citizen fran?ois goulin
mademoiselle rotrou, or rather, diane de fargas, fell into a profound revery after leaving chateaubriant. in the state of her heart at that time, it was, or so she thought, insensible to all tender sentiments, particularly love. but beauty, refinement, and courtesy will always exercise upon a woman of breeding a sufficient influence to make her dream if not love.
mademoiselle de fargas, therefore, dreamed of her fellow-traveller, and for the first time a suspicion occurred to her. she began to ask herself how it was that a man so amply protected by the triple signature of barras, rewbell, and la reveillière-lepaux should evince such an unconquerable repugnance toward the agent of a government which had honored him with such noteworthy confidence.
she forgot that she herself, whose sympathies were far from being with the revolutionary government, was travelling under the same protection; and even supposing monsieur d'argentan to be an aristocrat, which she surmised to be the case from some words he let fall during their last interview, it was possible that, under the stress of circumstances like hers, he had availed himself of a protection which he was somewhat ashamed to claim.
then, too, she noticed that monsieur d'argentan, when he dismounted from his horse, always removed a valise from the saddle whose weight seemed somewhat disproportionate to its size.
although the young man was strong and vigorous, as if[pg 488] to divert suspicion he often carried it with one hand, as he would a valise containing a mere change of clothing. but it taxed his strength far more than he was willing to have it appear.
was he carrying money? if so, he was a curious kind of tax-gatherer, to be carrying money from paris to vitré, instead of sending it from vitré to paris.
while the constant revolution of the wheel of fortune made it difficult to determine such matters accurately, mademoiselle de fargas was too familiar with the different rounds of the social ladder not to know that it was unusual to find an insignificant tax-collector of an obscure canton at the furthest extremity of france, who rode like an english gentleman and expressed himself with the courtesy which had about it the indelible perfume of gentle birth. and this was especially noticeable toward the close of a period when everybody had put on a varnish of vulgarity to please the powers that were.
she asked herself—without a flutter of the heart, however—who the unknown could be, and what motive had induced him to travel with a passport that was certainly not his own.
by a curious coincidence, when monsieur d'argentan left diane de fargas he asked himself the same questions about her.
suddenly, just as they reached the summit of the hill which guarded the entrance of the post-town of la guerche, from which the road was visible for miles around, diane was startled and dazzled by the gleam of gun-barrels, reflecting the light of the sun. the road looked like an immense river of flashing steel. it was the republican column, whose advance guard had already reached la guerche, while the rest of the troops were still a mile and a half behind them.
everything was of importance in these troublous times, and, as diane paid her attendants well, the postilion asked her whether he should take his place in the rear of the col[pg 489]umn, or drive along the side of the road without slackening his pace, and thus reach la guerche.
mademoiselle de fargas told him to raise the top of the carriage, that she might not be made the object of undue curiosity, and to drive on without slackening his speed. the postilion did as she bid him; and then, remounting his horse, set off at the smart pace at which the horses of the department of posts used to make their six miles an hour. as a result, mademoiselle de fargas duly reached the gates of la guerche. when we say gates, we mean the beginning of the street which branched into the chateaubriant road.
there they found an obstruction, in the nature of an immense machine, drawn by twelve horses, on a truck which was too wide to pass the gates, and which blocked the entire road.
mademoiselle de fargas, seeing that her carriage had stopped, and not knowing the reason, put her head through the open window, and said: "what is the matter, postilion?"
"the matter is, citizeness," replied the postilion, "that our streets are not wide enough for the things they wish to carry through them, and they will have to dig up one of the posts before m. guillotin's machine can enter la guerche."
and, in fact, as fran?ois goulin had decided to travel for the edification of towns and villages, it happened, as the postilion had said, that the street was too narrow, not for the machine itself, but for the sort of rolling platform on which it was set up.
diane gazed at the horrible thing that obstructed the road; then, realizing that this must be the scaffold, which she had never seen before, she quickly turned her head away, exclaiming: "oh! how horrible!"
"how horrible! how horrible!" repeated a voice in the crowd. "i should like to know who is the aristocrat who speaks thus disrespectfully of the instrument which has[pg 490] done more for human civilization than any invention since that of the plow?"
"it is i, sir," said mademoiselle de fargas; "and if you have anything to do with it, i should be much obliged if you would aid my carriage to enter la guerche as soon as possible. i am in haste."
"ah! you are in haste," said a thin, dried-up little man, dressed in the ignoble carmagnole or jacket which had not been worn for the last two years or so. he was white with rage. "ah! you are in haste! well, you will have to get out of your carriage, and you will have to go on foot—if so be that we let you go at all."
"postilion!" said diane, "lower the top of the carriage."
the postilion obeyed. the young girl threw aside her veil, disclosing her marvellous face.
"can it be, perchance, that i am talking to citizen fran?ois groulin?" asked she mockingly.
"i believe you are mocking me," said the little man, darting toward the carriage, and arranging the red cap, now out of fashion for some time, but which citizen fran?ois groulin had determined to bring into fashion again in the provinces. "well, yes, it is i. what have you to say to me?"
and he stretched out his hand toward her as if he would take her by the throat. diane sprang to the other side of the carriage.
"in the first place," said she, "if you must touch me, which i do not think at all necessary, put on gloves. i detest dirty hands."
citizen groulin summoned four men, presumably to order them to seize the beautiful traveller; but from a secret pocket in her satchel diane had drawn out the safe-conduct which barras had given her.
"i beg your pardon, citizen," she said, still mocking him, "but do you know how to read?"
goulin gave a cry of rage.
"you do?" said she. "then read this; but take care[pg 491] not to crumple the paper too much, for it may be useful to me again if i am to meet many more such boors as you." and she held out the paper to him. it contained only a few words:
in the name of the directory, the civil and military authorities are ordered to protect mademoiselle rotrou in her mission, and to afford her armed assistance, if she claims it, under penalty of dismissal.
paris, the——
barras.
citizen fran?ois goulin read and re-read the safe-conduct of mademoiselle de fargas. then, like a bear who is forced by his master, whip in hand, to make his bow, he said:
"these are singular times when women, and women too in silk dresses and carriages, are permitted to give orders to citizens who bear the outward and visible signs of republicanism and equality. since we have only changed our king, and you have a passport from king barras, you may go, citizeness; but you may rest assured that i shall never forget your name, and if ever you fall into my hands—"
"postilion, see if the road is clear," said mademoiselle de fargas in her usual tones. "i have no further business with monsieur."
the road was not yet clear, but by turning aside the carriage managed to pass.
mademoiselle de fargas reached the post-house with great difficulty, for the road was crowded with republicans. there she was obliged to stop. she had eaten nothing since she had left chateaubriant, and as she wished to sleep at vitré, it was imperative that she should take some nourishment at la guerche. she asked for a room, and ordered something to be served in it. scarcely had she begun her breakfast, however, than she was informed that the colonel commanding the column wished to pay his respects to her.
she replied that she had not the honor of the colonel's acquaintance, and that unless he had something of importance to say to her she begged him to excuse her.
[pg 492]
the colonel insisted, saying that he thought it his duty to warn her of something which he alone knew, and which might prove of the utmost importance to her.
mademoiselle de fargas intimated that she would receive him, and colonel hulot was announced.
