue from the lips of my daughter'shusband, and be unable to punish him for them!"

  "My pity for you is very natural," continued Lebrenn. "I pity yourcondition because you must feel a cruel chagrin at being separated fromyour wife and daughter."

  "Scurrilous fellow!" bellowed the attorney, unable to contain himself."It is you who came to sow trouble and discord between the members of myfamily and me."

  "Citizen Desmarais, you are arrived at the decline of life; yoursolitude weighs upon you. You regret, you regret each day anew thesweets of the domestic hearth; our home is and always will be open toyou. Renounce your life in politics, the incessant source of youranguish and your alarms, because of your lack of steadfastness. Returnto your wife and daughter; they will forget the past. But when fear hasits clutch upon you, you are like a person out of his mind; though youmay be in perfect safety, yet you will perish anyhow. So then, when youplease, Citizen Desmarais, you will find a place at our fireside. Youwill enjoy with us an existence as peaceful and happy as your presentone is tortured."

  Then to Hubert he added:

  "Adieu, citizen. I shall return before my departure, to get yourmessages for Vannes."

  "Adieu, dear nephew," answered the latter. "Although a Jacobin, you havemy esteem."