CHAPTER XVIII.
THE INNERMOST CIRCLE.
Those who went out were brothers of the second and third circles, andleft seven who were masters in their lodge. They recognized each otherby signs proving they were admitted to the high degrees.
Their first care was to close the doors. The presiding officer, who wasnow Balsamo, showed his ring. On it were graved the letters L. P. D.They stood for Latin words meaning "Destroy the Lilies!" The Lily is theemblem of the House of Bourbon.
This chief was charged with the universal correspondence of the order.The six other highest leaders dwelt in America, Russia, Sweden, Spainand Italy.
He had brought some of the more important messages received to impartthem to his associates placed under him but above the files.
The most important was from Swedenborg the spiritualist, who wrote fromSweden:
"Look out in the South, brothers, where the burning sun hatched atraitor. He will be your ruin, brothers. Watch at Paris, for there thefalse one dwells: the secrets of the Order are in his hands and ahateful sentiment moves him. I hear the denunciation, made in a lowvoice. I see a terrible doom, but it may fall too late. In the interim,brothers, keep watchful. One treacherous tongue, however ill-instructed,would be enough to upset all our skillfully contrived plans."
The conspirators looked at one another in mute surprise. The language ofthe ferocious Rosicrucian and his foresight, to which many examples gaveimposing authority, all contributed no little to cloud the committeepresided over by the mesmerist.
"Brothers," he said, "this inspired prophet is seldom wrong. Watchtherefore, as he bids us. Like me, now, you know that the war has begun.Do not let us be baffled by these ridiculous foes whose position weundermine. Do not forget, though, that they have an army of fiercehirelings at their disposal--a powerful argument in the eyes of thosewho do not see far beyond earthly limits. Brothers, be on your guardagainst the traitors who are bribed."
"Such alarm seems puerile to me," said a voice: "we are gaining instrength daily, and are led by brilliant genius and mighty hands."
Balsamo bowed at this flattery.
"True, but treachery sneaks in everywhere," remarked Marat, who had beenpromoted to a superior rank, spite of his youth, and for the first timesat in the superior council. "Think, brothers, that a great capture maybe made by increasing the size of the bait. While Chief of PoliceSartines, with a bag of silver, may catch a subordinate, the PrimeMinister, with one of gold, may buy one of the superiors.
"In our company the obscure brother knows nothing. He may at the mostknow the names of a few of those above him, but these names afford noinformation. Our constitution is admirable, but it is eminentlyaristocratic. The lower members can know nothing and do nothing. Theyare only gathered to tell them some nonsense, and yet they contribute tothe solidity of the building. They bring the mortar and the bricks asothers bring the tools and the plan. But, without bricks and mortar, howcan you have a Temple? The workman gets but a poor wage, although I forone regard him as equal to the Architect's clerk, whose plan creates andgives existence to the work. I regard him as an equal, I say, as he is aman and all men are equal, as the philosophers teach, for he bears hisportion of misery and fatality like another, more than others, as he isexposed to the fall of a stone or the breaking down of a scaffold."
"I interrupt you, brother," said Balsamo. "You are talking wide of thequestion bringing us together. Your fault, brother, is in generalizingsubjects, and exaggerating zeal. We are not discussing whether theconstitution of our society is good or bad, but to maintain its firmnessand integrity. If I were wrangling with you I should say, 'No, the organwhich receives the movement is not the equal of the genius of thecreator; the workman is not on a level with the architect; arms are notequal to the brains.'"
"If Sartine arrests one of our lowliest brothers he will send him tojail just as sure as you or me," protested the surgeon.
"Granted; but the person will suffer, not the society. It can enduresuch things. But if the head is imprisoned, the plot stops--the armyloses the victory if the general is slain. Brothers, watch for thesafety of the Supreme Chief!"
"Yes, but let them look out for us."
"It is their duty."
"And have their faults more severely punished."
"Again, brother, you overstep the regulations of the Order. Are youignorant that all the members are alike and under the same penalties?"
"In such cases the great ones elude the chastisement."
"That is not what the Grand Masters think, brother; but hearken to theend of the letter from the great prophet Swedenborg, one of the greatestamong us; here is what he adds:
"The harm will come from one of the great ones--very great--of theOrder; or, if not from him directly, the fault will be imputable to him.Remember that Fire and Water may be accomplices: one gives light andthe other gives revelations."
This enigmatical allusion would seem to be to the process of showing thefuture in the glass of water, which was one of the conjuring experimentsof Joseph Balsamo.
"Watch, brothers, (Concluded the seer) over all things and all men!"
"Let us, then, repeat the oath," said Marat, grasping at his hold in theletter and the chief's speech, "the oath which binds us and pledges usto carry it out in full rigor in case one of us betrays or is the causeof a treacherous act."
Balsamo rose and uttered these awful words in a low voice, solemn andterrifying:
"In the name of the Architect of the Universe, I swear to break allcarnal bonds attaching me to father and mother, sister and brother,wife, friends, mistress, kings, captains, benefactors, all untowhomsoever I have promised faith, obedience, gratitude or service.
