A Girl of the Commune by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER VII.

  As he sauntered back into the city, Cuthbert met an English residentwith whom he had some slight acquaintance.

  "So you are not among the great army of deserters, Mr. Phipson?"

  "No, I thought it better to stay here and see it out. If the Germanscome in I shall hang out the English flag and I have no doubt that itwill be all right. If I go away the chances are that I should find theplace sacked when I return."

  "Then, of course, you will keep your place open."

  "It will be closed to the public to-morrow--to the public, mind you. MyEnglish customers and friends, if they come to the little door in theArcade, and give two knocks, and then three little ones with theirknuckles on the door, will find it open, and can be served as long asthere is any liquor left; but for the last three days I have beenclearing out nearly all my stock. The demand has been tremendous, and Iwas glad enough to get rid of it, for even if the place isn't looted bythe mob all the liquors might be seized by the authorities andconfiscated for public use. I shall be glad when the doors are closed, Ican tell you, for these people are enough to make one sick. The way theytalk and brag sets my fingers itching, and I want to ask them to stepinto the back room, take off their coats, those uniforms they are soproud of, and stand up for a friendly round or two just to try what theyare made of.

  "I reckon if a chap can't take one on the nose and come up smiling, hewould not be worth much when he has to stand up against the Prussians. Ithought I understood them pretty well after having been coachman herefor over twenty years, but I see now that I was wrong altogether. Ofcourse I knew they were beggars to talk, but I always thought that therewas something in it, and that if it came to fighting they would show uppretty well; but to hear them going on now as to what France will do anddoing nothing themselves, gives one a sickener. Then the way as theyblackguard the Emperor, who wasn't by any means a bad chap, puts mymonkey up I can tell you. Why there is not one in fifty of them as isfit to black his boots. He had a good taste in horses too, he had; andwhen I hear them going on, it is as much as I can do not to slip in tothem.

  "That is one reason why I am stopping. A week ago I had pretty well madeup my mind that I would go, but they made me so mad that I says tomyself, I will stop and see it out, if it is only for the pleasure ofseeing these fellows get the licking they deserve. I was out yesterdayevening. There was every cafe crowded; there was the singing-placesfuller than I ever saw them; there were drunken soldiers, who ought tohave been with their regiments outside the walls, reeling about thestreets. Any one as seed the place would have put it down that it was agreat fete-day. As to the Prussians outside no one seemed to give them athought. If you went from table to table you heard everyone saying thatthe Germans would be destroyed, and that every one who talked of peacenow was a traitor."

  "I quite agree with you," Cuthbert said, "they are most extraordinarypeople. Still I do think they will fight."

  "Well, sir, I don't know whether you have heard the news that they havebeen licked this morning somewhere out near Clamart. I heard just nowthat a lot of the linesmen bolted and never stopped running till theygot into Paris, but they say the Breton mobiles fought well, though theyhad to fall back at last."

  "The troops are disorganized at present," Cuthbert said; "but when yousee what a tremendous thrashing they have had it is hardly to beexpected that they should fight with any confidence, but when disciplineis restored and they have had a few skirmishes they will be differentmen altogether. As to the mobiles, they are mere peasants at present,but a month of hard work will turn them into soldiers, and I should saybetter soldiers than the linesmen; but I am afraid they will never makeanything out of the National Guard. The only way to do so will be toestablish big camps outside the walls and send them all out there andput strict army men in command, with a regiment of regulars in each campto carry out their orders. It would be necessary, no doubt, to shoot afew hundred of them before anything like discipline could beestablished; and once a week the whole should be sent out to attack theGermans so as to teach them to be steady under fire. In that way theymight be turned into decent soldiers."

  "Lord bless you, sir, Government would never try that. There would bebarricades in the streets in no time, and as the soldiers are alloutside the walls the mob would upset the Government in a week."

  "I am not at all saying it would do, but it is the only thing to makesoldiers of them."

  "Well, sir, you will know where to come when things get bad. I don'texpect there will be any beer to be had, but I have been down with myson Bob into the cellar for the last four nights. I could not trust theFrench waiters, and we dug holes and have buried a couple of dozen kegsof my best spirits, so if they make a clear sweep of the rest I reckonwe shall be able to keep that door open a goodish while."

  "I shan't forget, and I hope that your spirits may escape the searchers,but you know just at present we are not popular in Paris. They have gotan idea in their heads that we ought to have declared war against theGermans on their behalf; why, Heaven knows, but you may be sure that allthe English places will be very strictly searched."

