The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties (Volume 5 of 5) — John Shaqi
The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties (Volume 5 of 5)Burney, Fanny
History
The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties (Volume 5 of 5)
Burney, Fanny
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Refugees -- Fiction; Historical fiction; Refugees -- Fiction; War stories
'"Now, then," cried the commissary, "come with me to the mayoralty;" and
was taking my no longer withheld, but shaking hand, when some soldiers
abruptly informed him than an insurrection had broken out at ----, which
demanded his immediate presence.
'I caught this moment of his engaged attention to find my way down
stairs, and into the market-place: but not with a view to escape; every
feeling of my soul was concentrated in the safety of the Bishop. I
rushed forward, I forced my way through the throng, which, though at
first it opposed my steps, no sooner looked at me than, intimidated by
my desperation, or affected by my agony, it facilitated my passage.
Rapidly I overtook the Marchioness, whose age, whose dignified energy,
and loud cries of Reprieve! made way for her through every impediment,
whether of crowd or of guards, to the scaffolding. How we accomplished
it, nevertheless, I now wonder! But a sense of right, when asserted with
courage, is lodged in the lowest, the vilest of mankind;--a sense of
right, an awe of justice, and a propensity to sympathize with acute
distress! The reprieve which our cries had anticipated, and which the
man whom we accompanied confirmed, was received by the multitude, from
an ardent and universal respect to the well known excellencies of the
Bishop, with shouts of applause that exalted our joy at his deliverance
into a felicity which we thought celestial! At his venerable feet we
prostrated ourselves, as if he had been a martyr to religion, and
already was sainted. He was greatly affected; though perhaps only by our
emotion; for he looked too uncertain how this event had been brought to
bear, to partake of our happiness; and at me he cast an eye so full of
compassion, yet so interrogative, that mine sunk under it; and, far from
exulting that I had thus devoted myself to his preservation, I was
already trembling at the acknowledgement I had to make, when I was
suddenly seized by a soldier, who forced me, from all the tenderest
interests of my heart, back to the stormy commissary. Oh! what a change
of scene! He roughly took me by the arm, which felt as if it were
withered, and no longer a part of my frame at his touch; and, with
accusations of the grossest nature, and vows the most tremendous of
vengeance, compelled me to attend him to the mayoralty; deaf to my
prayers, my entreaties, my kneeling supplications that he would first
suffer me to see the Bishop at liberty.
'At the mayoralty he was accosted by a messenger sent from the
Convention. Ah! it seemed to me, at that moment, that a whole age of
suffering could not counterbalance the delight I experienced, when, to
read an order thus presented to him, he was constrained to relinquish
his hard grasp! Still greater was my relief, when I learnt, by what
passed, that he had received commands to proceed directly to ----, where
the insurrection was become dangerous.
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