The Invasion of France in 1814 by Erckmann-Chatrian
CHAPTER IX
THE CONSCRIPT
You can imagine the animation at the farm, the bustling of thedomestics, the shouts of enthusiasm, the chinking of glasses and forks,the joy depicted on all faces, when Jean-Claude, Doctor Lorquin, theMaternes, and all those who had followed the cart of Catherine Lefevrewere installed in the large room around a magnificent ham, and began tocelebrate their future triumphs, glass in hand.
It was on a Tuesday, baking-day at the farm. Excitement had prevailedin the kitchen all the morning: old Duchene, with shirt-sleeves turnedup and a cotton cap on his head, was taking out of the oven numberlessloaves of bread, the good odor of which pervaded the whole house.Annette received them and piled them on the hearth; Louise waited onthe guests; and Catherine Lefevre superintended everything, cryingout,--"Make haste, my children--make haste! The third batch must beready when the men from the Sarre arrive. It will make six pounds ofbread for each man."
Hullin, from his seat, watched the movements of the old farm-mistress.
"What a woman!" said he; "what a woman! She forgets nothing. Couldone find another such in the whole country? To the health of CatherineLefevre!"
"To the health of Catherine Lefevre!" replied the others.
The glasses met together, and they began again to talk over combats,assaults, and intrenchments. Each one felt animated with an invincibleconfidence; every one said in himself, "All will go well!"
But heaven had in store for them yet another satisfaction on that day,especially for Louise and the Mother Lefevre. About noon, just as abeautiful gleam of winter sunshine whitened the snow and made the frostmelt on the window-panes, and the great cock, putting his head out ofhis coop, uttered his triumphant crow, flapping his wings--just thenthe watch-dog, old "Yohan," half blind and toothless, began to bark sojoyously and plaintively, that everyone listened with the greatestattention. The kitchen was all excitement with the fourth batch comingout of the oven, and even Catherine Lefevre herself stopped.
"Something is going on," said she, in a low voice: and then added, alltrembling, "Since my boy left, Yohan has never barked like that."
At the same moment, rapid steps traversed the court. Louise sprangtoward the door, crying,--"It is he! It is he!" and almost immediatelya hand tried to hasp. The door opened, and a soldier appeared on thethreshold; but such a soldier, so worn, so bronzed, so emaciated! hisgray hood, with its pewter buttons, so ragged--his high leatherngaiters so torn, that all present were astonished.
He appeared unable to advance a step farther, and slowly put thebutt-end of his musket on the ground. The tip of his aquilinenose--the nose of Mother Lefevre--shone like bronze; his red mustachesshook like one of those great lean hawks which are forced by hunger tocome to the very doors of the stables in winter. He looked into thekitchen, pale beneath the brown coating of his cheeks, and with hisgreat hollow eyes filled with tears, he seemed unable to advance or saya word.
Outside, the old dog leaped, whined, and shook his chain; in theinterior, one could hear the fire blazing, so great was the silence;but soon Catherine Lefevre, with a piercing voice,exclaimed,--"Gaspard! my child! It is thou!"
"Yes, my mother," replied the soldier, softly, as though suffocating.
And at the same moment Louise began to weep, while in the great roomthere arose a shout like thunder. All the friends ran out, MasterJean-Claude at their head, crying,--"Gaspard! Gaspard Lefevre!"
Then they saw Gaspard and his mother embracing each other. Thisstrong, courageous woman was weeping: he did not weep; he held herpressed to his breast, his red mustaches mingling with her gray locks,and murmured,--"My mother!--my mother! Ah, how often have I thought ofyou!" Then, in a louder voice, he said, "Louise! Where is Louise? Isaw Louise!" And Louise threw herself into his arms, and their kisseswere mingled together. "Ah, thou didst not recognize me, Louise!"
"Oh, yes!--oh, yes! I knew thee, even by thy step!"
Old Duchene, with his cotton cap in his hands, stammered out by thefireplace,--"Lord! is it possible? My poor child! What does he looklike?"
He had brought up Gaspard, and always fancied him, ever since hisdeparture, fresh and ruddy in a beautiful uniform with red facings. Itcompletely deranged his ideas to see him otherwise.
At that moment Hullin, raising his voice, said,--"And the rest of us,Gaspard,--thy old friends--art thou not going to take notice of us?"
Then the brave fellow turned round and exclaimed withenthusiasm,--"Hullin! Doctor Lorquin! Materne! Frantz! Why, theyare all here!"
And the embraces recommenced, but this time more joyously, with shoutsof laughter and shaking of hands that seemed endless.