  "Yes, I reckon on that, and we have got them twelve feet deep. It willbe a job to get them out as we want them, but there won't be anythingelse to do and it will keep us in health."

  Cuthbert had asked all the students to come in and smoke a pipe thatevening in his room, and had ordered supper to be sent in.

  "I am going to have it there instead of one of the usual places," hesaid, "because I don't think it is decent to be feasting in a public ata time like this. I expect it is about the last time we shall haveanything like a supper. Things will be altogether beyond the reach ofour purses in another week. Besides, I hope we shall be outside beforelong."

  Arnold Dampierre was the first to come in.

  "I am disgusted with the Parisians," he said, moodily.

  "Well, yes, I am not surprised. It is not quite the spirit in which yourpeople entered on their struggle, Dampierre."

  "No, we meant it; the struggle with us was to get to the front. Why, doyou know, I heard two or three of the National Guard grumbling in thehighest state of indignation, and why, do you think? Because they had tosleep in the open air last night. Are these the men to defend a city?There will be trouble before long, Cuthbert. The workmen will not standit; they have no faith in the Government nor in Trochu, nor in any one."

  "Including themselves, I hope," Cuthbert smiled.

  "They are in earnest. I have been up at----" and he hesitated,"Montmartre this afternoon, and they are furious there."

  "They are fools," Cuthbert said, scornfully, "and no small proportionare knaves besides. They read those foul pamphlets and gloat over theabuse of every decently dressed person. They rave against the Prussians,but it is the Bourgeois they hate. They talk of fighting, while whatthey want is to sack and plunder."

  "Nothing of the kind," the American said, hotly. "They want honesty andpurity, and public spirit. They see vice more rampant than it was in thedays of the Empire. They see the Bourgeois shirking their duty. They seelicense and extravagance everywhere."

  "It is a pity they don't look at home," Cuthbert laughedgood-temperedly. "I have not yet learnt that either purity or honesty,or a sense of duty are conspicuous at Montmartre or Belleville. There isjust as much empty vaporing there as there is down the Boulevards. As tocourage, they may have a chance presently of showing whether they havemore of it than the better class. Personally, I should doubt it." Thenhe added more seriously, "My dear Dampierre, I can of course guess whereyou have learnt all this. I know that Minette's father is one of thefirebrands of his quarter, and that since she has been earning an incomehere he has never done a stroke of work, but has taken up the professionof politician. I am not doubting his sincerity. He may be for aught Iknow perfectly in earnest, but it is his capacity I doubt. Theseuneducated men are able to see but one side of the question, and that istheir own.

  "I am not at all blind to the danger. I believe it is
possible that weare going to have another red revolution. Your men at Belleville andMontmartre are capable of repeating the worst and most terrible featuresof that most awful time, but you know what came of it and how it ended.Even now some of these blackguard prints are clamoring for one man totake the supreme control of everything. So far there are no signs ofthat coming man, but doubtless, in time, another Bonaparte may come tothe front and crush down disorder with an iron heel; but that will notbe until the need for a saviour of society is evident to all. I hope, mydear fellow, you will not be carried away with these visionary ideas. Ican, of course, understand your predilections for a Republic, butbetween your Republic and the Commune, for which the organs of the mobare already clamoring, there is no shadow of resemblance. They are bothfounded, it is true, on the will of the majority, but in the States itis the majority of an educated and distinctly law-abiding people--hereit is the majority of men who would set the law at defiance, who desirepower simply for the purposes of spoliation."

  Dampierre would have replied angrily, but at this moment the door openedand two or three of the other students entered.

  "Have you heard about that affair at Clamart," they demanded eagerly."They say the line behaved shamefully, and that Trochu declares theyshall be decimated."

  "You may be quite sure that if he said so he will not carry it out,"Cuthbert said. "The army has to be kept in a good humor, and at any rateuntil discipline is fully restored it would be too dangerous a task toventure on punishing cowardice. It is unfortunate certainly, but thingswill get better in time. You can hardly expect to make the fugitives ofa beaten army into heroes all at once. I have not the least doubt thatif the Germans made an attack in full force they would meet with veryslight resistance; but they won't do that. They will go to work in aregular and steady way. They will erect batteries, commanding every roadout of the town, and will then sit down and starve us out, hastening theprocess, perhaps, by a bombardment. But all that will take time. Therewill be frequent fighting at the outposts, and if Trochu and the rest ofthem make the most of the material they have at hand, poor as much of itis, they will be able to turn out an army that should be strong enoughto throw itself upon any point in the German line and break its wayout; but it must be an army of soldiers, not a force composed ofdisheartened fugitives and half-drilled citizens."

