The Galley Slave's Ring; or, The Family of Lebrenn: A Tale of The French Revolution of 1848Sue, Eugène
History
The Galley Slave's Ring; or, The Family of Lebrenn: A Tale of The French Revolution of 1848
Sue, Eugène
France -- History -- February Revolution, 1848 -- Fiction
"Yes! Yes! Death!" shouted several threatening voices. "Death!"
"No! You shall not kill a wounded man! You can not mean to murder an
unarmed man--a prisoner!"
"Death," shouted back an increasing number of angry voices. "Death!"
"Very well, walk in! Let us see if you will have the heart to dishonor
the cause of the people with a crime."
And the merchant, although ready to offer fresh resistance to the
ferocity of the angry men, left free the passage of the door which he
had until then blocked.
The assailants remained motionless. Lebrenn's words had gone home.
Nevertheless, the man who desired to avenge his brother rushed forward,
sword in hand, emitting a savage cry. Already his feet were on the
threshold when, seizing him by the waist, George held him back, saying:
"Would you, indeed, commit murder! Oh, no, brother! You are no
murderer!"
And with tears in his eyes, George Duchene embraced the man.
George's voice, his countenance, his accent and his deportment made so
deep an impression upon the angry man who cried for vengeance, that he
lowered his head, flung away his sword, and, dropping upon a heap of
cobblestones, covered his face in his hands, murmuring between the sobs
that choked him:
"My brother! My poor brother!"
* * * * *
The struggle was over. The merchant's son went out for tidings, and
returned with the information that the King, together with the royal
family, had fled; that everywhere the troops fraternized with the
people; that the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved; and that a
provisional government was set up at the City Hall.
The wounded, whether they belonged to the insurrectionists or to the
army, were transported to the improvised hospitals that were set up in
several shops, as had been done in the linendraper's. As much attention
was bestowed upon the soldiers as upon those who shortly before were
engaged in a deadly struggle with them. The women gathered around the
wounded. If there was aught to be regretted it was the excessiveness of
the zeal of the tenders of good offices.
Several soldiers of the Municipal Guard, besides an officer of dragoons
who accompanied Colonel Plouernel, having been taken prisoner, they were
distributed among the neighboring houses, whence they soon thereafter
emerged in civilian dress, and arm in arm with their adversaries of the
same morning.
Lebrenn's shop was crowded with wounded men. One of these lay upon the
counter; the others on mattresses hastily spread upon the floor. The
merchant and his family assisted several surgeons of the quarter. Gildas
was engaged in distributing wine mixed with water to the patients, whose
throats were parched with thirst. Among the latter, and lying beside
each other upon the same mattress, were father Bribri and a sergeant of
the Municipal Guards, an old soldier with moustaches as grey as those of
the ragpicker himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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