"Ah, doctor, it is you! Ah, my old father, Jean-Claude!"
They looked closely at each other, with bright, beaming faces, and wentarm-in-arm up and down the great room; and Mother Catherine with theknapsack, Louise with the gun, and Duchene with the shako, followedthem, laughing and drying their cheeks and eyes--nothing had ever beenseen like it before.
"Let us sit down and drink!" exclaimed Doctor Lorquin. "This is thebouquet of the feast."
"Ah, my poor Gaspard, how happy I am to behold thee safe and sound,"said Hullin. "Ha, ha! Without flattery, I like thee better as thouart now than with thy great red cheeks. Parbleu! thou art a man now.Thou remindest me of the old fellows of my time, those of the Sambreand Egypt--ha, ha, ha! we had not round noses, we were not sleek andfat; we looked like lean rats watching a cheese, and our teeth werelong and white!"
"Yes, yes, that does not surprise me, Papa Jean-Claude. Come, let ussit down; we can talk more at ease. Ah, now, why are you all at thefarm?"
"What, dost thou not know? All the country is up, from Houpe toSaint-Sauveur, to defend itself."
"Yes, the anabaptist of Painbach just mentioned it as I passed. It isthen true?"
"It is true. Everybody is in it; and I am the general in chief."
"Excellent--excellent! That these rogues of 'kaiserlichs' should notcarry everything with a high hand in our own country gives me pleasure.But hand me the knife. Anyway one is happy to find one's self at homeagain. He! Louise, come here and sit down a little while. Look, PapaJean-Claude: with this girl on one side of me, the ham on the other,and the bottle to the front, I should not need a fortnight to pick upagain; and my comrades would not know me when I joined the company."
Everybody was now sitting down and astonished to see with what appetitethe brave fellow ate and drank, while regarding Louise and his mothertenderly, and replying to one and the other, without losing a singlemouthful.
The farm-people, Duchene, Annette, Robin, and Dubourg, arranged in ahalf-circle, watched Gaspard in ecstasies; Louise refilled his glass;the Mother Lefevre, seated by the stove, got up and went to hisknapsack, and, on only finding two old black shirts with holes wideenough to put one's, hand through, with worn-out shoes and a bit of waxfor cartridges, a comb with two teeth and an empty bottle, she liftedher hands to heaven and hastening to open the linen chest, saying,"Lord, can one be astonished that so many die of sheer want!"
Doctor Lorquin, in presence of such a vigorous appetite, rubbed hishands joyfully, and murmured to himself, "What a sturdy fellow! What adigestion! What a set of teeth! He could crunch pebbles like nuts."
And even old Materne said to his sons:--"In other days, after two orthree days of hunting in the high mountains in winter, I also used tofeel the hunger of a wolf, and to eat a haunch of venison right off:now I am getting old, one or two pounds of meat are sufficient forme---which shows what age does."
Hullin had lit his pipe, and seemed in a reverie: evidently somethingworried him. After a few minutes, seeing that Gaspard's appetite wasless lively, he brusquely asked, "Say, then, Gaspard, withoutinterrupting thyself, how the devil hast thou managed to come? Webelieved that thou wast still on the borders of the Rhine, on theStrasbourg side."
"Ah! ah! old soldier, I comprehend," said young Lefevre, winking."There are so many deserters, are
"Oh! such an idea would never enter my head, and yet----"
"You would not be sorry to know that I had done nothing wrong? Icannot blame you, Papa Jean-Claude: you are right. He who is missingat the roll-call when the 'kaiserlichs' are in France, deserves to beshot. Be composed, here is my leave."
Hullin, who possessed no false delicacy, read,--"Leave for twenty-fourhours to the grenadier Gaspard Lefevre, of the 2d of the 1st. Thisday, 3d January, 1814.--GEMEAU, Head of Battalion."
"Good, good," exclaimed he. "Put that carefully in thy knapsack, thoumightest lose it."
All his good-humor had returned:--"Do you see, my children, I know whatlove is? There is both good and bad in it: but it is particularly badfor young soldiers who come too close to their village after acampaign. They are capable of forgetting themselves and of notreturning unless in company of two or three gendarmes. I have seen it.But come, since everything is in order, let us drink a glass of'rikevir.' What say you, Catherine? The men of the Sarre may arriveat any moment, and we have not an instant to lose?"
"You are right, Jean-Claude," replied the old farm-mistress sadly."Annette, go down and bring three bottles from the small cellar."
The servant obeyed quickly.
"But this leave, Gaspard," continued Catherine--"how long has itlasted?"