  "The National Guard are drilling earnestly," Rene Caillard said. "I havebeen watching them this afternoon, they really made a very good show."

  "The father of a family with a comfortable home and a prosperousbusiness can drill as well as the most careless vaurien, Rene; better,perhaps, for he will take much greater pains; but when it comes tofighting, half a dozen reckless daredevils are worth a hundred of him. Ithink if I had been Trochu I would have issued an order that everyunmarried man in Paris between the ages of sixteen and forty-five shouldbe organized into, you might call it, the active National Guard forcontinual service outside the walls, while the married men should bereserved for defending the _enceinte_ at the last extremity. The outsideforce might be but a third of the whole, but they would be worth as muchas the whole force together. That is why I think that our corps maydistinguish itself. We have none of us wives or families and nothingmuch to lose, consequently we shall fight well. We shan't mind hardshipsfor we have not been accustomed to luxuries. We are fighting asvolunteers and not because the law calls us under arms.

  "We are educated and have got too much self-respect to bolt likerabbits. I don't say we may not retire. One can't do impossibilities,and if others don't stand, we can't oppose a Prussian Army Corps. Thereis one thing you must do, and that is preserve good discipline. There isno discipline at all in the National Guard. I saw a party of themyesterday drilling, and two or three of them quietly marched out of theranks and remonstrated on terms of the most perfect equality, with theircolonel as to an order he had given. The maxim of the Republic may dofor civil life, though I have not a shadow of belief either in equalityor fraternity; nor have I in liberty when liberty means license; whetherthat be so or not equality is not consistent with military discipline.An army in which the idea of equality reigns is not an army but a mob,and is no more use for fighting purposes than so many armed peasants.The Shibboleth is always absurd and in a case like the present ruinous.The first duty of a soldier is obedience, absolute and implicit, and acomplete surrender of the right of private judgment."

  "And you would obey an officer if you were sure that he were wrong,Cuthbert?"

  "Certainly I would. I might, if the mistake did not cost me my life,argue the matter out with him afterwards, if, as might happen among us,we were personal acquaintances; but I should at the same time carry outthe order, whatever it might be, to the best of my power. And now Ipropose that for this evening we avoid the subject of the siegealtogether. In future, engaged as we are likely to be, we shall hardlybe able to avoid it, and moreover the bareness of the table and theemptiness of the wine-cups will be a forcible reminder that it will beimpossible to escape it. Did you show Goude your sketch for your picturefor the Salon, Rene?"

  "I did, after you had all gone, and I have not got over the interviewyet. His remarks on the design, conception, and the drawing were equallyclear and decisive. He more than hinted that I was a hopeless idiot,that the time he had given me was altogether wasted, that I had mistakenmy avocation, and that if the Germans knocked me on the head it would beno loss either to myself or to society in general. It is true that afterhe had finished he cooled down a bit and made a number of suggestionsfrom which I gathered that if the whole thing were altered, my idea ofthe background altogether changed, the figures differently posed, theeffect of light and shade diametrically reversed, and a few othertrifling alterations made, the thing might possibly be hung on the topline. Ma foi, I feel altogether crushed, for I had really flatteredmyself that the sketch was not altogether without merit."

  When the laugh had subsided Cuthbert said--

  "Courage, Rene, Goude's bark is always worse than his bite, and I haveno doubt he will take a much more favorable view of it as you get on."

  "It is all very well for you to say so," Rene said, ruefully. "You are aspoiled child, Goude has never a word of reproof for you."

  "Probably because he knows very well that I shall not break my heartover it. We must hold a committee of inspection on your work to-morrow;none of us have seen your design yet, and we may be able between us tomake some useful suggestion."

  "No, no," Rene exclaimed. "Heaven protect me from that. Do you come,Cuthbert; none of us mind what you say about our pictures. Yourcriticisms do not hurt. One would no more think of being angry with youfor using your knife than with a surgeon for performing an operation."

  "Very well, Rene, I will come round early. I have no doubt your sketchis a very good one on the whole, and after a few little changes it willsatisfy even Goude. By the way, have you heard we are to elect ourcompany officers to-morrow?"

  "Will you stand? I am sure you would have all our votes--that istwenty-five to start with, and as we know most of the fellows in thecompany we certainly could secure all those who have not any candidatethey want to run; besides, there are, of course, to be three officers,so we should be able to traffic votes."