"I vow to reveal to the chief whom I acknowledge according to the rulesof the Order, what I have seen, heard, learnt or divined, and moreoverto ascertain what happens beyond my knowledge.
"I honor all means to purify the globe of the enemies of truth andfreedom.
"I subscribe to the vow of silence; I consent to die as if by thethunderbolt on the day when I deserve punishment and I will wait withoutremonstrance for the deadly stab to accomplish its work wherever I shallbe."
The seven men repeated the oath, standing up with uncovered heads, asombre gathering.
"We are pledged to one another," said Balsamo when the last word wasspoken; "let us waste no time in idle arguments. I have a report to maketo the Committee on the principal work of the year. France is situatedin the center of Europe like its heart, and it makes the other parts ofthe body live. In its agitations may be sought the cause of the ills ofthe general organism. Hence I have come out of the East to sound thisheart like a physician; I have listened to it, sounded it andexperimented with it. A year ago when I began, monarchy was weakening.To-day, vices are destroying it. I have quickened the debauchery andfavored what will be deadly.
"One obstacle stood in the way--a man, not merely the First Minister butthe foremost man in the realm. It was Choiseul whom I have removed. Thisimportant work was undertaken by many intriguers and much hatred duringten years, but I accomplished it in a few months, by means which it isuseless to describe. By a secret, which is one of my strong means, thegreater as it must remain hidden from all eyes and never be manifestedsave by its effect, I have overturned and driven away Choiseul. Look atthe fruit of the toil: all France is crying for Choiseul and rising tobring him back as orphans appeal to heaven to restore their father.Parliament uses its only right, inertia. But if it does not go on, therewill be no work and the wage-earners will earn no money. No money forthe workers--no rent, no tax paying--gold, the blood of a realm, will bewanting.
"They will try to make the poor pay--and there will be a struggle. Butwho will struggle against the masses? not the army, which is recruitedfrom the people, eating the black bread of the farm hand, and drinkingthe sour wine of the vineyard laborer. The King has his householdtroops, the foreign regiments, five or six thousand men at themost--what will this squad of pigmies do against an a
rmy of giants?"
"Bid them rise!" exclaimed the chiefs.
"Yes, yes, let us set to work," said Marat.
"Young man, your advice is not asked," coldly said Balsamo. "Yet you mayspeak."
"I will be brief," said Marat; "mild attempts rock the people to sleepwhen they do not discourage them. Mere chipping at the stone is thetheory of the Rousseaus, who are always bidding us to wait. We have beenwaiting seven centuries! This poor and feeble opposition has notadvanced humanity by a single step. Have we seen one abuse redressed inthree hundred years? Enough of these poets and theorists! let us havework and deeds. For three hundred years we have been physicking Franceand it is high time that the surgeons were called in, with scalpel andlancet. Society is gangrened and we must cut away and apply the redhotiron. A revolt, though it be put down, enlightens slaves more on theirpower than a thousand years of precepts and examples. It may not beenough, but it is much!"
A flattering murmur rose from several hearers.
"Where are our enemies," continued the young man; "on the steps of thethrone, guarding it as their palladium. We cannot reach royalty but overthe bodies of those insolent, gold-coated guards. Well, let us fellthem, as we read has been done to the body-guards of tyrants before now.Thus will we get near enough to the gilded idol to hurl it down. Countthese privileged heads. Scarce two hundred thousand. Let us walk throughthe lovely garden, which is France, as Tarquin did in his, and cut offthe heads of these flaunting poppies, and all will be done. When dwarfsaim to slay a colossus they attack its feet; when men want to fell theoak they chop at the root. Woodmen, take the ax, let us hack at the baseof the tree and it will fall in the dust."
"And crush you, pigmies," commented the Supreme Chief in a voice ofthunder. "You declaim against poets and you spout fustian. Brother, youhave picked up these phrases in some novel you concoct in your garret."
Marat blushed.
"Do you know what a revolution is?" said the Grand Copt. "I have seentwo hundred, and they have tended to nothing because the revolutionistswere in too great a haste. You talk of chopping down giant trees. Thistree is not an oak but one of those immense redwoods of the far westernAmerican forests which I have seen. If they were felled, a horsemanstarting from the base to avoid the high-up branches would be overtakenand smashed. You cannot wish this. You cannot obtain the warrant fromme."
"I have lived some forty generations of man."
"Being long-lived, I can be patient. I carry your fate--ay, that of theworld in the hollow of my hand. I will not open it to let out thelightnings till I see fit. Let us come down from these sublime hightsand walk on the earth.
"Gentlemen, I say with simplicity and full belief, it is not yet time.The King now reigning is the last reflection of the glory of the GreatLouis who dazzles still enough to pale your ineffectual fires. A King,he will die royally: of an insolent race but pure-bred. Slay him andthat will happen which befel Charles First of England: his executionerswill bow to him and courtiers will kiss the ax which lops off his head.You know that England was in too much of a hurry. It is true thatCharles Stuart died on the scaffold but the block was a stepping-stonefor his son to reach the throne and he died on it."
