Finding himself implicated in the proceedings instituted against the authors of the plot against the Republic, Joseph Lacrisse put his person and his papers in a safe place. The police commissary whose duty it was to seize the correspondence of the Royalist Committee was too much of a gentleman not to give the members of the Committee due notice of his visit. He gave them twenty-four hours’ warning, thus bringing his natural courtesy into line with his legitimate anxiety to do his duty properly, for in common with the majority he believed that the Republican Ministry would soon be overthrown, and that a Ribot or MÉline Cabinet would take its place. When he appeared at the headquarters of the Committee all the drawers and pigeon-holes were empty. They were sealed by the magistrate. He also sealed a Bottin for 1897, an automobile catalogue, a packet of cigarettes and a fencing glove which were found on the mantelpiece. In this manner he obeyed the legal After the surprise caused by these unexpected proceedings, Joseph Lacrisse reassured himself. He soon saw that conspirators under the present Government run less risk than under the First Empire or the Monarchy, and that the Third Republic is by no means bloodthirsty. Madame de Bonmont alone looked upon him as a victim, loving him the more for it, for she was generous. She showed her love by tears and sobs and fits of nerves, so that he spent a never-to-be-forgotten fortnight with her in Brussels. This was the extent of his exile. He benefited by one of the first verdicts pronounced by the Supreme Court. I do not complain of this, and if it had listened to me the Supreme Court would have condemned no one. Since they dared not prosecute all the offenders, it was not in very good taste to condemn only those of whom they were least afraid; to condemn them, moreover, for actions that were not, or at any rate did not seem, sufficiently distinguished from the Madame de Bonmont sold the six white horses she had bought with the intention or offering them to the Prince for his entry into Paris by the Avenue des Champs-ÉlysÉes. At the instigation of her brother Wallstein she sold them to Monsieur Gilbert, the director of the National Circus at the Trocadero. Nor had she the anguish of selling them at a loss; she even made a little profit on them. But the tears fell However, the Supreme Court, which had investigated the affair with languid curiosity, was still sitting. One day at Madame de Bonmont’s house young Lacrisse permitted himself the natural satisfaction of cursing the jury that had acquitted him while still retaining some of the accused men in custody. “What bandits they are!” he cried. “Ah,” sighed Madame de Bonmont, “the Senate is in the pay of the Ministry. It is a frightful Government. Monsieur MÉline would never have undertaken this abominable prosecution. He was a Republican, but he was an honest man. Had he remained in power, the King would be in France to-day.” “Alas, the King is far away from France to-day,” said Henri LÉon, who had never had many illusions. Joseph Lacrisse shook his head, and a long silence ensued. “It’s perhaps a good thing for you,” said Henri LÉon. “I say that in a way it is rather to your advantage, Lacrisse, that the King is in exile. You ought to be delighted, allowing, of course, for your patriotic feelings.” “I don’t understand.” “It’s very simple. If you were a financier like myself, the return of the Monarchy might have been profitable to you, if it were only for the Coronation loan. The King would have raised a loan shortly after his accession, for the dear man would have needed money to reign with. There would have been a good deal to be made out of the business for me; but what would you, an advocate, have gained by the Restoration? A prefecture? A lot of good that would be! You can do better than that as a Royalist under the Republic. You speak exceedingly well—don’t deny it—you speak with facility, gracefully. You are one of the twenty-five or thirty members of the junior bar whom Nationalism has brought into prominence. You can believe me. I’m not saying it to flatter you. A good speaker has everything to gain by keeping the King out of the country. With Philippe at the “What you say may be funny, LÉon,” replied Lacrisse coldly, “but I don’t find it so. And I doubt whether your jokes are at all relevant.” “I am not joking.” “Yes, you are. You are a sceptic, and I loathe scepticism. It is the negation of action. I am all for action, always, and in spite of all.” Henri LÉon protested: “I assure you I am very much in earnest.” “Well then, my friend, I am sorry to tell you that you don’t in the least understand the spirit of your age. You have described a worthy of the type of Berryer. He would seem like a man stepped out of a family portrait. Your Royalist might have passed muster under the Second Empire, but I can assure you that to-day he would appear vieux jeu and devilishly out of date. The faithful courtier would be simply absurd in the twentieth century. “What we can’t do alone we shall do with Nationalists of every shade of opinion. With them we’ll make an end of the Republic. And to begin with we must bring off the municipal elections.” |