Of his previous life, all he cared to remember was a charmingface bending over him and a voice sweeter than the loveliestmusic murmuring: "So you love me still?" Oh! never fear, he wouldnot answer now as he did on that dreadful staircase: "I don'tlove you any longer." No, he would answer with eyes and lips andopen arms: "I shall love you always!" Still the odious spectre ofhis rival would cross his memory at times and cause him agonies.
Suddenly his eyes were caught by an extraordinary sight.
Two yards away from him in the garden, in front of the orange-house,was Monsieur Tudesco, burly and full-blown as usual, but howmetamorphosed in costume! He wore a National Guard's tunic, coveredwith glittering _aiguillettes_; from his red sash peeped thebutts of a brace of pistols. On his head was perched a _képi_with five gold bands. The central figure of a group of womenand children, he was gazing at the heavens with as much tenderemotion as his little green eyes were capable of expressing.
His whole person breathed a sense of power and kindly patronage.
His right hand rested at arm's length on a little boy's head,and he was addressing him in a set speech:
"Young citizen, pride of your mother's heart, ornament of thepublic parks, hope of the Commune, hear the words of the proscribedexile. I say it: Young citizen, the 18th of March is a great day;it witnessed the foundation of the Commune, it rescued you fromslavery. Grave on your heart's core that never-to-be-forgottendate. I say it: We have suffered and fought for you. Son of thedisinherited and despairing, you shall be a free man!"He ended, and restoring the child to its mother, smiled uponhis listeners of the fair sex, who were lost in admiration ofhis eloquence, his red sash, his gold lace and his green oldage.
Albeit it was three o'clock in the afternoon, he had not drunkmore than he could carry, and he trod the sandy walks with amien of masterful assurance amid the plaudits of the people.
Jean advanced to meet him; he had a soft place in his heart forthe old man. Monsieur Tudesco grasped his hand with a fatherlyaffection and declaimed:
"I am overjoyed to see my dear disciple, the child of my intellect.
Monsieur Servien, look yonder and never forget the sight; it isthe spectacle of a free people."The fact is, a throng of citizens of both sexes was tramping overthe lawns, picking the flowers in the beds and breaking branchesfrom the trees.
The two friends tried to find seats on a bench; but these wereall occupied by _fédérés_ of all ranks huddled up on them andsnoring in chorus. For this reason Monsieur Tudesco opined itwas better to adjourn to a café.
They came upon one in the _Place de l'Odéon_, where MonsieurTudesco could display his striking uniform to his own satisfaction.
"I am an engineer," he announced, when he was seated with hisbitter before him, "an engineer in the service of the Commune,with the rank of Colonel."Jean thought it mighty strange all the same. No doubt he had heardhis old tutor's tales about his confabulations at the dram-shopwith the leaders of the Commune, but it struck him as extraordinarythat the Monsieur Tudesco he knew should have blossomed into anengineer and Colonel under any circumstances. But there was thefact. Monsieur Tudesco manifested no surprise, not he!
"Science!" he boasted, "science is everything! It's study doesit! Knowledge is power! To vanquish the myrmidons of despotism,we must have science. That is why I am an engineer with the rankof Colonel."And Monsieur Tudesco went on to relate how he was charged withvery special duties--to discover the underground passages whichthe instruments of tyranny had dug beneath the capital, tunnellingunder the two branches of the Seine, for the transport of munitionsof war. At the head of a gang of navvies, he inspected the palaces,hospitals, barracks and religious houses, breaking up cellarsand staving in drain-pipes. Science! science is everything! Healso inspected the crypts of churches, to unearth traces of thepriests' lubricity. Knowledge is power!
After the bitter came absinthe, and Colonel Tudesco proposedfor Servien's consideration a lucrative post at the Delegacy forForeign Affairs.
But Jean shook his head. He felt tired and had lost all heart.
"I see what it is," cried the Colonel, patting him on the shoulder;"you are young and in love. There are two spirits breathe theirinspiration alternately in the ear of mankind--Love and Ambition.
Love speaks the first; and you are still hearkening to his voice,my young friend."Jean, who had drunk _his_ share of absinthe, confessed that hewas deeper in love than ever and that he was jealous. He relatedthe episode of the staircase and inveighed bitterly against MonsieurBargemont. Nor did he fail to identify his case with the good ofthe Commune, by making out Gabrielle's lover to be a Bonapartistand an enemy of the people.
Colonel Tudesco drew a note-book from his pocket, inscribedBargemont's name and address in it, and cried:
"If the man has not fled like a poltroon, we will make a hostageof him! I am the friend of the Citizen Delegate in charge ofthe Prefecture of Police, and I say it: you shall be avengedon the infamous Bargemont! Have you read the decree concerninghostages? No? Read it then; it is an inimitable monument of thewisdom of the people.
"I tear myself regretfully from your company, my young friend.
But I must be gone to discover an underground passage the Sistersof Marie-Joseph, in their contumacy, have driven right from thePrison of Saint-Lazare to the Mother Convent in the village ofArgenteuil. It is a long tunnel by which they communicate withthe traitors at Versailles. Come and see me in my quarters atthe General Staff, in the _Place Vend?me_. Farewell andfraternal greeting!"Jean paid the Colonel's score and set out for home. The wallswere all plastered over with posters and proclamations. He readone that was half hidden under bulletins of victories:
"Article IV. _All persons detained in custody by the verdictof the jury of accusation shall be hostages of the people ofParis._"Article V. _Every execution of a prisoner of war or a partisanof the government of the Commune of Paris shall be followed bythe instant execution of thrice the number of hostages detainedin virtue of Article IV, the same being chosen by lot._"He frowned dubiously and asked himself:
"Can it be I have denounced a man as hostage?"But his fears were soon allayed; Colonel Tudesco was only a wind-bag,and could not really arrest people. Besides, was it crediblethat Bargemont, head of a Ministerial Department, was still inParis? And after all, if he did come to harm, well, so much theworse for him!