  "No officering for me," Cuthbert laughed. "In the first place I have nogreater qualifications for the post than anyone else, and in the secondplace, I am English, and though I might be elected--thanks to yourvotes--I should never be liked or trusted; besides, I have not a shadowof ambition that way. I am going to fight if necessary. I shall have mynote-book in my pocket, and I have no doubt that when we are lyingwaiting for our turn to come, I shall have lots of opportunities forjotting down little bits that will work into the great battle picturewhich is to have the place of honor some day in the Salon. I think itwill certainly be pleasant to have one of our own number among theofficers, and I propose that each of us puts down on a slip of paper thename of the man he thinks will make the best leader and throw it into ahat; then, whoever gets the most votes, we
will all support, and, asyou say, by a little traffic in the votes, we ought to be able to gethim in among the three."

  "Are you absolutely determined not to stand?"

  "Absolutely and positively. So please do not any of you put my namedown, two or three votes thrown away like that might alter thedecision."

  He tore up a sheet of paper into small slips and passed them round.

  "Before we begin to write," he said, "let it be understood that no oneis to vote for himself. I don't mind telling you who I am going to votefor. It is Henri Vancour. This is a matter in which it should be noquestion of personal liking. We should choose the man who appears to usbest fitted for the post."

  The name came as a surprise upon the others, for Henri was one of thelast whom it would have occurred to them to choose. Pencils were alreadyin their hands and they were on the point of writing when he spoke, andalmost all would have given their votes either for Rene Caillard orPierre Leroux, who were the two most popular men among the party. Therewas a pause for some little time before the pencils went to work.

  They had not thought of Henri, but now they did think of him theyacknowledged to themselves that there was a good deal to be said in hisfavor. He was a Norman--quiet, hard-working, and even-tempered. Hisvoice was seldom heard in the chorus of jokes and laughter, but whenasked for an opinion he gave it at once concisely and decidedly. He wasof medium height and squarely built. His face was cast in a rough mouldand an expression of resolution and earnestness was predominant. He hadnever joined either in the invective against the Emperor, or in theconfident anticipations of glorious successes over the Germans.

  He listened but said nothing, and when questioned would reply, "Let ussee some one do better than the Emperor before we condemn him. We willhope for the best, but so far predictions have been so wrong that itwould be better to wait and see before we blow our trumpets." He hadbut little genius, this young Norman, but he had perseverance and power.

  M. Goude scolded him less than others with far greater talent, and hadonce said, "you will never be a great painter, Henri. I doubt if youwill ever be in the first line, but you will take a good place in thesecond. You will turn out your pictures regularly and the work willalways be good and solid. You may not win any great prizes, but yourwork will be esteemed, and in the end you will score as heavily as someof those who possess real genius."

  Yes, Henri was, they all felt, now they thought it over, one they couldrely upon. He would not lose his head, he would be calm in danger, as hewas calm at all other times, and he certainly would show no lack ofcourage. Accordingly when the papers were opened he was found to havereceived a considerable majority of the votes.

  "Thank you for choosing me, comrades," he said, quietly. "I can only saythat if elected I will do my best. A man can't say more than that. Whyyou should have fixed upon me I cannot think, but that is your business.I think I can promise at any rate that I won't run away."

  When the Franc-tireurs des Ecoles assembled the next morning, half anhour was given for consultation; then the vote was taken, and HenriVancour was declared elected first Lieutenant of the company composedentirely of the art students, the Captain being Francois des Valles, whobelonged to an old provincial family, a tall, dark, handsome young man,extremely popular among his comrades.

  "I think he will do very well," Cuthbert said, as the company fell in."There is no fear of his leaving us when under fire; his failing, if hehas one, will be that he may want to keep us there too long. It is quiteas necessary when you are fighting by the side of fellows who are not tobe relied on, to know when to retreat as it is to know when to advance."

  This was their first parade in uniform. This had been decided upon atthe first meeting held to settle the constitution of the corps, and aquiet gray had been chosen which looked neat and workmanlike by theside of many of the picturesque but inappropriate costumes, selected bythe majority of the Franc-tireurs. They had already had three days'drill and had learned to form from line into column and from column intoline, to advance as skirmishers and to rally on the centres of thecompanies. They now marched out through the gates and were first taughtto load the chassepots which had been bought by a general subscriptionin the schools, and then spent the morning in practising, andskirmishing, and advancing and retreating in alternate files.

  When they were formed up again the old colonel said, "You are getting onwell, men. Two more mornings' work and we will go out and complete ourlessons in the face of the enemy."

  When dismissed at the end of the third day, they were told to bring nextmorning, the gray greatcoats and blankets that formed part of theiruniform. "Let each man bring with him three days' provisions in hisbag," the colonel said, "ammunition will be served out to you and youwill soon learn how to use it to advantage."