French fiction -- Translations into English; Short stories, French -- Translations into English
Meanwhile, every day witnessed the rising of the revolutionary tide.
Under a tranquil surface, unknown forces were gathering for the
devastating tempests soon to rage. Finally the hurricane broke loose,
and its tornadoes of fire and iron shook the quiet Woodland. There was
no time for reflection. Everyone was swept into the conflict without a
chance to know his own mind. Abbé Rousseau, belonging to the "White
Vendée," could not refuse to follow his boys when they asked him to
accompany them, declaring that they were "going to fight God's battle."
Abbé Gobert of the "Blue Vendée" found nothing to answer when his
compatriots told him that they refused to make common cause with the
foreigner against France, and that the Revolution was nothing more or
less than the fulfilment of the Gospels on earth, despite the Pharisees
of the ancient order, who while invoking the name of heaven appropriated
all earthly privileges.
The adventures of the two Abbés during the war are not set down in the
manuscript. There is mention of Abbé Rousseau being transferred to
Stofflet's army, but no comment. Further on a note of three short lines
in telegraphic style tells us that Abbé Gobert, "following his fatal
bent," secularized himself, took up arms, and was left for dead at the
taking of Fontenay. We are not told what saved him.
The writer of the little book now makes a jump to the Consulate, and we
learn that the "reëstablishment of the cult," at the Concordat, resulted
in the installation of Abbé Rousseau as officiating priest in his native
place of Saint-Juirs. Three years later, Gobert, then a "refugee in
Paris," where he "was writing for the newspapers," returned to his old
home, his fortune having been increased by an inheritance from his uncle
Jean Renaud, owner of the house now adorned by the Latin inscription.
Destiny, after having violently separated the two men and set them at
odds in a bitter war, now suddenly brought them together in their native
place, where they might have the opportunity for an honest searching of
their consciences, for justifications, and, before the end of life,
possibly, reconciliation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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