"Wait, wait, brothers, for the times are becoming propitious.
"We are sworn to destroy the lilies but we must root them up--not astalk must be left. But the breath of fate is going to shrivel royaltyup to nothing. Draw nearer and hear this--the Dauphiness, though a yearwedded---- "
"Well?" asked the chiefs with anxiety.
"She is still as when she came from her mother's land."
An ominous murmur, so full of hatred and revengeful triumph as to makeall Kings flee, escaped like a blast of hell from the lips of thisnarrow circle of six heads almost touching, but towered over byBalsamo's bending down from the stage.
"In this state of things," he pursued, "two suppositions are presented.The race will die out and our friends will have no difficulties, combatsor troubles. As happens every time three Kings succeed, the Dauphin,Provence and Artois will reign but die without posterity--it is the lawof destiny.
"The other hypothesis is that the Dauphiness will yet bear children.That is the trap into which our enemies will rush in the belief that wewill fall into it. We will rejoice when she is a mother, just like them;for we possess a dread secret, comprising crimes which no power,prestige or efforts can counteract. We can easily make out that the heirwhich she gives the throne is illegitimate and the more fecund she maybe, the worse will appear her conduct.
"This is why, my brothers, that I wait; judging it useless as yet tounchain popular passions to be employed efficaciously when the righttime comes.
"Now, brothers, you know how I have employed this year. You see theextent of my mines. Be persuaded that we shall succeed, but with thegenius and courage of some, who are the eyes and the brain; with thelabor and perseverance of others, who represent the arms; and with thefaith and devotedness of others still, who are the heart.
"Be penetrated with the necessity of blind obedience which makes theGrand Copt himself stand ready to be immolated to the will of theOrder's statutes when the day comes.
"There is a good act yet to do, and an evil to point out.
"The great author who came to us this evening and would have joined usbut for the stormy behavior of one of our brothers who alarmed thesensitive spirit--he was right as against us and I am sorry one of theprofane was in the right before a majority of our society, who know theritual badly and our aims not at all. Triumphing with the sophisms ofhis works over our Order's truths, he represents a vice which I shallextirpate with fire and sword, unless it can be done with persuasion, asI hope. The self-conceit of one of our brothers showed itself vilely. Heplaced us secondary in the argument. I trust that no such fault willagain be committed or else I shall have recourse to discipline.
"Now, brothers, propagate the faith with mildness and persuasion.Insinuate rather than impose, and do not try to make truths enter withhammer and ax blows like the torturers who use wedge and sledge.Remember that we shall be acknowledged great only after having provedthat we have done good, and that will only happen when we shall appearbetter than those round us. Remember, too, that the good are nothingwithout science, art and faith; nothing beside those whom the DivineArchitect has stamped with a peculiar seal to command men and rule anempire.
"Brothers, the meeting adjourns."
He put on his hat and wrapped himself in his mantle. Each freemason wentout in his turn, alone and silent so as not to awaken suspicion. Thelast with the Supreme Master was the Surgeon Marat.
Very pale, he humbly approached him for he knew the terrible speaker'spower was unlimited.
"Master, did I commit a fault?" he inquired.
"A great one, and all the worse as you are not conscious that you didso," replied the man of mystery.
"I confess it; not only ignorant, but I thought I spoke becomingly."
"Pride--destructive demon! men hunt for fever in the veins and searchfor the cancer in the vitals, but they let pride shoot up such rootsdeeply in their heart as never to be able to wrench them out."
"You have a very poor opinion of me, master," returned Marat. "Am I sopaltry a fellow that I am not to be counted among my equals? Have Iculled the fruit of the tree of knowledge so clumsily that I amincapable of saying a word without being taxed with ignorance? Am I solukewarm a member that my conviction is suspected? Were this all so,still I exist by reason of my devotion to the masses."
"Brother, it is because the spirit of evil contends in you with that ofgood and seems to me to promise to overpower it one day, that Iundertake to correct you. If I succeed it will be in one hour, unlesspride has the upperhand of all your other passions."
"Master, make an appointment which I will keep."
"I will call on you."
"Mind what you promise. I am living in a garret in Cordelier' Street. Agarret, mark you, while you--" he emphasized the word with anaffectation of proud simplicity.
"While I---- "
"While, so they say, you live in a palace."
The master shrugged his shoulders as a giant might do when jeered at bya dwarf.
"I will call upon you in your garret in the morning."
"I go to the dissection hall at daybreak and then to the hospital."
"That will suit me very well; I should have suggested it if you had notsaid it."
"You understand--early--I do not sleep much."
"And I never sleep at peep of day," said Balsamo.
Upon this they separated, as they had reached the street door, dark andlonely on their going forth as it had been noisy and lively when theywent in.
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