Love and liberty : $b A thrilling narrative of the French Revolution of 1792Dumas, Alexandre
History
Love and liberty : $b A thrilling narrative of the French Revolution of 1792
Dumas, Alexandre
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Fiction
Unfortunately for our two curious friends, the fête attracted none
but themselves. From daybreak, the Champ de Mars commenced to get
animated. The “merchands” of cakes and lemonade, hoping that the
patriotism would hunger and thirst those who signed the document,
commenced arriving from all quarters. Tired of walking about, one of
these women ascended the altar, for the purpose of looking at the
picture of the triumph of Voltaire. While reading the oath of Brutus,
of which she understood nothing, she felt an instrument piercing the
sole of her shoe. She immediately cried out for help, and declared
there were malefactors underneath the altar; upon which a young man
went in search of the guard of Gros Caillon. The guard, fancying the
affair was not worth while troubling himself about, refused to stir.
In the absence of the soldiers, he called the passing workmen. These,
more sensible to the cries of distress than the guard, came with
their tools. They set to work, without delay, to open the altar, and
there they found Léger and his companion, in a pretended sleep! They
were not long, however, bringing them to consciousness, when they
were commanded to explain the cause of their presence there, and to
state if their intentions were justifiable, and they were forced to
own the truth.
At that moment, a curious individual dropped himself under the
altar, to see what it was like, and there found the barrel of water.
Mistaking this for powder, he rushed forth, crying, with all his
might, that the two prisoners had intended blowing up the altar, as
well as those who would find themselves thereon. The hair-dresser and
Invalid cried loudly that it was water, and not powder, and that, by
breaking the barrel, they would arrive at the truth; but the truth
was too simple. They thought it more natural to strangle the two
unfortunate men, or decapitate them, and promenade their heads on the
top of a pike.
At this stage of the proceedings, the bailiffs of the municipality
arrived, and proclaimed the arrest of the Mayor. They then proceeded
towards the Roule, but were overtaken at the top of Rue St. Honoré by
the crowd carrying the heads of the two supposed assassins on the top
of their pikes. I fancied that I could recognise one of these as that
of a neighbor; it turned out to be that of the poor hair-dresser, who
came the preceding night to borrow the centre-bit from M. Duplay. I
could scarcely believe my eyes. What crime could they possibly be
guilty of? I called M. Duplay. There must have been a strange accent
in my voice; for, with the exception of my grandmother, who was
always occupied reading and re-reading her volume of the “Arabian
Nights,” the whole family rushed towards me; the women shrieked with
terror, but one was beginning to get accustomed to these sorts of
spectacles, and, by degrees, they risked looking.
Every one recognised Léger.
What had he done?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account