"I received it yesterday, at eight in the evening, at Vasselonne, mymother. The regiment is retreating on Lorraine; I must rejoin it thisevening at Phalsbourg."
"It is well; thou hast still seven hours; thou wilt not need more thansix to reach there, although there is much snow on the Foxthal."
The good woman came and sat down again by her son, with a full heart.Every one was moved. Louise, with her arm on the old tattered epauletof Gaspard and her cheek against his, was sobbing. Hullin emptied theashes from his pipe at the end of the table, frowning, without sayinganything; but when the bottles arrived and were uncorked, "Come,Louise," said he, "take courage! this cannot last forever; it must endin one way or another, and I venture to affirm that it will end well.Gaspard will come back to us, and then we shall have the wedding."
He refilled the glasses, and Catherine dried her eyes, murmuring, "Tothink that those brigands are the cause of all this. Ah! let themcome--let them come here!"
They all drank with a melancholy air; but the old "rikevir," enteringthe hearts of these brave people quickly enlivened them. Gaspard,stronger than he had appeared at first, began to relate the terriblebattles of Bautzen, Lutzen, Leipzig, and Hanau, where the conscriptshad fought like tried soldiers, winning victory after victory, tilltraitors began to appear.
Every one listened in silence. Louise, when he spoke of any greatdanger--of the passage over rivers under the enemy's fire, or thetaking of a battery by the bayonet--squeezed his arm as though todefend him. Jean-Claude's eyes sparkled; the doctor demanded each timethe position of the ambulance; Materne and his sons stretched out theirnecks and clinched their jaws; and with help of the old wine theenthusiasm increased every moment. "Ah, the rascals! ah, the brigands!But look out! it is not over yet."
Mother Lefevre admired the courage and luck of her son in the midst ofthese events, which will be remembered centuries to come. But whenLagarmitte, looking solemn and grave in his long gray cloth coat, withhis broad black felt on his white head, and with his bark trumpet onhis shoulder, crossed the kitchen, and appeared at the entrance to thelarge room, saying,--"The men of the Sarre are come,"--then all thisenthusiasm, disappeared, and the company rose, thinking of the terriblestruggle which would soon take place in the mountains.
Louise, throwing her arms round Gaspard's neck, cried, "Gaspard, do notgo away! Remain with us!"
He became very pale.
"I am a soldier," said he. "I am called, Gaspard Lefevre. I love theea thousand times more than my own life; but a Lefevre only knows hisduty."
And he unwound her arms. Louise then, sinking on the table, began tomoan aloud. Gaspard rose. Hullin stood between them, and grasping hishands tightly, with trembling lips, said: "Excellently well! Thou hastspoken like a man."
His mother came forward with a calm countenance to buckle his knapsackon his shoulders. She did it with knitted eyebrows and pressed lips,without one sigh escaping her; but two great tears slowly ran down thewrinkles of her cheeks. And when she had done it, she turned away, andwith her sleeve over her eyes, said: "It is well! Go--go, my child!thy mother blesses thee. Whatever thy fortune thou wilt yet not belost to us. Look, Gaspard: there is thy place--there between Louiseand myself--thou wilt always be there. This poor child is not oldenough yet to know that to live is to suffer."
Everybody left; only Louise remained lamenting in the room. A fewseconds later, as the butt end of the musket sounded on the slabs ofthe kitchen, and the outer door was opened, she gave a piercing shriek,and darted after him.
"Gaspard, Gaspard, look! I will be courageous; I will not cry; I willnot keep thee back. Oh, no; but do not leave me in anger. Have pityon me!"
"Angry! angry with thee, my Louise! Oh, no! But to see thee sounhappy breaks my heart. Ah! if thou wert a little braver now, Ishould feel happier."
"Well, I am. Let us kiss each other! See, I am no longer the same. Iwould be like Maman Lefevre."
They calmly gave each other a parting embrace, Hullin held the gun;Catherine motioned with her hands, as though to say, "Go, go! it isenough!" And he, suddenly seizing his musket, walked away resolutely,without looking back.
On the other side, the men of the Sarre, with their axes and hatchets,were climbing the steep ascent of the Valtin.
Five minutes later, on passing by the great oak, Gaspard turned round,lifting his hands. Catherine and Louise replied to it. Hullinadvanced to meet his people. Doctor Lorquin alone remained with thewomen; and when Gaspard, continuing his way, had disappeared, heexclaimed, "Catherine Lefevre, you can pride yourself on having anaffectionate son. God grant him good fortune!"
And the distant voices of the new-comers could be heard laughing amongthemselves, as they were marching to war as gayly as to a wedding.